April 9, 2025 • 43 mins
Clay Hudspeth of HudX Excavation takes us on a journey through his entrepreneurial evolution, sharing the wisdom gained from over 25 years in the blue-collar world. After building a successful landscaping business with multiple crews, Clay completely restructured his approach with his excavation company, focusing on quality over quantity and implementing a strategic business model designed with an exit strategy in mind.
Clay's refreshingly honest perspective cuts through typical business advice, revealing how keeping overhead manageable and maintaining a small, focused team allows his company to deliver exceptional service at competitive prices. "There are a lot of companies out there that have grown to a point where their overhead can equal almost what the job is going to cost very quickly," he explains, highlighting the sweet spot his company occupies between small operations and large contractors.
The conversation delves deep into the challenges of customer relationship management, with Clay offering remarkable insights on navigating the complex dynamics between contractors and homeowners. His approach to transparent communication, honest pricing discussions, and genuine follow-through has built HudX's stellar reputation. "Just asking them what they like and repeating it later makes them know you were listening," Clay shares, emphasizing how these seemingly simple practices put his company ahead of competitors.
Perhaps most valuable is Clay's perspective on perseverance through business challenges. "In the 25, 30 years I've been doing this, the things I can remember having major worries about are just water under the bridge now," he reflects, encouraging listeners to maintain their integrity through difficult situations. His experience shows that properly handled problems often transform challenging customers into your strongest advocates.
Ready to transform your blue-collar business approach? Listen now to gain actionable strategies from someone who's navigated decades of industry evolution and learned what truly matters for sustainable success.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast
, where we discuss the realest,rawest, most relevant stories
and strategies behind buildingevery corner of a blue collar
business.
I'm your host, cy Kirby, and Iwant to help you in what it took
me trial and error and a wholelot of money to learn the
information that no one in thisindustry is willing to share.
Whether you're under that shadetree or have your hard hat on,
(00:30):
let's expand your toolbox.
Welcome back to the Blue CollarBusiness Podcast, sponsored by
podcastvideoscom, and I ambringing you a live action guest
here from the beautifulnewscast room is what they call
this on our beautiful new 4Kcameras.
Shout out to those guys, gocheck them out at
(00:52):
podcastvideoscom.
That's where we've been hostingthe show for oh, I think we're
coming up on right at one yearanniversary, so be looking out
for that.
I have a very experienced,educated guest today that has
some mindset.
We've been sitting here we gotcaught up, gavin, we were
(01:13):
supposed to have a 10 minuteintro and we've been sitting
here talking for 30 minutes oninsights and he's taught me a
few perspective switches.
So today I'm bringing you guysClay Hudspeth with HUD-X
Excavation.
We're going to be talking abouthis view from 20 years.
(01:34):
This guy was an entrepreneur inthe 90s.
I was born in the 90s, justshowing my age just a little bit
, but how we manage that andbasically managing labor
nowadays and how he's combatingthat.
And furthermore, mr Clay, thankyou so much for joining me.
Seriously, very welcome, mrClay.
(01:58):
The Blue Collar Business Podcastis literally designed for
gentlemen like you that havebeen behind the scenes working
um in these industry types for20, 25 years.
And it's just like you saidearlier it was.
It's taken me 20 years tofigure out how to do this and I
(02:19):
know, just like we were talkingon uh, myself like I, I wish I
could turn back the dial fiveyears and tell myself hey,
stupid, don't do this.
And this is exactly why wedesigned the show and I couldn't
be any more excited.
If you wouldn't mind, brother,just give us a little bit of
insight on the background.
I know you already shared withme earlier, but share for the
(02:42):
audience today and I'm reallyintrigued.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
But we've been doing excavation and high-end
landscaping for the last fiveyears under the business of
HUD-X.
As you said before that.
I did landscaping for 20 yearsin this area for myself and
(03:10):
decided to kind of switch thingsover, try to use a little more
equipment, thought it would makethings a little easier on um.
We mostly do um smallexcavation um new houses, dig
out for driveways, footers,install drainage drains around
(03:35):
the house, irrigation systemswill design and install
landscaping as well.
So pretty much anything outsidethat needs to be dug we can
pretty much help you out.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So essentially you guys are, minus the irrigation
and the landscape design part ofthings.
You guys are handling what wewould all be after, which is the
the home builder of you knowthree or four homes.
(04:12):
Hey, I've got a couple ofdriveways.
I'm building these three orfour homes.
I got the sidewalk rough gradein the yard.
Um, that's what every mini xand skids to your guy.
I was begging for those guys andespecially if they'd pay within
30 days.
You know I was hammering thoseguys and but coming from the
landscape side of things, um,you said there you had quite a
(04:34):
few crews that you had worked upto and um, did you just
self-taught irrigation?
Did you in the landscape sideof things?
Was it more of a um propertymaintenance side of things, or
was it a um just hard installs?
I mean, I didn't know anythingabout excavation when I got in
(04:55):
it, other than my grandfatherwas um, basically a hard-nosed
union guy and I wantedeverything to do with and I
thought machines were cool.
You know what I mean.
So when did that kind of allcome together for you?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
um, I've always worked outside from when I was
little, all the way through,went to college for um, um,
design architecture, uh,landscape architecture.
Then we were able to justtransition into a lot more for
(05:39):
contractors, in the sense thatbeforehand we were working
mostly residential, straight tohomestead, mostly for the
homeowner, which has its meritsthey're not always looking for
the quickest and the cheapestRight, whereas your contractors
really wanting not necessarilythe cheapest, but they don't
(06:02):
want a lot of profit, that youknow, leaving their product.
So, um, it can kind of balancedepending on who you really like
to, uh, how you like to getpaid and who you like to to work
for.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
So, um, the owner negotiated from.
I mean, that's a dream for anycontractor.
To begin with, yeah, yeah,working directly with the
homeowner or, in the commercialside, directly with the
developer or the ownership team,that's exactly what you want to
do.
But but you're right, itdoesn't always have.
It has its merits, but itdefinitely has its cons.
(06:39):
Things change rapidly and Icould only imagine working on
landscape installs.
It's uh, hey, I, I thought wetalked about putting this bush
there kind of thing and thenjust repetitively, over, over
and over again Um, hey, we'redone with the install.
Well, and I could only imagine.
(06:59):
I, I can't say I hate it.
I really didn't love workingwith homeowners from the
excavation side of things, whichwasn't doing any type of
landscaping, it was just a roughgrade, final grade.
They'll come in sod behind me,other than from the simple fact,
like you're saying, they have awhole vision, they want to do
(07:20):
this in their backyard and weget to kind of help with that
project.
From that standpoint, um,working with the homeowner was
was great, but nine chances outof ten it's coming through.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
A contractor like you're talking about, right,
right, so which the thecontractors we work for at the
moment, I think uh, like thefreedom of being able to hand
off the house unfinished toanother contractor, and it says
that it allows them to work on alot of the small details on the
(07:52):
interior of the house withouthaving to worry about anything
on the outside getting done, puta lot of that responsibility
off on us versus being kind of apart of it, which I've really
enjoyed.
So the contractors we work forkind of remove themselves once
(08:13):
we get to that landscapingaspect and then we just work
directly with the home, andthat's so weird.
Yeah, that is something.
So we work for the contractorand then we work for the
homeowner and then we're kind ofhaving to you having to work
alongside the contractor at theend of the project, and so that
is so weird because a lot oftimes, yeah, honestly, again not
(08:36):
having the landscaper side ofit.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
For some reason and I don't know if it's just this
area specifically, but I'veworked for a lot of builders
they always exclude landscaping.
They always exclude landscapingand normally the guy that's
coming in to do the finish gradethat's the only experience I
have they want to keep it ascheap as possible.
They don't bring no dirt in.
(09:00):
You know from that new housementality, the contractor but
yeah, so you kind of getsandwiched there.
You got to deal with both ofthem.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I do, which, uh, the contractors we have, um, you
know, they vet us just as muchas we vet them.
