#80: Jayson Waller’s Story: How an Underdog Became an Award Winning Entrepreneur

Come on this journey with me each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow.

I'm ready for my close up.

Hi, and welcome back. I am so excited that you are here with me today. It has been an intense week as everyone has been going through the roller coaster ride known as our presidential election. And yet again, uncertainty in what was gonna happen and now being told that there is a President elect Biden who has won the race and now knowing Trump is contesting that. So it's been definitely a volatile week. I mean, I guess that's really the norm though, ever since this pandemic has hit, is that volatility, change and uncertainty is the norm. So last night I was watching I'm so sick of politics, by the way. Just putting that out there. I'm sick of the ads, I'm sick of the fighting online. I'm sick of social media thinking they can take whatever random political post down that they feel like. I mean, the whole thing to me is nauseating and I'm over it. It's just, I don't like any of it. I just, I can't stand the negativity. Okay, so in my typical nature, last night when this all happened, I was looking at that Biden was going to come out and do an 8pm talk and I thought, you know what, I'm going to tune in and just hear how this goes. Even though I'm so sick of politics. Why do I do this? I have no idea. I'm a masochist, I guess. So I put it on and I'm watching. My son came out for maybe 30 seconds, was bored and left. Shocker. And I'm watching Kamala Harris first came out and then the next after her was Biden. And it was really wasn't that long. Here's what I took from it. I watched the entire thing and I thought to myself, what are the positives that I can take from this, knowing there's still fighting going on? You know, it's essentially half the country voted one way, half the country voted the other way. There's so much unrest, there's so much hostility, there's this division in the country. What can I see as good in this situation? You know, I try to challenge myself to find the opportunity or the good in most situations. I mean, sometimes it's very hard to do that. I find it hard to do that with the pandemic, but I'm trying. So in this political situation, I'm looking at it and I thought, you know, regardless of how you feel politically, it is exciting that never before have we seen a woman to win the vice president elect position. And that's new and exciting. And I thought, you know what? I think that's something that women can celebrate or equality in our country could celebrate or the world or whatever, right? So to me, I thought, okay, that's something we can look at as a win here. Okay? So I never post about politics because yet again, as I mentioned, I can't stand the fighting and the negativity and just in politics altogether, I literally, if I was a wealthy person, would run for office because I don't like any of the candidates. So I rate this on LinkedIn today. I put a post up and it said, this is not a political post, first and foremost. And I just put a picture of the American flag. This is not about politics. And I wanted to make that clear. I go on to say, it doesn't matter who you voted for. I'm hoping that everyone can take a moment to recognize how far women have come in our country. Growing up, the only boss I ever saw was older white men in blue pantsuits. And that's very true. When I was younger, in my 20s, there were no female bosses. I didn't know of any, never met any. I never worked for a female boss. When I became the boss, ultimately it felt very uncomfortable initially because I hadn't seen it modeled out before me, right? So for me, I was the first female boss I knew and that was weird. So when I won those positions and was elevated to those positions, I felt like I was reinventing the wheel again. I'm sure I'm not right. I never worked for any of those other well known female bosses that were out there. So to me, I was the first. I looked different, I dressed different, and I acted different than all of the bosses around me. I had never had a female boss before. So I had to create what that would look like in the C suite through my missteps, my errors, and my own decisions along the way. Now, in the highest office in our country, the world will see a woman in the role of vp. This means young women everywhere will get the chance to imagine themselves in that role. This is grounds for a celebration. Once you see it, it becomes possible. No matter who you are or what your dream, just go bigger. That was my pose. And to me, this is nonpartisan. I'm not talking about the Republicans or the Democrats. I wasn't talking. I didn't mention, you know, Kamala Harris. I didn't mention Biden, I didn't mention Trump. I wasn't making this about politics. To me, I'm looking at a political situation and trying to find the positive story in Whoop, error number 989. Heather Monahan. Okay, so I put this post up on LinkedIn and holy cow, did I get jumped on. Which is fine. You know, that's the beauty of our country. And I go back and I applaud that all the time, that thank goodness people can jump on and say, I disagree. You know, you make me sick. I don't like you, whatever. That's their opinion. But we live in a country where you are allowed to open, openly challenge anyone, disagree with anyone, regardless of if you're in the highest office in the world, it doesn't matter. We have freedom of speech. And that's amazing. Now, if you know me, my philosophy is I do not respond to haters because I've learned through trial and error, it basically gives them fuel to their fire. They constantly attack you and it accelerates the issue. So I just, I don't respond and they disappear. Today was different because people were attacking me, saying I was doing something malicious and I wasn't right. Usually people will attack me for stupid stuff that's just ridiculous and I laugh at it and I move on. But this one hit a little closer to home. And given the current environment that we're in, I just felt like I wanted to respond, which I never do. And then once I start, I can't help myself. I'm like a runaway train. Once I get on something, I'm like, so all these, you know, whatever, 150 comments are coming in, I'm starting to respond to all of them. Well, not all of them are negative, of course, just like in our world, right. Half of them are super positive and half are super negative. But I did respond to a lot of them because I wanted to clarify a few things. First, people were explaining things as to why they believe Kamala Harris is a horrible role model. And they were going on to say other females that I could have acknowledged in the Supreme Court that have been great role models, so on and so forth. So what I wanted to respond was that, number one, I don't know a lot about this woman, good, bad or indifferent. It's the facts, right? I don't live in California. She wasn't a part of my day to day life until really the last couple of weeks where I've been hearing a lot about her. I didn't know who the woman was. And it's interesting because I put that right out there. I was just honest about it. I said, you know, I really don't know much about her. However, this post is not about her. This post is really about a part of my life. I share that. I didn't have any role models of women in higher up positions and for me, I was the one stepping into those positions and stepping on landmines left and right because I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't have someone similar to me to mentor me. All my mentors were mentioned. All of the people that were helping me in my business career were men. In fact, the only female boss I ever had was the worst boss I ever had. And it was for a very short window because she fired me. And I talk about that all the time on social, by the way. And this is so funny, it just goes to show, people are bombarded with so much messaging they either forget or don't see your messaging. Because a lot of people on my post today said that I'm so pro woman it's blinded me and that I'm unable to see clearly. And, and I thought, hello, have you never seen my TED Talk? Are you kidding me? But I guess, you know, again they don't see it or they forget about it. So. And people are, you know, they're in their own situation, looking through their own lens. So people attack me for that, that I'm too pro woman and they feel bad for my son. I thought that was funny. And then people went on to say that the way she made it to the top was by sleeping. I guess there's some, there's some hashtag heelsapharis I think was the hashtag I read about and saying that she slept her way to the top with some relationship with Brown. He was in his 60s, she was in her 20s. I mean I'm reading about all this stuff now, had never heard about any of this before. So people went on and on attacking me about this. Unfollowing you, this is in poor taste, Heather. Blah, blah, blah. So again, I spent a little bit of time reading about her today. Again, I don't believe anything I read in media because I just personally know having having been in the media industry for 15 years, so much of it's not true and especially now it's worse than ever. If you haven't seen Social Dilemma, go see it. It will rock your world. So you can't really believe what you read online anymore. So I don't Know what the truth is? All I can say is this, is that I'm willing to come up with my own decisions, my own opinions. I'm my own person. I'm not going to fall in line with what people tell me to do. I did that for a while in corporate America. It did not pay off. Right. It had the reverse effect. It chipped away at my confidence and ultimately left me in a