← The Deep End with Eric Triplett
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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. Welcome back to the Deep End podcast. It's Triplet here, and I'm going to jump right into it today. Something's rocking me and I want to. I want to share it out with you and hopefully rock you into a new place, a new mindset, because here it is. It must be nice, right? New trucks, new branding, growth and expansion. It must be nice. I just added a new rig to our construction fleet and it's a beautiful, beautiful truck. And yes, it is nice. And when I share this out to the world through Instagram and Facebook and reels, I know what people think. I know what a lot of people think. Yeah, it must be nice. Triplet. It must be nice. And guess what? It is nice, but not the way people think. And this isn't about flexing. This isn't about waking up in the Benjamins and just rolling around in the dough. This isn't about showing off success. What I really want to share is responsibility. This is about responsibility. It's about pressure. It's about choosing to build something bigger than yourself and carrying the weight and the burden that comes along with it. And as I continue evolving and working hard to become the best version of myself every single day, pushing forward, getting knocked down, dusting myself, getting up and going back out at it. You know, like, my vision is, I see it shifting in my life and over my career, and it's just. It's not just about winning anymore. I loved winning. I'm competitive. I love that. But it's not just about me winning anymore. It's not just about my company winning. It's about how big can I make my umbrella? How big can I make these wins? How many people can grow within my winning within this umbrella of goals, Right? How many people can build lives under what I've built? I mean, after 35 years, I'd like to think I've built something big enough that can inspire and move people and create, you know, a really wonderful livelihood for other people that are helping me along the way. And too many contractors get caught in entrepreneurs and business owners. They just get caught in building something and it's just enough for them. And when, when, when it's all said and done, there's nothing left over and there's just shrapnel laid around and everyone around them is burnt out. And not much of anyone has anything, especially even the contractor. They don't have anything that they can sell. They just, you know, they built themselves a job that they work really, really hard at over the year. But how many people can grow under this umbrella that I'm building, this. This umbrella of a goal, right? How many people can build lives under it? And how many people can chase their own dreams within my dream? That's the vision that I have nowadays. And from friends to family to employees and inspiring peers, people in my community, people online that, you know, my peers of, online people, and sometimes people I've never even met because, you know, with the way social media works right now and the way interest media works right now, when you put your stuff out there, there's people watching you and you're aspiring people without ever meeting them, without ever talking to them, just from your action and you putting yourself out in the world, you're inspiring people. And that's what I really want to touch. If I can build something big enough, strong enough, and have enough structure, then maybe it becomes a platform where other people can achieve their wildest dreams because of me, or at the very least, be inspired to believe that their life could be bigger, that something bigger than what they're doing is possible. And when I look back at my career, I can see these moments vividly that shaped me. And I remember when I first started this out, you know, I wasn't selfish. When I was coming into the business, I was amazed. I was just, like, baffled. Like, I can actually. People actually pay me to play with fish all day. I was just pumped to be doing what I love to do. Breeding fish and building aquariums and working on ponds and touching people's lives with water is. I can. I can remember back into my 20s, okay, and creating these beautiful ecosystems with my hands, whether it was an aquarium in someone's home or in their garden, you know, with. With ponds, you know, with aquatic plants and like, just creating these ecosystems. I mean, I was just pumped to be doing what I loved. I didn't have a care in the world. I didn't have any kids. I didn't have much, you know, I didn't have much responsibility in the world other than just going out and being a good person and taking care of myself and, you know, and Just here I am creating these beautiful aquatic things, ecosystems and such with my hands. And as I was doing that, I was bringing people along for the ride when I could. You know, I'd hire an apprentice. And then they got into aquariums, and they had aquarium at their house or they had an aquarium and they wanted to work with me and just. I don't know, I. It's all. It was always just this really cool startup, right? But I didn't even know how to think big at that time. I was already living big. I was like, living a dream of playing with fish. I wasn't making much money, but I didn't have many. I didn't have much, you know, need for a lot of money. I didn't