January 5, 2024 • 27 mins
Have you ever questioned how to keep your friendships afloat or kindle romance when the entrepreneurial seas get rough? Seth Mills, alongside our co-host Nik Dawson, swap stories from the trenches, shedding light on the art of maintaining personal connections while helming the entrepreneurial ship. It's a candid look at how we've each grappled with setting boundaries, and the role mutual respect for time plays in relationships. We delve into the awkward moments of revealing your entrepreneurial life to a new date and the undeniable value of a partner who gets the grind.
As we navigate through the episode, the conversation moves to the evolution of our social circles and the strategic cultivation of business relationships. We reflect on the delicate balance of personal relationships with work commitments, and how a supportive network is essential when ambitions steer you toward uncharted business territories. You'll hear how entrepreneurship can reshape family ties and alter friendships, with takeaways on communicating expectations and managing the equilibrium of life's demands. Tune in for an episode that not only uncovers the intricacies of networking in competitive waters but also serves as a compass for steering through the personal challenges that come with business ownership.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to the Astrocraft grow, influence,
invest podcast.
I am your host, seth Mills,joining me today as your co-host
, nick Dawson, and in today'sepisode we're gonna talk about
relationship building andnetworking, so let's just jump
right on into it, man.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
What's up with your pants?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Oh, they've been.
They've been bleached from work.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I was wondering, they look hip.
Yeah you bought those at like acool kid store or what?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Unfortunately.
No, just you know working.
The other cool kid place is youknow working in our generation.
So, anyways, whatever you canactually touch on this and so
can I, because you're in arelationship I do not have that
luxury, which some would say isa blessing.
So I, how do you do it, man?
(00:52):
Because, honestly, between Imean you run one business, I run
a bit, I run one business, butit's got three different sectors
, so my time is just as than asyours.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So it's it's weird, right.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So for the first year of running the company, I
didn't Wasn't even looking for arelationship, wouldn't worried
about none of that.
Wouldn't on any dating siteswas nothing I was just.
Whenever I started, I just Iknew what I wanted and so I just
went for it.
Yeah, and by the time I gotestablished in that this was
(01:35):
around the same time that me andyou were really starting to
connect to, and I think that'salso what helped is the fact
that we were able to both belike push each other in business
.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Absolutely, we still do, still yeah still do.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So I think, more than anything, I guess I got kind of
got to the point where I waslike you know I'm ready.
I think I'm ready forrelationship After all my other
previous fun shit that happenedwith that yeah, that also played
a major role on us, I mean wasthat that also played a major
(02:11):
role in not pursuing something Iwould say yeah 100%.
Yeah, you get engaged and getdumped two weeks before you're
supposed to get married.
Yeah, it'll do it to you 100%.
So I think, like whenever I metCaitlin, my current girlfriend,
whenever we met, I reallydidn't even want to get into the
(02:35):
topic of I don't know companyBecause one I was like I don't
want to seem like you know it'salso 2023 where people will take
advantage of that.
Right, exactly, it's a lot of,and that's.
I remember having thatconversation because it was like
what do you do for work?
Oh, I do, what do you do?
And I was like, well, I'm inthe pool industry and I was like
(02:58):
I own my own company, but it'ssuper cringy to say and she's
our, why is it cringy?
And I was like saying basicallywhat you just said, and she's
like it shouldn't be that cringy.
I was like, yeah, but it justit seems that way because of I'm
an influencer, I'm aentrepreneur.
And that's you know.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
We're, which we know, in 2023,.
Typically, about 90% ofentrepreneurs are unemployed
individuals.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Or they're selling these.
Yeah only fans, yeah, so don'tget me started on that.
No, we'll wait on that, but whatI think ended up happening was
is, thankfully she lives in anarea where I visit a few times a
(03:46):
week so I'm able to get my jobdone, get everything work
related done, and still go overthere and take her, take her to
dinner, go hang out, enjoy ourtime together and still have a
relationship.
It took a while for her tounderstand that I can't respond
and 152035 minutes, 10 minutes,whatever.
(04:09):
It took a while for her to belike like what the hell, dude
you not like me?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I remember that you because she was.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
She was like she was worried about it.
It took a while for me to beable to actually explain what I
do and explain what my phonelooks like on a given day, and
she was like it got to the pointwhere she's like I've come to
the realization that I can't.
(04:38):
I won't get a text as quick asI would like.
Sometimes I can, sometimes I'llbe, she'll catch me right at
the right time and I can respondlike that, but majority of the
time, like today, I could notget off the phone for the life
of me.
Everybody's getting ready forthe rest of the end of the year.
Everybody's getting ready forthat.
Could not get off the phone.
It's been two and a half hoursand part also because of me.
(05:01):
Well yeah, I mean we're talkingabout what we're doing for the
podcast, we're talking abouteverything else, but in between
you, builders, text, emails,everything else is coming in,
coming in at the same time.
Two, two and a half hourspassed by and I'm like, oh shit,
I didn't forget about her.
(05:22):
I think about her throughoutthe whole day, but it's a matter
of having to go and respond,and she knows that.
She knows that it gets hectic,she knows it gets busy and it's
just a matter of life.
So she knows that anytime thatwe get to Talk or get to spend
time to with each other.
Yeah she knows that she respectsthe time to, which is beautiful
(05:45):
absolutely, which is otherrelationships I've been in.
They don't respect that.
They don't respect your time,they don't respect the fact that
why aren't you responding to meright away?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
or the opposite.
