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PART 2 From Door Knocking to Industry Leader: Taylor Armstrong's Blueprint for Success
64 Plays1 day ago
This is the second half of the podcast I had with Jonathan Wilson in the "Go Green Podcast", where we emphasized our growth in the industry and our adaptations over the years. Solar as a market has changed drastically, and it is important that we are aware of the context and reasons why we have the current industry.
CLICK HERE: https://apply.solarpreneurs.com/
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Transcript
Introduction and Repurposed Episode
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey guys, Taylor here. wanted to give a quick intro to this next podcast. Some of you know I recently had a surgery on the knee, tore the meniscus. So a little bit out of it here, still hopped up on some drugs. So thought, and you know, we're going repurpose a podcast I had the privilege of being on with my friend Jonathan Wilson.
00:00:23
Speaker
he has this podcast called the Go Green Podcast. It's also focused on the solar industry. we're going to play the episode I was featured on.
Future of Solar and Industry Changes
00:00:33
Speaker
um We talk about the future of solar, what's changed in the industry, what's helped me have success in solar,
00:00:41
Speaker
And then some of our favorite favorite books and things we enjoy that have helped us in the solar journey. So we're going break it into two episodes. Hope you enjoy this week's podcast here at Solrepreneur.
00:00:53
Speaker
And we got a lot more exciting content coming soon. But for now, enjoy the episode.
Journey from Struggles to Success
00:00:59
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:01:05
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong. went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail.
00:01:16
Speaker
I teach you avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
00:01:28
Speaker
What is a solopreneur, you might ask? A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery, and you are about to become one. Excited to learn and and yeah try to remember the same feelings I had as I was...
00:01:44
Speaker
Yeah, you know, learning to sell for. That makes so much sense. Honestly, that's a great strategy. I think that's such a underutilized. What you just said there was, I just want to highlight that. That's so true. Like just yesterday, i hopped into a genomics talk with one of my friends who started a genomic coaching company that coaches people how to use peptides in a way that align with your
Interest in Genomics and Side Projects
00:02:07
Speaker
genetics.
00:02:07
Speaker
And I'm a super nerd on some of the like biology stuff just because it's, you know, I've had my own health struggles and journey and all that. And but I got so excited by that. And it was like a middle like my lunchtime break. It was at noon that I did it. And I've done that as well, where you kind of like get on these little side projects or passions to kind of get some energy going. Because when you're just fully immersed like you and I both are and running leads and appointments and managing customers and having a team, like sometimes you just like you're like a fish in a fishbowl and you can't see outside of it. So I love that advice. Right. Get outside, do something a little bit different, kind of get some what's it called neuroplasticity. Right. Get your brain kind of doing something unique and novel and then bring that energy back to
Leadership Journey and Skills Development
00:02:52
Speaker
solar. So, so good. So you've been a leader in the space a long time, Taylor. Do you manage a team right now? Yeah, I run a team of about... We've got about 13 guys right now in ah San Diego. Yeah, we're part of a bigger office. Our whole office here I think we have 70, 80 people in our um San Diego office. So I run one of the sub teams within the office.
00:03:16
Speaker
So I've been growing that. You shared some of the the juice on other podcasts, we'll call it. But what has leadership taught you about yourself? Yeah, I think just that sometimes you got to be intentional. You got to step out of the comfort zone. The biggest thing part of, and I think a lot of people make the mistake when they're trying to get into leadership. They think it's just going to like come They think it's just something that happens naturally. you know i was even listening to um John Maxwell's book. I think it's a three listen to the 21 Irrefutable Laws of ah Leadership, i think it is. Great book.
00:03:51
Speaker
But yeah, he talked about when he first started leading, that people followed him just you know that's because he was excited about it. And he had a lot of energy, but really he had zero leadership skills. And then the second he you know stepped away, no one followed him to where he went because he wasn't actually being a leader.
00:04:06
Speaker
and so I think i've made that mistake. And I think a lot of people make it. do They think that just because they can come in and sell a lot, just because they can come in and be excited about the product, doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be
Acting as a Leader and Taking Initiative
00:04:18
Speaker
a leader. like It's a different skill you got to develop. And I'm definitely still developing it. I think I've got a long ways to go still. But i'm just in building my smaller team right now, the lesson I've learned is that you got step into being the leader, but maybe before you are the leader. I didn't have the... man the the ah manager title before I started leading people. But um I realized, okay, well, if I want people to follow me, I got to start acting like the manager. I got to start acting that way before I officially have that title. And so instead of waiting around to do the things until after they gave me the title, I started doing you know weekly ah like squad accountability calls from our team.