Um, you know, if you know if weweren't easy to work with, they
wouldn't be with us, and ifthey weren't easy to work with
they wouldn't be with us, and ifthey weren't easy to work with
I wouldn't be working with themas well.
You know, I've worked with somecontractors in the past, which
has taken me, you know, two tothree months to get paid.
(09:33):
These guys are really quick atgetting money moved around, not
necessarily having to make adime off of everything that we
do Right, which really thenallows me to work directly with
the homeowner and finances aswell.
So then, things move reallyquick on that side as well.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
A lot of flexibility too.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
That far.
As far as finances, the waywe've kind of got it worked Cash
flows, everything as you knowit is it's hard.
You can't keep employees if youcan't keep them paid.
That's right, and you know youcan't pay them well enough for
them to want to show up.
Um, you can't get the work doneand you're not going to get the
(10:16):
good word and so, um.
So it's a balancing act all theway across the board.
You were before we?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
um, just just trying to follow the timeline here.
Um, you went through kind ofthe 08 era there but you were
dealing with a lot of commercialand residential.
You had, I mean, built thislandscape company to something
and here you are navigatingthrough all of that.
Um, you ran up to four or fivecrews.
(10:48):
You had said at one point I'mlike that is a four or five
crews at anything outsideplanning, managing, coordinating
all of that is just it's reallydifficult to do, um, but then
you kind of were were sharingthere for just a few minutes
that you wanted.
You didn't have as much of aplan in mind of where that
(11:12):
landscape company was goingcompared to what you're doing in
the model structure of businessnow.
And I can't tell you how manyguys that are probably listening
, and myself included that startthis venture with no real end
game in plant or five-year goalto get to an end game.
You know, and I encourage whatMr Clay I hope it will share a
(11:34):
little bit more insight with uson is just how he was dealing
with a 20-year landscape, didn'tshare it with me, there wasn't
quite an exit strategy, but nowhe has built a what I'm very
excited to share with youexcavation guys and how he is
structured and I know we've gotsome audience members that
hopefully are structured thesame but, um, the insight he's
(11:57):
going to share is completeopposite from where I'm at
having to have 20 employees toget done, multiple crews and the
headaches we shared.
But if you wouldn't mindsharing a little bit of that and
navigating from going from thelandscape and now you guys are
(12:17):
rocking and rolling with HunXhere and how you guys kind of
form that out.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Like you said I really had.
When I started originallyworking for myself, it was
because I liked the freedomsthat it does provide.
Yes, sir, you know you go fromworking 40 hours a week to
working 90 hours a week.
You don't really stop working.
You know I have clients text me.
(12:46):
You know Sunday night at 930 inthe evening, or you know 5
o'clock in the morning on aTuesday, that's right, it never
stops.
But the freedoms that it doescreate.
I did like Right.
I liked working for myselfbusiness that would accomplish
(13:07):
the goal of being able to sellor hand off to someone else,
that there was still a benefitfrom it when I get out of it.
Yes, sir.
Instead I worked until a pointwhere I felt like I didn't want
to work quite that hard doinglandscape any longer and I got
(13:27):
out and started progressingtowards a couple of other ideas
and realized pretty quickly thatif I'd set things up a lot
differently throughout that20-year venture, that I could
have sold that business, that Icould have merged it into
someone else and been able tohave a return off of all of the
(13:52):
efforts that I'd done, the timeinvested.
And it just wasn't therebecause I didn't have that
planned, yep.
Whereas now we're really tryingto have a goal where we
progress forward in a directionthat will create a business that
can hopefully be sold tosomeone that would benefit
(14:13):
someone else's business, but yetwhen we're ready to get out, we
still get the return from therest of that company.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
And I think you hit the nail on the head, and
there's probably so many guys.
I sit on the show and onYouTube all the time Plan, plan,
strategize, hey, forecastbudget, and I wasn't doing a lot
of that for a lot of years.
I mean, it's not just up untilthe last 18 months where I've
really had to re-gear everythingthat I was doing as an owner.
(14:41):
I mean, I was still dealingwith posture syndrome of, hey,
you own this thing, like you'vecreated it, like these people
are waiting on you to lead andset these things up.
But it took me so much longerthan I ever thought it would and
I had a beautiful wife sittingthere reminding me, hey, can we
(15:01):
slow down just a little bit onall this growth?
And hey, why don't we set upsome systems and procedures?
And you know some of the smaller, finite things that are needed
to do what we were doing.
But so I think it's so coolbecause it's an interesting
model, that I don't think manyexcavation guys, a lot of
(15:31):
landscapers, um, doing alreadypredominant landscaping, trying
to make the shift over intohardscaping I see that more
common.
But you guys have more set outto be excavation with the
landscape.
So it's kind of backwards fromwhat you hear, a lot of this
generalistic from what I hear,right, right.
So, um, hardscaping, irrigation, irrigation, the whole nine.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I mean there's obviously a little bit of a
market for that, I would assume,definitely, definitely.
There are a lot of companiesout there right now that provide
services that have grown to apoint where they're overhead can
equal almost what the job isgoing to cost Very quickly.
So having a smaller companythat can still provide some of
(16:17):
these mid-sized services thatdon't have to triple or
quadruple the amounts just to beable to keep the business
running, there's definitely alot of need for that.
I think in this area 100%You've got plenty of guys that
(16:37):
mow and mulch and do a littlebit of maintenance.
It's not really thatinstallation but when you get to
that other end you have mostlyjust large companies and that
middle area still kind of, Ithink, has a lot of potential
(17:00):
100%.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
This area is so unique and there's not many
areas in the country like theone we are so blessed to to live
in.
But, um, the landscape side ofthings I know I keep keep
running back to, but you hadsaid something in our intro call
.
And when you keep things lowoverhead, um, it don't have to
(17:23):
carry a bunch of guys.
You've got three key players inyour, your all's operation and
you being one of them, um, whenyou guys do a job, the level of
service that you're getting,when you do a job with y'all.
You said, hey, we don't reallydo irrigation maintenance, but
when we install an entire uh,some of I think they're called
(17:47):
units, right, or zones, as Ithink that's right so an entire
zoned unit, we want to make surewhen we come back in the
wintertime I'm going to comeback to you and go, hey, let me
tear down this entire setup sowe know it's going to fire back
up in spring, that's insane justhaving that.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
That correct maintenance.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah, it is, it's a level of service, though I think
that a lot of biggercontractors tend to.
I can't really say that.
There's a lot of them that justdon't care, but I think there's
a lot of contractors that getcaught up in the trying to just
keep the monster afloat and theylose the little things of hey,
(18:35):
something like that hey, weinstalled your backflow and
everything and we want to comeback in six months and make sure
it works.
That's insane.
Most guys are given thetaillight warranty and as soon
as you know they hit the nextfour way, you can't see them
taillights.
They don't want you callingthem again and and I.
And it goes to exactly what themodel that you guys are trying
to do.
And um, managing labor nowadaysis just not even.
(19:01):
It's not even fun.
No matter, I'm super blessed tohave the team that I have.
I have gone through a lot ofindividuals that didn't align
with me, didn't align with thecompany, didn't align with our
(19:22):
values, but there is a huge gapin the labor force that we're
trying to combat.
I had, not too long ago,springdale School District does
a CDL program.
They do heavy excavation at thehigh school level.
So I'm really trying to get inwith that, but trying to shine
(19:42):
light on that and close that gap, because there's not enough
people out here willing to takethe time, jump on a podcast and
go, hey, we've got a freakingserious issue.
You're already combating theissue by not having to deal with
as much labor when you'veprobably dealt with 20, 25 guys
building the landscape.
And it's just.
(20:03):
It's really unique to see that,hey, you can perform these
midsize level contracts or evenlarger contracts with
well-planned, executed, managedlabor and the overhead's.
Another big thing is keepingthat overhead low.
Guys.
I can't tell you from anexcavation standpoint.
(20:23):
I have done the me and threeguy thing.
I've done the me and six guything.
