January 29, 2024 • 22 mins
Immerse yourself in the latest edition of the Phenomenal Business Growth Podcast, with host Jim Klauck guiding you through John Torres' compelling entrepreneurial journey. From humble beginnings in real estate and ice cream franchises, John eventually found his calling as founder and proprietor of Club Clean. This gripping tale of success earned through resilience, determination, and the will to turn a round of failures into a thriving venture is sure to captivate and inspire.
Chart John's trajectory from a subcontracting gig paying $12k annually for an hour’s work to establishing a robust primary source of income. Listening to John’s experience, you'll learn the value of persistence, embracing new opportunities, and nurturing an entrepreneurial spirit. Hear how John adeptly navigated the unfamiliar territory of floor stripping and waxing, arming himself with knowledge garnered from YouTube and local suppliers.
In the concluding segment, draw strength from John's story of personal growth and effective leadership. His transformation from a performance-based leader to an inspiration for his team encapsulates the essence of his entrepreneurial journey. Listen in for key insights on the role of a supportive environment in fostering progress, highlighting the Phenomenal Business Coaches' Inner Circle's ecosystem characterized by shared growth objectives and a sense of belong.
Stop Being A SLAVE To Your Business! Transform it into a Predictable, Profitable, Turnkey operation so you can have more Freedom in your life!Get Your FREE Training Session Here -
https://phenomenalbusinesscoaching.com
To reach Howard Partridge: howard@howardpartridge.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
I'm having a phenomenal day here on the Phenomenal Business Growth Podcast.
My name is Jim Klauk, the host of the program.
John Torres is joining me today, an Inner Circle member, a recent one to the group.
Welcome to the Inner Circle and welcome to the program, John.
Thanks for having me, Jim. I'm happy to be here. It is great to have you here.
(00:23):
We're going to talk about the Inner Circle and Howard Partridge and phenomenal.
But first, I want to talk about Club Clean.
Talk about how you started the business.
But before that, explain what you do and then get into your story because it's
fascinating on how you got your first customer.
Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, Club Clean's the name of our business.
(00:46):
We're about an hour outside Chicago and we're a janitorial services firm.
Firm we've been in business for about five and a half
years now in this area and and
interestingly enough we i moved to the
area with with my wife and family kind of uprooted from the the mid atlantic
we were living in maryland at the time and it was for a completely different
(01:09):
business we were going to partner with a friend and open a franchise for actually
ice cream and fudge in Chicago.
We were going to be right across from Wrigley Field.
And having been a baseball player in college and beyond, I was excited of that
opportunity to be right across from the Cub Stadium.
(01:30):
So that's what initially got us out here.
And I had a couple of real estate investments, a couple of multifamilies in
Chicago and in Maryland at the time.
So when we moved, And this is 2018 timeframe.
I was thinking I'm going to be this real estate mogul.
I'm going to have this franchise, killing it over in Wrigleyville.
(01:55):
And it wasn't a couple of months after our relocation that I realized none of
that was going to happen. in.
And unfortunately, my first ever entrepreneurial venture as an adult was my
real estate investing company.
And I was buying and flipping homes and had some rental properties.
And it was too early for me to sustain this, but I trusted the wrong contractor
(02:21):
with too many of my properties.
And two months after I moved over here, he gave me a call or I gave him a call because,
progress was slowing updates weren't coming i saw
that that was an issue and when
i show up in baltimore to check in on my projects and how things are going with
(02:43):
him um i learned he was filing for bankruptcy and and kind of left me holding
the bag because i had already given him um like over 50 grand to essentially
get going on these few projects.
And so at that time, it was way too big of a hit for me to take and I had to swallow it.
(03:04):
And thankfully, I was able to find new contractors and negotiate things with
various partners that I had.
So I didn't foreclose on any of the properties that I had.
But needless to say, I didn't make money on them.
And so, when I came back from my short trip and disappointing trip to Baltimore,
I realized that I wasn't going to continue that journey.
(03:28):
But at least I had the franchise.
And so, fast forward a couple months, I've got my franchise agreement signed.
We visited corporate, got the sign-off from them. Everything's looking good
with our partner who was going to do it with us. And we have an LOI agreed upon
with the landlord of the space. I mean, it was looking good.
