The 5-Year Sprint from $5M-$65M with Zero Technical Skills

Summary

Podcast Summary: The 5-Year Sprint from $5M-$65M with Zero Technical Skills

Podcast Information:

• Title: To The Point - Home Services Podcast
• Host/Author: RYNO Strategic Solutions
• Episode: The 5-Year Sprint from $5M-$65M with Zero Technical Skills
• Release Date: May 13, 2025

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1. Introduction of Guest and Business Success

The episode features Mike Bruner, owner and partner of Iceberg Home Services, a company operating between Tampa and Orlando. Mike shares his impressive growth journey from establishing his business in 2014 to reaching $47 million in revenue last year and projecting $65 million this year with a team of 100 employees.

Notable Quote:

Mike Bruner [01:39]: "The bottleneck in most businesses is the owner themselves just doesn't get out of the way like they should and get those key people so they can thrive and start the business to scale."

2. Overcoming Business Bottlenecks: Delegation and Key Personnel

Mike emphasizes the critical role of delegation and assembling the right team to eliminate bottlenecks. He discusses the importance of casting a vision to key personnel who share the same mindset, enabling faster and more efficient scaling of the business.

Notable Quote:

Mike Bruner [01:48]: "When you can cast that vision to those correct people and they see your vision and when you have that mindset and everybody's rowing in the same direction... you could really start to scale and move the business."

3. Personal Anecdotes and Life Balance

The conversation shifts to personal lives, with Mike and the hosts sharing anecdotes about vacations, family anniversaries, and the challenges of maintaining personal relationships while running a growing business. Mike reveals his wedding anniversary date to illustrate the importance of memorable personal milestones.

Notable Quote:

Mike Bruner [04:10]: "My anniversary is April 24th. That was the only thing probably. I think it was the only thing I got to pick for our wedding."

4. Building Iceberg Home Services: Challenges and Growth

Mike recounts the early days of Iceberg Home Services, highlighting the initial struggles and learning experiences that paved the way for long-term success. He underscores the significance of learning through growing pains and the eventual payoff when the business began to scale effectively.

Notable Quote:

Mike Bruner [19:17]: "We were kind of humble at the beginning and just learning through the growing pains of business. The first couple of years, it was tough."

5. Leadership and Team Development: Visionary and Integrator Roles

Delving into leadership dynamics, Mike shares insights from the book "Rocket Fuel," which discusses the complementary roles of visionaries and integrators in business growth. He explains how identifying and nurturing these roles within his team has been pivotal to Iceberg's expansion.

Notable Quote:

Mike Bruner [27:28]: "When I read 'Rocket Fuel,' it was a light switch moment in the business. It really describes the visionary and integrator roles."

6. Managing Team Dynamics and Tough Conversations

Mike opens up about the difficult decision to part ways with his brother, who worked as a manager in the business. He explains the necessity of making tough decisions for the greater good of the company, emphasizing that business needs must outweigh personal relationships.

Notable Quote:

Mike Bruner [35:33]: "The decision for the business needs to outweigh it within the business. It needs to be the ultimate decision."

7. Mentorship and Personal Growth

Discussing the importance of mentorship, Mike highlights how mentors have influenced his business strategies and personal development. He distinguishes between seeking genuine guidance and merely seeking friendships, advocating for a focused approach to mentorship that drives business and personal improvement.

Notable Quote:

Mike Bruner [46:05]: "I have to be open to wanting to learn and to want to listen. I've been a sponge for several different ones."

8. The Role of Health and Fitness in Leadership

Mike shares his personal health journey, detailing how prioritizing fitness has enhanced his energy levels and leadership capabilities. He connects personal well-being with professional performance, illustrating how a healthy lifestyle contributes to more effective business management.

Notable Quote:

Mike Bruner [52:44]: "I've been able to see really good things because now everything's starting to align... I've been able to buy my time back."

9. Final Thoughts: Personal Pillars and Business Growth

The episode concludes with a discussion on the 5 Fs—Family, Faith, Finance, Fitness, and Friendship—which Mike and the hosts use as pillars to guide their personal and professional lives. They emphasize the interconnectedness of these pillars in achieving holistic success and sustaining business growth.

Notable Quote:

Mike Bruner [60:16]: "They all affect each other. Faith and fitness goes back to getting yourself right before you can help others."

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Conclusion: In this episode of "To The Point - Home Services Podcast," Mike Bruner provides a comprehensive overview of his journey from a $5 million to a projected $65 million revenue business in five years, despite lacking technical skills. Key takeaways include the importance of delegation, building a strong team with complementary roles, making tough business decisions, embracing mentorship, prioritizing personal health, and maintaining a balanced life through foundational personal pillars. Mike's insights offer valuable lessons for home service business owners aiming for significant growth and sustainable success.

Transcript

[Mike Bruner]

I was moving too fast. I had a left foot, but I was in sales and time is money. That's the old adage, you know, So I took that to heart, I think too much.

[Chris]

You had went to Polk State and you were in business administration and management, right?

[Mike Bruner]

Correct. The first couple of years, it was tough a lot of times, like you see when you first start out the business and I had to learn a lot of things, which then propelled the business long term into where we are today.

[Chris]

I mean, this dude finished 47 million last year. I think he hit like you said, you hit right on the mark. 100 employees tracking 65 million this year. Still a privately held dude, like still doing his own thing.

[Mike Bruner]

Because I think that's where the bottleneck is in most businesses is the owner themselves just doesn't. They don't get out of the way like they should and get those key people so they can thrive and start the business start to scale. When you can cast that vision to those correct people and they see your vision and when you have that mindset and everybody's rowing in the same direction and in the key spot, you could really start to scale and move the business. Just wanting to always want to get better and, you know, be better tomorrow than I was today. And when you can get that mindset throughout the business, throughout those key people that are in key spots, that's again, that's when. When they're starting to take the initiative and self develop themselves. It can move that much faster. And I think that's what we've been able to see some of the success the last several years. This is to the Point a Rhino experience voted one of the top home.

[Chris]

Services, marketing and operations podcasts.

[Mike Bruner]

Cutting through the bullshit and getting to the point.

[Chris]

Hey, what's up to the Point listeners? It's your boy Chris, fresh off of our vacation from Stagecoach. Great time, man. Chad was down playing golf. That was it. It was the last. You were there last weekend though, right? Not this past weekend?

[Chad]

Yeah, we were actually there last week. So I got back like Saturday morning.

[Chris]

Which ironically is down. Chad was out playing golf with his college buddies, where our guest Mike is from that area down there. So this is gonna be a fun podcast because it'll be a really fun podcast only because I have some really solid dad jokes, but other than that, yeah, we'll struggle through the rest of it, but we'll make do. Now we have a. We have an exciting guest on, on Today, a customer of ours, which is great friend of mine, Mike Bruner, who Is a owner and partner of Iceberg Home Services down in. You're, like, in between Tampa and Orlando.

[Mike Bruner]

Ish.

[Chris]

Like, so you're serving that whole area down there. Started the company back in 2014 as a. Is your partner. You have a partner in the business. Jason. Yes, Jason. Yeah, got it. So. And it's an exciting little journey. In these last, you know, 11 years, you've had quite the journey you've had in these last 11 years. You've been to a few Rhino X events. Wait, yeah. You've been to two.

