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13–Julian Scadden – From Blue Collar Roots to Transforming Trades Leadership
20 Plays3 months ago
In this episode of The Unfolding Thought Podcast, Julian Scadden, President and CEO of Nexstar Network, shares his incredible journey from humble beginnings to leading one of the most respected organizations in the trades industry. Julian talks about the personal and professional challenges he faced, how he overcame them, and his philosophy on leadership, growth, and community.
Julian also discusses the role of Nexstar Network in helping trades businesses thrive by providing top-tier training, mentorship, and operational support. From his own experiences as a business owner to his current role as a visionary leader, Julian offers actionable insights for anyone looking to grow their business, develop their team, or overcome obstacles with resilience and determination.
Tune in to hear Julian’s thoughts on the power of vision, responsibility, and mentorship in building a thriving business and a fulfilling career.
Mentioned in the Episode:
- The importance of mentorship and community in personal and professional growth.
- How Nexstar Network supports tradespeople in transitioning to business leadership.
- Lessons learned from scaling and running a trades business.
- Julian’s thoughts on vision and responsibility as tools for transformation.
Links:
- The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: https://amzn.to/4gUats2
- Be Useful: https://amzn.to/4ap5XPV
- Discussion with Jeremy Nulik: Find episode 2 or https://unfoldingthought.com/jeremy-nulik-how-vision-shapes-strategy/
Connect with Julian Scadden:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianscadden/
- Nexstar Network: https://www.nexstarnetwork.com
Join the Conversation:
Have thoughts about this episode? Share them with us on social media, by leaving a review, emailing Eric at Eric@inboundandagile.com, or visiting the website at https://unfoldingthought.com.
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Transcript
Julian Skadden's Early Life and Career
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Unfolding Thought podcast. My name is Eric Pratum. Today, I speak with Julian Skadden, president and CEO of Nexstar Network, a member-owned organization dedicated to elevating the trades industry by turning the best trades people into the best business people.
00:00:24
Speaker
In our conversation, Julian shares his journey from growing up in a single parent home and working odd jobs to discovering his passion in the trades and ultimately becoming a leader who helps others transform their careers and businesses. And now, I bring you Julian Skadden.
00:00:44
Speaker
Julian, thanks for joining me. Would you mind giving us all a little bit about your background? Well, howdy, Eric. Thank you for having me. um As we dive into this podcast, I think we will find some other identifiers, but I'll tell you how I self-identified to some degree. I'm a kid who was a single-parent home, the things that come with that, um an industrial commerce city type of neighborhood in that brain.
00:01:09
Speaker
of which though i had ah I had a great mother, I had a great relationship with my sister and um though always seeking to be educated, school wasn't the place for me. So ultimately became a dropout, found my way into the trades and from the trades I found the career that I enjoy today and a beautiful family that I get to take care of and an amazing career that I get to partake in. um So it's always easy hindsight to look back and say what a ride, but there have been plenty of ups and downs as you might imagine. So I'm grateful to have some time with you today and you know, add some value to folks who are listening and might see themselves in our stories or some things that we can help them navigate or avoid by what we've learned. So thanks for having me. Thank you, Julian. So I do want to come around to what you're doing today and what you've been doing in recent years.
Education and Early Work Experiences
00:01:53
Speaker
However, the way that you phrased it was that you became a dropout or something of that nature. um
00:02:00
Speaker
What was that experience like, I guess? If we can go that far back, did was there a sense for you that this isn't for me? Was there a struggle with, I don't know, the way school was organized? Was there something else ah that it was like going through that?
00:02:18
Speaker
Yeah, there were definitely some external factors that influenced that decision for sure. Again, at the time, ah living living with my mother. Elder's sister had had a child pretty early in high school as well. Mom's working a few jobs. And, um you know, there's distractions. I was in a community where, you know, many of the folks were into, you know, whether it was gang or drug related activity.
00:02:41
Speaker
or they were hyper focused. So I have two very good friends that I grew up with. Both went on to become engineers. One went to CU Boulder. One went to the University of Pennsylvania. But I would say for those two, there's about another 50, five, zero that were either incarcerated, killed, caught up in you know some kind of what you would think of as as street drama. So that's going on.
00:03:02
Speaker
And around the same time, there was some instability in the home. And um my mother was unsure if she would be able to provide. I was around 14, 15 at the time. And I had a vehicle because I was always working and I thought the vehicle could be my home.
00:03:17
Speaker
And I was more interested in making money. I wasn't interested in the school system. I wasn't interested in repeating facts that just weren't putting food on the table. I just didn't have it as a priority in my life at the time to be in ah an organized learning environment. And I was disruptive. I'll own that. I was distracted for sure. um But it was the core of needing to provide or thinking at the time that I needed to provide for myself on a very real level. And I just said school is not the priority right now.
00:03:46
Speaker
And I went out and I began working odd jobs and just bringing in some income. And about a year, no, probably two or three years passed. And then one day um a good friend of mine's father offered, you know, for you to continue your education, Julian, you should at least have a GED.
Finding a Career in the Trades
00:04:02
Speaker
So a few years later, I went off and took the GED test and one day passed it.
00:04:07
Speaker
And I'm jumping ahead a little bit on you. But yeah, the dropout was really in high school and it was tied to external ah societal factors. And my mindset at the time of needing to provide and really just not wanting to participate. I'm sure I could have found a way. I'm sure I could have found somebody that would let me you know stay with them. But that just wasn't my focus. I was kind of me against the world at the time. So I got after it.
00:04:27
Speaker
You said you found yourself in the trades and ah you've described to me before a little bit of your trajectory, but was there after you got your GED or you know how how long was it, I guess, before you found yourself in what I understand to be your first primary occupation, which I'll i'll let you describe, of course.
00:04:50
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not even sure that I recall, you know, I was, I was quick to pick up any job at the time. I was doing everything from putting, you know, clover leafing or putting flyers in neighborhoods for a pizza shop. I was cleaning restrooms as a janitorial service. I was washing dishes. Uh, I was looking for jobs, you know, cash under the table type of labor jobs. I worked in call centers, but I think the thing that really caught my direction and really helped focus me was my first job was as a ditch digger, or at least the first job that really got me into the trades. I was a ditch digger for a sewer department and plumbing. Plumbing was the route. So when I mentioned the trades, I know that's a broad term, um but the trades, when I speak of them for me, at least was plumbing ultimately became residential plumbing.
