November 11, 2025 • 41 mins
What happens when a corporate sales leader swaps the corner office for family time — and ends up building two thriving brands instead?
Summary: A former tech sales leader shares how losing a franchise became the best thing that ever happened. From setting boundaries that shaped the business model to launching a manufacturing arm that wins architectural specs, this episode dives into the discipline, strategy, and relationships that fuel sustainable growth without burnout.
🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSmallBusinessSafari
💡 GOLD NUGGETS (Key Moments)
• why family hours set the business model
• lessons from a franchise territory loss
• supplier training and hiring for skill transfer
• early pricing discipline and margin traps
• choosing commercial over residential for predictability
• operating as a subcontractor to general contractors
• launching a manufacturing brand alongside installs
• winning specs with AIA CEUs and a spec builder
• pacing growth to protect reputation and delivery
• building a multi-generational team and future exit options
🔗 Guest Links
• Website: www.awningsaboveus.com
• Website: www.skyscapecanopies.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-french-9928351/
🌍 Follow The Small Business Safari
• Instagram | @smallbusinesssafaripodcast
• LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislalomia/
• Website | https://chrislalomia.com
From the Zoo to Wild is a book for entrepreneurs passionate about home services, looking to move away from corporate jobs. Chris Lalomia, a former executive, shares his path, discoveries, and tools to succeed as a small business owner in home improvement retail. The book provides the mindset, habits, leadership style, and customer-oriented processes necessary to succeed as a small business owner in home services.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
So before we get to this, I mean, obviously he's
kind of an idol of yours.
What was the name of your bankgonna be?
I just can't even imagine youowning a bank.
Can I have my money out?
No.
The bank of your money ain'there.
Yeah.
I know you gave him the money,and yes, it is accruing
interest, but you can't have it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
You know, that's funny.
How uh how I would have run thebank is kind of like I just got
done running a meeting.
I said, uh, does anybody have aproblem with that?
Okay, all right.
And that's approved.
Uh as the Neri board president,Alan.
Uh, that's exactly what I said.
SPEAKER_01 (00:33):
Sorry, I'm genuflecting it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:35):
Thank you.
Thank you, as you should.
Uh, I think that would have beenmy bank.
And you got a problem with that.
Yeah, you got a problem withthat, buddy.
SPEAKER_02 (00:41):
Is that the name of it?
That would have been it.
You get you have a problem withthat state.
Can I get my money?
No.
You got a problem with that.
Instead of saying hello.
As soon as you walk in.
SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
You got a problem with that?
Huh?
Well, you're gonna put money in?
Okay.
You want money?
No.
Don't even think about askingwhat you're gonna do.
Well, send you alone though.
Welcome to the Small BusinessSafari, where I help guide you
to avoid those traps, pitfalls,and dangers that lurk when
navigating the wild world ofsmall business ownership.
I'll share those gold nuggets ofinformation and invite guests to
help accelerate your ascent tothat mountaintop of success.
(01:15):
It's a jungle out there, and Iwant to help you traverse
through the levels of owningyour own business that can get
you bogged down and distract youfrom hitting your own personal
and professional goals.
So strap in Adventure Team andlet's take a ride through the
safari.
18 years in the making, and weare on to this podcast.
(01:40):
What is this podcast?
18 years ago, I said, fuck it.
I'm gonna start my own business.
And I threatened.
And I did a lot of things that Idid when I was at Corporate
America and I had that job.
You know, I had that corneroffice, I had the suits made, I
had the Mercedes, I was going onboys' golf trips, I lived in a
golf club community, I had kidsin private school, I had a great
(02:03):
bunch of friends except one.
And uh and I said, I'm gonna doit, I'm gonna do it.
And uh, and uh they're like, Allright, what are you gonna do?
I'm like, I don't know.
All right, well, what else doyou gonna do?
I'm like, I don't know.
And then I started coming upwith ideas.
And going back 18 years ago, Ithought I'm gonna start a
community bank because I havezero banking experience, but I
(02:24):
worked at a bank and I thought,well, I could do this.
SPEAKER_02 (02:26):
De novo banks were all the rage back then.
SPEAKER_00 (02:28):
They were, and I thought, you know what I'll do
is I'll start one and then we'llmerge and we'll sell because I
do know how to do mergers andacquisitions in banks.
I thought that was one.
And they started looking at itand going, no, that's not gonna
work.
I'm like, okay, then I'm gonnastart looking at uh developing
things.
And I'm like, nope, that's notgonna work either because I'm
seeing some cracks of Sun Trust.
So then sitting on the back ofuh one of my buddies, uh back uh
(02:51):
back decks, his name is DavidRohr.
He said, What are you thinking?
I'm thinking, and uh, this guywas here or there, uh, and he
was here for the conversation.
I saw I'm thinking, you know,maybe maybe a handyman business.
And he goes, Ah, it's too small.
What about what it one why don'tyou call it?
1800 call Chris for all yourthings around the house.
I'm like, uh, that's too broad,that's too stupid.
And uh we kept drinking and Igot hammered, uh, per usual.
(03:13):
And um, and then I startedbuilding this business plan for
it, and then I started shoppingaround with people, and I I I
felt pretty good about what Idid in terms of shopping it
around, but I always had thisone guy in my ear saying, you
know, man, uh you can keeptalking about it, but if you
don't do it, you're never gonnado it.
(03:33):
If you don't do it, you're nevergonna do it.
And I used to go to his basementand I used to go hang out with
him a little bit, okay, a lot,and he kept saying, If you don't
do it, you're not gonna do it.
And I was like, you know what?
Screw you, I'm gonna do it.
And so I made the leap.
And uh I wrote the book from thezoo to the wild, and I have
somebody who's actually quotedin the book, sitting here on the
(03:55):
podcast 18 years later, becauseI've been afraid of shit to have
him come on the podcast with me,because he said, you know, man,
if you go in halfway, you'regonna be all the way out.
He said, You'll be out ofbusiness before you knew it.
And this is 2008 when I said Iwas gonna start.
SPEAKER_02 (04:09):
This is a legendary quote.
You've you've dropped that one anumber of times over the last
four years.
SPEAKER_00 (04:13):
You're halfway in, you're all the way out.
SPEAKER_02 (04:14):
You remember saying that, Jack?
I do.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (04:17):
And uh, and he's right because if you look at
2008, if you remember it at allas an adult, I would have backed
out really quickly because itwould have been really easy to
pull the plug and say, forgetit, I'm not gonna go in that
journey.
SPEAKER_02 (04:29):
So before we get to this, I mean, obviously he's
kind of an idol of yours.
What was the name of your bankgonna be?
I just can't even imagine youowning a bank.
Can I have my money out?
No.
The bank of your money ain'there.
Yeah.
I know you gave me the money,and yes, it is accruing
interest, but you can't have it.
SPEAKER_00 (04:49):
You know, that's funny how uh how I would have
run the bank.
It's kind of like I just gotdone running a meeting.
I said, uh, does anybody have aproblem with that?
Okay, all right, and that'sapproved.
Uh as the neary board president,Alan.
Uh that's exactly what I said.
SPEAKER_01 (05:03):
Sorry, I'm genuflecting.
SPEAKER_00 (05:04):
Thank you.
Thank you, as you should.
Uh, I think that would have beenmy bank.
And you got a problem with that?
You got a problem with that,buddy.
SPEAKER_02 (05:11):
Is that the name of it?
That would have been it.
You get you have a problem withthat state.
Can I get my money?
No, you got a problem with that.
Instead of saying hello.
As soon as you walk in.
You got a problem with it?
SPEAKER_00 (05:23):
Huh?
Well, you're gonna put money in?
Okay.
You want money?
No.
Don't even think about askingwhat you're gonna get.
Well, as soon as you alone,though.
But uh, my loan docs all saidVIG on it, and I realized that
that was not an appropriatefinancial term at the time.
I thought everybody grew up withthat.
Uh, there's a little VIG on thisthing.
Well, the cruise hourly, myfriend.
A cruise hourly.
SPEAKER_02 (05:45):
Oh gosh.
So so Jerry's kind of a big dealin your world then.
SPEAKER_00 (05:50):
He is.
He is uh one of my best friends.
We have Jerry French on fromawningsaboves.com.
And uh Jerry uh was one of thosementors that uh and it continues
to be somebody that we've shareda lot of stories with.
Um, there's a lot of things thatwon't go on this podcast that I
told him we're not talkingabout.
He's already raising his eyes,going, yeah.
(06:12):
We'll see about that.
You can get it in, right?
So I did.
I I started my business, I wentall the way in.
Uh, and it was it was tough asshit.
I mean, and he saw it because hesaid, Look, he goes, uh, instead
of trying to do it out of yourbasement, why don't you just
come and you can just you knowuse one of my cubes in my
office?
And I think he charged me like500 bucks a month.
(06:34):
I mean, it was nothing, just tosay, come on, just do it.
He goes, I'm lonely, come onover here and do that.
Um, I I don't think that's whyhe did it, but he saw it.
And so Jerry and I, I I alwayssay this, I said Jerry and I
shacked up uh together for uheight of my 17 years.
And uh if we had the secretcameras on there, there is no
(06:55):
doubt we would have had a hit TVshow because I would walk into
his office, I come flying acrossthe room, I'm like, You got a
minute?
And I I had already kicked likefive things on the way there,
and I'd I'd go into his office,shut the door, and he goes, What
do you want?
And when everybody does that tome, I'm like, No, you can bat
your ass right back out thedoor, and we'll wait for a
minute because I'm not ready foryou.
(07:16):
But he always said, Sure, man,what's up?
SPEAKER_02 (07:20):
And I came in hot, Alan.
Hot, yeah.
Well, that's you know, your MO.
