December 8, 2025 • 35 mins
A whispered “he’s tombstone” in a silent hospital hallway became the pivot point. John Stewart Hill chose to stay, and that decision reshaped his life—and the way homeowners find trustworthy help. What began with a weak heart and a yellow legal pad turned into The Good Contractors List, a national network that vets pros with FBI-level checks and backs every job with a $25,000 guarantee.
We walk through John’s raw origin story—three divorces, no clear career, and prayers to disappear—until a cardiologist’s screen revealed arteries nearly blocked and a life on the brink. The promise he heard in that moment, to be given purpose, led him to build something the industry lacked: true accountability. Not another review site. Not a badge you can buy. A community where good contractors earn their place, and homeowners have real protection when things go wrong.
You’ll hear how he quit his sales job to avoid divided loyalties, how DFW grew through shared advertising, and why the national model focuses on lower fees and stronger local ecosystems. John explains collective authority marketing: when roofers, painters, HVAC techs, and plumbers all point clients to the same trusted hub, they create their own organic lead engine and raise the standard together. With over five billion dollars in work backed and only $127,000 paid out, the results speak to the power of careful vetting and clear consequences.
If you’re a homeowner, you’ll learn how to use the platform to hire with confidence—or refer a contractor you’d hand your keys to and earn a reward when they qualify. If you’re a contractor with integrity, you’ll see how joining the movement can grow your business without the grind of expensive leads. Subscribe, share this story with someone planning a project, and leave a review telling us what “good” looks like to you.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:23):
Well, hello, and welcome to the Healthy Living
Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, andwe've got a special guest today.
His name's John Stewart Hill.
And John has quite a story toshare with us about uh a
difficult time of his life andmaking uh something really
amazing out of it.
And I don't know that I need togo any deeper than that in uh in
(00:45):
an intro with you, John.
Welcome to the show.
How are you doing today?
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
I'm doing great.
Thanks for uh having me on theshow.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Well, it's my pleasure.
You know, I love to talk to alldifferent types of guests with
all different types of stories,and you know, our guests are
always interested in hearingabout uh stories of overcoming,
stories of transformation,stories of of accomplishing,
stories of discovery, and all ofthese things.
(01:13):
And I think you've got a alittle bit of all of that to
share with us today.
This is a little bit.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about how you how you came
to where you're at?
SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
Well, I like to start my story uh in uh 2011.
Uh in February of 2011, I kindof reached a very low point in
my life where I had been uhpraying for uh a couple of
months that God would just takeme off the planet.
You know, I just was uh I wasdone.
I looked, I was looking back atmy past.
(01:44):
I had three failed marriages,um, was in the Navy for a little
while, got out and did odd salesjobs, just different odd jobs.
So never had a career, never hadany kind of um education or
anything that I could be proudof, you know, and kind of
reached that point where I hadum given up on life and I just
(02:06):
started praying, God, I and Ithe my language was God, I I
just want you to kill me.
I'm I'm done.
Yeah, I was I was uh ready togo.
I wasn't sure if I was aChristian, I wasn't sure if
where I was in my life.
I just was lost and tired andjust didn't want to keep on
going.
And um, so in February, it wasuh there was a big freeze that
(02:30):
hit Dallas Fort Worth.
Uh was around the time of theSuper Bowl.
They almost shut down the SuperBowl that year because uh ice
had hit Dallas in such a bigdegree.
Um, that uh that but that uhduring that ice storm, I had an
incident where I was outsidesmoking a cigarette at my
girlfriend's house.
I I was living with her becauseI really didn't have uh I lost
(02:52):
my home and everything else.
So then I was just kind of I wasliving with friends and then I
met her and uh we moved intogether.
And so, you know, like I said, Iwas kind of at the bottom, and
um I was outside smoking acigarette and started coughing,
and then and then I startedcoughing up fluid, and then next
thing you know, it was bloodmixed in with it, and I was
(03:12):
like, what's going on here?
And ended up going to thehospital.
Uh they saw that my lungs werefull of fluid, so they thought
it was pneumonia and theyadmitted me.
Um, but it was it wasn't untillater that night that they had
done some more tests and said,uh, Mr.
Hill, this is not pneumonia,it's your heart.
Whoa, yeah.
(03:33):
And so I like I said, I'd beenpraying that God would would
remove me from this planet, andso I um I didn't know what to
think about it.
And they were trying to get meto have my family come back up
there at like two in the morningduring a freeze.
And I was like, I just don'tunderstand why you'd want them
to come up here for you to runmore tests, and they they
wouldn't tell me you're you'rethat close to death.
(03:55):
They just said, No, I'd uh I'dprefer if your family could come
back up here, please.
And so I called them and uh waslistening to a conversation
because this was two a.m.
in the morning, two or threeo'clock in the morning, and um I
could I could kind of hear aconversation going on out in the
hall.
And the nurse was saying to thedoctor, don't you have to get
permission from the director tomove him to ICU?
(04:15):
And she said, Not in this case,he's tombstone.
Wow, and um, you know, it'sreally quiet at night in the
hospital, you can heareverything.
And so when I heard that, I waslike, Oh wow, man, I'm I guess
I'm dying.
And um I was just I was justsitting here thinking, man,
right now I have thisopportunity um to just kind of
(04:37):
ask for forgiveness foreverything I've done up to this
point, and you know, have aclean, you know, clean sheet
going into the going intoheaven, and you know, kind of
like that last minute uh thiefon the cross kind of deal, where
it's just like, you know, I I'vemessed up a whole lot, but I do
believe in you, and I want, youknow, um, so I it was amazing
how at the very end of thingsI've I I I haven't had a uh a
(05:04):
break in my faith that way, butI know a lot of people I've I've
come to the edge of death, andyou're like, wow, you know, you
it's it everything changes for asecond, and it and your whole
priorities and all the thingsyou thought were important or
not, all of a sudden you'relike, wow, you got this one
thing to look at, and all of asudden turns out it's all right.
(05:26):
Well, you know, I I um I lovedGod, you know.
I mean, I uh my whole life Idid.
I loved him as a child, um, onup.
But I you know, I was kind of myunderstanding was that you had
to live a righteous life, youknow, you couldn't just, you
know, uh think he'd like that.
Well, and well, I was raised inthis in a in a Pentecostal
(05:48):
church, so they're pretty sothey're pretty they're a lot
more strict than some of the youknow, like once you're saved,
you're always saved kind ofideas.
Yeah.
In that denomination, it's youcould lose your salvation, you
could backslide if you if you uhif you've crossed that line,
you're you're not going.
And and it was like there's thisbook up here.
I in my mind, I had there'sthis, there's this book, God's
(06:10):
keeping record of stuff.
And if you have a mark on thatbook, when you get there, you're
not going in.
Wow.
And so it was kind of, you know,I live my life based on
performance a lot, and and myperformance so far in life, free
divorces, um, not you know, nocareer.
I was failing, you know.
(06:31):
My in my opinion, I wasabsolutely failing in life.
Um, every time I've ever hadanything good happen, something
bad would happen and take itaway.
It, you know, it I was adisappointment to everybody.
And so here at this point in mylife, I was just like ready to
go.
And um while I was being rolledinto ICU from you know, hearing
(06:54):
that, um I felt like God spoketo me.
It was really, really clear inmy spirit.
