Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
Speaker: I teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a solopreneur, you might ask?
Speaker: A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery, and you are about to become one.
Speaker: What's going on, everybody?
Speaker: I'm stoked today.
Speaker: We got someone that is just young hustler, grinding every day, and up and coming, managing a team.
Speaker: I'm excited to connect with them here, jam on all podcasts.
Speaker: We got Conrad Seaman.
Speaker: Thanks for coming on the show with us today, my man.
Speaker: Yes, sir.
Speaker: Yes, sir.
Speaker: How we doing?
Speaker: Good, man.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: Appreciate you.
Speaker: And we just met yesterday, actually, but we're doing a little workout with, you know, one of the goats of the industry, Ashton Buswell.
Speaker: Big Buzz.
Speaker: And he's doing cardio, just doing sprints on these treadmills, stair steppers, all this.
Speaker: And you're joining him after he's like, yo, you got to get this Conrad guy on the podcast.
Speaker: He's a hustler.
Speaker: He's legit.
Speaker: So I'm like, all right, say less.
Speaker: Let's make it happen.
Speaker: Heck yeah, man.
Speaker: I'm glad to be here, man.
Speaker: I really appreciate it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, it'll be good, man.
Speaker: And I think I like getting young guys out.
Speaker: I feel old now.
Speaker: It's like you're 21, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I just turned 30 and I see what... Dude, you're looking good for 30, man.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Yes, sir.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: I try.
Speaker: But no, I see what you and some of these guys are doing at such a young age and I'm like, man...
Speaker: If I could have been on that level when I was 21, 22, 23, it's like I can't even imagine where I'd be at age 30.
Speaker: So I got respect for you guys.
Speaker: And yeah, that's what we're going to talk about today is just like how you've been able to, you know, build a team.
Speaker: I know you're managing like a blitzing squad and all that, which is pretty unique too.
Speaker: I think we've talked with a lot of guys that do that.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: So yeah, man, do you want to give us just kind of like your backgrounds?
Speaker: I know you've got a pretty cool story.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Kind of rags to riches type thing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Been through some obstacles.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Tell us like your background.
Speaker: Let's hear it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So the background, like the general synopsis of like my background in solar is I started in September of 2021 and I was a setter for two years.
Speaker: I got brought on to the industry by a guy named Justin Isworth.
Speaker: Shout out to Mr. Salesworth, big dog in the house.
Speaker: That's my boy.
Speaker: I love him to death.
Speaker: And when I initially got in, I was really lost.
Speaker: I didn't really know where I was going.
Speaker: But over time, I've just kind of developed into this being my path.
Speaker: And this has kind of become like a serious passion of mine.
Speaker: And now I'm really just thriving.
Speaker: And I like to say what Deshaun Bryant says, the Roof Hustlers guy.
Speaker: He said, I do the reaping.
Speaker: God does the sowing.
Speaker: And so that's how I feel it's working right now.
Speaker: It's just like, it's definitely couldn't have happened on my own.
Speaker: God's definitely been putting me in some really good places lately.
Speaker: Before the solar industry, though, definitely have some funny little stories I can get into.
Speaker: But to start it off, basically when I was growing up, I was like,
Speaker: pretty divided household.
Speaker: Several step parents never really got too close to my mom or my dad because of that, because they were kind of just doing their own things.
Speaker: And then when I turned 14, my mom got some serious heart problems to where she needed to get a lot of heart surgeries put in place.
Speaker: And that kind of sent me down like a mental spiral.
Speaker: Just emotionally, I just kind of disconnected from the world.
Speaker: and started rejecting a lot of just like social norms.
Speaker: And so I stopped going to school, started hanging out with the wrong crowds, got into selling drugs and then got in trouble.
Speaker: Bless you.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Got in trouble with the law a couple of times.
Speaker: did arbitration and then I did probation and just kept getting caught for the same things, either smoking weed or selling weed.
Speaker: And it got to the point where eventually my house got raided when I was 15.
Speaker: And it was really funny, because when I went to court about it, the judge was like, dude, why are you selling drugs?
Speaker: You literally have profit loss spreadsheets on this, just start a business.
Speaker: And so I got out from that, I did 90 days.
Speaker: It wasn't anything like, oh, I did like three years or anything, but I did 90 days.
Speaker: It was called a evaluation that they did on me.
Speaker: And then got out from that and tried to stay on the straight and narrow for a couple months.
Speaker: couldn't really stick to it just because of the people that I was hanging around still.
Speaker: So I was still also the same friend group.
Speaker: And then from there I began selling drugs again.
Speaker: I never got caught for selling the drugs again.
Speaker: I moved a lot smarter on that aspect, but I did get caught with a gun on probation.
Speaker: And so for that, I got six months, went and served that up in Columbia, South Carolina, got out from that.
Speaker: And then I needed a job for my probation officer when I first got out because I was on ankle monitor.
Speaker: I heard this was 1099.
Speaker: And so it was funny.
Speaker: I kept seeing Justin post.
Speaker: He's like, big check Fridays.
Speaker: I'm like, dude, you're making more money than me and I'm selling drugs.
Speaker: Like I'm risking my life out here, dude.
Speaker: What's going on?
Speaker: And so I hit him up.
Speaker: I asked him about it.
Speaker: And at first when he explained the position, I was like, okay, 1099, I can work my own hours.
Speaker: That means that I can sell weed and tell my PO that I'm selling solar.
Speaker: This is great.
Speaker: Yeah, perfect.
Speaker: Perfect.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: And so I ended up selling one solar deal that like was making, made me as much money as like the past like 10 transactions I had made, you know, in the other side of things.
Speaker: And I was like, okay, well, this is real.
Speaker: I don't have to risk my life to make this kind of money anymore.
Speaker: And so from there, I slowly transitioned out of it.
Speaker: It definitely wasn't like a clean transition.
Speaker: But I transitioned out of that space and into the solar space and slowly but surely just like,
Speaker: Not, you know, hating the people that I was hanging around before.
Speaker: I still have love for them, but it just had to become love from a distance because I just can't live that lifestyle.
Speaker: And I know that if I hang around them consistently, I'm just going to naturally fall back into those patterns.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I had to disconnect from them a lot and lean a lot into my my new circle that I have now, which is like Chris Underwood, Justin Isworth.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: A lot of really, really good, strong mentors in the industry that I look up to as not just mentors in the solar space, the sales space, but like really father figures.
Speaker: Like they really changed the entire course of my life.
Speaker: Like I don't know where I would be right now without that.
Speaker: And then, yeah, that pretty much brings us up to present day.
Speaker: Yeah, that's sick, man.
Speaker: And I love hearing those stories, kind of comeback stories.
Speaker: And, you know, we were just talking before we hit record.
Speaker: Just like how cool it is to see guys that were kind of like, you know, struggling with all this crazy stuff and then come out on the other side and have a lot of success.
Speaker: I feel like that's where the best guys come from.