worse situation. So I know that's not my answer. I also know people are entitled to their opinions and that's fine. I wish that they would do it without so much hostility. And I mean that from both sides. There were people that jumped, women that jumped on my posts saying that I wasn't standing up for her enough and then using swear words to attack me. I mean, crazy. If you could read this, it's crazy from every angle you see it or I think it is. And if you don't, I'd love to hear from you. I'd like to hear your opinion on it because I find it so interesting. But obviously it just. Politics in general is such a polarizing and anger filled topic right now that I guess I shouldn't be surprised by any of this. Am I really? No, I sort of am a little bit. I didn't. I certainly didn't intend it this way. So anyhow, this went on all morning and then finally just said, this is ridiculous. I've got to step away from the computer. This is getting me nowhere. I've made my point that I wasn't supporting Kamala. I wasn't making this about Kamala. I wasn't not supporting her. I don't know her. And that I just believe whatever the truths are. We'll all be able to have our opinions after we see more facts. Unless you're on the west coast, you're probably not exposed very much to this woman, right? That's sort of my experience. Now that I live in Florida, I'm exposed very much to our governor. Even just living on the East Coast, I get a lot of exposure in media to New York and other states on the east coast, but we don't hear much about the west coast. And I find that from traveling. Right. So when I would travel to LA for work, you wouldn't hear about the hurricane coming at Florida because you only hear about that geographical region often. So anyhow, I'm willing to wait and learn through my own experiences what my thoughts and opinions are by actions. Actions are really important to me. I will read more and learn more. And as history reveals itself, whatever Those facts are. I'm happy to immerse myself in them and learn about them. Obviously, I'll have my own opinions based on my morals, my values, my decisions. But I also know this. And I'm not making excuses for anyone, but I know that sometimes when we don't have all the information, but we're passionate about something, we can jump the gun. And that can be a mistake. Right. With your heart in the right place. I also know that people have, for example, and I'm making this up, but if somebody on that thread, maybe their wife cheated on them, and they think Kamala had an affair with someone, well, they're gonna feel more angry towards her, Right? Like, everyone has their own. And again, I'm not saying that that is the case, but I try to think through what could drive behavior. And I know for me, right now, we have a hurricane coming for us, so it's a little tense here. Last night we had really high winds. We have them again today. My son's school's canceled tomorrow, so it's really tense around here. So you just never know what external factors are impacting people in any moment. I know we're all living in this pandemic. We're all going through this very difficult. People are just tense, and people are lashing out. And, yeah, of course they're gonna lash out at all of us unless we hide, unless we're a vanilla, unless we don't raise our hand and put a post up. That's not me. You know, that was me for long enough, but that's not me now, and I'm not gonna apologize for it. And, sure, I make mistakes. I don't know if I support this woman or don't support her. I don't know her, right? So. But I'm open to learning more and experiencing more. And I hope that while you don't have to agree with me, I hope people can at least understand that, that I know that I don't have all the answers. I know it's very difficult to get fair, accurate truths online anymore. Media has completely distorted it. That is fact. Please believe me in that. I was in that business for 15 years. It is very hard to find truths in the media. It is opinionated. It is driven by big business. It is driven by endorsements. It is driven by so many things behind the scenes that people don't recognize. And please see the movie Social Dilemma. It's horrifying, yet true. Okay, I'm getting off of my soapbox because it bores me right now. Okay, so now back to you. And I want to talk about business for a minute in that, you know, as we're looking at the year's end, I start questioning myself in regards to is business where I want it to be? No, clearly it's not. You know, no one planned for the pandemic and no one planned for all of the changes that we are dealing with. However, we also know it's not changing anytime soon. So given that, how can I change my business? How can I grow my business under unknown circumstances, or at least the circumstances I know now and anticipating they're not improving and also anticipating from an economic standpoint, the economy could get much worse next year. So I've started challenging myself to think what does that look like for business? And for me that that means offering lower price point options. And I came up with that thinking about the potential situation with the economy. And I want you to think about this too. If the economy takes a turn for the worse in 21, how can you restructure? How can you change, evolve your business? Because we can always go after the top 1 to 3% of the population who they're going to have the revenue, they're going to have the finances for big purchases, big ticket purchases. But as that middle tier shrinks or becomes basically non existent, we need to find large audiences that we can serve with low price point opportunities. That's another way to drive big revenue. So I've been thinking about that as well as matching it up with the inquiries I get to my website or to my DMs or you know, my drift bot on my site I gain information from a lot of different places and, and one of the things that I've been learning is I offer a mid price point option for my group coaching and it's too much money for 95% of the people that inquire about it. That's information to help you set up and restructure your business model for next year. Right. So I'm gaining all this information from the inquiries I get and I started testing a few different things to see what that could look like for next year. And so basically what I've realized is I took two different business models. One is for the high 1 to 3% earners in our country who can pay high price point. I married it with that group coaching program which is really meant for the lower end, lower tier product, you know, something in hundreds, $200 a month, something around, you know, $99 a month, 1 99, 299, whatever. A lower tier product offering. And I married that with a high tier $10,000 a month product offering. And I combine the two models. So essentially what I did, I brought two business models, pulled them into one, offered a mid tier pricing. So the lower tier population, which is huge and scalable, they can't afford it. The higher tier could afford it, but they could also afford a lot more for really the important part of the offering. And so what I'm looking at doing now is breaking that business model apart to serve that high tier 1 to 3% with what they're interested in, also serve that lower tier product, the masses, you know, that can reach so many more people and help people with a challenge that they have that they couldn't previously access through me because the price point was out of their reach. So I've really been looking through this. I challenge you to look through this too, in thinking about your business model for 2021. If the economy is going to have a more challenging year, if things are going to not look as good as they currently do and get worse, how can you serve the masses with a product or offering that's more affordable to them instead of out of their reach? There are problems out there that we can solve. How can we make it affordable? And it takes me back to the wine days when I worked for the Gala Winery. That business was built on this product that they had called Carlo Rossi, I'll never forget. And I think the margins on it were like 30 cents or 50 cents a bottle. It was so low. But when you sell 50 million bottles or 50 million cases a year, whatever it was, suddenly that's volume and revenue, right? So they would have this really high tier, high price point product offering which was, let's make it up $400 a bottle of wine. And then they'd have this other jug wine that was $3 a bottle, but they made more total gross revenue off the Carlo Rossi that cost $3 instead of off the bottles of wine that cost 500 because only a few people could buy that. So take a look at your business model, take a look at your product offering and see are you able to serve both ends of the spectrum, which would be the better use of your time? Can you do both? And maybe you can even do a mid tier. I just don't think for me that I have the bandwidth to offer all three. But these are the things that I'm looking at preparing for next year. I'm challenging you to do the same. I' excited to hear what you think and please let me know because gosh knows I'm trying to figure it out on my own. But I want you to hold tight because you are about to meet a new friend of mine who I'm really excited for you to meet because you are going to love his story. Hold tight. We'll be right back. Meet a different guest each week. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so excited to introduce you to my new friend Jason. He is a founder of Power Home Solar, three time Entrepreneur of the Year winner, and he's got this amazing new podcast that I was actually just a guest on. It's the True Underdog podcast. Thank you for being here.

