Golden Door Award Winner (Ft. Austin Maser) Ep. 13

Welcome everybody. Purpose Driven with Alex Cornwall. I am so excited for this podcast, this new episode that we have. I have not only a friend, he's— I look up to him. He's a client of mine. I coach him. I have had the opportunity to coach him for this last season. I'm going to coach him this next season. He is the top 1% of the door-to-door sales. I want everybody to welcome Austin Maser. I hope you guys take notes. I say that in every episode. Take notes. Make sure that you listen to him. His story is amazing and where he's going is amazing. Love this kid. Austin, welcome.

Hey, thanks for having me, Alex.

How long have we known each other now?

A year?

It's been about a year now, huh?

About Yeah, well, we met, like, we started talking in April before the summer started, so yeah, it's coming up on a year.

It's coming up on a year, man. Time flies when you're having fun, right?

It's been a wild year too.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I, I really respect you and, and just your friendship and just how genuine you are, and you're a great fit for— I think you're gonna, you're gonna reach a lot of listeners in this podcast. So thank you, uh, for coming on, being vulnerable, and, and, and sharing your story. So why don't we start out. Tell, tell us a little bit about you and who is Austin Maser.

Okay, so I'm Austin Maser. I live in Winder, Georgia with my wife Kaya Bramwell and my daughter Georgia Grace. So we moved out here about 2 years ago so that my wife could— we moved here out here in 2020 so that my wife could pursue her weightlifting career, um, and it's been really cool to follow that. She's made some huge She's made some huge jumps in her lifts and also just as a person, which I think is way more important. You know, we just had our daughter 14 months ago, and so it's been cool to support my wife, and it's been cool to see my wife support me and then in my goals in door-to-door pest control. That's what I do. But as far as, you know, who is Austin Maser? I'd like to say I'm positive guy. I have a lot of energy and I can hit big goals. I like to accomplish things. It's fun to hit, you know, it's fun to do those things. I love people. I love spending time with my family and I like being happy. I'd prefer to be happy. I like fitness. I'm getting into weightlifting a little bit more now, trying to catch up to Kaya. I'm just kidding. Kaya is a really, really strong girl. She can outlift me in all of the technical stuff, like that could be a scary thing, man, when your wife starts outlifting you.

You got to be careful with that.

Yeah, yeah, she's 5'3", you know, a buck 30, but yeah, she's got me beat on snatch, and I think I've almost caught up to her in clean and jerk. But it's, uh, I told Kai, I was like, one of my life goals is to catch up to you.

I love that you've got that goal that you're chasing. I mean, you definitely got people on the bench. I saw you, that video a little while ago, you're putting up what, 3:15 on the bench?

It's 3:25 and I failed at 3, uh, 3:35.

Dude, you're a strong kid, man. Good for you.

Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Well, you said you like to hit big goals, um, and you are very goal-oriented. I mean, I've had the opportunity to work with you on the coaching side and that's one thing I've noticed about you is you are very goal-oriented. Where do you think that, that that drive to hit goals came from?

So I like checklists and I don't know why exactly I like them. I— it's just it feels good to accomplish something and be like, wow, I did that.

Yeah.

Growing up in Colorado, it was always really cool to climb a 14er. And then climb down it and then look back up at the mountain and say, yeah, I was on top of that a couple hours ago. Um, so I've always liked doing hikes, like accomplishing it, looking back and wow, I did that, you know. And, you know, something that me and you have worked on a lot is it's not necessarily about the destination or about the accomplishment, it's about who you become in the process.

Yeah.

And so I really enjoy learning, pushing, putting myself, putting myself in situations that are uncomfortable where I can push myself to figure out what, hey, what can I do? Do I have it in me?

Where did that come from though? Like, like there had to have been an example or somebody in your life that influenced that, um, that you saw. Where do you think that came from?

You know, I don't know if I could tell you an exact moment. Or a person that is the reason I am that way. Okay. But I mean, there's a lot of, there's a lot of like events in my life that have kind of come together to shape me and who I am today. And I talk about this a lot, as you know, example from My dad, you know, he was all— he's a guy that was always looking for the positive and everything. He always say everything happens for a reason. And so, you know, that's one thing. That's one thing I love, you know, having a good attitude, looking for the bright side. My mom, you know, same way. She has this attitude of like, hey, like, don't stress the small stuff and just, you know, focus on what you can control. Yeah, um, my stepmom, you know, and then she, she helped me learn a lot of like discipline and structure in life, um, and, and actually helped me out a ton, you know. So like all of these different lessons from each of like from my parents really helped out a lot. Um, you look at a lot of coaches that I had, um, I had, I had like a basketball coach growing up, and I, by the way, I got cut by cut from the basketball team every single year in middle school. But I had a, I had a basketball coach that would stay after and he would just practice with me every day. And he was the coach for the team. His name was Coach Oldfield. And, uh, he just would invest a ton of time into me and he helped me as much as he could. And at the end of middle school, I made it on the team for one game, right? But it's just, I like the, the struggle of accomplishing something difficult, right? Where it's like nobody— I would have never thought I would have been playing a basketball team, or I did wrestling at one point, I did cheerleading at one point, which turned into a collegiate cheerleading career. I said call it a career, but I did cheerleading for 4 years at BYU. But all of these things were like, wow, that looks exciting, I'm gonna give it a shot. Yeah. And I just think I love trying new things and learning. And I've never really felt uncomfortable being in the spot where I look like a fool, right? Like, I don't care if I look silly, I just want to learn.

Well, I know you've—

so that's, that's where I think it comes from.

I, I know you've talked about in the past, and you actually just hit on it a little bit, your dad. He was a huge influence on you. And, um, you mentioned in the past that he's pretty much your hero. And, and someone that you looked up to a lot and someone that helped you with that confidence, it sounds like, right?