Speaker: At least when I'm bringing in guys, the best talent I've found is anyone who's been through extreme turmoil, like ex-Special Forces guys, ex-Marines, ex-law enforcement's generally really good at this.
Speaker: But at the same time, recovering addicts that have gotten clean, they're some of the hardest hustlers we have.
Speaker: Or ex-drug dealers, they have that drive naturally.
Speaker: And it's really cool to be able to put those guys in a position to win legally.
Speaker: Yeah, so true.
Speaker: It's funny.
Speaker: We always joke in San Diego because, yeah, we all have a lot of similar guys and stuff.
Speaker: So we always joke that we just need to go to like, you know, addiction recovery meetings or like.
Speaker: Hit up the penitentiary.
Speaker: Use those.
Speaker: Give a little TED talk.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Because that's so true.
Speaker: You know, like I'm sure, you know, Jake Ransom.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: He's a director over down in our office in San Diego.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Same thing, you know, he had a past like that, drugs, addiction, and, you know, he's leading an entire region now.
Speaker: And I mean, you name it, I think anyone that's been in solar can see a lot of guys that have crushed it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, haven't gone through these struggles.
Speaker: So, yeah, why do you think it is?
Speaker: Why do you think?
Speaker: I mean, I'm sure some of it is obvious, but for you, what do you see or what do you think makes these people want to hustle harder?
Speaker: Why do you think they tend to have more success than maybe just like an average guy?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think that, especially with addicts, the reason why they'll have a really strong hustle is because naturally when you have it, like I naturally have an addictive personality.
Speaker: Like I struggled with substance abuse earlier in my life and I'm still, you know, I'm working on that for sure.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: having that addictive personality naturally, you just replace one addiction with another.
Speaker: It's not like I'm just cutting out addiction entirely.
Speaker: I'm not just like white knuckling cold turkey and going sober or like white knuckling going away from that fast cash lifestyle because that lifestyle is very addicting.
Speaker: Getting the cars, going to the clubs, having instant cash in your hand, thousand dollars plus profit when you just gave someone a bag of something.
Speaker: It's weird.
Speaker: And so replacing that addiction just with a new addiction of wanting better for yourself, when people can start to get on that, it's a very hard transition to make in the beginning pieces because you'll feel lost unless you have the right mentorship.
Speaker: But once you get into it and you've started to see the accolades, the dopamine hit that I get, just anytime I have a serious level of success or I have someone call me, like thanking me for a training that I gave them or anything like that, it's so fulfilling.
Speaker: And on the other side of it, I don't feel shame about it at all.
Speaker: Like before with my addictions, I would feel shameful with myself.
Speaker: But now that I'm addicted to these positive things, there's no shame attached to it.
Speaker: The addiction is actually healthy for me to have.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think that's why addicts and guys in recovery and guys who have been through serious turmoil, at least on the addiction side, can accelerate a lot faster in this industry.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That makes sense for sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so, like, the other thing I like that you mentioned is just how much the people you're around influences your actions, your success, your decisions, all these things.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: And, like, yeah, it's funny.
Speaker: I was just listening to a podcast with, I forget the dude.
Speaker: He's a UFC fighter.
Speaker: He's from Utah.
Speaker: I'll have to look up his name.
Speaker: But, yeah, he sure is.
Speaker: Justin would know.
Speaker: I'm sure Justin would know.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He's not like, he didn't fight on the main card, so he's not like one of the main dudes right now.
Speaker: But yeah, he was just... Is it Mitch?
Speaker: No, it's not Mitch.
Speaker: Okay, okay.
Speaker: No, no.
Speaker: I'll look it up.
Speaker: I'll post in the show notes or something here.
Speaker: So he had a similar thing where he was hanging around the wrong people, and then he got caught just like he was trying to help one of his other dudes that was addicted to these...
Speaker: paying meds or whatever they were doing.
Speaker: And then just by like being around that guy, he did nothing wrong.
Speaker: But like the guy called and like, just because he wouldn't like do the drugs with him or whatever, the guy like called the cops on him.
Speaker: And then he went to like, he went back to jail because but even though he did nothing wrong.
Speaker: So it's just like crazy, even though
Speaker: Even though maybe you're not necessarily doing something wrong.
Speaker: It's just like once you get in these situations.
Speaker: Yeah, it's just putting yourself in a room where your life's at risk.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: You know, like I have, I won't dive too much into depth on it.
Speaker: I mean, obviously, depending on what questions you have, though.
Speaker: But like, I still have guys that like I'll keep in contact with from a distance because I still have love for them.
Speaker: You know, they put me on game originally.
Speaker: But like, yeah, like some of them are getting like snaked out by their closest homies, you know?
Speaker: And it's like, it's like life or death kind of stuff for them right now.
Speaker: And it's like, and like, they make crazy money.
Speaker: Like, don't get me wrong.
Speaker: They make like solar money and shit, but it's like, dude, their life's on the line.
Speaker: Like, it's scary when I'm in the same room.
Speaker: Cause I know like,
Speaker: can literally just pop off at any point.
Speaker: It's just not, it's not a healthy environment to be in.
Speaker: I'm always like, always have that butterflies in my stomach, constant head pressure, like cold sweats.
Speaker: It's really, it's like really anxiety ridden room for me to be in.
Speaker: And so like, I just have to like separate myself from those kinds of rooms now.
Speaker: Yeah, I know now you're with a way more positive crowd.
Speaker: So for you, like maybe people listening to this, maybe they are with the wrong crowd because I think that actually holds a lot of people back in solar.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Even if it's not people doing drugs or like whatever this crazy stuff that your past was in, it could be like what I see personally a lot is we get local guys in San Diego where they're still hanging out with like their high school buddies that are just like...
Speaker: You know, playing video games, kind of doing nothing, just working these normal jobs and like it holds them back just by spending time with this group of guys.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So for you, how did you like, I don't know, how did you kind of like cut ties with these people and like transition to a better group of people to hang around?
Speaker: Yeah, I don't think you necessarily have to fully cut ties with people unless they're actively wanting bad for you or they actively don't want what you want for yourself.
Speaker: Like if they don't, if they have a smaller vision for you than you have for yourself, I wouldn't keep them in your immediate circle.
Speaker: You can keep them as an acquaintance for sure.
Speaker: There's no reason to like, you know, hate or anything or like cut people off, I feel like.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But all the people in my immediate circle have as big or bigger of a vision for my life than I have for my own life.
Speaker: And they all want to see me succeed regardless of if it's more or less than them.
Speaker: There's no comparison.
Speaker: I feel the same way towards all of them.
Speaker: So being in those groups, the reason why I was able to make that transition was because of a series of conversations I actually had with my dad.
Speaker: Shout out Big Pops.
Speaker: He said that I need to put my life vest on first.
Speaker: I need to put my air mask on first.
Speaker: He loves talking in analogies.
Speaker: He's Sandler certified trained.
Speaker: He loves all that stuff.
Speaker: But one of the things he said was like, when you're on the airplane, what do they tell you every time before takeoff?
Speaker: You have to put your air mask on first.