[Mike Bruner]

Yes, Correct.

[Chris]

Okay. Yeah, the last two. Got it. But we're going to kind of go through all of this stuff, your journey, and some of the things that I've learned about you and what I think that you've been good at. And then thankfully, you know, when I listened to, like I said, when you're old podcast, I heard some things I didn't know, which is great, because then it kind of sent me down a little bit of a rabbit hole as I was doing some prep this morning for it. So the good news is, is you're kind of an open book, so we're gonna be able to talk about a lot of good stuff. You know what? Today's an exciting day, gentlemen. You might not notice this or not, but it's actually our 17th anonized. Our 17th anniversary since starting the company Rhino. 17th anniversary. So that's pretty exciting news. I mean, I've made it 17 years in the exact same industry.

[Chad]

That's good. When's your wedding anniversary?

[Chris]

Chad.

[Mike Bruner]

What? I started. He wasn't prepped for that one.

[Chris]

Peterman, you son of a. Picking a good thing. It's 6-9-Unite.

[Mike Bruner]

Why'd you keep looking off the screen? Like, what?

[Chad]

You got it written down somewhere.

[Mike Bruner]

Remind me.

[Chris]

Yeah. Thank God she doesn't listen to these episodes. You made me look like an just. Now. You know what?

[Chad]

That's set me up. I'm gonna tell her to listen to the first part.

[Mike Bruner]

My anniversary. My anniversary is April 24th. That was the only thing probably. I think it was the only thing I did get to pick for when I got married. My wife was the date. And I wanted to pick a date that I would remember, so I just did the 4:24. It happened to be on a Saturday we were looking at, and that's. That's the only thing I got to pick for our. Our wedding and that time. But it's something that hopefully I'll. I'll never forget is the date is the 4 24.

[Chris]

That works out Perfect. That was smart. I didn't put that kind of thought into it. June. June 9, 2006 because we're coming up on our 20th year anniversary.

[Mike Bruner]

Wow. We just, we just celebrated ours 15 last week actually.

[Chris]

Congratulations. That's a big deal.

[Mike Bruner]

Thank you.

[Chris]

Yeah, it's a big deal because this shit's not easy. Especially married to entrepreneurs.

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah. Especially within business. Doing growing business at the same time. It's. Yeah.

[Chris]

Well, I just want to put it out there for any of those who are. Who are watching on YouTube today instead of just listening that my eyes do look a little glossy. It is not because I'm hungover. I actually got back from Stagecoach yesterday fairly early. But anybody who follows me on social media, I made some posts. It was of the four years I've been. It was like you're in the middle of the desert, it was so dusty and the wind was blowing so hard that even with like the little gators, you know, like little bandanas put over your face, like even that was. You get back and you just like are covered like dirt. You're picking dirt out of your ears and your nose blowing, sneezing out in dirt. I'm still doing it to this day. So we had a big group of us, we got, you know, I know all you guys know Tommy, I mean like, you know Tommy and followed him for quite a while. Getting Tommy Mellow to a three day country music festival was pretty entertaining. We had the best time, but some of us made it a little bit longer than Mr. Thomas Mellow did. He. He did not get to he. His, you know, his attention for that was only so short. But actually we had some really great conversations like. And it was just good. We did an Airbnb kind of did the whole thing. It was really fun. I do. I. The older I get, you know, I'm gonna be 46 tomorrow. I'll be 46 tomorrow. April 30th, I guess when we record this. April 30th is my birthday. So the older I get, the longer recovery becomes. So I can't just go hard in the paint is like I used to voice is struggling a little bit today again only because of the weather and you know. And I sang a lot because there's a lot of great artists there. Mike and Mike, I know you love music, man. Oh yeah, we had. It was cool because Garth Brooks came out at the end with Luke Combs, you know, which is a big surprise. And saying friends, that was pretty sweet. But I'm an old school country guy so I love Tracy Lawrence came out. He was great. Goo Goo Dolls were playing this year, which is awesome. And I've never seen them live. They were great. Chad's favorite was there. They closed out the last night. We didn't stick around for it. I should have, you know how to respect for Chad. But the Backstreet Boys were playing closed out. And, you know, it's. One of Chad's lifelong dreams was to be a Backstreet Boy.

[Chad]

That's right. Can't sing nor dance, but here I am.

[Mike Bruner]

If you had to do one of the two, what would. What do you think you're better at?

[Chad]

It's a low bar. It's a low bar.

[Mike Bruner]

You kind of strike me as maybe a swifty too, though. I mean.

[Chad]

My daughter. My daughter's a big fan, so we. We jam out to that in the mornings on. On the way to school every once in a while.

[Chris]

Well, we definitely know he's a Timberlake fan.

[Chad]

Yeah. Been in that concert.

[Chris]

Just a podcast for it, so.

[Chad]

Yeah.

[Chris]

But we had a good time, you know, excited to kind of get back and. And get to work, you know, at here at Rhino. And I was looking forward to this episode, man, just finally getting you booked and to do our thing and, you know, to continue the good time, you know, for. For Chad and our listeners and for you, Mike, because I know you appreciate that, is we're gonna roll into a few dad jokes. Okay. And by the way, we're starting to get more people sending them to us, so I love when our listeners actually send us their dad jokes. Some of them I can't actually read on on this podcast, so I appreciate those who sent me the ones I can't read because it takes a lot for me to not be able to share a dad joke. Some of these are a little out there.

[Mike Bruner]

Do you think. Do you think most listeners send them to you because they're not thrilled with the ones you've had or try to improve or.

[Chris]

I don't know. I mean, possibly.

[Chad]

I'd say if. I'd say if Weldon can tell his. We could tell.

[Mike Bruner]

Just.

[Chad]

No holds bar.

[Chris]

That's actually. Yeah, that was pretty good.

[Chad]

He didn't really ask, but he.

[Mike Bruner]

Right. Yeah. And he ain't going to either. He's not.

[Chris]

Oh, and we also didn't, you know, didn't delete or didn't bleep it out. So, like, we let it rip. So. Okay, I'm gonna read these two. They won't be as good as Weldon's, but we're gonna go okay, okay. What did one Dorito farmer say to the other? What did one Dorito farmer. I didn't know there were Dorito farmers. This is definitely not real. Okay? There's not such thing as Dorito. What does one Dorito farmer say to the other? Don't be Googling that, Chad.

[Chad]

I'm not Googling it.

[Mike Bruner]

It's got to be something. Like the joke Cheesy something or something.

[Chris]

Is it Cool Ranch? Hey, Cool Ranch. When does a dad joke become a dad joke?

[Mike Bruner]

When he gets on the to the Point podcast.

[Chris]

That's a good answer, Mike, but incorrect. It is when it becomes apparent. Huh, huh, huh. Last one. What kind of music do chiropractors like? I practiced this.

[Mike Bruner]

Break something.

[Chris]

No, break something.

[Mike Bruner]

Dance Break me.

