From Humble Beginnings to Nine-Figure Success: Chris Lee's Entrepreneurial Journey

Summary

Escaping the Drift with John Gafford: From Humble Beginnings to Nine-Figure Success – Chris Lee's Entrepreneurial Journey

Released on February 25, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of "Escaping the Drift," host John Gafford welcomes Chris Lee, a Harvard alumnus and serial entrepreneur who has achieved multiple nine-figure exits in the home services industry. Chris shares his transformative journey from a modest upbringing to building and scaling successful businesses, offering invaluable insights into entrepreneurship, resilience, and strategic growth.

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Early Life and Foundations (00:00 - 04:09)

Chris Lee begins by recounting his upbringing in Washington State within a disciplined household. Raised by a schoolteacher father and a stay-at-home mother, Chris was one of seven children, including a cousin. Despite financial constraints, his parents instilled strict money management and investment principles.

"We had very strict rules around money and how we created it and everything else in the house." (02:30)

From a young age, Chris demonstrated a strong work ethic, delivering newspapers at nine years old and taking on various odd jobs, including farm work. These early experiences cultivated his entrepreneurial spirit and resilience.

Venturing into Sales (05:13 - 16:17)

At 18, while attending community college, Chris discovered door-to-door sales through an advertisement for Cutco Knives. His natural ability to connect with people quickly translated into impressive sales figures—earning $65,000 in his first three months.

"I quickly realized that I had the gift of gab and the ability to go and sell products." (05:29)

Chris's foray into sales extended beyond Cutco, including selling pest control and alarm systems, where he consistently scaled his earnings, sometimes reaching six figures in a single summer. His participation in Utah's vibrant door-to-door sales community provided him with robust training and exposure to top performers like Sam Taggart.

"Multiple 9 figure exits in the home services industry." (01:35)

Entrepreneurial Beginnings and Early Failures (16:17 - 33:10)

Fueled by his sales success, Chris launched his first business in 2008—a home security company—funded by his father-in-law and personal savings. However, lacking business acumen and facing poor partnerships, the venture quickly spiraled into debt and eventually bankruptcy in January 2011.

"I made terrible decisions, bad partnerships, bad, like did things egotistically driven didn't ask for help." (28:14)

The emotional toll was significant, straining relationships with his father-in-law and father. Despite the setback, Chris remained determined to recover, leveraging real estate investments to repay his debts and rebuild his financial standing.

"This is, this is what I was told. Like my father in law was in my ear all the time and like, hey, we need a payment plan." (34:25)

Learning and Scaling Through Mentorship (33:10 - 43:46)

Recognizing his lack of knowledge in scaling a business, Chris humbled himself and sought mentorship from successful entrepreneurs, including Todd Peterson, founder of Vivint. Over four and a half years, he absorbed invaluable strategies that would later inform his entrepreneurial endeavors.

In 2017, Chris applied his newfound expertise to launch a second home security business, this time with a meticulously crafted roadmap. Utilizing Facebook marketing and innovative online sales techniques, he achieved exponential growth:

• Year 1: $16 million
• Year 2: $32 million
• Year 3: $34 million
• Year 4: $89 million
• Year 5: $233 million

By the fall of 2019, Chris had built a 1,100-person organization, making his company the sixth fastest-growing privately held company in the nation with a 24% net margin.

"It's a phenomenal ride." (43:46)

Strategic Exits and Current Ventures (43:46 - 50:23)

Chris capitalized on his success by consulting for other businesses, securing equity stakes that led to additional nine-figure exits. His strategic approach emphasized value creation and mentorship, enabling others to replicate his success.

Currently, Chris leads Next Level Pros, a training and coaching platform dedicated to scaling businesses across various industries. The platform focuses on eight pillars of growth and integrates purpose-driven initiatives aimed at generating an additional $125 billion annually through entrepreneurial impact.

"Our mission is designing lives that impact the world." (45:30)

Business Philosophy and Purpose-Driven Success (50:23 - 48:43)

Chris advocates for a holistic approach to business, prioritizing employee satisfaction and community impact over mere financial metrics. He emphasizes that fostering a supportive and value-driven work environment leads to unparalleled customer loyalty and organizational success.

"If you focus on developing the employees whole human, physically, economically, their associations, their spirituality...you will have a loyal, a loyal sales force because you create value." (48:43)

Key Takeaways and Final Insights (49:55 - 50:23)

Reflecting on his journey, Chris advises aspiring entrepreneurs to remain steadfast and resilient, highlighting that overcoming failures is integral to long-term success. He underscores the importance of competing with oneself, pursuing personal growth, and staying true to one's path.

"Find your path and don't compare yourself to anyone else. Be your best version of you and you will accomplish incredible things." (50:10)

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Conclusion

Chris Lee's entrepreneurial journey is a testament to perseverance, strategic mentorship, and the unwavering pursuit of excellence. From overcoming early failures to achieving monumental success, his story offers a roadmap for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to escape the drift and build impactful, purpose-driven businesses. John Gafford's insightful conversation with Chris provides listeners with actionable strategies, inspiring stories, and a deeper understanding of what it takes to rise above mediocrity and achieve remarkable success.

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Notable Quotes:

1. "We had very strict rules around money and how we created it and everything else in the house." – Chris Lee (02:30)
2. "I quickly realized that I had the gift of gab and the ability to go and sell products." – Chris Lee (05:29)
3. "Multiple 9 figure exits in the home services industry." – John Gafford (01:35)
4. "I made terrible decisions, bad partnerships, bad, like did things egotistically driven didn't ask for help." – Chris Lee (28:14)
5. "Our mission is designing lives that impact the world." – Chris Lee (45:30)
6. "Find your path and don't compare yourself to anyone else. Be your best version of you and you will accomplish incredible things." – Chris Lee (50:10)

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Learn More

To delve deeper into Chris Lee's strategies and teachings, visit www.EscapingtheDrift.com and join the conversation through the podcast's mailing list or social media channels.

Transcript

[A]

And so I got introduced to door to door sales and went and did this summer program. First year, I go out sell for three, three months and I make 65 grand.

[B]

I'm like, what are we selling?

[A]

Pest control?