Speaker: I just started thinking about myself first.
Speaker: and what I really want for my life.
Speaker: And I'm still figuring that out.
Speaker: Like, don't get me wrong, I don't got everything figured out.
Speaker: Faith is a huge thing that helps me, you know, take the stress off of not knowing what the next steps are being, just knowing that I need to go in the general right direction.
Speaker: But with finding the right people to surround myself with, naturally, when you begin to stray away from those old environments, as long as you're a sociable person, especially if you're in this industry watching this right now, you are naturally, it's not going to be too much of a challenge for you to find a new group of hustlers, a new group of winners,
Speaker: And it's all about just going out and making that interaction.
Speaker: Like you don't have to get it right every time.
Speaker: Like our job's to face rejection.
Speaker: You're gonna face rejection when finding that new group of people.
Speaker: And you might not find the right group for the, like, you know, at first.
Speaker: It's gonna, it may take some time to really find a group that you click with.
Speaker: Blessed enough to have found one immediately when I got into this space.
Speaker: But for a lot of people, it's going to take time.
Speaker: You just have to trust God and trust the process with that.
Speaker: Yeah, love that.
Speaker: Was it tough for you?
Speaker: Like, as you were kind of trying to, like, go towards a better group of guys, were your other friends like, oh, you lose your knocking on door?
Speaker: Like, did they give you a hard time?
Speaker: Or was it, like, pretty smooth?
Speaker: Anytime someone did that, I was able to... I don't deal with that shit.
Speaker: I'll be real.
Speaker: Like, I'm quick to cut a motherfucker off if they talk shit on me.
Speaker: I don't play that.
Speaker: But I will say...
Speaker: What was hard was transitioning away from the fast money because it's like you'll have one of your, you know, plug homies hit you up.
Speaker: Yo, I confront you this.
Speaker: Yo, I need help moving this.
Speaker: Yo, I confront you this at this price.
Speaker: You can sell it at this price, make this profit.
Speaker: And it's hard to leave money on the table, you know, just naturally being entrepreneurial.
Speaker: You want to make that money.
Speaker: I guess the biggest issue that I ran into with transitioning out of it was just
Speaker: transitioning away from people who want the best for me, like they want good for me, but they don't have the perspective to understand what I want for myself.
Speaker: They don't have the perspective to understand that there's things outside of that lifestyle.
Speaker: You know, like they're good people, they have good intentions, but they just don't, they just don't have the understanding, you know?
Speaker: And
Speaker: you know, I can sit there and battle with them on it, or I can take the time and focus on myself and just show them what the different life can look like.
Speaker: And then in their own time, they can come on their own.
Speaker: And that's, that's really the only way to do it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Makes sense.
Speaker: Have you been out there, grew any of your, uh, yeah, I actually have, it's been really, it's been really cool.
Speaker: I have a, I'm not gonna name names, obviously, but, um, definitely have some homies I've been able to put on.
Speaker: I'm really grateful to have been able to give them this opportunity.
Speaker: Yeah, because that's even better.
Speaker: Then it's like you don't have to have them.
Speaker: Yeah, it's huge.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You can bring them to your level instead of having them.
Speaker: Yeah, and they don't necessarily have to be in the solar space, but like I'll help them write out a business plan for starting a different company.
Speaker: I'll help them start write out a business plan or a five-year plan for what they want their life to look like.
Speaker: Like I want my homies to succeed.
Speaker: I want to see them eat.
Speaker: I just don't want to see them risking their lives to do it every day, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's sweet, man.
Speaker: And, uh, so like, I know for me, it was like, it took me a while to get the hang of solar and start having success.
Speaker: And some people are different.
Speaker: Some people crush in the beginning.
Speaker: Then they go through some slow, some bumps in the road and all that.
Speaker: What did that look like for you?
Speaker: Was it like pretty quick success or did you go through some struggles when you first started in solar?
Speaker: So when I first started, I was on an ankle monitor for the first month and a half or two months.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And that was in the middle of summer.
Speaker: So summer in Charleston, weather's generally above 95 degrees, at least 90.
Speaker: So you had to wear like pants to cover it up.
Speaker: Yeah, and I'm wearing like thick jeans to cover my ankle monitor and like every now and then it'll just beep like boop, low battery.
Speaker: Like in the middle of me talking on the door, that'll ruin a sale real quick.
Speaker: Or like I'll be in a home presenting and it'll like vibrate on my leg like, you need to contact your PO.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Did that ever happen?
Speaker: Yes, it was very awkward, very awkward.
Speaker: You immediately have to leave, but they don't welcome me in after that.
Speaker: But beyond that, like learning the skills was never really an issue for me.
Speaker: I was blessed enough to have, for one, a really good support group.
Speaker: My dad's been in sales and my mom is just unwaveringly supportive of me as long as I'm doing something legal.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But so with the support group, I've always had a really solid foundation there with learning the skills because of that.
Speaker: Because my dad's been in sales, I was naturally able to adapt to that.
Speaker: I think the biggest thing was shifting away from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset, as well as just shifting away from different
Speaker: actions that I would take on a daily basis towards different things like replacing, you know, rolling a blunt at the end of the night with like reading a book at the end of the night, you know, replace watching some bullshit YouTube with watching trainings consistently, you know.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: I think where I struggled the most was probably just consistency and having that drive.
Speaker: Because I'm not the best at white knuckling stuff.
Speaker: In my opinion, I think you should make it as easy to win as possible.
Speaker: And then just high leverage the hell out of that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But once I was able to figure out how to make the game easy and make the game enjoyable more than anything, that's what really leveled me up when I unlocked all the skill.
Speaker: Like that first three to six months, obviously you're going to go through like a period of learning the skill.
Speaker: You're going to eat a little bit of shit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's a given.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I was okay with that.
Speaker: I understood that from day one.
Speaker: But having the motivation continually and
Speaker: having the ability to enjoy it and make it a game.
Speaker: That was one of the biggest paradigm shifts that I struggled with.
Speaker: But once I unlocked that 10 X my income.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, was there something, was there like a moment for you where it like all changed?
Speaker: Was it right when you got your first sell?
Speaker: You're like, okay, this is legit.
Speaker: And you like dove all in.
Speaker: It wasn't actually at my first sale.
Speaker: It was,
Speaker: And I would say like over a year in because I was still supplementing my income with trapping, just to be honest.
Speaker: I couldn't think of another word.
Speaker: That's kind of a ghetto word.
Speaker: But I was supplementing my income with that.
Speaker: And I had one point where...
Speaker: I had made a good play and I was just looking at the money and I was like, I'm so fucking disappointed in myself.
Speaker: It doesn't matter how much of this.
Speaker: I'm looking at the stack of money.
Speaker: I'm like, this is not worth my life.
Speaker: This just does not mean anything to me.
Speaker: And then right after that, I had a conversation with Justin talking about just how I didn't have any clarity on my vision and how I just didn't know where I wanted to go next because I was just really scared.
