Nick Tellie | Sep 17, 2024

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello, Nick. Thank you very much for just spending your time with us. It's always appreciated. When I was doing my gentle stocking of you and your company and what you're all about, I just. I love just the career pivot from being a chef and being in the catering business for 20 plus years into we love junk. So I. How did that even start? Like, what's the story behind that? [00:00:22] Speaker B: So interesting. So Covid came along and we ended up closing the catering business. And I had known that I did not want to stay in the food industry. It's just taxing on the mind, on the body. And so it was really, it was really difficult for me to figure out, what am I going to do? Because I had two kids in high school getting ready to go to college, and I wasn't just going to sit around waiting for something to happen. I had to make it happen. So what I decided to do was, you know, look at some different industries and see the skill sets that I had and what I could bring to, you know, another industry and make an impact. And I had met some guys that during COVID I refinished my kitchen because I had a lot of time on my hands. So when I demoed it, I needed to get rid of the demo degree. So I didn't know how to do that. I knew nothing about junk removal. The only thing I knew about junk removal was maybe a commercial for, like, you know. [00:01:29] Speaker A: Right. [00:01:30] Speaker B: So I ended up calling a junk removal company. The guys came out, hauled everything away, and then I had had them come back a few other times. And so we became friendly and they kind of knew what was going on in regards to the catering business. And at that point, I said, I'm going to end up closing. It's just not. And they were like, dude, you should get into the junk removal business. And I'm like, really? I said, well, tell you about it, because I know nothing about it. So they kind of explained to me about the business and the place they worked and how the industry's growing. So that put a little had my mind going. That night I'm googling away and I'm like, wow, this sounds fascinating. And I decided to jump in, and that's how it started. [00:02:18] Speaker A: That is so interesting. So what fascinated you about the junk removal industry? Like, what is it about? I honestly, I don't really know much about it. Besides, if I have my shed, I know what I need to call to get rid of myself. [00:02:30] Speaker B: Right, exactly. So the thing I love about it is so fascinating to me is the stuff that you come across. I love the people, customers. Everybody's got a unique story. And, you know, I think from the outside, people look at it and they're like, oh, you're just hauling people's trash away. But it's much more than that. You know, you're helping people, and there could be various scenarios, whether it's somebody who's moving or downsizing, and they have a ton of stuff now. It's not junk. It's people's possessions. So that's where I think people had that misconception of, you're taking everything and throwing it out, which is completely not what we do. And people are so appreciative of the work and the service that we provide them. And I love that. I truly love that. And you. The other aspect about it that I love is my employees and the people that I work with. And it's not a high skilled profession and allows me to create a lot of opportunities for people who may have, not have many opportunities. It could be somebody who spent a little time in jail because they were on the streets, a little bit of nothing, you know, serious, like, you know, robbery or murder or anything like that. You know, like little. So I like to provide people an opportunity and give them the chance to turn their life around. And what I really try to do is to get them to change their outlook on life, the way they approach things, the way they speak to people, the way they present themselves. And it's great for my business because we're a customer service based business. And where I learned that was 20 years of the hospitality industry, those are the things that I love about it, because it's also an industry that's not customer service oriented in general. That's the approach that we take, and that's what makes us successful. [00:04:46] Speaker A: That is so many things there that I was just, even before this call, really interested in wanting to talk to you about, because getting back to your talk about the employees and making that opportunity, I remember I wrote it down. You had said one of the things you wanted to talk about was that everyone deserves a second chance at making opportunities for people. And I just thought that was such a loaded, poignant take. And so I really, I mean, now that you're saying that you wanted to build these opportunities for people who come from the prison system, who have different backgrounds, to give them a second chance, I mean, I see how it, like, has directly applied for you in your industry. But just in general, like, how do you feel? What do you feel the impact of that is to be able to give someone a second chance? [00:05:34] Speaker B: Well, I mean, I really think that for a lot of people, it can be life changing for them because, you know, some of these people, maybe the environment that they grew up in, maybe they didn't have a father figure in the home or nobody to look