00:04:56
Speaker
Even though you I wasn't a leader, around was just like, Hey, guys, we're going to do this. We're going to hold each other accountable. So I stepped into that, stepped it out started doing that, even though no one was you know asking us to. you and Another big thing, i actually had this conversation with one of the guy on my team that he's one of our top setters. And we're trying to get him, I tried to get him to do like team trainings. He's like, Oh, why would I do a training for everyone if I'm not making like an override?
00:05:21
Speaker
How are you going to make an override if you're not willing to start doing those things? Like why would people give override later, give you the position later? helping to do it And he's like, well, it's a tough thing to wrap his mind around. I think some people think that way. Yeah, even stuff like that. Maybe it's training your team. like I started doing trainings for the team and getting up there far before I ever had any overhead on the team or long before I ever was a manager. And so things like that, people need to learn that... um And I had to learn that you got step it, you got to be the leader before you have the title.
00:05:52
Speaker
You got to act act the position before you're given the position. And that's how you're actually going to get the position is by acting it And that's how you're going to learn the
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Growth
00:06:00
Speaker
most. right And even just like teaching it to other people doing a podcast. I'm sure you felt the same way, Jonathan. I had tons of imposter syndrome doing a podcast and I still do to this day because I know there's people better than me in solar.
00:06:12
Speaker
I know there's people that lead way bigger teams than I have that are more qualified to do a podcast. But it's like you step into it, you just do the thing. And I've had massive growth just by doing things that I wasn't qualified to do just by going out there and doing it. So that's what I encourage people to do is get rid of imposter syndrome, do the thing that you're scared of, step into leading, step into training.
00:06:33
Speaker
And you're going to see massive growth just on yourself, just leading yourself. And people will naturally follow you as you do those things. So yeah, that's a big lesson for me. You're dropping freaking fire, Taylor. I love this. like Now we're getting into it. I mean, that's so true. You've taken initiative in so many ways. And if if just more people could could capture that that concept, which is to act as if... Act as if you're building it. Like I have my ah chat GPT, whatever, you know, talk to me as if I am the leader of the largest decentralized clean energy platform in the country. Nice. I'm not in that position right now, but there's power in acting as if, right? It's like, like you said, you know, it's like, I hear that too from people on my team where they're like, oh, well, I'll do that when I get paid or when it does this. It's like, no, it's like, you have to do those things first, you know? And a lot of times people...
00:07:31
Speaker
They'll ask me and they'll even be like, well, Jonathan, like you're doing like I'm doing a training later today. and i put out public trainings for anybody who wants in the industry to join, to learn how to close, to learn how to set appointments, to learn how to you know qualify all the different aspects of what we do. And like I've had people reach out and they're like, well, how much money are you charging for this? Or like, I got your email for the invitation. Do i have to pay for this? Or, you know, because it's like I've put time and energy and intention and money and resources into giving things away for free. And it's like, no, like I do this for free. I've had people like haters on social media. oh what are you trying to get out of it, mister? Are you trying to sell a course? Are you trying to push this, whatever?
00:08:08
Speaker
And I've had people come in and defend me like, no, Jonathan gives everything away for free. So like, shut the F up. Yeah. You know, but it's like, that's what it is. so people People have this mentality, where they think everybody else is like out to get them, or everybody else is trying to make a buck off of them.
Abundance Mindset and Free Training
00:08:24
Speaker
When I would say if they can just let go of that, like fear based mentality and realize that if they just step into like people want to talk about abundance, but they don't act like everything's abundant, right? Everybody wants to be like, like woo woo and be like, oh yeah, everyone be Mr. Positive Kumbaya. But then when they're actually asked to do work for free, they don't actually care. And so like one of the turning points for myself was whenever I, you know, a year and a half ago, I just got married. The company that I had been selling a lot of deals through, Sanova, had just went bankrupt. And like 85% of my pipeline was Sanova at that time. And i ended up losing like nothing crazy, like 40 grand. But a lot of people lost six, seven figures off of that. We had just gotten married. i was like, I don't know how we're going to make it. And she's like, I don't know. And she kind of kept the faith. And I you know love her so much for you know being the woman that would back me up whenever things are going really, really rough. And we just got married.
