A Great Business Is Consistent, With Brad Krause

Service Professor owner Brad Krause has held leadership positions in the company since 2004. The Service Professor's annual revenue recently grew 31% in 2017. He talks to Jack about the importance for leaders to find a balance between internal and external focus. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Hi, this is Jack[inaudible] and welcome to another episode of Leadership Lounge. And this name leadership lounge was a, the origins of it really worth this idea that so much learning doesn't happen necessarily in the classroom. It doesn't happen. You know, when you're watching a show, it happens when you're sitting around a bar, a lobby of a hotel talking and learning from each other. And that was the idea of what leadership lounges and that's what we're doing here. We're sitting here talking to a very amazing people and I've got someone amazing in front of me. He is Mr Brad[inaudible]. I'm doing well. Jack, how are you today and what, what uh, what company do you own? Where is it a own a service professor? Uh, grand rapids, Michigan. Very cool. India, you've been, uh, you're still young guy though. How long have you been the owner of service professionals? Professor? I'm sorry, service professor. You know, there's a brand issue with you right now. It's not my fault. It happens all the time. I know there is another service professionals, I believe in next year. There is pretty spot. Yeah. But tell me how long have you been in service professor? So, um, my father started a gene d electric in 1978. Uh, so, uh, only job I ever had a sweeping floors at 13, you know, the whole, the whole story. And I got into that, that profession early on became a master electrician at the age of 22 and then started being coming a little bit more, uh, of an officer role in the company and about 2004. Oh, that's when we started taking it into more of a service angle and got out of the construction angle. Um, and that's when I started just in time too, by the way. Justin time. Yeah. I do credit my father with some help predicting the collapse. Uh, he, he, uh, he hangs his hat on that Michigan and the recession could have been maybe the worst spot on earth to be, I would imagine. That's definitely what, uh, what was broadcast around the media for sure. Right. I happen to agree. So, yeah, I think it all four is when I started, uh, taking over some stock and some shared and it was a 10 year buyout, so. Okay. And uh, tell us about your business today. Yeah. So a, in Oh four, when we would decide to take it more of a service angle, we renamed it, rebranded it to the electric professor. Actually I acquired a plumbing company in 2012 lunch plumbing. So electric professor who is no longer cool. And we had to rename and rebrand again to the service professor. Okay. Uh, launched HVHC in 2014 and dropped the, the uh, kind of like Facebook did in 2015. Okay. And a similar to Facebook and I think they're completely right. Completely. So, and then it was just service professors. So, um, yeah, so it's, it's, it's going really well. We had 31% growth last year and we kept a 2018 with about eight, 8.1, 6 million. Congratulations. Thank you. Nice journey. Nice transition and well done. I spent a bit of fun ride for sure. So you guys are doing really good. And that's part of why I wanted to talk to, you've had an a nice growth path and 30% growth is fantastic, you know, that's just great. But one of the things that you do here, um, with your business that's a little different is that you're also a trainer for next star. You are a member trainer and how many times a year do you train for us? So I, you know, I'm a very active nexstar member as well, so I, I you are, I love to go see you on stage as much as I possibly can for sure. Thank you. So I do go to all the events and I like to try limiting my travel to about every five weeks. Um, just, just so I can, you know, uh, really feel like I'm partaking the business to the saturation that I should be and not feel guilty for not right. So about every five weeks. So with that, uh, I do about six to eight events for next star, uh, from my, so six 36 date formal training events for next door. Correct. Right. Plus, you know, you go to our national events and hang out and go to other training events, et Cetera, every time. Yeah. That's awesome man. Absolutely. So, and you do a great job for us. So I just want to thank you publicly here. You do a fantastic job. I appreciate it. I've sat in your classes and you really aren't good. I'm glad you can actually say that now because five years ago, I don't know if we'd be having that conversation when I started, but, well, uh, with plenty of help from people that are better. It's a, it's worked itself out for sure. Well you're definitely an asset to next door and a real value to our members. But what I'm interested in is, is what this has done for you as an owner of service professionals, professors, you're going to get eventually professor service professor. And it's funny, it's on my shirt. I'm looking at him right now as I'm saying this. He's got this shirt that with the name right on it. Right. And I can't even pronounce it. This is terrible. It's all good. So let's talk about, you know, one of the fears I think is, is that, you know, you'll get involved in doing something like this and then you won't tend to the business at home. How has that been? Well, you know, I'll definitely say those thoughts went through my head. Um, you know, when, when I, when I started it, there was a lot of fear for