I've done the managers and allthe man.
The profitable sweet spot isone to you and five guys and
making sure you do a dang goodjob that the next person tells
you about them.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
It.
It definitely is going to, uh,I think, allow you to sit in an
area of a little more profitwith keeping your overhead down.
Uh, the the way work happens,it's kind of a ebb and flow and
(21:03):
beast or famine, and you know,being able to balance things in
that worst time is really whereyou find your weakness.
You know, if you can't make itthrough, you know that time
(21:31):
where things are drying up orthings are too wet, or, you know
, due to the fact that you justhave so many employees, you know
, yeah, it starts affecting allof your employees, not just the
ones that you may not.
You question whether you'regoing to keep or not.
Good point, you know, thenyou're not paying the ones that
you are wanting to keep andit'll just take a long way
(21:52):
across.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
It's the profitability killer, is the
complacency just trying to feedthe monster.
And I've had a little bit ofexperience with that myself, sir
Not planning, not strategizing,not budgeting, not forecasting,
not having an understanding ofany of that, and I still have
none of it perfected.
(22:13):
I'm learning every day, butI've finally started taking the
time and reaching out and you'vebeen kind of hitting around
about it, but you don't knowwhat you don't know.
Kind of hidden around about it,but you don't know what you
don't know.
And I didn't know a lot ofthese things that, um, as I was
growing that I wish I did, therewas people throwing things at
me, trying to warn me, ie mywife and several other people
(22:35):
that love me.
But now I have had to go topeople and hey, fractional CFO,
you really have an understandingof what needs to happen here.
I don't.
Can you take the time?
Sure, and she's passionateabout it.
I don't know what I'm doing.
Neither you know to that level,and my wife has done such a
great job, and the ladies in theoffice, but you just don't know
(22:57):
what you don't know.
And it's to that experience ofalready managing labor and
dealing with people andhomeowners and contractors for
20 plus years to walk into whatyou guys are doing now puts a
different view on it.
You know what I mean.
And to know that, walking inwhere you can go, profitability
(23:20):
standpoint, if we can keep itnot necessarily trying to keep
it that, but in this realm righthere, guys, I think we can keep
it, not necessarily trying tokeep it that, but in this realm
right here guys, I think we cando this.
And you guys are five years indoing this model, right, right,
well done, sir that's uh it,like you said we had.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I had a lot of experience getting up to this
point of running people goingthrough um, good times and hard
times, and so, exactly like yousaid, if you don't know what you
don't know, you try to plan forthe future.
Without seeing those ups anddowns, it's pretty impossible to
(24:01):
plan for all of them.
So it's pretty impossible toplan for all of them.
Knowing how your employees aregoing to affect the amount of
work and how that affects theamount of money coming in, and
just being able to balance allof those things, you feel more
like you're in a circus jugglinga long time Boy do I Real quick
(24:27):
here?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
I've got to give a shout-out to our guys over at
Blue Collar PerformanceMarketing Ike and his team.
They have been helping thePsyCon team and been helping
behind the scenes here with theBlue Collar Business Podcast and
helping push it out.
Blue Collar Business podcastand helping push it out.
(24:50):
They are an incredible team.
From a value standpoint of I'man excavation guy and I'm trying
to tiptoe into the marketingworld.
Obviously we're pushing prettyhard, but I needed somebody to
guide me.
I don't know what I'm doingwith the marketing side of
things.
I'm just creating content.
There was no strategy behind it.
Marketing side of things I'mjust creating content.
There was no strategy behind itand Ike and his team have done
a great job, pointing me in theright direction and making sure
(25:10):
I'm spending my dollars wiselyon sponsored ads, targeted ads.
So shout out to those guys andthank you so much for your avid
sponsorship here on the BlueCollar Business Podcast.
I've got something else that Ithink you can share major
insight on.
It's developing that reputationof good quality work is one
(25:34):
thing, but just being personablewith people and being good to
people Talk a little bit aboutthat.
I know you've probably had yourfair share of insight of doing
the little things and makingsure you're leaving a quality
product and building thatpersonal relationship with
(25:54):
you've navigated homeowners andcontractors at the same time.
There's probably no betterperson to speak on.
This is making navigating thoserelationships to ensure that
money's coming in the door.
You know right?
Um sorry if I just threw one atyou um?
Speaker 2 (26:15):
what was the question ?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
basically, um help us , from 25 years of experience of
entrepreneurship, navigatingthose personal relationships
with customers, homeowners, youremployees and making sure
you're delivering a through that, delivering a quality product
(26:38):
every time with your team.
That affects the reputation.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yep, I think a lot of it starts with just your
respect on the phone when youtalk to someone, speaking to
them as if they deserve somerespect, not being short with
them, not letting the rest ofyour day that's already happened
(27:03):
come through the phone on them,um, and then doing what you say
.
If you say you're gonna bethere at nine, be there by nine,
not by nine or ten.
Now, if you're gonna be thereby nine, ten, call them and tell
them you're gonna be late.
All right, that communicationgoes miles, goes a long, long
(27:24):
ways, say, people just want tofeel like they know what's going
on, and the more you cancommunicate that with people,
the better.
Um, then, uh, just trying to uhlisten to what they say.
I've had a lot of clients,especially on the landscaping
side, that say that, uh, they'vehad people come in, talk to
(27:46):
them, do a design for them, andit comes back and it's totally
opposite of what they're wanting, as if they didn't even listen
to the ideas.
Right, they had for their own,you know, and so their own space
.
Just asking them a lot of whatthey like.
You know most people reallydon't have too many exact things
(28:07):
, but they kind of knowgeneralizations, preferences,
right, I like these things tall,I like this to be short, I like
lots of flowers, I like youknow just small things that you
can repeat later, makes themknow that you were listening to
what they were talking about.
Those, just those couple ofthings will already put you
(28:31):
ahead of almost all of the othercontractors and subcontractors
that they're dealing with.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
It's the little things like that that you may
not think are super gamechangers, but those four simple
things.
Absolutely every single timeit's finding something within
your first conversation.
And, if you can add from myexperience, if you can add a
(28:59):
personal touch, if you canremember, hey, I'm actually
running to Jimmy's ballgame andthe next time you're talking,
you're talking about hey, howdid jimmy's ball game go the
other day?
Right, and they're like, well,well, it was good and it's a
totally different call ortransaction because you're
trying to.
At the end of the day, they'vegot to spend money with you and
(29:19):
I think the communication, um,the one thing I would add to
that from my side is I wish Iwould have been a little bit
more transparent with homeownersand early on in the contractor
world, because I always thoughtthat if they knew that I was
making a dollar or I was making10%, oh God, I can't have that.
(29:41):
I always tried to hide it andit just automatically drives
confusion and non-clarity anddistrust.
And would you agree with that?
No, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
A hint of dishonesty, even if you're not being Yep.
Just you know why would you bechanging the numbers or adding
something, like you're slidingit in later, or just a lot of
people just want to be clear.
So the numbers I've found mostof the time people don't have a
(30:18):
problem with discussing realnumbers.
If they do, then we talk aboutphases Phase one, phase two it's
very rarely, is it?
Wow, this is too expensive.
I know what you guys doing thework really say.
I like you guys.
You seem you know like typepeople we want to work with.
How can we make this work?
(30:40):
And you know that goes a longways when you have that
relationship with somebodyversus just giving them a number
.
They don't like it.
You don't ever talk to themagain and you know it's just not
good for business.
And then that also transfersover to the quality that you're
(31:00):
trying to keep going.
You know you want people at theend of the job saying I got a
good job and that quality was apart of it.
I got what I wanted.
They did it quick or in theamount of time that they said
they were going to.
Right, they did the things theysaid they were going to my
price was what we agreed on.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Or you discussed a change Before you did it, or hey
, you know it's I wish I wouldhave.
I was always scared to death tobring things.
It was like almost discussingmoney was taboo in the early
years for me.
Like you're there to deal withmoney, and if I would have just
been a little bit moretransparent and communicated
(31:44):
more often than not.
