Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail.
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.
Speaker: What is a solopreneur you might ask?
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: What's going on?
Speaker: We are here with the one, the only Travis Hartman.
Speaker: We're here up in the studio, better known as their home office up here.
Speaker: Studio, office, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker: They got the setup.
Speaker: Excited to be here.
Speaker: So thanks for coming on the show with us here today, Travis.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Thanks for having me, my man.
Speaker: Yeah, it's been a long time coming.
Speaker: And we'll let Travis introduce himself here in a second.
Speaker: But basically, we've known each other for...
Speaker: What was that, two or three years now?
Speaker: It seems like five, but like two to three.
Speaker: At least something or other.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I've always respected Travis.
Speaker: He's kind of the right-hand man of Ricardo Ritchie, who's been on the podcast, very well-known.
Speaker: Travis is very well-known at this point, too.
Speaker: But they've been crushing a ton of deals, doing some incredible things.
Speaker: And what's crazy is when you first started, I remember you were like, kicking me up, Travis, kind of asking me questions and trying to learn the ropes.
Speaker: And now it's like totally reversed.
Speaker: I'm like asking you guys questions, like blown away by some of the stuff you've done.
Speaker: It's been a journey, man.
Speaker: It's been a journey.
Speaker: It's crazy to think that you guys were asking me questions at one point.
Speaker: But yeah, awesome to see the girls.
Speaker: So yeah, do you want to kind of introduce yourself and just give it a little Reader's Digest version for those that haven't heard your background yet?
Speaker: 100%, man.
Speaker: And it's funny you say that.
Speaker: I actually remember when I first got into solar, I was listening to your podcast like literally every single day.
Speaker: So now we've come full circle because you had some seriously big hitters on the show back then.
Speaker: So literally, I remember every single day going out the hood, I was just obsessed, listening to the podcast, all the best guys on the show.
Speaker: And it's cool that we're full circle back here.
Speaker: But yeah, so Travis, one of the owners of Momentus, partners with Ricardo, which I'm sure a lot of you guys know.
Speaker: And yeah, man, I mean, a quick little background story about myself.
Speaker: Started out in alarms.
Speaker: as you know, in good old Kent, Ohio.
Speaker: So I did that for a couple months, figured out that I kind of like sales and came fairly naturally.
Speaker: And that's actually where I met Ricardo my first summer.
Speaker: So we ended up doing that and we got recruited to a pest control company in good old Tampa, Florida.
Speaker: so did that grew one of the largest offices in tampa ended up crushing it but we quickly realized that there was a glass ceiling in in pest right as you know i mean really to make serious money in that industry you've got to recruit an absolute army and you got to be in the game for a minute fast forward back to vivant one of the vps we connected with he started a solar company in san diego
Speaker: he started showing us some of the commission checks down there the opportunity and we were like man this is too good to be true but you know he kept on pastoring us he was like hey man you guys got to get down there so we took him up went down to san diego and saw some uh verified commission checks and bank ballots was like heck yeah we're all in so next thing you know we were in a random airbnb in san diego and that's how we got into solar that was three years ago to this day um so did that grew his company was doing about 20 to 30 a month rima carter came in there within three months grew it to
Speaker: about 150 to 200 a month, all set or closer model, which I'm sure we're gonna touch on in a little bit.
Speaker: Did that, wasn't the biggest fan of the management style down there.
Speaker: So we ended up starting our own branch within the company in Inland Empire, scale it up to about three, 400 jobs a month with only about 30 guys in the office, which that's what we were working together.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: You saw us through the trenches, which was a really good time.
Speaker: And then, yeah, long story short, it didn't work out with that installer.
Speaker: Happens to the best of us in this industry.
Speaker: It's kind of a rite of passage, as you know.
Speaker: And that forced us last August to essentially, we started our own company, which is now Momentous.
Speaker: And yeah, we're doing pretty consistently between $300 to $400 a month.
Speaker: We've got a virtual team cooking, and now we're in this pretty cool office.
Speaker: So it brings us to today.
Speaker: Yeah, it's been a long road.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's fire.
Speaker: You know, you guys have gone through some some heat taking some punches, but come back up.
Speaker: And I think that's the difference between a lot of people that give up in this industry that aren't here anymore.
Speaker: When these things with installers are all around when they don't get paid.
Speaker: Some people just get out and give up and say solar sucks.
Speaker: But you guys, I think you went even harder when we had some of these issues because we went through it together and we're not going to get super deep in that.
Speaker: Brings you closer than ever, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm owed a lot of money.
Speaker: Travis and Ricardo Theroux even more by some of these installers we're working with.
Speaker: So lesson learned.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, I think that's a good question to ask you guys for people who maybe are thinking about giving up, having issues with installers or just companies.
Speaker: who have been maybe two, three companies, they're not having success.
Speaker: What's some advice you would give to those people?
Speaker: Like how have you been able to recover from some of these hits you've taken and not get super discouraged when things have gone down with installers and stuff like that?
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: I mean, for me, this is gonna be my sixth year in the game and I've invested a ton of money in myself.
Speaker: When I first got into solar, the first thing I did was I invested 25K into Danny Pesce's Noxstar course.
Speaker: The reason why I'm bringing that up is because every single thing that happens to you, all the pieces of information doesn't happen to you, it happens for you.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: All my mentors that I have right now, every last one of them, they've been screwed out of millions and millions of dollars.
Speaker: right and the thing that is remains constant with all of them is that they didn't give up right so success these clues every single thing that's happened to me that's happened in my career and that's happened all my partners like i have learned a very very valuable lesson from it and it has helped put me in the position that i am today building up a company and now when making further decisions with hey which install we're going to partner with
Speaker: who are we going to partner with what finances are we going to use xyz i get to look back on these past things and say hey i got to learn from it right so i'm super grateful for getting screwed over for having installs gone wrong for being owed money because it's taught invaluable lessons but what i would say to viewers is like at the end of the day it is inevitable in business business is like war you are going to get hit right and if you can weather the storm and if you can remain
Speaker: stress-free i mean obviously you're gonna have stress but if you can weather the punches and you can take them on the chin and keep on rolling the worst scenario is you're going to learn from it the only downside to negative is if you tap if you quit right because then you don't actually get to absorb and learn and grow from the lessons right so i'm super grateful for all the stuff that's happened obviously it isn't fun in the moment but literally every single time stuff like that has happened i've always looked back and be like man i'm glad that happened right i learned a ton from the experience yeah so true it's like they say there's no losing only learning 100
Speaker: only getting better and i think for people that are getting discouraged maybe you didn't close that deal that was gonna make it 15 20 grand maybe you didn't get paid just take that as a lesson and try to improve and then do what travis did and push even harder and then you guys you'll see the results right and the big thing about that too it's like well why would i even be in the right position or why would i even be qualified to sell someone how to knock a door or to tell someone how to grow a business if i haven't been through the ringer
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: It's like you have to earn your stripes in business and in life.
Speaker: And how can I say, hey, I'm the owner of a company if I haven't even been through some adversity, right?