Speaker: I'd never been in any type of legal space, period, let alone a group that's like,
Speaker: so transformative and wants to change your life on a day-to-day basis, like such a positive peer group.
Speaker: I was just so out of my element.
Speaker: But then I had a conversation with him and in 2023, he ended up taking me under his wing for the entire year Justin did.
Speaker: And I just went around with him every single place he went.
Speaker: Any blitz he went on, I was there.
Speaker: Anytime we were selling in market, I was there.
Speaker: I was at his house minimum once a week.
Speaker: And I still am.
Speaker: I mean, like that's, that's my dog to this day.
Speaker: I'm ride or die for that guy.
Speaker: But him taking me under his wing last year really transformed me and leveled me up for sure.
Speaker: So like the first year when I was in solar, I did 40, I made like 42 grand.
Speaker: Not worth it to be in solar for 42 grand.
Speaker: And then 2022, I made like 48.
Speaker: And then 2023 was when I seriously began to level up.
Speaker: Um, and I was able to put 150 in my pipeline and get paid out about a hundred.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: That's dope, man.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's a huge improvement.
Speaker: Like you think of any other job, where else can you like double your income, like more than double your income like that?
Speaker: Just by learning the skills.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And like, I know you're up and coming now you're running teams and all that, but yeah, look what you said.
Speaker: It's so important to have a good mentor too.
Speaker: someone you can follow in solar and i see so many guys that maybe they don't have a good mentor too and i think that's a big reason why people quit in solar is because yeah they just don't have like a good mentor a good role model they don't have clarity yeah they don't know where to go i mean it's a very scary game when you don't have someone you can call when you're in that freak out state of like fight or flight like yo dude i don't know if i can keep doing this if you don't have someone to talk you off the ledge you're gonna fall off the ledge yeah yeah you know yeah
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I'm just thinking out there in South Carolina, you're in South Carolina, right?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And yeah, it's definitely, I mean, six figures in South Carolina.
Speaker: That goes a long ways out there, doesn't it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Charleston housing prices are kind of ridiculous, but outside of that, yeah, you can live a nice life.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: Because I'm in San Diego and that doesn't go too far in San Diego.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: It's a bit different out there for sure.
Speaker: For one thing, gas prices are like half as much as y'all pay.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But no, that's good, man.
Speaker: So for you having a good mentor, what are some, I know you said you went on Blitzes with Justin and all that.
Speaker: Is there anything for guys listening to this who they're trying to be a better mentor for their mentees, better leader, better manager?
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: What are some things you saw that like Justin helped you with and maybe things you're doing now for your guys?
Speaker: What do you think helps you a lot and like learning from him?
Speaker: And what did he do to be a good mentor to you?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I'll start high level with like some mindset shifts and then I'll go into some mechanicals.
Speaker: So mindset shift, I'm going to say.
Speaker: be the example and be the standard.
Speaker: One thing, because we're at Solarcon right now, if y'all couldn't tell, Andy Elliott was talking and when he gave his speech, he said that you need to be the leader that you want to see in the industry and set and raise the standard continually and be the rabbit that everyone needs to chase.
Speaker: One thing that Chris Underwood had put me onto when I was first starting to get really good into it and really starting to
Speaker: Like, be at the top of the leaderboards and stuff like that was, I need to continue to be the rabbit that everybody's chasing.
Speaker: Be loud and proud about it.
Speaker: Be the guy.
Speaker: Because if you're a leader on your team, everyone's effort, unless they're just that self-driven hustler, which that's amazing to find, but not everyone's going to be like that.
Speaker: Like, let's face facts.
Speaker: They're going to perform about 80% as much as you, like 60 to 80% as much as you.
Speaker: And some of it's based on skills, some of it's based on work ethic.
Speaker: But however much you limit yourself, know that generally your guys are going to perform a little under that.
Speaker: True, yeah.
Speaker: So that's the high level shift of just being the rabbit, being the example, being the standard.
Speaker: Going into mechanicals, one thing I will say that
Speaker: is a really huge piece of leadership that we try to embody, at least with our, like the campaign team, is we do not complain down the downline, period.
Speaker: I do not complain to guys who can't solve the problem.
Speaker: I only, and I don't complain, I will bring an issue and possible solutions at the same time to someone who's higher up on the chain that can affect that change.
Speaker: Being able to do that and having sincere candor when you do it, like not pussyfooting around the problem, just genuinely being able to tell exactly how it is directly to someone's face.
Speaker: For one, that's a skill you can take with you for life.
Speaker: And for two, it just makes the problems get solved 10 times faster when you don't have to do all the formality shit.
Speaker: So some of you already know that I run my own door to door sales team here in San Diego.
Speaker: And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
Speaker: But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage.
Speaker: Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout, but it's not a door knocking app.
Speaker: It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
Speaker: It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
Speaker: It's been working for a lot of teams across the country, and now I'm on board too.
Speaker: I'm going to be one of the first two SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up.
Speaker: But I told them, hey, if I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal.
Speaker: And they did.
Speaker: So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up.
Speaker: That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
Speaker: Okay, back to the show.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: You know, I love that.
Speaker: Yeah, so good.
Speaker: And yeah, I mean, solar guys love drama.
Speaker: I'm sure you've seen that.
Speaker: We love it, dude, the solar coaster.
Speaker: Yeah, like we can get caught up in complaining, you know, talking trash.
Speaker: But yeah, it's so important.
Speaker: I think something that any leader should like really teach their guys too is like, hey, you got problems.
Speaker: Like come to me first.
Speaker: We don't need to like infect the whole team with negativity.
Speaker: Yeah, like what?
Speaker: You're talking to your setter about this.
Speaker: What's your setter going to do?
Speaker: Is he going to change the operations behind it?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Is he going to change the Airbnb we're at?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Is he going to work harder if you?
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: He's going to quit with you, bro.
Speaker: Come on.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So, yeah, so good.
Speaker: Yeah, I love that for anyone leading a team for sure.
Speaker: And then I know now you're running like a Blitz team too.
Speaker: Me and Justin are managing the Blitz team, yeah.
Speaker: Okay, so when did that start?
Speaker: Were you guys blitzing from the beginning since you've been in solar, or when did you guys start doing these blitzes and everything?
Speaker: So we were in the Charleston local office from January until June, and then starting in June, we began the campaign team, and it's a two-week-on, two-week-off blitz model.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: We'll go out generally to Illinois because Illinois is just a juice market right now.
Speaker: I'm not scared to tell y'all Illinois is a juice market.
Speaker: Go run it up there.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So yeah, I started in June with the campaign team, the two-week-on, two-week-off model.
Speaker: And then we've continued to do just one blitz a month up until today where we're at now.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, and I've done blitzes, but I've never done this whole two-week-on, two-week-off.
Speaker: Was that an adjustment for you going from working the market and then now you're going all out for two weeks?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, yeah, like how did you adjust to doing the blitzes like from working?
Speaker: And a lot of guys in solar just work their markets.
Speaker: I know guys have all done blitzes, but a lot of guys don't do this two week on, two week off consistently and all that.