Now, don't get me wrong,there's bad customers out there.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
There are.
Especially, the lessexperienced you are, the harder
some of those transactions canbe.
When I was, you know I'd onlybeen doing things for a year or
two.
You could get to the end of thejob and have a fear of asking
for the check that they owe you.
You've done everything, you'vedone everything the way it was
supposed to be, but you stillhave that fear of bringing up
(32:13):
the money because of theconflict that could arise.
I think that takes a lot ofexperience as far as just
learning to work with people,knowing how to see some of those
cues.
Of course, early on it alsoleads you into a few spots where
(32:34):
you end up not getting paid,and so then you start having
more detailed contracts, makingsure that your signatures, more
detailed contracts, making surethat your signatures and um, you
know that definitely helps Ithink helps with you feeling
more confident about gettingpaid.
Doesn't always still ensure it,but it does help with the
confidence it's, uh, it was, itwas just so crazy.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And, yeah, getting everything in writing,
everything in writing now, howwe move the commercial world
like we don't do anythingwithout you know, discussing it
over email, and, yes, at timesit just absolutely wears me out
like can we just go to the job,do the job, or, um, in our, in
our side of the coin, it's a lotof time.
It's a rushed design becausethey had, you know, the
(33:22):
commercial.
Hey, we've got this piece ofproperty, we started the clock
and it's the interest clock andthey've got that interest clock
going.
Well.
Now the design.
We need it now.
Now, now, because we justbought the piece of property, we
need to turn it in 90 days.
We need to be a large scale in120.
We need to have the dirt guyout there in 180.
This is six months of interest.
(33:42):
We can't have the dirt guy outthere in 180.
This is six months of interest,we can't and it.
And then by the time we get apiece of equipment on side,
we're like all right, here we go, let's go do this job.
They're already up your throat,where are you at, and you've
got an expense clock and thenwhen that change does happen,
everybody goes ghost quiet.
Hey, I just need an approval onthat email anyhow, I have a
(34:04):
little rant there.
But all about that, thatcommunication and building those
relationships, man, I talkabout on I think every episode
of this show, um, everyWednesday at 5am coming at you
bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom Ihave talked about relationships
and really business isrelationships and how you treat
(34:24):
people, and it's not about youcould probably I hope you speak
on this.
It's not about every smalltransaction, it's the whole
grand scheme picture.
Well, yes, she bugged you aboutthe $300 load of topsoil this
time, but she's got a swimmingpool that needs dug and it's
happening next summer and youknow it and you guys have talked
(34:48):
about it already two or threetimes.
Well, you go take care of thatlittle $300 loaded topsoil and
well, the truck got stuck and inthis $300 look and you're just
like, oh my gosh, you know Ispent a thousand dollars on a
$300 loaded topsoil For a$50,000 pool that you know is
(35:09):
coming next year, next year, andand it's not about, you know,
just making a daggum home runevery single time you transact
and it's building that longevityrelationship and during that
year and a half period, oh,we're gonna have so-and-so, do
our pool and you want the restof town to be able to go.
Oh yeah, actually.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Uh, my uncle had them over there and did so-and-so
and it was awesome and it buildsthat reputation, and that
reputation holds more value andweight than most people would
ever care to probably speak wordof mouth is a powerful form of
advertising in the sense thatyou may reach a thousand people
(35:52):
on the radio, but if you don'treach one of them that fits the
criteria that you need for yourwork, it's just a waste.
Now, like you just said, myuncle's fixing to have a house
built.
He hears how great of a job youdid.
Now you're not even having tobe it against anyone because you
(36:13):
have that assurance from thisperson that you showed up every
day and that you did the workand that you were quality, that
your guys were clean, thatthings went the way they were
supposed to go, and that's justa very powerful way to advertise
without having to constantlybid on work that you're not
(36:38):
seeing the profit margins.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
If it wasn't for word of mouth in the resi world,
like everybody, probably sithere and thinks that I've had
this YouTube channel for yearsand years but it's only for
doing a quality job and takingcare of Karen's bushes, and you
(37:06):
know what I mean.
Doing the small things I wouldhave.
I don't think I'd ever made ithonest to God.
And it's building thoserelationships, building that
word of mouth, clientele and Iknow some of you guys are out
there like, well, that's kind ofbackwards from what you tell us
to do on the marketing side.
You know what?
Get with somebody like BlueCollar Performance Marketing and
(37:26):
they'll ensure that you'respending your money correctly
rather than just dumping yourmoney into marketing like an
excavation guy shouldn't bedoing.
Get the pros and let the prosdo the pros thing.
But I got one last question foryou, sir.
I ask everybody on this showevery episode we end with this
(37:47):
what's a takeaway for just theblue collar worker who is sick
and tired of being stuck in themud and that may be most literal
, like you're thinking, in thoseirrigation muddy ditches, or it
can be a guy up here, andthat's what a lot of us face is
that mental mindset that wecan't get out of?
Speaker 2 (38:09):
and I think that we all have that um from time to
time.
There's no way you're going towork for yourself, and not in
some of those slow moments orwhen something happens beyond
your control.
Go, what am I doing, right,brother?
(38:30):
So that's pretty normal.
I think that putting one footin front of the other, putting
one foot in front of the other.
So in the 25, 30 years I'vebeen doing this, the things that
I can remember having majorworries about are just water
(38:55):
under the bridge.
Now, well, that's reassuring, Ihear you know.
So when there are issues evenif they arise and they seem
pretty big, and keep putting onefoot in front of the other,
it's not going to be long beforeyou're on the other side of it.
The biggest thing is to notlose who you are.
(39:18):
Through those issues and some ofmy biggest issues I've had with
jobs in the past, those peoplebecame those customers, became
my biggest supporters, and itwas because of the effort I was
(39:40):
willing to put in to make surethings were right.
You know, people have materialsthat aren't what they're
supposed to be.
They have things that don't gotogether the way they're
designed to.
There's just always going to besomething, and it's not that
you may have a problem, it's howare you going to handle it.
(40:01):
It's how are you going tohandle it?
You know, the integrity thatyou have through that is going
to catapult your business.
It's not going to destroy yourbusiness, okay, it's.
You sit there and you worry.
It's like I've ruinedeverything.
I'm fixing to just I'm fixingto go under Yep, you know, and
(40:25):
just keep going, because it,honestly, is not quite as bad as
you thought it was and it'sgoing to work out.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Man, that's reassuring.
It's just reassuring to hearand you know what Getting up
watching that sun come up,watching that sun go down every
every day.
And you're right, time, time'sa healer of all.
And, uh, keep on trucking, guys.
And, um, I hope today was someinsight was shared, because some
(40:55):
definite perspective andinsight and reassurance from mr
clay uh, I'm excited to to pickhis brain some more guys, but I
really truly hope you haveenjoyed the insight.
And, as you guys know, I oftensay I sit down here and I learn
myself the entire time we'redoing these shows and this is
(41:17):
exactly why I started.
I get to sit with gentlemenlike yourself that have the
experience and the knowledge andhave lived through it to get
where you're at, and so thankyou very much for taking the
time and joining us today, andso these guys can also get to
hear.
You know it means more than youyou could ever know.
I really appreciate you.
(41:37):
That's how I appreciate beinghere.
Um, and you got anything elsefor anybody else, brother, a
little small shout-out oranything, no, just appreciate my
guys and my crew, everybodythat puts in hard day at HUD-X.
I say you know, Well, where canwe find you guys at on socials?
(42:00):
We have a Facebook.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Okay, I don't do a very good job of keeping it very
updated, uh that we try to picksome, uh, some of our better
pictures.
So I mean you know when you'redoing dirt work a lot of times
there's not a lot of uh progressto show within camera worthy I
understand, uh, you know.
(42:23):
So, seeing a finished house, tome that shows a lot, but most
people just see it as a finishedhouse.
That would probably be the onlyplace you're really going to
find us on social media, okay,though you can always email us
at hudxcogmail Beautiful, Atgmail Yepxgmail Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
At gmail Yep At gmailcom.
