From High Performing Tech to Small-Market Entrepreneur | Podcast Ep. 72 | Toolbox for the Trades

Russell Furr, owner at Culpepper Home Services. Welcome to the Toolbox for the trades.

Hey, thanks for having me.

I am so psyched to talk with you today. You've been a guest on the webinar before. You and I actually talked way back when, when I first. First started doing content for Service Titan. Really excited to chat with you today and all about your small market domination theory and theme that you've led your business. But before we even go there, I'm going to start this podcast the way I do every single one. How did you get into the trades?

How did I get into the trades? That's kind of interesting. So I quit high school when I was 16 because I couldn't stay out of trouble and I couldn't pass anything. So I kept telling my mom, just let me go to work, let me go to work. I was just ready to go to work. So I finally reached a breaking point. She let me just go to work. I got my ged, went into landscaping. I was this landscaper helper, and I was living in Stafford and commuting to Northern Virginia at 16 years old and this old rickety Mustang that was driving a freight train. And I did that for like, I don't know, handful of months, six months or so maybe. And then a buddy of mine, actually, he had gotten out of school, like, two years ahead of me, so he had already graduated and he was. Already had a job working as a plumber's helper in Alexandria. And we were good friends, you know, and he was like, hey, we got this opening up here. You should think about, you know, coming up, taking advantage of it. And I was like, hey, man, let's do it, you know, so that's kind of how it happened. And that was in May of 1999.

May of 1999. You're what, 16, 17 years old, and you just were like, I just want to get to work. And you got a plumbing assistant opportunity.

Yep, I was 17 at that point. Yeah, I was 17 at that point.

Nice. And how did you tell me about the progression from assistant to owner? Where you're at today?

That's a long road. Um.

Take me down it. Take me down it, Russell.

