The Entrepreneurial Hustle with Dru Fay: From Barber Chair to Business Empire

Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Welcome to Close it now, thepodcast that's revolutionizing the
H Vac and home improvementtrades industries.
Get ready to dive deep intothe world of heating, ventilation
and air conditioning.
We're turning up the heat onindustry standards and cooling down
misconceptions.
And we're not just talkingabout fixing vents and adjusting

(00:21):
thermostats.
It's about the transformativemovement that's reshaping the very
foundation of H Vac and home improvement.
We're the driving force,inspiring top performers who crave
excellence not only in theirprofessional endeavors, but also
in fitness, nutrition,relationships, and personal growth,
proving that we can indeedhave it all.

(00:44):
This is close it now, whereexcellence meets excitement.
Let's get to work now, yourhost, Sam Wakefield.
Well, all right.
Welcome back to the show.
Sam Wakefield here.
And I am so excited to bringyou this guest today.

(01:05):
This is a an out of the boxguest from what you would normally
hear.
But if you know me, you know,if when everyone goes left, we go
right.
If everybody goes up, we godown and vice versa.
So my guest today, he issomeone that I actually connected
with and met about five years ago.
Believe it or not, it's beenthat that long.
It was right in the heart ofCOVID Funny little story of how we

(01:28):
connected.
And then I'll introd and I wasright in the heart of COVID I was
looking, I was getting allgrizzly looking for a beard trim.
And so I was just yelping andgoogling the places in all the way
across town from where I wasin South Austin.
And sure enough, this placecalled Barber Barber for the people
pops up.
And so I just walk in andcoincidentally this barber shop with

(01:52):
gosh, 10, 10 chairs or so justhappened to end up sitting in this
guy's chair.
And there's zero coincidencesin life.
The universe always connectsto the right people at the right
time.
And that's where we startedour friendship.
So not only is this my barber,which you will hear why that is important

(02:14):
here in a minute, but also heis a serial entrepreneur.
This is Mr.
Make It Happen.
His name is Drew Fay.
He has been started off with aowned a chain of car washes, then
moved into a bunch ofdifferent stuff.
We're going to hell out.
You give him.
Give you his highlight reelhere in a second.

(02:34):
He's done everything from thatto professional gambler to you name
it.
He is definitely Mr.
Make It Happen.
So welcome to the show today, Drew.
I'm so happy to have you on.
Hey, Sam.
What's good, man?
Pleasure to be here.
Dude.
Dude, totally.
So.
But yeah, like I said, giveeverybody a little bit of your journey,

(02:54):
man.
How in the world did you andkind of end up where we are and what
you're doing now?
And then, of course, you'redoing a lot of things.
It's not just barber.
And for everybody out there,there's no such thing as just barber.
Yeah, that's probably.
That's a serious, legitimate career.
But you, of course, you do alot more things beside that.

(03:15):
So give everybody yourhighlight, really.
And we'd love to hear a bit ofyour philosophy, you know, what,
how you function in life andbusiness and in either order, whichever
you want to cover there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, thanks for having me.
So it's.
It's fun, like, being a barber.
I get a chance to, like, meetall kinds of awesome individuals,
like yourself included.
So that's kind of taking mealmost full circle with, you know,

(03:38):
how I've been going, like,moving into my 40s now, like, just
being able to put all thesedifferent skills to.
To use.
And I think barbering is agreat way to do that.
Like a good place to be toposition yourself in the community
to, you know, interact with alot of people.
So I got very lucky in that way.
Growing up, that wasn't the case.
I started cutting hair for funand out of necessity, probably in

(04:00):
just, like, junior highschool, just giving myself, just
putting the.
Whatever guard on there andjust shaving my head.
So it wasn't long and, youknow, just kind of kept growing.
I got interested in girls,obviously not too long after that.
So, you know, before I hadthis huge, crazy afro.
I just wasn't gonna do it backthen at the time.
So slowly started being my ownguinea pig and with my cousins and

(04:24):
stuff like that, just kind ofcutting and getting better.
But I never thought of it asan occupation, like, at all.
I didn't know anything aboutbarbering, had never been to a real
barber shop or anything likethat, and I never did until I pretty
much got out of college.
But I was just developing thisskill that I didn't know would be
useful later on, and I wasjust doing it.

(04:45):
After a while, it just got funto me and just started doing more
friends at school, you know,that kind of thing, and then just
going on and on and on.
And then ended up going tocollege, went to Texas A M, had a
good time there, playedsoccer, and started out pre med.
Dyslexia and ADHD intervenedpretty quickly in that route, so

(05:11):
ended up going to the MaysBusiness school, eventually taking
a lot of classes there.
And that's kind of what got meon the route to entrepreneurship.
Okay.
Yeah.
So it's, it's, it's been a while.
I like it, man.
So I love how.
Go ahead.
So it's interesting how the,the barber theme has kind of always
been in your life, but that'snot what you did for a long time.

(05:33):
Not at all.
Never, never in a millionyears would I think that I would
be a barber for a living orhave a men's grooming product line
or just be in the barberindustry at all.
Like, it was never a.
Something I aspire to.
And kind of thinking back onit, I really just believe a lot of
that had to do with justhaving no experience with the whole,
like that it's a whole, youknow, culture.

(05:56):
And so once I got to therealization of that.
Thanks to YouTube University.
Sure.
Yeah.
Just, just fell in love.
Fell in love with the barber industry.
Yeah.
Oh, that's so cool.
Well, let's rewind a littlebit because, you know, when we first
met, one of the things thatyou said to me that's really stuck
with me all these years,actually, I think this was probably

(06:16):
our maybe second or thirdconversation even.
You said that because of theprices that you charge, the people
that sit in your chair areworth knowing and worth connecting.
So you kind of became thecenter of this galaxy, of all of
these influencers and highpowered people and you're like the

(06:37):
hub of this network.
So in a moment's notice youcan make a phone call and connect
anyone to anyone or have anyresource available to yourself.
So how does, how does thatkind of come about and, and how does
that play into yourentrepreneurial kind of mindset and
everything that you're doing now?
Yeah, I mean, it sounds crazyjust listening to you say that, but

(06:57):
it's absolutely true.
And I don't know, I've justbeen, I've always, I was raised like,
treat other people how youwould want to be treated.
Like that's just beeningrained in my brain since I was
little.
And so getting the opportunityto meet these individuals and you
know, you guys, like I, I sawonce I graduated from barber school

(07:19):
and actually got into thebarbershop, I saw people that were
just there to cut hair andlike that was, they were simple minded
in that fact.
Not that there's anythingwrong with that, but that that's
what the situation was.
And then over time, eat.
I saw.
So let me take a second tojust say there's a Million ways to

(07:40):
be a.
A barber, a successful barber.
And there's a million clientsto fill those needs.
Right?
And so, kind of with that inmind, I would see barbers who would
start to, like, lose love forthe game because they were just accepting
any and every person thatwanted to sit in those chairs.
And, you know, sometimes yougot to do what you got to do.

(08:00):
But at the end of the day, asI would just see this time pass,
I would start to understandthat sometimes those clients who.
The barbers would look attheir schedule, be like, oh, my God,
here comes this guy.
I gotta cut him again.
He's gonna come in and justwreck the shop and blah, blah.
Not only would it affect thatbarber, that client would also affect,
like, the tone of theenvironment and just have like, this.

(08:22):
This snowball effect.
And so I just started to thinkabout it.
Like, the barbers that I seewere happy.
Were happy dealing withclients that they genuinely wanted
to have a conversation with.
Because when you're sitting inthe chair, you're going to be there
for about an hour, 30 minutesto an hour, you know, maybe even
a little bit longer if you'redoing luxury service, if.

