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To The Point - Home Services VIP Room Podcast
Ken Goodrich's 2026 Market Outlook & New 1,000 Day Plan
01:12:59
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- [00:02]
Ken Goodrich
This is to the Point a Rhino experience, voted one of the top home services, marketing and operations podcasts. Cutting through the. And getting to the Point.
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Chris (Host)
Hey, what's up, everybody? It's your boy Chris, host To the.
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Point Home Services podcast. And right across from me, my good friend Ken Goodrich is back in the house. Finally, you actually made it in here. Plane was running a little bit late today, kg. I made it. How was the flight in? How's the shoulder?
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Ken Goodrich
The flight in was great. Pretty easy, Uneventful. They get. They kept us on the tarmac for an hour. So. Sorry I'm late.
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Chris (Host)
Maybe it's this government.
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Ken Goodrich
The shoulder, you know, it's not, you know, it's healing up. I had rotator cuff surgery and I wouldn't. I'd say it's not as painful as what a lot of people told me it would be, but the physical therapy now kind of getting to you to use it, getting me to use it again and move it around, it's. It's not the most pleasant thing I've ever done, let's say that. But I'm not running around a bunch of pain.
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Chris (Host)
You're not saying you're not giving high fives out with that right hand right now.
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Ken Goodrich
Try not to.
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Chris (Host)
I know you're a big high fiver. You. I wondered if it was because of. I don't know if Vegas is experiencing the, you know. Know what the government stuff that's happening. If it's, you know, staffing, airport staffing, like any of this type of stuff, if it's the same, if you've even experienced the same stuff. But it's like, maybe today was a rougher day than normal.
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Ken Goodrich
No, they always have what they call flow control and they're just trying to control the amount of traffic going to Scottsdale. And all you elitists in Scottsdale, you know, you want to occupy the airspace and keep it quiet and stuff. So there's always. Generally, there's always a flow control issue coming into from Vegas to Phoenix or something.
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Chris (Host)
I bet you're 99 people listening. Cannot relate.
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Ken Goodrich
Yeah.
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Chris (Host)
Flying into Scottsdale, but by the way, quick note about Scottsdale. Rhino X 2026 is officially going to be at Scottsdale Air Park. That's all I'll give you for now. I'll give you more off air, but that's where it's going to be. And then we're going to put everybody up at the Kieran, which will be. It's perfect because it's like, you know, shot down there. So I'VE got a great plan for it with the Top Gun theme. The best of the best. So trying to figure out how to get you into a, you know, a flight jacket and some jeans, maybe white T shirt, some.
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Ken Goodrich
I don't have to do the volleyball scene do. I'll do the 2B flight jacket, but.
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Chris (Host)
It'Ll be a good one too. Obviously it's always hard like one up in every year, but. But this year I want to do it more of a debate style. But what better than Top Gun? You know, we're the best of the best, learn from the best. So. And trying to get a. I don't want to ruin it. So I'm not going to say it, but I've had. It's. It's not easy to get certain aircraft into Scottsdale Airport. Scottsdale Airport, unless you have private terminal. There's a lot of hoops to jump through, but they're worth jumping through. It's gonna be a fun event. You know, you'd know a little bit about it because before I wrote I was talking about it's gonna be pretty fun. But what I want to do real quick on the episode one. Thanks for, for coming in here. I mean you literally got off the plane. You come over here and I appreciate that. Seems how it's normally how it works out. But these are always better in person when we talk about it. Yeah, it's more fun because you get to look at me, I get to look at you. We have a moment. It's pretty special.
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Ken Goodrich
Well, I think it makes a better show than on the. On the zoom call, right?
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Chris (Host)
Yeah, it sounds better too. But let's do this. I had an interesting conversation with my vice president of sales yesterday when we're kind of talking about 2026 plans for rhino and his dad used to be the. Worked for. Worked for George Bush was the Secretary of staff. Is that right? Steps. Whatever that is. Like whatever that really important role is.
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Ken Goodrich
Chief of staff.
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Chris (Host)
Chief of staff. Thank you. Jeez. And so he's always kind of been in the political space and he's always given me his opinion. He also told me that Trump wasn't going to win the presidency and he did. So I actually use that against his theory on what I'm about to share with you. But I was asking, as we're thinking through staffing on the sales team and just sales plans and all this other shit for 2026, he's kind of like, hey, just so you know, I think the market's going to be soft. And I said well, I'm hearing a lot of the opposite of that from like my circle that the market's going to be. Be soft. So like what explained to me he starts talking about the GDP and like all the stuff he hears and what his dad's talking to him about and all this other stuff. But it's, that's actually the opposite of what I've been hearing from like even my, you know, my friends, you know, and so I'd be curious to know just.
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Ken Goodrich
Yeah, the stock market. Yeah.
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Chris (Host)
Yeah. So, so what, like what, where. What are you thinking about it? Obviously like really what I care most about is for us, our, our industry. H vac, plumbing, electrical, like our world. What's your take on what this is going to look like next year? I think our listeners are trying to figure it out. We're getting close to. To it.
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Ken Goodrich
Well, look, I've operated in many very difficult economic Times. You know, 9, 11, the Great Recession, this small recession, that tech, tech bubble, all that stuff. Certainly Covid. Right. Like I've operated in all kinds of difficult times. And you know, the way I look at it, what I did in those particular times is I just pushed the throttle forward on the advertising and I went out and took the business to be had. You know, you can't say that, you know the recession, that there was much demand, you know, the gdp, you know, it suffered right then, but we grew at 35% CAGR from 8, 9 and 10. So we doubled our business or better inside that period of time in the recession when everybody else was retracting. Not a lot of guys made it actually. So I think you just gotta, you know, what do I think it's. I think customers are holding onto their money. I think we all gotta admit that we pulled a lot of demand forward in the early or 20, 21, two maybe. We pull a lot of demand forward. So you know, we're paying for it now. It's like all these tax deferred things we do, right. You eventually gotta pay the tax. So I think that's going on the, you know, we've got a lot more sophisticated competition than we used to. Deeper pockets, you know, driving up the lead costs and driving up labor costs, driving up management costs, things like that. So. And changing of refrigerant changes. I mean it's been kind of a difficult few years for a lot of. A lot of business owners and some, and a lot of PE guys too. I think they underestimated, you know, how much, how much street knowledge you got to have to run one of these businesses, you know, it's still kind of a street guys game and so there's been a lot of some failures, a lot of toe stubbed, all kinds of this going on. It's going to be a tough year. So it's going to be a tough year. But you know you got to go out, you got to go out and get it like, like always. And this is not a time to be retracting and counting your pennies and trying to. Let's just weather the storm. It's go out and get the business and you go out and get the business and it's not, don't you don't fight the fight with the digital fight. You got to have the digital going. But you know I've always been a big believer in brand and relational brand stories. We're dealing with homeowners on their most valued asset. Right. Their home. Right. Their most important thing they have. And we're dealing with them in that level. We have to communicate with them on a personal level and emotional level and touch a heart. That has to be the mission of the advertising and I can't seem to get many people interested in that. But I know it works and that's exactly what we're going to do with our new business and that's what we're doing with our new business and it works. So leading into 26, just to sum it up, you got your headwinds. Don't find better ways to market. Don't go head to head with every knucklehead that's got a bunch of cash and is throwing driving the pay per click cost through the rough. Go to some more relational branding, guerrilla type marketing where nobody else is at and go take your business.
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Chris (Host)
So you think we're basically going to have like a redo of this year or you think it's upper, you think it's better or worse than, than this year?
