The Biz Boys
Unraveling the Threads of Success: Our Story with BIZWHIP
Ever wonder what it's like to leap from career to career, experiencing diverse industries and gathering a wealth of knowledge along the way? We, your hosts Chance and Alex, are here to unravel our journey, sharing with you not only our unique experiences but also the lessons we've learned.
Gain insights from our adventures in industries as diverse as lawn care, real estate, and car sales; each experience contributing to our understanding and bringing us closer to our true passion. Listen to the creation of our wealth and success story through our business venture, BIZWHIP. Learn the significance of effective marketing and structuring a business to become a future sellable asset. Let's journey together as we share our entrepreneurial experiences and dedication to assisting others in creating wealth and identifying their path to success. Tune in and get inspired!
Feel free to watch the video podcast on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/Qctcd3yMdyA
Ever wonder what it's like to leap from career to career, experiencing diverse industries and gathering a wealth of knowledge along the way? We, your hosts Chance and Alex, are here to unravel our journey, sharing with you not only our unique experiences but also the lessons we've learned.
Gain insights from our adventures in industries as diverse as lawn care, real estate, and car sales; each experience contributing to our understanding and bringing us closer to our true passion. Listen to the creation of our wealth and success story through our business venture, BIZWHIP. Learn the significance of effective marketing and structuring a business to become a future sellable asset. Let's journey together as we share our entrepreneurial experiences and dedication to assisting others in creating wealth and identifying their path to success. Tune in and get inspired!
Feel free to watch the video podcast on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/Qctcd3yMdyA
So on today's podcast you're going to meet the hosts. I'm Chance. I have a ton of experience in random shit and this is Alex Alex.
Speaker 2:I also have a lot of experience in random shit.
Speaker 1:Both of us have super diverse backgrounds. We definitely don't come from one thing at all, Gosh. No, We've got a plethora of stuff under our belts which makes us really good partners. Honestly, Like we have so many things combined that it's like how in the world are you all, even where you're at today? Like it's just an interesting story. So I figured let's talk about yours, let's go with you.
Speaker 2:I started really, really young, but it was all like unformalized stuff. It was just kind of me doing random gigs here and there, and it wasn't until I started working at a company called Chipotle that I started to get more formalized training. So those of you who don't know Chipotle Mexican Grill, they are a fast food restaurant. However, they have an awesome company culture behind them. The entire way through we had an amazing regional manager who each step of the way, he really like poured into me and invested into me where he would walk through like you know, how do you, how do you train up employees? How do you empower them, how do you create schedules? Like just the simplest stuff. But it was an amazing couple of years because I learned so many foundational like business leadership tactics and ideas and philosophies that stick with me to this day that I think back to honestly when I'm making decisions for my companies now.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And after I left that, I ended up going to. There's an online place where you can buy business called Flippa. Have you heard of it?
Speaker 1:I've heard of things like Flippa, but I just joined one, actually a few weeks ago.
Speaker 2:Flippa was the one I used to go on there and there's lots of businesses on there. And so I was exiting Chipotle and I didn't know what I was going to do next. But you know, at Chipotle I had gained a lot of business experience. I decided well, you know, the next logical step is, you know, I kind of want to see if I can do this on my own. You know, I've always kind of gone at things with the mindset of, you know, I, I want to kind of like I've always likened it to like infinity stones, like I want to gain experiences like infinity stones because they are like, truly almost as powerful right.
Speaker 2:Different experiences, and so I think at that point I was like okay, you know I am exiting this part of my life. You know it was an amazing period of my life.
Speaker 1:Let's do something totally different. Yes, what's another stone I can collect? Which is what you and I have in common a lot, and you'll see that when I tell my story too. It's like you know. We both went from one thing and was like let's do something totally different. And so the next thing was you went to Flip it, you found a business and that's what.
Speaker 2:Yes. So I went there and I found it and I bought it. I found a company that I, whenever I was going through the due diligence process, I was talking with the guy who owned it and just as he was talking through everything the logistics of how they got the products and, because it was an e-commerce store how they got it, how they shipped it, the, you know the, the manufacturers he dealt with, and the marketing and all this stuff, yada, yada, yada. You know, I just started seeing like like glaring holes.
Speaker 2:And I was like thinking myself in that meaning, like how do you not see like these are such easy fixes, how do you not see these? And so I was like, yes, I will buy it. The guy had an amazing brand behind the business and these beautiful. He went all the way to France.
Speaker 2:That's great, had these watches. It was an, a watch e-commerce store with these watches, with these beautiful models, out in France and he had great photography All over the social profiles, all over the website for each and every watch that he sold, amazing brand behind it. He invested a lot into that, but the product was terrible. I ended up buying it and I just instantly, just thought through the business from start to finish and identified all of the areas of greatest opportunity to level up the product quality of the watches. I had fixed up a lot of the problems. I had redone basically every step of their logistic system, from where they got the bands of the watches to the faces of the watch. All new manufacturers and the watches were in my opinion.
