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Should I Start a Solar Dealer or Do My Own Installs? - Erik Larsen
77 Plays3 years ago
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Transcript
Introduction to the Solarpreneur Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:10
Speaker
I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a Solarpreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
Speaker
A Solarpreneur is a new breed of Solar Pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Special Guest: Eric Larson
00:00:42
Speaker
Okay, what's going on?
00:00:43
Speaker
We're in the studio here today with the one, the only Eric Larson.
00:00:48
Speaker
I'm excited to have him on the podcast.
00:00:50
Speaker
We've known each other a long time.
00:00:52
Speaker
Actually worked at the same company for a little bit.
00:00:54
Speaker
So Eric, thanks for coming on the podcast with us today.
00:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for having me, Taylor.
00:00:58
Speaker
Super excited.
00:01:00
Speaker
Been listening for a while and glad you let me come on.
00:01:04
Speaker
It's an honor.
00:01:05
Speaker
Of course, you only had to pay me, what, 100 grand for it?
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, something like that.
00:01:08
Speaker
So I appreciate it.
00:01:09
Speaker
He just paid his life savings to come on the show.
00:01:12
Speaker
Totally worth it.
00:01:13
Speaker
That's all it takes.
00:01:14
Speaker
Yeah, I love it.
00:01:16
Speaker
No, just kidding.
00:01:16
Speaker
But yeah, so it's going to be a good podcast.
00:01:19
Speaker
We're going to be jamming on...
00:01:21
Speaker
you know how it goes starting your own installs.
00:01:24
Speaker
Eric, he's had his license doing his own installs for a little bit.
00:01:28
Speaker
He's pretty much done
Eric's Entry into Solar and Career Transition
00:01:29
Speaker
it all.
00:01:29
Speaker
And you've been in solar, when did you first get into solar, Eric?
00:01:32
Speaker
I got into solar 2012.
00:01:34
Speaker
So I've actually, and then I did alarms before that.
00:01:38
Speaker
So I did alarms for five years.
00:01:40
Speaker
Started the same year with like Sam Taggart and Danny Pesci.
00:01:44
Speaker
We all were at Platinum Protection together back in the day and then got into solar in 2012.
00:01:50
Speaker
So 10 years.
00:01:51
Speaker
Man, that's like 100 years in a regular year.
00:01:54
Speaker
2012 is a long time.
00:01:55
Speaker
Because I've been in it six and a half years now.
00:01:59
Speaker
And I tell people that, like, holy cow, you're like ancient.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:04
Speaker
So 2012, that's crazy.
00:02:05
Speaker
Yeah, but you've been there.
00:02:06
Speaker
Yeah, I went out to Boston right after the Boston Marathon bombing and knocked out there and then started in New Jersey.
00:02:13
Speaker
I'm actually in the office there soon after.
00:02:15
Speaker
OK, nice.
00:02:17
Speaker
Yeah, not too many people.
00:02:19
Speaker
Switched, I don't know, maybe there's a lot, but like, it seems like more guys switched kind of later from alarms.
00:02:24
Speaker
So what made you switch from alarms to solar back then in 2012 and kind of make that transition?
00:02:30
Speaker
So that's a good question.
00:02:32
Speaker
I took a little hiatus from doing door knocking actually.
00:02:36
Speaker
So I graduated from the University of Utah and I got a position at eBay.
00:02:43
Speaker
So working corporate America.
00:02:46
Speaker
And I had just started a cupcake shop.
00:02:48
Speaker
So I ran a cupcake shop.
00:02:53
Speaker
I left eBay and then I ended up being on Cupcake Wars on the Food Network three different times.
00:02:58
Speaker
I became a finalist on that.
00:03:00
Speaker
So that's kind of random.
00:03:02
Speaker
If you ever watch Cupcake Wars.
00:03:05
Speaker
You still have that company.
00:03:06
Speaker
It's still going.
00:03:07
Speaker
I'm 5% owner.
00:03:08
Speaker
I sold the majority of it.
00:03:11
Speaker
But I got an offer to go out to India and start a cupcake shop out there.
00:03:15
Speaker
So lived out there for six months and then I was coming back to the US.
00:03:18
Speaker
I didn't have a job.
00:03:20
Speaker
And one of my old alarm buddies was like, hey, you know, Tyler Mickelson, if you know who he is, was like, hey, you got to look into solar.
00:03:28
Speaker
So got into solar in 2012.
00:03:30
Speaker
And yeah, just
The Solar Industry's Growth Potential
00:03:33
Speaker
never looked back.
00:03:33
Speaker
Had some other opportunities, but solar is just amazing.
00:03:35
Speaker
It's the future and they're such good, I mean like they say, it's the gold rush.
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:03:41
Speaker
And we were, I don't know if we worked the same time, I can't remember, but we were both at a company called New Power for a little bit.
00:03:48
Speaker
I didn't get there until 2016 that summer.
00:03:51
Speaker
Were you still there at that point?
00:03:52
Speaker
That was about when I was transitioning out.
00:03:54
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:54
Speaker
But yeah, we definitely, we knew each other and we saw each other at door-to-door con and around, so we knew a lot of the same people.
00:04:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:02
Speaker
For sure.
00:04:02
Speaker
So yeah, cool that we kind of have that connection.
00:04:05
Speaker
But yeah, I know you've, you know, managed teams, run your own company.
00:04:09
Speaker
And yeah, what I want to talk about is just kind of like, you know, pros and cons of starting your own company, of starting your own installs, because I know a lot of guys go out and want to do their own dealer and just have someone else do the install.
00:04:21
Speaker
But
00:04:21
Speaker
You've seen it all, so I think you can provide a ton of value and insight into what that looks like.
00:04:27
Speaker
But yeah, so you were at New Power for a little bit.
00:04:29
Speaker
What was the first company you were at?
00:04:31
Speaker
So 2012, who did
Challenges in Solar Installation and Company Management
00:04:32
Speaker
you start with?
00:04:32
Speaker
Vivint Solar.
00:04:33
Speaker
Okay.
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, so.
00:04:35
Speaker
And then it was New Power after Vivint Solar.
00:04:37
Speaker
Yep.
00:04:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:38
Speaker
So New Power, Thomas and Matt, they were at Platinum Protection with me as well.
00:04:43
Speaker
And they said, hey, come out here, be our regional manager.
00:04:48
Speaker
And I was going to make, so I started when I was at Vivint Solar, I was making $250 a kilowatt.
00:04:57
Speaker
And so I was averaging.
00:04:59
Speaker
What was that?
00:04:59
Speaker
It's like an override for something.
00:05:01
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I know.
00:05:02
Speaker
Gosh, everyone's spoiled nowadays.
00:05:05
Speaker
So, yeah, I was happy if I was making twelve hundred bucks, you know, on a project.
00:05:10
Speaker
That was always the saying, like when it was raining in New Jersey, it was like, would you pay?
00:05:13
Speaker
Would you if someone paid you twelve hundred dollars to take a shower with your clothes on, would you do it?
00:05:18
Speaker
You know, and now it would be like, if someone paid you $5,000 to take a shower with your clothes, I'm going to do it.
00:05:23
Speaker
And guys are still like, I don't know, not worth it.
00:05:28
Speaker
But yeah, so I was making 250 bucks a kilowatt.
00:05:32
Speaker
And sometimes I look back at like my sales days, because I was doing over 100 sales a year.
00:05:37
Speaker
So I was like, man, I definitely would have been like a golden door.
00:05:40
Speaker
winner.
00:05:42
Speaker
And yeah, so they offered to get me out here in California, become a regional, and I was going to make 400 kilowatts, almost double what I was making.
00:05:50
Speaker
It was a huge deal.
00:05:52
Speaker
And so I ran a team, a couple teams down here at Branched Into.
00:05:59
Speaker
And I started looking, I started doing the math and realizing this is how much we're charging.
00:06:03
Speaker
And this is how much materials cost and labor.
00:06:06
Speaker
And so I was like,
00:06:07
Speaker
wait a second, you know, our installer was Solcius.
00:06:11
Speaker
At the time, I was like, they are making way too much money off us guys.
00:06:14
Speaker
And they were like, okay, figure it out and we'll get you a salary, get you all this stuff.
