S2-E40: How Much Money Is Enough? With Tyson Matyas & Slayer

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Deep End with Eric Triplett
Episode S2-E40: “How Much Money Is Enough? with Tyson Matyas & Slayer”
Released: April 24, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this candid, firepit chat, Eric Triplett (“The Pond Digger”) sits down with friends and fellow tradesmen Tyson Matyas and Slayer to tackle one of the most fundamental—and uncomfortable—questions facing contractors, business owners, and working people everywhere: How much money is enough? The conversation explores the delicate balance between financial reward, personal fulfillment, passion for your craft, legacy, and ensuring your work supports—not supplants—your life. This episode is all about busting myths around money, challenging entitlement, and grounding the value conversation in real-life experiences from decades in the trades.

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Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. The Tension Between Money and Fulfillment

• Eric frames the conversation with a provocative choice: “Would you rather make $18 an hour and absolutely love your life, or $28, $80, or $18,000 and feel like something’s missing?” (00:45)
• The hosts agree: Passion doesn’t pay the bills, but money alone can’t buy a meaningful life. Where's the balance? (03:15)
• Notable Quote:
  “Money doesn’t care how hard you work. There’s a value attached to it and there’s perception attached to it. And passion alone doesn’t pay the bills.” — Eric (02:27)

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2. The Four Levels of Money: Survival, Freedom, Legacy, Impact

• Eric introduces the framework of money:
  • Survival: Meeting basic needs
  • Freedom: Choice, some comfort
  • Legacy: Building lasting value, business, family
  • Impact: Contribution beyond self (04:00)
• Each guest shares how their perspective on money has shifted over time, especially as life responsibilities change.

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3. Value, Entitlement, and the Trades

• The crew dive into the social stigma and confusion around value in blue-collar work vs. white-collar professions. (06:04–09:00)
• Eric: “People think if you love what you do, you shouldn’t get paid well for it, or there’s no way cleaning a pond should pay like being a lawyer."
• Discussion on generational entitlement—how a “better life for our kids” sometimes leads to a lack of work ethic or skewed value perceptions. (09:50)

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4. “Money’s Not Important” — The Myth Exposed

• Strong reactions to job candidates or colleagues who say, “Money’s not important.”
  Notable Quote:
  “When people tell me that money doesn’t matter, it pisses me off…That’s people that don’t have money that say that.” — Slayer (11:11)
• Tyson and Slayer call out the contradiction: “You wore shoes. You drove here. You bought the gas. None of that is free.”

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5. Pricing, Inflation & Contractor Realities

• Eric shares the challenge of raising prices to keep up with rising costs (fuel, labor, insurance) while clients complain about contractor rates but not about $8 gas or $7.99 Doritos. (07:25–09:36)
• Memorable Moment:
  “You don’t ask those questions at the gas station or store. You just pay. So why do you yell at the contractor?” — Eric (09:16)

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6. Supply, Demand, and Perceived Worth

• Stories about how expert skills are valued differently depending on supply, demand, and what the customer is willing (or able) to pay.
• Example: Fish care for billionaires vs. everyday pond owners; electricians in oversupplied markets. (13:03–14:38)

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7. Wage Expectations & Life Costs: Then and Now

• The team reflects on how wage expectations have skyrocketed (“19-year-olds asking for $25/hr and don’t know life yet”) and what it now costs just to open the doors on a business or maintain a property. (15:24–19:09)
• Anecdote:
  Eric describes the real, constant expenses of running his ranch, drawing a parallel to people who buy mansions and go bankrupt because of overhead. (19:09–21:28)

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8. What’s “Enough” Money? The Living vs. Legacy Debate

• Slayer and Tyson discuss practical benchmarks: paying all bills and having something left over, freedom to buy essentials or a steak dinner, saving for retirement, actually living rather than just surviving. (41:00–44:04)
• Notable Quote:
  “Work, bill, work bill. And then I look back at it and it’s like, oh, that’s all I’ve done for the last three years...When’s the last time I went to the beach? Never.” — Slayer (42:24)
• An honest take on the “keeping-up” treadmill—how expectations and the number you need to be “comfortable” keep changing.

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9. Stress, Happiness, and the Illusion of Wealth

• Eric: “There’s people crying in their Ferraris too.” (02:25, revisited at 44:25)
• The psychology: multi-millionaire with depression vs. someone making $60k and loving life; money buys comfort, but not necessarily happiness or freedom from problems.

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10. Growth, Stagnation, and Building Legacy

• Discussion shifts to ambition: is it enough to make a living, or do you want to build something bigger that outlasts you?
• Eric shares his 10-year, $50 million brand vision, hiring 100 six-figure employees, and how this legacy motivates him and keeps good team members invested. (51:54–54:16)
• Notable Quote:
  “If I can’t create a $50 million brand…there’s no way people with me are gonna stick around. If you don’t have a vision that big, then no one’s gonna want to work for me.” — Eric (57:20)

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11. The Role of Passion, Systems, and Personal Development

• Tyson shares his own ups and downs—from thriving sole operator to crashing post-2008, then rebuilding on new, healthier terms as both a worker and a father. (30:23–35:02)
• “The grind” is universal—systems, process, community, and ongoing learning are what elevate you from survival to freedom or legacy. (33:22–35:13)
• Insight:
  Continual growth and challenge at work is key to staving off stagnation and burnout—both for owners and employees.

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12. The Reality Check: What’s Your True Value?

• The episode concludes urging listeners to self-assess: are you building a business, or just a job that owns you? Are you clear on your value, or just chasing dollars? (65:17–end)
• Final Challenge:
  “Are you where you want to be financially? Are you building a business, or just a job that owns your ass? The goal is alignment: make the money, do meaningful work, live a beautiful life, and build something that actually supports the life you want—not something you’re trying to escape from.” — Eric (66:07)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Value Contradictions:
  “You don’t ask those questions [about price hikes] to those people. You just put it in your cart and go buy it. Why do you have to yell at the contractor?” — Eric (09:16)

• On Passion vs. Money:
  “Passion alone doesn’t pay the bills.” — Eric (02:27)

  “That’s people that don’t have money that say that.” — Slayer (11:51)

• On Chasing the Bigger Vision:
  “If you’re not pushing to do a $50 million brand, then there’s no opportunity for me to grow anymore…” — Eric (59:33)

• On Stagnation:
  “I had hit the maximum. This is all we do. … There’s no way to go above this line. … I gotta leave. I can’t be here anymore. I’m gonna go insane.” — Slayer (57:14)

• On Money & Stress:
  “Money buys less stress. … Well, but it doesn’t necessarily buy happiness.” — Eric & Slayer (44:25–44:30)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:45 – Eric’s opening “Would you rather…?” scenario on money vs. happiness
• 04:00 – Introduction of the “Four Levels of Money”
• 11:11 – “Money doesn’t matter” myth, group reaction
• 13:03 – High-end fish consulting vs. everyday clients, value perception
• 19:09 – The real costs of business and property ownership, overhead breakdown
• 27:32 – Tyson’s wife’s captain promotion: money vs. stress & fulfillment
• 33:22 – The grind, structure, and value for tradesmen/owners
• 41:00 – Slayer’s personal definition of “enough money”
• 44:25 – Discussion: Money, stress, and why even the wealthy can be miserable
• 51:54 – Eric’s $50M brand vision and the power of long-term legacy
• 56:51 – Growth as key to fulfillment for owner and employees; why people stay or leave
• 65:17 – Challenge to the audience: Are you building a business or a job?

