Welcome to Other People's Perspective, a place for you to listen, learn, laugh, and always feel better at the end of every episode, taking something bigger away from it for you and others. And now here's your host, Freddie Kutchick.

All right. Welcome to Other People's Perspective. I'm your host, Freddie Kutchick. My guest today is a gentleman by the name of Nick Staton. He owns wet and wild, uh, pressure washing. Is it, is it officially called pressure washing or is it wet and wild washing when we get it right?

Freddy Cocek

Wet and wild pressure washing.

Nic Staton

Okay. Wet and wild pressure washing. And he is in the state of Georgia. Which, which, which city, which town?

Freddy Cocek

I'm out of Atlanta, Georgia, just South of Atlanta. Okay. Good deal.

Nic Staton

Yes, sir. Are you, are you originally, you originally from that area?

Uh, no, I'm not from this area at all. Um, actually from about an hour and a half, two hours Northeast, more up towards Athens. Okay. I moved down here and don't know a single person down here.

Hey, that's that can, that can be a curse and a blessing.

And it's been, it's been good for the most part. It's just, uh, trying to run a business down here and not knowing anybody is, is scattered me out farther, but at the same time, it's been a blessing in a way that it's reached out to other companies that, uh, allow us to be able to travel the whole Southeast of the United States now. Yes.

That's. That's good, man. I mean, I guess it's good. It's good to have the opportunity to to work with or, you know, be surrounded by some some people, you know, and some people you're familiar with. But if you put yourself in a position or a setting where you don't know nobody, then I guess it also forces you into, you know, some new territory where you got to go out and you got to make some new relationships and, you know, develop some new connections with people to. you know, facilitate, you know, getting your, getting the critical aspects of your business done and also sourcing customers and clients and people.

And so that's, you know, yeah, you'll, you'll be in survival mode for a while. You actually get yourself established. You'll either jump off in the ocean and learn to swim and, and find your way back to the shore or either you'll, uh, you'll sink.

Well, we ain't, we don't sink around here and you ain't sinking.

So it's good.

You, you, uh, you, you got your way of, of, uh, getting out and getting hooked up with people, getting connected to people. And, and that's good. That's a good thing.

Networking is, is very key to a lot of things. And then, you know, building relationships with people like that. And there it goes again with the whole, uh, like and trust type thing or whatever, if they don't like and trust you, they ain't doing business with you.

Yeah, you might get yourself in the door or get connected to someone just on an off chance or an off deal if they don't know you. I mean, obviously, most people you go to, you're starting out in unfamiliar territory and If they don't know you, or they don't have any reason to trust you, but if you're, you know, someone not just for your business, for lots of businesses, if someone is providing a service that that individual needs at the time, then you might you might get them on the first deal if they don't know you, you know, because they're in a pinch, they're in a bind, and they got to get it done. But the repetition is, you know, the repetition comes from, you know, developing the relationships and building that with people. So Absolutely. You you're right. You know, it's a you know, it's a yeah. So how how long how long have you been in this business?

I actually opened up the pressure washing business in 2000, late 2015, 2016. OK, so you you've had your head in that game for a minute then. Yeah, it just didn't really take it too serious until 2020 when we revamped the company and made the logo the way that we'd have now. Before, I just kind of had it as a side business, but that also allowed me to be able to start the bucket truck cable company when I was doing that.

Obviously, that ties in with the pressure washing. Is that like a service line or something you all utilize in conjunction?

No, actually, that business tanked. Oh, house in 2020. And that's the reason that I revamped the company and took off with that.

I got you. It was a, it, we're not, we're not going to say tank. It was just, it was a catalyst for change.

Yeah. It allowed me to do things that I needed to, and then it basically disappeared and, um, pressure wash and pick back up and. It's been it's been the best thing ever. I mean, I can't complain at all. You know, it has its challenges, but it was something that I really, really wanted to do from the get go. And I have a feeling, you know, I got put in this house. I got denied for a house before this one, but as soon as I got the keys to this house, that business, you know, ended up Uh, going down and then it was like, what can I do? I don't have any money coming in. I have this house. I'm not about to lose it. Um, pressure washing. And then I was like, I'm just going to revamp the pressure washing and go buy a trailer and start off from that. And I had no really clients. I had, you know, my standard driveways and stuff like that, but that wasn't going to keep me really going. Yeah. So I just kind of went out on the ledge and man one thing after another just kind of trickled. It was like I went and did one job at a movie site, posted that on Facebook, and then immediately people started seeing it and then I got hit up by somebody else. that which is my avatar now that I feed off of for everything else. He hit me up and offered me to come out and bid a job. And I had no clue what the fuck I was doing. Me and my dad went out there and I called my old boss on phone and had him on FaceTime. And I was like, hey, you see this parking lot? Can you help me bid this? I want to get this. And he ended up giving me the right number. And dude, we got that damn thing bear $3,800. Fucking took us five days to do it. Really a whole lot of money that we made on that one, but at the same time that allowed us to get our foot in the door with the company that I still work for today. It's been four years. They give us a lot of work and. That has also allowed us to be able to go to other companies and say that we work for this company or work with this company. And it just goes hand in hand and they all talk to each other. And next thing you know, I. pretty much their lethal weapon when it comes to post-construction.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, that's part of, you know, developing your clientele. You develop a reputation and credibility. And, you know, when that stuff, you know, word of mouth can go both ways. It can be, you know, hey, if you're a jam up dude or you got a good company and good culture and you take care of business, you stand behind your work. you know, that reputation will precede you. And if, you know, anybody goes the opposite way, then that reputation will precede you too. So, you know, you, uh, you bugging get in there and build a name and build a brand. And then it gets to where it, it, it sells itself on that, on that reputation. That's good.