(08:44):
You get the works like I do,or hour and a half each time.
Yeah, hour, full, pamper, youknow, neck up, the whole thing.
But what I realized, and whatkind of crosses any genre is I wanted
to.
I've always tried since I wasyoung to have a job that I enjoy
doing because you spend somuch of your time at work that you
might as well enjoy somethingthat you're going to spend so much

(09:05):
of your time doing.
So I've always tried to kindof go that direction with my choices,
a lot of times harder thanothers to make that choice, you know,
especially financially andthis, this and that.
But I say that to say overtime when I would watch the happiest
people in even my.
My day.
Now when I look at myschedule, I got 10, 12 guys, whatever,

(09:27):
and I'm excited about my day.
It pumps me up.
Oh, crap.
Sam's coming in today.
I know he's done 10 differentthings that's gonna blow my mind.
And I'm gonna have to step mygame up for the next time I see him,
you know, and that justhappens, like client after client
after client all day.
And so that I think I was ableto kind of cultivate that because

(09:47):
I was willing to take the timeto prune that.
It takes years to kind of do that.
And in the front end, it's nota lot of fun.
And you Know, you really putyourself through a tough situation
willingly.
And I think that's how.
That's how I was able to do itjust by, you know, I'm just a regular
guy able to do well and kindof create my dreams that I had when

(10:09):
I was a kid for myself.
And I'm not that smart of aguy, right?
Like, I couldn't even get tomed school.
And so I know there's.
There's guys like me that Ican do it.
There's thousands of theseguys everywhere, you know, especially
in, like, a city like Austinthat just attracts that type of environment.
And so I would always focus onbeing willing to wait for the right

(10:31):
customer and then treat thatcustomer how I would want to be treated.
And another thing that kind ofcomes to mind with that situation
is also there's a lot ofbarbers who are worried about, oh,
I can't lose this client,because it's going to be whatever.
Well, I kind of think aboutthe opposite.
Like, I want my clients to goto another shop and get a haircut,

(10:54):
because then some of the.
Then you realize some of thesmall things and the differences
in the service.
And so, like, I kind ofappreciate that, you know, because
then you're like, next time.
Well, you know, the haircutwas all right, but damn, he didn't
do this or he didn't hit a hottowel or whatever.
You know, it's just difference.
And I, like, kind of welcome that.
So I just.
I seem to kind of just havethat energy and kind of attract similar

(11:16):
energy or try to anyways toother individuals.
I love that.
So it.
The two.
Two big things that are reallystanding out to me here.
One, is that what you werejust saying?
When you truly have a productor service, that you're really showing
up as your best.
The best version of yourselfand really taking care of people

(11:40):
in all different service industries.
It's a service industry justlike any other home service or anything
else.
When we truly are exceptionaland step above the.
The baseline standard, then it's.
I've done the same thing in houses.
When somebody's like, oh, I'mgetting other bids.
I'm like, okay, absolutely.
I challenge you.
Go find someone as good as weare, because I know you're not going

(12:01):
to be able to do that, andthat's perfectly fine.
And we're not here to hold you captive.
We're here to show you howexceptional we are, so you come back
and choose us.
And so I love what you said there.
Bingo.
I think that is a huge Goal is like.
Like, you're not like,kidnapping people or businesses or
industry.
You want them to choose youout of what's possible.

(12:22):
And it's like, that's thegame, right?
Like, that's what everyonewants to do.
Same thing.
You're, like, dating, tryingto date chicks or whatever.
Like, you're not gonna, like,just buy this girl drinks until she's
drunk and then ask her out.
Like, if you're smart, you'regonna become the person you need
to be to make her want tochoose you.
Right.
Or vice versa, whoever it may be.
I love this.
Very true.

(12:43):
The other element that, what Iwas really hearing out of what you
were saying, there kind ofcircles around finding your best
fit client.
Because if we do a job foreveryone, that means we're doing
a job for no one, because thenwe're shooting, casting our net way,
way, way too big.

(13:04):
And so being able to recognizewho do we serve best and what does
that avatar look like?
What is the category of thatspecific person or type of person?
That way our marketing, ourmessaging can be very specific.
The way that we show up forthat client is not how other clients

(13:24):
want us to show up for them.
And so it sounds like acrosstime, you've gotten really good at
recognizing who that specificavatar is and being able to really
laser beam focus to that.
And so no wonder your.
Your chair is always fullbecause, you know great people know
great people.
So the word spreads also.

(13:45):
Absolutely.
Man.
I.
I always say, you guys are my.
Y' all are my walking billboards.
Like, that's how I get so muchof my business.
And like.
And so in doing so, I'm, like,servicing fewer clients during the
day, but having more of animpact and a better service, I believe.
But it's also not to be blindand think that that's what everyone

(14:07):
wants.
Right?
Like, there's plenty of peoplewho, if you got a $7 haircut, like,
that's what they're looking for.
Sure.
There's a huge clientele basefor that, and there's barbers who
need to service that.
For me, with the product thatI wanted to do and kind of the demographic
that I want to get into, youchoose that same way, just opposite
direction.

(14:28):
So it.
And it's been wonderful, like, barbering.
I just.
I started this industry out ofjust sheer wanting something to do
and kind of be creative.
And it's.
It's opened up so manydifferent channels to me.
Just outside of actually,actually cutting hair, it's.
It's been.
It's been awesome.
So let's, let's actually diveinto that a little bit because you

(14:50):
know, I've, I've done thenumbers, I, I have able to do math
here.
So for everybody listening andbecause I know there's a lot of people
that you know in the communitythat listen to this show that have
done, you know, have beenbarbers and are currently barbers
that are also doing, you know,reaching across and doing sales in
home services and H vac andplumbing and electrical and garage

(15:12):
doors and roofing and all thethings especially in the bounce back
and forth if a lot of thatwork is seasonal.
One of the things that isreally interesting with this conversation
is a lot of people don'trealize barbering can be actually
a really high paying career.
It's six figures plus ifyou're doing it right and if you

(15:35):
have the right pricing.
Yes, absolutely.
I love this conversationbecause out of that you mentioned
earlier your own product line.
So let's kind of step awayfrom specifically barbering for a
second.
Talk to us about anentrepreneurial mindset and thinking

(15:57):
of how to include otherservices, products, different things.
Can generalize this a littlebit, but as that, because I know
you've done a lot of thingsover the years, there's a couple
things I want to ask you abouthere in a minute, but sure.
You know, in yourentrepreneurial journey, how have
you come like being able torecognize those opportunities and

(16:21):
how to include those into whatyou're currently doing?
Yeah, I mean for me it's justkind of like see a hole, fill a void
kind of deal.
I was looking for someproducts for myself.
I have crazy hair and I couldnever any.
Oh, I don't know if I.