Hey, thanks for having me. And the weather's better here than where I'm usually at.

Oh, my gosh. And you flew in. I'm so excited to actually be seeing a human being in person. This is really exciting.

Great. Covid's happening. But we're here in the studio doing the podcast. Isn't that great?

It really. It is so great. It's so nice. So take us back. Right now you are at the top of the world. I mean literally. Three time Entrepreneur of the Year winner. I'm so jealous. You started from nothing, so you need to take me back to started at the bottom and now you're here. How did that happen?

Well, my parents are blue collar parents. I mean, you know, most of us have that story. Our parents work hard. We kind of learn from them. But my dad stayed with AT and T til he could retire. And my mom worked at bakeries decorating cakes. And we moved. We grew up in Arizona. We didn't have, I wouldn't say we were poor, but we were less than middle class. Right. My parents had to work two jobs. We struggled. When we moved to North Carolina in 94, I was going to be a freshman, so I had to start a new high school.

That's hard.

It is hard. And I was very upset. I was like, why are we leaving Arizona? You know, that's what I was used to. That's where I grew up. And it was a whole different culture there compared to what I was used to. And when we moved in and you know, in Arizona, people really didn't judge you on at least where I went to school because maybe we were a little less than middle class. There was no measurement of what do you have, what don't you have? And when I moved to North Carolina, my dad bought a trailer, a double wide. And we lived in a trailer park in Arizona. I don't think I would have been judged, but going to school and trying to make friends are like, where do you live? I'm like, oh, I'm in Southbrook. They're like, oh, the trailer park. I'm like, yeah. They're like, oh. It was kind of that feeling in school where a lot of judgment was going on that had to stink. Oh, yeah, it hurts your feelings because you're like, it ain't my fault. Like, I live there. I mean, I'm still a person, right? So the other thing was, did you feel ashamed? I was never ashamed. I just felt less than. And I never got upset and made excuses, but I was like, you know, that's not gonna defy me. I'm used to. In Arizona, people were popular because of who they knew or how fun they could be or how tough they were, not how much money they had. And in North Carolina, when I first moved there in 94, in going into the year 94, 95, it was always a measuring stick. As late as when I left in 2018 and moved to Michigan, it was still in neighborhoods I lived in. A measuring stick. And that's not a shot at North Carolina. It's. My kids are from there, my wife's from there. But the Southern hospitality thing's kind of BS because it's really. Some of the people that grew up there maybe, but most of the people from the north made a little bit of money and now they think their shit doesn't stink and they want to look down on people. And I felt that in high school, and I would help my dad pay bills because he would deliver papers at night and he'd be like, hey, I need. I need help. So I would do that from midnight to three in the morning, still go to school. And so that lasted, I don't know, maybe eight, nine months, helping them do that. And then, you know, I ended up getting in fights at school and I ended up getting kicked out of school. And I had to go to part time school, you know, day and night to try to get a diploma. And then I got, you know, my girlfriend pregnant. And so.

Holy.

Yeah.

So it was in your mind back then, were you thinking, like, this is it. This is just what life is and this is the path I'm on.

And, you know, some of my friends and my family would say that even when I was 14 and 15, I always had this goal of like, I want to own a business, I want to do my own thing. I want to drive around in a Winnebago and travel the world and not care. Right now my theory is I want a Yacht and I want to float the islands and not care. So it's changed a little bit. But I had that vision and I watched my dad stay in a blue collar, corporate America type job. Well, I wouldn't say it was corporate America. It was a big company at AT&T. But he was blue collar, working in the Bill Print center and, you know, just struggling to live week to week. And I watched him miss an opportunity to open a business with a friend because he wanted to do what was safe. And so in the back of my mind, I was like, I. I never want to do that. I don't want to miss my opportunity. I don't want to live like, you know, when I'm in high school like this. And now that I'm having, you know, a daughter, I don't want her to live like that. So it was kind of an extra, you know, ignition switch there. And my wife's family at the time, they don't now, but they used to judge me. Oh, he lives in a trailer park. Why are you with him? Why this? Why that? So there was a lot of that I had to overcome and deal with. And I just, I would use layers of people saying stuff and feeling less than as motivation of how can I outdo this? And the best revenge is really just, you know, success. Yeah, yeah. You succeeding and you don't have to say anything. And then you turn haters to followers.

Loudly freak. When I got fired from corporate America and. And I was mortified. I remember thinking that in my low moments. Hang on. They're gonna have to just watch what I am about to do. So get ready. It is a major punch in the face.

I love, you know, Terrell Owens comment. And I am not a conceited person. People that know me, I'm more humble than it may seem. Right. But I love what Tio says. I love me some. Me get some popcorn right. That's how I feel. You're gonna doubt. You're gonna tell me I can't. You're gonna tell me I won't. You're gonna put borders on me and control me. That's not gonna happen. Get your popcorn ready. I love me some mi. I'm go. You're going to have to watch. So that was kind of my mentality. And I got jobs. I got lucky. I got jobs I wasn't supposed to have because I was good at making resumes that were bullshit and I was good on a computer. So I would make resumes that showed I had a college education. This is back.

You really didn't go to school.

But I didn't, right?

Yeah.

I didn't even finish traditional high school. But. And I was 19, but I had a fake ID. It said I was 22. And for everybody listening, don't do this, you can't do this stuff now. But 97, 98, 99, you could pull this stuff off. Internet just came out. For them to find out if you had a college degree, they had to, they had to call somebody. And I remember getting a job at First Union, which was a bank. I should have never had that job, but I was doing sales before some telemarketing sales in and out of high school. And I was really good at sales and I had a knack for talking to people and being passionate about things. So when I went in there, I applied for it. It said, you know, you need a two year degree. So I fibbed and said I had a two year degree from UNCC Charlotte. And I said my, I was two years older than I was because I was 19 at the time. Said I was 21 and got the job. And I'm in training. And in the first week of training they have us on the phones and they have us transferring and coaching customers on, hey, you've got all this money in the savings account, let's get you a money market, let's do this. And so you would get referral fees or credits or towards sales. I was blowing not only everyone out in training, but everyone on the floor. So I was ahead of everybody already in like two weeks. Then HR pulls me to the side and is like, hey, we have a question. We called, you know, the college.

No.

Yes. And they couldn't find your degree. No. Yes.

Like, what is the chance of that actually happening?

Oh gosh, I remember the pit in my stomach. I was like, oh my goodness, yes. And it hurt my feelings because I would have never told a bold faced lie. But I was in the position of like, I deserve this job. I'm as good as them. Why should I be constricted of not having the job? Because I didn't go to college. I have more sales experience than a lot of these bozos that are getting the job. Job. They just went to college. That doesn't make them better. So I took it in my own hands, which was probably, I wouldn't advise it now, but I, at that time it was, it was easy. And I went in there and I'm like, oh, so did you look up William Waller for the degree or Jason Waller? And then they said, we looked up Jason Waller. I said, oh, no, no, it's William Waller, because I'm William. Jason. So they're like, oh, okay. So it bought me some time and my stomach fell apart. Then I was on the floor and I worked for a guy named John Kinley. He was my sales manager, and I was number one by far. They handed me an award. Here I am getting an award two days after I get the award for top salesperson, first week out. I've already blown everyone out through training and on. He's like, hey, we need to talk. And I'm like, oh, boy. And he's like, I need you to be honest with me. HR called. They can't, like, did you go to college, dude? And I was like, I got. I just got to shoot him straight. And I was like, no. And he's like, why would you lie? And I said, because you guys wouldn't have hired me. You guys wouldn't hire. They accept they need a two year degree to do this. It's bullshit. I said, you just won an award. And I just won an award because I'm on your team. And he's like, you're right. He's like, but, dude, you can't just do me a favor. Don't lie anymore. Da, da, da. Like, I'm good. I'm good. But that job, that experience, me taking a chance and not taking no for an answer and doing that allowed me then to get other jobs or, you know, I worked at Verizon Wireless and was one of their top, you know, business account manager, selling, you know, PDAs and Blackberries. Before they were cooled, I was having to meet with corporate executives and go, look, this landline, fax machine stuff that's gone. Like, you're going to use this. No, I'm not. Yes, you are. And I would have to show them and sell them on. That's why this is going to be important, to make you, you know, profit more efficient. And, you know, I would sell a bunch of those guys. I was one of their top people until I opened up my first business. But all of these little layers of being told you can't and you know, oh, you're wearing a fake Tommy Hilfiger. And my car had insulation falling off top. My first car was $300, and it was an 86 Dodge Lancer and it was 12 colors and it had hubcaps. And I scrubbed the out of those hubcaps and Armor, all those tires, and finally got an Econo loop paint job for 100 bucks and was excited when I could do that, but I would go to school and people would like I didn't have a cool car, but I had a car. So that you do now? I do now. I do now. But that kind of stuff, I never got mad. Like a lot of people in today's world, they get mad, they make excuses, they find reasons to not overcome stuff. And I just used it as motivation when I opened up a security company.