Yeah. My dad is a huge role model for me. And I think one of the, one of the things I look up to him a lot about is he was just, he was a very positive man. Now growing up, I thought, yeah, he's just really introverted. And calm. I didn't really see that like positive side really come out a ton until my dad ended up, you know, getting cancer. And, and he was real— he was battling it for 5 months, and I saw this like positive side come out of him that was really cool. And, you know, I was on my mission at the time. I was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I was out there in Santiago, Chile, so I was getting his emails every week And it was just one of those things where, you know, for example, he would have a chemo shirt of the week and it was just his— it was an ugly Hawaiian t-shirt that he would wear. And that was just his way of looking up to the— on the bright side. Or they were doing blood transfusions and he was wearing vampire teeth, like just, just silly stuff. But it was a way to keep him— I think it was honestly a way to keep the other people around him happy as well. Um, because he always would say like, I've got the easy job. Like, I just got to go through this. And, um, wow. It was just, I mean, it was looking back, like if I ever had to say like, who is the person that really taught you how to stay positive? It was my dad, even though he wasn't over the top about it. He just kept the mellow. He kept a level head and just was able to get through everything. So we— my parents split when I was a kid. My dad was in the Air Force, um, and we were living out in Delaware. And then my parents divorced and my dad ended up moving to Colorado where he was with me and my two sisters. And, um, you know, just the way things worked out in court and everything, my, my mom ended up you know, staying in Delaware. She was finishing up college at the time, and she has her boyfriend out there, and like, we're really close with him as well. Um, now there was like a lot of— just as a kid, like, you're upset at the world. You're like, why are my parents split up? I don't want to meet your boyfriend. I don't want to be a part of anything. Like, just a lot of stuff that, um, was tough just trying to balance that as a kid. Yeah, but I think through all of this, and, you know, even with my dad getting remarried too, there were all these things going on between my parents and stuff, and, you know, new people coming into the family. I learned a lot about just like how to appreciate people for who they are and not to get involved in party lines as much. Just because I, I love Mom, I love Dad, I love my stepmom. I love all of them. And even though they all have their own stuff and they're, they're, you know, still to this day there's stuff that happens in families, but I choose to love everybody for what they, for what they bring to the table, right?

Yeah.

So just a little bit of background, you know, that's a really big, like, uh, in a nutshell, my perspective on coming from a divorced family. But I've learned a lot from it and a lot of good has come from it.

So I think that's huge when you say appreciate people for who they are. I mean, how often do we, do we overlook that? I mean, that's that empathy side. And I know I struggle with it sometimes. It's all about me. It's all about I, you know, you try to put, no, it's me, it's I wanted, you know. But even in a relationship, you know, when you're, when you're with your spouse, just how often do we overlook just to appreciate them for who they are? The struggles, the bad, the good, the ugly, I think that's huge right there. Well, take us, take us back. I mean, so you grew up in Colorado. You've instilled— I mean, you've got these— you've always had this, this drive to be goal-oriented. You went on a mission. You, you were a cheerleader in high school. Take us back then. How was that? Like, talk to us about, about being a cheerleader at one of the biggest colleges, universities in United States.

Yeah. So that was cool. I, when I was in high school, I— before we talk about cheerleading, I'll talk about wrestling a little bit.

Okay. So I wrestled, by the way, and I hated it. Oh, I mean, I was, I was forced to wrestle. Like, my, my football coach was like, hey, you need to lean up, go wrestle. And I was like, no. He's like, do it anyway. I was like, crap, fine. And I wrestled. I think it's the best sport. Honestly, it taught me discipline. It taught me to push yourself. I mean, when you're in a sweatsuit and you're sweating to the end and you're just going, going, going, it's just like— I remember we would have to run through our high school, like literally run in the halls, and we do laps in the halls of the high school. And I— oh my gosh, it was— it pushed me to like the brink. So wrestling, I look up to you. If you enjoyed wrestling, I look up to you, man.

I— well, here's the thing with wrestling. I love the feeling of accomplishment. Like, I beat that guy, right? Like, it was all on me if I won or if I lost. And I only did it for one year. I never got super into wrestling, but I learned a lot through that. In my first match— and this is where I talk about, like, I'm not scared of opportunities that come up, right? So my first match ever my first victory ever, I should say, because I went to summer camp, um, for, for a week, and I got my butt kicked for a week. And instead of focusing on the victories, I would— I didn't win once, but by the end of camp, I was like, wow, I got really good at this. I learned how to score points. I got a couple takedowns here and there. I didn't lose by getting pinned like I did the last 8 times. That time I actually lost by points. So I was learning how to get better at wrestling, and that's what I was tracking, like my improvement. Well, it was the— during the season, one of the first meets of the season, I'd lost a couple, uh, but I went up to the desk to check in and I said, hey, I'm 182, like, who's my guy? And they're like, yeah, you don't have anybody, you can just sit out. And I said, well, who else you got? Like, is there anybody else that doesn't have anybody? And they're like, well, we got this guy, it's like 240. There's a guy from the 240 weight class I said, I'll take him, give him to me. And I swear, like, that match looked like a Jaws movie. Like, I was just getting eaten alive the whole time. And what ended up happening was, like, we went rounds and I ended up just tiring him out. I put him in a half Nelson and pinned him, right? And so I remember just taking my mouthpiece out. You know, I'm a junior in high school. I ripped my mouthpiece out, threw it on the ground. I was screaming. And, uh, that was just one of the coolest feelings ever, like winning, right?

Yeah.

And, um, it's a— that's just a story from that. But while I was wrestling, I saw a lot of these guys doing backflips during warm-ups. I was like, that is so cool. So I started to try to learn front flips, um, during lunch at school. And I thought, this would be so cool to just learn how to do flips, because I, I just thought it was fun. Well, around the end of wrestling season, I was walking down the hallway in high school and there was a friend of mine whose girlfriend was recruiting him into becoming a cheerleader and trying to get all of his friends to do it. And I literally just heard it, you know, in my peripheral. I said, hey, what are you talking about? And they said, hey, we're trying to get guys to do cheerleading. I said, that sounds way cool. What do you— like, how do I do this thing? So the girls took me to a cheerleading gym a couple nights, like a night later, and they taught me how to throw a girl up to my hands and then shoulder press her. And I was sold. I was like, let's do it. Like, this is so cool. I get to lift another human. So I signed up for cheerleading. I remember putting the papers on my dad's desk and my dad just looked at me, goes, hey, you sure you want to do this thing? And I said, yeah, like, sounds fun. He says, okay. He signed the paper, wrote the check, and I would sign up for cheerleading. Well, I ended up loving it. I did it through high school. I became the captain of the cheerleading team. It was fun. I developed a big sense of camaraderie with the 10 guys I was doing cheerleading with and learned a lot about teamwork. I think especially in co-ed sports, you learn a ton there about, hey, not only do I have to learn how to work with a team of dudes, well, now we got to work with team of girls too. Yeah. And so a lot of lessons there. But, um, yeah, I ended up— I ended up trying out for BYU's cheerleading team because that's all I really cared about after high school. I said, I'm just gonna— I just want to be a cheerleader. I don't care where I go to school. I didn't really care what I studied. I just wanted to become a cheerleader for a university, cheer on, you know, these big— cheer in these big football stadiums. And have that, that cool experience of competing, right?