You do seem to surround yourselfwith people who are a little bit
more have an equilibrium aboutthem.
SPEAKER_00 (07:33):
Sometimes.
Sometimes I have others that wewe we won't we won't ever have
them on the podcast because itwould be nuts.
But Jerry, uh, we haven't letyou talk yet, but man, welcome
to the show, buddy.
Soon, thank you.
Thank you soon, Jerry.
Really appreciate it.
All right, so let's talk aboutthis.
You uh were a corporate dude,yeah, and you were, I mean,
again, I talk about this all thetime.
(07:54):
You were toning it too.
We all were.
I mean, you were doing very wellthough.
Yeah, um, you were what were youdoing at that time?
SPEAKER_03 (08:01):
Yeah, I mean, basically I've spent my entire
career in uh technology salesand consulting and kind of
worked my way up through theranks, uh, selling software, um,
consulting services.
Ultimately, right before westarted our business, I I was
SVP of uh sales for a consultingfirm that was doing system
(08:24):
integration for ERP systems backin back in the day, early late
90s, early 2000s, which was agood time.
It was a great time to be doingit.
So um was doing really well.
Uh and then we had four kids.
And uh so the track record uh intechnology and and all the
(08:50):
travel that needs to be donearound that, it's hard to have a
family.
Okay.
So uh my wife and I talked aboutit and said we got to figure out
another way um so that I can behome more to be present and help
uh raise the kids.
SPEAKER_00 (09:08):
And when you say you had four kids, um, was that the
impetus?
Uh was the kids or did you havethat plan before you guys
thought about having kids?
SPEAKER_03 (09:17):
Honestly, it was really uh a family situation uh
where it it drove that decision.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
Alan, this is where you ask four kids.
So what were their ages?
Like 10, 8, 6, 2, nope.
Um, so why don't you telleverybody?
So uh we have triplets and then16 months and we had it in our
fourth.
Wow.
SPEAKER_03 (09:40):
So boom.
Instant family.
Boom.
SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
Yeah, that's it.
That's a Jerry Fritz line rightthere, too.
Boom.
And there you have it.
I have four kids.
Favorite line ever.
Uh, Jerry and his lovely wifeSean say this that they went to
Sean's mother and said, afterthe triplets were born, hey mom,
I'm pregnant again.
And mom's response was oh shit.
(10:02):
Not I'm so happy for you.
So they have four kids right offthe rip.
I mean, very quickly, very closetogether.
Um, and so you guys said, Hey,you you need to be here.
I mean, that had to be, I mean,it had to be a big uh like a
momentum shake.
Like, obviously the kids arehere, and now you're like, hey,
I need to be here for theseguys.
And it's hard to think about,but but look at all this money
(10:25):
I'm making.
SPEAKER_03 (10:26):
Yeah, I mean, at the time, uh, believe it or not, my
wife was working as well.
Uh, so we had help at home, um,and but she was still working in
uh technology.
So between the two of us, wewere making a decent living.
Uh, but we, you know, we hadseen all the people that we had
(10:46):
worked with and the issues thatwere around, you know, our line
of line of work that we did, thetravel and just the stress that
that puts on the family, and wejust knew that it wasn't
sustainable.
So we really felt like we had todo something.
So what year was this?
(11:06):
Well, uh, it was 2004, uh, whenthat all went down.
SPEAKER_00 (11:12):
Yep.
Yeah.
So 2004, this is about I mean,actually, Jerry and I met uh met
Sean and and him two yearsbefore that, as they were having
um their basketball team.
Um, but you you had to make apivot.
And I I never realized this atthe time, but you only knew one
way.
I mean, I thought of thought,you know, and that's I go
corporate and I go big and Imake big bucks, and now I'm
(11:34):
gonna go try to find somethingelse.
And in 2004, you didn't havepodcasts like this, the small
business safari, thank you verymuch.
Um, but you didn't have theinternet.
SPEAKER_02 (11:43):
I mean, you also didn't know that the bomb was
gonna drop just a few yearslater.
SPEAKER_00 (11:47):
You had no idea 2008's on the roll.
So, how did you get intoresearch in this?
SPEAKER_03 (11:53):
Well, um, honestly, it it was living here in the
neighborhood uh that we live in.
Uh, you know, I met tons of guysuh through the neighborhood that
own their own business.
And I saw, you know, the moneythey made, I saw the hours that
they had, and I'm like, that'ssomething that we need to look
(12:16):
into.
Um so that's you know, those thefamily side of it and also the
neighborhood side really led usin that direction.
SPEAKER_00 (12:25):
So you started investigating things.
So what did you look at beforeyou started this?
SPEAKER_03 (12:30):
Oh my god, uh this I mean, it was literally
everything under the sun.
So at the time, Frannet was abig deal.
Okay.
I remember that.
Uh so yeah, looking at differentfranchises out there, everything
from interior design uh tocleaning restrooms, okay, and
(12:51):
everything in between.
Uh outside of actually, I takethat back.
Part of that friend net was uhwe investigated in an awning
company that was in NorthCarolina that was franchising.
And so that's uh that was one ofthe considerations.
So when we looked at uh thedifferent businesses, really the
(13:15):
most important thing for us wasbusiness hours.
Okay.
Uh we wanted normal businesshours, no weekends, um, because
of the family situation.
So immediately that reallyeliminated, you know, a
restaurant, um, nightclub, justall those things that typically
(13:36):
are more focused uh afterbusiness hours.
So that was the main priority.
And so that really narrowedthings down uh quite a bit for
us.
Um we, you know, went down thepath uh and like I said, we
looked at a lot of differentthings.
Uh, you know, a lot of thingslook promising, okay.
(13:57):
But um, you know, the one thingabout the awning business was
that was attractive for us wasit's a totally custom business.
Okay.
Um at the time we weren'tworried as worried about it um
in buying stuff off theinternet, okay.
But in what I do, you can't goon the internet and buy what I
(14:17):
do.
Yeah, you're Amazon proof, eventoday.
Okay.
So knock on wood.
Um, so you're AI proof.
SPEAKER_00 (14:26):
He is AI proof.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, all right, so uh was thereanything that was a number one
candidate before you went forawnings?
SPEAKER_03 (14:35):
Uh I I have to say the interior design was actually
uh attractive.
Um, just because from aclientele's uh perspective, um
you felt like you had a certainamount of control uh to it.
But again, that bled over intolater hours, potentially weekend
(14:55):
uh kind of stuff, and thatreally kind of took it out of
the picture.
SPEAKER_00 (14:59):
Alan, does that sound familiar?
SPEAKER_02 (15:01):
Yeah, let's uh let's move on.
Okay.
So did you buy a franchise ordid you start on your own?
SPEAKER_03 (15:07):
So yeah we were literally uh we had signed the
paperwork, had the cashier'scheck ready to sign on with this
company, and uh they called andsaid, Hey, we sold the territory
that uh that you were interestedin to another buyer.
(15:29):
So you were gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02 (15:30):
We're 100% locked lock and barrel.
So Jerry didn't join, he goteven.
We even have this story.
SPEAKER_00 (15:37):
Well, it's and uh I'll tell you a little something
about my friend.
Yeah, that's right.
Uh he's quiet, he may be alittle smaller than me, but he
definitely can get an even.
SPEAKER_03 (15:49):
No, it was um, you know, it literally uh, you know,
he had to take a step back.
Um, okay, so now what do we do?
Okay.
Uh so I we thought about it fora few days, and um, you know,
they were they were trying tofind a way to work this out uh
(16:09):
for another territory inAtlanta, uh, and that just
wasn't appealing to us.
So because they wanted yourfees, and hell yeah.
Yeah.
Um, you know, there's theupfront uh number and then the
repetitive uh that they get on aregular basis.
So I just looked at my wife andI said, uh they have disclosed
(16:33):
enough that I don't think I'mgonna make X amount of dollars
worth of mistakes.
We can do this on our own.
SPEAKER_02 (16:43):
But you still at this point, you came from IT,
corporate America, you knownothing about construction or
building awnings.
SPEAKER_03 (16:51):
So my father's in the construction business in the
Midwest.
Okay.
So I spent my youth uh workingwith him, uh, you know, doing
all kinds of stuff constructionrelated.
So we won't have him on the showto validate.
SPEAKER_00 (17:08):
We won't.
And I would tell you, you saidJerry's kind of an idol of
yours.
I actually it's his dad.
Um, because when his dad used tocome visit Jerry, he used to
spend more time with me in mybusiness and ride around with my
guys and tell me all the stuff.
Right?
He did, yeah, because that'sawesome.
Yeah, he always used to say, hegoes, you know, my son is wildly
successful, I'll never be likehim, but um, I want to come work
(17:29):
with you.
And I knew that to me again, theuh backheaded compliment of boy,
you're really fucking it up.
I want to come help you, bro.
No, he was awesome.
His dad is salt of the earth, hewon't be on.
Maybe we'll get him to listen tothis thing.
Uh, we'll have to show him howto download podcasts.
Right.
I'm gonna make my dad listen tothis thing too.
But um, but you go back to it,you had the background, but you
(17:50):
uh we thought we did.
SPEAKER_03 (17:51):
There's a lot to figure out between where you
were and where you were.
So there's another piece of thepuzzle here.
Um, so we decide to go down thispath.
There is a company here in townthat uh sells material specific
to our business, okay?
And they want people to buytheir aluminum extrusion.
(18:12):
So they offered free training toawning companies that would buy
their product.
So my father and I actually wentto their training and they
taught us how to build awningsand canopies and everything that
was associated with ourbusiness.
(18:32):
So that gave us a bit of a stepin the right direction.
And then the last piece of thepuzzle is hiring somebody that
really knows how to do it.
