S3 EP45 The Mindset That Took Me From Surviving to Scaling | Connor Brey

Want the exact sales process we use to help electricians confidently charge premium prices and serve homeowners at a higher level?

Grab the FREE SLE Pro App below and steal the framework:

https://serviceloopelectrical.com/pro-app

And if you're ready to see exactly how we help Electric Service Business Owners build $1M+ companies with more freedom and less chaos:

- Watch the Million Dollar Plan : https://youtu.be/T8wHmb56FwE

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Most electricians build their business around what they *think* customers will pay...

They underprice.

Skip recommendations.

Talk themselves out of opportunities.

Blame the market.

Repeat every service call...

...until burnout shows up riding shotgun in a work van with 200,000 miles.

Meanwhile...

We've helped electricians completely transform the way they serve homeowners and grow profitable service businesses.

And the breakthrough usually follows the same pattern.

Like peeling back the mask in Scooby-Doo.

Same limiting belief.

Different electrical business.

Because great electrical businesses don't grow because they charge less...

They grow because they create more value.

But behind the scenes?

The best businesses are built more like a proven operating system than a lucky streak.

In this video, we break down the mindset shift that helps electricians:

- charge confidently without feeling pushy
- uncover larger opportunities through better homeowner education
- build trust that naturally leads to bigger tickets
- stop blaming the market and start growing inside any market
- create more freedom for themselves and their families

Inside, you'll discover:

- why Connor believed his town couldn't support premium pricing—and what proved him wrong
- the mindset shift that helped him move from surviving to record revenue months
- why most electricians undercharge for the wrong reasons
- how better service naturally creates larger sales opportunities
- the simple framework for educating homeowners without triggering sales resistance
- why "my customers won't pay that" is one of the most expensive beliefs in business
- how becoming uncomfortable became the catalyst for explosive growth
- why chasing cheap pricing is rubbish if your goal is building a premium company
- the moment Connor realized the biggest bottleneck wasn't his market—it was himself

Also...

There's the story of launching a business while raising newborn twins.

The pressure of trying to grow while providing for a young family.

The first premium-priced jobs that felt terrifying before becoming normal.

And the breakthrough realization that changed not only the business—but life at home.

If you're new here, binge the channel.

If you own an electrical service business, steal this framework.

If you want to scale to $1M+ with less chaos…

Watch the Million Dollar Plan below.

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And if you want to see our Million Dollar Plan — how we help Electric Service Business Owners build $1M+ companies without becoming a slave to the truck, the phone, or the chaos…

Watch here:

- The Service Transformer™: The 4 Stages of a Million Dollar Electrical Business

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

If I'm going in there with a bad attitude or or no matter how tired I am, like they're hoping that I can fix their problem and just kind of giving myself the pep talk of they're relying on me my best so that their home is safe. It's an opportunity for me to work for these people and it that's the way it is. And if you can't see it that way, then then it's it's just not gonna work out in your favor.

SPEAKER_04 0:19

And sharing some great wins, brother, from a guy who was kind of stuck in the winter around 10, 15k months, biggest month ever, and then may over 60,000. I want to say, Connor.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

I need to go back to the shop and sharpen my pencil so that I can give you guys the best options humanly possible. Is there a time next week that I can sit down with you and your husband so that we can go over all these options in person?

SPEAKER_04 0:40

Do you have a situation in mind where that then led to a larger than average ticket where you kind of laugh at the other guys who say that's a waste of time? Yeah. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast, where we help home service pros like you supercharge your business and mark up those sales.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

I'm Joseph Witani, and together with my co-host, Clay New Meyer. We're here to share the secrets that help electricians sell over a million dollars in a single service.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Now it's time for sales. It's time for sale. It's time to become a million-dollar electrician.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to yet another great episode of the Million Dollar Electrician. I'm your host, Clay Newmeyer. With me, as always, my esteemed co-host Joseph Lucanny. And today we've got another guest. We are loving these client interviews for you guys. You're gonna learn so much from Connor Bray, Bray Electric. Uh, Connor's got a really unique story, but at the same time, I know there's a bunch in today's episode that you guys are gonna relate to. If you've ever felt personally stuck, like you're personally sabotaging your business, stuck at a revenue height, stuck with pricing beliefs. If you felt stuck in your business in any way, shape, or form, this is both going to inspire you, knowing what Connor was able to break through in the first half of this year, sharing some great wins, brother, from a guy who was kind of stuck in the winter around 10, 15k months, biggest month ever, 30k. Connor, is that right? That is correct, Claire. And then May over 60,000. I want to say, Connor.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah, we peaked over 60,000. I had posted in the group. Um, it was at like 59 and some change. And then on a Saturday afternoon after I'd posted that, we closed one more deal right before the end of May ended up. So we pushed it over 60.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

Amazing, man. And we're so proud of you. So we're gonna dive into all of that, what you felt was blocking you, what you felt released you, what you think is helping you. And even this, I mean, you came to class the other day and talked about being blocked again and and maybe some uh self-sabotage uh habits happening, but also, guys, there's one more thing icing on the cake. Connor is, and and this is uh last but not least here. Connor's a twin dad. Connor's got twins at home, so you know family is important to him, holding the heavy weight over you. Connor, welcome to the show and thank you so much, man, for bringing your story. I know this is gonna help so many people. How are you doing today, brother?

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Hey, thanks, guys. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Um, I'm doing great. Surreal sitting here chat chatting with you two in a setting like this, but it's awesome because you guys are truly great people and great company to always be around. So I appreciate you having me on.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

Appreciate the guy, brother. Yeah, you got it. Joe, what's been your experience of Connor in class and working with the guys so far?

SPEAKER_01 3:26

It depends on whether we're asking about personally or professionally, because I can go in two different directions because I love this dude. One thing I've noticed is how hard he works in class, but also how many questions he asks. That's the thing I really feel like separates you in a big way. Like whenever there's something that didn't make sense, there are some people who'll just keep it down to themselves and kind of circle around and see if it comes back, but you would always stop it. And I love you for that. That's actually a really good quality. A teacher wants inquisitive students, and as a result, you've seen doubled wins. Personally, though, one of the things that always connects us is that we've energy we're discussing before the episode how when you come home and you see your kids waiting for you by the stairs and saying that moment is worth everything, that resonated with me completely. Like I felt like I made a friend immediately after hearing you say that. So I'm like, all right, this is my guy, we're locking in.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

Yeah, so many of us you feel that need to hit the switch. So many times we come home depleted. Connor, were you feeling that way in the winter, or have you felt that way? That whole, you know, you get home and you're drained and there's nothing left for the family. Was that part of this for you?

SPEAKER_00 4:34

That was a lot of it. It felt like no matter, I was obviously giving her everything I had through the winter months when it was very slow to try to keep drumming business up and keep things going and stuff like that. And you know, from experience running companies and stuff like that, networking and talking with people and and things like that, that really takes your your the battery that you have and really drains it out, and then you have to come home to and don't have to. You get the I get the pleasure of coming home to twin two, twin two and a half year old, my little boy, my little girl, and trying to have a battery so that I can chase them up and down the hallway and and spend time with them, read books and and just all those things. It was it was really hard through the winter months, especially Wisconsin winters. There's not a whole lot of sunlight to help keep your battery charged or anything like that. So it gets gets old real fast. So it's that was a a really big part of it because it felt like no matter how much I poured myself into the business and how much I wanted the business to serve me so that I could be the dad that I always wanted to be, with it being so taxing with things not going right, it it really made it just hard to be the dad that I wanted to be for those these two kids.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

You know, the cool thing about that is if you really explore a little bit more of what that means, is that as a professional, we know we need to produce, but the fact that you're trying to have a battery left over really shows a lot more because not all of us live in subterranean layers with windows blacked out. If you're outside a situation where you're like, hey, daylight, dark, it's amazing you're able to even find that energy in the first place. I love that about you, Matt.