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Ken Goodrich
I don't think it's over. I mean I think I would say my bet would be neutral. You know it's air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, like the things break and we all need them. They're necessity, they're what do we call them? Essential services services. So you know that doesn't go away with the economy. But you know you gotta be, you gotta go attract the customers and you gotta get out there and teach your. Teach and train your people to execute on the calls and offer, offer different choices, offer different solutions, offer new solutions to customers on things you see. Just be a top rated consultant to the customers with a great brand. And you'll make it through.
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Chris (Host)
Got it. So before then we jump into the Kinderator, since you have been through a few of these markets, you decide to do your new thing in it for good timing. But before we go any further, I'm a little disappointed because you came in here, you knew we're going to talk about the generator, but where's the cape.
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Ken Goodrich
And wear the cape. You know the name of the company is Generator Partners, right? Because we're doing our own little roll up, build up, whatever you want to call it. And then our brand, our brand of equipment is generator. Yeah.
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Chris (Host)
Which is your personal power plant.
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Ken Goodrich
Yes.
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Chris (Host)
Well, I mean that's what, I mean, you, you, you don't need.
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Ken Goodrich
But let me jump in and say this, but you know, talking about these economic, economic times we're having like we're going to lean into, you know, the unrest in the world and the economic times and the, the grid and all the, all the news about how it's. The AI is going to, has so much more power demands and we're going to really lean in on that, those truths to get to drive our demand through the roof rather than hoping Generac gives us a lead or two.
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Chris (Host)
Good, because I have that as part of one of my questions is how you're going to leverage it. I mean that's like half of my day is trying to think through what it is, how it is what we're doing and how's, what's the outcome of it, what I gotta do next. And then Google shoves read it down in the search rankings which then changes that. You know, like it's, there's, there's like constant. I feel if I write a process for something now, it changes in two, two weeks when it comes to AI, it's crazy.
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Ken Goodrich
Yeah. And by the way, that's, that's every part of the business. I mean business is in flux. It's or the industry is in flux. It's been changing pretty rapidly over the last certainly the last decade. But these last. Feels like the last four or five years have really been. Everywhere you turn you got some fire, right? Yeah.
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Chris (Host)
You know, it's crazy things like today, today I work with right around 40 ish private equity platforms which is crazy to think about that many or even we're talking about them. And that's just it. But, and that's not even all at this point, but. And then listening to what they're talking about and the way that they're thinking about the market and there's still, I literally Just sent somebody one of our podcast episodes from one of our private equity platforms last week who was trying to understand the difference between branded, non branded and then and the thought was was said to me, we have membership customers that pay and those membership customers are loyal. You're telling me they leave, they go outside of they're paying us. And I said, are you saying that you think all membership customers just stay put? Like they don't ever look outside of even though they paid you your whatever for your membership fee? Literally, that was a question I had to work through. Like, yes, they leave. If you can't get to them at a certain time frame, they'll leave. Or if like just because they paid you for membership, hell, sometimes they forget if you don't market to them correctly.
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Chad Peterman
Hey, Chad Peterman here. I've been all in on Bluon for quite a while now. And it's not just me. Contractors all over are seeing similar results. Tony at Just In Time Heating says their support calls dropped immediately once they rolled it out. His texts get reliable answers From Bluon's Edge AI faster than what they get from the OEMs and their parts guy. He's loving it too. It's made his job way easier. They're saving time, solving problems quicker and feeling more confident in the field. Blu on just become part of the process. And yeah, Peterman Brothers is definitely seeing that impact too. Click the link in the description and book a quick demo. You'll get it.
- [14:04]
Chris (Host)
Attention to the point listeners, branding has never been more important. Is your brand in serious need of an upgrade?
- [14:10]
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- [14:11]
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- [14:18]
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- [14:21]
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- [14:30]
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- [14:33]
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- [14:40]
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- [14:41]
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- [14:57]
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- [14:58]
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- [15:19]
Ken Goodrich
Well, it's, it's crazy to me how many people I ask, who'd you get your air conditioner from? For instance? And they don't know. I mean, it's the majority of time I ask, who'd you buy it from? And they don't know. So, number one, number two, I can't tell you how many times we would, you know, propose a new H vac system or a plumbing system in a new. One of our longtime club membership customers, and they would go down the street and get the cheaper guy to go do it, and they would continue to have us maintain it. So that goes on too. This, it goes back what I said earlier. I just think, you know, there's a, there's a lot of. I don't know, I'll just call it street knowledge. The street knowledge that comes from years and years of, of living this game that kind of goes away when management changes and things like that happen, you know, and then, you know, you lose an edge.
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Chris (Host)
Yeah, I, I want to dig into that street knowledge a little bit because there's a. Got to be a reason you chose generators. And, you know, because if you have a soft hurricane season like our, does it impact you in that world the way it impacts when we have, you know, soft summers here in Phoenix or Vegas? I mean, is it, is it that drastic or is there that much of a fall off? Does it dry? Is there that much, like, demand? Does it drive that kind of demand even?
- [16:48]
Ken Goodrich
It drives big demand. We, we had a lot of storm activity last year, and we want, we, we enjoyed a, I don't know, maybe a $20 million backlog going into the year, going into this year. So. And then we haven't had any storm events yet. So. And you can see it dwindling pretty fast. But then again, I'm not waiting on that. I didn't, I didn't sit around and wait for it to get hot to sell air conditioners either. So, you know, we're, we're out there promoting our brand and, and creating our own demand is how we're working on it. But, you know, it is crazy to me. You know, just one of the things you didn't know. I mean, I was told that the storm season really drives generator demand, but I'm like, well, really, you know, it. It's a big player. It's a big piece of it. Yeah. Okay, so it's a big piece on it based on how the manufacturers and the contractors have been playing the game.
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Chris (Host)
Got it. So then are you getting time with the manufacturers then too on and sharing? Like, are you trying. Do you have any leverage in there and you're pushing or sharing insider. Are they coming to you and asking anything? I mean, just from your credibility in the H Vac and plumbing space, like you're having any influence there.
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Ken Goodrich
I haven't, I haven't inserted myself in that. You know, I've got a team that we put together that are driving the whole business. But I have not inserted myself that on purpose because I plan to go outside and do our own private label brand, Kenrator. So I don't. I'm not going to use any of the current manufacturers.
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Chris (Host)
Yeah, yeah, got it. Makes sense. Well then let's talk. Let's just talk about the generator journey in general again. Did you just.
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Ken Goodrich
Let me say this. I'm not going to use them as my primary brand. The current manufacturers, we're going to have our own private label brand, which white label.
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Chris (Host)
Yeah, it makes total sense. So I just didn't know how maybe when you were just, I assume from knowing you that you took some time to try and really learn from the others on, you know what. Is there a playbook? Is there a playbook? How is it being manufactured? How's it like. Just trying to learn maybe some of the work is before you create your own.
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Ken Goodrich
No, I've been working on. I worked on this project at least two years before, maybe, maybe three, because I knew it was probably our next move. And so Stephen Gurley and I, we started really, really bearing down on it on 23. We closed our first deals January 24th and you know, the rest is history.
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Chris (Host)
Well, so let's.
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Ken Goodrich
But, but during that time, yeah, we did dig a lot into how the business worked. It's interesting, it's. It reminds me of H vac in the 80s. I mean, that's how it's a very cottage industry, very mom and pop. Not just a handful of column scale players, but very rudimentary process. Very little use of any computers really. In most cases it's all paper.
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Chris (Host)
Why did, why did you end up going the generator route in the first place?
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Ken Goodrich
Well, I just 1. I think it's was a very underserved market.
