RYNOx 2025: Culture, Growth, and Scaling Home Services Businesses w/ Chad Peterman & Wyatt Hepworth

Summary

Summary of "RYNOx 2025: Culture, Growth, and Scaling Home Services Businesses with Chad Peterman & Wyatt Hepworth"

Release Date: March 4, 2025

In this engaging episode of To The Point - Home Services Podcast, hosted by Chris Yano, industry leaders Chad Peterman and Wyatt Hepworth delve deep into the dynamics of building a thriving home services business. Drawing from their extensive experience with Any Hour Group Empire, they explore key strategies for cultivating a strong company culture, driving growth, and effectively scaling operations in the HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Roofing, and other home service sectors.

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1. The Importance of Leadership in Shaping Culture

Wyatt Hepworth opens the discussion by emphasizing the pivotal role leaders play in defining and nurturing company culture:

"You, as the leader, you determine the culture. That is one of your jobs... if you don't take responsibility for your culture, it will create itself, and you're headed down a very slippery slope." ([00:51])

Wyatt underscores that leaders must actively shape the organizational environment rather than passively allowing culture to evolve. This responsibility ensures that the company's direction aligns with its core values and long-term goals.

2. Building Culture Through Consistency

Chad Peterman highlights the significance of consistency in maintaining a robust company culture:

"Culture really doesn't stick until it's consistent." ([05:27])

He shares practical examples, such as weekly leadership training sessions every Tuesday at 8:30 AM, which serve as a cornerstone for cultural reinforcement. Chad believes that consistent practices help embed the desired cultural traits across all levels of the organization.

3. Strategic Hiring and Employee Growth

Wyatt Hepworth recounts his journey of expanding Any Hour from zero to over 3,000 employees. He emphasizes the importance of strategic hiring and providing clear growth pathways:

"People wanted to know there was a future for them, a future for them to be able to grow in the business." ([03:39])

By offering opportunities for advancement and ensuring employees feel valued, Wyatt was able to retain talent and drive the company's exponential growth.

4. Leadership as Service

Both Wyatt and Chad discuss the concept of servant leadership, where managers prioritize the success and well-being of their teams:

"The best managers separate themselves because they want success for the people on their team as much or more than they do." – Wyatt Hepworth ([00:51])

"You have to take responsibility for your culture or it will create itself." – Wyatt Hepworth ([10:30])

This approach fosters loyalty and motivates employees to perform at their best, knowing their leaders are genuinely invested in their success.

5. Operational Efficiency and Scaling

Wyatt stresses the critical role of operational efficiency in scaling a business:

"How do we book every single call that comes in? We might as well book the call because we've paid for it." ([17:00])

He advises documenting the customer journey to identify and address potential drop-off points, ensuring maximum conversion and customer retention. By focusing on core operational tasks, businesses can scale more sustainably and effectively.

6. Embracing Diversity in Culture Across Locations

Chad and Wyatt acknowledge the challenges of maintaining a unified culture across multiple locations. Chad advises:

"Stop trying to make it what it is in one location three hours away... it's okay with the culture being a little bit different." ([35:22])

They advocate for maintaining consistent core values while allowing each location to develop its unique cultural nuances under strong managerial leadership.

7. Passion for People and Providing Opportunities

Wyatt shares his personal motivations for building a successful business:

"I love being able to hire a blue collar technician type person... to make a good living for their family." ([22:16])

He emphasizes the importance of providing stable employment and growth opportunities, enabling employees to achieve personal and professional milestones.

8. Q&A Insights

During the Q&A session, participants seek advice on influencing culture across different locations. Chad reiterates the need for consistent values and strong managerial support:

"Find the right people who believe in what you believe in and then they can carry that out." ([35:22])

Wyatt adds the importance of documenting and refining the customer journey to enhance operational efficiency and scalability.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Wyatt Hepworth ([00:51]): "You, as the leader, you determine the culture."
• Wyatt Hepworth ([03:39]): "People wanted to know there was a future for them, a future for them to be able to grow in the business."
• Chad Peterman ([05:27]): "Culture really doesn't stick until it's consistent."
• Wyatt Hepworth ([10:30]): "You have to take responsibility for your culture or it will create itself."
• Wyatt Hepworth ([17:00]): "How do we book every single call that comes in? We might as well book the call because we've paid for it."
• Wyatt Hepworth ([22:16]): "I love being able to hire a blue collar technician type person... to make a good living for their family."
• Chad Peterman ([35:22]): "Stop trying to make it what it is in one location three hours away... it's okay with the culture being a little bit different."