Speaker 2:I don't have Rolexes or anything but they were really much, much better product, which obviously increased the enterprise value, and I was actually able to list it back on Flipa three months later and to its name Flipa able to flip the website and sold it for, I think, 4x what I had for it three months prior.
Speaker 1:That was 100% worth all the time. Oh, definitely.
Speaker 2:And then I started at True Green Sales Rep. I don't know if you remember early I said I was at college for computer science.
Speaker 1:Which most computer science majors are salesmen.
Speaker 2:They're not salesmen.
Speaker 1:No, they're not.
Speaker 2:I was very much introverted. I did not like going up and talking to random people and for this position 95% of the sales came from door-to-door Computer guy doing door-to-door sales for a lawn care company, fertilizer re-control stuff like that. I was very bad at first. I still remember there was one time I went up to this person's door and very nice, we're talking like million-dollar homes and I knocked on the door. I took a couple steps back and I started doing my typical thing and some very nice elderly woman opened up the door. And all I remember is once she opened up the door, every like it was like the, the air came out of me like I could not think of what you say or I literally just kind of like mumbled your weeds, they're bad. And I remember this. The her husband came and apparently he had heard that and he came up to the door and then he, like you know, pushed the wife back inside and he was like hey, man, you're here selling something like tell me all about.
Speaker 2:he was super cool super super cool, and he didn't end up buying, but he had apparently done door-to-door sales whenever he was younger as well. He told me something he said you know, the fastest way you learn is by doing something, doing it wrong, and there's remembering not to do that thing again yeah, your greatest lessons are learned in your failures.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah exactly and super nice about it, and I remember after that I kind of went at it with that mindset of door-to-door sales. I went on doing that for a couple more months and eventually I started getting to the top. You know one to two positions. That was really awesome because I learned that you know within, like marketing and sales, it's all about how you phrase what you have and the problem that the other person has if your offer is phrased in a way, even in those most uncomfortable circumstances, yeah they will buy people will buy.
Speaker 1:We will get into how to phrase that the right way, and all of that in a whole other podcast, because sales, door-to-door sales, everything is a whole entire topic you know, I felt like I had already gotten you where I could within the company.
Speaker 2:I was constantly number one or number two and I was already out at that point like four or five months into the company and so I ended up leaving there. I didn't have a job right afterwards, but after I left, what I ended up doing was I partnered up with a company overseas, africa in my mission, aim, and I went to South Africa Namibia, lusutu for about six weeks and there we would. I was kind of like the tech guy there and so we would go around and we would help set up like network infrastructures and stuff like that. And then I came back to the States, met this Robert guy with building brands, marketing, where we actually know each other. We hit it off and I started working with with him and it was a marketing firm. He was the sales guy, I was the developer, technical mind in the background, right, all of the, the skills I had learned from from Lupe watches, which was the company that I had bought after Chipotle, from true green, those door-to-door sales, and from you know working overseas and those you know cross functional teams and network infrastructures.
Speaker 2:I was able to take all that and implement it into marketing strategies for clients, yeah, and help those small businesses grow, and I am still doing that to this day. I'm now a partner at the company and I run the the whole digital side of the firm. So any of the work that we do for our clients, I oversee those teams and and work with some really amazing, smart people that have also taught me a lot along the way. But but, yeah, that's good. That's kind of my experience in a nutshell. Yeah, yeah we have.
Speaker 1:We have so much in common that's not in common, if that's a way to put it, like how our, our paths that kind of come together is very common. Mm-hmm, our paths are so different. You know, like I didn't go to college at all period, all of mine was all experience, basically starting at my firefighter job, right. So, right at high school, I went into the fire service and I was long story short on the fire service. I was firefighter for right at seven years. Mm-hmm, along side of being a firefighter, you work a 4896 schedule, so you're on two days and you're off for four days. So you, there's a lot of time to try new ventures, try new things, do all kinds of new stuff, right. And so the first thing that I did, somewhat similar to you, was the lawn care company. Yeah, at the time I couldn't afford nice equipment, so I was just, you know, pushing around a piece of crap hundred and fifty dollar lawn mower and going out and mowing people's lawns for like 30 bucks.
Speaker 2:Those zero turns nothing fancy.
Speaker 1:But I did my own door-to-door sales and I, you know, printed off some cheesy little business cards and went out and started knocking on everybody's doors and, just like you, realized real quickly, mm-hmm, how to get kicked off people's lawns and how to stay there and talk with them. Yeah, and a lot of my clients ended up being like elderly and I guess I resonated with them more because of, I would say, like my kind of caring background, like the firefighting. Anytime I told them about that it was like I gained some trust.
