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- [00:10]
Eric Triplett
There he goes.
- [00:34]
Podcast Host / Announcer
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 surf surface and ready to go deeper, it's time to dive in.
- [01:17]
Eric Triplett
Welcome, everyone. What's happening? Let's get this party started. Let's rock and roll. We're doing a live podcast over here on the Contractor Circle. TWT Contractor Circle on Facebook. And this one's gonna be fun today. Let's rock and roll. This one's called Jumping the Shark or Leading the Pack. And if you're a Gen X person, you might know what jumping the shark means. I'm Gen X and I actually had no idea what jumping the shark means, but it struck me and we're going to talk about it today. So let's rock and roll. What's up, rockstars? Welcome back to the Deep End where we're going to talk about depth, diligence and discipline and what it actually takes to grow as a contractor, a business owner, and a human being. Today's episode is a little bit personal, I would say. It's funny, a little bit gritty, and it's about something that every leader will experience if they stick around long enough, if they can make it past a decade. Remember, most contractors, 97% of contractors will never make it past a decade. But if you stick it out and you push around and you get into the second decade and look like you're headed towards the third decade, if you're around long enough, this might just hit you, someone thinking that you've lost your damn mind. And in any case, that moment came along because I added Valor, my Belgian malaw, to my team. I added a canine unit to the Pond Digger crew. And so I have a longtime customer, over a decade for sure, with a relationship. He talks to my wife all the time and we go back and forth, but he's been following our brand for, I would say, in the neighborhood of 15 years. Okay. And so he sees Valor on my social media, my Belgian Malois showing up in the content, and he turns to his wife and he says, hey, Eric, jump the shark. And I didn't even know what it was. I had walked in the kitchen to get some coffee and I heard him on speaker say that to My wife. He was telling my wife that. He told his wife that Trip lost his mind, he jumped the shark. And I didn't really know what that meant, so I was like, well, what does that even mean? You know? And my wife's like, just, I'll get to it later. Just don't worry about it. So I got my coffee, went back to work. But it really struck me. So later my wife tells me about what that even means, right? And I'm like, what? So here's the reference in if you're a Gen X kind of guy, you grew up on Happy Days, okay? And there was an episode in season five, I think it was like, in 1977. I mean, it was a while back, right? But Fonzie, you know, the Fonzarelli, the cool guy, he literally jumps a shark on the TV show. And it's at that moment people say that the show had ran its course, and from there it was a down hill slide. The show had literally ran out of ideas in their fifth season. And they're like, what do we do now? Let's have Fonzie wears iconic leather jacket, and let's have him water skiing in the ocean. And then we'll have a ramp, and then we'll have this shark swimming around in, you know, on the other side of the ramp. And he's got to jump over this enclosure in the ocean where the shark's at, because if he crashes, you know, like. So they made this all dramatic, but that was the beginning sign of the show's decline. Now, for years, the show was, you know, incredibly successful, and the reruns went on and on, but eventually they stopped making new shows. And it was around 1985 when jumping the shark became really known as pop culture. For that's when your show runs out of steam. That's when you run out of ideas. And so my friend, my dear customer for all these years, he literally reached out to his wife and said, Eric lost his mind. So in his mind, Eric ran out of ideas. Eric's gone off the rails. Eric's now leaning towards some gimmicky stuff to help him with his business. And by adding a dog to a pond construction company, that was the way he's doing it. And like, come on, honestly, now, when I heard the jump the shark thing, I didn't get mad. I mean, at first I really laughed and I was like, oh, I remember that episode. I remember when Fonzie jumped the shark, right? But then I realized I started to think about this, and I thought, this is the perfect leadership lesson. Fonzarelli, jumping the shark. Triplet, Jumping the shark. This is a leadership lesson because what people see and what is actually happening are usually two completely different realities. Okay? Because what people see is they see me playing with my dog on Instagram and he's climbing the ladder, and I got the thing in the back seat of the truck, and I'm walking him on job sites. And is he a mascot? Is he a gimmick? Gimmick? I mean, is this an attention play? Eric's just trying to get some attention. Like, he's trying to get more views on Instagram. Maybe he thinks the dog's gonna do it. Actually, I have a good friend of mine, he's a pond builder, and he has an Instagram dog page. It's called Leonidas. Leonidas something or other. He's got like 150,000 followers on Instagram for Leonidas, you know, the dog. So, like, it's not too far off, actually. Maybe I could just put a lot of content into Valor the Pond Digger Crew Dog, and get a lot of new faces and eyeballs watching me. But what some people do not see is that we live in rattlesnake territory. We're doing lots of big ponds in open spaces, and rattlesnakes are a very real threat to not only my pond