[B]

And now, escaping the Drift, the show designed to get you from where you are to where you want to be. I'm John Gafford and I have a knack for getting extraordinary achievers to drop their secrets to help you on a path to greatness. So stop drifting along, Escape the Drift. And it's time to start right now. Welcome back to the program, everybody. This week in studio. It's one of the advantages of being in Vegas. I've said it a million times, because when you have an event like right now, click funnels live is going on down at the Strip and just bringing all the ballers in. And when the ballers roll in, it's kind of easy for us to book. Not gonna lie, if we were in Topeka, Kansas, this kind of thing wouldn't happen. And today for you live in the studio, if you are somebody that you're interested in sales, you're interested in home service businesses, you're interested in getting better, man, getting your life to the next level. I have a dude in studio today. He is a graduate, alumnus, if you will, of Harvard University. He has multiple six figure exits. Not six, seven, no, nine. What am I talking about? The math is wrong. Yeah, no, multiple nine figure just turned off. They just seriously just shut this off. Multiple 9 figure exits in the home services industry. And he's here today to share that wealth of knowledge with you guys. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the program. This is Chris Lee.

[A]

Chris, what's up? Excited to be here?

[B]

Yeah, dude, glad. Glad we could swing you through, dude.

[A]

Yeah, this is great, man. I love Vegas for the same exact reason, man. I've been able to do so many great podcasts. Yeah, it's incredible.

[B]

The only problem, the only challenge is, is like, you're going to be like omnipresent everywhere. Like a week and a half because I'm going to have you out, Brad's going to have you out. I mean, every. You're just going to be out. You're could be everywhere.

[A]

Great. I love it.

[B]

Yeah, it's going to be getting like launched in the stratosphere, which is awesome. So let's start a little bit, man. Let's go back because I always like to start these things with the nature versus nurture, man. Like let's, let's start there. Tell me about how did Chris Lee, grow up. Were you made? Were you crafted? Tell me that you do the hero story or the villain like story?

[A]

Dude, I, I would definitely say made. You know, I, I grew up in a great household. No money. My dad was a school teacher, mom was a stay at home mom. Seven kids.

[B]

Seven.

[A]

Seven. Yep.

[B]

Where do you rank on the so.

[A]

Right, Right in the middle. So six. Six that were from my parents. And then we raised my cousin as well. And so, you know, we didn't have a lot, but because of it, we had very strict rules around money and how we created it and everything else in the house. Right. My dad was a very disciplined investor, believe it or not, he was able to put away half of his 65, 000 a year check into investments.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah. And so with it, we had rules in the house. When you're 12, underwear and food on the table was all you got. Everything else you had to, you had to pay for you.

[B]

So what was the first hustle as a kid?

[A]

So nine years old, delivering newspapers.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Solid 365 days a year, you know, had to wake up early and so did that. I, I wasn't like an entrepreneur by trade at all growing up because I didn't know any better. Right. Like as a school teacher.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like he knew the system, he knew, you know, 401k, invest as much as possible. Right. Real estate was out of the picture. All these things are out of the picture. And so. But my dad, he was a football and wrestling coach at the high school and so grew up in a very sports competitive environment.

[B]

What part of the world is this?

[A]

Washington State.

[B]

Washington State. Okay.

[A]

Yep. I actually live about 30 minutes where I grew up because I have like so much love for the way that I was raised that I wanted to raise my kids similarly.

[B]

Same way.

[A]

Yep. And I, I've moved all over. I've lived in Vegas before. I've. I've lived in San Diego, Arkansas, North Carolina, Minnesota, Chicago. Like I've. Me and my wife have moved 14 different times over our career, bro.

[B]

It's, it's so funny, man. Because as a kid, all I wanted to do was get out of the 8,000 person town I grew up in. Right. All I wanted to do was get out.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And now when I go somewhere that's like kitschy like that. Right. Like, there's a little town that I love called Franklin, Tennessee, which is just south of Nashville. I love that little town.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And every time, man, this just reminds me so much of the place I grew up. That's why I love it. I'm like, dude, I'll never move back to where I grew up, but. But I get it, dude. You long for that nostalgia of. Of your youth. Because it was a much simpler time then, man. It was.

[A]

And it wasn't even just like the simplicity. Like, I was taught to work hard and I wanted to raise my kids on farm. So I didn't grow up on a farm, but I grew up working on farms. So I was delivering newspapers, driving tractor, you know, working odds and ends jobs, just finding ways to. To make a buck. And it was when I was 18 years old. I was attending the local community college while still in high school. Saw a little ad that said, make at least 13 an hour. The little words at least changed my life. Yeah.

[B]

Okay. Nobody's telling me how much I can make, but they're definitely tell me how little I can.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. But least was. So what it was was an ad for Cutco Knives.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[A]

And so cells. And. And I quickly realized that I had the gift of gab and the ability to go and sell products.

[B]

So let's talk about. So you went to work for Cutco knives at 18 years old.

[A]

Yep. So, yep. I'm between my junior and senior year. I'm old for my grade, and I go into farmhouse wife's home, and I could walk out with $1,000 check and making 25% of that.

[B]

So let's talk about the training program for Cutco Knives, because I've heard, like, when I got into sales, right when I first got into it, out of the bar business million years ago, my buddy said, you got a choice. You can sell Kirby vacuum cleaners or you can sell cars. Either way, you'll have a PhD in 90 days. I was like, all right. But I've always heard that Coco Knives had a great, like, sales training program. Is there anything that you learned then or no. You're shaking your head like, no.

[A]

No. Kucko's always had a great recruiting program in my mind, and they sucked at the follow up. Like, they teach you how to, like, go sell all your friends and family. And then there was like, no follow up, at least from the area where I was at, as far as, like, what do I do next?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so I went through all my network selling them all the knives I could, and then nobody told me what else next to do. And so I ended up quitting just because, like, my manager was like, no show or whatever else. But like I said, it changed my life. Realizing that I could bring value to an hour Rather than just trade hours for dollars.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so like that, that was where it all kind of started.

[B]

So you're set. You so cut out. Where do you go after that?

[A]

So graduate high school and I go on a mission for my church. Serve a two year mission, knocking doors for free, paying to be there.

[B]

See, that's, see the Mormon Church. That's, that's the sales. That's the sales training. Because do you have any, like, I mean, how can you go on a mission and have any resistance knocking on a door after that?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Right, right.

[B]

I mean, yeah, that's, that's tough.

[A]

So that, yeah, that, I mean, that's, that's tough. And I was good at it. You know, I was, I was a really good missionary. But like, I think what made me get a lot out of my mission was like, my parents made us pay to go, like, they didn't help us on our missions. We had to save 10 grand. $10,000 was a lot of money back that, back then. And that's what I paid to go on my mission and take care of me while I was gone. And so, like, I was out there for all the right reasons, knocking on doors, doing, doing all the work. But yeah, it was, it was a great training program. Learned a lot from it.

[B]

Are you, are you still active in the church?

[A]

I am.