00:06:19
Speaker
So I actually went and did a bunch of installs with Solcius.
00:06:24
Speaker
I took some time and really delved into it.
00:06:27
Speaker
I worked on the side with a general contractor to figure out how to get financing set up to figure out all the costs and materials.
00:06:34
Speaker
So I went to all the distributors, I figured everything out.
00:06:37
Speaker
I created this slide deck for them of everything and of how it was going to work.
00:06:43
Speaker
And then they ended up saying, oh, we're just going to hire a different contractor.
00:06:45
Speaker
You just keep selling.
00:06:47
Speaker
And at that point, I was a little too deep.
00:06:49
Speaker
I had taken three months basically not selling, trying to figure out the ins and outs of running a business.
00:06:56
Speaker
an install company and so I left.
00:06:59
Speaker
And so I actually went to become a dealer then because I didn't have my license at that point.
00:07:05
Speaker
So I worked with some install companies, some smaller install companies and
00:07:11
Speaker
kind of did the red line hunting a little bit.
00:07:15
Speaker
And like every single installer just sucked.
00:07:18
Speaker
Like that was just the theme.
00:07:20
Speaker
Vivint Solar, I had a customer that had a leak in his roof.
00:07:23
Speaker
It took him a month and a half to get out there to assess the leak, a month and a half to figure out that they lost the report, another month and a half to get back out.
00:07:31
Speaker
It literally took them eight months to fix this guy's roof.
00:07:33
Speaker
Perfect.
00:07:34
Speaker
By the time they did, there was mold in his attic and just all these issues.
00:07:38
Speaker
Solcius was very similar.
00:07:40
Speaker
They just really sucked.
00:07:41
Speaker
It was just not good work.
00:07:43
Speaker
And then these other, one called Nexus and Barnes and Nutility, EcoSolargy, they all just sucked.
00:07:52
Speaker
They were slow.
00:07:54
Speaker
They were expensive.
00:07:55
Speaker
They kept coming up with different jobs.
00:07:57
Speaker
charges, they had bad customer service.
00:08:02
Speaker
And so just overall, I was like, I need to get my own license and do this myself.
00:08:07
Speaker
This is so frustrating.
00:08:10
Speaker
And so I went and I studied it took, you know, a month
00:08:14
Speaker
straight again of no work, of just studying.
00:08:17
Speaker
I was just watching all these DVDs, going to all these courses, figuring things out.
00:08:21
Speaker
If you have a bachelor's degree in business, you can apply so many years towards a contractor's license.
00:08:26
Speaker
So you're supposed to have four years of experience, three years of that,
00:08:30
Speaker
can come from a business degree.
00:08:34
Speaker
And so I only had to have a year of like field experience.
00:08:37
Speaker
Is that the same like everywhere or just in California?
00:08:41
Speaker
Just in California.
00:08:42
Speaker
But if you can get licensed in California, you can get licensed in most any other state.
00:08:46
Speaker
California is the one of the most strict as far as I know.
00:08:50
Speaker
And
00:08:52
Speaker
So I took the test.
00:08:54
Speaker
I had to take it twice.
00:08:55
Speaker
I failed.
00:08:56
Speaker
You can take it up to 16 different times.
00:08:59
Speaker
And so, but it was a lot.
00:09:04
Speaker
Like I said, I wasn't really working because I was studying, taking these tests, figuring things out.
00:09:10
Speaker
I just had my second test.
00:09:12
Speaker
kid and finally got my license and then it was like trying to figure out all the operations and still selling myself and recruiting and whatnot and it was tough so like I have guys ask me a lot and
00:09:28
Speaker
hey, you know, should I get my own license and do my own installs?
00:09:31
Speaker
And I'm like, if you can get a low red line, I wouldn't.
00:09:38
Speaker
It was really, really, really hard.
00:09:40
Speaker
Like if I could go back, I honestly, the thing is like kind of similar to that point.
00:09:44
Speaker
I was in, I'm in so deep right now that I feel like I can't really go back.
00:09:50
Speaker
But yeah,
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah, I honestly, like I got divorced with my wife.
00:09:55
Speaker
And it wasn't just because of that, but it was stressful.
00:09:58
Speaker
And it was really hard.
00:10:00
Speaker
And I highly do not suggest unless someone either has a lot of money that they just have saved up and they're okay with waiting and having reps that are like, I want to get paid ahead of time before you even get paid.
00:10:17
Speaker
And
00:10:18
Speaker
You just have to have a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of patience.
Working with Installers and Customer Relations
00:10:22
Speaker
You want to expect at least a year, if not two, before you actually start making any money.
00:10:27
Speaker
That's crazy.
00:10:30
Speaker
And yeah, so I got my own license and ran that company with my now ex-wife for about a year and a half.
00:10:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:10:41
Speaker
We had some decent times, but ended up selling off my half to her.
00:10:46
Speaker
Started a new install company called Larsson and ran that for about three years.
00:10:53
Speaker
And then I just sold it to one of my dealers last year.
00:10:56
Speaker
Okay.
00:10:58
Speaker
And helped to transition that over and now starting a new install company.
00:11:05
Speaker
And so...
00:11:06
Speaker
I guess that's the definition of being crazy, right?
00:11:08
Speaker
The same thing over and over again.
00:11:10
Speaker
You've been around the block, man.
00:11:11
Speaker
You've done it all.
00:11:13
Speaker
Well, yeah, so you said you wouldn't recommend people do that.
00:11:17
Speaker
But say someone does want to go start their own dealer, but they're having all these same headaches.
00:11:23
Speaker
What do you do?
00:11:23
Speaker
What do you think the solution is?
00:11:25
Speaker
Because I know there's lots of still pretty slow, pretty bad install companies out there.
00:11:30
Speaker
Do you think that's improved?
00:11:32
Speaker
Or if someone asked you, like, should I start my own dealer, what would you tell someone at this point?
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah, so that's a really good question.
00:11:38
Speaker
I would definitely say, like, have patience with whatever installer you work with.
00:11:45
Speaker
Like I said, I left to try and do a better job at installs.
00:11:49
Speaker
It took me about two years to realize it's impossible.
00:11:53
Speaker
It's impossible to do a really good job with solar installs.
00:11:56
Speaker
You can have a couple jobs here and there that are clean and smooth and just go through super easy.
00:12:02
Speaker
But, for example, I just submitted two permits to the county of Riverside.
00:12:06
Speaker
Same exact area, same exact designer, did the same exact plans.
00:12:12
Speaker
One of them came back totally fine, is already installed and everything.
00:12:15
Speaker
The other one has gotten shot back three different times.
00:12:18
Speaker
It's like the same exact project.
00:12:19
Speaker
It just went to a different plan checker at the county.
00:12:24
Speaker
And it's taken two to three times longer.
00:12:31
Speaker
And so, yeah, it's just ultimately a shit show no matter what.
00:12:36
Speaker
And so have lots of patience with the installer either way.
00:12:41
Speaker
So whether you do it yourself or not, it still is going to struggle.
00:12:46
Speaker
But so more like, are you asking like a dealer or actual installer?
00:12:50
Speaker
So it's like a next level becoming your own installer.
00:12:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:54
Speaker
Well, no, that sounds like a headache.
00:12:55
Speaker
But I don't know.
00:12:56
Speaker
Do you think like from your perspective, do you think the installers have gotten a lot better now compared to what you were going through just being a dealer?
00:13:03
Speaker
Or I don't know if you've seen them improve.
00:13:06
Speaker
Yeah, I would definitely if you're going to become a dealer and work with an EPC where they manage, they have a lot of control.
00:13:15
Speaker
And so you want to hook up with the best EPC that you can trust and you can actually get a hold of the people.
00:13:26
Speaker
Like some of that is the most important thing.
00:13:29
Speaker
It's not red lines.
00:13:31
Speaker
It just isn't.
00:13:32
Speaker
Someone can get you a 210 or whatever these days, but if it takes six months to get installed and your customer has a horrible experience and you lose all your referrals and you have absolutely no control over it, it's not worth it.
00:13:49
Speaker
I actually, when I had dealers, which I'm not doing dealers this time around, but when I had dealers, I
00:13:55
Speaker
I started actually telling them, like, hey, if we, like, what I would do if I were to become a dealer, I would have this deal with the installer.