And we found a competitor'semployee as our first employee.
And but then you had to figureout pricing and all of that
stuff.
(18:52):
Yeah, no, it it it uh it wastricky.
Uh again, the company in townthat trained us also provided a
spreadsheet uh for pricing aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (19:06):
So a lot of so you guys started out not
underpricing yourself, notgetting your dick kicked in and
putting a window in uh that tookyou eight hours upside down.
Well, I did not put it in upsidedown, I put it in right side up
in St.
Marlowe for$80.
Ten years later, he asked me toput the damn thing back because
it failed.
(19:26):
And he goes, How much more?
And I was like, Uh, brother, uh,eighty bucks anymore.
SPEAKER_03 (19:32):
It is so funny.
Uh, you know, I obviously Iremember our first job, it was
three little uh window awningsuh here on a house in our
neighborhood, and uh, you know,we were ecstatic.
Okay, we're we thought, oh nah,here we go.
Okay.
Then you figure out that ittakes a lot to feed that engine.
SPEAKER_00 (19:55):
Uh you remember those startup days.
Uh you look you look back at it,it's so romantic when you think
about them.
Um, but such a a teeth kick in.
And of course, you know, hesaid, Hey, I got somebody who
told me pricing.
And I think that's one of thethings, again, when you first
start your business, Iunderpriced the shit out of
myself in the beginning becauseI didn't get that wherewithal
(20:16):
because of what I did and mybusiness was so difficult.
He had it, but he still, again,sometimes the bear eats you,
sometimes you eat it.
I mean, here we go.
SPEAKER_03 (20:25):
Um, yeah, you just uh I mean, uh, having been in
sales uh all my career, youknow, you just ask a lot of
questions.
Um, you know, people generallytell you, you know, where you
ended up on uh from a pricingperspective, so you just gather
that data and use it goingforward.
(20:45):
Um, a lot of times what you'regonna find is that there's a
huge discrepancy in pricing.
Um and so you just kind of yougotta figure out where you want
to be on that continuum becauseuh in our business, like every
business out there, there'salways somebody that'll do it
cheaper every single time.
SPEAKER_00 (21:07):
Well, we just had somebody on the podcast talking
about you know the band analogy.
You can hire Aerosmith to playyour uh concert, or you can hire
some kids who play the bandbecause they were cheaper and
they come out there to go.
So you found out that there's awide range in what you did.
Right.
So as you guys are finding thisthing out and you're kind of
finding your market, because Iwant to speed up to where we got
(21:29):
now, go.
SPEAKER_02 (21:31):
Yeah, no, well, I uh on the on that note, I mean,
when you're first starting out,just kind of like when you were
first starting out, Chris.
I mean, yeah, you're pricing itand you want to be on the higher
end, but maybe you don't feellike you deserve it because you
don't have the experience.
I mean, there that's a toughspot.
SPEAKER_03 (21:47):
Yeah, they that's very much the case.
I mean, you're you want to gainthe experience, you want to grow
your customer base.
Um, obviously you want to keepyour people busy, okay.
Um, so uh you take what you canget early on and you learn from
it and you figure out, you know,uh what product set works for
(22:10):
you, what customer base worksfor you, what you know, whether
you want to do residential workor migrate.
SPEAKER_00 (22:18):
Oh, ooh, ooh, I'll answer that.
No, no fucking residential everfucking again.
You heard me, everybody.
I've been residential.
Oh my god.
Yeah, huh?
Got a problem with that.
That's what I should have.
So, Jerry, when I first when Ifirst uh shacked up with them
and started doing this, he wasdoing residential.
And um, and one of the thingsyou learned, well, no, I'm gonna
(22:40):
go back to it.
Let's talk about this thoughmore seriously.
That um you determined thatcommercial was better uh for
what you did and what youoffered.
SPEAKER_03 (22:47):
I mean, uh on the residential side, uh, you know,
there's a lot of face-to-facemeetings that are involved with
that.
Um, color choice is a big deal.
Emotion.
Uh emotion when you're workingon somebody's house, there's a
different level of scrutiny thanwhen you're doing commercial
work.
Okay.
(23:07):
Uh keep putting little knifecuts on Chris.
We've talked about this amillion times.
SPEAKER_00 (23:13):
I'm on the cross, my friends.
I'm on the cross, and Jerry istaking the nails out and putting
them right through my palms.
SPEAKER_03 (23:19):
So I just uh so all those visits uh they just wear
on your margin, okay?
And then ultimately when youthink he did a really good job,
uh there's always something,okay.
Uh he liked it, she didn't.
Right.
He liked it, he didn't.
You're like, but or or wethought this, okay.
(23:42):
I mean, again, this is a custombusiness.
I you know, I can bring outcolor samples to you and show
you what that looks like, butultimately at the time, I
couldn't give you a rendering oranything like that to you know
superimpose on your house sothat you really knew what the
end product was going to looklike.
SPEAKER_00 (24:01):
So the customer had no expectation.
I just talked about this inanother podcast that I was a
guest on.
That's the hard part ofresidential.
Yeah, homeowners don't know whatto expect, but this is their
castle, this is where they'veraised their family, this is
where this is the most importantthing in the world.
And back to your point, Alan,it's so emotional.
SPEAKER_02 (24:19):
They don't know what to expect, but it wasn't that.
SPEAKER_00 (24:21):
Yeah.
And so, and that's where I mean,in my business, I joke about it,
but I mean, I feel like we havefigured out how to do this a
little bit better than most, uh,because of our world and how
variable it can be, because theypeople don't know what to
expect, and that that's in a lotof businesses.
But back into the commercialworld, there's still a lot of
unknowns, and it sounds likeit's the panacea, but as Jerry
(24:42):
will tell us, it probably wasn'teverything.
SPEAKER_03 (24:45):
No, on the commercial side, I mean, uh, at
least the world that we're in.
Uh, you know, every job that wehave, it has architectural
plans.
So the decision's already beenmade.
Okay.
The architects drawn out all thedetails, the owner signed off on
it.
It's been permitted by the city.
So my job is to interpret thoseplans, uh, build it and install
(25:11):
it on the building.
SPEAKER_02 (25:12):
So, are you essentially operating as a
subcontractor for the generalcontractor then?
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (25:16):
Well, what an interesting niche.
So uh in his first business,because we got to hurry up and
get there because I don't wantto run out of time.
SPEAKER_02 (25:22):
Well, and I do want to kind of fast forward to
today, and you don't have togive numbers, but tell us, you
know, what kind of operation youhave because you've got a
20-year journey to get where youare now.
SPEAKER_03 (25:33):
Yeah.
Um, so we've been in uh threedifferent locations.
Um, two with Chris.
Uh I've been I've been on two ofthe journeys.
I emailed the new address.
I I offered the third and he hesaid no.
SPEAKER_00 (25:48):
So I don't know what to I will say, uh, we can't do
this in this podcast, but we cando it in a therapy session.
He did come back to me and said,You kind of hurt me when you
didn't come.
And I'm like, I didn't realize Idid that.
No, you're kind of like a pet.
I well, I know.
I've I've the furry, I'm thefurry bascot.
SPEAKER_03 (26:06):
All right.
So it's grown over the years.
So uh, you know, I've been I'vetried to be really methodical
about the growth, uh, in thatnot outselling our capability.
Um, just I think you've got tobe able to deliver quality uh
and a timely basis.
SPEAKER_02 (26:24):
I mean, can you talk about how many crews or
employees the geography?
SPEAKER_03 (26:28):
Right now we run uh generally about between 40 and
50 employees.
SPEAKER_00 (26:34):
Wow.
All right, let's talk about thisbecause I do want to hurry up
and get to this part.
Uh when I was when I was uhshacking up with Jerry, I loved
saying it like that too.
Um, because I mean if you hadany idea, I wish I wish we had
video of me running across,kicking everything I could to
run in there and go, you got aminute?
And he'd be in the middle oflike a million things.
He'd be like, Yeah, buddy, wewanna eat.
(26:56):
And at the time he was doinginstallations of canopy awnings,
and he was starting to do alittle bit of metal, right?
And I didn't understand it, butI get it.
So it's fabric work, fabricwork, and then these metal
things.
And then he said, I'm gonna comeup with this other business
because right now I'm buildingthese custom things and
installing these custom things,but I think I just want to
(27:18):
manufacture these things andbecome the standard that
architects use.
And I want you to talk aboutwhere you because he now has he
has two companies, he has uhskyscapes and awnings above us.
How did you get I mean if youdid that in the middle of this?
Because you're the middle ofrunning the business, you're
going a million miles.
Well, you're not going to be,I'm going a million miles an
(27:39):
hour, you're going like 150 andkind of watching me run around
him.
And I had no fucking idea whereChris was going.
You you took a time out andsaid, Wait a minute, I see
another opportunity that willcomplement my business.
How did you do that?
SPEAKER_03 (27:53):
Yeah.
Um, so like I said, uh a lot ofstuff uh that we get is uh on
architectural plans, and inthose architectural plans,
they'll specify a certain vendoruh or manufacturer that they
want uh to use or a basis ofdesign.
Okay, and we kept on seeing thethe same name all the time,
(28:15):
okay, and very few other namesuh that were out there.
I'm like, geez, how these guyshave all this market and how can
they deliver on it?
So we got looking into it and welooked at uh you know, the
pricing that they were providingwas just absolutely absurd.
Low, high, high.
(28:36):
Oh, okay.
Oh, so there's an opportunitythere.
So, and they were the only gamein town at the time.
Uh and I, you know, I justlooked at it and said, hey, we
can do this.
Uh we can ramp up production, wecan start.