[B]

All right, let me ask you a question, because I saw this not too long ago, and I'm sure running in the circles that you run in, you run in some of the same circles I am.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You've heard about recently some issues in Utah with some people getting arrested. And I want to say the, the Attorney general, the state of Utah said, said Salt Lake City is ground zero for Ponzi schemes.

[A]

It is.

[B]

So my question is, right as a member of that church, why, why?

[A]

You know, it's. I, I don't think it's be or really. Well, I guess you'd say it has something to do with the church. In the church we teach, there's, there's this like, strive for perfection type mentality. Right. And so because of it, a lot of people take on this entrepreneurial Persona personification. Right. And, and so they're very ambitious. And as you know, when ambition is mixed with any little bit of like, greed.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It can turn south quick. And on top of that, Utah. So I'm not from Utah. I've lived in Utah a couple different times. And obviously it's a highly high LDS population. You know, there's, there's this like, leverage that starts Happening of trust. Because, hey, you're a member, I'm a member.

[B]

We're all a member.

[A]

We're all a member. Right. Like you could trust me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because we believe in the same things. Right. And you know, and it's not even necessarily said, but maybe even implied. Right. Like, yeah, like guys. And, and you can really see the guys that have gotten in trouble that ran these big Ponzi schemes. In fact, I had a business partner. This is, this is interesting. I haven't talked about this, I don't think ever on a podcast. I had a business and from my first business, we ended up losing everything, going bankrupt and everything like that. He went on to run a 26 million dollar Ponzi scheme.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

And he took a lot of my friends and family and personal connections that I had made with him, took their money, including me. And so like that, that little Ponzi thing is very close to home. Like I've seen it happen in real time. Like what path those guys go down. And, and essentially you usually. Ponzi schemes never start off as Ponzi schemes.

[B]

No, they're all, they're always good intentioned.

[A]

Yeah. Ponzi schemes happen when somebody will not own the truth. Right. Like you, like they say, hey, we're gonna get you a guaranteed 15 return. And then maybe it returned negative money and instead of owning the fact that it returned negative money and it was, it was a legit investment. Right. And it lost money or whatever else.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Instead of owning that, they say, no, it returned 15. Where do they get that 15? They go and they take it from somebody else to give it to them. Right. And so that's the. I've seen, like I said, several of these go and become what they become as, as we've seen recently.

[B]

Well, that's how it's like in real estate, man. That's how I know instantly like a flipper's in trouble when it's like, well, I'm going to refi this house and pull out the equity to then cover the, you know, finish the repairs on this one. You're like, oh, dude, you know, you got to look at those projects as singular insulated things.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You start pulling dollars out of one to chase another one, the whole thing is going to tumble. And I've taken some big losses on, on investments. Yeah, that went like that.

[A]

Yeah. You know, as a believer, you know, in the scriptures it talks about, the truth shall set you free.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

Like when you own the truth, good or bad, you live free.

[B]

You don't have to remember as much.

[A]

Yeah, you're gonna remember as much and whatnot. And so, yeah. So when guys don't own the truth, then this kind of crazy stuff happens. And again, because that population is a high level of believers and high trusting people, they're easily duped.

[B]

And what's probably. It's probably of all of the, if you call it American type religions where, you know, Baptist, Catholic, whatever bother. You know, a lot of the people, you know, go to this church, that church. I would say that's the most connected, like, of families and whatnot. Like, they're like, they all know each other. They go to each other's houses, they hang out. I mean, they're very.

[A]

I mean, do you look at.

[B]

I don't know. I couldn't tell anybody.

[A]

Recent statistics just came out, right. Like, Utah is very strong in family. Right. 76% of families stay. Stay married. Like, I mean, they got a lot of really good things going on in Utah. But the negative things be from the, like the. Basically you get polar opposites wherever you have extremely good. You're going to have some pretty gnarly things.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That are taking advantage of it.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean. Yeah. I mean, that's. It's a bad combination of trust and. And. And just. I trust you.

[A]

And. Yeah.

[B]

Just it's. Yeah. It's such a tough thing, man. Yeah.

[A]

And. And again, you have all these incredibly trained salespeople. Right. Like, all these guys have learned the art of persuasion. Right.

[B]

Man, they spent two years.

[A]

Right. This whole population. And, and so for all the, like, there's still a lot of good. Like, Utah is ground zero also for entrepreneurship. Like, if you go up there, man, they're like, I never wanted to launch a business in Utah because it's going to be immediately stolen. Right. Like, people are. It's highly competitive.

[B]

Yeah. And dude, like, it's getting to the point now where it's like, okay, where's this dude from? Utah? Yeah, I'm out. It's. It's like, proceed with caution.

[A]

It's so funny. People come up to me that follow me on Instagram. Oh, you're from Utah again.

[B]

No, no, no, no, no. Washington.

[A]

Washington State. Dude, come on, man. Come on.

[B]

That's where I'm from. All right, so you spent two years on your mission. You learn how to close like a mother. Like a mother truck. You do with that skills when you get it, because after the mission, you're just. Did you go to college right away or.

[A]

When I get home, I do the number one clothes Which I get married. Married my high school sweetheart two and a half months after I got home. Off my.

[B]

Right away.

[A]

Yeah, right away.

[B]

And that's also a very Mormon thing to do, I think.

[A]

Yes and no. Like, I, I, I think Mormons get married fast, but I got married faster. Right. Like, I, I've been very goal driven from a very early age. I still have this yellow piece of paper that I wrote my two goals on, on when I was like 6 years old.

[B]

What were they?

[A]

Win a state championship and get married in the temple. Like, those were the, that was the goals. Those, that was it, man. I still have. It's in my, it's in my safe. And it drove me a lot with sports and, and like, either way, you're getting a ring. I like it got them both. And so I accomplished them both. And like, it was a, like, for me, I've always been like, I saw the way that I was raised and how good it was to have family values, and I wanted that for myself.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so got married, went to college. I was studying to be a doctor while I was doing that.

[B]

Where'd you go to school?

[A]

Byu.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So just typical Mormon story, you know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But while I was doing that, I was paying for school, paying to be married, like, living. I didn't have anyone support me. And so I got introduced to door to door sales and went and did this summer program. First year, I go out, sell for three, three months, and I make 65 grand.

[B]

I'm like, what were you selling?

[A]

Pest control.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[A]

Yeah. So, Orin, pest control out in North Carolina. Me and my wife move out there. We stay there for the summer and make this great money. Like, oh, this is good. Then I keep going to school. Next summer, I make six figures. I'm like, and this is good.

[B]

Same deal with Oregon?

[A]

No, I was selling alarm systems the next year.

