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Eric Triplett
Welcome to the Deep End with Eric Triplett, the pond digger. This is the show for contractors, tradesmen, and entrepreneurs who want more from their business and from themselves. Eric brings decades of experience as a seven figure contractor with expertise in leadership, sales systems, and the discipline it takes to build something real. Shaped by years in the aquatics world, his insights are rooted in precision, craftsmanship, and performance. If you're done skimming the surface and ready to go deeper, it's time to dive in.
Let's go, rockstars. What's up? It's Triplet here. We're gonna talk about something uncomfortable and awkward. A moment that I believe every leader is gonna come across at least once in their career. Sometimes, if you're lucky, I would say you're gonna come across this multiple times. And these are moments when you look a little crazy or drunk or even on drugs, you look wacko. But it's the moment when you realize if anything is going to change, you're going to have to be the one who goes first. And not when it's popular or when it's safe. And definitely not when everyone agrees on this first going first. There was this music festival back in the early 2000s. This moment where it captures this perfectly. And it's. I wouldn't say it completely changed the way I think about leadership and culture, but, you know, it definitely twisted my mind a little bit about creating momentum, you know, behind your mission or behind an inside of your team. And that's what we're going to break down today. Because if you're trying to build anything, a company, a crew, the culture, a life, you will be faced with this moment. A moment where most people hesitate, but the few who do not start these big movements. Welcome back to the Deep End. All right, we got weekly compass198, and this one's interesting to me, man, I gotta tell you guys, I'm recovering from a cold right now. I feel pretty good. Okay, today. But at the same time, the one I want to talk about today could get a little emotional. I just want to let you know, it's called Dancing Alone. And I think it's about leadership, but it's also about courage. I think it's also about the audacity. And I think it's about starting movements. And movements don't start by consensus. Movements don't start by everyone agreeing. Okay, let's go. Like, usually a movement is started by someone who's willing to sacrifice who they look like they sacrifice, willing to look stupid. And something hit me really hard. I got this Video, and you know how I am. I hear a song, and it hits me for business. I see a video, it hits me for business. Everything just kind of revolves back to that. But there's this music festival, and I don't know the festival. I wish I could figure it out. I'll have to look a little bit deeper. But it's around 2009 era, and, you know, you're on a grass hill now. This is 2009. There's not a lot of. You know, not everyone's got an iPhone filming things like that, right? So you think back to 2009, there's this festival going on, and someone's recording up on the grass hill. I don't know if you've ever been to Devore. Out. Out here in Southern California, there's a place called Devore. And you would go there and you'd go. You'd get lawn seats, and they'd be like six or eight dollars, and you'd be way up, you know, above all the seats that. All the seats in the whole stadium would be there, and then there'd be the lawn up there. And it was a really cool place to just get up there and watch a show, you know, be really inexpensive. And you'd go up there and hang out and just party with your friends, right? So it was. It's like the lawn effect, right? But in 2009, wherever this. Wherever this show was, it was big event, big crowd, music's playing. And this one guy, he's goes down in this one section, he's all by himself, and he's just dancing like a complete fool. He's dancing like no one watch. No one's watching. You know the old saying, dance like no one's watching. Well, this. This guy's doing that. And he looks insane. I mean, the. The. The. The worst dancing you could imagine in your life. Just flailing his arms around. You're like. When you first see him dancing like this, you're like, this guy is an idiot. He's completely drunk. You're almost annoyed. You're almost annoyed by how ridiculous he looks. Out of control, right? This one guy dancing all by himself, wild, uncoordinated, you know, just a complete fool. And while you're looking at him, you almost feel embarrassed for him, right? He keeps doing it anyways. And then you think about this. Is this leadership in its rawest form, or is it some crazy guy just out there, right? But what happens next is fascinating because he's dancing alone for like a minute or something, a long time you know, you figure you'd go up and dance like a fool for a minute and then get tired and quit, right? But no, this guy's having a great time, but after a while, a second guy walks down there and starts dancing with him and they're like high fiving suddenly, like, oh, finally someone else is going to come and dance with me. They're high fiving and then like they almost. They hold hands for a second and they spin around and like, it's like, wow, this is weird, right? But something shifts when that second guy comes in there, okay? Because it's no longer just a drunk idiot dancing. It's two people having fun. Or is it two drunk idiots dancing? You know, I don't know. But the, the movement shifts at that moment. And then these two guys are dancing alone for, you know, what seems to be a long time, but then it happens. A third person joins, then a fifth person, and then 10 people are dancing. And within minutes, the entire hillside is, is just like shaking. Like, imagine an earthquake. As everyone's dancing, you see people running to get to the dance. I want to call it a dance floor, but it's a dance lawn. People are running to get there so they can be involved in it. Hundreds of people, full blown movement. It's like probably, I mean, I imagine everyone who was at that event remembers this moment. But the truth that nobody talks about is the movement existed because that one person had the courage to dance alone at first. And I feel like that often because of business. As a leader, you know, you have to go out there and you have to believe in yourself. You have to believe in the movement, in the message that you want to put out there, and the goals that you want to accomplish. As a business leader, leadership can be incredibly lonely. And you want so badly for people to jump in and get running with you, but you can't get upset because they don't, they don't believe it yet. They, you know, they just think you're audacious. They think you, you know, it's, it's all courage, right? And it happens throughout our career. Every time we raise our standards, every time we change our culture, every time we implement new systems and we demand more professionalism, we start showing up differently. It's, it's, it can be an ongoing thing that we do all the time. You look too intense, you talk, you know, like you're going to look like you're talking too much, like, will you be the only one dancing? And I think it's going to happen over and over. In our careers. You know, I think it's normal, and I