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Part 2: How To Have More Success In Solar Than You Ever Dreamed Of
275 Plays24 days ago
This episode is the second half of my appearance in Jon Soriano's Valor Impact Podcast, where focused on how I keep the ball rolling in solar sales. It is important that we strike a balance between productivity and our personal lives, especially with people that support us throughout our sales journey.
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Transcript
Introduction to Solar Business Strategies
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, solarpreneurs, wanted to introduce this episode real quick. This is taken from a podcast I had the opportunity to be on called the Valor Impact Podcast. We will link to the show, but a great solar specific podcast.
00:00:15
Speaker
If you want to check it out, we went through a ton of topics, ah how do you close more deals than you can ever dream of, how to balance your time in solar. So hope you enjoy today's podcast.
Taylor's Sales Journey and Insights
00:00:31
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
00:00:47
Speaker
I teach you 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.
00:00:59
Speaker
What is a solopreneur you might ask? 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. I think the main thing is just going out.
00:01:12
Speaker
If I'm not feeling it, then I'll just go out with someone. Right. I know it's because people say, oh, if you're knocking doors together, then yeah you're technically not knocking half the amount of doors.
00:01:24
Speaker
But yeah, if I'm not go off feeling it it, it brings me energy to go out and like help train someone to knock with them to go out. So on days where I'm feeling like burned out or last thing I want to do is knock a door, I'll just go out with somebody. and Wow.
00:01:38
Speaker
And then, um, I don't know, I guess aside from showing up to knock doors and all that, it's just taking care of my body, going to the gym. i do like jujitsu. And if I don't do those things, then I see motivation go down too.
00:01:53
Speaker
So I mean, just taking care of myself outside of showing up to work and learning new things like, you know, we have correlations every week. And I'm still not pretty much.
00:02:04
Speaker
i feel like I've heard a lot of things being
Finding Joy in Repetitive Work
00:02:06
Speaker
in this 10 years ago to all the events, but I still like showing up because there's still new things you hear. There's still new things you can go out and try. interest place to be is the moment you think you've made it or the moment you think you know everything yeah or the moment you think you need to stop being a student. That's when you put a ceiling over your life. Yeah. Right. And that's the hard part about being consistent is that it's it's finding joy in the mundaneness of things. yeah And I think if the industry as a whole understood that more. It's like, no, you got to find it's everything's exciting in the beginning.
00:02:35
Speaker
A marriage. First year is exciting. Oh, I'm married. Yeah. First time we get to live together. Woo. sex right like where the real challenge begins is when things start to get a little bit repetitive like can you still find joy can you still innovate can you still find newness in the mundane is right even though you've been to a thousand correlations by now you still enter the correlation with the mindset of there's something for me here yeah there's something for me here or you go on a date night with your wife you're like even though we've been on hundreds and hundreds of dates you're like No, there's a new level of intimacy. There's a new level of connection that exists here. And I think that is the piece that I love about you. And whether you realize you've done or not, that you've adapted the mindset of like, no, I'm going to find joy the trivial things. I'm going to find joy the mundane things. Right. I'm going to find joy in the repetitive tasks that I do over and over again, because we do live in an Instagramification world where people want it now. Now, that's what we see so often people going company to company to company to company to company. Right. It's like, you know, and so or or industry to industry, industry or like the moment it gets a little hard, they're like, oh, going go here instead. It's like, dude, stay planted.
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah. Find joy in the suck. Find joy in the mundanest. Find joy in the challenges. And so.
Overcoming Career Setbacks
00:03:45
Speaker
I love that about your story. And i actually want to ask you, you know, in your nine years, I know you've experienced lot setbacks. yeah I know you've experienced a lot of challenges. i know I know you've been, you know, you thought 2018 was going to look like this, but it looked completely different, right?
00:03:58
Speaker
How have you been able to kind of stay on the path, even in the midst of a lot of challenges? Yeah, I think just going back to what we were talking about earlier, just thinking about the alternative of going to work, regular jobs, because, yeah, I think before I came to Legacy here, I think I told you, but, you know, one of my previous companies I was at, I didn't get paid out almost 100 grand and had a lot of setbacks, a lot of jobs that didn't go through.