SPEAKER_04 6:03

I have a key dad question for you. All right, I remember you know, kids are young, two and a half. I mean, there's not a lot of sleep with one kid. Uh, there must be some no-sleep go-to-work uh mornings for you.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Yeah, so I started the business when the kids were two months old, roughly in that area, two, three months old. That was there were a lot of times when I first started the business and stuff like that, trying to drum up business. There was a lot of times I'm awake, we're awake with one of the kids or both kids trying to figure it out, and and even like earlier this month, we were they're getting a two and a half, we're trying to kick some things, potty training, doing all that stuff. We're waking up all through the night, and just all those things. It's like all of a sudden you the alarm goes off at 6 30. It's like, all right, I think I slept for a total of maybe about an hour tonight. Like, that's super cool. But then you get the the enjoyment throughout the day that um a lot of people don't ever talk tell you about being a parent. There's a lot more enjoyment throughout the day that they don't ever tell you about, they tell you about the bad, not the good, and that's it's not fun for me, anyways. I like I like hearing the good more.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah, running on those 20-minute sprints on sleep. Well, that'll happen really quickly.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

Hey Connor, let me ask you do you have uh do you have a bit of a trick or something that you do as a reset before a call? Like you know, you're trying to go out there and serve a customer at the highest level, you've only got an hour of sleep last night. I mean, you must be groggy at that point. Is there something you do to get ready for a call and go in and serve someone?

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yeah, so what I've in those times, what I've had to do a lot of times is I'm I'm I've always been an avid coffee drinker, so there's always coffee attached at the hip. But with the software that I use and stuff like that, just sitting down and looking at House Call Pro, kind of getting all the information from people. And then really the biggest thing for me, one of the big things why I started the business is I had a lot of experiences with contractors that just were not the way I wanted to be treated. And I I always tell myself there's got to be better and there's got to be better contractors out there. So I I tell myself in those times I've told myself, well, they're hoping that I can serve them however humanly possible. And if I'm going in there with a bad attitude or no matter how tired I am, like they're hoping that I can fix their problem and just kind of giving myself the pep talk of they're relying on me to be my best so that their home is safe and they're happy and they get what they want when they're they've called me for. It's a lot of those just kind of sitting down and focusing and remembering why I'm doing it, and that the the why is making sure that people are happy and safe in their homes.

SPEAKER_04 8:32

Really good. And you mentioned starting at two months and some of that why, but I mean, man, that must have been feeling pretty risky at that point, like felt like a pretty big leap of faith, right? I know Joe, you made a face when he said two months too. Yeah, uh, we're both feeling that there's already so much going on. What ultimately pushed you to go out on your own at that time?

SPEAKER_00 8:52

So uh leading up to that point, like I was working full-time during the day for another residential company, and um some practices weren't the way what really aligned with who I am as a person and stuff like that. So we would been we up until that point, there'd always been like a loose plan of me saying, All right, this is gonna, we're gonna kind of have me take the leap of faith and we're gonna see what happens. And if worse comes to worst, there's you know everybody needs tradesmen in the area, stuff like that. So needing to jump back in to kind of get life squared away again isn't the end of the world. The kids were about two months old, and it was starting to get to the point where I had enough of a backlog of work of working late nights and weekends and stuff like that. And I said, well, this is what sat down with my wife, and I said, This is the the kind of the backlog and what the prospects are, what we're working with it. Does it make sense to at least just give it a shot with them being two months old? They're not gonna really remember a whole lot of this stuff right now, because right now at the the two-month mark, there's just a lot of crying, sleeping, and and eating at this point. It was just one of those where it wasn't a perfect fit. And there's if I'm gonna be honest with you, there was a lot of conversations we had leading up to even before the kids were born. Is well, is now the right time, or is this the right time? And it's truly there is no right time to take that leap of faith. It's just kind of taking that jump and and working with the cards you're dealt after you make that jump. And that was with the backlog and and everything that we had done on the backside of things of life and stuff like that. It was just like, alrighty, well, let's let's just give it a shot and see what this thing can do, and and the rest is history from there, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

You know, something that I'm hearing in this is that we need to give credit to someone else too, your spouse. Because Clay, you're right, I did make a face. And the reason being is that two months is insane. You're not sleeping, feeding is difficult, figuring them out is still there. It's traumatizing, right? And the fact is, is that your spouse uh supported you and believed in you enough to say, I'll take all of that on so that you can do this for us. That's a huge trust. And very few people have that level of trust in their spouse. Like we gotta make sure we time that out and be like, shout out, really important.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Well, Joe, I'll I'll follow you up on that. I that's uh so in my area, and I'm sure they do it across the country, they do like best of awards and stuff like that. So like I was in the top three for best of electricians in my area for this the local voting that just happened, and actually at the award ceremony this past Tuesday in July here, and my wife and I went and uh she said to me, She's like, We sat down at the table with all sorts of different people, and she said, Well, I'm just here, he's the one that runs the business. And I said, Well, and my wife's name is Shelby said, Well, Shelby, let's let's not say that. You you're a big part of this too. Like, you've taken on just as much much risk, far more mental load, you're taking care of the kids far more than I ever did at the at some certain points of the whole thing. And it's like you've you've had to also sacrifice so many different things to allow me to do what I do every single day. And it's I I often tell her that she is just as much a part of this business as I am, and even though she may not be always involved, she's like you said, without her trust and and believing that I can do this, it it wouldn't even be a thing in the first place.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

It's massive. Yeah, I'm glad you pointed out, Joe. I would have done the same thing, man. Critical, critical. Like without her buy-in, this whole thing flips, and you might be just starting or still thinking about starting. I know so many people get stuck there, right? They say uh doubt and fear steals way more dreams than failure ever did. Yeah, right. Many people go and find themselves in the dirt in the cemetery having never tried, never really reached for their potential. So I gotta give you grace there, men. And and yeah, double down on what Joe said as a steep climb at two months, but you guys have done it. So tell us about the first couple months. What was that like starting out? And where did you get your first jobs from? What sort of traps did you fall into early on?

SPEAKER_00 12:50

So, first couple months for me, um, a lot of jobs and work were coming from. So um, when I left my employer, I immediately was part of networking groups, so like a local B and I group and like chamber of commerce stuff like that, where chamber of commerce groups are are pretty heavy to heavily populated by all multiple people in the same trade, where BI group is is a one per per. So I'm the only electrician in the B and I group. Um, so a lot of networking in that aspect and saying, like, hey, I'm new to this, but I'm looking for work and I'm happy to help out however I can. Some of obviously there's there's so many pitfalls in in the in business when you're first starting out, whether it be web design or advertising or whatever it may be, it's there's a lot of those pitfalls that are super easy to fall into because you're like, well, I just want to generate leads now so that I can feel comfortable in in what I'm doing. And it's those first few months for me, um, a lot of work came from referrals or family members, things like that. Word of mouth was super huge. Um, and then having a lot of that backlog where I'd built up some relationships working in for another company, and they said no to that other company because they got the same feeling that I had, they just didn't align super well. And finding good people that are good referral partners worked very, very well for me at the start, and then as your name gets out there more with all sorts of things in business, then your name becomes a little more well-known and whatnot. And that was pushing through those first few months trying to get that name built and get it out there a little bit, is what kind of got me first through those first few months, and then um from there she kind of took off from wherever she needed to.

SPEAKER_04 14:32

That's amazing. We just had an awesome podcast too with uh Joe Miller, should be coming out soon. Also, you've probably seen Joe in the group, great dude. Also took this route and did really well with networking and saw some massive payoff from relationships. Uh, love that that theme's coming up again. What a great place to start. Where did you start to see the wall then in that corner? Where did this kind of cap out for you?