up to. And, you know, a lot of these guys are younger guys, you know, between, you know, 19 and 25. And, you know, I almost try to take on not that fatherly role, but to try to guide them and to get them to have a different perspective from little things. Like before they go to a job, they always call the customer and tell them, when you're talking to the customer, smile while you're talking, because people can tell if you're in a bad mood or if you're smiling. And, you know, a lot of people judge a book by its cover. So if you walk into somebody's house and you've got the stone cold face on and whatever, it could be intimidating. But if you come in, you've already made a phone call to them, they see you, you're smart, people treat you differently, as opposed to maybe the way you regularly carry yourself. So a lot of them have come to me and said, wow, it's really amazing the way people interact with you when you have that positiveness. And it's so true. [00:07:01] Speaker A: I hear the mentorship that you're giving them, just even in the way you're describing. I know you didn't say, I know you said you didn't want it to sound like a fatherly figure, but I can hear the way that you're guiding them, and it's just, it's honestly really sweet. Have you in your career or can you remember a mentor that's helped guide you, especially when you were in the beginning of your career? [00:07:21] Speaker B: I would say that my father, my father, he grew up, he was from a very, very poor family. I remember one story that he had told me that he joined the cub scouts when he was a kid and they were going on a camping trip. His parents couldn't afford a sleeping bag. So what my grandmother did was she would, you know, crochet. So she crocheted two blankets together and connected them, and he had gone. He said, I'll never forget that. The scoutmaster saying, I can't believe these poor kids. They can't even bring a sleeping bag. What happens if her bring. You don't do that. Right? Throughout his life, he had a lot of those struggles as a young person, and he's a very, very hard worker. He ended up going to college in a football scholarship, which he never would have been able to do if he didn't have the football. And he ended up going to law school and becoming an attorney, moving to Venezuela, where I was born, and that's it. And then when, as a kid, I being the oldest of three, I remember I was about twelve years old, and my dad said, all right, well, this summer, you're not just laying around. You're gonna work. And I was like, what? Are you serious? And, you know, he made me work. I was painting the fence. I was painting all summer long. So he really instilled into me the importance of hard work, but also taking pride in your work, taking pride in what you do, because at the end of the day, if you're not giving something 150%, why even do it at all? A lot of people try to find the easy way out or the quick way to get something done. Sometimes that might work, but most times it doesn't. It really doesn't. And like, when I, when I had my catering business, I always tried to tell everybody that we are a team from the lead chef all the way down to the dishwasher. And a lot of times, you know, in a kitchen, sometimes the, you know, chefs might not be the nicest to you, other dishwashers or other employees. Chefs tend to be egotistical, which I'm a chef, but I'm not. But I would always go to the dishwasher and say, listen, you have the most important job in this kitchen. Do you know why? They kind of look at it? And I said, because if you don't do your job correctly and take pride in it, nobody else can do their job. We can't serve food under your. You can't send glasses out with a lipstick on them. So you do have a very important job. So I think it's all about allowing people to have that feeling of self worth and that what they do matters and that they're recognized for it. I know that's a long answer to your question of mentor, but, no, I. [00:10:45] Speaker A: Absolutely love that, because I was going to ask you along the veins of pride, like, how do you build pride? And when, especially on those tough days, right, where you're hauling x amount of pounds of junk, or you're in the kitchen at your second shift, 9th hour, like, how do you try to maintain that pride and that self worth even in those tough times? [00:11:09] Speaker B: So what I do is I always try to try to stay as positive as I can. I mean, we're always gonna have curveballs thrown at us. But it's just a matter of stepping back and talking to your team, talking to the guys that you're working with and trying to develop the best solution. And that's what it's about. You know, I give the guys the opportunity and the responsibility to be able to bring their ideas to the table, to bring suggestions to the table. And if it works, if it's a better idea than what we're currently doing, we're going to do it that way, because everybody has something to offer. But a lot of times, people, a lot of times in the workplace, you may want to give an idea, and then you can tell if someone's actually listening, if they're considering what you're saying, or if it's just going right out the other ear. And a lot of times, it just right out the other ear. And I think it's really important to let you know, people, to know that you're valued and what you think matters. And I think that plays a big part of