00:04:22
Speaker
then, of course, we had the whole transition from... any m2 to any m3 was you know i had to figure out a lot of things but yeah i think just remembering that's the alternative even though that year i didn't get paid almost six figures i still made multiple six figures that year like like even when i didn't get paid about 100 grand so i still just think man to still make that much money do that well for myself even when i didn't get paid you know what's what's a really big chunk of money uh still super blessed and still really good opportunity
00:04:53
Speaker
So that's why I'm like, okay, well, you know, back to the drawing board. yeah um And yeah, I mean, i wish I could have stayed in opportunity like legacy that I'm at now. So that's one of the things that maybe I wish I could have changed is just be at a find a solid opportunity. And because where I've jumped around, I've seen some people like, you know, I've started before you did, John, but like you've planted your roots, you've built up. fertile soil and all that you built up leaders and uh yeah now you're leading hundreds of people hundreds of other sales reps so sometimes it's easy to compare myself and i've gotten that trap sometimes i'm like man how come um how come i'm not like john i've been in the industry longer than john and same thing tyler one of our managers here i recruited him to solar and now he's my manager
00:05:37
Speaker
Like, see, so I've had to kind of like humble myself sometimes. Like, okay, my journey's different. I can't compare myself to other people and I've had setbacks, but still I've done really well. And like, look at all the things I have done. I've successful podcasts, been able to influence hundreds, if not thousands of other sales reps.
00:05:55
Speaker
And even though, yeah, maybe I haven't had the level of success as other people or haven't been able to like lead a massive division or anything like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah now yeah It's coming. Yeah. Yeah.
Importance of Humility and Personal Growth
00:06:05
Speaker
It's coming. Hey, God says, you know, he, you know, like, uh, there's is' something powerful in humility, man. yeah My mentor years ago, he taught me, John, if you honor what's, if you honor what's not yours, one day God will send people that will honor what is yours. yeah And I love that. And I love your story of you've, uh, you've been very humble. You've been very, you know, and that's such an underrated skillset in this industry, just in life in general.
00:06:27
Speaker
Yeah. That you've been so humble that you you could have gotten bitter from the industry as a whole or better at choices or people or whatever. But yeah, here you still are full of joy, still willing to be like, no, I'm going to give it another go. And just believing that's going to lead to greener pastures, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:42
Speaker
Yeah. And still have done well. so I just try to, you know, not... Stop comparing myself with other people. Focus on how can I improve this year, this but this month, this quarter. Yeah, I've done well. Like maybe if I was making zero dollars, that might be a different story. I probably would have been like, OK, solar stuff. But yeah, where I've seen success, where I've been able to lead others, just focus on the wins I have had. Yeah, that's been for me just what's kept me going, even in tough times.
00:07:08
Speaker
Even in terms you said something i want to go deeper on you said um what's kept you in the course is just thinking about the alternative. Right. It's like, OK, I can either go work for myself or I can go work for so or I can go work for somebody else. Right. I can either go bet on me or I can go and bet on this secure company. Right. Yeah. Or a career or whatever.
00:07:26
Speaker
Like there's this meme I saw years ago on Instagram and stuck with
Entrepreneurship: Freedom vs. Security
00:07:29
Speaker
me. It's like, you know, it's like a photo of a lion in the wilderness and then a photo of a lion in a cage. Right. Right. Like at the zoo, essentially. And it's like, it says, it says that the go the one that's in freedom out in the wilderness, it says, hey, this person has no guarantees.
00:07:42
Speaker
He has no security, but he has all the freedom. Right. the The line in the cage was like, oh, yeah, this he has security. Right. he He's going to get fed every single day at a certain time. Right. He has a lot of guarantees and get food and water and protection and shelter. Don't have to worry about hunters coming and killing him or other animals. Right. But he has no freedom. And it's like, which one do you want to be?
00:08:03
Speaker
Yeah. Right. And then I know men like you and we're like, you know what? We would rather have no guarantees, no security, but i have all the freedom, meaning like the world is on our hands. But yeah, but there's also no guarantees. Yes. And I think I think a great way, something that um I wish more people would do. And you did a mission. Where'd you do your mission?
00:08:20
Speaker
Colombia. Colombia, right. Two years. yeah Right. and you know, I love doing humanitarian work like, you know, ah legacy once a year. We'll usually do humanitarian work. And I've been in South Africa, Costa Rica, Mexico, Thailand.
00:08:31
Speaker
um I didn't do the Philippines, but I saw it. And I love these trips because it really grounds you and it really reminds you of how fortunate we are. And sometimes we live in our bubble and we think that like this is the world, but it's like.
