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 Solarpreneur you might ask?
Speaker: A Solarpreneur is a new breed of Solar Pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Speaker: What's going on?
Speaker: We're here live at Door to Orcon 2023.
Speaker: And for not just the first, but the second time, we have my friend Ruben coming on the show.
Speaker: Ruben, thanks for coming back on with us.
Speaker: Hey, man.
Speaker: Finally, glad to meet you in person.
Speaker: It's awesome.
Speaker: Thanks for having me again on the show.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: And God, I apologize because when we first got up, I said, hey, what's your name?
Speaker: And I...
Speaker: Totally didn't put the name to the face, but now that I got it, I don't think I'll forget again.
Speaker: There you go, brother.
Speaker: Hell yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, it's been fun to be here.
Speaker: And today, yeah, we want to do kind of, you know, some takeaways we've had from door to door gone and then just catch up.
Speaker: I know you've been crushing it and had some changes in your business.
Speaker: But yeah, what was it?
Speaker: Like a year ago we had you on?
Speaker: Yeah, about a year ago.
Speaker: A year ago.
Speaker: So if you haven't, we will link that podcast in the show notes if you don't have the chance to listen to that.
Speaker: Got some great feedback.
Speaker: And I think you've had a lot of guys reach out and get on that podcast definitely shows like what being on, you know, other stages can do for you, especially people in Florida or in the industry from getting followers on Instagram and the same field to people actually coming in.
Speaker: And working with us, you know.
Speaker: It's been great.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I need like an override for all the guys there.
Speaker: For real.
Speaker: We can structure something like that, right?
Speaker: Yeah, but no, you guys have been crushing it.
Speaker: And Ciel, let's just hear, I know you've had some changes in your business going on.
Speaker: So it's been a year.
Speaker: Last time you were at, I think, was it Suncor?
Speaker: Yeah, I was with a company named Suncor.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And there's been a lot of changes.
Speaker: The company dissolved, essentially, and so it kind of forced me to...
Speaker: start my own thing, right?
Speaker: It's one of those that it's kind of like sink or swim.
Speaker: And I met some great, brilliant minds that we partnered up.
Speaker: So what we did is we basically partnered with a roofing and an AC company.
Speaker: So we can do now roofs in-house, AC in-house, and then we brought the solar arm to it.
Speaker: And so it's pretty amazing.
Speaker: I have my partner, Anthony Jaramillo and Alex Hoffman,
Speaker: And so now we're called ProTech, right?
Speaker: So that's where we're at.
Speaker: We're out of Tampa.
Speaker: And it's just been, you know, a lot of growth in one year.
Speaker: And right now we're about to expand significantly.
Speaker: So the past five, six months has just been infrastructure of everything.
Speaker: And this year is going to be the year where we really blow up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Can't wait.
Speaker: And yeah, I think we have some similarities because I was just telling you, I dealt with some stuff, same thing with my company and installs not going through.
Speaker: And unfortunately, you know, commissions not being paid, stuff like that.
Speaker: So I know we both kind of went through similar things, but we probably both learned the lesson.
Speaker: Like you got to know to adjust and that's kind of the dark side of the industry.
Speaker: And unfortunately, things like that can happen.
Speaker: But those that know how to pivot their business and, you know, sell like
Speaker: There's no shortage of business even when stuff like that happens.
Speaker: Would you agree?
Speaker: Definitely, man.
Speaker: If you know how to sell, if you know how to knock on doors, there will always be an opportunity.
Speaker: You just need to adapt.
Speaker: There's a lot of people that get scared.
Speaker: You just got to lean into your fears, right?
Speaker: And that's something that we've been learning here at D2D Con.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, I got to ask, were you nervous when all this stuff was going down at Suncor?
Speaker: Was that nerve wracking or whatever?
Speaker: I was more worried for the people that I had personally recruited and brought in because financially, I had a good little cushion to last me for a while.
Speaker: It was more of the other people that I look out for.
Speaker: My team is my family.
Speaker: I spend a lot of time with them and I love every single one of them.
Speaker: So it was more just kind of trying to make sure we could point them in the right direction and, you know, not give up.
Speaker: But yeah, definitely there was always when there's uncertainty, there's usually fear.