(16:41):
What I did here.
Oh, there we go.
So I had just crazy hair and Icould never find any products for
myself.
That wasn't exactly kind ofwhat I wanted and just kind of getting
frustrated either.
It had crazy paraffin, sodiumlauryl sulfates, like just crazy
ingredients that were harmfulor it made my hair too sticky or

(17:02):
whatever the case.
And so I just slowly startedlooking in, into building myself
basically on these products Igot to use on that I could use on
myself.
And so right around that time,that was actually when I had decided
to go back to barber school.
And then once I got into thebarber school, we had all kinds of

(17:23):
different product reps andcompanies coming into the barber
school trying to sign barbersand hairstylists and to these deals.
And so having the businessbackground I kind of look at, you
know, why are these guysspending this time and sending a
sales rep over to a barbercollege in Austin, Texas.
And you know, 10, 12 differentmultimillion dollar organizations

(17:45):
on a, on a regular basis.
Yeah, you think they'repharmaceutical reps or something?
100%.
So I kind of started doing thesame thing.
I was like, okay, well they'redropping off X amount of units here
and we're selling this amount.
I was like, oh, that's when Ikind of got open to the game and
started doing a little moreresearch and finding out that in
fact, the beauty productindustry, if for lack of a better

(18:08):
term, including me, is a multibillion dollar a year annual business.
And so I always try andvertically integrate my time.
Right.
Just do as, take care of asmuch things as I can with the same
amount of time.
That way I have less to do later.
Right.
Just trying to be lazy.
And so at the barbershop, likeif you're either cutting or you're

(18:29):
sitting there, but you'respending time, there's.
And so to me, I was like,okay, we got this incentive that
I'm doing $7 haircuts and $7shaves in barber school and I don't
get the money.
I just get a tip and the moneygoes to barber school.
That's what it was.
That's how you made money for10 and a half months or 1500 hours,
however you could do so.
Yes.

(18:49):
So like it real investment.
Right.
And so but every month, theperson who sold the most product
during their hours at schoolgot to go to a nice restaurant of
their choosing.
So I was like, hey, got it.
I might have been making muchmoney, but they're definitely taking
me out to eat.
And so then it became likethis challenge of every week.

(19:11):
We would have to collect thesedots of haircuts, grades on haircuts,
and amount of products you sold.
And so I started thinking, youknow, these, these guys are spending
so much time sitting in thisbarbershop and maybe 60 of the time
they're cutting hair.
Maybe 90 for some of the guys,maybe 40.
And so what else can we dowith that time while we're sitting

(19:33):
around or while we're cutting hair?
Busy and obviously cashregister ringing.
Right.
Like sales things that youdon't have to do with manual labor.
And so it just, the timing onthose two things just kind of came
together for me at the righttime and just a light went off.
So I started developing theseorganic products and that's what
developed the famous hair.

(19:53):
Yeah, I like it.
Oh, very cool.
You said something there.
And I Love the way you said that.
The vertically integration ofyour time, because that, that's such
a.
That's a powerful concept whenwe start really thinking about it.
Something I talk about a lotbecause, you know, especially, you
know, a salesperson in thefield, you know, have two, three,
four appointments throughoutthe day, and at the end of the day,

(20:16):
there's a lot of time in between.
And so.
Or especially in seasons whereit slows down.
And I get calls all the time.
Hey, what do I, you know, Ineed leads.
I need to do this, I need todo this.
And I'm like, well, go find them.
What are you doing with your time?
How can you get in front ofmore people?
How can you have youropportunity in front of more people?
How can we verticallyintegrate our time here?

(20:38):
Absolutely.
You said lazy.
I think it actually, maybe itwould be more like efficient than
lazy.
Yeah, there you go.
That sounds way better.
It's all about how you say it.
So good, man.
So good.
Well, let's.
You mind if we rewind yourhistory a little bit?
Because I'd love to talk about your.
A bit more of yourentrepreneur, entrepreneurial journey
before you got back intoactually barber school and doing

(21:04):
what you're doing now.
And for everybody that if youdidn't catch that as a barber, you
get to basically work for freefor 10 months until you get your
certificate and actually canstep out and do it in the real world.
Everybody in the homeservices, you guys are so blessed
to get paid to learn along theway in what we do.

(21:27):
So never, ever, ever take thatfor granted.
Because.
Granted for granted.
Make sure I say that correctly.
That's one of my big pet peeves.
People that take it forgranted take it for granted that.
Yeah.
That we don't end up with thiscrazy amount of student debt or those
types of things before we getinto our industry, like doctors and,

(21:50):
and surgeons or the barber school.
So it's.
It's one of those things thatI, I've always appreciated about
home services and, and comingfrom you, hearing your story, it
really reinforces that.
So no matter who you are outthere listening, whatever role you
have, you're getting paid to learn.
So don't.
Hey, and don't forget it.

(22:10):
Let me, Let me add this real quick.
Sorry to interrupt, Sam.
No, you're good, man.
Being that I do deal with somany people sitting in my chairs,
like, I get to hearinformation and conversations with
congressmen, doctors, lawyers,blah, blah, blah, surgeons, con,
construction guys, people whodon't report taxes, you know, kind
of everywhere and, and nowthere is a trend going towards the

(22:33):
trade.
Right.
So I'm seeing a lot of techsales guys, you know, a lot of H
Vac plumbers that are.
That's like, what's being moresought at because people are under.
Starting to understand that inthese trades, that's where the money's
at right now.
And, and honestly, really, ifyou're being able to grind and you
have, like, just the minimalamount of discipline and financial

(22:54):
discipline that you can reallyset your.
Set your future up.
And in all these trades, and Ihear these office guys coming in
all the time talking about,oh, man, you know, if I could do
it all over again, I would goback and.
And do a trade or do something different.
Because kind of like youmentioned up front, it's rough, but
if you're willing to risk thetime to really get good at it at

(23:17):
whatever your.
Your service is, like, you canmake as much or more than.
Than anybody that you canthink of, like, definitely turn yourself
into a millionaire.
Many of these industries.
And I've.
I've seen it happen quite afew times.
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
I.
I love that this.
Really cool, cool hearing thisfrom your perspective, you know,
because you do talk to plentyof people that I don't get the opportunity

(23:40):
to hang around and havecommunication with very often.
But let's rewind a little bit.
Yeah.
Because I'd love to talk aboutyour journey.
Let's start with the carwashes, because when we first talked
years ago, that was sointriguing to me about how you started
out, you know, there and then,you know, grew it, sold it, and then

(24:03):
moved into some different things.
And.
And of course, I definitelywant to talk about the nonprofit
as well before we're.
We're done with this episode,so don't let me forget, but let's
talk about the car washes, man.
How did you get into that?
And because it's such aninteresting, you know, I guess as
a business owner, and then, ofcourse, you grew it and sold it.

(24:26):
A lot of people don'tnecessarily have that exit in that
type of a thing.
Normally it's just like youhave one or two and they flounder
and, you know, fall apart ishow most people's journey with that
goes.
Yeah, I mean, I.
I honestly believe that it allgoes back to discipline and, you
know, everybody's different.

(24:47):
Right.
But for me, I've always beenthe guy who.
I don't need someone lookingover my shoulder every 10 seconds.
In fact, I have a betterperformance if that's not the case.
Kind of give me thedirections, clearly state the instructions
that you need and then give methe proper time to do it and don't
bother me during that time.
And so I'm pretty selfdisciplined in doing that.
But I know a lot of peoplearen't like that.

(25:08):
And I feel like that may comewith people having issues not because
the business doesn't work out,but because the business is starting
to work out and people don'tknow how to, you know, bottle that
lightning in that small amountof time.
That's.
That's real important right there.
I think that's probably morethe case in, in what I've seen.

(25:29):
Yeah.
Could you unpack that a littlebit for us?
Because I think you hit onsomething really important there.
Yeah, I don't know if thatreally makes too much sense, but
kind of like, you know, a lotof guys, especially guys that are
in the servicery industry,like us, like I went to college,
but plenty of people areowning and running all these companies
very successfully withoutgoing to college.
And so the environment that,you know, some people come from,

(25:53):
like, that's not the case.
Like if, let's say you'regonna go start a H Vac company, well,
you may have worked at HEBbefore that, or you may have just
had like a regular job beforethat and not necessarily known what
it's like to have the freedomof working for yourself.
So that's kind of a skill tohave, I think, all on its own.