Speaker: So I think, I mean, those scars are what gives you the credibility even being on a podcast like this, right?
Speaker: If I hadn't gone through those trials and tribulations, which I know it's only the beginning, I know that as I level up and as the company grows, there's gonna be a lot more problems.
Speaker: I mean, to be quite blunt, I mean, in the position I'm at right now, I have more problems than ever.
Speaker: But it's because of all the past six years of learning and growing and getting punched in the face, now I'm able to handle those problems a lot more effectively and be able to weather the storm a lot more.
Speaker: So it's a necessary evil to have in business and in life.
Speaker: Yeah, I love that because you hear, especially social media these days, there's so many guys that try to share their knowledge.
Speaker: their wisdom when they haven't actually gone through that.
Speaker: Maybe even start companies.
Speaker: And it's like you guys have knocked.
Speaker: Travis, yes.
Speaker: What did you get?
Speaker: 250 installed or something?
Speaker: Yeah, last year was my biggest year.
Speaker: Just missed the double golden door.
Speaker: But close 375.
Speaker: I want to say installed like 250, 260.
Speaker: So it was a good year.
Speaker: Incredible.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it's funny, like, we're just trying to keep up with Ricardo.
Speaker: I think he goes like five or something crazy.
Speaker: In any other company that'd be like number one rep by far.
Speaker: But when you're working with Ricardo, story of my career, my man.
Speaker: But no, it's pretty incredible.
Speaker: And that's part of what I've tried to do with the podcast to just like not be a guy that's just talking about going and knocking doors, closing bills and all that, but still be doing it myself and getting out there.
Speaker: I think it's important that you still do that.
Speaker: And like you said, with more money, more success comes more problems.
Speaker: Completely.
Speaker: Grant Cardone talks about it too.
Speaker: When you're seeing problems in business, that's probably, that means you're growing typically.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: See more problems come up.
Speaker: But yeah, speaking of problems, I know you guys have grown a ton.
Speaker: You're doing like call centers now.
Speaker: You have, what, we're 100 reps, you said?
Speaker: Losing track, but yeah, we're about, I mean, give or take 90 to 110.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Crazy.
Speaker: You said the past four or five months you haven't even been able to make it to too many deals and yeah, dealing with some of the new problems I'm sure you guys are encountering.
Speaker: But yeah, what does that look like now?
Speaker: What's kind of your daily things that you do now as you're like building your organization?
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: So, I mean, obviously you've been selling for the last five to six years and for all you new guys, I mean, the number one skill that you need to develop in the beginning is sales, right?
Speaker: If you can't understand how to acquire a customer, you can't fulfill a customer, right?
Speaker: So for the first, I mean, five, six years was just like pure focus on mastery of the full process.
Speaker: So knocking doors, that's where alarms at PestGoodle came in like massively, right?
Speaker: So learning the in-home presentation, learning how to transition, that directly translated into solar.
Speaker: which I think was a big reason why we've had so much success in the industry is because we've been in multiple different industries and been able to translate that craft into this craft.
Speaker: So number one is like, you have to really understand the skills in the beginning.
Speaker: So I was laser focused on that for the last five to six years.
Speaker: Then as you know, you get to a point where now all you should be doing is maximizing your leverage, right?
Speaker: I'm not gonna be able to sell as an organization of a hundred people.
Speaker: Right, so for the last four or five months, basically my sole focus has been on growing and scaling the business.
Speaker: So we've been recruiting in a lot of top talent, right?
Speaker: Kind of cool is we've grown almost our entire company organically, just from our numbers, just people hitting us up and wanting to work with us from all the momentum that we've built.
Speaker: Yeah, really most of my time right
Speaker: is just implementing systems, processes, recruiting and people managing the day to day.
Speaker: And as of the last two months, it has been dabbling into a little bit of the virtual side of things as well, which has been, speaking of problems, it's been a whole other beast dealing with dialers and different CRMs and all that fun stuff, data management.
Speaker: But yeah, man, for the most part, it's really just been juggling the systems and aligning our leadership for the most part.
Speaker: Yeah, well, and I love that.
Speaker: that you guys called your Momentus, right?
Speaker: Momentus, yeah.
Speaker: And- You know, it's funny about that we, this was at door to door call last year.
Speaker: We're sitting at the table with a bunch of guys just thinking about names on, I literally wrote it down on a napkin, Momentus.
Speaker: And the reason why we came up with that name was just because the number one principle we always teach in sales is a law of momentum.
Speaker: which as you know, is literally like in the beginning, you have to be super disciplined.
Speaker: And before you knock a door, you have that anxiety and you have that doubt.
Speaker: But if you can push past that, once you get those wins and once you start getting that momentum, it's like a superpower.
Speaker: You can sell anybody, right?
Speaker: So we train our guys, it's like, look, you got to get the momentum in the beginning.
Speaker: But if you can hold on to that longer than anybody in the industry, it turns into a snowball effect, right?
Speaker: So that's what we named our company Momentum.
Speaker: Well, it's very fitting because I think you and Ricardo
Speaker: like embody that to the max.
Speaker: I hope so.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it's funny, I even talked to, I can't remember this kid's name.
Speaker: I'm sure he's still working for you guys.
Speaker: But I think this is that door to door cons, work on one of the events.
Speaker: And he's he said he just started working with you guys.
Speaker: And he would left his he was closing in another company was doing decent.
Speaker: Yeah, he's like, Yeah, I'm going to work with one menace.
Speaker: And I'm just gonna be a setter there.
Speaker: I think I can make more money.
Speaker: And I like what they're doing.
Speaker: And so it's great.
Speaker: You got people lining up through the doors to maybe take like what they see is like a downgraded position or whatever.
Speaker: And I'm sure a lot of these guys are making way more money when he's setting them in.
Speaker: Yeah, our centers are making a good chunk of change.
Speaker: But it also helps that they've got good closures as well.
Speaker: You know, that's true.
Speaker: But yeah, like it's just about building that momentum.
Speaker: And I think the setters see that and I've got a buddy of mine that we're talking about Anthony that literally drives up from San Diego.
Speaker: He's a savage.
Speaker: An hour and a half, hour 40.
Speaker: Shout out Papa P. Yeah.
Speaker: almost will probably like for almost four hour round trip driving every day to come work with you guys.
Speaker: And I'm like, bro, how do you keep doing this?
Speaker: He's like, well, I'm having success and I like what they're doing.
Speaker: So when people are driving four hours every day to work with you, that's when you got some going right.
Speaker: I mean, the big thing is we pride ourselves on the training that we pride to our guys.
Speaker: I mean, everything that we've built, the backbone of it has been our processes and our training.
Speaker: So, I mean, we get people from all over the place flying in just to learn what we're doing.
Speaker: And the thing that we're most proud of is we can look at any guy who's been in any industry and confidently say, if you commit to our process, there will be no better sales in the industry and there'll be no better training in the industry.
Speaker: So we have a very specific process, which you just saw taking a tour of our office.
Speaker: We have what's called the roadmap built out, which intro bridge, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker: So we break it down to the nuance for all of our guys and really instill it.