00:09:15
Speaker
But also, I had to look myself in the mirror and say, is this something that you would do for free, Jonathan? Like, is this something that you care enough about that you would do for free? And honestly, most people wouldn't.
00:09:27
Speaker
Even top people in our industry, they've left, they've come back, they've bounced around, they've done this and that. I'll refrain from throwing shade at those people, but I have a certain feeling about those type of people, right? And I have a judgment, if I'm absolutely honest about those type of people. I'm not one of those type of people. If you're listening to this and you're one of those type of people, you're never going to be super successful. going to call it right now. You're never going to be super successful. so What you're doing is right, Taylor. You've been all in from the beginning. So um share with the audience if you would, do you have any strategies or things that you're intentionally doing with your team to develop people
Using Tools for Accountability and Feedback
00:10:02
Speaker
around you? I know you mentioned accountability calls. Are there anything else that you do? Yeah, big thing for our team is yeah accountability calls. um We're big on ah you know just recording ourselves. We use a tool called Ciro. I'm sure you've heard of it, but it's just you record your presentations. You get feedback. It's really cool now because Especially with all the AI stuff, there's no reason anyone shouldn't be yeah just be recording yourself. Because even even if you just use ChatGPT or something, you can record yourself within the... yeah Just on your iPhone, just in voice memos. It'll make a transcription of it and you can easily take that and just copy paste it into ChatGPT. Say, act as a world-class sales coach and in the solar industry. What feedback would you give on this presentation?
00:10:51
Speaker
So even something simple like that people can easily get feedback and make a massive improvements i' doing things like that. so you don't even need necessarily like a coach or someone to go do it, even chefs, AI do it. But yeah, that's ah that's something we're big on is just um accountability calls. And in these calls, um yeah we're tracking all our numbers.
00:11:11
Speaker
We're holding ourselves accountable to the goals. Yeah, we're all sharing our plans for the week. So um I think it's really important to have that. I think ah a good thing about this consolidation that's happening is think there's more opportunity for that because a lot of people didn't have the support, and maybe some of these smaller dealers.
00:11:29
Speaker
And so um that's part of what we're trying to do at Solarpreneur 2. Part of the podcast is just connect people with more accountability and give them more resources. But yeah, those the two main things. And I'm trying to remember, you were asking what tools we use or whats what other ways do we help the team? Is that the question? or what intentional kind of strategies or what, yeah, tools, resources. So yeah, it makes sense. So yeah, you just have basically accountability, people sharing publicly in front of other people what their commitments are, and then you have strong feedback loops to see what's working, what's not working, whether that's AI, personal coaching, just kind of helping, i would imagine probably role play, you guys do a lot of sales training and coaching. Legacy is great at that, by the way, which we'll talk a little bit about legacy. But yes, you I know you guys have been growing a lot through this consolidation as well. So that's awesome to see.
00:12:21
Speaker
um And I've even told people who I've talked to about you know, power and coming working with me. And they're like Well, I'm considering legacy. And honestly, legacy is great. um They're one of the very small number of very high integrity sales forces, in my opinion, in the industry. Obviously, there's always going to be bad actors within any organization. But I think the top levels of leaders that you guys have are are phenomenal. So that's really good. um in terms of Let's talk about service for just a minute. so you know I see that you're a very service-focused
Responsibility and Caring in Solar Industry
00:12:51
Speaker
person. you know You talk about your mission, you you have your podcast, you know you're leading, taking action before it's being asked of you and and really leading the service. What responsibility do you think solar leaders have to homeowners, teams, and to the industry itself?
00:13:06
Speaker
ah Yeah. Well, yeah, i think service is everything. goes back to um and one of my favorite quotes. I'm sure most people heard of classic Zig Ziglar, right? It's like people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. you know ah Another one of my favorite books, shoot, what's it called? It's like the Scrolls of the... Scrolls Greatest Selling. him Yeah, World's Greatest Selling. One of the scrolls he talks about is you need to...