(03:50):
And then all of a sudden, when we're getting close to actually signing the lease
agreement, the landlord starts to pick apart all the things that we sell at
that shop and saying, oh, we can't sell that and you can't sell that and you
can't sell that because of exclusions,
that other tenants already had in place.
And unfortunately, they were picking up at things that were pretty vital for
(04:12):
us to sell if we were going to survive in that spot.
And so, a partner and I, we're both men of faith, we just kind of came together
and said, I don't think we have peace about this.
And we mutually agreed and decided, yeah, this isn't the right opportunity anymore,
and we had to back off of it.
(04:33):
But here's the problem. I had relocated from Maryland to to Northwest Indiana
for these opportunities.
And now none of them were working out. And so I kind of went back to the drawing
board and I was wondering,
what now? I really felt going into this season that I was being led by God into
(04:57):
this season with my wife, unity with her,
and that we were all on the same page about what this was going to look like.
And so, for all the things that we were hoping were going to happen not happening that that way.
It really left me in this what's going on place in my life.
And so, I had this temporary job that I was working just to hold me over.
(05:22):
But it was miserable because I knew it was dead end and it wasn't the reason
I was there. I knew I was meant to be an entrepreneur.
And I happened to be When I was in the DC area, Maryland area,
I happened to start an LLC in the cleaning business and I subcontracted work
to one of the first real estate contractors I ever had.
(05:47):
And it was about 10 buildings or so. And it made me a decent,
super passive... I mean, I did
next to no work to get him to do the stuff that he had to do every month.
And man, I was getting checks from that.
And so I was making somewhere around
12 grand a year, and I was probably working one hour a year on that.
(06:10):
And so while it was really low on the totem pole of focus for me,
I'm now fast forward in this whole new season, whole new state.
And I'm asking God, where do I turn? What do I do now?
I have a family to provide for. and this job i'm doing i'm at it's just not
(06:30):
going to cut it well i was brought to the the parable where jesus feeds the
5 000 and i think even people who who aren't uh really familiar with with scripture
or have at least heard of that multiplying of the fish and the loaves,
and there's one phrase in one of the gospels where he says.
Specifically, it calls out how Jesus told the disciples to pick up the fragments.
(06:55):
And that became my new prayer. I really felt like I needed to start praying that for myself.
And I was asking, what are the fragments in my life that I'm stepping on and not even recognizing?
And sure enough, the super passive thing that I had going,
and it was, I actually, after moving, moving i
was already in the chicago area i had received a
(07:18):
check still from them and that work um and
it was several thousand dollars um and
it came to mind during these prayers you know it had been months since i received
the check but but i was in a new space in my head and and in my life and it
came to mind and so i was like maybe there's something there it's it's the one
thing that actually has worked since i've moved and i'm sitting in this office
(07:40):
at this this temporary job I'm at,
and I'm like an assistant manager, you know, it's pretty low level.
But one of the employees was sitting in the office with me. He actually should
have been outside at the booth where he was supposed to be stationed.
But he turns over and he says, hey, I see you work on business and stuff.
You seem pretty entrepreneurial.
(08:04):
And admittedly, I had low respect for him because his work ethic was on the
floor. Or he really was one of those guys who the union was helping keep him
around because nothing he was doing was actually assisting that.
And I was like, yeah, I am. And I just kind of got back to work and kind of
ignored him. And then he says, I used to own a business.
(08:25):
And I kind of look over at him. I was like, yeah, okay, sure.
And I got back to what I was doing. And he says, it was a janitorial business.
And then I turn and say, huh? huh? He doesn't know that I'm thinking about the
cleaning business and what I've been praying and talking about.
And so now my antennae, if they weren't already, they're definitely up now.
(08:46):
And then he says, yeah, me and my fiance, we had, I was almost going to quit
this job. We had it for about a year and a half.
We had like 30 banks. We were making about 30 grand a month.
And I'm thinking to myself, you've got to be kidding me.
If this guy can do it, But I can definitely do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so that was literally the start of what got me into commercial cleaning.
(09:10):
And I remember when I really committed, this is the path I'm going to take.
I had a cold calling job at one point in my life.
And I said, I was able to set appointments for that.
So let me try it. And so I literally Google banks in my area.
And the only reason I picked banks is because this guy was able to get 30 of
them. I couldn't get at least one.
