Colton Jones - How a 23-Year-Old Built One of Brevard's Top Moving Companies

Colton Jones, owner of Top Team Moving, shares his journey of starting his own moving company. He initially got into the moving industry as a side hustle after graduating from college. He started by flipping couches and eventually transitioned into a moving business. Colton emphasizes the importance of getting jobs and making sales as the first step in building a business. He also highlights the significance of building a strong brand and reputation, focusing on customer reviews and highlighting the stories of his team and clients. Colton discusses the discipline required as an entrepreneur, particularly in managing time and prioritizing tasks. In this conversation, Branden Sewell and Colton Bollinger discuss the importance of delegation and building a team in a home service business. They emphasize the need for entrepreneurs to transition from a technician mindset to an entrepreneurial mindset. They also highlight the significance of managing schedules, tracking activities, and creating job descriptions to effectively delegate tasks. Additionally, they discuss the role of discipline and personal development in handling challenges and making hard decisions. They stress the importance of humility, continuous learning, and surrounding oneself with high-performing individuals. Finally, they emphasize the value of attracting the right people and creating a culture of excellence in the business.

Takeaways

• Starting a moving company can be a great first business as it provides opportunities to learn various aspects of running a business.
• Building a strong brand and reputation is crucial for success in the home service industry.
• Prioritizing sales and getting jobs is essential in the early stages of a business.
• Discipline is key for entrepreneurs, especially in managing time and focusing on high-value activities.
• Highlighting the stories of team members and clients can help build a strong brand and connect with customers. Transition from a technician mindset to an entrepreneurial mindset in order to grow a home service business.
• Manage schedules, track activities, and create job descriptions to effectively delegate tasks.
• Discipline and personal development are crucial in handling challenges and making hard decisions.
• Surround yourself with high-performing individuals and cultivate a culture of excellence.
• Attract the right people by offering opportunities for growth and creating an attractive work environment.

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:00.982)
Hi everybody, I am Branden Sewell. I am the owner of Seal Pro Painting and now also Seal Pro Seal and Wash, based in central Florida. I'm also the host of the Off the Ladder podcast. We exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live life off of the ladder. Today's guest is actually somebody local here to my market. His name is Colton Jones. He's a young entrepreneur and he is hustling out there, making big things happen.

and he owns Top Team Moving. So Colton, welcome to the show. I'd love for you to just give an introduction to the listeners, let them know a little bit about yourself and how you found yourself owning Top Team Moving. For sure. Thank you, Branden, for having me on. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so moving, got into it. I went to UCF. I was really ahead of schedule as far as schooling, because there's...

dual enrollment here in Florida. So I had basically all my college done. So I spent a very short time in college. I went to UCF, I was on the cheer team there. And one of the buddies had graduated like a semester before me. And he was working for college hunks moving. So moving in junk removal. And yeah, so he was working there and I just needed something to do right after I graduated. He made that recommendation. So I was just trying to, you know.

keep my hours busy with something making money, even though it wasn't that much money. Sure. It was a good way to get started. I've always known that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I've always had that sort of mindset and that goal. So yeah, I worked there for a couple months and that was it. First day, which was funny to me, is I've really never had a job because I've always done these side hustle things. Sure.

I went into work at this moving company making like 12 bucks an hour and my first day was a long day. It was a full day. I had made like 90 bucks and that was like the most I ever made. I was so pumped. I was excited. And then I'm peeking over the driver's shoulder and the bill is four grand. So I'm like, hold on. I mean, everyone was hyping me up because I'm like, I'm an athlete. So everyone was hyping me up like...

Branden Sewell (02:21.538)
this guy's D1, like he's cheerleader in college, whatever. And like hyping me up as a mover, just because I was like lifting heavy things and maybe I guess not all the guys on their first day would do that. So yeah, it was just like something I was like, well, they're hyping me up. I feel like I could do this. And I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur, start my own business. So this is a good start. And I definitely recommend that.

you know, starting a moving company is a great first business just because there's so many different parts of business that you're going to learn about, really any home service business. So you're in Panting, I see it in the same way, you're just going to learn so much about business. So it's a good first one to start. I see myself having lots of businesses in the future and you just purchased another business. So yeah, it's just like you learn the method and then you can do it over and over again and that's what I'm working on.

Yeah, yeah. It's like you said, once you start one thing, you realize like there's just some really like key things that kind of just are involved in running any business. And then from there, you can kind of change it up, do different things. That's definitely true. So how so you work for this company, and you decided like, you saw, obviously, there was opportunity to make more money for yourself. What was the timeframe of like working there? And then how did you what actually like, you know,

pushed you into starting your own thing and when did that happen? For sure. So, you know, my goal is to get into real estate. That's always been my goal. So you know, moving is gonna get me to that eventually. I see myself having storage units one day. But basically, I while I was working at the moving company, I was applying for different sales jobs because I know that sales is high leverage position no matter really where you go if you're good at it.

So I was applying for sales jobs, you know, after work I was driving around and looking at wholesaling real estate. So find like a run down property, see if you can put it under contract, sell the contract to someone else for a profit. So that's what I was doing. Okay, so I went and applied all these sales jobs. They didn't want me. I don't know why. Went to, you know, I was driving around trying to wholesale this real estate. That wasn't working. But I was driving around.

Branden Sewell (04:48.65)
and I saw a couch on the side of the road. And like a few days earlier, I was watching this YouTube video of Ryan Pineta. Yeah, so he has these videos about flipping couches. I saw that a few days before, and I was driving through looking for a rundown house, it's wholesaling, and boom, there was a couch. So I was like, I'm gonna give this a try. So that's what I did. I went and picked up the couch, and there's like a couple weeks later, like.

I learned that that's a long turnaround time for what you want to buy and sell a couch for. But a couple weeks later, I picked it up for free, sold it for like $2.60 or something. And I was like, I mean, the amount of work and time that I put in to make that money versus the amount of work and time that I have to go out and do moving to make it $2.60, it's just higher leverage. So that's...

I just started replicating that. Okay. This could be something. Yeah. So I did that and I was like, you know, I am going to get into business. Um, you know, I, I thought that moving would be a good first one, but I didn't have, you know, really anything to get started. So I just did the couches thing for like a year and was grinding on that. Got a storage unit was flipping couches in and out of there. And it was like an easy transition.

into having a moving business because eventually I had to buy a truck to pick up couches, deliver couches and these people that I was meeting who were getting rid of their couches a lot of times they were moving. So I got a ton of jobs from people who were getting rid of their couches. Yeah, so it was like it was like that was the transition and it was the easiest money. It's like so easy to do the couch bumping and I encourage people to do that if they just have

extra time or whatever. But yeah, it eventually just turned into a moving company. And I saw, there was just like limited opportunity in the couches, and I saw, hey, if I get into being more of a business owner and having a system that generates money, I saw a moving business being a better asset than a couch flipping business. So.