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Tell me about because I'm so interested in this because I was the corporate America person. That's the only lane I ever saw until I was thrust out of it. You decided to jump into that unknown. What propelled you to do or make you think that you could do that?

Well, I felt like and at Verizon I was doing really well. And my current business partner, best friend Kevin Klink, now he was in the home security business. We both did some telemarketing. I mean there's another part of the story where it would have been my senior year, but I was already kicked out and I decided to go to Arizona. I got my heart broke by saying girl married too and we were boyfriend girl. So I drove to Arizona for three months by myself, 17 years old and wanted to go to school with my friends. So we had to mess with some transcripts for me to be able to go to school with them for three months and then leave. When I did that, it was a whole nother story. I went and did telemarketing with Kevin and another friend and we were making 700 bucks a week and in 1997 selling home security systems over the phone. So when I followed up with Kevin, I reached out to him in 04. You know, this is before guys, they had, you know, Google and you can find people, they had real books that were white pages and I had an Arizona white pages book.

Wait, it was called the Yellow Pages.

It was yellow pages was business. White pages were homeowners.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. So but you're right, it was at.

The front part of it.

Right. I'm old.

Yeah, so, yeah, we both are. So. So I reached out, and I had a scheduled trip to Arizona, and I'm like, let me call some people I used to go to school with. And so I'm going down the list, and I decided to call Kevin, and he's like, yeah, I'm running a home security company out of my house. I've got, like, eight employees. Really? And I'm like, well, hey, if you ever want to come out east, let me know. Well, he's like, I'd love to, you know, get a license. We'll do this. So for the next six months, I take the time to go get a license while I'm still working at Verizon, and then I fly out, and I see everything he's doing good. He's a marketing genius, and I see everything he's doing bad. He doesn't manage well. He'll tell you that, like, you people have strengths, and they have weaknesses, and you got to be able to really zone in on your strength and utilize it. And if you're weak, you got to find other people around you that can. That can complement you to make you better. And where I come in with Kevin is, you know, I have vision and conviction, and, you know, I'm efficient. I'm organized. I'm structured. I can manage very well. You know, he's a marketing guy. He sees right here where I might not. I might see too far. So it's a good blend. Well, we were going to open up, and he didn't have the money to open up. And I'm like, dude, you're supposed to have the money. So I had to use a little bit of 401k. I had to open up. And then he started having some dark issues with him and his family, and he's like, I'm getting out of the business. This is five weeks into this. I'm not even making money yet. So I'm still working at Verizon. I open up North Carolina as a security company, so I'm putting out flyers. I'm having my dad, who got a bad deal with AT&T as a. As a parachute. It was a Mickey Mouse deal that he couldn't even pay his bills on. So I'm paying him and high school kids a little bit of money to put flyers out all day. And I'm working Verizon Wireless from, like, nine to five, you know, business appointments. I'm not in a store, and then I'm running sales appointments for home security at night, and I'm like, oh, Heather, yeah, you want that free alarm system and that free garage door opener? Perfect. I'll come see you. It's a dollar a day. We'll set you up for monitoring. I'll come by at 6:30. And I would show up and sell them the alarm system. And I started to build this up. Well, Kevin all of a sudden just disappeared. And so he like emailed me and was like, dude, I'm struggling. I've got some personal things going on. Can you buy me out? And I was like, buy you out? You brought me into this business, you know, I'm going to give you money. So I gave him money to pay his bills and he went into real estate for five years. I didn't hear from him again until 2009. By 2009, I built this company out of a room as big as the studio in our house. It was a master bedroom. I had had a tile board even with the solar company did this. Every company I've done the same thing. I went into Home Depot and bought a tile board that goes in the shower. And that was my schedule, right? That was the install schedule and everything. I used a marker. That's how I did it. I mean, you couldn't. Why are you going to go piss your money away on a great board? You got to learn to be efficient when you're running your own company. Like, how can I cut these costs down so I can do that? So I ran it on a board I had, you know, my wife trying to manage the contracts that we can mail in. I, you know, I'm paying, I'm doing whatever I can and working a full time job so I don't have to pay myself. Right? Because I think rule number one, when you're an entrepreneur, you're not going to make money anytime soon. And if you think you are, you're going to be out of business soon because you're pulling that money out.

You're so right.

You have to reinvest. You either need to have something saved or you need to live frugal until you break through. Because, you know, even open this recent company, it's the third business I've been a part of opening and running. Then this is the biggest by far. We'll do a billion in sales next year. We'll do 600 million this year. Right? And we built it with nobody in 2015 and lost money. But, but with that said, we didn't get paid for almost two years. We didn't take a paycheck. So you have to be able to be frugal. And when I was doing the security company, I built it up to about 13 million in sales a year. And that was in 2012 and in 2009, during that time. So I started this in 05. Kevin called me and was like, dude, I want to get back in the home security business, but I don't want to live in Arizona anymore. Can I come live in North Carolina? So he lived in my basement, drove my Hummer around. We helped. We gave him some money to buy his house. He brought his family down, and I paid him like a partner, but only on stuff he brought to the table. I didn't give him a salary. He went and built sales teams. They wrote deals. He got paid. So I treated him like an owner, even though he wasn't, and paid him like that because I believe when you do good things to good people, good things happen. So he helped build that up. And then we had an opportunity to join another company, Power Home Technologies. And that company was a competitor of ours, where we butted heads a few times, and we beat them for the first time ever. So we were the number two dealer for Monitronics. Monitronics had 500 dealers plus at the time, and Power Home went to number three. Number one was, at the time, Alliance. So Ben Brookhart, who now works for me, and he's our cso, was the CEO and founder. Him and Eric Randisi of Power Home Technologies. He shows up at my doors like, we need to merge. We need to put this together. And I was like, dude, no. And he's like, yeah. I'm like. Like, I don't work. Like, Kevin's like, Robin, I'm Batman. I don't need any more Batmans. Right? Kevin's Robin. I'm Batman. That's not how this works. No, we should. And look, there's a lot of things that Ben has that I don't, and vice versa, right? So, you know, Ben went to college and. And Ben, you know, also can motivate people. It might not be as a punch in the face, but, you know, he listens to John Maxwell and stuff like that. He's very analytical when he talks to people. And so it's different, but it's helpful. So I was like, all right, you know what? Let's do this. So we put the teams together, and his company's doing about 18 million. Ours is doing about 13 million. We grew it in the next 18 months to 37 million in sales, and he was 4% profitable. We were 8. We merged, and we got up to 7 to 8% profitable. But we didn't get along. I mean, it's on record. You know, we've had podcasts about it. It was an episode called Ego. We'd put egos aside, and we just didn't get along. He still had his wife in the business, which was hard. His wife, you know, rightfully so. It's her husband's like, who's this guy trying to call the shots? I'm used to doing things my way. He's used to doing things his way. Neither one is right or wrong. And I wanted to get into solar really, really, really bad even before we merged with them. And I'm like, we're missing the boat. Home security is on its way down. He did not want to get into solar. He's like, I don't want to do that. So a lot of that was coming up. So because of the heat, we reached out to the number one company. We came together, we became number one. Then alliance became bigger again and we had them buy us. And when they bought us, Eric and Ben stayed on as executives but gave up their equity. And me and Kevin left. Kevin, I brought on as a 5% partner in that deal because what SI Alarms was worth compared to Power home was like 38, 39%. And he already had an equal partner, so they weren't going to give me 39% and them have like 31 each. It wasn't going to work. So I was like, look, we'll bring Kevin in. I pay him like a partner anyways, give him five, we'll each get 31.6 or whatever it is. So we did that. We built the company up, but there was a lot of drama there. And look, I learned a lot. Failed a lot. You learn. And I said, look, this isn't going to work. So when we sold the company, I gave Eric and Ben an opportunity to stay in for solar. They didn't want to, so I bought them out of the right of the solar company we opened. We're going to go and wish them well. And we didn't talk for a hot minute. And that first year we did the solar business. Kevin was still running call centers for us. We had some call centers in Pakistan that was a dealer for home security and that was trying to get us a check. It was struggling, but he was running that out of a different location, and I was doing the solar on my own. And in 15, we did 3 million in sales and we lost a million dollars. And that million had to come from somewhere. So what I made in the other business wasn't a lot. I mean, I made. It was my first company. I sold, I made $1.5 million. And to a lot of people, it's a lot of money, but it's not when you have a certain lifestyle and you're used to making, you know, half a million or more a year and you're all in on a company that has zero revenue and you're not getting a paycheck. So I had to take that money, stick it into the power home, solar. Then I'm on the. On the lake in a, you know, nice $2 million home. I had to sell that home and stick the money in the business. Everything I could do to keep it alive. I remember the end of 2015 at Disney, which I probably shouldn't have been, but we already paid for the trip. And I was emotional. Tell my wife I don't know if this solar thing's going to work. And Kevin kept saying, we need to shut it down. Like. And that was the first time ever that I felt like I almost quit. And I said, you know, she's like, well, you need to do what's best and pray about it. Think about it. And I said, that's what I'm going to do. So I woke up in the morning, I'm like, you know what? They're going to have to throw me out. I'm going to fight until the thing either explodes or I can't do it anymore. I'm all in. Sheriff said, absolutely. So that's when we agreed I would sell the house, stick it in there. And I went all in. And I fired almost everybody. I went out. If they didn't think like me, they didn't work like me. They weren't. They weren't there for the right reason. If it was just a job, they were gone. There was no more friends. I had an 8020 rule. I instilled right there that 20%, every month I'm firing, I'm recycling, to get more winners, less people that are just C players that are shelf life, holding everyone down. So that's been always my motto is, I got 10 people. Two are gone at the end of the month. The two worst I got, 120 are gone. Every department, and I hold to this day all the directors accountable. It may be 25% this month and 15 next month, but the deal is they have KPIs and they need to be replacing the bottom 20% of their team every single month. Otherwise you get stagnant. You're just A company that stays flat.