[B]

So you were just free? Aging like crazy. Okay, so what was the best conversation you ever had with one of your bosses to try to get you to stay when you just were up and quitting after three months.

[A]

So, like, I was, I was never, like, up and quitting. I was always looking for more ambition. Like, I would have stayed.

[B]

No, I don't stay up and quitting like a bad thing. Right. But you're going back to college. You can't stay in North Carolina.

[A]

Right, Right. Well, it was. So we did these summer programs. It was expected.

[B]

They knew you were there for, now.

[A]

You were there for three months. Right. That's the way that the dude, you would not Believe so these Utah door to door programs, like they're all centered in Utah and they contract with these different companies because they just have this.

[B]

Never ending wealth of people. Oh man.

[A]

Dude. And it is the big leagues of sales. Like there's guys like in the, the, the height of my career in door to door sales, I was making a half a million dollars a summer. And there's a summer, a summer and there's guys that make seven figures a summer running teams and like doing all this stuff. I mean you got a company like Vivint that has spun off two multibillion dollar IPOs. You know it like, and these are, this is all based off of door to door sales.

[B]

Well, you probably know Sam out of Utah.

[A]

Sam Taggart.

[B]

Sam Taggart, right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We're home. So when I first met Sam, I thought he was kidding. And this is before Door to Door Con. And like, I didn't realize how big door to door in Utah was. I didn't, I didn't understand this.

[A]

It's the thing.

[B]

And he's like, oh, I'm gonna start this thing called door to Door Con. And I was like, I mean, does that, is that. I don't know if that's a good name for an event. It's like con man, door to door door. Like, I don't know if it's good. And dude, he's blowing it up, crushed.

[A]

It, loaded up, killing it, crush it. In fact, me and, Me and Sam, I was actually just reminiscing with. Do you know who Myron golden is?

[B]

I don't know. Myron.

[A]

So Myron, one of the best guys to sell from stage or whatnot. Me and, Me and Sam and a handful of like highly successful people were all part of this program. There's only 10 of us. Seven years ago, this is right when Sam was launching Door to Door Con and like, Myron taught us all how to sell from stage and like, and, and Sam since then has just crushed it and all these other guys have crushed it. It's, it's been fun.

[B]

That's great.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So you're, you're, you're immersing. You went from missionary to mercenary is what we did. Might be the title of this podcast.

[A]

Come on, come on. So, so here's, here's the thing. I, I'm a firm believer, like you don't need high pressure sales. You actually just know how to properly identify pain and solve. And solve pain.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Right, like, and so yeah, you call me. I'm a closer. Right. Like, I know how to get people to do a decision. But. But yeah, I want to put myself in the same camp as like a slimy car sale.

[B]

No, no, God, no. That's not what I meant. To me, the key, especially in those fast. In this fast interaction sales like door to door is man, it's. It's quick and it's fast is you've got to have a very high understanding or a natural ability to be likable.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

So I want to talk about that. Right.

[A]

Because obviously you're going to break. You got to break preoccupation quick.

[B]

Yeah, you got to be super likable. So is that something that you just always kind of had or is that something you studied?

[A]

I studied for sure. And. But. But I was natural at it too. Like, I. I've always had a really good high energy that had been able to suck people in. And, and so like my key knocking on doors is always like causing question like, what, what's going on? Who's this guy? Right. And like, and then as soon as they question, sucking them in and getting them to like, my energy.

[B]

So if you had to coach somebody on being likable, how would you say this is how you become more likable? This is what you need to do.

[A]

You need to really understand, like the four different buying profiles. Right. Like, understanding that there's. There's people that are going to be very high energy and you need to match it and be challenging to those type people. Right. Like that. We call it the aggressive personality. Right. Like somebody like you, I'd probably put in the camp of aggressive buying personality.

[B]

I'm aggressive.

[A]

Yeah. And so a guy like you, what I would do is I would match your. I would match your energy and I would challenge you. Right. Because I guarantee you respond well to challenges. Oh, sure. And what you want with your personality, just looking at your face, I know that you want to be challenged and I know you want quick things that make sense. Like just numbers that add up. Not like super complex details, but like quick, like mathematical. Like, oh, that makes sense. Let's go.

[B]

You're not wrong. Yeah, you're not wrong.

[A]

And so like understanding like the, the social. The social body.

[B]

What are the.

[A]

What are the.

[B]

What are the other.

[A]

So. So you have the aggressive. You have the social.

[B]

You have what's the social? You looking to social proof that person or so.

[A]

So the social buyer is somebody that is usually like the fat, funny person. Okay. And. And they want to do what the crowd's doing. Right.

[B]

And so I appreciate you not going fat and funny. I appreciate that.

[A]

Typically, you can actually see it in their face. And the reason why they're fat and funnies, because they like hanging around people, eating food. Like, like, they're the social person. They do what the crowd does. They want to keep up with the Joneses. They want to do things for approval from others, everything like that. And so, like, those are. That, that's like highly, highly important to them. And so, like, reviews and, you know, like, this is what everybody else is doing. Be a part of the crowd.

[B]

All the cool kids are doing. Just give it a try.

[A]

Come on, just try. And the cool thing is for like a social buyer, they don't even. It doesn't have to add up, right? Like, if the price is 97 bucks, you'd be like, yeah, it's around 100 bucks. Let's go.

[B]

We're selling status. You're not selling product.

[A]

Right, Right. So they're not looking for things to add up necessarily. It's just like, does it feel good? Yeah, you know, and so that, that's your. That's your social buyer. And then you have your analytical buyer, which is like one of the more difficult that most people suck at. Right. And those people, they usually have, like, little beady eyes, a little bit skinny of a face. They usually are in the sciences, the engineers like those type of things. They spend a lot of time diving, thinking, thinking. And the thing is, you can close those guys same day, it's just going to take a little bit longer and a little bit more information. Yeah, right. And so, like, everything has to add up for that person. Yeah, right. Like deep dives, like pluses and minus. You screw up one number, you're done. Yeah, right. Like, and so just like understanding that that profile is. And then, and then you have. And then you have the grandma. The, the name of the profile is not coming to me. But, but essentially what I liken it to is like, if you're selling grandma, right. Like, grandma just needs to have trust. Right? Like, and, and so, so your social. Your social and aggressive buyers, your high energy, your analytical, and your grandma's your low energy. So if I'm talking to grandma, but grandma.

[B]

Hey, drop down. Easy peasy.