Yeah, you got to listen to what their problems are. And as long as you can listen to their problems and you can solve them, then, you know, they want you there. And then as long as you're not giving them more problems, because that's the thing about these builders and stuff like that, that we go after is, you know, they're dealing with people all day long, every day trying to get this project done. And most of these companies that come out, they're giving them more problems. Well, that's the reason that they have me out there is because the pressure washing company before me was giving them problems. So why am I going to go out there and give them more problems? The less that I talk to them, the less I got to see them, the better.

Yeah. Be a problem solver, not a problem bringer.

Right. They much rather, you know, they know when they call me, they're like, Hey, Nick, we've got this for you to do. I don't ever see them. Yeah. They just give me the address. They give me the square footage of whatever needs to be cleaned. And it might be so far away that I can't go out there, but I just have them locked in on a certain price point. And then they automatically know, well, Nick's going to come out here and clean this. We're just going to hit him up. We're not going to ask no questions. He's going to send us an invoice and then we're going to pay him.

And it's done. And it's done. Yeah. You buy it by providing the service and the level of the quality of service and the level of attentiveness and, you know, solving a problem that they have. Their problem is we need to get this clean and done. And, you know, if they can pick up the phone, make one call and talk to Nick, hey, you know what? We know that when we hang up the phone, we told Nick what we needed. Nick gets it done. And then, you know, peace of mind, you know, equates to, you know, or a job well done equates to, you know, peace of mind for them, less problems that they got to deal with. You start taking problems off of people's plates. That's that's how you that's how you make your living.

And then you go in there and you find out that there's other companies and other avenues that are that are causing problems. So then you're turning around and you're like, how can I turn around and figure out how to fill this void? So that's where I brought on the line striping crew. And I was going to do that shit myself. But at the end of the day, Nick, you can only do so much. So focus on what you're good at and pass it off the other things to other people that are good at that and team up with them. And that's kind of what I've done with the line striping. I've got a crew that'll go out. They do all the bidding. They send me everything. I turn around and mark it up 30%. I send that over to them. I get my 30%. They go out and do their thing. I don't have to worry about them. But then my crew goes in and does all the cleaning. They come back behind, do all the line striping. And it just goes hand in hand. Now they're calling one company to get all of this done. And then my next thing is, is, is finding other, other ways to be able to get into the other part. And then eventually I'm going to become a, basically a post or a construction company that just has a pressure washing that has the line striping that has the seal coating. And then eventually maybe get into concrete because they're again, concrete companies are fucking fucking up left and right to whore and whore ass concrete.

Yeah. Well, you know, recognizing, like you say, recognizing where, where people have needs for problems to be solved, or if you can go in and fill a void where something is missing, whether it's, you know, a whole damn thing, or at least if it's missing in the sense that, you know, the quality of the product and service is what's missing. And whether that's, you know, a failure in communication on the people's part of, you know, whoever your builder, your contractor is dealing with, you know, they can convey and communicate something to somebody. And if it doesn't get done right, then That's on them. But if you know how to effectively communicate and receive information, process it, get it done, turn it and get it done right, then yeah, then you're filling a void that those guys don't want to have to be the one to fill the void. If they make the phone call to XYZ homeboy over there and say, hey, you know, this is what I need. But if homeboy don't get it done right. Eventually they're going to get tired of dealing with that.

So, and that's kind of how the line striping thing came up on my, on my plate is this crew was running behind another bigger company, but that bigger company fails at communication. Like real bad. They've left one of my biggest clients that, man, I don't leave them hanging for shit. Like if they call, I'm fucking putting other people on hold and going straight out there to them. But this line striping company, man, they've left these motherfuckers hanging for like two or three weeks basically just saying, we're busy, we're busy. And it's like, you keep saying that, that people then, Other things are going to happen. So what happened is my avatar was basically like, Hey man, hit up this line striping company or whatever. I think y'all would go hand in hand with each other. I hit them up. I had lunch with them. And next thing you know, I'm passing jobs off to him and come to find out he has the same fucking issue. He was like, man, the other company or whatever, they just like bullshit. He was like, I'll go out and do half a project. And then I still got the other half to do, and I'm not getting paid until it's completely done. Yeah. And I'm paying them before he even gets done, because I know that that money is coming on my end or whatever. So I'm just going ahead and paying him as soon as he gets done. I just go ahead and hand him a check.

Oh, yeah, that's good.

Yeah, because I listen to what what are you saying? He's like, well, I'm not getting my paychecks from the other company. Well, fuck, I want to make sure you get your paycheck so that you can do these jobs. Exactly.