Yeah.

So I ended up, I ended up flying out to Utah and the cheerleading tryout was so tight, like they, they didn't have, like they had so many people try out, but they couldn't call the shots like at the tryout. So I had to fly back home to Colorado and I didn't find out until later if I had made it or not. But luckily I did. But it was exciting. I, I loved cheerleading. I loved the— I love just learning a new skill and learning that with a partner on top of that too. Like, I work really well one-on-one with people, and I think we'll dive into this, but during the summer with me working with my technician for the summer, we had some amazing chemistry and it just worked out so well. I talked to my wife about that the other day. I was like, I like working one-on-one with people. Because I can really work on that relationship. But in partner stunting, I loved it because it was me and my stunt partner and we would choose these skills, we drill them, we check them off, and we're, you know, we're talking throwing somebody from the ground to one hand and then popping them from one hand to the other hand and then spinning them up 360 degrees, then catching them. So just fun stuff.

That's cool.

I had incredible experience. I, I get excited talking about it, right?

Yeah. And honestly, you've said a lot of things in there that it makes— it helps me understand you even more knowing you. And I mean, you are one of the one person— I've told you this before, like, that's one of the reasons why I've loved coaching you so much is you are so dialed in on skill set. Like, you are determined to succeed. And that determination I can see has come back. It's been instilled in you for a long time, Austin Maser, and I love it. But one thing you said is that feeling— you're driven for that feeling of accomplishment. And one thing you've said is it's you versus another. You wrestled because it was you versus another guy. But I've noticed that, you know, and we're going to shift gears here and we're going to talk about your career and how you got into door-to-door. And I mean, one thing about this with those people that are listening, Austin is the top 1% of the door-to-door industry. He has been able, in 3-year career, been able to accomplish something that only a handful of people have done, which is the Golden Door Award. And he won this last year with the company's top sales rep in pest control. I mean, this kid has done an amazing, an amazing job. And it's that sense of accomplishment, and it shifted. And you would agree with me, instead of you versus that competition, that, that has shifted from you versus you. Wouldn't you agree?

Yeah. Oh, huge. Like, and that's— I would say when I first started in door-to-door, it was just me versus me.

You know what, I'm gonna stop you there. Let's talk about that first before we go into this. You told me that story, and I think it is hilarious, when you went to that first door-to-door con, Door-to-Door Con 3 or whatever. And your first experience with door-to-door.

Oh yeah, I, uh, so Jeremy Davis and Dakota Murdock took me up to Door-to-Door Con. I was gonna sell alarms with Jeremy out in Atlanta before COVID You had no idea what door-to-door was, right? No idea. I picked up, uh, I had done some training calls with Jeremy, uh, you know, I'd heard about it at BYU, but I'd done some training calls with Jeremy who I was, I was connected to Jeremy through a friend who tried to actively was trying to recruit me. And then I just told him, dude, if you don't have anything in Atlanta, I can't do it. I'm sorry. Yeah. And so that, that, that, that friend of mine, his name's Nathan Baker, was so kind to connect me with somebody else that could serve my needs. And I think sometimes in, in the whole door-to-door realm, if you can't recruit somebody, a lot of times people get upset and they take it personally. Mm-hmm. And, uh, he took a different route. He just said, hey, I really want the best for you. I'll connect you to Jeremy. So Jeremy starts training me because he can, you know, he can help fulfill my needs to get me to Atlanta and have, you know, give me an opportunity out there through selling alarms with, at the time, a company called Fluent. Well, they, you know, he took me to Door-to-Door Con. I had no idea what it was. I just thought, cool, I'll, I'll go to it. I'm excited to learn. At the time, I had been reading some door-to-door books, and I had an understanding of like, okay, this is what sales is, right? Yeah. So we go to a breakout room and it's a guy named Lenny Gray who was one of the OG, like, GOATs of pest control. I think he did like 1,250 accounts, some big number, right? And he's giving a training on the introduction and how to come across as, how to really nail your introduction.. And he, he did a full training on it and he, and at the very end he goes, hey, who wants to come up and give it a shot? And I'm in the very back of the room and my hand shoots up and I go, I'll do it.

You'd never done this before?

No, I'd never done a role play in person ever.

You've never done door-to-door sales or any type of sales before? This is what I love about this story.

No, this is, this, I just decided to go up and do this role play with Lenny Gray. And I have a video of it still on my Instagram, but it's— I didn't do a great job. I just, I think the great job was that I actually went out there and put myself out there. But it was like a— I was confident in myself too, which is funny. I was like, I was going up there, I was stoked. I was like, I'm going to nail this thing. And then I just got wrecked, but it's okay. But the cool thing about the video is there's people in the back rows that are laughing at me. Yeah, and they're like, this guy's, this guy's an idiot. I'm like, but it— I didn't actually see those guys laughing at me until a couple years later when I looked back on the video, and I'm like, holy crap, they're laughing.

Yeah, who's laughing?

And, uh, well, fast forward, right, 3 years later, I was speaking at one of the breakout rooms at the, at the PEST panel, and people were asking me questions, and I shared that at the panel at Door-to-Door Con 6, just because I just wanted people to know, like, hey, there's no such thing as a stupid question. And it's like, it's okay to fail, it's okay to mess up. Yeah, like, that is literally how you get good at something, is, you know, like I talked about wrestling, you get pinned 20, 30 times before you ever win a match. Or door-to-door sales, like, you get told no hundreds and hundreds of times before you can get you know, your first yeses and get the ball rolling.