SPEAKER_00 14:57

So, the the networking part of it, because for a long time, I would say almost the first full year, I didn't really spend a whole lot of money on advertising or anything like that. So, a lot of stuff I was doing was all referral-based, which was super, super helpful, obviously, because you're walking on a shoestring budget and stuff like that with that referral, then working with like customers who were super happy that left reviews and say, like, hey, I do a referral campaign, like for somebody me, they get X amount of money off, and that that worked out super super well at a really low cost for the business and stuff like that. It started to cap out at the fact of it was the first full winter that I was in to the business, right around the year mark. Um, what was happening is I was getting to the schedule that best only get to two or three days out of front in front of me. And it was pretty easy to catch that depending on what was going on and how my process was back then. It was, well, I'm just gonna throw you a price that I think works and move on with life, where that just looking back wasn't the most perfect situation, but it was just what I was knew and what I was doing, stuff like that. Reached that cap, and that's when I started to realize like if I want to continue to grow from where I was because at that point I wasn't even reaching 20k months or anything like that. There was a lot of break-even, not a whole lot going on. I was like, well, I need to start advertising in certain ways and stuff like that. And that's where like that was the first big hump is figuring out advertising. Once I kind of got through that, that's when she slowly started to continue to build upwards to to where I was about a year ago and and going into the winter at the 30k month. That that was the the first wall that I had to run through is figuring out advertising and who you can trust to advertise and all sorts of stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

Yeah, I I think I heard kind of a stop sign there. Anytime I hear hear the word throw and quote or pricing in the same sentence, I always want to dig deeper. Can you elaborate a bit on that? What was your process like for pricing jobs and throwing it out there?

SPEAKER_00 16:56

So um from day one, I've pretty much always used House Cal Pro just because I there were a few things that I was egregiously adamant about, um like between business and personal, and it was I don't want my personal phone number to be that I've had forever to just be something that I use for the business. And House Call Pro allowed that, and then a way to send people estimate like I first show it to them in person. But if they wanted to look over it at a later time, get doing digital estimates was super super helpful, and the cost it was well for what I was doing, it was super helpful. What I mean by throw is like I I still think about like one of the first jobs that I ever did was um a family friend that I I actually know quite well still. Um, they had some bathroom fans, some old Brone bathroom fans that yeah, I mean Brone, they're great fans, but the motors you can just pull them out, replace them, whatever, where um throwing them a price for replacing just the motors, um, doing fan, like replacing whole fans, stuff like that. And um, I think those were the two options I gave. So just replacing the motors and then doing whole fan replacements at that time, and and then I talked to them about it and emailed it over, and and that that was kind of my throw, and then walked away from them and and crossed my fingers and hope for the best.

SPEAKER_04 18:11

How did you actually price those?

SPEAKER_00 18:14

So that was that's so funny. I think about that too sometimes. We're not letting you off easy here, brother. Yeah, oh I know you gotta give us all the dirt. Oh, absolutely. So it's I think about it so because you can still go to go to like your Home Depot or Menards and buy those fans for well, sometimes some of them you can eat, some of them you gotta order online now, don't stop making them. But you get your $40 fan or whatever, maybe that much, and then you turn around and well, $40 is gonna take me half hour to do it. It's like, okay, well, what what do I and at that point? Because I still remember the thought process sitting at the table, well, what do I think somebody else would charge for this? Because what I think I should charge. Yep. What I think I should not charge for this is oh my gosh, this is brutally expensive. And you turn around and it's like, okay, well, I'm gonna do two motors and clean all the girls off and and replace the bulbs inside of them, stuff like that, for like 250 bucks or something like that. And I was like, Well, that's a win in my book, where in reality, between the fan motors and and my time being 20 minutes away from where I normally live and stuff like that, it's like I maybe made a couple dollars if I'm lucky on that one.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

You know, I don't want this to slip away, but there was something you brought up in passing, and just when we were talking previously, you said, you know, I will never I never want to give my personal number out when it comes to business. Now I agree, but only through messing it up. Why did you know up front that that was the right thing? Because there are people who swear by it. Like I got my personal sell, it's always on, it's one and two, they know me. Why?

SPEAKER_00 19:43

For me, the why was just solely based on the fact of there's so much like to me, it's a weird sentimental thing. Like, that's the phone number I've had since I was turned 31 soon here in July, since I was like 14, I would say probably. So I've had the phone number forever, and it's one of those I've still got high school buddies and stuff like that that uh that were like every once in a like once every couple months or so we'll send a message to each other and to take that personal number and just have it bombarded constantly with business stuff. It's uh well, I'm just not gonna ever look at it again, and that's not I just didn't want to lose all of that stuff that I had because it's like a lot of those friends, like if you lose that number, you lose those people forever. And I just didn't want to muddy that line between personal and and um business stuff too much.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Smart idea. You didn't have to wait for drunk customers to call you at 11 o'clock at night on a Saturday. Love that for you. Good for you.

SPEAKER_04 20:39

I made that mistake too, Joe. So don't worry, you're not alone in that. In an earlier conversation, you said there's this moment where you're driving a pickup truck that barely ran, working 70 hours a week and still losing money. Was there a moment there where you just felt like, okay, something's gotta give, something's gonna change? What was that like for you? And what what kind of period is this in your business?

SPEAKER_00 21:01

So that specific period, it was like a year and a half in working. It was the dead of summer, and it was the pickup truck that I had. I actually bought it from my father-in-law because they were downsizing, and I was like, Well, this is a great deal, and I miss having a pickup truck because I had gone away from one for a while, and I was like, Well, this will work out pretty great for for me and the business and stuff like that. So it's I we I bought it from my father-in-law, and we used it for some personal things for a little while. And I said, Well, if we're gonna be run, if I'm gonna be running a business out of this, then this is what that truck is for. It was one of those times where I still remember it was I'm working one of the bigger jobs that I had done up until that point, it was uh like an hour ish away from home, which in my area in Wisconsin, I can drive an hour and hit a few different large cities and stuff like that. So it's pretty common to do a little travel. I had just gone and done like a massive job where I'm trenching like a hundred feet from a house to a garage that they had added or a pole building that they had added on, and I ran the Trencher all day. Um, like during the day, I'd done a full service change to put an outdoor disconnect on so it'd be easier for me to get power out to this pole building, and I'm running a trencher back filling in the middle of the night after the conduits in the ground, and I'm driving in the middle of the night with a trencher behind me. It's the it's it's I it was like a Wednesday or Thursday, and it's just pitch black on them driving, and it's like and that job I sold it for, if I remember correctly, like nine grand, where like if I looked at it now, it'd be like triple that price. And I look I look back at it, I still look back at it, and I'm like, it was one of those times sitting in that spot driving. I'm like, I'm missing so much of life that I want to be a part of all the time. And it's like, what's and that's another one of those crossroads of do I continue on the path that I'm currently driving on, or do I figure out what the next path forward to continue so I don't have to do this all the time? Like it's yeah, a lot of vivid memories sitting behind that truck in the middle of the night. That's that's for darn sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah, especially when the kids are at home and you're not exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Yeah, yeah, no doubt. There's this thing that happens, we always seem to wait until maybe our darkest hour before we really break through and try something different. And the problem is our darkest hour is often financially one of the tightest places to work from. You got on a call with us and you decided to give this a shot and try something different. What was that decision like for you? I mean, it must have been hard, and what ultimately made you pull the trigger on this?