So I guess the, the, uh, your, your target, your target market is, uh, more or less that is that like residential, residential, commercial, mostly commercial.

We haven't done hardly any residential this year. Didn't really start doing any residential until the, um, God that I hired Richard. Um, pretty much we've kind of merged our companies kind of together. So all the leads that were going to his company are now coming over to our VA and then we're sending him out in our truck to go out and go service those jobs because it just keeps money coming in. And he's pretty much became like a team player and it all just kind of came off a fluke. I don't even know who the hell he is from Adam and Eve.

But dude, he's been the best damn thing that's ever happened and came on some some of the some of the best, some some of the best connections and the best ways you'll get linked up with people and meet up with people is just seeming seeming in the in the universe. It ain't by accident, but it might seem like, you know, how the fuck did this happen? Like, where did this dude come from? I don't understand.

But, you know, I just had a fucking fluke and not been going on a project by my damn self. And I would have went out there by myself. But I just made a post and next thing you know, he shows up. And then after day one, he's like, dude, I think we can team up with each other. Yeah. And then next thing you know, I put him in the truck and then it got to be where, you know, I'm mostly commercial, so he might not work every day. So he was still doing his own thing. Then it got to a point where he's working with me and not being able to answer those calls. And that becomes bad on his side. So then he's like, do you have a call center or something? I was like, yeah, I have an admin that picks up all my phone phone calls. And he's like, bro, I'm just going to change the number over to your thing. And you can just send me out to these jobs. And I was like, okay, it only cost me $42 for every, every lead that comes in that we actually lock in. Yeah. So I can't, I can't beat that with a stick.

Take that, take that run with it. Hell yeah.

So we're running, running with that. And then we started the Christmas light thing. Uh, went and got him certified, got myself certified, and then I'm going to commercial lighting tomorrow and the next day and both getting certified in that. And once again, he was doing Christmas lights in the wintertime and just pretty much wants to converge over to just us collabing together on that. And I gave him the opportunity to start the company up himself. You know, so that we could just kind of, I have the pressure washing and he had the, the Christmas light thing, but I guess he got to thinking and he was like, dude, I just rather keep that in house too. And once you just come up with the name and collab them together and you know, I'll be the, basically the field guy, you're the office guy and you're the sales rep. And I'm like, shit, I can be sales all day long. And then I can go out and go help. And then it also gives us the opportunity to where, like, I can fill up the week and know that he can go out and go handle those jobs. If something popped up, I no longer have to say no to those things. Now I can turn around and go do those things, whether it's marketing something with my family, whatever it may be. And then where he needs to go do something. I can feel it. Yeah. And then we also got another guy, Jeff, that's helping us out. And he's going to be doing the hood cleaning division that we're opening up. And we've already.

Oh, that's right. You're doing it. It's something like in the restaurant space, right? Yeah.

Yeah. So, dude, this is about the blow the fuck up. But I'm giving guys opportunities. I'm not just keeping this all for myself. I'm giving everybody an opportunity and then everybody to be a team. That's one of our core values is teamwork and working as a team and not leaving no man behind.

Yeah. Well, and if you, you know, the, the, the people, the people that you, that you, you know, either place the people that you place or the people that you bring into the organization, if, if you recognize that, you know, that, that they've got, you know, key elements, or they've got whatever their strengths are, whatever their contribution is to the business, the organization, if you give them an opportunity to have a vested interest in the business, rather than, you know, if it's something, you know, something above and beyond, you know, just employee status, if you give them, you know, where they have, they're invested in it, then they're definitely, you know, that, in my opinion, that definitely incentivizes people to, you know, to fucking ride for the brand.

Right. Cause they've got the bigger role and that bigger role is somebody, you know, that makes $35, $50 an hour out there working. And if they can get that and it's already taxed and everything, and they ain't got to worry about none of that shit. And they know that they've got that check coming in every single week and it could potentially get a little bit bigger and they ain't got to work 60, 80 hours to get the, get that decent size check and they're only working 40 hours still leaves them time to have fucking time for their families and stuff like that. And that's the biggest thing about all of this is, you know, I was doing it all myself and I had to constantly turn down all everything from my family and everybody, because at the end of the day, I'm trying to build something. And if I constantly just went away to that, then I would never build it. But now that we have a team, it's like things can continue rolling while somebody else may not be there. But then when we're all there, it just works simultaneously and fucking well.

