It Doesn't Matter What You Do - Just Work to be the Best with Rooter Hero Founder John Akhoian

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind.

I am here with John Akoyan. And John has had a phenomenal rise in the world of the plumbing and the trade business. And he's become a voice to those who are wanting to do big things in their life, but they're not thrilled about the whole idea of going to college and doing things like that. And they love the trade work and they just wondering, how big of a life, how big of a dream life can I build avoiding white collar jobs and college and just going to work? How big is the ceiling there? John has shown that the sky is the limit because he's a CEO, founder of Rooter Hero Plumbing, got 10 locations in California and Arizona. He's written books. And so John, let's talk about expanding, you know, maxing out where you are and that allows you to expand. Because what I see in your story is that, you know, you got the job, but you learned when you were an apprentice in the plumbing business, you maxed out in learning, asking questions. You wanted to master the trade as quickly as possible. You also started listening to audiobooks so you could have the self improvement going in all areas. You were equipping yourself to max out. And in a short period of time, you became so valuable. You were getting pay raise after pay raise. And in two years it was like no place to go unless we expand. And the owner, you know, he was just the stage of his life, he didn't want to do that. So that gave you the opportunity to go out on your own in a friendly business, I mean, in a friendly way, and still have the support and have your, the guy who you worked for continue to be a mentor and friend and encourager, which I'm sure was invaluable. But you know, it would not have happened, John, at 19 years old, that you could have launched out on your own as a natural progression if you had not maxed out where you are. And so do you agree with that?

Yeah, we're tracking over 65 million this year in revenue since we started the company in 2011. So it's been growing from two trucks to where we are now. And okay, I agree. It's been a lot of just working on myself. I think it's Just, you know, if. If you just continue to look in the mirror and just get better at what you do and use the resources around you to just learn and get better, and you're just going to grow. I mean, the best place to invest is you. It doesn't matter what industry it is. I have two teenage boys right now, and I tell them all the time that it doesn't matter what you do. You could be a plumber, you could be a dentist, you could be. Whatever you choose to do, just be the best at it and continuously learn and work on yourself. And you will always elevate and you'll. You'll make more money than you ever thought you would. But you have to be willing to.

Invest in yourself and talk about, you know, because the thing is that the people that are stuck in jobs are probably not pushing themselves to greatness. You know, they're not taking advantage of opportunities to move up, learning new skills, putting in the extra time, you know, again, listening to the books and not thinking. Thinking about what they could do to get better, what questions they could ask. And so as a result, they stay stuck. You know, getting, you know, staying stuck in life is a big frustration for a lot of people. But the first step to get unstuck is to realize you're probably doing it to yourself. And it's. You've got to get something bubbling up from inside yourself so you can explode out of that situation by. But the same thing happened to you when you got into the franchise, the plumbing franchise business. You maxed out there as well, and that allowed you winning awards, becoming the best of this and all the contests, and that set you up to where you went as far as that environment was prepared to allow you to go. So, in other words, you outgrew that amazing opportunity where you learned a lot of things because you wanted to go into other territories. Do I have that right?

Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I think there's a misconception out there, you know, and in young folks, and I want to get that corrected, because I think this misconception is that, you know, you have to love what you do. You have to do something that you enjoy your calling, right? And my belief is that when you get good at something, that does become your calling. So I was always purposeful on getting good at one thing. And when you get good at it, you fall in love with it because people love to win. And if you get better and better at it and better and better at it, then you keep wanting to do the same thing, because all Of a sudden, you know, you become so good at it. It becomes a natural. It's easier, so you don't have to fall in love with something. And most people go searching different careers from one to the next, going, well, you know, I have to find my calling. Your calling is whatever you choose. And whatever you choose, just become the best at it. If you become the best at it, you'll love doing it. And that's exactly what happened to me. When I got into plumbing, I enjoyed the first day of getting dirty. I didn't mind because I would help my dad, you know, change truck engines and change the oil on his 18 wheeler on weekends. So I was used to getting dirty. So to me, that was normal. And then I got really serious about getting really good at it. So I would really pay attention to Arthur. I would ask a lot of questions, and then I would ask him to let me do it, and then he would correct me. And I was, like, constantly trying to do it, or I became really good at it. And I got so good at it, I enjoyed it. I mean, I was like, hey, I could go solve any plumbing problem. You know, give me. Give me a difficult problem. Let me go solve it. And I got really good. And then when I started working on the business, I got really good at that as well. I started studying and understanding what does it take to, you know, to run a successful plumbing company. And that's what made me so motivated to keep doing it. So I would say just, you know, the rule of success is just don't wait until you fall in love with something you do, become good at what you're doing, and you'll fall in love with it.