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Conclusion

Chad Peterman and Wyatt Hepworth offer a wealth of knowledge on building and sustaining a strong company culture, emphasizing the roles of leadership, consistency, strategic hiring, and operational efficiency. Their insights provide actionable strategies for home services businesses aiming to grow and scale effectively while maintaining a supportive and dynamic work environment. This episode serves as a valuable resource for business leaders seeking to enhance their company's culture and drive sustainable growth.

Transcript

[Chris Yano]

Hey, to the point, listeners, it's your boy, Chris. This is going to be the first.

[Chad Peterman]

Episode that we play from Rhino X 2025 and it's with my favorite co host, Mr. Chad Peterman, and my dear friend, Mr. Wyatt Hepworth at the any hour group Empire. They shared the stage together. One legend, one influencer, one night only. But those guys did a fan. The amount of compliments I got from the participants about this one. They kicked off the entire event. Well, I mean, I guess I kicked off the entire event as the greatest showman, but as our sort of, as far as our first speakers go, they kicked it off and they set the tone right out of the gate. So enjoy this this episode, which is the rehash of Rhino X 2025. Kicking it off with Chad Peterman and Wyatt Hepworth.

[Wyatt Hepworth]

You, as the leader, you determine the culture that is one of your jobs is you are the barometer for where your company is going to go. You, as the leader, have to take responsibility for your culture or it will create itself. And when it creates itself, you're headed down a very slippery slope. The best managers separate themselves because they want success for the people on their team as much or more than they do. And that is what I tell our managers is not. You can't just say it. They have to feel it. Like, they have to understand that you will literally run through a wall so that they can be successful. And you're going to do everything in your power to make sure that they hit their goals. They make more money than they've ever made before. They've got to have that type of just, just attitude that they are going to be there come hell or high water for their people.

[Moderator]

This is to the point a Rhino experience voted one of the top home services, marketing and operations podcasts. Cutting through the bullshit and getting to the point.

[Wyatt Hepworth]

Well, this is exciting. Chris and I talked about this. I called him up one day and I was like, hey, I had this idea. And before I could say it, he mentioned, why don't we combine this and do a kind of interview style? And for me, as I'm sure with many of you, getting to talk to kind of the guys that paved the way and how curious they still are about learning. I'm just really honored to be sitting up here with Wyatt, someone I've looked up to, we've both been a part of nexstar for a number of years now. It's kind of crazy to think about, but I'm gonna kind of get into some of the questions Obviously, there's some of the tactical stuff, but I think also some of the, you know, more personal stuff, you know, what drives you, what are you thinking about? Different things like that. And one of the things that I'd like to start off with is in talking to people. We're in the people business, right? Yeah. We may put in furnaces or roofs or water heaters or whatever it is, but at the end of the day, we're selling skilled labor. So, Wyatt, the first question I'd like to ask you is, obviously, in building any hour, you have created an unbelievable culture, which I'm sure many people know about. How are you kind of pouring into your managers, bringing up people that, you know, were maybe once in the field and are now leading people? What's kind of your philosophy on that? And then what are some of the. Maybe the more tactical things that you're doing to grow people within your organization?

[Moderator]

Yeah, good question. So, you know, we. We've always. When I. When I actually took over the business, there were no employees, so I really grew it from zero employees to where it is now at over 3,000 employees. So. So as I. As I was hiring people in, you know, really. The business never really started growing, Chad, until I started being the one that actually was involved with hiring. So. So. And what I realized by hiring people into the business. So. Yeah, real quick. So kind of stumbled through things for many, many years. And then about 2005, I actually decided I didn't like the business that I'd grown. And so I started actually interviewing people and deciding who I wanted to have come in because we were losing so many people. And then that's when I realized what people wanted. And what people wanted was. Was they wanted to know there was a future for them, a future for them to be able to grow in the business. And realized that I needed to create that. And as I created that for them, I had to take loans out and I had to take risks, and I had to prove that they could actually do the things that I promised them I could do. And that took more risks and more money and all those things and just kept on growing from there because we started making the things happen that they wanted. And what they wanted was to know that they could be a manager one day. They wanted to know that they could actually be a leader one day. They wanted to know a beginner, wanted to know they could be a technician one day. They wanted to know that they were actually cared for by the people that worked for them and not just a bunch of guys. In the office that didn't care if they were crawling around the attic. How about you, Chad?