Yeah. Well, you know, a well-structured, a well-oiled machine, if most of the right elements are in place or most of the elements are in the right place, then yeah, I mean, you know, if you get your organization structured to where you've got more than more than one person. It's not just Nick trying to do every fucking thing, which, Hey, you know, when you're getting started or when, you know, all of us have been there, uh, when you, when you started a business and trying to get it off the ground, trying to grow it, trying to further it. I mean, there's, there's a hustle and a grind and it, you know, it gets exhausting, but you're like, if you're looking forward going, okay, you know, yeah, this, you know, fucking, you know, 70, 80, a hundred hours a week, you know, fuck you get tired. Oh, you know, But if you see the goal line or you can see the greater end, if you have the vision, then you know what you're doing at that time. It's just, you're investing in yourself and in the business to grow it, to get to that point. And it gets exhausting, no doubt. But when you finally reach that point or you're getting to that point where that's where your organization is at, then that's good. I mean, that should be, for anybody that has a business and they're trying to grow it to a certain point, that should be a goal to get to where the business can run without you being there for a period of time or without Homeboy being involved. It's not like if you got yourself and two other guys, it's not like all three guys got to be there. And if all three aren't there, then it's, it's fucked up. It's like, you know, it should be able to run so that everyone can, you know, that's, that's another, that's another deal of kind of, you know, buying back your time, you know, you, you've invested to the point that you've got your organization to where it can function and operate without You know, somebody there, you know, every, every single person doesn't have to be there fucking grinding away 24, seven every day, because that's a piece of the pie to other people instead of keeping all that pie, because at the end of the day, something happens to me.

And then that old pie is gone. Yeah. But if I, if I already structure myself up and I have other people in place that can be, be good players that want to be team players, then, you know, something happens to me. We ain't going to miss a beat. Yeah. And it is vice versa with other people, you know, I want to take care of them. And at the same time, I would like for them to take care of this company. Yeah. And that's the hardest fucking thing is letting that belt off or whatever, because in your mind, you're constantly telling yourself, I built this up, I built this up. I don't want to fuck it up.

It's very hard. I know over the years, I found it pretty damn hard. And I still find it difficult with certain things. There's that mentality or that mindset that, man, I can't let go of doing this. I got to do that. Part of it is that thought of, and I think this is a fallacy, but people think, well, nobody else can do that shit as good as I can. And that's one school of thought is that nobody else, and it is true when you're a business owner, a lot of times that most of the time, nobody else is going to They're not, not that they're not going to do it as well as you, or they can't do it.

It's not going to do it like you. They're going to have another way of doing it. And then you're going to turn around and think that that's a different, that's a wrong way. There's more ways to turn around and tie a shoe than one. There's more answers to the answer for than one. Yeah. But in our heads, we're like, no, you're not doing it exactly like I fucking do it because it's wrong.

Yeah.

But then I got to a point where I'm letting that off and I'm just like, Nick, just let it go. Let them do their thing. And then I have a hard thing to cut loose. They did a great job.

Yeah. And then you're like, then you're quietly telling yourself, fuck, I was fucking stupid for. I'm doing this.

I've been telling myself that for the last couple of weeks, like what the fuck make your dumb as hell for thinking this shit, bro. And yes, everybody's going to make mistakes. They're going to make mistakes.

Big time.

But the thing is finding the people that want to learn from their mistakes, hold themselves accountable and actually listen to what you're telling them. That mistake is happening. It's the people that don't want to listen to that shit. And they want to think that they know it all and be like, oh yes, okay, whatever. And then next thing you know, they're doing the same fucking thing again. And it's like, man, y'all, you gotta go, dude.

You're a cancer for this. I'm not quite sure. I'm cut out to own a business and run a business. I just don't know if I'm cut out to deal with people. Yeah, you know, I've had that feeling before. I feel you. I sympathize on that. It's it's it's hard, man. You know, run running a business. You know, the the toughest thing I think about a business is, you know, its employees and people, you know, because there are there there are great people out there and there are people that are willing to. To listen and learn and be. you know, be, you know, trainable. And even as a manager or an owner, you know, you still, you still need to be willing to, to listen to your people and to, you know, information from others.

There's a lot of owners out there that they've got that mentality. Well, I'm the owner, so I know everything and I'm always right. And it's like, nah, bro, you're not always right. Because I can't tell you how many times I've looked over my shoulder and seen some way that one of my guys is doing something that I don't normally do it like, but I'm like, fuck, they just taught me something.

Yeah. Just taught me some shit today. You just taught me something.

Yeah. And then you tell them, you're like, hey, man, I didn't even think of it that way. Thank you for teaching me that. And then that right there. Boost up their confidence and shit in the way that they're doing things instead of you constantly criticizing them.

Yeah, no, it's very true. I mean, that shit like that can go a long way with with the right people. If you, you know, as a as an owner, you should, you should have no hesitation about acknowledging, you know, your your employees and your people when they're not only when they're doing something right, and doing it well, but especially if they hey, if they bring a new idea or a new process or new way of handling, you know, something existing, hell, if they bring something to the table, and you're like, Oh, shit, I never thought of doing it that way. Well, that's, that actually is, is a great idea. And that's a great way to do it. And, you know, Hey, you know what, kudos to you for, you know, bringing that to the table. And then, you know, that, that, that, that will resonate with good people. And they're like, Oh, shit. Hey, you know, the boss, you know, boss came in, you know, pat on the back. Like, yeah, you know, that's, that's good.

Right. Where most people go to the jobs and they're like, wow, fucking boss doesn't care about me. Don't give a shit. I'm out here fucking slam my fucking back out for him. He's the only one making all the fucking money.

I've seen it and heard it.

I've been around those type of bosses. They ain't leaders at all.

They just kick back and they're like, well, go on.