think it's what's required for us to become the better version of ourselves each and every time. The second dancer is what changed everything. When you can get the. When you can get that next person to jump in and believe in you. And sometimes you see it in their eyes, and sometimes you see it in their. The way they walk in. You know, like, remember, like, after a couple of minutes, people were running. I will post this video. I will post this video later on in the. In the contractor circle. In the contractor power circle. I'll post it in there for you. See it when you see people running to it. Because in the beginning, people are like, oh, my God, I got to get away from this guy. He looks like an idiot. I want to separate myself from these people. I want to get a little bit farther away from him, because in the beginning when he was dancing, you know, there was just a small area, and so he's dancing by himself, and the people around him kind of wanted to move away, right? Because they didn't want to be associated with him. And then people were running to him. It's the second dancer that changed everything. The movement begins with someone joins you. And we have to be able to, as leaders and as business owners to be able to have enough courage and audacity. My wife or. My wife and I are bickering about this word right now. I love the word audacity. I love being audacious. But it can have a negative connotation, right? But, like, you have to be. You have to have enough courage to go out there and do that. And in your business. I just. I look back at my career. I'm going on three decades in this business. You know, the more I think about it, I'm like, oh, is it 25 years? Like, it is pushing into the third decade? And so it's like, I look back in my career, and there's all these particular moments that I went on in my career that I had to go out there and dance alone. And I just released a podcast today. It's called Jump the Shark, because, you know, as people that are out that see us in our own box, and we start to step outside that box to dance alone to the next level, then people get nervous about it, and they don't. They think you've kind of gone crazy. And that podcast that we dropped today meant a lot to me. And when someone told me that I jumped the shark, I didn't even know what it meant. And I Thought, well, I gotta figure this out. And at first I wasn't even mad. I was just like, okay, this is public perception on my, My next step, my next move. I'm out here dancing alone. And people, they feel uncomfortable by it.
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I think the culture of our businesses as leaders that we have, I think it, the, the culture spreads and gets bigger because of the courage that we put out there to get better, right? So movements, movements have to be built intentionally by the leader. And even though it can be lonely and, and like, for me, I'm an eight. Personal. My, as my personality type, I get upset if someone's not going as hard as me. It's my, it's just in my DNA, you know, And I, and I look back at my career before I knew I was an 8 and I would make harsh decisions on other people because they weren't pushing as hard as me. And it's because the way I'm built and I, I'm so much better at understanding this because I know who I am now. But these movements are built through our behaviors. People don't really follow instructions because, like, there was no instruction for this guy. He just did his movement and people followed what they saw. And at first, people were pulling away, and at the end they were running to him. And you guys, as business leaders, I, I'm sure you, I'm sure people, you're leading people and people are running to you. People want to be around you. Sometimes it takes longer for others. You know it. And here's the thing. Sometimes when you start off as leader, you do this dance alone. People come running to you. And then when you have to Go to the next step and you have to try and expand. Sometimes you get upset because the people aren't coming with you as fast as you think they should. They don't have the vision that you do. They're nervous. They don't want to look embarrassed. That, you know, you have to feel, you have to, you have to have the courage to be, to feel uncomfortable in that next stage. Because the first time you went bowling, you sucked. You probably threw some gutter balls. Excuse me. You have to be willing to, to look stupid, to get to the next level, to get better. So just remember, like, sometimes you don't even have the instructions to do what you want to do next. And you're just trying to figure it out along the way. And while other members in here, you might pay for high level coaching and you might have the roadmap, but it's still uncomfortable to go through that roadmap. You know, that's. It's uncomfortable. Even though you see the roadmap, you just have to have the faith to believe in it. And then you have to hopefully have all your team members to have enough belief in you that they're going to do it. So think about the instruction part of it. People don't follow the instruction. They follow what they see. So when you wear your uniforms proudly and you, you know, you run tight meeting and you hold your boundaries and you set the discipline and expectations and you set the standards, you communicate clearly. It's like you're dancing and then you get the others to start to copy you. And then that's when you build the momentum and the movement. I think about the people on that hillside that were waiting for permission. What was their, what was their, what was the piece of the puzzle that gave them permission to run towards that dance floor? No one said it was okay. They just, they felt it. And some of those people maybe wanted to dance the entire time. Some of those people saw that guy dancing up on the hill and they were like, wow, I wish I could do that. I just don't want to look that dumb. I just, I really want to go dancing. I wish I could do that, but I don't want to seem like an idiot. Some of the people, you know, when you go to a festival like this, I love going to festivals, and not so much festivals because I don't like being around that many people. But, like, if I can get a VIP pass to get back there, like, I love that because then you see the people kind of dancing and, you know, they want to dance, they want to. They want to open up a little bit more, but they're kind of holding back a little bit right there. So, like. Like a lot of these people were watching this person, and they wanted to go there, but they didn't want the judgment that everyone else was giving them. All right? So it's. It's the same in your companies, it's the same in your business. People want direction, humans want structure. We all want standards, and people want leadership, and that's your job. Most people just don't want to risk standing alone. And so they're looking up to you as their leader, as their boss, as the person that's going to help them take them to the next level. And I'm. I'm just going to ask you. It's like, are you hesitating because you don't want to look stupid? Are you hesitating to make a move because you're nervous that the people around you going to look stupid? There was a. There was a reel that I saw the other day. I haven't used it yet