← The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From 8th Grade Dropout to Tiny Home Empire: Kyler Kropf’s Roads to 30 Million
00:40:39
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- [00:01]
Commercial Narrator
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
- [00:28]
Kyler Croft
For investors is your takeoff. Let's say I'm building multi family. You're looking at a year to two year process if you're building out the interest payment hitting your bank account every month. So the longer that build takes, the more it's cutting into your investment. If it took you two years to finish a product, what if you couldn't do it in three to six months? How much money would that save you on your bottom line? That is how we're bringing the investors back more money in their pockets because we can get to the properties a lot faster. While you're doing the horizontal, the plum at the septic utilities, we're building the houses. So by the time everybody's done, we bring in, we set up a community in two weeks. So it changes the game on everything.
- [01:12]
Paul Alex
Hey guys, and welcome back to Love All Podcast. My name is Paul Alex and today we have a phenomenal guest. Now you guys know that we interview the best of the best in every single industry in the entrepreneurship world. You know that the level of podcast has to do with self help, providing value, but believing in core values and absolutely just everyday people crushing it. Now today's guest is actually a good friend of mine. We're in the same brotherhood with one of my mentors, Andy Elliott. So known him for quite a quite a few. It's been about a year I think now. So he's absolutely crushing it in this industry that we've never talked about before, guys. And you guys are gonna love this episode, okay? Cause it's about giving back. It's about core values and all this jazz. So we have a powerhouse entrepreneur by the name of Kyler who turned a single shed he bu by the hand at 20 years old. Okay? And he turned this into a multi million dollar company, guys. One of the fastest growing modular and tiny home companies in the US Actually operating across multiple states. Okay, so Kyler's redefining affordable housing with innovation, speed and heart. All right? It's about the vision, guys. So from building cabinets to building dreams, his mission is clear. Transform lives through scalable, beautiful, attainable homes for everyday people. So let's go ahead and dive into this. Welcome to Level Up.
- [02:33]
Kyler Croft
Hey, thank you for having me on the show. I'm super excited. It's going to be good.
- [02:37]
Paul Alex
I'm pumped, man. I'm pumped to dive into your story, brother. So let's dive into it, man. Your origin story. So you built your first home or your first shed, dude, by hand at the age of 20. Okay, so what led you from that one off build to finding your multi million dollar company now? Just expanding, dude.
- [02:57]
Kyler Croft
Yeah, going back. I always grew. I grew up on a farm, dropped out at the eighth grade, and always had a passion and to go out there and create something, make some more money. I was making 250 a week, and I figured out like, what the heck. What. What the heck am I doing with my life, right? And working for a guy out in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The guy didn't pay me for six months, and it just led into different things where it wasn't working out. I came back, I seen the neighbors, had a shed over there. So I said, hey, what if I created this and I sold it to a customer? I said, that might be a good idea. Never had construction background, didn't really know anything about it, but I said, what's. What am I going to lose? Right? Went to Lowe's, bought the materials. Two weeks later, had a shed constructed, found the customer, sold it to him, and I said, hey, I'm. I think I'm on to something, and I think I can change a lot of people's lives by doing this. I know it's going to take a lot of hard work and it's going to take commitment, but I think I've found what my purpose is. I think this is it. And that has led to changing people's lives every single day.
- [04:05]
Paul Alex
Absolutely, man. And that's an amazing story. So let's go into the fine details of that origin story. Dude, what year was this? What year were you. Did you drop out of eighth grade? Was it the same year that you decided to do the shed or. No. Because you were 20. So what year was it when you first built the first shed?
- [04:26]
Kyler Croft
So I was 20. It was 2018, August, when I built the first shed.
- [04:31]
Paul Alex
Okay, so 2018. Right before COVID Right before COVID Wow, that's amazing, man. Did co affect your. Your initial thought process of starting the business, or did you start the business.
- [04:41]
Kyler Croft
Before COVID We started it before COVID but I had. I. I mean, I just. If I start something, I just go all in.
- [04:48]
Paul Alex
And did Covid affect the actual business concept?
- [04:52]
Kyler Croft
You would think that it would affect it negatively, but it actually gave us a 200% growth that year, and we learned to pivot at the right time. So we seen it coming and said, hey, how can we create a product that a lot of people are going to want? So we pivoted and had 200% growth that year, and the business started scaling super fast and faster than we could actually manage it. Because if you drop out of the eighth grade, you don't have the acumen, you don't have the skills to. That you need in order to run a business and a ton of employees. So you've got anywhere from, you know, you're building the product, you're selling it, delivering it, and then you're figuring out how to manage customers and how to still manage making a profit.