Um, so, you know, started off this old school company that's been around since like 1947 called Kesterson Plumbing. They're right there in Old Town Alexandria. I. It was all old school dudes, man. They'd all been around, you know, with the company for like 20 years. And it was only a handful of guys, probably six or Maybe eight guys. We had this underground division where they did a bunch of digs. They were doing sewers and water services all the time and breaking up floors. And there's old houses up there. So that's where I started off. I started off in the trenches, you know, on the sewer crew, digging sewers, breaking up floors, humping heavy buckets of, you know, concrete and gravel and that sort of thing. And then from there, did that for a handful of months, you know, six, eight months or so. And then from there, I went off into being a. I went off into, like the remodel kind of side of the company to be a helper there, you know. So I also have one job all day long, you know, drilling holes through joists and, you know, carrying pipe and this sort of thing, like that running pipe eventually and that sort of thing. But it really wasn't my thing. I had kind of dabbled in service along the way, too, and I like service a lot better. So after I spent a little bit of time there, I don't think I was very good at that either, by the way. I think that. I think the guys kind of like. I think they kind of like, gladly gave me up. Like, this dude kind of sucks. I'll, you know, put him over in service or something. So I think that. I think that may have been kind of how it happened. I don't remember. But, you know, then I got into service, and I just love service, man. I love working with the customers, and I love kind of going in, you know, multiple jobs per day and kind of always be on the go. That kind of fit my style, you know, a lot more. And I learned from guys that they would actually let the helpers do all the work, you know, which was cool because I got hands on training, and I was always very eager, like, hey, let me do it, let me do it, let me do it. So, you know, all in all, that whole period was probably like, man, I was less than a year. I mean, I was running service calls on my own pretty quickly, and it was like, here, here's calls. Go hop in the truck, and, you know, and off you go. So, you know, it was like, you know, trial by fire in a sense. You know, just hear some calls, there's a truck, and go run them. But back in that day, it was before. It was before Google Reviews was before anything was digital. And it was. It was just a much different world back in those days, you know, so it's not like you could go send a green apprentice to fix a toilet that he screws up and you get a one star, you know? You know, it's like, you know, they call up and complain. And back in those days, the ownership was like, oh, go screw yourself, you know, because it didn't matter at that point. There was no. There was no. Like, there was no Google. There was no kind of way for anyone to really talk to anyone. You know, you could talk to your neighbors, but how far is that going to go? You know? So just the whole. Just the whole kind of scene was way different back then, man. It was like it wasn't about customer service at all. It was about. It was about who's the best technician in a sense where customer service was not even an element to consider back then. So it was kind of interesting. So worked there for a little while and then kind of hopped around a few different companies kind of doing some different things. I worked for a company at this point. I was a service mechanic. Worked for a company that did home warranty work. So I got to dabble into that, you know, saw what a, you know, joke that was. Basically did that for probably a couple years maybe, you know, and then. And then the company's always, like, on the verge of going out of business and this and that, you know, and you can't use vendors sometimes, and your gas card doesn't work sometimes. And like, you know, it's an employee. You don't put that. You don't put those things together. But that's kind of like what that was like. And then 2008 happened, you know, the, you know, like the housing crash, whatever, the economic downturn. And then at that point, you know, I was like, I need to get my master's license. I've been in it for about 10 years at this point. So in Virginia, if you have 10 years in the trade, it makes you eligible to take the master exam and just bypass everything else. And that takes me back to another thing. Early in my career at that first company, they put me in plumbing school, which school is not my thing. I think we've established that already. I think I spent about a month in this. I think I spent about a month in this plumbing school and quit. I was like, this isn't for me, man. You know, so. And then Fast forward to 2008, 2009, I got my 10 years in. I got my. I got my master plumbing license. I got approved for the exam. I took the test, passed it on the first try. And at that point, I was a master plumber. I was like, sweet, you know, so Then I kind of good work for another company. It was actually McCarthy Services in Springfield, Virginia. They had just kind of sold out to Ars and there was a lot of changes going on and they like cut the payroll bad. And I was on commission and I went from making really great money to like making like zero, it seemed like. So that that went sour. And none of that was really handled all that well. I didn't feel like, you know, and then just. And then I went back to being paid hourly. I was like, screw this commission thing, dude. I just had this bad taste in my mouth about commission. So I went back to hourly, spent maybe like a year there. And what happened to me on hourly is, see, I've always been a producer. I've always been the guy. Back in the day when it was about running calls, I was running eight, 10 calls a day while everyone else is doing four to six. I was the producer. Then when I went on commission, I was like, wow, dude, I can really make a lot of money. The better I take care of the customer's needs, the more money I make. And that's what was cool about commission, you know, I was really motivated to toy. Serve the customer's needs, you know, in a different way that I never experienced before. But then that went south and then I went back to an hourly structure because I was so sour about commission. And it was interesting. It's like, you know, once you have guaranteed money, you lose a lot of motivation, you know. Yeah, it's like. And it happened to me too. It's like, well, why