Speaker: And typically over a long enough time horizon, we turn out killers.
Speaker: So it's been big for us being able to implement our processes within guys and they're getting some serious numbers from it.
Speaker: So we're pretty proud of it.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: But yes, I want to transition a little bit and talk about some of those processes that you've set up because something I see a lot all the time is people that build.
Speaker: Maybe they have really good trainings.
Speaker: Guys are cranking out deals, but then they get like maybe 30, 40 guys.
Speaker: And people get lost in the sea.
Speaker: They're not getting the training, not getting attention.
Speaker: So tell me about some of what are like the systems you guys set up.
Speaker: How have you tried?
Speaker: I'm sure there's still things you're adjusting, but as you've grown on all that.
Speaker: It ain't perfect.
Speaker: That's for sure.
Speaker: Work in progress.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But like, what have you guys done to maybe like, ensure that guys are getting the training they need and not get just like left behind as you grow?
Speaker: Because it's tough.
Speaker: Even me, I've got like 10 new guys that start in our office.
Speaker: I'm kind of like helping them train.
Speaker: And sometimes I forget.
Speaker: I'm like, oh, shoot, I got to give this guy more attention.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: And caught up with them.
Speaker: So I don't know if you organize it into groups.
Speaker: But yeah, tell me about some of the systems and processes you guys have in place.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: I'd be here all day if we went over everything.
Speaker: But the root of it is the art of running a proper set or closure model, which me and Ricky, we've talked about on another podcast before, but it's really the bread and butter.
Speaker: When we first got into solar, we were mind blown how few people actually thought that it was a good model.
Speaker: Most of them were doing self-gen.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And we're like, how does it make sense to set an appointment, follow up with appointment, close it and do the follow up?
Speaker: It just doesn't make sense.
Speaker: There's way too many moving parts.
Speaker: All the best people in any industry, they typically focus on one thing and they get really, really good at it.
Speaker: They get really good at setting.
Speaker: They get really, really good at closing or they get really, really good on the film.
Speaker: So that has been the system that we've set up and have essentially perfected over the years.
Speaker: And step number one to do that is you have to have the right expectations with your people.
Speaker: So a lot of the times we'll have guys coming in and they're like, hey, I wanna get the closing, wanna get the closing.
Speaker: And we're like, look, man, unless you've been in the industry for two plus years and have a track record, you're gonna be a setter.
Speaker: And why are you gonna do that?
Speaker: Well, one, in order to replicate this model, you gotta know how to set.
Speaker: I mean, you know better than me, there's a lot of closers in the industry, they have no clue how to knock a door properly.
Speaker: They can't even run, like how are you gonna run a setter team if you don't know how to set yourself, right?
Speaker: So we've just gotten really good at holding the line and setting expectations with people coming in the doors like, hey man, you gotta come in for at least six months, set and produce serious numbers before you transition to closing.
Speaker: Why?
Speaker: Well, so you can train other people on how to do it.
Speaker: You gotta be able to replace the volume.
Speaker: Because as you know, the most valuable part of the business is the lead gen.
Speaker: You can find any closer in the industry to go and say, hey, we'll give you 10 leads and fill up your calendar.
Speaker: People are gonna run off the shelves to do that.
Speaker: So that's been number one is holding the expectation and number two has been our training on the guys on door.
Speaker: The number one thing that we train on really is just our roadmap, which consists of the intro, which as you know, in California, it's a pretty saturated market.
Speaker: So it's really important.
Speaker: A lot of guys in this industry, new people, they just start spewing in the beginning.
Speaker: And the problem is, is nobody is actually listening to the pitch.
Speaker: So we train on is you got to ask a lot of questions in the beginning and you got to move people.
Speaker: There's only two ways to control the conversation.
Speaker: It's questions and movement.
Speaker: So we train all of our guys to break the preoccupation to actually get the customer listening so that they can actually pitch them and they can hear what they're saying.
Speaker: And then number two is it's going to be our discovery process.
Speaker: The number one thing we always train is you got to figure out what the customer wants and what they don't want.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: And how do you do that?
Speaker: You ask the right questions.
Speaker: So our question we always ask is the three main questions.
Speaker: It's one, people like to do solar for three main reasons.
Speaker: To save money, you've heard this.
Speaker: To save money, build equity and use more power.
Speaker: The main mistake people do with that, once they get a, hey, I want to save money, they immediately try to provide value to that.
Speaker: Hey, here's how I can save you money.
Speaker: Well, the problem is, is you're not really going to figure out the root of what the customer wants.
Speaker: So we always try and you got to dig three levels deep.
Speaker: So, okay, you said you want to save money.
Speaker: Can you elaborate on that?
Speaker: Can you tell me a little bit more?
Speaker: Oh, I want to save money for X, Y, Z. Okay.
Speaker: Well, why do you want to save money for X, Y, Z?
Speaker: And we dig deep and figure out their emotional reason as to why they want to buy for emotional reasons, not logical reasons.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: So it's always intro.
Speaker: And then we have breaking preoccupation, transition to the meter.
Speaker: And then what we have is called setting the frame.
Speaker: So we always have our guys set very clear expectations with every single person they talk to.
Speaker: Hey, to be honest with you, I'm not sure this is gonna make sense.
Speaker: I'm gonna tell you guys the good and tell you guys the bad.
Speaker: If we can do X, Y, Z, hot button and handle your concern, obviously, Taylor, you're a smart guy.
Speaker: This would be a no-brainer for you guys, right?
Speaker: Not sure this will make sense.
Speaker: What I'm gonna do is we'll set up a time for you, have our energy expert come, and then we'll set up a consultation for you.
Speaker: Does that sound fair?
Speaker: Okay, great.
Speaker: So that's really been our bread and butter is really distilling down the roadmap every single day.
Speaker: We have our guys come in Monday through Friday at 1030 every single day.
Speaker: We're religious about this hammering and role plays every single day.
Speaker: And we just hold our guys to it, hammer in the training and eventually over a long enough time horizon, as long as they're sticking to the schedule with our training, eventually they're setting five to six appointments a day.
Speaker: And it turns into a machine where we have 30 to 50 appointments on the schedule every single day.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's literally like a Navy SEAL schedule you guys got, like putting them through the ringer.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Let's just say we don't have the most loose schedule.
Speaker: Well, yeah.
Speaker: And like what I love about it is if guys aren't meeting the standards, then you're just like, okay, go find somewhere else.
Speaker: I've got no problem saying see the door.
Speaker: No problem.
Speaker: And our guys know that too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think that's why people respect like coming to work with you guys so much and they want to come work because they know.
Speaker: Yeah, I think some guys I've talked to, they know it's probably going to suck to work with you guys and have to work way harder than they ever have.
Speaker: But you see you guys growing up in these nice cars and all that.
Speaker: I haven't a ton of success.
Speaker: Well, yeah, what's some accomplishments from your setters?
Speaker: What's your best setter doing, would you say?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, we've had some amazing, like we've got the best setters in the industry.
Speaker: I mean, and truthfully, we would not be in the position we're at if it weren't for our setters.