We started small and got ourlegs under us, build our
(28:57):
foundation, did our marketing,you know, obviously social media
has been uh a large part of ituh as well, participating in
conferences, those kinds ofthings.
And um we've grown that businesssignificantly over the years,
and I, you know, quite frankly,that will be the growth engine
for us for years to come.
SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
So uh when I was at the bank and I was uh again big
dog, and I was, I mean, I washuge, dude.
Um, did I mention I was tonningit?
You you have a couple of times.
Did I mention I'm not anymore?
You have many, many, many times.
Right.
But I'm back to tonning itbecause that's what every
handyman does.
Yeah, uh, right.
Every best.
It only creates business owner.
Every other business owner,every other business owner is
(29:38):
tonning it.
But when Jerry uh came andtalked to me about this, and as
I saw what he did, um, it isalways hard to provide great
service.
It's always easy to ask for goodservice.
I heard that from Leon Waba whenI was at uh Sun Trust.
And what Jerry was saying wasyou know, now I just spec it, I
build it, and somebody elseinstalls it.
That's not my job anymore.
(30:00):
I don't have to do the serviceof the install.
I provide the materials.
And now I'm not landlocked toAtlanta, North uh Atlanta,
Georgia, or the Southeast.
I can provide it all across uhso you're not doing any
installations.
SPEAKER_03 (30:13):
We do because you you've got the two companies,
right?
Correct.
Uh so awnings above uh still uhis a turnkey solution in the
southeast.
So we'll go uh up to theVirginia border, we'll go over
to the Mississippi border and godown to Orlando uh as far as uh
going south.
But Skyscape provides the thesame product set to the
(30:38):
remainder of the country.
So we manufacture and ship tothe remainder of the country.
SPEAKER_00 (30:44):
So love this, right?
And so now you're a spec, andone of the things he did, um,
and I'll let him explain it, ishow did you become the other
provider?
I mean, because who specifiesthis stuff?
The architect, right?
SPEAKER_03 (30:56):
Correct.
So uh it's it's a lot of callingon architects.
Um, and uh they architects haveto have continuing educate
education units every year.
So um part of that, you can becertified to provide those
(31:16):
education units to them.
So they do that through whatthey call lunch and learns.
Okay.
So every architecture firm inthe country needs these units,
and it's a matter of getting ontheir calendar to provide, you
know, basically the thatlearning opportunity for them.
So technically, it's not aadvertisement, it's not a sales
(31:41):
call.
Correct.
Um, it's education on the awningand canopy business provided by
Skyscape.
SPEAKER_02 (31:48):
Hello.
How difficult was it to becertified as an instructor?
Because that's brilliant.
SPEAKER_03 (31:53):
Actually, it it's it it it you have to get your
presentation together, uh submitit to AIA, which is the uh
governing body over architects.
SPEAKER_00 (32:04):
Which for the record is a very difficult organization
to get your CEUs uh checked off.
Because the guy who has I haveto get CEUs for my general uh
contractor's license, AIA islike the standard, and Neri is
the right below them.
SPEAKER_03 (32:17):
So uh that was key uh to that process.
Um also uh on our website, uh,if you go to skyscape.com, uh
canopies.com, uh you can go tothere's a spec builder uh
portion of our uh website uhthat is frequently used by
architects so they can downloadarchitectural details uh and
(32:41):
simply import those into theirarchitectural plans.
And at that point, then we arebasis of design.
SPEAKER_00 (32:50):
So Jerry French provides shade to the world.
That's his job.
That's what he does.
Uh he's grown his business.
You know, here and we're comingto the end.
I'm we're gonna run out of timebecause I want to get to this.
Um, Jerry started his businesswhen his kids were uh, hello, we
got to make a move.
Um, I started my business aftermy kids were been around for a
(33:10):
while, and I said, you know, I'mgonna do it.
You know, why did I do it?
My motivation was not to have abusiness or a legacy for my
kids.
I thought maybe they might likeit.
SPEAKER_02 (33:20):
You did it despite the kids, and and Jerry did it
for the kids.
I mean, let's just get it outthere.
SPEAKER_00 (33:25):
You know, screw the kids.
But good, yeah, I agree withthat.
At least I got a I got a PA, Igot a lawyer, I got somebody's
gonna get me out of jail, out ofcontract disputes.
I got somebody who's alreadytelling me I'm gonna die early.
I mean, he's a butt, but by theway.
Oh, she's amazing.
Yeah, she just got done going,Dad, you need a full skin scan.
I think I think you haveproblems, I think you're gonna
die.
You have melanoma.
See, I I love my PA daughter.
We all talk about her.
(33:46):
Uh, Cherry knows her very well.
So, Jar, when you started this,we talked about this.
A lot of us uh think that whenwe're gonna start a business, we
don't think about exit planning,but when we do, it's usually too
late in the game.
I've watched two differentgeneral contractors here in
Atlanta close their businesswithout ever selling it.
(34:08):
Put it away.
And I found out after the factbecause had they approached me,
I would have gone, I'm gonnatalk, man.
We'll think, maybe we could getsome value out of it.
What was your plan when youstarted this?
SPEAKER_03 (34:20):
Well, uh the plan was to provide for my family and
to be with them.
Uh ultimately, we never reallygot to even really the the
thought of the kids being partof the business until they were
in college.
Okay.
They uh they got in college,they were doing their thing.
Um all of them have businessdegrees from different
(34:45):
universities.
Uh, and then as they workedtheir way through, um, all the
boys worked for us during duringthe summer and breaks.
So they've been involved in thebusiness since they were
teenagers.
Um as they worked through schooland kind of saw what their
options were.
Um, you know, I honestly my myyoungest was the first that
(35:08):
said, I'm joining the business.
Uh then the other two boys, um,their senior year decided that
they uh they wanted to be partof it.
So three out of four.
Three out of four.
Uh my daughter works for Ernstand Young in San Francisco, uh,
in much the same business as ohmy god, my team and I were in uh
(35:31):
when we were in the technologysector.
So what?
SPEAKER_00 (35:35):
Oh loser.
Yeah, he's Ernst and Young inSan Francisco.
Oh, these kids.
Oh my god, Tyri, grow betterkids, man.
What the hell?
I know he already got three outof four working in the family
business.
No, he's doing great.
So now they're in and they're itand so I was gonna ask you,
what's the favorite time of yourbusiness?
But but I know because I knowyou, it's today.
(35:56):
Uh that you're here with theboys.
The boys have said it to me.
Uh, again, unadulterated.
Um, I I think they would tell methey wouldn't just like blow uh
smoke up my ass.
They would say it, they reallyenjoy working with their dad.
I'm like, dude, that is so cool.
In fact, I don't want to say ittoo much more because I start
tearing up super jealous.
But I also feel about uh thesekids, I think they're my
buddies, you know.
(36:16):
I I I you know I I love hangingwith them, they're fun, and he's
created a great familyenvironment that everybody gets
to enjoy, and it's just beengreat uh to watch what they've
done.
So kudos to you, Jared.
I just love what you did, butthank you.
Yeah, so now we gotta talk aboutthe bad shit.
No kidding.
We are we're coming up in theend.
We are uh I know you got a hardstop.
(36:38):
We gotta get we gotta get Alanout of here because he's gotta
go out there and kick somebody'sass in tennis.
I like it, right?
SPEAKER_02 (36:43):
No, sure he loves I'm taking the wife out for
margarita.
Oh, yeah.
Look at your building.
I know.
SPEAKER_00 (36:50):
Oh my god.
Family first, right, Jerry?
That's right.
He did family first.
All right.
So as you as you look at thisand where you're going, um Alan
asked that question.
When you started the business,awnings above was a hundred
percent of your business.
Now you have skyscapes andawnings above.
What percentage of your businessis it today?
Uh right now, revenue-wise.
SPEAKER_03 (37:10):
Actually, right now there it's an even split, uh,
50-50.
So Skyscape has been intechnically in existence for
eight years.
So, and awnings above has beenit's almost 21.
So uh you can see on the grossside skyscape has really taken
(37:31):
off over the year.
Where it's yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:33):
How do you take the time to back up and see that and
and look at those the forestover the trees and figure out
that that was happening?
SPEAKER_03 (37:42):
Um, you know, it it's hard.
I mean, you you've got to have alot of discipline.
Uh, you know, uh I'm excitedabout the opportunity.
I know the opportunity's good,uh, but you don't want to go too
far and and break the reputationof a company that I've spent 21
(38:04):
years building.
So if I out outsell what I cando, it's all for naught.
Uh so it's really being patientand having discipline uh to kind
of stay in your lane.
SPEAKER_00 (38:19):
So hard.
Uh you know, Jerry hit onsomething that I think is so
big.
So I'm in the retail businessand and uh we talked about that
already, about the value ofthat.
But I have 1,250 plus reviews onGoogle now.
Um, and for what we do in Lane.
It is.
I mean, uh honestly, when I saythat, I I I don't mean to say it
like that.
I never thought I'd be over athousand ever.
(38:41):
No.
Um, to be this big uh has beenawesome for me.
I'm I'm just thrilled about whatmy business is doing on that
side.
But he just talked aboutsomething in the commercial
world, they don't rely on Googlereviews.
You're not talking about whatpeople are talking about, you
but he says, but my brand meansso much to me, and I don't think
it should be lost on anybody, nomatter what you do.
(39:02):
At the end of the day, yourname's on it.
Whether you're the guy orthey're the guy.
And I tell my guys all the time,I'm not the face of our company.
Those 1257 reviews, I would tellyou two of them probably know
me.
All right, maybe 10.
Oh, who am I kidding?
You know, it's 500.
I know everybody knows it's morethan that.
Ah, you do.
Come on, ah, it's me, guys.
(39:23):
Come on, that's me.