am I going to do all this extra work when I still get paid either way? You know what I mean? So I. I got to experience that. And then right around that time, I actually went through a divorce. So this is about 2013. Freaking lost everything, man. Like lost everything overnight. It was horrible. I had to move back with my mom, you know, and I'd spent 15 years at that point kind of getting to where I was, you know, and just lost everything overnight. And then. And then I met my current wife about two months later. She was living like an hour south of Charlottesville, which was like three hours away. Right? So, yeah. So. And actually I was driving down there and then staying down there and then driving in Northern Virginia, and then I got a job down in that area so I could, you know, be closer to where I was living at the time, you know, so. So I'm working down there and I mean, down there in that area, there's no, like premier type companies, you know, there's Not a company out there that really, it was a good fit for me in a sense, like I needed to really be in that, like Northern Virginia metro DC market to find a company that could really excel at. And after I kind of felt that situation through actually, it's funny, I actually moved out from my girlfriend at the time, moved back in with my mom so I could work in Northern Virginia because I was only making like 20 bucks an hour down there. And it was like a joke. I'm like in the middle of this divorce, this horrible divorce. All my money's going to child support. It was horrible. I got nothing. I worked all my life. I got basically plumbing tools and a bag of clothes in a sense. And then so I moved back in with my mom so I can get back in Northern Virginia. And that's when I worked for my first nexstar company. And it was really, really eye opening. It was amazing. It was a really, really great experience being at that company. I didn't think I'd ever leave. And then at that point, my girlfriend at the time, I was like, well, we don't want to break up or whatever. So what happened was I was like, well, what about Culpepper? Culpepper is a town that one of my coworkers lives in and he works up here in Northern Virginia. And when you look at the map, it's like halfway between Northern Virginia and Charlottesville, where my girlfriend at the time, wife, now where she was working. And I was like, let's go check out Charlottesville. Maybe we can get a house there and kind of like settle down there. So we did and we go to Charlotte's Culpepper. We're looking around and you know, we find a house and you know, we move in, we move to Culpepper. So. And then we move back in together and now we kind of start rebuilding our lives, you know, in a sense. And then I worked for that next door company for like three more years after that. And then, you know, I was. I'm always like trying to get higher in life, you know, I'm always trying to see, you know, get to the top, you know, so I'm trying to get to the top, trying to get to the top. But this philosophy existed in this company that technicians can't be managers, you know, and for whatever reason, for whatever reason, I don't know, that's a whole rabbit hole I could go down too. But so that philosophy existed, you know, held back a guy like me, you know, I was able to kind of Move up the ladder and go into a H Vac sales position. Because, you know, being a top producer, I know how to serve customers and take care of customers. So, you know, a transition from a technician to a sales role was kind of like a, like a natural sort of progression. So that's what I did. And I did that for about a year and, and it was. I mean, I didn't know anything about H Vac. I've been a plumber my whole entire life, you know, So I went into that, taught myself everything I need to know about H Vac or, you know, enough, enough to kind of get going. They sent me to training and that sort of thing. And being in H Vac sales is a major, major commitment. It's a lot different to being a technician because being a top producer, you know, I could, I could like, call my own shots in a sense. And I was a great employee. I follow every process, everything to the team. And I was like, I would love to have a bunch of guys like me because not only did I produce, but, but I followed the processes and every, Everything they set out, man, I just did to a team. And I was like, I was so happy. I loved, I loved working there and I loved excelling and I loved, and I loved the recognition I would get. I mean, you know, there'd be a contest for whoever can sell the most memberships and I'd below everyone. I'd have three times as many as everyone else. Like, you give me a goal, man, and I crush it, you know. So that's how that was. So I went into the H Vac sales, spent about a year there, and at the end of the day, I made pretty much the same money as I made in the plumbing truck. And I was like, well, why am I putting in all this extra effort, all these extra hours working all these Saturdays and doing all this and doing all that and hanging around till 5 o' clock when this customer, customer can only be home to bid their four systems and then they're just going to shop it around. And I was like, I may as well go back in the plumbing truck, make the same money and be off by 2 o' clock every day, you know what I mean? So that's what I did. Like the first, like the fourth quarter that year, I went back into the plumbing truck. And then after the year concluded, I was like, this just ain't working, man. This isn't working. Like, you know. And at that point I remember laying in bed at night and it was probably like, I don't know, I'd got my W, I'd gotten my W2. Like, I know I knew how much money I made, but when I got the W2, it really solidified. Like, yeah, this, this isn't working. I got to do something else, you know. And I remember laying in bed and there's like, Culpepper Home Services was just rolling around in my head. Culpepper Home Services, call services, you know, And I was like, this is what I got to do, you know. So I incorporated. Leaving the company was very, very hard. Like, it took like, we had a lot of meetings and it was almost like a divorce, man. It was really, really hard because we both loved each other. I loved the company. It was. I never planned on going anywhere, but it's just. It's just what had to happen, you know, for me to take that next step in my life. So 2018, February 2018 is when I started the Culpepper Home Services from nothing. I had nothing. I was broke, you know, I mean, I didn't have anything. And that's how I started it.