[A]

How you doing? Have you, have you talked to the neighbors about what's going on? No. Okay. My name's Chris. You probably heard about me. I'm. I'm in the area. I'm knocking on your door. Have you, have you been able to see what's going on? No, I don't know what's going on grandma responds really good to guarantees. And, and, and to have a grandma personality, again, for whatever reason, it's not coming to me. It's not grandma, but I best see it with grandma. It. You could be any, like, you can be a young, young grandma type personality. Right. Like somebody that's a little bit more timid.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. Like is uni to hold that hand.

[B]

They're looking for reassurance.

[A]

They're need, they need that trust, that reassurance. They need the gu. Right. Like more socially driven, like the social person, but way less energy. Right. And then so like, if you understand those four different type of profiles and how to identify them, target them and whatnot, you can sell anybody.

[B]

Yeah. So it's like grandma, it's like, hey, it's okay for you to think this is a good idea.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

For analytical guy, it's what do you think? For social person, it's how does this feel to you?

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And then for the aggressive, it's. I know what you're thinking already. We're doing this.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. So like an aggressive guy knock on your door and you come to the door like, hey, dude, I know you're busy. You give me 30 seconds, I'll. I'll go off your door. If you don't like what I'm hearing in 30 seconds, go ahead and slam the door. Cool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right? Challenge.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Hit you straight. Right? Like I'm, I'm giving you a timeline that like, it makes sense. Like, dude, I can kick this guy out in 30 seconds. Yeah, I'll give him 30 seconds because he understands my personality.

[B]

What? So I, I think for what door to door is like, I mean, that's, that is ninja stuff in our agents, you know, being the real estate business agents all the time ask me like, oh, what about knocking on doors? And I have some agents that just knock on doors and they just do great. I was never a door knocker. For me, I'm great on the phone, but I was never a door knocker unless. Because I was man. Like, I got to have a reason to knock on my door. And sometimes in real estate, there are great reasons to knock on the door. Like, for example, like, I love, like when you sell a house to somebody in the day before they move in, like, you hit all of the neighbors and you're just like, hey, like, no, let you know you see a moving truck here tomorrow. I just want to make sure my clients feel very welcome. Could you walk over and just say, hi, I'm. You know, make, make them feel welcome. Right. Their name are Mary and Sam and they're moving in. Just if you could do that, be great. Oh, yeah, by the way, if you ever need real estate, let me know. You know, they always shut the door thinking the same thing. Man. My agent was terrible. Right? They didn't do this for me. Like, I still don't know my neighbors. This person is going out on a limb. But how important? I mean, in the door. It's easy, man. The door opens, you're there, it's showtime.

[A]

Mm.

[B]

You know, so much of what we do is on the phone, and I find that pattern, interrupting people on the phone is so important because the biggest mistake and it's. I can't believe this still happens, right? To me, the biggest mistake the salespeople make is they call you up. They call anybody up and they go, hey, it's John there, blah, blah, blah. Hey, John, it's Jones. I'm so and so. How you doing today? And everybody's so programmed that you're a telemarketer. Like, they don't even hear anything else after that. It just shuts down. And I can't believe people still call it that. Right.

[A]

It's terrible.

[B]

So what is your best pattern? Interrupted people to make them skip a beat and actually think about what you're saying before they categorize you instantly as a salesperson.

[A]

So I mean, like, like I shared, like, if I. If you're an aggressive buyer, that's what I'm going to lead with. Hey, look, I'm Chris. I know you probably want me off your door. You're thinking, I'm selling you something. Give me 30 seconds and you will not regret it. Yeah, like, hit him. Like what they. Nobody's ever been approach with something similar to that. But, but also. So usually the way, like, if, I don't know, the buyer profile or whatnot, if I knock on a door, I'm actually just facing away, looking at a binder, and I'm sitting there and waiting for them to talk.

[B]

Oh, you want. You want them to say, can I help you first?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Can I help you? Hey. Yeah. Are you the homeowner? No. Oh, you are? Okay, cool. Is it John? Because usually I'll have like a public record. Yeah, John. Okay, John. Hey, real quick, let me show you what's going on. And I take off.

[B]

Yeah, I love that move.

[A]

And. And immediately, if they follow me, you got. Now we're through the battle zone. Now we can have a conversation. Pattern has been interrupted. Right. They're. They're wondering what's going on. Whatever else, they don't follow me next door.

[B]

Yeah, dude, when I went to. When I went to sell cars, right? When I learned that's why I decided I didn't go so Kirby vacuum cleaners. I went so cars for 90 days. And one of the first things I said, man, when you walk up to somebody in the lot, no matter what they say, you say, hey, how you doing, Bob? Bob, welcome out so and so by no matter what they say, you just say, follow me. And you turn around and walk to the dealership. And you can walk 300 yards. If you turn around at yard 100, halfway the dealership, they'll stop. But if you get all the way to the door and open it, they'll be right behind you.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And they don't even know why they did it, Right. They just will.

[A]

I mean, as. As Covid proved, everybody loves to follow.

[B]

No kidding. No kidding. Speaking of which, man, Robert F. Kenny got confirmed. I didn't go. I did not see that one coming. My wife was be herself happy this morning.

[A]

That is incredible.

[B]

Big pharma is going to get it now. I'm like, yep, let's go. It's kind of crazy. It's a wild time out there, man. It's. It's exciting. But let's get back to you. So you're doing all of these. You're crushing. You're crushing, doing, you know, hired gun for door to door.

[A]

So 24 years old, I'm like, I know how to do all this crap. I'm gonna go do my own. I'm gonna, I'm gonna start my own business. See all these guys making millions of dollars in my eyes, right? Like, why don't I go get a piece of that?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So launched my first business in 2008.

[B]

Okay. Best, best time.

[A]

Best.

[B]

Unless it was foreclosure prevention, that might not be the best time.

[A]

So, yeah, obviously, looking back, terrible time economically from a macro environment. But man, I was blind to everything. Like, I was just blindly ambitious and thought I knew everything and very egotistical. Had never, like up until that point, I had no reason not to believe I wasn't going to be so successful.

[B]

You just knew it.

[A]

I just knew.

[B]

Yeah, of course.

[A]

I'm awesome.

[B]

Yeah. Love me some me.

[A]

I love me some me. And so, man, I went and I raised a million bucks from my father in law to build this business. And I took half my dad's life savings and went and I made terrible decisions, bad partnerships, bad, like did things egotistically driven didn't ask for help.

[B]

What was the business?

[A]

So it was a home security business.

[B]

Okay, well, let's talk about. Let's, let's break each one of those down. So first thing, bad partner. You know, without giving names or say or throwing. Why, why was it a bad partnership?