even have a mortgage payment or anything. I didn't have really a car payment. You know, I was just. I was living my dream, playing with fish all day. But I didn't even know how to dream big. Bigger than that dream was already. It was already a big dream to me to be doing that much. I didn't know what was possible at that time. There wasn't Internet, so you could see all these different people building big businesses around what they loved to do. I didn't know how to break past the ceiling of the ceiling that I was in right there at that time, because my mindset back then wasn't, how do I build something massive? It was just like. It was more built off of fear. Like, hey, don't screw this up. Don't flood someone's house. Don't, you know, make this pond leak. Don't get sued. Don't fuck this up. So you go have to go back and go back into construction, framing houses, you know, that's. I was good at that too, and I loved it, but not as much as I loved working with fish and going around and getting paid to help people with their fish. It was just unbelievable. I just wanted to keep doing what I loved. And that was the mission. And mission accomplished, you know, but then 10 years goes by, 15 years goes by, and then life evolves and you get married and you have kids, and then the real responsibilities start to show up, okay? And you have mortgages and things. You know, life evolves, and suddenly your focus shifts from the passion to. To protection. Okay? Now it's like, you know, how do I, you know, protect my family? How do I make sure they're safe? I need to get a life insurance policy. And, you know, when I do take these risks now, the risk has greater consequence if there's a Screw up. You know, it's not like, oh well, I screwed up and you know, I'll go live in my car again. And that's cool until I get it figured out again, you know, like now the risk was too big. 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. Now instead of just living the passion, it's like, okay, I'm into the protection mode and I just need to make sure the family's safe and the bills are paid and make sure that the business can survive. I could still keep doing that because too many people give up on that dream as they haven't built dream big enough where they haven't thought big enough to structure it well enough to provide enough money and enough service to the community to where they can actually keep doing that. Because a lot of, a lot of people just end up going back to work for someone else because they're afraid of the risk and there's too much consequence if the risk, it should fail them. Right? And while I was still creating this fun environment and I was still building really cool things along the way, I didn't build the business big enough to support everyone that was around me. And this was a really hard truth for me to deal with that early on in my career because the hard lessons, the hard lessons come from, you know, employees, personal growth and lack of growth and then betrayal. And I've had employees steal from me and I've had, you know, guys leave and go out on their own and try and steal my clients. And yeah, some of that hurt and some of that was a really good drive for me to push harder in business. You know, that's competitive edge of me, you know, and while some of these guys, looking back now, you know, you know, they're dear friends of mine and so when they stole from the company, they felt like, oh, I'm stealing from the company, not triplet, you know, I would never steal from triplet. He's my buddy, he's my homie. I would never want anything bad from him. I'll just steal from the company. But the company was me. It was all my risk, it was all my burden. Right? And remember, at this point in my career, the risk ratio of failure all of a sudden can affect serious consequences of my family. So I mean, looking back now, it's just a really interesting time in my career. And so was it just them being bad people? Some cases, yes. You know, when someone says, hey, I'm going to steal all your business, I'm going to steal all your customers and you know, I'm going to go out on my own and they feel entitled to that, that's actually really good. That's happened a couple of times me over my career. And I'll tell you, it's those moments right there when you grind in and you grit down and you fight for everything you've built. These are amazing moments. And I don't regret those moments at all because, you know, I prevailed through those moments and they helped chip me and grind me and shape me into the person that I am. So. But some of them were bad people and some of them weren't. Or maybe, maybe not. Maybe they just, they just didn't see a future big enough inside my company. And they, they were pushed to that decision. And when people make are pushed against desperate times, they come into desperate decisions. And you know, sometimes they don't. They can't even think big enough to get away around that. Right. But maybe they didn't know how to grow without doing that. Maybe they didn't have a roadmap. Maybe they felt like the only way forward was out and that was my fault. I'll take full responsibility. I'll take full responsibility because right or wrong, it just didn't work. But those are the moments that shaped me. And sometimes it hurt a lot, but sometimes it fired me up a lot. You know, it goes both