00:14:03
Speaker
I would say, I'm actually gonna give you a higher red line, Mr. Installer, if you do a couple things.
00:14:09
Speaker
My customers don't complain.
00:14:11
Speaker
If secondly, you guys actually pass inspection the first try, if you guys have good quality work when I go out there and if it gets installed within 30 days or whatever, if you meet, I'm actually going to pay you more.
00:14:26
Speaker
Your installers will be like,
00:14:28
Speaker
Oh, sweet.
00:14:28
Speaker
An extra 20 cents.
00:14:29
Speaker
Like you're okay with being at a 240 instead of a 220.
00:14:34
Speaker
And we just have to do better work.
00:14:35
Speaker
That 20 cents will be so much more worth it.
00:14:37
Speaker
So I don't wheel and deal installers.
00:14:41
Speaker
That's, that's why their work quality goes down.
00:14:43
Speaker
That's why they can't answer the phones.
00:14:45
Speaker
Cause there's too many people and too little money.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:48
Speaker
When I was running dealers at that really low, low, low red line, it was razor thin margins.
00:14:55
Speaker
We were losing money on one out of every five or six projects.
00:15:00
Speaker
And it's just, so yeah.
00:15:03
Speaker
have patience with your installer but at the same time don't just go get the cheapest one just because you can yeah that's awesome yeah i love that because so many reps especially when they start their dealers they're just like a lowest red line lowest red line lowest red line and they forget about these things but that's super smart i don't even think about that almost given yeah working out a deal and almost saying hey i'll take this many outers if you can like hit all these you know
00:15:26
Speaker
check boxes on the install.
00:15:28
Speaker
Because yeah, it's like incentive for both the installer and the rep.
00:15:32
Speaker
Then you get more deals out of it.
00:15:33
Speaker
Because yeah, I've been with some, yeah, I have done deals where I got a lower headline and I've learned that the hard way, just like getting paid more.
00:15:41
Speaker
But then the install took like four or five months and then
00:15:45
Speaker
never got a referral from that customer.
00:15:47
Speaker
And then also I've had a bunch where customers canceled because the experience was so bad.
00:15:51
Speaker
So it's like, would you rather have customers cancel or just get paid a little bit less, but have every install, you know, go a lot better.
00:15:59
Speaker
So I think, yeah, for our listeners, definitely something to consider.
00:16:02
Speaker
Have you ever heard of someone setting up?
00:16:04
Speaker
Did you do that when you were installing for other people?
00:16:06
Speaker
Or have people actually set up deals like that?
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah, I did with a couple people that I was working with at the time.
00:16:13
Speaker
And, yeah, I mean, it worked out.
00:16:16
Speaker
I ended up selling, and so I transitioned out of some of those dealers that I was working with.
00:16:21
Speaker
So it was more of a thought at that time.
00:16:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:26
Speaker
But...
00:16:27
Speaker
yeah, I more was just like, hey, with that extra money, I can hire someone else to help.
00:16:31
Speaker
At the same time, like being a dealer, I would suggest having someone that does your own customer service as well.
00:16:37
Speaker
So you might need to pay someone four grand a month, three or four grand a month at least to follow up with customers.
00:16:44
Speaker
Let them know what's going on.
00:16:46
Speaker
Keep in touch because the installer, they're going to have so much going on.
00:16:49
Speaker
And especially if they're giving you these low, really low red lines, they don't have the extra support for people to just be looking in their CRM constantly.
00:16:57
Speaker
But if you have someone, that way you're not spending, you know, like I'm working with a guy right now.
00:17:02
Speaker
He said out of a 30-day month, like 20 of the 30 days was spent doing customer service because they sucked so bad at his last installer.
00:17:10
Speaker
And so, yeah, if you can work a full 30 days, obviously you're going to make a lot more money.
00:17:17
Speaker
And ultimately sales is, I'm doing a lot of my own personal sales right now, just because that's where the money's at.
Project Management and Operational Strategies
00:17:24
Speaker
I might make 20 cents off of someone else doing the sale, or I can make $1, $1.50 myself.
00:17:33
Speaker
if I do it myself.
00:17:34
Speaker
What made you decide, you said this time you're not running a dealer model or anything, what made you decide this time around to not open it up to dealers and not doing installs for other people?
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think that ultimately, I got tired of the razor thin margins of barely making any money or occasionally, like I said, even losing money and then fighting with the dealer.
00:18:02
Speaker
Whereas when it's a salesperson and I'm able to put a little bit of a buffer in there,
00:18:06
Speaker
I can eat more of the cost.
00:18:07
Speaker
Like, hey, there was a mistake.
00:18:09
Speaker
Hey, we forgot about trenching.
00:18:10
Speaker
Hey, we forgot about this.
00:18:11
Speaker
You know what?
00:18:12
Speaker
We have a little bit of extra money on every few projects.
00:18:14
Speaker
I'm just going to cover it.
00:18:15
Speaker
It's so much easier.
00:18:17
Speaker
Everyone's happier.
00:18:19
Speaker
And I don't know.
00:18:21
Speaker
I talked to one of the owners of Lumio, and I was telling him back when I was running a dealer program, he was just like, oh,
00:18:31
Speaker
oh, you're doing it as low as 210.
00:18:32
Speaker
He's like, all day, every day, I'd rather do 20 jobs a month at 250 than 100 jobs a month at 210.
00:18:39
Speaker
And so now I'm like, yep, I'd rather just do 20 solid jobs, know that we're making some money rather than doing.
00:18:48
Speaker
And it was great.
00:18:49
Speaker
It was exciting.
00:18:50
Speaker
I was doing over 100 installs a month last year.
00:18:56
Speaker
And we had a ton of people, tons of hiring and everything.
00:19:00
Speaker
So it was exciting.
00:19:01
Speaker
We were getting lots of vehicles and whatnot.
00:19:04
Speaker
But I definitely would just rather keep it small and have higher quality, higher, you know, funds per project.
00:19:13
Speaker
didn't have a whole ton of projects yeah yeah no that's yeah that's good and yeah especially for people um because i i think more than anything i mean this mistake coming from like a company like new power where we were at they were doing their own installs then coming from that i thought it was going to be the exact same thing just with the epc model someone else doing the install and i figured out pretty quick that yeah there's a big difference between having it all internal and then
00:19:39
Speaker
having all these other companies do the installation company do the installations for you.
00:19:44
Speaker
So yeah, I think especially if someone listening to this is coming from like a company where it's all internal, then you're outside, you're making a little bit more, you started your own deal or something like that.
00:19:53
Speaker
You just have to remember that, yeah, you got to focus way more on your deals because I would put deals in at New Power.
00:20:00
Speaker
I just would kind of forget about them and
00:20:02
Speaker
You know, they had all their customer service reps and all that, project managers.
00:20:05
Speaker
But I realized that most of these EPCs, they don't have, like you said, that's razor thin margins.
00:20:10
Speaker
They're not really managing the projects near as much.
00:20:13
Speaker
So I didn't know that.
00:20:14
Speaker
And so I was surprised when I went to our CRM and stuff.
00:20:17
Speaker
I had to actually like tag people and notify people.
00:20:19
Speaker
Yeah, of course, some are better than others.
00:20:21
Speaker
But for you, like, I know you've experienced a lot of, like, bad EPCs and everything.
00:20:26
Speaker
Did you have, like, a support person?
00:20:28
Speaker
Or what's your tips on that with, like, I don't know, getting project managers?
00:20:32
Speaker
I'm sure you have, like, internal ones now.
00:20:34
Speaker
But what would you tell people as far as, like, getting...
00:20:38
Speaker
someone to help manage the project?
00:20:40
Speaker
Yeah, so if you're running a dealer, definitely getting someone to help out is huge.
00:20:48
Speaker
There's Upwork, you can get someone for six or eight dollars an hour.
00:20:55
Speaker
I know a guy out in Colorado that I think he just has like two Upwork people, and he asks every one of his customers, hey, how often do you want updates?
00:21:03
Speaker
They'll do it as much as every single day if the customer asks for it.
00:21:07
Speaker
They have just an Upwork person just every single day.