because I've been kind of down for the past week or so, not feeling really good. But there's this one reel that's like, the guy's like, what, are you afraid you're gonna lose your Lamborghini? What are you afraid you're gonna, you know, look like an idiot? What are you gonna. Afraid you're not gonna make it? Or something like that? But it was like, everything that you want out of life, you're not gonna get because you're not gonna try. It's not like you already have a Lamborghini and a big house and all this stuff, right? So it's like, what are you afraid you're gonna lose that you haven't even tried to get it yet? You haven't even tried to get it yet because you. You're hesitating because you don't want to look stupid, trying to get what you want out of life. Like, where are you waiting for the approval instead of just leading, instead of just getting out there and dancing like a fool? Because everyone who thought he looked like a fool, like, there might have been six or 10 people or 20 people that are like, this guy's an idiot. And then the whole crowd came, and then those six or ten people were like, wow, that guy really created something special. I was wrong about that guy. There's probably one or two are still like, ah, he's still an idiot. But the fact remains, he changed their mind because he just did it anyways. So where do you know that you set a standard, but you're not enforcing it? And where are you afraid to dance alone in your life? You know, my wife and I, when we go to a wedding, we'll usually be the first to the dance floor because we just don't give a. We don't care. We just want to be with each other and have a good time. We just want to dance. What would it look like if you just started to do that? You afraid of someone saying, you dance funny? You guys are grown ass men. Grown ass women. We shouldn't give a about what people think. So in. In my company, I'm not waiting for the crowd. I'm going to set the tone. And I think that you guys should lean into it as well. Raise your standards first. Care first, communicate first. Lead, take the ownership. Even when it feels lonely. Actually, especially when it feels lonely. I want to talk about audacity versus courage. I talked to Sean Whalen about audacity, and he's the first person that helped me understand that being audacious is actually really amazing. And so I use it. I use it quite a bit. My wife heard me talking about it this morning, and she's like, oh, I think that's kind of negative. And I was like, I. I know. That's why I'm using it, because it's a mindset thing. If you look up the definition of audacity, it's not a negative. It's not a negative word. But for most people, take it as. As a negative word because it gets used primarily that way. So my goal is to just use the word audacity in a. In a really positive form, because courage always looks audacious to the people who aren't moving, who aren't willing to. To go out there and do that. So every mo. Every movement in every culture, every high performance team starts with one person dancing alone. And it's you. You're on this call with me right now. You guys are the weirdos dancing on the hill by yourself. And I know that. That's what I love about you guys. But be very, very specific about where you're doing this and why you're doing this. Where are you going to dance first? Is it in your attitude? Is it your professionalism? Is your leadership? Is your standards? Is it your ownership? Do not wait for the crowd. Start the movement yourself. Because once the first person jumps in there behind you and starts to follow and dance with you, then everything's going to change. So pick one behavior this week. One standard, one action. And lead it first, even if you're alone. And I'm going to post this video in there. And when you see the people running towards that hillside to start bouncing on the hill and having a good time with them, I hope it moves you the way it moved me. I'm gonna go to a. I'm gonna go to a little event tonight. I, I probably won't run to the dance floor tonight. My wife doesn't even want to go because I've been sick for a couple days. But I will be there. And the first person that runs to that dance floor, I'm gonna applaud them. I'm gonna be like this person. There's the leader right there. That's it. I left my copy somewhere. I don't know where it's at. But I'm gonna open the floor for anyone who wants to talk about dancing alone.
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Eric Triplett
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Eric Triplett
Now back to the show.
Larry
I got something for you, Triplet.
Eric Triplett
What do you got? Toodle. If the music is right, I'm the first one on the floor. That's true. That's not, I'm not trying to make some kind of like woo woo thing. That's an interesting twist. That's really.
Nick
Yeah.
Eric Triplett
The music will move me to the floor. Why do we need that external piece to. To make you move though? That would be my, that would be my question. Because I mean as a leader, as a person who's running your company, does it have. How can we be motivated to move even though the music doesn't motivate us? I'll tell you what. So here's the thing. My wife and I'll go out and dance to a song that we're not really in love with, right? Just so we can be together and dance. But you know, when some, when Rick James comes on and that disco hits, we have a really good time at that point. You know, Michael Jackson or something like that just some fun poppy kind of music. You know, if D Light comes on, you know, like we really get, we really live it up. But I, I, I would encourage you to think like, can I go dance to this? Even if it's not the right music? Because do you need this? Do you have to have the alcohol? Do you have to be on the mushrooms? That guy might have been high as that was dancing by himself. He might have all kinds of shrooms and I have no idea.
Nick
But something was moving him.
Eric Triplett
Yeah, yeah.
Nick
Like Nick's saying, if, if it, it's an emotional response, you know, if it's not LSD or mushrooms or whatever, it was just like, just the music alone moved the person.
Eric Triplett
So let's think about movement. I remember when I decided to start my business. First of all, Joe the fish guy moved me by showing me that something was possible besides doing what I wanted to. Joe, Joe heard about something and he shared it with me and I was like, is that really a thing? He said yes. And I'm reading a book from Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant within. And something in that book moved me. So I mean there's, there's these little things that are moving us and I don't know. And then I was on a job site and then here I am, 22 year old kid with hair halfway down my back, not wearing a shirt, wanting to go skateboarding and surfing, wearing my tool bags and I'm yelling at a 60 year old man to do this job right. Something there moved me. And then I'm driving home and I was like, I gotta start my own business.
Nick
Courage. At that moment you like went and got a business license or whatever that was, that was, it took a lot of audacity to go in there and get that.
Hardy
Nice.
Eric Triplett
Yeah, I mean I, I feel like
Nick
you go home to your family and go, I just quit, I'm not framing houses no more, I'm gonna go.