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Tone & Style

The conversation is unfiltered, honest, and laced with blue-collar humor—banter about electricians, blind bathroom habits, and plenty of ribbing about age, sex, and erectile dysfunction. But beneath the jokes is a deep respect for hard work, family, legacy, and the drive to create meaning and value through the trades.

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Takeaway For Listeners

Whether you’re earning $18 or $180K an hour, the deeper question is: Is your work aligned with your life? Are you building a business—and a legacy—or just working another job? And, crucially, have you defined your own idea of “enough”—or are you living by someone else’s?

Final words from Eric:
“The goal is alignment. Make the money. Do meaningful work. Live a beautiful life. Build something that actually supports the life you want, not something you’re trying to escape from.” (66:07)

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For contractors, business owners, or anyone grinding for a better future, this episode is packed with insights—and tough love—on money, ambition, and what really matters.

Transcript

[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 me ask you a serious question. Would you rather make $18 an hour and absolutely love your life, or would you rather make $28 an hour, $80 an hour, $18,000 an hour? I don't care. Pick the and feel like something's missing in your life.

Because what we talk about on the

podcast tonight, sitting by this fire, sipping adult beverage with my dear friends Tyson and Slayer, it's exactly what we're digging into. Not just money, but passion and the tension between the two. Because I know contractors, good men, hard ass working men, working 10, 12 hours a day, 16 hours a day, breaking their bodies, stressing about payroll, trying to keep customers happy and you know, and still not making enough to live life they thought the business was going to give them. And then on the flip side, you see may, you know, people making serious money and then it starts know thinking. A lot of contractors think, oh man, must be nice. I don't think that way. I think that just keeps you from making more money. Or worse, you start judging it like somehow if someone's making more money than you, they don't deserve it because you work hard too. Or if someone's doing something simpler, you know, like cleaning a pond, for example, there's no way they should be making the type of money that a of lot a lawyer makes or a high end mechanic or things like that.

Right?

That right there is that belief, that story. Like that's what gets stuck in people's head and that's what keeps people stuck. Because the truth is money doesn't care how hard you work. There's a value attached to it and there's perception attached to it. And passion alone doesn't pay the bills. So where's the balance? How much money is enough? How much money is enough? There's a number out there where money completely switches and you know, life just becomes easier. Okay? And then there's like you money way out there, money. But you know what, there's people crying in their Ferraris too. So you know, did they sell their soul to get to that level? And they don't like their life anymore.

Like what?

Where is the magic? Where's the magic number? When is enough enough? And what are you actually chasing in this life you're here for a hundred years, Are you chasing the money or are you chasing the life? Or you chasing a life that can be led by the money that you make? That's the tug of war tonight. No script, no fluff, real conversation, a couple adult adult beverages, a fire, and some uncomfortable truths.

This is one of those episodes that

might piss you off a little bit,

might get you to laugh a little bit, might get you to light a

fire under your ass, Right?

Whatever it is, good.

That means you're paying attention. That's all I need to say. Let's get right into it.

This is called the four levels of money. We got survival, freedom, legacy, impact, okay? And I've been thinking a lot about this. How much money is enough? How much is appropriate? You know, when you're in a view employees and they want, you know, how much. What kind of wages do you expect? What kind of salary are you hoping to get? You know, and either some people are shooting really high, or some people are like, oh, money's not important to me. Like, everyone seems to have a different threshold, a different opinion, a different mindset wrapped around money. And so today on the show where I got my dear friend Tyson and Slayer in the house, and we're going to talk about that because, you know, when I think about this, I know how hard Tyson works. He's one of the hardest guys I know working. You know, not Slayer, but Tyson. No, but, like, you know, Slayer and I were talking about his wife advancing to a captain position at where she's at, which is unbelievable. And then the value to that, that as opposed to, you know, fire suppression, like, what's the value to that? I save people's lives to, like, I'm a fish guy. I know how to keep fish alive in your backyard. What's that value? Like, and then you have a lawyer. A lawyer is like, what do you mean? You're charged me 175 bucks. You were here for 30 minutes. 25 minutes. That's more than a lawyer makes. I went to school and, like, everyone has this mindset wrapped around their personal value and what the value means to move forward with on anything, whether it's putting in a gate, putting electrical fire, sprinklers, being a captain, being a fish geek. And I think it's a topic worth really diving into coming off of our job fair here over at the Pondagar Ranch. So let's rock and roll, gentlemen. They don't, they have no idea what my plan was. I just said put the headsets on. Let's go. This is going to be a fun conversation.

[Tyson]

That's usually how it goes.

[Slayer]

For the record, an electrician is an important job. I mean, I wouldn't know what to do if I flipped the light switch and nothing happened.

[Tyson]

Nobody likes shitting in the dark.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah, I in the dark all the time. Yeah.

[Tyson]

How do you know when you're done wiping, bro?

[Eric Triplett]

I got the touch.

[Slayer]

I've always wondered how does a blind person know when they're done wiping?

[Eric Triplett]

Oh, see, smell it.

[Slayer]

God damn, dude.

[Eric Triplett]

This digressed real fast. Real in the wrong direction. Action quickly. This doesn't have to do with value. The lights have to work so you know when to stop wiping. I mean, what.

[Slayer]

Yeah, yeah. You can't see the. It's like a marker. You just keep wiping it. It's just leaving a mark there, you know. You didn't have a light on, you would never know.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah, I walk around the house in the pitch black all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tyson]

You don't run into.

[Eric Triplett]

No, well, no, sometimes I do because my wife just puts stuff in the middle of the walkways. I do run into shit sometimes, but for the most part, yeah, I just, I'll shower in the dark. I'll go in the, you know, I'll, I'll get, go into like the closet. I might have to flip on the light to make sure I get what I want.

[Slayer]

But yeah, yeah, I keep, I, I can walk around my house pretty much with no lights on. And I navigate it pretty good because I, you know, I know that I'm familiar with the environment.

[Eric Triplett]

So we're basing this around worth. Okay. Like what's it worth to have the lights on in your house? So, but, but let's really think about this because as, as an, as a business owner, you know, I have, I have 14 employees. I have to build a business big enough to, you know, like create opportunity for, you know, my employees to raise families and buy houses and things of that nature. It's not like when I was just by myself. I'm like, I'm just a fish guy. I take care of aquariums. I really think it's fun, it's cool, you know, hey, give me 50 bucks and I'll, you know, and some meatballs, you know, the 97 year old Mrs. Johnson. And I'm happy. I ate and I made a little bit of money and I'm there for an hour. Like, I did great. You know, that's 30 years ago. You can't do that anymore. So I do struggle with the fact of, like, raising prices high enough to pay my team big enough to have the tires and the marketing and all the stuff, you know, and then I'm like, how much money do I need to get. How much do I need to raise the prices to pay my team well enough? And people, you know, like, when I raised my prices, people are like, oh, my God, that's a 30% increase from last year. I'm like, well, fuel's 8. 39 a gallon right now. And, you know, I have employees that are pregnant, having babies that are trying to buy houses. Like, what do you want me to do? Like, pay them like peasants? Yeah, be happy to come to work.

[Slayer]

It's not like they haven't. They haven't experienced increases on their end either. So how are they? How is that always a question? I know that your power bill is not the same. It was 20 years ago. And I know that you've got other expenses that you didn't account for.

[Eric Triplett]

Did you talk to se about that? Did you talk to Shell's gas station? Did you. When you went in to buy a pack of Doritos for 7.99, did you go to get the. Did you get the manager over at Stater Brothers to go like, hey, this is a pretty substantial increase for my Doritos?