(26:13):
Because yeah, if you got yourboss hounding you, telling you all
the time, this is what you'regonna do, yeah, that sucks.
But you don't have anyresponsibility when you own your
own H Vac company or your ownsolar company or whatever.
And you used to work at H E Ba year ago and now you got your first
$200,000 contract.
How.
And you get paid off of that.

(26:33):
Let's say you get the job doneand you get paid off of that.
Bam.
I got 200 racks.
I'm about to go to Vegas.
Or am I going to put it backin the flip?
Let's hire some more people,let's put some money in marketing,
and let's turn it into amillion dollar company and before
the end of the year.
So I.
And I feel like it's actuallynot insanely difficult to do it.

(26:54):
I think it's just as importantas once you do it, like continuing
to funnel those channelsproperly, in my opinion.
No, I definitely agree with that.
I see owners, a lot of timethey'll see a level of success that's
more than they've ever had,but relative to so it becomes like

(27:16):
a big fish in a small pondtype of syndrome.
They're like, oh, man, I'mdoing so great.
But they step across thestreet, and everybody's like, oh,
you're just getting started.
What do you mean?
So it's this relativeperspective, and it's almost like
we get lazy and stop grinding.
And it didn't have to even bea grind if we have a great plan and
we had to intentionallyattract the right things into our

(27:39):
life and we're doing the work.
But it doesn't even have to beinsanely stressful if we have the
right resources and the rightmentors along the way.
But, yeah, I totally see that.
I think John Maxwell callsthat the law of the lid.
Your income can never outgrowyour personal growth level.
And if it does, your personalgrowth will smash it right back down

(28:00):
to where your brain saysyou're comfortable.
So that's why we always haveto constantly be working on ourselves
more than we work on ourbusiness to stay ahead of that.
That way, it can continue togrow along with it.
That's.
That's so true.
That's so true.
And, you know, I think that.
But it also can be a grind.
Like, if you're used to havinga regular paycheck every two weeks,

(28:23):
and then you decide to startyour own landscaping business, and,
you know, no one.
No one's coming to save you.
Right?
So if you're not gonna makemoney, at least I'm gonna put out
a thousand flyers today.
Or I'm gonna create a socialmedia clip that's gonna go viral
or give me some views.
I'm gonna do something with.
This time today, I'm gettingout of bed, not just sitting there

(28:45):
like, oh, this sucks.
No one's helping me.
Blah, blah, blah.
Like, I don't know.
I love it, man.
It's entrepreneurial mindset.
Yeah.
And the things are easy to do.
And easy not to do.
And we're wired weird, right?
Like, it's something wrongwith us, but it's like the most beautiful
thing.
Like, once you make it out theother end, like, you got to be willing

(29:07):
to, like, you know, oh, the.
The Navy guys, they used tohave that phrase, like, embrace the
suck.
You know, you just got to bewilling to.
To make it worth it.
And I think that that.
That goes to, like, big dogsaround you.
We're going to watch that, too.
Like, right?
People, you might not evenknow that know who you are or pay
attention to you.
Like, okay, he's been, he'sbeen doing good and he's stuck now.

(29:30):
Let's see how he deals with this.
And if he comes out the otherside of that, who knows what will
happen to you, you know, andthat come from that.
I kind of seen that happen alot too.
Sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
It does suck a lot.
You know, you see all thisgray hair, a lot of stress.
But I've learned over time tojust try and become friends with
that feeling and thatexperience and just learn how to

(29:52):
flip it to my advantage.
Love.
That's some nuggets rightthere, man.
So talk to us a little bitabout your exit from the car washes
and give us a little feel.
I mean you had what was it, 30something at one point.
Yeah, I had had quite a bit ofshops like over 40.
40.
Wow.

(30:12):
Yep, just all, all around town.
Started with a mobile detail trailer.
Whenever I got out of a.
M.
I couldn't really get a jobthat I was interested in.
And there I was in the centerfor new ventures and entrepreneurship
program at the Maze Business School.
And one of the things that wehad to do there during that time

(30:33):
was develop this business planand kind of go in front of executives
with it and, and just use itas a trial run.
So I figured, hey, I don'thave any debt.
I'm not in any responsibility.
Let me just try this business plan.
Because nothing out is working out.
Nothing else is working outright now.
And so I had gotten some goodfeedback during the competition about

(30:53):
the plan.
And so I just started.
I bought a little mobiledetailing trailer and some supplies
and I would just drive aroundto people's homes and just knock
doors on businesses and justkind of just built it that way.
Started doing like retailwashing for folks as well as like
business industrialwholesaling, a lot of vehicle auction

(31:17):
barns, car washes, cardealerships, as well as like individual
homes.
Just honestly, whatever itwas, just because that first year,
so I graduated in May and so Igave myself to the end of the year
I'm just going to see like all out.
No matter if it works or not.
I'm going to see where I'm atat December 31st and see if I can

(31:40):
make a yearly salary workingat like some minimum wage job for
a whole year.
I'm going to see if I can dothat in six months.
That was my goal.
And so then got there, got toChristmas time, I blew myself away.
I actually made it and I kept,kept doing that and Then.
So we did mobile details forquite a bit of time.

(32:04):
I guess that was 2005.
So then in.
In 2008 brought.
Bought the first brick andmortar car wash where you go and
wash it yourself or you swipethe card and have someone hand detail
it and kind of that.
So then we kind of startedgrowing like ancillary income routes
with selling car wash productsand all that at the car wash and

(32:26):
that kind of vertically.
Integrating your time again,even back.
Exactly, exactly.
Because I was like.
At first I was doing this allout of my trailer, right out of the
trunk.
But initially I startedgetting to where we were busy.
We started having like lots ofequipment, equipment and machinery.
And I'm like, why?
Why would I just go paysomewhere to store all this stuff
and rent?
At the time, 2005, a mortgagewasn't crazy.

(32:49):
So I was like, instead of justrenting somewhere to store all this
equipment, let me just buy acar wash.
I'm already in the business.
I can store my equipment thereand then I can make it to where it's
operable 24, 7, even while I'm sleep.
I said, trying to make as muchmoney as I can while I sleep so I
don't work until I die.
Love it.

(33:09):
And then we just kind of kept.
Just kind of kept growing andgrowing, growing from there.
So I did that all.
All the way up until, I wantto say, early 2014.
Okay, early 2014.
And then was able to sell allthat and took a couple years off.
Kind of just trying to figureout what I wanted to do also during

(33:33):
that time in 2005.
So I started that detailingcompany in May of 2005 and the end
of June of 2005.
I became the first.
First video host selected formusic and entertainment television.
Okay.
So I have, you know, was able to.
I have been doing small partsin movies and things like that while

(33:56):
I was in college.
And one of the reason I waskind of directed to Austin, because
I would come down to Austin tobe an extra in the vampire movie
or like in a commercial or whatever.
So I had come down here,developed some relationships with
some agents.
So I signed with an agent nottoo long after that.
And it was crazy.
Like it was just an opencasting call.

(34:17):
I wanted to be an actor.
At the time, it was like thelittle Hollywood here.
Out of 10,000 people, theypicked me off the radio.
Who knows why?
And so I was able to, throughwe do a daily TV show that was getting
a million viewers an episode,which at the time was crazy.
It was like holy moly.
Yeah.
Yeah, man.
We were in the daily hourevery day at 4pm Monday through Friday.

(34:40):
And that was the Oprah time slot.
So I think you got a million.
Views on top of Oprah.
We were beating Oprah at this time.
Like this, it's just a hip hopshow and it just became wildly popular.
Yeah.
And you weren't even givingaway cars.
Yeah.
And like people would see meout in public and they would be like,
dude, why are you washing cars?