Branden Sewell (07:04.954)
Even though the couches were making more money than moving at the time, I decided to take that leap and go towards the moving. And then, you know, it's paid off at this point and it continues to grow. And yeah, that's awesome. Less happy. You know, it's for me, for those of you who are listening, um, I know Colton hasn't mentioned it yet, but you're 23 now. Um, I started my painting company when I was 23. Um, so it's really cool to talk to you and like,

You know, just for me, I remember being your age and talking to people who were, you know, like my age now and hearing them say things to me like, oh, wow, like, that's incredible. You know, you're so young, you know, and you're an entrepreneur and you have your own business. That's awesome. And you know, what I would say is I don't think that there's necessarily I mean, obviously, you have to have like an entrepreneurial spirit and like.

Have that desire to be an entrepreneur, but at the end of the day It's not like there's anything super special about what we do It's just putting in the time and the hard work to like make things happen, right? So it's like that's not a glamorous thing, right going and picking up a used couch Cleaning it up and selling it. That's not anything glamorous But I mean the reality is you are making you know what some people might work

two, three, four days to make and you're making that, you know, just by picking up a couch, cleaning it up and selling it, you know, and for profit, you know, you're entrepreneurs are just wired a little bit differently. Yeah. And I think a lot of the differences you're always you have your eye open for opportunities, right? You know, you don't see problems, you see opportunities. The most general part of the population, they see problems.

And then the entrepreneurs come in and they solve those problems or they take advantage of those problems to turn them into something. Yeah. Well, it's, it's really cool to hear how it started with something like as simple as just going and picking up a couch and putting in that work and selling it. But then also having that desire like, man, I don't want to stop here. Like there's opportunity here. And then taking that and really growing it.

Branden Sewell (09:22.186)
If you could, for those who are listening, talk about that process of, okay, you've got this couch thing going, you're making money, you've got a storage unit, now you've got a truck. For myself, I look and I see your business, I see your trucks, your brand. So now you've built it to this thing where you've got multiple vehicles, you've got probably multiple jobs going on. You're doing some pretty significant stuff.

Can you talk about that process of like, of growing it and how that took place? And maybe what it took to invest in it and market it and get it going. So, you know, I've had lots of conversations about this, especially in the beginning. I I'm, I'm a thinker. I like to analyze things and you know, the main thing that I was battling in the very beginning is balance of having the jobs

and having the people to work those jobs. Okay? So if you have the jobs, but you don't have the people to work the jobs, eventually the jobs disappear. Okay? If you don't have the jobs, but you have the people to work the jobs, just the other way around, the people will eventually disappear. So it's a challenge to keep that balance of having jobs and having people, and how do I make that come together? And I was, you know, I've come to realize that for me,

And I know that different business owners think about this maybe a little bit differently, but for me, the most important thing out of those two of have the jobs versus have the people to do the fulfillment is to get the jobs. Getting the jobs is what comes first. You need to get the job in order to put people on that job. So I thought it was equally as important. Turns out for me, the way that I think about business is make the sale first. Make that sale happen.

And then as an entrepreneur, I will find a way to make it happen. I will find a way to do the fulfillment. For me as an entrepreneur, I'm looking for opportunities. I've heard it said from mentors of mine, like just find the deal. Like where's the deal? Find the deal, make that deal happen. And then you'll, you'll find a way. Like also one of my mentors, he had a pool company. He had just started his pool company. He had never done a pool in his life. But.

Branden Sewell (11:47.386)
And he wasn't, he didn't even start his pool company yet. Basically he meets someone who needs a pool and for some reason he got roped into building out that pool. He didn't even have a company yet, but he's like, I can do it. Yeah. He just made it happen. And then he finds someone to do the fulfillment and he found a way to build out that business. And then that pool business turned into a multimillion dollar business and he sold it eventually. Like that's how he started his business.

So just finding the opportunities, finding the deals, making the sales, and then I will find a way to fulfill. Yeah. That's kind of what I got into. Yeah. And you know, as we talked before the show, it is that like, right, you gotta know how to market your business and how to sell the product or service. And then from there, you know, you get into production. So can you talk a little bit about like, what that journey was like for you to...

you know, obviously build it like building your brand, right? Because you've built a great brand. So when did you really start to like, work on that? How, how do you, could you give some tips and pointers to those who are listening on like, what were some of your key strategies for marketing and selling to get that business? And how did you really get that thing moving off the ground? What were some of those key strategies in the beginning and did it develop over time? I mean, I would assume you probably started more like,

you know, guerrilla like marketing in the beginning, and then it probably developed over time. Can you talk a little bit about that? Good point. It definitely has developed over time, and I feel like I'm just getting the hang of things there. But like you said, the guerrilla marketing, the signs, the flyers, the whatever, that's how it kind of started in the beginning. And I mean, you don't have anything. You don't have any word of mouth.

You know, you're just getting started. So how do you get that first job? The first jobs really came from, um, friends who were moving, you know, friend friends of my family who were moving, my mom put out a Facebook post and then we got a couple of jobs just like that. It was cool. It just happened that, you know, my mom's friends were moving and that was like our first two jobs. Yeah. And it was probably not anything super like.

Branden Sewell (14:03.798)
sexy, you probably just had like a truck and it was like you and maybe you had somebody help you and you just went after it. And I didn't know what I was doing because I worked at that company for two months and like on and off for two months. Like it wasn't anything serious even. So I mean, I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know how many guys I needed out there. I didn't know how many trucks. I didn't know how long it was going to take. I didn't know any of this, but I just knew that I was going to come in and make the job

treat the customer right, give them the best experience that I could. Our service, our operations has improved so much since that time of course, but I just made it happen. But as far as other marketing goes, it started with the flyers, the Facebook posts, the road signs. We did a lot of road signs. That's how people found us in the beginning. Then as we started growing and we started getting more clients, we really pushed Google reviews.

My biggest suggestion with that is incentivize the guys to do it, have them carry a card where they can give that to the client at the end of move day. So once the service is complete and client's so happy, you just have to walk through, they're stoked, and you give them that card, you're like, hey, would you mind leaving us a review? That's fine. And then you don't leave until they leave the review. Make sure they see it, yeah, yeah. You're not gonna text them a link and say, hey, whenever you have time. Right.

They're going to forget about it. They don't care. Um, I mean, some of them do and they will, but if you want a higher conversion rate on that, do it before you leave the job site. So we really pushed Google reviews. Um, and you know, if, if anything, you know, we're not always perfect, you know, moving day doesn't go always how, uh, we, we want it to, maybe there's a damage, maybe you guys show up like whatever.