00:05:36
Speaker
but Yeah, begin with ah digging sewer lines and shoring up sewer lines for the the the the sewer team. We're out there replacing sewers and it was good work. It was you know blue collar work. I was getting my hands dirty. It was a great company that allowed me to then take on some apprenticeship and start to learn the technical aspects of becoming a service technician. So it was great in that way.
00:05:57
Speaker
And then it was purchased and merged with other companies. And I began to see something that would have an impact on me to this day is the business inner workings of culture and ownership. So to begin, I had a job. To begin, I just needed money. And I took for granted the culture that was facilitated at that first job. And I noticed a strong deviation.
00:06:18
Speaker
when a large corporation purchased five businesses, merged them together. And again, as it relates now, when I look back to acquisitions and rollups and tuck-ins and things of that nature, I know what they were doing, but at the time as an employee, it was quite the whirlwind of a culture shock. And that's what got me into the trades and the beginning of my education into business.
Joining and Growing with Nexstar Network
00:06:41
Speaker
You ended up eventually in plumbing, which i I appreciate you bringing that up because in my simplified understanding of your background, you know, that's one of the things that stands out. Then eventually you ended up, am I recalling correctly, you ended up purchasing the company that you were working for? No, I actually relocated and purchased the customer list.
00:07:08
Speaker
from a construction company to start a residential company. So yeah, I was in the trades as an employee for many, many years, and then upon you know some personal situations, decided I wanted to leave, and I don't mind digging into that, but I wanted to leave my home state, relocate it to another state, and a quite successful new construction company who did not want anything to do with residential service All I knew was residential service. I created a partnership deal with this business owner to take over his customer list and start building a residential department out of ah his office space. So that's when I did jump into business ownership myself or at least partnership, I should say. Where did you ah move from or I guess where did you grow up and then where did you move to where are you then you know purchase that list and so on?
00:07:57
Speaker
I consider home the mile high city. That's just Denver, Colorado, or just outside of Denver, Colorado. There's a little town called Commerce City, which I alluded to earlier. And that was, it was a warehouse district. It was dirt roads. It was shotgun style ranch homes. And that's how I grew up. And that's where I grew up, a very blue collar town. A lot of warehouse workers and at the time, you know, a little different from what you all might be thinking about today with Amazon fulfillment houses. You know, this is more of like fuel and manufacturing and things of that nature. And when I left, I actually went out to Brooklyn, New York for a period of time while I was figuring out my life and wanting to do what I did. I had some good friends and family there, but I had ah two children, small children at the time. I knew I was not going to raise them in Brooklyn, New York. I had a choice between Long Beach, California and Atlanta, Georgia. I ultimately decided Atlanta, Georgia
00:08:44
Speaker
for the cost of living and the business opportunity to raise the children, I realized the opportunities that I would have in Long Beach, California would pretty much land me right back in the hood that I was looking to escape from Colorado. Whereas in Atlanta, you know the same earnings could have us in a nice suburb and a nice upstart for me and the kids. And that's why I chose Atlanta, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. About how old were you when you moved to Atlanta? Oh my goodness, this had to be in my 30s. I'm in my 50s now.
00:09:12
Speaker
You got the that book of business going in plumbing, and I guess we'll jump ahead a little bit. you How did you end up as a member, if I recall correctly, of your current organization, which you then ended up joining?
00:09:30
Speaker
Sure. So the group is Next Star Network. They were formerly known as Contractors 2000 and founded by, founded by George Brazil and Frank Blau Jr. I always want to shout them out. Um, but I had worked for a business that was a Next Star member. So I had mentioned the, um, the first company that I worked with that was acquired and part of a kind of a roll up type of situation.
00:09:54
Speaker
And that was through a large corporation. I worked there for almost six years. I learned a lot about business, KPIs, metrics reporting. So I started to learn the business side of a job or career. I understood the business workings.
00:10:09
Speaker
I didn't like it, though. I didn't like the culture. It was very cutthroat at that company. And so I left and some people that had worked previous to the acquisition of that company had started their own business. And I went to work with them. And they were part of this group called Nextar Network. Now, Nextar doesn't buy your business. They simply give you best practices and processes, things to help independents run their business more effectively. And when I went and worked with them, i I went to my first Nextar training and I thought this place is amazing.
00:10:35
Speaker
Fast forward a couple of years when I wanted to start my own business, ah part of my courage was that I knew Nexstar existed and I knew that I could join and I knew that they would have the processes, the training, the coaching. So it wasn't simply the knowledge that I had acquired over just over a decade, which I could have done and I know I could have done well. But I'll tell you, Nexstar saved me a lot of bumps and bruises when I started that business. So we joined Nexstar immediately at the time of founding the residential business.
00:11:03
Speaker
and fast forward to where we are today i'm now an employee of nextstar but More to come on that, um starting the business, I had some confidence knowing that I had a group like Nextdoor. And there's a lot of groups out there in different trades organizations that can have a business coach help you walk through some of your financial thinking and reporting, help you turn through some of your software reporting and thinking, some of your process orientation. And that's really what it was about. It really helped mature me and give me a ah business acumen that would have taken me probably another decade to acquire on my own.
Personal Growth and Responsibility
00:11:34
Speaker
but Okay, so you've been learning, you've been growing, you've been maturing through this process. You mentioned you had children through some of these changes, which if your experience is like mine, and I believe that a lot of parents it's like this that there are a lot of difficult things about being a parent that you kind of either grow up or you don't.
00:11:55
Speaker
You know like there's a there's a fine line in it's not just. It's not just one bucket. It's multiple areas of your life that you can grow up here and not grow up there mature or whatever you want to refer to it. So I'm sure that that contributed but as you're learning and growing and you got more involved in the business side of things leading up to this point.
00:12:18
Speaker
Do you think that there was something about you or having a certain mentor or boss or your genetics, your background that maybe led you towards this growth, this maturity that you were going through, those ah if I can call it success, through the success that you were having? Was there something that stands out or a bucket of things that contributed to this growth?