Yeah.

Yeah, that that's, you know, gravy gravy train runs on a short track with a deal like that, you know, that, you know, people like that, I guess they obviously they exist. Sometimes I wonder, you know, I've seen people like that. And I've wondered how long they've been or how they've managed to be in a position like that as long as they have, but Somehow it works out or another, I can't, I can't control much and I can't fix much. So it's just like, Hey, if that ain't my shit to fix, just go on.

I've gotten so laser focused into my own stuff that I like, you know, I don't even pay attention to most of these other pressure washers or none of that stuff. It's just, you get yourself consuming everybody else's shit that you don't ever focus on your own stuff. And it's like, man, I've got to focus on my own shit, you know? Yeah.

You, you, you can waste, you can waste a lot of your time and a lot of good energy and effort. thinking or worrying about somebody else that is in a similar line of business or whatever. I mean, it happens in my industry. It happens with you and in your industry. I mean, it can happen to anybody because I don't give a fuck what anybody's out there doing for a job or for a company or business or service. I say there's competition. I mean, there's always going to be multiple avenues of people providing the same service or business. But like you say, just get focused on what you do and how you do it. And don't worry, you know, that whatever homeboys doing over there, whatever X, Y, Z does over there. Hey, you know, don't worry about it. Just OK, you know, what's in your lane is in your lane and. You know, the, the more you focus on your lane and your shit, the, the, the better off everything in front of you will be, you know, everything else is just, you know, that that's all like peripheral shit.

It's just distractions. That's all it really is. It's just distractions and you can get sucked into it or either fucking avoid it. And the better you can avoid stuff like that, the better it'll be when you turn around and run into other things. Yeah. I find myself still kind of consuming some, some bullshit, but I do find myself getting a lot better than what I normally would. Yeah. I just normally would allow it to, to ruin my day completely and then turn out on other people.

It's it's all, you know, it's, it's, it's growth, man. It's growth.

I mean, it is and getting around the right people and understanding that, you know, that's not how you're supposed to be sitting there doing that. That's, that's, that's the wrong negative energy that you're putting out and you just got to. push off that and find more positive.

I've, uh, I've tried to, you know, or I have done, you know, some of the same, like what you're talking, you know, I've tried to, I know there's a lot of shit that, you know, a few years ago or even a couple of years ago, or maybe one year ago, you know, would have bothered me more. And, and I would have, I would have, have wasted a lot more time and effort and energy, you know, letting it get me pissed off or frustrated. And I'm like, Just can send it on, you know, that sometimes or a lot of the times the reason, you know, things like that are happening or people are doing stuff is because they want to get a reaction out of you. And it's like, the more, the more you react or respond to certain negative things like that, the more you're letting them win. It's like, Hey, just. Push that shit off and go on. Just stay, everybody just stay in their lane. Most of the time, just stay focused on your shit, you know, stay focused on, you know, what, what pays the bills, what takes care of things, what, what brings you peace and happiness, what, what helps with your, your growth and your development, you know, all that other stuff. If it ain't, if it ain't contributing to, to your positivity. Yeah. Don't waste much time on it. Don't don't lose no fucking sleep about it. Yeah.

A lot of people sit there and say, man, you have no feelings. I got feelings, but at the same time, I ain't about to sit here and let them out all the time.

I'll give you little doses.

You're so stone cold. It's like, yeah, whatever.

I'm turning my feelings into business and growth and work and progress for myself. You know, I ain't going backwards.

I can only go forward. That's right. I don't want to get stuck still.

Yeah. It's crazy, man.

I love it though. I can't, I can't say anything really bad, man. I'm happy with where I'm at and happy with, with the way things are going. very, very stoked about the future. That's for sure.

That's good. That's good. Oh, yeah. The like the commercial, the commercial market that you work in there, I assume it's I mean, I don't I'm not I'm not familiar with with what goes on and, you know, state of Georgia as far as like what areas are more prominent or more prevalent with growth and all that, but I'm assuming, you know, if you're dealing with, if your target market is a lot of, you know, commercial type construction, I assume that, you know, that's a pretty, something that's on a pretty steady track, pretty steady pace, where you're at.

Yeah, for the most part, it's just like residential for the most part. They're constantly, you know, going to new sites and stuff like that, that always need some type of washing. Yeah. I just found a niche in the red clay removal. So that's really allowed us to be able to get in places that a lot of other companies don't because they just don't want to deal with it, nor do they know how. And once again, you're dealing with acids and stuff like that. So I just found a niche and that niche is really grown. I enjoy post-construction cleanups. That's pretty much where you're going to turn around and go in and do all the building. And then at the very end, you're going to need somebody to come in and clean up everything from all the mess of everybody. Then you're going to hand the keys over to that person. Then I'm going to turn around and build a relationship with that person and then turn around. We can come back to that property at another time. It might not be for five years, but there we established a relationship with them. Um, Then when they need something, they'll turn around and reach out to us. But I've slowly built up my avatar and just duplicated him into other people because there's more of him out there. And now we've basically worked for four of the largest companies in the southeast. One of them was in-house washing. They reached out to us, and it was better for us to turn around and to help them because we saved them money. Now those labors that they had that was doing all the pressure washing and they can turn around and focus on things that are actually bringing them, bringing them better money and helping them out farther. So, and they pay for our fuel and pay for our hotels and stuff.