Um, you know, we're going to do what we need to do to make it right and keep that brand and that reputation strong. So online Google brand is really important. Um, and then we, you know, I've gotten into Google ads, SEO, um, and I've hired, you know, agencies out to do that. For me personally, I've kind of moved away from that. I haven't had a whole lot of luck with it. Um, with, with ads and stuff like that. I think it is something ads are helpful because you can.

Branden Sewell (16:28.238)
turn it up and you can turn it down. Right. So you have control over, you know, how many clicks you can get today or how many views you can get or impressions or whatever or how many calls in some places. Like, you know, there's the local service size, there's the thumbtacks, the ANGs, you know, some of those are by the call or by the message. So you can turn it up, turn it down and that's good. But now we've kind of moved into the phase

I want most all of our business to come organically and come word of mouth and come from the community. So just getting super involved with the community, getting super involved with leaders that are in the area and creating relationships with them and asking who do they know, who are their friends and just building out that network. So that's me just boots on the ground going to meet people.

No, that's brilliant. I mean, I think I kind of had a similar journey as far as my marketing goes. Whereas like in the beginning, it was like, I didn't really have a grasp on how to network how to build those relationships, and how to, you know, get my business out there in that way. So early on, it was like, I just looked at like, the, you know, lead services is like low hanging fruit, you know, it's like, okay, I know, if I put this money in, I'm gonna get the leads. And then now I just need to go.

So it was like being quick to call, quick to bid it, and quick to close. And that would get us a good amount of work. But then I started, as I grew as an entrepreneur and learned, I was like, wow, those are really high acquisition rates for those leads. If I can learn how to market my business myself through, like you said, building community, networking and things like that, building relationships.

and then also just my brand, like giving my brand equity in the community, it would be huge. So that's really our focus now. And so now we make more money because we're not spending so much on lead sources that don't convert well or they're just really high acquisition for the lead. So that's really good. And I think that's useful to those who would be listening to this.

Branden Sewell (18:51.042)
Just to go over this maybe a little bit more in depth. As far as like the branding goes, so you've obviously when you're first starting out, maybe you're just like working out of a truck. I think you've got a really great thing going with like your branding, right? So like I see your trucks everywhere, see you, like, you know, it's just- I'm repping it all the time. Yeah, always top team moving. So-

Can you talk a little bit about that and what maybe your thought process is with branding? How important you think it is? Could you give recommendations to people who are maybe on the fence of like, man, do I just do like some simple lettering on my vehicles or do I like build this brand? What are your thoughts on that? Yeah. So, you know, I have people in my life who are much higher.

level here in this aspect of business. But as far as with the things that I have learned, I see branding as reputation at the end of the day. And you got to really make sure your reputation is solid, that you protect it. There's online reputation. And then there's your network and your community, those circles. Make sure your reputation is strong there.

And I look at brand and reputation as very similar. But as far as building your brand, I think you're trying to tell a story. People are drawn into that, people connect to that. So if you can find a way to tell a story that people can connect to, I think that helps build brand. I think what a lot of home service businesses are missing out on is,

showing off the stories of their people in their business, or showing off the stories of the people that they're serving or the jobs that they're doing, or showing off, telling a story about people in their community, or places in their community. We live in a beautiful place here on the Space Coast, so what I'm really pushing right now is social media, and we've been doing it for, since...

Branden Sewell (21:11.846)
August, 2023. And we've really just dialed in on that. And I feel like social media has been the best brand building tool that we've been able to use. Sure. And it's, it's highlighting jobs. It's, and I really think it's about highlighting people because you look at most home service businesses. I'll just say moving companies, cause I'm most familiar with them. Most moving companies, you go to their website, you just see.

their trucks. You just see a bunch of pictures of their trucks. I feel like people, especially with moving, they want to know who's coming into my home. Yeah. It could be the same thing with other service based businesses because you know, home service, because you're going into their home or you're going outside their home, you're on their property. So who's going to be on my property today? That's what clients want to know. They want to feel comfortable with that. And

Yeah, just to highlight people rather than trucks. Trucks are important, but people are so much more important. And that's what I've really said since the beginning. This has been a big thing that I preach to our guys, to people that I'm networking with or on the phone when I'm talking on Instagram. It's really important that your greatest asset as a home service-based business,

is your people. That is, they are the face of your business. Your technicians that are going out there, they're the ones who are providing the service and they need to be top notch. As a newer company, I don't have all of the resources that these bigger companies do. We take care of our trucks the best we can, but they're all used trucks. I don't get these brand new trucks or anything like that.

So it's not that, it's not the big facility that these other moving companies have that offer all this big storage and all this office space, whatever. We're very lean as far as the overhead goes and we're operating out of a storage facility right now. And eventually, we'll grow out of that. That'll be somewhere in our future. So there's all these things that these bigger companies have.

Branden Sewell (23:39.446)
that we might not as far as trucks and facilities go, but if we have the best people, to me that's what's most important. And I pay our guys better than the other moving companies do. I see them as the greatest investment that I can make into my business. Not so much the trucks or the facilities or whatever. It's the guys out there on the job who are completing the service. Yeah, that's good.

Yeah, so I mean, obviously, you know, people I say the same thing to like, you know, your people are so important, right? Getting your mission and your vision for the, you know, who you want to be as a business and what you want to accomplish your values, core values, making sure you're preaching those over and over again, so that your people understand, you know, who you are and why you're doing it. And that's really powerful. And obviously, like one of the most important things that you keep bringing up is reputation.

like your reputation is everything. And so I wanna, there were two things that I thought of as you were talking about that is you really brought up the importance of Google reviews, but you also mentioned that you're not perfect. And, you know, just as you're growing a business, I think some people's fear is that they might be fearful of like making mistakes and think that like, if they make one mistake, that's like the end of their business or something like that. And it's like those fear,

thoughts that get in the way and create hurdles. And you know, just an example, when I first started my business, my very first job was a no-show, like the person I hired was a no-show. So customers calling me and they're like, hey, where are your guys at? I was like, what do you mean? Like, they're not there. And then that person ghosted me, like didn't even call me back, didn't follow up.

And then I hired another guy he showed up but then he saw the job and he was like I can't do this And I was like what in the world a great way to start So like first job and so I went to I went to the homeowner and I was like, I'm so sorry I promise I will get this job done for you And so then I found another guy and so finally I got the job done But it was I was so stressed out because I was like, this is my

Branden Sewell (25:54.718)
if this is how my business is going to start, like what is like what I have to look forward to the rest of my, you know, paying business career. And so that was the first job. But you know, if I think it was a really good experience for me, like to have my first job, not go as planned, right, because it really got that fear of failure, like out of the door, it got that fear of mistakes, you know, it was like out of the way. Well,

That happened. Yeah, that was tough. That was tough to handle. I mean, a great exercise that I've kind of practiced with myself, because things do go wrong. Problems come up. And as the entrepreneur, you are the business owner. So there's all sorts of people in your business. If the problem is big enough and crappy enough, eventually it gets filtered down to you.