That's Jack Welch's philosophy.

And I don't know. Yeah, and I've heard that. Right. But I just got sick of it where I was like, this is what we have to do to grow. Because. And I didn't come up with that number until later when it was like, you know, I just said, I put a line in and it ended up flowing where it was about 20%. We were just firing. And so we stuck with that motto. And in 15, 16, we started to make a little ground, but we still lost money. So we went 3 million and 15. 14 million in 16, still lost money.

Wow.

But got on payroll November of 16. So I was like, hey, here's almost two years, 23 months, no payroll. Finally we're getting a paycheck that's decent. Great. Go into 17. We are booming. And here's what's ironic is the solar industry is always looked at as a Democrat industry, like, oh, tax credits and solar renewable climate change. Look, I just got the honor to do a roundtable with the president. And I was there not as a supporter or not as a non supporter. I was there bipartisan to talk about our industry and give feedback. We did a survey and 70% of our customers are Republican. People don't know that, that Republicans buy solar equal or more than Democrats do, but there's this stigma of people that think that solar is only for the granola people driving the Prius and that wants to save the world.

Have you seen Social Dilemma yet on Netflix?

I have.

Okay, so, well, then, you know, that's why that stigma is out there.

I know. Because whatever they've looked up, it follows them around. That's a great, great movie, by the way, but also in a documentary. But it screws with you because it's like I'm everything on the feedback. Yes, we're screwed and the world's screwed because me and you can have completely different feeds. So, you know, long story short, I got to do that. And as we grew, we went into 17. When he came out with the tariffs on China, we saw all the panels everyone was getting in. Solar at that time was from China. It was irrelevant. There was only one panel manufacturer in the US and solar world. They were. They were going out of business. So when I saw the tariffs coming, two things happened at 17 that really changed everything. One, I brought on a president, which is Steve Murphy, because we were growing in sales so much that now we are flirting with on pace for 40 million. I'm like, oh, I'm not Used to this on my own. I probably need to get a real CFO and a real president. Right, because we probably need some private equity. Because people don't know in the solar business, whatever I sell, whatever our company sells today, we're paying for 80% of that in the next 60 days before we see a penny of revenue or cash. So if we sell 50, 60 million like we did last month, but only installed 40 million, well, that's a 20 million gap. We're paying 16 million of that until that revenue comes in. So it becomes a cash problem. 17. Paper was better, we were profitable, but cash was poor. So I brought on a president to try to do a private equity deal. That helped. And we changed to American Made panels. We saw how Trump won the election on American Made. We saw how he was going to tariff the Chinese panels coming out 50%. We took it upon ourselves to market like that. And we doubled in size the next day.

Wow.

Doubled in size. We opened up markets in the Midwest where people like, solar doesn't work. It does work because the cost of power is so high. It's not just where the sun is. In fact, solar works better in Michigan than Arizona. People are like, that's crazy. No, it's not. The cost of power is 60% less in Arizona than Michigan, but the sun energy is only 50% more. That's 10% better for Michigan. That's what people don't understand. The cost of power so high in a lot of these Midwest and Northeast states and west coast states, but in the rest of the heartland, like the south, and, you know, Montana powers cheap. So, yeah, you get a lot of sunshine, but a power is cheap. It's hard to, you know, customize Solar for that. So 17. Wind up 40 million in sales, profitable. 18. We ended up 105 million. And we brought on a private equity partner for minority share and profitable last year, 185 million. We'll probably do revenue probably 400 million, but we'll sell 600 million because we doubled or tripled in size since COVID Like, we did a deal with Generac and we people like want. They want energy independence. They don't want to depend on anything anymore. They want to have resilience of my power's not going to go out or I buy an electric car, I want to charge it. I'm not worried about my power going out or them charging me extra rates. So we have really tuned into the way we market and the way we advertise to find out and survey who our buyer is. And Our buyers, the people don't like the utility company. And most of them voted on the right side, which is odd. And that was what I got to tell the president, like you guys, meaning the Republicans need to do a better job of sharing that solar is for everybody. It adds jobs. It does this. And if climate change is real or not. I didn't go to college. I think this helps climate change. I can't state if it does or doesn't, but either way, we're adding jobs. It's the number one job growth sector on a percentage two years in a row. And it's supposed to be for the next 10 years. So this year we'll do the numbers, next year we'll do the numbers. We're going to do another transaction. We're going to try to go public. But my best advice on entrepreneurs is adding people around you that are talented to make you better. Because as we continue to grow. I didn't know what EBITDA was, and I'm not bullshitting. Three years ago I did. And I'm like, what is ebitda? I just. And I own that. When I don't know things, I own it. I'm not going to. You know, you can fake it till you make it. When you're with a customer, you're trying to get a deal, but internally in business, I have 1500 employees. Right. I can't make a wrong decision. And I love pressure. A lot of people can do it. I freaking love it. I love the pressure of making the decisions for them. I love it. So I can't fake it till I make it for them. I have to be like, if I don't know, I'm going to get somebody on the team that can make it happen and find out.

That was a good decision, bringing a cfo.

Yes, cfo, president, you know, and look, we've grown. The accounting team's got like 12 people now. Right. We had 850 employees when Covid hit. We're over 1500 now. Our best month was 25 million in sales. We did 63 million last month.

There's no way you could have ever forecasted this kind of.

And I don't blame Covid that it did that because a lot of people like, is it because Covid did it? No, what it is, is we changed to offer battery and storage, which people want. We partnered with Generac, we switched to TV advertising. We've always spend. We spend somewhere around $8 million a month in leads and branding on social media. So we converted about 15 or 20% of that to TV. And that was a game changer. So all of those things really at the people's eyeballs because of COVID are on the television. And when we offered the battery and we started, you know, the way we sold, we got better financing for customers and the payments and the way we advertised and to whom, it just took off. It was the perfect storm.