[Chris]

They like hip hop. Hip hop. Hip. The delivery was everything on this one, so I try not to mess that one up. Hey, speaking of hip hop, Mike likes hip hop.

[Mike Bruner]

Oh, yeah.

[Chris]

I didn't say hip hop. I said hip hop. Okay, moving on. I killed way too much time. Beginning of this one already. I apologize. Everybody listening, okay? We are gonna jump into this whole thing. It's exciting, man, because my guy Mike has built a great company. You fly under the radar. I don't know if this is on purpose or what, but you fly under the radar a little bit. I mean, this dude finished 47 million last year. 100. I think he hit. Like you said, you hit right on the mark. 100 employees tracking 65 million this year in the great state of Florida. Still a privately held dude, like, still doing his own thing. Started to come me back in 2014. So it's like we're talking 11. A pretty awesome 11 year journey. But these last few years, man, you've been on absolute fire and you've made some shifts in your life. You made some health changes in your life like you've always been. I want. I want to go back to a little bit of the beginning. I think it always kind of tells part of your story, gives everybody, somebody an idea like, hey, you're just like the rest of us, just trying to figure out along the way. But I love that when I was listening to one of your episodes or that one of the podcasts you did with Ryan, you were talking about you. You were a professional poker player when you were just a young buck 23. And it was a hard pivot because I was like, wait, wait, where the hell did that come into the story? Because here you are. Okay, let me just take you guys back. This is. He's not just a pride he's not just a pride of. Of Polk State or Frostbite Junior Senior High School. Go Bulldogs. Now, is it Frost bite?

[Mike Bruner]

Was it the hell Frost proof?

[Chris]

Whatever. Frost. Frost bite, whatever.

[Mike Bruner]

Funny, there's a restaurant that actually is called Frostbite in Frostproof. But.

[Chris]

Okay, well, that's not confusing at all. But you had you. You were talking about. And by the way, I said Polk State, not Polk High for you Al Bundy fans. Okay. Way different. But you lost your license too, at one point. Like, you're like kind of hard to go and be an air conditioning salesperson if you don't have a license to get there. Now, Chad, and you guys have probably recognized a few of these things in your recruiting process on. There's usually a couple things that trip people up from becoming employees and usually when you don't have a driver's license, that's one of them. And a criminal record is probably the other. There's a few of those things that get in the way, but kind of hard to go and make money if you lose your license because somebody here had a lead foot, got too many speeding tickets. So try. I looked at it as. You're probably just trying to get to your customers faster. Right. Like you're just trying to get there so you can get some sales in. You just.

[Mike Bruner]

Yes.

[Chris]

You know, needed to have that third eye, third ear, looking around for the, you know, for the popo man. So didn't you have a fuzz buster back in the day? You guys remember those things, those radar detectors?

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, I think I was, I was moving too fast by, by the time that really went off and alerted me in time. So I, it didn't really work out for me too well. It was, it was. I've had a lead foot and it. But I was in sales and time is money. That's the old adage, you know. So I took that to heart, I think too much.

[Chris]

So. So you went to. When you were. You're an athlete. You. I think you've. I heard you say you did some coaching and stuff like that too, which kind of tells me a little bit about you already on the coaching side of it. But you had went to Polk State and you were in business administration and management. Right? Is that what you were majoring in? You made it for what, like three years or something like that before you end up leaving. But you went for, you know, business. You went to business school, right?

[Mike Bruner]

Correct.

[Chris]

And then your brother was. Was and maybe still is in air conditioning sales and was like an exceptional, you know, Salesman, which, you know, gave you the thought of, like, hey, man, he's doing really well, making a lot of money, you know, and maybe this is something that, you know, that I could do. But was it when you were in college? Is that when you were also a server? Like when you're being a, when you're a waiter, right?

[Mike Bruner]

Yes. Yeah. How I filled the void in between.

[Chris]

Got it. And that's where you met. That's where you met your wife, Brittany, right?

[Mike Bruner]

Brandy.

[Chris]

Brandy. God, I'm everything up. Brandy. So maybe there is a little bit left over from stage now I think about. But you met her. You met her there. So. So you started learning some of your customer service skills, though, as, as a waiter, which you, you attribute to, like, some of the. Your success today and just being able to, you know, have good customer service in the way that you have led in your business too.

[Mike Bruner]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Chris]

All the way back in the day. Just from back in the day. So, so. But here's where I'm having a hard time with. The pivot is. The pivot to becoming a professional poker player is one that's throwing me off because you moved straight to Vegas to do this.

[Tommy]

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[Chris]

And then you live like the rock star poker player thing. And she stayed with you.

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, I, I still don't know why for some days. And, and what the reason was behind that, but luckily, yeah, she did. And the, the reason to move to Vegas at the time, I mean, this was, and it feels like forever ago, but this was before Florida allowed legalized gambling. So to really make it in, quote unquote, the poker world, it was. You had to, you had to be where the action was at, and that's why the move to Vegas happened at that time.

[Chris]

And you were that good, huh?

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, I was. I was pretty good. Still am, but it's, it's. It. Yeah, it was a, it was a career for me at one time. And if it wasn't for a lot of the other issues outside of it, who knows where I'd be Without.

[Chris]

Well, it's all part of the journey, man. I just was curious how the hell that came into it. So then. So let's go ahead and just get. Jump into the story a little bit too. You guys heard me that are listening. Heard me say we used tracking 65 million this year. Still doing it. Private use, multi tread. You know, know, I don't remember if you started with H Vac or plumbing. You're doing septic. You know, septic as well, like. But maybe let's do this. Okay. You're getting into it, into your own business. Interesting story. We'll tie back together with your brother later because Chad will absolutely relate to this in a different way. But having your brother in the business. But maybe just take us into, okay, 2014. You know, you, we. I mentioned you did sales. Right. So let's just jump into what this journey looks like from 14 all the way through today. Because really in 2019, you're sitting like five and a half million. But five and a half million in revenue was like 20 employees and 18. I think you said 19, 20 employees. So let's kind of jump into these little gaps and start to learn like what you. What you were doing. So did it. Was it. Did you start with H Vac? What did you start with?

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, so my background is H Vac. So that was how we started. And that's just what I knew at the time and really got into. Wanted to get to where we were starting my own thing because I worked for several different H Vac companies before that in plumbing and so forth, and just kind of worked my way up into management, different positions. But then when we had the opportunity to start Iceberg, that was. It kind of came back to the area that I was kind of from. And that was always kind of a goal was to get something started for myself and ourself and kind of our hometown. So we just kind of went for it and we. We were kind of humble at the beginning and just learning through the growing pains of business. The first couple of years, it was tough. I mean, a lot of times, like you see when you first start out the business and had to learn a lot of things, which then propelled the business long term into where we are today. But when we finally got key people in the right spots, that's when the business really started to scale and take off. And again, learning through that whole process was when it started to really fly.

[Chris]

Is Brandy in the business?

[Mike Bruner]

No.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Mike Bruner]

We cannot work together by design. She had a. She has a photography business that she kind of was doing at the same time and does really well with that and did really well with that. And then when we decided we have a couple little girls now, when we have started the family and the whole thing, we were able to retire her. She. She does a lot of schooling with the kids and all that and was able to. Able to focus on all that. But no, we're, we're too headstrong against each other. So we would not work together well in business now, in our marriage and everything where we do great.