it. [00:12:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Along the lines of that, just value and people mattering, especially on your team, because it sounds that, it sounds to me like you just. It's so apparent to me the love that you have for them and this, the inherent respect. Is there an employee that you've worked with, whether in this industry or the last, that's really touched you or a story there's. That's really touched you still? [00:12:38] Speaker B: Yes. So one of my first employees here, he's actually, we've been in business about just coming up in three and a half years, and he had started about one year in, and he had just gotten out of jail. It was, you know, it was nothing major. It was like selling some marijuana or whatever. Nothing, nothing big. But earlier in his life, he had hedgesthem. He had been in some trouble, too. He's been ten years. And he had come to me and asked for an opportunity, and I said, everybody deserves a second chance, which I told them all. And I sat him down and we spoke, and he was so quiet and reserved, and it was like pulling teeth to try to get him to see. The first couple of years, I was out on the truck all of the time, and I remember taking him out and we were driving, and I said, okay, you know, call the client. And he kind of just looked at me and I said, just call the client. You've heard me call them. You know what to say. I said, I'll walk you through it. And he was really nervous about doing it. And finally he did it. He did a great job. And I could see that after that phone call, he was like, oh, okay, that wasn't that bad. And then getting to the client's house, it was the same thing. We had to walk up to the client's house and introduce yourself and the whole nine yards, and he did it. But again, you could tell when somebody's nervous. [00:14:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:12] Speaker B: And just the way that they carry themselves and their nonverbal cues. But now is amazing. He is amazing, and he's one of my leads. He goes out, he can estimate the jobs. He's a great leader with the other guys. I mean, he truly is a guy that had so much respect for him. But I'm so happy that I was able to play a part in the turning his life around, because who knows what would have happened? You know? Who knows what would have happened? Because you know what I tell these guys, and they haven't all done any type of time in jail or anything like that. Some of them have, but the majority of them have. If they haven't done that, they've grown up in some difficult situations and for various reasons. So when I sit down with them and when I hire them, you know, I explain to them that, listen, my philosophy is, everybody has something to offer. And when you're young, you make mistakes. I made them. I continue to make them. Not perfect, but if you do the things that I tell you to do, or I should say, ask you to do, and you follow my recommendations, you will notice over time that you'll feel differently. People respond differently to you because it carries out into your personal life. And one of the things that I had asked him, his name is Tom. I had said to him that day in the truck before making that phone call. Why are you so nervous about making the phone call? And what he said was, he said, to be quite honest with you, he said, my whole life, I felt like I'm being. I feel like I'm being judged. I always just felt being judged, whether it's the color of my skin or what I wear, whatever. And he said, I always just felt like I had to, you know, be like the tough guy. And I said, you know, you get more bees with honey than you do with vinegar, you get back what you put out. And it's just one thing that I really, really try to stress to these guys and listen for. 50 of them that walk through the door, 30 of them end up not working out. But at the beginning, I tell them, these are my expectations. I'm not a micromanager. I give you some freedom, give you the responsibility. I'll be loyal to you. All I ask in return is you to be loyal to me. It's pretty simple. And, you know, another long answer to your question. [00:17:02] Speaker A: No, I love this. Thank you. I love these long answers. I love the stories. And so actually, something that I was thinking about, for all the work and pride that you have in working with these guys, I was just thinking, like, you know, human beings or human beings are going to be some that don't work out. And so, you know, when you said, you know, for the 50 that you talk to, 30 people walk out. How do you navigate those? The ones where you do put the time in and you try and you invest in them in that sense, and it doesn't work out. Like, how does, how does that. How do you navigate that? How's that play? [00:17:37] Speaker B: It typically happens quicker than you would think. Oh, you can tell when somebody's putting the effort in when they're listening to what you're saying, you know, because if you're sitting there talking to everybody, trying to get a point across or, you know, share some information and there's somebody over in the corner on their phone, like, right there, you know, like, okay, like, is he really in this? Is he all in? Which is one of our core values. All in. You gotta be all in. You know, if they're blatantly trying to get fired, definitely don't last long. And trust me, in the beginning with COVID it happened with the free