There you go.
Yeah, I had to think about that, but well, brother, seriously.
Thank you so much.
I'll be following along, hudx.
We will follow you guys overthere on Facebook.
And until next time, guys,enjoy every other episode over
at bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom.
You can find all our episodesthere, or any, if you're
(43:08):
listening on a streamingplatform, make sure and give us
a rating and a follow for MrClay.
Until next time, guys.
You guys be safe.
If you've enjoyed this episode,be sure to give it a like,
share it with the fellers.
Check out our website to sendus any questions and comments
about your experience in theblue-collar business.
Who do you want to hear from?
Send them our way and we'll doour best to answer any questions
(43:30):
you may have.
Till next time, guys.
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast
, where we discuss the realest,rawest, most relevant stories
and strategies behind buildingevery corner of a blue collar
business.
I'm your host, cy Kirby, and Iwant to help you in what it took
me trial and error and a wholelot of money to learn the
information that no one in thisindustry is willing to share.
Whether you're under that shadetree or have your hard hat on,
(00:30):
let's expand your toolbox.
Welcome back to the Blue CollarBusiness Podcast, sponsored by
podcastvideoscom, and I ambringing you a live action guest
here from the beautifulnewscast room is what they call
this on our beautiful new 4Kcameras.
Shout out to those guys, gocheck them out at
(00:52):
podcastvideoscom.
That's where we've been hostingthe show for oh, I think we're
coming up on right at one yearanniversary, so be looking out
for that.
I have a very experienced,educated guest today that has
some mindset.
We've been sitting here we gotcaught up, gavin, we were
(01:13):
supposed to have a 10 minuteintro and we've been sitting
here talking for 30 minutes oninsights and he's taught me a
few perspective switches.
So today I'm bringing you guysClay Hudspeth with HUD-X
Excavation.
We're going to be talking abouthis view from 20 years.
(01:34):
This guy was an entrepreneur inthe 90s.
I was born in the 90s, justshowing my age just a little bit
, but how we manage that andbasically managing labor
nowadays and how he's combatingthat.
And furthermore, mr Clay, thankyou so much for joining me.
Seriously, very welcome, mrClay.
(01:58):
The Blue Collar Business Podcastis literally designed for
gentlemen like you that havebeen behind the scenes working
um in these industry types for20, 25 years.
And it's just like you saidearlier it was.
It's taken me 20 years tofigure out how to do this and I
(02:19):
know, just like we were talkingon uh, myself like I, I wish I
could turn back the dial fiveyears and tell myself hey,
stupid, don't do this.
And this is exactly why wedesigned the show and I couldn't
be any more excited.
If you wouldn't mind, brother,just give us a little bit of
insight on the background.
I know you already shared withme earlier, but share for the
(02:42):
audience today and I'm reallyintrigued.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
But we've been doing excavation and high-end
landscaping for the last fiveyears under the business of
HUD-X.
As you said before that.
I did landscaping for 20 yearsin this area for myself and
(03:10):
decided to kind of switch thingsover, try to use a little more
equipment, thought it would makethings a little easier on um.
We mostly do um smallexcavation um new houses, dig
out for driveways, footers,install drainage drains around
(03:35):
the house, irrigation systemswill design and install
landscaping as well.
So pretty much anything outsidethat needs to be dug we can
pretty much help you out.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So essentially you guys are, minus the irrigation
and the landscape design part ofthings.
You guys are handling what wewould all be after, which is the
the home builder of you knowthree or four homes.
(04:12):
Hey, I've got a couple ofdriveways.
I'm building these three orfour homes.
I got the sidewalk rough gradein the yard.
Um, that's what every mini xand skids to your guy.
I was begging for those guys andespecially if they'd pay within
30 days.
You know I was hammering thoseguys and but coming from the
landscape side of things, um,you said there you had quite a
(04:34):
few crews that you had worked upto and um, did you just
self-taught irrigation?
Did you in the landscape sideof things?
Was it more of a um propertymaintenance side of things, or
was it a um just hard installs?
I mean, I didn't know anythingabout excavation when I got in
(04:55):
it, other than my grandfatherwas um, basically a hard-nosed
union guy and I wantedeverything to do with and I
thought machines were cool.
You know what I mean.
So when did that kind of allcome together for you?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
um, I've always worked outside from when I was
little, all the way through,went to college for um, um,
design architecture, uh,landscape architecture.
Then we were able to justtransition into a lot more for
(05:39):
contractors, in the sense thatbeforehand we were working
mostly residential, straight tohomestead, mostly for the
homeowner, which has its meritsthey're not always looking for
the quickest and the cheapestRight, whereas your contractors
really wanting not necessarilythe cheapest, but they don't
(06:02):
want a lot of profit, that youknow, leaving their product.
So, um, it can kind of balancedepending on who you really like
to, uh, how you like to getpaid and who you like to to work
for.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
So, um, the owner negotiated from.
I mean, that's a dream for anycontractor.
To begin with, yeah, yeah,working directly with the
homeowner or, in the commercialside, directly with the
developer or the ownership team,that's exactly what you want to
do.
But but you're right, itdoesn't always have.
It has its merits, but itdefinitely has its cons.
(06:39):
Things change rapidly and Icould only imagine working on
landscape installs.
It's uh, hey, I, I thought wetalked about putting this bush
there kind of thing and thenjust repetitively, over, over
and over again Um, hey, we'redone with the install.
Well, and I could only imagine.
(06:59):
I, I can't say I hate it.
I really didn't love workingwith homeowners from the
excavation side of things, whichwasn't doing any type of
landscaping, it was just a roughgrade, final grade.
They'll come in sod behind me,other than from the simple fact,
like you're saying, they have awhole vision, they want to do
(07:20):
this in their backyard and weget to kind of help with that
project.
From that standpoint, um,working with the homeowner was
was great, but nine chances outof ten it's coming through.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
A contractor like you're talking about, right,
right, so which the thecontractors we work for at the
moment, I think uh, like thefreedom of being able to hand
off the house unfinished toanother contractor, and it says
that it allows them to work on alot of the small details on the
(07:52):
interior of the house withouthaving to worry about anything
on the outside getting done, puta lot of that responsibility
off on us versus being kind of apart of it, which I've really
enjoyed.
So the contractors we work forkind of remove themselves once
(08:13):
we get to that landscapingaspect and then we just work
directly with the home, andthat's so weird.
Yeah, that is something.
So we work for the contractorand then we work for the
homeowner and then we're kind ofhaving to you having to work
alongside the contractor at theend of the project, and so that
is so weird because a lot oftimes, yeah, honestly, again not
(08:36):
having the landscaper side ofit.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
For some reason and I don't know if it's just this
area specifically, but I'veworked for a lot of builders
they always exclude landscaping.
They always exclude landscapingand normally the guy that's
coming in to do the finish gradethat's the only experience I
have they want to keep it ascheap as possible.
They don't bring no dirt in.
(09:00):
You know from that new housementality, the contractor but
yeah, so you kind of getsandwiched there.
You got to deal with both ofthem.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I do, which, uh, the contractors we have, um, you
know, they vet us just as muchas we vet them.
Um, you know, if you know if weweren't easy to work with, they
wouldn't be with us, and ifthey weren't easy to work with
they wouldn't be with us, and ifthey weren't easy to work with
I wouldn't be working with themas well.
You know, I've worked with somecontractors in the past, which
has taken me, you know, two tothree months to get paid.
(09:33):
These guys are really quick atgetting money moved around, not
necessarily having to make adime off of everything that we
do Right, which really thenallows me to work directly with
the homeowner and finances aswell.
So then, things move reallyquick on that side as well.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
A lot of flexibility too.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
That far.
As far as finances, the waywe've kind of got it worked Cash
flows, everything as you knowit is it's hard.
You can't keep employees if youcan't keep them paid.
That's right, and you know youcan't pay them well enough for
them to want to show up.