[Chris]

So yeah, I, I mean, I think you get well, you guys, I mean Mike, you bet my wife, right. So same like we're both very, very a type, very, you know, headstrong. She is smarter than me. So I heard. Hear me say that out loud. She is smarter than me. Just ask Chad. He'll. He'll let you know. She's smarter than me. But you know, we do, we do work together, right? And we had to like have that fine line on we knew who was like a 1A and a 1B in what situation. And once we got there, we were, we were like pretty solid. Like we stayed. Stayed in our lanes. Not that we didn't have disagreements because we certainly have had disagreements and we still have disagreements. But, but if it's, you know, if it's in her world, she's, she gets to make the call. If it's my world. Well, you know, you're still privately held, Chad's still privately held, I'm not. So it is weird how that relationship plays into it when you now have a board, you know, and you're in a private equity relationship and like, what are your roles? Because they're now no longer. You're in control of your roles. And what's interesting about this is. And where I was going with it is you learn like I've learned the last couple of years on reporting to a board that absolutely we know how to run these businesses even at, even at scale because it still kind of comes down to like the systems and processes and the people in these businesses, right? Like the leadership that you have that are managing these systems and processes and the culture and all this fun stuff. But what's cool about this and why I meant why I'm mentioning it is by the time this podcast episode airs, you know, rolls out, you guys will see a press release come out. And the press release is coming out is letting the world know that Anne Yano is the president of Home Services and is taking over day to day operations of the entire business. So we're kind of getting back into, like, our old school leadership roles on the shit that we love to do and getting more, you know, which is great because we wanted to. Right? But private equity controls. You know that. So even though we've built and grown and got a lot of cool technology, knows all this fun stuff. It's just weird because you kind of get moved out from this leadership position and, you know, at least in the capacity that you like to do it. So that's exciting news, man. And we're looking forward to, you know, kind of getting, you know, all in and. And having fun with this thing again. But you. And this is always like the nervous part about, you know, when you bring on a private equity partner. Right. Like, that's probably why you can stay private and you're like, cool. I don't have to worry about that.

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, I think. I think there's pros and cons to. To both sides, and I think. I'm not against private equity. I think private equity is. Can be a really great thing. I know a lot of people that have went into that side of it, and the. I think the partnership side of things within that is probably the most key role to look at when you go to that point of the business. So we'll see how that. That plays out. You know, again, I think private equity is a great thing for our industry if it's. If it's done the right way on both sides. The. The private side moving into that role, and then the private equity group being able to still have that relationship or a great working relationship with the. The owner.

[Chris]

Okay, I derail this. I apologize. Were you getting ready to say something? Chad and I just cut you off?

[Chad]

No, I was just gonna. I was gonna let Mike talk for a touch, just for a second with a. Pose a question to him, but I'm just.

[Chris]

That was a subtle jab.

[Chad]

Yeah, I've never taken one on the show, but. No, Mike, I think, uh, what I'd like into. So, like, obviously, like, explosive growth and. And congrats to you and your team. You know, you mentioned, you know, getting the right people in place 100%. I. I would say that all day long, you know, but I think for listeners. Yeah, that. That sounds great in theory. Where do I find these people?

[Chris]

What.

[Chad]

What were some of the things that you kind of did from your seat? Like, yeah, I found the right person, but obviously you got to surround them with certain resources, certain support, all of this stuff. What were some of those things you did? Maybe between kind of 19 and today that you feel were to your guys's like the growth that you've seen.

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, I think you, you have to change your mindset to where you, you have to start being in recruiting mode because this the to top grade your business and to get the talented people in the right spots. First of all, you got to know what spots that you have to have those key people in and you got to be open from an owner standpoint, have the mindset that you have to move out of the way a lot of times because I think that's where the bottleneck is in most businesses is the, the owner themselves just doesn't. They don't get out of the way like they should and get those key people that, so they can thrive and start the business start to scale. But when you get in that recruitment mode to go look at and, and search out the right people, you, you have to have everything aligned for that person to, to come in your organization. So the culture's got to be there. The, the, all the benefits obviously all the, all those things have to align with the vision that you have. And when you can cast that vision to those correct people and they see they have to have you the owner mindset that you have, you know, when you, when you're running it, they have to see your vision to be able to be there with you and you have to have the relationship with them that you have to have the same mindset as I have as an owner. Like you're not. Don't look at it as your employee. Let's look at it as we're working together to strive to, to go to this point in the business. And when you have that mindset and everybody's rowing in the same direction and in the key spot, you could really start to scale and move the business and faster at a faster rate than you could. Obviously if you're by yourself, you have a lot more output.

[Chad]

Yeah, no, I think that's such a key point and I 100% agree with you. You know, when I talk to people who ah, we've hit this wall, we can't get over it. And I, you know, candidly say, hey, you may need to look in the mirror because oftentimes that is the problem is, you know, you have to trust people. There's a reason that businesses are small and some that scale and the small ones, it's because the owner wants to control every little thing about the business and no one can do it as good as they can do it. So by God, I could never trust anybody to do it. And it's like you got to be okay with them maybe not making the same decision making, but at the end of the day, your decisions aren't always the right ones.

[Mike Bruner]

Right? Yeah. I think part of it too is you, you have to, to allow that person to even fail certain times as long as they learn from the failures and continue to move. And as long as you get from those decisions and you discuss them, how you don't make those failures again, but you can again, you get more output when you have a lot more people rowing in the same direction instead of you trying to do everything because you have a ceiling, you hold a wall. And at that point, like you said, and you see it all the time and companies struggle with that certain times. And it's, it's a mindset thing. And I think, I think from the owner standpoint, at that point you have to sit back and you have to change your mindset to continue to work on those people. Like if you work on the people, they will work on your business. So you work on the self development to, to how they, how they get the mindset to, to the owner mindset to get to the next level to scale the business. And then you just get out of the way and let them do their thing.

[Chris]

A lot of times you, so you. I think I can't remember if you mentioned this to me, if I heard this, but kind of along those lines. You mentioned one of the first books that you read or I think an early book that you read was Rocket Fuel.

[Mike Bruner]

Yes.

[Chris]

And it was around visionary roles and integrator roles.

[Mike Bruner]

Correct.

[Chris]

Like just kind of understanding that maybe just talk about, you know, how you, when you read that, like, how did you, like how did that go ahead and translate into the business? What did you do with it? Like reading it?