customers, but to my team and so forth. So we're on these massive properties. We're doing lots of wildlife rehab. So we need. We need, you know, like, the wildlife possibility is very real. We're doing inspections on large ponds where we're looking for ground squirrel activity and maybe some rats and things of that nature so that the sniffer is really important and liability is very, very real. And SAF is very, very real. Hey, Rockstars, it's Triplett here. I want to tell you a quick story. Every week, I talk to contractors who are talented as hell, but they're stuck. And not because they don't work hard, not because they don't want more out of life, but because they don't understand how their own brain is sabotaging their business. You think you're being polite, but you're signaling weakness. You think you're reading the customer, but really you're projecting fear. You think you're giving opt, but you're actually overwhelming them and killing the deal. This isn't a skill problem. It's a psychology problem. So I created something called the Contractor Conspiracy Webinar. It's live every Thursday at 4pm Pacific Standard. In the session, I break open the Exact subconscious patterns that keep contractors trapped under their own ceiling. And then I show you the framework and communication strategies that the elite contractors use to dominate their market without lowering their price or begging for work. It's 100% free. It's 100% live. And the bonuses we give out during that webinar are only reserved for the people who show up live. We do not send them out afterwards, ever. If you're tired of feeling stuck, if you're tired of losing deals that you should be winning, if you're tired of watching weaker contractors out earn you in your space, register right now. The link is in the show notes. Come and hang out with me on a Thursday and let's fortify the glass floor you're standing on and break through the ceiling that is your next level. Here's a part that almost nobody knows about. And I think I've tested the water just a little bit, but I will tell you. And I was on a coaching call, me being coached by my coach, and he said, triplet, pick a number between, I don't know, he said 6 and 90 or something like that. I don't know. He's like. I'm like, what? What do you mean? He's like, pick a number between 6 and 6 and 90. And so just. You might imagine what I guessed because there's a. There's a popular number right now. And so I was like, let's do six, seven. And I threw my hands in the air like this, let's do six, seven. And my whole team was like, oh, God, six, seven, here we go. So he reads the six, seven number and he says, you're not truly growing and moving. He was reading out of a quote book. And so he went to 6, 7, quote to read it to me, and he said, you were not. I don't remember how it went exactly, but it was basically like, you haven't reached a spot where you're making moves and you're not really growing until you have the haters. And it hit really, really hard for me. And most of my team doesn't even completely know it. Some on my staff do know this, but I am receiving death threats. Real life, valid death threats. Okay? And so Valor's more than just a brand dog. Valor is part of my security detail, believe it or not. Okay? He's protection. He's awareness. I was at a stop the other day and I was pulled over and I was texting someone and making sure something happens. My dog alerts me like, hey, someone's near the truck. And I'm like, oh, what's going on? I look around, there's a man headed towards the truck. And I'm like, oh, cool. My, my boy Valor is doing his details. Like he's doing his work, but he's protection, he's awareness, he's a deterrent, right? So even me being in public with this, you know, police duty style canine dog, you know, he can be a deterrent in that. But here's something very interesting because he's also part of culture, he's part of the company morale. He's a leadership presence around everyone, okay? It's discipline and diligence. It's not just jumping the shark. It's literally building infrastructure around our team. So the bigger pattern is this. And it made me think, because this isn't the first time people have thought I lost my mind. And now this is not exactly jumping the shark, but oftentimes when you're in an entrepreneurship and running a construction company and you're responsible for the livelihoods of many, many people around you, you have to take these risks. And again, this is not a jump the shark moment, but this is a moment where people literally thought you lost your mind, right? But in 2008, when the economy drops out and I lost 60% of my business, everything's shaking. It's all shaken up. And instead of me, like, I just ran out of a lease on this building right then. And we were basically looking for a new, new facility. And then the economy drops out. While I'm looking for the new facility, my lease, my five year lease runs out on this one building. And I just. This one building landed in my lap. It was a 10 year lease was the only thing I could do. And it was a bigger property, bigger exposure and a lot more money. And double, double the lease time. Five grand a month, A ten year lease. It was literally a million dollar signature. I signed the paperwork right there. And like a lot of people were upset with me, okay? They were like, my mentors thought I was crazy, but they're not my mentor anymore, okay? But you know, the things were being said, Eric's gonna go under, he's never gonna make it. This is bad timing. This is too aggressive. But what, what? They didn't see what I saw, okay? They didn't see the