SPEAKER_00 23:33

I've seen a lot, saw a lot of your guys' stuff before I ever reached out about the coaching and stuff like that. And I was part of a different coaching program that was it was great and it taught me a lot of different things, but it was more geared towards like general contracting and stuff like that. And there were some tradesmen, like I've got a good HBAC friend from that group and a couple good plumbers and whatnot that we still talk pretty frequently, but it was I felt like I was like, I'm spending this much per month to be here, and the calls are good and stuff like that, but I just don't feel like I'm getting the results that I was hoping for. Like I felt like I kind of hit a ceiling for where I was. And when I reached out to SLE and and Service Loop and to talk to you guys about it, it was I had a pretty busy December, and then it hit the turn of the year, and things were really quiet. And when things are really quiet, you kind of look at what the true reality of the books are and stuff like that, and realizing like I'm thinking, like it. I I did an overhead service in the middle of December for pennies on the dollar, and I was like, Well, that's gonna help push me through the winter, and it it it cost me more than it ended up pushing me through the winter. So it was getting seeing that reality check on the book side and the bank account side, and realizing I should be getting more out of what I'm giving to these people because I it's if you're anybody who cares about what you do for a living, you you always try to do your you give your absolute best to people homeowners, and 100% charging so little for what I was doing, I was like, something's gotta give here. And to after talking with you guys and and deciding that this was the the jump that I wanted to make, it's like, well, looking at what this cost is, it's gonna take every penny that I have available left in the business to to make this happen. But it the draw was there because it's a group of guys who do what I do on a day-to-day basis and they understand the the things that I'm doing, the the issues that I might be having with installs, just things like that, and that's where the draw was. So it's already I'm giving up the little bit of financial cushion that I have to try to make the get over, get through this next wall to make my life even better than it is now.

SPEAKER_04 25:41

Really good, really good answer. I'm always curious, was there a particular piece of content or referral or something you remember specifically in your case that even led you to get on a call in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Not necessarily, no, it was more along the lines of like just seeing the content that's out there and and hearing it's it's a group for electricians built by electricians, and and if that truly and I I said to myself, I still remember it. If it truly, if truly, if that's what it is, if it's a group of electricians, there's there's no way that this isn't the right place for me to be.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Man, I I could dive into it for an hour, but I can't stress how much it means to know that you recognize this was a place for our people. Yeah, it means a lot.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

I don't know how much you know about the history of this Connor, but that that particular he's got Joe speaking out loud and smiling because Joe's actually really experienced also teaching plumbing and HVAC, and I've seen him do it one-to-one and in group, and it's it's incredible. Like, Joe clearly has a gift for the option creation and the sales process, but right from the get-go, we've always from the moment we we've dreamt of this in the first place. Joe is adamant, and and I join him in this and saying, like, this has to be just for electricians by electricians because we didn't have that place, and it's what we wanted, and we knew that if we were in your seat again, that's the exact feeling that we would have still to this day. Someone speak our language to us about our problems and how to fix them. So I'm so glad you brought that up.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Amen. Like I remember hearing, you know, the electricians are assholes, they don't have any money, it's not worth working with. Or, you know, we'd join a group and the electrician would sit down and start speaking, and people would shut off their cameras. It's like I'm tired of us being the red-headed stepchildren of the trade. We deserve our own space and we deserve that respect that it comes from. So it meant a lot hearing that from you, man. It really hit me personally. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 27:42

And you get why the vision was tough for any other electricians, right? Because we're also the most perfectionist group in the trade. So it's like if oh if we just get a group of electricians in a room, nothing's gonna get done.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Boy, I feel the perfectionists to my core, like that's that's uh oh, it'll be fine, nobody will ever see it behind the wall. But I know what's behind the wall, you guys.

SPEAKER_04 28:03

Like, I know it's yeah, absolutely, and on that topic, like how action-oriented has your experience been in SLE? How hard has this pushed you to take actions that you otherwise wouldn't have or feared even in the past?

SPEAKER_00 28:19

It's what it is, is it's very much, and we talked about it before, is is it all of the information is there and available to guys when you join the group. Truly, what makes the difference is, and I I say it often, getting uncomfortable in the uncomfortable positions because that uncomfortable spot is where you will find who you are as a person and what your next steps are in life. There's a lot of things, even just the fact of sitting down at a table with somebody and trying to pound out six options in front of them so that they have the available just the knowledge of what I can serve them with. Most guys, and I I mean, it's and still there are times I've been doing it for a handful of months, so there's still times where it's like, oh my gosh, like I can't imagine sitting at this table with you guys and doing this for you. But it's uh, well, I'm not gonna get better at it, and it's not gonna serve me if I don't just do it. So you sit there and you you bear down and you get things done, you continue to try to have a decent conversation at least with people, so it doesn't seem like you're kind of in your own world, so it doesn't get too unpersonal, but it's using the tools that are are available to me and getting uncomfortable with them is is what makes it worth it. And it's you gotta be willing to take action yourself because as much as as awesome as Clay and you two are you and Joe and um anybody on the SLE team, whether it be marketing or anything like that, it's not gonna make a lick of difference unless you at least take the first step forward in it.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

100% we were literally talking about before the thing even started, which is hilarious. If we circled back to this here, it's like you know, we'll say we're the GPS, but like we can hand you the tools, we can hand you the lessons, we can hand you the straight all the process, but it goes nowhere if you don't take a step with it. So I love that for you, man.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

Let's weave in a win of the week here and put you in on the spot, uh, Connor. What's a moment then, uh, particular strategy or tactic that you employed where you didn't feel ready, you got uncomfortable, and had a way better than expected turnout from that, despite feeling probably like you sucked at it in the moment.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Uh, so for me, really the biggest one was the two-call close portion of uh of everything that SLE does because you work in any other residential job, whether it be electrical plumbing or HVAC. I know a lot of those companies, even in my area, they they laugh at me for being willing to do a two call close because they're like, why would you waste your time twice for somebody that's not gonna buy from you? Well, you guys, it's it's an opportunity for me to work for these people, and it's that that's the way it is. And if you can't see it that way, then then it's it's just not gonna work out in your favor. And sitting down with a homeowner and saying, Hey, I need to go back to the shop and sharpen my pencil so that I can give you guys the best options humanly possible. Would is there a time next week that I can sit down with you and your husband so that we can go over all these options in person? Saying it now, and I I said it yesterday with somebody, uh, it's just because it's they were they wanted both people to be available for for going over numbers. Seeing it now compared to three months ago, I would have told you you're crazy if you if you thought I was gonna be doing that at least once a week, scheduling one of those.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

Nice. Do you have a situation in mind where that um then led to a larger than average ticket where you kind of laugh at the other guys who say that's a waste of time?

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Yeah. Um, so one of the first ones that I did, it was somebody who was looking to get just a basic, they had a hybrid vehicle that they wanted power in their garage for and to charge, even just their small hybrid battery. And it was a home with all electric appliances, even like mini splits and stuff like that. So we were looking at a bare minimum of a service upgrade. So going through and giving them options of a minimum of a service upgrade and then building all the options out. And then um, just in talking with it, it was the wife who was available at the time, and just saying to her, like, hey, are we looking to make a decision today or or what are we looking to accomplish here today? And she's like, Well, we're just looking to collect some numbers and stuff like that. And I said, Well, do we want to schedule a time next week where I can get these numbers solid and we can sit down, me, you and your husband, and we can go over these numbers so that if there's any questions, I can just answer them right away out of the gates. And we scheduled something, and it went from what I would do is a normal service upgrade at four a normal service upgrade and an EV charger install turned into a service upgrade, the a full EV charger install because asking questions, they're moved they moved from that hybrid to a full EV. So instead of having to rerun that charger circuit, we can just size it correctly for down the road. They're planning on it's an older home, and they were planning on adding another mini split to the second floor. So we're ready for that whenever that time comes, and and pre-run a lot of that stuff. So it went from a job where that is only a couple thousand dollars ended up being like an eight or nine thousand dollar one for me.

SPEAKER_04 33:18

Wow, really good stuff, yeah. And then on that one, do you recall? Were you able to collect a deposit? Was that something you had actuated at that time as well?

SPEAKER_00 33:27

At that point, that was not something that I did on a regular basis. Where I mean, even now, like I just did a full service replacement yesterday. I sold it two and a half months ago and I'm collected 50% down where five months ago I'm not even people are oh, do you want a deposit? No, no, I don't need a deposit to hold your spot on the schedule where it's just one of those. Well, somebody has to pay for the materials, and there's no reason that I should be footing that bill right now. Really good stuff.

