Unlocking Success: The Entrepreneurial Mindset with Austin Zaback

Summary

Summary of "Unlocking Success: The Entrepreneurial Mindset with Austin Zaback"

The Home Service Expert Podcast hosted by Tommy Mello features an insightful conversation with Austin Zaback, a renowned real estate entrepreneur expanding into the home service industry. In this episode, Austin shares his entrepreneurial journey, business strategies, market insights, and personal growth experiences, providing valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

---

1. Introduction

Tommy Mello introduces Austin Zaback, highlighting his impressive credentials as the founder of Zaback Group, president of Space Real Estate, and founder of One Roof Investments. Austin’s expertise in real estate and his role as a mentor and educator set the stage for a deep dive into entrepreneurial success.

Quote:

“Pleasure to be here, man. I appreciate you having me.” [02:02]

---

2. Austin Zaback’s Journey and Current Ventures

Austin recounts his early days in real estate, including his mentorship under Cody Sperber and his rise to partnership and friendship with him. He details his primary businesses: One Roof Investments, a leading wholesaling company handling nationwide deals, and Space Real Estate, a major retail real estate team with hundreds of agents across multiple states.

Quote:

“We built One Roof for cash flow. It's great at what it does and nothing more, nothing less.” [04:02]

---

3. Transitioning into Home Services

Despite his success in real estate, Austin expresses his intention to venture into the home service niche. He leverages his extensive client base to generate referrals for home services like pest control, aiming to build a sellable and scalable company that complements his existing businesses.

Quote:

“I’m going to build a company that is sellable.” [05:30]

---

4. Real Estate Market Outlook and AI’s Impact

Austin shares his optimistic view of the real estate market over the next few years, anticipating market stabilization and appreciation driven by increased supply and demand. He also discusses the impending impact of AI technology on real estate jobs, emphasizing the need for diversification to stay ahead.

Quote:

“AI is going to redefine the majority of these types of jobs. It’s not a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when.” [18:16]

---

5. Marketing Strategies in Real Estate and Home Services

Austin outlines his evolution in marketing strategies, moving from direct methods like door knocking and cold calling to establishing strategic partnerships with real estate agents and other wholesalers. This shift has significantly reduced marketing expenses while maintaining high-profit margins through effective networking.

Quote:

“We have really two main ways that we bring in deals—through real estate agents and through other wholesalers.” [11:29]

---

6. Building Scalable Business Models: Wholesaling vs. Flipping

Comparing wholesaling with traditional property flipping, Austin highlights the scalability and profitability of wholesaling. He explains that while flipping can be operationally complex and difficult to scale, wholesaling offers higher profit margins with minimal overhead, aligning with his strategy for sustainable growth.

Quote:

“We make the same amount of money wholesaling the paperwork that we do on the flip.” [10:53]

---

7. Overcoming Challenges in the Home Service Industry

Austin addresses the challenges of entering the home service sector, particularly the need to understand the technical aspects of the industry. He emphasizes the importance of hands-on learning and immersing himself in the operational side to effectively lead and train technicians, ensuring respect and credibility within the new field.

Quote:

“I am going to go get in a truck and I'm going to go spray.” [21:08]

---

8. Cultivating a Strong Business Culture and Leadership

Austin discusses the critical role of company culture in business success. By paying employees above market rates and fostering a supportive environment, his companies maintain high retention rates and motivated teams. This focus on culture and compensation is essential for building a loyal and efficient workforce.

Quote:

“I paid people above what the market would have dictated, that I would have had to pay them.” [31:11]

---

9. The Importance of Mentorship and Networking

Austin emphasizes the value of mentorship and networking in his entrepreneurial journey. By connecting individuals without expecting immediate returns, he builds a network that provides mutual support and opportunities over time. This philosophy aligns with the adage, "Your network is your net worth," highlighting the long-term benefits of meaningful relationships.

Quote:

“Zig Ziglar said, you could have anything you want in life if you help enough people get what they want.” [47:25]

---

10. Resilience and Perseverance in Entrepreneurship

Reflecting on the non-linear path to success, Austin shares personal experiences of financial setbacks and business challenges. His unwavering commitment to not quitting, even during tough times, exemplifies the resilience needed to sustain and grow businesses. Prioritizing business needs over personal comforts demonstrates the grit essential for entrepreneurial success.

Quote:

“It's the reality of being an entrepreneur.” [47:34]

---

11. Crafting Successful Partnerships

Austin highlights the importance of carefully vetting business partners to ensure alignment in business objectives. He discusses the necessity of clear operating agreements and setting expectations upfront to prevent conflicts. Building partnerships that vertically integrate with existing businesses is a key strategy for scalable growth.

Quote:

“I have to say no to any business opportunity that doesn't vertically integrate with what we're already doing.” [25:30]

---

12. Personal Growth and Entrepreneurial Advice

Offering advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, Austin stresses the importance of self-belief, patience, and execution. He urges entrepreneurs to enjoy the journey, celebrate victories, and learn from failures. Emphasizing action over endless learning, he advocates for balancing ambition with personal well-being and maintaining focus on core business objectives.

Quote:

“Don't be afraid to fail. Get out there and execute.” [62:39]

---

13. Final Thoughts and Actionable Insights

Austin concludes by encouraging entrepreneurs to take decisive action, help others, and continuously execute their plans without succumbing to analysis paralysis. His emphasis on execution over excessive information gathering serves as a call to action for listeners to implement the strategies and insights shared throughout the episode.

Quote:

“Things don't happen overnight and you've got to slow down, enjoy the journey a little bit.” [57:04]

---

Conclusion

In "Unlocking Success: The Entrepreneurial Mindset with Austin Zaback," listeners gain profound insights into building scalable businesses, the importance of strategic diversification, and fostering a strong company culture. Austin's experiences and advice provide a valuable roadmap for entrepreneurs aiming to achieve sustainable success in the home service and real estate industries.

---

Transcript

[Austin Zaback]

How you do anything is how you do everything. And I think that applies to every aspect of, you know, when we look at relationally, financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Go into every single thing that you do and give it your 100%.

[Unknown Host]

Welcome to the Home Service Expert, where each week Tommy chats with world class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields like marketing, sales, hiring and leadership to find out what's really behind their success in business. Now your host, the home service millionaire, Tommy Mello. Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes. But I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text notes N O t e s to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevate and win.com podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today I got Austin Zabik in the house. Did I say that right?

[Austin Zaback]

Zabak. It's all good back.

[Unknown Host]

And he's an expert in real estate sales and business. He's now in Peoria. He was in Scottsdale, but he's local here. Founder of Zaback Group, president of Space Real Estate and founder of One Roof Investments. Zach is a real estate entrepreneur and founder of Zaback Group. He's also the president of Space, a fast growing real estate team with hundreds of agents across multiple states. Zaback is known for his work as a mentor and educator, helping others buy and sell real estate and and young agents overcome their fears. He's also the host of a podcast where interviews. He interviews high achievers from various industries. It's a pleasure to have you here, dude.

[Austin Zaback]

Pleasure to be here, man. I appreciate you having me.

[Unknown Host]

It's funny how many people we know. I mean, I guess I just think the world keeps getting smaller. You mentioned Cody Sperber back in the day, the old clever investor. I used to go meet up with with those guys all the time. And now we're, we're doing business Together.

[Austin Zaback]

So cool.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

Cody was my first mentor that I ever hired in 2014 to mentor me in wholesaling, you know, and well, I hired clever investor.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And I didn't know Cody at the time. I got it. I got a mentor assigned to me. His name is Torsten. And year and a half, two years after me getting into the game, then me and Cody eventually became partners and good buddies and one thing kind of led to the next. So pretty really small world.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

I was born here though too. So I feel like in Arizona it's even a smaller world.

[Unknown Host]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you're born here, you know everybody.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah, yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Pace Morby was just in sitting where you're at not that long ago.

[Austin Zaback]

Okay, cool. Yeah, I know Pace real well. I was. I was at his house in Montana a few months ago. And that's cool.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

Great dude. Love Pace.

[Unknown Host]

You know, it's funny, I wanted to talk about this because you said, look, I'm getting into the home service niche very soon. And it's funny that all the people listening are mostly home service people that are coming to me and they say, how do I invest in real estate?

[Austin Zaback]

Sure.

[Unknown Host]

And all the software guys that I know, the SaaS companies are like, I'm getting into home service. And it's like we all want what we don't have. I mean, look at Cody getting into the flooring stuff. So what do you think it is? What's attracting you to home service? Why is it that you've got a very successful real estate investment business and now you're looking home service?