[Wyatt Hepworth]

Yeah, I mean, I think for me, one of the things that I've learned over the years is, you know, when it comes to building culture and, you know, attracting the right talent, to me, I always associate the word culture with consistency. You can do a party, you can do a breakfast, you can do all of that, but culture really doesn't stick until it's consistent. So, you know, what are the things that you're doing consistently to build that culture? I know for us, one of our staples is every Tuesday at 8:30am from 8:30 to 9, we do leadership training. And so if you are in our organization and someone reports to you, you are in that training, whether it's virtual, if you're not in Indianapolis or whatever it may be, but every Tuesday without fail, we will not miss a Tuesday. And that's the commitment that I've made to our team. And it's nothing crazy. Some people are asking me like, well, like what do you do or what's that look like? You can find there's plenty of resources. It doesn't have to be earth shattering, it just needs to be consistent. Consistent. And so for me, when building that culture, when thinking about your company, what are those things that you do consistently that are going to be marks of your culture? And I think that to your point, understanding what your people want, what drives them, and everybody's a little bit different. And I think that that's really important when you're thinking about the people on your team and how are we going to motivate and lead them to that next level. One of the other things that I think about when I think about, you know, kind of any hour and you know, what you guys have built, obviously now it's, you know, grown to different brands and stuff like that. How do you kind of monitor the culture as you get bigger? Because obviously as the leader you become more removed from maybe the guy's boots on the ground. How do you really ensure that consistency, you know, now across states and you know, the country?

[Moderator]

Very good question. So, you know, the reality is, is I don't believe you can control culture. You can't control culture. Culture is what you choose to have as in your business, whatever you come to work with that day, that's your culture. And so when we, we have so back to any hour, we grew that from, from really zero to over 100 million in one location. Right. And as we grew, we had, we ended up having a drain department. And if you come out to our business and you come into a drain, a drain meeting, they're sitting on the toilet and throwing. They're giving a throne or whatever a king hat and having someone sit on the toilet when they hit certain marks or what have you. But when you go in the electrical department, the. They're not doing that. They're not sitting anybody on a toilet. I don't think any electrician wants to sit on a toilet. So every single department meeting that we're having has its own culture. And that culture is really set up by the manager that's running that. So if we're rolling, if we're always changing managers out in that business, that culture's gonna be confusing. So I really believe in promoting people from within if you at all possibly can. And if you can't, you can't. But if you do promote someone from outside, you better keep that manager in place. Because I think it's confusing for technicians to see a new manager all the time. And then when people are going through managers, that manager is probably going to go work somewhere else. And then you start going to these companies and you start seeing everybody just jumping from company to company. So one of the things we've done really well at any hour is actually keeping the managers and keeps and letting them build their culture. I always say to the different managers, your culture is what it is. It's what you decide to do. I don't care what your budget is for your meetings or for taking people out to dinner or your parties. You have no budget. Go make some dang loaf of banana bread or whatever over the weekend and bring it in to everybody and show them how much you care and build your own culture. So actually, culture at any hour being over 100 million at one location and then now having three locations of any hour, every culture of every department is different based on those managers. And then every company that's been part of our group, we respect their culture. They have their own culture. We love their culture. We build that any hour. Utah, you guys, you had to shave up to 70 something million dollars. You couldn't even work in the business without shaving. I shaved every day for like 20 years, you guys. And then, man, when we, when we put the vote and we said, do you guys, you know, they didn't want the beards anymore because no one else in the group had beards or everybody else had beards. They didn't want to shave every day. So we put it the vote and, man, three quarters of the company had like beards. The next day, it was pretty crazy. So, yeah. So I think culture is what you make of it per each department, and you let it grow and you let it evolve, and you don't try to control it, and you just make sure you have great people controlling that culture. How about you, Chad?

[Wyatt Hepworth]

No, I think those are all really great points. I think the one thing that I would add is you as the leader, you determine the culture. That is one of your jobs is you are the barometer for where your company is going to go. And I think so many times I talk to people and they're like, hey, I can't get the culture right. What are you doing? And to Wyatt's point, I think everyone's gonna be different, and that's okay. We have 11 locations, and the culture is different at every location. You know, these guys over here, they're, you know, they're best buddies. They're hanging out on the weekends. These guys over here, maybe not. And that's okay. But I think that the important thing is you, as the leader, have to take responsibility for your culture or it will create itself. And when it creates itself, you're headed down a very slippery slope. And so if someone isn't performing on your team, if a manager is not doing their job or, you know, a technician's not performing, ultimately that responsibility is yours. And I think that's a key piece of leadership, is understanding that you are. The buck stops with you. You have to take responsibility for it. And maybe you need to sit down and have a conversation. Maybe you need to intervene and talk to someone a little bit differently or whatever it is. I think it's just we all have to understand that that is our responsibility, and blaming someone else is a recipe for disaster. One of the things that you mentioned is. Or talked about is when we think about your business growing, obviously with growth come new challenges. You're thinking about different things that you may have not been thinking about five years, 10 years ago, whatever that may be. I guess at this level and given kind of the landscape that we all sit in in home services, what are some of the levers that you guys are focused on as far as moving the business forward and growing?