Yeah, that can't be said enough. And as you were on that track, you're listening, you're improving. Do you remember, like, right now, today, do you find yourself this many years later using any of the key. You know, it's like if you listen to. Read a book or you listen to an audiobook, if you get one key main thing out of each one, it's incredible. You know, it was worth it. And so, you know, most of the great books can be encapsulated into one thought. And do you find yourself using these concepts, repeating these phrases as you go? Things and concepts that you learned early on that were really fundamental, informative in you being able to maximize your time and to, you know, be productive?

Yeah, yeah. So I do go back to certain books and reread them. There's certain books that have principles in there that I want to live My life by. And. And I think, you know, your, your eyes and ears are the gateway to your soul. I heard that from, from somebody one day, and I really believe in that. So I try to put through my ears and my eyes positive information at all times. So what I'll do is there are certain books that I really enjoy reading. I'll. Whenever I have time, I'll pick the books up and I'll read it. And I've actually purposefully, you know, spend a certain amount of time every day reading. And I've made a rule to myself that when I'm driving that I'm going to listen to not music, but I'm going to listen to audiobooks. And there are certain audiobooks I listen to as well. And it's become a habit, and now it's become an addiction. It's almost like a good addiction, you know, because I can't drive somewhere without having good information, like a good book to listen to, you know, so it's always on my phone and I, I go on to my Audible and I go through at least 10 or 12 books a year. And it's mainly because I listen to so many of them.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business, has accrued over $5 billion.

In assets under management, and has done.

Well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar Now, I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move up.

Is there a category on Audible that you would recommend people look for material that would be more useful than others? Do they?

Yeah, I would say self help. I mean, you know, I went from the early days listening to Zig Ziglar, who was a really, you know, I. I listened to almost every single piece of, you know, book he put out there. I remember back then he used to have the tapes, you know, you're the cassette tapes. And I used to buy the cassette tapes and I'd listen to it so many times and rewind and listen to it that the cassette tapes would break. And then I'd have to open it up with the screwdriver and tape it together so I could listen to more, you know, and then I think self help is mainly what I enjoy listening to. And now I'm listening to autobiographies of successful people and learning from that.

Yeah, autobiographies, biographies, absolutely invaluable. But why do you think, John, you listened to these tapes over and over again. Was it that the concepts you weren't. You were getting, but you weren't getting, or why would you listen to it over and over that many times? Explain that to me.

Well, because sometimes I would miss information, but in most times, it's not the. It's. It's not the amount of information that you're looking for, it's the timing of the information. So, you know, there was. There was times in my life where, you know, I wasn't ready for what I was listening to, even though I was listening to it. And I didn't get the concept or the idea. But when I went back to it, I said, wow, how did I miss this? Right? So it's almost like, you know, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. And, you know, I knew that I wanted to get positive information through my. Through my mind. Like, for example, like, I listened to Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich all the time. And, you know, at least once a year, I go back to this book and I listen to it because there's just so much information in that book. There's no way in one lifetime you can actually apply in one listening. You could apply everything by listening to it. You know, you get used to it and you start understanding and doing the concepts a little at a time, and you become better and better at it. So I go back to certain books, you know, like, Think and Grow Rich, how to Win Friends and Influence People, because, you know, we are in the people business.

And.

And I use that a lot, and I learned a lot from that. I listened to those. Like, at least every couple years I listen to that one. And then there's certain autobiographies of people that have been heroes of mine that I. I listen to. You know, like, Kirk Krikorian is a. Is a big hero of mine, and I listened to his book the Gambler so many times, you know, and his life was just a very interesting life about how he invested in MGM and the casinos in Las Vegas and all of that stuff. And I've learned a lot from him just by listening to his stories.