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Chris (Host)
You weren't doing it at ghetto. You were just H Vac plumbing. You weren't messing.
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Ken Goodrich
Yeah. Two. I like machines. Like, I like, you know, I wanted to, I wanted to get into another business and, you know, do what I do and you know, gettle had the, the PE firm that owns Gettle, they moved in a new management team. So they're running ghetto. And so I, I was looking for something to do and I was always interested in generators. And when, when I was a kid, you know, my dad was, my dad was the original MacGyver. Like he could really fix anything. He was an engineer. He was a nuclear engineer at the Nevada Test Site. And then he would moonlight and he would fix people's televisions, radios, air conditioners. And that's how I kind of got, that's how I got in the air conditioning business helping my dad. And then he kind of settled into air conditioning and electrical as his mainstays with his business. And so I grew up helping him. And one of the things he did do is he worked on big commercial generators. And so, I mean, I remember, you know, I don't know, fourth, fifth grade, I wrote a book report on diesel generators and they failed me because I didn't think I would, that was a topic a kid with like that would, would write about. But anyway, I was like a solid.
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Chris (Host)
You know, 10, 11, 12 years ago. Yeah, excuse me, 50. 50 years ago you were 10 or I guess you're what, when you're in fifth grade you're a 10th, you're 10 or 11, something like that. Oh yeah, probably.
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Ken Goodrich
It was a long time ago.
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Chris (Host)
I have a fifth grader, she's 10. So I guess that would be it.
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Ken Goodrich
Yeah. So anyway, we'd work on the generators and, and, and every time one of those big 12 cylinder engines fired up, my dad would give me a high five and say, you're the generator. You're the generator. So that's where we came up with the generator brand.
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Chris (Host)
Well that, I mean it was, that's pretty cool. I remember seeing that in one of the commercials that you guys rolled out, I think right around announcement time, which was awesome. And you always lean into brand story because it, it works really well. And you know, because with me, the ghettos, the story was, you know, the.
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Ken Goodrich
Good thing about me in that case though is I have some really good authentic stories that lend itself really well for the trades. Right?
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Chris (Host)
It makes it work. But I wonder, you know, just because I know that what I'm always intrigued by whenever I have time to talk to you just about business in general, is like what you're thinking of next and why. Typically it comes from you're paying attention to some sort of data set, something somewhere that's telling you to lean into the one, you know, to whatever it is you're trying to do next, like generators. The story is one thing, but the business is another. Like the business is what you want to lean into. And then you created the generator story. So was it that you were. I mean, you didn't need to do it. You didn't really didn't need. I mean, I should say maybe financially you didn't need to do it. You don't need to do anything. I chose to do it.
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Ken Goodrich
I didn't need to do ghetto.
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Chris (Host)
Well, so you're just like, what are.
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You going to do? Sit there? But you've been doing a better job, I think too, over the last few years too.
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Ken Goodrich
I have kind of enjoying life. What I saw was you got the typical stuff, the aging power grid, the AI power demands, you know, kind of a uneasy society, you know, in energy insecurity, actually I guess they call it energy security is an issue. So those things I saw coming or see coming. The industry goes about 8% a year where H vac grows at 4 and hasn't been growing the last few. So it has a better growth rate. Competition seems not very challenging. High ticket, you know, nice big ticket, got a service offering. So I thought it's a good. It's a good place to be and start. I think I'm. I'm just. I believe I'm just kind of on the bottom of the J curve right now when it's going to become. I believe the standby generators are going to become a main staple in every house, certainly through Hurricane Alley. But there's going to be a lot of big challenges coming up with the AI and all these data centers that are coming up. You know, neighborhoods are going to have to start creating their own energy, creating their own little regional or local power plants, things like that. There's going to be a lot more brownouts, blackouts, and I like to use stuff come. We got some stuff coming down the pipe that's going to help business. How's that?
- [24:59]
Chris (Host)
I believe it. I love the way that you put your competitors instead saying, we don't have very many good competition. You said competition is not very challenging, very PC way, very polite way of putting it. But I. I wondered the same thing because in comparison, it's not the same as it's not having to deal with it myself, you know, and compete in the space. It is an easier. It's just. It's just less demand than the H Vac plumbing side of things. But it's easier to go get if you can get it. I wonder, like whenever I. Whenever I bought my generator for the house or for the cabin. It was. I didn't, I didn't need it. I didn't need it. But I was there one time on the top of the mountain. You know, you get hit with everything and the power goes out and we didn't have it. We packed up and we left. And I was like, we just got here. It was like an hour and a half. So now I have one. And it's cool because you can see it kick on and off, you know, so, you know, like, oh, it is working because you can if it, you know, it's a 22 watt generator and. But when it kicks off, I get a little, you know, notific notification. It went off. So I've only been there one time, ever since I bought it. Not that I get up there very often anymore, but that it actually kicked on and saved us. Only I can't use is the steam shower.
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Ken Goodrich
Here's a. Here's our slogan we're working on. Let me run it by you since you're a marketing guy. Nobody wants a generator until they need a generator.
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Chris (Host)
That's true. Well, at least in our world, I guess it's trapped by, treated in hurricane. I mean, nobody wants it because you don't. You don't. Or you don't need it when your electricity is working.
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Ken Goodrich
Yeah.
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Chris (Host)
I mean, again, I probably would have never given it much thought had I not been there with everybody. Just unpacked the car, drove all that way and then got up there and it stormed and it went out.
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Ken Goodrich
You know, we have three locations right now. Dallas, Houston, Tampa, ready to close. South Carolina. So.
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Chris (Host)
Tampa was first.
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Ken Goodrich
No, Dallas, Houston was first. But I got to tell you. So there's been several weather events since we bought the business. And you, you can't even believe the town when there's a hurricane coming that way. It's Armageddon. It's like the grocery stores are empty, can't get gas, people roaming the streets. It's scary. It's like the apocalypse is there. So that probably helps drive demand. And everybody in that market certainly is aware of a generator. And we took a business that was very, very undermanaged and been. Been able to double it. Well, we, we double it, doubled it in size and five decks the bottom. Because it's such a robust market, you know.
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Chris (Host)
Yeah, well, and you've, you've always been a systems and processes and discipline kind of guy. Right. To take these businesses and then, you know, create these systems, put the right leadership in place. I could scale it like that's kind of what you've done pretty much forever it seems at this point. So did you with, with when you went into this thing, when you and I really started becoming closer friends, you were in that thousand Day, Thousand day plan. Did you do something I get all for those who don't know and you executed greatly on the Thousand day plan. Did you do something similar when you're putting this thing together? I mean right now you're just kind of in that you're just kind of in the J curve of this and you're just starting to build it up and get. But is there something like you have in your mind what this plan is going to be? Is it changing as you're learning?
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Ken Goodrich
Well, by the way, the J curve is more on the industry itself is going to go like this, I believe which hopefully will be on right in the wave as well. But no, we attacked it the same way we always do. We created a thousand day plan. I got my team together that most of my veterans that I that you know have done several deals with me and we all divide up the pieces and parts. Who's doing what. We attack the business. We understand what the needs are. Create a, create a plan, start implementing. So I've got a great business, I'm just going to call it this for lack of a better term, business development team meetings. But they're going in and develop all the document and all the processes, implementing the, the tech into the business, recruiting the, the creating the new org charts, hiring the org charts, all the training systems and they just get at it and start putting it together. But we bought, you know, just this method that we go by. We bought 14 and a half million in revenue year one that will. Will close mid-40s this year in revenue. Okay. In what people are calling a down market. Right. So we've, we're making some moves.