[Moderator]

Yeah. So before. Before every meeting with. With the. With the Cs and with the higher levels of the business, and then all the way down through, we make sure we. We get everybody focused on the real reason for running this business. And. And I think it's. It's hard as a business grows to. To. I think people start getting so separated from the day to day of the business that they start making decisions that don't that are not actually best for the customer or best for the technicians and best for the office staff. And so we make sure we focus with a quote before every single meeting. We have a little, we have a little lesson, a little 5 minute to 10 minute discussion on what's important to the business and that's going to relate around the customer and the employee winning first and second. If we are having every meeting at every single level focused on the customer and on the technicians and on the office staff winning in our business and in our locations, then that is what's gonna continue to grow our business. I was talking to somebody last night and they said when they take care of the customer, they win another two or three customers by doing that. And that is so true. And it has to be the focus no matter how big you are. Otherwise there are a lot and you guys, there's a lot of companies here that are up and comers and you're taking market shares from these guys that have gone with pe. You're taking market share because they've lost the focus and they're just worried about ebitda, ebitda, ebitda and so keep focused on the business. And I love, Chad, I loved how you jumped in and said you do create the culture. You're right. You create that atmosphere that allows that culture. So you cannot have people disrupting that. You're so correct on that, Chad.

[Wyatt Hepworth]

Yeah, I think the thing that I would just kind of re emphasize there is as you get bigger, it's very easy to lose focus on the blocking and tackling of of these businesses.

[Chris Yano]

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[Wyatt Hepworth]

At the end of the day, what we do is really simple, right? It super simple. It's just not easy. And that's why people are able to scale companies and some aren't. And so I've kind of been living by this philosophy, especially as we've grown. I myself have lost like focus on like what are we doing? And so oftentimes I walk in and I'm like, why are we doing it? What are we doing? This is crazy. This is super simple. Like, we just have to get back to the basics of what we're doing. And so one of the things I would encourage you guys to do is obviously there's a lot going on, right? You're trying to do this, trying to do that. All this new technology is, you know, it's coming at us every day. And while a lot of it's great, we can't lose focus on what it actually takes to take care of a customer. Are we answering the phone? Are we dispatching the right tech? Are we doing a good job in the home? All of these things are things that can get overlooked because we're just focused on the bottom line or scaling or all of these things. But it's a heck of a lot easier to scale when you're really, really efficient. When you're not efficient and you're just worried about kind of top line, how much can we grow? You can easily lose focus, and then bad things start to happen. Let me tell you, it's a hell of a lot easier to make a change with five people on your team, as opposed to thousands on your team. It's like moving the Titanic. So the more efficient you can get is only going to propel you into the future. From my perspective.

[Moderator]

Yeah, that's very good. So what are some of. What are your. What would you say is your biggest lover?

[Wyatt Hepworth]

Yeah, I think for us, you know, right now, I mean, everybody's aware, right? We went through Covid, there's a huge spike. Look at all the data. And then it's come back down, but it's not come back down to where it's. In my mind, it's lower. It's just if you take out the COVID years, it's still moving in the right direction, which is great. However, I think it goes back to what I just said. The things that we're focused on right now are how do we book more calls? We're getting the calls in now. It's not as many calls as we had a couple years ago, but are we booking every single call that comes in? We probably paid for it in some form or fashion, so we might as well book the call. So it's booking the call and then it's converting. Out in the field, they called you out to fix something. This is my question to all my technicians. And the one thing that we always say is, how many customers are you okay. Not doing business with. Everybody always looks at the conversion rate, right? It's like, okay, yeah, we're converting seven out of ten. Well, there were three customers and we get it. There's probably some customers you don't want to do business with, but how many customers are you not doing business with that called you out to fix a problem and decided you weren't the right company to fix the problem? And again, I think that that's. It's super simple. Right. Sorry I didn't deliver any earth shattering news, but that's what we're focused on. How do we book every single call, how do we convert as many as possible? And then obviously how do we carry out the work so that you don't have warranties and callbacks and all of that stuff? And that's literally what we're focused on, on each and every day. How do we get as efficient as humanly possible?