me. Yeah. I had been very active in, in next star at that point and I saw the likes of Dan freezing and Keith training and keep, the matter of fact, I believe my onsite in Lansing, Michigan was Keith second training when he became an employee for next door. And I saw 1,012 or 11 at the time, somewhere in there and him and I befriended one another and he, I still remember because I got to revisit the hotel in Boston last year at a training when I did an Hvac service systems there. And as soon as I saw the lobby bar, that was the spot. When about a year after I met Keith, he kind of cornered me and said, Hey, I want you to get into training for us. And, uh, uh, literally cornered me and wouldn't let me, wouldn't let me get out of there. So all the fears kind of Rosen, you know, I took on the challenge and, uh, I actually have a story in my training about how about that fear in the first time I trained for Nexstar because the bar was set so high with amazing trainers that are here. But it's, it's done tremendous things for our company. Um, no doubt about it. There was a lot of fear with the travel, different things of that nature. But, um, the that I've been able to create through it have helped our business significantly. I mean, well, you know, I think there's a level of luster that comes along with being a trainer for next star, a unwarranted, I know the trainers and you realize, you know what a bunch of, yeah, exactly. Until you actually go outside of the class with them. Don't ever meet your idols, you'll be disappointed. Right. I'm just joking. So there is a little bit of unwarranted, by the way, I fully believe that, but um, it's allowed me to get it though. There's a luster, right? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. And I think that it allows us trainers to have some relationships that maybe we otherwise wouldn't. With the other trainers you're talking about not only just the trainers but other business owners. Um, I, I'm very close with a lot of business owners with a Nexstar that I've trained their people. Um, and we have very open communication lines, but overall net, that's what Nexstars about anyway, you know? So I don't know if it's just the fact that I'm part of the next star and maybe next star, a different capacity at times, but the, the relationships I've built have helped our business just, I, I can't put a number to it really significantly. Yes. Okay. So you, so the, the, by being put out there as a, as a trainer for Nexstar, it's, it's forest or it's allowed you to meet so many people. Absolutely. You keep those relationships going. So what does it done to, let's go back though. What has that done for service professor? Nailed an AOL days. Uh, you know, I, I can't, I have no KPIs for you, but what I can tell you is, this is my brother who I brought on to the company in 2014 is a CPA by craft. You've met Tony, great guy. And um, he's told me several times as busy as we are now with the growth and everything. And you know, every time I have to travel, I think, man, how long do I want to do this? I will say that goes through my mind because it's hard on my family, young family, four kids, business for kids and it's hard on my wife for my travels. Um, but every time I go, uh, but once I arrive here in Minnesota, wherever I'm at, those thoughts are gone. It's, it's, it's extremely rewarding. So Tony's always said, I would never let you stop training. That's so cool. Brother has to pick up the slack, I imagine on some level when you're gone. Absolutely. Cause he's the, the constant there. He doesn't get the fancy dinners and, uh, the applause. He's just doing the grunt work back home. Well, well done Tony. If you're listening. Yeah. Tony will hear this. Yeah. Thank you to the rest of your team too though, right? Completely. Yeah. And, and I, I've got, I actually got this ass, this question asked by another business and grown up has less week. I had a meeting with them and they want to know how do you travel so much and keep growing the way you are. And I said, it's our people. Uh, I think another thing that's come to the relationships that I've created through Nexstar is understanding how important those people are. And we have a great team. I don't even know if the place skips a beat when I'm gone. To be frank. They, they, they, they don't, they don't, uh, don't bombard me with calls or needs or wants. I mean, they, they take care of it. Yeah. Well that's so cool. Can I say it's always been the case, but we're at the point now where that, that certainly is transpiring. Yeah. So did you, do, do you find that that because you train the content that now as you run service professor that your, um, that you've got more business acumen as it relates to what you train it is, does that translate to your people because you trained service system? I would, I would expect because you train it that your people are amazing at it. That would be the thought when, tell me about that. So no, it's um, yeah it's a giant rumor. We struggle like everybody else, but I will say this is that, um, when I get back home next week, I actually, I'm going to be doing it in house service system for seven new technicians. But as you know, um, I haven't stopped having onsite since I had from other trainers coming into your business. Correct. Those aren't freebies you pay like everybody else for these things. 