Speaker: But the more you let that fear get big, the harder it is to take action.
Speaker: And so you just have to kind of dive in real quick.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, and it can affect sales because I don't know about you.
Speaker: When I was having uncertainty around installs not going in or stuff going on, I was kind of letting it affect my mindset on the doors and be like, oh, what am I doing out here?
Speaker: You've been selling.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: This account might not even get installed.
Speaker: So things like that.
Speaker: I think it's important to just kind of check yourself and, you know, try to get in good opportunities as quick as possible, whether it's leaving, staying, finding the, you know, starting your own thing like you did.
Speaker: But yeah, with your reps, like what did you tell them?
Speaker: I don't know if you have any advice.
Speaker: Maybe people are going through similar situation.
Speaker: How did you help your reps going through all this?
Speaker: And,
Speaker: I mean, the biggest thing I did was just be open and transparent.
Speaker: And so I said, hey, guys, this is where we're at.
Speaker: This is what I'm thinking.
Speaker: And these are going to be the new partners.
Speaker: And we've already kind of talked about this.
Speaker: And what we did was come up with cool incentives for like,
Speaker: a brighter future we're giving all of you guys ipads with internet on it and you know a case and and better badges and you know we're gonna do cooler incentives and so that's kind of how you rally the troop was kind of like you know instead of going into the previous company where you kind of had to go buy your own things you know we saw it as like dude if we can give our people better tools so they look more professional so they look more legit
Speaker: You know, like that's what we're going to do.
Speaker: And that was kind of like something that kind of kick started.
Speaker: I know we had a couple of guys that didn't have a car.
Speaker: And so I sometimes would have to go pick them up, drop them off and go to appointments and do all of that, you know, wearing every single hat.
Speaker: And so there was cars that were issued.
Speaker: And so now they do their own kind of like little group and they go out in teams and
Speaker: And, you know, they have a logo throughout the car.
Speaker: So that was also pretty cool.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: Well, something we were talking about, we just got back from lunch or door-to-door con, but something we were talking about too is, like you were mentioning how important it is just focus on the things you're good at and not try and like wear all these hats and be running around.
Speaker: So as you've started your own, you know, dealer company now, like what have you learned in doing that or what do you suggest to guys?
Speaker: How do you like...
Speaker: So hire and get help with all these things.
Speaker: I've seen a lot of different ways of doing things, right?
Speaker: There's I don't think there's really like a super right way and a super wrong way.
Speaker: It's just kind of what it works for everybody.
Speaker: I've seen a company being run by one person and that one person trying to do everything.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I know I'm very, very bad at like accounting numbers and checking Excel sheets and tracking and being organized.
Speaker: That's not my personality and that's not something I'm good at.
Speaker: You know, I'm good at checking my schedule, you know, and that's about it and going and selling and, you know, training and developing rep.
Speaker: That's what I'm really passionate about and that's what I'm good at.
Speaker: And so going into business with my partners, they're actually really good at the stuff that I'm not good at and they enjoy doing that.
Speaker: And I'm really good at sales.
Speaker: And so that's kind of like my role.
Speaker: And so I do have, you know, very supportive team members and partners that help me on things that I'm not good at.
Speaker: That way I can focus on my main bread and potatoes, which is sales.
Speaker: It's recruiting.
Speaker: It's, you know, motivating people.
Speaker: It's teaching.
Speaker: That's what I'm good at.
Speaker: So the more I can do that, the better it is for everything.
Speaker: And just knowing that you have people in your corner that you can trust and that that's what they're good at.
Speaker: I think that's great.
Speaker: I know Grant talks about it.
Speaker: He says collaboration is a new currency.
Speaker: And so you can't do anything by yourself and expect for it to be big.
Speaker: One of the guest speakers today, he says, there's no such thing as a self-made millionaire.
Speaker: That's bullshit.
Speaker: He says, because if I'm the second born in a family and I become a self-made millionaire,
Speaker: millionaire is like my brother actually helped shape my personality to actually get there so I would actually thank him as well.
Speaker: If you think about it it's kind of like yeah dude you can't do anything by yourself and go very far.