[Moderator]

That's really good. One thing that's been surprising for me because like Chad said, when you're taking care of a business that has five employees, then when you have 10, you're still taking care of the people that when you have 10 and you're taking care of those things that need to be taken care of and 20 and 50 and 100 and you just keep growing on top of that. So what's been new for us is going from one location that basically myself and my and my team created to bringing in other companies and being 30 locations within three and a half years. But what really has been surprising for me is seeing how many of the companies, they know their booking percentages, but they don't know how many calls they're actually missing and not even answering. And that's been really surprising, Chad. Cause we just never even thought to look at that. When you have a company coming in and you're paying money to bring them in as a partner and they're getting millions of dollars, tens and 20, 30, 40, 50, whatever it is, million dollars. You just kind of expect they have those things figured out. And that's been surprising, Chad, is how many things they don't have figured out. And it's been great. And then we've learned some things from some of these companies that we bring in also and been able to improve our business. So that's been quite fun.

[Wyatt Hepworth]

Yeah, I would say one thing that I think can really help is if you haven't already, is document the customer journey. So you've got this public out here in your market that lives in a home and is going to need your services at some point in time. We don't know when that is. We try our best to predict it. Weather can sometimes influence it, all those things. But you've got this public, and then they call or they somehow contact you and really just document it from that point to the point that they picked up the phone or sent you a message or whatever it is all the way through the finish. Document that whole process and then figure out, where are all the holes in those buckets? Where can things go wrong in those? And then really drive into, where are all these holes and how do I plug them? How do I figure out how come customers don't fall out of the journey? Because, you know, we've all had the customer that calls. They book an appointment, they cancel the appointment. Well, why did they cancel? Do I have a process to go rescue that call? Why did they cancel? Is it that I didn't get? I didn't have enough capacity to serve them on the day that they wanted it served, or whatever it may be. But really document that out and figure out where can you fix things that are ultimately going to. If 10 customers call, how do I do business with the most amount of those? You know, whether it's nine or maybe even 10 or whatever that number is for, you figure out that journey, and I think that you're gonna see surprising results as opposed to, well, I just need more leads. I just need more leads. I just need more leads. You got plenty of leads. What are we doing with those leads that's ultimately gonna result in our success? One thing just kind of switching gears. Cause I think this is important, and I think there's been a lot of talk around it at this conference with guys like yourself who have. Who have done just amazing things that we all look up to. What would you say? Like, where does your passion lie for the business? Right? Like, you took it from zero to where it is today. Obviously, maybe that's changed over time. Where do you, like. What do you really enjoy doing in the business?

[Moderator]

That's a really good question. I absolutely love working with people. I was watching one of Tommy Mello's little clips that he does live, and he was talking. I think he was reading out of a book about being a workaholic. And I'm a workaholic, you guys. My whole life's been wrapped around this business, and I'm sure Chris Yano's gonna put this publicly on a Facebook page, and my dad's probably gonna see it, but my dad was not a workaholic. My dad was sometimes a workaholic because he thought he was. Because he needed the money and he thought he was gonna get rich. And then the next thing you know, he's blowing all his money and he's going looking for gold up in the mountains. And I'm like, get back to work. So anyway. But my dad was a, was a gold digger trying to find money all the time, trying to find the easy way to get rich. And so I love to work, you guys. I love helping people not get rich, but I love helping people actually be able to provide for their family. I grew up in a house where we didn't have food every and where, you know, we didn't necessarily have clothes, you know, very good, very nice clothes or holes in my shoes a lot of times. So anyway, I love being able to hire a blue collar technician type person in that probably hasn't had a ton of money. And I just love that we can have guys crawling around in crawl spaces, crawling around in attics, and that they can actually go make a good living for their family, be able to get a house one day, provide for their, for their family. If their wife wants to work or not, Great. Awesome. If their kids want to go to school, they can afford to do that. I just love seeing good, hardworking people be able to make a good living for their family. I have passion for that still, and that's what drives me. I just, I have a hard time not working. I'm available at nights, I'm available in the mornings. That's why I kind of watched his little video there and was thinking, okay, where am I at with this whole thing? But I just love the people. I love one on one. I love promising that we're gonna go places and then delivering that promise to the people you know. Dustin Van Orman could have had his own business. A lot of you guys, a lot of you know him. Jeremy Hansen could have owned his own business and did at one point. A lot of people that have chosen to work with me could own their own businesses. I love being able to help those people have success without having to go own their own business. That is just fun for me. I've made a lot of promises to people and continue to do so, and that drives me to continue to achieving. I'm not done. I'm not, I'm not ready to. I'm 52. I'm not, not ready to retire. I don't know if I'll be in it as long as Leland, though, man. I know you're like 60, but you know, I think I probably got. I don't know if I can make it to 60. Maybe. Maybe. What's that? Someone said something. Oh yeah. I don't know, dude. Think you'll ever quit, Ishmael? Yeah. So there's a lot of passion in the trade. There's a lot of people that have trusted to follow what this business says we're going to do and what I say we're going to do. And I love last year with Nick Saban, how he said, you know, he has to be able to say to the recruits that are coming in how long he's going to be there and commit to them, that he's going to be there for their full four year of college and some of his staff coming in knowing that they're going to have a future with him. And that's something that I think we all need to be taking a look at. As we're given a vision of the company is as we have our recruiters given a vision of the business. Are our recruiters going to be out of that business in a year or in two years? Or can they, can they say they're going to be in our business for 10 years and 20 years? You guys, I recruited for our business and were heavily involved. No one got hired in our business without me interviewing them. From zero, sorry, from Z, from, from 250 service to 35 million, you guys, I interviewed everyone and I could tell them I'm in the business, I'm gonna be here. I asked anyone moving into management needed to be giving me a 10 year commitment. Anyone that was coming into the business gave me a verbal five year and that's what I asked for. And if they stumbled on that and they're like, I don't know, I could have a hard conversation with them. And we discussed it and you guys, at any hour, we haven't lost people at any hour. Now we have a lot of businesses that have joined us and they all have their own culture and we respect that. And if their culture is to not have, you know, not have that commitment, then that is what it is. So yeah. Chad, how about yourself?