ways. But, you know, now I ask a different question. How do I build something big enough that people don't feel like they have to leave in order to win? And as I think about this, I've been taking risks for 35 years. And if you're an entrepreneur or a contractor, you know, in order to do this, it comes with great risks. Buying trucks, hiring crews, signing leases for buildings and machines, and signing insurance policies that are, you know, outrageous. If you're in California, you know, putting my name on jobs that could fail, sending teams out that you trust are gonna carry your brand and your Name. Well, risk is not new to me. But now. Now the risks are bigger. And I'll say more intentional, because as I talk to you right now, my kids are grown, have gone through that season, okay? But the interesting thing is my kids still work for me. So now I'm asking different questions. How do I build an environment where they can buy houses, they can raise families, they can travel, and they can live big lives through this business, through what I've created. How do I create a place where my team can do the same? That's the season that I am in right now. This is the question that I ask myself day in and day out. Not like, you know, hope I don't have to go be framer again. Like, my intentionality is much deeper. And that reel that I shared today on Instagram and Facebook, that's the inspiration behind the conversation that I'm having with you right now. So money is really the uncomfortable truth, let's face it. Because as a business owner, our biggest problems that we face are wrapped around people. If we want to grow, right? As a business owner, people is our biggest problem. And our employees, the people that we lead, their biggest problem is usually money. And here's where people get uncomfortable, because in order to break through that, you know, you need to start charging what you're worth, you know, as a team, as a culture. And you build it out, right? And, you know, having the proper vehicles and the proper tools, this is all expensive. So as you expand and scale like that, as a business owner, you know, the risk becomes larger, and so the worth has to cost more, you know, to deliver the product to the person, right? We want to deliver an amazing product, but we also want to charge what we're worth. And so this is the uncomfortable part, because when you start charging what you're worth because you expand your risk, and when you build a business that supports real lives, real lives where your team is not struggling to get by and can't make truck payments and can't get tires on their vehicle and, you know, are struggling to take care of their family at Christmas. Like, if you want to build a business that supports real lives, some of your customers get mad. And I've experienced that, and it's. It's hard. I. I don't blame them, but at the same time, I. I can't be mad at them, but they certainly can be mad at me, right? Honestly, they can be mad because this isn't about me squeezing money out of people. So, you know, I can have nice and have nicer truck I mean, my truck's plenty nice. I don't need a nicer truck. But this is about building machine that supports families, fuels massive growth, gives back to the communities, your churches, and allows people to donate, serve and lead. This isn't about greed. It's infrastructure for life. And there's no reason why we can't have big lives. And some of the contractors out there and entrepreneurs that are going through what I am at different seasons or life, they just don't have that big enough dream yet, right? So my vision now is simple, but it's massive. I need to build a big enough umbrella where people don't just work underneath me and I get paid and then they, they don't get much out of life. I want to build a big enough umbrella, a big enough dream, a big enough business structure where people don't just work, they grow, they lead, they become better, they learn how to dream again. Because so many employees out in the workforce, they don't dream anymore. And this is really heavy for me because there's a lot of employees out there in the world, in any kind of business and that have given up on their personal dream and now they're working for someone, fulfilling a dream for someone else. And it's a tough spot to be. And I've seen that in over my career where employees are working for me and I know they gave up on their dream and here I'm the risk taker and why can I get away with it? But they didn't. Is it personality types or what is it? I'm not really sure. 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 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 community and the construction industry that I know and I love. The list is available to you@contractorsalesecrets.com 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 Contractorsale Secrets. I want. I want to capture that spot. Whether if you wanted to be a professional golfer and it didn't work out for you and now you build ponds for a living or something. I want to somehow create a big enough spot where that person can live a wonderful life and maybe go golf at the best places across the country whenever he wants to. Because, you know, I've built a big enough business to where I can pay them well enough to do that right? And that there's nothing to be ashamed about that whether you're the