Speaker 2:Right, so like yeah.
Speaker 1:And I always tell people like, use whatever you have and your background.
Speaker 1:Use it to your advantage. You know, um, use whatever you've got to your advantage. So I use that a lot in every one of my things that I did. But first from being the lawn care, after that realized I didn't want to mow lawns with super cheap equipment and I really didn't want to make a big investment in anything. At this point I was like 19 years old and didn't have a ton of money saved up because I was done with my money, Unlike you, that saved up and bought a company.
Speaker 1:I bought like four wheelers and trucks and you know other stuff, but so from lawn care I then started a pressure washing business for RVs specifically. So in the South Texas area it's very heavily saturated with RV parks because there's snow birds coming down here. So I would go once again door to door sales, but to RVs handing out pressure washing stuff for cleaning their RVs, man that's.
Speaker 2:that's totally different than million dollar home door to door sales.
Speaker 1:We're talking people that pay 300 bucks a month to live.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean. So it was brutal, you know, trying to sell a $400 pressure washing service to somebody who pays 300 bucks a month at a RV site.
Speaker 1:Good luck. I did it, um. It taught me a lot about it, but realized maybe I'm not, you know, doing this right or whatever, so stop doing that. Um. And then I actually got into this, like right around the time I met Haley Um. So we're about four years into the fire service. At this point I'm a lieutenant. I still have plenty of time off, um, to explore ventures. So then I tried. A brief history was a little pyramid scheme thing. It was like thrive, I sold supplements.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, I thought you were going to say the knife thing.
Speaker 1:No, no, it was that cutco knife.
Speaker 2:I did not do cutco knives.
Speaker 1:I did not do cutco knives, I did a. It was it's thrive, something I don't remember, but it was like vitamins, energy shakes, stuff like that, and dude I, I should you know. I put down like 5,000 on credit cards and was like I was all in, oh my God, 100% in. I learned um that selling products in that way was not the way to do it.
Speaker 1:You know, there is there is certain ways to do it, and that way that's another, another story. But um so, stop doing that. Realized I didn't, didn't want to do that, obviously.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh.
Speaker 1:Um, and then I was talking with Haley and I'm like I've done so many different things. You know all of this different stuff. Um, I need to do something else. And she was uh talking to me about being, you know, maybe a realtor, and you know, at that point I was like screw it, you know, I mean I've done everything else might as well. Um, and I'm one that I've I've always liked to learn new things, like I never went to college, but I've always, like, watched videos or took classes, like um, All kinds of different certifications I have, you know, on my resume.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And one of them being the real estate license. I went out and did it in about three weeks, which was awesome. Most people thought it would take me like half a year to complete, but did it super fast, just dove in and I went and sold houses for about a year, did great at it. I realized real quickly that there was a lot of money in the construction and flipping in that side of real estate because when we would sell these houses I would hire like either handyman or contractors to come in and fix these houses up and I was like they're making more than I am, you know, like they're coming in and fixing these houses and I'm my commission's checking on your theirs. So then talked to the Haley again and we decided to invest into a home. And we actually bought a home for dirt cheap, flipped it and that was the most amazing experience ever Was.
Speaker 1:I think, the best thing that I did was flipping that house with her was just so cool For me. Specifically on the side of, I really learned like true, like, like independent satisfaction fulfillment, like I did that, you know, like I did that. Yes, I had help with subcontractors and things like that. But like we designed it, we made it come to life and then we sold it to somebody that now loves it.
Speaker 1:Like I drive by that house and I'm like, oh look, they put a fence in the yard, you know or stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so you took something without much value and you created so much value out of it. Correct, yeah.
Speaker 1:And that fulfillment right then and there made me realize I don't get that fulfilled. At the fire department I was a lieutenant, I was at the top and I, at this point in my firefighter career I'd been at the top now for about three years and Haley had recently made a switch in her career and, man, for a couple of weeks like I know she's okay with me talking about this because we just talked about it in our other podcast she was so depressed, so down, everything was terrible, and then she found a new job and it was amazing. So, like she, she went through, you know, a little rough time, yeah, and so in my brain I'm starting to think like what if I leave the fire department? You know, I put myself in an uncomfortable situation.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh.
Speaker 1:But maybe things will look better Like. Maybe I'll find something more fulfilling.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh.
Speaker 1:And right at that time I've got a old friend that reached out and he's like hey, man, you know, you're a really good person with people and I'm like what. Like that's random. That's a great way to say that.
Speaker 1:Like you're a good salesman, but like you're not a pushy salesman, like you're just good at people, why don't you come be a car salesman? And at first I'm like no dude, like I'm not, I'm not going to go be a sleazy car salesman. And then I was like you know what? Right at the time I'm thinking about leaving the fire department. This guy comes with this opportunity Screw it. So I put my two weeks into the fire department. All my family, all my friends are like what are you doing?