I mean, you bring up a really good point. I mean, you actually started door-to-door. I mean, you were determined. Again, that determination that you have, I hope you guys get the theme, everybody that's listening. It takes determination and consistency to succeed, and Austin is one of the biggest examples of that. I mean, you were determined to succeed in door-to-door. You wanted to provide for your family, you wanted to provide for your wife at the time. And it didn't go so well your first year.

Yeah, I started— so the alarm sales deal with Jeremy didn't work out because COVID caused all of us to pivot, right? We had to rethink, hey, what are we doing right now? What's, you know, what's going on? And Jeremy took a different route. And, you know, Jeremy and I still stayed in touch. He's one of my biggest mentors in life to this day. But what I ended up doing is I ended up joining Fluent Solar in Utah, and I was still super dedicated to the process and learning, and they had great training. They taught me a lot about sales, and I would go out and I'd set a ton of appointments. I was really, really good setter, which looking back, I probably just ought to become a setter and then let everybody go close my stuff. But, um, really good setter, but I really struggled with closing. And looking back, it was a lack of belief in the product, right? And you can go into that for salesmanship, right? If you don't believe in your stuff, then good luck.

You have to.

But I was really good at connecting with people, setting appointments, and what ended up happening was like I would— was doing it for so long and I couldn't get anybody to buy from me One week I decided to sign up Kaya's grandma and she, you know, she needed a service. She got the panels installed on her house, paid them off in full. She was stoked. But there was a little bit of confidence that was instilled from, hey, I actually signed somebody up, right? Like I did it. I went on the platform, I put their name in, I did the whole, you know, submitting a customer kind of deal. But then a week later I ended up going out and I ended up closing 2 in a day. Well, I've talked about this before, but one of those appointments that I set, that I went in and closed the 2, you know, the 2-spot we call. But one of those appointments that I set, I set on a Saturday night after Kaya's family had had like a get-together and a barbecue together. They got KFC, you know, everybody was there. And I told Kaya, I was like, hey, tonight after I'm done with this barbecue with your family, I'm gonna go out and work for a couple hours. And it was just a little thing, but I kept my promise to myself. I remember leaving that little barbecue thing with Kaya's family feeling like, ah, do I have to? Like, no, I'm gonna keep my word. Well, I went out close to— it's awesome. One of them ended up canceling, right? It doesn't matter, but, but it was a huge victory for me. But after that, like, we went on a trip, we went on a boating trip after I had sold those two. And I remember getting a call from a text message from one of those customers and they just said, hey, we're canceling, we're not getting installed. It was just a huge, like, letdown for me. I ended up trying to go back into knocking again and I just, I struggled to get the momentum going again. I was like, I'm done. Like, yeah, I'll make more money doing DoorDash. Than this, which wasn't necessarily true. I just had given up. Now, just a fun fact, and we'll talk more about this, but looking back on, on the solar stuff, it was so important that I left the barbecue early because it showed income for door-to-door sales in April, and I bought my house in April of 2021. And so because I sold that one account, my grandma's account, it showed that I had steady income through solar to pest control. I was actually able to buy a home. So I just say these things because they matter. Otherwise, if I hadn't gone out that night to set an appointment, I wouldn't have been able to buy a house until August.

Well, it's like you're— it's like what you said, what your dad always told you. Everything happens for a reason.

Oh, for sure. For sure. And look, quitting solar door-to-door like that happened for a reason. That is literally Well, what drove you? I mean— Put a fire under me.

Exactly. I mean, it drove you because it got to the point I've heard you talk about in the past. I mean, it got to the point where Kaya was thinking about going into the military and/or, you know, doing something else. And what did that do to— I mean, as men, we want to provide for our family.

Yeah.

And we have that sense of, you know, that masculinity comes out. No, we need to provide. I mean, I'm assuming that gave you that sense of like, oh crap, I'm not providing for this woman that I love.

Yeah.

I mean, it made you, it put a fire under your butt.

For sure. And like to this day, like I still have my Fluent badge, right? There's an Alarm badge in here.

Holy crap, you have hair, bro.

I had hair back then.

You have hair.

Look at that.

Wow.

Look at that. Yeah, let's see if you can see it. I had hair back then.

Wow, Austin with hair.

I still have this in my car because it's a good reminder of like, hey, this is where you came from. Look how far you've come, dude.

That is awesome. Um, I love that.

But tap— yeah, tapping into like what you talked about with wanting to provide and wanting to, you know, make sure that my family's taken care of, that's huge. And that's what drives me to this day. And I'd say too, I— and I've been working on this a lot— is just learning that balance too between accomplishment in the, in my career, and then also being able to turn that off and be with my family. And it's still something that I work on to this day.

I mean, I think all men, it does, it goes back to that you versus you. Yeah, you know, that we, you know, I kind of, I kind of dove off of that for a little bit, but it really does. I mean, it's that, it's that sense of you. I mean, you're your only competition in this world, wouldn't you agree?

Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I learned that a lot during, during the summer. It's like, hey, like, if I just focus on what I can do, yeah, I will. I win that period. Like, and so no matter what the outcome is, I win.

You win. I mean, and it's just the determination. I mean, I love it that you're dedicated to that process. And I know that's something that we worked on a lot and something that I personally strive every single day, just like stop focusing on the ultimate goal and focus on the process of getting there. Because it doesn't matter about that goal. The goal will come and go. I know there's a lot of times in my life I've set these goals and I've hit the goal and you get there and it's just like, "Fuck, now what?" "What now?" "What now?" Like, it's like, "Okay, I hit this and I was so determined to hit the goal. I hit it, but I didn't enjoy the process in the way." And there is a sense that I'm assuming and knowing you that you started enjoying the process. You went back into door-to-door. You started with a company called Anthem. And tell us about that transition, getting back into it.

Miracle, first of all.

Okay. Why was it a miracle?