opportunity, they didn't see the fortitude. They didn't know the tenacity that I had. Every single pond builder that was in my community went back to work for someone else except me, okay? I was the one that took the risk. I was the one that held it out, right? It was positioning, it was future infrastructure. And I made the movement and I suffered. It was not easy to do, but we pulled through. Now, that decision right there helped me build the company that I have today. The company that, you know, today. It was a moment like that, of risk that I took that helped shape who I am right. Right now, today. Now, was that a junk jump the shark moment? Not exactly, but it was. It was a moment where leadership seemed uncertain whether it's jumping a shark or signing a million dollar lease deal to stay in business. It's the same thing to me. Okay, but then there's the podcast. You know, when I started podcasting, people were like, what are you, Joe Rogan? Is this a jump the shark moment? Like, who do you think you are? Right? The podcast was part of the thing. I did that for seven years. And then we rebrand the podcast. We rebrand to the deep end. And yeah, there's, there's a bunch of deep end podcasts. If you just type in deep end, there's a lot of people that can talk about deep end stuff, right? Is it a swimming pool? Is it a pond? Is it religion? Is it what? Like, these are deep conversations. And while it was a little bit risky for me to do, I felt it was important me to do because that part of that rebrand is reinventing myself and becoming a different version of myself to push forward into the final phases of my life, into bigger phases of my business. And so one thing that's happened here since the beginning of the year when we, when we flipped to the deep end podcast was it's very contractor centric. It's helping contractors become a better version of themselves. And here's what I want you to know. If you're a pond person and you're listening to me about jumping the shark, and it's a deep end, you're in the ocean. It's kind of ties, right? But if you're having these thoughts and be like, what happened to the pond content? Right? We want that stuff. You know, where'd all the pond stuff go? Did you run out of ideas? You know, now he's a contractor coach. No, I did not leave ponds. If you're watching our social media platform currently, you know, we are scaling our pond construction business, our service division, our installation division, our fabrication and manufacturing, and we're pushing all of that pond construction forward. Now. One thing that has changed is because I have to step out of that day to day in the field seeing pond stuff, and it's Because I don't love ponds anymore. No, no. I love ponds just as much as I always have. Just as much as I love ponds. When I signed that deal for a million dollars to stay in the pond business, all that stuff still matters, right? I didn't leave ponds. But in order for me to, like, look year after year, like, you can go 5, 7, 10 years, and if you're not growing your business big enough, then you start to lose people, and then you decline and you have to retrain again, and then you go for a certain amount of time, and then you. You build the people up, and then they leave. Because the delta between you growing your business and growing your employees, it starts to change. It becomes the delta's too wide for you to. To fill that gap in because you're not making enough money and you're paying your team more. And now the delta right here is just too close, and you're not making enough profit to make it happen. So as a leader, as an entrepreneur, as a who loves aquatics, from fish tanks to ponds, with everything in my soul, I have to step away from it to still create a great environment where I can have team members flourish underneath this umbrella of our company, and they can create the dreams of their own lives. Okay, so when you see the podcast turn very contractor centric, I'm not just helping contractors. I am not. But I am. I want to help contractors so bad. I know so many contractors that they're the hardest workers I know. And sometimes they're barely getting by and their people are leaving and they can't find good people. And if I can solve that for them, then that's an amazing thing, right? But guess who I'm really solving it for? Me. I'm solving it for me. And while I'm sharing my journey of solving these problems for myself, I'm helping people out along the way. Now, there will be very deep, detailed conversations about ponds and aquariums and tropical fish and trips to Japan. All of that will remain a part of this episode. I mean, not this episode, but this journey into the deep end. But I want you guys to know that the more I help contractors become a better version of the self, the better I get. I become a better communicator. Because, you know, sometimes I. I articulate something to one contractor and he doesn't get it and another person does. So I have to learn how to articulate it different and better and more clearly. Okay? I have to explain it. The better I can explain it, the better I understand it, and the better. Under Under, I understand it, the better leader that I become to help to grow my company. So when I'm helping contractors, I'm becoming a better communicator. I lead better, my leadership skills improve, I sell better, I operate better, I service my clientele better. It forces me to be better inside of my own company. And the stronger that contractors get around me, that applies more pressure to me to get even better. Right? And it makes the entire industry stronger. It makes, you know, ponds get better in Texas and Florida and Iowa and New Jersey. It helps the whole industry. It's not drifting. It's literally anchoring. Okay? So the truth is, most people don't understand that when you grow, people only knew the old version of you. And it feels uncomfortable when you start to change because they liked you in the box that you were in. They understood you in that spot. And as you push outside the box, they begin to lose understanding of who you are. And sometimes that's scary for people. And oftentimes it's scary for people because it shines a light on the fact that they're not growing and they're not pushing forward. So sometimes when. When someone steps out of the side of a box, like adding valor to my construction team, adding a Belgian malois. I love this dog so much. You have no idea. 