(09:31):
And I start calling them one by one. And I don't know what I'm doing.
I mean, I don't know who I'm supposed to speak with. I don't even know exactly
what I'm selling because I didn't really have a business plan or I wasn't really
in this business before.
I had just kind of formed an LLC and then subbed out work to someone else one time.
(09:51):
And I get to the very last bank. I started with a W. So it's the last one on
the list. I've been calling for maybe two hours.
And the lady's like, actually, I was just thinking about having a cleaning company come out.
And I said, well, really?
How's two o'clock? And she actually invited me out.
And I go and it's this small bank in a store.
(10:13):
And she says, yeah, we're looking to strip and wax these floors. can you
do that for us um mind you
i'd never stripped and waxed ever in my
life i said yeah absolutely i can do that never say
no john never say no no um and so i i scheduled the job for a week out and that
whole week i'm literally youtubing how to strip and wax floors i'm going to
(10:36):
the janitorial supply house locally the guy is teaching me how to use the machine
in the back of of the warehouse and like letting me know what chemicals I need.
And I try to get some helpers to do this job through Craigslist.
And wouldn't you know, they didn't show up. So, I end up doing,
it took me seven hours, but I did it myself one night into the wee hours of the morning.
(11:01):
And I made almost a thousand bucks on it. And I thought to myself,
one day work, seven grand, or I made a thousand bucks in seven hours.
I think there's something I'm here. And so that was literally the start.
It took me about four months from there to get my first reoccurring commercial account.
But needless to say, that was the initial reason I got in and that first client.
(11:29):
John, how long ago was that? That was the summer of 2018.
2018. And recently, you've become an Inner Circle member at Phenomenal Business Coaching.
Why now with Phenomenal? What took you so long?
Well, I actually, I want to say it took a good two years, two and a half years.
(11:55):
But we figured a few things out. I mean, that first account I ended up getting
a few months later, it was a seven-day-a-week account. There's no way I was going to do it myself.
And so I hired a team immediately and then went back to still cleaning, of course.
But I was able to spend a good deal of time finding new accounts and trying
(12:18):
to work on the business instead of in it.
And at the time, I was part of a cleaning-specific mastermind that helped me
with a lot of the nuts and bolts of this industry specifically.
But over the course of this last year, there were definitely some learning lessons
that we took as a team and we grew substantially over the last couple of years.
(12:41):
Um, and our, you know, our team is, is fluxed between 35 and 50 people,
uh, over the last 12 months.
And, uh, and with that, there comes a whole host of, of, of things that you
need to put in place or, or refine that were okay when you had 10 people that
just aren't okay when you have 30, 40, 50 people.
(13:03):
Um, and, and right, right. As we're in the throes of, uh, of adjusting some
of our approaches to that. so we can continue to to grow and just be healthy
as a team and thinking kind of long term,
Um, Anita, one of the phenomenal business coaching franchisees who I had a relationship
with through, um, through some other connection years ago had reached out out of the blue.
(13:30):
And, um, and so we reconnected and she introduced me to Howard and Howard was,
was kind enough to hop on a zoom actually with me, a guy he had never met, met or heard before.
And the conversation with the three of them mutually let me know that this was
actually what my team needed in this phase of the business.
(13:51):
Because unlike a lot of other masterminds I've been a part of or coaching programs,
and I've been part of a few, this one really invites in the whole team.
It isn't just one person who signed up.
I mean, my managing partner comes, my office manager has come.
I brought my daughter to one of the live events.
(14:12):
Um, and it was, it was thrilling for her.
So, uh, the, the fact that my entire team gets to benefit from the resources
and the weekly calls and all of that, uh, that really was the,
I would say the selling point for me.
Um, and has been huge because then it even gives us, uh, things to focus on
and circle around week to week as a team, because we all have been going through
(14:35):
the same material and part of the same calls.
Um, so, so that's, that's what got me in, um, you know, I'll give a shout out
to Anita Anita there and, you know, definitely the personal touch that Howard
gave early on was a big factor of that as well. Anita's got a lot of energy.
Yeah, she is a natural encourager. If you're feeling down, you get around her,
(14:57):
you won't be feeling down for very long.