- [05:28]
Paul Alex
No, absolutely, man. And let me ask your, your, your environment when you grew up, man, did you grow up with your parents being entrepreneurs or, or, you know, any siblings that were entrepreneurs? How did you have that entrepreneurial spirit? Because not everybody has that, dude.
- [05:49]
Kyler Croft
Right. Ever since I was dropped outta the eighth grade, I was 14 years old, I've always had that entrepreneur spirit. To go out there, make it happen, to want to, you know, run a business, make some more money, to, you know, chase, chase the success. You know, I've seen it out there. I'm like, how can I go get it? So I had parents that grew up, you know, they, they always were entrepreneurs. They always. My dad always had a business, so I learned from him the fundamentals of what does it take to run a business. I've seen him run, you know, a four or five million dollars business a year. So I learned, I just grew up around that.
- [06:19]
Paul Alex
Yeah, no, that's, no, that's great, dude. And you know, I, I have a kid in on the way and it's going to be my first.
- [06:25]
Kyler Croft
Congratulations.
- [06:26]
Paul Alex
Thanks, man. And, you know, it's one of those things that, like, when I grew up, I didn't grow up in like the richest area, dude. I grew up in poverty. And I remember I used to have a group of friends that they would, they would be like, oh, that person's so lucky. You know, they're, well and you know, they got, they're, they're, they're born with a spoon in their mouth. And now as an adult, dude, it's just like, well, that's not a bad thing. It's a good thing that their parents made the right decisions to level up their family's generational wealth. Right?
- [07:01]
Kyler Croft
Absolutely.
- [07:01]
Paul Alex
They were the one, dude. So I want to same thing for my kid. Like, yeah, like, I'm gonna tell My kid, dude, you should be proud. That, right? Yeah. You're, like getting dropped off in a nice car, in a nice neighborhood and you're having solutions, dude. And that's. That's what it should be. So I love that. I love the fact that your parents taught you to be an entrepreneur, dude, because that's the same thing I want to do for my kid. It's a wonderful thing, dude. It's just. I always resonate on that. I always reflect on that, man. So, okay, your company's expanding to multiple states. What states are you guys expanding to?
- [07:32]
Kyler Croft
New Mexico and Arizona, so. And Colorado as well. So I've got investors out there, I've got single family homeowners, and I've serviced some schools out in Colorado that had had trouble bringing housing, affordable housing. So expanding to those states to be able to help, you know, families out there as well, other than the four states that we currently do.
- [07:52]
Paul Alex
And then with your company, what. What's making you guys stand out over the competition? Because obviously, just like with any company, dude. Yeah. You know, you always get, oh, what makes you so special. Right, right. Because I'm pretty sure you have competitors and all that jazz.
- [08:06]
Kyler Croft
Absolutely.
- [08:07]
Paul Alex
What makes you stand out? Do what. What makes people want to do business with you?
- [08:10]
Kyler Croft
Absolutely. You. You know, the. The normal answer would be the quality, the price points, the warranties that I have. But I'm gonna. I'm gonna say that's not it. It's the people that I have inside of my company, the mission and vision that we're all on, which is to bring the affordable dream back into America. And my people are. You know, I had, I always said I had the number one team in the world, and we're going to be the Ritz Carlton of tiny homes. I love that. That's what I preach every single day. And I teach it. I don't just preach it, but I talk it, I live it. And I say, hey, this is the company that we're going to be. We can be like everybody else. We can just build. It's just another home. But what can we do to that family that would make an impact in their families? So they can go tell five other families.
- [08:49]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [08:49]
Kyler Croft
Because of the experience. Because the people. Because when you walk into Saddleburg, I want you to feel a certain way that when you leave, your life was impacted, whether you bought a home or whether you didn't buy. But I made an impact and it was well worth your time.
- [09:02]
Paul Alex
I love that, man. I love that you're. You're leading by example, you want to be the best. You are the best. And you guys are growing massively. So that's. That's wonderful, man. So let's actually talk about the product and the process now, man. You know, here at the level up, we have about 100,000 listeners a day, which is phenomenal, dude. We've been blessed to do that in a little bit over a year and a half. And it's just the concept, dude. Self help, right? Self help, dude. Like, you got to conquer your mindset first before you get into entrepreneurship. And I always tell people that, man. And it's just like, hey, dude, I could show you absolutely everything I've done to be successful, but at the end of the day, if your mind's hitting right, right, dude ain't gonna have you, right? So let's talk about the product and process, man. So you offer tiny homes, modular homes, cabin shells, and custom designs. So walk us through your 4D process, from discovery to delivery. What makes it so seamless?