Eric Triplett
It's like, yeah, ridiculous. But it wasn't because I didn't make the move. Because, I mean, is it, can I relate that to music? If my wife and I are at
Nick
a party and no, back up, back up, bro. You related that to that six year old guy going, I don't want to be here when I'm 60 swinging a hammer and getting told by a 20 something year old how to do like that. I think that was your, whoa, what the, Am I going to end up like this old guy?
Eric Triplett
Yeah, I mean that was the straw that broke the camel's back. But was that wasn't disco music to me. I mean, if my wife and I are at a party and the music starts playing and we haven't hit the dance floor yet and Brick House comes on by Rick James. I'm knocking old ladies over to get to the floor and find my wife, you know what I mean? Like, that's the movement piece, right? But it's going to there when, when you're not inspired. It's going there like I don't know what inspired that. It's an interesting, it's an interesting twist tootle. We have to be able to control that, that drive to get to the floor and dance. Can you check and see if anybody
Larry
is in the waiting room?
Eric Triplett
I don't see anybody in the waiting room.
Unidentified Participant
So I would say like movement for me isn't really like music. You know, I'm not, I'm not the type of person to get on the dance floor and make an ass out of myself. But I'm not afraid to make ass out of myself in different areas, you know. So like, how does it look like that? Like I would say people move me more than like music would or something. Like, you boss, you know, like, you changed my life. Everything that you've taught me, it moves me towards accomplishing my, my goals, you know. So how does that work?
Hardy
Speaking on what Nick was just saying, if anyone's in the waiting room, the link that you were sending for some reason is not letting people in if they are opening it up on mobile. Like you have to actually copy the link into Google and then put it in. I was also having quite a bit of a problem getting in until like just a second ago. So if you could, could you actually give me like a one or two minute quick like brief on what I completely missed because I jumped in right as you opened it up to everyone else.
Eric Triplett
All right, I'll give you the, I'll give you the briefing. A big concert. A guy on the lawn starts dancing like a fool to one of the songs. He dances by himself for a minute or two and everyone thinks he's a fool until number two comes and starts dancing with him. And then a couple minutes later, five people are dancing and then 10 people. And then he created movement and then there's the whole lawn. The hundreds of people are dancing and having an amazing time. And so it took the courage for that guy to dance alone. And I just think that business and leadership is, is the same piece of the puzzle. You have to be able to be willing to go out there and kind of look like a Fool until you get it figured out and move all the people around you to do the same.
Hardy
Oh, yeah. Fuck yeah. I mean, definitely. Looking like a fool is just kind of what we do every day. Because there's, you know, just. Just like an employee would be able to just go in and kind of have an idea of what's going on. We're. Every day we're going into the field or into our job, and we're like, what fire are we putting out today? Like, it's never a. This is my schedule. This is exactly what I'm doing. It's. This is my schedule is exactly what I'm doing. And this is all the other fires I'm putting out today. So I can kind of resonate on that side.
Nick
So let's relate this to sales training. Let's relate this to Tuesday night when Fitzy is the only one almost every other week out there dancing by himself. How come there's not more engagement and more people that are chomping at the bit to practice and to try something? I mean, last Tuesday night, Eric, you weren't there. And 50 had to stop me because I was just rambling because I. I had nothing. I opened the call with who's got something they want to talk about? Who's got a problem they want something solved? Who wants to role play? And it was just silent. And I'm like, okay, well, if I come into that situation next time, I'm just gonna stay quiet for 10 minutes or whatever. And it's like, okay, I guess we can end the call because everyone's got their figured out. No one needs help with nothing.
Eric Triplett
People are just nervous, bro. They. It's. It's. You know, you're my friend. I don't look like an idiot in front of you. That. That. That's really what it is. That's really what it is.
Nick
So is it. The music's not the right music, bro. Is the message the wrong message?
Terry
Need direction.
Nick
Need direction.
Eric Triplett
Yeah.
Terry
I thought you were running the call for Eric being sick or whatever, but, you know, somebody's gotta, you know, step up, I guess, and get things going.
Nick
Yeah, I'm. I'm just going back from, like, you know, say, a whole three last three months of who wants to role play? It's like, it seems like no one wants to.
Hardy
Why do you.
Nick
I mean, why do you call it a hot seat? Maybe. Maybe you should change it to a comfortable recliner. Who wants to lay back in the comfortable recliner?
Eric Triplett
Well, we haven't called it in a long time. I Mean, people got too scared about the hot seat.
Terry
Yeah, not me. I got work to be doing. So, you know, I'm here to. To learn something and better myself. So otherwise, you know, like, you know, I'm sitting in my truck right now with a job waiting while I'm on this call, talking about. Nobody talking, you know, it's kind of a waste of my time.
Eric Triplett
Well, what do you want to talk about, Terry?
Terry
I don't know.
Eric Triplett
It's your.
Terry
Isn't this your program that I'm part of? Yes, sir, not mine.
Eric Triplett
So the. The. The whole deal is, where are we going to go dancing? You know? And how does this relate to our business on Tuesday nights? On Tuesday nights, I mean, we've set up the conduit to train. That's what Tuesday nights are about. So whether you've been on there for the first time ever or you've been on there for a month and a half or four months, you know that on Tuesday nights, we're open to role play. And, you know, I want to jump into role plays immediately. And. And most people don't want to do it. The people that need training are they want to just listen to someone else do the role play. So, you know, since I was sick on Tuesday and Joe took it over, you know, he probably just started to ramble. He's good at rambling sometimes, but, you know, I mean, we can provide the conduit. It's like we can provide the gym, but if. If you're not pushing weights around, we're not. We're not growing.