Well, Kaya and I had gone on a— this— and I'll dial back to— I'll rewind back to like, hey, how'd I end up going to Anthem, right? So Kaya and I went on a vacation with my, my step-grandparents. So I call my grandparents, right? No need to— like, yeah, I don't call them my step-grandparents, they're my grandparents, right?

Yeah.

But so my stepmom's parents, my grandparents, right? We went on a vacation with them to Colorado at this place called Sylvan Dale. Really beautiful place. And, you know, they had the whole— we had the whole family together and they paid for everybody to go.. And it was just such a cool experience to get our whole family together and create memories together. And I just thought, wow, I really want to do this one day. I want to have a big old family, a lot of kids, a lot of grandkids, and I want to get together and do these types of events. And we were sitting on— there were these nice little cabins that we lived in for the week.. And they had their own little porches. Kai and I were sitting on the porch together and I just looked out at my whole family, like playing volleyball, doing these fun games. We were doing horseback riding that week. Like it was so fun. And I just thought to myself, I was like, what I'm doing right now will never allow me to have this at all.

What a realization.

At the time. Wow. Yeah. Oh gosh. At the time I was applying to Home Depot. Lowe's. I was trying to get some jobs in like exercise and wellness and work as like a, an aide, which I had done in the past. And I love working with individuals with special needs. It's one of the passions I have and one of the reasons why I continue to do sales. I want to work in a field where I can help individuals with special needs. That's huge. Um, but I was never gonna be in a position to impact the amount of people I wanted to. By working at Lowe's, Home Depot, or just becoming an aide somewhere, right? It wasn't going to happen. I was never going to have the— if I, if I worked as an aide somewhere, as an occupational therapist assistant, which is, which was like what I was gung-ho on doing, right? Um, I wasn't gonna have the lifestyle that I wanted to be able to have a home and have like— I like, I like having a fun lifestyle, right? And so I was going to trade one thing or the other. Well, I just, you know, I realized like I can't have what I want and keep doing what I'm doing right now. And so I texted Mitch Matthews, who I knew from BYU. I said, hey dude, like I heard you have a pest control company in Atlanta. I need a job. Like I tried door-to-door, but I struggled and I quit. So I'm a little self-conscious about that. And Mitch just texted back and said, hey dude, you're going to do great. I'll connect you with the people there and we'll get you set up.

That's awesome.

Done. Yeah, at the time I was working like a part-time job at a cheerleading gym. And so I started selling with Anthem. A guy took me out on August 10th. A guy named Zach Strong took me out to teach me how to sell. And he did great. He, he, we had opened doors for about an hour and a half before I had to go to the cheerleading gym to pick up a shift. And he found a guy that was like a buyer, sold him, and then said, "Hey, my iPad doesn't work, Austin. Let me have yours." And so he sold an account for me.

That's awesome.

And I got in my car and I'm like, "I didn't earn that. It was really nice of that guy, but I didn't earn that. I want to go get my own now." And so the next day I went out, I sold 2. I still know my first customer to this day. Her name's Sherry Pruitt. She was the real estate agent for our home. Kind of cool how that came full circle, right?

Yeah, that's awesome.

But, um, then from there, man, I just started selling by myself. Like, it was towards the end of the summer when I joined, so I started selling, uh, then through August. Everybody was gone by the end of August. I sold in September, October, November, and then I sold part of December, and I was like, I'm done, it's freezing. So, but that was like my intro to door-to-door pest control. Like, it was very disciplined. I had a structure during October and November and December. It was sell 10 a week, and when you're done with your 10, you can go home. Yeah, period. Like, that was it. But that was my structure during October and November and December after the big, big push during August and September.

And you, I mean, you basically, you went out and sold off-season, so you were really the only one out there selling.

100%. I was the only one.

So you taught yourself how to do that?

Pretty much learned a lot on my own.

That is awesome. And talk us through, I mean, you decided to stick with it. You went on number, you know, that second year you became— yeah, what were you, the second sales? I mean, you're the second, you're the first, you're the first loser, you're the first loser, right?

I was the first loser. Yeah, man, I, I had a chip on my shoulder my second year, right? Because I went in and I don't think anybody thought much of me. It's like, oh, that guy's gonna, you know, he's good. And I heard a lot of chatter like, oh, these guys are going to be the top reps. And that kind of like, I kind of like, I wasn't upset at anybody, but kind of took offense to them. Like, no, no, like, I'm, I'm gonna win.

Yeah, it was, and, uh, it was that determination. I mean, that feeling of accomplishment, that determination, and you versus other— you went back to the wrestling side of you. Like, oh no, I'm gonna kick your ass kind of thing, right? I love that.

Yeah, and, uh, I ended up surprising a lot of people. The biggest thing—

did you surprise— did you surprise yourself?

Um, yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. There was times during the summer—

why do you think?

I just think there was a— there was— I was scared to accept that I could be better because I knew that with that there would come added responsibility. And I always share this story about— his name's Blake Jensen. He was overseeing me at the time as one of the regional, right? And he called me one night. He said, hey Austin, I want you to promise me never to sell under 3. And I just said, hey, uh, I don't know, man, like I'll talk to you about it later. And I like totally shied away from that. I did not accept the challenge. I was scared. And it's just a really, really crazy thing to think about because now selling 3 in a day for me is like I sold nothing. Like I sold negative numbers. I feel like if I only do 3, right? Like that is like I get 3 going in the first couple hours.

Dude, I listen to that story and I think about what we worked on this last summer. I— Yeah, it's amazing the leaps and bounds that you took. I mean, it's a—

it's just— we were gunning for 20 a day at the very end.

I love it. I love it. So, I mean, take us back. I, you know, I really want to hit on this after that second year, your mind shift that shifted. It wasn't that Oh man, there's that Golden Door. I think I want to get that. It was— no, I'm a Golden Door winner.

Yeah.

Like you had already accepted it.

Yeah, I'm getting it.

To the point where you went and bought a car thinking, ah, they're going to pay it off anyway.

I'm getting it. Yeah, no, 100%. So the quantum leap for my sales career happened when— not when we found out we were pregnant, but it was like I was starting to get really good at my job, right? Like, this is my second year. I was reading a lot of psychology, Laws of Human Nature, um, 48 Laws of Power, a lot of books on persuasion and influence, and I was getting really dialed in on the sales side.