Thank you so much. You completely answered my next question, which is going to be when did you get your entrepreneurial seizure? And it sounds like it visited you in a dream, essentially. But the kind of big picture things I got from that really detailed history, which I so appreciate, is you're goal oriented, you need to keep growing, and you're basically a natural entrepreneur. So I think you made the right call, Russell, really. And I want to get into Culpepper. And you know, you kind of hinted at what I really want to talk about on today's episode, which is you kept seeing like in places like Culpepper, they didn't have those next star level companies. They didn't have like those real, really the kind of companies that you as a high performing tech wanted to go work at in these small markets. And when you opened Culpepper, you really saw an opportunity to create a phenomenal business in a small market. Is that correct?

That's absolutely correct. I was like, I need to create my kind of business that I would like to work at as a technician in this small market, because one doesn't exist.

Yeah. And you also mentioned housing costs and all of the other things that go into the benefits of being in that small market, which we'll touch upon shortly. But before we do, can you just give us a breakdown of Culpepper Home Services as it is today? Like, what kind of work do you guys do? How many techs and Locations do you have?

Yeah, so we just have a single location. I started in 2018, like I said, working out of my. Working out of my house. And like I said, I started it from nothing. And, you know, so I started the company with. With. With a few thousand dollars in the bank that I had from a tax return that I'd gotten. And, you know, I went out and bought a van and financed a van. I got the T shirts and I got the paper invoices from, you know, Staples or whatever it was, and I had some business cards made and just some basic stuff just to get going because, you know, didn't have any truck stock. I had an empty truck. And I was like, well, I'll just kind of build it as I go. And then I kind of just started off doing that. And what I started off doing was really just hammering Facebook because, you know, one thing about. One thing about Facebook is that I can, Like, I can. I can hammer my audience right now. Like, I don't have to wait for them to go looking for me. I can. I can tell them who I am right now by these strategies that I developed early on when I was really, really hammering Facebook to really get known. And that's how I got known. I didn't know anyone in this town. I just moved here, you know, and. But my goal was to provide amazing service to customers and to build this company that just had never existed here before. And the town just took to it, man. And I was really involved in the community, the chamber of commerce and kids, sports and all these cool things, because I wanted to be. I didn't want to be in the community. I wanted to be a part of the community. And that was my goal, was to start the company, to be a part of the community and to give back and just be a part of the community, like I was saying. And. And it's kind of funny, just some of the. Some of the trials and tribulations you go through as. As a new business owner. Like I said, I had my first job. So check this out. It's pretty interesting. My. The first day, my business is, quote, unquote, open, you know, whatever that means, you know, So I just quit my job. I got nothing to do. So, like, my phone rings, and I guess I got a business, right? And. And so my phone rings, and it's this. This is, you know, this guy that, you know, calling me, and he's like, hey, I want a tankless water. He's like, well, you want. This dude's calling me, wants to tankless water. You don't even know what to do right now, you know, it's like, I don't even know what to do. So. So I got him on the schedule, whatever, which was pretty open at that point. Now a lot going on. Let me check my schedule real quick. And so I got there the next day and I sell this tankless water heater and. And I think I sold it for like 3,500 bucks or something, you know, brand new business. And I was planning on. I was planning on cost being consistent with what I was used to seeing as a technician, right? Well, so I sold the tank of water here for like 3,600 bucks. He gave me like a. He gave me like a deposit. That's what it was. He gave me half down. So I had enough to get the materials, like, sweet. I got enough to buy the materials, you know, Well, I go. I go to the little Ferguson that was in town and this shit was like $2,500. I'm like, I'm like, why does it cost so much? And it's like, well, I didn't have an account set up. I didn't have any sort of, you know, special pricing or anything. It's like, well, dang, dude, you know, so it's like I almost went out of business before I even got in business. It was the craziest thing. So somehow I had this. I had this personal credit card. I put it all in this personal credit because I get. It's my only. It's only my only option. So I put it on this personal credit card and. And I went, you know, got everything and went, did the job and collected it. Half the money. It's like, you know, got. Got that one done and then, and then, and then shortly after that, maybe like a week after that, you know, I was. I was doing like a handful of calls today. It was pretty cool. I was doing like two, three calls a day right off the bat. So it's pretty neat. I didn't have a lot of downtime. I was only. I was only not working about one day a week. I was. Was pretty much, you know, off and running from the get go, which was pretty cool. And I knew how to price from the beginning, aside from that tankless water heater, of course. But, you know, and after about two weeks in, I had gotten a pricing kind of like where it needed to be as. As far as what I thought it needed to be. Still didn't have any cash because, you know, you're still. You still don't really have any money at this point. So, so I go to, I go to the Ferguson to get some truck stock and at this point I'd like to, I had, I filled out a credit app after that whole fiasco with the tankless water heater. I filled out the credit app with Ferguson and submitted it and yada, yada yada, they said they'd call me or whatever. I thought everything was good to go. So I go to the supply house to get some truck stock, you know, and I, and I put some stuff on the counter and you kind of walk around, grab whatever I thought I might need just to get me by, put it on the counter. You know, it's like 500 some dollars worth of stuff. And she's like, oh, your account wasn't approved. I'm like, my account wasn't approved. I'm like, well I don't got $500, you know. So I had to like just turn around and walk out, leave them all, leaving all my stuff laying there. Well, now what? I guess I gotta go sell more, you know. So that's kind of like, you know, the hurdles. And I would never tell my wife that because my wife was freaking out as it was, you know, basically I didn't have a job, you know, I didn't have a job basically. So she's freaking out as it was and I'm like, oh, everything's fine, everything's fine. You know. And I never, I never told her these things until later on. And now we laugh about it.