Speaker: I know 100% and that's one of the biggest reasons I've seen like these smaller dealers fell and things like that because they try to do everything themselves and
Speaker: not grow.
Speaker: So yeah, it's something I heard today going Tanner Williams.
Speaker: He did the, I think it was like 130 deals in basically a summer.
Speaker: He was talking about the same thing.
Speaker: He was trying to like organize all these spreadsheets and run his team of setters.
Speaker: But one of the things that helped him take off is just, you know, hiring an assistant, organizing all that.
Speaker: He knew his schedule now.
Speaker: He didn't have to manage that.
Speaker: He's managing, you know, the systems, not the people.
Speaker: That's what a lot of guys say on that.
Speaker: But yeah, so it's been cool to see you grow.
Speaker: So how many reps are you guys at now?
Speaker: What's your company like now that you're in?
Speaker: The goal right now is to have around 50 reps by the end of April.
Speaker: But we want 50 quality reps.
Speaker: We don't want reps that are putting one or two deals in.
Speaker: We want reps that are doing about 10 deals a month minimum.
Speaker: And that's kind of like the new standard that we're setting.
Speaker: Because the higher you raise the bar, the more that people challenge themselves, the more success they're going to have, the more money they're going to make.
Speaker: and the bigger their belief lid's going to be.
Speaker: So that's the goal for my birthday in April.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Tax season and your birthday.
Speaker: I know, man.
Speaker: It's a good day.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so when you were making this transition from Suncor, bringing your reps over, did your whole team, you're running the L pretty much, come join you after that?
Speaker: Or was there guys that fell off?
Speaker: There was different markets.
Speaker: And so only the people in the Tampa markets,
Speaker: or the one that came over here.
Speaker: And then I know a couple of them went off and did their own thing in different markets.
Speaker: And, you know, we're still in touch with a few of them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And some, I don't know where they're at right now, but yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It was the people I personally brought in that, you know, like my brother, his girlfriend, very close to me.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So that was like my core.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Are they the ones that partner?
Speaker: Cause you talk about, I have partners doing different things.
Speaker: Um, so were they the ones that partnered up with you on this or how did you find the people?
Speaker: So when we first got to Tampa, we were exploring that market.
Speaker: Um, we needed someone to do our roofs.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And, uh, I met a company called pro tech and I met their, uh, owners and, you know, like-minded individuals about the same age guys are,
Speaker: sharp and so I started hanging out with them more often we started giving them business and I liked how they resolved problems whenever we came to like a disagreement on something and I also enjoyed really hanging out with them and they became my friends and then when this came you know it was kind of like a perfect timing to be like hey
Speaker: you know, let's bring a solar arm into it.
Speaker: And that's how we did it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And so you saw that they were just running, it was just kind of like networking or you just, you use them for roofs before at Suncor.
Speaker: Uh-huh.
Speaker: And then you just branch off and said, you know, let's start up some solar and then they're like, sweet, let's do it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Pretty much.
Speaker: Pretty much.
Speaker: Roll from there.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Was it rocky for them?
Speaker: Maybe you're still kind of ironing things out, but was it tough for them to get that rolling, like solar installs, or do they pretty much have it figured out right from the beginning?
Speaker: Obviously, there's learning curves to everything, but they have their operations down pretty good.
Speaker: And so it's kind of like the same thing.
Speaker: That's awesome because I know sometimes people struggle, like the initial ones.
Speaker: I've worked with some companies where they're like, oh, we're going to start solar installs, and then it's like a train wreck for the first 20 accounts or whatever until they get things out.
Speaker: So that's good.
Speaker: So right now we're not installing currently, but that's something that is in the near future.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, so you just partner with them for operation type stuff, and then you're enrolled in there.
Speaker: Okay, gotcha.
Speaker: Makes sense.
Speaker: I was going to say, that's like almost unheard of.
Speaker: Things go super smooth from the get-go.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm sure whenever the install site comes around, we're going to do a few.
Speaker: Make sure that we learn everything right then and there, and then we can open the floodgates and see how we're going.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: Well, Ruben, I know today's going to be a little bit shorter than last time just because I know we've got some awards coming up and speakers we're going to go see down there.