Speaker: So, yeah, what type of adjustments?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What was that like?
Speaker: So there's a lot of tradeoffs.
Speaker: Like high level trade offs with the team, it becomes a much more plug and play model, especially since like, at least with Legacy, we have a ton of install branches.
Speaker: So we have brick and mortar backing in any market that we're going to.
Speaker: And that gives us a lot of confidence to go out to a new market because we already have a backing there that is established.
Speaker: It's very plug and play because of, you know, being able to have your Airbnb covered, have your flight covered.
Speaker: This is.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So with the plug and play model of having your flight covered, having your housing covered, having your food covered.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Just being able to go out to the field and the only limiting factor be your level of effort.
Speaker: That's amazing, especially for new guys getting into the industry.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because you don't have to make the commitment of like a long-term career.
Speaker: You can literally just come out.
Speaker: The final main stage of Japan.
Speaker: It's an interruption.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So a couple of technical difficulties.
Speaker: It's all good though.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Okay, so with the plug and play model, it's great for the new guys.
Speaker: But at the same time, there's definitely a level of burnout that you can get from all that travel.
Speaker: And being in management doing it, it's not like I have two weeks off when I get home.
Speaker: I'm managing and planning the next splits and recruiting new guys and making trainings during that off time.
Speaker: So being in management in that, there's definitely an increased level of burnout as opposed to just consistently running one house, you know, one in-market team.
Speaker: Makes sense.
Speaker: Um, okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, yeah.
Speaker: But I do like that, especially for new guys.
Speaker: And it makes it so easy.
Speaker: Like if you have someone that's maybe on the edge about swords, like, Hey, just come do one of these blitzes, houses covered, foods covered.
Speaker: I could just come try it out.
Speaker: We'll get you out here.
Speaker: Two week trial.
Speaker: If you don't perform, we're probably not going to invite you back out.
Speaker: You know, it's almost like a free week trial at the gym or whatever.
Speaker: It's like, Hey, just come try it.
Speaker: If you hate it.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Super powerful recruiting tool.
Speaker: And do you guys use that to funnel people?
Speaker: Like you recruit people to the blitzes and then, um, is it just a hundred percent blitzes you do now?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's the model.
Speaker: So the model that we're trying to create right now, or that we're, that we're going to create by the end of the year is right now we have one big team.
Speaker: We're trying to expand out to three to five different teams so that we always have one team blitzing.
Speaker: And let's say you're just a dog or like it's those summer months and you're just, yeah.
Speaker: So can you repeat the question?
Speaker: I'm sorry.
Speaker: Yeah, we were just talking about how you structure it now.
Speaker: So you bring in new reps, and then that's the model now.
Speaker: It's just like two weeks on, two weeks off.
Speaker: Yeah, so what we're trying to do is expand at least three teams.
Speaker: Five teams is the goal by the end of the year.
Speaker: And what we're going to do is set it up to where there's always at least one or two teams blitzing.
Speaker: And let's say you just finished your two-week blitz.
Speaker: You're like, dude, I still got more in the tank.
Speaker: I'm ready to keep going.
Speaker: Just keep going, dude.
Speaker: Go out with one of the other teams that's on while the A team's off.
Speaker: B team.
Speaker: Go to the B team, you know?
Speaker: And we're trying to create a structure where you can be consistently selling all year long, or you can have two weeks on, two weeks off.
Speaker: And it's really up to you at that point, you know?
Speaker: We have like a draft list.
Speaker: There's a certain number of slots of each people that can go on each blitz.
Speaker: And then once that fills out, it's like,
Speaker: Tough shit.
Speaker: You know, you're kind of, you're kind of SOL there.
Speaker: You can't come on this blitz.
Speaker: Um, but as, as long as you want to keep going, you could keep going.
Speaker: And you know, if you don't want to go, we can put you in the reserve tank as long as you're not doing anything unethical or you're not just like not working.
Speaker: We'll continue to keep you in the reserve for whenever you're ready to pop back out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: And for people that want, maybe they haven't done blitzes before, because I've been on blitzes too.
Speaker: They're like, you know, crashed and burned and not good structure and all that.
Speaker: So what do you guys do to like structure it?
Speaker: Is it like meeting every day, go out this time, come back?
Speaker: Like, what do you feel like makes a successful blitz?
Speaker: And maybe what are like some mistakes that you saw?
Speaker: There's a couple non-negotiables.
Speaker: I think one mistake that a lot of people make is the end of the night.
Speaker: I think a lot of downfalls to a lot of blitz models that I've seen has been that like at the end of the night, you can kind of just do whatever you want.
Speaker: You can go to the bar, you can go to the club, you can go turn up and be hungover the next day.
Speaker: And that's just not a healthy environment.
Speaker: That's not the culture that we want to cultivate.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So with us, we have like a strict dry house policy.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: No drinking at all.
Speaker: No drugs at all.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: That's helped a lot with just like it takes a lot of the BS out of it because there's no emotional distraught from being hungover or like some violently drunk guy who gets crazy when he drinks.
Speaker: Like that's just not an issue for us because it's just a dry house.
Speaker: And if you violate those rules, there's no...
Speaker: like second shot like you're out that's just a non-negotiable that's good um and i think another pitfall that i see with a lot of blitz models is there will be like or just models in general is there'll be like a top performer that you're scared to let go of because you're worried about replacing him but he's toxic to the team or he's he's just toxic in general he's not the best kind of guy or the best kind of girl you know
Speaker: Cut those people out.
Speaker: It's literally a cancer to the team.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So don't be afraid to cut those cancerous top performers out if you need to.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, obviously have that conversation with them.
Speaker: That's where the sincere candor of just being able to be direct with them and telling them they need to change their act.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's where that comes in handy.
Speaker: But if you see someone who's just consistently being toxic and being, you know, a negative addition to the team, they're, they're detracting from it, not bringing more towards it, cut them out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Beyond that, with our culture itself, we're cultivating a culture of every single person wants to help each other.
Speaker: We're not just there for ourselves.
Speaker: Yes, we're there for ourselves.
Speaker: Yes, we're there for our families.
Speaker: Obviously, as I said earlier, you got to put your life mask on first.
Speaker: I get that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But beyond that, I want to see everyone eat, dude.
Speaker: I don't like one thing that I get into arguments with, with like different EPCs around here is like, oh, redline this, redline that.
Speaker: Why would you let them have such a high redline?
Speaker: I'm like, dude, let them eat.
Speaker: Let everyone eat.
Speaker: I want everyone to eat.
Speaker: I want the installer to eat.
Speaker: I want everyone on my team to eat.
Speaker: I want all my setters to be eating.
Speaker: I want all my closers to be eating.
Speaker: I want everybody to feel the...
Speaker: The money and the success that you can get from this industry.
Speaker: It's a beautiful thing.
Speaker: And I don't think that it's something that I have to I couldn't keep it to myself.
Speaker: I like I can't make all that money.