Absolutely. So you were introduced to Howard on a Zoom call and you couldn't
help but be attracted to the whole phenomenal thing. I mean,
how could you not, right?
Agreed. Yeah, I mean, and I've been a fan of Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn and guys like that.
(15:18):
And so his, not just the fact that he's associated with them,
but knowing that it really is part of his everyday vernacular and that he lives
by a lot of these principles.
It certainly helps with the comfortability when you just don't know.
You've been part of coaching before and you've been through this.
(15:41):
And it just seemed like I think I can see this being a really good asset.
Absolutely. So quick story for you, John. I met Howard about 15 or 16 years ago.
And the first Inner Circle conference I went to, guess who was on stage?
Zig Ziglar. So Zig's on stage.
(16:03):
And after his talk, which was phenomenal, he was in the back of the room signing books.
And I got to introduce myself and thank him for everything he had done for me over the decades.
Because for years I would listen to him in my car and he was encouraging to
(16:27):
me and he basically told me through the tapes and CDs I was listening to,
to quit my job and become an entrepreneur.
Now, he'd probably never say that to my face, but that's what I heard.
He encouraged me. And you said something interesting a little while ago and
you said, if that guy can do it, I can do it too.
(16:47):
And that's how I felt about Zig Ziglar, because Zig would talk about when he
started out selling and Zig had failed in some of the things he had done.
He wasn't a failure, but he failed at some of the things along the way.
And he's from a small town in Mississippi and the whole story.
And I'm like, if this guy can do it, I can do it. And so same type of story.
(17:12):
And really, the moral of the story, I think, is anybody can do almost anything
they set their minds to. Don't you agree?
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm actually learning that from a different vantage point right now.
Another thing that attracted me, I think, to this community was the focus of
(17:34):
leadership and development of leaders as well.
And I've always kind of seen myself as a leader in various aspects,
you know, captain of the baseball team or leader of something at my church or
obviously being a father and a husband.
I've held management and senior management roles and stuff.
(17:55):
But there's a very distinct difference between a leader who is a leader because they perform well.
And so, their performance kind of puts them in certain seats.
And then a leader who has a
focus of developing people who
will perform well and them
(18:17):
being the ones that are shining bright and so the focus actually isn't on that
leader but the people that they're surrounded with and and investing into and
I think I think one of the one of the really important things in this season
for for me personally and in our company,
is becoming that kind of leader and being okay with the folks around me outshining me.
(18:46):
Because at the end of the day, I don't think we're going to get to where we
need to get to as a company if I'm the one that's shining the brightest.
And so, the combination of the team being able to enjoy these resources,
some of the leadership focus and development development that's available here is just huge.
(19:06):
And so, I want to be the one that people around me are saying,
well, if John could do it, I know I can do it.
And it's kind of not self-deprecating, it's more,
hey, I want to create an environment where you
have so much faith that if you just see someone in your circle doing something
(19:28):
or displaying competency somewhere you automatically believe you can too so
figuring out what that looks like right now but.
You know, I agree. So many of us, and I say us because I'm included,
look at other people who appear to be doing great things and we look at them
(19:49):
as though they're maybe superhuman or different.
Maybe it's a celebrity or a really good speaker or an author or an actor or a politician.
And we look at them like, wow, they're like special. But they're just people
who are doing things that might be extraordinary, but we can all do extraordinary things.
(20:13):
And I can relate so much, John, because I love to now speak on stage.
I'm very comfortable in front of the camera.
I've been on radio for decades talking to millions of people over my lifetime.
But when I was a child, I used to stutter and stammer. I was very shy and insecure.
(20:36):
And no one would ever dream of little Jimmy when he was six, seven years old.
Never dream he would be able to do what he's done.
And it's that type of thing. Even though you don't feel good about yourself
today or you don't think you can do that, you can and it's encouraging.
And I bring this up because I see people who are in inner circle and how they
(21:02):
grow and how everyone there wants to help each other,
even though they're not all part of the same company, they're part of the same
organization. organization.
It's a community and it's uplifting.
And if you want a chance to get up in front of the room and say a few words,
Howard will let you do that.
(21:23):
So if that's something you're not so sure about and you see other people do it, try it out and grow.
Yeah, no doubt. I definitely sensed and felt that at the live event as well.
Even though there was a couple, a few hundred people there. It kind of felt
like just one big family.