Terry
Well, that's why I provided you like, that email, to kind of just throw something out there that you guys can beat me up on or whatever, because. Kind of getting bored, you know, like, you're right. I mean, if I'm not stepping up and saying anything in the group, then I may be hearing like, you know, everybody's at different levels, and. And. And sometimes when I'm just listening to the call, I'm driving home or whatever, and I'm just not really. You know, I've noticed I'm not comprehending it fully because I'm not fully engaged.
Eric Triplett
Yeah, that's definitely helpful.
Terry
You know,
Eric Triplett
I do have that text. I just. I was out of it on Tuesday night, so we can address that.
Terry
Yeah, no problem. No problem. That was my initiative to just try to throw something out there. I didn't. It's not like something I rehearsed or anything like that.
Hardy
I just.
Terry
That was an actual live deal. And I'm sure it's Got, you know, issues with it.
Eric Triplett
But.
Terry
Yeah,
Eric Triplett
well, I. I would talk about it now, but I think that one requires those photographs. That was crazy Stonehenge looking thing. So that'll be one where I'll have to bring it up on the computer and show everyone what it looks like and then we can dissect that. Maybe we'll do that Tuesday when we kick it off.
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Eric Triplett
It's triplet.
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Hardy
I know you're sick right now, Eric, but I still want you to put some thought and process in to what you think. I could, you know, relate to doing any of that, like kind of role playing and stuff, because I see it, you know, I've definitely joined a lot of the different calls, but like, just to see if there was anything that even related to me and like 99 of the percent of the calls just go like, you know, right over my head because it's just something that I'm not doing at all.
Eric Triplett
Okay, this is, this is cool, Hardy. I'm. I'm glad you mentioned this. So I think it was two years ago, we had a guy in the group that was gonna do a big home show and him and his team were like, hey, we have to, you know, we're going to be talking to 800 people here or something like that. And so we role played for a while just to be like, what would that look like? Guy walks up to a booth and what do we do? What do we talk about? And so these are the, these are the. We can do that with you because I know you have a lot of shows they're kicking off right now. Did you already do Reef Restock in Denver?
Hardy
No, that's next weekend. So there's reef stock next weekend. There's Connecticut the weekend after that there's Orlando, Florida. The weekend after that, two weeks after that is might be actually Orlando, Florida again. And then I have Chicago. I have like seven shows lined up in the next two months.
Eric Triplett
Yeah. So that's killers. So this I, I just remember we did a, we did a lot of training with that guy right before he went. And maybe we can do that on Tuesday night as well where it could be like, like, you know, it's not awkward when they come walking up to the booth, you know?
Hardy
Yeah.
Eric Triplett
Like, hey, give me your credit card. What are you gonna buy? You know, like, you have to be able to engage these people and get them talking, right?
Hardy
Oh, yeah, for sure. And I definitely feel like I, I could use more, you know, help and guidance just even from a outside perspective, because obviously you guys do ponds and you guys have some aquatic knowledge. But like, most of these people that I talk with have a little bit of knowledge about aquatics and a lot of questions about, you know, specific salt water things or specific things that I'm doing with my micro tank. So hearing a perspective of you guys, that you guys have a knowledge of aquatics, but maybe not about these, this quite niche of it. So having the answers for questions from you guys and being able to answer that I think would help. You know me a lot for sure.
Eric Triplett
So I've seen you at events where you're like the only one in the booth and it gets pretty hectic.
Hardy
Yeah.
Eric Triplett
But your wife Jenna's going to be with you at most of them this year, right?
Hardy
Yeah. So my wife just got laid off last month, six weeks ago. And so now she is full time doing PNW custom stuff. So she is planning to go to all the different trade shows with me. I actually have a, a Southwest companion pass, so every flight that I go on, she goes with me for free. So her, her, her goal is just go to every single show we're gonna do. Help me from social media, help me from setting up, making sure the booth looks good. We actually completely redid the booth, so now we have new banners, we have new tablecloths, we have a new display, and we're just trying to completely revamp it so it's like, yeah, I definitely would love to, to go in on some, some of that sales training kind of stuff that would make it very direct for what I'm using.
Eric Triplett
Cool. Because what I, what I'm going to want to do is I'm going to want you to capitalize on getting on email lists and getting on like Google reviews and, or whatever you can you know, because as, as you're finishing a deal, I want you to be able to say, hey, would you consider giving us a review on Google? And they'll be like, yes. They'll be like, hey Jenna, can you give them? And then it just happens right then immediately, hey, would you consider getting on our mailing list? Would you consider this? So yeah, the asking someone would they consider helping you after you've helped them is the perfect timing. And in the past, you didn't have the ability to do that. Either you didn't know that you should or you were just like, I got to help the next person here. Give me your money. Hurry up. Get out of my way so I can get that money, you know?
Hardy
Yes.
Eric Triplett
Like, and so we want to just like we want to maximize every single minute with you guys. Hey, here's how do you get on our, on our, our free Facebook group so we can, you know, like there's 100, there's 500 people that have the same aquarium and you're going to learn so much for them. Jump on this and get in the email list, get the review, get all that stuff. We want to maximize all that.
Hardy
Yeah, for sure. Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but we. You've told me to start doing email lists every week and we've been doing that. So we.
Eric Triplett
How's it working out?
Hardy
I will say I haven't noticed. Like it shows you what people click on the, the link and then purchase. It's not a massive increase. It's about 4 to 800 bucks every time we do it in terms of sales. So it's not like a huge jump, but it's getting more eyes on the product, getting more eyes to our website. And we went from like November, December kind of months were really great where we're doing about 35 to 40,000 people on our website every month to this month in February. We've already had over 50, 000 people on our website this month. So we're. Yeah, we're just hitting more and more on the, the social medias and you know, posting three times a day, making sure that we're fresh in everybody's mind every single day.