God said, Well, John, do youwant to stay or do you want to
go?
And I realized that whatever Igave, whatever answer I gave
him, he was gonna, he was gonnado.
He was gonna, he was gonnarequest.
That was pretty heavy.
(07:15):
Yeah, it was very heavy.
But and I like I said, I've beenthinking, I've been praying that
God would kill me.
I'm like, you know, the perfectopportunity.
I I it wasn't hurting, I wasn'treally uh it wasn't bad.
I was thinking, you know what'sgonna happen?
If if I've already had a heartattack, I didn't even, you know,
I it I I felt a little winded,but other than that, you know,
(07:35):
um, I'm just gonna probably fadeaway.
I I'll probably just go to sleepand not even know what happened.
And I'll wake up in heaven, youknow, because I'm easy way out.
Yeah, so I mean that was theeasy way out, but I felt like
God was saying, I I will be withyou and I'll give you a purpose
if you decide to stay.
(07:56):
And it just kept repeating overand over, I'll be with you and
I'll give you a purpose.
That's cute, little puppy dogback then.
SPEAKER_01 (08:04):
Yeah, yeah, it's just lucky here.
SPEAKER_00 (08:06):
It's like she wanted to be on the show, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:08):
He likes to hang out with me sometimes.
SPEAKER_00 (08:12):
Um, but yeah, so you know, I I uh I just kind of
thought about it.
Uh it was like the it was gonnatake about an hour for the
cardiologist to get in into thehospital, and so I was laying
there just contemplating things,and because I didn't want to
just make a hasty answer, youknow.
I I felt like I had anopportunity here, and with him
(08:35):
kind of saying, I'll be with youand I'll I'll give you a
purpose, made me really thinkabout it because this would have
been the easiest way out, youknow.
I mean, it wouldn't have hurt atall, I would have just faded
away and gone and not have todeal with this world anymore,
right?
And so, and it wouldn't havebeen me killing myself, so uh
you know, it was just like Imean, it was just like you know,
(08:55):
I just I I'm within minutes, Ican go.
Um but I uh I felt like hereally wanted me to stay.
So I I said, Okay, God, here'shere's that way based on the way
you worded that question to you.
Yeah, yeah.
It's like you tell me, I'll bewith you, right?
And I'll give you a purpose ifyou stay.
(09:16):
Yeah, okay.
And so that's what I did.
I'm pretty inviting.
Well, like I thought about it, Ireally put a lot of thought in
it.
I said, Okay, God, I'll stay ifthat's all right with you.
Yeah, um, but here are thethings that I want, you know.
And it wasn't to get rich, itwas I want to be remembered for
doing something good.
It was like it finally, I itfinally really uh resonated with
(09:39):
me what I wanted my life to be.
And I said, I want to beremembered for doing something
good, I want to live every day,not just be alive.
And I want to touch as manypeople as I can the rest of the
time I have on this planet.
And after I got through withthose with saying that, it felt
(09:59):
like I heard in the loudestvoice possible, so be it.
Wow, and yeah, it shook me.
And uh I I tell people, youknow, it was like I was laying
on this bed, they had had meprepped for the cardiologist so
that when he got there, he couldjust go right to work.
Okay, and um, but it felt likeif I could see into the spirit
(10:20):
realm, he would have beendancing around my bed going,
That's my boy.
Like you made a good decision,I'm gonna be with you, I'll
prove it, you know.
And so um went through the thenight.
Uh he he went up in there.
I'm awake for the whole thing.
He shows shows me the the on thescreen when they run up the die
(10:42):
up here in your heart, you know.
Um, one one side of my oneartery was 100 blocked, no blood
getting to that part of theheart.
The other one was 95 blocked.
Wow.
That's a trickle, a trickle ofblood going through there, and I
had already had a massive heartattack.
So about 40 to 50 percent of myheart was scar tissue at this
(11:02):
point.
I'd had a massive heart attack,and he was like, I don't know if
I can fix this.
He goes, I may have to crack youopen, and that's what he said.
I was like, Well, if you haveto, you have to, but I'm I'm
here, and he goes, Okay, so ranthe stents up in there, and with
a few stents and uh the justproperly put ran the dive back
through, and blood returned tomy body through through the
(11:26):
heart.
It was kind of like a TVprogram, you know.
You've seen on TV where there'speople gathered behind the glass
watching the surgery or whateverthat's going on, and that's what
it was.
Like it was so early in themorning that like the whole
staff was all behind there, andwhenever the blood returned,
they all started cheering, youknow, and man, it was so moving,
(11:48):
it was just a very moving momentin my life, and I I knew I would
never be the same after that,and so I got out of the
hospital.
Uh, my me and my wife, my mygirlfriend at the time, we got
married, made it official, andum and you know, I didn't I had
the same job, I was sellingcoupons.
(12:10):
That's what I was doing at thattime, you know, just one of my
many jobs.
I was selling coupons in thisthing called Money Mailer, which
is kind of like a vow pack, youknow.
I mean, it's like a an envelopethat has a bunch of envelopes in
it, and you sell it to servicesand you nail salons and all
kinds of stuff like that.
And that's what I was doing.
I was selling coupons and um atthe time.
(12:31):
And so I get out, I got uh I gotmarried, and um now I'm we're in
worse shape physically.
I uh you know, I'm I'm havecongestive heart failure because
of the damage of the heart.
They had to put a pacemakerdefibrillator in me, you know,
just for it to squeeze normally.
Uh and and even with all that, Iwas still functioning at about a
(12:53):
quarter of what a normal heartdoes.
Wow, so yeah, they weren'texpecting a lot.
I you know, I wasn't sureexactly how it was gonna pan
out, but I left there, eventhough I left weak, still broke,
still all the things that wasbefore, I left there knowing
that I had a purpose, and that'sall I'm you.
That's all I needed to know.
(13:14):
He's with me, and I have apurpose, and so I decided I
chose to forget any religiousteaching that I'd been taught.
Okay, to to stop running thosesermons through my head, to stop
judging myself because God feltthat I was valuable enough to
speak to me and say, I'll bewith you, you know.
(13:35):
Most people don't get that uhthat epiphany experience, yeah.
And so I said, Okay, um I fromnow on I'm following you, Lord.
You know, I knew the Bible, I'veI read the Bible through
multiple times from front toback, you know.
You know, I I understood allthose things, or at least I
thought I did, based on what Iwas taught.
SPEAKER_02 (13:57):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (13:58):
But I said, from here on out, because I don't
know all the answers, I'm gonnatrust that you're gonna show me
what to do.
And so I stayed out of church, Istayed out of listening to other
things, and I just focused onknowing him, having him teach
me, and amazingly enough, hewould bring, he would bring back
(14:18):
to remembrance things that Iwould go check in the Bible and
you know, yeah and find.
And I but I was like, okay,that's that's you know, that's
him speaking to me.
I I'm understanding this.
And so baby steps, he broughtme, he brought me back to a
place where I was like, okay, Iknow where I feel like I know
where I'm at right now.
But what happened on that uh onthat table when I decided to
(14:43):
stay was that I truly decided tolay down the old life, and so
that's what really made thedifference was that it was no
longer about me because mewanted to not be here, right?
Right.
It was about really didn't wantmuch to do with that anymore.