Speaker: It doesn't make sense.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, so I think that having just an energy of like everyone supports everyone.
Speaker: You see someone down in the corner.
Speaker: Maybe they're not talking in the correlations.
Speaker: They're not asking questions.
Speaker: Go up to them.
Speaker: You know, what's going on, bro?
Speaker: Talk to me.
Speaker: What's on your mind?
Speaker: Oh, no, nothing.
Speaker: Dude, no.
Speaker: What's going on?
Speaker: Let's step outside real quick.
Speaker: Having those serious direct conversations, that's really huge.
Speaker: And yeah, having a strict structured schedule.
Speaker: We all hit the gym together every day.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Love that.
Speaker: We have Sunday as a strict day of rest for us religious guys.
Speaker: We'll go to church together.
Speaker: We'll do a little Bible study together at night sometimes.
Speaker: Yeah, that's sick.
Speaker: Different things like that.
Speaker: It's just naturally, naturally you want to do better when you're in a group like that.
Speaker: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker: And yeah, I think it just goes back to having that abundance mindset you're talking about because like, yeah, you're not afraid to let go of the toxic guys even though they're producing.
Speaker: Yeah, you're just having abundance all around.
Speaker: So yeah, so important.
Speaker: And it's tough to sometimes have those conversations, be direct with people, but some, so how many people do you usually have going on these blitzes?
Speaker: Generally between 10 and 20.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Depends on the size of the market, the size of a team at a time, like how many active reps we have at the time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: and just what we think would be the best fit for the market.
Speaker: And also like Airbnbs, one limitation with the Blitz model is definitely like, excuse me, it's definitely Airbnbs.
Speaker: There's times where we can't find an affordable spot for a group of 15 guys.
Speaker: So maybe we have to dumb it down to 12 guys or 10 guys or bring some air mattresses, have some guys sleeping in the living room or something, you know?
Speaker: Like shit happens, you know?
Speaker: I think that overall, though, it's definitely a better model than when I was in market.
Speaker: Yeah, that's good.
Speaker: Yeah, I like that.
Speaker: And then what about like meetings?
Speaker: You guys have meetings at like, it's like 10 a.m.
Speaker: and you're all going out after that.
Speaker: Yeah, except for on Saturdays.
Speaker: So Monday to Friday, we'll have our 10 a.m.
Speaker: meeting.
Speaker: Now that it's daylight savings time, or is it not daylight savings time or it is daylight savings time?
Speaker: I think it is daylight savings time now.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it is.
Speaker: I get confused.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: But one where it's longer.
Speaker: It's longer daylight now.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: Now that we have that, we'll generally do like a...
Speaker: a meeting at like 10 a.m.
Speaker: Everyone like, you know, we'll shower, get our breakfast.
Speaker: You know, everyone will have gone to the gym.
Speaker: They'll done their morning routine.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Strict, hard start, 10 a.m.
Speaker: Be non-negotiable on those start times.
Speaker: Like if someone isn't, you know, coming out or like they're still eating their breakfast during that, call them the fuck out.
Speaker: Yo, that's not what we do here.
Speaker: That's not how we operate.
Speaker: You need to be ready at this time.
Speaker: And then we'll do that 10 a.m., 10.30 meeting, or 10 to 10.30 meeting, get out on the doors, travel to hood, 10.30 to 11, and then you're just knocking 11 to, I generally say, an hour past dark.
Speaker: And then on Saturdays, we do it a bit different.
Speaker: We'll have like a early morning breakfast at like a Waffle House or something.
Speaker: And then just straight to the doors, 930 a.m.
Speaker: because those are early hours on the weekend.
Speaker: That's crucial.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I don't know how many deals I've gotten from sets I've gotten at like 9 to 11 a.m.
Speaker: It's nuts, but only on Saturdays.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: No, definitely got to take advantage of solar Saturday.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I wish I could knock Sundays, but, you know, Sabbath day can't.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So good, man.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think those are really good.
Speaker: I've seen so many blisses gone wrong and people just don't follow these principles.
Speaker: It's like guys are showing up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like hung over.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's like we know what to do.
Speaker: We're just too comfortable to do it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like it's not like I'm telling these guys that are listening to this.
Speaker: Like the guys listening to this are like 20, 30-year-old adults.
Speaker: Like you know what to do, bro.
Speaker: It's not that hard to be successful.
Speaker: You just don't.
Speaker: You're just too comfortable to do it.
Speaker: I was talking to the Bill Lohan guy, Caleb.
Speaker: about addictions and one of the things he said is the only time where you're really going to overcome that addiction and make that transition is a when you have an identity shift you can't just be like I want to stop and be the same person outside of that like that's not going to work yeah but when you're going to actually have that emotional switch to where you're like I'm done with this shit I'm ready to I'm ready to change my life is when the pain outweighs the pleasure true
Speaker: If it's still more pleasurable for you to fuck off for half the day and go to the bar at night after you finish and drink, and it's not painful enough for you the next day to where it's affecting things, you're not gonna change.
Speaker: True, and guys got to find their why.
Speaker: Yeah, you got to have a bag of whys, man.
Speaker: Yeah, it's like that's obviously going to affect how much they're making too.
Speaker: It's like there's no way you can be as successful as if you're not hungover or whatever.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like how's that going to affect you on the doors and closes?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, but yeah, no, it can be tough.
Speaker: I think that you can have like –
Speaker: When I say a bag of wise, I want to specify.
Speaker: You can have toward wise and away wise.
Speaker: Alex Hermosi talks about a rat in a maze.
Speaker: I don't know if you've heard his, it's not an analogy, but he just referenced a study that was done on this.
Speaker: So they put a rat, not in a maze, but they tied his tail to a string in a pressure plate.
Speaker: had him pull on a control test to try to get away from it and they measured the amount of force he pulled with.
Speaker: They put the pheromones of cheese at the end of the tunnel and he pulled toward the cheese.
Speaker: And then they put the pheromones of a cat behind him and the pheromones of a cheese.
Speaker: And he pulled like five, ten times harder in general.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: I haven't heard that.
Speaker: Because you have something you're pushing towards and something you're running away from.
Speaker: And we all have both.
Speaker: All of us want to be better.
Speaker: All of us want to be that example for our families, for our kids, for our teams.
Speaker: But at the same time, we all have demons we're running away from.
Speaker: We all have turmoil that we're trying to change from identifying with, you know?
Speaker: And I think that not trying to focus on one or the other, but having both in your bag, in your arsenal,
Speaker: that's super crucial.
Speaker: Like there's times on the doors where I'm like, dude, I don't want to go back to selling drugs.
Speaker: Fuck that, dude.
Speaker: I'm ready to keep knocking.
Speaker: And there's also times on the doors where I'm like, these are the accolades that I need to acquire in order for people to listen to me when I'm talking in situations like this.
Speaker: You know, I have my toward and my away.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fire, bro.