Eric Triplett
Yeah, I'm proud of you for that. And I mean, come on, dude, like 400 to 800 every time you email. If that's four times a month, I mean, that's 2,500 to 1600 bucks a month additional to the bottom line. That's brilliant. You know what I mean? But let's. Let's push it for more.
Hardy
Yeah. I mean, what I think more so is that when I have Jenna work on those kinds of email lists, sometimes I'm worried that I'm pushing too much on the customers, like, because she also wanted to sign up for SMS texting. And I'm like, I don't know if that especially sms. I don't know if that's just too intrusive. So I'm. I'm personally just debating, like, oh, do we go to once every other week, make it a little more special?
Eric Triplett
Okay, no, stick with it every week. Just, you'll have to get. You'll have to work harder to make it more special.
Hardy
Yeah.
Eric Triplett
I mean, you could attempt it if you want, but I mean, from Gary Vaynerchuk to Larry's favorite Grant Cardone, all those guys, they. They want you to. They are drilling you. Andy Frisella sends one every day, bro.
Hardy
He's an email every day.
Eric Triplett
Yes, every day. Yeah. So, I mean, the people who are really pushing it, you know, if you went from every week to every other week, they'd be like, no, no, go to every other day. If you're gonna do every other. Make it every other day instead of every other week. So once a week is. Is not too pushy. I promise you that.
Hardy
Okay.
Nick
Yeah.
Hardy
I mean, because we're all, all about education. We want people to learn. So I. I want people to get these emails and feel like they're gonna get something that they can learn from in that email or get something that, you know, they feel they can relate to and it will be important to them. And, man, sometimes, I mean, it's just a week of me pushing and making, and I'm like, I ain't got nothing new. You know, I've just been making the same dang thing for the last three years. So it, for me, as a manufacturer, it can be difficult to be like, well, what is new? What is exciting?
Eric Triplett
Well, what's new and exciting is there's millions of. Millions of. Millions of people have no idea who the hell you are, you know, so it's just. It's repeating the same message. I mean, Gary Vaynerchuk talks about the same four or five things forever. He just has a different twist on him. You know, be kind, gratitude, work hard. I mean, it's the same stuff over and over. Jab, jab, jab, right hook. It's the same message. If you've been following Gary for any length of time, you know, it's. And I. And I'll go through a Phase where I don't not follow Gary anymore, but sometimes he's not hitting me, right? And I'm like, oh, I know this message. Oh, I know what he's gonna say, you know, and then he'll just come out of left field and just give me a left hook, and I'll be like, wow, that was really good. I'm. I'm into it again, you know, and it just revives you. So you just got to keep sending that. The message out to the people.
Hardy
Yeah. Something that you mentioned there is like, oh, you're getting tired of. Like, Gary, for example, there's a guy, Alex, something. Alex H. Something, bro, I had to stop following him because I was like, I can't. Can't stop scrolling and seeing him. You know, I. I would see him, like, five times a day, and I'm like, dude, like, this is. I feel like I'm seeing the same thing every time. So, like, I don't know, for me, if they hit too hard, then I'm like, oh, my gosh, bro, this guy's doing a little too.
Eric Triplett
I would suggest highly that you follow Alex Hormozi after this call. I. I seriously, I swear to you, like, because he's. His message. He's getting two people, right? So, I mean, you'll probably never spend money with Alex. And so he. It's okay. Like, yeah, you know, but. But people spend money with him. And so I just look at. Now, if you scroll past ads, I want you to stop scrolling past ads. You see an ad, boom, swipe it away real quick. Boom. Swipe it away real quick. Like, hang there for a minute. This is where. This is some for you to learn. Don't be like, oh, they're trying to sell me. Be like, hey, what can I learn from these people that are trying to sell me? How can I use this message to sell someone else?
Hardy
Yeah. And, like, I watched some of his videos where he would, like, talk to the, you know, people that were running a business and ask them questions about their business. And, like, that kind of stuff was more interesting to me, for sure. But, like, he would post things on his story or post things on where, like, you can see the first couple sentences, and then you can't see anything else. And it's like, okay, well, yes, he's obviously selling that, But I don't know if it's, for me, worth it for me to even think about purchasing it, because I don't get the. The context of it quite yet. And maybe it's just me not getting the context of it, you know, it's just, it's going over my head because I, I'm not listening to it well enough.
Nick
His wife is good too.
Eric Triplett
Yeah.
Hardy
I'm sorry.
Nick
Alex Hermosi's wife is very good. If you watch some of her stuff she's got, you know, to help businesses.
Eric Triplett
Maybe it's no coincidence that you're being fed Alex Hormozi.
Hardy
No, I'm sure it's.
Eric Triplett
Yeah, because I, I really enjoy Alex. I've never spent a penny with him. I mean, well, I've bought, I've bought all his books, you know, so I have, I have given back to him like that. But I've learned a tremendous amount from Alex. I'd love to sit down with him one day in Las Vegas and go through his, his program together, but you know, I have other things that are more pressing at the moment. Time will tell.
Hardy
Yeah. Well, the trucks look good, by the way.
Eric Triplett
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Hardy
Of course.
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Larry
In regards to the emails you guys are talking about, I only send out a monthly newsletter, but I post regularly when I remember on social. But one of the things I was taught is none of our stuff comes off as salesy or we're trying to pitch anything. It's just 100% positioning ourselves as the expert and the go to person. And then when they're ready, they'll be there for you or you'll be there for them. However you want to word that.
Eric Triplett
What would Andy say to you about once a month if you ask, what would Andy tell you?