00:08:43
Speaker
dude, we're the 1% of the 1%. The U.S. s is 5% of the world population. if you're The poorest person in the U.S. is still doing better than the vast majority of people in the world. like Poor in in other countries is way worse than poor here.
00:08:57
Speaker
yeah and so I think it's good for us to be reminded of that and to express gratitude. That's why gratitude is so big. I remember being in South Africa and I saw these kids during the recess. and I brought my five-year-old. He was five at the time. He's seven now. but I brought Balin with me. He was five. and I saw these kids playing with rocks for toys.
00:09:15
Speaker
And then they also had this soccer ball that was like half inflated. But the level of joy I saw on their face, like they more joy than the kids here in America. I was like, dang, these kids have more than me.
00:09:26
Speaker
I'm sorry. They have less than me. but there's so much more, there's so much more joyful than maybe I am. And so I think it's like people understanding like the opportunity that we have. I think if people can grasp that concept where you just said, like the alternative, yeah it's like, dude, then you really realize like, wait, I haven't, like, where else can you go knock doors and generate 10 grand in a thin air? It doesn't exist anywhere right now. yeah You know? And so I love that principle you've said. And You know, to even go deeper on that, I mean, what like what would you say to the current state of the industry? Right. So at the you know, this recording right now, it's um I don't know, July 23rd or something, 2025. Let's just say end of June 2025. Right now we're in the whole big, beautiful bill. And right now there's a lot of chaos and kind of un uncertainty in the industry. People freaking out, you know, similar to an NEM 2 to NEM 3 transition, maybe worse. But what would you say to that? Like what what are some things you're doing to kind of.
00:10:19
Speaker
You know, not let it not let that turn to fear or scarcity or doubt.
Leadership in Industry Changes
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah. Well, first of all, I think just having good leaders to follow. And you've been a great example of that, John, just like leading us and being kind of the voice of reason. Because, yeah, i mean, I'll be honest, I when it first happened, i was getting lots of people freaking out and people that knew a lot more than I did that were kind of like.
00:10:40
Speaker
you know, doom and gloom and all that. And so, um yeah, you've helped me understand a lot of things and still like you have a belief that things are going to be all right and things will work out. And so, yeah, I mean, we'll see. But I think at the end of the day, it's just like remembering all the things that we have gone through.
00:10:58
Speaker
Right. And this you've talked with us about too. Like we got through NEM2 and NEM3 in California. um I've got through multiple um multiple companies, not paying me commissions and still come out on the other side. So um if you can be OK with whatever the worst case scenario is.
00:11:15
Speaker
And this is something I've heard from some, you know, mentors, people I follow too, is just being okay with the whatever the worst worst case scenario is. Because if you're okay with that, then you can kind of have peace to like maybe take more risks. And, um you know, I just have a mind more at ease because you think about the worst case scenario, you have solar, let's say it just becomes terrible. and then like I got family in Utah, um my in-laws, they got a whole basement. could go live in worst case scenario. Like I wouldn't want to do it, but that's why luckily in our country, you know, people can go. There's entrepreneurs ah that have been that are super successful, that have literally had bankruptcies, that their companies have failed.
00:11:52
Speaker
um You know, Russell Brunson, this guy I follow, I think he says um almost every super successful entrepreneur has had. It's like an average of two or three failed like business ventures or something like that.
00:12:03
Speaker
before they found something that really took off and luckily we live in a country where um it's designed even if things go badly that we can rebound from that yeah right bait bankruptcy you can literally pretty much you know it's not gonna be easy i'm sure i've never gone through one one luckily but you can essentially like erase everything that happened and start over and like it's designed for that yeah So, yeah, I don't want that to happen. But um I think I just think of, OK, well, first case scenario, like we can figure something out. We've all got the the skills to go sell something. So I think solar will still be good. But even if it's not, it's like there's so many things out there to sell. Right. And there's so many opportunities for us. Yeah. So I think that's what people should remember if they're listening to this podcast. They're fearful or
00:12:48
Speaker
uncertainty. It's like, well, you, you have the ability to sell. Just remember that we have the ability to read amounts, whatever happens, we can figure out something to sell. And, um, but yeah, I think we got great leaders here. I would say, just make sure you're at a place where you got leaders that are, have a plan that are a speaking vision to you. Cause if you have that, then yeah, it's been much easier for us over here to have the confidence.