Speaker: And that's something I forget about a lot is, yeah, we all know, okay, like,
Speaker: the punishment or maybe we have the reward but most most guys don't have like both you know I just saw a speaker the last event I went to and he was talking about that like okay how much harder would you work if you knew at the end of you hitting your goal you had like you know a trip to Italy on the line and you're gonna have like a I don't know Lambo waiting there go to all the spots overlooking and then imagine how much harder you'd work if on top of that they'd fire you if you didn't you know
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's an extreme version, obviously, but like, that's just for the example sake, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So good.
Speaker: So yeah, like you need to have both reward and the pain if you don't hit it.
Speaker: Um, but yeah, man, so many good principles there.
Speaker: And, um, as we start wrapping up Conrad, I want to hear, um, so I've never sold in the Illinois market.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, so just to give like people listening, maybe some like, um, tangible things guys love hearing like, you know, the one liners objections, um,
Speaker: So I want to hear Illinois, what are maybe like some common objections you get out there?
Speaker: What's been like maybe some differences versus South Carolina?
Speaker: What do you see out there?
Speaker: Yeah, so a big difference is that we've been established, Legacy's been established in Illinois for seven, eight years now, as well as South Carolina.
Speaker: But the difference is that the incentives in South Carolina have been around for so long.
Speaker: So when you go knock and you're the 10th, 20th guy, it's not a big deal.
Speaker: But because there was such a rapid transition of incentivizing solar in Illinois...
Speaker: I think that people are having a seriously abrasive reaction to 10 to 20 guys coming to their door in a quarter or in a couple months, you know, or even in a month in some markets.
Speaker: And that's just because, you know, for their entire lives, they've lived in this small town of a population of like 10,000 or less.
Speaker: You know, like they know every single person in the town and they've never had their door knocked for a single thing other than their neighbor wanting to borrow some milk.
Speaker: And then 10 solar guys that all got recruited from University of Illinois come knock their door all at the same time within like a couple months span.
Speaker: Like they just grew really abrasive to that.
Speaker: So one big thing is just differentiating yourself on the door.
Speaker: I mean, there is a point where like, dude, I just like, as soon as I open the door, I just do a backflip.
Speaker: Like just something, you know?
Speaker: Go up to the door, oh, what's up, big doll?
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: Anything, bro, just separate yourself.
Speaker: You gotta show that you're the expert rather than just some college kid.
Speaker: And use that in your pitch, you know?
Speaker: I 100% understand why you're concerned about this or why you're abrasive to it.
Speaker: I would be too if I was in your shoes.
Speaker: Like, I get it, dude.
Speaker: There's 10, 20 guys that have come to your door this year and they've probably never come before, right?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Do you know why they're coming?
Speaker: They're just trying to sell their solar panels.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Do you know why they're selling solar right now specifically?
Speaker: Why every single guy is coming about solar for this house?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: They want to make money.
Speaker: Here, come with me.
Speaker: I'll show you.
Speaker: And then I'll walk them out front and I'll point to their roof.
Speaker: I'll say, see how much sunlight you're getting, bro?
Speaker: That's why 10 to 20 guys have come.
Speaker: They probably haven't explained it right.
Speaker: I'm assuming you probably just haven't gone solar yet because it's generally one of a couple things.
Speaker: One is people just haven't had the time to look at it, which I understand.
Speaker: I can hear the kids in the background, you're a father.
Speaker: I get it.
Speaker: You don't have the time to look into these kind of things.
Speaker: Another aspect of it is there's a lot of misinformation in the market.
Speaker: And not just misinformation, but when a kid comes up and he hears about the kind of opportunity you can have where like, oh, I can just go...
Speaker: Knock on doors and make money while I'm in college.
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And they don't really study.
Speaker: They just get kind of like an iPhone script.
Speaker: They can spread some misinformation.
Speaker: It's not like they have bad intentions, you know, but they just don't understand.
Speaker: And they're not really trying to put you in the best position for yourself and your house.
Speaker: They're just trying to make a quick buck.
Speaker: Which I get, you know, I like, I respect the hustle, but it makes my job 10 times harder.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, I'm giving you like eight to 10 different versions of things that I can say.
Speaker: But, um, in the introductory period, separating yourself from the standard guy and being like, listen, I'm the solar authority for the area.
Speaker: Or even being like, yeah, I actually got allocated to the area because there's so much misinformation coming around.
Speaker: Um, those, those introductory pieces can be huge.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But I mean, cross market, generally I'll have the same structure to my pitch.
Speaker: I just try to have a conversation because it doesn't matter what I say or how I say it.
Speaker: I was telling you this beforehand.
Speaker: It does not matter what I say.
Speaker: It does not matter how I say it.
Speaker: Frankly, they don't care.
Speaker: They really don't care.
Speaker: They don't want to understand how solar works or why it works.
Speaker: They just want to feel understood and heard.
Speaker: So it's really just about making that human connection with them.
Speaker: Whenever you're listening, don't listen to respond.
Speaker: Listen to understand.
Speaker: Take that moment afterward.
Speaker: Even if you know how you're going to respond, take a second.
Speaker: You know, just sit in that silence of just 100%.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker: Another applicable structure that I could say is whenever you're rebuttaling to an objection –
Speaker: again, what you say, how you say it doesn't really matter.
Speaker: But the structure that I use is I agree with them.
Speaker: Not necessarily agree, but I empathize with them.
Speaker: Like if I don't, if like they say something that's like I know isn't true, like, oh, what if the sun goes away or some stupid shit?
Speaker: Like I can emphasize like 100%.
Speaker: I can understand why you'd have that concern.
Speaker: You know, you don't know the industry.
Speaker: I get it.
Speaker: You know, like for us, it's funny because we've done this for years, but it's like for some 80 year old woman who's never looked into this, like things like that can be a serious concern for her.
Speaker: The same way as like,
Speaker: Someone who's been homeless and a rich girl whose dad didn't show up to her ballet recital can have the same level of pain about different things, you know?
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: So telling them that you understand, making them feel heard and feel understood.
Speaker: And then sometimes if it's an in-depth question, I'll repeat back to them what they said with a bit different phrasing just to make sure that they know that I've understood it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: After I tell them that I understand…
Speaker: I don't necessarily just give them an instant rebuttal.
Speaker: If I'm on the doorstep and it's an in-depth question that I'd really like to cover while I'm at their dinner table, or if I have another closer, that's a perfect time to just transition into getting the bill and setting the appointment.
Speaker: Honestly, man, I don't want to give you the wrong info.
Speaker: I'll tell you what, though.
Speaker: Let me get you in contact with my supervisor.
Speaker: He's like the solar encyclopedia.
Speaker: It's actually kind of weird.
Speaker: I can't stop him up.
Speaker: It's kind of weird how much he knows about solar.
Speaker: Like he just like we'll be at dinner.
Speaker: I'll be like, dude, can we just like talk about anything else?
Speaker: Like, holy shit, dude.
Speaker: But he knows every single thing about this.
Speaker: He could definitely answer that question.
Speaker: I'll write that down for you.
Speaker: Write down any other questions you have.