100% yeah. So Keith, when he came in 2012 or whenever it was, I haven't, we haven't stopped and I partner with do that. Why? No, cause you know the stuff to you. You literally say the same words as Keith. You're just not as good looking. Well, and I've lot less hair. You do, which by the way, it seems kind of somber around here today when I arrive. Why didn't he just get married? He did. It's like a shift around who just got married to that. It's strange. We're not used to it and believe that definitely disturbance in the force. I can, I can see that. Yeah. But you know what I think happened happens there is, you know, I call it the grandfather theory. You know, it's like when you're a kid and your dad would say something to you and it's like, yeah, Okay Dad, I roll. You know, rather than other lesson dad, thanks. Yeah. If granddad said the same thing, it's automatically profound. Right? It's just a, it's something that you run to the bank with. And so I believe that happens in our businesses too. They see me every day and certainly I know the content and I think we can hold guys accountable better. Cause I know what should be taking place, but our guys get two fold more out of the training when I bring in, you know, one of my teammates here at Nexstar, uh, to train our people. And I've been very fortunate to have the relationship I do with, with Matt over at Thorton and grooms and Farmington hills. Yes. And uh, ed cop at Aaa, two good guys, then two of my favorites. Yeah, they are. And uh, you know, and Matt and Mike and Dave, I'm sure credible. Those other guys, they're incredible. But so yeah, we partnered with them for I think going on six years now. We host two, uh, one in the fall, one in the spring privates every single year. Okay. So, so, and I think this is, this is interesting that that and you're spending good money for this. You absolutely 100% inside note out, no. The same content that's being trained that your you would do for free if you were just to sit in front of your people and say the same words maybe, but you're a different messenger and you think that's worth it for them to hear it from another person and to experience that outside of you. Cause you know, you're not doing those necessarily in your own business. You're doing locally, right? Absolutely. Yeah. We're repetitively to Jack. I mean for, for up until last year, it was always key if Keith always came right and certainly not by my request, you've never seen a man crush like ed has on ed cop has on Keith Makarios. So that, that was a given that Keith was coming. But uh, now that Keith is only doing the advanced classes, uh, we're starting to get into some, you know, some classes with the other boys. You know, Garrett was the last one in Bobby's coming in the spring. So we do it repetitively. So my rule, I keep it on a spreadsheet is that every technician, whether it's a a level one technician to a level five in all of our departments, they see another trainer other than me every 18 months. Very cool. Every 18 months they see somebody else besides me mighty do that. Well. I think getting a different perspective on everything is healthy. And we've got some, some, some huge earners, you know, in a, in the field service professor and those guys aren't privy to not go into training either. I mean, they go, so you know that you can't, you can't earn your way out of it. Absolutely. They want to go. Absolutely. It actually, that's a great point. So the ones that are the first ones jumping in line to go and that. Cool. Absolutely. Is it always that way? No. No. Uh, when you were doing it, they didn't have to go. Only when I do it there now I want to show up, but well that's probably true. I don't even say are bad, but it's Brad again. He's the one that dropped me, didn't give me that Pete at that time. Off, I want it so I'm not going to listen. Yeah, I can see it. Yeah. Well, which by the way, for the record, uh, in all my entire career, I've never turned on a day of Pto. Why? I hang my head on that one as well. But while you're soft, soft, but no, I, you know, and I think it's natural. I think we would all fall into the same trap. You know, I think messages are better received by a third party on unfiltered, uh, you know, on opinionated person. It just, it just is. That's true. I think the good book says you can't be a prophet in your own hometown somewhere in there. I can't remember where, but that's a, yeah, that's a site, that site that the verse, somebody in somewhere, somewhere they've said that. So it's true though, right? Absolutely. It's true. So you do that. And uh, so going, getting back though, um, you know, what his training is, is, is there been any change in the way you approached the business now because of the training experience you've had in the front of the room? Do you, does it? What else is it carried through in your company? Well, I think that it increases the focal point that I would probably have any way on consistency. I think any great business is consistent with as so many levels and knowing what I know about the training and how it's supposed to be, we were very particular about our consistency. Um, there's a cool, there's a saying that surround her office. I sent it this morning actually in our 2019 launch party. But I always say that, I tell our guys, you, you always have to keep in mind, I tell everyone my classes that your boys back home are setting you up for failure and what I like, yeah, your boys back home, your boys back home are setting you up for failure. I think I know this is going, but this is great. Go ahead. Yeah. So what I mean by that and when, when I say that is you always have to remember, especially when it's a repeat customer that one of your teammates was already there