00:21:10
Speaker
Just so you know, your project's still in permitting.
00:21:11
Speaker
Just so you know, your project's still in permitting.
00:21:12
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:13
Speaker
Until people are like, actually, just do it once a week, you know, or every other week, or just let me know when something changes.
00:21:19
Speaker
And then you know that the customer is fine.
00:21:23
Speaker
And so, yeah, finding someone to just give people updates, make sure you have access to the CRM.
00:21:29
Speaker
Again, if you are going to work with an installer, yeah.
00:21:33
Speaker
I would make sure that you knew who the decision maker was and that you have access to them.
00:21:38
Speaker
Because again, that's just the worst when you have customers that are just sitting there and you have no idea what's going on.
00:21:47
Speaker
It's just quote unquote stuck somewhere in the process.
00:21:53
Speaker
And so you want to make sure that you can be like,
00:21:57
Speaker
hey, yo, owner, I have a stuck customer and I need something to be done about it, right?
00:22:04
Speaker
And so, because yeah, if you just go to a really big company that's doing a thousand installs a month, you can't get a hold of anyone.
00:22:11
Speaker
And when you do, they're just like, oh, I'll pass it on to the next project manager.
00:22:16
Speaker
And then it just stops and it stops.
00:22:19
Speaker
And yeah,
00:22:20
Speaker
everyone just gets frustrated in that case.
00:22:23
Speaker
So you want to make sure you're with a proactive company where they can actually send out.
00:22:29
Speaker
That's the biggest thing
Dealer Insights and Customer Service Importance
00:22:30
Speaker
I've considered literally just going and being a dealer again because being an installer, my margins aren't that amazing.
00:22:37
Speaker
And it's actually really expensive up front.
00:22:41
Speaker
And so I've considered becoming a dealer again, but I would have a tough time if I had a customer who had a leak.
00:22:49
Speaker
Because right now I can just let me get a guy out there tomorrow or today.
00:22:55
Speaker
If I was constantly calling Titan or whoever and I was like, hey, please send someone, please, please, please.
00:23:00
Speaker
And it takes them weeks.
00:23:02
Speaker
That would just be so frustrating and so hard.
00:23:04
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:23:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's a battle.
00:23:08
Speaker
Pros and cons for sure.
00:23:09
Speaker
I've been with some, what drives me nuts sometimes too is some of these EPCs, you talk to one person and like, oh, let me transfer to someone.
00:23:16
Speaker
You tell them the same story, let me transfer to someone.
00:23:18
Speaker
And then some of them wouldn't keep like record of any of the issues going on.
00:23:22
Speaker
So I'd talk to 10 people and then just have to wait like weeks for a response and everything.
00:23:27
Speaker
So yeah, I would almost, if I were to drop off and become just a dealer again, I would probably have my own technician.
00:23:34
Speaker
And I would double check with the Insta.
00:23:35
Speaker
I mean, this is just my own strategy so that if I had a customer who had an issue, I can just have my guy where I'm like, I pay him 500 bucks, go fix the customer.
00:23:44
Speaker
Because 500 bucks is nothing compared to getting a referral.
00:23:48
Speaker
Like I actually just barely, like I said, I'm closing deals right now.
00:23:51
Speaker
I just closed someone about three days ago and it was a referral from one of my worst customers ever.
00:23:59
Speaker
Yeah, it was so surprising.
00:24:02
Speaker
This customer was, I mean, it was one of those projects where it took probably three or four inspections.
00:24:08
Speaker
She was so iffy.
00:24:10
Speaker
Do you guys know what you're doing?
00:24:12
Speaker
And we had to do a grounding lug on her water heater.
00:24:16
Speaker
and her water heater shut down.
00:24:20
Speaker
It was like an old water heater, just happened to happen at the same time.
00:24:24
Speaker
They didn't do anything other than put something on the copper.
00:24:29
Speaker
And she was just so upset.
00:24:31
Speaker
I ended up saying, look, it's an old water heater, I'll pay for half.
00:24:35
Speaker
for you to get a new one um and so and then i never heard from her like again and so i was like man she's super pissed but then i just and it's literally been about a year um i i had a a customer who's like yeah your old customer amelita
00:24:49
Speaker
She referred.
00:24:50
Speaker
I was like, oh, nice.
00:24:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:54
Speaker
But she said she was just like, yeah, you were like responsive and actually got things done.
00:24:57
Speaker
So I'm just saying like sometimes, you know, it was maybe eight or nine hundred bucks to cover half the cost of her water heater.
00:25:03
Speaker
I got a whole nother customer because of it.
00:25:06
Speaker
And so sometimes, you know, just being able to be there for your customers is more important than saving the extra few hundred dollars.
00:25:14
Speaker
I love that.
00:25:15
Speaker
And it's funny.
00:25:15
Speaker
I've had those same referrals, too, where it's like pissed off customers.
00:25:19
Speaker
It's taken with
00:25:19
Speaker
way long than expected but just because I was like always responding to them even though it was like I'm like man the last thing I want to do is like text this guy back over and over and tell him the same thing and just have him still be pissed at me but I've gotten lots of referrals from customers like that so yeah I think sales reps that actually talk with their customers
00:25:39
Speaker
I hate sales reps that are just like, it's not my job.
00:25:41
Speaker
I sold them.
00:25:42
Speaker
Now it's all yours.
00:25:43
Speaker
And I'm like, just give them some updates.
00:25:45
Speaker
Give them some love.
00:25:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:46
Speaker
Because they know who you are.
00:25:48
Speaker
They trust you.
00:25:49
Speaker
They don't know who we are.
00:25:51
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:25:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:52
Speaker
I love that you do that.
00:25:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:53
Speaker
So it's a good lesson for all the listeners.
00:25:55
Speaker
Respond to your customers quick because that's how you get referrals.
00:25:58
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:25:59
Speaker
They're super mad.
00:26:00
Speaker
But yeah, that's good.
00:26:01
Speaker
And then another thing I wanted to ask you, Eric, is you talked about before you had all the bad experiences with the different EPCs.
00:26:07
Speaker
So now if you were to go start your own dealer again, you talked earlier just about finding one that's responsive, that you can talk to the owner, stuff like that.
00:26:18
Speaker
So if you were starting your dealer trying to find a good EPC, find a good company, do you have any suggestions on how you would do that without just throwing...
00:26:27
Speaker
them a deal and then having it be a disaster and switching to another one having to be a disaster like how do you know how is it possible to figure out beforehand oh this looks like it could go well or do you have any tips on that that's a really good question um i think that uh i mean the best thing you can do just like anything either get some referrals someone who has used them who's had a good experience um asking around uh just
00:26:53
Speaker
Because there's a lot.
00:26:54
Speaker
Like here in San Diego, there's hundreds of installers, right?
00:26:58
Speaker
And I'm sure any of them would be like, oh, cool, sales guy who will just bring deals in.
00:27:02
Speaker
Like they'll...
00:27:03
Speaker
take you on.
00:27:04
Speaker
Um, but again, I think that, you know, just finding someone that you click with, you connect with, um, I've been really all about right now, just like where the universe, you know, um, if you feel more relief, um, than you do stress, uh, but at the same time, um, giving them a deal or two is always good.
00:27:24
Speaker
But as you know, it can take two to three months to have an install.
00:27:27
Speaker
So you don't really want to wait or do like five different ones.
00:27:31
Speaker
Um, um,
00:27:32
Speaker
So, yeah, I think, you know, I went to Darren Hardy's master class was super good.
00:27:40
Speaker
And he talked about interviews.
00:27:43
Speaker
And every single person that he hires on, he puts through a six-step interview process.
00:27:51
Speaker
And so I think that if you're interviewing installers, I don't think that there's anything wrong with treating it like an interview and actually getting to know them.
00:27:59
Speaker
And then like the last step in, in Darren Hardy, he's the compound effect author.
00:28:03
Speaker
He is always his wife, the wife test.
00:28:06
Speaker
He's like, she's the best BS detector.
00:28:09
Speaker
I do this all the time now.
00:28:10
Speaker
Like my wife, I'm just like, I'm sorry, honey, I'm going to hire someone new.
00:28:13
Speaker
I need you to double check and talk with them.