- [30:11]
Chris (Host)
Yeah, I see that. I noticed a little smirk there. When you, when you are doing. When you've brought on the, the other. The other companies that you've rolled up in there are. Do you have an integrate like an integrator or somebody that oversees integration of that into the. They. I'm assuming they all. Are they standalone businesses? Are they all becoming one?
- [30:33]
Ken Goodrich
Well, they're under there. They've got the tip. They're old brands and you know we'll rebrand them eventually to generator. But yes, we have an integrator and her name is Angela Miller. She's been with me for over 20 years. I mean she started as a inexpensive assistant and has just been invaluable, worked her way up. You know, once I really kind of harnessed her talents I was able to give her a team of interns, for instance, college interns and anything that we needed in that business we'd have our routine meetings and like okay, what of our, what are our challenges or you know, what's our key frustrations today? And I. We define. Okay, we got it. We need a new. We need some process around this process, training, quantification, orchestration. Go at it. And her team would just go at it and chew it up. I mean it's been a really great ride to have that kind of team to be able to afford and have that kind of team in your business. It's invaluable. You just got the team like we gotta get this fixed, go attack it.
- [31:47]
Chris (Host)
And you can trust they're gonna get it done. Well, it's good when you have that kind of tenure together because there's trust and they understand your, your style or at least your methodology and have learned from it over. If you're talking two decades she's been with you, that's a long time.
- [32:00]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah. And then you know, now we're, we're wrapping up the Titan installation and the challenges for that. So it's all coming, coming together. Great.
- [32:12]
Chris (Host)
What's, what's probably what's been. The. What's been harder about this business than you expected?
- [32:25]
Ken Goodrich
Well, I guess I. Nothing that I haven't expected. You know, it's a retail sale. Right. So in H Vac and plumbing we have a real benefit that we can get into homes for maintenance and we can start having the conversations about upgrades, things like that. Although I will say some of the businesses that we've already bought is start. Are starting to get replacement in the generator side. But I just think that you know the whole business that runs 100% on retail sales is a, it's a whole different monster. And we've already had, we've already, we've always had our retail sales guy and our sales and lead generation and all our stuff and you know, our credibility decks and how to sit at the kitchen table and have those conversations. But this is all you got. You're not going to do a service call and you rarely. I guess we have started to convert some into new to new to upgrade their, their systems. But it's not like H Vac.
- [33:29]
Chris (Host)
Yeah.
- [33:30]
Ken Goodrich
Do you. I'm. Listen, I'm playing a longer game. We have a thousand day plan here to get the business all top graded with all the processes implemented and team in place and it cash flowing well. And if we want to get off the train then we get off the train. Then if we want to ride it some more we will. But it's a thousand days to get that business finished. Great operating system that doesn't not highly dependent on the key people ran by a local management team and cash flowing well.
- [34:03]
Chris (Host)
So your. Your vision is ABC Generators will install generators.
- [34:12]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah, that's going to be part of our business.
- [34:14]
Chris (Host)
Some will be because it made me. It kind of makes me think of when these manufacturers have like. Like they have the manufacturer owned distribution and then they also have independently owned distribution that's selling you know kind of makes me think of that. Of that model which is what I learned early on in business having partnered with Carrier Corporation. But I just was wondering when you were talking about the retail mod. You know I've been having meetings with. With Home Depot and about supporting their retail model and all they're doing is plugging in whoever the contractor. You own the retail model. The contractor owns that zip code who was doing the installation of the product that they chose to put in the retail store. You can try and go down that path at all. That seems like a monster to try and climb a retail. To be get part of a retail option like that.
- [35:02]
Ken Goodrich
I mean in once in my career we. I oversaw. I oversaw 440 Home Depot stores that we were in. We were in. So yeah, I know understand it's a tiger by the tail and. And it's just gotten worse man. You know when we first got in they weren't taking so much. I don't remember the number. It was like 5% or something like that. Now it's 20. Now they have all these rules and, and they, they snatch the stores stores out from. From you you know immediately. So I mean we didn't play that game with ghetto. I don't think you have to play it. There's a lot of generators sold through big box but mostly Costco I think. But no, we're not going to rely on that.
- [35:51]
Chris (Host)
It's a risky game.
- [35:52]
Ken Goodrich
Because it's a risky game. It's a low margin game. You got to have enough. Another skill set of chasing. I call them barkers, you know lead generators in the store. I call them barkers. But you know you got to deal with that crap and they're not usually the most utmost responsible people.
- [36:11]
Chris (Host)
Different sales, different. Different sales model. Yeah you I can.
- [36:15]
Ken Goodrich
So now we're not doing that. We're gonna, we're we're testing and, and developing the brand that will attract interest with customers, and we're gonna get the, the team in the door that way.
- [36:27]
Chris (Host)
You did, I'm assuming, did you do some sort of like, did you do some sort of like, market research on. Okay, our, our generator is. Our. Is the personal power plant. It differs from generac like this. It differs from color like this. Like, I'm assuming you did something along those lines or did you say, well, this model really works, but I can see how we can make that better by doing it this way. Or we add this and this makes it immediately like, was there any, was there depth to that? Did you, did you, did you have a gut feeling on something? Like, did you have meat with someone who gave you information? Was there any of that stuff that went on when you're comparing to the other competition?
- [37:07]
Ken Goodrich
Well, yeah, because when you think about a generator installation, I don't know if you know this, but most of them are connected to the natural gas in the house, right? Well, sometimes they shut off the natural gas, you know, to the house because there might be a fire nearby or there's a. There's a break or something. They shut it off. So that's not always. It was certainly not redundant. It's not always completely reliable. So, you know, the thing like we said, okay, what are all the other things we can add to our system to differentiate ourselves? Number one. And like, we want to address that problem. Like, we have a dual fuel option that we can, can sink a tank for a temporary propane tank in the event that happens. There's also, you know, adding battery. Adding the batteries and things like that. So you're not. You'll never be without the, the vitals. Right. Things like that. And selling your personal power plant instead of this, this machine that has some still reliant upon.
- [38:10]
Chris (Host)
Yeah, yeah. So I actually didn't even think about that. I mean, because mine sits on a propane tank, which I'm not shutting off. But if you're, if you aren't on a propane tank and you're on. Yeah. And if something catastrophic happens and it all goes out, your electricity now you lost your gas, it does run off anything. Never thought about that.
- [38:27]
Ken Goodrich
Well, another fun fact though is in, in the propane world, we've already experienced this. They don't. They. If, if you're, if you, if you just had propane for your generators, you get last visit, you get put to the last. It's people that have. Are running their whole house that get the service first so you could be out some time too, on a propane. So it's not, you know, there's some hitches in each of the solutions.
- [38:54]
Chris (Host)
Got it. You mentioned that AI and how it plays into all this stuff. Were you talking more from a technology perspective, from a marketing perspective, from a both perspective? Is it. Do you have. Do you have somebody that. That like in here? Rhino, I had to hire. I had to hire someone initially who only focused on what does this even mean to our business and in which channels, like which departments. Somebody had to be like the hub for figuring it out. Which then led to two people because of the. There being so many different things and moving, whether it be in paid ads or SEO or whatever. Are you. How was that playing into your. Into your business with the generator stuff? I mean, is it tech? Is it tech? Is it. It's definitely marketing, but is it technology? Like, what is it? And how much do you actually even understand?
- [39:46]
Ken Goodrich
You know, I use chat GPT every day. I took a little course on Coursera, got my little certificate. I know how to prompt.