- [09:53]
Kyler Croft
So the first thing you do when you come into our marketing to our team, you know, we look at. It's our discovery, which we figure out, okay, what is it exactly? What you need? What are your needs? What do you want? And we dictate, you know, the wants versus needs. Once that comes in, we create a product, we create the home for you that fits your budget, that fits the needs that you have, and then we start building it. So we're all one stop shop. So you design, we build it, we deliver it, and we set it up, and we are the ones that hook up your electric everything. So it's a. The simple process is you're not messing with the middle guy. We are directly to the manufacturer where everything happens in house.
- [10:26]
Paul Alex
You're the source.
- [10:27]
Kyler Croft
I'm the source.
- [10:28]
Paul Alex
I love that. The source. And it's in America.
- [10:31]
Kyler Croft
And it's in America.
- [10:32]
Paul Alex
That's what I'm talking about. American made. All right, so you're the source. Where. Where pricing starting for these. For these models, man, For.
- [10:41]
Kyler Croft
For these tiny homes, I've got prices, so I sell a low, medium, high ticket. So I've got products that start at 25,000, which is a shell, you know, if you want a DIY project. So Covid hit DIY projects were very, very popular because of people wanted backyard projects and they want to do their own things. That was very popular then. But my home start anywhere from 65,000. They go all the way to 150,000.
- [11:03]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [11:03]
Kyler Croft
So very affordable. We are anywhere from 130 to $140 per square foot for your homes.
- [11:09]
Paul Alex
That's amazing, man. So with the pre built models costing, you know, starting off at the price point of like 65k, what trade offs or innovations help maintain quality without sky high price tags.
- [11:24]
Kyler Croft
So we have a philosophy that says we don't shop out of convenience, we shop out of price. So when we buy our materials, we were getting materials all over, but we were getting at such a big quantity. So they say, you know the first, when I built the 12 by 16 shed, I went and bought a couple sticks of lumber. At the lumber store. You're going to pay top dollar for this. Then you go to a bundle, then you go to a truckload, then you go to a train load, then you go to a shipload. So how can you get to where you can get pricey for a shipload? Well, you can solve a lot of people's problems, so you got to go get a lot of customers. So when you get a lot of customers, you can drive everybody's prices down for their lumber. So not just your house is going to be at an affordable price. All the other people that buy on a monthly basis, their homes are going to be the same price. So that's the one thing that we figured out with, with AI that's coming in that helps us purchase from all over the world, that sees where the best prices are and then we just, we got a good team.
- [12:15]
Paul Alex
Yeah, phenomenal, man, Phenomenal. And I'm pretty sure, I mean you're, you're, you're such a great leader, dude. So I'm pretty sure you're delegating, right? You got people building relationships, your network is just growing massively and now you're bringing in more investors. So let's say for example, I mean we get clients here, dude. Like I just had somebody that's doing like a massive global AI security camera company that's helped like schools prevent school shooters. And that dude's all over the world hedge fund, like the guy that started like 21 years old right before you today, dude, that's doing like content creation, right? So it's like we vary, we don't have one dish audience. It's amazing, dude. So for the investors that listen to this dude, how can they invest with you?
- [13:01]
Kyler Croft
They can invest by, we're doing communities where we're bringing in these tiny homes and setting up communities for the affordable market. Like so a lot of workers that come into small towns, you can't get housing in there. So what happens is for investors is Your takeoff. So we're seeing all across the world that it, you know, let's say I'm building multifamily. You're looking at a year to two year process. But if, and that's if you're building out that interest payment, it's hitting your bank account every month. So the longer that build takes, the more it's cutting into your investment. So what I've figured out is when you have the horizontal and vertical can be done at the same time. You can get to the renter a lot faster. So let's just say if it took you two years to finish a product, to get it all done, get it rented out, or get it sold, what if you could do it in three to six months, how much money would that save you for the investor? And for the investors, the capital groups that are investing, how much money would that save you on your bottom line? Yeah, that is how we're bringing the investors back more money in their pockets because we can get to the properties a lot faster by building in the factory. Doesn't matter if it's raining, snowing, sleet, doesn't matter. We're building five, six days a week. And we can have your product to your property while you're doing the horizontal, the plummet, the septic utilities, we're building the houses. So by the time everybody's done, we bring in, we set up a community in two weeks. So it changes the game on everything.
- [14:20]
Paul Alex
Wow. So basically the saying that I like to say especially for my sales team, speed, delete, speed, delete, dude.
- [14:27]
Kyler Croft
Speed, delete.