[A]

Like so Eve, not just bad partnership, but even structure of partnership. Right. Like structure is so important in a partnership. Like making sure the guys that are in it are in it. And second of all, who brings the money and everything else should have more control and decision making power. None of that was true. Right. Like, so I had me and two other business partners. We were 25. 25. 25. And then my father in law was 20% and then my dad was like 5%. Right. And so like no decision making authority for me for bringing the money to the table.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

My name is on everything. Right. Because I got the best credit. I've got all the things. And so that's, that's terrible. On top of that, like the only experience I had working with these guys was at a previous door to door company. And like we were all good. So we just thought, oh, we're going to run a great business together.

[B]

Sounds like. So you were all. But you hired two more of you. You partner with two more.

[A]

Exactly. Partnered like classic mistake. Classic mistake. Right. Like you, you, you definitely don't want to work with yourself.

[B]

Yeah. If you've got, if, if your partner is you, one of you is not required.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

In that partnership, you better, you better bring people to the table to have definitively different than you have.

[A]

And so, man, just, just so many things went wrong. Paying salaries early and all, just all kinds of crap.

[B]

Dude, just, just real quick. When you structured this partnership.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Did you also structure the exit? Did you. No.

[A]

No. Like, dude, I was 24 years old. 20. Yeah, 24. No outside help. My dad was a school teacher. Nobody was teaching me jack about any of this stuff. It was just like, oh, you own a business, I want to own a business.

[B]

Yeah. Somebody out there right now is listening to this and they're thinking about starting a business. And let me tell you, if you take a partner, it's like a marriage. You better have a prenup that goes along with it. What I mean by is you need to have a. If this doesn't work out.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Every single thing that's going to go into dissolving this business from you get the website to you get this and I get that. And this is how we close the bank accounts. It needs to be Spelled out before you start day one.

[A]

So later in businesses, so obviously this business failed. But later in businesses I realized like if I'm going to form a partnership, we actually start with less ownership and then we have like an earn out period. Right. Like they're. What I know about partners is that there is a six month honeymoon stage. Right. And no matter how good or you think you know this person or whatnot, in six months you will know everything about them to make a good decision. Right. And so the way I structure like earnouts, equity earn us, anything like that, it's always has to have a six month honeymoon and then you make a decision of like where to go from there and you have like a pre six month and a post six month like definition of the partnership, equity structure, everything like that. And that served me really well.

[B]

I have such a great partner in our business here and we've, here's again something that's super simple and stupid, but I think is clutch in this, my partner in this business. We've been partners for 14 years.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

And I, outside of work functions, I can count the number of times that he and I have been out or a dinner in 14 years on two hands. Less than two hands. We don't hang out as friends. We're business partners, which I think is definitely a huge success. Everybody wants to do business with their friends. Makes it very difficult. So do business with the best player you can find, not necessarily the best friend you can find.

[A]

That's right. I agree 100 with that. So I've, I've been business partners with a guy for a long time now and we're, we're fantastic and we've, we've become friends over the years but like we're definitely not naturally, like we don't have the same interests.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

Like he's out riding motorbikes, I'm playing football, you know, like whatever. But over the years, you know, we've, we've become really good friends and been able to hang out. But similarly we, we hang out a lot more in work than we ever do outside.

[B]

Oh, for sure.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

So I want to talk about this because that first business failed.

[A]

It did.

[B]

So Here you are 24 and a.

[A]

Half, 2 and a half years in and.

[B]

Hang on, but hang on. You lost your dad's money? Yeah.

[A]

Lawson. Yeah, dude, I, I'll talk all about it. Yeah. So two and a half years in, we scale too fast, too quick. I got debtors and collections calling me off the, you know, hook. Money's gone. Right. I'm literally taking personal credit cards, going to my buddy and say, can you process this and rebate me back to cash so I can make payroll? Like, I mean that, that, that bad, right? And it's just that that's, that's how I'm living. I'm liquidating every asset I know to make payroll to keep this thing alive. And I'm getting no fight or help from these other parts partners. Right. Like to the point where like I relocated to be outside of a contractual zone so we could sell to another alarm company to be able to generate more revenue. Just all kinds of crap.

[B]

That was a mess.

[A]

So yeah, dude, end up filing bankruptcy and I have to go and I gotta address it with my father in law. Look, dude, your money's gone. Seven figures gone, right? I know I told you we're gonna take that one and make it to 10. But it's zero, you know, it was like, still remember the day. Very like emotional experience for me. He didn't take it well at all. Like he was terrible. Like our relationship was destroyed for about six or seven years.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so this was January 2011 that I, that I lose everything when I file, end up filing bankruptcy. Went to my dad and he's a, he was an all star.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So like, I mean, dude, he, he, he just said, Chris, I know you'll make it right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that's, that's all I needed. That's all I needed.

[B]

Here. How about to take it? I want to take it. How long did it take you to make it right by a mall?

[A]

So, you know, over the years. So this is what I was told. Like my father in law was in my ear all the time and like, hey, we need a payment plan. We need like and like legal. And I owed them nothing. Yeah, right. Like bankruptcy, it was wiped clean.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But I told him I was going to make it right. And you know, my, my father in law was always like, hey, I need a payment plan. I'm like, look Carl, like I cannot pay you off a thousand dollars at a time. Like I have to accumulate cash, make investments, do different things so that I can just cut you a check. Yeah, like that, that's the only way you, when you're starting from zero, that you could pay off a million dollar debt that, that there's no assets backing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, and so, so over the years what I, I gave them token stuff, like gave them, gave them both cars. And then I, I told my dad, I said, look dad, I'm trying to build up money. I said, invest alongside me. Like, like, do some real estate deals. I will get you involved in some real estate deals that I am certain will, will pay off. And so like, over the years, I made my dad seven figures in real estate.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

Did really well. And then ultimately I cut him a check plus interest for what, what, what he had gotten into.

[B]

That's a good day.

[A]

And that was fantastic. And did the same thing for, did the same thing for my father in law, except for the real estate thing. Like, frankly, like for my father in law, it was like transactional. And love him now, but like, there was times that I didn't feel like I loved him and because he, he made it, he made it pretty miserable.

[B]

Yeah. Money's so weird, dude. And I get it. It's, it's a huge loss and it's hard when you take private money from people that you know.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Love and trust. And you know, I had a situation where 2017 did a house flipping fund with a guy that was best man at my wedding. Right. I raised all the private, I raised all the money. Shouldn't have done it. He ended up splitting down to move to Houston with the money and left me with a bunch of lawsuits and a bunch of, and unfinished projects. And it was a mess. And, and yeah, I had to make all those people whole. And it hurt. It was a lot. It was a lot of money and it hurt and it, and it makes me to this day, you know, I try not to. You know, if you haven't lost seven figures at least once, you're not entrepreneuring hard enough. Just got how it is. And. But yeah, that risk aversion, I wish I could say that it raised it from that experience. Just didn't, I think, like, I'm still like, if I see something I want, I'm like, yeah, let's do that. That looks good. My wife is now my risk aversion. She's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, down, slow down.