Speaker: Like the only reason why I'm able to close through 75 accounts is because our setting team is grinding, is dialed, they're putting in the work and they're sacrificing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If it weren't for those guys, I mean, that we wouldn't have a company.
Speaker: Right, so Setter's always the lifeblood of the business.
Speaker: It's one of the most overlooked parts of the business as well.
Speaker: A lot of companies, they, again, they let guys transition to closing too much.
Speaker: And I'm a firm believer that you're actually doing Setter's a disservice, transitioning too quickly because they're not getting those reference experience and they're not sharpening the sword.
Speaker: I know, because closing solar ain't easy.
Speaker: You know, you got to close a 25 year contract, you got to get it installed.
Speaker: That's not easy, right?
Speaker: So you have to have a high level of skill in order to do that.
Speaker: So I genuinely think it's a disservice not transitioning people.
Speaker: As for accomplishments, I mean, our top setter last year made over half a million dollars, which is pretty cool.
Speaker: We've had a couple of setters get golden doors.
Speaker: I had one setter, he retired his family.
Speaker: Shout out Robbie, he retired his parents in Savinia.
Speaker: So we've had some setters do some pretty awesome things.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, just speaks volumes to what you guys are doing.
Speaker: Like some people in bigger companies.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess another question I had with that I see these bigger companies where there's not like a structure people just it's kind of at the closers discretion when they want to let guys progress or whatever.
Speaker: So do you guys have like a set standard in place like you have to get this many deals before you even think about closing or is just six months or?
Speaker: Yeah, standard.
Speaker: Yeah, that's a really good question.
Speaker: To be honest with you, in the beginning, we didn't even have a standard.
Speaker: It was kind of an as for basis, but obviously as you know, it's not a scalable model.
Speaker: So now what we have is typically, if you wanna be a setter to transition, you gotta make it loud and clear with your production.
Speaker: that you're capable of moving forward.
Speaker: So typically all of our top setters, they're doing between 10 to 15 a month consistently for at least a full quarter to then entertain the conversation to transition.
Speaker: And the big reason why that's so important is it's not even, hey, do we doubt you as a center you can transition to closer?
Speaker: A lot of my guys, I know for a fact they can close, but the problem that breaks the model is if your setters don't believe in the closer, right?
Speaker: So what happens is like in other companies, you have guys, they transition after a month and the new setters are knocking.
Speaker: They don't even believe that their closer is going to be capable and competent enough to close their deals, right?
Speaker: So we make it loud and clear.
Speaker: Hey, it's a pretty easy path forward.
Speaker: You set, you absolutely blow up the leaderboard.
Speaker: Typically, again, it's,
Speaker: Yeah, 15 to 20 a month for a good three months, which I know is a lot, but that's the standard in our company.
Speaker: You make it loud and freaking clear that you're dominant in the setting position.
Speaker: And then so that you can basically have proof of concept for the guys in the organization that you're going to be able to handle their leads.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, because that's what happens.
Speaker: That's how the model is broken.
Speaker: If right, if you're close, I mean, pardon me, if you're setters, they don't believe in your closers.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And it breaks the model very quickly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So right now we're implementing some new we haven't implemented the exact new standard yet, but we're most likely going to have it set up to where after you have 75 deals closed, etc, then you can have the conversation to transition to a closer, or you can go down the center management.
Speaker: Yeah, when I think you probably agree with this, some people come
Speaker: companies, they look at setter as like a negative word.
Speaker: Like it's the lowest position on the totem pole or whatever.
Speaker: It's the most important part of the business.
Speaker: Yeah, but I've talked to a lot of your guys and they're like stoked to be a setter.
Speaker: Like I think they take pride in being a setter and yeah, like most closers aren't making, there's very few closers that make half a million a year.
Speaker: Completely.
Speaker: Some people setting up the deal.
Speaker: I mean, one of the most things I'm proud of is, I mean, our centers are making more than most closures in the industry.
Speaker: They're absolutely crushing and they're making a ton of money.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But I mean, they, it's because they work their ass off and they actually are applying the things that we're teaching them.
Speaker: I think when you get to that point where people want to, want to stay sitting, they're like, they're making good money and they're happy with it.
Speaker: Well, yeah, it goes back like,
Speaker: You know, my buddy Anthony that's working with you guys, he's making great money being a setter.
Speaker: And he's like, why would I close?
Speaker: I'm making good money.
Speaker: I agree with my schedule.
Speaker: I can just handle my business and go back home.
Speaker: Doesn't have to worry about the rest of it.
Speaker: Well, I mean, speaking of leverage, I mean, there's no higher leverage activity than being a setter.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I mean, you can go out for a couple hours and literally have five, six of the best closers in the industry in your appointments.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: As a closer, I can only be in one home at a time.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So, I mean, we always say, look, you want to maximize your revenue generating activities.
Speaker: Most people, they don't want to have to deal with the stress of having to deal with their customers, have to deal with managing the pipeline, having installs go wrong.
Speaker: That falls on the closer, right?
Speaker: That's stressful.
Speaker: And it's not, as you know, it's not fun at times, right?
Speaker: Obviously, top, top closers in the industry.
Speaker: I mean, that's where you can make a ton, a ton of money.
Speaker: But nine times out of 10, being a setter, you have more leverage, you have more stress.
Speaker: It's a lot more enjoyable on the day to day.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm sure if you were your setters made more than I did setting deals, then you cannot enclose them.
Speaker: We've got some savages on the doors.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: As we've talked about, you've been running with Ricardo for quite a while now.
Speaker: You guys are like Batman and Robin just blowing this thing up.
Speaker: So like Ricardo, we know he's like, probably the best in the industry.
Speaker: I don't think anyone's done what he's done.
Speaker: Not that I know of.
Speaker: Yeah, so insane.
Speaker: But yeah, tell me I know you guys I've seen you guys but heads at times.
Speaker: I know both you guys are, you know, these type A's.
Speaker: Us but heads?
Speaker: I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker: Maybe not but heads, but.
Speaker: No, I'm playing.
Speaker: We butt heads all the time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But hey, both you guys are some intense dudes.
Speaker: So maybe people that are running like a partnership like you guys got.
Speaker: What's that been like running with Ricardo?
Speaker: I know you've learned a ton from him.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: He's like the best, but.
Speaker: Maybe you got two people that are like, both think they're the best.
Speaker: You guys are both extremely competitive to always competing completely.
Speaker: So how has that been?
Speaker: Have you ever like been like, oh, man, screw Ricardo, I'm gonna go start my own thing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like, what's it been like working with Ricardo all this time?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where I mean, businesses, it's not easy, right?
Speaker: So I've been fortunate enough to have, I mean, Ricardo, he's one of the closest thing to have the blood.
Speaker: I mean, we've known each other since day one.
Speaker: So I trust him with my life.
Speaker: And being able to go through adversity in business with someone you trust with your life is a very, very special thing.
Speaker: And it's a powerful thing.
Speaker: And number one principle in business is speed.
Speaker: If you can execute something with speed, then you'll win.