[Slayer]

How do you justify raising the price of this bag of chips? You don't ask those questions to those people. You just put it in your cart and you go buy it.

[Eric Triplett]

Why do you have to yell at the contractor about it?

[Tyson]

Yeah, and I'm sure you're not making the same wage that you were.

[Slayer]

Yeah, and then there's that.

[Tyson]

You know, that's why you're getting paid more, is because shit's more expensive.

[Eric Triplett]

So it comes to value. So I think about entitlement. I think about how, you know, certain people think that they should have a certain standard of living. I should be able to. You know, I know this has a lot to do with the way people raise their kids, Right? They do their laundry, they make their lunches, they take care of them. You know, they pay for the toilet paper to wipe their ass in the dark or with the lights or whatever you do. Like, there's a certain amount of entitlement, the way we raise our kids, because we want our kids to have a better life than we had. You know, we want, like, we really struggled growing up, you know, like, so that creates entitlement. And so, like, really the world is. Is in that position. But it was really interesting having the job fair this weekend. And, you know, I had a couple guys, like, money's not important to me. And I'm like, well, why not?

[Tyson]

Yeah, I don't understand that answer. Then why are you here?

[Eric Triplett]

Well, you know, I think it's a mindset thing. I think it's wrapped around value, and that's why the purpose of the podcast today, like, money's not important to me. Well, what is? Well, family. Okay, cool. My family's important to me too, but I still need money.

[Tyson]

Yeah, I think they just say that though, because they. They feel guilty.

[Eric Triplett]

That's a terrible mindset. Dude.

[Slayer]

When people tell me that money doesn't matter, it pisses me off, right?

[Tyson]

Because I'm like, you're. You're just saying that because you think

[Slayer]

that's a cop out.

[Tyson]

It sounds good.

[Slayer]

Where. Yeah, where are you getting that from? Did you. Did you buy gas? Did you buy gas in your car to drive here to come see me today? Yeah. So if you didn't have any money and it wasn't important, how the fuck would you have gotten here? You're wearing shoes, you're wearing pants. You got a shirt on, you got a hat on that says Jesus. Well, that hat cost you 39.99. How did you get here?

[Eric Triplett]

That was probably 50 bucks.

[Slayer]

How did you get. So it's not important. And why did you not show up in a hay bag wrapped in a linen cloth?

[Eric Triplett]

Dude, that would have been sick.

[Slayer]

You know what I mean? That's a cop out. That's a. That's. That's people that don't have money that say that.

[Tyson]

Yeah, you should come here naked and be like, I don't care about money.

[Slayer]

You don't want for anything. I don't believe that.

[Eric Triplett]

Okay, so let's get to the fact, like, where is the value? So, like, I'm pretty good at fish. I'm pretty good at, you know, understanding their. What they do. But, like, what's the value to that on society? Are you a contractor looking for growth, training and to level up your contracting business? If so, join the TWT Contractor Circle. It's our free Facebook group where like minded professionals go to share insights of success, strategies for growth, and a place to find some accountability. In fact, we have a powerful accountability call every Friday with a live Q and A session at the end. And whether you're seeking advice, collaboration, or just a supportive community, this is a place for you request to join today and start building a valuable connection with

me as well as our amazing network

of contractors, Tango Whiskey Tango. That's TWT Contractor Circle on Facebook. I'll see you on the inside.

Now back to the show.

I have a couple friends in the pond business. They have millionaire customers and clients and the value to that billionaire, for them to understand fish and take care of their fish, it's worth a lot. Like millions. It's worth millions. And so I would say my knowledge on fish is equal to theirs or, you know, very close or maybe slightly different. Right. But how is it that I can only demand a certain, you know, dollar figure annually, let's say, and someone else is making, you know, 10x what I am because their client, you know, perceives the value more like, hey, it's so important for me to have my fish to be healthy, I'll pay you whatever you want. So, but, so it's a supply and demand, you see.

[Tyson]

Yeah, it's perspective, for sure.

[Eric Triplett]

Plus, plus how many, how many fish guys are that good? Okay.

[Tyson]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplett]

You know, I mean, I mean, I'm trying to be an asshole slayer, but electricians, like, there's a lot of fucking electricians out there.

[Tyson]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplett]

You know, the supply and demand is like, the supply and demand are fairly equal. So the supply is, is high enough. Well, the supply is low enough to where they can, they can press an electrician on like, hey, you know, like, I need a good deal. And you're like, oh, God, I need, I need to get a good deal. Right? So like, so the supply and demand is worse.

[Slayer]

Right.

[Eric Triplett]

So, you know, if the billionaire finds someone who they, like, they trust, they believe in and they agree on a number, then it's all good, it's all green light.

[Slayer]

There's a lot of factors there, too. Like that person that's paying for you to do that electrical work, they, they don't want to do it. They don't know how to do it. So there's value in the fact that they're going to pay you to do it and they don't have to worry about it. I don't need to think about it. I hired the person that's going to know that knows how to do it. He's, I'm going to pay him and he's going to get it done and I'm going to have, I'm going to flip the switch and it's going to do what I want it to do. So there's, there's a lot of factors involved that, that, that that pertains to the value of it as well.

[Eric Triplett]

So let's get back to, you know, I mean, like, I'm thinking about a decade ago, you know, I could pay guys 16, 8 bucks, 18 bucks an hour. And it was, like, it was a pretty good living, you know, 10 or 15 years ago, I was paying that to. To play with fish all day. And. And guys were like, super happy about that. You know, today, like, guys walk in, they don't know Dick, they're 19, 21 years old, and they're like, hey, I'm worth. I'm worth 25 an hour. I'm like, bro, are you a virgin still? You don't even know life, bro. Like, you don't know. And. And like, how. How is it 25 bucks an hour? Geez, why don't you just go, then flip burgers at McDonald's? Because, you know, the minimum wage. California is whatever, 20, like, right? You can go flip burgers, but you're not going to learn experience in life and. And, you know, be around a cool culture. Right? It's. It's. It's just crazy to think about that. And it's just a short amount of time now. It's like, you know, to get someone any. Anywhere near where they need to be, it's 25 or 30 an hour. And so it's interesting because when I talked to Tyson, he was interviewing someone, and he's like, hey, this guy's really good. And he says, I think I'm worth 25 an hour. He's like, well, the position you're looking at is probably 18 to 20 an hour. To be as flexible as you need. So you can go to school, so you can become a firefighter, so you can, you know, have the time off to go to school and do that, do what you want. Like, it's. It's probably an 18 to $20 deal. And the guy's like, okay, cool, I'll do that. But to him, he. He seemed like he had his head together. And, like, I understand. That makes sense since you explained it to me, but other people might not have that. That understanding of it all. Oh, well, I'm worth more. Doritos are 7.99 a bag.

[Slayer]

I remember being a courtesy clerk working at Albertsons, and It was like $9 and 15 cents an hour.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah.

[Slayer]

You know, I remember getting my paycheck for a week. It was like $243 and some change. And I was like, cool. And I was like, 40 bucks goes in the gas tank. I can go to Best buy and buy a CD of Trey.

[Eric Triplett]

You.

[Slayer]

The new album just came out. You know, like, I can get. And then I can get some couple groceries. You can't even factor in rent.

[Eric Triplett]

Like, how old were you?

[Slayer]

17.

[Eric Triplett]

You're like, I can get some condoms.