Speaker 1:You know, like you're leaving the one thing that has made you money and kept you sustainable and done everything for you. You're going to leave that and go be a freaking car salesman. And I was like, yeah, and I went and did it and you know I I was a car salesman for about four months. I got towards the top, just like you, and you know I learned so much about sales there because we were in trainings, that's my pressure, high pressure, and it was in COVID, like that was COVID. It was during COVID, so very low inventory.
Speaker 2:Yeah, high demand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, high competition.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Learned tons from it. Did I think great at it?
Speaker 1:You know, and I just realized real quickly this isn't for me. The salesman, the car salesman specific atmosphere wasn't for me. I don't like taking advantage of people honestly, and in the car industry business that's how you make money, like there, and it doesn't even really feel like you're helping someone. In my there a lot of people will, you know, say yesterday's, you're putting them in a vehicle, you're doing all this and yes, that's true. But to me, you know, I built someone's home, basically Like that was way more fulfilling than this, but I learned a lot from it.
Speaker 1:And then I got presented with another opportunity. Robert had reached out to me where I had, you know we had met and I decided to leave the car service and go sell marketing. You know, for the building raise marketing started doing that, learned a ton about marketing Did that. For I think it was right out of a year, Yep and um, right at that time it was basically either like I'm either gonna get like I kind of almost gave an ultimatum Like I'm either gonna get promoted right now, guys, or I'm gonna go do my own thing. And I don't think BBM was at the place to where like, okay, you need a promotion, we have tons of people you can be over them.
Speaker 1:It just wasn't there, it wasn't in the cards, and so I was like you know what I have now? I have a year's worth of marketing experience. Now I have another, you know, sales experience. I have all of my management experience from the fire service, high pressure, intense situations. You know. I was like I'm gonna start my own business. So I started the handyman company, the SmartFix handyman, and I did that for about a month alongside of the marketing job and then realized real quickly, one job I made more money than I did that whole month at the marketing company. Right, and I'm like why am I still here? You know like I can go work one weekend and make what I did in four weeks of work there.
Speaker 1:And you know that's a scary jump though it is terrifying Cause like next month. If that job's not there, then I don't make anything right. But I was, like you know what I've already made a scary jump. I already left the fire service and was a car salesman.
Speaker 1:So, like, screw it. At that point I left the marketing job, another secure job, and went and started my own business. And then you were like, hey, let's go out to dinner. And we sat down, we talked and then that's when you decided, hey, I'm gonna invest in the company. And I think it was January. I started it. I did it by myself. January, february, march, you officially came in and, dude, we blew it up, I mean with all of your. So I knew marketing, like I knew the value of it right, cause I sold it, cause you're a project manager.
Speaker 1:You work with the clients, exactly, but I didn't know exactly how to get me to the top of Google or to create, you know, an optimized website. So when you presented that opportunity, I'm like heck, yeah, you know, let's jump on this. In the first three months of the business, you know, it went from me making like $1,000, $2,000, you know, a month in January and February, to what was our first month was like 9,000 bucks, and then it just grew and grew and grew and grew, and grew and it's like, oh my gosh, I can't believe this is happening to the point to now.
Speaker 1:It's like, why don't we do this for other people? You know why. And then Biswip right, that's when Biswip became a thing.
Speaker 1:Let's start helping other handymen and handywomen out there create their own businesses and even alongside that, people with pressure-washing companies, lawn care businesses, home services or home services. I've done all of it, so I know that side in marketing is marketing, you know. So I mean with our experience and all of that. It just makes so much sense of where we're at now. Well, like going from computer science major at Chipotle and a firefighter with a lawn care business to like where we're at now is just wild to me, Like I never in a million years would think that that's where we end up.
Speaker 2:but that's where we are. That's where we are. It's been a wild ride, but, man, it just shows for everybody who is uncertain if they should take the leap into doing their business Like you. Will do so many things through your life. Some of them will be failures, sure, but if you keep doing things like you, will have a success and that success will carry on. And through the failures, you will learn way more than you could ever expect.
Speaker 2:And that's where I'm excited with us and busy with now of being able to partner with these people to make that jump less scary, to help them go from their job, where they're making a great salary, to doing their own thing, to trotting their own path to starting their own company and creating wealth for not only them. But when you create a company, you create an asset that then can be sold and after you're gone you can pass that on to your family.
Speaker 1:Most people don't even realize that. Honestly, like it's like I'm gonna fix stuff for the rest of my life. No, you don't have to structure it in a different way. Structure it to where it's so beautiful and amazing that you can sell it to somebody else. So that's it. I mean, these diverse backgrounds are just. It's what's made us what we are today.