Speaker: But just like...
Speaker: For you, I know you go to a lot of events.
Speaker: You go to the Grant Cardone ones.
Speaker: I've been to this.
Speaker: Have you been to DoorDoreCon multiple times now?
Speaker: Actually, it's my first time coming to DoorDoreCon.
Speaker: It's pretty cool.
Speaker: I like it.
Speaker: It's been a good event.
Speaker: And so what for you, what's like the importance?
Speaker: I know you got all these Grant Cardone events, other events.
Speaker: What's been like, would you say that's pretty been like a key thing in helping you grow in business or what's been the importance of like kind of these events and training programs you've done?
Speaker: I really suggest for everybody to invest in themselves.
Speaker: I used to be that cheap guy that was like, dude,
Speaker: I remember going to my first Grant Cardone concert or not concert, but maybe in the concert.
Speaker: Conference.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I was like, damn, $1,500 for the ticket.
Speaker: And that's the cheapest ticket.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I just remember sweating it.
Speaker: And I was making solar money already.
Speaker: And so I was still being stingy with it.
Speaker: And I was like, dude, $1,500 plus the flight, plus the hotel.
Speaker: Like I'm going to be at like three grand easy just to go to that.
Speaker: And I said, you know what?
Speaker: Screw it.
Speaker: We'll go.
Speaker: And I remember walking in and just the energy and just kind of like everything about it.
Speaker: And where I was seating, I was like, dude, I'm at the very, very back.
Speaker: So I walk out and I said, how can I upgrade to like your middle package?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And so I upgraded to the middle package and I saw a big difference in the type of people I got to meet and where their headspace was at.
Speaker: And so I've met a lot of
Speaker: really good people there that now are friends, you know, and we can bounce ideas back.
Speaker: And so you see different ways of thinking, different ways of operating.
Speaker: And since then, dude, I've gone to, you know, everything that he does, we'll go there and
Speaker: Now I can actually buy into more expensive things, which is sometimes scary.
Speaker: But, you know, you get to meet people that are also in the same space financially that are doing cooler stuff.
Speaker: And you learn from them and, you know, you get people inviting you to buy an apartment complex with them or to do this or to do that.
Speaker: So it does grow your mindset.
Speaker: your mind for door to door con.
Speaker: I highly suggest it for everybody in the space, just because you get to hear, you know, top rep stories, you get to mingle and interact with other people, you get to hear different pitches, you get to see like what's new in the industry, you get to see, you know, the vendors, you get basically cool speakers.
Speaker: I like that it's in January because you kick off the year with some motivation.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So for me, this is great to come back and bring value to the team and see like what's new, take pictures with some of the legends here, you know, and bring it back.
Speaker: So definitely investing in yourself is key.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I suggest that to everyone.
Speaker: I mean, I'm sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: you get value out of these things as well.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: A hundred percent pays for itself.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And something I like viewers talking about before the podcast too, is you said that like any of your guys that want to come, you always make them, you know, like buy their tickets and all that.
Speaker: Cause it's like, you want guys putting their money where their mouth is.
Speaker: And you know, it's, um, if, if you buy your own ticket and it costs you your own money, you treat the whole conference different.
Speaker: right versus if i'm paying for everybody and i'm bringing the team and everything like that's not as appreciated as if it cost you time energy money right to actually get here you're gonna take way more out of it and and so that's exactly what happened to me and now that that happened to me i'm like dude everybody that everybody that comes should buy their own way here that way they can walk around with that pride you know they can feel accomplishment of being able to come into these things and yeah and then
Speaker: later seeing how many more events or conferences they can go to to keep stimulated, to keep motivated.
Speaker: Because that's a lot of what you get here.
Speaker: You get motivation, you get inspired, you get, you know, resurrected.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: It's reviving for sure.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, at least have it be, you know, for people that own their companies or managers for teams or whatever, I'd say at least make it be like an incentive or something, you know, like make guys earn it because.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Or, you know, if, if reps really want to come, you could always work out, you know, with your managers or,
Speaker: the owners of the company, you can be like, Hey man, can you just cover the ticket up front and just deduct it from my commissions, et cetera, like that.
Speaker: And work out something like that.