00:12:42
Speaker
I do think that i amm I am very fortunate in that I was a learner, you know, it's probably, I think it's innate. I was an avid reader, ah again, the youngest child and, you know, at times an elder sister who would be out running around and all of my cousins were elder and all my friends were older than me and my mother not being present to to provide. So I want to be very clear about that when I say she wasn't present, it was to provide.
00:13:09
Speaker
um But I always just had this fascination, i you know maybe a mind of imagination. I was recently, oh gosh, probably over a year now, but enjoying Arnold Schwarzenegger's ah book, Be Useful. And he said something in that book that I realized I had taken for granted that I had a similarity of him in it in and it was this. He said he realized that he had this superpower of a vision. He could visualize something and then just move towards it with confidence and almost manifest it. And I realized that I had a very similar trait. So I do, you know, I think some of it is genetic.
00:13:45
Speaker
I do think a lot of it is a predisposition for learning that really assisted me um and and it never settling. I was always always felt you know a little bit of it, Eric, was a chip on the shoulder. you know I'll own that too. There was you know some racism, some classism, some things that really fueled me early in unhealthy ways, you know being very angry, but it was fuel. you know It definitely got me going. But learning how to direct that energy into I would say, what would I say, uh, more, uh, I won't even use the word positive, but you know, just outcomes that I wanted to align with of, okay, where do I redirect Eric to this day? I still, you know, I've been profiled recently and it's like, okay, do you get upset or what do you do with that? And, and I don't mean to ah simply say that it is racial. It can be age, it can be religion, it can be anything. And so what I do not, what I do not condone and what I do not participate in is something that I did for a long time.
00:14:42
Speaker
And that's what can come with some of these chips that are on our shoulder. It's the victim mentality. And I think the largest transformation I had, Eric, was the day that I stopped looking at others and pointing at others, and I just said, in the most healthy way that I can attempt to describe it, I think it's always been this way. You know, I can look at the Bible, I can look at history books, and I go, you know what, I think it's always been this way.
00:15:06
Speaker
And there's a certain degree of standing up for what's right. And then there's also a certain degree of victimization. or You just go, poor me and it'll never change. And somebody needs to come save me. And how come the government can't figure it out? And I just said, you know what? Let me see what I can do. Let me see what I can control. Just had this conversation recently um as we're in a presidential year here. And it's like, you know, some of the concerns are very real. The political concerns are very real.
00:15:33
Speaker
And many of the things are not. Many of the things are just things to talk about or to distract you from creating a great business and the things you can control. And so I think the biggest shift, Eric, for me was learning all that I could and realizing to when I was turning into a victim of circumstance. And you must have your own resources, your own energy before you can truly help the helpless. There's a lot of people out there, and I promise I'll pause in just a moment, but you got me started.
00:16:02
Speaker
I promise there are many, many human beings out there who actually need our help and assistance. Unfortunately, there are other human beings who are aware of those resources and leverage them or manipulate them in a fashion that I don't align with. And so we've got to make that distinction between victims and actual those in need and assist those where needed.
00:16:23
Speaker
I'll echo, I guess in my own experience, a bit of what it sounds like you've gone through in your own journey. And it it sounds to me like many difficulties or or just, you know, my my life or whatever that I've not gone through.
00:16:40
Speaker
perhaps some things that are as challenging as you might have gone through. And yet, I can look back at my 20s in particular, and then sometime between the age of 30 to maybe 35, I really can start to point to, I took more responsibility for you know my situation or whatever, and I now frequently tell people.
00:17:06
Speaker
There are a lot of ways in which you cannot control the hand that was dealt to you. And you know if you're a person that is prone to anger or anxiety or you have an addiction or any number of things, I think it's reasonable to say that you can't control that life or your genes or whatever gave you anxiety and that you're going to feel anxiety more than another person when you walk into a situation.
00:17:34
Speaker
but No matter how difficult it is, you're responsible for how you respond or react to that anxiety.
From Business Owner to Coach at Nexstar
00:17:42
Speaker
You know, you mentioned ah racism, for example. i I cannot speak strongly to that except to the extent that I have lived overseas and I lived overseas when i ah when the US invaded Iraq. And ah I experienced the closest that I can get, I suppose, is some anti-American sentiment, which is different, but it's closest I can get, I think. And you know no matter how people treated me, I was responsible for how I handle that situation. And ah there's a book that I read recently, I think it was called The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership.
00:18:23
Speaker
and The number one commitment in in these people's mind is, and they they call it something like, you have to practice hyper responsibility. I will throw in here real quick as well, but I think it was in the book, Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martel that he tells the story of being, I think it was 14, 15 years old and stealing a car.
00:18:48
Speaker
and then leading the police on a chase and he ended up getting arrested because he crashed the car. And he talks a little bit about his childhood and all that and then he says you know after having gone on and ah been a successful entrepreneur, started SAS businesses and a number of other things.
00:19:07
Speaker
His opinion is that there are there is a much higher percentage of ah entrepreneurs that come from difficult situations, difficult backgrounds. And I think in his characterization, it's like what I'm going to use shorthand for here, like a broken home type stuff. Like it was just a chaotic situation. And he he states it as, I think,
00:19:33
Speaker
There's something about that for some people where they learn to handle chaos or ah tough situations better than other people. Well, I can ah can align with that that. That makes sense to me. and And you said a few things I want to unpack here ah for the listeners, make sure that we're really parking on the things that ah have helped us, you know, in the end with the intent that hopefully someone can discover some benefit for themselves. But you nailed it with responsibility. So I'm gonna go backwards a little bit in your 30s, you know, probably similar to me in my 30s, you just kind of turn this corner, you say, you know, I'm able bodied, I'm healthy, I'm intelligent, you know, I don't have these
00:20:14
Speaker
You know, that other stuff, is it's going on. And I'm not minimizing it. I'm not minimizing it. It is going on. And then it is a distraction. And it really does hurt the human soul, some of the stuff that goes on out there. and And I guess on the other side of that pain, though, is the blessing. It's like, okay, so what what can I do? What am I responsible, hyper responsible for?
00:20:31
Speaker
And it's really interesting here we where you talked about the entrepreneurs, too, is, it you know, I wonder how much we would see this fork in the road of those who have had challenges early. And I'm always impressed with young people who have hyper responsibility early, um you know, just whether it's their home or their innate nature. I'm always impressed when somebody young, you just see that they just get it.