(21:44):
It is. John, I could talk all day with you. I really appreciate your time.
Thanks for the great stories. And I look forward to seeing you at the next Inner
Circle Conference live event.
And that next one is coming up at the end of January.
Yeah. So, will I see you there?
Maybe. I haven't decided yet. Yeah, it depends on who I...
(22:07):
There's a couple of people on my team who i'm interested in
bringing but uh but yeah we have some big
things happening january so not not sure if we
can but but definitely going to be coming to another one in the next uh next
couple rounds okay and by the way for those of you who are viewing this all
that information will be located in the show notes of this podcast john once
(22:28):
again thanks so much for joining me today on the phenomenal business growth
podcast thanks for having me.
I'm having a phenomenal day here on the Phenomenal Business Growth Podcast.
My name is Jim Klauk, the host of the program.
John Torres is joining me today, an Inner Circle member, a recent one to the group.
Welcome to the Inner Circle and welcome to the program, John.
Thanks for having me, Jim. I'm happy to be here. It is great to have you here.
(00:23):
We're going to talk about the Inner Circle and Howard Partridge and phenomenal.
But first, I want to talk about Club Clean.
Talk about how you started the business.
But before that, explain what you do and then get into your story because it's
fascinating on how you got your first customer.
Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, Club Clean's the name of our business.
(00:46):
We're about an hour outside Chicago and we're a janitorial services firm.
Firm we've been in business for about five and a half
years now in this area and and
interestingly enough we i moved to the
area with with my wife and family kind of uprooted from the the mid atlantic
we were living in maryland at the time and it was for a completely different
(01:09):
business we were going to partner with a friend and open a franchise for actually
ice cream and fudge in Chicago.
We were going to be right across from Wrigley Field.
And having been a baseball player in college and beyond, I was excited of that
opportunity to be right across from the Cub Stadium.
(01:30):
So that's what initially got us out here.
And I had a couple of real estate investments, a couple of multifamilies in
Chicago and in Maryland at the time.
So when we moved, And this is 2018 timeframe.
I was thinking I'm going to be this real estate mogul.
I'm going to have this franchise, killing it over in Wrigleyville.
(01:55):
And it wasn't a couple of months after our relocation that I realized none of
that was going to happen. in.
And unfortunately, my first ever entrepreneurial venture as an adult was my
real estate investing company.
And I was buying and flipping homes and had some rental properties.
And it was too early for me to sustain this, but I trusted the wrong contractor
(02:21):
with too many of my properties.
And two months after I moved over here, he gave me a call or I gave him a call because,
progress was slowing updates weren't coming i saw
that that was an issue and when
i show up in baltimore to check in on my projects and how things are going with
(02:43):
him um i learned he was filing for bankruptcy and and kind of left me holding
the bag because i had already given him um like over 50 grand to essentially
get going on these few projects.
And so at that time, it was way too big of a hit for me to take and I had to swallow it.
(03:04):
And thankfully, I was able to find new contractors and negotiate things with
various partners that I had.
So I didn't foreclose on any of the properties that I had.
But needless to say, I didn't make money on them.
And so, when I came back from my short trip and disappointing trip to Baltimore,
I realized that I wasn't going to continue that journey.
(03:28):
But at least I had the franchise.
And so, fast forward a couple months, I've got my franchise agreement signed.
We visited corporate, got the sign-off from them. Everything's looking good
with our partner who was going to do it with us. And we have an LOI agreed upon
with the landlord of the space. I mean, it was looking good.
(03:50):
And then all of a sudden, when we're getting close to actually signing the lease
agreement, the landlord starts to pick apart all the things that we sell at
that shop and saying, oh, we can't sell that and you can't sell that and you
can't sell that because of exclusions,
that other tenants already had in place.
And unfortunately, they were picking up at things that were pretty vital for
(04:12):
us to sell if we were going to survive in that spot.
And so, a partner and I, we're both men of faith, we just kind of came together
and said, I don't think we have peace about this.
And we mutually agreed and decided, yeah, this isn't the right opportunity anymore,
and we had to back off of it.
(04:33):
But here's the problem. I had relocated from Maryland to to Northwest Indiana
for these opportunities.