[Austin Zaback]

So I own two main real estate companies. You mentioned them in the beginning. You know, One Roof Real, One Roof Investment Group is a. Is a wholesaling company.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And we're one of the largest wholesalers in the nation. We wholesale nationwide. And that company does really well. And it's a cash cow.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

But it's not a sellable company, you know, really at the. I mean, maybe you could figure out some creative way to sell or finance it or some, you know, to somebody. But ultimately it's just a cash flow company. Right. We built it for cash flow. It's great at what it does and. And nothing more, nothing less. Which is cool.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Space, which is the retail real estate team that we own, is one of the largest in the nation. We're nation. We're in four different states right now. And. And so that company will do about 2,000 transactions this year closings. So we have 2,000 clients a year right now that already like trust and respect U.S. buyers and sellers. We already bought or sold for them, represented them, and the first person they call is us for all their home service referrals. So they're asking us, you know, throughout the transaction process.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Who's a good pest control company.

[Unknown Host]

Is that all? Is that local?

[Austin Zaback]

No, it's in for Texas, Florida, Arizona, California.

[Unknown Host]

Okay.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Austin Zaback]

And so, you know, we, we already have all that whole book of business that we already refer other home service companies too. So what we do currently is we partner up with other guys, like a one garage or whoever.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And we'll create some sort of agreement where we'll say, hey, you'll be our preferred vendor and for that company, for us, you know, anytime somebody asks us to, you know, for. To fix a garage door or whatever, we'll refer a one garage in return, you know, then we'll make a deal with you, whatever that looks like. It's different for every. Yeah, an affiliate deal, whatever.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And so my whole thing is I want to. Now obviously I can't do them all. I'm only, you know, we're entrepreneur. We got to be careful not to chase too many rabbits at one time. But I knew that home services was the future for what we were trying to do because I want to, I want to build a company that is sellable.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Not that I will sell, maybe I will, maybe I won't, but I want to at least build a company that I can have the opportunity to sell. And we already have that book, so why not?

[Unknown Host]

You know, every business I touch will have a five year plan or less to sell.

[Austin Zaback]

Yep, that's what we're doing.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Three to five years, no matter what. Three years better.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

And so that type of thinking causes a bigger, better dream and it allows you to reverse engineer faster and move quicker. I think a lot of people are like, man, I live the greatest lifestyle. I pay for my boat, I pay for this, I pay for the chef. I got the plane on this. And I'm like, yeah, but the multiple, it's, it's arbitrage. You're missing the boat here. And I think people think if they sell their business, and I'm curious what you think, but a lot of people think they lose their identity, like that's their purpose. And they act like, man, I'm just used to going in, being the guy, and I've got a pretty good easy lifestyle. But you know, you build a $10 million business at a 12x, that's 120 million and you can still roll Equity into that.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And then go, three, four, exit again pretty easily. And I always ask this question, if you were going to sell in a year, what would you do? And they're like, why do this? This, this, this. Why don't you just do that now?

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah, totally.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

I mean, look, I agree and disagree, right. I think maybe it depends on the type of person, but I think that for me, at least, and it sounds like probably for you, I'm just a natural entrepreneur. Like, I. It doesn't matter. Like, I'm not going to retire. Like, I don't see myself just going and hanging out on the beach. Like, I would. Dude, I would be bored in 48 hours. And my wife can tell you she's sitting behind the camera. I can maybe lay on a lawn chair for an hour. And I hate my life. Like, I'm like, we got to go scuba diving. We need to jump out of a helicopter. Like, we got to go do something.

[Tommy Mello]

Right?

[Austin Zaback]

And so I think I am addicted to building companies, you know, providing value to the marketplace. That's what we do in America, right? We're capitalist economy. I think it's really cool to take an idea and to bring it to the marketplace to provide real value, a good product or service, whatever that is, and to see the fruit of that labor on the back end. And so if I were to sell a company, I would just go start another company. Right. Like, it would just. It would lead to something else. Like, my identity is in the fact that, you know, I. It's in other things. It isn't in one said company, if you will.

[Unknown Host]

Right. You know, and I think there's a lot of people that try to do that. What Richard Branson does is he says, I'll never be the CEO, kind of like Warren Buffett again, but I'm gonna hire the best. Top down instead of bottom up. Like your first company, where you had to go do all the work. So you get the right team. The who, not how, which is Dr. Benjamin's Hardy. It's his book. And Dan Sullivan is, get the right people on the bus, let them go do it with your guidance, your connections, your network.

[Austin Zaback]

Totally. So valuable.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

You know, this economy, I hear good, bad, and indifferent. What do you think is going to happen here in the next year or two?

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah, great question. I mean, nobody's got a crystal ball, right? I do, however, think that in the next couple of years, the overall economy is going to look pretty good. It's just my opinion, you know, I'm very optimistic, actually, about the next, you know, three or four years. I think there's a lot of turbulence right now, but I think at a certain point, a lot of that is going to calm down. The markets are going to stabilize. And then the real estate market, we just need interest rates to come down. The only X factor when it comes to real estate is that they say for every 1% that rates come down, a million new buyers will come into the market on a national level. But I think that, you know, and this is pure speculation, but I think a million sellers will come to the market, too, because of everybody who's locked in right now.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

So what will that do? I think initially, supply and demand will just cancel each other out, is my kind of theory. And then over time, demand will outpace supply, and we'll see appreciation again and again. It'll be submarket by submarket.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

California is going to look different than Arizona, which will look different than Atlanta, Georgia.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Unknown Host]

You know, for the listeners, I know quite a bit about wholesaling, and there's a lot of ways to acquire customers. You can send them handwritten letters. You get door knockers, you go to the courthouse and you look for overgrown property. You go to hoarders, you go to a place for mom. You know, there's ways to get through to these people that are looking for a cash offer. How do you generate? Just go through the business model a little bit, what you've learned and the model and how you acquire leads.

[Austin Zaback]

So I've done it all. You know, great question. I. I've done the door knocking, the cold calling, the texting, the pay per click, pay per lead. I mean, you name it, Right. And, you know, the only thing I haven't done is TV and radio as of yet for. For that company in particular.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

So I've never dabbled in that. I do eventually want to, like. I know Doug Hopkins. I know you've done, I mean, like, know people who could get the door open for us. But here's what I'll say. I've spent a lot of money on direct. We call that direct to seller marketing.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Meaning we're going directly to the homeowner to get a property under contract, below market value, then flip that paperwork.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Unknown Host]

Do you ever take it down yourself or you just.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah, all the time. Yeah, we don't do much lately because.

[Unknown Host]

So you do the remodeling and everything.

[Austin Zaback]

We've done a lot.

[Unknown Host]

And now you're just flipping it to the next.

[Austin Zaback]

Now we just wholesale.

[Unknown Host]

That's all that Doug does Yeah, yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

Because look, flipping can be really cool. It's a pain in the ass to scale, right? It sure. Do you want to flip one or two houses at a time? Be my guest. Right. I've done that. But I've gotten to a point where we had 15 or 20 flips going on at a time. It doesn't make any sense. We make the same amount of money wholesaling the paperwork that we do on the flip. When it's all said and done in the. The. The wholesale deal takes five minutes and we never have to leave our office. So we like wholesaling better. Flipping is cool, you know, for some.

[Unknown Host]

People, like five or 10 major buyers that you're just feeding.

[Austin Zaback]

We have a lot of buyers. Yeah. But, you know, I would say we have our VIP buyers is what we would call them nationwide. We probably have a thousand, like, really good buyers that just buy deal after deal after deal. But, you know, I'd say 50% of our deals sell to new buyers every month too.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

But to answer your question and come full circle really quick for the listener, what we do now more than anything is we don't spend a lot of money on marketing anymore. What we do now is we. We have really two main ways that we bring in deals. Through real estate agents and through other wholesalers where we'll just co wholesale.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

It costs $0 in marketing. Okay. So our overhead, like our overhead is minimal. And we can operate a profit margin on that company of 55 or 60% when we do that at a high level. And there's thousands of wholesalers in the market today that don't know how to get a cash buyer. They don't know what the hell they're doing. They stumbled across a deal because they went door knocking or driving for dollars or whatever the case may be. And they need our help.

[Unknown Host]

They need the list of buyers.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Unknown Host]

They need the list of the thousand.

[Austin Zaback]

Good buyers, and we'll just spl deal with them. 50. 50.

[Unknown Host]

And you started about 12 years, 11. 12 years ago.

[Austin Zaback]

I started wholesaling in 2014. Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

How old were you then?

[Austin Zaback]

18.

[Unknown Host]

Nice.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah. Uhhuh.

[Unknown Host]

Is a good way to get started. So I love people that go out and they figure it out. I would tell anybody listening, do not get into wholesale if you're in home service. Stay focused. The one thing by Gary Keller.

[Austin Zaback]

Agreed.

