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Downfall of Freedom
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Have you heard the news? Freedom Forever filed for bankruptcy. In this episode, we break down the rise and fall of one of the nation’s largest solar installers—and the red flags to watch for in any company before it’s too late.
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Transcript
Introduction and Taylor's Journey
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. 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 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? 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 Hey what's going on solarpreneurs today we're going be talking about the rise and the fall of freedom forever.
Freedom Forever's Bankruptcy and Personal Reflections
00:00:49
Speaker
So time this recording we got news that broke that one of the solar giants is officially declaring of bankruptcy. So we're going to talk about the impact of that. Welcome to the show. My name is Taylor Armstrong. We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry.
00:01:09
Speaker
Hope you are doing awesome. And if you were affected by this company, Freedom Forever, shutting its doors or maybe not shutting its doors, but declaring bankruptcy and getting rid of their operations for now,
00:01:26
Speaker
I'm sorry, it's not a fun thing to go through. And as someone that's gone through that multiple times with a few different companies, um it's not easy. so I'm going to share with you some of my experience going through a similar situation and um just talk about some of the impact and maybe some ways that you can recognize red flags if your company or your installer is struggling.
00:01:52
Speaker
So, and before we get into that, please, if you have been affected, please feel free to hit me up, happy to chat. And I know everyone's throwing out the hooks to recruit right now.
00:02:05
Speaker
and But I just want to make sure that people have the support they need and they have someone to talk to through this tough time. Let's not shed any tears. Let's all support our solar brothers and sisters going through some tougher times.
00:02:20
Speaker
And um even if you are not looking to join another organization, or you're not looking to get recruited, happy to have a just a friendly non recruiting conversation with you.
00:02:31
Speaker
So shoot us a DM or an email would be happy to set up a call. And of course, if you are looking for advice or suggestions on where to go next, we can give you that as well. And we can let you know, maybe if we have a place for you.
00:02:48
Speaker
So please let us know.
Early Career Challenges and Joining Legacy Power
00:02:50
Speaker
Hey, but ah so many of you know, I joined solar in 2016. And, um you know, I've told kind of my journey a few times on the on the show.
00:03:00
Speaker
But ah the first company I was with was with them for about four and a half years, and right up until COVID. And this company, we saw the signs, a few of the owners, actually one owner in particular left the company and they tried to do damage control when this owner left, but it just didn't make sense to a lot of us.
00:03:21
Speaker
And that was one of the signs we saw that maybe this isn't going as well as we were expecting if this owner just got up and left doing a different thing because, you know, supposedly,
00:03:32
Speaker
company was going to sell. We had all these carve out units, they call them, we're gonna make all this money, and it didn't happen. So left that company and joined up with another company, another dealer.
00:03:46
Speaker
Things were going smooth for a while with that company. But then we ended up getting acquired by i another dealer. And the long story short of that company is we were using a particular installer and things went south with that installer. They started having pay delays.
00:04:06
Speaker
We, bunch of us didn't get paid all this money. And ah the funny part of it, funny kind of sad part of it was, is the news sort of officially broke when we all went on a company, just like end of season trip to Hawaii.
00:04:20
Speaker
And right after that is when they basically announced, hey, you guys aren't going to get paid right after we all went to Hawaii. that So it was, a you know, tough to see all that money get spent on Hawaii.
00:04:34
Speaker
But we didn't get paid our commissions. and um for me it was a lot a lot of money to lose at the time especially because that's right around when we wereing purchasing our house out here and was counting on a lot a lot of that money for down payments and expenses we're going to pay with the move didn't see it and lost close to six figures in and that whole fiasco and um then you know bounced around to one other company and then landed at my current company, currently with Legacy Power.
Resilience and Opportunities in Solar
00:05:06
Speaker
And so I've been through it, been through some ups and downs. And I know for some people, i know people that have lost seven figures plus um with issues with commissions or installers.
00:05:20
Speaker
So um I try to count my blessings, look on the positive that, hey, I did learn some valuable lessons. I've lost a decent amount of money, but I've seen guys lose a lot more than I have.
00:05:31
Speaker
So it does make me grateful that I was able to learn some important lessons, you know, lose a decent amount. But gratefully, solar is such an awesome industry that even losing that amount of money,
00:05:45
Speaker
and We have such an awesome opportunity to bounce back and to go make that, you know, a matter of six figures pretty quickly if you really put your head down in grains.