So, yeah. Yeah. A lot of those, some of the stuff, some of the stuff y'all do, do y'all, do y'all travel? Like y'all have to travel to, to. I like, yeah, we traveled this whole Southeast.

We travel up the North Carolina, down to Florida, Louisiana. It's a whole five hour radius from from where we're at. But a five hour radius reaches pretty much every state. We just might not go completely into those states. Yes.

It's a five, a five hour radius from where I'm at. And I think in five hours, I can't even be in Louisiana. I can almost be in Louisiana in five hours, but the only, the only other state that I can be in in five hours is another country is like Mexico. It was like two hours south. Yeah. Texas is pretty damn big. Yeah. Well, you know, like being like down in south Texas is like, you're like at the bottom of a V almost you're, you're damn near down here, close to the bottom of a V. And it's, it's literally to get, to get out of the state from here. It's, um, you know, to go up through Houston and, and, uh, Houston Beaumont to actually get into Louisiana. It's probably about five hours just to get out of the state. Uh, from down here. So it's, it's kind of, it's kind of interesting, but, um, I can be in Mexico really quick.

Yeah. Sorry. I got to get my guys fucking in wanting to pay in cash. He's like, uh, how much is this job for?

I don't even know what fucking job he's on. I think he's on this one. Sorry about that. Um, yeah.

Anyhow, you're in Texas. Yes, sir.

Yeah. Corpus, Corpus Christi, which is about, about three hours, three, three and a half hours, like South of Houston. Texas is fucking huge. Yeah, it's, it's pretty spread out.

This sucks. I can't even find the damn invoice. So here it is. I hate it when I can't find shit, my fucking thing. There we go.

Get them lined out.

Yeah, I just had to make sure he gets that because he's like. You've been texting me, I guess, for a few minutes now.

Yeah. I just looked at my phone too. I was like, I had about nine text messages. I'm like, whatever.

I just know that he was at that job and if I didn't at least acknowledge it.

Yeah. Yeah. It wouldn't be good.

How understandable how he actually left a job not long ago because he's not wanting to grab checks and didn't think that he had to because most people have been paying with cards. Yeah. But this lady like on our thing, it says that, you know, in order to avoid the card fee, you can pay by check or cash. And she was wanting to pay by check. And she was like, so how much is it? And he was like, I don't know, Nicholson, you an invoice. And she's like, can I pay the invoice with a check? I was like, no, I'll be back out there to get this. And then I just told him, I was like, look, dude, if they want to avoid that, they're going to have to hand you a check or hand you cash. So just accept that. And then when I see you, you can turn around and give that to me. And I was like, I don't mind waiting a couple of days. He was like, well, I just really don't want to have that. Um, over me of, of holding money or whatever. And I was like, look, dude, you're going to have to do this because you're going and doing jobs that are two hours away from me. I'm not about to go drive two hours just to collect the fucking check. Yeah.

It's like, you're already there, dog. You're already there. Just take the check, take the cash.

And even if I got to come to you, you're a lot closer.

That's, that's, uh, so I guess, I guess typically like, like in your business, I mean, you more, more often than not, you're, uh, you're, you're collecting payment pretty much whether, whether you do it by credit card or if you got people writing check or whatever.

Our commercial is all as all bank transfers or checks. So we ain't got to worry about collecting anything while we're out there. They are automatically are on like a net 14 net seven, or we invoice two weeks before we get out there to the job so that we're getting paid when we're out on the job, that type of shit. So we ain't got, they ain't got to worry about none of that. It's just more of the residential side. Yes. Most residential people, once they see that they can get a discount and they ain't got to pay a card fee, they're going to turn around and give you a check. Yeah. And I never was doing that before, but then it got to a point where I was paying like $7,800 at the end of the year in card fees and biting all of that.

And it was like, no, no, you, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta pass that cost on, man. You can't, yeah, you can't be eating that.

Yeah. Cause then you got people that use AmEx cards, which I'm one of those type of people that use AmEx card and it costs a lot more to use that for, for most services. So like I paid something the other day that would have been $1,500, but I ended up having to pay 1632 or something like that was $132 on that. Yeah.

I will say my years of experience using Amex for business as the business owner and using it from the business side as opposed to using it as a consumer. I mean, obviously consumer, but yeah, Amex has been good. I know that my experience, it's been good. A lot of, like you said-

I'm not real big. So at the end of the day, Amex is great for me. I just know that there's some other bigger guys that have had some issues with it where, you know, their credit line got knocked down by like dramatically. Yeah. Um, but my credit line between the three cards that I have with them, I'm well into like a quarter million and in credit line with them. Yeah. Now, am I going to use all that? Hell's fucking no. But I have four.

No, no. Don't say that. One of these days you're going to be at that point. So, yeah, I'll be at that point.