- [14:28]
Paul Alex
I love that success. Love speed, my friend. All right, so, well, absolutely. Let's talk about your business model and how you're scaling it. Okay. Your lifetime warranty and financing options are awesome, dude, they're bold. How do you balance risk and customers trust while scaling so fast? Right, because some people might see it, that's like, oh, man. Like, that's sort of crazy what he's doing. But how do you balance the risk and customer trust while scaling?
- [14:57]
Kyler Croft
It's all about the product that you build. So if I do everything in house, I know how long the customer is going to keep their house. So average customer keeps their home five to seven years. So if you do a lifetime warranty, you're really looking at how many customers are actually going to keep the home for the 40 years. Right. And most times your products, like what I'm covering is covered by the manufacturers. I've got deals that are covered on that side. So when you have trust in Your clients, when you have trust in your product, I believe that the risk isn't that as much as people would think it is.
- [15:27]
Paul Alex
It's not as risky. Right, right. Because you know your product, you know the process, you know your quality.
- [15:33]
Kyler Croft
Absolutely.
- [15:34]
Paul Alex
Yeah. No, I love, I love the level of conviction, dude. That's what people buy, right? They're the buying your level of conviction do. Especially when you got the founder and the company on the podcast saying like, yo, our quality is the best.
- [15:45]
Kyler Croft
Right?
- [15:45]
Paul Alex
Or make it happen. That's what it's about, man. So from 509 units delivered in 2021 to 654 in 2022, what systems and team structures enabled that growth, man? Because that's massive growth. But you know, in the very beginning of the podcast, you said you were at a little bit over a hundred and such employees now, correct?
- [16:09]
Kyler Croft
109 employees.
- [16:09]
Paul Alex
109 employees. So what systems and team structures enabled that growth, man?
- [16:15]
Kyler Croft
Systems and processes.
- [16:17]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [16:18]
Kyler Croft
509 units. I remember that year down to the day, year, week, month. That year was six days a week, 18 hour days, figuring it out, delivering. So I delivered every one of those houses. So I was in the truck delivering it. I was in making sure lumber got there for the builders. At that time we had about 50 people. Covid was going crazy. We had people. I mean, if someone showed up to and if I had the product there, they would buy, like guaranteed buy. But the qu. The. The thing is, we had no systems. We had some systems that were broken, but we had really didn't have any systems. So we really didn't know how if we were actually making any money that year. We grew so fast that we were on the verge of bankruptcy because we didn't actually know if we were making any money. We were just growing so fast that the systems and processes were not in place to actually handle that amount of growth.
- [17:08]
Paul Alex
Right.
- [17:08]
Kyler Croft
It all came down to people and systems and processes. And I learned that year that if you don't. If you don't grow the right way, it can actually take your company down. So if you grow too fast, it actually can hurt you because more is not better if you have, if you don't have the right systems that are going to take on the growth that you're about to get.
- [17:27]
Paul Alex
Correct.
- [17:27]
Kyler Croft
So I like to be prepared and I have to like, okay, if I do 50 million, what are the systems and processes that I'm going to need? Who are the people that I need in place and the leaders that I need to delegate these things to? And what's our growth strategy that we're going forward and now with the systems process, everything that I've learned, we've came over that I believe. You know, I give God all the credit. I get him going on. I'm a big faith guy. Yeah, same. I learned, I learned a lot from that. It was. Yeah. I think when you hit rock bottom, you figure out a place that, you know, God is the rock at the bottom and there's no way but up. And I remember that story because three years before that, and I don't kind of know that this is the reason why I got there, a guy told me that you'll never make it. He said by year three, you're going to fail and you're going to go bankrupt. And I remember that.
- [18:16]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [18:17]
Kyler Croft
And I'm like, I remember we were sitting in a with the bankruptcy lawyers and we're not going bankrupt. We're going to figure this thing out. We're going to get out of this whole. Because we have a lot of customers to serve. We've got a mission, a vision, and I love what I do. We're going to get ourselves out. We climbed ourselves out and ever since we've been profitable, we've been serving a lot of customers. We pivoted into the tiny home, the modular space, so not the sheds anymore. And that has extremely helped us out in where I'm taking this company.
- [18:50]
Paul Alex
And is it because of higher net profit margins? Is the reason why you made that pivot because the sheds weren't as profitable as the modular projects that you guys were doing?
- [19:01]
Kyler Croft
I seen a shift in the market after Covid hit. There were so many sheds that were sold that in 2024, I knew that the sheds were not going to be as popular as the affordable housing. So I seen the. Where housing was going through. Covid prices were going. I mean, if you, if you're in Florida, Texas. Yeah, housing prices, I mean, I had, I had 26 rentals at that time that I bought myself all over Arkansas, Texas, and I gained so much equity overnight that I'm like, this is not natural growth. Like, what the heck is going on? I need to get in housing so I can actually serve the, the people that want an affordable house.