person that gave up on your dream and now you found a spot to build a different dream under you. That's why I want them to dream again. I don't want so many employees just stop dreaming when they give up and they go to work for someone else. I want to create the ability for them to dream again in a different fashion, in a different way, with a different perspective. So when someone gives up on their goals, I want them to be able to walk in to our facility, to our team, and I want to start rebuilding them. And sometimes when people come to me, they don't even need to. They don't even know that they need to be rebuilt. But that's where I want to show up as a leader for them, where people don't feel stuck, where they feel like I can really build a really cool life here. Not only work around cool people, build cool things, but have a really cool life. That. That's the company that I want. That's the company that I'm dedicated to build at this time. And this is interesting because this ties into my life and my wife. My wife specifically ties into my wife because just recently I. I took the time to sit down with all of my employees, 13 employees, and I wanted to understand what their personal, professional and financial goals are for their life in one, three, and five years. And when I can understand what the goals of my people are and if I can build a big enough umbrella, if I can have this business large enough to where I can help them fulfill each of those goals along their life. And that's where things become really, really interesting. And your employees are more engaged to come to work and more excited because they know that by building the dream of the business and the fulfilling the goals of the business and the owner, they're also fulfilling their own goals as well. And that's where things get really interesting. And this ties back into my wife. So I even had my wife put down her. Her personal, professional, and financial goals for the next one, three, and five years. And so what that looks like is like, hey, at the end of the year, this year, like, what. What needs to happen in order for you to feel like it was a very successful year. And so we went through these things, and my wife is so humble and she's so beautiful, and she's such a workhorse, and she really holds everything together. And her dream, the wildlife rehabilitation facility. And while we do have one, we've been running one for the past three to five years, you know, and it's growing. You know, we've had amazing donations, and we do our 4x4x48 challenges and our art in the arena shows. We do these, these events where we can raise money. And then we put it all back into the. Into the animal facility. Like I. She has these really big visions, But a lot of times it's like, well, let's go buy a lottery ticket, and if I win, we're gonna fulfill it one day. And I'm like, let's. We're probably a better bet for us to really figure out what you want, figure out how to get it. What kind of work can we do to achieve that? And we'll probably get there a whole lot more realistically than just buying a lottery ticket. Right? So her dream, this large wildlife rehabilitation facility, 501C, three vets on staff, you know, her just taking care of animals. I mean, in a perfect world, you know, as we approach 60, if we want to do bears and mountain lions and eagles, you know, we need five years working underneath someone that has the credentials to do so. Which means, you know, that by the time we could even do that, it's. We're in our mid to late 60s. And so that doesn't pan out really well. So what, you know, my, my thought is like, okay, we hire someone that has those credentials to be able to work under our facility. See the. See that, the dream. See the bigger part of it, the bigger picture. That's the way my brain is thinking now. So, you know, how do I create a facility big enough to be able to hire the people with those credentials that we can still have involvement there. And this is, this is the big dream. Okay? Not someday, not when we retire, but now, as you know, we still got a couple years before 60. How can we collapse time? How can we move faster and build bigger, make dreams real while we still have the energy and the body and the fortitude to do such a thing? Right? That is what expansion looks like to me. And when, when your team sees you dream bigger like that, they know that they have the ability to come along for the ride and have a big dream within that. That's when the real beautiful things happen. And so as I envision growing this out and scaling and building out, recruiting comes to mind. Because, you know, if you want to go fast, you're supposed to go alone. If you want to go far, you need to have a big team. And so teamwork is really on my mind. And as I tighten things up and I lock in and align with my employees that are with me currently now, it's like, okay, let's lock in, let's get super aligned. Because I'm going to, I'm going to add people to the group. Because if you're not aligned with your team currently, you start just adding people to the team to scale, without alignment, it's going to fall apart pretty quickly. So I am constantly recruiting now. I'm in the constant recruiting mindset and it's not like I'm going to put a job post up and I'm going to do an interview from, you know, one or two people from