Okay.

And I just remember when we had our, our gender reveal for our baby and we turned the poppers and it came out as pink, something flipped, man, where I'm like I'm a dad to a little baby girl. Like, I've got to go.

Which—

and that—

you have little princess. I've got two little daughters and I know that feeling, man.

Oh gosh, it's like you— it's crazy. It's a good feeling, man. It's, uh, you know how it is. Oh yeah, it's, um, well, that just sent me from, hey, like, I don't want to be average anymore. That's kind of no fun. I want my daughter to look up to me and be like, wow, Dad is awesome, right? Like, having a wife helped me get in that idea, like, mindset of I'm going to provide, I'm going to be really good at it. But like, being a dad was another added responsibility that just made me better. And I think that's how responsibilities are— they make you a better person. Well, I went from doing like 3, 4, 5 a day to doing 7 a day, and that was the new standard. That took me into the Coliseum. I ended up You know, the Coliseum is our yearly competition that we do. I ended up getting all the way through to the finals and I lost. Well, right.

Yeah. And that was your second year, right?

That was my second year. But going into my third year, I, my identity just like totally shifted. I'm like, no, I ended up with 719 accounts my second year. I thought that's only like 300 away from a golden door, 1,000 accounts. Like I'm doing that. Like, it wasn't even a question of if I could do it. It's like, I'm doing that. And to your point about the car, they had this thing at Anthem where if you get a Golden Door, you get a $35,000 car. So I was driving a beater car at the time. The window had a crack in it, so every single time it rained, my left arm would get soaked, and it was just getting old. I remember driving to work one day in April and the tire blew up on the interstate. And I'm like, I'm done. Like, I'm a Golden Door Award winner. Like, I'm gonna go buy a new car. So I just, uh, I placed an order for a Kia K5 and, uh, I just bought a new car. I'm like, they'll pay it off in, in a couple months when I hit my Golden Door. But I'm hitting a Golden Door. It was never a question, man. It was like, this is who I am. I am a Golden Door winner already. And it's not like I would became a different person when I got the award up on stage at Door-to-Door Con. No, I'd already decided.

And that was— but you prepared for it. I mean, you— yeah, you went out again, you, you leaned on your mentor quite a bit, and you went and hired a coach. Why did you hire— yeah, why did you hire me? So let's talk about coaching a little bit.

I remember talking to you, man. I remember talking to you the night I, I talked to Jeremy. I'm like, hey man, like I need help. Like, he's always been there to help me. And Jeremy Davis referred me to you and said, hey Austin, you should talk to Alex. He's been really good and helped me hit some of my goals. Like, you should talk to him. That's it. Yeah. And I ended up talking to you and you asked me a couple questions, like, if time and money were not a thing, what would you be doing and who would you be doing it with? We talked a little bit, but, but one of the things that surprised me, you were like, Did you're selling like 7 or 8 a day? Let's get you selling 12 to 15 a day. I was like, this guy's nuts. What? Like, really? And I thought, well, I need to get better. And so most successful people I know had been working with coaches and I just thought, let's go, let's just give it a shot. And it, it was the game changer during the summer because I had you I had Jeremy, who's my mentor. There's no money ties there at all, right? Um, and I had my wife. But I think it's really important to pay somebody that's going to call you out on your crap, to have that buddy there that's like your mentor, and then also to have your cheerleader, who is my wife. Yeah, right. You have your coach, your mentor, your cheerleader, and I think you need to have all— I know you need to have all three in order to be successful. I agree, 100%.

I agree 100%.

So huge game changer, man. You helped me find my weak spots and help me work through them.

The one thing I love about our coaching and what we do together is we really don't talk much strategy on sales. I mean, we did a little bit here and there, but the majority of the stuff was, was what? I mean, expand on that. Like, what did we work on?

Yeah, we had one call during the summer where we tried to work on my contract value. Pricing and stuff. Well, and then the rest of it was just my mindset.

Well, let's go back on that. The contract value still was mindset.

That— oh, I went back on mindset. Yeah.

I mean, it really did come back because you're like, no, well, I sell from here to here, I say. And what did it come to? It comes really back to you were already a door-to-door or a door-to-door Golden Door winner even before you hired me, because it was your mindset.

I'm—

I've already won it. Contract value? No, my contract value is $700 to $800 because that's just who I am. It's mindset.

And looking back on that, yeah, and looking back on that, everything is mindset. And I, I still hadn't decided to change that 100%. Like, we worked through that, but for me, the, the summer last year was just, hey, go sling 1,000 accounts, right? And so it just goes to show, we're focused. What is it? Where, where focus goes, energy flows. It wasn't necessarily my focus all the time for contract value. But we did make some good improvements in, in that time, right? But going back to like what we talked about, man, it was all mindset. It was all controlling what you can control and trusting in the process. And I would talk to you about what I was experiencing, um, every other week, and you'd help me just reframe a lot of things. And it's something that, you know, we'll continue to work together this summer because I know that I need that on a consistent basis to have somebody help me work through what I'm going through during the summer. There's a lot of stress that comes with high performance, and it helps to have somebody in your corner that helps you walk— you— that helps you walk through everything. Because, you know, one of the lessons I learned with you during the summer is when your head— when you're in your head, you're dead, you're done. And a lot of times we get in our heads. I know I do. It's helpful to have a coach call you, like, let you know, like, hey dude, you're in your head. Like, you're fine. What do we need to focus on? And reel you back and get you more process-oriented.

Yeah.

Um, dude, one of my favorite stories to this day is, you know, I'm in Texas and I'm getting my butt kicked in a competition and I was so worked up in the competition and you saw my numbers because I text you my numbers every day.

Yep.

And you just call me, you're like, get out of your fucking head.

Like, I did, right?

And I'm, you know, broke down crying in the street. And, and it was just, it was such a cool experience just because that, like, that moment that I thought sucked so bad is now like an anchor, anchor for me of just realizing that you just need to stay focused on what you can control. And when, when you do that, you win.

Yeah.