Speaker: That's still them paying for it, you know?
Speaker: And so that's something that is also available if you think outside the box.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just because you don't have the 1500 or 1600, whatever the ticket costs, like ask, you know, knock on that door and say, Hey, I really want to go.
Speaker: How can we make it happen?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: There's always a way.
Speaker: So yeah, and it's been, like you said, it's been cool just to network and hear from the speakers.
Speaker: And I think that alone, just the networking, you're getting with like-minded people and, you know, potential opportunities for business later.
Speaker: You never know who you're going to meet because like you were talking about earlier, it's like,
Speaker: The way you started your deal at your company, it's from people you knew, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so maybe one of those people is at these events.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think it's been awesome.
Speaker: And then, well, yeah, we were talking at lunch and everything.
Speaker: Darren, you guys had a little tussle at the bar last night.
Speaker: Isn't it pretty funny?
Speaker: Entertainment.
Speaker: So for the fun part, right?
Speaker: So we went out to this spot yesterday that, you know, it was super packed, right?
Speaker: It was super packed and, you know, Utah's cold.
Speaker: So we weren't going to wait in line.
Speaker: We asked the bouncer how we could, you know, cut through the line.
Speaker: And we cut through the line.
Speaker: We had a great time.
Speaker: And as soon as we're coming out, all of a sudden I see, like,
Speaker: people running around chasing themselves and then, you know, punching each other.
Speaker: And I'm like, what the hell?
Speaker: And I was like, dude, that's one of our guys.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So, so I, I, I do not like condone fighting or anything like that.
Speaker: Like I've, I've gotten into enough fights growing up as a kid to know that a fight is not good.
Speaker: Either you win it or you lose it.
Speaker: They're always bad.
Speaker: Like you don't ever win a fight.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So I just, you know, kind of run out and,
Speaker: I'm trying to see who's there of authority to stop it.
Speaker: I'm just like, dude, and then I'm just like, well, we need to go pull some guys off of each other.
Speaker: I see a phone and I thought it was the bad guy's phone.
Speaker: I was like, you know what?
Speaker: I'm not going to hit him, but I'm going to hit him where it hurts.
Speaker: I take the case off and I smash it.
Speaker: Then I step on it.
Speaker: And, you know, we break it up and all of a sudden there's like so many more people that are from Utah and it's a big friend group and I don't even know how it started.
Speaker: And so then I see they're all coming, right?
Speaker: And I was like, dude, think of something quick to get all of these guys to not like, you know, completely like beat us up.
Speaker: And so...
Speaker: I walk over and I was like, guys, don't mess with us.
Speaker: You know, we're the mafia.
Speaker: We're the Mexican mafia.
Speaker: And I was wearing like a gangster, you know, outfit on and the bouncer was like,
Speaker: Dude, these were the guys that paid, you know, $50 a head to fucking cut the line, right?
Speaker: And so he's like, all of a sudden, dude, the bouncer's like, don't touch them.
Speaker: They like just come and start protecting us.
Speaker: And then, you know, funny, funny story.
Speaker: My buddy's like, hey, have you seen my phone?
Speaker: I'm looking for my phone.
Speaker: And I was like, no way.
Speaker: Dude, he finds the case and he says, I found my case, but where's my phone?
Speaker: And I was like, ah, shit, dude, I might have stopped.
Speaker: stomped on it you know and everything like that and then you know the cops show up and I was like ah here we go he's like hey what happened and everyone's just like nothing nothing nothing and I was like dude we got out of it like that's really good but yeah it was it was just funny man you walk out and then you see like a bunch of people running around you know and it was like what is going on but it's freaking funny
Speaker: Yeah, that's one of the funnier stories I've heard on the podcast.
Speaker: Sorry if you didn't want to tell, but I mean, it is what it is, man.
Speaker: Like.
Speaker: Like I said, the fighting is not good, but always figure out a way to stop it.
Speaker: And stop the bleeding.
Speaker: You put those door-to-door skills to use, thinking on the spot.
Speaker: You're like, all right, I'll make it.
Speaker: You have to sometimes.
Speaker: And then people were looking at us like, oh, that's the mafia guys, the mafia guys.