Why are you responding so quick?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, that hadn't happened for me in a long time,
but yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It's happened to me.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
We won't say the name, but itstarts with an M.
It shouldn't be that hard.
Now You're just fucking with me.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, yeah that flying here dude.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
But yeah, so I mean I understand that 100%.
So see, and I guess for me, I'mstill at a point because I keep
expanding my company, and todifferent avenues, I'm still at
a point where I cannot.
I have a girl that I've beentalking to for almost three
months now, or Just over twomonths whatever.
We still haven't been able tomeet in person and go on a date
(06:43):
because I've been too busybetween the podcast, the three
different Branches, my companyI'll I'll call it three
companies, because I really doown three companies, they're
just all under one branch, I'llsee.
And the fourth company I'mabout to open I my time is
stretched so thin.
And then me flying out in Aprilfor a week, and then probably
(07:04):
flying out in February and inJune, and I'll probably in
September as well, for aconvention over in Cabo San
Lucas, which will be nice, it'llbe a vacation, but it's also
gonna be worse shit.
It's also gonna be work.
And then I think that next year, in August, I've also got to
fly out to Tennessee for anotherconvention.
(07:26):
But See, with me, my time isstretched so thin that I don't
think that's why I haven't.
I Don't try to lead people on.
I will try and talk to somebody, I'll try to make it something
happen, because, yeah, everybodywants a relationship, right,
I'm not gonna force arelationship to happen, though.
So you have to have a happybalance between life, work
(07:50):
balance as even a business owner.
But if you're trying to openand expand things Nine times out
of ten, you're not gonna havethat healthy balance, or, if you
do, the balance of life becomesokay.
I want to go and enjoy one of myhobbies golfing.
My hobby this isn't a hobby,but it's something I enjoy doing
is going to the casino, hangingout, seeing people.
(08:13):
It's probably not a good thing,but about half the dealers that
go to nugget, like Charles,know my name.
I walked in this past weekendand or with my family this past
week and I walk up into thehigh-limit room and one of the
dealers that always I playblackjack with.
He's like hey, how have youbeen?
(08:34):
I'm like, yeah, I've been good.
He's like it's been like twomonths.
I was like, yeah, I know, justhaven't been able to make it.
And I'm like alright, man, I'lltalk to you soon and I'll see
you later.
He looks at me.
He says okay, seth, have a goodone.
I'm like I Genuinely did notknow that he knew my name.
I Did not know.
I literally I'm not evenshitting you.
(08:55):
I turned around I said how doyou remember my name?
He's like you're here all thetime.
Really not, okay, I'm times in2022 or 2023.
I mean, so, I Mean, I guess, Iguess, I guess there's just
different ways of looking atthat.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Like for me I Wasn't ready and then I was like open
to the idea.
And then I I found somebody whowas open to the idea of being
with somebody who isn't always,who isn't always able to be
there.
Right then, right there, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
See, and I wish I could find that but she's always
.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
She's also my biggest supporter.
She's.
She's there to listen to thegreat day.
She's there to listen to theabsolute shit days where.
I just want to throw my phoneout the window.
Sounds like me.
Yeah, she's, yeah, the femaleversion of me basically yeah, so
you just need to find thefemale version of me.
(09:54):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
You mean female version of?
Well, I guess, yeah, that wouldbe right.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, I know what I'm talking about here.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Much more attractive one, though, than you.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Small little less mustache, but yeah, it's never
zero.
No, you just again in somematter of what you want, again,
she's my biggest supporter.
She's the one who helps push meto want to expand.
So I know if I want to expand,she's gonna be like do it, do it
(10:27):
, or Do you have the time to dothat?
Yeah, she's.
She's also one of those thatwill bring me back into Reality
sometimes where I'm like Ireally want to do this, I really
want to sell my own merch, Iwant to sell my own.
You know, have this and we'llhave this, and she's like you.
(10:47):
Okay, well, excluding what youdo and the time that we spend
together, what time do you haveto do that?
Speaker 1 (10:56):
12 o'clock to 4 am or 12 midnight, 4 am yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
She's like I'm not trying to discredit anything
because we, even before I camehere, she was like I said
something.
I was like, yeah, I'm let Sethspend all the money on all this
shit.
No, I'm just gonna capitalizeon it whenever I start my own
and she goes.
With what time?
Yep, she goes.
It's good that you're able toget on his she goes, but
realistically she goes.
(11:21):
I'm not trying to crush yourdreams, but you barely have time
to go home and go sleep.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, after work.
Orders and customer emailstexts calls.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
All of that in between she's like so Once you
get people hired on, then Thenyou can think then start
thinking about it.
But right now she's like.
She's also like don't spreadyourself to you thing, yeah,
which is where I'd gotten to atone point, where it was 7 in the
morning till 8 in the eveningthat I would be working all day,
(11:53):
and then I would get home anddo my work orders and I'd get up
again at 6 or 7 and go do thesame thing Five, six days a week
and I had literally no gas left, yeah so and Then it also kind
of this all also kind of tiesinto networking as a business
owner when you well, even beforewe get on that, even family
(12:18):
relationship 100%.
Thankfully, I'm in partnershipwith my mother.
Thankfully, yeah, thankfully,we're in, we're in business
together.
She does my book, she does mytaxes, she does everything in
Office, except for thescheduling and some of the work
(12:41):
order stuff.
Yeah so I'm in constantcommunication with her.
She's always let me know what'sgoing on with family.
My dad's in the same industryso I'm able to talk to him.