- [19:35]
Paul Alex
Right.
- [19:36]
Kyler Croft
How can I do that? How can I solve that problem? I just see the problem and I pivoted. I said, hey, what do we need to do to make this shift?
- [19:41]
Paul Alex
So you hyper focus to fill in the void and came out successful out of it. That's fire, dude. Yeah, I love that okay, so tiny homes often get criticized as impractical. How do you convince families that a 384 to 500 square foot space can be a full time, comfortable home?
- [20:05]
Kyler Croft
It's about what you do with the space that you have. A lot of people, you know, if you have a 3,000 square foot home, 4,000 square foot home, how much of that space do you actually use? So our clients are 40 to 60 years old that buy our tiny homes. They are downsizing. They're tired of, you know, the kids all moved out. They, they're not home anymore. So you're really looking at the quality of life versus having a big house and you have to clean it and all this. The people that are buying these, they want time with their grandkids, they want to spend time with the family. They have more things that are more important to them. So when you're talking about 384 to 500 square feet, we've actually created a product where we can go up to 1200 square feet. For the people that don't like the small stuff, we can actually go up to 1200 square feet in one piece and deliver it down the road and all in house. So we've created a product for both. You know, I do a one bed, one bath, all the way up to a three bed, two bath.
- [20:58]
Paul Alex
That's awesome.
- [20:59]
Kyler Croft
I'm solving problems from the tiny home to the modular space.
- [21:02]
Paul Alex
And then for the 1200 square feet, if you don't mind me asking for myself, like, what is the pricing around that? Like, just vaguely.
- [21:09]
Kyler Croft
That price is around 169,000 for a three bed. Too bad.
- [21:12]
Paul Alex
That's not bad.
- [21:13]
Kyler Croft
Brand new.
- [21:13]
Paul Alex
That's not bad at all. Wow, that's awesome. I love that. Okay, so this is the level of podcast, so we always like to talk about people's success.
- [21:24]
Commercial Narrator
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- [21:54]
Kyler Croft
Absolutely. I love that. I love that.
- [21:57]
Paul Alex
Can you share a standout story where your company changed someone's life? Okay, maybe a retiree finding peace. You were just talking about your avatar Currently, who are looking to downsize, typically because they want to enjoy more out of Life, hey, I could resonate with that, dude. I just moved to Puerto Rico three months ago, and, you know, you hit it right on the target, dude. 5000 square feet here in Miami, probably 1600 square feet over there. But my quality of life is so much better.
- [22:27]
Kyler Croft
It's absolutely.
- [22:28]
Paul Alex
Yeah, right. Brought it back. So. Yeah. Or a family finally being able to afford a home. Because I know, you know, dude, inflation's through the roof. Like, inflation through the roof. People can't afford it. They're scared. They're like, dude, we're never gonna be able to find a home. They just. I think there was a new study that came out. Now. People in their 20s, you know, before their parents were able to afford a house, look forward to buying a house. And now people can't afford a house till, like, their 30s, 40s, or whatnot. So what story would you have that stands out out of the rest?
- [22:55]
Kyler Croft
I had a customer that. This was about a year ago, her house burned down. She lost everything. She lost everything in the house. And she thought that we were a company, that. That was the most expensive company. We're not the cheapest, but I, you know, I believe in a product. She thought that we were the most expensive. She just didn't think of the option. But someone told her, hey, go check them out. We actually helped her get into two houses. Two of the. It was 384 square feet. Completely changed her life. I brought her on the podcast, and she was telling us the story of how we made her feel. I think that's the biggest thing is I don't. I go to my team and I say, hey, there's too many people out there in the world that if. If I tried to go change everybody, I can't. But if I teach you guys how to take care of our customers, how can we make a. Even a bigger impact? So I brought her in, and she was in tears because it completely changed her and her family's life because of the product that we were able to deliver at the speed, because our house burned down. And within two months, we got our house and so speedily. No speed, but we got her exactly what she want at an affordable rate.
- [23:56]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [23:57]
Kyler Croft
So.
- [23:57]
Paul Alex
And. And that's life changing, especially for. For her life and what she's been through. Right. Some trauma. So let me ask you, dude, what is your why. Why do you do all this? Because there's. There's. You know, I ask entrepreneurs this all the time, and I always tell people this. My why changed so many times from, you know, seven years Ago when I first got serious about entrepreneurship until now, you know, now I have a kid in the way, right?
- [24:19]
Kyler Croft
Your why is shifting.
- [24:20]
Paul Alex
It's shifting. It's gonna. It shifts, I feel like almost every year, dude. So what's your way currently right now?