But for now, hell no, I'm not using that. But I utilize all the cards to be able to help out, because then that allows you to have a cash flow. to where before, if you just constantly just gave out the cash flow that was coming in, then you were never able to really grow. But then Amex cards buy me 30 days and stuff like that, to where basically I can kind of have that cash flow, knowing that there's other jobs coming in that'll pay for that card fee.

Yeah. Cash, cash flow in a business is absolutely critical. And I, you know, I, being in my industry, in the oil field, oil and gas industry, it's not a standard by any means, but there's an unspoken assumption or an unspoken understanding that everybody like for us, you know, most people in the service business or whatever, most service companies and people in the service business or service end of this industry, most people figure on like 60 to 90 day pay. So like we're, which I mean, you know, like in your business, I mean, you're, you know, what you're talking about, you're going out, you're invoicing a job, If you've got the opportunity to, you invoice for a job, say a week, 10 days, two weeks before you're going to go out and actually turn the job so that the day that you're deploying your resources, your people, your fuel, your insurance and exposure and all that, your chemical, your equipment, you're getting paid that day, you're getting a turn on your money as opposed to like with my business. Most of our customers, most of the terms are typically labeled as like net 30, but there's some customers that will pay and, hey, we've got some good clients. It's like if somebody pays you within 15 to 30 days, you're like, yeah, that's awesome. But most of them are between 30 to 60 days. And then there's some companies that you know, if you've got invoices aging with them that are, you know, approaching 45 to 60 days, you're calling them at 45 to 60 days, you're like, Hey, you know, what's, you know, need status on payment on this ticket. And a lot of them stretch you out, you know, 60 to 90 days.

And that's, I had the Coca-Cola company that did that to me. They told me they would pay me in a month and it took a couple months for me to end up fucking getting it. And it's like, man, not going to do business with you again. Cause he lied to me about when I was going to actually get my check. Now, if he was honest with me and told me, you know, there's a fluctuation, it could be 30. It could be up to 60. And then I might, you know, fluctuate a little bit more money on there to kind of pay up for that time. But if you don't tell me that, and then I got to wait an extra 30 days for that shit, then you basically just made it to where I didn't make hardly any money now.

Every day that passes, the clock is ticking on an invoice or a ticket that hasn't been paid. If you've deployed your resources, your people and your equipment, and you've turned a job and you hadn't gotten paid for that job, you're losing money. I don't give a shit what anybody says. You're losing money every single day that you ain't getting paid.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, that's why the other company eventually got to the point where they got tired of hearing me ask, when are we going to get these checks or when are we going to get these bank transfer? And it was like, look, Nick, put it in two weeks before you come to the job site. Yeah. That way you're getting it either on the day or by that Friday or whatever the next Friday. And I'm like, cool, that's that's understandable. And it happens every time. Sometimes I get it as I'm driving down to the job.

Yeah.

I just happened to look at my bank account again and I'm like, Oh fuck. They just deposited all of that. Sweet. Y'all get some real good dinner tonight.

Oh, that's, Hey, that's good. If you can, if you can get paid in that kind of timeframe of that kind of timely manner, you can, If you get you get paid like that, obviously that that exists out there. I'm just I'm kind of accustomed to like a whole different world, man. And I love I love the oil field. And I love this industry. But it's it's definitely the the stuff that I've experienced and been exposed to the last couple of years. It's been like eye opening. I'm like, we have been doing this for 13 years. And it's, it's a fight and it's exhausting to, to go through fighting people to get me, that's just part of, it's just like an inherent risk of business is that you go, I mean, some, sometimes you're going to have to fight to get paid or you're going to have to, you know, jump through the hoops and do all that stuff. But it seems, it seems to me like in this industry, it's, it's worse. Yeah. And I don't think it's ever going to get better. I see, I see people all the time that are, that are in oil and gas business, you know, complaining about, uh, these, these big operating company. And I'm not one of those people.

I don't like all, you know, big walls, but I don't get into the roofing company or roofing industry. So don't get into the roofing industry.

Is it worse or what?

You don't get paid until that back end check come. Yeah, I guess you're out there slinging these fucking roofs out or whatever. And then fucking these checks come in. And they go to the office and everybody's getting paid, and then you're like, well, when do I get paid? And it's like a month goes by. Two months goes by three months goes by sometimes and you're like, well, where the fuck is my backend check? Well, they haven't sent it yet. As soon as they send that backend check, then your commission comes out. I don't know how some of these roofing guys even fucking make it. That's you have to be slinging and slinging and slinging and slinging and slinging just so that you've got a big nest, I guess. So when they actually start coming in, it doesn't really matter that there's some trickling. Yeah. And it's just a matter of if you can play your money right. And don't get real greedy and go out and go blow it and fucking on big ass items and stuff like that and think that you're going to continuously make it. See, I got into it and I had another business that was going. So I utilize that money to build my shop.

Yeah.

But once again, there was times that fucking I would constantly be like, hey, where's that check? Where's that check? And then. Didn't see it. And there was one that went on for like a few months like that. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I'm sitting here, I'm like, damn, I need that check so I can finish paying these guys to fucking build this fucking shop that I already got the start that they're wanting to finish so that they can get paid. And I'm like, pull this out of my pocket and just pay for it. None of this is coming back.