[Slayer]

Yeah. It's like. And I was like, living on top of the world. I could pay my little prepaid phone bill. You know, I could put. I could put 60 minutes on my phone bill. Now I'm good. Good to the next check.

[Tyson]

We were doing that on $2 an hour.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah, I'm just, I'm just, I think about how much I have to do. Here's what I've been struggling with, you know, so the ranch, the ranch is a dream come true. I mean, where we live. But you know, you think about what it costs to live here. And Tyson's like, how much does it cost for you to just turn the lights on in the morning? Well, how'd you ask. What was the question? You asked, what's that, what's the cost per day? Overhead?

[Tyson]

Yeah, that's what I asked.

[Slayer]

I was like, what does it cost

[Tyson]

you to run your overhead daily?

[Slayer]

Overhead. Complete operation every day. Daily. What, what amount of money comes out of your check every day?

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah.

[Tyson]

Out of your bank.

[Slayer]

Out of your bank account to run this?

[Eric Triplett]

Were you surprised?

[Slayer]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplett]

Were you surprised?

[Tyson]

Yeah. I thought maybe it was a little more, though.

[Slayer]

I'm excited to like go a day and not spend a dollar. You know what I mean?

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah.

[Slayer]

I wish I could go three days without having to spend a dollar.

[Eric Triplett]

Okay, well, let's, let's break this down a little bit. So the ranch, the ranch costs a lot. So my, my sister in law, I traveled a lot in March, and my sister in law, you know, she comes and she'll stay for two, three weeks at a time and week here, a week there. And she has a good time and it's all fun and her and my, my wife just have a great time the whole day. But I literally, like, told her, I was like, I need you here like all of March. I'm going to be in and out. I'll pop in and out, but I'm going to be gone. And I need my fish room taken care of. I need my bonsai trees watered. I need to make sure my wife eats, you know, like, because like when I travel, like Leslie's, you know, she doesn't like it. Right. So that's an expense to just maintain the ranch. So if you think about it, like, we got 12 horses, we got bulls we got donkeys, cats, dogs, horses, you know, like pigs, alpacas, tortoises, turtles, fish, like all that stuff. So just to maintain the property as it sits is one thing. So like you, when you think about someone who buys a real fancy estate, you know, it's a multimillion dollar property with pools and it's got 22 rooms and you know, three people live there or something like that. Like, what's it cost just to maintain the light bulbs and keep it clean and mow the lawn and water and electricity and alarm systems and you know, like, you know, you look at these million dollar estates like that's, that's why people get in trouble when they win the lottery or, you know, they buy all these big properties, but to maintain the property, it's crazy. So we did a project up on the mountain up here. $15 million home. You know, I worked for the person who built the house and then, then someone who won the lottery bought the place and you know, they ended up auctioning the play place off for like 4 million after, you know, they just couldn't keep it up. Right. And so another person bought it and I went and worked on it, but like just, just fire insurance on the property is 100 grand a year. Yeah. Yeah, a year, bro.

[Slayer]

Yeah. That's crazy for a what if.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah, yeah. So you know, that, that's why they hired me. They're like, hey, we just want to build a big pond and then we have, you know, like, we'll dump a couple hundred grand into a water feature. That way we can use it as fire suppression to manage the property. Right. I mean, that, that's smarter than paying a million for 10 years just to manage, just to pay insurance. Right? So, you know, like at our place, you know, like our insurance is 80 grand a year for the company with auto insurance and, and our fire and you know, workman's comp. Everything, everything combined, I think we're paying about 80 grand a year, you know, so do the math. I'm just, that's what I got to put out every, like we just got a bill for auto insurance. Like we got to come up with 15 grand next Friday. Yeah, they're like, hey, we. Yeah, you need that payment for 15 grand. Like, okay. You know, so like that, that's, that's the, that's the value of where you are in your life, where you're living. And so some people can live a whole lot more simple than that. You know, whether you're living in your mom's basement playing video games. All day and eating Cheetos with, you know, orange dust in your belly button. You know what I mean? Or, or you're trying to scale and build a big business and then take care of your people and create legacy and all that stuff.

[Tyson]

Yeah, because there's people that find no value in running a business. They just want to go to work, put in eight hours, get their paycheck, go home.

[Slayer]

Yeah, there's people that, you know, they. They just want to come in, work a 40 hour week, get paid, and they don't want to take on any more responsibility either. Okay, so what you're being paid then is what you're going to be paid for until that, that cycle changes. I can't. There's no more value in it. The maximum amount of value that you can produce me and give me is what you're currently giving me. So why would I give you more money for not an increase in the value? Because they're like, well, I've been here for four years and I'm looking to make like $10 more an hour. I think it's time. Have you done anything to increase your worth to the company? Have you worked any overtime? No. You're the first. You're the first one to leave. You know what I mean? You're the first one to clock out at the end of the day.

[Eric Triplett]

Last one here, first one leave.

[Slayer]

Yep. So it's. It's a hard. It's a hard thing to navigate sometimes. But you haven't gotten any more certifications. You haven't done anything to advance your career.

[Eric Triplett]

Okay, so let's pull this back to the breakdown. If you're young and you're like, hey, I would like to make a certain amount of money each year. You know what, what, what would be valuable to society? I want to be a doctor. I want to be a lawyer. I want to be whatever, contractors. If you're sick and tired of not making enough money, you might suck at sales and you don't even know it. Or worse, you suck at sales and you actually think you're good. Before you get upset with me, I sucked at sales, too. And for a long time. Here's the difference. I pulled my head out of the sand and I forced the change.

That's why I know what you're up

against and how you too can turn things around for you and your family. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I got really uncomfortable. I trained hard. I studied books and podcasts, videos, courses, role playing, and I took guidance from mentors and coaches. While spending thousands of of dollars. But trust me, it was all worth it. I mean, I turned my struggling company into a profitable seven figure construction business. I put together a list of the critical sales techniques that I use to flip my business from surviving to thriving. And I call it my contractor sales secrets. I want to share the list with you with no, no expense. Just to get you moving in the right direction. It's my way of contributing and giving back to my contract community and the construction industry that I know and I love. The list is available to [e-mail] I promise you, with these sales secrets, some grit and discipline, I know you can dramatically change your life. So stop what you're doing right now and go to contractorsalesecrets.com that's contractorsalesecrets.com so that comes to what's the difference between making enough money and, and finding happiness in life and doing what you love to do, right? So you know, there's, there's a, there's potential to, for someone to make more money working for someone else doing something they don't love. And is that more important? Is that, is that because you have family? Is it because you have kids, because you have a stay at home mom? Like what, it's such a crazy factor. Like if, if you woke up and go like, hey, what's the most money I can make today to create legacy and go on seven vacations and blah blah, blah, blah, right? Like, you know, Slayer and I had a talk on the way to Sakura festival about, you know, in three years they retire, him and his wife, you know, just travel for a year, you know, and they've worked for 50 fucking years to like figure out how to make that happen, you know, like, or 40, you know, like 40 years to, to figure out how to save up enough money to be able to just travel, right? I mean, Frick Slater's gonna be almost 60. He probably can't even get up anymore. You know, he's probably got erectile dysfunction. He's not gonna be able to have sex while he's in Italy. It's gonna be terrible.

[Slayer]

Take it up two times a night to take a piss.

[Eric Triplett]

Poor guy.

[Tyson]

You guys make it sound terrible, man. I had a thought and I lost it.