[Mike Bruner]

That's one of those light switch moments in my, in the business, I think was when I read that book, it was. I, I read it pretty quickly because I just couldn't put it down. And I had our key people read it like, and we all read it within a weekend. But I think that describes the visionary integrator role. And it puts into perspective that that's to me and I still from that book, I think it's the most important roles that you have to figure out before your business goes to the next level, before you can start to scale. And then when you look at now like everything I look at within the relationships of the, of our business is the visionary integrator role. They have to work together so well and they're. Because their mindsets are different and they feed off of things differently. But you then you have to build a business with those roles complementing each other through. You have two visionaries working on a assignment or whatever, a project. It's not going to go well compared to a visionary and integrator. So it made me really step back, look at the organization we had, who was I deemed visionary or integrator and how they work together and how you pair those up. And then we went through that was part of just the self development side of we read a lot of books and we bring that to our team of everybody reading and you take. There's a test that they have and all that. Where do you feel you are on the visionary side of an integrator? And it kind of opens their eyes a lot of times too when they're day to day and when they're working within the business, who they're working beside and why they might not work beside another visionary or integrator, whatever they are. And it really shows that in a great, great way.

[Chad]

Yeah. Mike, with the growth, I guess in conjunction with your emphasis on leadership, have you, while you, you know, you try to develop people as much as you possibly can, have you seen where the business has outgrown certain people and even though those people have gotten you to a certain level and you love those people to death and they're great friends and you know, you do anything for them, it's. They've hit their ceiling. And, and how have you, how have you dealt with that? Or you know, have you, do you feel like you've dealt with it at the right time? Has it been a little late?

[Mike Bruner]

What, what I, I feel, I think. Well, we've definitely seen that. We definitely, I mean we see that regularly certain times throughout the business too. But I think we've, I've personally had to learn how to deal with those situations because a lot of those situations are ones that maybe have been with people have been with you for a while. They're just the, the business again is outgrown them. When you want to continue to move to the next level. So you have to have that conversation with them and explain them. And most of the time when we sit down and have that conversation with that person that look, you're doing great in this role but to continue to move up, you're going to have to do something on your own, you're going to have to learn, you're going to have to do this. And then there's a, there's a window of time period that they, they really get to, and it's a short period. And I feel like if we, if the person has the right mindset and willing to learn first of all, then, then we have to set them up for success as a business. And if we can do that, a lot of times you can grow people into different roles, but also they can realize or figure out themselves and that they might not be best for the company at the end of the day, is what's best for the company. What's the business decision that needs to be made, and what role are they going to be best fit for the business? And when they can come to that realization, it's, it's a really good thing because then you're, you're, you're. Again, you're continuing to row in that same direction. But the tough conversations has to be had. In certain times. When we've had that, it's, it's just how you have to sit down. And this is when you cast a vision, you lay it all out for the person, and they don't understand it. They never will. And you got to either move past them or move them laterally within the business, whatever that looks like.

[Chad]

Yeah, I always, I think, you know, they can be labeled as tough conversations when it's like, hey, this is outgrowing you. I think in my experience, they're a hell of a lot tougher before you have them. And then when you sit down to have it. Yeah, kind of both sides. See, like, okay, well, I don't even know if I want to do this at that next level. Like, I think I'm good here. And so I think it's. You hit on an important point. And I think, you know, there's probably listeners out there that know that they need to have those conversations with people. And I think it's important to just hit, just address them head on. Like, hey, here's what I'm feeling. Here's what I'm thinking. You know, is this something you even want to do? Are you, you know, excited? Here's where we're going. This is what I'm going to need this person to do. Or, you know, I'm gonna have to bring in someone above you, whatever that looks like. So I think it's a great point and a great call out. As, as far as, you know, the people that got you to one point may or may not be the people that get you to the next one.

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, this, we had a situation happen recently. This was a, it was a pretty Cool moment for me to see that. One of my managers came to me and we. We had to move on past another manager and move to a different, you know, move him to a different position and ultimately had to let him go. But the. Another manager came in and when. When you see the mindset that we have and we've created, rub off on everybody, and everybody's again, you know, moving in that same direction. The person, the manager came to me, she. She. She was saying that we have done a great job here at Iceberg, that we set everybody else up, we set you up for success, that we. Iceberg doesn't fire people. You fire yourselves. And that really, when she told me that, I was like, yeah, this is really clicking for a lot of people. And this is, this is. That's true. It's the mindset that we have to, first of all do all the work to. To set people up for success. And we, we do a good job with that. But if it's something that usually. And now it's 90 plus percent of the time, it's a failure on that person's, on their lane or whatever it is, and that they will be removed themselves.

[Chris]

Basically, we did it. I think it was like, maybe this time last year and I did a whole podcast on this and around the climbing the mountain journey. I mean, we have a lot of friends in this business and thankfully, a lot that are still with us, but some that aren't, right? Because even though, like, we were trying to pull them with us, you can only pull so much, right? And then different people have different views of where the business is at based on where they're at on the mountain. Right? So they don't quite understand this decision because they're not. They don't have visibility to it. So. But those things, you know, happen. And. And I think it also comes down to a mindset shift. Like, to Chad's point is if. If we're thinking two different, like, hey, they love the business when it was smaller, right? Like, well, we're trying to grow it. If we're not in the same wavelength, like, yeah, then maybe it is the best time to leave. But those are listening. What I heard Chad saying is, and if you avoid that conversation, it's not like it's getting worse. The longer it gets. Like, it's. I mean, it's getting better. It's getting worse. The longer you wait, the harder it is, the worse, you know, the potential outcome of that thing is with your actual personal relationship with this person. So you kind of got to Hit that thing head on. Because if you know in your gut, they probably know too. Right. So just have the conversation in a meaningful way. Another hard piece of this too, Mike, you had to do is, man, like, you had family, your brother was in the business, and you end up having to fire your brother. Like, maybe, I mean, guaranteed somebody listening right now is having. Has had some similar conversation. And, And I know it can be a little bit of a tough topic to talk about. I think it's an important one. Right. Because I think a lot of people are impacted by the same thing. So maybe just talk about, you know, about that. Right. Like about how, you know, that kind of like how that came about. Because, I mean, it was great because he's such a, you know, solid sales guy.

[Mike Bruner]

Sure.

[Chris]

But sometimes, like, yeah, like, yeah, something has to happen.

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, we were. We're really close. You know, he's an older brother to me, a few years older, and we live together and we, we, you know, I was best man of his wedding and vice versa and all that. But, yeah, he worked for us, with us for a couple years, and he's still to this day a great salesman. He does H Vac sales. A little bit of a different market than where we're at now, but he does a great job. And he, He. But he. He'll tell you too. I think he's learned through a lot of stuff too, that he's not the business kind of guy. He. He wants to just give me my calls, I'll go out and I'll make a bunch of money for the business and for myself. So the early days when we first started and he was just one of our sales guys, it just didn't vibe with how the business was structured and how we needed to be profitable in the back side of the business, which I think a lot of people in our industry just don't know or, you know, you got to learn through mistakes a lot of times. And that was something that we learned through and we had to make a it. That was one of those tough conversations. But like Chad's point, it. When we finally had it, I think we were both on the same page that we. We needed to move on in our own right, you know, personally, himself, and then us with the business. And so for six, seven, the last six, seven, eight months, it was really, really tough. Just working environment, just. It was kind of toxic. It wasn't really great, great working environment. But when we did make the decision and he moved on, we moved on. It's. It. It ended up becoming like, we should have done that a long time before that. And so it affected the relationship more short term than now. We're finally. We don't even talk business no more. When we, when we meet, which is kind of nice, it's back to family stuff. And when we see each other and hang out, it's. It's how the kids, wives, all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, that was, that was a tough, tough time because it was like one of my, One of my kind of guys I looked up to as just a brother. And we, we had to. It was tough. We had to just kind of part ways for. For a short period of time.