- [24:27]
Kyler Croft
I go back to when I first started this company. My why was completely different. I grew up not. Not have. I had money, my parents had money, but I was like, always wanted money. And I, I thought that chasing money was my why. I thought that getting out there, chasing that success was actually going to be my why. But actually what I realized was my why is how I can make an impact in my team's. Team's quality of life and how I can make an impact in my customers. And when that shifted, something shifted in my business that started attracting the right people in my business. My leader started shift changing, my employees started changing and I started. The success started coming back to me. And I said, you know, I was making a video in the car and I said, you know, I'm super excited to be back home with my team. I love my team. I love the impact that we're making. We have a slack channel that we. That we're on every day. I see the wins in there. And honestly, Alex, like, if I could. Paul, if I could take. If you, if you'd asked me, like, do you want the cars? Do you want the house? Do you want any of that? I don't. It's about the people that I come in contact with that I can make a change in their life. I love seeing their wins. I love seeing their change in life. Hey, you changed my life today. Hey, you changed my perspective on this. Hey, I seen you do this. And it could like, you changed my life. That is the reason I get up every day is for my team and for my family and for the impact that Saddlebrook is making in. In the world.
- [25:49]
Paul Alex
Yeah, dude, impact. You're from. From. From what I'm hearing right now, you're a servant leader, dude. And that's. That's honorable, bro. That's good for you, man. Like, I, I love that and I agree. Same thing, dude. You know, like back in 2021 was one of the. The best years of entrepreneurship for me. And dude, I'm going to tell you something. I bought all the nice toys, all the stuff, and I'm like, I made it, right?
- [26:12]
Kyler Croft
Right?
- [26:12]
Paul Alex
And then depression hit me, dude. I was just like, bro, why do I feel so empty, right? And then that's when I shifted my mindset into like being more Purpose driven with people's results. And that's why we always have a saying here at, you know, my, my organizations is your success, is our success. And it's true, dude, because without the people, without the culture, without the belief, the vision, dude, majority of people do not stay out of company for long, bro. They don't. And, and right now, if you're a CEO, a founder or a leader, and you're trying to really dominate as a leader in your organization, you will find this out very quickly. Because I've met, you know, business owners that treat their employees like they're just managers. And you can't be a manager. No, you gotta lead them, dude. You gotta beat the example that they want to be. Right? It's 100%, man. I like it. We have a lot in common, brother. So let's talk about some challenges, okay? Because entrepreneurship, there's challenges every day. Hey, there's always buyers.
- [27:15]
Kyler Croft
But where it's not all, it's not always perfect every day, dude.
- [27:18]
Paul Alex
No, I mean, I think 90% of the time it's just figuring it out. Right? Absolutely driven. That's it. Solution driven. So guys, we're going to talk about these challenges that we faced here. Okay? So with the housing industry having tight margins and complex logistics, okay, what have been the toughest hurdles? Building out, manufacturing and delivering these tiny homes.
- [27:45]
Kyler Croft
Speed and quality.
- [27:46]
Paul Alex
Speed and quality.
- [27:47]
Kyler Croft
Getting enough volume, okay. Getting a home out fast enough. So if you got, let's say at the time, I think right now we were 62 homes behind. So if you can build one right now it takes us about 15 to 22 days to get a house built from, you know, start to begin. We want to get that down to a nine day process to where when we start it, every day we build a home. So speed, getting the speed and gets, keeping the same quality. That's some of the biggest challenges we face. Because if you're faster but keep the quality, you can get the prices down. So if your takes you longer then your fixed costs, you know, fixed costs stay the same.
- [28:24]
Paul Alex
No, absolutely. And right now, so you guys are at a nine day window. Okay. What is your goal for the future? Are you trying to get it in even less than that, plus less. Like what is your goal? Let's say within the next year?
- [28:39]
Kyler Croft
I think you can build a house in 48 hours. That's. We can have 48 hours inside of a house with the right processes. Yeah. Wow. Because I've seen it like you can, you can build a house if you have the right processes. The right systems, and if it's not too custom, I guarantee you can build a house. That's. I'm gonna keep that goal because I know that it can be done, dude.
- [28:58]
Paul Alex
I love that. Yeah, I love that you have the vision for it.
- [28:59]
Kyler Croft
You.
- [29:00]
Paul Alex
You know that it could be done. You make it happen, brother.
- [29:02]
Kyler Croft
And I can save a lot of customers a lot of. A lot of money because if I can get it faster and if I can clean up my process, it's always about, you know, Elon says, hey, take a. Take a process every time you, you know, don't add. Take out. How do you make the process faster? Yeah, so.