And now none of them were working out. And so I kind of went back to the drawing
board and I was wondering,
what now? I really felt going into this season that I was being led by God into
(04:57):
this season with my wife, unity with her,
and that we were all on the same page about what this was going to look like.
And so, for all the things that we were hoping were going to happen not happening that that way.
It really left me in this what's going on place in my life.
And so, I had this temporary job that I was working just to hold me over.
(05:22):
But it was miserable because I knew it was dead end and it wasn't the reason
I was there. I knew I was meant to be an entrepreneur.
And I happened to be When I was in the DC area, Maryland area,
I happened to start an LLC in the cleaning business and I subcontracted work
to one of the first real estate contractors I ever had.
(05:47):
And it was about 10 buildings or so. And it made me a decent,
super passive... I mean, I did
next to no work to get him to do the stuff that he had to do every month.
And man, I was getting checks from that.
And so I was making somewhere around
12 grand a year, and I was probably working one hour a year on that.
(06:10):
And so while it was really low on the totem pole of focus for me,
I'm now fast forward in this whole new season, whole new state.
And I'm asking God, where do I turn? What do I do now?
I have a family to provide for. and this job i'm doing i'm at it's just not
(06:30):
going to cut it well i was brought to the the parable where jesus feeds the
5 000 and i think even people who who aren't uh really familiar with with scripture
or have at least heard of that multiplying of the fish and the loaves,
and there's one phrase in one of the gospels where he says.
Specifically, it calls out how Jesus told the disciples to pick up the fragments.
(06:55):
And that became my new prayer. I really felt like I needed to start praying that for myself.
And I was asking, what are the fragments in my life that I'm stepping on and not even recognizing?
And sure enough, the super passive thing that I had going,
and it was, I actually, after moving, moving i
was already in the chicago area i had received a
(07:18):
check still from them and that work um and
it was several thousand dollars um and
it came to mind during these prayers you know it had been months since i received
the check but but i was in a new space in my head and and in my life and it
came to mind and so i was like maybe there's something there it's it's the one
thing that actually has worked since i've moved and i'm sitting in this office
(07:40):
at this this temporary job I'm at,
and I'm like an assistant manager, you know, it's pretty low level.
But one of the employees was sitting in the office with me. He actually should
have been outside at the booth where he was supposed to be stationed.
But he turns over and he says, hey, I see you work on business and stuff.
You seem pretty entrepreneurial.
(08:04):
And admittedly, I had low respect for him because his work ethic was on the
floor. Or he really was one of those guys who the union was helping keep him
around because nothing he was doing was actually assisting that.
And I was like, yeah, I am. And I just kind of got back to work and kind of
ignored him. And then he says, I used to own a business.
(08:25):
And I kind of look over at him. I was like, yeah, okay, sure.
And I got back to what I was doing. And he says, it was a janitorial business.
And then I turn and say, huh? huh? He doesn't know that I'm thinking about the
cleaning business and what I've been praying and talking about.
And so now my antennae, if they weren't already, they're definitely up now.
(08:46):
And then he says, yeah, me and my fiance, we had, I was almost going to quit
this job. We had it for about a year and a half.
We had like 30 banks. We were making about 30 grand a month.
And I'm thinking to myself, you've got to be kidding me.
If this guy can do it, But I can definitely do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so that was literally the start of what got me into commercial cleaning.
(09:10):
And I remember when I really committed, this is the path I'm going to take.
I had a cold calling job at one point in my life.
And I said, I was able to set appointments for that.
So let me try it. And so I literally Google banks in my area.
And the only reason I picked banks is because this guy was able to get 30 of
them. I couldn't get at least one.
(09:31):
And I start calling them one by one. And I don't know what I'm doing.
I mean, I don't know who I'm supposed to speak with. I don't even know exactly
what I'm selling because I didn't really have a business plan or I wasn't really
in this business before.
I had just kind of formed an LLC and then subbed out work to someone else one time.
(09:51):
And I get to the very last bank. I started with a W. So it's the last one on
the list. I've been calling for maybe two hours.
And the lady's like, actually, I was just thinking about having a cleaning company come out.
And I said, well, really?
How's two o'clock? And she actually invited me out.
And I go and it's this small bank in a store.