We talked Throughout the wholeweek, especially right now that
now that I'm at home right nowI'm trying to figure out my
living situation.
But Even owning a company atthat point still Kind of keeps
(13:02):
you away from certain familymembers at that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Oh, it absolutely doesn't.
I mean, I would know About that,because I don't see half my
family as much as I'd like to.
Yeah, the other half livewithin a five mile radius, 10
miles at max, so it's easy to goand see them or for them to
come here.
So it definitely also doesaffect your family relationships
(13:27):
when it comes to businessbecause, like I said, you won't
be able to see them as often.
You also may not get to Talk tothem as often, even over to the
phone, because you're always,like you had mentioned earlier,
you're always on the phone withbuilders, me.
I'm on the phone with you, I'mon the phone with clients, I'm
on the phone with Corporateoffices talking about other
(13:49):
contracts that I have or tryingto get.
So it definitely affects familyRelationships as well and it
can it can make family gettogether is complicated, because
your family is going to Want tohave an answer as to why you
haven't been calling them andit's like, while you have a good
answer and a good explanation,it may not be good enough for
(14:13):
them.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
They could either not talk to you because you're in
college or they could not talkto you because you're in a
business.
I want to get a business andI'm doing both and you're doing
both.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So on top of all the other stuff I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So, anyways, I didn't want to cut you off on that.
But I just before we got pastjust Girlfriend, spouse,
anything like that wanted totalk family related, and I mean
even friendships.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Even friendships.
Yeah, I Talked to you a littlebit about this earlier.
It I Needed to tread lightly,because I do have quite a few
friends.
However, I don't talk to themor see them nearly as much
anymore.
I Used to be extremely closewith a friend group here in my
neighborhood.
I very rarely see them anymorebecause of work, because of
(15:07):
business, because I'm alwaysworking on something.
If it's not business, it's thepodcast.
If it's not podcast, I'mtraveling.
Like I mentioned the casino, Ido enjoy going to spend money.
No, I'm not gonna Spend my lastdollar at the casino, unless,
of course, both of my bankaccounts get hacked, like
happened last week where hackersstole Lots of money from me.
(15:30):
But I'm getting it back.
So, theoretically, I did bringmy last dollar to the casino
unknowingly unknowingly, but ina peak of Christmas season 2.
But anyway, as far as all ofthat goes, I Don't see those
friends anymore.
(15:50):
It really is not nearly asoften I've seen one of them and
once in like two months thatI've seen them will Snapchat or
text or whatever.
Very rarely even then.
But so that kind of went awayFriend lives in Dallas.
He wants me to come see him allthe time.
(16:10):
I can't.
When he's traveling down herefor work I can't make the time
to go see him down here evenBecause he's usually on the
south side of Houston and welive way up north, on the very
northern side of Houston,slightly outside of Houston, so
it makes it difficult.
I Don't want to say friendsdiminish when you but they kind
(16:35):
of do that whenever you own abusiness, but they kind of do
you start growing out of thefriendships You're currently in
and start looking for friends orfriend groups that are in the
specter of your mindset when youare now as business owner, for
instance.
You are the only person that Ican say that I have.
I'm friends with that.
I talked to on a weekly basis,a monthly basis and Much less a
(16:58):
daily base.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I was gonna say pretty much daily for the most
part, unless there's like a realoff day or some shit.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
I mean the, the friend group that I'm around you
.
For sure, I Talked to a goodfriend of mine who's in
commercial construction, justbecause he's basically doing
what we're doing, but a ownerunderneath an owner.
Yeah even though he's more of aGC on a job, but he still has
(17:30):
the same kind of mindset.
So that's kind of where it'sStill good.
He's making great money, hedoes what he wants to do and
that's what we're trying to doand what we're doing.
But I have other friends that Iused to play guitar with, I used
to record with, hang out with,and that he just got engaged.
I knew he'd been dating thisgirl forever, but did I know how
(17:54):
, how far along all this hadgone.
So I mean like we've lostcontact and not to throw shade
on them or anything, but the onetime he calls me is because his
dad's interested in getting ina swimming pool.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Hey, lost contact.
I guess not diminishing friendgroups.
Yeah, contact is more so what Iwas getting at.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Okay, yeah, lost contact.
I mean I, like you said, thewhole snapchat deal.
I still have friends that'lljust like pop up randomly.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I'm like yeah, yeah, I forgot about you.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, but I didn't forget about you.
I just forgot to respond to you, or forgot to Reach out, like I
was supposed to so but yeah,you surround yourself with
people that are doing the thingsor that are gonna push you to
do the things that you want todo or the things that you're
already doing.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, because the you never know everything.
Yeah, when you're owning abusiness, I that also goes back
into tying into the networking.
Yeah, if you're we were talkingabout a lot of that if you own
a business, 90% of your work isgonna either come from word of
mouth or networking.
Yeah, you would be surprised ornot you, but the watchers would
(18:59):
be surprised.
How much work of mine they callthem viewers the viewers.
But anyway, you know what I mean.
Yeah, you too.
But uh, you'd be surprised howmuch work I get from other
exterior cleaning companies.
Yeah, they send me work becausethey can't get to it or their
(19:19):
schedule doesn't allow orthere's some mix up or something
.
It's just out of theirjurisdiction.
They just send me work and Isend them work too.
Mm-hmm, you'd be surprised howmuch work of mine comes from
other exterior that mycompetitors.
Networking is the number onething that I could recommend for
anybody who's looking at itgetting into a business.