- [39:55]
Chris (Host)
I use that. I did my training on there.
- [39:58]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah. So I. That was pretty cool, though.
- [40:02]
Chris (Host)
Some of it. There's about 80% of it that I could have done without, like. But the other 20% was really good.
- [40:08]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah. The best one is. The best one, though is what you learned is in the Persona of like, you can write radio ads, TV ads, and the Persona of anybody you want. It's pretty interesting. Anyway, what was your question?
- [40:23]
Chris (Host)
It was around AI, that's what we got distracted.
- [40:25]
Ken Goodrich
When I talk about AI, I'm talking about more of the power demands. But certainly Stephen Gurley, he's our partner. Partner on the team, and he kind of heads up all things tech, so. And he's all over that.
- [40:42]
Chris (Host)
Makes sense.
- [40:42]
Ken Goodrich
But when. As far as AI is concerned, we're using AI every single day in various tasks. The business mostly in building the fundamental processes. It's pretty interesting. Now. Just the other day I said, give me, you know, give me a spreadsheet for a. No, I said in the Persona of a. In the Persona of a light commercial and residential standby, generator, expert contractor, an engineer. Give me a. Spilled me a estimating spreadsheet estimate light commercial projects and blah, blah, blah. Put all the details until I wanted it. And it banged it right out. I mean, and it came up with things that while I've been a contractor all my life, I. I would have missed.
- [41:31]
Chris (Host)
Yeah. That's what makes it so cool. You want to know if there was one thing I Did was you know Tommy has a. Has a chef at his house full time. I don't have that at my house. That's that chef is me or Anna but we had. I've been trying to do all this health stuff eating right. It's really hard to do especially the way with the way my schedule is and Anna's you know as busy as I am. So I was like even if we could get. I don't like the pre made meals. I don't like any of that stuff. Like I don't care how good it is. I don't like pre made meals. So I said well I wonder how much we spend out like in a monthly basis. So I took my financials obviously removed all the personal stuff out of it but took my financials and just said was asking Chat GPT to go through it and then pull out all the, all the restaurants, fast food, you know what do I have? What am I averaging for this year and spend a month in debt because you know my kids just use the stuff McDonald's on the way home we're like four grand just on fast food like eating out type stuff, you know meals here and there. But mostly I'm like $4,000. Well when we looked up a. There's a chef that you can get that will just come in one day, one day a week, two days a week. Like a fractional chef maybe you call it cost me $3,000 a month to come in and. Excuse me. Yeah, a month comes in Monday, every Monday and makes all of our food for the entire week. Patches up, puts a little post it on there and says put this in the oven for 323, 50 for whatever. So I learned that because I plugged all that shit into Chat GPT and said it actually saves me money. Now I have to you know sometimes it ends up being a little bit more. If I do a higher end stakes or stuff but simple little tool. I was just like oh cool actually this works. And now it makes sense. I got them one day a week. It's perfect.
- [43:18]
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- [44:13]
But if your CSRs aren't picking up.
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Or converting, you might as well light it on fire. And what are the largest businesses in.
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The country doing about this?
- [44:21]
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- [44:42]
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- [44:45]
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- [44:51]
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- [44:52]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah, and you know, we got you beat by a big, big, big number. And we just went through this. I mean it's funny you're talking about this because it was just this week we're going through it and I'm like, look how much we spend eating out and. Because like, you know, like Uber eats and all that stuff. So easy. And I don't, I didn't realize, you know, that's a 250 bill no matter what you do.
- [45:18]
Chris (Host)
Seems like it's getting more expensive.
- [45:20]
Ken Goodrich
But anyway, we did the same thing and I told Wendy, I said we can hire a staff. Like we could have a whole chef staff. We should add an Italian guy and then we'll have a sous chef.
- [45:37]
Chris (Host)
Well, are you spending, Are you more. You seem like you're kind of spending more time back up north here recently. Are you, Are you guys still flip flopping back and forth?
- [45:46]
Ken Goodrich
No, I, we kind of. You're in tile for a while trying to do that. But we spent most of the. Well, we spent May to September there in Tahoe, which was. I liked it, you know, I enjoyed it. But I will tell you, you can. I've learned why, like I've learned why people live in these resort towns are really not that motivated people, they don't ever seem to be that motivated. Right. Because you can just, you can turn into a sloth. I'll tell you what, pretty easy hanging out four months in Tahoe.
- [46:21]
Chris (Host)
It is nice up there. And you don't have to want for much because you can just go to the.
- [46:25]
Ken Goodrich
I mean it got, it got to where I was like, I can't do this. I just, I got to do something. And so I started, you know, really focusing on my business calls and such. And then I started going too heavy the other way where I was spending eight hours a day in my home office in Tahoe. So I kind of finally got a happy medium and Tahoe day started at lunch.
- [46:56]
Chris (Host)
Okay, I got derailed. I apologize. That's totally my fault. Because I want to ask a question around. I'm trying to think through like the sales process for a generator. When you think like for me, what sold it for me was that I lost power at the cabin. And I was annoyed because we were there one hour, all the kids just filled the fridge with all the stuff for the weekend. And then on, you know, the email or was on the website for the power company. It was like, oh, this is gonna be out for another seven hours. I'm not sitting here for another seven hours. So we just packed up and drove back home. And that was like the selling point for me. But here, like here in Phoenix, we don't have a whole lot of stuff that's happening that would make you want to buy a generator, right? But now my cabin's up north in Prescott, you know, so there is a little bit more weather up there. But when I think about the sales process, it's easy when somebody experiences the power loss. Like the commercial, the commercial that you guys filmed with the. Everybody doing the conga line, all that stuff like that was, that was awesome because the generator kicked on there. The family having a good time and party and stuff like that was, was a great, a great commercial. I just wonder like if you're not experiencing any power outages or anything like that, how are you trying to sell to somebody who's never experienced that or this market can't be a great market for generators. So you got to pick and choose. I think a better market for it. But that's gotta be hard.
- [48:34]
Ken Goodrich
Selling. The first F1 race in Vegas. I was at an event and Paul Kelly was there from Parker and Sons. And we start talking about generators. I tell him what I'm doing. Next thing I know, I see a bunch of generator ads for Parker and Sons here in Phoenix. And I thought he's going to have. Well, like you, I thought, I thought that there wasn't going to be much of a market here. But he's, you know, talking to his guys. I think they're doing really well with it. They're. They're actually putting up some decent numbers with it and they're getting electrical panel change outs things along with that job. So I think and, and it's mostly comes from seniors, and I think it's just. They just want to be safe and secure. Yeah, yeah. But. But. But I got to tell you, a generator is like a water conditioning system. No one goes out and thinks, I'm gonna get me a water conditioning system. Right. They got sold a water conditioning system. Right. And so you got to be able to get in front of somebody and. And sell it. It's not like A.C. where it's hot. I need something right now, you know?
- [49:55]
Chris (Host)
Yeah. Do you. So you think, like, all in.
- [49:59]
Ken Goodrich
This is.
- [50:01]
Chris (Host)
We've talked about this a couple different times where, you know, I jumped on the roofing wave. And, you know, the roofing business is doing pretty good. You know, we're pretty proud of it. First year is a little rocky, figuring things out, find the right gm. This year's been really great for us, you know, and we have a really good shot at hitting 4 million bucks in our first full year, which we're proud of. We gotta get there to start making money. We need to be at, like, 3.8 to be able to start breaking even. But like, a great first year, but we've learned some things and there's a bit. But there's been a wave of people, you know, like Dave, like, Geiger got into it early in 2020, and that's kind of what made me start thinking about it, which we've talked about. And so I jumped on the roofing wave. I bet you the same thing is happening right now, because as soon as you started getting into the business, people pay attention to what you're doing. You seeing a. I mean, you seeing a wave of this or anything come. I mean, is the private equity world involved in it, in the generator business? Like, what do you. What's. What are you seeing from that?