Oh my God.

That's kind of what it was. That's just kind of like what? And then I ordered these, order these, these T shirts from vistaprint and they were horrible. There was the ugliest darn things. They were too small that, you know, because you design them online. But then they come and it's like, that's not what I designed, you know, but I'm broke. What am I gonna do? You know, so I'm wearing these, these embarrassing shirts. It was a mess. It was a mess. But you know, I kept, I kept charging forward, man. And you know, that's kind of what the first handful of months was like. But now, now we're plumbing, electrical, H vac, you know, we're going to do 3.3 million this year, which is pretty cool. Double digit net profits, you know, so things are decent. You know, puts added six trucks to fleet this year and you know, and all that. And so yeah, that's kind of where things are now.

That's amazing. I just want to I want to, one, just applaud you for your candor, because I really think that when we talk about starting your own business, people are sometimes hesitant to share those really embarrassing stories. But that's how it all is, right? Like, whenever anyone does anything new, we always make those big mistakes like that. And I have a bunch of different examples in my personal life that I could give you or in my career where I did something very similar. Wait, my account wasn't approved? All right, guess I'm going. Thank you for being so honest. And, you know, 3.3 mil in 2018 when you started. So we got 2018, 2021, almost four years. And one of those years was a pandemic year. And you also just make sure everyone here knows you started plumbing only and now you're up to electrical and H vac, which is, I think, pretty commendable in just a handful of years. So why don't you tell me a little bit about how you quickly opened up to those different verticals within that short period of time. Because I imagine, you know, we're working in a small market, right? There's only so many people you can service. So naturally, the way that you expand is by offering more services. So can you tell me a little bit about the strategy you use to open up to those new verticals and how you were able to use that to achieve a pretty decent amount of growth in a small amount of time?

Yeah, so year one, I did, like, 390,000. I think it was, like, from February to the end of the year, whatever. So I did, like, 390,000, something like that. But I always had this vision of electrical and H Vac and everything under one roof, because, of course, we're in a small market, and a great company just doesn't exist here yet. So my goal was to bring it to the small market. So then 2019 was year two. I. I really. I really went all in, man. Like, I'm. I'm a guy where I just. I jump out the window, man, and I build my wings on the way down and hope it works. You know, it's like, you know, like, I was like, I need. I had this. I just had this vision, like, I need to be visible. You know, there's this. There's this kind of philosophy. It's like you don't suffer from, you know, when people think you don't have enough calls, it's just because not enough people know who you are. You know, you suffer from obscurity, you know, more. So. So with that philosophy, I was like, I need an office in a highly visible location. Everyone needs to know who I am. I'd already been hammering Facebook already kind of get my name out there. Like, I got to take the next step and be visible. I need an office like in the most visible location I can find. So at the end of 2018, I started looking for offices and great, you know, locations and, and there was this, you know, older building. It was like an old highs or something, a little convenience store or something. But you know, it's right on Main street and it was vacant. I was like, that would be a perfect, perfect little office, you know. So I pursued that at the end of 2018 and then, and then I found out I got it. You know, the guy accepted my application and everything. And we kind of negotiate on a price a little bit because I put some work into the place. So 2019, January is when I moved into the office. And I'm, it's just me and a helper at this point. I mean, it's like, you know, what am I going to do with this office? Well, now it's time to figure it out, you know, so, you know, I have some, you know, contacts in industry and whatnot. And a girl that I worked with at the Nexar company. Her name is Christy Jenkins and she's just really, really amazing. Like best customer service, you know, professional you'll ever meet. She was a perfect fit. Somehow she got on my radar as a, as an option. I found out she wasn't working up for the other company anymore. Now, like, well, you're hired. You're my girl. Like, you're coming in. So she started like in like February after, you know, all through January. I like redid the floors in the office and all this other stuff in between running calls, answering the phone and booking a call, you know, and all this other stuff. Like, it's just, it's constant. It's, you know, when you're a one man operation, it's just, it's constant. It never ends. You know, some redoing the office, setting something up for Christie to come in on, you know, in the start of February. So she comes in same time, same time. I was, since day one of being in business, I was, I was hammering two things, man, two real big goals. Number one, being nextar member, number two, to be on service titan. So I was blowing up nextar and I was blowing up service titan the whole first year. You know, I was even sending out, I was sending, I was sending messages on Facebook to the CEO of nexstar telling them I'm coming. Like, look, hey, you know, call Pepper Home Services, we're coming, man. Like, you know, make sure we're on the radar, you know, at the same time, I'm, I'm on the phone with the next star. I'm talking to Lisa White and I'm talking to Jamie and, and like, you know, let me in, let me in, let me in and say I'm doing the same thing to service Titan. You know, I'm calling them, you know, I didn't know the CEO, so I couldn't shoot him a message on Facebook. But I was calling their, you know, their number or whatever saying, hey, I need it, I need service. Type like, what's it going to take? They're like, oh, no. They wouldn't even talk to me at first. But after like the third or fourth time I called, like, look, I just need to know what's it cost so I can know what to plan for, you know what I mean? So they finally gave me like a price of what this thing cost. And it was like, you know, minimum of three texts at the time. And it was maybe like 1200 bucks a month or something like that. Like, I'm eating it. Like, sign me up, you know, I'll bill it in price and I'll be good to go. All that kind of commenced around February. Rolled out service Titan. The new office kind of opened up and then brought the first technician in towards the end of February. Real good dude. I worked with Jason Richard at the previous company, the Nexar company. He actually hired me. He was my service manager. He was the best guy you'll ever meet. Super awesome dude. He of course wasn't service manager at this point. He'd moved on to another company, was doing something else. But, but I really wanted him because number one, you got to have high character people and he's a high character guy. Had to have him. So I got him on board, bought a truck form, bought a brand new truck form, financed it, you know, like I said, I'm just, I'm just going all out, man. Pell to the metal, like. And I got hardly any money in the bank. And I remember laying, laying in bed at night, just wigging out, man. Like, oh my God. Like, just freaking out, man. Of course I'm not telling the wife any of this because she's freaking out worse than I am.