So that's you being an entrepreneur. Eventually, you have to solve the problems that no one else wants to solve. That's your responsibility. Okay. So you get here as an entrepreneur and my mental practice that I take anytime something is really going wrong, I'm having a bad day, stressful, whatever. I just, I just have such big goals, such big ideas in my head of where I want to be and I tell myself, Hey Colton, if you can't figure this out right now,

what makes you think that you can be trusted with the problems that are gonna be coming in your future? Right? Like, if you can't handle this right now, how can you be trusted to handle the problems that are gonna come five, 10 years from now when your business is so much bigger? So I'm like, okay, fine, I gotta make it through this because I have to train myself to be able to handle this so I can handle the bigger problems in the future because I don't see where my life is going. I don't see my problems getting any smaller. Right.

Again, as an entrepreneur, I'm a problem solver, and my problems are just gonna continue to get bigger, continue to get more complex. But I'll have all these cookies in the cookie jar of, oh, I've done that, I've done that, I've done that, I've done that, and then I've come to this problem and I've looked back at all these things that I've done and I've completed and I've made it through it, and I'm like, this is just one more thing. This is part of life, this is part of business, this is part of being an entrepreneur, I'm gonna get through it.

Branden Sewell (28:20.164)
Yeah. And

Branden Sewell (28:43.542)
but I got through it and what was my perspective and what was my mindset. And then it grows over time, you know? So like bigger, more complex problems come and then you just, you learn to adapt and change and grow in that. And I think it's just having that mindset. So 2022 is one of the hardest, you know, years I've ever had in business. I thought I was gonna go out of business and.

But I remember in that season and I've shared this before on the podcast is like I just told myself I was like All I have to do is just wake up today and win, right? So if I can just stack wins Then eventually I'll be fine, right? It's just like well, can I I'm not gonna die like right? Yeah, like the worst that could happen, right? Mm-hmm. So can I wake up today? Can I put my clothes on put my shoes on and go to work?

And no matter what comes my way, just solve the problems. So when the problem comes, solve it. And then you just keep head on, just take the problems head on. Okay, this is the problem I have to face today. Okay, solve that problem, check. And then it's like, you just stack up these days, you stack up the wins. And then next thing you know, it's like things are smooth sailing and you're like, why was I even worried about that? Because in the moment, I think what can happen is you get in your mind and you think.

Oh, this is the end. This is the worst thing that could happen. Yeah. But I'm just saying, Oh, you know what, it's just another day. Yeah, just when so I think that's really great that you mentioned that. And yeah, it's just, you know, having a growth mindset is important as an entrepreneur. And you just, you know, just keep going to the next level. So I think that's powerful. Um, so we've talked about, you know, how you got started, we talked about some of the marketing.

and sales. Obviously, the next step is production. And, you know, one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about is like disciplines. Because obviously, like you have to have discipline as an entrepreneur. Obviously, like you're an athlete. My wife was a D1 athlete as like a gymnast. So she's like one of those disciplined people. And like seriously, like, just I have so much respect for my wife. And, you know, just the discipline that she had to have to like,

Branden Sewell (31:07.17)
that in her career. And you know, so I know that when you reach that level as an athlete, there's obviously a lot of discipline that's involved, right, and commitment and dedication to your skill set and your sport. So I'd like to dive into like, how do you think that contributed to your success? And then I know you also

are a big fan of jujitsu and that's something that you're involved in. So I'd like to also talk about what you do currently to keep a sharp mindset and discipline to tackle the things that you do as an entrepreneur. So can you talk a little bit about those two things as an athlete? Yeah, so I mean, as far as discipline goes, I think the main thing is being disciplined with your time as a business owner. You have to, and especially,

getting off the letter, getting off the field, you have to understand the value of your time and understand what activities are gonna have the highest leverage for you to be working on. So for me, the biggest thing with discipline that I've been working on and I'm not perfect, I'm continuing to get better at this, but just managing my schedule, managing my activities. I've heard that time...

can't be managed. We can't control time, but we can control our activities on a daily basis. So I think it's important to know your to-dos. You know, these are your things that you just need to check off the list day to day. And then you also need to know your major objectives for your business. And these are like your major goals that you're trying to get done that will really push your business forward. And to really not overcomplicate that, I think the human mind, it works best

thinking in threes. So if you just have three major objectives that that's what you're tackling and you're focused on those, that's how I like to operate. Not everyone likes to do that, but, and then other than that, just like know your to do's and have that written down the day before. Um, to me, that helps me stay more organized with my time, um, and be able to manage my activities and, and make sure that I'm,

Branden Sewell (33:28.898)
having the right activities in my schedule. If I don't have things on my schedule, as a business owner, I'm at the point now where something will come in the day that will fill that time, okay? So I have to be very disciplined with my time to say, I'm working on this. I'm not gonna let something else come in and take over that time. I'm disciplined with my time. I work on this, this is what I'm working on.

You know, if there have been times where, you know, I don't have something on the schedule, there's an empty spot, and I get guys calling me out on the job saying, oh, we need help, oh, this stuff is heavy, or, you know, which is, you know, that's all good. There's gonna be things that happen. But I hear that, and if I have open time, then I'm like, oh, shoot, I gotta go help them out now, because that's just who I am. I wanna get out there, get hands-on help, just stay busy, stay working. But if I have something on my schedule,

that is a higher value activity than going out and doing moving. Um, number one, the guys are going to figure it out or number two, I'm going to call someone else to go out there and be the help instead of me. So, you know, be disciplined with my time and have a schedule in place and do that the night before and have it in writing and be thinking about it, be, be emotionally involved with those ideas. And.

just execute and persist, you know, not, not give up on those major objectives until they're done. And you know, if something doesn't get done on your to-do list, you just move it to tomorrow. And you know, I've read different books, but Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy is a really good one where you wake up, the first thing you do is to be the worst thing in the day. Like just get it over with. Yeah.

I think that's a great way to approach life. I think that's a great way to approach moves that I tell the guys. Whenever you walk into a home, let's not do all the easy stuff first and leave the worst stuff to the end. Why would you do that to yourself? You're just like putting it off. Let's go in there, let's execute. Let's make it happen. Let's go in there and show off to the customer that we're here to play. First 15 minutes, that first impression is super important whenever we walk into the client's home. Let's knock out the hardest, most important thing.