- [51:06]
Ken Goodrich
The private equity world is. Is gaining a lot more interest in it. There wasn't a lot. There was a couple of guy. There was a couple of. Of buildups going on when I first got in, but now there's more and more. It's coming fast. They're like the space and they're chasing us around. Where else we going?
- [51:32]
Chris (Host)
I just was curious to see, like, is there. Like, are we. Do you feel like even though you've kind of been at it for a year and a half or so, something like that? Is that what is.
- [51:41]
You do.
- [51:42]
You'd feel like the wave is really not even. The wave is still just. You're way early in this game.
- [51:48]
Ken Goodrich
No, I think we're right place at the right Time. I wish we were there. I wish we were in it a year earlier because I would have been exiting by now.
- [51:58]
Chris (Host)
That fast? You think so? Okay.
- [52:00]
Ken Goodrich
Geez. Yeah, they're hot for it, but they. Look, there's so trillions of dollars locked up in these private equity funds that they gotta get deployed. They're buying all kinds of weird crap. I mean, like who, who, who would have thought they'd ever bought H vac.
- [52:20]
Chris (Host)
And plumbing companies over marketing companies that do marketing for H Vac and plumbing companies.
- [52:25]
Ken Goodrich
But let me ask you this. Do you feel like. So, so you and Chad. It was Chad that did the roofing business, right? Do you feel like you can because it's kind of a hobby, you know, or it's a. It's a side hustle that you just don't have that same passion for it?
- [52:47]
Chris (Host)
I think that. Well, there's passion for it, but it's different, you know, like it's fun when we focus on it, like, and we're having fun with it, it's just easier because there's less pressure. Because it's not. It's neither one of our livelihoods. Right. And it's going well. But that first six months we probably spent, we spent a little bit more time on than we should have, just trying to find the right people, you know. And where Chad and I worked out is we could leverage each other's skill sets are complimentary of one another. Am I passionate about roofing? I'm not passionate about roofing, no. But I'm passionate about business. And that part has become fun because it's like a sales and marketing machine is what that thing is with the subcontractors. And that's fun. It's like almost like if you could gamify it a little bit where it's like, oh, okay, I turned on this lever of marketing. Now it's because I'm on the other side of the table, you know, buying, you know, third party lead aggregate leads and watching the team run them and bring in sales coaches and stuff. Like it's so it's kind of fun to watch it on this side but with like less risk.
- [53:56]
So it's.
- [53:56]
I don't know about passionate kg. It's more of just like we're having a good time with it.
- [54:01]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah, well, you know, I. There's just. There's a friend of mine, Andre, who in la and he. I don't know, he found me a couple years ago, started calling me asking questions and.
- [54:15]
Chris (Host)
Oh, is he a roofing guy? Yeah, he, you Met him or actually you would have met him at Rhino X on great business. Yeah, great. He's been at Rhino X twice. Roof repair specialist. I'm assuming it's the same dude.
- [54:29]
Ken Goodrich
Yes.
- [54:29]
Chris (Host)
There could be lots of Andres in la. Who?
- [54:32]
Ken Goodrich
And he, and he. I don't know if he'd want me to say his last name so I won't say it. But you know, I've coached him on some acquisition stuff, I've coached on some sales stuff. And the guys, you know, I like coaching guys who'll do what I say and they'll execute and he's executed very well. But you know, he's doubled his business in the last year or so.
- [54:57]
Chris (Host)
Yeah, he's been a customer.
- [54:58]
Ken Goodrich
I'm not, I'm not taking credit for it but you know, he, the things that I've asked him to do have made huge impact. So if you ever want me to coach you too a little bit, tell you how to make that roofing business.
- [55:08]
Chris (Host)
Work, I would never turn that down. Actually, to be fair, like a lot of the things I've learned from you are what make it more fun because I understand the business side of it much more now. And so I, I mean even like the grassroots stuff, like the simple things, getting lists and then having our, our you know, in house CSR guy, outbounder calling him, you know, and like all that stuff, that's all I learned.
- [55:30]
Ken Goodrich
You know, you know the whole restoration world, the whole restoration, you know, flood world. Right. It works on leads from plumbers. Right. It's a diabolical thing. I gotta tell you how they get, how they figured it out, but that's how it works. And sometimes you get plumbers who are so good at it that their real, that's their real job is to show up at your shop and, and go get leads for the restoration company because they're making a thousand, two thousand bucks a lead or a sale and then they half ass their job as plumbers. But you know, H Vac guys get on roofs, you know. Do you know that?
- [56:06]
Chris (Host)
I do, yeah. Well, I mean, because that's actually a piece of advice I gave at when the storm, at the, when the storm conference this year was I had Hoffman on the panel because he bought, he has ferguson which is 14 million dollar, maybe 20, I mean maybe somewhere in that sub 20 range. Million dollar roofing company, decent business. And I said hey, how we're helping build Redbird is, you know, Chad has a maintenance agreement list. And so I was like, why don't we just put Together, like a little deal. Like we'll, we'll, we'll be your sister company, you know, to Peterman Brothers. And we'll give a free roof inspection as part of your membership. And when we sell a roof, we'll give a kick back to Beerman Brothers. We're all good. And I was like, why can't we do this? Why can't I make those connections to some of my other roofing customers that I also have H Vac guys in the same market and start making those connections? So I gave that piece of advice. I'm like, hey, come up with like a licensing dealer or, you know, a rebate deal or something, you know, in a market with an H Vac guy and kick leads back and forth to one another. Easy lead.
- [57:08]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah. Well, there's a software out called Trading Gauge.
- [57:12]
Chris (Host)
Never heard of it.
- [57:13]
Ken Goodrich
So Trading Gauge does just that. It signs up contractors, Signs up contractors of all sorts. And then, you know, you say, hey, I'm looking for H Vac leads and here's what I'm willing to pay, and I'm looking for this or that. And it just, it electronically handles all that stuff, the payment and everything between contractors.
- [57:32]
Chris (Host)
And I didn't even know that exists.
- [57:35]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah, trade, engage. I'm not telling. I haven't, I haven't disclosed what I taught Andrew, but I'm not going to disclose it on here. But remind me. I'll tell you what's worked very well. And by the way, let me tell you this, I do not buy this bullshit about, oh, it's so easy because you have all these subs. I mean, they're human beings and not really that reliable of human beings. And you have to manage subs and.
- [58:01]
Chris (Host)
You have to make. The best way I've learned to make them reliable is how well you take care of them. They'll jump through hoops for you and you.
- [58:09]
Ken Goodrich
And you still got to have quality assurance, right?
- [58:12]
Chris (Host)
Yep. I mean, we learned a few things. I mean, that we. That we didn't even know to think of because you just kind of hope that they know what to do when you don't know how to, you know, QA it. And inevitably I'll have. I took it. Here's a perfect example. You met, you met Steve Little who owns Capos Roofing out of Texas at Rhino X Big roofing business customer of mine. Great, dude. We posted a picture one time on social media of one of the homes that were getting worked on and one of the roofers wasn't tied off and which I apparently you have to be tied off at that pitch or whatever. I'm like, no clue. So he sends it to me. He's like, by the way, this is a. I can't remember how much money. Fine. It was if, you know, if you're. I was like, oh, I had no idea. Thanks for pointing that out for me, Steve. I appreciate that. I don't know those things, but I'm learning. I'm learning as I go with all this stuff.