and had an interaction with that client and probably knocked service systems out of the park and just absolutely did everything to the book. And if you slip up, you know that much, right? You just slip up a little bit. They're setting you up for failure, they're gonna make it look bad. Yeah. And in my class is actually pull a top gun movie quote right there. When I, when I talk about that, what's that? I do. So if you slip up that much here, be flying a cargo plane, full rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong. You say that in class? I do. I do. You don't remember that part of the movie? I, I do remember good eye, not the exact quote, but I can kind of remember where that might've been in context to the rest of the movie. And it's true. You know, if, if you slip up just a little bit, you know that customer is the flight it because you know you never know what one thing a customer appreciates about your level of service or what you're doing or what your company offers. And if you don't do that, you're all sudden the bad guy. Okay, so when I can I tell you what I thought you meant when you said the boys back home or w w what's the saying again? The boys, your boys back home are always setting you up for failure. I thought you meant that you're going to leave training in your, your friends who are going to tell you to ignore what you just heard. Right.[inaudible] we're going to see that. I don't listen to that. That there, there's the, the people that as you change the people that aren't changing with you are going to try to hold you back to where they were. That's what I thought you were going with that right now. I get what you're saying. Yes, absolutely. I'm sure that happens as well. So if this consistency thing, and this is, this is great because, um, I'll tell you that, that I haven't seen this necessarily across Nexstar, but a lot of times people that are big time trainers that are, or eight ers if you will, aren't necessarily the most organized people that they're more about interaction and, and you know, having relationships and talking and, and fun and that's, that's, that's probably a stereotype and, but they, the same people may haven't always really appreciated that a business is consistent that that daily execution consistency that, that if I walk into your company at eight 30 in the morning, I'm going to know what's going on because it's going to be exactly what it's supposed to happen. And it's not gonna be chaos. It's not going to be people doing what they want. It's going to be, there's going to be a level of consistency and dispatch and the call center and guys going to be on their first call already and the paperwork's going to come in the next day. And then that time that managers are reviewing it and it's going to be three options, ABC, it's going to be good. Right? That's what I see. Right. That's, and that's what I love. But oftentimes I find that people that are great at training aren't necessarily great at making sure those disciplines are there. Is that you or am I speaking to somebody else? I am not the most organized person in the world. So Tony, Tony, and you're stressed, your team. He's an accountant. So this, this is making sense now. Capital Miss. Well, yes, I'm organized with what I want to be organized about. Um, uh, I'm, I'm very good at follow up things of that nature, but I'm not one for, you know, process sheets and stuff like that. Uh, that's, that's his job to then at your company or is it, is he does that at our company? Yes. Not, I think we got something interesting here because you're an extrovert. You ended a good trainer. I think. You're not disorganized. You're always well kept, you know, you're not appreciated it on time. You know, there's, there's, there's your functional, yeah, but, but what I, what I hear is there's a dynamic in place in your business where you've got people around you that are very organized, that, that do are good at consistency and process and not fanatical joy killers, but are there all the time. Right. Is that fair? Absolutely. Yeah. And I think a, a good shift for us was a win as a team. Uh, as a management team. We read the ideal team player book. That was a good Bob, I can never pronounce his last name. So Patrick Lencioni, it's Lencioni. When Shoney I had to, I had introduced him from the stage and I got to the way to pronounce everybody's calls on Pat Lynch. Yoni. That's what I want to not, it's Pat Lencioni. Okay. Yeah. Well you had had more coaching on that and I did. So yeah. So that's been really big for us and we do have a great management staff that cares as much about the processes and the consistency as I do. So, you know, they're hard on their guys as well that hey, this is how we do it, this is how we do things. And when we introduced that book and everybody has a thorough understanding of hungry, humble, smart, and you know, I gave it to all 60 employees and they, they were given a timeline of two weeks to read it. And it's part of my big book either it's not for our rude in my opinion, but four hours. And I took what you do here at Nexstar with your onboarding meeting that you do with all new employees and Nexstar and, and that's part of the onboarding meeting now as they get handed that book along with another book called automatic millionaire by David Bach, which is one of the best books I've ever read. And it really breaks down investing simply because we want happy people that are looking to the retirement, investing in themselves. First Federal. I would love you right now. And that's awesome. It's