I didn't, it was about how can Iimpact the rest of the world,
(15:04):
right?
How can that how can you use meto do that?
And with no education, no money,I mean, really no money, um, and
uh again, no kind of businessbackground.
Six months later, I was I wasout selling a coupon to a
plumber, okay, and it was alocal plumber that everybody
(15:27):
knew and liked, and and I knewhe was trustworthy and all that.
And he said, Well, you know, Iwould I wouldn't want to do this
all by myself.
He goes, I know a goodelectrician that I that I fully
trust, and I know a good rooferthat I fully trust.
And I think that we should sharethis ad.
Like, like we could we could buya coupon with all three of us on
it.
And um, you know, my my mindwent with that's gonna be a
(15:50):
little bit confusing to theconsumer, I think, to have three
different coupons on one.
So, what if we built a website?
What if we built a website whereyou could be the plumber, and it
was just for one town, it wasthe town of Mansfield, Texas.
It had it was gonna that placedeliver it delivered to 20,000
homes in Mansfield.
Um, and um, and so I said, Whatwe could do is just get, you
(16:11):
know, you already know theelectrician, you already know
the the roofer.
We could get another, you know,maybe a dozen of you different
types of services, put them on awebsite, you know, that I and I
kind of knew how to buildwebsites, um, you know, online.
It wasn't any kind of fancyanything, it was just you know
what you could get online, um,like a Wix and you know, yeah,
(16:32):
yeah, absolutely.
A template, yeah.
And so I was just gonna build athing where I'd send it, and
this was all still just to sella coupon, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (16:41):
You know, y'all can all go in together and buy uh
even a larger area, and um andyou know, we'll send it here to
this.
And I I called it, I called ituh at that that time I called it
it could be like MansfieldService Connection or something,
you know, and and um, and so hewas like, Man, that sounds like
a pretty good idea.
Um and so that that got me tolike the first spark.
(17:07):
And then I could for two days Icouldn't sleep.
I was thinking too much aboutit.
Like I felt like God was saying,This is what I have for you.
I want you to do this.
SPEAKER_01 (17:15):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:16):
I I'd never ran my own business.
I I I I sold coupons, I soldyellow pages in uh for a while,
so I understood what a directorylooked like, sure, and so that's
what I I I decided I reallythink I want to try this
business.
I never started a businessbefore, didn't have any money.
So I went in, but uh you know, Iwas working in outside sales
(17:41):
doing this coupon thing, and umI could have probably you know
talked to contractors and askedthem what they thought about
this while I was on the clock,but I just didn't feel like that
was right.
So I went in and went, called myboss in the office.
I said, Hey man, um I've got anidea that I've got to try, and
I'm I am not gonna spend oneminute of your time um doing
(18:04):
that.
So I have to quit.
And so I quit my job.
Okay, no money in the bank, nosavings account, and one
paycheck coming.
Wow, and now now my girlfriendshe she worked too.
Um you know, and so that was aplus.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I mean, it wasn't like wewere gonna lose our house,
right?
The house that she was livingin.
It wasn't even my house at thattime.
(18:26):
Uh well, I guess at that time wegot married right afterwards.
Um, but you know, it was uh itwas this income was very much
needed.
I'll just say that.
We we couldn't have paid all ofour bills without it.
But I stepped out in faith,believing that that this was
part of my purpose that Godtalked about.
And I just went out in the inthe beginning with a leak yellow
(18:48):
legal pad and a pen and sat downwith contractors and told them
my dream.
Just shared with them the theidea of separating the good guys
from the bad guys andguaranteeing their work.
And and they just they fell inlove with it, they all started
helping me build it.
You know, it was just like, oh,I know a good guy here, I know a
good guy there.
(19:09):
And um, it it took me about twoyears of just going out and
talking to all these guys tofinally get it all together, and
they were writing checks to tosave their spot basically
whenever I got it all together.
Wow, and I was telling them, heyman, this you know, you might
lose your money.
It was like the weirdest kind ofbusiness you can think of.
SPEAKER_01 (19:28):
Wow, and uh, but I wasn't how how does that differ?
Isn't there uh there's a sitecalled Angie's List?
You say kind of like that.
SPEAKER_00 (19:38):
Well, you know, uh everybody wants to try to
because I had the word list inmy in my name, um, and there are
contractors there.
They people want to compare usto Angie's list.
Now, Angie List is now owned bya company that also owns Home
Advisor.
I don't know if you've everheard of them, but there's Home
Advisor and Angie.
Now, um, Angie used to be just areview site.
(19:59):
Um okay, and she started outreally strong.
Like she was the kind of likeme.
Like she went out door to doorand was talking to people about
you know their experiences andstarted the like this review
site called List, right?
And homeowners used to pay to bea part of that to have access to
to contractors who they couldactually you.
(20:21):
know review and and look at gotit i never really knew how it
worked i never participated init i just uh heard about it and
right it's sort of a similaridea so it's a review site and
you know the bb really is areview site that's you know um
it it better business bureau isthey they don't take any
responsibility they don't payanything they just you know they
(20:43):
just uh uh give the homeowner uhthe ability to complain you know
right exactly and that's whatand that's what the bb is so
really there wasn't anything outthere that did what i was doing
and okay and so what i was doingwas only bringing on good
contractors like um so i ilimited the number of people i
(21:05):
could sell to okay and so thiswas you know i i had business
people telling me john this isthe dumbest business plan i've
ever heard you're you're puttingyourself at risk by guaranteeing
their work too right job rightright so they have liability
insurance for that and and or uhsome kind of insurance for that
(21:26):
well you know uh contractors canhave general liability insurance
but it does not protect thehomeowner from a bad job got it
it what what general liabilitydoes is if they end up burning
the house down they've got aninsurance policy that can fix
that got it but like if thatperson didn't like the quality
of the work it's just their wordagainst the contractors and
that's the way it's always beenright that's that's why you can
(21:48):
hear so many horror stories alot of those horror stories that
you hear about contractors thosewere guys who had insurance okay
and it's uh you know really it'salways just been a two-way
agreement a homeowner and acontractor and what I did was
say if I'm going to say thatthese guys are good then I'm
gonna put my money where mymouth is and I'm gonna guarantee
(22:09):
their work.
So literally if someone hires acontractor from the good
contractors list it's not justthem and the contractor anymore.
I have a$25,000 guarantee thatbacks every job that contractor
does.
Wow so now there's three peopleinvolved and if they're if they
have an issue with uh thecontractor they can contact me
(22:30):
and then I'm takingresponsibility for the job if
that contractor doesn't fix it.
Got it.