You know, you're just running on anxiety at this point.

Pretty much. Pretty much, man. And, and that was like February and then, and then I'M bringing my second technician in April, this other guy that I knew and handed my truck off to him. And that's when I came out of the field and then brought in another plumber. Maybe like July, ish, something like that. At the same time, around, around that summer, that 2019, I, I, I was approved to take the old master electrical test. And, and so I went and took the test, passed the first try, you know, read the book, but, you know, didn't really understand a whole lot of it. It was really like foreign concepts to me. But, you know, but my focus was to learn how to take, learn how to pass the test. Like, that was the thing. Don't really focus on learning the content, but just learn how to pass the test. So I passed the test. Electrical started 2019. I had a truck ready to go. Found a guy, found a technician. I'd already had the phone ringing for it because I had added the electrical services to my Google page. So the phone was already ringing for it for most of the year. And the CSR would just say, hey, we're not quite there yet. Call so and so across town, they'll take good care of you. So the phone's already ringing for it. So that's the key, is get your phone ringing for it first. Don't, don't put your truck, don't get your truck and your technician. And now try to get the phone ring. I'm. It's going to take forever, you know, not going to need to do, you know, get the phone ringing first, you know, farm him out to a guy across town. I'm not looking for a kickback or anything. It's not the way I roll, dude. You know, just take care of the customer. So I was like, September. And what's, what else is cool is that same summer I was, I hit up, I hit up John Conway. And John Conway is a big name in the industry and just a real guru man with H Vac businesses. So I hit him up and I knew him because he was my former employer's business coach. So I had a sort of quote unquote relationship with him, you could say, in a sense, I think we knew, I knew of him. I don't know if he knew of me or not. So I hit him up on Facebook because he was a nexstar business coach at the time. And he was like, hey, you should talk to Lisa White about letting you come to super meeting as a, as a VIP. I was like, well, that sounds amazing. This is 2019. I'm like, I'm like, yeah. So I. So I hit up Lisa White. Hey, John Conway says I should come as a vip, you know, and she's like, all right, let me get back to you. She's like, hey, okay, sounds good. You know, at this point, I'm at like 600,000 in revenue. Because they've been telling me the whole time, you gotta be at least 1.5 owners, gotta be out the truck. So I was gathering all this information and building my goals off of this information that I was gathering in terms of getting on service, titan, getting in nexstar. And that's what I was formed by, my goals around versus information I was gathering. So I knew I had to be out of the truck. That's why I got out in April and hired my second guy, the 1.5. I was on the way at the time. When they took me, I was 600,000 revenue. I think it was June or something. September comes, I launched the electrical division. We go to super meeting in San Antonio, Texas, 2019, as a VIP. And I remember Jack Tester was a CEO at the time of next. I remember him saying to me, he said he was looking down the roster of people that were. That were the VIPs, and he saw my name and he goes off, what's he doing here? He's signing up. Because that's what the VIPs are for. It's like, hey, come as a VIP and you're a prospective member and we'll kind of show you the ropes and yada, yada, yada, you know, some sign up, you know, some don't, whatever. But he said he saw my name. He's like, oh, you know, he's signing up. What's he doing here? You know, so of course I signed up. It was just an amazing experience, man. It was a really, really, really amazing experience. And to finally reach that goal was a big, big deal. And so I signed up for Naxstar in September of 2019. Then I started hammering on the H Vac division. I get approved to take the test, and I think I did it. I think I passed that test in January of 2020. I want to say at the end of 2019. At the end of 2019, I got my early, early 2020. I'd gotten test under my belt. Took that, of course, pass it on the first try. Couldn't pass a test in high school or middle or middle school or whatever, but I could pass these trade exams like it was nothing. I don't know why. But so. And then. And then I get The. So I got the H VAC license under my belt. Well, now I start, like, finding the guys and kind of like doing all the legwork and all the back end stuff and, you know, and all that sort of thing. So I'm like, interviewing and interviewing people, kind of figuring out who I want and this and that and, and. And then January. I'm sorry, December of 2020, I launched my H Vac division. And now here we are in November 2021. We've almost been doing it for a year, and it's. It's been a wild ride. I tell you that, man. Like, the first quarter of this year, I. I didn't have my people that I. That I was banking on having yet, you know, like, they weren't here. But. But it was, it was. I was living everything that everyone had ever warned me about by having an H VAC division. Like, I was living it. I mean, we had systems falling through ceilings, we had floods, we had, we had. We had customers with an. With a. Just a basic install going on for like seven days. Like, the. People have no heat all week. I mean, it was like. It was the craziest thing, like, on the planet, you know? And I had this one guy in my back pocket that I was banking on coming in. He's like this master installer. Like, master. Master. Master installer, right? And then he's like, hey, I'm coming on board. Probably. I don't know. I think he said like, April or something. And this was back earlier in 2020. We kind of plan on him coming in, you know. Well, all of a sudden, like. Like, I can't get a hold of him, you know, I'm like, dude, like, if I don't have this guy, my. My H Vac division is going to collapse. Like, like, I need the. I need the expertise. Like, I'm not an H Vac guy. I need the expertise. I need the expert, you know? And I'm. And I'm calling him and calling him and calling him these. And I'm texting him. I'm texting them, texting them. And. And he's just, he just won't returning to my calls. So I just started blowing them up, man. I'm like, like every day for like, like a month. I'm texting him, I'm texting him, like, I. I'm gonna get a response out of this guy, whether he's gonna tell me to go screw myself or he's gonna say, I'm coming on board. I need a response out of this Guy. Because, you know, because we're bleeding here, you know, Like, I need, you know. And then he finally hits me back. And I remember I was. It was like a Friday night. I was walking into this local restaurant, Grassroots, with my wife. It's one of her favorite restaurants. And. And. And I was like pulling my hair out at this point because it's been like, it'd been like six, eight weeks of this, man, you know, and then. And I'm like, his name is Bean. I'm like, I'm like, bean called. And like, I'm like, babe, Bean called. I'm talking to be. I'm talking to Bean. And of course, it's like, I can't, like, project that, you know, to be. I'm like, oh, yeah, Bean. What's up, dude? Yeah, hey, man, sounds good, you know. And on the back end, I'm talking, like, talking to Bean. I'm talking to Bean. Like, I couldn't believe it. I was like. I was at dinner, like, jumping for joy, you know. And then the Bean's on. Yeah, Beans on, man. Bean's my guy, man. Bean's my guy. Bean is like master master installer, man. Like, he knows his crap, dude, you know? And then. And then I got another guy Bean was working for who's another master installer, but just not quite the Beans level. Beans like. Beans like the best. The best, man. You don't get people out there better than Bean. So I got Bean. I got another guy that he was working with who he told me I had to get. So I got him. And then they helped me get a really top notch service guy. So that's my foundation of my H Vac crew right now. And everyone that was here in the beginning of the year, they're all gone because they just, you know, I just got the bottom of the barrel, was out there floating around or something, you know. But, man, it cost us a fortune going back. And, man, you know, I had this. I had this install coordinator that was like just not doing the job correctly and was like putting. Couldn't even match up equipment correctly. And when it's right in the books, like, you can't even read the numbers out of the book and order the right equipment. It's like the stuff was all mismatched. The guys that were putting it in was putting it in and attics, and it's falling through the ceiling and leaking everywhere. We got all this money going out with all these repairs, and now we're going out and switching out entire systems because that wasn't Done right. And it was crazy, but somehow we made it through. And Bean is my savior. He made it all happen. So. I love you, Bean.

Oh, my goodness. So much stuff to cover. There a couple things I just want to recap. One, you started advertising for services before you were officially open for them, correct. So you had a verified person you trusted in the electrical and H Vac division. So when you started advertising electric and H Vac for Culpepper, you were outsourcing them to another guy before you were ready to have the folks do the service in house. Correct?

Correct. Yep.

Cool. Oh, my goodness. Bean, I want you to know I was visioning Mr. Bean the entire time you were saying that story. I also need to note that you are incredibly persistent and you are a salesperson, Russell. Holy crap. All right, I remember where I wanted to go now. So we have Bean. We have this guy, Bean, also recommended. That's like, you must get this guy. Tell me a little bit about how Bean, now, in this small market in Culpepper, has actually helped you get really great technicians like Bean and why that is.