- [59:02]
Ken Goodrich
But you. Do I ever tell you, like, I've. I've done 407 flip houses.
- [59:08]
Chris (Host)
I knew you'd done a bunch of it because you're doing that quite a bit. I just, I didn't know what the number was.
- [59:13]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah. And I built a lot. Built, built and own a lot. A lot of. Built and owned a lot of commercial properties. So, you know, I managed a lot of subcontractors in my day. It's. It's not free. It's, it's, it's not the panacea that I see the H vac guys, I think they trick themselves into saying, well, I don't have to chase these idiots around all the time and blah, blah, blah, you know. Yes, you do.
- [59:43]
Chris (Host)
You still have. You still have.
- [59:44]
Ken Goodrich
You know, not that I would ever refer to my employees as idiots by any means.
- [59:48]
Chris (Host)
Figuratively speaking. Figuratively speaking, Yeah. I mean, you have to manage them and obviously they're your responsibility. I mean, what. They. They are you really, in a sense. But if you manage them. Well, I think the part was if you have like insurance stuff and you make them wait on payment, that's a real great way to kill that partnership. So we figured it out fast. This is where it was nice to have capital, you know, where we have to wait.
- [60:12]
Ken Goodrich
By the way, let's talk about that capital piece real quick. I will tell you, you know, over the years, I've been, you know, I've been my own private equity shop, right. It's really what I have been buying and selling air conditioning companies, scaling them and selling them. Scale. I'm selling them. And now we're doing the generator business. But I will say, the more capital I acquire, the more money that I, as my net worth grows. I'm just not as passionate about it. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to do very well with this business. But it's not the same passion as when you built Rhino or maybe I built Ghetto.
- [61:04]
Chris (Host)
There's some dilution to it as time passes on and it becomes. Well, I mean, I think when you're when you're. I mean, when I. When we're.
- [61:11]
Ken Goodrich
And I. And I. Well, I mean, I. I attribute it to, like, there's something very valuable about having to get up and make because you got to make a house payment and take care of your family. And, you know, you don't. You. You don't have a big war chest sitting back at. At Goldman Sachs. Right. So there's really something to that.
- [61:30]
Chris (Host)
Yeah. I mean, I think what's interesting about. I mean, because I'm. It's. It's fun, the game I'm getting to play now, but I still feel a lot of responsibility in here. Like, could I have not done this anymore? Totally could have. But that's not why we did it in the first place. You know, it was more to keep going and keep scaling and seeing what we could build. You know what the best thing I probably learned from this whole process was I didn't need to do it in the first place. I'm glad I did, but I didn't need to because I could have built. I could have built what this thing has become without that help. It just got me there faster. I would have made some different decisions, is what I've learned. But it was. I mean, I've learned so much from the process of being in it. Reporting to a board was different for me, and I had to figure out, where do I fit? That took me a little bit. And then I learned, like, now I'm going to a board meeting, you know, in two weeks, and I'm going with my own agenda. I don't have to. I don't have to report in the way I was asked previously because they need me to run the business. And so I'm going in with my own agenda, you know, and that's a pretty cool seat to be in. And I mean, we talked about on one of the past episodes I was on, and it's, you know, Anna and I took this thing back over. It didn't mean we bought it back, but I used some Ken Goodrich negotiation tactics with, you know, if I'm gonna take this thing back over, we're gonna have a conversation around what that looks like for us. But I'm kind of like, re. Energized about it, you know, because I feel like, okay, we get to go. We get to go another round with this thing again. Here we go. And that part's exciting because I get to run what I wanted to run two years ago, and Anna gets to do what she wants to do two years ago. With this business. It's just a bigger business now. But we have, you know, so I.
- [63:12]
Kind of got that.
- [63:13]
My passion is really like in here and it's really hard to be like I've made, got to make some investments. We've done investments together and those things are fun, but it's not like I'm passionate about it, you know, and I'm so, I don't think about it as much. My time is focused really here for the most part. So I'm gonna ask you a last question because we're already an hour past this thing which was, which is already flying by and I don't want to, I don't want to leave without asking this question. And I'm going to go ahead and give a shout out to Girly because he gave me this and I think it's a really good question. I mean you're in this, you know, you're on this generator partners generator journey. I'm assuming even if this deal's done, you'll move on to something different and keep doing it. If I know you, maybe not, but you probably will do something. You can't just sit still.
- [64:00]
Ken Goodrich
Well, I'll just tell you real quick on that particular.
- [64:04]
Chris (Host)
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- [66:02]
Ken Goodrich
I'll just tell you real quick on that particular front, I want this, I want this, my little PE shop to move on, move forward. You know my, my goal is to have my key team continue run it and make their, their shares of the deals and my family office funding it and get my, get my son Duncan and possibly my daughter Megan involved one day and because I think it's a great business. It's a great business if you handle it correctly. Going in, buying challenge businesses, growing, scaling them and selling them.
- [66:41]
Chris (Host)
When you look back you're what 63 now? When you look back, you know, 73. What, what, what will make you say that this last deal, 10 year chapter was worth it? You look back it's like hey, I'll feel really great if this is what we accomplished with this chapter that you're in now.
- [67:10]
Ken Goodrich
Just what I said. If, if you know, we have a successful, when we have a successful exit with generator and my team goes on to the next project and you know we have, we have developed our real, our own PE business and I don't, I hate calling it pe, you know. Right. Our own, our own business. What are we going to call our build business business. Build businesses business and not be a one trick pony. Like I've been kind of a one trick pony for all these years. I mean I did a lot of real estate and development and, and H vac and plumbing but you know, generators, a little bit outside, they're still in the same ilk but you know, when we start grabbing some other kind of business. So to answer your question is to, to have, you know, to have this firm I'm building be, you know, a going concern. The team is all made, made an incredible life and living from it. My, my kids are involved, leading the charge and you know, we took this experience that I have of buying and selling these businesses and, and my origin story, how I got there into something meaningful for my team and my children and my legacy.
- [68:46]
Chris (Host)
Like all the people who got to benefit from the thousand day plan.
- [68:50]
Ken Goodrich
The plan, yeah.
- [68:51]
Chris (Host)
Pretty cool. Well off air. Yes. We're going to talk about roofing now that you pique my interest with that. But it is, it's always fun for me to kind of see it from my perspective on all the things that you're doing because you and I kind of come like we get together in spurts and I always get an update. I'm gonna hear what's going on, and then we're doing our. I'm doing my thing, you're doing your thing, then we get to catch up. And that's fun. That's also part of what's fun about these relationships. And it's. It's might sound silly, but it's also cool for. For me to tell you the things that I've done and implemented that you taught me and how they've out, like the outcome of like building my first family office, like, or building a family office. That was pretty cool. I would not even had any clue what the heck that was, you know, and being able to invest in things. And now I know what I'm talking about, you know, and I just looked at a, you know, a PNL and a SIM today for a business I want. We want to acquire at Rhino. And it's like, I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm looking at. I still need help learning how to come up with different offer, like different offerings, different tactics, like, different structure, deal structures. But that's why I've got guys I can. I can lean on. And so. But it's, you know, I learned so much of this stuff from. From what you. You've given me, and I'm. I'm grateful for that. So it's pretty cool to be friends with you, but also be able to be coached by you, you know.
- [70:16]
Ken Goodrich
Well, thank you. I appreciate that.
- [70:17]
Chris (Host)
So this is the fun stuff. The business is the fun stuff. You know, I just now still am back in the thick of this thing.