[A]

Well, I think when you go through something like that, you realize it's not as bad as what you like, had a nightmare about. Yeah, right. Like, like every, every entrepreneur's nightmare or potential entrepreneur's nightmare I lived. Right. Like 2.2 million dollar bankruptcy, car repo, less than a thousand dollars in my bank account. Owe money to both of my fathers still here. Right, right. Like going through that is everybody's nightmare. But when I went through it, I, like, it was like a gut check. But I'm like, dude, this isn't as bad as I actually thought it would be right. I still have my God, still have my family, and still have all the experience that I had up until this point. And so if it's not that bad, should I ever fear getting back to here?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

No. And so like, so I think it actually creates that, like, that you're willing to keep going risk because you realize and most people are willing to go to zero and so they always fear zero and it keeps them playing small.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so like, but once you, once you get there, then you're like, dude, this is it. Like, cool, man. Let's. Let's go to the moon.

[B]

Good. I mean, not dying.

[A]

Like, I'm not dead.

[B]

Yeah. I couldn't agree more. So the. So. So security fails.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you move on to something obviously that became very successful, which was not right away. Not right away.

[A]

I immediately start another security business because I learned. I learned a lot. And I started back with my now part partner. Right. Like, so I knew who I wanted to do business with and it was this guy. And so we both started and we were both like fresh and we tried to scale and we didn't. We built like a nice little nest egg, but like nothing. And then like we tried everything. Freaking dude. Anything to make a buck. I've done it. Flipped houses, cars, farms, cattle, like everything, dude. I had a coupon book, a search engine optimization business. Like, dude, dude, if. If there was a way to drop ship and make a buck, I was trying it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so I came to the realization I'm like, dude, I don't know how to grow a business. I suck. And so I actually, like, one of the most pivotal moments of my life is I decided to swell my pride and go work for somebody else. And. And so because I knew there was something I needed to learn. So then I spent the next four and a half years working for some of the greatest entrepreneurs that I could find. And I moved to Utah and. And I went and I worked for Todd Peterson. Do you know who Todd is?

[B]

I don't know Todd.

[A]

One of the greatest that'll ever do the game. And so Todd is The founder of Vivint2 multi.

[B]

Obviously Vivint is. Yeah, I have given in my house.

[A]

I think two multi billion dollar IPOs. And I had the opportunity to like, sit down, study that guy and take notes. And I, during that time I made really good money.

[B]

But let's talk about that real quick because. Because I think this is a mistake that a lot of people make as well is they think those doors are closed to them Right. They don't understand how to get in somewhere where it's like, listen, I just want to, I just want to watch. I just want to learn. Like, I'm going to do my job, but in this, in the spare time, help me. How do you have that conversation with somebody?

[A]

So it was, it wasn't even necessarily that, but I would just put myself in positions to like be in the room, right? Like whether it was in management meetings or whatever else, or like just networking, like inside the company to like learn and grow. Like, why is he doing this? What, like, what was the decision making process? Like, all that thing people love people that are willing to learn, right? Like, yeah. And so I spent. I worked for three different businesses over four and a half years, and each very intentional, was taking notes, designing what I was going to do next. And, and so ultimately at the end of 2016, I walked away at top of my game, was making half million bucks a year, had like the dream job. And I'm like, all right, it's ready. I'm. I'm ready to go figure out what I want to do next. And then during this time, I've spent a lot of money on personal development, coaches, masterminds, everything like that. And ultimately in 2017, so I, I went after a couple big things and failed, actually. Like, I. I chased this magic generator thing I call magic because it never came to fruition, but we sold $2 billion worth of contracts in six months.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

It was wild.

[B]

And didn't fulfill any of them. Couldn't fulfill anything.

[A]

And made zero dollars. Oh, yeah.

[B]

And that is magic.

[A]

That was magic.

[B]

That's voodoo generators. It's not good.

[A]

But what I learned from that experience was it wasn't the generate. So I networked to like the highest level and grew so faster in those six months. And I realized it wasn't the generator that made me do it. It was my belief in the generator. And I'm like, man, if I can have this much belief in something that actually works, life will be incredible.

[B]

Yeah, you'll kill it.

[A]

And, and so like, that was like a big aha moment. Go. And I take an online drop shipping course to learn Facebook marketing that summer of 2017. And I came to this realization. Holy crap. Facebook marketing is online door knocking.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I like, up until that point, it never made sense, right? It just clicked. My biggest pain point in door knock. Knocking doors is self replication. I couldn't replicate myself across 10,000 doors at one point. Online. I couldn't replicate 10,000 screens at one time. So figured that out. Launch my company, fall of 2017, out of my garage and just come everything dialed in. Like our exact strategy, exactly how we're going to do it. I'm road map. In five years I got this perfect map. I'm like, okay, in five years we're gonna have 500 employees. A million bucks. This is exactly what the 500 employee structure is going to look like. This is how we're going to get there. Like I, I had it all dialed in. This is our culture, core values, our mission. What I, what I call the, the eight pillars for growth. I had completely dialed in. And so we launch on my garage, fall of 2017. No money, no outside cash. Year one, we do 16 million. Year two, we do 32. Year three, we do 34. Year four, we do 89. Year five, we do 233 million.

[B]

And so you, and you were all from Facebook ads, booking appointments, you were.

[A]

Sending salesmen out to and initially sending salesmen people sales. And this is like one of the miracles that happened initially. It was that fall of 2019, I get this bright idea like we should start selling over Zoom.

[B]

Yeah, I was just gonna say we.

[A]

Should start selling over Zoom. So we start that. By the time Covid hits, I got a 25 person sales floor already built. We scale that teams with 300 people.

[B]

All on Zoom.

[A]

All on Zoom. And so I build this, I build this 1100 person organization. We're the sixth fastest growing company in the nation. All privately held of any company, any industry. Like we are just. And we're making 24 net margin.

[B]

And here comes private equity.

[A]

Private equity.

[B]

Knock, knock, knock. Yeah.

[A]

So meanwhile, during that same time, I was consulting another business and I told him I would only do it for equity. I had about 10 equity in this business three years. I give them the same roadmap that, that I built my business off of of they build and sell for 120 million in three years.

[B]

Not bad, not bad.

[A]

So I get, I experienced these two different. One as the founder, creator, and the other one as a consultant, equity shareholder. So I have two nine figure exits in a, in a five year period. And yeah, I mean it was, it was a phenomenal ride.