indeed, once a week or something like that. That's not the way I want to recruit. I'm looking for team members that want to win, that have these big visions, that have these big goals and dreams. I don't want to hire people that don't have goals. I mean, if you don't have a goal, then how can you help me achieve my goal? To help have a goal big enough to where everyone on our team's goals can be fulfilled Underneath that, that's the way I'm thinking. That's the big mindset. And so part of our recruiting process now is at the time of this recording, we're having a job fair in the next couple days. And the last job fair we had was, was almost a year ago. And I still, like, that's how much I've evolved in the past years. Like so a year ago. And we still have a couple team members on our team today from that job fair a year ago. And when I posted this new job fair, they were like, oh, you already need different employees. What happened to the other ones? It's like, well, they're fucking still here, bro. Like, that's the mindset people have. Oh, they all quit. So now you need new ones. You fired them all. It's hard to find good help. It's a conspiracy inside everyone's brains that think that way. I still have team members from that job fair on my team today. It's just, I want to expand, I want alignment, I want fucking killers on our team. I want to, you know, expand and grow. So we are having a job fair in a couple days. Currently, I'm looking to hire like five people at the time of this recording. And, and I already have announced another job fair in eight weeks. So in two weeks and two days we're doing one. And then I'm traveling a lot for about a month, grinding out and touring. And then when I, soon as I get back, we'll start recruiting again. And these, this is, like I said, job fairs. We have 50 people at once. We're interviewing 50 people at a time because we want it, we want to narrow it down and find the killers. I'm not just having someone breathe into a mirror and it fogs the mirror. Like, bro, cool. Can you lift a hundred pounds? Okay, cool, you're on the team. Let's go. Let's see if we can figure it out. I'm looking for alignment. I'm looking to bring people into this ecosystem and I'm not just looking for employees. I'm not looking for someone to fog the mirror. I'm looking for people who want to build something real, who want to build awesome shit for really cool people. I want people who want to grow. I want people who want to learn. I want people who want to lead someday that have a vision big enough to do that. And if that's you listening to the podcast right now, I imagine you might just find your way to us. Hey, it's Triplett here. Listen. 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Whether you're a first time pond builder or professional contractor looking to elevate your game, my team and I are ready to help you realize that vision for personalized pond design assistance or to get your hands on Helix Life Support filtration equipment. Give us a call today at 800-522-5043. That's 800-522-5043. Support American Craftsman and choose Helix Life support for your pond. Built for koi, built for life, Built for you. The truth is, a lot of people don't chase their dreams and, and not because they're lazy, but because either they're scared or they lack the resources or maybe the support of their family, friends, community. Sometimes they just don't even know where to start. They don't know how to dream big or maybe, or like earlier on in the conversation, they're in just a different season of their life where their focus is somewhere else. Right. Just like how I did. But hopefully I can help break through the mindset and the barrier so you don't have to wait 35 years to look at a bigger dream like that. I'm just in a season of my life where I'm willing to take these risks, and not just for me, but take these risks for my people. It can go a little bit harder with my risk. A lot of contractors at this point in their game, they pull their risks back a little bit because they want to preserve and they want to be careful. And I still feel like I can be incredibly assertive and aggressive at taking risks for my people, for my community, and for what we're building to help achieve the. A big dream for my wife as well. She's beautiful and I want to help her fulfill that, that amazing big dream. And I trust my experience and I trust my systems. I trust the people around me. And sometimes I, I take a leap before I have it all figured out and then I just make the, you know, the heavy commitment and take massive action to figuring it out. Like in, in the middle of it, in the midst of it. I'm positive that, you know, moving along and getting feedback is better than waiting to get perfection before moving along. I truly believe that. So, yeah, when you see the new truck, when you see my fleet, when you see the logos, you see the growth. And you see, you know, a team around me that's excited and ready to fucking go. And you think, it must be nice. Triplet. Just remember, this did not come from comfort. Came from years of risk, failure, learning, personal development, growth, responsibility, discipline, depth, diligence. And yeah, now it's nice. It's really fucking nice. Because we're building lives, we're building people, and we're building something that lasts and that. That's worth everything, Sam.