(35:01):
We thought that was a front.
And that's also something thatwas weird because I would go from
like hanging out with WillieNelson at the TV studio to two hours
later I'm washing some soccermom's wheels off and vacuuming her
kids popcorn out of the back seat.
It like really give like abalance of, of perspective.

(35:25):
Oh, no joke.
So by the time 2014 came sayall that to say I was able to like
exit out of the car washbusiness because I was juggling both
of these things at the sametime just because it just happened
to work out for me.
So I wasn't going to let it go.
Was able to actually breathe alittle bit, take some time away,
just do lots of traveling andkind of figure out what I wanted

(35:45):
to do there, which issomething I always wanted to do.
Did that for a while, Gotbored with it.
I didn't realize understandwhat I was actually doing to myself
and then try to get into golf.
And I played a lot, got reallygood at it.
Something I'm getting backinto now.
Yeah.
And then during that timeactually buying my own freedom is

(36:06):
how I like to see it.
Just purchase my freedom outof the rat race.
I was able to figure out whatI really wanted to do in my life
and something that I wasinterested in pursuing.
And that's how the productsand the barbering stuff.
Okay, so in those that we'llcall it the gap years, I guess.
Yeah.
That couple years there.
And that's what you tell meyou, you did a lot of.

(36:27):
Of poker during that time.
Yes, that.
That's also like I didn't haveanything to do during the day for
the first time in my lifesince I can remember by like 7 or
8 years old.
Right.
Every bills are paid,everybody's good, everybody's happy.
What are we going to do?
Poker.
You know, so they had a pokerhouse here.
And so I would just go thereevery once in a while and hang out.

(36:48):
I would always like to play.
That was like during the fulltilt Chris Moneymaker winning a million
dollars on tv kind ofexplosion of poker right around that
time.
So we started holding, wasjust slamming.
Like crazy, going crazyeverywhere, the World Series of Poker
and all that.
So got a chance to kind of do that.
Like, I would play golf in themorning, try and develop just different

(37:10):
connections as much aspossible with different folks, and
then in the afternoon, had nokids yet, none of that.
So I would go play poker inthe afternoon into the evenings and.
Well, tell us how your musiccareer fit into all this, because
I know you're a reallyaccomplished guitar player, played
with some big names across the years.

(37:32):
And how did that weave throughall of this?
And I.
And you mentioned something asecond ago that I definitely want
to come back to is in thoseyears where that you took off really
figuring out what you wantedto do.
You said you didn't realize what.
What that was doing toyourself and definitely want you
to unpack that a little bit, too.
Yeah, sure.

(37:52):
Well, kind of what I meant bythat was, you know, you have this
idea, or at least I did, thatone day I'm going to retire and everything's
going to be great and that.
So you work so hard, then thatopportunity actually presents itself.
You do it.
And it's just.
For me, it was just waydifferent than what I thought it
was going to be like.
It was a lot of fun for like,six months to a year maybe.

(38:15):
But after that, it was like, I.
I'm a person.
I like to be creative.
I like to produce.
I'm a producer.
And so I didn't understand howimportant that was to me.
And that's one of the lessonsthat I was able to kind of figure
out during that time.
And I've heard other peoplesay it before.
Like, I feel like that's oneof those things that you can't tell
somebody.
You got to kind of let themfigure it out for themselves.

(38:37):
And I also do think thatthat's a lot.
What happened with some peopleduring COVID too, similar situation,
even though maybe not as longor as wild of a trip, you know, But
I think a lot of people wereable to kind of get that, like, having
to do nothing really isn'tthat awesome for an extended period
of time thing, you know?

(38:58):
Yeah, no, that's superpowerful there.
I've.
I was having this, actually,interestingly enough, I was having
a conversation yesterday withone of my mentors, and we were talking
about a friend of ours thatsold their company not too long ago,
and all of a sudden theirentire identity was wrapped up in

(39:19):
their company.
And now that that's Gone.
They're just like, there's.
Interestingly enough, there'sa statistic for owners who have sold,
have taken big exits thateight figure, nine figure exits and
more, that there's a wildsuicide rate among those.

(39:39):
Highly successfulentrepreneurs have more money than
they know what to do with, andnow they have no purpose and they
lost their identity.
And it's really interesting,the depression and suicide rate that
happens there.
So can you talk a little bitabout that and how you, you know,
what you did to kind of findyourself again and figure out exactly

(40:00):
where that.
Where your mission is,Realizing that you're a producer
and you like doing thesethings and being creative.
How did that shift and kind ofturn into where you are now?
And I guess purpose is a good.
A good word that would applyhere as well.
Yeah, for me, it was justabout actually figuring out what
I want to do.
Another thing that I kind ofdo is I always, I like to ask interesting

(40:23):
people, like, what would theydo if skill or time wasn't an issue
and they knew no matter what,they wouldn't fail?
And you'd be surprised howmany of those people would say, oh,
I never thought about that, orI don't know what I would do.
So fortunately for me, I justhave been able to make that happen
for myself.

(40:44):
And in doing so, it's kind oflike one of those things.
You get there, the goal postsmove, but you don't know that they
move.
And they can't move until youget there first.
Right.
Like whenever you're in juniorhigh, you might want the coolest
car or whatever.
That's like the biggest, bestthing you can think of.
And then you get 30 and you'relike, man, f that car, I want a house

(41:07):
or I don't have to work here anymore.
Right.
Like, it always, it always changes.
And so for me, I've alwaystried to stay grounded.
And I think, you know, one ofthe biggest helpers for me is kind
of like I was mentioning to afew minutes ago during those times
when I would be doing aconcert with 10,000 people or hanging
out with celebrities, and thenlater on that day or the next day,

(41:28):
I'm washing cars and, youknow, wiping tires down.
Like, it really, like, bringsthat perspective.
And I feel like it's just asimportant to have the skill as it
is to be able to ride the wave.
Like.
Like, you can't get too highwhen you're too high, and you can't
get too low when you're too low.
And I think that's Somethingthat I always, I've always been able
to like work on something thatI just watched my dad do.

(41:51):
And I think I have, was veryfortunate to get that example from
him.
And I think that's what helpsme because, you know, you can't be
feeling like you're Supermanone day because you're not.
And then eventually you'regoing to figure that out and then
you're going to feel like theworst thing ever.
Right.
So trying to just stay leveland even keel.
No matter what comes, whatgoes, need our health, we need the

(42:13):
people that care about us.
We need to pay our bills.
Outside of that, well, let'stry and do something enjoyable.
Right?
I love this.
It's.
It really makes me think a lot.
Well, it's really keeping ourego in check partly, 100% for sure.
And lately I've been divinginto a lot more of stoicism and some

(42:33):
of the, you know, theEpictetus and you know, the old Greek
and Roman philosophers andthis is one of their main tenants
in the, in stoicism is be theobserver of the situations and just
wait.
Take a breath and wait longerand watch what happens.
Instead of reacting, it's morechoosing your responses of reacting

(42:56):
to.
As the situations in life ebbsand flows because it's going to,
you know, it's how we can, howwe respond that, you know, determines
our success or not and ourmental state and our mental condition.
Not just reacting to things.
That's all we have, right?
Like is our response to things.
That's pretty much all we have.
Yeah, man, I love it.

(43:17):
So let's, let's pull thisforward a little bit because you're
doing something really awesomethat I'd love to talk about.
I mentioned purpose a minuteago when you, and this was what year
and a half ago or so that youbought some non profits or bought
some.
Well, you bought some schoolsand turned them into nonprofits I'm

(43:40):
guessing is maybe the journey.
Talk to us about that and whyyou, why you took that step and talk
about the bigger picture andreally the big mission of what you're
doing now.
Sure.
Well, the school started byCoach ll, one of my mentors from
the barber school that I wentto and so kind of helped.