00:13:32
Speaker
It's really just, you need to like imagine loving the person, serving them. Basically, that's that's one of things it's one of the scrolls. and Go check out that book. So I think we have a massive responsibility to serve and really actually want
Introduction to Solar Scout Platform
00:13:45
Speaker
to help the people. So some of you already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego. And as we were gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:13:57
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout. But it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
00:14:11
Speaker
It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood. It's been working for a lot of teams across the country, and now I'm on board too.
00:14:25
Speaker
I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:14:35
Speaker
So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them, and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:14:48
Speaker
Okay, back to the show. um Because again, it goes back to being a professional. I think the people that are going to last in this are people that actually want to help people. They're not just doing it for the money. They're doing it because they actually have a deep belief um to help help people.
00:15:02
Speaker
And if you have that belief, it's going to help you so much in ah just pushing through the next level in your sales. it's going to give you that extra gas in the tank to maybe push a little further. Not that you need to be pushy, but just have the conviction to really want to help the people.
00:15:19
Speaker
Because people don't know what they don't know. We know we're helping them out there. And if you have that conviction, if you have that service mindset, um I think that's everything. I think that's the true mark of a professional.
00:15:31
Speaker
And really our responsibility, I think, is to see people um as they... Not as they are right now, but to see them as they can become. So same thing as a leader, When see the people, see the setter that just started in your company.
00:15:44
Speaker
If you can really serve them, see that they can become a great leader, that they can be someone that contributes a lot to the organization, it's going to give you that deeper level conviction to help the person more, to serve that person. Same thing with your customers. They don't know anything about solar. They don't know. They've heard maybe that solar is a scam, whatever. But we know that it's not. We know we're helping them.
00:16:06
Speaker
And so I think our responsibility is to see the people that they can become your world's greatest spokesman spokesperson. And I know you're big on referrals, Jonathan. So it's like maybe seeing that person, someone that hated solar, and maybe you can see them as someone that now they just gave you 20 referrals because they're so happy.
00:16:25
Speaker
So imagine if you thought of every customer like that, they could take them from hating solar that you can see them as someone that they love solar. much you served them at such a deep level that and now they're giving you referrals. And yeah, I think if you can envision that, then that's going to give you that deeper level. and so yeah, I think that's our responsibility.
Building Trust for Referrals and Networking
00:16:46
Speaker
I love that. Yeah, i often say that most salespeople only build the level of trust and service that's required to get the deal, not the level of trust and service required to get all of the deals that's in that person's network.
00:16:59
Speaker
And, and yeah, you know, I get my referrals tonight, you know, and, and, the The guy's funny. I said, his name's Eber. I said, Eber, I wish I had a hundred like you. He said, I went and talked to this neighbor. I talked to that. And I told him this. I said, look, he's a, he's a Spanish speaking guy. He goes, he goes, Ligo, look, Ligo, I'm the neighbor. I just trying to help you out. Neighbor. Look, I'm not trying to make any money on this. Like, I just want to do what's best for you. yeah he's Nice.
00:17:23
Speaker
After evangelizing, like overcoming objections, and just it's incredible. right and so I'm so grateful for that those people right that are out there doing that work and and spreading the word and and doing it. Oftentimes, for free at first right until they figure out how to start making money and And so that's ah that's a big deal. So obviously, you've done a lot of personal development. We've referenced a ton of books. We've read a lot of the same books, it sounds like. um Who has been the biggest impact in your leadership journey?
Learning from Leaders and Choosing Mentors
00:17:54
Speaker
That's a good question. I would just say... I mean, there's lots of good books. you know All the John john Maxwell ones. and Just talked about those ones have been really good. But ah yeah, more than any book, it's just been learning from the leaders around me.
00:18:06
Speaker
And ah people ask like, Oh, which company should I go to? Or who should I sell with? And so I think more than the company or the title, whatever, it's the people that you see that are good leaders that maybe are where you want to become and go follow those people. So that's been the biggest impact of my personal leadership journey, not necessarily like any book or program, but just going out and following the leaders that I wanted to follow. And so that's what led me to Legacy, my current company is. you know and They're leaders, writers.