But but in commercial, you'rethinking, eh, screw it.
I mean, you know, so I screw upwith one who gives a shit.
I can go find another one.
And and you have to stay rightthere because if you don't
deliver that great customerservice, you're yeah, you're
toast.
SPEAKER_03 (39:39):
I mean, uh, whether it's commercial or residential,
uh, word gets out.
And obviously, you know, thecliche, you know, bad news
travels a lot faster.
Um, so you've got to reallythink your way through on you
know difficult situations thatyou have.
SPEAKER_00 (39:58):
Thank you for listening to this episode of the
Small Business Department.
Remember, your positive attitudewill help you achieve that
higher altitude you're lookingfor in a wild world small
business ownership.
Until next time, think of agreat day.
So before we get to this, I mean, obviously he's
kind of an idol of yours.
What was the name of your bankgonna be?
I just can't even imagine youowning a bank.
Can I have my money out?
No.
The bank of your money ain'there.
Yeah.
I know you gave him the money,and yes, it is accruing
interest, but you can't have it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
You know, that's funny.
How uh how I would have run thebank is kind of like I just got
done running a meeting.
I said, uh, does anybody have aproblem with that?
Okay, all right.
And that's approved.
Uh as the Neri board president,Alan.
Uh, that's exactly what I said.
SPEAKER_01 (00:33):
Sorry, I'm genuflecting it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:35):
Thank you.
Thank you, as you should.
Uh, I think that would have beenmy bank.
And you got a problem with that.
Yeah, you got a problem withthat, buddy.
SPEAKER_02 (00:41):
Is that the name of it?
That would have been it.
You get you have a problem withthat state.
Can I get my money?
No.
You got a problem with that.
Instead of saying hello.
As soon as you walk in.
SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
You got a problem with that?
Huh?
Well, you're gonna put money in?
Okay.
You want money?
No.
Don't even think about askingwhat you're gonna do.
Well, send you alone though.
Welcome to the Small BusinessSafari, where I help guide you
to avoid those traps, pitfalls,and dangers that lurk when
navigating the wild world ofsmall business ownership.
I'll share those gold nuggets ofinformation and invite guests to
help accelerate your ascent tothat mountaintop of success.
(01:15):
It's a jungle out there, and Iwant to help you traverse
through the levels of owningyour own business that can get
you bogged down and distract youfrom hitting your own personal
and professional goals.
So strap in Adventure Team andlet's take a ride through the
safari.
18 years in the making, and weare on to this podcast.
(01:40):
What is this podcast?
18 years ago, I said, fuck it.
I'm gonna start my own business.
And I threatened.
And I did a lot of things that Idid when I was at Corporate
America and I had that job.
You know, I had that corneroffice, I had the suits made, I
had the Mercedes, I was going onboys' golf trips, I lived in a
golf club community, I had kidsin private school, I had a great
(02:03):
bunch of friends except one.
And uh and I said, I'm gonna doit, I'm gonna do it.
And uh, and uh they're like, Allright, what are you gonna do?
I'm like, I don't know.
All right, well, what else doyou gonna do?
I'm like, I don't know.
And then I started coming upwith ideas.
And going back 18 years ago, Ithought I'm gonna start a
community bank because I havezero banking experience, but I
(02:24):
worked at a bank and I thought,well, I could do this.
SPEAKER_02 (02:26):
De novo banks were all the rage back then.
SPEAKER_00 (02:28):
They were, and I thought, you know what I'll do
is I'll start one and then we'llmerge and we'll sell because I
do know how to do mergers andacquisitions in banks.
I thought that was one.
And they started looking at itand going, no, that's not gonna
work.
I'm like, okay, then I'm gonnastart looking at uh developing
things.
And I'm like, nope, that's notgonna work either because I'm
seeing some cracks of Sun Trust.
So then sitting on the back ofuh one of my buddies, uh back uh
(02:51):
back decks, his name is DavidRohr.
He said, What are you thinking?
I'm thinking, and uh, this guywas here or there, uh, and he
was here for the conversation.
I saw I'm thinking, you know,maybe maybe a handyman business.
And he goes, Ah, it's too small.
What about what it one why don'tyou call it?
1800 call Chris for all yourthings around the house.
I'm like, uh, that's too broad,that's too stupid.
And uh we kept drinking and Igot hammered, uh, per usual.
(03:13):
And um, and then I startedbuilding this business plan for
it, and then I started shoppingaround with people, and I I I
felt pretty good about what Idid in terms of shopping it
around, but I always had thisone guy in my ear saying, you
know, man, uh you can keeptalking about it, but if you
don't do it, you're never gonnado it.
(03:33):
If you don't do it, you're nevergonna do it.
And I used to go to his basementand I used to go hang out with
him a little bit, okay, a lot,and he kept saying, If you don't
do it, you're not gonna do it.
And I was like, you know what?
Screw you, I'm gonna do it.
And so I made the leap.
And uh I wrote the book from thezoo to the wild, and I have
somebody who's actually quotedin the book, sitting here on the
(03:55):
podcast 18 years later, becauseI've been afraid of shit to have
him come on the podcast with me,because he said, you know, man,
if you go in halfway, you'regonna be all the way out.
He said, You'll be out ofbusiness before you knew it.
And this is 2008 when I said Iwas gonna start.
SPEAKER_02 (04:09):
This is a legendary quote.
You've you've dropped that one anumber of times over the last
four years.
SPEAKER_00 (04:13):
You're halfway in, you're all the way out.
SPEAKER_02 (04:14):
You remember saying that, Jack?
I do.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (04:17):
And uh, and he's right because if you look at
2008, if you remember it at allas an adult, I would have backed
out really quickly because itwould have been really easy to
pull the plug and say, forgetit, I'm not gonna go in that
journey.
SPEAKER_02 (04:29):
So before we get to this, I mean, obviously he's
kind of an idol of yours.
What was the name of your bankgonna be?
I just can't even imagine youowning a bank.
Can I have my money out?
No.
The bank of your money ain'there.
Yeah.
I know you gave me the money,and yes, it is accruing
interest, but you can't have it.
SPEAKER_00 (04:49):
You know, that's funny how uh how I would have
run the bank.
It's kind of like I just gotdone running a meeting.
I said, uh, does anybody have aproblem with that?
Okay, all right, and that'sapproved.
Uh as the neary board president,Alan.
Uh that's exactly what I said.
SPEAKER_01 (05:03):
Sorry, I'm genuflecting.
SPEAKER_00 (05:04):
Thank you.
Thank you, as you should.
Uh, I think that would have beenmy bank.
And you got a problem with that?
You got a problem with that,buddy.
SPEAKER_02 (05:11):
Is that the name of it?
That would have been it.
You get you have a problem withthat state.
Can I get my money?
No, you got a problem with that.
Instead of saying hello.
As soon as you walk in.
You got a problem with it?
SPEAKER_00 (05:23):
Huh?
Well, you're gonna put money in?
Okay.
You want money?
No.
Don't even think about askingwhat you're gonna get.
Well, as soon as you alone,though.
But uh, my loan docs all saidVIG on it, and I realized that
that was not an appropriatefinancial term at the time.
I thought everybody grew up withthat.
Uh, there's a little VIG on thisthing.
Well, the cruise hourly, myfriend.
A cruise hourly.
SPEAKER_02 (05:45):
Oh gosh.
So so Jerry's kind of a big dealin your world then.
SPEAKER_00 (05:50):
He is.
He is uh one of my best friends.
We have Jerry French on fromawningsaboves.com.
And uh Jerry uh was one of thosementors that uh and it continues
to be somebody that we've shareda lot of stories with.
Um, there's a lot of things thatwon't go on this podcast that I
told him we're not talkingabout.
He's already raising his eyes,going, yeah.
(06:12):
We'll see about that.
You can get it in, right?
So I did.
I I started my business, I wentall the way in.
Uh, and it was it was tough asshit.
I mean, and he saw it because hesaid, Look, he goes, uh, instead
of trying to do it out of yourbasement, why don't you just
come and you can just you knowuse one of my cubes in my
office?
And I think he charged me like500 bucks a month.
(06:34):
I mean, it was nothing, just tosay, come on, just do it.
He goes, I'm lonely, come onover here and do that.
Um, I I don't think that's whyhe did it, but he saw it.
And so Jerry and I, I I alwayssay this, I said Jerry and I
shacked up uh together for uheight of my 17 years.
And uh if we had the secretcameras on there, there is no
(06:55):
doubt we would have had a hit TVshow because I would walk into
his office, I come flying acrossthe room, I'm like, You got a
minute?
And I I had already kicked likefive things on the way there,
and I'd I'd go into his office,shut the door, and he goes, What
do you want?
And when everybody does that tome, I'm like, No, you can bat
your ass right back out thedoor, and we'll wait for a
minute because I'm not ready foryou.
(07:16):
But he always said, Sure, man,what's up?
SPEAKER_02 (07:20):
And I came in hot, Alan.
Hot, yeah.
Well, that's you know, your MO.
You do seem to surround yourselfwith people who are a little bit
more have an equilibrium aboutthem.
SPEAKER_00 (07:33):
Sometimes.
Sometimes I have others that wewe we won't we won't ever have
them on the podcast because itwould be nuts.
But Jerry, uh, we haven't letyou talk yet, but man, welcome
to the show, buddy.
Soon, thank you.
Thank you soon, Jerry.
Really appreciate it.
All right, so let's talk aboutthis.
You uh were a corporate dude,yeah, and you were, I mean,
again, I talk about this all thetime.
(07:54):
You were toning it too.
We all were.
I mean, you were doing very wellthough.
Yeah, um, you were what were youdoing at that time?