Speaker: The only thing that usually is the bottleneck in that is having someone you trust, is getting backstabbed or getting screwed over, which as you know happens all the time.
Speaker: So we, I mean, our partnership is very special.
Speaker: We trust each other with our lives.
Speaker: You have to have honest communication though in a partnership and neither of us have any problem saying how we feel in a certain situation.
Speaker: Yes, we butt heads, but we always come to some sort of consensus.
Speaker: I'm usually to the left, he's usually to the right, we usually meet in the middle.
Speaker: Yes, sometimes things can get difficult, but I'm a firm believer, if you're holding things back in a partnership and if you can't have honest communication, then you're not gonna be able to effectively solve problems.
Speaker: So through all that butting of heads, we have been able to effectively solve problems over time.
Speaker: I mean, it's just part of the game, you know what I mean?
Speaker: But yeah, we've been running Mane since day one.
Speaker: We're gonna be in business for life together, you know what I mean?
Speaker: And I think that's been one of the number one things for us to be able to scale our business is he's literally, there's no better.
Speaker: I mean, I've learned so much from him in sales, right?
Speaker: I mean, a lot of the success I've had in sales has been from him, but also a lot of the stuff systematically.
Speaker: And when it comes to like management, I've helped out tremendously with, and he's learned a lot from me, right?
Speaker: So you have to have that yin yang.
Speaker: A partnership doesn't make sense if you have two people with the same strength.
Speaker: You have to have people with complementary skill sets.
Speaker: So it's been great.
Speaker: We've complemented our skill sets fantastically over the last six years.
Speaker: We're still learning day to day on how to work with one another.
Speaker: But obviously, I mean, it's worked pretty well so far.
Speaker: And yeah, it's been a great journey.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker: So what do you feel like you're a little more of an operator compared to Ricardo?
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: I always make fun of him.
Speaker: He barely even knows how to log into Google Sheets.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, I've always been a lot more organized and a little bit more detail oriented, which, as you know, when running the back end operation, when it comes to like the financing and the
Speaker: the pipeline is pretty important to have in this industry.
Speaker: So yeah, last four or five months, I've mainly been setting up all the systems and processes.
Speaker: And as you know, Ricky, he's the GOAT when it comes to selling.
Speaker: So he's the driver, he's the visionary.
Speaker: It's kind of like the four minute mile, right?
Speaker: It doesn't happen until it happens.
Speaker: So he's the guy who really shows what is possible in this industry and our company.
Speaker: And he's the driver.
Speaker: And where I come in is I still drive, but I clean up a lot of the problems.
Speaker: Because as you know, when you scale a business, a lot of things break.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So I've been fixing a lot of fires that have been created.
Speaker: Well, I got to hand it to you guys.
Speaker: Any installer you go to, I think you break half of them because you send them 100 deals in like a month's time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They're like, oh, shoot, I don't know what to do with all this.
Speaker: It's funny, every single installer, when we sat down at the table with them, we said, hey guys, we're going to be putting up 100 to 200 accounts your first month.
Speaker: Can you handle this volume?
Speaker: Every time I'm like, oh yeah, no problem.
Speaker: No, we say no, no, no.
Speaker: Can you handle this volume?
Speaker: And more than half the time, it's been a nightmare in the back end, to be honest.
Speaker: But it's been good.
Speaker: A lot of lessons learned in that process.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker: Well, yeah, and so I know as you've been through some of those lessons and not working well with certain installers, yeah, what do you guys look for in the installers you're working with now?
Speaker: We were talking before we hit record, like there's no perfect installer.
Speaker: There's always going to be issues.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: But do you have any advice for someone who's maybe starting their dealer on like picking installers or like mistakes you made that completely lessons you learned from picking your installers?
Speaker: Yeah, so you brought up systems a little bit earlier.
Speaker: Before you even get into installers, the number one system you need to have is if you want to put up a lot of volume, you have to have an internal admin.
Speaker: So we have all of our guys.
Speaker: For every two closures we have, they have one admin.
Speaker: That's the only way to do 30-40.
Speaker: Because if you're going to put up 30 in a month, there's a lot you need to deal with on the back end.
Speaker: So having that support, having an admin, at least at our company, we pay them base pay and a certain dollar amount per account because we want them incentivized to actually get installs.
Speaker: So step number one is if you really want to put a volume, make sure that you have an internal admin.
Speaker: As an owner, we supply it to our guys and we take care of that cost for them.
Speaker: It's a really big value add.
Speaker: Number two, systematically, you got to make sure that their systems and processes are dialed.
Speaker: So I'm always looking to make sure, hey, do they have a CRM?
Speaker: Believe it or not, a lot of installers, they operate out of Google Sheets.
Speaker: Believe it or not.
Speaker: Number two, as you know, it's really important to have complete transparently in terms of visibility and adder costs.
Speaker: So always make sure that, you know,
Speaker: You don't wanna have an installer that they have the lowest red line.
Speaker: You don't wanna have an installer that has a highest red line.
Speaker: Typically the best ones are one that meet in the middle, because they still have to have their operational cost.
Speaker: So we look to make sure that their pricing structure is properly.
Speaker: We wanna make sure that they have all the right financing.
Speaker: But really the biggest thing is I love having visibility on the back end.
Speaker: Why?
Speaker: One, it's easy to manage.
Speaker: Number two, it's so that my setters and my closers, they can have that visibility, which means that I'm not going to have to constantly be relaying information from the installer to them.
Speaker: It takes up a lot of time, as you know.
Speaker: So really the big thing is visibility in the back end, having reasonable pricing and having that operational support, as in if their team is dialed on the back end in terms of communicating, typically, that's the number one thing I'm looking for is in the beginning of building relationship with the new installers, how is their communication?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If they're not following up with my text or my emails in the beginning, they're sure as hell not going to be doing it when we're doing $200 to $300 a month.
Speaker: So those are really the big three that we're focused on.
Speaker: Love that.
Speaker: Yeah, so important.
Speaker: And yeah, I think that's a lesson we definitely had to learn when we were working together a few years back.
Speaker: Completely.
Speaker: Well, yeah, we weren't the ones really setting up the relationship with the installers.
Speaker: And we probably both learned that lesson is maybe you have leaders that are setting up...
Speaker: their relationship with the installer.
Speaker: They don't know how to ask these questions.
Speaker: So like if I could go back to that time, then I probably would have questioned the people who were setting up the relationship with the installers.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Did you ask them this question?
Speaker: Did you see if they're actually organized?
Speaker: Of course.
Speaker: Did you see if they have a CRM?
Speaker: The answer would have been no.
Speaker: It's funny because I mean, at the end of the day, solar is construction, right?
Speaker: And construction, you've got you've got permanent, you've got crews, right?
Speaker: There's so many different aspects of the business.
Speaker: it's not who's the best, it's who's the least at the end of the day, truthfully, right?
Speaker: And that's just the reality of the industry.
Speaker: And that's why we're able to make so much money, right?
Speaker: I mean, if you look at, you know, mortgage back in 08, or if you look at insurance back in the early 1980s and 1990s, it was an absolute gold rush, but the systems and processes weren't perfect.