Branden Sewell (35:53.35)
And then let's do all the rest right after that. I think that's how you should approach your day as well. Yeah, that's good stuff. Yeah, I love what you're saying about, you know, like just getting stuff done, you know, being strategic and having like to-do lists, prioritizing what you have to get done. Obviously, if you're going to, like you mentioned, get off the ladder, you have to be able to prioritize your time and what's going to be the best value of your time, like you mentioned.

I tell my guys all the time, they'll be like, Hey, man, do you want to come out here and help us or, you know, I, I can paint like brush roll, but I don't actually know how to spray. And so my guys would be like, Hey, Branden, you want to grab the spray or you want to spread? I'm like, No, you don't you don't want me to spray. Because if I'm here spraying or if I'm doing your job, then I can't be out doing

what I need to be doing, which is growing the business, getting more business, marketing, networking, and selling. So if you wanna have a job, if you wanna be able to work and make money and put food on the table, then you need to let me do what I need to do, which is run the business, right? Get the jobs and help sell and network and do that. So it really is, you have to draw the line and know like, okay, this is...

I have to tell myself sometimes because I've made the mistake in the past and I tell myself stay in my lane I need to stay in my lane because I can in the past I would get into these situations where I was like I have to go solve this problem, right? It's like oh I have to go paint this and that's the only way it's gonna get done And the only way the customer is gonna be happy and cover myself financially and all these things And then it would end up costing me money

because what would end up happening is let's say I get tied up on a job for three days and my phone's ringing the whole time. You know those are missed leads, missed opportunities, missed sales. You know so maybe I saved us you know two thousand dollars for being there but I lost out on thirty thousand. Yeah you're so right and I don't think it's the best thing for your business. Yeah. Say you did go out there and you

Branden Sewell (38:11.126)
got lucky and there were no calls coming in, you didn't miss any business and you saved the money. Still, that is not the best thing for your business. Because you're training yourself to do business wrong. That's not how a real entrepreneur should operate. And the truth is, most of these home service businesses, they're started by technicians. Most all of them. You're out there working for another company and then you go and start your own thing and you're stuck in that technician mindset. So the key is,

to get out of that and to become the entrepreneur. You have to list out, and this is why it's so important to manage your schedule, I think, and to manage your activities that you're doing and to track them. Just like you said, you journal. To journal these things and to know, okay, these are the roles and responsibilities, this is the job description, this is all this for the painter that's out there on the job, and then this is all the roles and responsibilities, job description, whatever, for the manager.

for the sales, and you just build out your whole org chart and do that and say, these are all the different positions that we have. Right now, I'm the entrepreneur, I just started my business, right? So I'm wearing every single hat in the business. I'm all of these different parts in the organization. Now you have to figure out, okay, where can I delegate? And I think you make that decision on, there's a few different things, but it goes back to,

Usually I would first hire out a technician so you can just get out and start working on the business rather than in the business. That's where most people go. I would say look at your business and look at it as an organization and there's lots of different people in it. They may not be here yet, but you as the entrepreneur, your goal is to get them here eventually and to build that business to where there are these different people managing these different positions.

Right now you're wearing all the hats, but eventually you have to pass those hats along to someone else. And if you have that all imagined and on paper and planned out, it'll be much easier to do. And you know, some people take different paths on what they decide to delegate first. I know that I wanted to, I made the mistake of hiring a bookkeeper.

Branden Sewell (40:29.11)
and it was just like too soon in the business and I was like, oh, this is something that I don't want to do, I don't want to learn it, yada yada, and I was paying her 500, 700 bucks a week. Oh yeah, that's crazy. For bookkeeping, and the reason that bookkeeper was able to get away with that, and the reason that I made that mistake is because I had no idea what I was delegating.

So before I delegate something, I think it's important that I get in and I learn it and I understand it and then I build out that job description and I build out the processes and procedures and I just build that person and I'm in it and then I pass it along and you know I don't skip out on just

Handing them, you know their responsibility and say go at it. No I come in and I teach them and I say hey this is how we're doing it, you know and I'm an entrepreneur. So I like to delegate and get their thoughts too. So I'm gonna say hey, this is this is your job now This is what you're doing. I'm gonna be here to train you help you out But do you have any ideas like what would you do differently here? Is there anything that you would add? Is there anything you take away and in that way they're really involved and they start taking ownership

So that's kind of what I've learned with delegating. So now, we have all of our movers out on jobs. We have an admin, Katie, that I've hired. She's in our office and she handles a lot of the calls from 11 to three and she does all the follow-up throughout the day, managing customer relationships. So I haven't even hired her full-time. It's from 11 to three. But that 11 to three is...

my time to go out and meet people and build network and make sales and do what I need to do, eventually that position will grow and I'll need more of that. I think the next personal hire and pass that hat along to is sales and then it will be operations and then once I've done that I'm pretty much out of the business and we'll see where we're going to grow from there. Yeah, that's good stuff.

Branden Sewell (42:40.778)
So we've kind of naturally transitioned into like production, right? Hiring people, getting the work done. Um, you know, I want to dive a little bit deeper into the fact that that's hard. Right. So, um, a lot of people who might be listening to this might be thinking, you know, like, Oh, well, you make it sound so easy, like just go find somebody. And it's not, it's, it's difficult to like find people that are going to do good work and, um, are going to be reliable and, um, really uphold the reputation.

as a business. So what I found is that discipline in my own life helps me to handle the challenging things that are going to come in business. So, you know, like, for example, I will say during the season of having a newborn at home, it's been a little bit more challenging because sleep is not necessarily like something that I'm getting a lot of lately.

But with my standard practice is to wake up at 4 a.m., read, and then go to the gym. You get the gym by five. You said eat the frog. For me, getting a really hard workout in first thing in the morning. First off, waking up early sucks. So for me, waking up at 4 a.m. is like...

it's training me to do something that I really don't want to do, but choosing to do it anyway. And there's something really powerful about that for me personally. I know that might not be for everybody, but for me, it helps me to know, like it's kind of twofold. It's like one, it's like reaffirming to me that I can do something hard that not many people want to do, but I have the discipline.

to be able to choose to do it, regardless of how much it sucks. So it's like exercising that muscle of like being willing to take on challenges and do it. So waking up at 4 a.m. does that for me. And it gives me some like confidence. I'm building my confidence by doing something hard every day. And then obviously like going to the gym and working out, like working out sucks. Like today I'm so sore.

Branden Sewell (44:55.122)
Like, you know, like walking upstairs hurts, like sitting down in my truck and then getting out of it hurts. You know, it's like my arms like bending them out. I'm like, oh, it sucks. So you know, doing something hard like that, that sucks is helping me as an entrepreneur. So yeah, I want you to talk specifically about like that as a discipline, like you know, your you know, physical activity that you're doing discipline as an athlete.

that helps you mentally to take on these challenges and make those hard decisions. Yeah, I think, you know, it's, right now my main physical thing is jujitsu at the moment. I can see your ear. Yeah, my ears are getting a bit more fluffy. Yeah, I just recently got my blue belt. So it goes white, blue, purple, brown, black. Usually takes around 10 years to get your black belt.