00:28:17
Speaker
And so I would almost get your wife involved, you know, the very end and say, hey, this is the installer I'm thinking of putting stuff through.
00:28:23
Speaker
And honestly, wives a lot of time or someone just like with a different perspective in general, I think could be like, I don't like that person or.
00:28:31
Speaker
you know what, I got really good vibes and I feel like they're actually going to honor what they say, let's go.
00:28:37
Speaker
And so I would just say, just like any, how they say, hire slow, fire fast.
00:28:43
Speaker
I think it would be the same thing with an installer.
00:28:45
Speaker
Take your time, find the right installer, meet with them multiple times, meet with people in their company, and then have your spouse just do a double check.
00:28:56
Speaker
and then just start going.
00:28:58
Speaker
And honestly, the biggest thing that I've found is just being consistent.
00:29:04
Speaker
So if you're stopping and going with a different installer every other month, it's just a pain.
00:29:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:11
Speaker
And I would say too, because I've been in situations where it's like, I haven't chosen, like I've been with dealers, so I'm not really the one choosing the installer.
00:29:19
Speaker
But all of a sudden we go to a meeting and our owner's like, hey, we're using these guys now for the installer.
00:29:24
Speaker
And I'm just like, okay, well, that's what they said.
00:29:25
Speaker
And I guess let's do it.
00:29:27
Speaker
Then a few of them have been disasters.
00:29:29
Speaker
A few of them have worked out.
00:29:31
Speaker
So I wish I would have known that back then.
00:29:33
Speaker
And even though I wasn't like picking the installer,
00:29:35
Speaker
At the very least, maybe go back to the owner of the dealer and be like, well, hey, why did you?
00:29:40
Speaker
Maybe kind of question them on it and be like, why did you choose them?
00:29:43
Speaker
Or have you seen how quick they're?
00:29:45
Speaker
Have you seen quality?
00:29:46
Speaker
Have you talked to other people using them?
00:29:48
Speaker
Because, yeah, I think it could have weighed a lot of stuff like that.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah, but definitely I feel like being a dealer would be more the way to go than being your own installer.
00:29:57
Speaker
Yeah, it's tough.
00:29:59
Speaker
Well, here, so something as we kind of get towards the end here, Eric, I wanted to ask you, you've gotten your own license, you've hired your own installers, and I'm sure that wasn't easy.
00:30:13
Speaker
Like, in my head, that seems like the tougher part is, yeah, you can go get licensed, take a test and everything.
00:30:18
Speaker
But for me, I'm just thinking, OK, I've got my license and that's cool.
00:30:22
Speaker
But I've seen so many people go get crews that don't know what they're doing and just have that be a disaster.
00:30:28
Speaker
So like, I don't know, tell me how that was for you.
00:30:31
Speaker
What was your experience?
00:30:32
Speaker
And like, hey, you got your license.
00:30:34
Speaker
Now I'm going to actually like build a company out of it and get crews and maybe have some horror stories.
00:30:39
Speaker
Maybe have some good stories.
00:30:40
Speaker
But how was the experience for you?
00:30:41
Speaker
Yeah, man.
00:30:43
Speaker
Crews, field guys, a lot of W-2 people in general in the nicest way possible.
00:30:50
Speaker
It's just tough.
00:30:51
Speaker
It's really tough.
00:30:53
Speaker
I listen to a construction management podcast because I'm like, they understand.
00:30:58
Speaker
They feel me because it's, you know, in that podcast, they talk about like home construction and how they have these granite countertops.
00:31:07
Speaker
And they tell the guys, don't put your toolboxes on the granite countertops.
00:31:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:11
Speaker
And then they still do it.
00:31:12
Speaker
And then they say it again.
00:31:13
Speaker
And then they do a formal announcement.
00:31:14
Speaker
They do memos.
00:31:15
Speaker
They put signs up.
00:31:17
Speaker
And guys still just, boom, put their big toolboxes.
00:31:20
Speaker
And they're just like, there's nothing we can do.
00:31:24
Speaker
And it's just, I think for a lot of door-to-door salespeople, we're super driven.
00:31:29
Speaker
And we're like, I want to do a great job.
00:31:32
Speaker
I want to work so hard.
00:31:34
Speaker
I want to max out how much I can make.
00:31:36
Speaker
It is just a totally different mentality for these guys that are like, I want my $24 an hour and I don't want to get fired.
00:31:45
Speaker
And I'm just going to do the bare minimum that I need to, to keep my job.
00:31:51
Speaker
Like it's just a totally different mentality.
00:31:53
Speaker
They get so many sick days.
00:31:55
Speaker
And so they're just like, Oh, I got a sick day.
00:31:56
Speaker
Cool.
00:31:57
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:31:57
Speaker
I'm out, you know, feeling a little bit groggy.
00:31:59
Speaker
And it's like, dude, we had a customer that was counting on you.
00:32:02
Speaker
Now we don't have a guy.
00:32:05
Speaker
or they don't maintain their vehicles, like whatever it is.
00:32:10
Speaker
And so it is next level getting to having a lot of W2 employees, like they say, herding cats or babysitting.
00:32:20
Speaker
And so, yeah, be prepared to really, really get into that.
00:32:27
Speaker
And like I said, talking about taking a lot of time, it takes up a lot of time.
00:32:33
Speaker
And so that's why unless you're totally committed or you have someone, you know, that wants to be that office person and not go out and sell and they're okay with not making a whole lot of money, especially at first.
00:32:46
Speaker
That's why like the dealer idea is actually a great idea.
00:32:50
Speaker
I mean, dealers in the nicest way possible are glorified managers.
00:32:55
Speaker
Like you have a red-legged, I mean, it's just like a manager over at Sunrun or whatever company.
00:33:00
Speaker
They get their pay and they get an over it.
00:33:02
Speaker
It's a dealer is a manager for an install company.
00:33:07
Speaker
But it's kind of cool because you get to make your own brand, have your own swag, have your thing, have your company.
00:33:15
Speaker
And then the installer does a lot.
00:33:16
Speaker
But you probably need to hire someone.
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:18
Speaker
I think I got off on a tangent there because you're asking more about the
Managing Employees and Selling a Solar Company
00:33:23
Speaker
install.
00:33:23
Speaker
Oh, it's just, it's tough.
00:33:25
Speaker
I mean, there's so many, I'm trying to think, I had a guy last year, I think it's okay if I mention it, but he got shot, one of my installers.
00:33:34
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:33:35
Speaker
Yeah, he was on his way to an inspection and just a guy with road rage flipped a UE in front of him, just came and
00:33:42
Speaker
he bent over and he got shot in his butt, in his hip.
00:33:49
Speaker
And they had to keep the bullet in there.
00:33:52
Speaker
But, you know, just people getting hurt, accidents, vehicles, just getting so much into HR and, you know, workers' compensation.
00:34:04
Speaker
It gets pretty deep and pretty heavy once you start getting into that.
00:34:08
Speaker
It's easy to think, oh, wow, if I pay this person only $20 an hour and it only costs this much and they do the install this fast, wow, I'm going to be saving so much money.
00:34:19
Speaker
But then you don't take into account all of the other stuff that happens.
00:34:24
Speaker
What about those homes that do have the bad leaks?
00:34:26
Speaker
I've had out of 1,000 projects, I'd say probably $500.
00:34:32
Speaker
complete roofs that I had to pay for customers at 15 to 20 grand.
00:34:36
Speaker
You know, huge losses.
00:34:38
Speaker
Just because like the installer, like because your guys did something to mess it up or?
00:34:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, like something happened with the roofer.
00:34:46
Speaker
I mean, usually it's the roofer, just being honest on those ones.
00:34:49
Speaker
And then it like ruins the sheetrock on the customer's house and you have to go in and replace all of that.
00:34:56
Speaker
Wow.
00:34:58
Speaker
Some of them have been smaller leaks, but there's been multiple projects that I've had that have been pretty big losses.
00:35:06
Speaker
And if you're not prepared for that, it's what takes a lot of companies under.
00:35:11
Speaker
A lot of these install companies.
00:35:12
Speaker
I was just talking with another installer a couple days ago.
00:35:15
Speaker
and we were just saying that it's crazy how one company will sell for 900 million, right?