Um, you can't get the work doneand you're not going to get the
(10:16):
good word and so, um.
So it's a balancing act all theway across the board.
You were before we?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
um, just just trying to follow the timeline here.
Um, you went through kind ofthe 08 era there but you were
dealing with a lot of commercialand residential.
You had, I mean, built thislandscape company to something
and here you are navigatingthrough all of that.
Um, you ran up to four or fivecrews.
(10:48):
You had said at one point I'mlike that is a four or five
crews at anything outsideplanning, managing, coordinating
all of that is just it's reallydifficult to do, um, but then
you kind of were were sharingthere for just a few minutes
that you wanted.
You didn't have as much of aplan in mind of where that
(11:12):
landscape company was goingcompared to what you're doing in
the model structure of businessnow.
And I can't tell you how manyguys that are probably listening
, and myself included that startthis venture with no real end
game in plant or five-year goalto get to an end game.
You know, and I encourage whatMr Clay I hope it will share a
(11:34):
little bit more insight with uson is just how he was dealing
with a 20-year landscape, didn'tshare it with me, there wasn't
quite an exit strategy, but nowhe has built a what I'm very
excited to share with youexcavation guys and how he is
structured and I know we've gotsome audience members that
hopefully are structured thesame but, um, the insight he's
(11:57):
going to share is completeopposite from where I'm at
having to have 20 employees toget done, multiple crews and the
headaches we shared.
But if you wouldn't mindsharing a little bit of that and
navigating from going from thelandscape and now you guys are
(12:17):
rocking and rolling with HunXhere and how you guys kind of
form that out.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Like you said I really had.
When I started originallyworking for myself, it was
because I liked the freedomsthat it does provide.
Yes, sir, you know you go fromworking 40 hours a week to
working 90 hours a week.
You don't really stop working.
You know I have clients text me.
(12:46):
You know Sunday night at 930 inthe evening, or you know 5
o'clock in the morning on aTuesday, that's right, it never
stops.
But the freedoms that it doescreate.
I did like Right.
I liked working for myselfbusiness that would accomplish
(13:07):
the goal of being able to sellor hand off to someone else,
that there was still a benefitfrom it when I get out of it.
Yes, sir.
Instead I worked until a pointwhere I felt like I didn't want
to work quite that hard doinglandscape any longer and I got
(13:27):
out and started progressingtowards a couple of other ideas
and realized pretty quickly thatif I'd set things up a lot
differently throughout that20-year venture, that I could
have sold that business, that Icould have merged it into
someone else and been able tohave a return off of all of the
(13:52):
efforts that I'd done, the timeinvested.
And it just wasn't therebecause I didn't have that
planned, yep.
Whereas now we're really tryingto have a goal where we
progress forward in a directionthat will create a business that
can hopefully be sold tosomeone that would benefit
(14:13):
someone else's business, but yetwhen we're ready to get out, we
still get the return from therest of that company.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
And I think you hit the nail on the head, and
there's probably so many guys.
I sit on the show and onYouTube all the time Plan, plan,
strategize, hey, forecastbudget, and I wasn't doing a lot
of that for a lot of years.
I mean, it's not just up untilthe last 18 months where I've
really had to re-gear everythingthat I was doing as an owner.
(14:41):
I mean, I was still dealingwith posture syndrome of, hey,
you own this thing, like you'vecreated it, like these people
are waiting on you to lead andset these things up.
But it took me so much longerthan I ever thought it would and
I had a beautiful wife sittingthere reminding me, hey, can we
(15:01):
slow down just a little bit onall this growth?
And hey, why don't we set upsome systems and procedures?
And you know some of the smaller, finite things that are needed
to do what we were doing.
But so I think it's so coolbecause it's an interesting
model, that I don't think manyexcavation guys, a lot of
(15:31):
landscapers, um, doing alreadypredominant landscaping, trying
to make the shift over intohardscaping I see that more
common.
But you guys have more set outto be excavation with the
landscape.
So it's kind of backwards fromwhat you hear, a lot of this
generalistic from what I hear,right, right.
So, um, hardscaping, irrigation, irrigation, the whole nine.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I mean there's obviously a little bit of a
market for that, I would assume,definitely, definitely.
There are a lot of companiesout there right now that provide
services that have grown to apoint where they're overhead can
equal almost what the job isgoing to cost Very quickly.
So having a smaller companythat can still provide some of
(16:17):
these mid-sized services thatdon't have to triple or
quadruple the amounts just to beable to keep the business
running, there's definitely alot of need for that.
I think in this area 100%You've got plenty of guys that
(16:37):
mow and mulch and do a littlebit of maintenance.
It's not really thatinstallation but when you get to
that other end you have mostlyjust large companies and that
middle area still kind of, Ithink, has a lot of potential
(17:00):
100%.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
This area is so unique and there's not many
areas in the country like theone we are so blessed to to live
in.
But, um, the landscape side ofthings I know I keep keep
running back to, but you hadsaid something in our intro call
.
And when you keep things lowoverhead, um, it don't have to
(17:23):
carry a bunch of guys.
You've got three key players inyour, your all's operation and
you being one of them, um, whenyou guys do a job, the level of
service that you're getting,when you do a job with y'all.
You said, hey, we don't reallydo irrigation maintenance, but
when we install an entire uh,some of I think they're called
(17:47):
units, right, or zones, as Ithink that's right so an entire
zoned unit, we want to make surewhen we come back in the
wintertime I'm going to comeback to you and go, hey, let me
tear down this entire setup sowe know it's going to fire back
up in spring, that's insane justhaving that.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
That correct maintenance.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah, it is, it's a level of service, though I think
that a lot of biggercontractors tend to.
I can't really say that.
There's a lot of them that justdon't care, but I think there's
a lot of contractors that getcaught up in the trying to just
keep the monster afloat and theylose the little things of hey,
(18:35):
something like that hey, weinstalled your backflow and
everything and we want to comeback in six months and make sure
it works.
That's insane.
Most guys are given thetaillight warranty and as soon
as you know they hit the nextfour way, you can't see them
taillights.
They don't want you callingthem again and and I.
And it goes to exactly what themodel that you guys are trying
to do.
And um, managing labor nowadaysis just not even.
(19:01):
It's not even fun.
No matter, I'm super blessed tohave the team that I have.
I have gone through a lot ofindividuals that didn't align
with me, didn't align with thecompany, didn't align with our
(19:22):
values, but there is a huge gapin the labor force that we're
trying to combat.
I had, not too long ago,springdale School District does
a CDL program.
They do heavy excavation at thehigh school level.
So I'm really trying to get inwith that, but trying to shine
(19:42):
light on that and close that gap, because there's not enough
people out here willing to takethe time, jump on a podcast and
go, hey, we've got a freakingserious issue.
You're already combating theissue by not having to deal with
as much labor when you'veprobably dealt with 20, 25 guys
building the landscape.
And it's just.
(20:03):
It's really unique to see that,hey, you can perform these
midsize level contracts or evenlarger contracts with
well-planned, executed, managedlabor and the overhead's.
Another big thing is keepingthat overhead low.
Guys.
I can't tell you from anexcavation standpoint.
(20:23):
I have done the me and threeguy thing.
I've done the me and six guything.
I've done the managers and allthe man.
The profitable sweet spot isone to you and five guys and
making sure you do a dang goodjob that the next person tells
you about them.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
It.
It definitely is going to, uh,I think, allow you to sit in an
area of a little more profitwith keeping your overhead down.
Uh, the the way work happens,it's kind of a ebb and flow and
(21:03):
beast or famine, and you know,being able to balance things in
that worst time is really whereyou find your weakness.
You know, if you can't make itthrough, you know that time
(21:31):
where things are drying up orthings are too wet, or, you know
, due to the fact that you justhave so many employees, you know
, yeah, it starts affecting allof your employees, not just the
ones that you may not.
You question whether you'regoing to keep or not.