00:18:35
Speaker
Share a couple names, give some love to one or two legacy leaders. Yeah, we'll we'll shout them out. Well, yeah, john John Soriano over here, Mike Brands, those were the guys that originally got me to switch over here to Legacy. And yeah, I just saw how they led and um saw how they grew. a big organization, something i really respected about John Soriano.
00:18:58
Speaker
Obrero, shout out to him, is he puts God first. And um you know he's always talking about winning all areas of life, like faith, family, fitness. And so I saw that in what he does. He's super active in his church. um We don't go this go to the same church or anything, but he's always talking about God.
00:19:15
Speaker
No, he's putting in God first and then he he wants the organization to do the same. And yeah, he started as just from the ground up, setter, knew nothing about sales. And now he's leading an entire massive division here in multiple states.
00:19:30
Speaker
And so, yeah, just people like him, they've taught me, you know he's taught me a lot of the principles I've talked mentioned before, just leading before you're given the title. Because that was one of my concerns coming to a bigger company.
00:19:42
Speaker
um Anyone that's been in four a while, even when you've been at a smaller dealer, it's like you're the guy. i was the man I was leading. I was like the VP of sales over 20 people, right? And so I'm like, man, i I'm a big deal over here. And so to go to a bigger company where it's like, I'm basically starting from scratch. I kind of had to humble myself.
00:20:01
Speaker
But that's what... you know gave me the... I'm like, okay, well, I've never grown a massive organization and I've seen... I see a guy here that did it and he started from scratch. So why can't I do it?
00:20:13
Speaker
And so um that's what i that's the advice I would give is instead of following the company or any title, go look at the leaders you want to follow. Maybe it's me, maybe it's Jonathan, or whatever. Go follow those people. Go follow the people that you want to um emulate and want to be like.
00:20:30
Speaker
And then, yeah, you just... you know Success leaves clues. So that's been the biggest factor for me. Shout shoutout to Mike Brand. i didn't know you were going to mention him. He was the guy who originally onboarded and trained me at Vivint Solar in 2018. He was really he was really my my first exposure to Vivint, uh, in terms of the leaders and, um, yeah, yeah. Super cool guy. i really like Mike brand. He's, he's a very charismatic fellow.
00:20:59
Speaker
Um, yeah, that's awesome. So, um, kind of bringing it to the end. We'll add a few more questions and then we'll do a little bit of ah a rapid fire. We'll call it a lightning round. Um, so, let's talk about this real quick.
00:21:11
Speaker
and Beyond your success in the solar business, let's talk a little bit about about legacy, you know pun intended.
Podcast as a Resource and Listener Impact
00:21:19
Speaker
you know What is the legacy you want to leave in the solar space? um I think just what I mentioned earlier, just being um the best resource that ah ever existed in the solar space. because That's the goal of the podcast.
00:21:34
Speaker
um It's funny, I had a Ashton Buswell was actually my first guest um speaking to Ashton. And he was actually the guy I was mentioning when I saw a high producer that didn't want to share his company secrets.
00:21:46
Speaker
That was that guy who was Ashton. didn't want to share what what what the company was doing.
00:21:53
Speaker
So yeah game our time yeah you him a hard time. It sounds like you helped push him over to the edge to start sharing. Yeah, I'll take the credit and he can crack crack the code with Ashton. Because yeah, at first, he didn't want to share anything. He was kind of a closed book. you know He's only sharing his stuff within Legacy.
00:22:11
Speaker
But now yeah now I know he shares a ton. He's super abundant. But yeah, that's the legacy I want to leave. um I just want people to think, oh, Taylor Armstrong, um the podcast, it's been more value than anything else I ever had in solar.
00:22:29
Speaker
And um yeah, just hopefully a resource that people felt that they could go to. So i in solar, that's definitely the um legacy I want to leave. And yeah, it's been ah awesome to hear comments where...
00:22:42
Speaker
And that's really what's kept the podcast going is just comments like that. Because people say, man, is better than the training I get at my own company or this this helped me and stuff. So things like that. And sure, you get some more comments on your podcast. But think that's what keeps us going more than, yeah, I've made some money from the podcast and we get recruits from the cod podcast. So you make money kind of and indirectly here and there. But but ah you know far more than the money, like that's not the reason I've kept the podcast going. It's more just been because it's connecting, you know having cool conversations like this.