Speaker: You can't have everything.
Speaker: Over time, the industry is going to get regulated and there's going to be a lot more big private equity money coming into the business and it's going to be streamlined, but that comes with a cost.
Speaker: So as these installers, they get better, which they will, then the margin is going to drive down.
Speaker: So the big thing as an owner, you have to relate your guise is, look, at the end of the day, this is construction.
Speaker: It's not going to be perfect.
Speaker: As a leader, I'm not going to be perfect.
Speaker: I'm going to make mistakes, but anticipate that there are going to be jobs that go wrong.
Speaker: There is going to be some accounts that don't get paid on time.
Speaker: That's just the reality.
Speaker: That's how you're able to make a million dollars a year.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Cause you have to deal with these things.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But obviously my job as an owner is to make sure that my guys are in the best position possible, but there's still stuff that happens left and right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So you just, you've got to be able to anticipate that there are going to be operational holds ups and all you can do is be proactive about it at the end of the day.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker: Yes, there's no perfect installer.
Speaker: There's only the issues, the crews maybe.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: The other big thing I would say is, I mean, obviously, do due diligence in the beginning, but when you do pick an installer, it's important.
Speaker: Don't just jump ship.
Speaker: It takes anything.
Speaker: I mean, anything worthwhile takes time.
Speaker: A good installer will listen you and will integrate what you're looking for.
Speaker: So if you're willing to work with them and if they are willing to integrate with some of the CRMs that you have set up and some of the processes, let that play out its course and eventually it will get better.
Speaker: You need to learn, it's a relationship at the end of the day.
Speaker: It takes time to integrate.
Speaker: Each sales force is different.
Speaker: Each sales force has different processes.
Speaker: So if you're willing to withstand the adversity in the short term, typically on the other side of it is, hey, you actually have a process that works.
Speaker: Yeah, and probably especially if you're doing quite a few deals through them because for you guys, if you send someone 100 deals, they're probably going to at least get a little bit of their attention.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So if you're someone that sent an installer to deals and...
Speaker: They both went bad.
Speaker: Yeah, maybe.
Speaker: Yeah, maybe they didn't care about your deal.
Speaker: Yeah, maybe that's not a big enough sample size.
Speaker: But no, I love that very important lessons and good advice for anyone that's looking into just that relationship between you and different installers.
Speaker: But yeah, two things I want to get to before we're out of out of time here, Travis, I know you guys have dabbled a little bit, you're starting to dabbled more and more into like the phone.
Speaker: Mm hmm.
Speaker: online like phone leads.
Speaker: Yeah, that's the first.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess we can start with that.
Speaker: So how did you get into this whole space?
Speaker: I've seen even been posting more and more like a virtual team and all that.
Speaker: So how did this out of this come to pass?
Speaker: And what are you guys doing with all this?
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: I mean, it's kind of funny.
Speaker: I mean, as you scale, opening up verticals is usually just a byproduct.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So
Speaker: I'm pretty well connected in the business.
Speaker: I've seen a lot of people making a lot of money virtually.
Speaker: So eventually we got to the point where our door to door team was operating doing pretty consistently between three to 400 a month, which actually gave us some time to say, actually look at different verticals.
Speaker: The big thing that opened our eyes was we, I can go on and on about this, but we connected with Tariq Hamousa, Brian Decker and Shelby Elias.
Speaker: These guys are big time mortgage guys.
Speaker: And we were explaining before the podcast.
Speaker: So these guys, they helped build UWM mortgage, which exited for 40 billion is a massive mortgage company.
Speaker: The owner, Matt HB, he bought out the Phoenix Sun.
Speaker: So these are big time guys.
Speaker: They're making millions and millions of dollars in mortgage.
Speaker: And long story short, with interest rates increasing, their business took a massive hit, right?
Speaker: Their loan volume dropped massively and they wanted to figure out a way, hey, how are we going to supplement this income?
Speaker: Well, they found solar, obviously, because they're working with homes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And the system they developed was they were taking all their past client databases and converting all those leads using copy and inside cold colors into solar leads.
Speaker: Within the first three months, I think they closed 500 or 600 deals.
Speaker: So they were absolutely crushing it.
Speaker: And we connected with them through Zane at Better Earth.
Speaker: Through seeing that opportunity really open our eyes.
Speaker: Hey, this is a real opportunity.
Speaker: So we've connected with them We've been doing a lot of the inside sales for them mainly managing the our dialer team and We've started to get some serious momentum and even absolutely crushing our guys are absolute savages But at the end of the day, I mean, it's the same thing our guys need to stick to their KPIs They need to stick to their non-negotiables stick to the script and again if they put in enough reps that they are training you start to see results But to be completely honest with you, I mean, it wasn't easy in the beginning.
Speaker: Yeah
Speaker: I mean, it was a big ego hit, right?
Speaker: We're used to closing 10, 15, 20 deals a day on our door to door.
Speaker: So when we go a couple of weeks with only closing a couple of day, I mean, it wasn't fun.
Speaker: So we're now after two, three months, we're finally starting to get traction, but I mean, it still has been, it still has been a battle getting the processes in place, but
Speaker: what's nice is with virtual is there's a lot less overhead and it's a massively scalable opportunity i mean to be able to get someone from home and fill up their calendar with a call center lead i mean anybody in the industry that's like a solar person's dream yeah right so yeah we've been placing a good amount of our time and energy on doing that vertical but the what i find is a lot of guys in the industry who try to get in the call center what they do is they neglect
Speaker: what is working, which is a door to door team.
Speaker: So we make it a point to say, we wanna keep the foot on the gas with our door to door team.
Speaker: Cause at the end of the day, that's our bread and butter and that's what we're good at.
Speaker: Keep the foot on the gas and then build at the vertical.
Speaker: We'll make the mistake is they jumped the gun on the door to door team cause call centers and virtual is all sexy, right?
Speaker: At the end of the day, what's gonna fund those verticals is what works, which is our door to door team.
Speaker: Yeah, that's good.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's an important message for people who are in this.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Because I've done some podcasts in the past where we only talk about like virtual phones and all that.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Now here are some guys, some guys will hit me up and be like, oh, dude, after this podcast, I'm going all in on the virtual stuff when they haven't even had success in knocking doors or other stuff.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like if they're listening to this.
Speaker: It's just like the girl in the red dress.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: Everybody wants to focus on the next big thing.
Speaker: And then you pick your head up and you're like, oh, crap, we're not putting up any volume anymore.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: It's like we all have ADD and solar.
Speaker: So focus on one thing, get really good at it, and then you can slowly add another thing.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: So that's cool.
Speaker: And yeah, I know that's probably a whole other podcast, but I was curious how you guys got that started.
Speaker: I think the sun would go down if you wanted all the nitty gritty of it.
Speaker: But no, it's been super fun.
Speaker: It's a new vertical that we've been tapping into.
Speaker: I've been learning a ton every single day.
Speaker: But yeah, the end of the day, sales is sales, right?
Speaker: The same principles apply.