SPEAKER_03 (08:01):
Yeah, I mean, basically I've spent my entire
career in uh technology salesand consulting and kind of
worked my way up through theranks, uh, selling software, um,
consulting services.
Ultimately, right before westarted our business, I I was
SVP of uh sales for a consultingfirm that was doing system
(08:24):
integration for ERP systems backin back in the day, early late
90s, early 2000s, which was agood time.
It was a great time to be doingit.
So um was doing really well.
Uh and then we had four kids.
And uh so the track record uh intechnology and and all the
(08:50):
travel that needs to be donearound that, it's hard to have a
family.
Okay.
So uh my wife and I talked aboutit and said we got to figure out
another way um so that I can behome more to be present and help
uh raise the kids.
SPEAKER_00 (09:08):
And when you say you had four kids, um, was that the
impetus?
Uh was the kids or did you havethat plan before you guys
thought about having kids?
SPEAKER_03 (09:17):
Honestly, it was really uh a family situation uh
where it it drove that decision.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
Alan, this is where you ask four kids.
So what were their ages?
Like 10, 8, 6, 2, nope.
Um, so why don't you telleverybody?
So uh we have triplets and then16 months and we had it in our
fourth.
Wow.
SPEAKER_03 (09:40):
So boom.
Instant family.
Boom.
SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
Yeah, that's it.
That's a Jerry Fritz line rightthere, too.
Boom.
And there you have it.
I have four kids.
Favorite line ever.
Uh, Jerry and his lovely wifeSean say this that they went to
Sean's mother and said, afterthe triplets were born, hey mom,
I'm pregnant again.
And mom's response was oh shit.
(10:02):
Not I'm so happy for you.
So they have four kids right offthe rip.
I mean, very quickly, very closetogether.
Um, and so you guys said, Hey,you you need to be here.
I mean, that had to be, I mean,it had to be a big uh like a
momentum shake.
Like, obviously the kids arehere, and now you're like, hey,
I need to be here for theseguys.
And it's hard to think about,but but look at all this money
(10:25):
I'm making.
SPEAKER_03 (10:26):
Yeah, I mean, at the time, uh, believe it or not, my
wife was working as well.
Uh, so we had help at home, um,and but she was still working in
uh technology.
So between the two of us, wewere making a decent living.
Uh, but we, you know, we hadseen all the people that we had
(10:46):
worked with and the issues thatwere around, you know, our line
of line of work that we did, thetravel and just the stress that
that puts on the family, and wejust knew that it wasn't
sustainable.
So we really felt like we had todo something.
So what year was this?
(11:06):
Well, uh, it was 2004, uh, whenthat all went down.
SPEAKER_00 (11:12):
Yep.
Yeah.
So 2004, this is about I mean,actually, Jerry and I met uh met
Sean and and him two yearsbefore that, as they were having
um their basketball team.
Um, but you you had to make apivot.
And I I never realized this atthe time, but you only knew one
way.
I mean, I thought of thought,you know, and that's I go
corporate and I go big and Imake big bucks, and now I'm
(11:34):
gonna go try to find somethingelse.
And in 2004, you didn't havepodcasts like this, the small
business safari, thank you verymuch.
Um, but you didn't have theinternet.
SPEAKER_02 (11:43):
I mean, you also didn't know that the bomb was
gonna drop just a few yearslater.
SPEAKER_00 (11:47):
You had no idea 2008's on the roll.
So, how did you get intoresearch in this?
SPEAKER_03 (11:53):
Well, um, honestly, it it was living here in the
neighborhood uh that we live in.
Uh, you know, I met tons of guysuh through the neighborhood that
own their own business.
And I saw, you know, the moneythey made, I saw the hours that
they had, and I'm like, that'ssomething that we need to look
(12:16):
into.
Um so that's you know, those thefamily side of it and also the
neighborhood side really led usin that direction.
SPEAKER_00 (12:25):
So you started investigating things.
So what did you look at beforeyou started this?
SPEAKER_03 (12:30):
Oh my god, uh this I mean, it was literally
everything under the sun.
So at the time, Frannet was abig deal.
Okay.
I remember that.
Uh so yeah, looking at differentfranchises out there, everything
from interior design uh tocleaning restrooms, okay, and
(12:51):
everything in between.
Uh outside of actually, I takethat back.
Part of that friend net was uhwe investigated in an awning
company that was in NorthCarolina that was franchising.
And so that's uh that was one ofthe considerations.
So when we looked at uh thedifferent businesses, really the
(13:15):
most important thing for us wasbusiness hours.
Okay.
Uh we wanted normal businesshours, no weekends, um, because
of the family situation.
So immediately that reallyeliminated, you know, a
restaurant, um, nightclub, justall those things that typically
(13:36):
are more focused uh afterbusiness hours.
So that was the main priority.
And so that really narrowedthings down uh quite a bit for
us.
Um we, you know, went down thepath uh and like I said, we
looked at a lot of differentthings.
Uh, you know, a lot of thingslook promising, okay.
(13:57):
But um, you know, the one thingabout the awning business was
that was attractive for us wasit's a totally custom business.
Okay.
Um at the time we weren'tworried as worried about it um
in buying stuff off theinternet, okay.
But in what I do, you can't goon the internet and buy what I
(14:17):
do.
Yeah, you're Amazon proof, eventoday.
Okay.
So knock on wood.
Um, so you're AI proof.
SPEAKER_00 (14:26):
He is AI proof.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, all right, so uh was thereanything that was a number one
candidate before you went forawnings?
SPEAKER_03 (14:35):
Uh I I have to say the interior design was actually
uh attractive.
Um, just because from aclientele's uh perspective, um
you felt like you had a certainamount of control uh to it.
But again, that bled over intolater hours, potentially weekend
(14:55):
uh kind of stuff, and thatreally kind of took it out of
the picture.
SPEAKER_00 (14:59):
Alan, does that sound familiar?
SPEAKER_02 (15:01):
Yeah, let's uh let's move on.
Okay.
So did you buy a franchise ordid you start on your own?
SPEAKER_03 (15:07):
So yeah we were literally uh we had signed the
paperwork, had the cashier'scheck ready to sign on with this
company, and uh they called andsaid, Hey, we sold the territory
that uh that you were interestedin to another buyer.
(15:29):
So you were gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02 (15:30):
We're 100% locked lock and barrel.
So Jerry didn't join, he goteven.
We even have this story.
SPEAKER_00 (15:37):
Well, it's and uh I'll tell you a little something
about my friend.
Yeah, that's right.
Uh he's quiet, he may be alittle smaller than me, but he
definitely can get an even.
SPEAKER_03 (15:49):
No, it was um, you know, it literally uh, you know,
he had to take a step back.
Um, okay, so now what do we do?
Okay.
Uh so I we thought about it fora few days, and um, you know,
they were they were trying tofind a way to work this out uh
(16:09):
for another territory inAtlanta, uh, and that just
wasn't appealing to us.
So because they wanted yourfees, and hell yeah.
Yeah.
Um, you know, there's theupfront uh number and then the
repetitive uh that they get on aregular basis.
So I just looked at my wife andI said, uh they have disclosed
(16:33):
enough that I don't think I'mgonna make X amount of dollars
worth of mistakes.
We can do this on our own.
SPEAKER_02 (16:43):
But you still at this point, you came from IT,
corporate America, you knownothing about construction or
building awnings.
SPEAKER_03 (16:51):
So my father's in the construction business in the
Midwest.
Okay.
So I spent my youth uh workingwith him, uh, you know, doing
all kinds of stuff constructionrelated.
So we won't have him on the showto validate.
SPEAKER_00 (17:08):
We won't.
And I would tell you, you saidJerry's kind of an idol of
yours.
I actually it's his dad.
Um, because when his dad used tocome visit Jerry, he used to
spend more time with me in mybusiness and ride around with my
guys and tell me all the stuff.
Right?
He did, yeah, because that'sawesome.
Yeah, he always used to say, hegoes, you know, my son is wildly
successful, I'll never be likehim, but um, I want to come work
(17:29):
with you.
And I knew that to me again, theuh backheaded compliment of boy,
you're really fucking it up.
I want to come help you, bro.
No, he was awesome.
His dad is salt of the earth, hewon't be on.
Maybe we'll get him to listen tothis thing.
Uh, we'll have to show him howto download podcasts.
Right.
I'm gonna make my dad listen tothis thing too.
But um, but you go back to it,you had the background, but you
(17:50):
uh we thought we did.
SPEAKER_03 (17:51):
There's a lot to figure out between where you
were and where you were.
So there's another piece of thepuzzle here.
Um, so we decide to go down thispath.
There is a company here in townthat uh sells material specific
to our business, okay?
And they want people to buytheir aluminum extrusion.
(18:12):
So they offered free training toawning companies that would buy
their product.
So my father and I actually wentto their training and they
taught us how to build awningsand canopies and everything that
was associated with ourbusiness.
(18:32):
So that gave us a bit of a stepin the right direction.
And then the last piece of thepuzzle is hiring somebody that
really knows how to do it.
And we found a competitor'semployee as our first employee.
And but then you had to figureout pricing and all of that
stuff.
(18:52):
Yeah, no, it it it uh it wastricky.
Uh again, the company in townthat trained us also provided a
spreadsheet uh for pricing aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (19:06):
So a lot of so you guys started out not
underpricing yourself, notgetting your dick kicked in and
putting a window in uh that tookyou eight hours upside down.
Well, I did not put it in upsidedown, I put it in right side up
in St.
Marlowe for$80.
Ten years later, he asked me toput the damn thing back because
it failed.
(19:26):
And he goes, How much more?
And I was like, Uh, brother, uh,eighty bucks anymore.
SPEAKER_03 (19:32):
It is so funny.