- [29:15]
Paul Alex
No, absolutely.
- [29:16]
Kyler Croft
That's my mission.
- [29:17]
Paul Alex
Yeah, no, that's. That's great, man. And I'm pretty sure a lot of people are going to hear this. They're going to be like, oh, man, that's.
- [29:22]
Kyler Croft
Yeah, yeah, awesome.
- [29:24]
Paul Alex
So, okay, so let's talk about your future growth and legacy. Okay. I always talk about legacy being bloodline breaker. Got that from Andy. You're really in multiple states, dude. What is your three to five year plan right now? Are you thinking about new regions, bigger modular units, or adding more services?
- [29:48]
Kyler Croft
We offer different services already, but the future plan is to have multiple locations where I have my manufacturing so I can cut down on cost and logistics.
- [29:58]
Paul Alex
Okay.
- [29:58]
Kyler Croft
So that's my future, is to have five. Five more manufacturers. So we build 67,000 square feet of manufacturing at each location.
- [30:06]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [30:06]
Kyler Croft
So we can get that speed and keep the inventory in house.
- [30:09]
Paul Alex
Any specific states that. That you guys are thinking of actually station those manufacturing factories.
- [30:15]
Kyler Croft
I need one in Colorado. I need one in Arizona. I need one. I need two more in Texas.
- [30:19]
Paul Alex
Wow.
- [30:19]
Kyler Croft
Okay.
- [30:20]
Paul Alex
Okay, that's good, man. All right, so let's talk about building dreams, transforming lives. Okay.
- [30:27]
Kyler Croft
I love it.
- [30:27]
Paul Alex
All right. How does the broader mission, building dreams, transforming lives, influence your leadership, your hiring and community involvement?
- [30:37]
Kyler Croft
I say I take that and I turn it around to building teams and transforming lives. I believe it starts with the team, but before that, it starts with you. It starts with you as a leader. Two years ago, when we met, we both met Andy and we got in the. You know, we're both in the brotherhood that can. When Evan came down, he completely shifted the way that we did business, how we did sales and everything. And I believe it comes down to how, if you want to grow, it comes down to having a team. You can't absolutely. You can't serve at a high level that I want to. If you don't have a team that is executing and has the same mission and drive as you do. And I quickly realized that if I'm not a leader that makes, that creates that example, why are the people going to do more than if I'm not willing to actually go out there and do it? So starting the year, we had six executives, and both, all six of those are not with us anymore. And we made a decision that we're going to build the team the right way. We want to add culture, values, and we have core values. But it starts with, again, it starts with a leader. You have to be that example first before someone else is going to, you know, step into the foot, you know, that you're doing. Absolutely. And I believe in my team. I believe in teaching them, teaching them how to fish versus showing, actually giving them a fish. So I have leaders now that I'm, that are 25, they're 30, that I am teaching them, hey, this is why you make this decision. This is how we, you know, go into these, these areas. So building dreams, building teams and transforming lives starts with the people inside the business that can go and make an impact outside. So how do I go from 107 people to a thousand people that reach 10,000 people? I want to reach the people inside of my company to say, hey, we're on a mission to make an impact in the world. But for me, I want to make an impact inside of my company because I'm building people, not companies.
- [32:25]
Paul Alex
That's powerful, man.
- [32:26]
Kyler Croft
I'm building the people inside the company because they're the ones that are going to take that vision that I have and go and spread that mission. That is the whole goal. God, you know, God has called me to step out and to be in, be bold. I love what I do, and I'm teaching the team that you got to think bigger. It all comes down how you think and how. What kind of mindset do you have? If you think that you can't do it, then you can't. I'm an 8th grade dropout, 26 years old. 26 years old, 107 employees, big company. You could say. Lot to be proud of.
- [33:00]
Paul Alex
Yep.
- [33:01]
Kyler Croft
But I still, every single day, how can I make an impact inside of, inside of my company? Because they're the ones that are coming in contact with my, my customers. Yeah, we sold a ton today and I never came in contact, but they did. And they made an impact.
- [33:15]
Paul Alex
Absolutely, man.
- [33:15]
Kyler Croft
I'm here to create legacy. So I'm, I'm, I just have a big vision. I have a big mission and I have a Conviction that I can go. I can serve people across the world, whether you're, you know, watching me from a screen, whether you're in person, that I. I'm going to make an impact inside of your life somehow, some way that is. God just gave me the tiny homes, but I believe that there's a. There's a bigger story here that. That he's showing me right now.
- [33:39]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [33:40]
Kyler Croft
It just so happens that I'm selling tiny homes, and I'm. I'm changing people's lives through that.