00:20:53
Speaker
and I'd share for them. Because I wonder at these at these moments of responsibility, now that you say the 30s and 20s and 30s, I'm sitting here reflecting a little bit. And I think about how I'll tolerate from some of my nieces and nephews and younger professionals kind of in their 20s when they're lamenting and their victims are tolerated. But as you get older,
00:21:11
Speaker
You know, or I see you start to become adults in my mind, you know, your forties and fifties and you have your own children and you're still behaving this way. It's victim this and that's wrong. And what about me? And I have a much shorter attention span, basically zero for that. Um, and that's what she triggered for me here. I wonder if the people who come through the tough things, is there a little bit of fork in the road where maybe they just own it and they just feel defeated and they just say, this is how it is. And they continue to live that victim mentality and kind of live under that umbrella and they identify with it.
00:21:39
Speaker
And they say, this is how it is. And others say, you know what? It's there, but that's not me, and I'm going to break from it. And therefore, as a result, have that tension, that resistance that they can turn into fuel to create something new. So I'm not vilifying or glorifying either one.
00:21:55
Speaker
But when you share that, that's a distinction that popped out for me. Oh my gosh, my heart goes out a little bit more than I think it did before this call to those people who may choose to to wallow and look past their blessings instead of being so um maybe put off by them. It's just a lack of realization of what they have and and I hope that they can turn a corner.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah, and I want to underscore what you said. I forget how you stated it, but effectively there are challenges that people face that are more difficult than others, right? So in no way should we minimize one person's challenge that is it just harder, you know, like that that that hill that they have to climb, they're they're starting lower on the hill or they're carrying a heavier weight or we can we can illustrate it in any way that we want.
00:22:41
Speaker
However, there, I'm guessing that as you were going through this journey, you were picking up people that, you know, were better able to support you in your journey, in the, in the maturation that you were going through. And there, there might be some people that you avoided or left behind and we all need that. You know, I mentioned having a mentor, you know, if, if that was one of your things and whether you did or not,
00:23:11
Speaker
the more that we can find our culture, as you mentioned, you know with ah not just one organization, but also then the organization that you went into, there are all of these things that are outside of us that some of them, life just gives them, gives us those things, good and bad. And yet we can help ourselves if we move towards the people that help us, towards the situations that help us. You mentioned being an avid reader, and i i want to come back to that if we have time because. I think you know I read a lot and I am really curious sometimes what people get out of that however I want to get to next our network so you're running a business you have been a next star network member it sounds like now into into businesses.
00:23:59
Speaker
And then if I recall the you know history that you've given me, you had the opportunity at some point to join Next Star Network as an employee rather than as a member business, so to speak. Is that correct? That is correct.
00:24:16
Speaker
either how did that come about or what was your role that you were attracted to going from a trades business to a an organization that helped with I think you said effectively training best practices and all that. hat What was that ah experience like? How did it come about?
00:24:37
Speaker
For the first time that I had attended a NYXTR training as an employee of another organization, I just noticed it was different. There was a real focus on the participant. There was a real focus on getting to meet the people at your table. And to be honest with you, Eric, the first class drove me nuts, or at least the first day did. You know, I just want the stuff. Tell me what to do. You know, I'm this kid who's just kind of running from these circumstances and wanting to get ahead in life.
00:25:01
Speaker
just tell me what to do and you know the first half of day one was you know talking about your feelings and thinking about where you came from and Meet the person next to you and it's like oh come on man. It's now I came here for but what I realized The beautiful thing about Nextar, it's called Nextar Network for a reason, is you are meant to meet other people from other businesses. Not only do the employees of Nextar support your business, but the network, the ability to pick up the phone and call another person who is in a plumbing company, who is just starting a plumbing company, or when we wanted to add HVAC, not only did our coaches help us with that and the training help our employees, but I could go visit other members and walk their shop and talk about
00:25:39
Speaker
how much inventory to put on the trucks, how much to keep on hand, how to create consignment type of work through my peers. So I did have that experience. And back to your question of what transitioned is I had begun, as I mentioned earlier, with by having a job I needed to provide. I had a job.
00:25:56
Speaker
What I started to see develop is the potential for a career. Past the career, then I saw the potential for ownership, the ownership of a business, a partnership, ownership stake in a business. And what I realized as I stepped into the ownership partnership phase in Atlanta was I had made some poor business decisions. I had partnered with a person that had different views and visions than mine. I had not given myself the full percentage of ownership to make all the decisions that I needed to make. In residential home services, there's a lot of exposure. There's a lot of liability.
00:26:26
Speaker
You have people out on the road with flammable and expensive equipment driving around the city all day and you don't know what they're doing. ah You have people going into other people's homes. and And you don't know what they're doing. So you know thank goodness for all the great people we do have in the trades, but you know the mind wanders. And so it's a very, very tough business because every day you start all over again. You just start all over again. It's like day one, all over again. Fresh calls, fresh things broken to residential service. These aren't big jobs. They aren't one-year jobs. They're not government contracts. It's just wake up again. and
00:26:58
Speaker
Let's get Jimmy, Johnny and Eric over to the job site and let's check in and make sure they're doing what they said. Let's make sure they got their inventory sheet right. Let's make sure they price correctly. And my point is the business position that I put myself in from the ownership perspective was unfavorable. The liabilities and the concept of where I wanted to be um just wasn't ah it wasn't it it wasn't the best case scenario.
00:27:22
Speaker
And guess what? Had a new baby at the time and a health scare. So I had a health issue, had a brand new baby, and I wasn't happy with the ah business partnership that I was in. And so I just said, I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm not going to do it anymore. Let my business partner know that I'd be walking away and we put a timeline on it. And as I reflected, I realized how rapidly We had grown this business and I knew I could do it again. I knew I could do it again. We went from nothing to 13 million in four years. And at that time, this is 07 when we started, 08 when we really get our our feet in the ground. And this was a time of downturn. We did that. And back then, 13 million in a residential service in one location was a big deal. I mean, a big deal. And so I had the attention of Nexstar. I had the attention of my business coach there.