[Unknown Host]

Not saying don't do it, but I'd rather go to a guy like Austin here and say, let me become an investor in the business and let me figure out a way, because you know, real estate could be good. We all know Grant Cardone. We all know cash flow is everything. Robert Kiyosaki Cash flow. Cash flow. Cash flow. I don't necessarily agree with just cash flow because you know my deal we did, I got a couple hundred million and the next deal I'll get a billion next year. And not to mention all the other businesses you add up, that's 500 million more. Yeah, I love cash flow. But you know what the cash flow is when you invest a billion dollars and a good PE deal. 22% IRR, that's a billion dollars. At 22% IRR is 220 million a year. Cash flow is great. But like you said, it's hard to find a buyer for that. So you don't get rid of that. You worked hard for the last 11 years to build that. So that's the cash flow to build up these home service companies. And just remember what I told you. Figure out the business, analyze the business, find out what they're selling for, Find out how you're going to scale it.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Because certain businesses are getting a lot more. Like our friend Cameron, Pest controls got the highest because Terminix went public.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

And now they could pay crazy multiples. Whereas, you know, a window company or a front door company is not a demand driven business.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Unknown Host]

So you're not going to get as high multiple.

[Austin Zaback]

Totally.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

No, I mean, and that's why I'm, I'm excited to get into home services.

[Unknown Host]

What if, Joe, from what you got now, a couple thousand clients, whatever, what one gets you excited the most?

[Austin Zaback]

Which home service?

[Unknown Host]

Yeah, which home service?

[Austin Zaback]

I think I'm going to start with past pest control.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Well, that's what. So I go speak at all these events and I speak to inspectors. I went out to massive inspector show and all these guys have pest control companies because that's the easiest one to sell.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Like that's how they build their business.

[Austin Zaback]

Barrier of entry is easy.

[Unknown Host]

Landscaping would be good if it was higher end.

[Austin Zaback]

Agreed.

[Unknown Host]

And then pool cleaning.

[Austin Zaback]

Pool cleaning. So I wanted to do pool cleaning really bad. Okay. Cause I owned a pool company when I was a kid. A little baby pool company.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

But I understand pools at a very high level. I could teach it like with my eyes closed. Like I get it.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And Cameron, being the good friend that he is, talked me out of it. He, he's like, listen, pools are great, but you know, you did it at a really small level. Like I'm telling you, when you scale it, like it becomes Very difficult. Technicians are impossible to train. You need repair guys on the road all the time. Like, it was a dip. Because he owned pineapple pools, obviously.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And so the good friend that he is, you know, I just trusted his kind of thing on that. Now eventually I might do pools. I own a couple of domains. You know, I could get into the pool industry, but. And correct me if I'm wrong, maybe you know more than I do. There isn't that high of a multiple on the pool company for whatever reason.

[Unknown Host]

Well, it is. It's kind of like landscape, pools, pool and landscaping are very similar. Whereas pest control is your in and out.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

And it's like you see nasty, nasty stuff. And within. Within pest control, you could do pigeons, you could do roof rats.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

You could decide you're gonna do bedbugs. Bed bugs is a big one. I was on a podcast like seven years ago with a guy that had trained dogs to go into hotels and find bedbugs. So the. These German shepherds would go. They know exactly what bugs have them. And like, the dogs will go in. It's crazy. What do you think's gonna happen? I was in, you know, the 70, 72 sold. I was talking. We went to dinner with Greg Hay. Yeah, Greg, great guy. And he thinks the real estate market's gonna completely change. He's like, obviously the buyer agent commissions have kind of came down. It's the seller's agents that there's new rules coming in. And he's like, I'm just going to be very transparent and free, but I'll sell all these other services. Like, he'll be the title company, he'll be the inspection company. He'll make all the money on ancillary things. What is your take on the future of what real estate looks like?

[Austin Zaback]

So we already do a lot of that. You know, I own a title company, I own an insurance company, we own a mortgage company. So we already make money multiple times on every deal. You know, with that being said, I agree with Greg. You know, I think that. Look, for your average agent, unfortunately, the industry of real estate agents is 1.8 million or whatever there is in the US right now, according to NAR, the majority of them are not very good at what they do. That's just. It's just the reality of the situation, Right. That, you know, 5% of them are really good and 95% of them kind of suck ultimately.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And so those are the ones that are struggling to fight for that commission because the law did change and now you have to negotiate before the seller's agent would just tell the seller, hey, we're going to pay that. But if a buyer, if a buyer's agent brings us the deal, we're going to pay him 3%. Are you okay with that? Okay, cool. Sign here. You're going to pay me 3? We're going to pay a buyer's agent 3. If I happen to also be the buyer's agent, I'll get six.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And it was pre negotiated. So when, when a buyer's agent went on the MLS to find their client a deal, then it was just like you would ask the seller, hey, what am I getting paid? It would be right on the MLS. It would tell you to say 2.5% or 3%. You knew immediately what you were going to make. Now it's not on the MLS anymore. So if you're a buyer's agent, right, you need to call that seller's agent, say, hey, if I bring you a buyer, ready, willing and able buyer, and I write a contract, will your seller pay me a commission and have a verbal conversation? And then you actually have to negotiate that commission and get, try to get the seller to pay for it. And the seller can ultimately say no.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And then if they say no, then you got to go to your buyer and say, hey, well do you want to pay me or do you like. Or we can't, I can't represent you. Like, you know, I'm not, I don't work for free type of thing.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And so you have to be a really good agent to have those conversations now. We're really good at it and my team is really good at it. So our, believe it or not, our average commission as a company when NAR rolled out that lawsuit and it took effect, went up, not down.

[Tommy Mello]

Right?

[Austin Zaback]

So our, our average commission went up by about 0.2%. So 0.20. And you know, that's just a result of us being really good at what we do and being able to have that conversation at a really high level and get those sellers and to pay our buyer's agents what they're worth.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

But you know, the industry as a whole. Yeah, dude, I mean, look, AI technology, I mean, in five or 10 years. And that's why I'm getting into home services ultimately. Right. I love the real estate agent, you know, company that we've built and it's an amazing company. But I'm not naive to the fact that AI is going to redefine the majority of these types of jobs. And it's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And I think every agent watching this should also have a backup plan.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Hey, spend less than you make and go buy rental properties. Like go. You know, if you make in 200 grand a year right now, stop spending 200 grand a year, spend 80 grand a year, spend 60 grand a year. But drive an old beat up car so that you can afford to invest. And you know, if something does happen to your job, you're not freaking out.

[Unknown Host]

On the street a hundred percent. You know, it's funny, we're looking at a bunch of real estate deals and I don't know where I'm at yet, but I want to be diversified in the way that there's a few guys I know. Bigger pockets.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Brandon.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah, Brandon.

[Unknown Host]

Bearded Brandon, big red beard.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

He and I went out to do a podcast to Hawaii and that's a really interesting model.

[Austin Zaback]

He has a ton of real estate.

[Unknown Host]

I think he's got a couple billion under contract and he gets paid on the, you know, after a while.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

His is all later in the game, but I love that idea of syndication.

[Tommy Mello]

Right. Yeah, yeah.

[Unknown Host]

I mean, are you big into like single family or do you think there's a really big game for multifamily?

[Austin Zaback]

I think there's a huge game for multifamily. I think for me right now I'm 30 years old.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

So I have to, I have to kind of look at what I, what I have built so far. We've mastered the single family game. So much so that I have these two main real estate companies will sell a few thousand houses a year and growing and I'm hardly even involved, which is what is allowing me the time to go get into home services. Right. Because I have such good partners and such a good team that I'm able to kind of venture off and, and do more things, which is why I'm doing that. For me right now it makes more sense for me to get into home services because I can, I'll make more money quicker at the age that I'm at and for what we have going on. Right. Like the multifamily game would just. It's a great game for. But it's a game that I could get into when I'm 35 or 36 or 37. Like it's not going anywhere. You know, I love to go try to sell a company first and put 100 million or so.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

Or whatever in the account and then go and venture into what that might look like.

[Unknown Host]

So from what you've heard, you've been putting the feelers out there. What do you think your biggest challenges are going to be when it comes to home service?

[Austin Zaback]

I mean, you know, hiring. I think we're really good at culture, you know, like we have over 500 people between our companies right now. So like I understand how to build good culture. I understand how to bring the right people in, put them in the right seats. I understand systems and processes. I would just say, I would say the mechanics of the industry itself will be the biggest challenge.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Like learning. Like I personally am going to go get in a truck and I'm going to go spray. Right. Like I'm going to find somebody that will take me and show me, you know, and because I need to be able to understand it 100%, every aspect of it. That way I can stand at the front of the room and teach the technicians and really. And they can actually respect me. Right. So like I've literally told my partners, I'm like I'm going to disappear for a few months and I'm going to go learn past like I'm going to learn everything about it.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Because the backend won't be as hard for us. Sure, it'll be difficult. Right. Everything but business is difficult. We're used to that, you know, but in terms of like finding people putting out ads, like bringing, building the truck, you know, wrapping the truck, the decals, getting the product, you know, and then building systems and processes, getting the right CRM, putting everybody in slack, like that stuff's not that difficult for us. So yeah, I think learning the mechanics of the industry will be the hardest.