Yeah, because it'sSingle-handedly One.
(19:44):
You'll get more work that wayto.
If you're ever in a bind, youcan call these people and they
will show up, no questions asked.
And three you want to keep agood reputation with the other
contractors in your industry or,in general, other contractors
around you.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Well, I started thinking about this man With the
service stuff that we do.
What good is a painter withouta house or a building?
What good's a plumber without aplace to plumb?
What good's an electricianwithout?
You can be an electrician allday long, but if you don't have
your contacts, what are yougoing to?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
do?
And what's good about apressure washer if there's no
house or concrete?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
If you're a plumber, you've got to have a builder.
If you're an electrician,you've got to have a builder.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
If you're a pool builder, you have to have a
house builder or a home builderor an apartment.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
You've got to have something, Otherwise you're just
okay.
I'm just a pool boy.
I have no contacts.
You have to have your contacts,you have to know your people.
That's why I stress so much toguys in my industry, to
especially ones like Clean Pools, to get in with realtors, to
(21:01):
get in with pool builders thatdon't clean swimming pools,
Because they, we just want tobuild and we want you deal with
it now.
They don't want to have theleftovers, they want to get onto
their next project.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
So if you don't have those contacts, you can struggle
in trying to build what you cando.
But if you have contacts as faras builders, realtors, home
builders, anything like that,you have that consistent flow of
work coming in.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And whenever you're networking,you also have to realize not
everybody's going to be yourfriend when you're networking.
I will preface this by sayingthat because there's a lot of
people that I know that I'venetworked with, that I have had
some I don't know the properword, but I did, but I don't
(21:51):
know the proper word but pridein talking to or I have trust in
them.
I've been trusted them withsome, some ideas, and they've
turned around and they've takenthose ideas and gone and done
them themselves, which is fine.
That's competition, it'scapitalism, it's America.
You got to be careful who younetwork with and who you share
ideas with, because noteverybody's out to help you, not
(22:13):
everybody's out to get you.
Either there's neutral parties,there's good parties and
there's also bad parties.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
So you have to understand that when it comes to
marketing or not marketing,networking- yeah, Whether it's
going to be a conference thatyou're going to or anything else
like that.
She walked in the door to tosomebody.
Yeah, that might be able tobenefit your company.
What's the what's the issuewith going in there and talking
(22:41):
to them?
If you have a good conversationwith them, even if they can't
help you, they might knowsomebody that can.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Oh, absolutely 100%.
I mean, networking doesn't stopin your own industry.
I've networked with pestcontrol companies.
I've networked with realtors.
I've networked with andrealtors is a big one to get
into whether, regardless of yourindustry, if you are a pest
control, if you're a homeimprovement, if you're pressure
(23:08):
washing, pool cleaning companies, pool warranty companies, even
they could Benefit from gettingwith a realtor, because the
realtor can spread theirinformation exactly.
To their home buyers or sellers,even Depending on if they're
selling in buying the home fortheir, their customer, or just
selling the home.
They could market it to thebuyers.
(23:29):
You know, I mean, it doesn'tend when it comes to networking.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
No, and it didn't stop there.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
No, it doesn't.
It does not.
I mean, I don't know.
I, whenever I first started out, I tried to network with
everybody.
Yeah, I have 50 to 150 clientor not clients, but Networks
that I can text to my customer,or a text in my contacts right
now it would be there if Ineeded them from a variety of
(24:03):
different industries Vendors,suppliers, other like
competitors.
It doesn't stop.
I still networked to this day.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
You, you, of all people, would be shocked to know
this.
When I'm at the casino INetwork, I Met 10 people 20
people on this trip this lastweek that were in our industry
or not in our industry, but inour area, who needed my service.
Yeah, I Don't know the taxcodes.
Theoretically, though, part ofthis trip could have been tax
(24:39):
deductible.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I'd consult your attorneys and your.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I would too.
This is not tax or Lawyer, orany kind of advice when I said
that I'm just saying I'm gonnalet you talk about that.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I gave out business cards.
I talked to them about business.
However many minutes that wascould have been tax deductible,
I don't know.
I Know that if you're talkingabout business it's technically
tax deductible as far asexpenses accrued.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah but I can't remember what it is.
As far as entertainment goes itwasn't an entertainment.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
We were sitting at a bar.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Oh well, if you're at a bar, then yet you're good.
You should be all right, wewere not at that.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I should have prefaced this by saying that we
were not at a table, we were notat a slot, we were not, that's
what I was, yeah floor.
We, a couple of them.
We were right, we were gamblinghigh stakes.
I go to the High Limit Roomhundred dollars to five hundred
dollars a hand blackjack.
That's my game.
That or craps.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And occasionally that kind of money, I could grab my
pants too.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Believe it or not, I really need to get you on.
You're coming to Vegas, thehotel is free, the food is free,
everything's free except forthe gambling and the flight.
And the flight is not that thatmuch, buddy Well.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I'm gonna play Texas.
Hold on, let's go.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I can't get you and I ever go.
Anyways, with all of that beingsaid, I Think we we've kind of
touched on the relationships andthe networking and friendships.
I hope that this advice helpsall of our viewers and listeners
to this podcast.
In the next episode, we'regonna be talking about something
similar, but not really innetworking.
(26:34):
We're gonna be talking aboutother things regarding business.
Now that we're off of how wegot into business and what we
would do differently, we'regonna start touching on two
specific topics within business,for instance, like this one or
like last episode, where wetouched on customers being or
bullying the Companies and stufflike that.