00:35:20
Speaker
SunPro sold for over $900 million, say ADT.
00:35:22
Speaker
And I think that's why it's tempting to become your own installer because they see Blue Raven sold for 160 million, Solcius for 53 million.
00:35:31
Speaker
And so it's tempting to be like, I want to be an installer.
00:35:34
Speaker
Right.
00:35:35
Speaker
Because there is value.
00:35:36
Speaker
You own the vehicles, you're building assets.
00:35:38
Speaker
A lot of the money is going towards W2 employees, which are considered assets.
00:35:42
Speaker
If you get some good people, it's super valuable because it's hard to find really good W2 employees.
00:35:50
Speaker
But it's like a teeter-totter between.
00:35:54
Speaker
going completely bankrupt you know you have a horizon that blows up a customer's house you know and then they're out of business a few months later like it just uh one thing could happen and you just go completely under yeah um and you lose everything that you've built up for but on the other hand there's those millions you know hundreds of millions of dollars transactions uh that happen for installers
00:36:17
Speaker
And so ultimately that's my goal, right, is I want to sell, you know, short term.
00:36:23
Speaker
Right now just getting a new install company up and going, it's expensive.
00:36:26
Speaker
I'm actually losing money every month right now.
00:36:29
Speaker
I'll be making minimal money probably in the next few months and then about what I would as a dealer.
00:36:35
Speaker
But my goal is to sell the company.
00:36:38
Speaker
And so that's the biggest problem.
00:36:41
Speaker
win for an installer, I feel like, is that you're, again, building assets, you're building a company.
00:36:46
Speaker
Whereas a dealer, it's all 1099 guys, sales guys that you have that, you know, could be offered, you know, 50 or 100 grand, and they'll just leave.
00:36:55
Speaker
So it's not worth millions and millions of dollars, usually most dealers.
00:37:00
Speaker
Whereas an installer has like the processes and
00:37:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:05
Speaker
And the people and tools and everything.
00:37:08
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:37:09
Speaker
Well, speaking of sewing, I mean, you, you already been down that road and, um, you know, sold, sold your previous company, everything.
00:37:16
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, how did that, like, how do you even go about sewing?
00:37:20
Speaker
How was that experience?
00:37:21
Speaker
I want to hear about that.
00:37:22
Speaker
Selling your old company and, um,
00:37:25
Speaker
Starting this new one, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
00:37:28
Speaker
You're running the new one.
00:37:30
Speaker
Pretty much.
00:37:31
Speaker
So yeah, like how did that go in?
00:37:34
Speaker
Yeah, so I ran Larsson for three years and built it up.
00:37:38
Speaker
And I had an internal sales team and then I had a few dealers.
00:37:42
Speaker
Okay.
00:37:45
Speaker
And then I brought on a bigger dealer that I worked with for about five months.
00:37:52
Speaker
And they said, they were like, we want to get into our own installs.
00:37:56
Speaker
And so again, I was making razor thin margins.
00:37:58
Speaker
I even told them at one point, I was like, I'm about break even with you guys.
00:38:02
Speaker
With my internal sales, that's the only people I'm making money off of right now.
00:38:09
Speaker
But they still were like, no, we want to be our own installer.
00:38:12
Speaker
They saw those.
00:38:12
Speaker
They saw the SunPro.
00:38:14
Speaker
They saw the big transactions that were happening.
00:38:17
Speaker
And they were like, we don't want to be just a dealer.
00:38:19
Speaker
They wanted to be an installer.
00:38:22
Speaker
And so we put a value on my company last year.
00:38:26
Speaker
It was actually $4.5 million.
00:38:27
Speaker
And...
00:38:31
Speaker
They ended up paying out at $2.5 million and then giving me some equity.
00:38:36
Speaker
But it was earned vested equity over time.
00:38:40
Speaker
And so it was nice.
00:38:41
Speaker
Had a good transaction.
00:38:44
Speaker
Ended up investing a bunch of money back into the business to help out with payroll.
00:38:48
Speaker
And I just realized, I don't know, if anyone listening to this is ever considering selling their company, it's just like working with an installer.
00:38:57
Speaker
It's just as important to understand the company that's buying your company.
00:39:01
Speaker
Okay.
00:39:01
Speaker
I later found out that they took out some huge short-term loans and just it overextended a little bit.
00:39:09
Speaker
And I still love and appreciate those guys and I hope the best for them.
00:39:15
Speaker
But a few months in when there wasn't tons of money rolling in, they thought when I was telling them I was break even on their projects as it was.
00:39:25
Speaker
They started just blaming me, and they ended up deciding to hire someone else to come in as the COO.
00:39:33
Speaker
And so they took away most of my equity, and I basically said, hey, just let me walk and start another solar company, and I won't fight for the equity or anything like that.
00:39:43
Speaker
Just let me go.
00:39:44
Speaker
And so we signed an agreement where I could start another solar company, and I'm actually extremely grateful for them for that.
00:39:51
Speaker
I think the owner, Dan, I just...
00:39:54
Speaker
was like, what am I going to do?
00:39:56
Speaker
Go flip burgers?
00:39:57
Speaker
Like solar is my life.
00:39:58
Speaker
That's what I know.
00:39:59
Speaker
And if I can't get back into it, then I'm kind of screwed.
00:40:03
Speaker
And he was like, okay, you know, he understood.
00:40:05
Speaker
And so luckily I've been able to restart.
00:40:07
Speaker
I can't recruit anyone from over there or anything like that.
00:40:10
Speaker
Um, I ended up not making nearly as much money as I thought.
00:40:14
Speaker
And it's been a little bit of a fight to get back some of the money.
00:40:17
Speaker
Um, but, um,
00:40:19
Speaker
Yeah, lots of lessons.
00:40:20
Speaker
If anyone, I'm on Instagram, Eric, E-R-I-K, Larsun, L-A-R-S-U-N.
00:40:25
Speaker
Anyone wants to DM me or message if they're considering selling or anything like that.
00:40:29
Speaker
I have a ton of advice, tons of things that I learned from that.
00:40:35
Speaker
So, yeah, you either succeed or you learn, which learning is succeeding and winning at the same time.
00:40:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:40:43
Speaker
Yeah, we'll put your social media and stuff in the show notes if you guys want to ask more about that.
00:40:47
Speaker
But no, yeah, Dan Dunn's a solid guy.
00:40:50
Speaker
He's been on the podcast too.
00:40:51
Speaker
Oh, nice.
00:40:53
Speaker
So yeah, people can go listen to his episode.
00:40:54
Speaker
But it sounds like, well, if you, like going back, if you did want to like know more about their company, is that something that they would like tell you?
00:41:05
Speaker
Like if you said, hey, tell me about this.
00:41:06
Speaker
Yeah, let me see your financials.
00:41:08
Speaker
I want to see how much money.
00:41:09
Speaker
I think that they would have and they should have.
00:41:12
Speaker
And I just, I would have consulted a little bit more.
00:41:15
Speaker
I would have been like, hey, you know, maybe we shouldn't do super high executive pay.
00:41:21
Speaker
Maybe, you know, we shouldn't do a short term loan.
00:41:24
Speaker
You can pay me over time.
00:41:27
Speaker
Things like that, that would have alleviated a lot of the stress of the money.
00:41:34
Speaker
And that's ultimately one of the big reasons, one of the lessons I learned with now starting this, that's why I'm selling.
00:41:40
Speaker
I'm like, I have some people I'm hired to help run operations.
00:41:44
Speaker
I'm still responsible.
00:41:45
Speaker
I'm the contractor and license holder and everything.
00:41:49
Speaker
But I know that the money comes from the sales.
00:41:52
Speaker
So if I wanna pay myself and I don't wanna pull a ton of money from the business and put the business in trouble, I need to get my own sales.
00:42:02
Speaker
And I learned that because of that, because I saw the main executives
00:42:08
Speaker
Again, I don't know how much of this you want to put in here, but kind of step back and take an executive pay.
00:42:13
Speaker
And then within a few months, they realized they didn't have enough money to do that.
00:42:17
Speaker
And it's put the company in a little bit of a tough time.