(44:00):
Just, you know, he was reallyimpactful on my professionalism,
my growth and turning fromsomeone who cut hair into a barber.
And he had run and ownedmultiple shops before he became the
director of the barber school.
And so when he went to startthis company called Impact Barber
Academy and asked me to Helphim out.
I was like, yeah, of course,anything you need, I'm down, I'm

(44:22):
here to help.
And I was just actually thereearlier today, shout out to all the
prospective barbers going toimpact Barber Academy, Ms.
Yasha and Coach Leonarddropping off some product.
And so he was kind of, he hada real big impact on me as a person
coming into the industry, notknowing anything and really guiding

(44:43):
me along.
And I think he's done that fora lot of other people too.
And so, excuse me, whenever heasked me to kind of help him out
with that, that venture, itwas just like, yeah, of course, anything
I can do to help.
Because this guy affects somany people positively and really
helps people like maybe notfrom the best backgrounds kind of

(45:03):
get a career that's a legit career.
You don't have to work atanother part time job to pay the
bills.
Like you can pay everythingyou need for a good life just using
the skill that you learn inbarber school.
And people that graduated highschool didn't go to college.
Sometimes you can get barbercosmetology license in school, in

(45:23):
jail.
So it's a way to reach a wholedifferent demographic.
And just in my time, I've beenin the industry for I guess going
on seven, seven years now,almost eight.
Just seeing the impact thatthat has.
And not only that, like theimpact that each barber has.
Like, so if you know you're abarber and you're doing, let's say,

(45:46):
let's just call it 50 cuts aweek, which you're probably going
to do way more than that.
You know, you have 200 peoplethat you're touching every single
month.
Wow.
You know what I mean?
And then so what, almost 4,000people that you're affecting every
year and you're coming incontact with again, vertical integration

(46:06):
like during that time, youwant to develop people that are going
to be able to support theirfamilies doing this, impact wherever
they spread out to doing this,the barber is going to be a pillar
in their community.
And so not only do you get toaffect them, you get to have some
kind of ripple down of effectof everybody that they're affecting,

(46:26):
which you or me as anindividual could never do that in
that short amount of time.
So that, that's been reallygood for me.
And they, they've beengraduating quite a few people.
Just got some new students in there.
It's really exciting to see ina very diverse group of students
because I know whenever I wentthrough barber school I was already

(46:48):
in my early 30s.
So complete kind of A nontraditional student, as they would
say.
Yeah.
You know, but then also youcan be 18 years old, you just got
out of high school, and if youhustle and you get yourself in the
right position, you can make ahundred thousand dollars you very
first year as a barber.
Like, I don't know a lot ofother places that you can do that.

(47:09):
You know, only in the tradeslike ours.
Yeah.
And, and technically, I mean,I guess, you know, barbering and
cosmetology is technically a trade.
We have the exact same licensefrom the state.
Yep.
We're all regulated by tdlr.
Yeah.
I love it.
So that's been great to be,just to be in, involved with that.
Oh, 100.

(47:29):
And I love, I've always saidthat too.
I love taking guys out of highschool and it's like, listen, I will,
I can show you how to make sixfigures in just a couple years and
we'll pay you to learn.
Always, always the case.
So when you were first tellingme about the schools, one of the
things that you were talkingabout that I remember our conversation,

(47:53):
we were talking about some ofthe bigger picture with what's happening
with the state, some of thedifferent lobbying and that type
of effect that this is goingto have.
Expand this a little bit.
Talk to us a little bit moreabout that because I know that there's
a bigger, you know.
Absolutely.
The impact on the studentscoming through and showing people

(48:13):
a better way of life so theydon't have to go down a bad road.
But there's, there's a lot ofother things in play right now too.
Oh yeah, for sure.
And like you're saying thebarber industry, it's a trade just
like other, every other industry.
And you know, all these guyshave their lobbyists and their representatives
down at, at the Capitol.

(48:34):
Right.
And so when I kind of got intothis, I started understanding, I
think there's over 20,000cosmetologists in Austin, like 10,000
barbers.
That might not be exactly correct.
Right.
This year in 2025.
But we don't haverepresentation down there.
And you know, a lot of thethere, you know, billions of dollars

(48:55):
coming through this city and abig chunk of that is going to the
beauty products, barbershops,hair salons.
Like they're very impactfulindividuals and really help the,
the economy.
And you know, nurses havetheir things, H Vacs got theirs,
plumbers, so on and so on.
And I just, when I got intolooking at the board and everything,

(49:16):
going to these board meetings,there would not be that many people
there to represent Us, becausewe didn't have any actual, you know,
law firm representation, letalone 100 barbers to show up to these,
these meetings.
So that's one thing that wereally are trying to work to change
is to give all theseindividuals a voice just like everyone

(49:37):
else.
So it's crazy that that's notthe case and it's still kind of the
wild west in that fashion.
But hopefully before too long,we'll, we'll get that change somehow.
I love that.
You know, it's.
And this is a really hot topicright now.
I was talking to a gentlemanat an event I spoke at in Minneapolis
not too long ago.

(49:58):
Shout out to Phil Olson.
He's got so good marketing.
They do, they do anything.
The searches for Barber NearMe, H Vac Near Me, those types of
searches, they have one of thevery best products for that that
I've ever seen.
So anybody that, anybody outthere listening, reach out to Phil,

(50:19):
I say Phil, Paul, Paul Olson.
Olson at so good.
And he'll get you, get youguys hooked up for that.
But the conversation aroundlicensing in the state, especially
in Texas, and I know it's hitand miss all over the country, so
this is important foreverybody, listen up.
Because representation on thenational level and at the state level

(50:43):
for all of the trades, youknow, everything from cosmetology
to barbering to, you know, anyother type of trade that requires
a license, it's under fireright now.
And now, especially in Texas,our long sitting governor, I won't
mention any names, love him orhate him, he does not believe that
any skilled person should makemore than $15 an hour.

(51:05):
He believes every single tradeshould make minimum wage and not
be licensed.
And it's a very core belief of his.
And it's painful to me to hearthat, especially knowing that we
literally hold.
Even as a barber, you havelike, I mean, your schooling is what
so much of it is, health andanatomy and physiology.
You literally have people'shealth in your hands.

(51:27):
And you know, we can killpeople if we don't hook up a gas
line ride or you know, carbonmonoxide, all those types of things.
And he's wanting to take thelicensing away.
So this is a really importantconversation right now in our current
climate.
Yeah, I mean, at the end ofthe day, like, and it doesn't even
have to do with industry.
Right.
Like, the people at that downthere making those decisions, they

(51:48):
don't care.
They just got a clerk and theclerk comes in front of them, tells
them this is what's important,this is who's here?
Like, if we got to be the onesto represent.
Like, you know, if you're ha.
If you're having a meetingdown at tdlr, like, I've gone down
there and seen, like, if noone shows up at your meeting, they're
just going to pass whateverthey want to pass and the business

(52:10):
is going to do whatever theywant to do because no one's paying
attention and no one careseither way.
Right.
So it's not even that difficult.
We just have to show up andsay, hey, my trade is here.
These are the things that areimportant to us.
And it doesn't necessarilyhave to do with great sums of money,
but you have to show up as awhole of an industry or else that's
exactly what they're going to do.

(52:31):
And it's something that wehave the ability to change at the
moment, but that might changeif we don't do something about it
pretty soon.
And, you know, all of us are.
Are with it there.
Barbering industry in particular.
Not too long ago when I wentto barber school, it was 1500 hours
to get your license.
Now it's a thousand hours toget your license.