[Eric Triplett]

Well, let's talk about, let's talk about Jessica and I, and I'm just going to talk money if it's cool. I mean, I don't. Yeah, right. Okay. So she's going to be a captain. And this is roundabout numbers. There's a Potential for her to make 200,000 a year, right.

[Tyson]

Sure.

[Eric Triplett]

I mean, that's. That's quite a lot of money. I mean, someone who makes. And, you know, she's worked her ass off, she's gone up the ladder, and hopefully she hasn't had to have sex with any of the sergeants to get to that spot, Right?

[Slayer]

Oh, let's hope.

[Eric Triplett]

Let's hope not. No. But I mean, no, I don't want to take anything from Jessica. I know she's very, very good at what she does, and she's worked. Had to work really hard to, like, be in a position at this, and she wants to retire in three years. And so now the conundrum is like, hey, do I become a captain for the final three years of my career or do I just finish off where I'm at? I understand. That's. That's. That's something, because now maybe the money's not as important. Right. Because, yeah, let's. Let's.

[Tyson]

Her kids are grown.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah.

[Tyson]

You know, she's. She's happy where she's at. I mean, it's a. It's like a feather in the hat, the captain position.

[Eric Triplett]

But to you, it is. But not to her. She.

[Tyson]

No, I mean, even to her.

[Eric Triplett]

But. Okay, okay.

[Tyson]

But, like, the incentive isn't money because she's all the added stress. The, you know, the bigger position, you know, comes with. Comes with a lot of things.

[Eric Triplett]

Okay, so this is important because this is where, you know, she's making six. Six figures and she's got a certain level of stress and. And she deals with it and. And it's okay. Like, the money exchange is all right. She comes home, she has to put up with your shit. The kids are already gone. Like, it. Life's okay. She's putting some money away for retirement, and she knows that in three years she's going to be able to take off for a year and go out on the road with you and do, you know, see the world? That's amazing. But, you know, if you're making, you know, 48,000 a year, you're just barely getting by. So where's the number between 48,000 and the six figures that your wife's making where the comfort starts to make sense and the balance between, like, hey, what I do every day, I'm happy. Right. Here's the dichotomy and the. And the pull between. Tyson's a freak. He loves fire suppression and, like, all that data input in his head and the, you know, and, like, the, you know, the psi Per thing and the, you know, occupancy ratings and the, you know, if it's a pallet, how far away from the fence? He, like, just goes crazy with that stuff. It really, like, he loves that, you know? And I. You're a great electrician, but you're like, I just pull wire, you know, Like, I'm just. So. You don't love what you do as much as he does.

[Tyson]

I did 20 years ago.

[Eric Triplett]

Okay.

[Slayer]

I gotta have six shut offs, main breakers on my building, you know?

[Tyson]

Yeah.

[Slayer]

I feel like you just know everything you need to know and you're just really good at it. You just do it and it's like a hamster wheel. And like, you bid the job, you get it, you know, everything you need to do to do it. You order the material, material lands, you install it, and then it gets installed, you inspect it, you're done. Then, oh, I just bid another one. It's just a. How many years can you do that before you're just like, I'm. I'm done. Yeah, I did my worth because back,

[Tyson]

you know, 20 years ago, I was all about just getting work, making money, doing a good job.

[Slayer]

But were you? I'm in that phase right now.

[Eric Triplett]

Okay, well, no, no, no. You were a contractor by yourself. You were like, doing the work for yourself at that time, right? Or were you an apprentice, a journeyman for someone?

[Tyson]

No, no, that was in. In 05. I was working for myself.

[Slayer]

Okay.

[Tyson]

That's when I started my company. And so, yeah, I was all about it 24, 7. That's all I did. Because I was, you know, I was gonna try to build this huge company. It was gonna be like that forever. But that didn't work out. So I had to.

[Eric Triplett]

This drop out in 2008 or what?

[Tyson]

Yeah, 2008 is when everything crashed. So it was just hard getting work, and I had to let all my employees go. And I went from, you know, I don't remember the numbers, but just say I was making 30 grand a month. And then. But working, you know, just 40 hours a week. And then I went to working 60 hours a week. And like, for someone else.

[Eric Triplett]

No. Okay.

[Tyson]

For myself.

[Eric Triplett]

Okay.

[Tyson]

But in, like 2010, I was probably working like 60 to 80 hours a week, and I was only making like $12,000 a month.

[Eric Triplett]

Oh, God.

[Tyson]

And I was all like, this sucks.

[Eric Triplett]

That's the factor. That's where I'm wrapped around. I want. I don't want to interrupt you, but, like, I want to wake up. I want to water my bonsai trees. I want to take care of my fish. I want to go in my fish room and enjoy my life. I want to make breakfast, have breakfast with my wife. I want to go out and I want to make 200 grand a year. You know, just going out and playing with fish. Like, where's the value? How is it possible? What do I have to do to make that happen? And how many people would love to do that? It's not easy to do. Along with that comes structure and systems and value that you could provide to people and how many people you can service per day and make sure that they're happy all the time. And when you have a problem and they're upset, you correct it and you retain them as customers and you move on to the next. It's, it's a, it's a fucking grind.

[Tyson]

Yeah, well, so then around 2011, I had this opportunity to go work for another company and they paid top dollar. And so I went from, you know, working 60 hours a week, maybe hoping to make a couple thousand bucks to go into working for someone else. Only doing 40 hours, the easiest work ever, and making two grand every week take home. But I work from two, like 2:30 in the afternoon to midnight. And so.

[Eric Triplett]

And you had small kids.

[Tyson]

Yeah, and so, yeah, they were, I want to say maybe middle school,

[Eric Triplett]

maybe. That's, that's a really impressionable time.

[Tyson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Eric Triplett]

They're trying to have sex and, and drugs and like, it's, that's, that's, that, that's one of the hardest times.

[Tyson]

Yeah, well, for me it was just the hard part was like everything that was good with school as, as, like three or four o'. Clock. Oh, he's getting an award.

[Eric Triplett]

Oh yeah.

[Tyson]

So we're gonna have that at 4, 4 o', clock, you know, or whatever. Or they're, they, they're doing something at school and your kid's getting honored or whatever. He's doing this, you know, and it's gonna be at 2 and it's all like, I'm at work. You know, most people are just, oh, I just gotta leave work an hour early and I can go do that with my kid. And I'm like, dude, that's the middle of my day or the start of my day. I'm like, man, so I missed out on a lot. So I only did that for like seven years. And then that money was no value to me whatsoever.

[Eric Triplett]

That's a long time. Seven years. Yeah, yeah. Especially from middle school to high school, it's a fucking long time.

[Tyson]

I was so over it, I was like, I don't care about the money. I don't want to do this anymore.