[Unknown Host]

So here's a piece of advice and for the listeners out there, what I would do is Cameron knows a lot of the same guys I do, but you find the top bankers in the industries you're looking at and they've done deals, they've done Terminix deals, they've done the biggest, best deals and say look a lot of these, there's information out there to find out if you're on the wrong CRM, you'll take a 2x multiple less.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

If you are didn't build your, your, your, your models correctly, the like if you did door to door, you're worth half as much.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

As versus because the door to door that the clients turn over quicker. So I go say who sold for the highest multiples.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

That are public and can I get a look at their balance sheet and income statement? So I got to understand where My cost of goods need to be. I got to understand where my late. All these different things. And that way you could have kind of an architecture. I call it R and D, rip off and duplicate.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

Just reverse engineer what that is. And there, you know what the golden. The golden star is.

[Austin Zaback]

I love that. That's great advice.

[Unknown Host]

And. And what I'll also tell you is I pay to play. I've got more consultants. For every 40 podcasts I do, I hire a consultant. And the last guy I hired is about to fire me because he's not taking on any more clients. And he said, I'm done. Dan Martell. And he's like, tommy, I never told this story, but I'm actually cropping the video and sending it to people. He goes, I'm going through this phase of no in my life. And he goes, this is a $500,000 watch. And I'm not telling you that to brag. He said, I remind myself who I am with this 30 cent bracelet. But he said, It's a $500,000 watch. Do you know why I'm wearing a 500,000, not a 600 or $400,000 watch? Because a $500,000 an hour is what makes a billion a year. And he goes, so you're not going to pay me $500,000 an hour. I have a path to get there. And I'm in this stage in my life where I'm saying no to anything that's a distraction. And as much as I try to help people out, it's not always about money for me. It's about networking, meeting the right people. The network is your net worth. But it meant a lot to me because I tend to say yes. And if I say yes to you, I'm saying no to my fiance. I'm saying no to my potential kids that are coming, hopefully once we get married.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

And I'm saying no to a lot of my family. So.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

How do you deal with that?

[Austin Zaback]

It's hard, you know, I mean, you, you just. I think Dan Martell's right on the money.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

You have to get good at saying no at some point, you know? And I think what's interesting about entrepreneurship, and tell me if you agree. When you're first starting out, like for people who are watching, who are just starting out as an entrepreneur, you have to say yes to everything.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And then somewhere along the way, you have to completely 180 and say no to almost everything. And that's actually a difficult transition to make. I don't Know, if you could pinpoint the exact moment where you had to make that trans. I can remember where I, you know, because you have to in the beginning. You just have to say yes to anything that comes your way because, like, you're just trying to freaking.

[Unknown Host]

You need to make up, you need to make a living, you need to make payroll.

[Austin Zaback]

So, you know, but then at a certain point, it's the polar opposite of that and it's, it's actually a hard transition. I would say more than anything mentally, because you're so used to mentally, you have to kind of like retrain your brain to be like, to think the opposite way that you've always thought as, as, you know, a startup entrepreneur. So I'm at a point now similar to you. You probably say no to slightly more stuff. Obviously you're older and more wise and ahead of where I'm at. I'm 30 years old at the end of the day, but I am embarking on the journey of saying no, and I'm getting pretty good at it. You know, I would say for me right now, the biggest thing I have to say no to is any business opportunity that doesn't vertically integrate with what we're already doing. Like, if you really look at every company that we own, right, you look at from my media company to my two real estate companies, to title mortgage insurance, and then now, you know, getting into pest control, they all go hand in hand. They all vertically integrate. They all talk to each other and feed each other, right? You know, if a wholesale deal, somebody doesn't want to take a cash offer, it goes to my retail company, right? If my retail company's out on a listing appointment, they want a cash offer, it goes to my wholesale company, right? Both those companies, we send our title company, we send our mortgage, our insurance, right? And now we're going to say, here's our preferred pest control company, right? And so for me right now, if I get approached with an amazing opportunity that I could look at and it's like, that would make me a ton of money, but it doesn't vertically integrate. I have to say no. Like, I just, I can't, I can't. I don't, I don't have the bandwidth. I can't say yes to something that doesn't vertically integrate to what I'm already doing because it would take me, it would actually pull me in the wrong direction.

[Unknown Host]

Well, that's a great thing for the listeners to hear because, you know, there was a time where I was flipping real estate. A1 would have grew way faster. It took 18 years to get to this point if I didn't get distracted. And I said, this idea of an entrepreneur, this visionary idea, is I can do anything I put my mind to, but it still takes time, it takes effort, it takes energy, it takes money. So I love essentialism. The one thing. Those are two books that the listeners should be reading that they want to learn to focus. And, yes, we can make anything work. But you're Robin Peter to pay Paul, is this like, you got to really do this spreadsheet analysis and say, if this thing goes well, how much am I making per hour?

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And some of the stuff I do, I don't make anything. Like, literally, I go speak in an event. Sometimes I don't even charge. But I'm up there meeting people and networking, and there's certain people there that I go and intentionally wanting to meet. And those people sometimes turn into consultants. Sometimes they turn into really good friends. So I would say never give up this opportunity to go out and network and meet the people, because that's, I think, the best opportunity that you should be spending your time and be very purposeful in who you're going to meet.

[Tommy Mello]

I agree.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah. Especially if you're the visionary of the company.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Which I assume most of your listeners are. They're probably not the integrator. They're probably the, you know, the visionary. I mean, obviously you can be both, but the majority of people are one of the other.

[Tommy Mello]

Right?

[Unknown Host]

Yeah. There's a lot of people I know that think they're both. Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

Look, you still lean one way.

[Unknown Host]

Oh, 100%. I've met a lot of people that read, you know, a few. What is it? Rocket fuel.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah. Yep.

[Unknown Host]

Gina Wickman and Mark Winters. I had them both on the podcast. And the deal is, is you're like, yeah, I could do both. And I'm like, but trust me, once you get the right integrator, I mean, most of us with ADHD that are visionaries, that are founders, are not the guys. We could do it. I've had to go down and build the compensation plans and shoot. I was in the truck for eight years, and I was forced myself to do it, but I didn't have as much fun. I need help getting these ideas fulfilled.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And when you get the right integrator, you start sprinting. And the hardest part, I'm going to tell you this right now. The best advice I could give you in the home service industry, form an EIP equity incentive program. I'm writing a book on it. Right now, it's called pay them what they're worth. And to be able to attract people with a stake in the outcome that are running that. Say, I'm an owner. But let's say you build a business to where it's worth 5 million bucks. And then you say, I'm building this program, that 5 million. Cheers. And then they get 1% and the business sells for 100 million. They get 950,000.

[Austin Zaback]

Got it. That makes sense.

[Unknown Host]

So.

[Austin Zaback]

So it doesn't have to be rolled out the day you start the company.

[Unknown Host]

It doesn't need to be rolled out the same day. And I wouldn't do it the same day. I do it when there's value there for yourself. And the other thing I can tell you what happens with it is you could recruit way stronger people. Like you could get cameras. Got to not compete. But you can start going after people that have made a lot of money. And they say, wait a minute. You built a great business. But if I come turn a few dials here, I get 10x this business. But it's expensive. You give me a couple hundred grand. But I want to. I want an ownership.

[Tommy Mello]

Sure.

[Unknown Host]

And it's earned. So that. That's. And it works. Every private equity company does this. Every public traded company does stock options.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

But the home service companies haven't figured this out yet for whatever reason. And here's the deal. You make a mistake with this, you gave away half your company. It's a really bad thing. And it's not something you play lightly with just handing equity to everybody. I did it. I probably made a few mistakes, but I'm glad I did it. I've reverse engineered. I whiteboarded doing it versus not doing it. And it was fun because a lot of people became millionaires. 20, 22 people. And hindsight. Some of them maybe didn't deserve it. Some of them probably deserved a little more. It's not a perfect. It's not a perfect plan, but it's a great plan.

[Austin Zaback]

Totally. I. I agree. That's, you know, big advice.

[Unknown Host]

You know, you've. You founded a lot of companies. What do you think? You talked a little bit about culture. Culture used to be a bad word. When I first started. I'm like, these. These guys are smoking, they're getting in accidents, they're stealing my stuff. But I didn't have the right infrastructure and I didn't reward them the right way. I didn't come up with the right compensation programs. What do you think? What do you think? What makes a culture Go. Well, what are the things you've learned in the last 10 years?