00:28:11
Speaker
And so I told him, I said, when I leave this business, all I want to do is be a coach. you got Your life is easy. You know what I mean? You probably start your day at eight, and you're definitely down at five. I'm not. I barely sleep at night. I'm i'm on call. I'm worried about homeowners. I'm worried about things going wrong with the work we did. I'm worried about callbacks. I'm worried about malfunctions. I go, you guys, you coaches, you guys have it easy. You just help other people navigate their problems. And I think I've seen enough now that I could help others.
00:28:37
Speaker
And so that's how the transition happened. I spent about a year and a half doing contract work, creating my own consulting business in the trades until Nexstar picked up the phone and said, hey, we think we have a job for you, of which I happily jumped on that opportunity about 12 years ago now. Did you join Nexstar Network as a coach or did you have a different kind of role there for you know on day one?
00:29:00
Speaker
Yeah, my first role was a coach, but it was a new type of coach. It wasn't even the coaching that I had experienced as a member. They had an idea and they said, we have our business coaches and we have our marketing coaches, but we realized the most successful members are those who implement our processes and our strategies and our tools better than others. So we need a coach that's going to help people implement. I mean, it makes perfect sense now you look at EOS and integrators and things of that nature.
00:29:24
Speaker
And they said, we need this for our members. So my first role was a new role. So once again, just diving into something new just to join the dream team. And I did it. I'm happy to say to this day, we still have implementation coaches that work alongside business coaches and a plethora of many other coaches now. But yeah, I started as a coach, my man.
00:29:41
Speaker
I think you said 12 years ago, you and I met two, maybe three years ago. And by that point, you had become CEO, if I recall correctly. So you've been it with the organization for a while and you've come to, I hope I'm not making it sound too grand or anything, but you're you have now the top spot in the organization. You have it one of the primary leadership roles in the position are in the in the organization.
00:30:11
Speaker
Correct. i am I am the senior most leader at Nextar Network. Nextar is and as a member owned organization and we're truly member owned. We're not a nonprofit. We're not an ESOP. We're not a co-op. And that's a whole other probably conversation. But yeah meeting the the senior most leader as president CEO, I report directly to our board of directors, which is made up of active members. So I am the senior most leader in the day to day operations of Nextar.
00:30:34
Speaker
You mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger's book, I think it was called Be Useful. And that he stated something along the lines of that he always had a vision. And I think he said that there were some similarities between what you were reading there and what you saw in yourself. And so when we met, I think you were going through a process with the Next Star Network of, let's say, clarifying that vision. And one of the things that I liked so much that you said was the mission or tagline or something that you were working on and have now adopted if I recall correctly is that
00:31:16
Speaker
Next Star Network makes the world's best tradespeople into the world's best business people. Is that correct? You nailed it. And that's, I mean, well, one, I think aligning people around a shared vision is incredibly important. I forget where it is in the Bible. It's in Proverbs or something like that.
00:31:38
Speaker
where they say, where there is no vision, the people perish. And Emerson and Thoreau and other people have said things like that. So, you know, if if somebody's listening to this and you write off, you know, the Bible or whatever, to me that's that's no big deal. But this is a shared sentiment over time that having a vision for the future is important, you know, for yourself, for your family, for your community. I spoke recently with one of my friends, Jeremy Newlick, who is a futurist, a brand strategist and a number of other things. And one of the things that he talks about is that people's visions of the future precede the growth or decline in their group, in their life, in their society, whatever. And fundamentally what that means is if you, Julian, feel negatively about your career prospects, for example, you are more than likely going to make decisions that
00:32:43
Speaker
manifest that future. If you feel negatively about the economy or politics or your company, you are not the only one that is going to contribute to a positive or negative future, but you will act in such a way that it makes that potential negative future a more likely reality. And so, you know, you you mentioned having a vision and one, i I totally agree, you know, i I think that there are a lot of criticisms to be pointed at things like the secret and yet there are, you know, because it's wanting it is not enough. You have to see it in your mind, you know, like you hear about athletes doing visioning exercises or something, but part of the reason they do that is so that they have belief, but then they'll also act on all that mental practice that they've gone through.
00:33:40
Speaker
And you know we met, you were going through this process. And not only did I think that that statement was really inspiring and brilliant, and it communicates some of the job to be done for your members.
00:33:55
Speaker
you know You want to join next our network. What are you going to get out of it? We hope you're a great business person or sorry, a great trades person, right? We want to take you to maybe we call it the next level or maybe we call it through, uh, if it's, even if it's not the next level, a transformation, we want to take you through a transformation to be what you want to become.
00:34:15
Speaker
So okay, the mission itself, we actually took we were watching a video of the founder Frank Blau Jr. And when I say we, it was ah the senior leaders of Nextar operations and the board members. And we were we were wrestling with the mission statement. And really, it was my predecessor, the ah previous CEO who had exited who just kind of looked at it and he said, Julian, I've been so busy around this place. And he looked at our what was our mission at the time, because I'm not sure this is a mission statement.
00:34:40
Speaker
And he didn't give us the new one. He just, he looked at what we had at the time and it really wasn't. It was more of a strategy. And once he had the time to step back, it was very thoughtful. He wasn't, you know, a handing off homework. He just offered that. And I heard him. I go, gee, it's not. So we were in a session. we We're watching videos. We were just kind of watching videos, reading articles of our origin story. And one of the founders just said, I, you know, he has this gravelly voice, this plumber from a Milwaukee. I'm going to take the, yeah I'm going to take these tradesmen and make them great businessmen.
00:35:06
Speaker
And it's like we almost all heard it at once. And we're just taking notes. And but when it came back to the group sessions, like, what was that line about trades people to business people?
Vision and Leadership at Nexstar Network
00:35:15
Speaker
And I do like the the maybe I'll just say next stage or next level, I do like that. Because we we really are for second stage businesses. And there is a level where you should graduate. And that's something else we were wrestling with when you and I talked. And we hadn't really got that clear at the time, we were just getting the mission clear. But now it helps us today.
00:35:31
Speaker
Whereas we have members who have more business acumen than probably some of our coaches, you know, and they're teaching us things and that's great. But that's not who Nexstar is built to serve. ah You know, you should get your alma mater pin and you should now start mentoring the next because Nexstar as an organization is meant to take those that are leaving first stage of their business going into second stage and really help them get to that next level. um The other thing that you struck for me, though, and I know you said this in a different way, but I want I think it bears repeating. We all have a vision.