money that was given. [00:18:20] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. [00:18:21] Speaker B: But now, I mean, I think it happens less and less now because I have a phenomenal team right now that I work with. And, you know, it's contagious, you know, I mean, because they're not hearing it just from me. They're hearing it from. From the guys. So, like, they make it real because, you know, hey, this was my situation. I started working here. I did what Nick said. My life has changed. It's not always, you know, the thing is, it's not about with employees. It's not about the money. It's not about the money. The money will come if you do the right thing and you do a good job, provide good service, the money comes. And. And they see it because they see it in their tips. I have other incentives and things like that for them, and they see it because I'm a firm believer people should be rewarded for their hard work. And I'm not a greedy person. I want to share it with them. I want to share growing this business. One year after we opened. We won. And I didn't even know it was going to happen. We won best of Philly. Philly magazine. And it's not a publication that you advertising and you win. I never even looked at the Philadelphia magazine. And so when I got the award and I brought the plaque back and showed the guys, I said, listen, this is not me. This is for we love junk. And you are we love junk. With just me. We love junk's an idea. It's an idea and it's a concept of. But the boots on the ground is what really makes it happen. So you guys earn, and they did. [00:20:13] Speaker A: Oh, man, that's so cool. Especially so early in the company to get that award. And it's not just. It's not you. You're right. It's other people who are in contact with you, who meet you and your guys. I have to ask, how has this changed you? Because when you're talking about it, there's just a sense of peace and calmness and pride. How has this journey from this idea, randomly meeting these guys, trying to renovate your kitchen, into this company, how has it impacted you? [00:20:45] Speaker B: So I'm a very different person than when I was doing the catering because my stress level is just night and day. I mean, granted, running a business is stressful, but, you know, it's kind of like the nature of the beast, this. You don't have crazy time crunches and, you know, I mean, you do, but you don't, you know, if you're feeding, you know, 200 people at a wedding and the rental oven goes down, you can't go to the bride and say, sorry, the ovens aren't working. Like, that's a stressful time crunch. [00:21:17] Speaker A: Yeah, right. [00:21:19] Speaker B: You know, all the recycling center is closing at four. We have to go there tomorrow instead of today. Oh, okay. I'll still fall asleep. Fine. But, you know, it allows me to spend much more time with my family, to spend more quality time with my wife. You know, we just sent our youngest to college, and I'm an empty nester now as of like 30 days, 35 days, which is, you know, which is great. But it allows me to just be a much happier person because I know that I'm providing a phenomenal service for people. I'm helping people, and we're finding homes for their junk, but it's their possessions, okay? Because, you know, we don't take everything and go dump it at the landfill, do everything we can to keep it out. And even with the guys, like I said, working with the guys and trying to mentor them and just make them better people and give them the opportunity to move up in this company, because I'm trying to grow this. I want to franchise it. I want to promote from within. These guys helped me build it to this point. Why should I leave them behind as I move forward? It just doesn't make sense. [00:22:32] Speaker A: Oh, man, that's awesome. It's funny you say empty nester. I still live with my parents, but my youngest brother just went off to college about a month ago, and my mom is like, I still call his name because I think he's still. And it's like, this is the season, I guess. [00:22:49] Speaker B: Yep, yep. Yeah. It's very interesting. My daughter's at West Virginia University, and we went down, and my wife and I, we dropped her off, and I got a little teary. My little girl going away. [00:23:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:05] Speaker B: She didn't hit me until I got home, and I had to bring something that we ended up not leaving in her dorm room into her bedroom. And I walked in to. And I cried. I got to admit. I cried. [00:23:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [00:23:17] Speaker B: And, you know, it was, you know, the dogs came in, and they're sniffing around, like, where is she? You know? But it's all good. It's all. It's a part of the process, right? [00:23:29] Speaker A: Yeah. My mom. Yeah, my. It hit all of us when we were, like, dropping his stuff off and going to the elevator, and he was like, oh, I have to stay. And my mom in tears, my brother in tears, my dad. And we would kind of stay on the side because we knew this was coming. But, yeah, it. Yeah, it hit us all. But so, as you were talking about just your. Your company and your stories and all of this, I'm so curious about the clients that you have, the people whose junk you take. And I love the fact that there's this inherent gratitude to it. Cause even in the way you're talking about it, saying it's not