(26:57):
So I really, once again, I dohope that this helps somebody
who's starting business, who'sgetting into business, and we
will see you guys on the nextepisode.
Thank you for tuning into theAstrocraft grow, influence,
invest podcast.
I am your host, seth Mills, andjoining me was your co-host Nick
Dawson and we hope that youguys had a merry Christmas and
(27:20):
happy Hanukkah, new year andWelcome to 2024 y'all.
Welcome back to the Astrocraft grow, influence,
invest podcast.
I am your host, seth Mills,joining me today as your co-host
, nick Dawson, and in today'sepisode we're gonna talk about
relationship building andnetworking, so let's just jump
right on into it, man.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
What's up with your pants?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Oh, they've been.
They've been bleached from work.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I was wondering, they look hip.
Yeah you bought those at like acool kid store or what?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Unfortunately.
No, just you know working.
The other cool kid place is youknow working in our generation.
So, anyways, whatever you canactually touch on this and so
can I, because you're in arelationship I do not have that
luxury, which some would say isa blessing.
So I, how do you do it, man?
(00:52):
Because, honestly, between Imean you run one business, I run
a bit, I run one business, butit's got three different sectors
, so my time is just as than asyours.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So it's it's weird, right.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So for the first year of running the company, I
didn't Wasn't even looking for arelationship, wouldn't worried
about none of that.
Wouldn't on any dating siteswas nothing I was just.
Whenever I started, I just Iknew what I wanted and so I just
went for it.
Yeah, and by the time I gotestablished in that this was
(01:35):
around the same time that me andyou were really starting to
connect to, and I think that'salso what helped is the fact
that we were able to both belike push each other in business
.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Absolutely, we still do, still yeah still do.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So I think, more than anything, I guess I got kind of
got to the point where I waslike you know I'm ready.
I think I'm ready forrelationship After all my other
previous fun shit that happenedwith that yeah, that also played
a major role on us, I mean wasthat that also played a major
(02:11):
role in not pursuing something Iwould say yeah 100%.
Yeah, you get engaged and getdumped two weeks before you're
supposed to get married.
Yeah, it'll do it to you 100%.
So I think, like whenever I metCaitlin, my current girlfriend,
whenever we met, I reallydidn't even want to get into the
(02:35):
topic of I don't know companyBecause one I was like I don't
want to seem like you know it'salso 2023 where people will take
advantage of that.
Right, exactly, it's a lot of,and that's.
I remember having thatconversation because it was like
what do you do for work?
Oh, I do, what do you do?
And I was like, well, I'm inthe pool industry and I was like
(02:58):
I own my own company, but it'ssuper cringy to say and she's
our, why is it cringy?
And I was like saying basicallywhat you just said, and she's
like it shouldn't be that cringy.
I was like, yeah, but it justit seems that way because of I'm
an influencer, I'm aentrepreneur.
And that's you know.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
We're, which we know, in 2023,.
Typically, about 90% ofentrepreneurs are unemployed
individuals.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Or they're selling these.
Yeah only fans, yeah, so don'tget me started on that.
No, we'll wait on that, but whatI think ended up happening was
is, thankfully she lives in anarea where I visit a few times a
(03:46):
week so I'm able to get my jobdone, get everything work
related done, and still go overthere and take her, take her to
dinner, go hang out, enjoy ourtime together and still have a
relationship.
It took a while for her tounderstand that I can't respond
and 152035 minutes, 10 minutes,whatever.
(04:09):
It took a while for her to belike like what the hell, dude
you not like me?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I remember that you because she was.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
She was like she was worried about it.
It took a while for me to beable to actually explain what I
do and explain what my phonelooks like on a given day, and
she was like it got to the pointwhere she's like I've come to
the realization that I can't.
(04:38):
I won't get a text as quick asI would like.
Sometimes I can, sometimes I'llbe, she'll catch me right at
the right time and I can respondlike that, but majority of the
time, like today, I could notget off the phone for the life
of me.
Everybody's getting ready forthe rest of the end of the year.
Everybody's getting ready forthat.
Could not get off the phone.
It's been two and a half hoursand part also because of me.
(05:01):
Well yeah, I mean we're talkingabout what we're doing for the
podcast, we're talking abouteverything else, but in between
you, builders, text, emails,everything else is coming in,
coming in at the same time.
Two, two and a half hourspassed by and I'm like, oh shit,
I didn't forget about her.
(05:22):
I think about her throughoutthe whole day, but it's a matter
of having to go and respond,and she knows that.
She knows that it gets hectic,she knows it gets busy and it's
just a matter of life.
So she knows that anytime thatwe get to Talk or get to spend
time to with each other.
Yeah she knows that she respectsthe time to, which is beautiful
(05:45):
absolutely, which is otherrelationships I've been in.
They don't respect that.
They don't respect your time,they don't respect the fact that
why aren't you responding to meright away?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
or the opposite.
Why are you responding so quick?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, that hadn't happened for me in a long time,
but yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It's happened to me.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
We won't say the name, but itstarts with an M.
It shouldn't be that hard.
Now You're just fucking with me.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, yeah that flying here dude.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
But yeah, so I mean I understand that 100%.
So see, and I guess for me, I'mstill at a point because I keep
expanding my company, and todifferent avenues, I'm still at
a point where I cannot.
I have a girl that I've beentalking to for almost three
months now, or Just over twomonths whatever.