[Austin Zaback]

Well, it starts from the top, you know, I mean, you, you know, as a leader, you have to lead by example. You have to set that example every single day of your life. I really believe that. And eventually when you're so big, if you're not the guy, then like your leadership team has to be that those people, right? Like, it, it all starts at the very top, you know, and so I think you have to build it that way. And then I think a lot of it is paying people. Well, I mean, truthfully, right? It's like you said it a little while ago, frickin pay people what they're worth, or more than they're worth, for that matter, right? Like I've, I've actually, in a lot of my companies, probably overpaid people, to be frank with you. I mean, I've probably actually like not paid myself as much money as I could have paid myself or that the company could have just profited because I actually paid people too well. I paid them above what the market would have dictated, that I would have had to pay them.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

But they never leave because they're getting paid a lot of money. People can say, oh, it's not about the money, but at the end of the day, it's like, I mean, come on, my employees show up to work because if I stop paying them, they're not going to work for me. So it's clearly about the money. I mean, I get that they also want to. Everything else is really important too, right? Take your executive team to Cabo, buy them dinner, take them to Mastros, you know, have incentives. You know, it's kind of the collective of all these different things, I think that equal culture, in my opinion. And I'm sure you would agree with.

[Unknown Host]

Yeah, I think that there's no one word to describe culture. But what I do think is you got to get the whole family on board. You come home from a hard day, you're greasy, you're smelly, it's been a long day, maybe the day didn't go right and you got your significant other to say, look, they treat you perfectly. Today was a tough day, but last week you made a ton of money. They take you on these trips, they take us to a park. Some people are like, I can't afford to do all the stuff you do. I was like, can you afford Bisquick? Do you make pancakes?

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Everybody's got a reason why they can't. But I usually say this in the podcast is, I always say, like, my goals are massive. My dreams are really big. Like, my dreams got to be big enough to fit everybody's dream inside.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

But don't have my dreams. Like, why I'm 42. I've never been married. I don't have any kids yet. I had to sacrifice a lot to get to this level. And the fact that I didn't get married was because duty calls.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

I mean, I'd walk out of a theater on a first date with a chicken and say, I got to go run this call. I'm sorry. And if they wanted to date me, they'd have to go run calls with me. I mean, that's, you know, over a decade ago. But, you know, I think what people should do, and this would be a great exercise for you. You're never going to stop. I can see that in you. But to reverse engineer, just say, look, mom, dad, sister, brother, whoever it is, I got an uncle. I got this grandma. I want to help figure out who are all the things. What do you want to do for them? What do you need to do for your family? Do you want to set a trust for your kids, all these things, and have a number that doesn't mean you're over. It just means I was people like, I'm never going to sell. I'm like, well, how do the people in your company win? How does your family win? Yeah, like, they're going to watch you work for 10 more years, so you're never going to buy the boat that you promised them you were going to go fishing every summer. You're never going to be able to take them on that trip you promised. And some people have enough cash flow to do some of these things, but if you do an EIP program, that doesn't come to fruition until the company changes control. So I think it's selfish to not want to sell.

[Tommy Mello]

I agree.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah, I agree. I agree with everything you said. Even the part where you talk about bringing in the spouse and the significant other of the person. We've actually interviewed people before where we're like, hey, we want you to bring your. Your. Your husband or your wife to the interview. Like, we want to interview you with your husband and wife in the room. Like, because we want to. We want to make sure that when you. When it. It becomes a good fit and we get through this interview and it. And it's a win. Win that you already have the approval of your significant other. Like, we don't want you to try to go home and Convince them and then they're not on board and this, that and the other thing. So I agree with you completely on that as well.

[Unknown Host]

So it's funny because obviously I just got engaged six months ago, but we've been dating for a long time. She. It was overdue. And Dave Ramsey talks about four things when you get married.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

Guess what the four things are. I'm just curious. You got to make a. You can take a stab.

[Austin Zaback]

I actually am not sure. I don't listen to Dave Ramsey too.

[Unknown Host]

And I don't really listen to him a whole lot because I believe in maximum leverage when it's the opposite of.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah, yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

I mean, talk about, you know, your finances. Probably. It's probably. It all has to do with, like, being transparent, I'm sure, about, like, do you have credit card debt? You know, how much money do we do each of us make? Who's. Who's doing what in the household? Like coming to some sort of agreement, I would imagine.

[Unknown Host]

Well, the money's a big one. How you're going to raise your kids. If somebody's Mormon, somebody's Catholic.

[Austin Zaback]

Sure, of course.

[Unknown Host]

How's that going to come together? The other one, Politics.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

I mean, think about it. If you got a raging left Democrat and a raging right, right winged skinhead.

[Austin Zaback]

You know, hopefully you would find that out by the first date.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

No, that's a big one. And then the last one is in laws, believe it or not.

[Austin Zaback]

Okay.

[Unknown Host]

Because an in law could come in and really change things up the way you parent with the way what they believe. I mean, you know, I could tell you stories about that, but not. I love. I love her.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

I love my in laws, but there's. I've seen families come apart because it's just my grandma was pretty tough on my dad. It was my grandma on my mom's side got it really rough on my dad. But I think it's so my CEO, amazing guy. And I don't think he'd care if I share the story. He was kind of in a really bad relationship and he had kids and they worked it out and they're still civil with each other, but he's remarried and I've never seen. He's in the best shape of his life. You can talk to her about work. She's always smiling. She supports him. And it changed who he is. Like, he developed so fast. He's like, what book do you want me to read this week? I just listen to this podcast. Got to Go on you this shop tour.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And it's just crazy. It's the most important decision you'll ever make.

[Austin Zaback]

Totally. I agree completely. Yeah, I, I, yeah, it's why I, you know, pick the one that I picked.

[Unknown Host]

Yeah, you better say that. Hey, guys, quick story before we dive back in. My team sent me a comment from someone who attended last year's Freedom event, and honestly, it made my day. Landon Taylor wrote to us. My dad, who was a general contractor for over 30 years, would have died to have had this kind of resource when he was building his business. I felt like I was attending as his proxy guys. That one hit me hard. My dad owned a small transmission shop. My mom worked three jobs. I watched them argue about bills and eventually get divorced when I was 7. Money problems almost tore my family apart. And that's why I built Freedom 2025. It's the resource I wish my parents would have had. A room where you can learn from people who've turned their money from a constant fight to a solved problem. If you're like Landon and you're ready to be the branch that changes your family tree, this is your chance, and it's going away in six weeks. So go to freedom event.com and lock in your seat today. That's freedom event dot com. All right, back to the episode. What's the best advice you've ever received and from who, and how did it impact your life?

[Austin Zaback]

One of the pieces that comes to my head immediately is how you do anything, is how you do everything. You know, like, brush your teeth like a freaking champion. Make your bag like a champion. Like, what do you do? Like, you know, wash your car. Like, I'll interview people, and I'm like, let's pull your car up. Let's. I just, on the first interview, because I don't want to tell them that in advance. I'm like, let's go look at your car, right? If they have trash and stuff all over the car, dude, they are not a good fit for our organization. I'm telling you that right now, right? If they got a tidy, clean car, like, that's what I'm looking for, you know? So how you do anything is how you do everything. And I think that applies to every aspect of, you know, when we look at relationally, financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually, right? How, you know, go into every single thing that you do and give it your 100%. You know, too many people are walking around planet Earth given 50% here, 20% here. Like, they're like, they go home, they give their, their spouse their leftovers. They go to their. Their company and they give their employees leftovers. Like, it's just like, then why are you doing anything? Like, just.

[Unknown Host]

They chose to have that position.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And the other thing is, I realize a lot of people don't feel. They don't feel right. Their bodies aren't working anymore, and that's just. They don't want to go to the doctor. They don't want to exercise, they don't.

[Austin Zaback]

They don't want to eat healthy.

[Unknown Host]

And that's just when I see people change that piece where they're on the. Like, whether it's something to do with your estrogen or testosterone levels, or maybe it has something to do with your digestive system. Leaky gut.

[Austin Zaback]

Sure.

[Unknown Host]

But when you get that stuff fixed, especially when you hit 40s and 50s, you find that your time is actually a better effort. Like, you, like, some people are like, well, listen, I don't like to work out. Can you go for a walk?

[Austin Zaback]

Right?

[Unknown Host]

Here's a question. Quick joke. So this guy's in this interview, and he goes, why don't you. Why don't you give me your worst quality? And he goes, well, come to think of it, it's probably that I'm too honest. And he goes, well, I don't really consider that a bad quality. And he goes, well, I don't give a damn what you think. I mean, I say the joke differently, but since we're podcasting, that's actually funny. So, yeah, the advice. How do you decide who you're going to take advice from?

[Austin Zaback]

They have to have what you want in whatever area it is that you're trying to get advice from. What I will say on that, though, very quickly, is that, you know, you don't. 1. A mentor doesn't have to be a mentor. In every area of life, you have to be very careful. I've had a lot of mentors in my life that knew how to make a lot of money, but I would have never gotten relationship advice from them.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Their marriages were. Or their, you know, everything, it was just garbage.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Their friendships, their. Their, you know, or, you know, maybe somebody knows how to make a lot of money, but, you know, they don't have the same faith that you have. It's like, I'm not going to go to you and ask you about scripture from the Bible because, like, that's just not right. And so I think, like, I have different mentors in my life that give. That feed me different things. So, you know, I might have a spiritual mentor, a finding a business mentor. Right. I might have, you know, a physical. Right. Trainer, you know, so I think that's important. Too many people, they go to their trainer and they get fricking relationship advice. And it's like you're talking to a single, like, you know, it's just like, you've got to make sure that when you get advice from somebody that they have exactly what you want to have. If they don't have what you want, why the hell are you taking advice from them?