Yeah, so a guy like. A guy like Bean is highly desired, desirable in this industry. And, you know, he spent his whole career working up Northern Virginia. He lives in Fredericksburg, which is, you know, down south. It's the next town over, you know, and he, like all these other great technicians out there, they all go to Northern Virginia because they think that's where you got to go to make the money. But, you know, that was part of my strategy, was to prove that you don't have to do that. You can cut, you can come here to Culpepper Home Services, have a great place to work, make great money, and you don't have to fight traffic all day long. So that's kind of, you know, what we have to offer here to a great extent. And, you know, and Bain is a really respected guy in the industry, so he's got a lot of clout with other technicians and installers and that sort of thing. And. And he's got this. He's had some personal stuff going on at the time. That's why I couldn't get a hold of him, you know, And I've never asked him directly, but I'm going to. I'm going to ask him, like, what he was thinking during that time. And I was just blowing him up, you know, because I thought. I thought. I was like, I'm going to get a reaction out of this guy. It's going to be one. One way or another. But I'm going to get something out of him, you know.

Sure. So I mean, you mentioned already, like we peppered it in before how important reputation is as especially in the small market. So while you were having, you know, water heaters falling through attics or falling through floors or all of those things.

Falling through ceilings, air handlers, falling through ceilings.

Oh my goodness. And while you were having seven day installs of people who didn't have heat that entire time.

Crazy.

How are you keeping your reputation good? Because your reputation actually is really solid online. Like your Google, Google business, they're like four stars or something like that.

Yeah, five. But it just goes to show, just like I train my people here in house, it just goes to show people don't care about the install, they care about the experience they have with the company. So as long as you're, as long as you handle the customer like a professional. We came away with five star reviews. Even though the installs weren't up to par. The customer does not know any different, you know, in a sense that all they know is our heat works or this or when you're having trouble, you handle them in a professional way that made them happy and feel comforted. But I don't know how we maintain our reputation through that man. But it just goes back to my people and our in house training and just being able to maintain those customer relationships. It was really incredible.

Yeah. And that also speaks to your main goal, which was I wanted to deliver excellent customer service to a small market. So it sounds like being able to just have that be your main goal allowed you to make those mistakes early on but still come out with a really good reputation.

Yep, yep. It was a trying time for sure.

My goodness. And also there was, I don't know, you kind of like glossed over it, but there was a whole pandemic during that year that you just didn't even, you just didn't even talk about. You're like, yeah, it didn't happen.

It's fine, it didn't happen. And you know, we trained for it. You know, wear your mask, we'll do whatever the customer wants. You know, it's like I train my people. One of the other things we train on is you must appeal to your customer's perception of reality, you know, whatever that may be. If they think this thing over here is squeaky, you address whatever it is, whatever is squeaking, you know what I mean? Even if you don't hear that squeak, you figure out what the heck is squeaking. You got to figure out what the customer is hearing that squeak, you know, and that's what you need to address because as technicians get into a bad habit going, oh, there's nothing wrong with that, well, dig in a little bit deeper to find out exactly what the customer is experiencing, you know.

Yeah, I think that's really key. I mean, you mentioned the in house training that you do so that your tech skills can develop this empathy for the customer. Is there anything that you want to recommend to our audience in terms of, hey, this is how you should be doing it?

Well, like I said, you just, just, just, just appeal to their perception of reality, learn what they're experiencing and that's what you need to focus your efforts towards. You know, that's what I enjoyed being, you know, doing in the field so much, was just interacting with the customers and learning what their needs were and what they needed. And that's what I did is I served their needs, not mine. And that's what we always need to do, is we always need to appeal to your customer's perception of reality because it's going to be different than yours.

Yeah, I 100% agree. Another thing I really want to call out here is that you used becoming a nexstar member and getting service titan as these goal posts for you to grow your business. You know, I'm fascinated by how someone just starts a business and grows and I really appreciated the way you broke down those goals. Was that just something that you created for yourself or did you learn that strategy from someone else?

Well, number one, success is a blueprint. Just follow what everyone else is doing, but innovate and do it better. So what are these big companies doing? They're next our companies and their own service type. So that's where I need to be. You know, I experienced it myself with my former company. So, you know, experiencing that with my former company, you know, I knew that that's where I needed to be because what it did for me as a technician, I feel like all that stuff just kind of polished me up and really made me into a true professional. I felt like, I felt like all that just made me a true professional, you know, with the, with the, with the next r. The training and everything that they teach and then, you know, service titan, it was not anything I'd ever experienced before. I was like, this is, this is the way real companies operate, you know, So I knew that. I knew from day one those were the two things that I needed. And then I had to figure out what are their goals, what are, what are the Parameters I've got to meet to get there.

Yeah, I love that. I mean, one of my questions I was going to ask you is, you know, tell me about the challenges. But you've already told me about all the challenges. Like, you were so open with it, man. I love it. Obviously, you've done a tremendous amount of growth just in these four years. So my. One of my, you know, we're starting to wrap up here, but my big question for you is, like, what's next for Culpepper Home Services? What's the next thing you've got your eye on?

Well, we're gonna do 3.3 this year, and next year I need to do 6. So strategizing how I'm gonna get there, that's the big one. Good thing is I've got the capacity. I've got trucks. You know, I brought in a bunch of guys, bought a bunch of trucks. You know, most of the guys didn't work out. They just didn't, you know, fit the company, you could say, or whatever. But, you know, so I've got a handful of trucks that need filled, that need drivers, and there's the capacity right there. So, you know, that plus gaining more market share and outside markets. So I'm just kind of strategizing right now. Here we are at the end of 2021. So I'm strategizing for next year to figure out, you know, what do I need to do to get there. And I always set big goals that I fail at, because if I set my goal at 6 million and I get to 4.5 or I get to, that's a whole lot better had I set my goal at 4.5 or 5 and I got the 3, you know, so I always set the goals higher so that it gives me more to achieve and more, you know, it makes me work harder for it, basically.