SPEAKER_04 33:53

Hey you guys, if this episode sparked something for you, imagine stacking that every single week. That's how businesses stop flickering and start running steady. If you subscribe to the show or leave a review if you're on audio, and if you're driving down the road, please pull over when it's safe because I've got something you're not gonna want us to get. For every person that subscribes and or leaves a review and fills out the form below, letting us know that you did that thing. We're gonna draw one monthly subscriber for our open circuit lifetime membership worth $1,500. And that's not all. Every six months, we're actually gonna draw another subscriber for our $5,000 scholarship, which you can use for any of our electric service packages to get your business and your service rocking better than ever. Come on, guys, let's brighten this thing up. Is it gonna be you? Back to the show. You shared another story uh before the podcast about uh even a commercial job that grew from $14.5k to nearly 20K because the customer just trusted you. What's that about, Connor?

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Yeah, so that was a good one. They are all it was also another small business owner. They they do it and they were going from being like an indoor play area for kids in a in a high touristy area to turning into going to a new space and turning it into like a cafe play area type deal. There was a whole laundry list of things that they needed done and quoted them at the 14 and a half and got there and and just chit-chatting with them. There look they were just so thankful that AI answered the phone because they couldn't even get anybody to do that. And then just that fact that I was willing to sit down and have the conversation with them and and talk about everything that they wanted. They they really appreciated that and expressed that so so much. And to the fact of I was there during the day and then I came home, and after the kids went to sleep, I cranked out the estimate and sent it over with the 50% deposit at 14 and a half, and at 11 o'clock at night, they're paying the 50 to 50% deposit because they just want me to do the work because they trust me. And just spending that time building that relationship with them showed up front that they really appreciated that, and then down the road, as I'm there for four days straight doing the work, um, there were nuances that they changed. They added more coolers to the area that needed dedicated circuits, and they ran into some occupancy issues where it was they didn't have enough bathroom, so they went from needing certain things here to well, we don't want to do overhead speakers anymore, but if you could really wire up this bathroom for us, and they're like, we know it's gonna come at an extra cost, but we really just need this done, and we just trust that you're gonna do it right for us, and that takes the just talking to them and and being honest about what the costs are and spending the time building that relationship that they were just like, All right, that that sounds great to us, let's just get this done. And it like you said, it went from 14 and a half to just right around 20 or just over 20 after it was all said and done.

SPEAKER_04 36:47

Wow, and you've also had customers tell you that you're the highest price and hire you anyway, is that right? Like quite a few times, yeah. That's gotta feel good.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

It surely does. It's uh I wouldn't have dreamed of ever hearing that before, and it's it's one of those, it's uh I want to say surreal just because it's there are times where either I'm I I don't know if other guys get it, but there's still sometimes where I quote a project out and there's still a little bit of sticker shock on my side. It's like, holy crap. I mean, but then you look at the body of work, it's like, all right, well, it all makes sense. It's just like wow, wasn't expecting this to balloon this much here.

SPEAKER_04 37:20

Yeah, and you mean so like when you're pricing a job and you're making maybe that platinum option your top thing that includes everything, you're even surprised by the amount of it sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 37:31

So there's been a few times. Um, I just quoted one. Somebody just bought a home, had old twist and fuses and stuff like that, still floating around in the house. Yeah, and they were they were just adamant staying with a hundred amp service. It's like, alright, yeah, that's fine. And top option with a 200 amp service, and and they got two-prong outlets, so we're rewiring most of the house, and you're coming in at 25 grand, and when they're calling for a four grand panel replacement, it's like, all right, that's that's a little bit of a pretty big swing there, but it's it's like, well, all this stuff should be addressed because they talked about, well, yeah, we'll just use the converter plugs from a three-prong to a two-prong for plugging stuff into the wall.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

It's like, I don't really think you should be doing that, but you know, one of my favorite parts about that is that when you go and they like object to it or you object to it, the always self-reminder was, okay, so is it wrong of me to tell you what I found? And the answer is almost always like, well, no. I mean, this is the reality. You're not making something up. It's not like you're like, don't tell anyone there's a legitimate thing that you found, and it is legitimately unsafe. Would you prefer me to hide it from you? And the answer is almost like, well, no, so I would like to proceed. Like, choices are yours.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Do what you want. Exactly. Exactly. And it's sometimes people aren't ready to hear the it. I often have found because I've used that exact mind before, Joe. Do you want me to hide some of these things that I've come across, or do you want me to tell you about it? Well, I can't believe you'd even think about not telling me about it. And it's like, well, it's it it exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 39:01

Everyone was in the same motion at the same time, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

So it's like, alrighty, well, if you want me to tell you about it, it's gonna come with what the investment would be to get this taken care of by somebody who does it for a living. And then people, once you phrase it in that aspect, people are like, All right, well, I guess that makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 39:16

Yeah, exactly. I love that. Can I give you one tweak on what you just said? And maybe you get this right, Connor. Uh, Connor and I have had the privilege of doing some role play, but instead of from someone who does this for a living, from someone who specializes in this exact thing, it's just a little tweak, but like give yourself that glass full, man. You deserve that, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Absolutely. Nice catch play.

SPEAKER_04 39:39

Something that comes up there, though, is this constant debate of like fear-mongering, safety, relevant, recent code, bringing things up to date, and what is the right thing. And I love your guys' position on this because I agree. I think what's happened really is we didn't go to business school, we all went to trade school, which they should call it craft school because they didn't really teach us anything about the trade itself. They taught us how to get good at a craft and then go out there and fight for a low hourly wage and build someone else's fortune, build someone else's security in future, right? When Connor took this big um jump at two months in his twins' lives, I mean, that was huge for you. That's a big risk, but you didn't really have the training of the trade. Now, here's the thing the reason I go on that light rant is because I believe this is a part that should be part of our trade school training. I think that we should get rid of this idea of fear-mongering to try to increase sales because it that the communication of these things at a level that homeowners can simply understand is what 80% of what we really teach, Joe. It's just like how do you communicate your specialty? And that is so important on top of what Connor's saying, which a lot of this is just spending more time with people and being willing to share what's actually going on.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

It resonates so clearly with me. And you you talk about the fear-mongering thing, and that was very much what I didn't align with at other companies that I work with. It was very much uh you walk into a brand new built home and or a relatively new built home, and they were telling me that I needed to tell them, oh, this panel isn't safe, you need to replace this whole this brand new 200 amp service that is is in pristine condition, and that that gets sniffed out really, really fast by homeowners. Homeowners are are very logical people, they sniff that out faster than you will ever realize, and it's hard to get out from once that shadow is cast over who you are as a business, you and who your your business, it's almost impossible to get out from underneath that. And it's it resonates with me just because it's as funny as it sounds, is practicing building options after the kids go to sleep, sitting down and building out those options and sitting next to my wife and saying, Does this make sense to you, or how does this sound, or is this confusing? And and using my wife who I love her so very dearly, it's just not something that she's not an electrician, she hasn't been doing it for 13 years, like me. She's she's just it's just not her thing. So having somebody to show, like, hey, I'm trying to be better so that other homeowners can understand what I'm doing, instead of just saying, like, hey, I'm just doing this to your panel, whatever. It the communication is just lost right now, and it and it's getting better as as obviously I get better and as other contractors get better, but communication being lost between us and homeowners is what causes so much friction, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:32

The problem that I find is that fear-mongering we all know is wrong, but homeowners actually are justified to suspect it because there are so many companies now that are actually putting it. So, like, you know, I've experienced situations where people say with the voltage drop tools, all I gotta do is just plug it in, just plug it in, show them the reading, and they'll do it from there. But then find out that the voltage reading actually wasn't accurate. So the concern that we have is we need to communicate better as professionals, and we have to tell them scary things in a non-scary way so that we can overcome all the stigma from everyone just pushing fire and fear and death.