[Unknown Host]

No, you're right. And a lot of people, like, if you're going to go to a trainer, you want them to have the body maybe you would consider having.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah. If your trainer is 100 pounds overweight, you're probably not going to hire them. I'm sorry, like, you know what I mean? Like, you're not. Why would I hire that guy if he knew how to do what he's telling me how to do, why isn't he doing it right now?

[Unknown Host]

It's smart. And when it comes to marital advice, parenting, there's. I always say success leaves clues. I'm not going to read. I will read books on parenting, but the fact is, I was with a couple recently, Bren and Mark. We were in Jackson Hole, and their kids, they'd run up and give me a hug. They were laughing the whole time. They were very obedient. And Bryn would be like, don't talk like a baby. And like two or four year old. And she'd be like, okay, Mom, I'm sorry. And just very respectful. And I'm like, you guys are gonna give me parenting advice? Because these kids are phenomenal.

[Tommy Mello]

Wow.

[Unknown Host]

And that's what I mean is like, if the kids were crying the whole time and angry, weren't listening, and on their iPad the whole time, I'd be like, probably not gonna listen to these.

[Austin Zaback]

Probably not. Yeah. No. And you can see it, right? Like, that's why I think people are silly when they're like, when they get bad advice or something. Because it's like, it's pretty clear whatever, whatever person you're trying to get advice from, like, if they have what you want or not. For the most part, money might be the only one that maybe somebody could fake, I guess. You know? But other things is pretty hard to fake, right? Like, you're either a man of God or you're not. Like, it's like, if you're at the club every weekend, all the time, 24 7, like, I'm probably not going to come to you for, like, spiritual advice.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

Like, you know, it's pretty clear. Money is the one thing where it's like, I've. You know, there. I don't think you can fake it forever, but there are a lot of fakers out there, unfortunately.

[Unknown Host]

People.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah. Where it's just all leverage and credit cards and debt and whatever. So you got to be a little careful, I think, with the financial one. Like, try to make sure that they have what you want to have, you know, Because I've seen people that look like they. They have what I want. But then when I really get under the hood, I'm like, dude, you don't have what I want at all. Like, you're. You're stressed out. You're like, you know, you spend every dollar you make, like, whatever.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Unknown Host]

I think those people are chasing a lifestyle, and once you reach a certain lifestyle, it's hard to move back. And I see a lot of people, their biggest mistake is the business starts making money and they go, hey, listen. They talk to their wife or husband and they say, we deserve. Yeah, we deserve. We worked hard. We deserve. And that you got to live below your means for a while.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

It's almost like a snowball. You pack it, you put it down the hill. Once it gets big enough, you get to go. Like, I've done a lot of nice things the last couple years, but ultimately, I mean, it wasn't that long ago. I was living in a thousand. I own the apartment complex, but it was a thousand square feet.

[Austin Zaback]

I watched a video of yours the other day where you said you drove for. I don't. I don't remember how many years you can say, but you drove an old. An old vehicle for a long time.

[Unknown Host]

It wasn't important to me.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Unknown Host]

And I. I knew, like, hey, if I put this back into the business, and. And plus, I didn't know what was going to happen because people do look at you a lot differently, and it's. It's a good thing and it's a bad thing.

[Tommy Mello]

Sure.

[Unknown Host]

Because I try to stay super humble. I was in Idaho, and we brought my chef and my driver with me. People were like, and it's Idaho. And they were like, wait, what? And I'm like, it's kind of embarrassing, honestly. But, like, they really help us out a lot. And this allows me to be way more focused at work. Allows me, like, I don't enjoy driving. I don't hate it. I don't cook that well.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Especially the healthy, like cooking with the seed oils and all this stuff. So I got a guy that does it so much better. And he does stuff perfectly, and it's so much easier. People are like, man, it must be easy for you to say. I'm like, go back and live my life before you say that. Everybody wants the views, but no one wants to take the hike.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah, we get awarded for public for the work we did in private, you know, and at the end of the day, any. Any. Any public accolade that anybody's ever received, all they're doing is receiving an award for decades of work that they did behind the curtain that nobody ever saw and that they never got an accolade for. So, yeah, people are silly when they say crap like that, right? It's like anybody that's truly successful put in a lot of years behind the fricking curtain where they didn't. They never got praise. They never got an accolade ever. Anybody. I don't care who it is. I've never, you know, one. Maybe.

[Unknown Host]

Maybe some of the bitcoin kids, maybe.

[Austin Zaback]

But even then, dude, like, didn't they their money? Because their financial thermostat's not where it needs to be. So, like, there's no such thing as fast money. I really believe that. That's why almost every lottery winner, 90%, they go bankrupt, right? Because remember, their financial Thermostat was at 100 grand a year or 60 grand a year. They knew everything about 60 grand a year. Now they have 100 million. They don't. Their thermostat. Didn't. Bob Proctor used to talk a lot about this? Right? Like, your. Your finances will just come to match whatever your thermostat is set at, you know, so. But anyways.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

So with your podcast, I'll tell you when I started my podcast now, this is the eighth year, and I actually used it. I didn't realize when I was starting it, I felt like I had a lot to say of the mistakes. I didn't want to go in there and say, God, look what I did. But what happened is every podcast I'd be able to get, like, I'd have a problem with hr. I go find the number one person in HR in the world. They'd get on the podcast for an hour that they might charge a hundred grand for that they'd be glad to.

[Austin Zaback]

Come on for free.

[Unknown Host]

And I'd get all my questions answered. And people listen to the podcast are like, dude, you. Your questions were like, when you were at 10 million, it was all the questions I had at 10 million.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And then I listened to it, and I got to 30. And you were asking the questions at 30. And yes, the technology's changed a little bit, but overall, it's the same advice. What did you start the podcast for? What are some of the biggest takeaways?

[Austin Zaback]

Dude, you nailed it, bro. I mean, that's literally why I started it, to be frank. I started it very selfishly to do exactly what you just described, Right. It was an excuse to talk to cool people that I wouldn't otherwise be able to talk to.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And then it evolved, you know, and then it became about the other people. It became about, you know, just networking in general, providing value to the people. But, like, it didn't start out that way, you know, And I think it kind of goes hand in hand with, like, being an entrepreneur.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Like every entrepreneur, I always tell young people, you know, you can. It's okay to just want to make a lot of money when you're brand new at entrepreneurship, because I know for a fact it'll change over time. You know, you see so many people that are like, don't do it for that. It's like, no, dude, you can have a goal of making a lot of money.

[Tommy Mello]

Right?

[Austin Zaback]

And I think that goes hand in hand with the other thing too.

[Tommy Mello]

Right?

[Austin Zaback]

It's like, it's okay to be honest and say, hey, I did this for a selfish reason, but then it turned in to a selfless act.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah, Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And that's really what it has done for me as well. Now, you know, I bring. Dude, I connect so many people. I have people that come on my podcast, and I. I'm like, the connector now. Or I try to be.

[Tommy Mello]

Right?

[Austin Zaback]

It's like I'm literally thinking about, who do they need to know? And then as soon as we're done filming, I'll send like, three group texts.

[Unknown Host]

Oh, yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

And I'll be like, dude, you got to meet this guy. Blah, blah, blah. And I'll just provide value, value, value. And I won't ask for anything in return.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And, you know, maybe one day, five, ten years from now, sure, maybe I will make a phone call and ask for a favor.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

But that's not my intention.

[Unknown Host]

No, it's great.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

I love that. I have about five connectors that basically could give me access to anybody.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And I use it only when I really, really need it. Some of them are too big of connectors. Will send me 20 names, and I'm like, just give me the top one.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah, give me.

[Unknown Host]

I really got the specific need. And it's very interesting because when you get that that's so true. When you really start to network and take care of people and ask for nothing in return, it comes back full circle. Zig Ziglar said, you could have anything you want in life if you help enough people get what they want.

[Tommy Mello]

Love that.

[Unknown Host]

And it's so real.

[Austin Zaback]

It is.

[Unknown Host]

What's the most difficult time that you've had to go through in business?

[Austin Zaback]

There's been a lot of difficult times. I think just all the times over the last 11 or 12 years where, you know, you'll have a great year and you really start to think that you're, you know, making it happen or whatever the case might be. And then the next quarter or year or whatever is just garbage, you know, and you go backwards. And the first thing that entrepreneurs do, by the way, is they stop paying themselves.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

It's the first thing that I've. That comes to my mind. If we had a bad month, right? Now, let's just say, hypothetically, the first thing I would do is not pay myself that month. I wouldn't fire like. Like, you know, I might do that the following month if we. If it doesn't improve.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

But the very first thing that I'll do is make. Is I'll be the one to suffer before anybody else suffers.