And yeah, so made it to blue belt. I've gone out, won a couple competitions at white belt. I went out and won pans, which is a bigger competition. I was here in Orlando. Um, so yeah, I'm enjoying that and getting to compete in that. Um, and regardless of the level of the belt, it's still the discipline that matters. Right. And so like, it's, um, it's the consistency, the effort that you're putting in. Right. So they.

Um, one of my favorite leaders that I listened to is Craig Rochelle. I'm not sure if you've heard of him. Yeah, he was he has her life church. Yeah. So he talks about, um, how he just recently, um, you know, got into jujitsu at an older age, um, but how important that's been for him, even like just in his personal disciplines and like, you know, all of that mental health. There's a lot that goes into like doing something like that.

that helps you as a leader. So are there things lessons that you're learning in jujitsu that are helping you as a business owner? Yeah, um, I think a lot of it is you know consistency and not giving up and Big thing with jujitsu is being humbled over and over again

Branden Sewell (47:13.066)
You know, like especially whenever you first go in there and you're really new to it like you're just getting choked out left and right like people are trying to snap your arm and Your ankle and like, you know, they're being gentle with you It doesn't feel like it but like these guys who are black belts, they're like taking it easy on you Okay, right. So, you know this just understanding that some people there's different levels to

this life and business and sport, you know, and to stay humble, I think is a really good lesson to take from sport and jujitsu. That's good, yeah. I think humility is important as a business owner in general because it keeps you in that mindset of like, I can always get better, right? And I think that keeps you hungry. I think people can have a wrong view of like,

someone who's striving for more and almost look at it as like ego, right? And things like, wow, this person thinks they're better or they have so much ego or pride. And it's like, no, I'm humble. And actually the reason why I work so hard and the reason why I have such high standards is because I realize I have so much more that I could do. I realize I'm here and I wanna be here. And so you have to have a humble approach. Yeah. I think...

One thing about humility, I had this conversation a few months ago, but for me, humility is, the people who are most humble, they're okay with stepping into different circles where they're the lowest one there. Like they're the lowest on the success ladder or whatever. The hierarchy, whatever you wanna call it. So.

You know, I think it's super important in life, business and sports, surround yourself with people who operate on a very high level. And you'll just naturally be drawn into that. And who are better than you. I think is what you're saying. It's like, you want to get, you want to get around people who have been where you want to go and not be, um, it's not walking into the room and feeling like you have to compete or something. It's walking in and saying, wow, what can I absorb here? What can I learn? How can I.

Branden Sewell (49:34.978)
take an approach of saying like, you know, I don't have everything figured out, but what do these people that are very successful have that I want? And I deal with this with my guys sometimes it's like, you know, they want to, um, when criticism comes or critique, um, it, there's defensiveness, right? And if you have a growth mindset and you're humble, you can't oppose criticism, um, or the opportunity to grow or learn. Right. And so,

I think it's important that we model that too for people who work for us. I tell all of my guys, I'm like, how can I get better? When we have employee reviews, I say, hey, in this amount of time that you've worked for me, what constrict... I don't want to be the one that's just sitting here and putting you under the spotlight, but tell me, what are some areas where you think that I've made mistakes?

Where could I get better? Yeah, I think my guys get that same sort of, they have those same interactions with me, I would feel. I see myself as the entrepreneur as being someone where all the fault, all the things where we fall short, it eventually comes back to me. All the failures, it eventually comes back to me because I'm the one who started the business.

If a guy goes out and he damages a dresser and makes it into a wall, it's my fault for hiring him. It's my fault for not having him trained to a certain level. Like eventually it all comes back to me and that's how I treat my business. I'm always seeing where is this my fault? Where could I improve? It's extreme ownership. Yeah, extreme ownership. Have you read the books? No, that's Jaco's book. Yeah, you should read it. Okay, so I'll read it. But you know, that's...

You know, and being a leader, I think it's super important that business owners, they understand that you're not going to be able to lead your company until you can lead yourself. You have to have your self-discipline before you can expect your guys out there to discipline themselves. You know, if you can't walk the walk, then you, you should not be telling other people what to do. And.

Branden Sewell (52:01.558)
Truth is, if you are that person that does walk the walk, your people who you're leading are naturally gonna gravitate towards that lifestyle. Yeah, yeah, that's so good. Yeah, I think it's just modeling what you expect, right? And then I think something too that I've had to learn over time is, you know, it's interesting because I realize my employees, they're not gonna want the same things that I want. It's just, you know, it's just.

the reality. So there has to be some level of grace there. But it's like, okay, I can't expect this person, this employee to want the same thing that I want. Right. They're not the entrepreneur. It's not that first Gary Vaynerchuk say before like, you can't expect your people to care as much about the business as you do. Yeah, no, I mean, you hear that all the time. And

But what you can, what I tried it to, like I teach my guys this, as I say, maybe you don't have to care about my business in the same way that I do, but care about yourself. Care about your own integrity, your own, I love one of my lead painters, I love one of the things that he said to me during his interview, I won't forget it, because it left such an impression on me, made me so proud to hire him, is,

I was going through some interview questions and he said something that just stuck with me. He said, when I go out to your customer's house, he said, I'm not going out there necessarily just for you or for your business. He was like, to me, it's not just your business's name that is on that job, it's mine. And he said, because when I do a good job, I live in this community.

He's like, so as I'm serving your customers, our customers, he's like, well, if I see that person at the grocery store and I did a bad job, well, now, how am I going to feel seeing that person out in public? You know, he's like, because I was the one there, you weren't, you know, your business might have, you know, your yard sign and your truck logo might have been there. Yeah, it's like, but it was my face that they saw. It was me who they interacted with. And

Branden Sewell (54:23.178)
you know, so that's going to be what they remember. Yeah. And he's like, so that's what drives me to do a good job. And you know, I love that. Yeah. And, you know, and I tell that I use his story a lot, like, as I'm talking to other employees and stuff, or if I have interviews, and I'm onboarding somebody, you know, I share that because he gets it. You know, he understands that it isn't just, you know, doing it for me. Yeah.

we're doing it for Seal Pro Painting. He's doing it for himself. And I think that's something that, you know, we have to teach others too. He obviously gets it, but others have to teach. I think one thing I'll quickly build on that is, like a very, you know, you can look at it selflessly, like, hey, it's, you know, it's about the company, or I'm doing this for the community, or I might see this person out in public. One thing that I've heard from,

Christian Guzman, he's a YouTuber guy, more in the fitness industry. But when I was younger and I was super into the gym and stuff, I would just watch his videos all the time. But he said something that's like, it doesn't matter where you're at in life, like what position you're working, what job that you have, okay? You could be working as a janitor, you could be working as a bagger at Walmart. It doesn't matter.