Good point, you know, thenyou're not paying the ones that
you are wanting to keep andit'll just take a long way
(21:52):
across.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
It's the profitability killer, is the
complacency just trying to feedthe monster.
And I've had a little bit ofexperience with that myself, sir
Not planning, not strategizing,not budgeting, not forecasting,
not having an understanding ofany of that, and I still have
none of it perfected.
(22:13):
I'm learning every day, butI've finally started taking the
time and reaching out and you'vebeen kind of hitting around
about it, but you don't knowwhat you don't know.
Kind of hidden around about it,but you don't know what you
don't know.
And I didn't know a lot ofthese things that, um, as I was
growing that I wish I did, therewas people throwing things at
me, trying to warn me, ie mywife and several other people
(22:35):
that love me.
But now I have had to go topeople and hey, fractional CFO,
you really have an understandingof what needs to happen here.
I don't.
Can you take the time?
Sure, and she's passionateabout it.
I don't know what I'm doing.
Neither you know to that level,and my wife has done such a
great job, and the ladies in theoffice, but you just don't know
(22:57):
what you don't know.
And it's to that experience ofalready managing labor and
dealing with people andhomeowners and contractors for
20 plus years to walk into whatyou guys are doing now puts a
different view on it.
You know what I mean.
And to know that, walking inwhere you can go, profitability
(23:20):
standpoint, if we can keep itnot necessarily trying to keep
it that, but in this realm righthere, guys, I think we can keep
it, not necessarily trying tokeep it that, but in this realm
right here guys, I think we cando this.
And you guys are five years indoing this model, right, right,
well done, sir that's uh it,like you said we had.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I had a lot of experience getting up to this
point of running people goingthrough um, good times and hard
times, and so, exactly like yousaid, if you don't know what you
don't know, you try to plan forthe future.
Without seeing those ups anddowns, it's pretty impossible to
(24:01):
plan for all of them.
So it's pretty impossible toplan for all of them.
Knowing how your employees aregoing to affect the amount of
work and how that affects theamount of money coming in, and
just being able to balance allof those things, you feel more
like you're in a circus jugglinga long time Boy do I Real quick
(24:27):
here?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
I've got to give a shout-out to our guys over at
Blue Collar PerformanceMarketing Ike and his team.
They have been helping thePsyCon team and been helping
behind the scenes here with theBlue Collar Business Podcast and
helping push it out.
Blue Collar Business podcastand helping push it out.
(24:50):
They are an incredible team.
From a value standpoint of I'man excavation guy and I'm trying
to tiptoe into the marketingworld.
Obviously we're pushing prettyhard, but I needed somebody to
guide me.
I don't know what I'm doingwith the marketing side of
things.
I'm just creating content.
There was no strategy behind it.
Marketing side of things I'mjust creating content.
There was no strategy behind itand Ike and his team have done
a great job, pointing me in theright direction and making sure
(25:10):
I'm spending my dollars wiselyon sponsored ads, targeted ads.
So shout out to those guys andthank you so much for your avid
sponsorship here on the BlueCollar Business Podcast.
I've got something else that Ithink you can share major
insight on.
It's developing that reputationof good quality work is one
(25:34):
thing, but just being personablewith people and being good to
people Talk a little bit aboutthat.
I know you've probably had yourfair share of insight of doing
the little things and makingsure you're leaving a quality
product and building thatpersonal relationship with
(25:54):
you've navigated homeowners andcontractors at the same time.
There's probably no betterperson to speak on.
This is making navigating thoserelationships to ensure that
money's coming in the door.
You know right?
Um sorry if I just threw one atyou um?
Speaker 2 (26:15):
what was the question ?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
basically, um help us , from 25 years of experience of
entrepreneurship, navigatingthose personal relationships
with customers, homeowners, youremployees and making sure
you're delivering a through that, delivering a quality product
(26:38):
every time with your team.
That affects the reputation.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yep, I think a lot of it starts with just your
respect on the phone when youtalk to someone, speaking to
them as if they deserve somerespect, not being short with
them, not letting the rest ofyour day that's already happened
(27:03):
come through the phone on them,um, and then doing what you say
.
If you say you're gonna bethere at nine, be there by nine,
not by nine or ten.
Now, if you're gonna be thereby nine, ten, call them and tell
them you're gonna be late.
All right, that communicationgoes miles, goes a long, long
(27:24):
ways, say, people just want tofeel like they know what's going
on, and the more you cancommunicate that with people,
the better.
Um, then, uh, just trying to uhlisten to what they say.
I've had a lot of clients,especially on the landscaping
side, that say that, uh, they'vehad people come in, talk to
(27:46):
them, do a design for them, andit comes back and it's totally
opposite of what they're wanting, as if they didn't even listen
to the ideas.
Right, they had for their own,you know, and so their own space
.
Just asking them a lot of whatthey like.
You know most people reallydon't have too many exact things
(28:07):
, but they kind of knowgeneralizations, preferences,
right, I like these things tall,I like this to be short, I like
lots of flowers, I like youknow just small things that you
can repeat later, makes themknow that you were listening to
what they were talking about.
Those, just those couple ofthings will already put you
(28:31):
ahead of almost all of the othercontractors and subcontractors
that they're dealing with.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
It's the little things like that that you may
not think are super gamechangers, but those four simple
things.
Absolutely every single timeit's finding something within
your first conversation.
And, if you can add from myexperience, if you can add a
(28:59):
personal touch, if you canremember, hey, I'm actually
running to Jimmy's ballgame andthe next time you're talking,
you're talking about hey, howdid jimmy's ball game go the
other day?
Right, and they're like, well,well, it was good and it's a
totally different call ortransaction because you're
trying to.
At the end of the day, they'vegot to spend money with you and
(29:19):
I think the communication, um,the one thing I would add to
that from my side is I wish Iwould have been a little bit
more transparent with homeownersand early on in the contractor
world, because I always thoughtthat if they knew that I was
making a dollar or I was making10%, oh God, I can't have that.
(29:41):
I always tried to hide it andit just automatically drives
confusion and non-clarity anddistrust.
And would you agree with that?
No, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
A hint of dishonesty, even if you're not being Yep.
Just you know why would you bechanging the numbers or adding
something, like you're slidingit in later, or just a lot of
people just want to be clear.
So the numbers I've found mostof the time people don't have a
(30:18):
problem with discussing realnumbers.
If they do, then we talk aboutphases Phase one, phase two it's
very rarely, is it?
Wow, this is too expensive.
I know what you guys doing thework really say.
I like you guys.
You seem you know like typepeople we want to work with.
How can we make this work?
(30:40):
And you know that goes a longways when you have that
relationship with somebodyversus just giving them a number
.
They don't like it.
You don't ever talk to themagain and you know it's just not
good for business.
And then that also transfersover to the quality that you're
(31:00):
trying to keep going.
You know you want people at theend of the job saying I got a
good job and that quality was apart of it.
I got what I wanted.
They did it quick or in theamount of time that they said
they were going to.
Right, they did the things theysaid they were going to my
price was what we agreed on.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Or you discussed a change Before you did it, or hey
, you know it's I wish I wouldhave.
I was always scared to death tobring things.
It was like almost discussingmoney was taboo in the early
years for me.
Like you're there to deal withmoney, and if I would have just
been a little bit moretransparent and communicated
(31:44):
more often than not.
Now, don't get me wrong,there's bad customers out there.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
There are.
Especially, the lessexperienced you are, the harder
some of those transactions canbe.
When I was, you know I'd onlybeen doing things for a year or
two.
You could get to the end of thejob and have a fear of asking
for the check that they owe you.
You've done everything, you'vedone everything the way it was
supposed to be, but you stillhave that fear of bringing up
(32:13):
the money because of theconflict that could arise.
I think that takes a lot ofexperience as far as just
learning to work with people,knowing how to see some of those
cues.
Of course, early on it alsoleads you into a few spots where
(32:34):
you end up not getting paid,and so then you start having
more detailed contracts, makingsure that your signatures, more
detailed contracts, making surethat your signatures and um, you
know that definitely helps Ithink helps with you feeling
more confident about gettingpaid.