[Wyatt Hepworth]

Yeah. So, you know, for me, if you don't know my story, my dad started our company back in 86. He was a, graduated from high school, was a technician, started out of the back of our garage when my mom was six months pregnant with me, which I don't know how he did that, but he pulled it off. And so, you know, he never. My dad was not a builder. He was a Hell of a worker and knew that, you know, he was going to build a company, but his goal was, like, the word scaling in my dad, not friends. All right? That wasn't what he was trying to do or anything like that. But, you know, for me, when my brother and I kind of took over the business in 2015, you know, our idea was, how do we scale this thing? Like, we want to do something. And I oftentimes think back on, like, why did I want to do that? Like, why was that such a important thing? And I think, you know, as many of us with, you know, families and, you know, parents and different stuff like that, for me, it was, I want to make my dad proud, right? Like, that's my goal in this. And what I found out was it started there, but what it transpired into was, like Wyatt said, it was about the people. It was about seeing someone who came in as a install apprentice and is now running one of our branches. My guess is he didn't have that vision for what his life was going to be like when he first started. And I think that one of the things that I think gets lost and I feel like we need to focus on because collectively, as a group, we're all making an impact in the world that we live in. Think about all of the livings that you guys provide for the people on your team. We have just under 500 people at our company. I say that because one of the conversations I had with my dad not too long ago was, you know, he was always against getting big, right? He was like, we'll never get over 50 people. That's the limit. And now the conversations that I have to remind him of. You provide a place of work where someone can collect a paycheck for almost 500 families. And that's not just the people that work with you. That is their kids, their spouse, maybe extended family in some circumstances. And I just think that that's so powerful in what we do. It can get lost in, you know, margins and revenue and all of that stuff. But at the end of the day, we're in the people business. We employ people, and we take care of people. And so for me, that is the special piece of. I love going into work every day to see the people on our team and find out how we're gonna take care of customers and solve problems and hopefully create a place where someone can go chase their potential. That's what we always say in our business. Go chase your potential. You get to set the bar for where you want to take your own Life. We only get one shot. So what are you going to do with that? And my goal is to provide a platform so that the people on our team can go do the same. And just like Wyatt said, it's very special to think about the people on your team that could be doing anything else. Right. We've got a lot of people on our team that don't come from the industry, and they chose to come and work at Peterman Brothers. That's really special to me and something that I'm super passionate about and probably will do for a long, long time, because that, to me, is the rewarding piece of what we get to do.

[Moderator]

Very nice. Chad, what defines your success in your career, do you think? And you and your family, because you have a family business, right?

[Wyatt Hepworth]

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I think for us, it's building something special. We talk about that a lot, and I think that through building something special, the rest of it takes care of itself. And that doesn't mean that you don't have to work at it. You got to work really damn hard to pull it off. But I think if the kind of the foundation is we want to create something special, something that no one has ever done before, something that no one has ever created, we can do that. Because if that's what we set our mind to, and then we focus on all the things, the blocking and tackling the margins, the KPIs, all of these things, if we're doing that, but we're doing it to create something special, to me, we can create a much better product than if it's just all just pounding numbers down people's throats. And this is what you need to do, and do it because I said so. And all of those things, it's, how do we create something special? I always tell people, new hires when they come in, congratulations, this is your last first day ever. And the hope is, is that in doing that as a team, we continue to grow and create opportunities for people and we create something really special. So that is, to me, what really defines success in what we do. How about yourself?