Wherever you go, be the absolute best that you can be and operate with excellence. And the reason for that, it's a great habit to have, right? But the reason that he gave is you don't know who you as a janitor, you don't know who's going to be walking through that hallway, seeing you do an excellent job. That's good. Yeah. You're, you don't know at Walmart, who's going to be in the checkout line and you're back in the groceries and you're smiling and you're saying you're meeting them. You're

you're introducing yourself and you're doing your best work and you don't know who that is. And I think the greatest doors that have been open in my life have been opened by other people. So just with everything that I do, with everywhere that I go, I'm seeing that I'm gonna be...

Branden Sewell (56:43.83)
working with excellence, I'm gonna be operating my life with excellence because I don't know who's watching. And eventually someone is going to see me operating with excellence and they're gonna take notice and an opportunity will be opened to me. Yeah, that's so good. And yeah, that's actually how I've always felt about my own life. And it's like I'm gonna, something, this may or may not be a good thing, but I've never really thought too much about like,

um, pay, you know, it's like, I want to do an excellent job, not based on, I'm not working for that pay. I'm working for the opportunities. Right. So I remember, um, one of my first jobs that I got, um, I really, my background is I actually worked for a church, um, for a long time. And, um, my dream was at that time to work in full time ministry. And I remember, um, the, uh,

the pastor who hired me, he came to me and he said, Hey, you know, we're going to hire you. And I didn't ask how much I was going to get paid. I didn't, you know, I didn't care about any of that. I was like, when do I start? Because this is my opportunity. Right. And so I think sometimes people get too caught up in like, Oh, like how much I'm getting paid. It's like, well, okay, well, maybe you start here, right. But get give your absolute best. If you work with excellence.

You give your absolute best, you try to be the absolute best in that position. I don't care if it's being like a line cook at a McDonald's, whatever. It's like, well, okay, well, maybe your next step is you are an excellent line cook and that caused you to be promoted to manager, right? And so now you become a manager. Now you learn how to run a restaurant. You're learning how to hire fire employees. You're learning the logistics and all of that. Be the absolute best manager that you can.

possibly be. Well, now you have all of that experience. Well, now they promote you to you know, whatever the next step is, you know, district manager and then you do excellent there your regional manager. Now you've learned this entire restaurant business and you've done well for yourself. Now you start you're like, I'm going to go out and start my own restaurant. Because now I know what it takes to do this. And then you start a business and then next thing you know, you've got a thriving restaurant business and

Branden Sewell (59:05.382)
You know, it's just you can't despise those small beginnings. One thing that irks me is people out there who talk about like, oh, these jobs don't pay enough. It's like stop focusing on how much the job pays. Go out there, be the absolute best you can be, live within your means, be excellent, and work for the next opportunity. Stop complaining and just get to work. The opportunity to make more will come if you just apply yourself and do the work, right?

And, um, and work your way up, you know, climb, climb that ladder. Yeah. I'm a big believer in, you know, you, you put out that energy, you give as much as you can to the marketplace, eventually it'll come back to, um, I don't know. I don't know if it's Napoleon Hill. I don't know who says this quote, but it's, uh, you know, you, you do.

give more than what you're paid for and eventually you'll be paid for more than you give or something around that. Okay. So just like give as much as you can and it'll eventually pay off. And most people, like you said, they are concerned about the money. They are concerned about the paycheck, which they have every right to be. But, you know, if that's your only thing that you're concerned about and you're looking to just show up and clock in, clock out, do the absolute minimum, then.

You're just a part of the system. You're a little rat in the race and you're going to stay there. You're not going to be able to move up in life because in order to move up in life, you have to do more than what you're paid for. I believe in that because you know that that's how you, you know, you do more than what you paid for, you'll eventually be paid for more than what you do. Yeah. Eventually you'll upgrade in life. You'll start learning new things. You'll meet new people and opportunities will come, but it's not going to come.

if you're doing the absolute minimum and just showing up to clock in, clock out, trading your hours for dollars, you're lost there. Yeah. And I think that's important. Like as we're talking about, you know, delegating and hiring people, I think, you know, one of the things with hiring is like attracting the right people, right? If you want to be a, you know, a company with high standards, have high expectations, you have to attract.

Branden Sewell (01:01:28.066)
people that have high expectations, right? Who have that mindset that you and I are talking about and to attract those people. I think one of the things that you have to have in place is, is lay out what the opportunities are for growth. Right. So it's like, okay. I want to attract people who have a growth mindset, who want to come in and take ownership. Well, what am I, what am I marketing to them?

You know, dude, when I bring them on board, am I showing them that, hey, this is a place where you can grow, you can have a career, you can advance, you can go to the next level. And so I think that's something where like, if you're listening to this and you're a small business owner and you want to get off the ladder, you want to grow your team, well, become attractive, you know, like become the place that excellent people want to be.

Right if excellent people look at your business and They're like wow, this is unorganized. I don't see any opportunity The owners a mess Well, you can't expect people who have drive and ambition to want to work in a place like that Yeah, so that's why I think it's so important like just be excellent You know like if you're going to and you know, you may not be there right away

right? But have that mindset of like, it's not the marketplace is not the problem, right? For my hiring issue. My hiring issue is me. Yeah. Why is my business not attractive? That is so crazy true. Okay. This is another lesson that I've learned before I even got into business. There were so many people that said, Oh, it's so hard to find help.

Oh, it's so hard to find people like all these business owners. Those are loser business owners. That's a part of business. Like you have to find people to work and you have to be good at that. And you have to treat them well. And like I said, in the beginning, there's the balance of having the jobs and having the people to work those jobs and the things that you have to do to get the jobs are very similar to the things that you have to do to get the people to work those jobs. Like you have to provide value.

Branden Sewell (01:03:53.57)
to your clients to get jobs, right? You have to provide value to your people to keep them around and make sure they're doing good work too. So to understand what's valuable to people, to understand what they ultimately want and be a business that can provide that to them, I think that's super important. And I've said it like this to our guys is, you know, there's the client, there's you as the technician, and then there's the company.

company crew customer, I had three C's. So the customer, you know, we're going out, we're servicing the job for them, that's what the crew's doing. And then the company is kind of managing the crews and leading the crews to go out and do that. And I think there's an order to things. I don't think the company should be so concerned about the value being given to the customer, okay? I think it's better if the company is concerned of the value given to the crew.

to the people and if those people are really, really taken care of, then they will take care of the customer. So I think it goes in that order and a lot of times I've been in places where the company is so focused on taking care of the customer that you forget about the crew. And if the crew is being taken care of, then they're going to want to give a great experience to the customer at the end of the day. So just to understand like...