00:23:16
Speaker
And then ah just being able to hear the impact it's been able to have. So yeah, I would say that's the legacy I want to leave. That's a beautiful legacy, brother. Well, I appreciate you doing that. I know it's had a really positive impact on myself. It's been a part of my inspiration to say, hey, let me go be a content creator in the solar space as well.
00:23:34
Speaker
You know, um if Taylor can do it, I can do it. Right. And I think that's. That's the what I hear from you. That's what I would kind of distill a lot of this talk to even is that, you know, you're really sticking to the fundamentals. You know, you're not trying to be fancy, we'll call it, or trying to do, you know, ah find a way to get around doing the hard work, right? Your entire you know, kind of grind, we'll call it on the doors and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the podcast is discipline, it's consistency, and it's showing up and believing that those results are going to follow even if it takes years sometimes for
Consistency, Conviction, and Success in Sales
00:24:12
Speaker
them to happen. So huge, huge kudos to you, brother, for doing that. That is tremendous. Let's jump into the lightning round. Let's bring this home for the guests. So lightning round, first question, favorite book?
00:24:24
Speaker
It was tough. But one that's recent that I would say that big impacts definitely recommend. It's called a Buy Back Your Time. Danmark. Yeah, Danmark. Yeah, exactly.
00:24:35
Speaker
You know the books that I do? No, that's that's a big one. And it just talks about all of the principles i was mentioning earlier about high producers. How the high high producers are buying back their time. They're focusing on the high highest value tasks. Yeah. So go check that one out. It changed a lot of things just that I do. And I would even say helped out my relationships too because now I can spend more quality time with wives and kids and everything. So yeah, that's a big one. Definitely recommend that one.
00:25:01
Speaker
favorite podcast guest you've interviewed? Yeah, that's that's another tough one. Got me tough question. Yeah. Well, Mike Brand, he was he was a big one. So go lets go listen that one, Mike Brand. And that was funny because he ah i kind of had some um anger built up or some resentment because he pulled a quick one on me where when he was at... Sunrun, or i don't know if it's Vivint Sunrun, we had scheduled a podcast interview. And then um he I showed up and then he's like, Oh yeah, before we start the podcast, let me introduce you to some of my other managers.
00:25:39
Speaker
It turned into like a recruiting meeting. um And you know then after the meeting, I'm like, Okay, let's do the podcast. Oh shoot, man. You know what I've got some appointments. I'm not gonna have time anymore. And then... That sounds like Mike. That totally sounds...
00:25:54
Speaker
I'm sorry. you So yeah, i was like, man, this guy's a dirtbag. I'm not gonna... Yeah, I'm never going to this company. And then, um you know, we it it was actually, I think, a couple years later that he like apologized and he he agreed to do a podcast.
00:26:10
Speaker
And it turned out to be one of the i most listened to your podcasts. so So that's probably the one that comes to mind just because kind of the funny circumstance around it. But it did really well. he dropped some bombs in it. I'm sure he did. I'm going to check that out.
00:26:25
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's so good at what he does. i'll have to I haven't listened to that one, so I have to go back and and listen to that one. Most underrated skill in solar? um Underrated, i think just the ah conviction we' we're talking about. Conviction and consistency. Can there be two? Maybe two. If we had conviction, it's going to help you push past objections other people can't ask and help you get, deals that other people didn't just because you're believing it. The consistency, you know just showing up when you don't want to. People that show up, keep doing it over and over and over, they're eventually going to have success.
00:26:56
Speaker
So just practice the consistency in everything. Go do the thing you don't want to do. Yeah, I think you've had those too. No reason anyone shouldn't be able to succeed. Amazing. One habit that's changed your life? I guess just thinking of that, I'm going to say ah the buying back your time thing, outsourcing things. And i know we already talked about that in the book. People can go read that book, Buy Back Your Time. But man, it's just like, I don't think i Solar was starting get so tough just with um relationships because our job, um it's like we're meeting with people in the afternoons, evenings. So I will say it's a tough job to have when you have kids, when you're married.
00:27:33
Speaker
Just because right now my kids are going to school, they get back at 2 or 3 o'clock and then a lot of times that's right when I'm going out to start appointments. um I think the only way that I've been able have sustainability in this is just outsourcing a lot of things that maybe regular people will be doing like laundry. That was a massive thing because um I would come back and instead of space instead of spending time with the family, I was doing laundry for like an hour every night.