[Eric Triplett]

You know, I think about the, the value that I create through training my employees to, you know, manage properties and create ecosystems and put wildlife, like reconnect homeowners with wildlife in their backyard. And, and like, there is a tremendous value in that. Right? But you have to have the right customers that can have the expendable money. But so then I, then I drive down the street and they're working on the, they're working on the streets and there's a, you know, someone holding a stop sign with their hand in their pocket, looking like their life just sucks. But they're making 42 bucks an hour and they'll stand there all day and like, turn the sign one way, turn the sign the other, wave you half heartedly, oh, it's your turn to come down the hill. They're making 42 bucks an hour and everyone driving by is okay with it. But then, you know, I have someone who I work my tail off of to train them to help the experience for someone in their backyard, you know, and I'm paying 28 bucks an hour and I have to charge a certain amount of money to make it make sense for the business to be profitable. And people are like, oh my God, that's ridiculous. Like, well, you don't. When you drive by the guy with this holding the stop sign so you don't crash into someone, is that more valuable? Because, you know, you could crash and die. Where's the, where's the trade off? Like, why would not every customer, every, every employee that I work that works for me not just go hold a fucking stop sign for 42 bucks an hour, then to come work for me to have an amazing experience in your backyard. And I have, you know, and I have to work really hard to pay him 28. Like, you know, like, so where's the value? Exchange

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They say there's a certain amount of money where. Why is it that someone who's a multimillionaire is suicidal? Because they're not happy because of the money. And then how is it that someone who's making, you know, $63,000 a year or $79,000 a year, whatever the number is, like, the numbers are irrelevant, but, like, someone can be barely getting by and be happy as fuck, and then someone who's got everything on the planet and they're suicidal, but there's a certain number, I think, you know, I think, I think everyone's targets, hey, if I can make six figures, if I can make a hundred thousand dollars a year, be happy. Especially in the people who have, you know, multiple incomes coming in. You have a husband and wife working. You know, back, back in the 50s, it was just, the man went home, went out. He could buy a house, buy a couple cars, you know, take care of the kids, get the groceries, they go to college. Like, life was pretty awesome. And he worked, you know, maybe 45, 50 hours a week.

[Tyson]

Right. On one income.

[Eric Triplett]

On one income. But now you got two people and you send the kids over to the church or to the daycare and they're getting molested and, like.

[Slayer]

And that daycare cost you $3,000 a month more than a mortgage.

[Tyson]

Yes. Some people's second income doesn't cover the cost of putting their kids care.

[Eric Triplett]

Exactly. I mean, that's why Tyson, his wife's

[Slayer]

not working, that's why. Yeah.

[Eric Triplett]

It costs more money to, like, take care of the kids than his wife can get out there and earn. Unless. Unless she's going to go hold a stop sign on the side of the freeway, you know, for eight, ten hours a day, holding a stop sign, waving traffic for 42 an hour, like,

[Slayer]

yeah, it's a wash. We looked at daycare and it was like, why you're gonna go to work and work all those hours, mis up growing and raising our kid, then you gotta pay them a bill, and what the bill is is still money out of my pocket. And everything you made and you have, it's. We have nothing to show for you going to work.

[Tyson]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplett]

You're not, you're not putting a little bit of money in retirement, so there's

[Slayer]

no reason for you to go to work there.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah. So when you're 60 and have erectile dysfunction. You can't take your wife to Italy and can't even have sex. Yeah, this would be a perfect spot for erectile dysfunction. Commercial. Come on. Right now

[Slayer]

you're suffering from reptiles. Don't you go speak to your doctor.

[Eric Triplett]

Ed is a real thing. We can get you a little pill that'll get you erect and get you back in business. As long as you're not.

[Slayer]

Don't let this affect your life any longer.

[Eric Triplett]

As long as you're not hard for more than four hours, you have to go to the hospital to see the doctor.

[Slayer]

When is enough money, enough money to me, and this is just me personally speaking, here. And I'll just go little. I'll just be a little vulnerable if I can. Like every week I get a check that goes in the account, and then I pay all the bills for that week. And I still have money left over from my check after all the bills that week are paid. That's okay for me. That's acceptable. But that's not the case. I have to get two to three checks to pay all the bills. And then when I get that last check of the month, so four paychecks a month, I spend a lot of that as well. And there's not a significant amount left over afterward. So that means it can't go into savings, it can't go into retirement. I can't go out to a steak dinner. I can't take my wife to a fucking trip to the beach. There's not enough extra there to do any of that life stuff. So it just becomes a hamster wheel grind. Work, bill, work bill. Work, bill, work bill. And then I look back at it and it's like, oh, that's all I've done for the last three years of my life. When's the last time I went to Disneyland? Never. When's the last time I went to the beach? Never.

[Eric Triplett]

Well, three years.

[Slayer]

Three or four years ago. So I'm trying to transition and get to that level where. And she was working, but we didn't have kids. Now we. Now we have kids. So I had to sacrifice a little bit of putting money away and having leftover money because she was paying her bills and everything with her money, and then I was paying all mine with mine. And then we were splitting mortgage, power, rent, all that stuff down the middle. We both had money at the end of all the bills being paid. So when enough money for me, like, I know that I'm. I would be happy when I was. When I reached this position, When I can, like, walk into any store and there's an item on the shelf, and this might be shallow to think this way, but there's an item on the shelf. And let's say that item is $7,000, and I can literally leave there, drive to the bank, get $7,000 in cash, come back and buy said item. That's where I know that I'm doing okay. Or I can walk into discount tire, and they go, it's $4,000 for a new set of tires. And I pull out the debit card, and I buy tires with a debit card and not put it on a discount tire credit card with 18% fucking interest, maybe 22%. Yeah. That's how I know I'm. I'm right where I should be. That's my goal. So then I buy $4,000 worth of tires, and there's still money in there to pay the mortgage, buy groceries, go to the beach. That. That's. That's the. That's the goal.

[Eric Triplett]

So there. There again has. Becomes the. The number. And I think it's changes. Like, by the time people listen to this podcast, the number could change. And in five years that the podcast is still here and they're listening to it, then that number has grown. But yes, you know, there's a number, like, money doesn't buy happiness, they say, Right. But then also it's like, because. Because people are crying in.

[Slayer]

In Bentley's, you know what money buys less stress.

[Eric Triplett]

Well, but it doesn't necessarily buy happiness. I mean, that's what I'm saying. You can have someone suicidal sitting in a Lamborghini. But a lot of this has to do with, like, the way we. The way we have been taught to manage money and buy things. It's the economy, it's the propaganda. It's all that stuff, right? You know, like, I mean, I had a, you know, an employee recently, you know, total. A truck, got a little bit of money. He went out to buy a new truck. And, you know, you know, you walk in, and then you know how the. The dealerships are, like, how much you want to spend a month on money so they can figure out how to. How much money they can strip from you, right? And he went for the whole thing. And they're like, okay. He's like, I don't want to spend more than 500. And they're like, okay, cool. And then they talk him into, you know, 590, and he's like, oh, God, this is more than I want to spend, but I'll do it. And then they go in and he's signing papers, and they're like, oh, well, if you want the warranty and then you want the. The gap insurance and this and that, all of a sudden it's 672. And then by that time, you're like, ah, fuck it, I already love the truck. And, like, you went from 500 to 672. And then you drive up and it's like, bro, these 35s, you know how much those tires cost? Those tires are fucking $2,000.

[Slayer]

Yep.

[Eric Triplett]

And, you know, you need them once a year from, like, how far you live from here to here. You'll need new tires once a year, so that's an extra 2,000 a year.

[Slayer]

Oil changes.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah. So do the math. Now you need to save an extra 50 bucks a week so you can have the tires. You know, you have the money to pay for the tires. You don't have to put in the credit card. So it's like. It's just the way we think. But, you know, like, what we expect out of life, what makes us happy. But I think there's a number that. Where you can just be happy, and then there's that number where you're, you know, crying in your Lamborghini. You know what I mean? Like. Yeah, it's such a mind.

[Slayer]

Well, they have other problems besides money. That money's not a problem for them. Their problem is their only fans.

[Eric Triplett]

No, I mean, look at. Look at. Dude, look, this is. This is important. I'm so glad you said this because, like, I have the same problem that Jeff Bezos has. I have the same problem that Elon Musk has. There's only so many hours in a day.

[Slayer]

Yes.