[Chris]

Yeah, I, Chad, I'm glad you guys haven't had to have that conversation. But like, the other, you know, the other byproduct of this too, is whether it's your friend or family. Either one is if other people know too. And like, they see, like, maybe there's like, you have to walk that fine line of. With your friends and because people are gonna be think, oh, if it wasn't, you know, if they weren't friends or oh, if it wasn't family, like, then it looks bad, you know, then it looks bad on you as a leader, on just letting it go. Like, that's such a sensitive thing to have to deal with. So you gotta, you know, so beyond just your own personal relationship with that person, you got to think about everybody else who sees this thing from their perspective too, and what they're starting to think about you as a leader.

[Mike Bruner]

Right from that point on, it was my mindset shifted to everything within the business is a business decision at the end of the day. And the hundred employees we have or so that they all have family members. So instead of 100 employees, where any decision that's made for the business is affecting 400. So lives and family aside, the decision for the business needs to outweigh it within the business. It needs to be the ultimate decision. That is what's move what's best for the business, not what's best for your family. And that's tough to, to find, I would say, you know, I would have a question for Chad. Like, I know you and your brother work really well together, and you run it together. Run the business. Have you. Is it be. Are. Are you too different? Like how you think. How does that. How does your relationship benefit the business? Obviously, with all the growth that you had, I mean, you have tough days, or is it just all been like you say, in your lane? Have you learned through that?

[Chad]

Yeah. So great. Question. You know, we. We got really lucky, I guess, in the genetic library or the genetic lottery in that neither of us really. I mean, we think a lot alike, but we don't like to do the same things. And so, you know, when it comes to the business, you know, he runs all of our sewer excavation, underground drains, all of that stuff. And that's like, he's really good at it. And, like, that's his lane. And he still, you know, helps me with bigger decisions and what are we going to do here? Or what are we going to do there? And we talk. Probably not as much as we should, but that's kind of our personalities in the first place. But mine's more on the visionary side of, you know, growing the business and so on and so forth. And I guess for me, I've just been so thankful that he's supportive of that because it could have been very toxic and that, hey, I've got this vision. This is where I want to take it. And the whole time he's been like, hey, man, whatever you need me to do, like, you need me to do this. Okay, sounds good. And it's more so from my end, it's making sure that he feels included. Right? Like, hey, you're still part of this. Like, you're still a huge part. Doesn't matter what you do. We've all, you know, over the course of history, we've all done a little bit everything, whatever needs to be done, I'll run apart. I'll, you know, help a guy do whatever it may be. So, yeah, we. We've kind of. And I think to Chris's point, what he was talking about, he and Anna, like, we each have our own lane. And then we kind of made kind of guardrails and said, hey, these are your decisions to make. These are mine to make. If there's one that kind of maybe crosses over or whatever, then we'll talk about it. But at the end of the day, I'm not going to get in your lane. You don't get in mine. And we'll keep growing it. So it's. I think it is. You've got to understand what those roles are, are and be very clear with them. And it goes back to, you know, the visionary integrator type mentality. You know, I wouldn't say we have that type of relationship where one of us is the visionary, one of us the integrator. It's more so we've just kind of found our roles within the business to hopefully drive it forward. And I think as long as you have the same goal of, hey, we want to take it here. Okay, well, what do I need to do to do that? It's not about a title. It's not about this or that. So, yeah, it's. It's worked out really well on that front. And we've had tough conversations, tough times, you know, gotten in disagreements, all of that fun stuff. But I think it all comes back to, hey, we're.

[Mike Bruner]

We're.

[Chad]

Regardless of where we land on a decision, we're both trying to move this thing in the right direction.

[Mike Bruner]

Do you. Do you think that because of the way you guys think a little differently, that there's. Do you look back at situations that, because y' all think so differently, the decisions that were made, if you wouldn't have had his therapist, way he looks at things, it maybe wouldn't have been as successful as, like, some of the decisions that were made. And Vice.

[Chad]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Chad]

I mean, there's always times when it's like, well, I think this is my idea and we're going to do this. And he's like, well, did we think about this? And I'm like, well, that's a really good point. Okay, I didn't. Didn't. Didn't. Didn't consider that one. I guess that's going to be kind of a hurdle. So, yes, 100%. I think, you know, kind of the bouncing of ideas and. And I think, too, that comes with growth, right? Is. Is having healthy disagreements, agreement, you know, for the longest time. I think when you're growing early, it's very easy to have one point of view, and that's from who's ever in charge. And then as you start to bring in these really smart people, you start to get in all of these different perspectives from, you know, where they came from and what they've seen and so on and so forth, and it just. It lends itself to making a better decision because you got to stop and think about it, as opposed to, hey, we're just going to do it and go. It's like, well, let's think about everything and let's take a step back. And it's hard. Hard. I think when you're trying to grow a business and you're the visionary, it's like, go fast, go fast, go fast. We're going to break things. It's fine. And that's okay. You can break things, but, like, maybe we just don't break them as bad. Or how do we minimize kind of, you know, the. The fallout of if this doesn't work. And so that's been one of my things to, like, adjust to. And you mentioned it earlier of, like, you know, being able to get out of the way. Um, and it's. It's difficult sometimes because you have all this tribal knowledge, right? You've got. I. I have the memories and experiences from day one. Whereas people we brought in, you know, they may have only seen it for two years, and it's like, hey, well, that may not work. We tried it, you know, three years ago before you were here, and it, you know, whatever the case may be.

[Chris]

I think one thing that I just noticed about both you two is, I know Mike, for you is one thing that you talk about is move fast, fail faster, you know, but as you're doing that, you're doing it now. Like, you're, like, you know, you're. You're jumping and building the parachute on the way down, but you got a really good idea that parachute is going to be really good, right? Like, might not be perfect, but it's going to be good. You're hit the ground softly, and. And that's, I think, a common trait of a lot of, you know, a lot of our successful friends, too, is, like, everybody does move fast. Like, you know, I mean, and, you know, you're gonna. Like, some shit's not gonna work, but you're gonna figure it out, too. One thing that's really interesting that I just was. For those who aren't watching or just listening, that I was just observing, is the thing I was going to segue into about you, Mike in particular. Next was a little bit of your personal growth as the business has grown and to become a better leader. But one thing I noticed is if you guys weren't just paying attention is Mike flipped the script a little bit on us, and he started interviewing us. And Chad, because he's genuinely always trying to learn new things, and he's taking. Taking notes as he's asking Chad questions, like, I love that you did that. That's happened. That happens very rarely on these episodes. You took advantage of your time to, you know, ask Chad some of these questions. So I commend you for doing that. But it is who you are. Like, you go to these events and stuff like that, and, like, you go with intent. You know, you're going to learn the things. You're reaching out to the people, and you've leveraged mentorship along the way and friends, you know, and listening to things, but then actually going, you know, and doing stuff with it. So you you have mentors that you've, you know, that, that you've, you know, leaned on and maybe different ones kind of along, along the way. Maybe just talk about why you're doing like why, why you're doing that. It's one thing to go to a mentor so you get a buddy, right? Because some people just want to be attached to the person. It's another thing to be attached to that person and actually like do something with that relationship and what they're giving to you. So maybe just talk about how you like what that's going to be number one. And then second, we're going to just talk a little about how your health is played in, into this whole thing because you've kind of been on this little bit of a health journey which plays into your five Fs, which is different than my four Fs. I think you just modified your own which is perfect. Exactly what you should do, what you should do. But maybe just talk about how you, how who you, who you are using as mentors and like what that person does for you. So that way we can, people can hear what your thought process is like.