trash, it's junk. How, like, can you take us through, or just me through, what it means when you're meeting with them, what that interaction is about? Because I've even seen on, you know, you also help hoarders, and that is just an entirely different emotional ballgame. So just. I would just love to hear more about that. [00:24:28] Speaker B: Sure. Well, so we do. From a single item to an entire house, and every client interaction is different. So somebody may call and say, oh, you know, we just bought some new living room furniture. Could you guys come by and pick up our old furniture? Okay, sure. You know, can you send me some pictures. And what we do is our, you know, our guys will go and they'll look at the furniture, figure out if it's donatable or not. You know, their wheels are turning, you know, where is this going to end up? You know, sometimes it comes back here to our shop and we put it in our warehouse, and until we get enough for, say, habitat for humanity to bring their truck and truck load up, if it's in bad shape, there's a transfer station that we bring it to and what you call them, a dump or whatever, but it's not a landfill. What they do is everything that's dumped there. They sort everything. Like, they'll take furniture, break it down, go to make a wood pile, make a pile of the fabric, whatever, and everything gets recycled. So we try our best to keep everything out of, like, a landfill. When you're dealing with bigger jobs, say somebody had passed away, the family calls, hey, can you come by? So and so has passed away. We need to clear the house out and get it ready for sale. Those situations are, you know, it's emotional for the family. One of the things that we always do is I have the guys keep an eye out whenever you're cleaning a house out, for example, in a bedroom, you know, like with drawers, you know, they always empty the drawers out. They're not going through their stuff, but they're keeping an eye out for things like photographs, passports, anything that may be important to them or something you wouldn't want somebody else to have. In those situations when you're going in, you don't know what maybe your mom, your dad or your uncle had and where they had it. You might just peruse and be like, oh, I'll take this to my house, this cabinet or this dresser, and they might look for sentimental jewelry or things like that. So what I always tell them is, listen, our guys will keep an eye out for anything that we think, you know, we'd be sentimental to you guys, and we put it in the corner and you guys go through it, and then there's something you don't want, and, you know, we'll take and we'll find a home for it. But then when you. And they're very, very grateful for that. And we have found passports. One of my guys found a guy's Rolex, passed away his Rolex watch, and the guy brought it right to his daughter and gave it to her. You know how easy it is to pop that in your pocket and you got $20,000 watch and walk away? But that, those are the things that make a difference, because you got to be honest. You got to have integrity and do the right thing. And customers appreciate that. They love, they. That's what they want. They want to know that somebody's. Somebody cares. And we're all empathetic. I don't hire people who are not empathetic. It doesn't work. You have to be an empathetic person. And then when we're dealing with on, like, a hoarding situation, you know, they're challenging because every situation is different. Sometimes the person who has the hoarding issue themselves may call, but a lot of times it's a family member that calls. So a lot of times what I'll do is if a family member calls, I'll say, listen, I said, why don't we set up a time for myself, yourself and whoever the homeowner or apartment owner is, and we'll sit down and we'll talk, and I sit down with them. And I'm not trying to psychologically analyze them, but I'm trying to get them to understand that your possessions are going to be put to good use. Somebody who needs that will get it and have the opportunity to appreciate it and or use it, depending on what it is. And that really gives them a sense of not all of them, but some of them. And those type of jobs can also be challenging because when we're sitting there and the guys are bagging the items or whatever, they kind of want to look at everything that we're taking, but then we just have to reassure them. Do you really need this paper shredder? Because you have 35 other ones over there. Let's bring it to the donation site. [00:28:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:57] Speaker B: So it's all about, like, you know, being patient. In those situations, you have to be very patient and just, you know, deal with it as it goes. But it can be challenging. But, you know, it's one of the things that makes this job exciting, because every day is so different. [00:29:14] Speaker A: I can hear the patience. I can also hear just how, on the drop of a dime, the situation can not really not. I shouldn't say a drop of a dime, but people, to people, it really can fluctuate pretty drastically. Have there what is one client story that you still remember? [00:29:33] Speaker B: We did one hoarding job. This was probably about a year in business. A woman had called and said, you know, I need help. My uncle's afforder, and something had caught on fire, is to the point where we need help, is