[Eric Triplett]

We are both fighting that same pendulum no matter what. Okay, so we're always. We're all fighting that same thing. It's where we place our value and our cash flow and our money and our desires and our legacy and, you know, how many people we want to help and how we perceive life and if we're happy or not. Right.

[Slayer]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplett]

That's why, you know, someone that can make $62,000 a year, and they pay for everything, and their wife stays at home, and they don't have a whole lot, and they haven't been to the beach and, you know, like, they don't go on vacation, but they're happy. Right. But then you have the other person that is just suicidal because they weren't able to make it to Hawaii this year, and they didn't get to Belize. And now I have erectile dysfunction and I'm 60 and I'm retiring and my wife was a captain and now I'm in Italy and I can't even have sex.

[Slayer]

You said that to me yesterday.

[Eric Triplett]

Sorry, Slayer.

[Slayer]

We talked about that at the. At the event we were at yesterday.

[Eric Triplett]

Erectile dysfunction doesn't have to be for everyone. Just so you know that there's a blue pill you can take and everyone. And then you can take it. And as long as you don't have a heart on for more than four hours. Hours. You'll have to go to the hospital. And so, yeah, there another erectile dysfunction.

[Slayer]

It's amazing how fast the time goes here when we're. When we're here at the weekend.

[Tyson]

Yeah.

[Slayer]

Because I feel like we haven't got done half of the things that we wanted to get done.

[Eric Triplett]

We didn't get anything done. Yeah, you know, we had a good time.

[Slayer]

Like, oh, I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna be there all day Friday, all day Saturday, and half a Sunday. We're gonna get a lot done. Sun was setting and we were sitting in the parking lot and it's like, we still got another hour and a half to go here. We're not getting done today, you know. Oh, we're gonna build a. We're gonna build this. We're gonna move all this stuff out of the way. We're gonna frame this. We're gonna get concrete poured, you know?

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah. Believe me, I'm depressed. If I had a Lamborghini right now, I'd be crying in it right now.

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[Tyson]

Yeah, well, I had a really good time in that score event.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah, it was, it was fun.

[Tyson]

I knew it'd be fun. Yeah.

[Slayer]

Yeah, it was good.

[Eric Triplett]

So, Slayer, you said to me yesterday, you're like, hey, do you think it's possible in three years that I can build a business big enough to where it can run itself without me and still function and grow while, you know, I take a year off with my wife, you know, and we go to Italy and travel to Europe and all, whatever, and then I come back and still kind of functioning. Is that possible? Right. So what I'm trying to get at is, you know, I made the claim that I want to build a $50 million brand. I want to hire a hundred top tier employees. I want to change the way people interact with wildlife in their backyard and help discerning homeowners, like, you know, have a place to relax whether they're making 48,000 or $48 million a year, whatever. Right? It's a 10 year vision. You know, it's this long term vision. It's, it's long, long enough away where I can dream big enough to where I have the potential to make it happen. And my brain starts to think that way. And while I was catching fish for you in the garage today, that guy called me, he called me because of that post and he wants to sell his business.

[Tyson]

Ah.

[Eric Triplett]

And you know, so he's like, triplet. You want to buy my business? You know, like, okay, now it's crazy how just me putting that out into the universe now there's conversations that are happening that never, ever, ever would have happened before. And so I want to build a business. Like I could literally fire every one of my employees tomorrow, every single one of them. And I can go out and, you know, I could probably do half a million a year by myself and live a pretty okay life. Right? And when I say that for the people that maybe don't understand business, that's, you know, gross revenue, you take out, you know, taxes and cost of goods and all that stuff, Right. It's not that much money, but I want to create this spot in my business, in my life, where I have a hundred top tier employees that are making six figures. Like, do the math on that, right? And having multiple locations. And the guy that I was talking to is in Northern California now. I'M going to, you know, do I buy this business in Northern California that's doing really well and build a construction company based out of that location. Pond Digger, Northern California. Build a place in Temecula, build one out in Palm Springs, like diversify out. Because every time you put a new, you know, a new location out, you know, now you have your, your expansion grows. Like the place that, that place in Northern California that we're talking about, they do 2 million in business for retail. But if we put, if we put a construction company there, we'll do a million out of there. So I could literally, you know, turn that from 2 million to 3 million pretty fast. But I have to have the top tier employees that are managing that. So for me right now, after 30 years of business, I'm like, I could easily create six figure project, you know, position for myself and just live my best life over. But how do I create 106 figure positions underneath my umbrella? That's the legacy part of it. That's the legacy part of the whole conversation.

[Slayer]

Yeah.

[Tyson]

That's 60 million.

[Eric Triplett]

It's not 60 million. Now, what's the math right there?

[Slayer]

What's the number?

[Eric Triplett]

A hundred thousand times a hundred. Oh, well, that's 10 million.

[Tyson]

Yeah, that's 10.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah.

[Tyson]

I thought we were talking about 600,000.

[Slayer]

10. A lot of zeros.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah. Let me spin this back. You think about that for a second, Slayer, because like, that's the whole conversation, right? Let's spin this back to Tyson, because Tyson's company, Ace Fire Las Vegas, has grown tremendously in the past three, four years.

[Slayer]

Three years.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah. And you know, Tyson feels energized and excited every day because not only is, you know, he's making more money, which is great, but he's also feeding his passion. Like there. It's not the same hamster wheel every day. It's like, we're going to build a training center. We're going to do this, we're going to start bidding on projects for this, you know, xyz. And then you go to this website every day and you can do 20 bids a day. And then you're going to go out into the field and you're going to meet the inspectors and, like, it's fucking exciting for him. He's like, I'm going to go out and fudge it. You know, I'm going to get another merit badge. I'm going to go take this training and I'm going to get the certification and I'm going to be nice. That fucking 27 and like, you know, like, it energizes him to be that. That personal development and growth, you know, that's actually more exciting to him than the money. But he also needs enough money to where, man? Hopefully I could take my wife to the beach next year, and my beautiful baby daughter is going to be here in a month and I want to be able to take care of her. Like, so, like, there's a really fun balance.

[Slayer]

Yeah,

[Eric Triplett]

right? Am I wrong?

[Slayer]

No. It's 100. Right? You know, and then now. Now we're in three states. Like, that was unheard of.

[Eric Triplett]

Okay, but. But listen, if you didn't see your company, like, pushing and pressing to grow like that, you wouldn't be like, hey, it's acceptable to me to be able to have enough money to pay all my bills and have a little extra and, you know, put a little bit of money aside so in case my water heater goes out, I'm going to be okay, and I don't have to put tires on 18% financing, then I'd be okay with that. If you didn't see your company pressing the volume and the. And the urgency to grow, you would not be in the same position you're at right now. You'd be more depressed, you'd be more, you know, anxious, more frustrated and pissed.

[Slayer]

That's why I left.

[Eric Triplett]

Yeah.

[Slayer]

It was like I had hit the. I had hit the top out. Like I hit the maximum. This is all we do. We're not doing anything else. We're not going to grow. And this is what the. The line is. There's no way to go above this line. We reached that point.

[Eric Triplett]

So. So that's where I'm at. As. As the pond digger.

[Slayer]

I gotta. I gotta leave. I can't be here anymore. I'm gonna go insane. This is not what I want to do.