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. It looks random, it looks risky, and at the same time, I'm adding fleet members to the thing. It looks ego driven. When I add these trucks to the team and I get them logoed up right, it looks ego driven and it looks like I've changed. And fuck yeah, I've changed. I'm getting better. I'm evolving as a leader and my team is getting better as well. The evolution of someone or something always looks strange from the outside. So here's something that I've been thinking about. I'll call it the shark test. Okay. Anytime someone says You've jumped the shark. It's the first time I've ever heard it. But think about, ask yourself, like, have I lost focus or am I expanding my capabilities? Am I really doing, you know, something to improve myself? Did I just add noise or have I added protection? All right, is this an ego move or is it infrastructure? Am I reacting or am I leading? If the move strengthens your future, you did not jump a shark. You leveled up. I'll call it. You leveled up. And for every contractor listening will experience this moment at some point, whether it's your first truck or your 15th truck or it's your first hire or your 15th person, it's your first big risk of signing that deal, signing that lease that costs so much money. And it's such a risk, you know, and then you have to raise your prices, and then it's maybe upset your customers, but, like, then you brand the vehicles and then you rebrand. There's a jump the shark moment right there. About two years ago, I rebranded and I put that red stripe across my trucks. It's very authority based. I mean, this was something that took a lot of thought and with a tremendous amount of intentionality, and people thought I'd lost it there too. I guarantee that was a jump the shark moment. Why is he making his truck look like a fire truck? Right, but it's branding, it's content, it's authority. When you've been in the business as long as I have, and you're pushing towards three decades, you know, who am I? How have I evolved over the years? I am the authority in my position. I am the authority in my area. I want to be in authority across the country and the world. This is more than just niche positioning. And it's okay if people say that I've changed or that I'm crazy, and I probably am. I'm a special kind of crazy. I really am. For all you entrepreneurs out there and contractors that are in the trenches, you're crazy, too. I'm not trying too hard. I'm not just out here just trying too hard. I did not sell out. I'm not doing this for views. Remember, growth makes spectators uncomfortable. I'm in the fucking game. I'm in the game. I'm going. Hindsight's always 20 20. When we make mistakes out there, hindsight's easy for everyone to see and tell you, right? I'm gonna look something up here on my phone. I want to make sure I get this right, because this is important for me. Okay? There's a song From Jason Aldean. And it's called Not Every man lives, but Every Man Dies. Right? But not Every man lives. And there's a. There's a line in there. When I hear this man, I just can't turn it loud enough. And it hits me. And as I even say the words to you, that coming out of my mouth, it like, I get emotional about it. But he says in there, when's the last time you reached out for a dream that was too big and you pulled it in? Going after that big dream and actually pulling it in, When's the last time you did that? I'm going to ask you, as a leader, to dream bigger. Get your people beneath you to dream bigger. And you need to dream big enough as the entrepreneur, as the leader of your team. Your dream has to be big enough, and you have to fucking pull it in to where the people on your team can pull in their dream. That's leadership. It's not sitting safe. It's not staying predictable. It's not doing what makes everyone else feel comfortable, what makes the spectators feel comfortable, but stepping forward when it feels uncertain. You think I had a full certainty when I signed that deal? I was scared shitless. I was not certain, but I did it. So to the man, to my friend who said, I jumped a shark. If you followed me for 15 years, you need to know this. Nothing I do is random. Every move is very intentional. It may seem risky to some, but it is thoughtfully planned. Even when I make the move and I know I don't have it all figured out, I'm still being intentional. And every evolution that I make along the way is built for protection. It's built for my team, it's built for my family, and it's definitely built for my customers. It's built for my company, and it's built for the industry. And sometimes it may look crazy to you contractors. If you're sick and tired of not
- [26:21]
Contractor Sales Expert
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.