[Moderator]

Likewise. Wow, that's beautiful. I think I'm going to use that one. So that's your last. Say it again.

[Wyatt Hepworth]

That's your congratulations. It's your last first day ever.

[Moderator]

That's beautiful. That's beautiful, you guys. So, you know, I think you have created a fantastic business. I've watched you over the years and watched you grow from, you know, you joined Nexstar in 2016. I think it was 2015. Yeah. So wow, both of you. It's been quite impressive watching you. So.

[Chris Yano]

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[Wyatt Hepworth]

We ready for Q and A?

[Moderator]

Yep, yep.

[Chad Peterman]

We're gonna go ahead and open it up for Q and A. So I'll. That worked out perfect.

[Chris Yano]

This microphone.

[Moderator]

Hello.

[Chris Yano]

Check.

[Chad Peterman]

We'll do about 10 minutes.

[Moderator]

I just want to say like every time I'm around Wyatt, I pick up a gem and Peterman as well, but that, you know, getting the commitment when you hire them. Five years for field, ten years for management.

[Wyatt Hepworth]

Perfect.

[Chad Peterman]

Who else? Come on, this is your opportunity. There you go.

[Audience Member]

So that was awesome. Thank you guys. I 100% resonate with what you guys are saying about it's easy. Not easy, but it's simple to affect culture when you're small. We've got a couple locations now and I'm super struggling trying to figure out how do I make a location that's three hours away, feel what it feels like at the home location. So what advice would you guys give for me when I've got management teams in place now and I'm really struggling trying to figure out how to get to the bottom level of, or really not just the bottom level, but all the way across, how to influence culture when you do have these management layers in between?

[Wyatt Hepworth]

So stop trying to make it what it is in one location three hours away. It's not going to be. And I think you just have to be okay with that. The way that we always do is we all operate by the same values, so we have Five core values, we all operate by those. But your culture is going to be different. And your culture is led by the person that is in charge at that location. Now it's your duty to kind of breathe through them. This is what we're talking about. So when we have our leadership training Every Tuesday at 8:30, my goal in talking to them is to hopefully influence that manager so that whatever I think that they should be doing, whether that is having consistent one on ones or, you know, really diving in to understand and know your people, whatever that is like, that is the consistency piece that I hope they take back. Now they may do it differently than I would, and that's okay. We're all different. All of our managers are going to do it differently. But I think you got to be okay with the culture being a little bit different, but making sure that you are consistently pushing down through them what you want it to be. And it may not be perfect, but you've got to find the right people who believe in what you believe in and then they can carry that out.

[Moderator]

Wow, that's very good. Exactly what he said. Yeah. Having, like you said, the right people running that, something to add to that. And I'm sure, you know, Chad does this also is years ago when we were smaller and I don't know your size, we would travel to other businesses and let our managers see what other cultures look like. And then we would meet. I would go with them and we would meet at night and we'd discuss what they liked, what they didn't like about the cultures or what they could see. And they just get a snapshot. Right. But we could at least discuss it. And that would bring up conversations about the culture we had back in their department or their part of the business. So we could have an open conversation. And it was more open because we were able to talk about. It's easier to talk about someone else than it is your own issues. Right. So. And it allowed them to say, well, we do this and this and this. And then. So that helped. And now that we are a bigger business, we're able to go around to the different partners and even we'll have our electricians, like, I'll just say this. The electricians were a little down as far as their meetings. And I'm a master electrician, you guys. So that's a little sad for me to walk into that meeting and I'm like, oh, my gosh, these guys seem a little depressed and I. And I do feel bad for them. It's the smallest part of the business we started, the heating and air and the plumbing and those, those sides just grew really fast and. But they're doing 15 million at one of the locations in electrical. It's a good size company. And I walk in and it didn't feel the way that I wanted it to feel and it felt a little down. And you go over to the sewer and drains side and those guys are playing with poop every day and smelly, cruddy basements and stuff that are flooded and they're over there having a blast and doing push ups. If you guys have been to our meetings, they're doing push ups and workouts in the morning and the energy's there. So we started bringing the managers over there so they could see what was going on over there. Well, I'll tell you what, I got a video this week while we were here and I wish I could just throw it up here and show you. We had the, they showed us the electrical training. You haven't seen this, but they came in and they were doing all kinds of workouts. It was like pretty dang sweet. They had Richard, one of the managers dressed up like Richard Simmons and came in and like totally threw on this whole, this whole meeting. And this guy's kind of one of the shire managers, but he's like, he was like full on making it happen. But what Chad said, it's gonna be determined by your manager. Like what does that manager tolerate, right?