a beautiful thing. It is. And we want him to be hungry, humble, smart as well, and recognize what a teammate's not being that way. Uh, so we can keep our culture up cause we have a pretty pretty awesome culture going right now and we're doing everything we can do to protect it with an iron fist. It's, I'm not real sure. That's really it. I, you know, I didn't know what we talk about necessarily. I just knew I wanted your train their story from an owner perspective. Right. And, and I didn't know we'd get into kind of, you know, how you divide responsibilities and, and what you hold as important. Right. So I've talked to, we've talked about a few things, you know, one is that you always bring every 18 months that you, you introduce your field team to a nexstar training event to make sure they keep their blade sharp. Cause our, our training is always evolving too. There's always phrases that come up. There's always different things. You know, just in the three years, you know, we've really changed the HV suicide of our service system. So if they had, if they went four years ago, it had been dramatically different than it is today and is dramatically better today. Right? So there's always going to be evolution happening, right? That nothing's static here in our service system training. So you're always introducing your team and then you've got this, this idea of consistency that you, you push into the business and you start that from, uh, from a, from an onboarding call or onboarding meeting with every new employee that you do. Correct. I do it personally and you talk about those two books, right? In talking about the culture of, of service professor, make sure that's right. And then you've got a very good detailed team in place and you respect, even though it's not you, you respect the consistency they bring. And I know it got to be times that it's maybe a little bit overbearing for a person like you. Maybe it is, you know, cause it is for me, but I value it and I'm speaking like I'm looking at myself in the mirror, just a younger version of me. Well, it's, it's, it's, you know, almost to a fault, you know, it can, it can drive, drive a guy like I crazy to, to wind that consistency and want perfection, you know? Uh, I try run reminding myself all the time, people are human beings and are going to slip and that's perfectly acceptable. Right? Um, I just want to see that, you know, that hunger out of him for the book. I just want to see that hunger to improve and then mistakes are fine, you know, but in today's market, you know, consumers don't, they don't have a big, um, a big tolerance for a lot of mishaps. People are busy. Uh, people want to be treated well and want to be treated quickly. I'm a true believer that time is our most valuable asset today. Now their money. So if you don't, if you don't execute it perfection, you may lose that client. And I think that's why, you know, I want all of all of our teammates to, you know, to make a great living, be happy, um, in, in, in their jobs. And in technician wise, I, I strive and I say it all the time, I want you to push to that six figure income. I want that to be possible for you. And if you follow these guidelines, it's absolutely possible. I looked at our wage report, uh, this morning, uh, W2 stuff from last year. And, and we have guys accomplishing that. And how's that feel? It feels amazing. Uh, as a, as a, as a, as a team leader. Uh, no doubt about it. It gives me purpose. Yeah. And, uh, counting on one, you know, just thinking right now I can think of five technicians, uh, in the last 18 months have come to me and said, you allowed me to buy my first house and our own, my first house. And that's gratifying, you know, and I think next star for that too. No doubt about it. I don't think herself too, but that's it. And you hope you are because that's, that's great. You created this vehicle. Talk about your company now that, that through your training, through your leadership and in a team, Tony, the rest of the team there that are doing their job of created, you know, this, this great entity that's growing nicely and creating this, this, these opportunities for folks that five people actually grabbed you by the arm and said, thank you. Yes, they definitely cool. It is. Very cool. What else? What else? You know, we've talked about a few things and um, now we're, I'm really opening the floor up to you. What else is important to you and in running service professor? Well, you know, I think, uh, changing the industry, you know, I tell every applicant that, that we are able to come in contact with our, our recruiting efforts are, are, are really going to the next level where we have a lot of conviction about that we're, we're really build their pipeline. Working with Steph and here at nextdoor is recruiting coach. It's really helped us get a new vantage point of where we need to be and, and, and not a hiring, you know, um, you know, because you need somebody today and doing it by fire, just don't settle. Don't settle. That's right. And every time I sit down with somebody, I tell them, you know, if, if I happen to interview them that I have a lot of conviction about changing this industry. Certainly not as much as frank did a or does. Uh, but it's, uh, no one has as much conviction of frank, but anything. Yeah, it's frank did. So don't, don't be in it. This is a podcast. I doubt he's listening, but, uh, you know, uh, perhaps somebody playing it for him. Yeah. And I think we all should. I think, you know, I tell everybody, well, you know, why, why