[Tommy]

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[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, I think first thing you have to have the mindset that you want, always want to improve and for me it's the, the people that's a part of my tribe or the business, how to, how to get them moving in a better spot and that it goes into like part of your legacy. Like I want to leave this place better than when I started. I want to get people to a place better, faster than I could do on my own. And I can't because I can't do that on my own. I can't. I don't have all the knowledge in the world. So I have to be open to wanting to learn and to want to listen. So I've had mentors along the way. I think what the wrong mindset people have is like I said, they look for buddies and friends and all this. And I think that's a. That's just a byproduct of the mentorship that that can evolve into. And I think the mentors themselves will see that sometimes. And they're like, well, they just want to hang out with me and they're not really. I'm here to drive my business and, and to move forward and just be a better person. So the byproduct is. Is some good relationships and friendships that I've been able to forge because of that. But reading and listening and like Tommy and he's been one the last couple years, that's just came on really strong for me. And the. What I really like about him is he doesn't need to do it. And a lot of these great mentors don't. But when they see somebody that's really striving and wanting to improve their business and improve lifestyles, improve people's lives, then they're more open to. To wanting to help or wanting to lend information that they. They possibly have. So I've just been a sponge for several different ones. I go back to our early days, like even welding long. We talked about him earlier. He's been one that I've listened to and communicated with a lot of different carrier events and different stuff too that he's. He was one of kind of my early days and he's a little bit more hardcore on how he says some things and some days like that's what I need or that's. That's what some people, that's how they react to assist, you know, being told that. That kind of stuff. So yeah, there's been along the ways is just having. Just wanting to always want to get better and you know, be better tomorrow than I was today and continue to have that mindset to move forward. And when you see. When I see my. Our employees or the people that. And I. I'm humbled by a lot of times when they want, they look up to me or they ask me certain questions, I. If I don't have the answer, I need to Go find the answer for them. I need to go ask and search out who has been where we're trying to go or what we're trying to. To accomplish who's been there and how. How can we take that information and implement it in our business. So I think that's been key and what's helped us scale and when you can get that mindset throughout the business, throughout those key people that are in key spots, that's again, that's when. When they're starting to take the initiative and, and self develop themselves, it can move that much faster. And I think that's what we've been able to see some of the success the last several years is everybody's having that mindset and everybody's wanting to improve and everybody's wanting to. To raise up everybody from, from, from, you know, in a different position to a better level within the business. But also that bleeds into your personal life. So that's. I, I think and Chad can probably paint to this what we've seen in the last several years. Even yourself like it's in our industry. I think when you really buckle down and worried about the business and want to become the biggest, best business in so many different ways. My personal side, I've. I've. That was just. I. I finally got around to that and it. I had to shift that to where that was more of a priority was my personal journey and my personal mindset. So with doing that the last year and a half, making that as a focus, it's been able to. I've been able to see really good things because now everything's starting to align when. Especially when I'm talking to my employees or my guys and we're talking about different things when they now can not just listen to me or what I'm talking how to get better. When they actually see the physical differences as well, it's seems like they more likely want to join in and try to get better themselves as well. So that's a really cool thing and been on a personal journey about. It's. It'll be two years in June. When I got back from vacation a couple years ago, I was like I gotta have. I gotta make a lifestyle change. And I just really started to exercise, work out and again this was a. This was also through the journey of, of Tommy really helped with this side of it when he started to transform a lot of his. I mean I'm not like bench pressing 500 pounds like that guy and like crazy into some of that stuff, but just, just wanting to be a better person that for my family, I had to shift that. That focus to put that on it. And I'm down, you know, £70 or so, but I've added some muscle, and I'm. I'm in a better spot. I have. But. But along this journey within my personal journey, I've seen that that's given me more energy, and throughout the day, that I've been able to buy my time back. And now I'm that much better of a person for the business because I got so much more energy to give. To give to the employees, but also to building the business itself so I can focus on that and gives me more time to do it.

[Chris]

Yeah. And your family, because you're a girl, dad, you got little girls.

[Mike Bruner]

Oh, yeah. Two girls.

[Chris]

Yeah, they're gonna be very active, very proud girl. You and Chad have young. Youngins.

[Mike Bruner]

Three and six. Two girls.

[Chad]

So mine are three and six as well. I've got one boy in there. He's three, so. But no, I think what you said is. Is so powerful, and I think a lot of people can listen, and I think it goes maybe even a little bit deeper than, you know, like. Yeah, I think. And I think Tommy really kicked this off with the whole health journey and all of that stuff. And I know I latched on to that, and I think a lot of people have, which is fantastic. But I think it goes to what you said is. And. And I learned this from a mentor of mine, so kind of coming full circle here of Keith Mercurio. Yes, Chris, I don't believe you said this, but, yes, mentor of mine. But I was talking about how, you know, leadership is. Is, you know, inspiring people and so on and so forth. And in pure Keith fashion, he gave a very long pause and looked at me and he said, well, I think you have it wrong. I think it is you showing up inspired is ultimately what the goal is. And I think that whether it's a health journey, whether it's trying to be a good, better father, you know, better husband, whatever it may be like, when we are able to show up inspired, that is truly what creates inspiration within the organization. And so, you know, I was actually talking about that this morning. I brought that quote up. You know, it's our job to be inspired while we get inspired, when we feel good and we feel healthy and, you know, know we're able to do more and our minds are clear and all of that stuff. And I think that's so important because growing a business is stressful. It takes a lot of time. It can do all of these things that, you know, I know all three of us have gone through, and I'm sure multiple, you know, listeners out there are going through it as well. Like, the best thing you can do, I think, even though it sounds selfish, is to focus on yourself first. Because if you can show up a better person, you're going to grow your company. You're the barometer of growth.

[Mike Bruner]

And you can't help. You can't help others until you get yourself in that spot. Help yourself first, like you said.

[Chad]

100%.