[B]

Dude, that's awesome.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So now that this is obviously. Look, you don't have to do anything at this point if you want to. So it's so funny, you know, somebody asked me like, what's your definition of success? And it's like, dude, I just don't want to have to be be anywhere. Like, I just want to go only where I want to go and not have to be anywhere. And I think you're already there, so obviously you're doing exactly what you want to do. So what are you doing now?

[A]

Yeah, so we're running next level pros, which is a, it's a training and coaching platform. So I have like the most incredible team I have. So I have these eight pillars that we help companies use to scale, to grow. Right. Majority of our clients are home service, home product, but it applies to any industry. I got medical professionals, I got restaurants, I got all different type of, of business owners in this platform. And the cool thing is like I've created this program where I have coaches that come in, they implement, I teach, we do workshops, everything like that. But like I've like attracted some of the most incredible coaches in the world. I have a three time Olympic gold medalist on my team that teaches mindset. He's a 400 meter Olympic gold medalist.

[B]

Awesome.

[A]

Like just, just absolute studs across the board. Like, like my magic and my like ability to like grow teams and like build culture is transforming over into this and like it just gives me a ton of purpose. Like we have a, we have a five year road map to get to where our community is generating an additional from where they come in to where they're at in our community. Additional 125 billion a year. And that's our, that's our, that's our goal. So we call Impact125. It's on my wrist. It's that our, our mission is designing lives that impact the world. I truly believe that the best way to change the world is through entrepreneurship.

[B]

That's interesting you say that because one of the things that we're big on here is purpose driven business. We, we always try to attach our business to different causes and, and build in that giving as part of our business model. Is that something you always.

[A]

100 so like part of. So we have two KPIs that we track within our community, how much additional revenue we're generating and how many hours of community service that they give as, as a organization. So we have a goal of 3 million, 3 million hours a year to give as a, within our, the next level community.

[B]

Dude, that's such a bigger challenge man. Because the money's easy, right? It's the hours that are hard.

[A]

Absolutely dude.

[B]

It is, it is.

[A]

Absolutely. And so like the way I've always built, like not always, but when I built on purpose and when I've had success building organizations, it's always When I focus on developing the employees whole human, physically, economically, their associations, their spirituality. Like people don't understand that like most, most employers are like, hey, get them a paycheck. Make sure they're taken care of that way. Like good. No, help them lose weight, help them be a better father, mother, better contributor to society, help them grow closer to God and they will never, ever want to leave you because they're getting paid so many different ways and they will take care of your customer.

[B]

You know, I had Cameron hurled on her the hero, vivid vision, brilliant guy on here not too long ago. And he was talking about the number one KPI he looks at is employee, not sales, not customer satisfaction, nothing. Employee satisfaction 100. He says, that is my number one metric we look at because if your employees are super happy and they love you, they will go to the end of the earth for your clients.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

And I was like, whoa. And so many people think of that differently. I mean, how many times have, you know, you go to some random place and there's a problem and then the manager, you know, they don't back their people at all. They just, the Karens of the world want to raise, you know, so think ruckus.

[A]

So, so think about this. The way you do business with your end user and the way that you do business with your employer. The exact same way. If you think you're going to solve things with price with your customer, right? You're, you're so terribly wrong. If you think you're going to solve something with pay, you're so wrong. Right? Like, like those are ancillary aspects to everything that you do. Like solve their physical problems, solve their relationship problems, solve the way that they're connected with God. And you will have a loyal, a loyal sales force because you create value.

[B]

The same as you and the same.

[A]

Thing, the same thing with your end user, right? Like, like it's never about the dollars ever, ever, ever. That is just a derivative. And sure, that has to be somewhere in line. But, but like that the. And so many business owners make that mistake on their offer to their customers. They make it all about price. They try selling better by lowering their price or whatever else instead of bringing value. Same thing with, with your.

[B]

Well, Neil Patel posted something I thought was really interesting not too long ago as well. It was talking about, it had a, it had a, it was a chart and it was showing the most search words on the Internet and up until 2017, the MO. When you're attaching it to any product or service, the most searched adjective Was free. Right. It was really high. And down here was best, and it was really low. And in 2017, for some reason, those lines converged.

[A]

Interesting.

[B]

And split. And now best is so much higher than free. And free continues to go down. So people stop searching for free this. They're searching for what is the best this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which tells me that as a society currently, we're always looking for the best value. And best equals value. All right, one more question. If you could go back and Talk to your 23 year old self and you could give yourself one piece of advice, what is it?

[A]

You know, I would, I wouldn't change my path whatsoever. And, and you know, so one, I just say, hey, keep going. When times are tough, you're going to be fine. But if I could go back to just any random old 23 year old.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, look, you're only in competition with yourself. Find your path and don't compare yourself to anyone else. Be your best version of you and you will accomplish incredible things.

[B]

I gotta tell you, I never thought about it. It's odd that I never thought about until today. But dude, the number one skill that I think is going out the window with these young kids is the ability to connect personally with somebody, individually, personally. And look at the Mormon Church, dude, they're teaching him two years at a time exactly how to do that. And that is a skill that I think will take people further than ever. So if you're not Mormon, go knock a door, learn how to talk to somebody if they want to find you, Chris, how they find you.

[A]

You know the, the best way, if you have about anything. Is it right if I drop my phone number?

[B]

Yeah, please, go ahead.

[A]

Okay, yeah, you can just go ahead and text me. 509-374-7554. You can just shoot me a text, ask me any questions about things that we've talked about, or if you're looking at scaling your business or whatnot, you can also find me on Instagram. Chris Lee, qb.

[B]

Yep. Love it. Okay, cool. Well, awesome, man. Well, thanks for coming by. I appreciate it, man. And look, dude, if you're listening to this, I, I think the lessons you should take away from it are number one and risk is what makes the world go round. And not, it's not always going to go your way. And if it doesn't go your way, you've got to have the cajones or the fortitude or whatever it is to keep going and try something different. And if, if you're gonna bet on something, I mean, we're in Vegas, man. Bet on yourself. Looks like Chris did that and it worked out pretty well. We'll see you next week. What's up, everybody? Thanks for joining us for another episode of Escaping the Drift. Hope you got a bunch out of it, or at least as much as I did out of it. Anyway, if you want to learn more about the show, you can always go over to escaping the drift.com you can join our mailing list. But do me a favor, if you wouldn't mind, throw up that five star review, give us a share. Do something, man. We're here for you. Hopefully you'll be here for us. But anyway, in the meantime, we will see you at the next episode.