00:42:23
Speaker
So if I would have known, hey, you don't have millions of dollars that you're raking in right now,
00:42:31
Speaker
we should probably still sell ourselves even as the executives so that we can keep as much money in the business as possible because again it's it's buying the fleets it's buying it's putting the money back into it and so um running a business i think a lot of people are like oh they own the business they must have so much money but it's like i said it's you're you're on this teeter-totter where it's like tomorrow could all be gone
00:43:00
Speaker
One thing happens and it's all gone.
00:43:03
Speaker
Just everything that we've worked so hard for, one lawsuit comes.
00:43:08
Speaker
And so even like myself, if I have a bunch of money, I'm like, I still, and I think that's why a lot of rich people just get more and more rich because they get more and more like lawsuits and more and more issues and they need more and more security to make sure that they can
00:43:22
Speaker
you know, uh, withstand it.
00:43:24
Speaker
But, um, there's not that much money.
00:43:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:29
Speaker
It's funny.
00:43:30
Speaker
I'm actually getting audited right now.
00:43:33
Speaker
A couple of big commission checks coming and everything was planning on doing some different investments, but I'm like, all right, I better like hold off until I figure out what's going on with this audit stuff and see how much that tax bill is going to be.
00:43:46
Speaker
I guess you can kind of finance it or whatever, but
00:43:49
Speaker
But no, that's a good point.
00:43:51
Speaker
And yeah, sounds like some valuable lessons learned over there.
Business Ownership and Personal Balance
00:43:55
Speaker
And yeah, pretty much every owner I think that I've had on the podcast, almost everyone has been like pretty heavily involved in the sales.
00:44:04
Speaker
I mean, you look at guys like Michael O'Donnell, yeah, a bunch of other guys, they're all selling at a high level and they're owners of their company.
00:44:13
Speaker
But yeah, all of them say the same thing.
00:44:14
Speaker
Like that's how they're making most of their money is from the sales.
00:44:17
Speaker
And that's how they're, you know, obviously unless they sell the company then.
00:44:21
Speaker
Yeah, I know there's some big transactions that have been done.
00:44:25
Speaker
But that's cool.
00:44:25
Speaker
And then so like now that you've started Fresh, is there a lot of things that you are doing different now that you've been through the whole thing at Larson?
00:44:33
Speaker
Like a lot of lessons, a lot of things you're doing different are pretty much similar.
00:44:37
Speaker
What things are you doing different compared to the first time when you started Larson?
00:44:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:41
Speaker
Yeah, the only things I'm really doing different, like I said, is I'm not doing dealers.
00:44:45
Speaker
So I'm doing all integrated, so all in-house salespeople.
00:44:51
Speaker
And then I'm selling myself right now are probably the two biggest things.
00:44:58
Speaker
And I am also not going to sell.
00:45:01
Speaker
I'm not in a rush necessarily.
00:45:03
Speaker
Three to five years, I do want to sell.
00:45:05
Speaker
But I'm also going to slow play that.
00:45:08
Speaker
There were a few people interested in buying Larsson and I should have like stepped back a little bit, did a little bit more homework on everything.
00:45:15
Speaker
So not in a massive, massive hurry to grow massively huge, you know, overnight.
00:45:22
Speaker
I'd rather I'm focused on quality a lot more and making sure that we're actually, you know,
00:45:29
Speaker
really profitable and have things lined up, you know, building out our tools and whatnot.
00:45:36
Speaker
A big thing that I've carried over even and through it is my whole theme of love, appreciation, respect.
00:45:44
Speaker
I mentioned this to you earlier and it's cheesy.
00:45:47
Speaker
I actually say it in all of my sales.
00:45:49
Speaker
I'm talking with customers right now and I'm just like, yeah, it's cheesy, but our, you know, mantra is love, appreciation, respect.
00:45:57
Speaker
And
00:45:58
Speaker
It just ultimately goes back to kindness and actually caring about the customers, about the people that we work with.
00:46:06
Speaker
I really like the guy who founded the Kind Bars.
00:46:10
Speaker
He says there's a big difference between being kind and being nice.
00:46:14
Speaker
He said if you see someone with a big old thing of food in their teeth, a nice person won't say anything.
00:46:20
Speaker
You're just like, oh, okay.
00:46:22
Speaker
Hey, good to see you.
00:46:23
Speaker
And then walk away because they're nice, quote unquote.
00:46:26
Speaker
But a kind person will actually say, hey, you got something in there, you know, and kindly help you.
00:46:34
Speaker
And so that's my goal with Solar Sun is to really just show that kindness, the love, appreciation, and respect.
00:46:46
Speaker
I just, when I was going through that,
00:46:50
Speaker
I had some people basically say, hey, you seem like a pushover.
00:46:53
Speaker
You're too nice.
00:46:56
Speaker
And so I'm trying to really define that kindness versus niceness.
00:47:01
Speaker
And so I'm defining myself.
00:47:03
Speaker
And so that's the whole goal of...
00:47:07
Speaker
Solar Sun now is not just a sell for a big amount.
00:47:10
Speaker
It's I want to prove that a company that focuses on love, appreciation, and respect can be successful, can grow, and be sustainable.
00:47:21
Speaker
We don't have to do a million accounts and do bad work and not care.
00:47:27
Speaker
but we actually care and we're kind to each other.
00:47:31
Speaker
And so that's my ultimate goal.
00:47:34
Speaker
I actually just got everyone in the company the book, it's the five languages of appreciation.
00:47:40
Speaker
So it's actually the same guy, Peter Chapman, they created a work version of the five love languages, but it's the five languages of appreciation.
00:47:50
Speaker
It's the same exact ones.
00:47:51
Speaker
And it's super interesting because my appreciation language in work, my number one is service, is people helping me, right?
00:48:03
Speaker
I'm just like, thank you so much for helping me.
00:48:04
Speaker
It means so much to me.
00:48:06
Speaker
But in my personal relationships, that's my lowest.
00:48:09
Speaker
Like my wife can, you know, do all the dishes in the whole world.
00:48:14
Speaker
And I'm like, okay, okay.
00:48:15
Speaker
whatever, you know, but I probably take her too much for granted.
00:48:18
Speaker
I love my wife so much.
00:48:19
Speaker
Um, but it's just interesting because in workplace, uh, your, your love languages or your appreciation languages, um, are a little different.
00:48:27
Speaker
So I want to challenge anyone to potentially do that and see what you, what you, uh, respect.
00:48:32
Speaker
And then you can look for business partners that can help compliment, you know, your different appreciation languages.
00:48:38
Speaker
So, okay.
00:48:39
Speaker
That's what we're really focused on this time.
00:48:40
Speaker
And I think that everyone just hears that, you know, beating the drum, love, appreciation, respect.
00:48:47
Speaker
And it's going all right.
00:48:48
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:48:49
Speaker
No, I love that.
00:48:50
Speaker
Yeah, good advice there for anyone managing, running teams.
00:48:54
Speaker
Learn those love languages, appreciation.
00:48:58
Speaker
And then as we kind of wrap up here, last thing I wanted to ask you about, I know you went through the divorce.
00:49:04
Speaker
You said, obviously, you know, running your own company, that's no easy feat, ton of stuff going on.
00:49:09
Speaker
So it's something I've seen, unfortunately, a lot in the solar industry, just, I guess, door to door in general is just people really struggling with their relationships.
00:49:17
Speaker
A lot of guys I've seen go through so much stuff, divorce and everything.
00:49:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:22
Speaker
Because I think a lot of us were so like high level focused on sales focus on business focus on other things that for me I noticed sometimes, you know, I neglect relationships You know definitely had struggles at times like that, too So what have you learned from that or what advice would you give now?
00:49:40
Speaker
You know going through building your companies Being remarried and all that do you have any advice for I don't know the relationships for solar guys or business owners?
00:49:49
Speaker
Yeah, that's a super good question.
00:49:52
Speaker
I realize I say that a lot.
00:49:54
Speaker
That's a really good question.
00:49:55
Speaker
I think that's Brian Tracy.
00:49:57
Speaker
No, it's a good question because I learned a lot from my first marriage.
00:50:02
Speaker
I mean, I was married for seven years.
00:50:05
Speaker
And like I said, I wouldn't blame it just on solar.