willing to entertain the block. So we had gone there. I had met with him. I'm sorry. I had met with him and he was a navy vet in his early seventies, super, super nice guy, very bright, and had just said, listen, you know, about ten years ago, I got in a phone, I got a little depressed and stopped cleaning up. And I could just never get myself to clean it up. And this is what it is now, to walk in the front of the house, he would use the back door to get in the front of his house. You couldn't open the front door because there were so many things there. So we had to push it open as much as we could and just start pulling things out. Once we got the door open, it was about 4ft high of junk and you knew that it was there. And there was a refrigerator right next to the front door. And he said, don't open that. It's been off for a couple of years and it was full of food. Okay. We duct taped it shut. Thank God. We have to take the doors off to get it out the house. But as we're going down the pile, the four foot pile, it's like growing because for so many years it's been compact. So you're taking everything and bagging it. Finally we get to the front stairs. So this is a row home in Philadelphia. So row homes, you walk in and 90% of them 10ft in front of you is the stairwell going up to the second floor. He had come in the house and said, can you guys just move over a second? I have to go use the restroom upstairs stairs. And the guys said, hold on, let's clear the stairs up for you. He said, no, no, no. That stuff, I don't want to go. And I know exactly where to step so I don't fall. I'm like, wow. Like he had. He knew exactly where to step because, you know, it was wild as we got to the bottom, he had so many things plugged in all around the first floor. So he had those power cords and extension cords and power surge protectors. They were all eaten by mice and rats. All the wires were exposed. It was scary. We did two trucks that was getting from the front door to the front stairwell, and then he was done. He tapped out. Wow. Can't do it anymore. It was just so hard for him emotionally to be able to get rid of that stuff. And as we were bringing every single thing out, he had to look and see what it was. And there were things that he was putting aside. No, that can't go back and go, whoa. So when we were done, we had brought those things back in for him, and it filled the space right back up. It means surface area wise, Gabriel Shredder, a case of COVID masks, which had 10,000 of them, and he had two other cases on the other side of the room. But that is. I'll never forget that client. So after we had left, I spoke to his niece, who made the phone call, and I said, listen, we did as much as we could do. He's not ready to move forward, but please give us a call, and we'll continue to try to help. Never heard back from him, that particular one, but that's very memorable. [00:33:21] Speaker A: I also just thank you for sharing something that, I mean, you know, when you hear a story, you want a happy ending, but, like, that is really real. That's real and so honest, and there's just so much to that. I mean, doing this business now, being in this new industry and meeting all of these different people and working with all of these different people from all these different walks of life and experience experiences and opportunities, what has this taught you about people? [00:33:49] Speaker B: What it's taught me about people is that I truly believe that people are inherently very good. Really do. I mean, yeah, we've come across our share of people that you just cannot make happy. Just doesn't happen. But if you talk to people, give them an opportunity to tell you a little bit of what they're going through or what their story is, and you show that empathy. People, like, open up. I mean, they open up because they know you're there to help them. You're not there to hurt them. You're not there to judge them. You're not there to do anything but just help them. And people respond really well to that. And I really believe now that people are dead, I'm. People are good. [00:34:39] Speaker A: On the heels of that, another question I have for you is, after meeting with all these people and working with all these different types of people, what's one thing in general that you feel more people need to know regarding? Anything, because you've met a lot of different people. A lot of just different. Worked with a lot of different places. I'm so curious. [00:35:02] Speaker B: Just in general, think patience. I think patience is something that I think everybody needs to work on their patience. We're so used to in this country, especially in the northeastern part of the country, is on the go. Go. Moving, moving, moving. Push that guy aside, because I want to get ahead. I want to compete with that guy. I want to have a better car than my neighbors. But slow down like, it's okay. Slow down. Like, smell the roses. Enjoy today. It's okay. It's not that deep, really. Not. Some situations are. I get it. But a lot of times they really, my dad always told me, and I'll never, I love the scent. If we all sat around a campfire and we all threw our worst problems into the campfire after everybody threw theirs in, you'll take your back because everybody thinks their problem's the worst. But when you hear what so and so is going through or the other person's going through, what