00:05:56
Speaker
And that's how we are able to still move forward with purchasing our home out here and i still stick around in this. So, um you know, a couple... words of wisdom that I would offer for people that are struggling is number one, just realize again that you are in an incredible opportunity, even losing out on perhaps commissions, even going through these tough times.
00:06:20
Speaker
We can easily get you in a new opportunity, a new vehicle, and you can put your head down and grind and easily make what you didn't get paid. And a a lot of you will end up stronger because of some of the things we're going through.
Recognizing Company Instability
00:06:35
Speaker
So let's get into um a couple of ways you can see some red flags. Maybe you're with a company right now. Maybe you're feeling like, man, I really hope this doesn't happen to me. What are some signs that we can spot so this doesn't happen to the best of us?
00:06:50
Speaker
So you already heard me mention a couple of things. um You know, our first company, they ah one of the owners left. There were lots of little red flags that were going on.
00:07:00
Speaker
But um yeah, just even recently with my current company, we've um we've recently dropped a few different installers we were using. And it's because they were giving us some signs and gratefully the problems that I went through before issues not getting paid. It did help me recognize some some of these red flags that I was able to avoid um not getting paid out commissions. And this was just a recent thing that happened.
00:07:27
Speaker
So um what are some of these signs? Okay, just recently it happened that this particular company, you know, I'm not going to call them out. They're still doing business and I hope they land on their feet. But um we are not using this particular company right now because of a lot of the red flags and a lot of the ah unpaid commissions that they've hit us with. But this company, um they...
00:07:50
Speaker
First started with just random c callbacks and just things they wanted to say, hey, um you know what? We overpaid this. Oh, you know what? This this job had this extra work we had to do.
00:08:02
Speaker
And we just started getting hit with more and more callbacks. And I had it had some ah callbacks on trenching jobs where... They went and did an install. And then after the fact, six months later, they said, oh, we don't have permission to operate on this.
00:08:17
Speaker
It's because we need to go back and do trenching. And I got clawed back thousands and thousands of dollars from it. And so from that point on, I didn't use them. And luckily, because of that, I was able to avoid a lot of the recent issues that our people had with this installer.
00:08:32
Speaker
But for you listening, if you are in a particular situation like that, maybe um you're not You're having payment delays, you're having callbacks you don't understand, there's communication delays.
00:08:45
Speaker
i would run as fast as you can from a situation like that. You know what what some of our people struggle with is this company they had quicker installs and ah they used to be great. They would install quick, you get paid out right after the week after they installed and people loved it.
00:09:03
Speaker
And that's why so many people continue to use them, even knowing the risk that, hey, there's been some monkey business going on. There's red flags. a lot of people didn't care because they preferred to have a really quick install than deal with that risk. But we've had a lot of reps that got burned from this.
00:09:20
Speaker
So I would suggest, especially if you're with an installer that is installing quickly, um you know, the quicker the install, the more risks, not to say quick installers are a bad thing, but there are more risks, I would say, that come with it. You get these quick installs. Sometimes the PTO takes a long time.
00:09:37
Speaker
And a lot of times the quick install comes because maybe they didn't even have the permit to begin with. They're leaning forward and um they're running into issues after. Like what happened to me where I had c callbacks months and months after the install.
Risks of Fast Installations and Payment Issues
00:09:52
Speaker
So just be aware that what I've noticed in the in the industry, the quicker the install, You are a little more at risk um you know for having stuff happen after the install, stuff that maybe they want to claw back your commission for. But ah you know find a company that's doing things the correct way, that's getting quick installs, but that's also doing things um somewhat by the books.
00:10:16
Speaker
I don't think it's a bad thing to push the limit a little bit. And um currently we're doing lean forward installs, which means we have a permit ETA. And, ah you know, we know exactly when we're getting the permit and we can schedule the install a little quicker because we're not actually getting the permit in hand.
00:10:33
Speaker
But ah things like that, just be aware that if there is. If there's missed payments, can be a red flag. Okay, another recent situation.
00:10:45
Speaker
We have a another installer that's, we're, you know, not going to mention them still because some of our guys are still using this installer as well. But ah this one, things were going great as well. They weren't quite as quick as and of of installs.
00:11:02
Speaker
But ah we started realizing that after the install, we got we had some customers that were like, hey, I just got this letter in the mail that says this contractor is going to put a lien on my home if I don't pay him.