And so we're gonna servicethough right this is just we're
we're we're in this is in anarea that you're covering more
or less right everything yeah soany service that you want here
(22:50):
in the Dallas Fort Worth area iswhere I started got it um uh
three or four months ago we wedecided we were gonna go
national with it and I mean yeahamazingly enough it's well it's
been 14 years now we've beendoing this okay all right we've
backed over five billion dollarsin work wow and we have only
come out of pocket 127 thousanddollars in 14 years advertising
(23:12):
it on TV wow walking around youknow putting that good with a
halo symbol that represents goodcontractors out there um and I'm
telling you if we haven't if wedidn't do what we said we're
gonna do yeah we would betrashed I mean people eat you
alive you'd be yeah you'd begone yeah but the truth of the
(23:32):
matter is we've we've managed tofigure out how the process of
separating the good guys fromthe bad guys yeah I was curious
about that because I I I workedI was a a painting contractor
for years and I I don't know howmany guys that I knew that just
didn't do what they said andnightmare after nightmare I mean
(23:55):
so few good companies I'm outhere in California I don't know
if it's any different than therest of the country but I just
know there's uh these guys don'tshow up on time they don't if
(24:56):
they show up at all they don'tdo what they say they change
things gets expensive I meaneverything that go can go wrong
generally does and that's justthe normal you know you think
(25:57):
it's gonna cost five thousanddollars it's probably gonna cost
you 10 by the time you're doneand you're still not going to be
happy with it yeah that happensum it's hit or miss and that's
what's so scary and you knowcontractors don't really have
any other choice but kind ofself-promotion let's let me get
these certifications um theyspend a lot of time a lot of
(26:18):
money in marketing trying tostep out if they can but a lot
of a lot of the really good guysare they stay busy they don't
you know because they're they'rebeing referred by family right
um but they can't grow very muchbigger because they don't they
just don't have the resourcesand the leads to come in you
know and so leads is out prettypretty quick you get all filled
up and what are you going to doyou can only hire so many guys
(26:41):
to help you on your job ifyou're doing the job you know
and I ran into that myself it'skind of it's kind of funny
though whenever you like I sayit's self-promotion for most but
what I'm trying to do is createa community right and so if I
can create a community where thethere's painters and roofers and
air conditioning guys andeverything that you need for
(27:02):
your home sure all doing theright thing all backed by this
guarantee and and they're outthere talking about and I call
this a movement I call it itthis is a good contractors
movement that's happening rightnow across the nation is that as
contractors come under this oneyou know gather together and and
bond together under this oneauthority then they can start
(27:26):
telling their homeowners go hereto hire your contractors um it's
not just about hey we have a$25000 guarantee backing us
which by itself is an accoladethat should get them earn them
business so it's sure you knowit that they could use this as
just an accolade but if theywork as a collective I like to
think of this as collectiveauthority the more that this the
(27:49):
more that the collective themall the contractors are saying
the same thing hire contractorsfrom the good contractors list
we are all vetted and backed bya guarantee you will never be
taken advantage of if you hirefrom this one place.
Next thing you know homeownersare catching wind of it they're
going there for their plumberthey're going there for their
(28:10):
roofer and the roofers clientsbecome the plumbers clients and
the plumbers clients become thewindow guys' clients you know
and so anytime they're actuallygrowing their own organic lead
system okay and and so that'sthe idea is that you know for a
$500 setup fee and$250 a monththey will be backed by our
(28:32):
guarantee and this of course isif they qualify they they've got
to meet all of ourqualifications and they really
need to participate as thecollective as part of the
collective they need to bereferring back to the good
contractors list and all that sothat so that that their group in
whatever town they're in youknow um it it could be anywhere
(28:52):
small town large town there'scontractors that serve all those
areas and so um the more peoplecome together they become an
authority I call that collectiveauthority marketing because
they're actually doing it all uhtogether without having to spend
any money and that's that's thehow far reaching have you gotten
I mean you went national howlong ago uh just a little over
(29:15):
three months ago we're in 17states right now we have we have
contractors now in 17 statesokay um and these are just these
are just the trickles of what'sabout to happen because what'll
happen is as let's say inHouston uh we get a contractor
there we ask that contractor whodo you know and trust in other
fields or even in your own fieldum and they will you know they
(29:40):
they're very particular it'sit's it's kind of funny because
when you put that word good outthere and say I'm separating
good contractors from the badones they take possession of it
they're they're like all rightwell we're gonna make they have
to otherwise you don't haveanything of value I mean if
these guys aren't aren't owningit as their own then you know
it's up then it's somehow yourresponsibility and that's a lot
(30:03):
of work to I don't know how youwould manage it but if you got
everybody that sees the value init and they they protect their
own and and you know raise thatvalue up and and hold it I think
that that's the only way thatthat would really have a chance
to to grow the way it is so yeahyou know it here in Dallas Fort
(30:25):
Worth it was easy because andand we we charge more here than
we would anywhere else in theUnited States because there's
different levels now.
You know we have we have so manyuh zip codes out here so many
different services now we now wehave the ability to sell it to
exclusively but what we do heredifferent here in Dallas that um
I if I could go in hindsight Iwould have changed I would have
(30:45):
used the model I'm usingnationally right now.
But in Dallas Fort Worth weactually advertised on TV and
radio.
I I did what I originally wastalking about.
They all pulled their money andI just take the money that they
they give us and we advertisedhere and in Dallas of Fort Worth
on radio and TV and that's andthat's how it grew quickly here
(31:05):
is because they heard about itand they came to buy us you know
okay um the downside of that iswhen you pay more you expect
more and so absolutely whilewhile I could be spending eighty
thousand dollars a month onadvertising um it may not give
them enough leads for them tothink it's worth$600 a month.
SPEAKER_01 (31:27):
John I I know that um I I was not sure how this
conversation was going to go itwent fantastic but we've burned
up most of our time and this iswhere I kind of want to give you
the opportunity to circle yourthought around and and if you've
got kind of one central thoughtthat you'd like to share with
our listeners.
SPEAKER_00 (31:47):
Well you know I mean like I said the good contractors
list is is what I consider amovement.
Okay.
And so it's gonna it's gonnareally take everybody working
together um to make it work.
And ultimately my my goal is Iwant to touch as many people as
I can while I'm on this earthright be remembered for doing
something good.
(32:08):
So that so part of the the goodcontractors list growing is that
I get to be on podcasts likeyours and start and tell the
story of God's goodness you knowand and that's really my my
ultimate uh desire is to be ableto be a a beacon of good you
know to the world but if you'rea uh because it takes everyone
if you're a homeowner listeningto this uh um and you know a
(32:31):
contractor that you would handyour keys over to you trust them
so much you know like those goodguys they could be the beginning
of a a safe contractor communityright there where you are and so
um on the good it's called thegoodcontractorslist dot com on
the goodcontractors list dot comthere's a button that says refer
(32:55):
a contractor it's there's it'sat the bottom and I think
they're about to add that to thenavigation now but if you look
go to the bottom of the pagethere's you can see refer a
contractor click on that fillout that form and let us know
who that contractor is and ifthey end up qualifying and
joining joining we'll we'll payyou$125 for letting us know
about them.
(33:15):
Nice so so yeah we we want tobenefit everybody uh that's
going to be a part of this andif we can get that started in
your community then it won't belong before we have all the
contractors you need that aregoing to be good that we can
guarantee with$25,000 and sorefer contractors if uh if
you're if you are a contractorby chance listening to this and
(33:36):
you know that you you're the guythat can that has integrity that
does things right that uh has asteady no knows how to manage
your money and run the businessright go to thoodcontractors
list dot com and go to become agood contractor and it'll give
you our minimal requirements andthen we run uh we have we we
spend$2800 a month on backgroundsteps uh background check
(33:59):
software that is FBI level so wewhen we when we do a background
check we know you know we knowif that person had another
company that they ran into theground and then started another
one you know so those kinds ofthings that that you can't see a
lot of times and so so we we dothat and that that's it you know
just um help us with thismovement uh we we really want to
(34:22):
protect homeowners around thenation and uh and we want to
build community and make thissomething that's great for
everybody it's hard to knowwhat's real anymore you know and
and that's part of what we'redoing is we really want we want
a genuine safe place forhomeowners to go and a and a and
a really a safe place forcontractors to come to be a part
(34:43):
of something great somethingmuch bigger than themselves.