Nick
I don't know.
Larry
He probably say to do more, but that's. It's working for us.
Eric Triplett
Is it?
Hardy
Yeah,
Larry
ours is more informational. Just putting it out there. I mean, yeah, Andy posts every day. I get his Andy Graham every morning. But not one thing in there is selling anything. It's just all motivational and state of the world kind of. So it keeps them, he keeps them in front of people and keep them relevant.
Eric Triplett
Well, I mean I, I agree that he just, he's putting out stuff to just stay top of mind, but I, I just know he would tell you to do more. I mean you have so much amazing work. Like people shouldn't get bored of it. Yeah,
Nick
but there is, there's something there for like Larry's company positioning themselves as the experts. And you were talking about earlier in the call about. Or maybe it was something I heard this morning on another meeting, as when the experts are there, it's like their people are attracted. Like they see his stuff and they're like, oh, if I want that, I need to find this guy or this company, you know,
Hardy
June 3s,
Nick
Harley's mic's still on.
Hardy
My bad.
Larry
No, Joe, you're right because we've positioned ourselves with more people come to us versus us having a right there, do the shows and stuff like that.
Nick
So you've, you've. People are attracted to reflections. They're attracted. He's positioned.
Eric Triplett
Like.
Nick
Was that you talking about that, Eric, or was that on the morning call? I was on that. I heard like you get to the point where you just attract people to you. Like the guy dancing. At first it was just like, whoa, whoa, what? And then all of a sudden he caused this attraction, you know.
Larry
Yeah, I understand what you're saying.
Nick
Yeah.
Eric Triplett
How fast do you want to grow, Larry?
Larry
Well, that's, I mean, we've grown pretty rapidly over the last two years. So, you know, you're talking about, you know, dancing on the hill. It all started with my wife saying, quit your job. Started, you know, with nothing, you know that story. But then growing, growing, growing. But then in the last couple years, it's Kind of like what you were saying on your podcast this morning, some of your other calls that you realize that you've got people to take care of now. And so if, if I, if I'm not growing, they can't grow. And so I woke up to that, I don't know, a couple years ago, so. Invested heavily in training teams, more people. So we went from barely ever scratching a million to we're 2.2 last year. So we're going to. Our goal this year is 2.5, but I'm shooting for 3, so I get 2.5. But we're also opening leasing another unit where we're at to have it be like more client facing and do like water testing for people. I can't do a full retail setup right now, but it'll be the beginning of that, so. And then we're trying to double our maintenance because I've always been known for construction.
Eric Triplett
Yeah. How many maintenance clients do you have now?
Larry
We have two full time service techs that are out almost every day.
Eric Triplett
Is that 120 jobs?
Larry
I forgot how many there are.
Eric Triplett
Okay.
Larry
I think they hit like eight or 10 a day, depending upon the size. Some are big, some are tiny.
Eric Triplett
Yeah. Yeah, I'd like to dig into that with you one day. I. You don't know Kyle Moon in at Alabama Aquarium, do you?
Larry
I've met him.
Eric Triplett
Oh yeah, you met him at Water Garden Expo, right?
Hardy
Yeah, yeah.
Eric Triplett
He's got like a thousand clients, bro. He's. He's insane. He's insane. No retail at all. And he just crushes. So yeah, I'd like to dissect that a little bit more.
Hardy
He.
Eric Triplett
He's on my, he's on my radar this year to, to go and hang out with him. I'm traveling a lot this year, so I don't know when I'm doing it, but I will be sitting down at his place and, and picking his brain because I think that's a great, that's a great opportunity to grow right there. And you know, like, I've seen a lot of, you know, contractors that have been around for a long time here and you know, they're in their 70s and they're trying to sell their business and they're like, well, I got an excavator and I got the same phone number I've been using for 20 years. It's got to be worth something, but nobody wants to pay anything for it. You know what I mean? Like, but if you had a thousand fricking customers, then that's worth Something. You have a thousand customers that you service every month. That's money. You know, I don't have intellectual property. Yeah, yeah. So it's. It's the guy who has. Well, I built 500 ponds. I got 500 phone numbers in an excavator and my. My crew chief who still, you know, kind of works for me. And what, what. What's that worth to you? Nothing. Yeah, nothing. So, yeah, I think. I think building that. Building that maintenance division is a big deal. In fact, I think that's. And it's way more profitable, you know, because you can get in and out and make, you know, so I, I'm. That's a big part of my focus this year. And I'll. I'm going to tell you this, Larry, but I don't want you to shake your head at me because I know you're going to be pissed, but.
Larry
Yeah, Grant the cardone sucks.
Eric Triplett
To. To be thinking about 3 million to hit 2.5 from your 2.2. That's not big enough. You gotta be thinking bigger. You really do. And I know you're not a big fan of Grant Cardone, and that's cool. I don't think any of my girls like Grant Cardone either. But have you. Did. Have you read the 10x rule? It's. It's a good book, dude. I promise you. You like that book? I. Because I. You know, when I first saw Grant, I wasn't like a big Grant guy. Like, I. Not really. In fact, when I went to see Grant, I went because of Brandon and Natalie Dawson. Those two people are unbelievable human beings. I love them. But I did read the 10x rule and I thought, wow, this is good stuff. That was. That somehow spoke to me. So I would challenge you to read that book. You don't have to, but I think. I think it just gives you a different perspective on. On. On the way to think big and have bigger dreams and bigger goals. So hope I can inspire you to. It's still early in the year, bro. It's not even March yet. You could still be pushing for 5 million this year so you can hit 3.2 instead of 2.5. All right, Any final words? Let's button it up. Let's land this ship. All right, I'm gonna inspire you guys. Go do some dancing, put on some disco music. Go dance somewhere this weekend. Have a good time. Tell. Tell everyone that you love them and I'll see you guys next week.