00:36:00
Speaker
We all have a vision. So when when when we say I had a vision or I have the power of vision, we all have that power. What I didn't realize is how mine was crafted in a way to bring the results that I get and how natural it felt for me or others. Your natural state could be a negative position or it could be a shortage or or a shortcoming perspective. So if you catch yourself, here's the beauty.
00:36:21
Speaker
Now, if you find that that's become your habit or it becomes your nature, now you have a choice. And that's the difference. You know, I feel for you until you're aware of it. Now you're aware of it. And so now you have a choice to say, you know, I have a propensity to think it's always going to be the worst. And next time I catch to myself doing it, don't beat yourself up. Let's tie two things together. If I may, without losing the listeners, you said some people earlier, you said some people may have maybe predisposition to a certain type of reaction.
00:36:45
Speaker
And I had mentioned that I predispose to anger. I like to get i like to get angry. like that That fuels me. And I'm not saying I throw things or yell at people. I'm not saying that. But my natural fuel state, when when I feel something anti or I feel resistance, I want to attack it. I want to attack it. And that's my natural state. And so I just use that as fuel. But to your point, let's just say there's a time where I forget. And maybe I do bark at somebody. Ah, you know hey, what are you thinking?
00:37:10
Speaker
What I learned is don't beat yourself up. And now I'm tying this back to those of you that might have a natural inclination to a negative visioning or a negative projection. So I don't beat myself up. I don't love that I did it. But what I learned is how quickly can I close the gap between the reaction that I didn't want because that it was a natural reaction, but I didn't want it to leak outside of my own control.
00:37:30
Speaker
And so now how quickly can I pick up the phone and say, you know what, I'm sorry. You know, I didn't listen to you real well on that last call, Eric. I reacted, you know, pretty aggressively because I was upset with the news I received and that's not your fault. So first, you know, I apologize for the way I reacted to you as a human. Second, I want to qualify why I reacted that way is because I have some questions. I have some disbelief, made me uncomfortable, and I want to unpack that together with you. So if you accept my apology, I'd love to work with you. See how we can get that through your same thing.
00:37:54
Speaker
You know, I had this negative outlook. i believed all i said I believe the whole United States was going to burn down when this person took over as our senior most leader. But the reality is that not much has changed here. You know, I do notice, you know, I'm starting to plan for the tax implications of my business for me as a person. I know that some of their policies are are going to impact me. So what I can do is start planning for it. What I can do is talk to other people, see what they're doing. What I can do is, you know, just be more wise because sitting here being upset sure isn't going to change the policies they're going to bring into play. So I just shortened that gap between first have the awareness and then shorten the gap of the reaction because the truth is I wasted a lot of years trying, not trying, really vilifying myself for not being positive at all. to And the positive thing, I got into the secret, loved it, didn't understand where it fell short because I needed that action. I didn't need to seek perfection. I didn't need to be perfect at all times. It's not a honestly getting to tell you what, I'm still the same tiger with the same stripes. I'm the exact same guy.
00:38:49
Speaker
All I did is I learned to say, how can I take this energy and direct it towards the outcomes I prefer versus lashing out either at myself, which is victimization, or at others, which is unhealthy. Thanks for letting me take that birdwalk there. You triggered a few thoughts with what you were sharing.
00:39:05
Speaker
I want to make sure before we wrap this up that we make it abundantly clear when someone should call you talk about, you know, a bit of who next our network is for and ah what you do. But can you tell me,
00:39:25
Speaker
Who out there should think about, you know, maybe you should look up Next Star Network, or if you're in this kind of situation, you you might benefit from Next Star Network. Or heck, you know, even if it's not Next Star Network, you are the type of person that could benefit from someone or some group that provides this.
00:39:48
Speaker
I would say if you're in residential, plumbing, heating, cooling, or electrical, your annual revenue is 50, 50 million or less. ah We could definitely help. And it's not that we cannot help over 50. What we do find is you start to scale when you get to a single location beyond 50. And some of the services we provide, you you're really learning how to do that yourself. And that's a good thing. That that really helps the industry. it It helps the community. It creates more jobs. That's great.
00:40:11
Speaker
So residential services, plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical, 50 million at one location or below, give us a call and then to answer your second part of that question. Who, anybody, everybody, you should always have a group, ah whether you call it a mastermind group or a personal board of directors. We know that you have your strengths in the things you do well, and we know that you don't do it all well. As an example, I am very good at processes and operations and benchmarks and KPIs. I'm very good. Once I understand the game is the way I've already described it. Once I understood what the benchmarks and percentages were that I was going for, I could reverse engineer and help people with attitudes, behaviors, and processes. I was good at that.
00:40:50
Speaker
Let me tell you what I absolutely stunk at was ah I would say media buying, marketing, marketing. I could come up with good ideas and good positioning, but I didn't understand how to buy. I didn't understand the business or operations of marketing. I didn't understand how to track ah ROI and it scared me.
00:41:05
Speaker
And so this is just one example where I ran from it for almost the first year and a half. And as a result, I would end up a salesperson would call me, you know, here's the ah ROI, here's the reach you're going to get, here's the impact, and it's on sale. And I would look at the technicians or the call center and say, Oh, if we don't have enough calls, I'm a jerk. If I don't buy this new product, I didn't have a focused marketing strategy. And what I learned, now this is from next door, I went to a a marketing planning workshop and I learned a lot.
00:41:33
Speaker
But there were other things like inventory control. Inventory control. Now, at this point in time, I'd been in the business over two decades. i been I knew how to run the jobs, I knew how to run the business, but I didn't understand inventory control. Min and max ordering, consignment type of stuff, ah best processes for callbacks and warranties. And I learned that from another member. I learned that from just visiting a large shop in Atlanta. This guy, I didn't even think he'd answer my call. He said, come on down, talk about anything you want. Talk to any manager here you want.
00:41:58
Speaker
And we did. So no matter what it is, no matter what you might learn, and there's people like Eric that I learned business, I would just even say perspectives from it though they're not tied specifically to the way that we deliver service and value. And it's not tied to the industry. Eric shared something with me very recently that expanded my mind to future casting that I never would have known if I didn't keep him in my circle. So I say always, you always need somebody and No matter what, always call Nexstar because guess what else we do? We'll refer you. If if we don't have an opening for you, if if you don't exactly meet us, the other thing that we love to do is give you great referrals to other groups that you might not have heard of that can help you in your business. We really are about raising the standards for all in the industry because guess what the guess what great businesses are doing?