[Unknown Host]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And I think that's just the natural instinct of a true entrepreneur.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

And so I've had a lot of years like that, you know, it. There was a lot of years where I didn't pay myself a dollar, you know, and I went from, like, making a ton of money to, like, zero again. And then you go back to. It's like a roller coaster, you know, I think people think success is linear, but it really is not linear at all. Right. We've all seen that meme floating around, like. Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Literally, the bridges.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah. And that's the reality of being an entrepreneur. So, I don't know, you know, to name one particular instance, I'm not sure. Probably getting into bad partnerships and stuff, you know, just. It didn't work out. And you gotta, like, start from scratch, get rid of your, you know, like, divorce your business partner, separate everything, go rebuild it all over again. Like hiring the wrong people. Like, I've had a lot of seasons where, you know, you bring in one bad apple and they. And then all of a sudden, next thing you know, you gotta fire, like, 20 people. Cause they've contaminated everything, you know? So, like, those seasons are really hard, Right? Because it's like, you really do feel like in that moment, like you took one step forward, to take five steps backward, you know, and to be frank, you know, you want nothing more than to quit. But you and I both know better than anybody we're not capable of quitting. You know, it's in my DNA to not quit, to not give up.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

I would go sleep in a car, dude. I grew up in a garage. I grew up in my grandpa and grandma's garage, and I ain't afraid to go back.

[Unknown Host]

Yeah. And I think that's the scariest thing of a competitor is somebody that started with nothing is like, hey, what. What's the most you can take, literally?

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

I. I wanted to ask you. So with partnerships, I don't think anything in life is 50, 50. I don't even think marriage is. It's great if he could get to somewhat like 49, 51. But I always think there's. There's give and take in a marriage, and there's other things that you don't even realize they're going through. And same thing with partnerships, but I think it's all in how you define the operating agreement and how you could wind it back. And there's expectations built into it. And I. I don't love lawyers, but they're a necessary evil to do it the right way. I mean, what do you do now when you look for a partner? I mean, obviously you probably vet it. You talked to the last partners and things like that. But how do you make sure you're getting. Look, I did a deal with Cody, and I know he was going to hustle. And we've got meetings on marketing. I got my team helping out a lot. I've not put a ton of effort because, quite frankly, I kind of want them to fail. And few things, I don't want them to fail at all, but I want them to learn the lessons smaller than I had to learn.

[Austin Zaback]

Sure.

[Unknown Host]

And when they're ready for the next level, I'm like, I don't want to pour a ton of bunch of leads when they can't keep up with the ones they got. And there's all these things that happen early in business. It's less than a year old, so they don't mind that. They fall forward. They get back up. This wasn't a big mistake. They come to me when they're ready. They go, we're ready for more leads. We're ready to start the TV buyers, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this. And I've used every contact I have that's. I've Been using my network. When I jump in, give them more time, it's going to be tough for me because they're gonna go, well, we don't want to do that.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And I'm gonna say, well, how much do you want this business? I asked, I, I said, you want a 30 million dollar business? The worth, the net worth of the business. You want a 300 million dollar business? He said 300? I said, that's not gonna happen overnight. We're gonna have to crawl a little bit, then we're gonna walk, then we're gonna sprint. But that type of business is a lot different. 30 million, I could get you there in two years.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And they do trust me and I do have a lot of the mistakes they've made. So it's, it's one of those things where I was okay, moving slower. They don't have these high expectations of me. But I've used the team. I've got a family office with a lot of guys that could do the software side and got the financials to get the reporting and figure out the tax benefits of doing things a certain way. That's somebody that. The missing thing that you'll probably need if you're like me, is the best CFO in the world. If you get the best cfo.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

There's so many crazy things. Accelerated depreciation, things you could do 100 bonus depreciations back. It's a beautiful thing.

[Austin Zaback]

It is a beautiful thing.

[Unknown Host]

I'm not in the jet.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

Yeah. You know, we've got a. What is it? Not net jet, but one of set jet or it's.

[Austin Zaback]

There's a few of them.

[Unknown Host]

Yeah. I forget what it's called, but yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

You know, Sentient.

[Unknown Host]

Not sentient. It's jet links.

[Tommy Mello]

Oh yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And what I've learned is what I don't want.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Unknown Host]

Because they always give us these light jets and I'm, I'm six three.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And I'm like, okay, we're gonna have to get something bigger. And I, by the way, the goal is that I bring my friends, my neighbors, the, the A1, like my, my co workers. I call them a set of employees. I want to bring them with me everywhere.

[Austin Zaback]

I want a little gulf stream.

[Unknown Host]

I do, I think a gulf stream, I think. And like I'm in a perfect world of G6. Those are about.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

50 to 60, brand new, which is a lot of money.

[Austin Zaback]

You can get them used.

[Unknown Host]

Yeah. Probably go used.

[Austin Zaback]

You know, I still.

[Unknown Host]

You can take the guy out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer of the guy.

[Austin Zaback]

Hundred percent.

[Unknown Host]

And I'm not the kind of guy that I need to post at all. You know, we post some of the stuff, but I told everybody I built this house in Idaho because everyone's going to be there.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Family friends and my coworkers and business acquaintances, like, all the time.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

We didn't build this house for me and Bree. It would have been a third, a tenth of the size.

[Austin Zaback]

You get bored.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And I'm the type of guy. I spent my first seven years kind of when my mom and dad got a divorce. After seven, I was alone all the time.

[Austin Zaback]

Sure.

[Unknown Host]

I had my dog Max, my best friend. And I went to a private school, so I didn't have any neighbor friends. And I. That slowly changed. But I'm like, I don't like to be alone anymore.

[Austin Zaback]

I'm with you. I hate it.

[Unknown Host]

I love company. I love entertaining, too. And if you could, I feel like you should.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Austin Zaback]

I agree.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

Yeah. That's why I love having a boat.

[Tommy Mello]

Right?

[Austin Zaback]

Because it's like. A boat is one thing. You get to, like, see the joy of other people when you bring them on your boat. And where do you have a good time? You know, it's like a cool thing, right? It's like, I don't want to be on the boat. The boat. I want seven or eight people on the boat that I can show a good time to, you know, like, seeing them have fun and surf and whatever the case may be is like, why. It's like that same concept, right, of having a cool house. They were where you can entertain and have your team over or whatever, you know.

[Unknown Host]

So you. What is your goal?

[Austin Zaback]

This house in Peoria, Friday, three to five year house. It's not our forever house, you know, but it's. We were living at the Optima for a little while because we had a different house. And then we sold that, moved into the Optima, thinking it would be temporary. Ended up staying there for like three and a half years. And then we were like, okay. We're like, I got sick and tired of the Optima. It's beautiful. We were blessed, don't get me wrong. Definitely the nicest department in the state, you know, But. But we were ready to just, like, we have a dog, and it's just like a pain in the ass after a while, you know? So we got a good deal on this house. We got to, you know, kind of essentially build it almost from the ground up. We got involved when they were like, they'd already poured the foundation and done some of the stuff. And then we got involved. We kind of took over the project, picked everything out, moved some stuff around, you know, but we have a. I have an 1800 square foot garage which is like bigger than anything I've had yet.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

Which is really cool. So enough for some car lifts and stuff like that. You know, I'm a huge car guy. I love cars. I don't own a lot of cars right now, but I've owned a lot of cars in my life.

[Unknown Host]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Just not at one time, but. Yeah. So, you know, stoked for that. And then obviously we're right by the lake, which will be cool. So we can go out. Yeah, you have a slip out there and a lift and everything like that. You get smoker and wi fi and it's cool.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Oh, it's so fun. Bri had a boat that she bought from her grandpa. We just didn't go to Lake Pleasant or not.

[Tommy Mello]

Okay. Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

So Sandpoint, Idaho, and Ponder Lake is.

[Austin Zaback]

Where we're building a boat, which is really. I mean, I. I'd love to eventually have a lake house, you know, in Idaho, like Calan.

[Unknown Host]

I mean, dude, Cordelane's 45 minutes. We spent a lot of time and everybody's from Paradise Valley, but I heard.

[Austin Zaback]

Coeur d', Alene, like now is. It's. It's like too expensive. Like, it, like the prices just went out of control.

[Unknown Host]

So we, we moved 45 minutes to ponderay Lake. It's a bigger lake. It's a. In my opinion, it's a really cool lake. I love going to Coeur d' Alene to go to Gaza, which is the golf course. It's the who's. Who's in Coeur d' Alene if you want to be seen. The Kardashians, Justin Bieber. You know, there's a lot of famous people there and I don't really care for them. I don't. It's not that I don't like them. It's just Mark Wahlberg, that'd be a guy to hang out with. He seems to be a genuine person. But I'm not like the paparazzi. Like, let's go see a couple more questions and we'll. We'll wrap it up. If you could go back in time and give yourself advice at 20 years old, what would it be?