(10:13):
And she says, yeah, we're looking to strip and wax these floors. can you
do that for us um mind you
i'd never stripped and waxed ever in my
life i said yeah absolutely i can do that never say
no john never say no no um and so i i scheduled the job for a week out and that
whole week i'm literally youtubing how to strip and wax floors i'm going to
(10:36):
the janitorial supply house locally the guy is teaching me how to use the machine
in the back of of the warehouse and like letting me know what chemicals I need.
And I try to get some helpers to do this job through Craigslist.
And wouldn't you know, they didn't show up. So, I end up doing,
it took me seven hours, but I did it myself one night into the wee hours of the morning.
(11:01):
And I made almost a thousand bucks on it. And I thought to myself,
one day work, seven grand, or I made a thousand bucks in seven hours.
I think there's something I'm here. And so that was literally the start.
It took me about four months from there to get my first reoccurring commercial account.
But needless to say, that was the initial reason I got in and that first client.
(11:29):
John, how long ago was that? That was the summer of 2018.
2018. And recently, you've become an Inner Circle member at Phenomenal Business Coaching.
Why now with Phenomenal? What took you so long?
Well, I actually, I want to say it took a good two years, two and a half years.
(11:55):
But we figured a few things out. I mean, that first account I ended up getting
a few months later, it was a seven-day-a-week account. There's no way I was going to do it myself.
And so I hired a team immediately and then went back to still cleaning, of course.
But I was able to spend a good deal of time finding new accounts and trying
(12:18):
to work on the business instead of in it.
And at the time, I was part of a cleaning-specific mastermind that helped me
with a lot of the nuts and bolts of this industry specifically.
But over the course of this last year, there were definitely some learning lessons
that we took as a team and we grew substantially over the last couple of years.
(12:41):
Um, and our, you know, our team is, is fluxed between 35 and 50 people,
uh, over the last 12 months.
And, uh, and with that, there comes a whole host of, of, of things that you
need to put in place or, or refine that were okay when you had 10 people that
just aren't okay when you have 30, 40, 50 people.
(13:03):
Um, and, and right, right. As we're in the throes of, uh, of adjusting some
of our approaches to that. so we can continue to to grow and just be healthy
as a team and thinking kind of long term,
Um, Anita, one of the phenomenal business coaching franchisees who I had a relationship
with through, um, through some other connection years ago had reached out out of the blue.
(13:30):
And, um, and so we reconnected and she introduced me to Howard and Howard was,
was kind enough to hop on a zoom actually with me, a guy he had never met, met or heard before.
And the conversation with the three of them mutually let me know that this was
actually what my team needed in this phase of the business.
(13:51):
Because unlike a lot of other masterminds I've been a part of or coaching programs,
and I've been part of a few, this one really invites in the whole team.
It isn't just one person who signed up.
I mean, my managing partner comes, my office manager has come.
I brought my daughter to one of the live events.
(14:12):
Um, and it was, it was thrilling for her.
So, uh, the, the fact that my entire team gets to benefit from the resources
and the weekly calls and all of that, uh, that really was the,
I would say the selling point for me.
Um, and has been huge because then it even gives us, uh, things to focus on
and circle around week to week as a team, because we all have been going through
(14:35):
the same material and part of the same calls.
Um, so, so that's, that's what got me in, um, you know, I'll give a shout out
to Anita Anita there and, you know, definitely the personal touch that Howard
gave early on was a big factor of that as well. Anita's got a lot of energy.
Yeah, she is a natural encourager. If you're feeling down, you get around her,
(14:57):
you won't be feeling down for very long.
Absolutely. So you were introduced to Howard on a Zoom call and you couldn't
help but be attracted to the whole phenomenal thing. I mean,
how could you not, right?
Agreed. Yeah, I mean, and I've been a fan of Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn and guys like that.
(15:18):
And so his, not just the fact that he's associated with them,
but knowing that it really is part of his everyday vernacular and that he lives
by a lot of these principles.
It certainly helps with the comfortability when you just don't know.
You've been part of coaching before and you've been through this.
(15:41):
And it just seemed like I think I can see this being a really good asset.
Absolutely. So quick story for you, John. I met Howard about 15 or 16 years ago.
And the first Inner Circle conference I went to, guess who was on stage?
Zig Ziglar. So Zig's on stage.
(16:03):
And after his talk, which was phenomenal, he was in the back of the room signing books.