00:42:43
Speaker
They're employing young homeless kids like myself that are dropouts and just giving them a chance to believe in. So that's what you all are doing. When you create these businesses, I know times are tough. I know you have cashflow. I know you need to make payroll. I know that you have benefits enrollment coming up as the year ends. You have tax strategies as the year comes to a close. But guess what you're doing? And I want you to pause and look in the mirror and just thank yourself for this. You're creating jobs for other people. You're creating career opportunities beyond the jobs. And then you're creating the opportunity for them to give back to the economy, no matter who's in office. And for that, I congratulate you. and Thank you.
00:43:13
Speaker
Let's say I run a 15 to 20 million dollar a year HVAC whatever it is business when I join next our network is not just for me as a CEO or president or COO or whatever there are ah seminars training like there are lots of things that your group offers that are for people that are at a, I don't know, manager, director, VP level in the organization. So it's not just a CEO's mastermind, for example. It's for the whole organization, from what I have understood.
00:43:48
Speaker
You nailed it. Back when I was a member, I had a business coach and this person had to know everything. And we've made the adjustment here to grow over the past few years. One of our strategies a few years ago is we held up a member's organizational chart and we said, what are the functions within a member's? but What are the functions within a residential plumbing, heating, cooling, or electrical business? And we know that's inventory. We know that's accounting. But now it's also things like software.
00:44:12
Speaker
You know, it's also things like marketing, it's things like sales, it's it's things like follow up. And we started to create specialized coaching for each of those functions in your business. And so now we can go hyper deep into those areas. We have a distinction on the marketing team between digital and what we call general. Because digital marketing in and of itself needs its own specialist. And you know, your branding and your other forms of marketing have its own level of specialist. So yes, we are, and our vision was rewritten when our mission was rewritten.
00:44:41
Speaker
to say that we will elevate the careers of 250,000 employees of our members businesses. Because what we wanted to do was in our vision say that we are going beyond the owner of the business, beyond the senior most leaders.
00:44:54
Speaker
because the other thing that we realize now that our members are doing really well, growing and maturing, the number one thing they said is they said, we need to help creating the next leader. Julian, thank you. you know You helped me create, and I could even say this when I was a member, they helped me create a great business. And I'll tell you exactly why my business stalled is because back then I didn't create a leadership team. That's why I stalled at the 13, 15 million.
00:45:13
Speaker
And I couldn't get past it and I couldn't figure it out until later when I was coaching and I looked at other businesses. And when I saw this owner who was the source of all energy, wanting to know it all, they really plateaued right around that mark. Every time, bar none, I still see it to today, start developing your leaders. And we said, what can we do as an organization? Well, we're going to start creating coaches that can go past the owners and the senior leaders of the business to work and develop your managers into leadership. And that's how you can actually scale the business. And guess what?
00:45:42
Speaker
These people now have a true career path and a path to ownership should they choose it as well, too. And I'm not afraid to say that. I'm not afraid to say that if we could have more owners in this space that have come from great businesses, many of the best practices groups actually originated from next our origins.
00:46:00
Speaker
And we're good with that. We have a lot of great businesses out there that are former employees of Nexstar that are starting consultancies or best practice groups. And I say good, good for you, because you're helping all the people that we can't reach. therere We come from ah an abundance mindset.
00:46:14
Speaker
I love that. Thank you. And, you know, I don't want to speak for you, but, you know, I certainly believe that there are a lot of leaders so out there that have all of the best intentions, you know, the the founder of your company, not not you, Julian, but you, whoever's out there.
00:46:37
Speaker
you know the founder of your company or your boss or whatever more than likely doesn't want to be bossing everybody around or tell answering every question but at least in my experience.
00:46:50
Speaker
a lot of organizations end up with a leader who feels like I have to do everything. Or you as an employee end up feeling like this man or woman's a bad person because there are things that in our own, all of our own journeys, we're either unaware of or we just find very difficult to do. you know like as As a CEO of a plumbing company,
00:47:17
Speaker
I might very well just not prioritize getting the support that I need so that I recognize some of those blind spots or I improve to the extent that then I can develop that next level of leader in my organization, the person who can come after me. And I say all this because, again, you know sort of to reiterate, I believe that most people don't want things to be that way.
00:47:46
Speaker
They may just not prioritize the type of training or support that Nextar Network provides and or they might just be unaware. But if you know if somebody's listening to this and they're working in a trades organization, ah they're doing electrical HVAC, it's entirely possible that they could help their manager. You could help your manager out there, you could help your boss, you could potentially even help yourself if you're able to make the decision yourself to you ah get in contact with Nextar Network or to motivate the decision makers in your business because that can open up opportunities for all of your organization to improve.
00:48:32
Speaker
Let's ah let thank you for that. no I align with you and now let's flip the coin for just a moment here because these folks are listening too. Let's flip the coin. You get some momentum, you get some success, senior leader, and then you step away from the business. You just you kind of take you kind of take your foot off the gas here. And I'll say at least in residential service, this is not a business. This was a dream that was sold you know, a decade or so ago, and I saw this from some other best practice groups. And it was, and I hear it sometimes turnkey business, you know, it's just a turnkey business. And, you know, you don't have to work as hard and you don't have to show up. And it's, I believe, especially in in residential home services, I think I believe this in all businesses, but I'll just speak to what I know. I do believe you still have to show up. And the day that you don't want to show up, the day that you don't, they will follow your lead.
00:49:17
Speaker
So you know I'm not talking about both sides of my neck here. Let's see if we can get some clarity on what I'm saying or what I'm offering is you do not want to be the source of all answers and energy. We get that. And you do need to be the leader. If you have, and I've seen this, if you have the one covered parking spot in a place that snows and it says owner only, and it's right at the front door and you back your Corvette in there,
00:49:40
Speaker
ah People see that and you you show up about you know right about 11 and you're out of there by two and you're wearing your fancy clothes and your fancy watch and you just kind of shout some orders and you leave because your business was successful you you've earned it right you owned it your name was in all the guarantees and all the loans and now you're doing good and you could just come and go as you please well people see that And I would say that you do need an operator day in and day out. If you choose to be an absentee owner, just be absent. Just be absent and get someone else to run the business day in and day out. When you reach that level of success, I still will visit our members' shops and people are surprised. Oh, wow. You know, the president and CEO came out to see my business. How cool is that? Well, my predecessor modeled that. And that's what I saw. And I believe that. And I believe that's the culture that we need that I'm still here. I need to be out there.