[Audience Member]

I'd love to hear an example or a story of a shining star manager to this point of trusting your managers. I'd love to hear how they've made the biggest impact. What made them such a shining star for you guys and made, you know, and I don't know if you can add when you had made a poor hire and you had to part ways from somebody, but I really love to hear just a story of just the best manager you guys have had and what made them so special for you guys.

[Wyatt Hepworth]

So I would say that there's one characteristic that I think separates. There's probably multiple, but the one that I look for the most is are you willing to serve the people on your team? The best managers separate themselves because they want success for the people on their team as much or more than they do. And that is what I tell our managers is not. You can't just say it. They have to feel it. Like, they have to understand that you will literally run through a wall so that they can be successful. And you're going to do everything in your. To make sure that they Hit their goals, they make more money than they've ever made before. They've got to have that type of just attitude that they are going to be there come hell or high water for their people. The ones that aren't very good are the ones that just want to tell people what to do all the time. And, well, hey, you didn't hit your number yesterday. I'm aware. Okay, well, what are you going to do to help them? I always tell our managers, you have to do everything humanly possible for these people to be successful, because that is true. Leadership is serving them. You look at some of the best operators, their management team. You go into Tommy's place and his leadership team would literally do anything in the world for him. Why is that? Well, it's because he is willing to do anything in the world for them. And to me, that is where, if you can get a manager who truly believes that and wants to carry out that mission like you, you can grow some really, really incredible things. Because those technicians will run through a wall for that manager because they want to make him proud. They know that he has their back. So that's. That would be one story. And we've got a couple in there. We need more. But it's not human nature to want to put someone else's needs before your own. But that is what leadership is all about. We're not wired that way. And so you got to kind of break out of that and really just push that to hopefully get the best out of. Out of your people.

[Moderator]

Chad nailed that. Wow.

[Chad Peterman]

Wow.

[Moderator]

That was awesome, Chad. You guys, that was awesome. That was awesome. We have a manager named Ricky Barnes. We just. He was our plumbing manager. He grew Utah pretty big in plumbing. He might have been the guy that passed electricians. No wonder they were so sad. But we moved him up to Ogden. We opened Ogden up at just north of Salt Lake. He's, I think, in his second year. He's going to do. He's telling me he's going to do over 30 million. That's way higher than his budget. I actually think he's going to do it. But exactly what Chad said. He's doing those things. He's willing to run through it. He's come to me and said, wyatt, I will run through a wall for you. But then his guys know he will run through a wall for them also. He'll take the guy, you know, but this is what he does. He takes guys golfing on the weekend, if they like golf. He's answering the phone at night. He's into work. What about 5am and he's in the morning at 5am his wife lives in California, you guys. He sees her about. He goes back home, I think for a few days or a week every month, but he's still answering the phone and still working. But his guys know that he runs through the wall for him, and he knows that. And none of you California companies try to steal this guy now, so. But yeah, we've got a plan for him. He's growing that business for the next couple years. He's, I think. How old is he? 62. He's like Leland. He might go till he's 63, I don't know. So. But you guys, yeah, Chad nailed it. If you find those guys, they'll work hard. You know, how many of you do a service system in your business for your customers? How many of you. How many of you don't do a service system for your customers? All right, so find a manager that will do the service system for their employees and treat the employees the way that you expect the employees to treat your customer. If you have managers that are not teaching, that are not treating your employees the way they're supposed to treat your customers, then your business isn't going to go very far. So I remember years ago in nexstar, I met with one of the accountants over there. I won't name the name. And he didn't know anything about the service system or anything. And he was kind of. I'm a little bit of a difficult guy sometimes, you guys, especially if I'm not getting what I need to get. I was the guy that at nexstar said, I want to sit at the back of the training room during the training. And they didn't want that to happen. And I said, no, I'm going to sit at the back of the training with my guys, and then we're going to go to dinner at night and I want to hear what's going on in there. They made exceptions for me. I'm that guy. So anyway, one of the accountants over there was kind of being hard to work with with my gold points, if you know what that is. And I want to use those, however I want to use those. And so anyway. But yeah, so I said, have you even been through your service system? And this was years ago. And he's like, no. As I went straight to Jack Tester, I said, you know what? Your staff needs to go through your service system training and show so they can see what service you're trying to teach all of us. How to do. And sure enough, they made changes, you guys, and they started doing those things. And nexstar is a pretty dang awesome organization. There's a lot of great organizations out there that do that. But if your managers are not practicing your service system, then you're not. You're probably not going to grow as big as you'd like to grow. Oh, wow. Chad's gonna have to answer that one.

[Chad Peterman]

Hey, we'll have to answer that one later because we're pretty much over time.