00:27:59
Speaker
just because I got three kids, we got a long lot of laundry and stuff to clean up. And so I was getting the point where I was like driving myself crazy. And I'm like, man, I don't know if I can keep doing this with this the schedule and having to do all these things. And so yeah, i mean we get someone helps with... takes care of the laundry for us. and you know We were talking about just outsourcing things, like you know editing podcasts. like I don't do all that. Instead of me trying to edit the podcasts and um spend the time with that. I just hit record, say what I'm going to say, and then it goes to my team. They help it.
00:28:33
Speaker
They help scheduling guests. It's another thing. so it's just, yeah, brought back just such a better mindset, such a better, um I guess, mental recovery where I can actually focus on work and then outsource the rest and I'm much more effective with the time and it just helped me out with the
Outsourcing and Maintaining Performance
00:28:53
Speaker
sustainability. So ah yeah, it's a big one. yeah And it's let you be a high performer. You've performed at pretty high levels in sales.
00:29:00
Speaker
um yeah I know you've got leadership stuff. You've got family. Again, you've got Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. And you're still selling. like You're not saying, oh, I'm going to stop doing the podcast or I'm going to stop doing that. You're like, no, I need to keep doing all these things. So I think you've done content on this, but I would love to see more of that from you. as ah If you...
00:29:19
Speaker
can keep sharing that content. i think a lot of listeners would be like like to hear that. I know if I would like to hear it, there's probably other people that would like to hear that. You've done really well at that. I know we spoke on stage several years back at a live event that Solarpreneur hosted, and you talked specifically about how you're doing these strategies to buy back your time. So maybe a 2026 version of that is is is due. But last question.
00:29:43
Speaker
Let's bring it to a close for the
Encouragement for Perseverance and Self-belief
00:29:45
Speaker
guests. So if you if every listener listening right now could take away one lesson from your journey and apply it to their own life tomorrow, what would that you want that lesson to be? ah Don't give up, man. Keep going.
00:29:58
Speaker
and Even when people doubt in you, you're you you can be the biggest believer in yourself. Keep pushing forward. And um if you do that, there's no reason you can't have success and in anything. i was never the guy that was like, came out and was the best at anything.
00:30:13
Speaker
I was always the one that felt like had to study harder at school, had to work harder Jiu Jitsu. was never athletic. It's all those things. That's just been the biggest lesson in my life is just to keep going. You don't give up.
00:30:27
Speaker
You're going to be the one that has success in anything. And I think that's what's required in sales. ah There's people that come out of the gate and have instant success. But um I think most people, it's just like anything, people aren't born great salespeople. People aren't born with leadership skills.
00:30:44
Speaker
um Some people might be naturally better at it. But I think in the end, some of the best leaders, some of the best salespeople, they're the people that had to develop those skills. And they're the people that just kept going when other people were quitting.
00:30:56
Speaker
And that's the people that guys want to go follow too. It's people that don't give up and kept going even when things got hurt. So yeah, that's what I would say. Beautiful, brother. And where can people follow you, find you? Obviously, Solopreneur. Go check out the podcast on YouTube. Where else can people find you, Taylor?
00:31:14
Speaker
Yes, shoot me follow Instagram. Just Taylor J. Armstrong on Instagram. Podcast Instagram is Solarpreneur Podcast. and We've got blog and everything too. Solarpreneurs.com. So saying can go check out all those places. be I'd say Instagram. That's where we're posting like the clips of our content. We're also on YouTube.
00:31:32
Speaker
But yeah, pretty much anywhere. Go shoot us a follow and I'd love to connect with ah anyone listening. Taylor, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. You're an amazing leader. You're humble, you're hardworking, and I wish we had thousands more like you, but truly you're one of a kind, brother. Thank you so much. Thank you, John. That's a good time. Appreciate it. Bye-bye.
00:31:52
Speaker
What's up, solopreneurs? Hope you enjoyed the episode. Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
00:32:05
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start? What episodes should I listen to in the podcast? You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:32:20
Speaker
So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and i would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solopreneur.
00:32:33
Speaker
We put them together all in one sheet so you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet. So go download it right now. It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com. Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com. Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:32:55
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes. Go download it right now. And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them. That's going to show you how. So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.