Nice. Very cool. I'm the very opposite. I find hard to reach goals very discouraging. But you and I are not the same person. And that works for you, and that's super cool. I have a couple more questions I want to ask you, and again, just want to call out. I did very little talking on this interview, and those are honestly my favorite. So thank you for making my job super easy.

Easy today.

Is, you know, you are a top performing technician who had his entrepreneurial seizure and now is starting his own business and is working his butt off to make sure that it works. So I applaud you. I have a feeling that you have a really interesting answer to this question. Which is what's your most controversial opinion on the trades?

Controversial opinion on the trades? Well, you know, I kind of touched on it earlier where, you know, this, this kind of philosophy exists where technicians shouldn't be managers because, you know, in the way it was explained to me was that, you know, technicians, you know, like to build things and they like to do things with their hands and do this and see a result of their efforts and this and that, which it's all total bs, man, you know, because there are some very, very, you know, people in high, high places in this industry that started out as technicians. So it's like you're trying to tell me that so and so can't be a manager and so and so can't be a manager and this other person can't be a manager. So it just. People need to stop listening to what they're told and see things with their eyes more.

I agree. And also stop think putting people in these like categorizations and maybe just start asking people like, hey, what do you want to do? Because I wonder if, you know, you mentioned that one Nextar company that you never thought you were going to leave. I wonder if they had actually given you the opportunity to be a manager, you probably would have stayed there.

Absolutely. All I was looking for is opportunity.

Yeah, yeah. Interesting, interesting takeaway to our bigger companies listening who are trying to make sure that their best techs don't leave. And I think for you it was, you needed more opportunity and a chance to grow for other people. It may be something else, but definitely talk to your folks and see what motivates them.

Absolutely, 100%. And you know, and if a guy is, you know, performing really well and he's a great employee, man, try to figure out a way for that guy to make the other people perform in the way that he is. That's what I wanted to do is I wanted to, I wanted to, I wanted to get everyone else doing what I was doing, you know, because I saw the bigger picture there. You know, it's about the company, it's not about me, it's about the company. And I felt like if I could have, you know, had some influence over, over the other technicians and got them performing more like I was performing, then it could have been a totally different company and I mean, who knows where things would have been.

Yeah, exactly. Is there anything we should have talked about that we didn't?

Geez, I don't know. We pretty much covered my whole entire 20 some year career.

I know, I really appreciate it. Russell, it was super entertaining for me. I have a couple rapid fire questions and then I'll let you go. Sound good?

Yeah, sure.

All right, first one, how do you take your coffee?

I'm kind of a coffee snob. So I have a. I have this amazing commercial espresso machine at home. It's a La Marzocco GS3. It's like this light duty commercial machine. I think it's awesome. And I can make a killer latte. Typically I make a Americano. Typically in the mornings, I'll just pull a couple shots and then it's got this cool little hot water dispenser. I can put like boiling water because it comes out of a steam boiler, right? So it's got the steam boiler and a brew boiler, and a steam boiler heats up to like, you know, whatever temperature it is and it comes out super, super hot. So, you know, and then I put that water in it. Then I top it off with half and half. Just straight half and half. I need a lot of it. Like, I need a lot of half and half of my coffee. So I don't do any sugars, no sweeteners, no flavorings, none of that stuff. I'm kind of a. A health snob at the same time as being a coffee snob. So I stay away from the sugars and stuff.

If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

I don't know. I don't know. Probably just some amazingly successful businessman. You know, I mean, there's a bunch of them out there. I could throw a dart at a handful of names and be happy with any of them.

Got it. What's the number one thing you're trying to learn more about right now?

Right now? Trying to learn more about, I think, investing in wealth building, because that's definitely a goal of mine. You know, I ultimately don't want to have to have a job. I mean, who wants to have a job? And if I can set myself up to not have a job, and you know, how amazing is that? I'll be sitting in the Caribbean and living a great life. So, you know, I'm just trying to figure out how to get there right now. Got it.

So speaking. This is actually a perfect segue into the next question. If money more than objects, you had unlimited resources, what's the first thing you would do?

Money was no object and was unlimited resources. What would I do? I don't know. Probably put a whole bunch of cash into my business and then hand it off to my leadership team and Go off to the Caribbean.

Caribbean is real nice. I like that as destination. All right, couple more. What podcast or book recommendations would you like to make to our audience?

A book that's really cool, man, that I read back in like 2013, I want to say 2014 maybe is 48 laws of power by Robert Greene. That's a really cool book, man, because he goes through like, basically like, like, like how to handle situations, but then he gives it like historical context in terms of like, historical events and things like that. It's just. It's just. It's just really neat. And you know, like one of the. One of the laws in there is, for instance, it's like protect your reputation with your life because it's all you have. And it just gives a historical context with some story that happened maybe in Roman times about, you know, which. Which illustrates that. That law. And it's just a neat book because by reading stuff like that, I don't know, it just gives you a different perspective on things and helps you develop as a person.

What's the number one thing every contractor should do to run a successful business?

Don't bill anybody. If you're billing people, you're doing something wrong. Work and collect. Work and collect. Cash flow Positive.

Awesome. Russell, thank you so much for this super entertaining interview and for your time. I wish you the best of luck, my friend, on the 6 million goal and I look forward to talking to you again soon.

Absolutely. Thank you. Thanks for having me.