- [26:29]
Eric Triplett
Before you get upset with me, I
- [26:31]
Contractor Sales Expert
sucked at sales, too.
- [26:32]
Eric Triplett
And for a long time.
- [26:34]
Contractor Sales Expert
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
- [26:42]
Eric Triplett
things around for you and your family. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I got really uncomfortable. I trained hard.
- [26:48]
Contractor Sales Expert
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
- [27:22]
Eric Triplett
back to my contract community and the
- [27:24]
Contractor Sales Expert
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.
- [27:35]
Eric Triplett
I know you can dramatically change your life. So stop what you're doing right now
- [27:39]
Contractor Sales Expert
and go to contractorsalesecrets.com that's contractorsalesecrets.com
- [27:47]
Eric Triplett
sometimes when it looks crazy like that, those are the moments that might just keep everything alive. So I didn't jump the shark. I feel like I've just expanded my capabilities, expanded the ability for my team to build their dreams within mine because I do have bigger dreams. And just like that Jason Aldean song, like, when's the last time you reached out for a dream so big and you know, and you did pull it in, like maybe you're not dreaming big enough. Spectators see strange decisions. And if you're a contractor listening to this and people are questioning the moves that you are making right now, like Jocko would say, he'd say, good. It means you're probably growing. It means you're probably stretching, getting to the next level. And it means you're probably stepping into a version of self that you have not even met yet. Keep going. And if you're a contractor trying to figure out your next move, if you're trying to grow your business, if you're trying to grow your leadership and your confidence, you need to be around people who are doing the same. You need to be around people that are providing the right amount of peer pressure on you to drive you to do better things. And that's what I do inside my community. My weekly compass calls, my weekly sales training, my weekly webinar that we put out. These are all leadership frameworks that I've established to help my community of contractors that I know and love. Real conversations about what it takes to happen, not theory. These are real world movements that we're making along the way. And we're making adjustments and pivots along the way. We're sharing all of that. If you're not plugged into my community yet. This is my personal invitation to you, okay? So I want you to stay close to the epicenter of growth, whether it's in my community or someone else's community that you know. Because the difference between contractors who plateau and the contractors who build legacy is proximity. Who are you hanging around? Proximity to? People who are thinking bigger, moving faster, and refusing to stay the same, regardless of what spectators may or may not think. So if you think that I jumped a shark, you just wait to see what I do next. I'll see you in the deep end.
- [30:49]
Podcast Host / Announcer
Attention all Pond Professionals. Are you looking to elevate your business, connect with industry leaders and stay ahead of the curve? The Pond Professionals alliance is your gateway to a thriving community. Dedicated to excellence in the pond and water feature industry. The PPA offers exclusive networking and training events designed to help contractors like you level up your business with a heavy focus on community education and support, ensuring you have the resources needed to succeed with your water feature business. If you're a pond professional, get active in the PPA's vibrant Facebook group, where hundreds of water feature specialists share insights, advice and opportunities to help your business. Don't miss out on the chance to be a part of a community that values integrity, innovation and collaboration. Visit pond professionalsalliance.org today to learn more and become a member the Pond Professionals alliance where community meets opportunity. It.