00:13:10
Speaker
Have you ever heard of, uh, maybe I'm, I hope I'm saying it right, but think called the Stockdale principle. That's son's name. I think it's the stockdale. It's not like that principle. Anyway, but it's a principle that I heard years ago and it stuck with me. And essentially it's, you know, as a leader, when you lead through crisis, you can't be too up in the clouds, meaning optimistic and like faith and like, it's going to be okay. Right. Cause then people they're like, dude, that's, you're naive. People then they view you as naive, but then you can't be too much in the dirt.
00:13:40
Speaker
Right. Where you're like doom and gloom. Like this is hard. It's over. Right. And the the principle is about as a leader, you got to be real and be like, yeah, this sucks.
00:13:50
Speaker
Yeah, there's going to change. Yeah, we're going to have to massively pivot. Yeah. And it's going to hard and it's going to suck for a bit. However, it's going to be great. We're going get through it. We're going to make the more smart money we've ever made. Right. And so I think as a leader and I hope the industry as a whole, i think as a collective, we can be more like that. We can be more like, yeah, let's be real. Like I'm also I'm not saying the big, beautiful bill is not like, oh, it's OK. Right. Like I get it. It sucks.
00:14:14
Speaker
But also another principle why I've lived by is winners cry for six seconds. Losers cry for six years. That's good. It's like, which one do you want to be? Like they both cry. They both feel something, you know, like cool winners, maybe feel fear for a few seconds while losers feel it for months and months and months and months. Right. Yeah.
00:14:34
Speaker
And so it's like, again, they both feel it. They both cry about it. They both have doubt. But the difference is one feels it and moves on. And then the other one feels it and like stays stuck in there. And it's like, which one do you want to be? And like, yeah, I've already processed, like you said, worst case scenario. And I'm like, right, worst case scenario. i already know it. Cool.
00:14:50
Speaker
I felt it. I process it. Great. Let's do everything in my power to make sure it's not the case. Yeah. Right. And also fear is like false evidence appearing real. Yeah. Right. That's like the acronym for fear. And it's like a lot of the stuff that we're hearing. It's like, OK, none of it has happened yet. Right. Like you said, cool. If we get to a place where like solar literally we're getting zero dollar EPCs. OK, cool.
00:15:08
Speaker
Maybe it's like time for a big change. Right. But that hasn't happened yet. But yet people are already like it's dead. It's like, dude, there's many things in your life that you thought were going to take you out. Yeah. And yet you're still here.
00:15:18
Speaker
and that's what love about your story is that you've been through a lot of adversity, a lot of challenges. And yet you're still here. Yeah. I want to ask you, too, like, how do you navigate all that as a married man? Like one one one aspect of you that I love.
00:15:29
Speaker
You're consistent in the doors. You're a leader. You're a builder of people. Right. You've navigated many crises, but also you're responsible. Your wife, you're responsible for your three kids, which, by the way, fun fact, Taylor is named all his kids after Utah Jazz players. So that shows you.
00:15:45
Speaker
How big of a Utah Jazz fan he is. So, hey, you're the Utah Jazz owner, is Ryan Smith? Yeah, Ryan Smith. Ryan Smith. Come on, dude. He named his kids after your team. Dude, how have you navigated through, have you how you ah how do you navigate all this while also being a present husband, like also being a present father? I think i think a lot of the successful people in Soul or Door to Door, they're also married and I think that's maybe wisdom that they want to know is like, how do you balance it all? Right. How do you still crush it at work, but also crush it in the marriage crushes a father? how How do you do
Balancing Work and Family Life
00:16:17
Speaker
all that? Yeah, well, it's a tough question. You've I've learned a lot from you on this, John, but um I'm still figuring it out. So I would say i have some small things that have helped. But yeah, there's still times where my wife's like, oh, man, this is like so hard that you're gone every night, this and that. So I'm i'm definitely not like the perfect, have all the solutions for this and still figuring things out. But I would say just some things that have helped for sure is just time blocking, just having the date nights. I know you're big on this too, do John, just having like one night a week, you do the date nights. And yeah, i feel like I have improved this year for sure, because I think even last year is a big problem, just separating the work when I got home, just still like
00:16:58
Speaker
constantly being on the phone be like oh this customer needs this even when i'm home after appointments and i'm just still being buried in that so um i have made a print that's a big one just you know try to like whenever you get home just separate it a little bit especially when we have kids it's like trying to be present for them show up put the phone down And so those are things that I'm actively trying to improve on and definitely not perfect.