Uh, you know, I obviously Iremember our first job, it was
three little uh window awningsuh here on a house in our
neighborhood, and uh, you know,we were ecstatic.
Okay, we're we thought, oh nah,here we go.
Okay.
Then you figure out that ittakes a lot to feed that engine.
SPEAKER_00 (19:55):
Uh you remember those startup days.
Uh you look you look back at it,it's so romantic when you think
about them.
Um, but such a a teeth kick in.
And of course, you know, hesaid, Hey, I got somebody who
told me pricing.
And I think that's one of thethings, again, when you first
start your business, Iunderpriced the shit out of
myself in the beginning becauseI didn't get that wherewithal
(20:16):
because of what I did and mybusiness was so difficult.
He had it, but he still, again,sometimes the bear eats you,
sometimes you eat it.
I mean, here we go.
SPEAKER_03 (20:25):
Um, yeah, you just uh I mean, uh, having been in
sales uh all my career, youknow, you just ask a lot of
questions.
Um, you know, people generallytell you, you know, where you
ended up on uh from a pricingperspective, so you just gather
that data and use it goingforward.
(20:45):
Um, a lot of times what you'regonna find is that there's a
huge discrepancy in pricing.
Um and so you just kind of yougotta figure out where you want
to be on that continuum becauseuh in our business, like every
business out there, there'salways somebody that'll do it
cheaper every single time.
SPEAKER_00 (21:07):
Well, we just had somebody on the podcast talking
about you know the band analogy.
You can hire Aerosmith to playyour uh concert, or you can hire
some kids who play the bandbecause they were cheaper and
they come out there to go.
So you found out that there's awide range in what you did.
Right.
So as you guys are finding thisthing out and you're kind of
finding your market, because Iwant to speed up to where we got
(21:29):
now, go.
SPEAKER_02 (21:31):
Yeah, no, well, I uh on the on that note, I mean,
when you're first starting out,just kind of like when you were
first starting out, Chris.
I mean, yeah, you're pricing itand you want to be on the higher
end, but maybe you don't feellike you deserve it because you
don't have the experience.
I mean, there that's a toughspot.
SPEAKER_03 (21:47):
Yeah, they that's very much the case.
I mean, you're you want to gainthe experience, you want to grow
your customer base.
Um, obviously you want to keepyour people busy, okay.
Um, so uh you take what you canget early on and you learn from
it and you figure out, you know,uh what product set works for
(22:10):
you, what customer base worksfor you, what you know, whether
you want to do residential workor migrate.
SPEAKER_00 (22:18):
Oh, ooh, ooh, I'll answer that.
No, no fucking residential everfucking again.
You heard me, everybody.
I've been residential.
Oh my god.
Yeah, huh?
Got a problem with that.
That's what I should have.
So, Jerry, when I first when Ifirst uh shacked up with them
and started doing this, he wasdoing residential.
And um, and one of the thingsyou learned, well, no, I'm gonna
(22:40):
go back to it.
Let's talk about this thoughmore seriously.
That um you determined thatcommercial was better uh for
what you did and what youoffered.
SPEAKER_03 (22:47):
I mean, uh on the residential side, uh, you know,
there's a lot of face-to-facemeetings that are involved with
that.
Um, color choice is a big deal.
Emotion.
Uh emotion when you're workingon somebody's house, there's a
different level of scrutiny thanwhen you're doing commercial
work.
Okay.
(23:07):
Uh keep putting little knifecuts on Chris.
We've talked about this amillion times.
SPEAKER_00 (23:13):
I'm on the cross, my friends.
I'm on the cross, and Jerry istaking the nails out and putting
them right through my palms.
SPEAKER_03 (23:19):
So I just uh so all those visits uh they just wear
on your margin, okay?
And then ultimately when youthink he did a really good job,
uh there's always something,okay.
Uh he liked it, she didn't.
Right.
He liked it, he didn't.
You're like, but or or wethought this, okay.
(23:42):
I mean, again, this is a custombusiness.
I you know, I can bring outcolor samples to you and show
you what that looks like, butultimately at the time, I
couldn't give you a rendering oranything like that to you know
superimpose on your house sothat you really knew what the
end product was going to looklike.
SPEAKER_00 (24:01):
So the customer had no expectation.
I just talked about this inanother podcast that I was a
guest on.
That's the hard part ofresidential.
Yeah, homeowners don't know whatto expect, but this is their
castle, this is where they'veraised their family, this is
where this is the most importantthing in the world.
And back to your point, Alan,it's so emotional.
SPEAKER_02 (24:19):
They don't know what to expect, but it wasn't that.
SPEAKER_00 (24:21):
Yeah.
And so, and that's where I mean,in my business, I joke about it,
but I mean, I feel like we havefigured out how to do this a
little bit better than most, uh,because of our world and how
variable it can be, because theypeople don't know what to
expect, and that that's in a lotof businesses.
But back into the commercialworld, there's still a lot of
unknowns, and it sounds likeit's the panacea, but as Jerry
(24:42):
will tell us, it probably wasn'teverything.
SPEAKER_03 (24:45):
No, on the commercial side, I mean, uh, at
least the world that we're in.
Uh, you know, every job that wehave, it has architectural
plans.
So the decision's already beenmade.
Okay.
The architects drawn out all thedetails, the owner signed off on
it.
It's been permitted by the city.
So my job is to interpret thoseplans, uh, build it and install
(25:11):
it on the building.
SPEAKER_02 (25:12):
So, are you essentially operating as a
subcontractor for the generalcontractor then?
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (25:16):
Well, what an interesting niche.
So uh in his first business,because we got to hurry up and
get there because I don't wantto run out of time.
SPEAKER_02 (25:22):
Well, and I do want to kind of fast forward to
today, and you don't have togive numbers, but tell us, you
know, what kind of operation youhave because you've got a
20-year journey to get where youare now.
SPEAKER_03 (25:33):
Yeah.
Um, so we've been in uh threedifferent locations.
Um, two with Chris.
Uh I've been I've been on two ofthe journeys.
I emailed the new address.
I I offered the third and he hesaid no.
SPEAKER_00 (25:48):
So I don't know what to I will say, uh, we can't do
this in this podcast, but we cando it in a therapy session.
He did come back to me and said,You kind of hurt me when you
didn't come.
And I'm like, I didn't realize Idid that.
No, you're kind of like a pet.
I well, I know.
I've I've the furry, I'm thefurry bascot.
SPEAKER_03 (26:06):
All right.
So it's grown over the years.
So uh, you know, I've been I'vetried to be really methodical
about the growth, uh, in thatnot outselling our capability.
Um, just I think you've got tobe able to deliver quality uh
and a timely basis.
SPEAKER_02 (26:24):
I mean, can you talk about how many crews or
employees the geography?
SPEAKER_03 (26:28):
Right now we run uh generally about between 40 and
50 employees.
SPEAKER_00 (26:34):
Wow.
All right, let's talk about thisbecause I do want to hurry up
and get to this part.
Uh when I was when I was uhshacking up with Jerry, I loved
saying it like that too.
Um, because I mean if you hadany idea, I wish I wish we had
video of me running across,kicking everything I could to
run in there and go, you got aminute?
And he'd be in the middle oflike a million things.
He'd be like, Yeah, buddy, wewanna eat.
(26:56):
And at the time he was doinginstallations of canopy awnings,
and he was starting to do alittle bit of metal, right?
And I didn't understand it, butI get it.
So it's fabric work, fabricwork, and then these metal
things.
And then he said, I'm gonna comeup with this other business
because right now I'm buildingthese custom things and
installing these custom things,but I think I just want to
(27:18):
manufacture these things andbecome the standard that
architects use.
And I want you to talk aboutwhere you because he now has he
has two companies, he has uhskyscapes and awnings above us.
How did you get I mean if youdid that in the middle of this?
Because you're the middle ofrunning the business, you're
going a million miles.
Well, you're not going to be,I'm going a million miles an
(27:39):
hour, you're going like 150 andkind of watching me run around
him.
And I had no fucking idea whereChris was going.
You you took a time out andsaid, Wait a minute, I see
another opportunity that willcomplement my business.
How did you do that?
SPEAKER_03 (27:53):
Yeah.
Um, so like I said, uh a lot ofstuff uh that we get is uh on
architectural plans, and inthose architectural plans,
they'll specify a certain vendoruh or manufacturer that they
want uh to use or a basis ofdesign.
Okay, and we kept on seeing thethe same name all the time,
(28:15):
okay, and very few other namesuh that were out there.
I'm like, geez, how these guyshave all this market and how can
they deliver on it?
So we got looking into it and welooked at uh you know, the
pricing that they were providingwas just absolutely absurd.
Low, high, high.
(28:36):
Oh, okay.
Oh, so there's an opportunitythere.
So, and they were the only gamein town at the time.
Uh and I, you know, I justlooked at it and said, hey, we
can do this.
Uh we can ramp up production, wecan start.
We started small and got ourlegs under us, build our
(28:57):
foundation, did our marketing,you know, obviously social media
has been uh a large part of ituh as well, participating in
conferences, those kinds ofthings.
And um we've grown that businesssignificantly over the years,
and I, you know, quite frankly,that will be the growth engine
for us for years to come.
SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
So uh when I was at the bank and I was uh again big
dog, and I was, I mean, I washuge, dude.
Um, did I mention I was tonningit?
You you have a couple of times.
Did I mention I'm not anymore?
You have many, many, many times.
Right.
But I'm back to tonning itbecause that's what every
handyman does.
Yeah, uh, right.
Every best.
It only creates business owner.
Every other business owner,every other business owner is
(29:38):
tonning it.
But when Jerry uh came andtalked to me about this, and as
I saw what he did, um, it isalways hard to provide great
service.