(52:52):
Right.
And so I.
And it's just kind of slowlykind of creeping.
That's why they're going to doit slow, because they're going to
bump it up.
Oh, well, you know, they.
They rebelled.
All.
All the electricians gottogether and they didn't bump that.
They didn't agree with that law.
So we're going to table thatuntil the next two years.
And then what they're going todo is they're going to come back
in the next two years andthey're going to hope that you don't

(53:12):
come back again and you'regoing to forget about it.
And they do that about all.
I've seen it happen, all these things.
And it's not like they'redoing anything wrong.
It's just where's the supportand what's in front of.
I think that's what kind ofshocked me once.
I kind of got in a little peekbehind the door and figured out what's
kind of going on.
That's kind of.
It was shocking to kind offind that it was more about a lot

(53:34):
of these industries and ours included.
There's just not much representation.
So, of course, if they havelobbyists on the other side saying,
hey, we should do this, yeah,this is.
Why wouldn't we do that?
They're the only ones.
Nobody's opposed to it.
So I guess so, yeah.
So definitely important.
And as individuals, we reallyhave a lot more power with that,
with our unions, with ourgroups than we think we do and definitely

(53:59):
shouldn't take that for granted.
100% agree.
And it, you know, it's veryclear in government when people don't
oppose something, it just happens.
I mean, we can watch theHandmaid's Tale and see what happens
if we don't stand up to thingsthat we don't agree with.
So I'm a big advocate for, youknow, of course, obviously a big

(54:22):
advocate for the trades, allthe trades.
And this is why I wanted tohave you on.
Because a lot of people, youknow, in, you know, the, in home
services don't understand thatthe trades means a lot more than
just, hey, I'm working onsomeone's home.
You know, there's a lot oftrades that are especially underrepresented.
And I'm definitely here tosupport you along the way.

(54:44):
And, you know, anything we cando to help with this fight, we're
there for you.
Because I think this is thetime of, you know, we're in 2025.
This is a time where we allhave to stand together, otherwise
we're going to get bulldozed,like you were just saying.
And you know, there's, there'stoo many lives on the, on, on the
line to allow that to happenand too many incomes and families

(55:06):
that depend on this, on all ofthese industries, you know, to allow
that to happen.
Yeah, I agree.
And just to play devil'sadvocate, so let's say we don't do
anything about it, right?
They change it and theyderegulate everything.
Well, that would suck.
But that's only going to lastfor a little while.
And then what they're going todo is they're going to go the complete
other direction eventually.

(55:28):
And then they're gonna overgovern everything that was completely
decentralized.
If we think it's hard now orit sucks when they deregulate, let's
wait till that pendulum swimsback the other way and then that's
going to be a situation thatno one wants to deal with.
Right, true.
You know, it's, it's interesting.
I was in my event last week in Boston.

(55:49):
This is a, this topic came upand from the stage I was saying we
have a short window,especially in the H Vac industry
and the H Vac plumbing andelectrical right now.
There's some real bad applesthat are running the, you know, a
huge platform that's ruining alot of the industry and federal,

(56:11):
the FBI is looking into it aswe speak.
And so it's like we've got ashort window to spread the word as
fast as possible to do thingsthe right way, bring trust back to
all the trades, raise the integrity.
Or when federal regulationcomes in, it can cripple an industry
in no time.
We've seen it happen withother industries and all of a sudden

(56:33):
we're just a commodity.
And it's so regulated, thereis no ability stand out and be exceptional
because everyone is forced todo the exact same thing all day long.
And so just.
It runs any bit of capitalismwith inside that, because we're all
the same now.
So why would anybody pay morethan $7 haircut for anybody?

(56:55):
Yep.
Yep.
15 bucks an hour, right?
Yep.
That's it.
Man, I love this conversation.
I never knew where.
I never know where they'regoing to go.
And it just always lands insome fun spots.
Heck yeah, man.
It's been.
It's been great, you know, andit's been fun coming on kind of hearing
all this, this conversationand understanding that it's not just

(57:15):
our industry, that a lot ofthese things are.
Are the same and the ways thatwe can complement each other has
been awesome because, youknow, you always want to hear from
your H Vac guy about a plumberor about electrician or where they
get their haircut and vice versa.
And so right now, there's somany quote unquote small businesses

(57:38):
that have not been taken overby a big conglomerate that are spread
all across this entire countrywho have the value and the manpower
and the financial ability todo amazing things and keep it with
the people.
I think it's just importantthat kind of like you having me on
today, that we just kind ofunderstand that and are able to connect

(57:58):
and interact with each otherand kind of grow our networks.
100% agree with that, man.
Something this podcast isknown for is giving everybody out
there really actionable,something they can take and implement
right away.
I've said for a long time,success happens at the speed of implementation.

(58:19):
I'm going to throw you acurveball question here.
Sure.
As a longtime barber and we'vehad this conversation in the past,
but I want to hear from youbecause there's a big opportunity
for referrals with someone inyour position.
So if someone comes to you andsay they're in whatever home service,

(58:40):
if it's solar H vac orplumbing or whatever it is, what
would a conversation soundlike that would really make you sit
up and listen?
And actually something thatyou would want to start passing referrals
back and forth with that person.

(59:01):
What would that sound like?
Because there's so muchopportunity there.
But nobody really thinks aboutthis as such a big hub for that type
of thing.
Yeah, 100%.
And for me I think it's themost valuable part of my industry
is the community and the connections.
And you know, I think that'skind of like a multi headed answer

(59:25):
there for that questionbecause I think people are different
and businesses are different.
And so me as an individual,one of the things that I do is I
try and connect like mindedindividuals with other like minded
individuals.
Like A might not be right forD, but might be right for C.
And so I try and put those twopeople in contact.
Like if I know a builder or adeveloper and you know, I know another

(59:50):
guy who does the H Vac orplumbing or real estate or whatever,
which happens all the time.
I'm always trying to gelpeople who will work well with each
other and have like a goodpersonality fit, assuming all the
foundations are there, right?
Like you have to be a goodhuman being.
Something that shows me whathappens is when you show up to your

(01:00:12):
appointment on time or early,like I'm just like a very observant
person person.
And so you can, you, those arekind of the things you can't talk
about, right?
That you, when you noticesomeone's habits, like you can have
a really good lip service butyour habits are going to give you
away every time.
So I'm always, you know,especially when you start getting
into these bigger contracts,like some of these guys are going
in and bidding on $7 millionjobs, a million dollar jobs, getting

(01:00:36):
in with the state having afive year contract that's going to
bring you who knows how muchmoney, right?
And so like me as a barber,I'm not going to send someone over
there who's a generalcontractor to try and bid for some
of these jobs.
And they're always 10 minuteslate to their appointment.
Every once in a while theirpayment doesn't work, they've got

(01:00:57):
an excuse.
What, they're rude to otherpeople, you know what I mean?
Like I'm gonna find, I, I seepictures of their work, it's not
that great.
Like, and kind of the otherend of that spectrum, you can be
the nicest guy in the world,but if your product isn't worth where
it's going to be sent to, it'sgoing to do you and me a disservice

(01:01:19):
to do that recommendation, right?
So for me, anytime I Passsomeone's information to another.
It's because I'm trying to bean asset to both parties, and I think
it's something that is gonna,like, mutually benefit both other
parties, because they'realready coming and paying me, so
I'm trying to give somethingback to them.
And, you know, hey, Drew, youknow, I got this tech company, and

(01:01:42):
I'm.
I'm looking to fill two salespositions or.
Or whatever the case may be.
You know, I'm a landscaper, man.
You know, anybody that's got aneighborhood going in or anything
that we can try and get in onthe ground floor, that's, like, the
best part of my job.
But I can connect two people,and they fit, and then I see that
they're both making money andboth, like, being successful off

(01:02:03):
a connection that I puttogether, I'm like, hell, yeah.
Love it.
Good stuff.
So everybody listening?
One.
I mean, step one is findyourself a great barber, because
all of you out there, you'vegot to look like.
Was it like, the new penny?
Yeah.
Every time you get off that chair.
Like, what does Deion Sanders say?
Look good, feel good, feelgood, Play good, play good.