And I got to introduce myself and thank him for everything he had done for me over the decades.
Because for years I would listen to him in my car and he was encouraging to
(16:27):
me and he basically told me through the tapes and CDs I was listening to,
to quit my job and become an entrepreneur.
Now, he'd probably never say that to my face, but that's what I heard.
He encouraged me. And you said something interesting a little while ago and
you said, if that guy can do it, I can do it too.
(16:47):
And that's how I felt about Zig Ziglar, because Zig would talk about when he
started out selling and Zig had failed in some of the things he had done.
He wasn't a failure, but he failed at some of the things along the way.
And he's from a small town in Mississippi and the whole story.
And I'm like, if this guy can do it, I can do it. And so same type of story.
(17:12):
And really, the moral of the story, I think, is anybody can do almost anything
they set their minds to. Don't you agree?
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm actually learning that from a different vantage point right now.
Another thing that attracted me, I think, to this community was the focus of
(17:34):
leadership and development of leaders as well.
And I've always kind of seen myself as a leader in various aspects,
you know, captain of the baseball team or leader of something at my church or
obviously being a father and a husband.
I've held management and senior management roles and stuff.
(17:55):
But there's a very distinct difference between a leader who is a leader because they perform well.
And so, their performance kind of puts them in certain seats.
And then a leader who has a
focus of developing people who
will perform well and them
(18:17):
being the ones that are shining bright and so the focus actually isn't on that
leader but the people that they're surrounded with and and investing into and
I think I think one of the one of the really important things in this season
for for me personally and in our company,
is becoming that kind of leader and being okay with the folks around me outshining me.
(18:46):
Because at the end of the day, I don't think we're going to get to where we
need to get to as a company if I'm the one that's shining the brightest.
And so, the combination of the team being able to enjoy these resources,
some of the leadership focus and development development that's available here is just huge.
(19:06):
And so, I want to be the one that people around me are saying,
well, if John could do it, I know I can do it.
And it's kind of not self-deprecating, it's more,
hey, I want to create an environment where you
have so much faith that if you just see someone in your circle doing something
(19:28):
or displaying competency somewhere you automatically believe you can too so
figuring out what that looks like right now but.
You know, I agree. So many of us, and I say us because I'm included,
look at other people who appear to be doing great things and we look at them
(19:49):
as though they're maybe superhuman or different.
Maybe it's a celebrity or a really good speaker or an author or an actor or a politician.
And we look at them like, wow, they're like special. But they're just people
who are doing things that might be extraordinary, but we can all do extraordinary things.
(20:13):
And I can relate so much, John, because I love to now speak on stage.
I'm very comfortable in front of the camera.
I've been on radio for decades talking to millions of people over my lifetime.
But when I was a child, I used to stutter and stammer. I was very shy and insecure.
(20:36):
And no one would ever dream of little Jimmy when he was six, seven years old.
Never dream he would be able to do what he's done.
And it's that type of thing. Even though you don't feel good about yourself
today or you don't think you can do that, you can and it's encouraging.
And I bring this up because I see people who are in inner circle and how they
(21:02):
grow and how everyone there wants to help each other,
even though they're not all part of the same company, they're part of the same
organization. organization.
It's a community and it's uplifting.
And if you want a chance to get up in front of the room and say a few words,
Howard will let you do that.
(21:23):
So if that's something you're not so sure about and you see other people do it, try it out and grow.
Yeah, no doubt. I definitely sensed and felt that at the live event as well.
Even though there was a couple, a few hundred people there. It kind of felt
like just one big family.
(21:44):
It is. John, I could talk all day with you. I really appreciate your time.
Thanks for the great stories. And I look forward to seeing you at the next Inner
Circle Conference live event.
And that next one is coming up at the end of January.
Yeah. So, will I see you there?
Maybe. I haven't decided yet. Yeah, it depends on who I...
(22:07):
There's a couple of people on my team who i'm interested in
bringing but uh but yeah we have some big
things happening january so not not sure if we
can but but definitely going to be coming to another one in the next uh next
couple rounds okay and by the way for those of you who are viewing this all
that information will be located in the show notes of this podcast john once
(22:28):
again thanks so much for joining me today on the phenomenal business growth
podcast thanks for having me.
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