How did a podcast develop out of all of this?

So when I won the Entrepreneur of the Year for the EY last year in the Southeast, first of all, I didn't know if I was going to win. I didn't even know it was a big deal. I was selected to. To go down there, and a buddy of mine that's a corporate attorney at EY was at our house and young. Yes. Yeah. And so I didn't. I didn't know who they were. I'm being. I'm being real. I didn't know who they were. In eight. This was 18 going into 19 and. Or no, it was. There was the beginning of 19. And so my buddy Brian, who's a lawyer there, shouts out to Brian, we're at game night. We have adult game night, where it's like adult charade. So it gets a little inappropriate. Like five or six couples get together. It's great. Well, he's there and he's like, hey, man, I heard you're up, you know, for nomination for Entrepreneur of the Year. Like, congrats. I was like, oh, thanks. He's like, so when do you go down there? I'm like, I'm not going down there. Like, he's like, dude, you got to go interview for this. This is a big deal. Said, is it really a big deal? He's like, yeah, the guy on FUBU starts naming people that have won it. And I'm like, oh. So then I have to call Roger, who's our blogger and writer, and I'm like, dude, I'm coming to town next week to do this. Get me the information I need to know. And I show up. And when I did, he did. He's great. He has all the information on everybody in there. And all the judges are ex winners. So I'm walking the floor, shaking hands and working the room with ex winners, and I have information on them. The game changing spot was when Chevy, who runs the whole program, was talking to me and Zion Williamson. This is before the NBA draft was about to. There were rumors that he was going to go back to Duke and not go into the NBA draft. And we were in this cocktail area In Charlotte. And it was the night before the interviews, and I was up there, and I was talking to Roger and Chevy, and I said, oh, Zion might go back. He doesn't want to get drafted by the Pelicans. I said, he might go back to Duke. She goes, oh, is that where you went to college? I said, oh, no, I didn't go to college. And she goes, oh, you're the one. And I said, the one what? She said, you're the one that did your first one that nominated for this that didn't have. Didn't go to college.

Wow.

So then I knew I had something. So I thought about, like, yeah. So I was like, you know what? Most people would have been embarrassed to talk about that. I want to share that. That's what makes me different. So when I went into the meetings, I had to interview with 10 and then 10. So there are 20 judges, and you get like, four minutes, and they ask you a couple questions. A lot of people, when you go into interviews or you do something, you have regrets, you're like, oh, I could have done that better. I went in there and killed it. I went in there and dropped the mic. I told them why AB should win, what makes me different, how hungry I am, how hard I work, how I don't take no for an answer, how I bootstrap, how I went out and sold these deals, everything that I did. And I told them, you know, it was an underdog experience. I want people to tell me I can't. And I ended up winning. Like, I walked out of the interviews, and they announced it a few months later. And we went to Atlanta, did the celebration, But I told Roger. I was like, dude, there's no way. I don't have it. Well, then when we're at the celebration in Atlanta, all of the sudden, they're showing all the philanthropy. And we do a ton of philanthropy. We give over a million dollars, you know, to clean water or cancer a year. But they don't show all of that on these videos. And I'm telling everyone we're with, you know, friends and family, I don't think I'm gonna win. We're in Atlanta. I'm like, I don't think I'm gonna win. All of a sudden, they called my name. I was like, oh, my gosh. And I won. So that was surprising and humbling. And when I got up there after that, you go up and you're hanging out with all the winners, right? And you're like. You're like, in this group, you're accepted and like three or four, like, you got to write a book. I'm like, I don't know how to write a book. And so you wrote a book, me. And you talked about it like, I don't. I said, I've never read a full book. I've listened a little bit of audio. I don't know where to start with a book. My grammar sucks. I spell like shit. Like that's what I'm telling. Like, I'm all over the board. This won't work. I light up a room. I can see, speak. I can motivate. I get people to run through the glass. I can't write a book like you should or do a podcast or something. So that's where it kind of stemmed. And then when we hired our marketing company in November, and they're like, we're going to put you on the commercials. I'm like, I don't want to be on the commercial. So, like, nobody sells solar better than you. You've got to be the face. Then you're in people's homes and they trust your brand better.

I'm like, oh, and you look like Guy Fury.

Yeah. Hopefully a cuter version. But you know, we'll see, you know, so, you know, except I don't think he's a grandpa yet.

I don't have enough information on him other than he makes some good burgers, but that's about it.

I've ate his burgers in Vegas, so. And I'm a grandpa or gilf, I like to say, so I'm still, you know, doing my thing here. I'm not 40 year old. Grandpa is tough, but, you know, they put my face on there and I was like, I don't know if I want to do that now. It's all over the place. I'm like, all right, I've accepted. If it helps the business, if it helps us another extra multiple that helps us go public, if it helps our employees, I'm in. So then we started the podcast and what took off as a hobby ended up growing a lot of legs, you know, 40 million views on YouTube, a few hundred thousand downloads and followers. And I was like, this is cool. And I love it. Like, just like I love running the solar company. I love sharing stories. I love interviewing people like yourself when you were on the show, hearing other stories that excite people. In the world we live in, with all of the chaos, you turn on tv, nothing's positive. Nobody goes, guess what great thing happened today? This person got an A plus on their test and this person opened a business. It's always negative because that's what sells negative stuff and fake stuff sells 10 times more than anything else. Nobody wants to hear the good stuff. And so this is an opportunity for those folks out there that are driving, that need motivation, that are stuck for those people that are opening a business and they don't know what to do. For people that are scared to move on from a relationship and they're like, I feel like I'm held hostage. That's what I try to share on the podcast of of what tools that maybe I've experienced or guests have experienced to get them motivated to take the next level rather than just listen to nonsense in the world.

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So good. So when you were explaining that you couldn't imagine that you would write a book, that seemed so out of the realm of possibility. I felt that same way. I grew up with a really smart sister. She had the perfect grades and she went to law school and she read books and dictionaries. And I was not, I didn't read books and I wasn't, you know, I was out playing sports and hanging with my friends and what I realized, and I want you to realize, we put ourselves in these lanes and we don't even realize we're doing it, you know. So I remember when someone told me, oh, you need to write a book. It was Elvis Duran on the Elvis Duran show. And I googled how do you write a book on the flight home because I was curious, like, do you have to have an English degree? I really had no idea. And it turns up, any jackball can write a book. And I say it any jack ball because literally anyone can write a book. And it is not hard. And people want you to think it's hard because they want to feel prestigious and above, and it's BS And I'm so proud of myself that I blew up those lanes and said F that to anyone that ever told me I can't write a book, because I can, and you can too, and I'm totally holding you accountable to do it.

Well, I can tell you, you inspired me when I had you on the show and you were like, yeah, I Googled. Googled it. And then I found out, and then I got somebody. Then the book took off and is a top seller. I have shared that story probably 15 times. When I'm like, yeah, I had, you know, Heather on my show, and she wrote a book, so we got to get this book thing going. She googled it, and she killed it, and she wrote a book that's beneficial to people, and it did very well. We can do this. So I've used that as inspiration and shared that story, because you're right. You're stuck in that lane. And what you don't know, what you're not an expert in yet, you're scared. I wasn't an expert in solar. It took time. I wasn't an expert in sales. It took time. I wasn't an expert grandfather. It's still taking time. Right. So.

Or podcasts or anything. And this whole evolution of your life.

Yeah.

That's all proof that you'll succeed at it.

I'm excited. I don't know where to start. So that's another conversation we have to have, like, I need to know who we. Who I call, what do I do, but, you know, title all that stuff. But you know, what I do.