Speaker: I was like, yeah, our bodyguards are around the corner.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Guys, back off.
Speaker: Trying to get on an Uber, bro.
Speaker: And then you couldn't get an Uber.
Speaker: Ubers are like 16 minutes out.
Speaker: Even like the XL, it's closing time.
Speaker: Everybody's trying to get an Uber.
Speaker: So we just kind of walked back.
Speaker: And then we found a taco stand and had some tacos in Utah.
Speaker: And then made our rounds.
Speaker: to the hotel.
Speaker: So it was good today.
Speaker: Woke up fresh and came to the conference to get some golden nuggets.
Speaker: That's what we came here for.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The most important thing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So if you want a good time at door to door con, hang out with Ruben.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: I'm glad you didn't have any major injuries or something.
Speaker: No, none.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I'm the one with the black eye right now.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: So that was actually how we saw you.
Speaker: I knew you were coming because we had talked on Instagram, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: One of the guys that came with us, he's like, dude, was he one of those?
Speaker: Look, I think I got him good.
Speaker: And he starts like pointing at you.
Speaker: And I was like, who?
Speaker: He has a black eye.
Speaker: Look at him.
Speaker: Look at him.
Speaker: I think I got him.
Speaker: And I was like, dude, no, no, he's not.
Speaker: Like, I know this guy.
Speaker: I've done a podcast with him.
Speaker: He's not one of them, you know?
Speaker: And he's like, oh, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I walk over and I was like, dude, they thought you were, you know, one of the guys from last night.
Speaker: But it was, yeah, man.
Speaker: Never, yeah.
Speaker: Never had a funnier introduction than that.
Speaker: I think I was the one in the bar fight.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: Yeah, so that's kind of what's been going on, you know, with my life in general.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Very excited for 2023.
Speaker: It holds a lot of, you know, good feelings in my gut about it.
Speaker: And so I think that's kind of like the best thing you can do.
Speaker: Learn from mistakes was one of the big takeaways from here.
Speaker: The ability, how did you phrase it?
Speaker: I wrote it down.
Speaker: I'm a note taker.
Speaker: So like I'll write stuff down, but he, he talked about, um, the ability to look at yourself and actually like analyze like your failures and, uh, sometimes valuing your failures more than your wins, you know, because when you win, you win and it feels great.
Speaker: But when you fail, you can actually see what you did wrong and you can take that as a lesson that way.
Speaker: Next time you don't do the same wrong thing.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I think that's, um,
Speaker: Very relatable to door to door to the entrepreneur, the solopreneur, right?
Speaker: Is learning never to quit and learning from your mistakes.
Speaker: And that's what makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur.
Speaker: It's a guy that continues to fail, fail, fail, fail.
Speaker: People laugh at them, you know, and you just keep getting back up and trying to analyze what caused you to fail.
Speaker: and then tweak it, and then eventually, you'll find some success.
Speaker: And that's what people see.
Speaker: But they don't see the failures that come before.
Speaker: And so just hearing other people kind of express that is like, all right, we're not alone.
Speaker: People see the overnight success, but then they don't see everything that happens before that to cause the overnight success, right?
Speaker: Yeah, Mo Fala yesterday did a great speech.
Speaker: Congratulations on the, you know, the acquirement.
Speaker: He did a great example of, he says, you know, he was talking about his company Simple and he says, you've seen that picture where it's like the tip of the iceberg and that's the only thing you can see.
Speaker: But then like all underneath you have this big rock that nobody sees.
Speaker: You just see this.
Speaker: He's like, that's three years of, you know, the past three years of the business is this.
Speaker: But, you know, the past 10 years is like everything that people don't see.
Speaker: And so overnight success just doesn't happen.
Speaker: It's, you know,
Speaker: failure after failure after failure after failure, which actually gets you sharp enough to whenever you have that opportunity to execute, you can actually execute.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Yeah, no, it's been awesome hearing the Nuggets.
Speaker: And yeah, definitely highly recommend people come to events like this and get to hang out and brush shoulders with guys like Ruben and guys like Mo, guys like myself.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: So yeah, we'll start wrapping up here, Ruben, so you can get to probably going to win an award up on stage or something here.