00:50:25
Speaker
Now, if NextR ever grows to a size, and I am privileged enough to be here, where I'm the CEO and we have a president, well, those distinctions might separate and my duties might separate.
Empowering Others and Final Thoughts
00:50:37
Speaker
But I'm talking to you now, you second stage businesses, because that's who I was speaking to, you know, as we talk about this level of business, that's really who we're focused on.
00:50:44
Speaker
And so I see this other side of the trap. You get successful, you make some money, things are going well, you start to get that leadership team. Now you want to be the hurricane Julian that just rolls through, you know, ruffles up some papers, undercuts a few decisions and tells them that's the way it is because you earned it. You did all the work to get them there and you you sign off that. No, stop it. They are following you. Here's how I always tell ah ah our members in our leadership class.
00:51:06
Speaker
Your employees are following the managers that they report to, but they're looking at you. They're looking at you. So they do follow their manager. When you hear that phrase, people don't quit a job. They quit their manager. And that's true. And they will follow their managers. So you have to have managers and leaders who stand by in your vision and own your vision. They don't say we're doing it because Julian said they're doing it because we said, hey, we had a discussion and this is the new policy and we all support it. And so they'll follow their manager. And if their manager doesn't follow you, then they're going to be just as rambunctious and not following unhealthily. But they're always looking at you.
00:51:36
Speaker
They're always looking at the owner. So though they may follow the manager, they see the owner coming in late, leaving early. you know has you know We've heard stories about their drinking and their partying and they go, I wonder about this business. I wonder if this is somewhere I really see myself long-term. I wonder if my manager will even be here long-term because of the way the owner behaves. So they're always watching you, all eyes on you. No such thing as an absentee owner again.
00:51:57
Speaker
Now, I suppose before we bring this around to wrap it up, you mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger's book. If I recall correctly, what do you call your annual meeting? Super meeting. The Next Star Network super meeting? Is that right? Yeah. Okay. So I think you were supposed to have Arnold Schwarzenegger at your last meeting, but was there a snowstorm or something like that? It was a hurricane. We were in Florida and it was this it was a really, yeah, it was very disruptive. and For some reason, they didn't wanna fly him through it in his little private jet. So he did not show up in person, he didn't. But did I see recently that at your next meeting, he'll be there, right? Yes, so a super meeting in 2025 in Denver, Colorado. I encourage you all to be there. He's gonna be our opener. So he was going to be you know kind of our closing keynote and really breaking down the
00:52:45
Speaker
foundations and the pillars of be useful and what it means to running a business. And they align really well. And he's just said, you know, Julian, I'm really sorry. I can. We're just not going to make it. He popped in. He did, a you know, a virtual pop in and talk to the attendees a little bit, but there's nothing like being in person. So he is going to be our opener. He's going to be our welcome reception keynote. He is going to kick us off right in the mile high city of Denver, Colorado in 2025 at our super meeting.
00:53:08
Speaker
That's awesome. Well, Julian, I suppose before I say thank you, is there anything that we should touch on or anything that we left out that's important to your journey or the way that you see the world, you know your member organizations or anything like that?
00:53:24
Speaker
I think you've given me a great space to pontificate upon victimization, empowering, fuel, energy. And so what I want to do, what I want to make sure that we do is that you all add Eric's podcast to your list of learning. I really do, um you know, and it's selfishly, right? It's like, you know, this is a person I respect. This is a person that I keep in my mastermind group. This is someone who educates me further. So if you were fortunate enough to stumble into this or you were fortunate enough to have this podcast referred to you,
00:53:52
Speaker
I really encourage you. This man has some very broad and deep thinking that he navigates. I'm very excited to see what other guests he can bring on to continue to educate us. So that's the parting thought that I have. You have stumbled upon this or were gifted this for some reason. Looking past the gifts that you receive never really ends well. So the person who shared this with you did it for a reason. Hopefully it wasn't about Eric or I, but more about the learnings that you could pull from this platform.
00:54:18
Speaker
And I know, I know from previous experience how great this guy is as far as bringing thought, provoking information to you. And I look forward to what he has in the future and some of it will still surprise and elevate my game. So I'm here alone for the ride, Eric. I thank you so much.
00:54:32
Speaker
Thank you, Julian. I appreciate that. Okay, so I'll put ah links in the show notes, but can you tell everybody where to find you and where to find Nextar Network, Julian? Thanks a bunch. If you ever want to reach the real version of Julian, you can find me on LinkedIn, Julian Skadden, and you'll know it's Nextar Network, and that'll all be the guy. There's only one, and I'd love to chat with you if you'd like to connect in a professional way. NextarNetwork.com, NextarNetwork.com will give you an overview of who we are, but I'll tell you what, the old school.
00:55:03
Speaker
look at the link, pick up the phone. you know Look at the link, look at the pictures, because I can tell you the number of people who look and go, i still I'm not really sure what you do. Pick up the phone, just talk to somebody, tell us where you're at, listen to where we're at, and I'll tell you what, we're never gonna pressure you. If anything, I usually attempt to dissuade people, and I say when you're ready to join, call back. The first call, let's learn about where you're at. Hopefully I can give you a few gems, or somebody on the team can give you a few gems that really help you accelerate your business, but don't call until you're ready.
00:55:27
Speaker
Don't call until you're ready because I will treat you much like ah the special reserves and special services. My army rangers out there, I see you in hello. I really don't want you to join until you're ready to walk alongside. And when you are, we will be there with you every step of the way. Fix in and broad, short, whatever it is, but join when you're ready. Otherwise we're right here. We're not going anywhere.
00:55:47
Speaker
Thank you for that, Julian. Thank you for joining me today. I hope that everyone has gotten a lot out of this, and I hope that, Julian, we will I will talk to you again in the near future. Thank you, sir.