We still haven't been able tomeet in person and go on a date
(06:43):
because I've been too busybetween the podcast, the three
different Branches, my companyI'll I'll call it three
companies, because I really doown three companies, they're
just all under one branch, I'llsee.
And the fourth company I'mabout to open I my time is
stretched so thin.
And then me flying out in Aprilfor a week, and then probably
(07:04):
flying out in February and inJune, and I'll probably in
September as well, for aconvention over in Cabo San
Lucas, which will be nice, it'llbe a vacation, but it's also
gonna be worse shit.
It's also gonna be work.
And then I think that next year, in August, I've also got to
fly out to Tennessee for anotherconvention.
(07:26):
But See, with me, my time isstretched so thin that I don't
think that's why I haven't.
I Don't try to lead people on.
I will try and talk to somebody, I'll try to make it something
happen, because, yeah, everybodywants a relationship, right,
I'm not gonna force arelationship to happen, though.
So you have to have a happybalance between life, work
(07:50):
balance as even a business owner.
But if you're trying to openand expand things Nine times out
of ten, you're not gonna havethat healthy balance, or, if you
do, the balance of life becomesokay.
I want to go and enjoy one of myhobbies golfing.
My hobby this isn't a hobby,but it's something I enjoy doing
is going to the casino, hangingout, seeing people.
(08:13):
It's probably not a good thing,but about half the dealers that
go to nugget, like Charles,know my name.
I walked in this past weekendand or with my family this past
week and I walk up into thehigh-limit room and one of the
dealers that always I playblackjack with.
He's like hey, how have youbeen?
(08:34):
I'm like, yeah, I've been good.
He's like it's been like twomonths.
I was like, yeah, I know, justhaven't been able to make it.
And I'm like alright, man, I'lltalk to you soon and I'll see
you later.
He looks at me.
He says okay, seth, have a goodone.
I'm like I Genuinely did notknow that he knew my name.
I Did not know.
I literally I'm not evenshitting you.
(08:55):
I turned around I said how doyou remember my name?
He's like you're here all thetime.
Really not, okay, I'm times in2022 or 2023.
I mean, so, I Mean, I guess, Iguess, I guess there's just
different ways of looking atthat.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Like for me I Wasn't ready and then I was like open
to the idea.
And then I I found somebody whowas open to the idea of being
with somebody who isn't always,who isn't always able to be
there.
Right then, right there, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
See, and I wish I could find that but she's always
.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
She's also my biggest supporter.
She's.
She's there to listen to thegreat day.
She's there to listen to theabsolute shit days where.
I just want to throw my phoneout the window.
Sounds like me.
Yeah, she's, yeah, the femaleversion of me basically yeah, so
you just need to find thefemale version of me.
(09:54):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
You mean female version of?
Well, I guess, yeah, that wouldbe right.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, I know what I'm talking about here.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Much more attractive one, though, than you.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Small little less mustache, but yeah, it's never
zero.
No, you just again in somematter of what you want, again,
she's my biggest supporter.
She's the one who helps push meto want to expand.
So I know if I want to expand,she's gonna be like do it, do it
(10:27):
, or Do you have the time to dothat?
Yeah, she's.
She's also one of those thatwill bring me back into Reality
sometimes where I'm like Ireally want to do this, I really
want to sell my own merch, Iwant to sell my own.
You know, have this and we'llhave this, and she's like you.
(10:47):
Okay, well, excluding what youdo and the time that we spend
together, what time do you haveto do that?
Speaker 1 (10:56):
12 o'clock to 4 am or 12 midnight, 4 am yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
She's like I'm not trying to discredit anything
because we, even before I camehere, she was like I said
something.
I was like, yeah, I'm let Sethspend all the money on all this
shit.
No, I'm just gonna capitalizeon it whenever I start my own
and she goes.
With what time?
Yep, she goes.
It's good that you're able toget on his she goes, but
realistically she goes.
(11:21):
I'm not trying to crush yourdreams, but you barely have time
to go home and go sleep.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, after work.
Orders and customer emailstexts calls.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
All of that in between she's like so Once you
get people hired on, then Thenyou can think then start
thinking about it.
But right now she's like.
She's also like don't spreadyourself to you thing, yeah,
which is where I'd gotten to atone point, where it was 7 in the
morning till 8 in the eveningthat I would be working all day,
(11:53):
and then I would get home anddo my work orders and I'd get up
again at 6 or 7 and go do thesame thing Five, six days a week
and I had literally no gas left, yeah so and Then it also kind
of this all also kind of tiesinto networking as a business
owner when you well, even beforewe get on that, even family
(12:18):
relationship 100%.
Thankfully, I'm in partnershipwith my mother.
Thankfully, yeah, thankfully,we're in, we're in business
together.
She does my book, she does mytaxes, she does everything in
Office, except for thescheduling and some of the work
(12:41):
order stuff.
Yeah so I'm in constantcommunication with her.
She's always let me know what'sgoing on with family.
My dad's in the same industryso I'm able to talk to him.
We talked Throughout the wholeweek, especially right now that
now that I'm at home right nowI'm trying to figure out my
living situation.
But Even owning a company atthat point still Kind of keeps
(13:02):
you away from certain familymembers at that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Oh, it absolutely doesn't.
I mean, I would know About that,because I don't see half my
family as much as I'd like to.
Yeah, the other half livewithin a five mile radius, 10
miles at max, so it's easy to goand see them or for them to
come here.