It's always easy to ask for goodservice.
I heard that from Leon Waba whenI was at uh Sun Trust.
And what Jerry was saying wasyou know, now I just spec it, I
build it, and somebody elseinstalls it.
That's not my job anymore.
(30:00):
I don't have to do the serviceof the install.
I provide the materials.
And now I'm not landlocked toAtlanta, North uh Atlanta,
Georgia, or the Southeast.
I can provide it all across uhso you're not doing any
installations.
SPEAKER_03 (30:13):
We do because you you've got the two companies,
right?
Correct.
Uh so awnings above uh still uhis a turnkey solution in the
southeast.
So we'll go uh up to theVirginia border, we'll go over
to the Mississippi border and godown to Orlando uh as far as uh
going south.
But Skyscape provides the thesame product set to the
(30:38):
remainder of the country.
So we manufacture and ship tothe remainder of the country.
SPEAKER_00 (30:44):
So love this, right?
And so now you're a spec, andone of the things he did, um,
and I'll let him explain it, ishow did you become the other
provider?
I mean, because who specifiesthis stuff?
The architect, right?
SPEAKER_03 (30:56):
Correct.
So uh it's it's a lot of callingon architects.
Um, and uh they architects haveto have continuing educate
education units every year.
So um part of that, you can becertified to provide those
(31:16):
education units to them.
So they do that through whatthey call lunch and learns.
Okay.
So every architecture firm inthe country needs these units,
and it's a matter of getting ontheir calendar to provide, you
know, basically the thatlearning opportunity for them.
So technically, it's not aadvertisement, it's not a sales
(31:41):
call.
Correct.
Um, it's education on the awningand canopy business provided by
Skyscape.
SPEAKER_02 (31:48):
Hello.
How difficult was it to becertified as an instructor?
Because that's brilliant.
SPEAKER_03 (31:53):
Actually, it it's it it it you have to get your
presentation together, uh submitit to AIA, which is the uh
governing body over architects.
SPEAKER_00 (32:04):
Which for the record is a very difficult organization
to get your CEUs uh checked off.
Because the guy who has I haveto get CEUs for my general uh
contractor's license, AIA islike the standard, and Neri is
the right below them.
SPEAKER_03 (32:17):
So uh that was key uh to that process.
Um also uh on our website, uh,if you go to skyscape.com, uh
canopies.com, uh you can go tothere's a spec builder uh
portion of our uh website uhthat is frequently used by
architects so they can downloadarchitectural details uh and
(32:41):
simply import those into theirarchitectural plans.
And at that point, then we arebasis of design.
SPEAKER_00 (32:50):
So Jerry French provides shade to the world.
That's his job.
That's what he does.
Uh he's grown his business.
You know, here and we're comingto the end.
I'm we're gonna run out of timebecause I want to get to this.
Um, Jerry started his businesswhen his kids were uh, hello, we
got to make a move.
Um, I started my business aftermy kids were been around for a
(33:10):
while, and I said, you know, I'mgonna do it.
You know, why did I do it?
My motivation was not to have abusiness or a legacy for my
kids.
I thought maybe they might likeit.
SPEAKER_02 (33:20):
You did it despite the kids, and and Jerry did it
for the kids.
I mean, let's just get it outthere.
SPEAKER_00 (33:25):
You know, screw the kids.
But good, yeah, I agree withthat.
At least I got a I got a PA, Igot a lawyer, I got somebody's
gonna get me out of jail, out ofcontract disputes.
I got somebody who's alreadytelling me I'm gonna die early.
I mean, he's a butt, but by theway.
Oh, she's amazing.
Yeah, she just got done going,Dad, you need a full skin scan.
I think I think you haveproblems, I think you're gonna
die.
You have melanoma.
See, I I love my PA daughter.
We all talk about her.
(33:46):
Uh, Cherry knows her very well.
So, Jar, when you started this,we talked about this.
A lot of us uh think that whenwe're gonna start a business, we
don't think about exit planning,but when we do, it's usually too
late in the game.
I've watched two differentgeneral contractors here in
Atlanta close their businesswithout ever selling it.
(34:08):
Put it away.
And I found out after the factbecause had they approached me,
I would have gone, I'm gonnatalk, man.
We'll think, maybe we could getsome value out of it.
What was your plan when youstarted this?
SPEAKER_03 (34:20):
Well, uh the plan was to provide for my family and
to be with them.
Uh ultimately, we never reallygot to even really the the
thought of the kids being partof the business until they were
in college.
Okay.
They uh they got in college,they were doing their thing.
Um all of them have businessdegrees from different
(34:45):
universities.
Uh, and then as they workedtheir way through, um, all the
boys worked for us during duringthe summer and breaks.
So they've been involved in thebusiness since they were
teenagers.
Um as they worked through schooland kind of saw what their
options were.
Um, you know, I honestly my myyoungest was the first that
(35:08):
said, I'm joining the business.
Uh then the other two boys, um,their senior year decided that
they uh they wanted to be partof it.
So three out of four.
Three out of four.
Uh my daughter works for Ernstand Young in San Francisco, uh,
in much the same business as ohmy god, my team and I were in uh
(35:31):
when we were in the technologysector.
So what?
SPEAKER_00 (35:35):
Oh loser.
Yeah, he's Ernst and Young inSan Francisco.
Oh, these kids.
Oh my god, Tyri, grow betterkids, man.
What the hell?
I know he already got three outof four working in the family
business.
No, he's doing great.
So now they're in and they're itand so I was gonna ask you,
what's the favorite time of yourbusiness?
But but I know because I knowyou, it's today.
(35:56):
Uh that you're here with theboys.
The boys have said it to me.
Uh, again, unadulterated.
Um, I I think they would tell methey wouldn't just like blow uh
smoke up my ass.
They would say it, they reallyenjoy working with their dad.
I'm like, dude, that is so cool.
In fact, I don't want to say ittoo much more because I start
tearing up super jealous.
But I also feel about uh thesekids, I think they're my
buddies, you know.
(36:16):
I I I you know I I love hangingwith them, they're fun, and he's
created a great familyenvironment that everybody gets
to enjoy, and it's just beengreat uh to watch what they've
done.
So kudos to you, Jared.
I just love what you did, butthank you.
Yeah, so now we gotta talk aboutthe bad shit.
No kidding.
We are we're coming up in theend.
We are uh I know you got a hardstop.
(36:38):
We gotta get we gotta get Alanout of here because he's gotta
go out there and kick somebody'sass in tennis.
I like it, right?
SPEAKER_02 (36:43):
No, sure he loves I'm taking the wife out for
margarita.
Oh, yeah.
Look at your building.
I know.
SPEAKER_00 (36:50):
Oh my god.
Family first, right, Jerry?
That's right.
He did family first.
All right.
So as you as you look at thisand where you're going, um Alan
asked that question.
When you started the business,awnings above was a hundred
percent of your business.
Now you have skyscapes andawnings above.
What percentage of your businessis it today?
Uh right now, revenue-wise.
SPEAKER_03 (37:10):
Actually, right now there it's an even split, uh,
50-50.
So Skyscape has been intechnically in existence for
eight years.
So, and awnings above has beenit's almost 21.
So uh you can see on the grossside skyscape has really taken
(37:31):
off over the year.
Where it's yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:33):
How do you take the time to back up and see that and
and look at those the forestover the trees and figure out
that that was happening?
SPEAKER_03 (37:42):
Um, you know, it it's hard.
I mean, you you've got to have alot of discipline.
Uh, you know, uh I'm excitedabout the opportunity.
I know the opportunity's good,uh, but you don't want to go too
far and and break the reputationof a company that I've spent 21
(38:04):
years building.
So if I out outsell what I cando, it's all for naught.
Uh so it's really being patientand having discipline uh to kind
of stay in your lane.
SPEAKER_00 (38:19):
So hard.
Uh you know, Jerry hit onsomething that I think is so
big.
So I'm in the retail businessand and uh we talked about that
already, about the value ofthat.
But I have 1,250 plus reviews onGoogle now.
Um, and for what we do in Lane.
It is.
I mean, uh honestly, when I saythat, I I I don't mean to say it
like that.
I never thought I'd be over athousand ever.
(38:41):
No.
Um, to be this big uh has beenawesome for me.
I'm I'm just thrilled about whatmy business is doing on that
side.
But he just talked aboutsomething in the commercial
world, they don't rely on Googlereviews.
You're not talking about whatpeople are talking about, you
but he says, but my brand meansso much to me, and I don't think
it should be lost on anybody, nomatter what you do.
(39:02):
At the end of the day, yourname's on it.
Whether you're the guy orthey're the guy.
And I tell my guys all the time,I'm not the face of our company.
Those 1257 reviews, I would tellyou two of them probably know
me.
All right, maybe 10.
Oh, who am I kidding?
You know, it's 500.
I know everybody knows it's morethan that.
Ah, you do.
Come on, ah, it's me, guys.
(39:23):
Come on, that's me.
But but in commercial, you'rethinking, eh, screw it.
I mean, you know, so I screw upwith one who gives a shit.
I can go find another one.
And and you have to stay rightthere because if you don't
deliver that great customerservice, you're yeah, you're
toast.
SPEAKER_03 (39:39):
I mean, uh, whether it's commercial or residential,
uh, word gets out.
And obviously, you know, thecliche, you know, bad news
travels a lot faster.
Um, so you've got to reallythink your way through on you
know difficult situations thatyou have.
SPEAKER_00 (39:58):
Thank you for listening to this episode of the
Small Business Department.
Remember, your positive attitudewill help you achieve that
higher altitude you're lookingfor in a wild world small
business ownership.
Until next time, think of agreat day.
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