Doesn't always still ensure it,but it does help with the
confidence it's, uh, it was, itwas just so crazy.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And, yeah, getting everything in writing,
everything in writing now, howwe move the commercial world
like we don't do anythingwithout you know, discussing it
over email, and, yes, at timesit just absolutely wears me out
like can we just go to the job,do the job, or, um, in our, in
our side of the coin, it's a lotof time.
It's a rushed design becausethey had, you know, the
(33:22):
commercial.
Hey, we've got this piece ofproperty, we started the clock
and it's the interest clock andthey've got that interest clock
going.
Well.
Now the design.
We need it now.
Now, now, because we justbought the piece of property, we
need to turn it in 90 days.
We need to be a large scale in120.
We need to have the dirt guyout there in 180.
This is six months of interest.
(33:42):
We can't have the dirt guy outthere in 180.
This is six months of interest,we can't and it.
And then by the time we get apiece of equipment on side,
we're like all right, here we go, let's go do this job.
They're already up your throat,where are you at, and you've
got an expense clock and thenwhen that change does happen,
everybody goes ghost quiet.
Hey, I just need an approval onthat email anyhow, I have a
(34:04):
little rant there.
But all about that, thatcommunication and building those
relationships, man, I talkabout on I think every episode
of this show, um, everyWednesday at 5am coming at you
bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom Ihave talked about relationships
and really business isrelationships and how you treat
(34:24):
people, and it's not about youcould probably I hope you speak
on this.
It's not about every smalltransaction, it's the whole
grand scheme picture.
Well, yes, she bugged you aboutthe $300 load of topsoil this
time, but she's got a swimmingpool that needs dug and it's
happening next summer and youknow it and you guys have talked
(34:48):
about it already two or threetimes.
Well, you go take care of thatlittle $300 loaded topsoil and
well, the truck got stuck and inthis $300 look and you're just
like, oh my gosh, you know Ispent a thousand dollars on a
$300 loaded topsoil For a$50,000 pool that you know is
(35:09):
coming next year, next year, andand it's not about, you know,
just making a daggum home runevery single time you transact
and it's building that longevityrelationship and during that
year and a half period, oh,we're gonna have so-and-so, do
our pool and you want the restof town to be able to go.
Oh yeah, actually.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Uh, my uncle had them over there and did so-and-so
and it was awesome and it buildsthat reputation, and that
reputation holds more value andweight than most people would
ever care to probably speak wordof mouth is a powerful form of
advertising in the sense thatyou may reach a thousand people
(35:52):
on the radio, but if you don'treach one of them that fits the
criteria that you need for yourwork, it's just a waste.
Now, like you just said, myuncle's fixing to have a house
built.
He hears how great of a job youdid.
Now you're not even having tobe it against anyone because you
(36:13):
have that assurance from thisperson that you showed up every
day and that you did the workand that you were quality, that
your guys were clean, thatthings went the way they were
supposed to go, and that's justa very powerful way to advertise
without having to constantlybid on work that you're not
(36:38):
seeing the profit margins.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
If it wasn't for word of mouth in the resi world,
like everybody, probably sithere and thinks that I've had
this YouTube channel for yearsand years but it's only for
doing a quality job and takingcare of Karen's bushes, and you
(37:06):
know what I mean.
Doing the small things I wouldhave.
I don't think I'd ever made ithonest to God.
And it's building thoserelationships, building that
word of mouth, clientele and Iknow some of you guys are out
there like, well, that's kind ofbackwards from what you tell us
to do on the marketing side.
You know what?
Get with somebody like BlueCollar Performance Marketing and
(37:26):
they'll ensure that you'respending your money correctly
rather than just dumping yourmoney into marketing like an
excavation guy shouldn't bedoing.
Get the pros and let the prosdo the pros thing.
But I got one last question foryou, sir.
I ask everybody on this showevery episode we end with this
(37:47):
what's a takeaway for just theblue collar worker who is sick
and tired of being stuck in themud and that may be most literal
, like you're thinking, in thoseirrigation muddy ditches, or it
can be a guy up here, andthat's what a lot of us face is
that mental mindset that wecan't get out of?
Speaker 2 (38:09):
and I think that we all have that um from time to
time.
There's no way you're going towork for yourself, and not in
some of those slow moments orwhen something happens beyond
your control.
Go, what am I doing, right,brother?
(38:30):
So that's pretty normal.
I think that putting one footin front of the other, putting
one foot in front of the other.
So in the 25, 30 years I'vebeen doing this, the things that
I can remember having majorworries about are just water
(38:55):
under the bridge.
Now, well, that's reassuring, Ihear you know.
So when there are issues evenif they arise and they seem
pretty big, and keep putting onefoot in front of the other,
it's not going to be long beforeyou're on the other side of it.
The biggest thing is to notlose who you are.
(39:18):
Through those issues and some ofmy biggest issues I've had with
jobs in the past, those peoplebecame those customers, became
my biggest supporters, and itwas because of the effort I was
(39:40):
willing to put in to make surethings were right.
You know, people have materialsthat aren't what they're
supposed to be.
They have things that don't gotogether the way they're
designed to.
There's just always going to besomething, and it's not that
you may have a problem, it's howare you going to handle it.
(40:01):
It's how are you going tohandle it?
You know, the integrity thatyou have through that is going
to catapult your business.
It's not going to destroy yourbusiness, okay, it's.
You sit there and you worry.
It's like I've ruinedeverything.
I'm fixing to just I'm fixingto go under Yep, you know, and
(40:25):
just keep going, because it,honestly, is not quite as bad as
you thought it was and it'sgoing to work out.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Man, that's reassuring.
It's just reassuring to hearand you know what Getting up
watching that sun come up,watching that sun go down every
every day.
And you're right, time, time'sa healer of all.
And, uh, keep on trucking, guys.
And, um, I hope today was someinsight was shared, because some
(40:55):
definite perspective andinsight and reassurance from mr
clay uh, I'm excited to to pickhis brain some more guys, but I
really truly hope you haveenjoyed the insight.
And, as you guys know, I oftensay I sit down here and I learn
myself the entire time we'redoing these shows and this is
(41:17):
exactly why I started.
I get to sit with gentlemenlike yourself that have the
experience and the knowledge andhave lived through it to get
where you're at, and so thankyou very much for taking the
time and joining us today, andso these guys can also get to
hear.
You know it means more than youyou could ever know.
I really appreciate you.
(41:37):
That's how I appreciate beinghere.
Um, and you got anything elsefor anybody else, brother, a
little small shout-out oranything, no, just appreciate my
guys and my crew, everybodythat puts in hard day at HUD-X.
I say you know, Well, where canwe find you guys at on socials?
(42:00):
We have a Facebook.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Okay, I don't do a very good job of keeping it very
updated, uh that we try to picksome, uh, some of our better
pictures.
So I mean you know when you'redoing dirt work a lot of times
there's not a lot of uh progressto show within camera worthy I
understand, uh, you know.
(42:23):
So, seeing a finished house, tome that shows a lot, but most
people just see it as a finishedhouse.
That would probably be the onlyplace you're really going to
find us on social media, okay,though you can always email us
at hudxcogmail Beautiful, Atgmail Yepxgmail Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
At gmail Yep At gmailcom.
There you go.
Yeah, I had to think about that, but well, brother, seriously.
Thank you so much.
I'll be following along, hudx.
We will follow you guys overthere on Facebook.
And until next time, guys,enjoy every other episode over
at bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom.
You can find all our episodesthere, or any, if you're
(43:08):
listening on a streamingplatform, make sure and give us
a rating and a follow for MrClay.
Until next time, guys.
You guys be safe.
If you've enjoyed this episode,be sure to give it a like,
share it with the fellers.
Check out our website to sendus any questions and comments
about your experience in theblue-collar business.
Who do you want to hear from?
Send them our way and we'll doour best to answer any questions
(43:30):
you may have.
Till next time, guys.
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