SPEAKER_04 43:10

Yeah, yeah, there's like second and third order consequences. I I like to use safety just because uh the more commercial industrial background I had before, when you got a hundred guys on any construction site, you have to do a safety meeting every day because complacency is what kills us. Well, homeowners are some of the most complacent beings on the planet, they spend 90% of their freaking lives in their home, and they don't tend to do anything about it. Like we talked about this in night school the other day, and just getting buy-in on the whole receptacle thing. So we ask a group of guys and gals in there like, hey, who here has been called to uh troubleshooting service diagnostic for a burnt receptacle? Right? Hands go up. Okay, who here in that situation found that it was a backstab receptacle? Hands go up. Okay. So we know backstab is a problem over time. It meets code for now, but it's a spring tension termination. Springs loosen over time, expansion, contraction. We all agree on the science of it. Right again, fear mongering, still a problem, still a block mentally, still internally. We try not to push too much and not say too much, and yet we know this problem. Go a step further. It's like, okay, so we feel good about that, or at least selfishly good about it to get in, get out quick without doing too much about this. But then how many of us have been in a home where the smoke detector is yellowing and outdated? How many of us have been in a home where the smoke detector no longer is on the ceiling, even? Just hanging. How many of us have been in a home where the smoke detector no longer has a battery? Hasn't been tested, right? So, like the combination of these things or the ultimate complacency in a business in a commercial or industrial setting would be shut down immediately for the same level of uh neglect. Yeah, let's call it. But the homeowner doesn't know what they know is the experience, and that's what I love about Joseph, right? So we'll just tag in and give you a pat on the butt here, Joe, for like focusing on the experience of the homeowner. Well, what's the homeowner's experience? Well, I was baking cookies and the smoke alarm keeps going off, and I love to bake, therefore, smoke detector equals bad.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

What right?

SPEAKER_04 45:26

Uh electricians are expensive. I try not to call one until a receptacle burns out. And because they're expensive, or because they try to educate me, because they bring these things up, electrician equals bad. But tell that to the 34,000 plus home fires in the US that insurance agencies report with dozens of serious injuries and death. So this is a very serious topic, and we don't take it lightly. All that to say, guys. Sorry for the rant, but like we have to change the industry, we have to change the thinking of electricians. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

And and they've got all these backstabbed outlets that I'm adding into. And I said, I'm touching this. How bad? How bad can it get? How do I pitch it to somebody who just spent all this money on a home? That hey, I'm not trying to scare you guys, but like this is an issue, and and and it should be addressed. And and getting comfortable doing that is is a hard sell for a lot of guys that do what we do.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

I want to pounce on that one. All of us have gone to a new home. Hey, this was just built 101.5 million, 750,000. Like, great, okay, great. We have this brand new home. You can still smell the paint. And yet, building standards have gone so low that you can have a brand new home with builder grade devices, with backstabs, short nubby wires. Some of them are even recessing to the wall, some still have give, and yet we can't tell the homeowner because we're worried we're gonna upset them. But wouldn't it be better to tell them before they move all that stuff in? You're moving in. Wouldn't it be easier to change all these things if we didn't have to tarp all your furniture first? So you're gonna make me do this and then I'm gonna charge you that much more in the future because I didn't tell you because I was uncomfortable with it. It's insane, and yet electricism gets stuck in that map. Blows my mind.

SPEAKER_04 47:33

Agreed, agreed. Joe, I want to make sure I didn't miss it, but sure. You've got a particular question that I love that sets on a new home, the homeowner in a position to actually hear this. Did you say it already? I'm not sure I might have missed it.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

It depends on on the context of what's coming up. So, like I have a lot of different ways we say things, but I'm not sure the specific scenario you're discussing.

SPEAKER_04 47:54

Okay, I'll do my best. I'll do my best to mimic you and see if this rings a bell. You may have to correct me.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 47:59

Uh, how long have you been in here again, Connor? Oh, and I'm sure even though it's a new home, you haven't noticed any deficiencies at all, right?

SPEAKER_01 48:06

Bingo, I know what you're talking about here.

SPEAKER_04 48:07

Yeah, correct me. How do you deliver that one?

SPEAKER_01 48:10

So it would go out and be like, hey, so I don't expect to find anything. Obviously, you just moved into the home. Everything I assume is brand new, everything's working perfectly, but just so we're on the same page. You know, is it safe that I can just go take a look at the main system? I don't expect anything to be wrong, but just so I could do my due diligence. The reason why we're bringing that up is it uses the negative to bring out a positive, where it's I assume your home is in great shape and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. I assume this builder didn't cut a single corner in the home. This is probably the best built home we've seen. And the homeowner is like, no, like this is not what no, this this is bad, but they brought it up because I went the opposite direction, so I'm the opposite of pushy. I can't be pushing something assuming everything's perfect, but because we're assuming everything's perfect, they let us go to the panel or they argue with us. So thank you, Clay, for bringing that up.

SPEAKER_04 49:01

It was on my mind, I was stuck on it. And I love that because anytime, and you guys have experienced this. Anytime you go to a new home and you bring things up, what do they do? Well, this is a new home that can't be right. You must be lying, you must be being misleading to me.

SPEAKER_02 49:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 49:16

Here's the thing: if you listened a few weeks back to the podcast, maybe it's been a month now. I lose track of time, guys. But Kevin Locklear, if you haven't listened to that podcast, please go because this is an important point in there, too. He says, Hey, we were in a home, I think it might have been a year or two years old. No, it must have been shorter than that because what he found was the main lugs weren't torqued. So there was actually heat sparking, stuff happening in the panel right on the mains because this is the other compounding problem with your reputation. Like the bigger you get, the more builds you do, you gain a reputation with the inspection authority.

SPEAKER_02 49:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

Well, what happens then? They inspect less. Sometimes they just sign it off, they won't do their due diligence because they trust you to do it yourself. But a lot of these big companies don't have a quality assurance process, like we encourage, to make sure that you actually did the thing. I'm gonna circle this back and just say again, and you guys will hear this again and again. If you don't understand it, comment below on the podcast. But like there's car facts, but there's no house facts. Extract your own meaning from that for this one, Connor. How much is that this idea of the car facts and the house facts? I know we talked about early, and everyone understands the car, this low investment. Maybe you spend three thousand dollars in your nitpick, what it's been through, but people spend three hundred thousand dollars to three million dollars. Some people going broke because of it. Joe mentions how the code is getting lower and lower to try to meet the needs because of inflation and the cost of everything rising. How much is this idea of like house facts and just letting people know really drive your calls now, brother?

SPEAKER_01 50:55

In the meantime, while I'll do in that, Clay, I had a funny situation that came up that I wanted to bring for the new construction one where standards are so low. You know how we all are supposed to have an earth ground and a water ground, right? So I remember going there, and the customer was saying they have issues with their home, and we thought immediately sounds like a grounding issue, but like, no, it's brand new, brand new home. We looked at the water and it had the bonding jumpers, and it goes down brand new copper goes right into the basement, right? Crawl space. We go to the outside of the panel. We're like, I see the same copper wire coming out to the wall, but I have no continuity. So I crawl in the crawl space. They actually didn't run the wire, they ran a nub into the crawl space, and then I ran a rub down from there, so it looks like it's connect, but it actually had nothing there. And this was a brand new home. It's insane. The stuff that people well, it didn't get inspected, like clearly it had the sticker, but there's no way someone checked that.

SPEAKER_04 51:47

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm industrial background, so I'm a huge advocate of showing the torque specs, showing the IR readings, making sure that someone has as much information, especially even visual, or like simplified. Like, give them a graph, give them something to look at that's just like easy to read. But that was me. I overdid the paperwork on all of my service work. That that was my MO for sure. And by the way, as a result, the inspector trusted me and didn't inspect my work a lot of times. I saw that as a benefit because that did create some good things for me, but everyone needs accountability, including myself. Someone has to check, especially those key points. So, Connor, yeah, what are your thoughts on that, brother?