[Chris]

Yeah. What's so interesting, man, I swear to you, this is the God's honest truth is I literally, I remember that Keith McCuria talking about inspiration versus being inspired. Remember, I think if it was home, service, freedom, whatever. And I was like, oh, my God. So I just had the same conversation yesterday about being inspired because, you know, when Tommy and I, when we were flying over to Stagecoach, we sat together for, you know, an hour. And you can, like, it was fantastic conversation. And he's like, you know, just ask me. He's like, dude, what do you want to do? He throws up. He throws about a million ideas at me. And I just said, whatever it is that I do, I gotta be inspired to do it. Like, because that's what drives me. Because if I'm passionate about it, like, I, I want to go and learn the thing, you know, like, I have to be inspired to go and do something great. But I can. Why I remember the exact same thing from Keith Mercurial and, and of saying, like to say I want to be an inspiration to people. And he's. And he's like, wait, well, that's kind of selfish of you to say that. Like, why don't you. Why don't you about just being inspired yourself and that others, you know, you know, look at you as an inspiration. Like, it was just one little thing that I took away from that. That I was like, man, that actually makes a lot of sense. He. This is why it's so hard to have Keith on these podcasts, because you question everything that you say. I'm just waiting for him to turn something around on me because it happens every time.

[Mike Bruner]

That that aspirations probably feeds back into like Anna's role switching to. You think or. Yeah, I mean, her being more inspired. Like you said, get back into the fun stuff.

[Chris]

I mean, Anna's love language is she wants. Well, one, she's. Even though she's like a driver, right? She is an A type personality. She really cares about people and really cares about their growth. And so do I. She just knows how to actually, you know, really, like, drive it with some, you know, systems and processes and thoughtfulness and things like that. And she is inspired by that. So, you know, we're in a position where this business is going to continue to grow. We have a lot of people relying on us to make good decisions. And when you lose a little bit of that, I think maybe you can lose a little bit of inspiration, right? Like, because you don't have as much, like, freedom to make decisions. And now, like, getting to kind of take back over day to day has inspired her. I mean, I could tell. We got home from Stagecoach, dude, she was taking meetings before he even left her. Tommy did a podcast and her. And she did a meeting before we even left California. And then we got home and she was working till about 8 o' clock last night on things. Like, she came home and got after it.

[Mike Bruner]

Great.

[Chris]

But that's like, she's a gangster, man. She's like, but. But yes, she was kind of reinspired, you know, to say, sweet, man, like, this is my jam. I'm really good at this. Like, let me do my thing. And, and, and it's inspiring for me to see it. I mean, like, I see that and I'm like, holy crap, this is so cool. I mean, Tommy didn't even fly home with us. He went. We had Michael Franzese on the podcast. Remember Michael Franzes?

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris]

So. So he. His driver, Michael's driver came, picked Tommy up from Palm Springs, drove him to Orange County. They did like a lunch meeting and stuff like that. He did a podcast episode last night and then flew back last night. Like, I was like, damn, dude. I. I had work to do yesterday, but it was nothing on camera or I had to be like, on with somebody. It was all internal. And I was like. And that inspired me. I was like, God, man, he's not that much younger than me. Like, and he just goes that. To your point. That's what you're talking about. Like, he doesn't just talk about it like, he does it, you know? Like, so. So it is inspiring to watch that, right? Because I'm like, damn, dude. Like, that's me. Like, I can do these things too. I had. I wanted to do that. Yes. I could have totally done that. I could have totally done the exact same thing yesterday. But I was like, nah, it's just easier to work internally.

[Mike Bruner]

So you had to get the sand out of your eyes first before you.

[Chris]

Could still in my eyes. I promise you, it Is, like, still coming out of my eyes. Like, I've been watering the whole day. I. I need some Visine, so. Well, listen, I told you guys I'd try and stop at the top of the hour. It's the top of the hour. This is a. This was an awesome episode. I'll just finish with this. You know, I mentioned it, and I didn't say it. You're 5F, so your family, faith, finance, fitness, and your. The fitness is friendship, I believe, right?

[Mike Bruner]

Yes.

[Chris]

And that's really how you live your Life, by those five Fs. I love it because, listen, we talk about. I still am going to say Tommy stole this from me because he did. Your faith, you know, faith, family, fitness, and finance, you know, are my four pillars. I'm judging myself, too, every day. Chad knows I journal on these things, right? Did I hit them? Did I not hit them? Take it and make it your own. If you're listening, like, if it's not faith, whatever, but come up with your own letter that works for you, that motivates you, that inspires you, and then measure yourself to those pillars on a daily basis, you know, and you'll start to see how you're showing up on a daily basis.

[Mike Bruner]

And that's all I've done, is stole it from you guys. And I just added an extra F in there. And I think. But I think there's an order to it. I think faith and fitness goes back to Chad's point. You have to get yourself right before you can help others. So it's got to be in order. Faith, fitness. Then your family comes. I think finance works itself out, you know, friendships. And then finance and friendships is. They don't have to be many. You just have to have the right ones. You have to have that small inner circle.

[Chris]

So, yeah, I. I just. I mean, listen, it's somehow. It's simplified. It kind of makes the complicated things simple. You start to look at it like, okay, how did I do here? How did I do with this one? How did I do with that one? You know, like, I shit the bed today on fitness. Okay. But they're all equally important, and you got to make them all equally important, because at the end of the day, you know, yes, we love business, too, but, man, our families. So we got to make sure we are good for our families. In order to do. To be good at either one of those, you got to show up for yourself.

[Mike Bruner]

They all affect each other.

[Chris]

So you got it, man. And you've been doing a great job of that, dude. So Congratulations, man, on your growth. It's admirable. I'm really grateful that you and I have become friends over the last few years. I'm even more grateful that we are partnered together in business. So thank you for letting us be a part of that journey. That means a lot. No, but. But more importantly to me is that we've gained a relationship out of it, and I'm grateful for that and that you've been able to come and participate in Rhino X and, you know, and. And I. And push for that Charge award.

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Charge boards right there, buddy.

[Mike Bruner]

Come behind Chad's tute. He won it this year. He did a great job.

[Chris]

He's got it. He's got a couple more years of Rhino X's in.

[Mike Bruner]

Oh, yeah.

[Chris]

But listen, man, I appreciate you. Keep. Keep going, man. I'm excited to watch you continue to do your thing. I mean, you're pushing for 65 mil this year, bro. Like, that's. That's incredible. So congratulations to you. And. And we just really appreciate you giving us, you know, the time, you know, and sharing with the other listeners. Like, right, listen, it's not like. It's not like you had something more special than they've got. Just had. You just started to move fast, you know, move fast, fail faster. Keep trying the things and working on yourself.

[Mike Bruner]

That's right.

[Chris]

Any. Any closing words, Chad, or. You think we're ready to roll?

[Chad]

I think we're ready to roll. Really appreciate you being on. Fun talking with you. Next time I'm down there in Florida. Florida. I'm gonna have to hit you up and come check out what you're building down there. It's exciting.

[Mike Bruner]

Great. Thank you.

[Chris]

When he goes on his next golf trip and invites his buddy Chris.

[Mike Bruner]

Yeah, we'll set it up.

[Chris]

He just. He'll only bring me so that way he feels like he played really good.

[Mike Bruner]

I need you there, too, then.

[Chris]

I'm just really good at running the music. Okay. And losing golf ball. Listen, man, I'm going to hop off here with you. I appreciate you giving us the time and sharing everything with you. And to all of our listeners, you don't got to do everything, but you got to do something. You want to close us out, Mike?

[Mike Bruner]

No. Zero days.

[Chris]

There we go. No, zero days.