SPEAKER_01 (34:46):
I like it I like it well join I want to thank you
for joining us today and uh youknow as as things are growing
along I I encourage you to reachback out and come back up and
share share the developments.
Sure would love it.
Thank you.
Beautiful well this has beenanother episode of the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I'm your host Joe Grumbine and Iwant to thank all of our
(35:08):
listeners for making this showpossible and we will see you
next time.
Well, hello, and welcome to the Healthy Living
Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, andwe've got a special guest today.
His name's John Stewart Hill.
And John has quite a story toshare with us about uh a
difficult time of his life andmaking uh something really
amazing out of it.
And I don't know that I need togo any deeper than that in uh in
(00:45):
an intro with you, John.
Welcome to the show.
How are you doing today?
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
I'm doing great.
Thanks for uh having me on theshow.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Well, it's my pleasure.
You know, I love to talk to alldifferent types of guests with
all different types of stories,and you know, our guests are
always interested in hearingabout uh stories of overcoming,
stories of transformation,stories of of accomplishing,
stories of discovery, and all ofthese things.
(01:13):
And I think you've got a alittle bit of all of that to
share with us today.
This is a little bit.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about how you how you came
to where you're at?
SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
Well, I like to start my story uh in uh 2011.
Uh in February of 2011, I kindof reached a very low point in
my life where I had been uhpraying for uh a couple of
months that God would just takeme off the planet.
You know, I just was uh I wasdone.
I looked, I was looking back atmy past.
(01:44):
I had three failed marriages,um, was in the Navy for a little
while, got out and did odd salesjobs, just different odd jobs.
So never had a career, never hadany kind of um education or
anything that I could be proudof, you know, and kind of
reached that point where I hadum given up on life and I just
(02:06):
started praying, God, I and Ithe my language was God, I I
just want you to kill me.
I'm I'm done.
Yeah, I was I was uh ready togo.
I wasn't sure if I was aChristian, I wasn't sure if
where I was in my life.
I just was lost and tired andjust didn't want to keep on
going.
And um, so in February, it wasuh there was a big freeze that
(02:30):
hit Dallas Fort Worth.
Uh was around the time of theSuper Bowl.
They almost shut down the SuperBowl that year because uh ice
had hit Dallas in such a bigdegree.
Um, that uh that but that uhduring that ice storm, I had an
incident where I was outsidesmoking a cigarette at my
girlfriend's house.
I I was living with her becauseI really didn't have uh I lost
(02:52):
my home and everything else.
So then I was just kind of I wasliving with friends and then I
met her and uh we moved intogether.
And so, you know, like I said, Iwas kind of at the bottom, and
um I was outside smoking acigarette and started coughing,
and then and then I startedcoughing up fluid, and then next
thing you know, it was bloodmixed in with it, and I was
(03:12):
like, what's going on here?
And ended up going to thehospital.
Uh they saw that my lungs werefull of fluid, so they thought
it was pneumonia and theyadmitted me.
Um, but it was it wasn't untillater that night that they had
done some more tests and said,uh, Mr.
Hill, this is not pneumonia,it's your heart.
Whoa, yeah.
(03:33):
And so I like I said, I'd beenpraying that God would would
remove me from this planet, andso I um I didn't know what to
think about it.
And they were trying to get meto have my family come back up
there at like two in the morningduring a freeze.
And I was like, I just don'tunderstand why you'd want them
to come up here for you to runmore tests, and they they
wouldn't tell me you're you'rethat close to death.
(03:55):
They just said, No, I'd uh I'dprefer if your family could come
back up here, please.
And so I called them and uh waslistening to a conversation
because this was two a.m.
in the morning, two or threeo'clock in the morning, and um I
could I could kind of hear aconversation going on out in the
hall.
And the nurse was saying to thedoctor, don't you have to get
permission from the director tomove him to ICU?
(04:15):
And she said, Not in this case,he's tombstone.
Wow, and um, you know, it'sreally quiet at night in the
hospital, you can heareverything.
And so when I heard that, I waslike, Oh wow, man, I'm I guess
I'm dying.
And um I was just I was justsitting here thinking, man,
right now I have thisopportunity um to just kind of
(04:37):
ask for forgiveness foreverything I've done up to this
point, and you know, have aclean, you know, clean sheet
going into the going intoheaven, and you know, kind of
like that last minute uh thiefon the cross kind of deal, where
it's just like, you know, I I'vemessed up a whole lot, but I do
believe in you, and I want, youknow, um, so I it was amazing
how at the very end of thingsI've I I I haven't had a uh a
(05:04):
break in my faith that way, butI know a lot of people I've I've
come to the edge of death, andyou're like, wow, you know, you
it's it everything changes for asecond, and it and your whole
priorities and all the thingsyou thought were important or
not, all of a sudden you'relike, wow, you got this one
thing to look at, and all of asudden turns out it's all right.
(05:26):
Well, you know, I I um I lovedGod, you know.
I mean, I uh my whole life Idid.
I loved him as a child, um, onup.
But I you know, I was kind of myunderstanding was that you had
to live a righteous life, youknow, you couldn't just, you
know, uh think he'd like that.
Well, and well, I was raised inthis in a in a Pentecostal
(05:48):
church, so they're pretty sothey're pretty they're a lot
more strict than some of the youknow, like once you're saved,
you're always saved kind ofideas.
Yeah.
In that denomination, it's youcould lose your salvation, you
could backslide if you if you uhif you've crossed that line,
you're you're not going.
And and it was like there's thisbook up here.
I in my mind, I had there'sthis, there's this book, God's
(06:10):
keeping record of stuff.
And if you have a mark on thatbook, when you get there, you're
not going in.
Wow.
And so it was kind of, you know,I live my life based on
performance a lot, and and myperformance so far in life, free
divorces, um, not you know, nocareer.
I was failing, you know.
(06:31):
My in my opinion, I wasabsolutely failing in life.
Um, every time I've ever hadanything good happen, something
bad would happen and take itaway.
It, you know, it I was adisappointment to everybody.
And so here at this point in mylife, I was just like ready to
go.
And um while I was being rolledinto ICU from you know, hearing
(06:54):
that, um I felt like God spoketo me.
It was really, really clear inmy spirit.
God said, Well, John, do youwant to stay or do you want to
go?
And I realized that whatever Igave, whatever answer I gave
him, he was gonna, he was gonnado.
He was gonna, he was gonnarequest.
That was pretty heavy.
(07:15):
Yeah, it was very heavy.
But and I like I said, I've beenthinking, I've been praying that
God would kill me.
I'm like, you know, the perfectopportunity.
I I it wasn't hurting, I wasn'treally uh it wasn't bad.
I was thinking, you know what'sgonna happen?
If if I've already had a heartattack, I didn't even, you know,
I it I I felt a little winded,but other than that, you know,
(07:35):
um, I'm just gonna probably fadeaway.
I I'll probably just go to sleepand not even know what happened.