SPEAKER_00 52:30

Yeah, so the accountability portion of a lot of that, because I I even benefit personally from the accountability with inspectors and stuff like that. Because if I were to dig hard enough with past life working industrial and stuff like that, I know I've worked with guys, their brothers are inspectors in my area, and they're they're like I know them, I've spent time with them. Just little things like that that are it it used to be, yeah, we'll come out and take a look at it. Where now if he sees it's my van out in the driveway and it's me doing the work, I'm not even gonna go in and take a look at it. Where it's like, well, dude, like this customer's paying me a lot of money. Please just go inside and look at it. Like, I know in my heart of hearts that I did it the way I'm supposed to. Please, please, please, please, please go in and just look at it so the customer feels better about it. And the fact of trying to think, we were touching on the the newcon stuff and all that jazz. Yeah, same thing. Like it's you get like you said, you have all these legacy builders that that do what they want to do and and all this other stuff where like they talk, like they get they get that free pass where it kind of gives the freebie to to cut corners, and then it's up to guys like us who do the service work to hold us to hold ourselves to a higher standard so that we don't cut those corners and we don't make homeowners feel scared and don't take advantage of their fear. We explain to them, like, hey, this is why this happened, this is totally normal practices. It's not a practice that I would recommend. This is how I recommend that we fix this and take care of this for you, so you don't ever have to worry about it again.

SPEAKER_01 54:00

I have a good example that I think would speak to that point, and you get to laugh at me in the process. So it's all a win. Um, I've had to do a ton of renovations at my home, and it's a brand new home, you know. And the concern that I had is always it's brand new, there shouldn't be any problems. Until we found that the builder has a cousin who happened to be the inspector, and it got signed off and there was no issues with it, and everything passed legally. But now I know why I have to do all these renovations. So you're completely right, Clay. When you're like he doesn't have the accountability, he's not gonna do the thing. Some of us are, we're all good people. We try to be, we're gonna do the thing, but if you give too much of an open pass, complacency is gonna come, and you'll end up with people like myself who buy new homes and end up putting more money than we thought we had to into it.

SPEAKER_04 54:44

Yep. Rapid fire questions, Connor. Uh, you know what this means? I'm gonna ask a quick question. You're gonna try not to think too much and just answer the first thing that comes to your dome. There's about five of these. You ready? Uh, yes, sir. What's one belief you had to let go of to grow?

SPEAKER_00 55:00

My pricing is not too expensive for what I'm doing for a living.

SPEAKER_04 55:05

Love that. What's one piece of advice you'd give the electrician who's afraid to bet on themselves?

SPEAKER_00 55:10

The piece of advice, as scary as it feels to jump off the train that you know is gonna get you home every single day. Sometimes the the set of tracks that right that is right next to you is gonna lead to far, far, far better things in life.

SPEAKER_04 55:24

Hmm, well said. He's a good fast.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

He's two for two on this one.

SPEAKER_04 55:28

Yeah, well, what's something you're proud of today that has nothing to do with money?

SPEAKER_00 55:33

Nothing to do with money. I can't I don't know many dads who do what we do for a living that gets to go and do swimming lessons with their kids at three o'clock in the afternoon and and spend time with your family like that. I don't know many that get to do that, and that's something that I'm I'm proud of every single week that I get to do.

SPEAKER_04 55:53

What's one habit that changed your business the most?

SPEAKER_00 55:57

Options, man. Options building. That that is a life-changing thing. It's it's build your options, man. People will buy more than you ever that they ever will buy more than they ever knew they needed because you built an option for them.

SPEAKER_04 56:12

Finish this sentence. Success is not blank. Tied to a bank account.

SPEAKER_02 56:20

It's not tied to a bank account.

SPEAKER_00 56:23

At least in my personal opinion, it's not. It's it's tied to how you feel as you end your day. Do you feel like uh a bad person or a bad electrician for what you did? Do you feel like uh you failed as a dad because you missed something that was important to you and your kids? Or it there's so many things that to me money can always be made, but there's so many things that pass us by that we see in the side view mirror as we're driving away from it that never come back.

SPEAKER_01 56:50

Well man, that was heavy. That last, I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of electricians in the background that are like looking and looking at themselves in the mirror as they're driving, like, oh fuck, what do I do with that? It's gone. It is, and you know what? There's only gonna be so many times they're gonna say, Daddy, come play with me. Daddy, can you talk me in?

SPEAKER_04 57:09

You know that um that's the end of rapid questions. I've got two big ones for you. I'm just gonna tie back into that. There was actually a moment that we shared where I felt that that was a message you needed to hear that you're not your money, that you're not your business, that you're a good person with great intent and a great father. Tell us about that moment and why you felt you needed to hear that. And that obviously stuck with you and is something that you would bring up again.

SPEAKER_00 57:38

Yeah, I uh I still remember exactly where I was sitting in the van where it was parked when we had that conversation. Um, it meant so much to me just because, and you there's all sorts of stigmas that you could tie into it, but being the type of person who I've always been a provider, and that is the life that I've I've loved to be and stuff like that, to be then given the family that I've got, um, to think that I'm failing my family because I can't my business isn't providing for my family the way I want it to be, and just hearing from somebody who I hold you guys at a very, very high standard because you guys hold yourself to a high standard, and I like you guys have given so many nuggets of just life advice compared to like business. Obviously, you guys help with that a lot too. But hearing from somebody that my worth as a dad and who I am as a person isn't tied to anything with my business is was very much one of those eye-opening things that for me, because at that point, like I'm sure you remember, like I told you, I hadn't paid myself in in weeks, and we were barely scraping by paying all the bills and stuff like that. So then hear that my life isn't tied to a business that at that point was very much struggling and failing, was an enlightening moment for me just because, again, like you said, I brought it up here now. It's it's something that I truly hang my hat on just because, as much as if I don't have enough sales day or or the install doesn't go great or whatever it may be, I'm not tied to that forever. It's it's I can it I'm I'm not what the business is on a day-to-day basis, and that that is that meant a lot to me when you when you dropped that one on me.

SPEAKER_04 59:24

I appreciate that. You know, it's from the heart because, and I think a lot of people forget this, it's been so long since we did our own interviews on here, but I'm not your average bear in the sense that a lot of my drive for doing this comes from early business failure, not from early business success. There's enough coaches out there that did 10 million, 33 million, 180 bazillion dollars, whatever, right? Like, we know that this is about frequency resonance, and this is about real dudes doing real business shit and trying to get by. And in my opinion, and this is bias, of course, like that's the expression of me and my truest self is knowing what that place was like and wanting to literally end my life because of it, and that's not a feeling that I wish on anyone, even my worst enemies. So, one of the greatest gifts I think I can give probably those few sentences I told you, and and since seeing how it impacted you, I've made sure to remember it and say it more often, too, because quite often it's not snobby, it's not an intent to do anything else, but we're trying to look forward so much, sometimes we forget to just solve what's at our feet right now, and that's really important too.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:39

Yeah, and even sitting here thinking about that after we had that conversation, just sitting in the van, I've very teary-eyed, and just it's just one of those things where when you hear something that life-altering in the moment, you can at least for me, and even just thinking about it now, it gave me chills. But sitting in the van at that point, just you you feel it in your core, and you realize that it's it truly is the truth because it's like you said, failures happen all the time and it makes shapes who we are, but it doesn't define who I am as a person or a dad, and it never will.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:13