Absolutely. And as you. How did you get going on? I've heard people come back to this idea. How did you get around to the idea of setting aside a certain amount of time every day to read?

So. So when I drive, I mainly listen to audiobooks. So when I drive, I listen to audiobooks and I just go through different ones. However, in the mornings, what I did is I read this book called Miracle Mornings and it talks about how your mornings are so important and I've always been an early waker. So I set out like certain things that I want to do in the mornings and, and one of them was taking 10 minutes to read some good content. So I would just take a moment, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and I would read. And I've made it a concept to read at nights as well. Me and my two teenage boys, we go through a lot of books by reading it as well. And we've been through so many books together. So when I get home from work, I mean, we don't do it every night, but at least three or four nights a week, you know, we'll sit down and read together for 15 or 20 minutes. And it's all self help books. And it's something that I want to pass on to them because it's made such a big difference in my life. You know, if there's something I could give them a gift, I want to give them the gift of, you know, reading good books and pulling out good content, good information and applying it in their lives. So I just have to be purposeful. I add those into my goals and my daily procedures and routines and make it a habit.

And it doesn't have to be a ton of time. You're talking about 10 minutes?

Yeah, 10 or 15 minutes. I mean, I, I, you know, everybody's different, but I, I lose focus after a certain amount of time, so I have to feel like, you know, doing something else. So, you know, what I found, for me, it's 10 or 15 minutes. That is a really good time. And you'd be surprised how many books you can read just by dedicating 10 or 15 minutes a day.

Yeah, a lot of, you know, mostly entrepreneurs are largely attention deficit and they, you know, a little bit manic depressive, attention deficit. You know, they get super excited about ideas and then they get super angry about when things go wrong and because, you know, they work for things to be, work hard for things to go right. And so they, it's hard. A lot of times you hear from the entrepreneurial people is, you know, I just don't have the attention span to read books. But you solve the problem. You just allocate a short spurt of time and you don't ask yourself to sit down and read for hours like it's a novel. You don't over ask yourself. But it is a self discipline. And what have you learned about making these disciplines and these routines? How do you sell yourself on allocating that kind of time out of you? Because I'm sure you're overwhelmed with things to do. People are calling all the time, ideas in your head, things that didn't get done yesterday, on and on and on. And how do, how do you work it out in your mind that no, this is worth it. I'm going to allocate this time every day, regular basis.

Okay. So it's kind of weird how I do it, but I've become obsessive at, you know, my, my journal and checking off things. So what I did is I, I made it a goal, you know, to create that habit by doing it certain amount of days. And then I would go check off, I created this, this habit tracker in my journal and I would go in there and check off every time I would do it. So every time I would do my gratitude journal, I check it off. Every time I would, you know, read in the mornings, I check it off. Every time I would do my daily exercise, I check it off. And that habit of wanting to go to my journal and check it off like, you know, would make me want to not finish the day until I check off this thing, right? Because to me it was like, hey, that's my reward. And I would, and I still like, you know, get this little adrenaline rush every time I check things off. So when I make a to do list, I want to go in there and tackle it and check off all these things to go, hey, I've been so productive today. And that's how I did it. I just created this habit of going in and, and writing it in my journal. And then I would set it up in my calendar on my phone and then I would have alerts hit, you know, so I would, it would automatically just barge in and I'd get an alert. I set up my, my phone at 5am on my alarm clock. So every morning at 5am the alarm clock hits and I roll out of bed and you know, what do you do at 5am? There's not much to do at 5 o' clock in the morning except, you know, make yourself some coffee and go start checking off things, right? So then I would just make myself coffee. I'd go into my home office and I'd start checking off things, you know, by, you know, one, one is reading, the other one is, is, is praying. You know, I read the Bible as well. So that's one of my daily routines and I go in there and I also, I exercise every morning. So it's all built into my calendar and my daily routine.

Absolutely. Great insight. Thanks so much. John, if you enjoyed what you've heard.

And are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world. I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and and put them into something for you to watch. Go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Widell and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go Go.