And I'll wake up in heaven, youknow, because I'm easy way out.
Yeah, so I mean that was theeasy way out, but I felt like
God was saying, I I will be withyou and I'll give you a purpose
if you decide to stay.
(07:56):
And it just kept repeating overand over, I'll be with you and
I'll give you a purpose.
That's cute, little puppy dogback then.
SPEAKER_01 (08:04):
Yeah, yeah, it's just lucky here.
SPEAKER_00 (08:06):
It's like she wanted to be on the show, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:08):
He likes to hang out with me sometimes.
SPEAKER_00 (08:12):
Um, but yeah, so you know, I I uh I just kind of
thought about it.
Uh it was like the it was gonnatake about an hour for the
cardiologist to get in into thehospital, and so I was laying
there just contemplating things,and because I didn't want to
just make a hasty answer, youknow.
I I felt like I had anopportunity here, and with him
(08:35):
kind of saying, I'll be with youand I'll I'll give you a
purpose, made me really thinkabout it because this would have
been the easiest way out, youknow.
I mean, it wouldn't have hurt atall, I would have just faded
away and gone and not have todeal with this world anymore,
right?
And so, and it wouldn't havebeen me killing myself, so uh
you know, it was just like Imean, it was just like you know,
(08:55):
I just I I'm within minutes, Ican go.
Um but I uh I felt like hereally wanted me to stay.
So I I said, Okay, God, here'shere's that way based on the way
you worded that question to you.
Yeah, yeah.
It's like you tell me, I'll bewith you, right?
And I'll give you a purpose ifyou stay.
(09:16):
Yeah, okay.
And so that's what I did.
I'm pretty inviting.
Well, like I thought about it, Ireally put a lot of thought in
it.
I said, Okay, God, I'll stay ifthat's all right with you.
Yeah, um, but here are thethings that I want, you know.
And it wasn't to get rich, itwas I want to be remembered for
doing something good.
It was like it finally, I itfinally really uh resonated with
(09:39):
me what I wanted my life to be.
And I said, I want to beremembered for doing something
good, I want to live every day,not just be alive.
And I want to touch as manypeople as I can the rest of the
time I have on this planet.
And after I got through withthose with saying that, it felt
(09:59):
like I heard in the loudestvoice possible, so be it.
Wow, and yeah, it shook me.
And uh I I tell people, youknow, it was like I was laying
on this bed, they had had meprepped for the cardiologist so
that when he got there, he couldjust go right to work.
Okay, and um, but it felt likeif I could see into the spirit
(10:20):
realm, he would have beendancing around my bed going,
That's my boy.
Like you made a good decision,I'm gonna be with you, I'll
prove it, you know.
And so um went through the thenight.
Uh he he went up in there.
I'm awake for the whole thing.
He shows shows me the the on thescreen when they run up the die
(10:42):
up here in your heart, you know.
Um, one one side of my oneartery was 100 blocked, no blood
getting to that part of theheart.
The other one was 95 blocked.
Wow.
That's a trickle, a trickle ofblood going through there, and I
had already had a massive heartattack.
So about 40 to 50 percent of myheart was scar tissue at this
(11:02):
point.
I'd had a massive heart attack,and he was like, I don't know if
I can fix this.
He goes, I may have to crack youopen, and that's what he said.
I was like, Well, if you haveto, you have to, but I'm I'm
here, and he goes, Okay, so ranthe stents up in there, and with
a few stents and uh the justproperly put ran the dive back
through, and blood returned tomy body through through the
(11:26):
heart.
It was kind of like a TVprogram, you know.
You've seen on TV where there'speople gathered behind the glass
watching the surgery or whateverthat's going on, and that's what
it was.
Like it was so early in themorning that like the whole
staff was all behind there, andwhenever the blood returned,
they all started cheering, youknow, and man, it was so moving,
(11:48):
it was just a very moving momentin my life, and I I knew I would
never be the same after that,and so I got out of the
hospital.
Uh, my me and my wife, my mygirlfriend at the time, we got
married, made it official, andum and you know, I didn't I had
the same job, I was sellingcoupons.
(12:10):
That's what I was doing at thattime, you know, just one of my
many jobs.
I was selling coupons in thisthing called Money Mailer, which
is kind of like a vow pack, youknow.
I mean, it's like a an envelopethat has a bunch of envelopes in
it, and you sell it to servicesand you nail salons and all
kinds of stuff like that.
And that's what I was doing.
I was selling coupons and um atthe time.
(12:31):
And so I get out, I got uh I gotmarried, and um now I'm we're in
worse shape physically.
I uh you know, I'm I'm havecongestive heart failure because
of the damage of the heart.
They had to put a pacemakerdefibrillator in me, you know,
just for it to squeeze normally.
Uh and and even with all that, Iwas still functioning at about a
(12:53):
quarter of what a normal heartdoes.
Wow, so yeah, they weren'texpecting a lot.
I you know, I wasn't sureexactly how it was gonna pan
out, but I left there, eventhough I left weak, still broke,
still all the things that wasbefore, I left there knowing
that I had a purpose, and that'sall I'm you.
That's all I needed to know.
(13:14):
He's with me, and I have apurpose, and so I decided I
chose to forget any religiousteaching that I'd been taught.
Okay, to to stop running thosesermons through my head, to stop
judging myself because God feltthat I was valuable enough to
speak to me and say, I'll bewith you, you know.
(13:35):
Most people don't get that uhthat epiphany experience, yeah.
And so I said, Okay, um I fromnow on I'm following you, Lord.
You know, I knew the Bible, I'veI read the Bible through
multiple times from front toback, you know.
You know, I I understood allthose things, or at least I
thought I did, based on what Iwas taught.
SPEAKER_02 (13:57):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (13:58):
But I said, from here on out, because I don't
know all the answers, I'm gonnatrust that you're gonna show me
what to do.
And so I stayed out of church, Istayed out of listening to other
things, and I just focused onknowing him, having him teach
me, and amazingly enough, hewould bring, he would bring back
(14:18):
to remembrance things that Iwould go check in the Bible and
you know, yeah and find.
And I but I was like, okay,that's that's you know, that's
him speaking to me.
I I'm understanding this.
And so baby steps, he broughtme, he brought me back to a
place where I was like, okay, Iknow where I feel like I know
where I'm at right now.
But what happened on that uh onthat table when I decided to
(14:43):
stay was that I truly decided tolay down the old life, and so
that's what really made thedifference was that it was no
longer about me because mewanted to not be here, right?
Right.
It was about really didn't wantmuch to do with that anymore.
I didn't, it was about how can Iimpact the rest of the world,
(15:04):
right?
How can that how can you use meto do that?
And with no education, no money,I mean, really no money, um, and
uh again, no kind of businessbackground.
Six months later, I was I wasout selling a coupon to a
plumber, okay, and it was alocal plumber that everybody
(15:27):
knew and liked, and and I knewhe was trustworthy and all that.
And he said, Well, you know, Iwould I wouldn't want to do this
all by myself.
He goes, I know a goodelectrician that I that I fully
trust, and I know a good rooferthat I fully trust.
And I think that we should sharethis ad.
Like, like we could we could buya coupon with all three of us on
it.
And um, you know, my my mindwent with that's gonna be a
(15:50):
little bit confusing to theconsumer, I think, to have three
different coupons on one.