- [33:44]
Paul Alex
You know, I like exactly how you get down, dude. And. And the reason why I say that is because when I first started getting really serious about entrepreneurship, back when I was a detective in the city of Oakland in California, dude, I told myself, I was like, you know what, dude? I. I did this one business, but I want to be known for just this one business. Like, this is just going to be the beginning of entrepreneurship for me, right? Where, you know, I want to go ahead, show that I could do it, and then once I accomplish it, cool. Move on to the next.
- [34:14]
Kyler Croft
Right?
- [34:15]
Paul Alex
So I feel like for people that do this for the love of the game, because that's where I think you're at, dude.
- [34:20]
Kyler Croft
You're. You're.
- [34:21]
Paul Alex
You're. You love the game. The game is the fulfillment of helping others. And some of the greatest entrepreneurs that I've seen, dude, they. They have that. They have that. They just love doing it. You know, once somebody asked me, like, hey, what do you. What do you. What do you like to do in all your spare time? What do you mean, bro? Like, it's a vacation every day. Like, I love entrepreneurship. I love what I do, right? Like, why would I want to break from it, right? And people are like, oh, this. You know, you need balance. What are you talking about? We help so many people. You know, it's like an addiction to it, and a good addiction, but no, that's. That's awesome, dude. That's. That's great. All right, so let's go ahead and talk about the last. Last thing that I ask every single guest that comes here on the level of podcast. And it's. It's one of the most important questions that we ask here, dude. It's. What would you tell yourself back when you were 20 years old, when you were building that first shed? Dude, okay, just. Just imagine if you could see yourself back when you were 27 years ago, and you're right now, you can reach out to him and be like, yo, this is what you need to focus on motivation. Mindset, discipline, grit. Don't worry about X, Y and Z. Don't worry about the people. What would you tell them?
- [35:40]
Kyler Croft
Four words, Just go do it. You've got to be at some point where you got to choose. It's either one day or day one. And that day one is the decision that you, that you know, God gives you a calling. God has something on your heart that says, hey, you go do that. Four words, just go do it. Don't quit. If I were to looked at that 20 year old and said, hey, it's not possible, everybody's going to tell you that it's not possible. Everybody's going to tell you the doubts, the fears that's going to come in your mind. But that's not true. If you have a mindset, if your mind is set on that mission and you just don't, you just decide not to quit, you will do it and you will accomplish everything that you've dreamed of. Is it going to get challenging? Absolutely. Is it going to get hard? Absolutely. But that is where God prepares you because of where he's about to take you. And when he takes you there, you can steward with what he's about to give you. I'm a 26 year old and I've learned so many things throughout the years and if I would have told you that I didn't like going through the hard times and. But it's actually the things that taught me, entrepreneurship, business owners, leadership, how to steward with what he's giving me now. Yeah, just go do it and don't quit.
- [36:47]
Paul Alex
You have to go through the experiences in order to learn and then you take those lessons and you just duplicate it, man. You create other leaders. So I love.
- [36:55]
Kyler Croft
Absolutely.
- [36:56]
Paul Alex
And guys, that's the level up. I love that, dude.
- [36:59]
Kyler Croft
Level up, level up.
- [37:00]
Paul Alex
So where can they find you? Where can they find your company? Where can they go ahead and do business with you? Do when? Where can they go ahead and you, bro?
- [37:08]
Kyler Croft
Yeah, go to. So we're on YouTube, Saddlebrook Life and we have a tiny home podcast. We talk about our tiny homes, we talk about our products, we talk about the mission that we're on, the vision. You can find us on all platforms. Tik Tok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, @ Saddlebrook Life. That is where all our products are. And you can find me at Instagram, TikTok official, Kyler Croft. If you want to know more about me, get, get close to me, figure out what we're doing and be a part of it.
- [37:33]
Paul Alex
Yeah, I love it. I love it. And guys, there you have it. Kyler crushing it with the tiny homes industry. Guys, look out for him. He's going to be dominating the industry. Guys, guys, make sure to leave a five star review on Spotify Apple and make sure to actually go ahead and subscribe to our YouTube channel as well. We freshly just started that YouTube channel just a couple months ago but we are currently number one in business on Apple podcast and also top 25 and all categories. Guys, where you're trying to get to Rogan Rogan, what's up? Let me jump on the pot. But with that being said, guys, if you guys like this episode, you find Collar's story inspiring. Share with a friend, family member, someone you care about, somebody who's looking for a tiny home, right? Somebody who's saying man, housing is so expensive. Well there you go. We just gave you a solution. With that being said, guys, my name is Paul Alex. We'll catch you on the next one.