Speaker: And the beautiful part about door-to-door is if you can figure out door-to-door, you can figure out any vertical.
Speaker: being able to knock on someone's door and literally convince them to sit down with a stranger that is the hardest lead avenue to figure out right so what we've been finding is they're literally every single thing we've learned a door-to-door translate directly to that vertical so it's it's been it's it's been a lot easier let's just say getting started in that vertical than it has been on the door-to-door side of things cool well and so just as we start wrapping up here Travis a lot of people
Speaker: I think are curious.
Speaker: Well, yeah, like I know Ricardo did the 500 deals or whatever, four or 500.
Speaker: He's got a couple of loose screws.
Speaker: That's the only way he did it.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: That's literally insane.
Speaker: But you yourself, even, you know, 250 installs, that's still like unfathomable for most people in the industry.
Speaker: So I wanted to touch on that.
Speaker: Like for people who are like, wow, how the freak did he do this?
Speaker: What was, can you talk about that?
Speaker: Like, what does it take to be a top rep?
Speaker: What does it take to like reach that kind of level?
Speaker: Maybe we can dive into like schedule, like really what you had to do to hit 250 installs in a year.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, obviously there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears involved.
Speaker: I mean, you were working with me during that time.
Speaker: I mean, at any given moment I was working the entire time.
Speaker: Like in order to get those numbers, you have to sacrifice massively.
Speaker: But the number one thing is in the beginning, I mean, obviously I'm big on goal setting, right?
Speaker: So you gotta set your goals, you gotta have your vision for what you wanna accomplish, but the number one thing you need to sell is yourself.
Speaker: I was completely sold on, my goal was I wanted to make my first million.
Speaker: I was completely sold and already identified with doing that before I even started the year.
Speaker: I was dead set on that was happening.
Speaker: It was life or death.
Speaker: So that was number one.
Speaker: Number two, obviously, I mean, it helps being in an environment because I wasn't the only one who was putting up big numbers that year.
Speaker: So being in an environment with guys like Ricardo, with guys like Chandler and a couple other guys that are absolute killers in the industry that were pushing the bar that I was competing with.
Speaker: it was massive, right?
Speaker: Because I mean, as you know, being a big fish in the small pond is completely different than being a small fish in a big pond, right?
Speaker: So being able to, I'm a very competitive guy.
Speaker: So being able to compete every single day with guys that were pushing it was huge.
Speaker: I think that's one of the most underrated things in the industry.
Speaker: A lot of guys, they want to be the top guy in their company, but there's a lot of bigger fish out there.
Speaker: So I'd highly recommend putting yourself in an environment of actual killers.
Speaker: Even if you're making less money per job, put yourself in that environment.
Speaker: Why?
Speaker: Well, because it takes a lot less motivation to be competing with guys that are better than you.
Speaker: As for schedule, we're kind of psychopaths for the schedules, as you know.
Speaker: But the biggest two things that I think
Speaker: helped out with that was having myself stick to non-negotiables in our setting team.
Speaker: I would not have been able to put up the numbers I did without our setters being completely dialed in.
Speaker: So the way you have it set up is Monday through Friday, 10.30 for an hour, we meet and train and role play every single day.
Speaker: So without that consistent lead volume from the setters, I would not have been able to be in three to five homes every single day.
Speaker: So, I mean, yeah, shout out to our setters, would not have been able to close as many deals as they did if they weren't putting up the volume.
Speaker: So that was number one, being able to do the consistent training and role playing.
Speaker: And number two, at least my non-negotiables was if there was a deal on the calendar, I'm going to it.
Speaker: I don't care if I'm hurt, I don't care if I'm sick, I don't care if I don't feel like it, it doesn't matter, I'm showing up.
Speaker: I literally cannot think of a time where I didn't show up to a lead.
Speaker: Right, so that was number one.
Speaker: And what's nice is once you pair having infinite lead flow with a good process, eventually you build up, like I said, that momentum, right?
Speaker: And it just becomes easy.
Speaker: You get in flow state, you stick to that non-negotiable over a long enough time horizon, and the deals just flow.
Speaker: So one piece of advice,
Speaker: Really, I'd say is number one.
Speaker: Again, you got to have the belief, which I know it's cliche, but it's true.
Speaker: You have to have the belief.
Speaker: Having the consistent lead flows, having a dialed in SETRT was massive.
Speaker: And then really is you just have to stick to the schedule like your life depends on it.
Speaker: A lot of guys, as you know, in this industry, they get a 10 to 15,000 check on a 10 kilowatt system and then they're off.
Speaker: Vacation for a month.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So I don't care if I got a deal closed.
Speaker: I don't care if I had a good day.
Speaker: I don't care if I had a bad day.
Speaker: I'm doing the same thing regardless how I feel.
Speaker: And I'm sticking with it until I hit my goal.
Speaker: Yeah, that's huge.
Speaker: Yeah, well, and something that blows my mind, like you're what, 23?
Speaker: 23.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So like insanely young.
Speaker: I can't, when I was 23, I couldn't even imagine making six figures yet, let alone a million.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, as you know, this industry ages you real quick.
Speaker: I mean, I started knocking doors when I was 18 and I dropped out of college to pursue this full time.
Speaker: So six years in door to door, it's like 15 years in the real world.
Speaker: So it ages you real quick.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But like, so before you made a million, what was the most you made a year before that point?
Speaker: Oh, it would have been the year before that.
Speaker: So half a million in my first year in solar.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And then before that, I think it was, I barely scrapped away in house control making six figures.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: So, cause I think back, especially when I was that young, um,
Speaker: I mean, you made 500, half a million is still insane amount of money, but even half a million to a million, that's a massive jump.
Speaker: Like, I don't think there's any other industry where you could like literally double your money in a year.
Speaker: So did you ever have like limiting beliefs?
Speaker: Like, because for me, I think back to when I was that young, my thoughts would have been like, oh, I'm too young.
Speaker: Like there's no way I could make a million at this age.
Speaker: Maybe you didn't, but like, I don't know if you've had limiting beliefs.
Speaker: Like how do you convince yourself that you deserve to make that much money and that you're like the person that's worth a million.
Speaker: Did I have one?
Speaker: I still have limiting beliefs today.
Speaker: You know, I mean, I remember, it's kind of funny you say that.
Speaker: when i made my first million i felt poorer than ever which is funny because a lot of my guys that are in that i know in other industries in my network that make millions of dollars a year they feel poorer than ever well why is because they're a smaller fish in a bigger ocean right when you when you make that type of money you connect with people big business owners and you see what they've accomplished
Speaker: you realize that there's a lot bigger mountains to climb.
Speaker: So it's funny you say that because after my first summer, even knocking alarms, making 20 grand in summer, I felt richer than ever.
Speaker: I was at the top of the world, right?
Speaker: But to answer your question, every step of the way I had limiting beliefs.
Speaker: And one of my favorite books I always recommend to my guys is Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracing.
Speaker: You have to fake it till you make it.
Speaker: So I remember in the beginning, I was constantly saying, I'm a good salesman.
Speaker: I'm going to win.