So, what if we built a website?
What if we built a website whereyou could be the plumber, and it
was just for one town, it wasthe town of Mansfield, Texas.
It had it was gonna that placedeliver it delivered to 20,000
homes in Mansfield.
Um, and um, and so I said, Whatwe could do is just get, you
(16:11):
know, you already know theelectrician, you already know
the the roofer.
We could get another, you know,maybe a dozen of you different
types of services, put them on awebsite, you know, that I and I
kind of knew how to buildwebsites, um, you know, online.
It wasn't any kind of fancyanything, it was just you know
what you could get online, um,like a Wix and you know, yeah,
(16:32):
yeah, absolutely.
A template, yeah.
And so I was just gonna build athing where I'd send it, and
this was all still just to sella coupon, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (16:41):
You know, y'all can all go in together and buy uh
even a larger area, and um andyou know, we'll send it here to
this.
And I I called it, I called ituh at that that time I called it
it could be like MansfieldService Connection or something,
you know, and and um, and so hewas like, Man, that sounds like
a pretty good idea.
Um and so that that got me tolike the first spark.
(17:07):
And then I could for two days Icouldn't sleep.
I was thinking too much aboutit.
Like I felt like God was saying,This is what I have for you.
I want you to do this.
SPEAKER_01 (17:15):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:16):
I I'd never ran my own business.
I I I I sold coupons, I soldyellow pages in uh for a while,
so I understood what a directorylooked like, sure, and so that's
what I I I decided I reallythink I want to try this
business.
I never started a businessbefore, didn't have any money.
So I went in, but uh you know, Iwas working in outside sales
(17:41):
doing this coupon thing, and umI could have probably you know
talked to contractors and askedthem what they thought about
this while I was on the clock,but I just didn't feel like that
was right.
So I went in and went, called myboss in the office.
I said, Hey man, um I've got anidea that I've got to try, and
I'm I am not gonna spend oneminute of your time um doing
(18:04):
that.
So I have to quit.
And so I quit my job.
Okay, no money in the bank, nosavings account, and one
paycheck coming.
Wow, and now now my girlfriendshe she worked too.
Um you know, and so that was aplus.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I mean, it wasn't like wewere gonna lose our house,
right?
The house that she was livingin.
It wasn't even my house at thattime.
(18:26):
Uh well, I guess at that time wegot married right afterwards.
Um, but you know, it was uh itwas this income was very much
needed.
I'll just say that.
We we couldn't have paid all ofour bills without it.
But I stepped out in faith,believing that that this was
part of my purpose that Godtalked about.
And I just went out in the inthe beginning with a leak yellow
(18:48):
legal pad and a pen and sat downwith contractors and told them
my dream.
Just shared with them the theidea of separating the good guys
from the bad guys andguaranteeing their work.
And and they just they fell inlove with it, they all started
helping me build it.
You know, it was just like, oh,I know a good guy here, I know a
good guy there.
(19:09):
And um, it it took me about twoyears of just going out and
talking to all these guys tofinally get it all together, and
they were writing checks to tosave their spot basically
whenever I got it all together.
Wow, and I was telling them, heyman, this you know, you might
lose your money.
It was like the weirdest kind ofbusiness you can think of.
SPEAKER_01 (19:28):
Wow, and uh, but I wasn't how how does that differ?
Isn't there uh there's a sitecalled Angie's List?
You say kind of like that.
SPEAKER_00 (19:38):
Well, you know, uh everybody wants to try to
because I had the word list inmy in my name, um, and there are
contractors there.
They people want to compare usto Angie's list.
Now, Angie List is now owned bya company that also owns Home
Advisor.
I don't know if you've everheard of them, but there's Home
Advisor and Angie.
Now, um, Angie used to be just areview site.
(19:59):
Um okay, and she started outreally strong.
Like she was the kind of likeme.
Like she went out door to doorand was talking to people about
you know their experiences andstarted the like this review
site called List, right?
And homeowners used to pay to bea part of that to have access to
to contractors who they couldactually you.
(20:21):
know review and and look at gotit i never really knew how it
worked i never participated init i just uh heard about it and
right it's sort of a similaridea so it's a review site and
you know the bb really is areview site that's you know um
it it better business bureau isthey they don't take any
responsibility they don't payanything they just you know they
(20:43):
just uh uh give the homeowner uhthe ability to complain you know
right exactly and that's whatand that's what the bb is so
really there wasn't anything outthere that did what i was doing
and okay and so what i was doingwas only bringing on good
contractors like um so i ilimited the number of people i
(21:05):
could sell to okay and so thiswas you know i i had business
people telling me john this isthe dumbest business plan i've
ever heard you're you're puttingyourself at risk by guaranteeing
their work too right job rightright so they have liability
insurance for that and and or uhsome kind of insurance for that
(21:26):
well you know uh contractors canhave general liability insurance
but it does not protect thehomeowner from a bad job got it
it what what general liabilitydoes is if they end up burning
the house down they've got aninsurance policy that can fix
that got it but like if thatperson didn't like the quality
of the work it's just their wordagainst the contractors and
that's the way it's always beenright that's that's why you can
(21:48):
hear so many horror stories alot of those horror stories that
you hear about contractors thosewere guys who had insurance okay
and it's uh you know really it'salways just been a two-way
agreement a homeowner and acontractor and what I did was
say if I'm going to say thatthese guys are good then I'm
gonna put my money where mymouth is and I'm gonna guarantee
(22:09):
their work.
So literally if someone hires acontractor from the good
contractors list it's not justthem and the contractor anymore.
I have a$25,000 guarantee thatbacks every job that contractor
does.
Wow so now there's three peopleinvolved and if they're if they
have an issue with uh thecontractor they can contact me
(22:30):
and then I'm takingresponsibility for the job if
that contractor doesn't fix it.
Got it.