[Eric Triplett]

If I can't. If I can't create a $50 million brand in the next decade, there's no way that the people that are with me, they're gonna stick around for 10 years. If I don't have a vision that big, that. That big, then no one's gonna wanna work for me. And then guess what? The conspiracy theory starts to fucking happen. The contractor conspiracy theory hits and I'm like, no one wants to work for me. It's the generation fucking Z. They're all bitches, you know, like, they don't have the fucking thing or they're not built the same way, you know? And like, you start to come up with reasons why doesn't work but you know that you're not that generation, but you're. You're energized and excited because you've created you like you have. You're in a position where you're. Your company is creating that kind of synergy and electricity to like. Like, let's go.

[Slayer]

Kirsten told me when I. When I first came back, he goes, if you're in. Interested in just coming back and doing what you always used to do, and we just stay at that. At that level, we don't gain any more profit a year, because if with more profit comes more higher taxes. If you wanted to stay consistent where we're at now and we make a little bit of money, I'm not interested. He's like, I'm not really interested in having you come back. And I was like, well, that's interesting you're telling me that. Because I'm not interested in that at all. I want to completely revamp, change. I want a uniform, I want new trucks. I want a new company. I want to repave the yard. I want to do the floor. I want to paint it. Like, I don't want to come back to the old one. I'm open to the change. He's like, oh, okay. Because that's what I need to make sure we have on board here. Everything's going to change.

[Eric Triplett]

I. I've lost really good employees over the three decades that I've been doing this drunk change. Well, because I hit, like, this plateau and I'm like, oh, it's pretty cool here. I have a nice truck. You know, I eat really good at night. You know, my employees seem to be doing okay, but the employees wanted more out of it. And they saw me, like, kind of plateau and chill and, like, let off the gas and go like, hey, cool. I'm taking my kids to Disneyland every weekend. You know, like, life's cool, right?

[Slayer]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplett]

But they're like, hey, well, what about us? Like, we want something bigger. We don't want to stop at 1, 2, 3 million. We want, like, if there. If you're not pushing to do a $50 million brand, then there's no opportunity for me to grow anymore. So I'm probably going to have to go somewhere else. I'm going to go hold a sign on the fucking side of the road for 42 bucks an hour telling people stop and go.

[Slayer]

Yeah,

[Eric Triplett]

The value. I mean, I don't even know that we've exposed or opened up anything or, you know, made rhyme or reason of it. But, you know, as you start, if you have three years, Slayer, to build a brand or business that can run itself. Like, you have to start thinking in that way, like, how can I build this business to where it can grow enough to where the company that the team members aren't going to want to leave after two years? Because you're going to be like, okay, in a year, I'm out of here. Right? Because, like, at a year, like, if you're 12 months away from retirement, you should probably be like, I'm going to pull myself out of the business. The business should continue to run, maintain, grow, you know, and continue to be profitable. And in six months, I haven't even touched it. It's still doing well. Then you can come in and kiss the baby and do some fine tunes and like, help to, to elevate it a little bit more in that final six months. And then you, boom, dip out, disappear for six months with your wife, come back and stay, stay for a couple months, get some more blue pills, go back on the road, hang out for six months and come back and the business is still doing well.

[Tyson]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplett]

You know what I mean? Like, so you have, like, you don't have three years to do it. You have two, right? It's, it's, it's staggering. And every time I learn something new to help grow the business, you know, I, I had something pretty profound happen late February. So here we are middle of March. It's been six, seven weeks since that profound moment. And I'm still in the throes and in the grind to make it happen. And on one side, people are like, I think you've fucking lost it, Eric. You're fucking crazy. Like, what do you mean, good luck to also the conversation. Like, hey, my business is doing 2 million a year. What do you think it's worth? Are you interested in buying it? I'm having those both fucking conversations. Seven weeks after the profound moment.

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[Slayer]

Make sure you're always thinking about the value, whether to put in the value or to get the value out of something. Everything's got a price tag connected to it. Everything has value.

[Eric Triplett]

Okay, that's. That's totally fair. My. My perspective is finding the people that value that because I'm really good at fish, I'm really good at it. And so I can go to one arena full of people that find zero value in it, and then I can go to another arena that people are throwing money at me like I'm a stripper. You know what I mean? Like, oh, my God, like, give him the money. Like, he's so good. So it's about where you land and how you're communicating with the right people. So I do believe that everyone here

has a certain amount of value.

But, you know, if you keep entering the wrong rooms, you're not going to get paid. Okay. And if Slater doesn't have the blue pill, he's not getting laid. I'm just teasing. I don't know if Slater's having troubles in that area. It's just fun to tease them for it.

[Slayer]

For those listening, if you ever go to a job interview and they ask you what you think your value is or how you know, don't ever say that money's not important to you or.

[Eric Triplett]

Or this is. This is a good segue. Because I had that one guy. I'm like, hey, like, tell me what your. What your wage or salary expectations are. He's like, hey, yeah, if you're fair with me, I'll be fair with you, bro. I'm like, what the does that even mean?

[Slayer]

That's him saying, if you don't pay me what I think I'm worth, then I'm not gonna bust my ass for you.

[Eric Triplett]

And I'll dick around and I'll you around and I'll.

[Slayer]

You'll get. You'll get two hours of hard work out of me for the eight hour day.

[Tyson]

He'll light your warehouse on fire full of paper.

[Eric Triplett]

No kidding.

[Slayer]

And then he'll film it and put it on social media. Should have. Should have paid us to live.

[Eric Triplett]

All right, man. Another great weekend with you guys. The Sakura festival was unbelievable, and you guys have been tremendous. I think it was really fun getting out there. So I Want to thank both of you guys.

[Slayer]

No worries.

[Tyson]

Yeah, it was awesome.

[Eric Triplett]

Thank you so much for your ears and attention to the podcast tonight. Here's the question I want to leave you with. I started the podcast off with a question. Let me leave you with another. After everything that we've talked about tonight, are you where you want to be financially? Have you set some goals for your personal, professional, and financial positions in life that you want to do? Are you building a business or. Or are you just building a job that owns your ass? Because if you're grinding every day, you know, like as a contractor, and you're stressed out, underpaid, undercharging, judging other people for what they make because you feel like you need to make more, you are not free.

You're stuck.

And look, there's no shame in making, you know, 18 bucks an hour or $28 an hour, whatever that number is, if you completely love your life. But there is a problem if you're broke and you're burnt out and you're pretending you're okay with it. But I don't want you judging people. I want you to look inside yourself. And there's no shame in making 18 bucks an hour either, as long as you didn't lose your. Your soul, getting to wherever you're wanting to go, whether you're making $18,000 an hour, if you lost your soul, it's not a good thing, right? The goal is alignment. Make the money. Do meaningful work. Live a beautiful life. Build something that actually supports the life that you want, not something you're trying to escape from. Like, you can't wait for the weekend to show up. And that doesn't happen by accident. It takes a lot of intention and even more training, more vision. It takes being willing to look at the blind spots that are in your life. Have people help you find the blind spots if necessary, and then fix them. Work at them. Don't tuck your head in the sand and hide from them. If something in this episode hit you in some way, if you feel a little uncomfortable, if you realize you've been playing too small or thinking the wrong way about money, I don't want you to just sit on it. I want you to do something. Do something. Come join us in the train with triplet contractor circle on Facebook. Get around people who are actually trying to level up, not just complain about the game. And if you know another contractor out there, someone that's grinding but stuck and frustrated, send them this episode. Sometimes people don't need more motivation. They just need a shift in their perspective. All right, that's it for tonight. I hope you enjoyed the conversation I had by that fire pit with Tyson and Slayer. Now go build a life that's actually worth the work. See you on the next one.