Now there were some adjustments I had to make that week to win, and I did them like I, but I did them by focusing on what I could control.

And the one thing, the outcome of, of all of that is you had some of your best days shortly after.

In Texas. Yeah. I was all in my head about traveling. When I travel, it's tough.

Yeah.

And I was like, no, like the next couple of days, you know, I made some adjustments. I made sure I had my own tech that day., and we went down and we threw down. They were like, I think they were like 13, 14, 15 account days. Yeah. Out in Texas. And, you know, when I was on the road, right? So it doesn't matter if you're on the road. It was just one of those things like, hey, focus on what you're good at, focus on what you can control, and then it will all work out.

Yeah.

But that was just a really cool experience. I remember you just, I was so wrapped up with the competition at the time and wanting to win., and you're just like, dude, like, just scream, like, fuck competition season. Like, you're like, scream it. And I'm just screaming it in the middle of the road. And I know I've shared this in another podcast, but there was a, a cop that was like, somebody called the cops on me prior, not because I was screaming in the street, but because I had, you know, pissed somebody off at their door. And the cop had to come up to me after our phone call. And I remember telling you, hey dude, I gotta go, there's a cop.

I remember.

And the cop was like, you okay, bro? And I'm like, yeah. Just no one's buying right now. And he goes, it's all right, man. Someone will buy from you, buddy. Just keep on trucking. You'll be all right.

So I love it.

But it was a good little story, but ended up going on. Um, I really got dialed in for the next, the next couple rounds of that competition. And ultimately we ended up winning. It was awesome.

Yeah. So, and ultimately, ultimately ended up being number one.

Yep. So finished number 1 in that competition and then finished number 1 overall for the season. I remember, which was what I wanted to do. Like, that was my goal for the year.

And talk about that too. I mean, I know that there was— once you hit that goal, I really do want to hit on this. You struggled a little bit.

A ton.

You struggled a little bit on now what? Like, you are so wrapped up. I mean, your identity became your goal. That it made you like question a few, like, oh crap, now what? What am I going to do? Yeah, all this. So talk about that a little bit for the audience.

So hit 1,000 accounts, right?

Yeah.

And that was it. Like, I was like, okay, I hit 1,000 accounts. I took the next morning off and I think I had breakfast with a buddy. And then I went out to work that day, but the urgency was gone. And so the weird thing was, from selling 1,000 accounts to 1,067 accounts was actually one of the hardest stints that I had until me and you worked through a lot together, right? But because I was so tied up in selling 1,000 accounts, when I quote unquote like crossed the finish line, I like ran out of juice. And it's because I was so tied up in the 1,000 accounts that even though I still had multiple weeks left, I just lost the motivation. Right. And so at the time, there was the, there was the, the position for like, hey, who's going to be the number 1 rep at Anthem on the line? And I was so tied up in 1,000 accounts that I was like wanting to know like, hey, do I, do I keep knocking through September to win this thing? Or do I stop when I hit— at the time I had to hit $550,000 in commissions to hit my last commission structure, and that was going to give me several extra thousand dollars. But I was like, dude, do I even want to do this? Do I even want to hit my next commission structure? And me and you talked on the phone, and I was so tied up in the number that when I, I was so tied up in the number that I forgot to focus on the process and what I was good at. And you're like, dude, could you walk away right now and be happy with what, like, what you've done? I'm like, well, I think, I don't know, like, I think. And you're like, the fact that you're saying I think means that you're not. Like, you need to keep working on this. Why, why are you going to keep going to hit, to hit this $550K in revenue? And I talked to you about it. I'm like, well, if I do that I could have enough money to build a deck on the back of my house, and I could look at that deck and be like, wow, I earned this because I pushed through, pushed through to the end. And, um, ultimately, man, we just had to forget about the thousand and just remember that it's all about me getting better about my craft and the, the journey rather than the destination. And how I ended up—

and how often do you— how often do you use that deck?

All the time.

Yep.

All the time. We're out there all the time. And I built it with my next door neighbor. The extra money that, you know, like some of the extra commissions that I made from hitting that commission structure, like that commission ladder, um, we'll use to build a garage gym. Right. But it's, um, it was one of those things where I just had to forget about like the number there, cuz it's like, it, it wasn't helping me to realize, to, to think about all these numbers. And during the summer when I was most successful, I didn't even look at my summer numbers. I looked at my summer numbers on a monthly basis. That is it. Yeah. Just to see, hey, this were— these were April's numbers. This is where it puts me. Cool. And any time somebody would talk to me in the office towards the end of the season about, hey, Austin, you're almost there, I'd be like, stop, don't talk to me, dude. I don't want to hear my numbers. I didn't even know where I was at most of the time. I just wanted to focus on the numbers. And then when I focused on hitting it, when I realized I'd hit 1,000, I was like, it played with me. So the focus this year is obviously I have a big goal, but it's not about that as much. It's, it's, it's the goal is enough to push me and to scare me. But after I hit the numbers, it's like, hey, how much further can I go? And I know that was the focus last year, but I ended up just pivoting after hitting 1,067. And on September 1st, my wife and I peaced out and we went to Portland. To go cash in on our— we won a shopping spree to the Nike employee store, so we cashed in on that trip, and I was done after that. And I think I learned a lot. I pushed myself. It's like the end of a hard workout where you gave it everything you had, and that's what I did. I pushed myself a ton. I learned a ton. But there was a time where I had to pivot and just, hey, I'm going to focus on my family now.

Yeah.

And we created a ton of memories in the offseason, man.

And what's— and I love it. And you really have. I mean, you've, you've done some amazing traveling. You've done amazing, amazing things with you and your wife. You know, you achieved your award. You got that.

Yeah.

But I got to ask, I mean, that's just like half of the first chapter of your life. I mean, what's next for Austin Maser?

Yeah, so I'll do another 2 years at Anthem at least, um, and, and do another 2 more Golden Doors, right?

That'll give you what, the Platinum?

Yeah, the Platinum.