So it definitely also doesaffect your family relationships
(13:27):
when it comes to businessbecause, like I said, you won't
be able to see them as often.
You also may not get to Talk tothem as often, even over to the
phone, because you're always,like you had mentioned earlier,
you're always on the phone withbuilders, me.
I'm on the phone with you, I'mon the phone with clients, I'm
on the phone with Corporateoffices talking about other
(13:49):
contracts that I have or tryingto get.
So it definitely affects familyRelationships as well and it
can it can make family gettogether is complicated, because
your family is going to Want tohave an answer as to why you
haven't been calling them andit's like, while you have a good
answer and a good explanation,it may not be good enough for
(14:13):
them.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
They could either not talk to you because you're in
college or they could not talkto you because you're in a
business.
I want to get a business andI'm doing both and you're doing
both.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So on top of all the other stuff I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So, anyways, I didn't want to cut you off on that.
But I just before we got pastjust Girlfriend, spouse,
anything like that wanted totalk family related, and I mean
even friendships.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Even friendships.
Yeah, I Talked to you a littlebit about this earlier.
It I Needed to tread lightly,because I do have quite a few
friends.
However, I don't talk to themor see them nearly as much
anymore.
I Used to be extremely closewith a friend group here in my
neighborhood.
I very rarely see them anymorebecause of work, because of
(15:07):
business, because I'm alwaysworking on something.
If it's not business, it's thepodcast.
If it's not podcast, I'mtraveling.
Like I mentioned the casino, Ido enjoy going to spend money.
No, I'm not gonna Spend my lastdollar at the casino, unless,
of course, both of my bankaccounts get hacked, like
happened last week where hackersstole Lots of money from me.
(15:30):
But I'm getting it back.
So, theoretically, I did bringmy last dollar to the casino
unknowingly unknowingly, but ina peak of Christmas season 2.
But anyway, as far as all ofthat goes, I Don't see those
friends anymore.
(15:50):
It really is not nearly asoften I've seen one of them and
once in like two months thatI've seen them will Snapchat or
text or whatever.
Very rarely even then.
But so that kind of went awayFriend lives in Dallas.
He wants me to come see him allthe time.
(16:10):
I can't.
When he's traveling down herefor work I can't make the time
to go see him down here evenBecause he's usually on the
south side of Houston and welive way up north, on the very
northern side of Houston,slightly outside of Houston, so
it makes it difficult.
I Don't want to say friendsdiminish when you but they kind
(16:35):
of do that whenever you own abusiness, but they kind of do
you start growing out of thefriendships You're currently in
and start looking for friends orfriend groups that are in the
specter of your mindset when youare now as business owner, for
instance.
You are the only person that Ican say that I have.
I'm friends with that.
I talked to on a weekly basis,a monthly basis and Much less a
(16:58):
daily base.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I was gonna say pretty much daily for the most
part, unless there's like a realoff day or some shit.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
I mean the, the friend group that I'm around you
.
For sure, I Talked to a goodfriend of mine who's in
commercial construction, justbecause he's basically doing
what we're doing, but a ownerunderneath an owner.
Yeah even though he's more of aGC on a job, but he still has
(17:30):
the same kind of mindset.
So that's kind of where it'sStill good.
He's making great money, hedoes what he wants to do and
that's what we're trying to doand what we're doing.
But I have other friends that Iused to play guitar with, I used
to record with, hang out with,and that he just got engaged.
I knew he'd been dating thisgirl forever, but did I know how
(17:54):
, how far along all this hadgone.
So I mean like we've lostcontact and not to throw shade
on them or anything, but the onetime he calls me is because his
dad's interested in getting ina swimming pool.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Hey, lost contact.
I guess not diminishing friendgroups.
Yeah, contact is more so what Iwas getting at.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Okay, yeah, lost contact.
I mean I, like you said, thewhole snapchat deal.
I still have friends that'lljust like pop up randomly.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I'm like yeah, yeah, I forgot about you.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, but I didn't forget about you.
I just forgot to respond to you, or forgot to Reach out, like I
was supposed to so but yeah,you surround yourself with
people that are doing the thingsor that are gonna push you to
do the things that you want todo or the things that you're
already doing.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, because the you never know everything.
Yeah, when you're owning abusiness, I that also goes back
into tying into the networking.
Yeah, if you're we were talkingabout a lot of that if you own
a business, 90% of your work isgonna either come from word of
mouth or networking.
Yeah, you would be surprised ornot you, but the watchers would
(18:59):
be surprised.
How much work of mine they callthem viewers the viewers.
But anyway, you know what I mean.
Yeah, you too.
But uh, you'd be surprised howmuch work I get from other
exterior cleaning companies.
Yeah, they send me work becausethey can't get to it or their
(19:19):
schedule doesn't allow orthere's some mix up or something
.
It's just out of theirjurisdiction.
They just send me work and Isend them work too.
Mm-hmm, you'd be surprised howmuch work of mine comes from
other exterior that mycompetitors.
Networking is the number onething that I could recommend for
anybody who's looking at itgetting into a business.
Yeah, because it'sSingle-handedly One.
(19:44):
You'll get more work that wayto.
If you're ever in a bind, youcan call these people and they
will show up, no questions asked.
And three you want to keep agood reputation with the other
contractors in your industry or,in general, other contractors
around you.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Well, I started thinking about this man With the
service stuff that we do.
What good is a painter withouta house or a building?
What good's a plumber without aplace to plumb?
What good's an electricianwithout?