shouldn't, uh, US somebody in the service business, a a technician, be privy to a six figure income. Yeah. Why? Why is that such a new idea? That makes no sense to me. Right. Just because, you know, we're not the rejects that didn't go to college. You know, we're not, we're not the guys that couldn't make college, you know, we went into this profession because we'd like to, we're better working with their hands. Right. In. What would people that make six figure incomes, whatever craft they might be partaking in do if they couldn't hit a little button and cool down their health so they can sleep better or turn a light switch. I want to walk into the bathroom. Or when they're in that bathroom, you know, flush, you know? Right. What would they do? And, and there's value there. And I, I try instilling that in our people that puff your chest out, you know, this, this occupation has validity and the stigma out there is there because we created it, no doubt about it, right? We absolutely created that. We have, but we need to create a new one. So that's, that's part of your, your, your purpose there is, is as, as you grow service professor, it's a vehicle, right? For an industry change. Absolutely. On just, I know it's a wealth vehicle for you and your key people. I get that, right? But it's also something that, that you can grab up a bigger purpose to. It is, and there's, you know, many more nexstar members that have the same conviction and certainly some of my conviction comes from their conviction and hearing them, you've learned it from somebody else, you just really stolen. Absolutely wild know and, and, but it was there, right? Because everybody's heard that message and not everyone feels it. Right. But, but I, I think it's wonderful and I, and I, you know, what, what, why do I do these podcasts? Where they're fun. I like talking to people and I learned a ton, but I want somebody listening to this say, you know what, I've, I've always felt that, but it was never articulated to be like you just did of sitting down with a, in my recruiting efforts and saying, I'm not just trying to fill a seat in a truck. I'm trying to, to change the narrative about this industry one person at a time. And I want you to know him. You come to work with service professor. It's my goal to help you create a six finger a come for you and your family. I want you to buy a great house. I want you to live. I've heard this one contractor say, I, John Ward and apple would say, I want our employees to live as well as our customers. Right? That they're, they're not, you know, the domestic staff. I don't mean that in a negative way. Absolutely. But, but so often we've foisted that on herself that because we did flunk out of school or you know, I wasn't great at college, but I know a lot of people with the same way and it kind of settled in. They kind of, you know, I'll say that people kind of accidentally found himself in this industry. It wasn't necessarily always a destination for them. That's right. And then there's, so there's some self image things that come along with that and maybe their friends aren't making six income and their parents didn't and their uncles don't in all other, the boys back home. Right. Don't. Right. So it kind of holds him back. You started using that for now I might steal that. Right. And then all the boys ever Johnson that same message. And uh, you know, it reminds me of a story of a, of a technician that we have and we had our launch meeting this morning. I mentioned that. And it's a two hour deal. It's a big deal to launch the new year. And we have a lot of new guys in there. And I, I took all 60 people in this room and I showed an example of, of why they need to invest their future in the forward k, which comes back to the automatic millionaire book. And I have a spreadsheet that I put up on the screen and it, it basically kind of shows the, um, the value of compounding interest of what it means to invest your, and we have a, we have a technician that I just checked this morning, gross 110,000 this year. Um, he's 27 years old. Oh really? And he came to me and his manager earlier in this year and he said, my goal this year is to Max out my 401k. Okay. You don't, the Max is unaffordable, Kate. The sheer 19, it's 18,000. Okay. That was close. Guy were 55, maybe 1924 I think is at my age. I think it's 18,000 went up to I believe this year. Uh, you know, you're right, it is 19. I think you're right. It was 18, five last year. It's 19 that she had these conversations with our staff too. But, okay, go ahead. You're right. You'd get back. Good enough. So 19,000 he and he wanted a max it out. Then he was able to do it this year. And without naming him in front of the team, uh, I showed his example and I said, I showed an example. It started as 401k out with$30,000 balance. He wants to max it out at 65 he would retire with 3.6 million with a 7% average return over those years if he keeps maxing out every year we use Maxient. Oh yeah. And I broke it down. I said, you know, his, his contribution was$700,000, but that turns into three point$6 million. What, what sort of retirement or you think you'd have? You know, and that's where we're trying, we're trying to get amen to let everyone know this is possible. You're not, you're, you're not privy to, uh, work until I'm 70 and I can't climb a ladder anymore. Like our industry has been, right. You can stop at 55, start withdrawn your Roth Roth contributions, you know, and start retiring at 55. So I think that's our initiative at service professor. I love it. I love it. That's