I mean, I remember that when we were up at that door-to-door con, I went up there and, and saw you achieve that, which congratulations, buddy. I'm so proud of you for what you've accomplished. And I mean, I, I saw the struggle. I was with you in that corner, and I was proud to be in that corner, and I still am proud. And honor to be your coach and to be there with you. But to see you achieve that award. But right when they said— I saw that one kid go up and get the platinum. I was like, I text you immediately. There's your next hit. That's it. Yeah. And you can achieve it. That's one thing I love about—

Yeah.

I mean, your determination that you have, you're already a platinum winner. You— I mean, you just mentioned it right there. You've already set I'm going to be a Golden Door winner the next 2 years. Like, you're already living it. That's one thing I love about you.

You're already living it. Yeah. Another thing with that is just like, it's, it's, I told you, I'm, I like having those goals to hit and that's exciting to me. I think it's cool to, to create a level of like, this is the standard to, to keep that standard and then to raise it. And that's what I've done my whole door-to-door career. Every single summer has been progressively better, and every single month within the summer has been pretty darn close to progressively better. Like, I consistently— and this is one of the things with my identity— is I consistently get better. I consistently have more PRs. And people at Anthem will ask me, they're like, how do you keep getting better? And it's like, no, that's just— that's who I am. Like, I always get better. In my journal, I have I had like, at the beginning of the summer, I had a 50-account week, a 60-account week, a 70-account week, an 80, a 90, and 100 all written down in my journal. And during the summer while we were working together, I hit the 50 for the first time that summer, I hit the 60, I hit the 70, and I hit the 80. But in my journal, I still have 90 and 100. I know I'm going to hit them one day.

Yeah.

So it's just part of my identity to consistently get better. And that's something that is just as simple as saying it to yourself and then doing the things that it takes to get better.

I love it, man. I love it. Well, I mean, let's, let's, let's wrap up here. What's some advice you would give some upcoming people that may want to get into sales, may want to get into door-to-door? It's not an easy profession. I mean, that's one thing that people— for— I can't stress enough for what you've accomplished so far in your career in only 3 years. It's absolutely amazing, Austin. And it's just, it's just amazing. So what is some advice that you could give people that are listening that may want to go down this road and may want to change, change up, you know, their lifestyle and, and, and provide that lifestyle that you've been able to provide you, your family, Kaya and Georgia?

So Biggest thing is to get dialed in on, on who you're doing it for. For me, it's I have my wife and my daughter that I'm doing this for, but I'm also doing it for myself too. Like, I love hitting those goals, right? So just get dialed in on why exactly you're doing it. And if it's just a desire to want to achieve, then that's a good one too. Like, but also knowing what you're going to do with that is super important. I still have, you know, plans that I want to do after I'm done with door-to-door. You know, there's, there's businesses I want to start and there's things I want to do afterwards, but it's like, I know why I'm doing this right now, and it's something that me and you have worked on to get really clear on. Hey, why the heck are you doing this? So just, yeah, I know it's cliché, but know your why, right? But then the biggest thing that I feel like I do a good job at is just getting really structured and really disciplined on your training. Not only sales training, but just your mental training. So we just talked, I got, I got home from the gym right before our call, but that is, that makes me happy. It makes me healthy. And more than anything, it makes me confident. There's nothing better. And you know how this is. There's nothing better than finishing a workout and just looking down at your arms and you're like, oh my gosh, or getting a good leg workout in and you're waddling out. Like that's a great confidence booster. Um, so talking about like the, the training side, you've got to train your mind, you've got to train your mind to, to overcome barriers. Just like I talk about like constantly getting better, you've got to do that in other areas to push yourself because you're not always selling door-to-door every day. Yeah. So you've got to find how to push yourself other places. But more than anything, I think just get obsessed with the process of selling as well, like learning how it works, just getting down to the basics. Even though I've done a Golden Door, I still reread Brian Tracy's Psychology of Selling. I'm reading Tom Hopkins' Mastering the Art of Selling. Like, I still read the basics, and that's where you get good, if you just focus on the basics and you rehash those things and re— and practice them consistently. But yeah, just being clear on why you're doing it, being obsessed with your training and getting better. And more than anything, to be able to— I think it's to be able to have fun along the way too, because you're not going to be a Golden Door winner your first, your first, you know, your first month. Right. But if you have it in your mind that you're going to accomplish it, then you can work towards it. But fall in love with learning, fall in love with the process, fall in love with getting a little bit better, fall in love with learning how to sell in this type of demographic, learning how to do this type of pitch, like learning those little things. And ultimately you'll eventually hit your goal. And I'll share this one last thing. During the summer, I would send bug emojis throughout, throughout the summer.

Yep.

And then I got so wrapped up in numbers that the only way I could like fix that mindset was I renamed our group chat Building the Brick Wall. And then every single deal I got, I'd send a brick emoji to you, Jeremy, and my wife. But it helped me just focus on, hey, I'm just laying bricks, just laying bricks. That's it.

It's whatever you got to do. And I think you had a good thing too. And I do want to stress that, you know, have those cheerleaders, have those mentors, and have those coaches in your corner. Proximity is power, period. And who you surround yourself with and who you get your advice from matters. And Austin, again, I love you, buddy. I'm excited to be in your corner.

Yeah, I love you too, brother.

And I'm excited to be your coach. And thank you for the opportunity. I expressed that multiple times to you. I'm excited to see where your journey takes you. And thank you so much for coming on. I hope people listen to this podcast. Especially that are understanding it's, you know, you can have all the skill set in the world. You really can. And you are, I would actually, I am confident to say you are better skilled in sales than me, than a lot of people that I know. You are pretty damn good. It really doesn't matter though, unless you have that mindset behind you. And I hope people can really understand that.. And I hope that's what they get out of this. Determination, trusting the process, and who you surround yourself with. So thank you for coming on. Thank you for leaving all these little nuggets with everybody. And I look forward to having you on here in the next couple of years after you won that platinum.

Let's go. Yeah, it'll happen.

Oh, it's already happened, right?

That's how it goes. Yeah. It's like with the Golden Door, I knew it was going to happen.

Yeah.

So it's like it was just a matter of when. Yeah.

I love it, man. Well, thank you so much for coming on.

Time's got to catch up to it, right?

Yep. Give Kaya and Georgia a hug for me and, and love you, buddy.

Love you too, brother.