you're going through is really not that bad. And that's true. It's true. We all go through struggles. That's a part of life. But it's how we deal with it, how we, you know, how we get up and we tackle that issue or tackle that problem the right way. Being. I think it really comes down to just being a good person, caring about others and just doing your part. And I think that that's what it's all about. [00:36:40] Speaker A: It's funny, you're not so throughout, you know, interviewing people, you're not the first person who said that, that life is not that serious. Like, you can really just kind of take it easy every now and then and. Huh. Especially. Yeah, no, especially in the northeast, where that's not the culture. Like, everything is very serious. Like, you gotta go and hustle and grind and all of that. It's nice to be reminded to take it easy every now and then. [00:37:05] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think in, I think business in general, I think that unfortunately, most business owners, most people who run companies are all about the bottom line, all about how fast can I get from here to here and maximize my profit. Doesn't matter how I do it, but my philosophy is completely different. If you take care of your people and you respect your people and you're loyal to people, that really is, in my case, we love junk. My employees, guys I work with and girls that I work with, you guys are the ones that are going out and providing a phenomenal customer service, doing the right thing. The money will come, but it doesn't need to be the primary goal. It will come and it will. Just because you're doing a good job, you're providing a good service, and people are willing to pay for that, so the money will happen. [00:38:12] Speaker A: It's, that is, I feel like that's like the living embodiment of the saying, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. [00:38:20] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:38:21] Speaker A: That. Yeah, that feels, wow. I love, now I have a real life example of that. That's awesome. I'm looking at the time, and I have two more questions for you. [00:38:32] Speaker B: Sure. [00:38:32] Speaker A: But I have loved this conversation. I've had a lot of fun. Oh, good. Thanks. So throughout all of this, how have you defined happiness for yourself? [00:38:44] Speaker B: How have I defined happiness for myself? That's a tough question because my definitions have changed many times over the years. [00:38:51] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:38:52] Speaker B: My definition of happiness now is to try to keep. So. Sorry. Try to keep not taking things so seriously, not being so hyper focused on a problem that may happen or an outcome. I'm not in control of that. I got to hand that over. I'm not in control of that. Once I was able to hand things over and understand that the only thing I can control is what I do, how I carry myself, how I treat others, how I speak, and being with my family, which I adore my family, I do anything for my family. And taking care and helping others, like my employees, to me, that is happening because it allows me to share the knowledge that I have with these people and hopefully better their lives. And it's just the way that they're able to, you know, live the rest of their lives. It's a philosophy. [00:39:50] Speaker A: It sounds so intuitive, like, yeah, of course there are things you can't control. What are you gonna do about it? But it's so hard to actually live that out and be like, okay, I actually cannot do anything about this. I need to let that go. [00:40:04] Speaker B: Oh, it's very. It is very difficult. Very difficult. [00:40:09] Speaker A: But it's gotta say, it is refreshing when you were able to do it. [00:40:13] Speaker B: I'm able to do it, but hey, I'm not perfect. Yeah, I do get in my head sometimes, but I recognize it and I can back out. [00:40:21] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I gotta take him out for the road. I gotta. I gotta learn to let things go in my personal life, too. My last question to you, I love asking this question. At the end, if you were to go back to the beginning, whatever that means for you, whether that be ten years old at the playground or starting this business or starting the last business, what would you have told yourself? [00:40:44] Speaker B: What would you have told yourself? What I think I would have told myself, knowing what I know now, I think I would have told myself pretty much what I just said. Like, you cannot control things. You just have to sometimes go with the flow. I don't mean sit there and be reactive all the time, be proactive and, you know, always move towards your goals. But if you're. If you don't hit that goal or something, didn't go the way. It's okay. Get up. Move forward. Keep it moving forward. Always keep the legs moving. And I think if I had learned that much earlier, I don't think I'd be happier now, but I think that would be one thing I would change. [00:41:23] Speaker A: Thank you for that. I mean, I almost want to say I can feel the happiness, but there's just. You have just an incredible sense of peace about you. So this. I've loved this conversation. I really. I've personally felt so at peace. So thank you for that. [00:41:36] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. I really enjoyed this conversation. I really have.