And so we're gonna servicethough right this is just we're
we're we're in this is in anarea that you're covering more
or less right everything yeah soany service that you want here
(22:50):
in the Dallas Fort Worth area iswhere I started got it um uh
three or four months ago we wedecided we were gonna go
national with it and I mean yeahamazingly enough it's well it's
been 14 years now we've beendoing this okay all right we've
backed over five billion dollarsin work wow and we have only
come out of pocket 127 thousanddollars in 14 years advertising
(23:12):
it on TV wow walking around youknow putting that good with a
halo symbol that represents goodcontractors out there um and I'm
telling you if we haven't if wedidn't do what we said we're
gonna do yeah we would betrashed I mean people eat you
alive you'd be yeah you'd begone yeah but the truth of the
(23:32):
matter is we've we've managed tofigure out how the process of
separating the good guys fromthe bad guys yeah I was curious
about that because I I I workedI was a a painting contractor
for years and I I don't know howmany guys that I knew that just
didn't do what they said andnightmare after nightmare I mean
(23:55):
so few good companies I'm outhere in California I don't know
if it's any different than therest of the country but I just
know there's uh these guys don'tshow up on time they don't if
(24:56):
they show up at all they don'tdo what they say they change
things gets expensive I meaneverything that go can go wrong
generally does and that's justthe normal you know you think
(25:57):
it's gonna cost five thousanddollars it's probably gonna cost
you 10 by the time you're doneand you're still not going to be
happy with it yeah that happensum it's hit or miss and that's
what's so scary and you knowcontractors don't really have
any other choice but kind ofself-promotion let's let me get
these certifications um theyspend a lot of time a lot of
(26:18):
money in marketing trying tostep out if they can but a lot
of a lot of the really good guysare they stay busy they don't
you know because they're they'rebeing referred by family right
um but they can't grow very muchbigger because they don't they
just don't have the resourcesand the leads to come in you
know and so leads is out prettypretty quick you get all filled
up and what are you going to doyou can only hire so many guys
(26:41):
to help you on your job ifyou're doing the job you know
and I ran into that myself it'skind of it's kind of funny
though whenever you like I sayit's self-promotion for most but
what I'm trying to do is createa community right and so if I
can create a community where thethere's painters and roofers and
air conditioning guys andeverything that you need for
(27:02):
your home sure all doing theright thing all backed by this
guarantee and and they're outthere talking about and I call
this a movement I call it itthis is a good contractors
movement that's happening rightnow across the nation is that as
contractors come under this oneyou know gather together and and
bond together under this oneauthority then they can start
(27:26):
telling their homeowners go hereto hire your contractors um it's
not just about hey we have a$25000 guarantee backing us
which by itself is an accoladethat should get them earn them
business so it's sure you knowit that they could use this as
just an accolade but if theywork as a collective I like to
think of this as collectiveauthority the more that this the
(27:49):
more that the collective themall the contractors are saying
the same thing hire contractorsfrom the good contractors list
we are all vetted and backed bya guarantee you will never be
taken advantage of if you hirefrom this one place.
Next thing you know homeownersare catching wind of it they're
going there for their plumberthey're going there for their
(28:10):
roofer and the roofers clientsbecome the plumbers clients and
the plumbers clients become thewindow guys' clients you know
and so anytime they're actuallygrowing their own organic lead
system okay and and so that'sthe idea is that you know for a
$500 setup fee and$250 a monththey will be backed by our
(28:32):
guarantee and this of course isif they qualify they they've got
to meet all of ourqualifications and they really
need to participate as thecollective as part of the
collective they need to bereferring back to the good
contractors list and all that sothat so that that their group in
whatever town they're in youknow um it it could be anywhere
(28:52):
small town large town there'scontractors that serve all those
areas and so um the more peoplecome together they become an
authority I call that collectiveauthority marketing because
they're actually doing it all uhtogether without having to spend
any money and that's that's thehow far reaching have you gotten
I mean you went national howlong ago uh just a little over
(29:15):
three months ago we're in 17states right now we have we have
contractors now in 17 statesokay um and these are just these
are just the trickles of what'sabout to happen because what'll
happen is as let's say inHouston uh we get a contractor
there we ask that contractor whodo you know and trust in other
fields or even in your own fieldum and they will you know they
(29:40):
they're very particular it'sit's it's kind of funny because
when you put that word good outthere and say I'm separating
good contractors from the badones they take possession of it
they're they're like all rightwell we're gonna make they have
to otherwise you don't haveanything of value I mean if
these guys aren't aren't owningit as their own then you know
it's up then it's somehow yourresponsibility and that's a lot
(30:03):
of work to I don't know how youwould manage it but if you got
everybody that sees the value init and they they protect their
own and and you know raise thatvalue up and and hold it I think
that that's the only way thatthat would really have a chance
to to grow the way it is so yeahyou know it here in Dallas Fort
(30:25):
Worth it was easy because andand we we charge more here than
we would anywhere else in theUnited States because there's
different levels now.
You know we have we have so manyuh zip codes out here so many
different services now we now wehave the ability to sell it to
exclusively but what we do heredifferent here in Dallas that um
I if I could go in hindsight Iwould have changed I would have
(30:45):
used the model I'm usingnationally right now.
But in Dallas Fort Worth weactually advertised on TV and
radio.
I I did what I originally wastalking about.
They all pulled their money andI just take the money that they
they give us and we advertisedhere and in Dallas of Fort Worth
on radio and TV and that's andthat's how it grew quickly here
(31:05):
is because they heard about itand they came to buy us you know
okay um the downside of that iswhen you pay more you expect
more and so absolutely whilewhile I could be spending eighty
thousand dollars a month onadvertising um it may not give
them enough leads for them tothink it's worth$600 a month.
SPEAKER_01 (31:27):
John I I know that um I I was not sure how this
conversation was going to go itwent fantastic but we've burned
up most of our time and this iswhere I kind of want to give you
the opportunity to circle yourthought around and and if you've
got kind of one central thoughtthat you'd like to share with
our listeners.
SPEAKER_00 (31:47):
Well you know I mean like I said the good contractors
list is is what I consider amovement.
Okay.
And so it's gonna it's gonnareally take everybody working
together um to make it work.
And ultimately my my goal is Iwant to touch as many people as
I can while I'm on this earthright be remembered for doing
something good.
(32:08):
So that so part of the the goodcontractors list growing is that
I get to be on podcasts likeyours and start and tell the
story of God's goodness you knowand and that's really my my
ultimate uh desire is to be ableto be a a beacon of good you
know to the world but if you'rea uh because it takes everyone
if you're a homeowner listeningto this uh um and you know a
(32:31):
contractor that you would handyour keys over to you trust them
so much you know like those goodguys they could be the beginning
of a a safe contractor communityright there where you are and so
um on the good it's called thegoodcontractorslist dot com on
the goodcontractors list dot comthere's a button that says refer
(32:55):
a contractor it's there's it'sat the bottom and I think
they're about to add that to thenavigation now but if you look
go to the bottom of the pagethere's you can see refer a
contractor click on that fillout that form and let us know
who that contractor is and ifthey end up qualifying and
joining joining we'll we'll payyou$125 for letting us know
about them.
(33:15):
Nice so so yeah we we want tobenefit everybody uh that's
going to be a part of this andif we can get that started in
your community then it won't belong before we have all the
contractors you need that aregoing to be good that we can
guarantee with$25,000 and sorefer contractors if uh if
you're if you are a contractorby chance listening to this and
(33:36):
you know that you you're the guythat can that has integrity that
does things right that uh has asteady no knows how to manage
your money and run the businessright go to thoodcontractors
list dot com and go to become agood contractor and it'll give
you our minimal requirements andthen we run uh we have we we
spend$2800 a month on backgroundsteps uh background check
(33:59):
software that is FBI level so wewhen we when we do a background
check we know you know we knowif that person had another
company that they ran into theground and then started another
one you know so those kinds ofthings that that you can't see a
lot of times and so so we we dothat and that that's it you know
just um help us with thismovement uh we we really want to
(34:22):
protect homeowners around thenation and uh and we want to
build community and make thissomething that's great for
everybody it's hard to knowwhat's real anymore you know and
and that's part of what we'redoing is we really want we want
a genuine safe place forhomeowners to go and a and a and
a really a safe place forcontractors to come to be a part
(34:43):
of something great somethingmuch bigger than themselves.
SPEAKER_01 (34:46):
I like it I like it well join I want to thank you
for joining us today and uh youknow as as things are growing
along I I encourage you to reachback out and come back up and
share share the developments.
Sure would love it.
Thank you.
Beautiful well this has beenanother episode of the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I'm your host Joe Grumbine and Iwant to thank all of our
(35:08):
listeners for making this showpossible and we will see you
next time.
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