Speaker: He'll be finished up with the neighbor in about an hour.
Speaker: He can swing by and explain all that to you.
Speaker: Love it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's a great transition.
Speaker: But beyond that, understood.
Speaker: And then question or sorry, understood and then rebuttal and then question.
Speaker: So I understand 100% what you're saying, man.
Speaker: It works a bit differently now.
Speaker: I can't dive too much into specifics without learning more about your situation.
Speaker: And then X, Y, Z question about what they said.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So good.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's something I see over and over and over is people just try to like rebuttal everything, overcome everything.
Speaker: They don't care, dude.
Speaker: And it's like...
Speaker: Yeah, especially if someone's busy.
Speaker: It's like, you know, just set up the appointment, come back, and then you're at the kitchen table.
Speaker: Most of the time, their objection is non-objection.
Speaker: It's just a smokescreen anyway.
Speaker: Like, that's not actually what they care about.
Speaker: Like, that's not their genuine concern.
Speaker: And then another thing is that Jeremy, Jeremy Miner, from his talk last night that I am going to start implementing more intentionally.
Speaker: I do it now.
Speaker: I didn't realize that that's what it was called, but it's called mismatching.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Where like, rather than be like, dude, this could save you a thousand bucks a year over the next 10 years.
Speaker: Like, well, 10 grand in 10 years, like that's, that's not that much.
Speaker: But if you're like, eh, you know, it could save you a little bit of money, like, I don't know, like 10, 11 grand over the next decade.
Speaker: I mean, for a house like this, that's probably not going to affect much.
Speaker: And then just like you said, you know, they'll generally have a different response.
Speaker: Like, dude, dollar saved is a dollar earned.
Speaker: Like, let me see that.
Speaker: You know, just just mismatching the energy of what the normal what the norm is in the industry.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's so good.
Speaker: And yeah, especially in saturated areas, you got to be different.
Speaker: You got to differentiate yourself.
Speaker: I'm human.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I've never tried the back flip method to doing a back flip.
Speaker: I'm going to have to try that one.
Speaker: One time I went back in summer of 2023.
Speaker: I had a buddy of mine, like we would throw water balloons at each other because we were just down in Charleston, like 100 plus degrees.
Speaker: Like, dude, I don't care.
Speaker: Dude, soak my shirt.
Speaker: I do not care.
Speaker: And we just like or like we'd have like neighborhood kids run up to us and throw water balloons at us.
Speaker: What the heck was that?
Speaker: You know, dude, do it, dude.
Speaker: Give them like five, 10 bucks.
Speaker: I'm yo, when I'm, when I go knock this next door, throw water balloons at me.
Speaker: If they answer, they'll do it.
Speaker: The kids.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, uh, so many good things in here, Conrad.
Speaker: And yeah, I'm super impressed with how far, you know, like I said, I wish I would have done half these things when I was 21, uh, knowing all, yeah, what you know, and been able to have the opportunities to lead.
Speaker: the way you've been able to lead other people.
Speaker: And so if people want to reach out to you more, maybe come on one of your blitzes, what's the best way to get in touch with you?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So if you want to get in contact with me, I'd say the best way to get in contact, by the way, I appreciate the shout out.
Speaker: I really do.
Speaker: My Instagram is travel.train.sell.
Speaker: Traditional spelling for all I was going to spell out.
Speaker: I was like, they know how to spell that.
Speaker: Hopefully.
Speaker: Yeah, hopefully.
Speaker: We're not the brightest.
Speaker: Solar guys aren't the brightest.
Speaker: Yeah, we'll figure it out.
Speaker: That's the best way to get in contact with me.
Speaker: That's where I post information on when the next Blitzes are going to be.
Speaker: Just different content.
Speaker: I also have fitness content on there.
Speaker: If you're getting into fitness, I can definitely give everyone some tips and tricks on that.
Speaker: I'm starting to really get passionate about that and learn about that industry.
Speaker: But yeah, I would say definitely contacting me on Instagram, travel.train.sell.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, so go hit Conrad up.
Speaker: Consider going on one of the next Blitzes.
Speaker: I might be apt to go join you out there, man.
Speaker: Dude, 100%.
Speaker: Sounds like a blast.
Speaker: Soulpreneur.
Speaker: Hell yeah, man.
Speaker: Go on a Blitz or something.
Speaker: So yeah, man, appreciate you coming on today.
Speaker: And then last question for any maybe struggling rep.
Speaker: Or someone that's like hitting road bumps, not sure if they can continue any longer.
Speaker: What would you say to that rapper?
Speaker: Any advice you give to maybe someone struggling in solar right now?
Speaker: I don't want to just get the first thing that comes to mind.
Speaker: I want to really figure it out.
Speaker: I would say if I had to give like one do or die piece of advice is just expand your time horizon.
Speaker: When I first got into the industry, I was like, how do I make money this week?
Speaker: How do I make money next month?
Speaker: And that's hard to do, you know, how to expand beyond that when you're broke.
Speaker: I get it.
Speaker: But the sooner that you can transition to what does my next five years look like?
Speaker: What does my next decade look like?
Speaker: The more success you'll have.
Speaker: Like the longer that you can delay that level of gratification, the stronger the compound effect is going to hit as long as you stay consistent with your action.
Speaker: And then I don't know how religious anyone is and I don't want to force anything upon anyone, obviously, but I seriously, seriously recommend picking up the Bible.
Speaker: I'm not saying be Christian.
Speaker: I'm not saying, you know, you have to do all that stuff, but just create a relationship with whatever you deem God is.
Speaker: I think that's really huge because before that I had a lot, whenever I'd have uncertainty, I didn't know what to think or what to do.
Speaker: But now anytime I have uncertainty, I'll even sometimes I'll say it out loud.
Speaker: Like it's not for me to know what the next step is.
Speaker: But I know that as long as I continue down this path, God, God's got, God's got me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, 100% love it, brother.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So have a higher power.
Speaker: I think these things are so important, whether you believe in God or not, like at least have a higher power or something you're looking, looking above to.
Speaker: And yeah, so many things we went through, make sure you get around the right people like Connor was talking about.
Speaker: Be careful with who you're surrounding yourself with.
Speaker: And then be intentional.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Think long term.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's like,
Speaker: This is a marathon.
Speaker: It's not a sprint.
Speaker: Seriously, dude.
Speaker: Even though I know you guys are sprinting on the two-week blitzes, but I think I'm long-term about it, right?
Speaker: Yes, sir.
Speaker: Yes, sir.
Speaker: So thanks again, Conrad.
Speaker: Guys, go hit him up.
Speaker: Let him know.
Speaker: We appreciate him coming on the podcast and look forward to doing another one in the future, man.
Speaker: You're welcome back in the time.
Speaker: 100%, man.
Speaker: I appreciate you.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Appreciate it.
Speaker: What's up, solopreneurs?
Speaker: Hope you enjoyed the episode.
Speaker: Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
Speaker: One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
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Speaker: You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
Speaker: So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and I would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solopreneur.
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