Speaker: So you did what, 180 deals last year?
Speaker: 180, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Crazy.
Speaker: So definitely top 1% for sure.
Speaker: Trying to do more this year.
Speaker: More than that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Trying to see how I can be in more places at the same time.
Speaker: You got to remember to submit for your Golden Door award next year, man.
Speaker: Dude, I know, man.
Speaker: Maybe just try walking up on stage and be like, hey.
Speaker: You know, I think that's really cool now that, you know, the golden door award exists because it gives people a metric to shoot for.
Speaker: And that recognition in front of like everybody in the industry is huge, you know?
Speaker: But I think the biggest part of it is, you know, the speaker from yesterday was great.
Speaker: I forget his name.
Speaker: Did like the food processing protein bars.
Speaker: Oh, Tom Bilyeu.
Speaker: That guy, Tom Bilyeu.
Speaker: Where he says, you know, success is getting your teeth kicked in, coming out with like missing eye and then just kind of like walking up with like the opponent's blood on your face and knowing that you actually did it.
Speaker: Like, I think that is the biggest confidence builder.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's the coolest part of the journey, you know, hitting a goal that like I think was the Golden Door, 130 accounts.
Speaker: Yeah, 130, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, so if you aim for 130, you divide it by 12 months, and then you divide it by a week, and then you know exactly how many deals you need to get to 130 at the end of the deer.
Speaker: So just reverse math, which I'm not that good at, but I can do that.
Speaker: That's why you have people on your team.
Speaker: Get the right team in.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Well, Ruben, we appreciate you coming on for the second time.
Speaker: to this show.
Speaker: Not too many people have been on twice, so it's been an honor.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: And then in case people didn't listen to the first one or still catching up, what's the best way to connect with you or reach out?
Speaker: On social media, I need to get better on TikTok and all those other ones, but the one I use most is Instagram.
Speaker: And usually, you know, I'm posting constantly like trainings, deals, clothes on the stories.
Speaker: I need to do better at posting on my actual site, but my Instagram handle is Ruben
Speaker: R-U-B-E-N period can, C-A-N.
Speaker: Like Ruben can do it, right?
Speaker: Yeah, that's where it came from.
Speaker: But yeah, guys reach out.
Speaker: If you guys have any questions in the industry or in the space, you know, it's always nice to, oh, that was the other thing we were talking about.
Speaker: I was, you know, great things about these conferences is actually like teaching people how to become better at their job.
Speaker: So it eliminates that negative reputation that you have.
Speaker: When you go knock on a door and you're like, oh, it's solar.
Speaker: And so many people have heard nightmares because rep aren't trained well enough to actually service the customer instead to like 50% offset them or whatever.
Speaker: And so people have such a negative taste that it makes everyone's job harder versus, you know, getting come to door to door, hearing from the best in the industry on what they do and, you know, polishing your skill sets.
Speaker: That's just going to make life easier for everybody.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's enough for everyone.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker: Yeah, it's definitely an abundance mindset.
Speaker: Like everyone here, I feel like, is really willing to share what's working for them and, you know, spill all their secrets and stuff, which didn't happen before.
Speaker: Yeah, when you were mentioning how your podcast came about, where you said, you know, I would ask guys, like, what's working for them and they don't want to talk.
Speaker: But then if I invited them to a podcast to talk about themselves, they'd spill the beans.
Speaker: And I was like, dude, that's genius.
Speaker: Yeah, it is.
Speaker: Yeah, so...
Speaker: That's how we do it.
Speaker: Thank you for having me.
Speaker: Appreciate it, man.
Speaker: Thanks for coming on.
Speaker: I'll see you in Florida for a little blitz or something later.
Speaker: We'll do it.
Speaker: Thanks again, Ruben.
Speaker: Guys, hit Ruben up.
Speaker: Let them know you appreciate them coming on the show for the second time.
Speaker: Share the podcast with anyone that you know.
Speaker: They could use a jump start in their day.
Speaker: We'll see you on the next one.
Speaker: Thanks, Ruben.
Speaker: Thank you, brother.
Speaker: What's up, solarpreneurs?
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?
Speaker: What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
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 Solarpreneur.
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