- [70:23]
Ken Goodrich
But you gave me the right. You gave me the right term. The right term is I am building a family office that has. And that team or part of that team is going to be going out and investing and growing and growing, scaling and selling businesses.
- [70:41]
Chris (Host)
Simple as that. Simple as that.
- [70:45]
Ken Goodrich
Awesome.
- [70:45]
Chris (Host)
Okay. J. I appreciate you making time coming in here. I know you were rolling in late. You got the whole crew. So you got Dunk sitting in here. So you brought the whole crew with you.
- [70:55]
Ken Goodrich
Well, I'm on the girlie express today. That guy never stops. So when he get on his calendar, man, like, he's got four things for us to get done before 7pm you know.
- [71:07]
Chris (Host)
Lucky you, Duncan. Lucky you, buddy. Well, Ken, I appreciate you coming here, man. It's always good having you on. I always love when we finally get to do this again. I feel like it's always like too much of time in between and we talk about it, but actually making it happen is so hard. And because it's better to do it in studio, it just kind of has to align with both of us. So anyway, man, I'm excited to watch where this thing goes. You said you just sold by now. I'll be curious to see where you're at this time next year on the kennel.
- [71:32]
Ken Goodrich
Oh, we've already had several offers, 5x in our investment in a year.
- [71:41]
Chris (Host)
But.
- [71:42]
Ken Goodrich
Anyway that didn't match the thousand day plan, so still got work to do.
- [71:47]
Chris (Host)
Well, I appreciate you again and the tall of our listeners. They, you know, we always get great feedback when you're on the podcast and it's been too long, I don't even know what the spread's been, but it's been way too long since you've actually been on. I'm gonna leave you with two quick things. Okay. Unless you have some parting words you want to share with anybody. If you do, I'll go after you. But if not, I'll leave you with two quick things I wanna.
- [72:08]
Ken Goodrich
Well, let me just say this, you know, this is not a time.
- [72:15]
Chris (Host)
This.
- [72:15]
Ken Goodrich
Is not a time to retract. This is not, not time to, to batten down the hatches and hide. You got to get out there and promote your business and you got to do it. You know, you got a lay in brand. You got to lay in with your, your brand into your culture so that everybody in the business is doing the same thing. And you go out and find, you know, you find ways to connect with customers where you're not going head to head with every knucklehead in the industry and spinning your wheels. You go find a new way to go do it. You know, guerrilla marketing techniques, mass media with, with heartfelt emotional branding stories that connect people, that create leads and demand for you. You're not gonna, you're not going to wait this one out.
- [73:07]
Chris (Host)
Yeah, got to get to work. You got to be aggressive. Well, I mean I can tell you this from the redbird side of things. Is we or doubling down into next year? Because I feel really comfortable with that. But we, we're going to go create our own demand. But we did the groundwork first. Like we used, you know, we used prolific brand design as well, just like you did for generator and we built a brand story, you know, and then we just hammered it in the market year one and did the grassroots stuff. The BNI is the schools. Like the things that we, that were minimal cost, but, you know, take a little bit of time. But when you build relationships, like, we did all those things, and we didn't even spend a bunch of money on marketing for it until we felt like we had the machine running the right way and the right processes, the sales processes. And once we learned that, I was like, okay, let's turn the machine on, and let's watch what it does. And now we're in that time, and it's fun. So that's the good stuff real quick. So before we go at Rhino X, so for those who haven't been kinsmen to every single Rhino X, part of the hall of Fame is a Hall of Fame member, actually the initial hall of Fame member. And you'll be back again. Back again this year, you know, because when you come and you go to Top Gun, you learn from the best pilots. So which would be Viper in Top Gun. But I think you're gonna be really impressed with the speaking lineup that I got coming. I'm gonna be happy with that. I think once I kind of get the. I want the debates. The debates to be planned. Like, what the topics I want to run on. I'll probably bounce that off you. I have an idea I wanted to run by. We talked about it at home. Service Freedom briefly. I want to do a podcast. I don't know if you saw this, but Tommy. Tommy. I think it was Pantheon. Tommy and Chris Hoffman did a debate on private equity versus, you know, just growing your. You know, your own company. Like, Hoffman is, you know, anti private equity, and Tommy's very pro. And then they watched us to debate. Great debate. It's fun to watch that. Really entertaining to watch it. And because we're all friends, it was fun to watch them, like, just. They debated. No different than it's me and you sitting here debating with each other.
- [75:24]
Ken Goodrich
And I didn't. I didn't see that. But certainly I've heard them both talk about their views on it, and both of them have very, very good points on each side. You know, it's probably very good.
- [75:34]
Chris (Host)
And that's the. And that's the point, right? Is. Is that so I think that they also did one where it was Hoffman. Excuse me. It was Chad, and Tommy did a debate on a podcast, and I want to do that. I remember I asked you this. I was like, hey, what would you be willing to do one of those with me and Gaynor? Gaynor is the other guy, and I will moderate it, and we'll do a podcast on it. I think it'd be fun. We'll come up with a topic that, you know, that would be a great. But. But that's what I'm saying. I would love to do that, that style. I thought I was going to do that this previous year, but the way we did it I thought was great. I actually loved the back and forth Q and A. But to do a legit debate, I think would be. Will be awesome. That's my point.
- [76:18]
Ken Goodrich
I'm in. I'm in. And by the way, it's, it's so amazing to me how, you know, your instincts were so right on, on how to, how to create this event. Right. Because most every, in most every industry event is the same, right. You got the trade piece and then you got the motivational speaker, and then you got the glory story guy. And then here's what we're going to try to sell you this time, right? It's. It's the same routine. No, just real meat that comes out of them. And, and you've really got, like you said, you aligned yourself with some of the, you know, the wisdom in the industry that would come and be able to offer benefit to the people who are coming to other attendees. Good chemistry. It's smaller group, kind of a VIP setup. So not every knucklehead's there. And you know, you know, the guys are there, they're all willing and excited to learn. They're going to, they're going to come and take some stuff away. So it just is a such. It's always been, since you started, the best industry event of all time.
- [77:26]
Chris (Host)
I appreciate that. Of all times. God. Note that.
- [77:29]
Ken Goodrich
Oh, I've been to a lot of them too. Sometimes I used to have to ride my horse and buggy to them.
- [77:35]
Chris (Host)
Right. Well, I, it's going to, you know, I'm always feeling like I got to top myself from the year before, so I think I'm gonna do a good job this year. I think you'll be proud. So.
- [77:45]
Ken Goodrich
Yeah, I really like the theme.
- [77:47]
Chris (Host)
Yeah, I think it's gonna be a good one. It's gonna be exciting. If I can pull off what I'm trying to pull off, I think you're gonna be like, no, you're gonna be really impressed. So. All right, man. Well, listen, I don't have anything else. I appreciate you making your way in here, you know, and, and this is always a good time, so we gotta not have so much time in between. Why you got to start coming on, being like another, like a guest co host for this more frequently, even if you hopped on. Even if you hopped on remote, that would be fun. Everybody else hops on remote.
- [78:11]
Ken Goodrich
All right, I'll do it.
- [78:12]
Chris (Host)
You know what I mean?
- [78:12]
Ken Goodrich
All right, let's do it.
- [78:13]
Chris (Host)
Okay, cool. Well, to our listeners. Listen, you just heard from one of the best. He's one keeps doing the same stuff over and over again and being successful with it. He must know something. Beard is getting a little grayer, but it looks really good. You don't got to do everything, but you got to do something. No zero days.