(01:02:25):
They pay good.
Mm.
It's important.
Like, it happens all the time.
Like, I'll.
I'll have someone come inwho's, let's say, been getting super
cuts.
No shade to super cuts oranybody else.
Right.
But going to a different typeof barbershop experience.
And then they come in to see me.
Like, my favorite thing is,like, most of the time, they don't
know what.

(01:02:46):
How other people are going totreat them with a good haircut.
So I.
I just wait on it to the nexttime I see them, because they don't
understand.
Like, a lot of people willjust look at it as, like, a dollar
value.
Oh, your haircuts are 70 dol.
Like, are you kidding me?
It's like someone who saysthat doesn't.
Hasn't had the experience ofgetting that grade A haircut and

(01:03:07):
then going out into public andseeing how people treat them right.
People so differently.
Maybe like an H VAC systemgetting put in your house that's
done properly.
The people are clean.
They don't leave trash everywhere.
They're in and out.
When they say they're supposedto be when you're done, you're like,
damn, that was a great service.
It was worth probably paying alittle more.

(01:03:29):
They even wrote theinstructions down for me on how to
program everything or whatever.
Like, just the difference invariance in situation, I think.
Oh, you've Nailed it.
So much so.
So for everybody, listen, one,you gotta.
You gotta look good, playgood, feel good, they pay good.
Second part of this is so manyof you, I know hundreds of you, thousands

(01:03:50):
of you, list that listen tothe show, are sleeping on this.
So make sure this is the other.
The other side of that is whenyou get connected to somebody that's
worth.
That's worth getting a cutfrom and pay the money to.
And just like what we do, we.
When you set your priceshigher, you get better clients.

(01:04:12):
When you find someone that'sworth getting a cut from, pay more
for the extra service, paymore for the better cut.
Because what that means is thepeople sitting in their chair is
going to be your best fitbuyer for your services as well,
because that demographicdoesn't change.
And so don't sleep on this.

(01:04:32):
Make a solid connection withsomebody, a barber or a hairstylist
that does a really exceptionaljob that charges the right prices
for it, and you'll be amazedat what comes out of that, strictly
because you show up, be thatperson worth buying from, and then
they recognize that.
And, you know, and foreverybody, I can tell you, Drew's

(01:04:53):
connected me some to somereally cool people over the years
that we've done some reallycool stuff with.
And, you know, it justhappened out of relationship.
It wasn't for anything elseother than, you know what.
I thought of something.
I need to connect you to this guy.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's so true.
And it's a.
It's a beautiful.
It's so beautiful.
Like, your network is your net worth.
Right?

(01:05:13):
Like, everyone always says that.
It's so true.
And I just feel so blessed tojust be, like, someone who's, like,
being able to be in the middleof that and have that ecosystem.
And it's hard out here, man.
It's hard.
If it was easy, everybodywould do it, right?
But.
Man, I appreciate it.
Well, it is time to land this plane.

(01:05:35):
So, man, I'm so grateful youcame on the show today.
This has been so much fun.
Any parting words or words ofwisdom or nuggets you want to drop
on anybody before we sign off here?
Oh, man.
You know, Sam, it's always apleasure every time you come through,
man, to the barbershop, you.
You're lifting up the shop andgiving us all positive vibes.
And so it's been, you know,such a pleasure being able to be

(01:05:57):
your barber and service you inthat way and see your growth over
this time, you know, from thepodcast to the book to the speaking
to the different companieslike, you know, people like that,
like you, you're, you're hardworking and a lot of times you got
your nose to the grindstone.
You don't really understandthe effect that you're having on
other people.
But just know that it's, youknow, it's noticed, bro.

(01:06:19):
Keep fighting the good fight.
And as far as us, if you'reinterested in barbering service in
Austin, Texas, come see me atFamous Fades.
Yeah, give everybody all yourinfo, man.
How they get a hold of you,your Insta so they can follow you
and see what you do.
All the things.
Okay.
Yeah, Instagram, Famous Fades.
I got tons of haircut productvideos up there.
If you're looking for anypremium men's grooming products,

(01:06:42):
you can catch us@famous hair.com.
that's famous with the.
Yeah, I love it.
And I can give a shout out too.
I've used the.
I love having a knowing I'vegot a nice clean, non toxic product
in my hair.
You know, this is one of thethings we talk about on the show
a lot is health and, andnutrition and fitness and you know,

(01:07:02):
what we put on our skin and onour body is important as what we
put in it.
When it comes to, you know,artificial sweeteners, etc.
You know, same thing.
If we're putting chemicals onus all the time, then you know, our
skin.
Skin is what, the largestorgan in the body that absorbs everything
that touches it?
Yeah, most absorbent.
And it's not what you do oncein a while that affects you, it's

(01:07:25):
what you do every day that isthe consistency is what's going to
get you.
So if you're consistentlyputting bad products on your head
or your skin over 10 years ora longer time period, who knows what's
going to happen.
And kind of the opposite ofthat, if you're taking good care
of your hair, good care ofyour skin using good products, well
then you know, when timeexpands out, that's also going to

(01:07:48):
show.
It's a quick side note foreverybody listening, I'm going to.
This is new information.
My red light therapy cap gotdelivered today.
So I'm going to for everybody,if you've seen any of those and you've
got a receding hairline, Ifound, I bought one.
And so I'll be reporting backto you on the podcast, let you know
if they work or not and so youcan pick one up.

(01:08:10):
So Drew, next time you see me,we'll do a quick comparison and see
if it's working.
Hell, yeah, so.
Well, man, it's been a pleasure.
I appreciate every bit of thewisdom you dropped on us.
It's really cool hearing ajourney still within the trades,
but outside of what we wouldnormally kind of consider in that

(01:08:32):
same space and realizing howsimilar so much of what you do is,
from the sales conversation tothe vertical integration.
I didn't used to always getthe works every time I came.
And one time you're like, hey,you know what?
You combined this service andthis service.
You know, you probably want tojust do this because when we bundle

(01:08:52):
it together, it's cheaper andyou get a lot more bang for your
buck.
And I said, you know what?
Let's give it a try.
And after that experience,I've never gone back.
And so, same thing with the.
With the products.
And it's the same conversationwe all have, no matter what we're
doing.
And it's fun to realize thatend of the day, we're way more similar
than we are different, man, so much.

(01:09:12):
You know, we all need eachother and, you know, it's easier
with other people.
And, like, at least for me, Itry and be one of the people that
I want to run into out in the world.
Working so far, we couldn'thave ended on any better of a statement.
So for everybody, listen.
You know how we always do makesure it's getting hot out there.

(01:09:33):
You're going to be seeing alot of people.
You go out there and besomeone worth buying from.
You've been listening to theClose it now podcast.
Our passion is to dive headfirst into the transformative movement
that's reshaping the veryfoundation of H VAC and home improvement
and at the same time, coveringfitness, nutrition, relationships

(01:09:55):
and personal growth, provingthat we can indeed have it all.
We hope you've enjoyed the show.
If you did, make sure to,like, rate and review.
We'll be back soon, but in themeantime, find the website@CloseItNow.net
find us on Instagramherealcloseitnow and on Facebook

(01:10:16):
@CloseItNow.
See you next time.

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