I don't even know, you know what's so funny? And I'll share this with everyone just so they understand. I didn't know any of those things either. Right. So when I googled how do you write a book? It said, you have to sit down and write. And so I just did that. And the first week, I just wrote about how much I hated the bitch that fired me. And then slowly, while I was doing that, I started thinking, hey, I felt this low before when I got divorced, and I would, like, write that down. And then when 0809 crisis happened, I had to let go of a third of our employees. And then. And I started saying, wait a minute. I bounced back from so many challenges in my life, even when I was a kid. So I started mapping out with a pen and paper, and I was like, wait a minute. This is a roadmap for how other people can bounce back from adversity and tough times. And then I said, wait a minute, this is really about confidence. And I wrote Confidence on a piece of paper. And then I took a blank piece of paper and I mocked up another book. And I just signed my name at the bottom and I was like, this is my book. I don't know what it's called. Don't really know exactly what it's going to be about, but I think it's gonna be about confidence. And then every day I just would show back up and write and write and then halfway through I'm like, oh, this book is totally about confidence. And I said, how do I come up with a name? I whiteboard. That's how I do anything in business. And so I just stood up and started writing everything and anything that came to mind. Crazy names. And there was like 50 of them. And then every day I'd get back up and challenge myself to scratch one and scratch one and scratch one. And then finally I came up with Confidence Creator. It was the last one on there that really resonated with me. And of course people were saying, you can't write a book called Confidence Creator. You look so full of yourself. To me, it meant that whoever reads it can be their own Confidence Creator. And I said, you know what, thank you for your self limiting beliefs. I'm gonna hand that right back to you. But I'm gonna move forward with this book. And yeah, maybe I'll be a laughingstock, but maybe I won't. That wasn't the reason why I was doing it. I was doing it because I wanted other people to have the tools that I didn't have when I was younger. And when you focus on that why and that one person you can possibly help, that's the little push that helps you get through it.

I would agree with you 100. Anytime I get an email or a message that whatever I said or whatever person I had on the show helped them, you can't buy that feeling.

Oh my God, you make all the.

Money in the world.

You can't buy helping random strangers in their life. It's the best feeling. We help our family all the time. And you do that. And it feels really good to be able to help your kids, to help your parents, to help your friends. It. It feels good. But there's something to be said about that feeling when you help a random stranger by something you've said, you've experienced, you've shared, or you brought someone on to share through your platform. Like I said, that's a feeling. It's a ural feeling that I'm not. I can't even explain.

That's when you really have found your purpose in life. I believe that, that and I know exactly what you're talking about when we get these messages because we both are in the business of helping and elevating people, inspiring them. And those messages. I received a message this past week from a woman that left a bad, abusive marriage. And when she would have windows in her day away from her husband, she would listen to my audiobook over and over again. I was crying my eyes out thinking like, thank God I published that book. You know, like, thank God I pushed myself through my own fear. Thank God that I was that this happened so this woman can have a life, can be alive and can survive. And those moments are. They're game changing.

If you help one person, it doesn't matter. And we're help. I mean, I know your stuff's helping a lot, but all the time, like your messages are great. You know, your podcast is great. And I'm trying to put mine out there the same way of anything I can help. If I help one person, doesn't matter how much we've spent because we don't make money on this stuff. People think like, oh, you make money on your podcast. I'm like, no, dude, like, yeah, I know. Maybe 10 years from now, right?

It's a long game.

I had. Maybe you've had Jordan Harbinger on.

Oh, I did, yes.

Yeah, he's like OG podcaster, right?

He's making millions a year.

Right. But it's like he's 20 years ahead. You know, we're doing this because we love it, because we want to share things out there that can help people get through their day. And you're right. Marriage issues, family issues. I'm going through some stuff with one of my siblings, struggles with depression. You know, everybody has stuff. You know, social media. We just talked about social dilemma. It paints a picture. Everybody's life is perfect and most kids and most women are addicted to it. Some men, and I say women, but at least in my household, I've got four women in my household and two guys. And we're never really on it, but like this is what they do. And I feel bad because I've got a 21 year old, a 16 year old, 13 year old. When they're looking at girls in bikinis with perfect bodies that are. Whether it's photoshopped or it's not and perfect hair and all these things, it's depressing to look at that all day and compare that to yourself. And that's what scares me the most, is people look at that, they don't find anything good, like your message for the day or my message for the day or somebody else's message for the day, that can really inspire them. Too many people are looking and comparing themselves to what's on there. And that's where I feel bad. Like, I wish there was a way that we could block that or have positive messages on that. And, like, if I were to look at somebody with a six pack, that will never happen. I've got a dad bot. I'm okay with it. Like, I always call it the pool bod, right? So from. From, like, mid here, I'm like, I look buff. And I'm like, yeah. And then again they're like, oh, he's a dad or he's a grandpa. Yeah, right? So. And I own it, right? Eat bad. It's cool. But, like, if I looked at six packs all day and guys with muscles all day, I would be depressed, of course. Like, and I'm. And I feel like I'm super confident and doesn't bother me. I would get worn out looking at that all day. But it's addictive. We saw in that documentary, it sucks you in. And that's what's going on with the world today. And it's sad because that's why what we're doing, that's why I'm bringing this full circle back, is so important to offset some of that stuff.

But that's why you need to write the book. So I'm big into challenges, and I'm big into accountability. I have a new book that's coming out in November of 2021. It's called leapfrogging Villains. I'm actually. I have. My final is due in, like, 40 days, so I've got to speed it up over there. But I don't like to be, you know, under the limelight alone. So I want to challenge you that you would commit to getting your book out that same month that I'm bringing mine out, which is even more than a year away. Totally possible. I did mine in seven months.

So do I have to write, or can I just do a timeline and then have a ghost writer? Like, what's the suggestion?

We have so many options. There are so many options. Absolutely.

And I'm willing. I want to do it. I want to get it out soon as possible. I don't know where to start, but I'll do what you did. I'll put ideas Down. But for me to literally write, you don't need.

There are so many options to do. You don't have to write the way that I did.

My ADD kick in. I'll be like, I can't write these. Would someone else want to write this? And I'll speak.

Listen. One of the most popular books that's out there right now is Chris Voss. Never split the difference. He didn't sit down and write the book the way that I did. He hired this guy. Guy something. I can't remember his last name, but that he was the real writer, the literary person, and he talked to him about what his experiences were, and they. They together crafted that book. There's ghostwriter. I mean, there are so many options. There's weekend workshops you can go to for three days, and for three days, you just tell them your story, and they write your book. Don't ever let the how get in the way of your why. We know what your why is. We're clear on it. We're gonna get that how going.

Challenge accepted. We'll figure it out. Challenge accepted.

I'm super excited.

I like to be challenged. That'll be fun.

Okay, good. All right, so we're both having books coming out in November of 2021. It's gonna be a big month. Can't wait to keep you guys updated on that. Jason, tell us, how can everyone find the podcast?

So you can go to trueunderdog.com, or you can go to Iheart, Spotify, Google, Apple, or you can go to our YouTube channel, True Underdog, and go check it out.

I mean, I've got an episode on there. It's a must hear.

It is a must here. It's great.

All right, well, thank you so much for being here. It was great having you today, and I can't wait to read your book. November 2021.

That's right.