Speaker: I'm going to be the top guy in the office.
Speaker: And when you do that long enough, get that result over and over and over again, eventually becomes reality.
Speaker: Eventually, as I said, you got to sell yourself.
Speaker: They are a good salesperson that you can achieve your goals.
Speaker: Well, if you're working every single day, if you're putting in the schedule, you have the right training and you're getting the results over a long enough time horizon, then eventually those limiting beliefs go away.
Speaker: Well, why?
Speaker: Well, it's because you've sold yourself.
Speaker: that you are actually the person that you're telling yourself in the head.
Speaker: But in the beginning, dude, I mean, it was, I've had crippling moments.
Speaker: Like I doubted myself a lot.
Speaker: There were times where I wanted to quit, right?
Speaker: But I'd always told myself like, regardless what happens, I'm never gonna tap.
Speaker: And eventually after going through the adversity, right?
Speaker: Connecting with mentors,
Speaker: just putting in the work over the years, eventually you become your thoughts and that becomes who you are.
Speaker: So yeah, it's been a journey, but the number one thing I'd say is like, you have to just self-talk like your life depends on it and surround yourself with good people because people, good people with good mentality that will transmute directly into you.
Speaker: And then eventually you'll become that.
Speaker: Yeah, that's so huge.
Speaker: Yeah, I think very powerful.
Speaker: And I think it's Jim Rowan that talks about that.
Speaker: You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
Speaker: It's funny.
Speaker: It's always the most cliche stuff that actually works.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: But it's true.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, and that stuff helps, I think, conquer the limiting beliefs too.
Speaker: Because if you're on...
Speaker: Maybe it was Chandler that, yeah, I remember Chandler would like pass you some months or whatever and then you'd be like, you piss me off deeply.
Speaker: There's no way I'm losing the Chandler.
Speaker: No shot.
Speaker: You go above him.
Speaker: So I think that's a huge key to success.
Speaker: You're very competitive.
Speaker: You're always trying to chase the next game.
Speaker: And the big thing at the end of the day is, I mean, in the beginning, obviously it was about the money, right?
Speaker: So I wanted to make my first hundred thousand, wanted to make a million.
Speaker: That drove me in the beginning.
Speaker: But once you hit the goal, you realize that, I mean, money is not going to solve, you know,
Speaker: your problems and it's not what it's about.
Speaker: At the end of the day, like growth and, you know, going through the trials and tribulations, it's about helping yourself so you can help others at the end of the day.
Speaker: I don't really, I mean, the money's great, you know, driving a nice car, getting a nice watch, that's all cool.
Speaker: But at the end of the day, when you put your head on your pillow, is that really what you're going to feel good about?
Speaker: For me, I quickly realized that that's not what it's about.
Speaker: What it's about is being able to go through the trials and tribulations and becoming a person that can provide value to other people.
Speaker: And that's what feels good at the end of the day.
Speaker: When I see my boy like Robbie, we're hiring his family, or if I see Chandler crushing it in my organization, or if I see, you know, like for example, Austin, you know, kid, he looks like he's freaking 17 years old, getting at the golden door and absolutely crushing it.
Speaker: That is what really freaking pumps me up.
Speaker: And that's what it's all about.
Speaker: But I do think it's important in the beginning to have money to drive you to a certain point.
Speaker: But all the top, top guys, as you know, I mean, it gets old really quickly.
Speaker: That's not what it's about at the end of the day.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, that's incredible, man.
Speaker: Well, when you first started, could you imagine, like, was this your goal?
Speaker: Did you think you ever could imagine that you'd be running like a hundred person organization?
Speaker: And I could barely tie my shoes.
Speaker: I could barely put my freaking, my shoes on in the morning.
Speaker: you know that's crazy i mean at the beginning it was hey hopefully i can make some money and it would be cool to make 50 or 60 grand yeah but as you know as you grow and as as you accomplish more than your goals you know your goals change and now it gets to the point where my goals are
Speaker: you know, they're a hell of a lot bigger than when you started, you know?
Speaker: So it's incredible.
Speaker: Well, it's been, it's been fun chatting with you, man.
Speaker: And as we, as we end here, if people want to connect with you more, what's the best way to hit you up?
Speaker: Or maybe they want to check, check out more minutes and all that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, you can ask my guys, my messaging is my inbox is always full.
Speaker: So definitely best way to contact me is on is on Instagram.
Speaker: It's Travis to Hartman.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: We're also we're gonna start ramping up the momentous page as well.
Speaker: We actually are literally about a higher in house videographer.
Speaker: So he's gonna start to see some cool content on there.
Speaker: But yeah, definitely Instagram.
Speaker: Okay, 100% cool.
Speaker: Well, guys, go shoot him a follow.
Speaker: And yeah, you've been hanging out with both of us today.
Speaker: Remember, you're the average of the five people you hang out with.
Speaker: And
Speaker: You've been hanging out with Travis Hartman today.
Speaker: So just that.
Speaker: Let's go.
Speaker: Let's go.
Speaker: But yeah, just to wrap up here, any other final words of wisdom or advice you give to maybe a struggling rep or anything you want to wrap up with, Travis?
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: I'd say the biggest thing is he who has the highest stress tolerance in life and in business always wins.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So as we were discussing before, in this industry, in sales, it's incredibly difficult in the beginning.
Speaker: But if you can really learn to absorb those punches and to learn to love the failure and to love the process and be able to handle those and be unwavering, you will win.
Speaker: period where I see a lot of guys get caught, they get caught up when their install doesn't go through, they get caught up on an appointment flakes.
Speaker: If you can learn to just accept that and be able to handle the stress on a day to day, it's impossible to lose.
Speaker: So I would just say focus on cultivating your stress tolerance and see what happens.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: I'm glad you touched on that because I've definitely had it affect me.
Speaker: How many people listening to this?
Speaker: You had an appointment cancel and you're sitting in the car right now.
Speaker: You don't want to go out or you just lost a big commission.
Speaker: It's part of the game, man.
Speaker: You got to learn to tolerate it.
Speaker: It's part of the game.
Speaker: But yeah, man, I really appreciate you having me on.
Speaker: Seriously, this podcast is awesome.
Speaker: Again, I remember listening to it when I first started in the industry.
Speaker: It's super valuable stuff that you're providing the industry.
Speaker: And yeah, keep it up, man.
Speaker: Appreciate it.
Speaker: Appreciate that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's been awesome having you on, guys.
Speaker: Go hit up Travis.
Speaker: Let him know you.
Speaker: Give him a thank you for coming on the podcast.
Speaker: We'll catch you soon, brother.
Speaker: Sounds good, my man.
Speaker: Hey, solopreneurs.
Speaker: Are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your sales increase?
Speaker: Well, so was I. And the truth is, I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
Speaker: So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time, we are doing a free sales diagnostic.
Speaker: You'll break down your sales process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
Speaker: So at now we have six bucks for this month.
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Speaker: Don't miss out.
Speaker: What you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an S dot com.
Speaker: I'll send you out a calendar.
Speaker: link and we will figure out a time that works best.
Speaker: So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.