00:50:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:09
Speaker
But I am remarried now.
00:50:11
Speaker
Been just really had my anniversary four years.
00:50:14
Speaker
And I have four kids with my my wife right now.
00:50:19
Speaker
I have six kids total.
00:50:20
Speaker
So we have two sets of twins.
00:50:23
Speaker
And it's a lot.
00:50:26
Speaker
It is a lot.
00:50:28
Speaker
As far as advice.
00:50:30
Speaker
Yeah, definitely make time for your family.
00:50:35
Speaker
And I think being intentional.
00:50:40
Speaker
I was just listening to Jay Shetty and he talks about quality versus quantity.
00:50:46
Speaker
And he's like, quality is always so much more important.
00:50:49
Speaker
Quality time.
00:50:51
Speaker
Sometimes we're like, oh, well, fine, I'll take off a whole day or whatever.
00:50:53
Speaker
But if you're like on your phone, you're like, you know, not really with the person.
00:50:59
Speaker
He says that he remembers, and I remember my time with my parents when there was quality, when they actually sat down with me, when they talked with me and they worked with me.
00:51:08
Speaker
And I think it's the same for a relationship.
00:51:10
Speaker
Just because I'm taking a day off doesn't mean I'm actually spending it with my wife.
00:51:15
Speaker
And so yesterday we actually went, granted it was our anniversary, but we went to a mud bath and made sure that I had a sitter for all the kids.
00:51:27
Speaker
And my wife was just like, I just want to sleep.
00:51:30
Speaker
And I was like, all right.
00:51:30
Speaker
So we got like on the lounge chairs and she just slept and I brought her some food and stuff.
00:51:35
Speaker
And then we went and played in the mud and she just loved it.
00:51:38
Speaker
She was like, oh, so nice.
00:51:40
Speaker
And
00:51:41
Speaker
It was really good.
00:51:42
Speaker
And I actually just had that conversation with her.
00:51:47
Speaker
I was like, you know what?
00:51:49
Speaker
I am just happy and I'm content.
00:51:52
Speaker
And I think that sometimes we watch The Bachelor or all these things and we want our relationships to be great and amazing.
00:52:00
Speaker
It's just amazing.
00:52:02
Speaker
always like all these amazing things but you know what sometimes just be happy with things being good yeah right and i think a lot of people say you know behind every good man is is a great
00:52:14
Speaker
great woman, you know, but I think that it also is the reverse.
00:52:17
Speaker
Like when you see these wives that are awesome, it's, there's a really good man that stood, you know, behind them and supported them and help them with what they do.
00:52:28
Speaker
So yeah, just listen and work together.
00:52:30
Speaker
A hundred percent.
00:52:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's something whether you're married or not, whatever relationships you got.
00:52:37
Speaker
Because, yeah, I mean, I've done that too even with just like friends or whatever.
00:52:40
Speaker
You know, people get addicted to their phones and especially in solar, I'm like, get a notification from my customer of what it is.
00:52:48
Speaker
And I think what you got to realize is obviously, you know, you got to respond to your customers and stuff like that, like we were talking about.
00:52:54
Speaker
But...
00:52:55
Speaker
You also got to have time where it's like you're not being acted upon where you can, like stuff can wait, you know, most stuff with customers isn't the end of the world.
00:53:03
Speaker
So I think it's way better set of time, like a set amount of time where you are managing your customers or whatever you got going on.
00:53:10
Speaker
And then just always being reactive to whatever issues come up.
00:53:14
Speaker
So yeah, I love that.
00:53:15
Speaker
For sure.
00:53:15
Speaker
Yeah, I like a tool or something that I do is I put my phone in my closet when I come home from work and I tell my wife and I tell everyone at work so that they're not surprised.
00:53:28
Speaker
One hour to an hour and a half, I won't even have my phone.
00:53:32
Speaker
The business is not going to blow up.
00:53:34
Speaker
Things are not going to die in an hour.
00:53:37
Speaker
And even if something big does happen, like I just go back and my wife knows I'm like, okay, you know, I got to go back to my phone.
00:53:45
Speaker
But during that time, like I can just tell that she loves it.
00:53:49
Speaker
Right.
00:53:49
Speaker
Yeah, she just wants to tell me about everything.
00:53:54
Speaker
Because even if no one does reach out during that hour, hour and a half, you still are kind of on the clock.
00:53:59
Speaker
You still feel like there's that vibration in your pocket even when you don't have it.
00:54:03
Speaker
So that's why I put it in the other room just for a little bit.
00:54:05
Speaker
That's a good piece of advice.
00:54:08
Speaker
My wife loves that.
00:54:09
Speaker
Yeah, it's a hack.
00:54:09
Speaker
It's awesome.
00:54:11
Speaker
Eric, it's been awesome having you on.
00:54:12
Speaker
And yeah, I don't know if we've ever had on someone who's been like, had this much experience and literally done pretty much every job possible in solar as much as you have.
Connect with Eric on Social Media
00:54:22
Speaker
So it's been a great having you on and hear from your perspective.
00:54:26
Speaker
And so I know you dropped your Instagram.
00:54:28
Speaker
Is there any other, I don't know, Facebook, anything else, good place to connect with your Instagram the best way?
00:54:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Instagram for sure.
00:54:36
Speaker
And then just any, I mean, obviously I'm on Facebook as well, Eric Lars Larsen.
00:54:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:40
Speaker
So anyone can friend me.
00:54:43
Speaker
Actually, I don't know.
00:54:43
Speaker
I have a billion friend requests of people I don't know.
00:54:46
Speaker
Everyone's trying to sell me leads and all that kind of stuff.
00:54:50
Speaker
So Instagram might be the best.
00:54:52
Speaker
Cool.
00:54:53
Speaker
And then we can become Facebook friends.
00:54:54
Speaker
I'll actually accept your friend request.
00:54:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:57
Speaker
Okay, well, we'll put that in the show notes and then just wrapping up here, Eric, any final, I don't know, words of wisdom or things you wish you would have done differently, whether it's a sales rep owner, any final advice you got?
00:55:11
Speaker
No, I mean, the biggest thing, like I've said, I've really just been focusing on being present and in the moment.
00:55:20
Speaker
And I'm sure that everyone hears that a lot, but just like to feel the world, to feel the moment.
00:55:29
Speaker
you know quote that i heard is one day you'll realize that the little things in life are actually the big things and i think about that with my little kids all the time now like when i'm just like just feeding them and i'm like oh this is so annoying i have to like burp my daughter for freaking 30 45 minutes but i know that one day that's going to be like those are the big things that i'm going to remember um so just take
00:55:53
Speaker
take it you know one step at a time and enjoy every single step because those little things are the things that you're gonna learn to appreciate awesome well Eric thanks again for coming on the show and for our listeners go give Eric a follow shoot him a DM let him know you appreciate it again coming on the podcast and like Eric was saying don't neglect your relationships take it one step at a time and that's how you will dominate in solar so thanks again for coming on Eric thanks a lot Taylor you're the man
00:56:19
Speaker
Hey Solarpreneurs, are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your sales increase?
00:56:25
Speaker
Well so was I and the truth is I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
00:56:30
Speaker
So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time we are doing a free sales diagnostic.
00:56:37
Speaker
We'll break down your sales process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
00:56:44
Speaker
So at now, we have six bucks for this month.
00:56:47
Speaker
So book a call now.
00:56:48
Speaker
Don't miss out.
00:56:50
Speaker
What you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
00:56:55
Speaker
That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an S dot com.
00:56:59
Speaker
I'll send you out a calendar link and we will figure out the time that works best.
00:57:03
Speaker
So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.
00:57:09
Speaker
What's up, solopreneurs?
00:57:10
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed the episode.
00:57:12
Speaker
Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
00:57:23
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
00:57:30
Speaker
What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
00:57:33
Speaker
You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:57:37
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.
00:57:50
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.
00:57:59
Speaker
So go download it right now.
00:58:01
Speaker
It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
00:58:05
Speaker
Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
00:58:10
Speaker
Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:58:13
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes.
00:58:14
Speaker
Go download it right now.
00:58:16
Speaker
And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
00:58:21
Speaker
That's going to show you how.
00:58:23
Speaker
So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.