[Austin Zaback]

Believing yourself, probably, you know, just, just and. And don't be too hard on yourself. You know, believe in yourself. Don't beat yourself up. Give yourself grace. Like you know what I mean? Like, be patient. Like, work hard, work your ass off. Like, be. I think there's a difference between being patient and I'm still not good at this, but I still haven't mastered this. And my wife can tell you, but, you know, But I'm better than I was, right? Like, I don't think any entrepreneur is patient. Like, I don't think those two go hand in hand. But I think we can learn the idea of patience and we can do.

[Tommy Mello]

Our very best, right?

[Austin Zaback]

But ultimately, you know, things don't happen overnight and you've gotta. You've got to slow down, enjoy the journey a little bit. It's hard, dude, because guys like us, I mean, I can speak for myself, you know, we tend to just like move the field goal post, right? It's like, oh, I'll celebrate when I get to this thing, you know, and it always changes. And then you immediately get there. The goal immediately changes. You don't celebrate at all. You don't even slow down for five seconds to celebrate, right? You're like, oh, it's being. You like kind of beat yourself up over it. It's like, what. What used to be a goal, now you've achieved that goal. And then in that moment of achieving that goal, I'm actually hard on myself about it, typically, right? It's like, ah, yeah, but I could have. I should have done better. I should. It could have been bigger, it could have been more, you know. So I think that would be my advice, you know, back then, is just like, enjoy the journey, right? Cause like, at the end of the day, we could die tomorrow, right? Like, we don't know what. We're guaranteed to live here, you know, so you gotta enjoy it a little bit. I mean, you gotta. I'm not saying go out and party all the time, but like, slow down, have a beer, go do whatever it is that you want, that a person wants to do. Go to Australia, I don't know. But like, try to enjoy the journey every so often, you know?

[Unknown Host]

Yeah, I guess I enjoyed the journey probably too much this last week. I think a vision board is a great idea for a lot of people, that they could move that, like, make it a magnet board and move it to an achievement and have. What are you going to do to celebrate? What are you winning? Like, even if you get to the body fat you want or you hit a big goal is like, not a big fan of like, hey, let's eat a cheesecake. But, like, do something cool. Yeah, you got to celebrate the Wins.

[Austin Zaback]

I agree.

[Unknown Host]

And celebrate the wins with the team, too. So what about. You know, this is not a pleasant thought. It talks about Stephen Cubby. 7 Habits of Highly successful people. What. What do you want to be known for when at that, the last breath, there's people around you are. Hopefully a lot of family and friends are there to celebrate your life. It's not a fun way to think about things, but it's a great way to reverse engineer who you want to be known for.

[Austin Zaback]

I think it's cliche, but impact, right? Like, what was my contribution to the people around me? You know what. What positive impact did I have on everybody at that funeral? You know what I mean? And. And I want them to party, by the way, so they better say, go outside. Nobody wear black Friday. If I die tomorrow, I want everybody to party, but I want them to celebrate my life. But ultimately, I think that I try every single day of my life to genuinely help people in whatever capacity I possibly can. If somebody calls me and asks me for advice, I'll sit on the phone with them for as long as I have to to make sure that they feel like they got good advice from me. And I just. If I interact with my team, my people, you, anybody, you know, I just. I want to try to leave a positive impact on people.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

It's all about giving, not getting, you know, And I always ask people, like, on Christmas morning, which one feels better, you giving the gift or you getting the gift? And I think everybody can agree which one it is.

[Unknown Host]

Well. Well, I would say it changed when I turned about 12.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

Because I really like getting gifts.

[Austin Zaback]

Well, I think every kid, like, you get what I mean.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

As you get older.

[Unknown Host]

And here's the other thing that I've kind of learned is you ever ask somebody, they call you up and they want all this free advice, but they never do the advice. Dan Martell's like, how much free advice do you take?

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

I'm like, no, when I pay, the.

[Austin Zaback]

More I pay, the better you'll implement.

[Unknown Host]

The more I implement, the more I'm like, I gotta do this. I paid a lot to. To learn this stuff. And I love giving free advice. I just find the same people keep coming back for free advice, and they never move.

[Austin Zaback]

You don't. Don't let them keep coming back. You gotta like, okay, you got to.

[Unknown Host]

Have something to say.

[Austin Zaback]

Look, it's like, hey, did you execute on that last advice I gave you? Like, you almost have to call him on it, right?

[Unknown Host]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

It's like, you know, because you can't do that forever. I mean, at the end of the day, you want to see them win. So they're not winning. I think it's our duty as a mentor to be like, hey, what the hell, bro? Like, I'm going to call you out.

[Unknown Host]

Call them up.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

You know, like, not in a bad way, but, like, hey, I want you to go take action. Like, you need to go execute. Call me once you've executed.

[Unknown Host]

Like, you know, if you had a bunch of free tickets to a real estate show.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

It fill up halfway, you start charging a thousand bucks. People are not canceling that.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

You know what I mean? The more expensive the tickets. I don't think people understand that. Like, why do you charge? Well, I have a team. I need to pay.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And the better the team, the better results you're going to get.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

And by the way, even with my help, Service Freedom Group, I don't take a paycheck. I don't. I don't. I don't even want to. I want to be able to pay my team more and get it better for everybody that's in it.

[Austin Zaback]

Totally.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

I agree.

[Unknown Host]

What if someone wants to reach out to you, Austin? What's the best way to do that?

[Austin Zaback]

Any platform Austin's day back on Instagram, probably Instagram would be the best way.

[Tommy Mello]

Yeah.

[Unknown Host]

But we're a different age because mine's Facebook.

[Austin Zaback]

Facebook's good, too. I'm on YouTube. I'm just at my first and last name on every single platform. There's no weird underscore or anything like that.

[Unknown Host]

Give me one book that's not, you know, the mainstream book that really impacted.

[Austin Zaback]

Your life, probably John C. Maxwell, the Leadership Bible.

[Tommy Mello]

Okay. Yeah.

[Austin Zaback]

Phenomenal book. You know, I think of that book for any entrepreneur, any.

[Unknown Host]

Any.

[Austin Zaback]

Any visionary, anybody trying to build a company. I mean, it literally is like, you have, like, the Bible should be like, if somebody's a person of faith, obviously that's like your number one book. Right. And then your number two book should be, like, the Leadership Bible. It's a big, thick book, and. And there's a lot of value in there. I like John C. Maxwell a lot. He's a really smart dude. And, you know, I mean, obviously they're all good.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

Dale Carnegie's great. Bob Proctor, you know, Jim Rohn, you know, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins.

[Tommy Mello]

Right.

[Austin Zaback]

But I mean, you know, I think that's. That would be my number one book.

[Unknown Host]

And this is the last question I always ask. We talked about a lot of things. And we probably didn't touch on every topic you wanted to hit. So I want you to leave the audience with the final thoughts. Maybe just go take action or whatever it might be.

[Austin Zaback]

Don't be afraid to fail, you know, don't be afraid to fail, right? Like, that's the one thing, man. Like, you got to get out there and execute. We were just talking about executing, right? The people who don't execute are the people who are have analysis paralysis, say, overthink. You see people, they go to every seminar, they go to every event. Like I went to a Joe Dispenza event, right? I'm sitting in the. You get to know some people. It's like a retreat where you do like meditation and stuff. And it's pretty cool. Lewis Howes was there with me and. Or not with me, but he was like in our event and multiple other high level people. And you know, you talk to some of these people and I'm like, how many of these have you been to? You know, they're like, oh, this is my ninth one. I'm like, your ninth one? You didn't learn how to meditate after the first, like, maybe I can be two, three. I mean, like, you know, what do you mean? You're on your ninth one, right? And so you see these people that they just are always learning and never doing right. It's like, dude, I would rather you learn nothing and just go fricking try than you learn. Like, I think we're actually at a point in time in our day and age where there's too much information out there. It's like, turn. At some point you got to turn it off and go execute. That would be my advice.

[Unknown Host]

Such good advice. Austin, it was a pleasure. I will say that I start out all my conferences going. You guys don't want you to take the best notes ever, but don't put it under your pillow for the note fairy to come grant you all your wishes. You gotta actually. Because they take really good notes. I've seen their notes and I'm like, how much of this have you applied at the last three events you were at of my events? So great advice, Great doing a podcast, man. I appreciate you being here.

[Austin Zaback]

I really appreciate you having me on, man.

[Tommy Mello]

Yep.

[Unknown Host]

Thanks, everybody. Oh, and by the way, go leave us a review. If you love this podcast, you gotta ask my favorite three letters. Ask if you love it, share it. Leave a review. If you hate it, keep it to yourself. Hey there. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high performing team like over here at a one Garage Draw service. So if you want to learn the secrets that help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.