got to feel great. It does. It does. And uh, and he earned it. You know, I went out, didn't talk to him this morning. I said, hey, you know, I'll watch it. I looked at the wage report this morning and I said, nice job man. He didn't realize what you gross the shared. He said, yeah, I do. And uh, eating, he gave me a nice, friendly little bro Hug there and uh, it's, it's rewarding because you know, he, he deserves, he's exceptional. No doubt about it. That's awesome. Yeah. That's great. What else you want to share? Anything else that you've shared a lot so far? I mean, you talked about this idea of consistency and the business and having people around a person like yourself that there will be, that will make sure that the great training that person like yourself gives is actually being executed every day. It can't be, can't do the training, then not have the consistency and the followup on the backend. Right. It's because of the training. You know, can I share something here? What I've seen this is, is, is that what people do? Sometimes they say how the guys aren't doing it anymore, so I'd better retrain them. And so they retrain them, but there's never any inspection or followup on the backend. So they think that the issue is training. And I'll say that's oftentimes issue, isn't that they don't know it. It's that it's not being inspected when they're done. It's not being inspected. Sounds like you're, you know, at the end of a bayonet. And that's not what I mean, it's just change. Just look at your invoices. You almost talk about it, man. You know, this is, I didn't see what the summary of findings completed. Like we talked about this, let's do that tomorrow. You know, those kinds of conversations. So it's not, well, the training doesn't work. No, it's, the training was great. It's just that we don't have this discipline on the backend to make sure that does occur. Does that make sense? Yeah. You know, I relate it to to sports. It's kind of like, you know, showing somebody, you know, good form with shooting a basketball and put them behind the three point line and saying, all right, go ahead and take 10 shots. And then they were in the NBA next week. It's just not how it works. It takes years and years and years, decades of practice to get to that level. And, and I think we all fall in that trap. You know, I used to, I can remember back in the day, we'd send something off to training and they'd come back fixed. Right. And it didn't, didn't for some reason it worked for long. Not for long though. So you know, it's, it's a, it's a constant reiteration reinforcement of the, of the systems and you know, you're right, I tell my managers all the time, have them send you their paperwork right from service titan and you can learn a lot from that. And you know, what's our goal in 2019 to add a in house trainer outside of me that will, will someone else that can ignore some of that can jump in a truck with them and have, you know, they're there. The Dash B c you know, there's 60% office, right. It will be that dash and um, that, that's where we need to get at this point because right now the managers are doing it and we're too big to, to expect them to be doing it. So that's one of our initiatives that she has 12 wrangler at that level. Yeah, absolutely. That's very good. Anything else? No, I think the, you know, in closing, I, anybody that's listening out there, you know, three, four people or so, Jack Promise, a few more than that now a few more than that. Now I can say I'm going to threaten and you fakies yeah, I'm thrilled with what's going on with the podcast. I'm a, I'm an avid listener as I told you before we started. So, um, you know, is that, it is that reinforcement is that constant training. And this isn't a, a pitch to next our training and send your people more or anything of that nature, but just know that, you know, it takes a lot of repetitions to make something natural or to make something routine. And if you can't do that in house, perhaps you need to lean on an extra trainers a little bit more. Uh, but whatever you do, don't expect them to hit a home run the first time up to the plate. It's just, it's not how it works. And I've learned the hard way. Um, but I'm a believer in the training and I think our results, 31% growth is a result of that thumb bad. So we'll done, we'll take it well done and with, I'm not going to add anything to that. That sounded perfect. All right. Thank you for your time. Now you're teaching an electrical sales class tomorrow, is that right? Electrical sales, yeah. You told me to come to your office once I landed. So here, here I am and have a great class. I know. It's good. We got a full house in there. We have a lot of energy here this this week and thank you for it is sold out for being here and thank you for all you do for next star. Brad, you do a great job. I appreciate it and I appreciate the heck out of you and all of them ever trainers, but I'm going to look you right in the eye and say thank you for all you do. As I know there's a lot of people listen to this, that you've had an impact on their life, whether it's there at a training and one of their technicians or somebody else that they just know. Yeah, right. Your inspiration. So thank you. Well, I certainly hope so and thank you. Appreciate it. And I appreciate the opportunity to train for next star, so thank you. Awesome. Well and thank you all for listening to another very special episode here. The leadership lounge is jack tests or with bread Kraus and we will catch you next time. Thanks so much.