I say, you know, as the company, I'm the movers manager. Like I'm, and I don't like to be a bossy manager. I think a real manager is a leader and it's someone who sets those people up for success. That is my position is to set my crew up for success, whether it be the job or whether it be in life, it could be the job that day or it could be their whole life. How can I add value to these people that sets them up for success?

If I am doing that, if the company is doing that, then those crew members will go out and take care of the customer and do it at a high level. Yeah, it's really good. You know, I think there's just a lot of value that's been given, you know, like you think about what it took to start your business, you know, the marketing and the sales piece, leadership.

Branden Sewell (01:06:12.622)
getting the jobs done, just so much value that's been given in this short time for the podcast. I hope that those who are listening to this, you're getting value from this because I think there's a lot of really great takeaways for what Colton shared today. I appreciate you sharing your experience. It's exciting to hear just the level of wisdom that you have at 23.

It's exciting to think about the opportunities that you're going to have as you continue to invest in yourself and grow. It'll be cool to see where you're at my age, where you're at. I'm almost 32. When you're 32, to look back and see what you've been able to accomplish, I think you'll be really proud of yourself. As we bring this to a close, what are maybe some final things you would want to share?

Or is there anything that you would want to go into or talk about as like a closing? Something that you're passionate about with your business or yeah I think you know what I'm most passionate about is I've had a dream since I was really young you know I want to basically open this place Where people can come and?

learn and better and build themselves. And I always thought that when I was super young, I had this idea of an island that I would buy when I was older and people would go to live there and just, you know, it would just be a community filled with people that are working on being the best versions of themselves as possible. And it would be all about health, it would be all about, you know, your...

you know, mental, your spiritual, your physical, like everyone is just like taking care of themselves on every level and it's a community of that. I had this idea when I was really young of this island. And then it turned into, you know, I wanna open up this facility that, you know, I might not do it at an island. I'll open up this facility that people will come into and do that. But now what I feel it's turned into is, it's a moving company. You know, I want people to come into this moving company.

Branden Sewell (01:08:35.81)
And you know, the crew, like I said, or just any, anybody that the moving company touches, I want their life to be improved. I want every room that I walk into, my guys walk into, or my company has some sort of presence in. I want people to feel like the best version of themselves whenever they are in the presence of top team in our culture. Yeah, that's good.

and just, you know, improve and become the best versions of themselves as possible. And I think top team moving is a great vehicle to do that. And a lot of times the movers who are coming in, you know, they're just getting started in life. You know, a lot of these technicians in these home service businesses that we have, some of them are younger, some of them are just getting started or they're, they just got into this trade. Like, how can we set them up to not only teach them the trade?

but also teach them other things about life and build them in those ways. And my plan isn't to keep these people locked in a top team. I want to build these people and I want to give them opportunities to grow in something that they really wanna do, that they're really passionate about, that they see a future in. I have that entrepreneur mindset, if someone wants to go start their own moving company, by all means, go out, let's go do it, and I'll support you.

you know, and it can be in whatever, but I just want it to be a personal development environment. That's what my company is supposed to be. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. And I think when you make it about the people like that, you know, you'll see more success and fulfillment in that way. And as you were talking about, you know, just your story is like being young and having this dream of this island. It's funny because I, like I said, I really believe in journaling. I think it's a powerful tool for just personal development.

Branden Sewell (01:10:38.519)
I'm a Christian, so I believe in what the Bible says. And in the book of Habakkuk, it says, write the vision and make it plain. And so I think there's a powerful aspect into writing down what your vision is for your life, writing down goals, dreams, and then working towards those. And it's funny, I have a stack of journals. It's probably like three feet high.

serious. Yeah, seriously. A stack of journals that I've had ever since I was like, started writing when I was like 14. And I've got a stack of journals and I can go back and look at them and I see the most bizarre ideas like entrepreneurial ideas. I remember there was one I think it was like 16 I had this dream and I have it written out in a journal of having like this facility where there was like a wave pool and then it was like

you know, I was going to sell like apparel based around like surfing and doing, and then we were going to have like a missional aspect of it of like traveling as surfers and doing missions work. And my whole like dream was like to build this, you know, surf park. And it's funny cause I see like, you know, Kelly Slater doing that stuff and all these other like wave parks. And that's not in my, my future. I don't think it, but it's just, it's, I think there's something powerful about.

you know, dreaming, you know, dream big. And, you know, like, I say it all the time, people ask me, how'd you get into painting? I'm like, I didn't choose it, it shows me, but I'm going to make the best of it, right? The opportunity and it's turned into an amazing opportunity for me. And it's been that, you know, avenue for me that entrepreneurial outlet. And even if it's not exactly what I thought it was going to be, it's still what I'm passionate about now.

Yeah. So I think just over time, you know, that stuff can develop. But it's really cool to hear, you know, what you want to accomplish and, you know, how you look at your business. And I think you're going to be super successful. There's no doubt about that in my mind. You know, you just keep at it and you you're so young. It's like, it blows my mind. And it's so funny because I think back to when I was 23, people said that to me.

Branden Sewell (01:12:57.654)
Yeah, you were getting the same comments. Right. Yeah. So, but it's, uh, it's cool to now be, you know, I used to be, um, in the place where it was like, I was the youngest guy in the room, you know, like if I walked into a room of entrepreneurs, I was usually the youngest one there. Um, and, um, funny enough until you showed up, I was the youngest one in our networking group. Um, so, yeah, well, so Colin came just a little bit before you.

You know, so Colin hasn't been there long, but before you and Colin, I was the I was the young guy. And so it's fun to see you guys in that place. And it's exciting, like to think of like all that you guys will accomplish. And you know, it's really cool. So anyway, we're going to bring this to a close. So thank you guys for tuning into the Off the Ladder podcast.

As you know, if you are watching this on YouTube, please like this video, turn on the notifications, subscribe to the channel, leave a comment, let us know what you think. Also, please go on to, if you're listening to this on Apple or Spotify, you can also rate and review the show. That would be very much appreciated. Also wanna let you guys know that we now have a subscription, so if you wanna support the show, it doesn't have to be anything crazy. You can give as much as $3.

a month to the show and that'll just help us to make the show better, invest in better equipment, bring on guests and have better opportunities there to bring more value to you as home service business owners and small business owners alike. So thank you so much for your support. Also, please go check out Colton. He's on your own social media. Social media, Instagram is top team moving and you can find all my personal from there about Instagram, Facebook.

trying to get more on YouTube, but that's the game for sure. Yeah, get out there, check him out, follow him. He's making some really great content. And anyway, so we'll see you next time on the next episode of the off the ladder podcast. Stop recording.