You can be an electrician allday long, but if you don't have
your contacts, what are yougoing to?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
do?
And what's good about apressure washer if there's no
house or concrete?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
If you're a plumber, you've got to have a builder.
If you're an electrician,you've got to have a builder.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
If you're a pool builder, you have to have a
house builder or a home builderor an apartment.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
You've got to have something, Otherwise you're just
okay.
I'm just a pool boy.
I have no contacts.
You have to have your contacts,you have to know your people.
That's why I stress so much toguys in my industry, to
especially ones like Clean Pools, to get in with realtors, to
(21:01):
get in with pool builders thatdon't clean swimming pools,
Because they, we just want tobuild and we want you deal with
it now.
They don't want to have theleftovers, they want to get onto
their next project.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
So if you don't have those contacts, you can struggle
in trying to build what you cando.
But if you have contacts as faras builders, realtors, home
builders, anything like that,you have that consistent flow of
work coming in.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And whenever you're networking,you also have to realize not
everybody's going to be yourfriend when you're networking.
I will preface this by sayingthat because there's a lot of
people that I know that I'venetworked with, that I have had
some I don't know the properword, but I did, but I don't
(21:51):
know the proper word but pridein talking to or I have trust in
them.
I've been trusted them withsome, some ideas, and they've
turned around and they've takenthose ideas and gone and done
them themselves, which is fine.
That's competition, it'scapitalism, it's America.
You got to be careful who younetwork with and who you share
ideas with, because noteverybody's out to help you, not
(22:13):
everybody's out to get you.
Either there's neutral parties,there's good parties and
there's also bad parties.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
So you have to understand that when it comes to
marketing or not marketing,networking- yeah, Whether it's
going to be a conference thatyou're going to or anything else
like that.
She walked in the door to tosomebody.
Yeah, that might be able tobenefit your company.
What's the what's the issuewith going in there and talking
(22:41):
to them?
If you have a good conversationwith them, even if they can't
help you, they might knowsomebody that can.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Oh, absolutely 100%.
I mean, networking doesn't stopin your own industry.
I've networked with pestcontrol companies.
I've networked with realtors.
I've networked with andrealtors is a big one to get
into whether, regardless of yourindustry, if you are a pest
control, if you're a homeimprovement, if you're pressure
(23:08):
washing, pool cleaning companies, pool warranty companies, even
they could Benefit from gettingwith a realtor, because the
realtor can spread theirinformation exactly.
To their home buyers or sellers,even Depending on if they're
selling in buying the home fortheir, their customer, or just
selling the home.
They could market it to thebuyers.
(23:29):
You know, I mean, it doesn'tend when it comes to networking.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
No, and it didn't stop there.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
No, it doesn't.
It does not.
I mean, I don't know.
I, whenever I first started out, I tried to network with
everybody.
Yeah, I have 50 to 150 clientor not clients, but Networks
that I can text to my customer,or a text in my contacts right
now it would be there if Ineeded them from a variety of
(24:03):
different industries Vendors,suppliers, other like
competitors.
It doesn't stop.
I still networked to this day.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
You, you, of all people, would be shocked to know
this.
When I'm at the casino INetwork, I Met 10 people 20
people on this trip this lastweek that were in our industry
or not in our industry, but inour area, who needed my service.
Yeah, I Don't know the taxcodes.
Theoretically, though, part ofthis trip could have been tax
(24:39):
deductible.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I'd consult your attorneys and your.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I would too.
This is not tax or Lawyer, orany kind of advice when I said
that I'm just saying I'm gonnalet you talk about that.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I gave out business cards.
I talked to them about business.
However many minutes that wascould have been tax deductible,
I don't know.
I Know that if you're talkingabout business it's technically
tax deductible as far asexpenses accrued.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah but I can't remember what it is.
As far as entertainment goes itwasn't an entertainment.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
We were sitting at a bar.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Oh well, if you're at a bar, then yet you're good.
You should be all right, wewere not at that.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I should have prefaced this by saying that we
were not at a table, we were notat a slot, we were not, that's
what I was, yeah floor.
We, a couple of them.
We were right, we were gamblinghigh stakes.
I go to the High Limit Roomhundred dollars to five hundred
dollars a hand blackjack.
That's my game.
That or craps.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And occasionally that kind of money, I could grab my
pants too.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Believe it or not, I really need to get you on.
You're coming to Vegas, thehotel is free, the food is free,
everything's free except forthe gambling and the flight.
And the flight is not that thatmuch, buddy Well.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I'm gonna play Texas.
Hold on, let's go.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I can't get you and I ever go.
Anyways, with all of that beingsaid, I Think we we've kind of
touched on the relationships andthe networking and friendships.
I hope that this advice helpsall of our viewers and listeners
to this podcast.
In the next episode, we'regonna be talking about something
similar, but not really innetworking.
(26:34):
We're gonna be talking aboutother things regarding business.
Now that we're off of how wegot into business and what we
would do differently, we'regonna start touching on two
specific topics within business,for instance, like this one or
like last episode, where wetouched on customers being or
bullying the Companies and stufflike that.
(26:57):
So I really, once again, I dohope that this helps somebody
who's starting business, who'sgetting into business, and we
will see you guys on the nextepisode.
Thank you for tuning into theAstrocraft grow, influence,
invest podcast.
I am your host, seth Mills, andjoining me was your co-host Nick
Dawson and we hope that youguys had a merry Christmas and
(27:20):
happy Hanukkah, new year andWelcome to 2024 y'all.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.