Yeah. Yeah, man, it's lots of moving parts. There's lots of cogs in the works, man, trying to keep up with all that shit with keeping your money coming in and plus having to deal with all the things that you got to deal with to the motions you got to go through and the steps you got to take to, you know, stay on people's ass to make sure that, you know, they're processing your invoice or your payments. And like you talking about, like the roofing deal, I'm totally unfamiliar with the roofing industry, but it seems to me like a lot of that is, it comes from like insurance, I guess.

Yeah, it is. It's a lot of it from insurance.

And I'm sure the little bit I know about dealing with insurance from dealing with it with my business, if you don't have all your I's dotted and your T's crossed, you don't have everything correct down to the letter and they kick something back or push something back, like in my industry, Any time on invoices and tickets, they're looking, especially now, like our market is a little bit slower down here in South Texas right now. Still busy, but it's a little bit slower than like a like a boom time. And so things slow when things slow down, when it starts to taper off a little bit. One of the things that I've noticed over the years is when it comes to invoicing and billing for the work that we are doing, people scrutinize the hell out of invoices and tickets. And it's like, if there's any little thing that that even if it's not out of place, but if they just tell you, well, that's not right. It's like, well, no, it's it's it's not incorrect. It's fine. That's the way we've always done it. But it's like they and I've even talked to people that have told me that have worked for work for operating companies and stuff in the past, like in their accounting departments, they said that, you know, with a couple of couple of different operators, they were like specifically coached and told by management and above and said, If anything you find on an invoice, you find something on an invoice that's not right and we're gonna kick it back. Because all they're doing, they're delaying, stretching things out and delaying having to pay their vendors and this and that. And not every company does that, but it's a pretty shitty practice. And it makes it hard on a businessman when you're trying to oversee all aspects of things and trying to keep money flowing in.

There's been a couple that have been like that to me. Oh, this ain't right. This ain't right. You've got to fix this. You got to fix this. And it's like, motherfucker. And that's how Coca-Cola was. Yeah. Constantly needing me to fix something. I got to a point. I said, look, just pay my fucking check. Yeah. I don't care if you use me again. Just pay me for what I did. Y'all told me 30 days. It's been 60. You're constantly asking me for more shit that nobody ever has asked me for.

Yeah, I see it like, you know, of course, Coca-Cola, I mean, Coca-Cola is an absolutely huge, you know, global corporation. And I've seen that with, you know, it seems like the bigger a company is and the more corporate they are, the more loopholes they're looking for. And, you know, when it comes to invoicing and billing and stuff like that, and the more hoops you got to jump through and the more shit you got to deal with and, It's it.

And that's why a lot of people don't get into the commercial side and the industrial side is because there's a lot more that you got to actually do to for the follow up to actually get those plays. We're in residential. They're like they're begging and wanting you to to be there right then and there. Yeah. But then they're also calling three or four people and trying to find the cheapest person or try and find the best for their bang. Yeah.

So it's, it's always a rat race in some sense of the word, ain't it?

Yeah. That's why I've just found my, my certain niches and just roll with those because it's where we make the most money and where we grow and where we thrive.

If you can capitalize on, like you say, you find those niches and those specific needs and those specific areas where people need that and anybody else that's tried to provide that service, if they're failing at it and you can recognize the need, you can go in and you can excel at it, then you're in a hot spot.

Good shit.

Yes, sir. Um, I need to turn around and call this guy.

It seems like he's having some issues. Let's, let's wrap it up, man. We got to, you know, you got, you got business to handle. Uh, this, this has been good. It's been a great visit. I appreciate your time. Appreciate the opportunity and look forward to, uh, I'll see, I'll see you face to face here before too long. I guess maybe within the next month or so, you're going to be in Dallas.

Yeah, I'll be in Dallas there on the 10th and the 11th and then on the 27th.

Yeah, for the MDM.

OK, yeah, I like it. Yes, sir.

So I'm sure I'll see you there. Pretty much all of that.

Yeah, I'll be I'll be there. It's a little. I mean, it's you know, I'm going to I'm going to go up for the for the 10th, 11th. I'll be up there and then I'm going to try and take my sons or at least one of my boys. My older boy might have to work, but. I got it. I got him tickets to go to MDM if they want to go so I got you nice. I think it'll be a good experience for both of them so.

Yeah, it'll give them a boost of actually something that's different from what actually gets blasted all over the internet and probably their, their generation.

Man, they, my, my son, my son, where my older son, he works, he works at discount tire here locally. He's been there for like a year and he's doing that. He's doing good. And my two boys together, they have like a little, uh, they've got their own little LLC and they got like a little resale business. So they do, you know, this big deal with, you know, Thrift shopping and going and finding shit reselling. They do. They've got a little online deal that they do that with and they, they hustle, man. So they, uh, they're learning right up their alley then. Okay. I do.

They'll find something that'll help them out with their business. Yeah. No shit.

All right, brother. We'll go make your call and handle your business. Yes, sir. Be good.

Thank you for having me on.

Absolutely. Likewise. Have a good afternoon. You too. Be good. Take care, brother.

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