Absolutely. You know what I love about this business more than anything is when we define plan A, we also define plan B. And it's like, okay, what if this does work out is really important, and we have to aim for that and give ourselves permission. Guys need permission more than they need a plan sometimes, right? Donor, I think you're one of those people, man. We had some really heartfelt conversations, and we just kept unlocking you personally and giving you permission to try new things, and because you did it, you're in a vastly different place, doubling your last best revenue on track to maybe double your annual best revenue. You're doing so much good stuff just from the personal unlocks because your business is just a mirror of that. But the plan B side of this is like you're still that person, no matter what happens to this version of your business, no matter what happens financially. I believe that you know what, this could take you out for a few days. Man, you might even sulk for a week if things didn't go your way and you did get bad fortune or whatever happens, like things don't work out sometimes. In fact, most of the time they don't. We tend to defy odds in our group, but man, what is it? It's uh Simon Ben was just talking about it's like 80 fail in the first five years, and then the 80 fail in the next five years after that, too. The very select group that actually makes it through this. We're playing a numbers game here. So I love plan B and what we do because at the end of the day, I'm still a master electrician and I know how to serve. And to Connor's credit, like I know how to build some sweet options and spend time with people. In fact, in my plan B, I've got even more time to spend with them. So the market better look out because I'll be making some deep friends and filling some pockets at that point. It's just that simple. Plan B. Plan B. Okay, one more deep one for you, Connor. If we were talking to Shelby right now, your wife, instead of you, you did say Shelby's her name, right? Yep. What would Shelby say has changed about Connor and Bray Electric in the person and in the business? What would she tell us? Do you think?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:14

She ironically, the Tuesday night at the awards I talked about. She just in that was about a 40-minute drive there and a 40-minute drive home, and and in those drive times where don't have kids screaming in the backseat, so a little bit of quiet time to actually talk to one another, which doesn't happen super often. Just she expressed that she is so proud of the person that I've become to run the business where it is now, and she's so proud of the the fact that she expressed how proud she was, the fact that I was willing to put everything on the line for our very new family to give us a better future. And when things were really bad earlier this winter, it was she expressed, well, I trust, I trust you back then to make the decisions, to do the right thing, and I trust you to continue to make the right decisions. She's expressed that she knows she can see how confident I am on what I do on a day-to-day basis, that I'm not afraid of going and meeting people and giving them these crazy ideas of how I can serve them and all sorts of things like that. Like she's expressed that while the person I was a year ago was a really awesome person and a great dad, the the type of person that I am now where I'm home at 4 p.m. most days, and I'm I have the battery to give to my kids, and I I have all these things that I didn't have back then. She's she's expressed how appreciative she is that I am that person for our family, and and she's she's made that abundantly clear, especially in the last few weeks and months of of that, seeing the the changes that I've gone through even since so January, February, March being those bad months, we're getting into these good months now and trying to sustain that good to continue the the things that we I've been able to give to my family.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:14

Incredible. You know, that sounds almost like receiving a medal of honor because for your wife to have said that many positive things, and I can hear it in your conviction that it's really what she's thinking, like very few people get that level of support, but even fewer get to actually hear the verbalized support as well. It's one thing to have someone's back, but then to have them say it as well, maybe bless brothers.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:41

I count my blessings often, you guys, whether it be with uh my Shelby, who I've been with since I was a senior in high school, or or my two kids, or or so many different things in this world that I get the opportunity to enjoy and and just count my blessings often because I I've Feel very lucky all the time to live the life that I'm living.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:04

Really good. Really good, man. You hear the grace, and uh, we know you mean it. I want to give you some grace actually and thank you for an unlock. Uh, I don't know if you know this, but the service surge program that we brought you into was actually a bit of a temporary relief of a problem for us. Our problem has always been and it's been growing as we've been going because we keep learning from giants and sharing it with everyone on their way up, right? And so it's always been like we have too much, too quick. It's all that content you were talking about that anyone just comes in and you start to learn it, but it's like, well, how do you stay focused? When you come into an ecosystem that's got over 250 specific videos to help you with specific areas of your business separated in five different sections now. Like when we started, it was a tenth of that, it was like 25. And before that, it was just PDFs, brother. We used to have to, you know, we'd teach it in class to get you video uh on this and role play with you. And so why I'm thanking you is because during that time you were one of the first clients to go through that program, and I personally saw to it to spend you know the one-to-one weekly time with you in those onboarding calls for those three months, very close to the whole time of it. I think we probably did 12 weeks straight together.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:24

Yeah, very close to that. There were a few weeks that we stretched a little, but not much other than that.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:29

And for me, that was a big investment, but it was also a realization, and there's a risk there because at the same time, we're doing that with other people as well, and we never know who's truly gonna click and have this really excite them at the level that it did you. And at first, there were challenges, and so there was lots of lessons in that um for us, but ultimately at the end, seeing you emotional, knowing what you accomplished, having your biggest months ever at the end of those three months, that game plan session that we did helped unlock me and and overcome a personal limitation that I had going on, which was I can only bring so many people in, and this is a problem because this just worked so well for someone that others need to know, they need to have access to this. But my personal time is limited. We've always thought about cohort model, we've always thought about a group model and bringing people in and giving them all those lessons at the same time. But inside of me, I didn't think I could do it. I didn't think I could get 10 or 15 people to buy it all at once and do it all at the same time. There were just little personal limiting factors, but it's actually your story um that really inspired me to say, you know what? No, screw all that. We're gonna try. And if only one person shows up, then hopefully it's another Connor. Hopefully, it's another person that goes out and takes big action and they'll receive the benefit of that one-to-one again. Um, but that's not what happened. 11 people showed up, and then 15. And now I think we're at 12 again. And the wins we're seeing in these rooms, Connor. I mean, these people owe that to you. And we call it alpha and Bravo groups, and then we go back and forth. So the first alpha group, as of Simon Ben's podcast just a couple weeks ago, they have over $553,000 in reported wins because of your breakthroughs, man. You inspired that. So thank you. Thank you sincerely. In fact, I'd love to have you on a night school if you want to do a teach down and come and share your story.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:29

Yeah, I'd be more than happy to do that. And it's um, I I said it before we jumped on the call, and I I'll say it again. I thank you guys for for everything. It's uh whether it be the teaching or the the heart to heart calls, it's this is uh a program that a lot of people I'm sure a lot of people, like you said, there's all those coaches that make all those millions of dollars, whatever. It's it's the difference of being in a group for electricians, by electricians who care about the people that you're with. The the everything that you get when you're on the calls during the week and all sorts of different things is something that just isn't out there for people like us. And it's like truly thank you guys for giving me the con the confidence to just be or to push me and be confident, and and like our call last week, last week Friday, it's uh maybe the swift little the little extra push in the back to continue pushing yourself, pushing myself to be uncomfortable, to to continue forward that you don't get anywhere else. And I I I don't know if anywhere else you get you can get it. So I just thank you guys for wanting me, making me want to be better than I was six months ago.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:43

All right, so man. We couldn't have asked for someone better to work with.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:47

Absolutely. Listen, guys, if you're listening to this, uh, and this moved you in some way, somehow got you inspired to do something different, please leave us a review. Comment below if you're on YouTube, hit the subscribe button because uh the more that happens, the more we stay committed to bringing more guys like Connor and sharing their stories and just what's working for them. Honestly, uh, you're just gonna keep seeing it, guys. So thank you so much, Connor. Thank you so much, man, for sharing your story. Uh, truly touching. We're super proud of you. Is there anything else you want to uh say before we go today?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:18

No, I got nothing else for you guys. Just thank you guys for having me on again. It's uh it's been uh it's been a fun chat. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:26

The honor is open. Sorry, Joe, go ahead. No, it's just simply saying the honor is ours. I really, you know, it's a blessing working with people like yourself. And honestly, I'm lucky. I get to work with my best friend every single day. You know, not everyone has that opportunity either, you know. So between working with Clay and clients like yourself, I'm a happy man. Love that.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:44

If someone's truly moved by you and your story, Connor, is there a way that they could reach out, say hello to you, and ask a question if they had one?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:51

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm on Facebook and all sorts of stuff like that. And if you you Google the business and get that phone number, you can always reach out. And most of the time I'm answering the phone right now, but with uh the job ad being posted, that might not be going on too much longer here. So uh if you need ever, I always say it's people and some of the other tradesmen that I've met. If you ever need somebody to talk to, just to even talk, because it's uh can be a lonely world riding around in your van by yourself. I'm I'm always the guy that's willing to talk to you no matter what's going on.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:20

Love that about you, man. Okay, guys, we'll see you again next week. Thanks, Connor. Thanks, Joseph. Cheers. Be blessed, friends.