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Eric Triplett
Now back to the show. Hey, thank you so much for your ears and attention to the podcast today. I hope you're taking away this truth that most people miss. Everybody wants to be part of a movement, but nobody wants to be the first one dancing. No one wants wants to take the risk of looking like a fool. And that's why leadership feels lonely sometimes. That's why raising standards feel uncomfortable. And that's why implementing systems get resistance. And while changing culture feels like you're pushing a boulder uphill. Because in the beginning you will be dancing alone. But here's what I need. You understand? Remember this. The first follower changes everything. The second follower creates a little bit of safety. The third starts to build a little bit of momentum. And then suddenly people are running to you to follow your mission. The one thing everyone resisted becomes the thing that everyone's proud of. That's how businesses transform and that's how cultures shift. That's how teams become elite. Not by waiting, but by leading. So this week, ask yourself, where am I waiting for permission to do something like this when I should just go first? Where do I need more courage, more ownership? Where do I need to raise standards? Where do I need to show up more as a leader? Go there and just start dancing. Even if you're the only one. Especially if you're the only one. And just when you know everyone's looking at you thinking that you're crazy, you gotta keep going. If you're the contractor listening to this show right now and you're trying to build a team and a culture and a business, the things that actually run like a machine. You're gonna want to stay close to us, get inside our community, jump into the conversations that we're doing, plug into the people who are raising the bar. It's the goals of our. Of our minds every day. To raise the bar, you need to stay close to those people that are doing that. Because movements don't just happen in isolation. They happen when you're getting pressured by people around you. They happen when leaders decide to stop sitting on the grants, but to start moving and dancing out there on that grass. I'll see you on the next one. Depth. Discipline. Diligence. The deep end. Sam.
Date: February 23, 2026
Host: Eric Triplett ("The Pond Digger")
Audience: Contractors, builders, tradespeople, business leaders, and entrepreneurs.
Eric Triplett centers this episode on a powerful truth about leadership, culture change, and movement-building: Every transformation starts with someone willing to “dance alone” before the masses ever join. Using a vivid story from a music festival, Eric draws parallels to the discomfort, audacity, and repeated courage leaders must summon to drive real change—especially when it’s risky, unpopular, or lonely.
[01:00] Eric describes a viral video from a 2009 music festival:
Insight: The “movement” only exists because one person had the courage to go first—despite looking foolish.
“Is this leadership in its rawest form? Or is it some crazy guy just out there... But what happens next is fascinating.” —Eric Triplett [03:14]
[05:20] In business, especially as a leader, you often feel like you’re “dancing alone”:
Leaders often face loneliness, public skepticism, or outright resistance.
“You look too intense... Will you be the only one dancing? And I think it’s going to happen over and over in our careers.” —Eric Triplett [07:28]
“Movements don't start by consensus. Movements start by someone willing to look stupid.” —Eric Triplett [01:50]
[08:34] The “second dancer” is what changes everything:
“The movement begins when someone joins you… The second dancer changed everything.” —Eric Triplett [08:43]
[13:30] Audacity is vital in leadership but often misunderstood.
“Courage always looks audacious to the people who aren’t moving, who aren’t willing to go out there and do that.” —Eric Triplett [17:30]
[12:20] People rarely follow instructions or mandates; they follow the example set.
“People don’t follow instructions; they follow what they see.” —Eric Triplett [12:58]
[21:00+] Transition to discussion with group members:
“People are just nervous, bro... I don’t want to look like an idiot in front of you.” —Eric Triplett [30:15]
[39:00+] Members discuss:
“The people who are really pushing it—if you went from every week to every other week, they’d say: ‘No, go every day.’“ —Eric Triplett [41:02]
“Millions of people have no idea who the hell you are... So it’s just repeating the same message.” —Eric Triplett [41:55]
[50:00+] Group members discuss business benchmarks and goals.
“You’ve got to be thinking bigger. You really do. ...I would challenge you to read [10x Rule].” —Eric Triplett [54:11]
[07:55]
“Every time we raise our standards, change our culture, implement new systems... we have to go out and dance alone. It can be an ongoing thing.”
—Eric Triplett
[11:45]
"Movements have to be built intentionally by the leader. Even though it can be lonely..."
—Eric Triplett
[17:30]
“Courage always looks audacious to the people who aren't moving.”
—Eric Triplett
[28:05]
"A big concert. A guy on the lawn starts dancing like a fool... Until number two comes and starts dancing with him. ...He created movement. And so it took courage for that guy to dance alone. ...Business and leadership is the same: you have to be willing to look like a fool until you get it figured out and move all the people around you to do the same."
—Eric Triplett (summarizing for a latecomer)
[42:45]
"Gary Vaynerchuk talks about the same four or five things forever. ...If you've been following Gary for any length of time... then he'll just come out of left field and just give me a left hook, and I'll be like, 'Wow, that was really good.'"
—Eric Triplett
[57:02]
"Everybody wants to be part of a movement, but nobody wants to be the first one dancing. No one wants to take the risk of looking like a fool. And that's why leadership feels lonely sometimes."
—Eric Triplett (Closing summary)
“Ask yourself, where am I waiting for permission to do something like this when I should just go first? ...Go there and just start dancing. Even if you’re the only one. Especially if you’re the only one.” [57:02]
This episode is a rallying call—stop waiting, start moving, and lead courageously. The movement (in your team, your company, your market) is waiting for your first, audacious step.