Hold tight, guys. We'll be right back. I asked you to try to find your passion. I hope you loved meeting Jason. He has such an amazing and inspiring story. So, so proud of him and definitely inspires me to go for more and go bigger, just like he has. He is flipping killing it. Okay, on to our Q and A. Hey, Heather, I've been following you, listening to your podcast. Love the content. Thank you. Thank you. Today's my first day in a new role in the company I've been with for five years. This person's working out of the country, by the way. It's a very big promotion. I'm really delighted, but the public Speaking aspect of. It's going to be my area where I need to build confidence asap. Any advice how I can get my act together with public speaking quickly? So, I mean, here's the thing, and we talk about this all the time. Confidence has ebbs and flows, right? You might be confident at the gym. You might not be confident when you're helping your kid with new math. I'm not. I don't know how to do new math. But you might be confident when you're on a phone call with a client. But you might not be confident in a romantic conversation, right? There's highs and lows depending on what's happening happening in your life. It's totally normal. So if you're stepping into a situation with public speaking and that's new to you, practice builds competence, Competence affects competence. But there are some things you can do. I always write I can, I will on the bottom of my shoes. I use lavender to calm and center me. I have a playlist that I use every time I'm gonna speak that fires me up and puts me in the best mental state state possible. If I'm going on the Steve Harvey show, I watch footage of the Steve Harvey show. When I'm giving a TED Talk, I watch footage of other people's TED talks. I put myself in the place I'm going to in my mind ahead of time. I want to go to the presentation room. I want to go to that podium. If you can't get there physically, do it in your mind. Look at the pictures. Watch footage of people ahead of you. Not just one person, but a variety of people. And not to compare yourself to them, but to put yourself there at that place. Think about what it is that you like when you hear someone speak. I like when people are funny. I like when people share stories. I like when people admit they're nervous. I like when people don't waste my time and add value. I like when people keep me engaged. I was listening to Tim's story was on my team meeting this week and he kept calling people out by individual name. That was so powerful. And I have not been doing that since. I haven't been on site in live events, my virtual events, I've gotten away from that. And he reminded me by watching him that that's something I should start doing. So if you have time, start signing up for these virtual conferences. Sign up for my group program so you can see what it's like to do virtual speaking. The more you immerse yourself some in something, see what you like and don't like take notes. Practice on your own. Learn what stories you have that are powerful. Learn if you like calling people out. Learn if you like leading with a joke. Figure out what you're good at best at. Practice it, put yourself around it. Immerse yourself in the situation. All of those things are going to get you more comfortable. And the more at bats you can take, the better you will get. So anytime they say, who wants to speak at the next event, raise your hand and go in. And that is how you will get better. Actually did a whole episode on this with Kendra Hall. If you want to go back and check it out, it's really good. Deep dive into speaking. Okay, next question. Hey, Heather, I wanted to reach out and tell you I appreciate your content. I've always been driven to break out of the mold and smash through the glass ceiling, but have had confidence issues. One thing I've always doubted was my name. Heather is my name. It's very feminine. Not much of a C suite name. Oh, my gosh. That cracks me up. I mentioned that to my fellow members and they had a feeling recently and said that the only Heather that they ever heard of that was successful went by Heat or Heath. Oh, my gosh. Shortly thereafter, I found your profile and it reset my perception of what could be possible with my name. Okay, hang on. You know, it's funny, I never thought about that with my. Never even crossed my mind. Who cares what your name is? That's just how someone addresses you to get your attention. That's not who you are. Right. There's defining moments in your life, and having that realization should define that.

Oh, wait a minute.

My name doesn't define me, but this moment is a defining moment for my life. My name doesn't have to define me. My actions, my knowledge, my expertise. Matisse will be what I leave behind, not a name. So detach from that old story. You were telling yourself that your name dictated how powerful you could be. Because that is the fact. Look at the powerful people in our world and how all of their names were different. It wasn't just Steve. If you don't have the name Steve, then you're not powerful.

No.

There's a variety of shapes, sizes, names, hair colors, height, weight.

Right?

Everyone can look and be different, have different names, speak different languages and be powerful. The power, the true power, comes from within you, not something outside you. And a name is something someone else labeled you at birth and put on a birth certificate. It's how people get your attention. That's it. The true Power that you have comes from within you. Don't ever forget that. And no one can take your power from you. Only you can accept it, step into it and own it with the name Heather and awe. Okay, moving on. Hey Heather, loving your podcast. Thank you. Just heard the Carol golden episode. That was a recent episode. Really good. About the woman who's a CEO of Hint Water. If you haven't heard it, go back, check it out. Great information on how she stayed focused on her goal. Yes, she sure did. Started a new position in a new industry during the pandemic. Everyone's work from home and I work with all men. It's been difficult to start carving my path and I was fortunate to find you on LinkedIn and listen to your podcast. I need advice on how to share ideas and opinions on video calls and being the only female. Do not want to be received as difficult. Boisterous. Need more confidence in myself as I lack industry knowledge but have years of experience in leadership positions and that experience transcends industries. I know I'll be grateful for any feedback. Okay, so here's the thing. You know you have experience, you know you have expertise. You're coming into a new industry and that can be a little intimidating. However, it can be really empowering. This is for men and women now, honestly, this is for young and old. I hear this a lot with older people, more senior people, they think, oh gosh, I'm phasing out. It's the younger people that have all the insight and perspective and innovation. People see me as antiquated. I shouldn't speak up so much then. Conversely, I hear from young people, I have nothing to add. I'm brand new. I don't know the ropes or the way around. I shouldn't open my mouth. Everybody should open your mouth. If you're invited to the meeting, you've been asked to be there to take up a seat because someone believes in your value and the value you will add. If you're not adding value, that is not raising your hand and giving your input. We should give that seat to somebody else. Think about it that way. You warranted the seat, you were called to the seat. Somebody wants you in there, they want your opinion, they want your perspective. And nobody wants everyone to have the same perspective or opinion. That's why it's just as important to have a senior level person with 20 years experience there as it is to have a junior level person or someone from another industry with fresh eyes. See your expertise and experience in this other industry as fresh eyes on this New opportunity, you will definitely be able to spot something other people can. And it is your duty to share that with the team. It is absolutely your duty. So what's the worst that can happen? You feel like you share something and nobody does backflips and cheers for you. Okay, well, you can cheer for yourself. Proud of yourself that you shared something, right? And you don't want to seem difficult. Listen, you don't have to yell at people to share an idea. This is my idea. You will listen. Listen to me, damn you. No, you can just simply say, excuse me, wanted to interject. As you know, I was in the technology industry before I came here. This reminds me of something similar. Wanted to share it with you guys, see if it adds any value here. Here's what I'm thinking, blah, blah, blah, blah, and you just roll it out matter of factly. It doesn't have to be a fight. And if you feel like you're not getting the chance to speak, raise your hand. You know, ask. What is the proper way to jump in on the conversation? I have a lot I want to add here and want to make sure I do it respectful of everyone and the routine that you guys have implemented before I got here. Can someone share with me how that's best done? Right, so ask great questions, ask open ended questions and talk to people offline. Find allies, make allies. I always go to the chat thread on Zoom calls and I start chatting people up because I want to figure out who are my peeps out there. It's okay, not everyone. Everyone will be.

That's fine.

I don't need everyone to be. But it's fun when you have one or two because then you can lean on them after and say, okay, what did you think about that? Do you have any suggestions on how else I can elevate my voice to be heard, how I can contribute more? I have more ideas. You know, it helps when you can find allies. It also helps when you find out how things have been working so you can add some input and ideas on how you can help the team be more efficient, more successful and learning what they've been doing and marrying that with what you've done before and what you've seen. Work can add tremendous value. And that's probably exactly why you are invited there. And P.S. if you are the only woman on the team, they so need you. They want that perspective. Women represent more spending power right now than any other population in this country. So no matter whatever product or service you guys are bringing to market or to light, realize that they need your perspective at that table. You're probably the target consumer. You probably hold more weight than you realize in that conversation. So start approaching it in that regard. And remember, it's a meeting. It's not a war room, and it's not a fist fight. Go in there. Share your ideas. Own your seat. Warrant your seat because you've been asked to be there. All right, well, thank you guys so much yet again for being here with us.

Me.

If you could please rate and review the show. Leave a review. It means the world. And if you share it on social, I will always repost and support you. It means the world to me. Until next week. I hope you'll be creating your confidence. You know I will. I'll see you then. I decided to change that dynamic. I couldn't be more excited for what you're going to hear. Start learning and growing connection. Inevitably something will happen. No one succeeds alone.

You don't stop and look around once in a while. You could miss it.

Come on this journey with me.