00:17:22
Speaker
But I think those are two huge ones. Just setting out time, least if it's minimum one time a week, walk it off. get We get the babysitter. We go out, have the one time a week date night and then just trying to, you know, all day Sundays.
00:17:35
Speaker
Like I never take an appointment on Sunday. yeah I'm not going to appointments. I'm not, I'm trying to be fully present Sundays, church family souls. I would say it kind of the two non-negotiables, just the date night and then Sundays, just try to be as present as possible. Uh, but other that, um, yeah, I'm still learning open to suggestions and just try to It sounds like you just make time, you know, I think that's a difference.
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah. You make time. You don't look for time. You make it. Yeah. Right. You're like, no, like if this has to suffer a little bit, cool. It's because at the end of the day, you know that those are the things that are most important. Yeah. And there's seasons too, you know, like right now as we're recording this, we've got all this urgency with the, um, the bill passing. So, you know, I've already had the discussion with my wife. She knows it's like a, where it's probably gonna have to take,
00:18:21
Speaker
We're going to like shift this a little bit. It's going to be a little bit more of the focus because after who knows what's to happen, but we want to take full advantage of this. So I think just having conversations and being like, cause we're all, you know, going on blitzes. There's going be seasons, times where we're working harder.
00:18:35
Speaker
yeah So I think it's about having those conversations and getting on the same page. They look like this season, this competition, we have a lot of big competitions at Legacy. Yeah. And then just talking before, hey, it's going to look a little bit different. But after that, yeah, we're to go. i love that. mean, it sounds like you include your wife in your job. I think sometimes men think they have to separate the two.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah. And it's like, cool, this is work. And then this is marriage. But it sounds like you've blended it and you've let her into your life. Yeah. She understands because then when you do that, she supports you better because I've had the same conversation with Josie. I told her, babe.
00:19:07
Speaker
the next six to 18 months, are they're going to be pretty hectic. Like, I just want to real with you. And she's like, cool. Hey, I'm on board, whatever I got to do support you. And so she knows that I know that. And so, you know, I think some men, they try to carry that and they're like, well, if I let my wife know she'll freak out or she won't understand me or whatever. It's like, no dude, like let her in. She's your partner. She's your help me, you know? And so I love that. And yeah, I'm shout out to Natalie. ab aly not She's the best.
00:19:29
Speaker
Yeah. And so, dude, Taylor is crazy, man. It's already been like almost 40 minutes we've since we started. Time flies. Yeah, time flies. But dude, thank you so much for um tuning into the podcast. Yeah. ah You are a wealth of wisdom, man. Thank you again. I want to honor you for the the value you've added to the industry as a whole. If people wanted to kind of connect with you online, what's or just in general, what's the best way they can do it? Yeah, definitely shoot me a follow. Solarpreneur podcast. We're on Instagram. um I'm on Instagram, Taylor J. Armstrong. So i would say that's probably the easiest place. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts.
00:20:05
Speaker
And then, of course, follow your podcast. Follow mine first. You can go follow this one after. We want to keep a slight lead, you know. but You have probably 100x the amount of videos I have.
00:20:17
Speaker
So, well, great. Well, hey, thank you again, Taylor, for hopping on today, man. You're a wealth of wisdom. And thank you for sharing all your insights. And thank you guys for tuning in to today's episode. And remember that your best self is always found on the other side of doing hard things.
00:20:33
Speaker
We'll catch you guys in the next episode. So some of you already know that I run my own door to door sales team here in San Diego. 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.
00:20:46
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout, but it's not door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
00:21:00
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.
Introducing the SolarScout App
00:21:09
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country, and now I'm on board too.
00:21:14
Speaker
I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, if I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show, you need give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:21:24
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. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:21:37
Speaker
Okay, back to the show. What's up, solarpreneurs? Hope you enjoyed the episode. 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. One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
00:22:00
Speaker
What episodes should I listen to in the podcast? You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes. 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 Solapreneur.
00:22:20
Speaker
We put them together all in one sheet so you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet. So go download it right now. It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com. Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com. Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs. We will have that in the show notes. Go download it right now.
00:22:46
Speaker
And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them. That's going to show you how. So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.