00:11:16
Speaker
And, you know, it caught us off guard. We're like, what? Lien? They're not paying contractors? Then come to find out multiple jobs they were having roof jobs done. They're having a panel upgrades done and sending out contractors to do the work.
00:11:32
Speaker
A lot of the jobs they were not paying their contractors and, you know, created a bad situation, bad look for us. I had to go back to multiple customers and explain, uh, um, they're going to pay him. Don't worry.
00:11:44
Speaker
You know, we were told that contractors were were being paid But ah you know it brought up another red red flag for us. We're like, you know what? If this company isn't paying their contractors, then it might not be the best company right now to put business through.
00:12:01
Speaker
And so that's another sign we saw. another yeah Another company we stopped pushing a lot of deals through because, man, it creates a headache for you too. These customers are trusting you.
00:12:14
Speaker
And then they get a letter in the mail saying they're going to get a lien on their house for unpaid work from a contractor. No bueno.
Importance of Transparency in Leadership
00:12:22
Speaker
And then, yeah, another thing, you know, I'm hearing from people at Freedom, even just today, i had a conversation with a rep there. And um something that they mentioned is right before Freedom, um you know, announced the bankruptcy, just months before that, they had changed their payment structure to um you know pay much more of the deal at permission to operate.
00:12:46
Speaker
And not necessarily a terrible thing, but they changed it to 60% paid at install, 40% paid at the ah BTO permission to operate. And so that alone, I mean, it shouldn't be like a you know, deal breaker thing you walk away from.
00:13:00
Speaker
But when there's drastic changes with payment structure, especially if there's any type of payment delays, definitely some signs, some things you may want to think about, you know, turning the other way or walking the other way. And, you know, I say these things with some caution because, you know, I've i've also seen things come out where guys stick with a company and then they get rewarded.
00:13:22
Speaker
Okay, but I think one thing you got to be careful for actually had this conversation with Alex Smith. um You can go listen to our podcast, we're gonna link to it here in the show. But I asked Alex Smith over at Spartan Solar this question because he was faced with a similar thing his company Spartan Solar.
00:13:39
Speaker
They were using an installer, installer didn't pay. And so he tried to pay out his reps, but he couldn't. And he was really transparent with his reps, explaining him the situation.
00:13:49
Speaker
Some left, but the ones that stuck around and trusted Alex through that process, they actually were rewarded. And now they're in a great opportunity. because they are the ones that are leading the charge now. Alex restructured things. They're doing in-house installs. So shout out to Alex Smith and Spartan Solar. thought that was a great example he had. And that just shows the flip side of it.
00:14:13
Speaker
and There's times when you want to run, but especially if you have that level of transparency from the owner and from your higher ups, I think it's something you need to think about. Maybe um you can have that conversation. And if they're honest, if they're transparent,
00:14:27
Speaker
then, um you know, you got to make the judgment call. I'm a religious person. So I'm always going to God first, right? But that should be a conversation you have between God and your family to make that decision. And if you feel it's a good opportunity, if hey you can stick with a company, even when maybe the ship is burning, it's going down, could be maybe You know, if they are transparent, maybe you can come out rewarded on the other side.
00:14:57
Speaker
So that's for you to make the call. Okay. But just something to think about. So I hope this podcast just helps, um you know, give some perspective. um Hopefully people that haven't gone through this can hear from um someone that has lost a lot of money, but this part of the solar coaster.
Navigating Industry Volatility
00:15:16
Speaker
And this this job, this industry, it's not for everybody. Right. If you're listening to this and you're thinking that this is going to be sunshine and rainbows, the most secure thing in the world. It's not.
00:15:27
Speaker
I'd say solar, it's a high risk, high reward industry. And I still am all gas on solar. I think it's an incredible opportunity. But that being said, if you're someone that is very risk and intolerant, can't handle the heat and, um you know, can't sustain this type of up and down, can't sustain the solar coaster,
00:15:49
Speaker
then maybe you need to make that call and get in something else. you know I saw a post by my ah buddy, Coda Ivers. um He is doing fiber now, but he was in solar for years.
00:16:01
Speaker
And um you know he did have some good points that he made, reasons why he left the solar industry. And this was just kind of an example of it because he saw all the volatility in solar.
00:16:13
Speaker
And he made the judgment call. to go do a fiber. It's working out for him. And so, um you know, there's been, that's why people have left solar because a lot of people, maybe they need something that is a little more secure.
00:16:26
Speaker
Maybe they need something that's not relying as much on, a um you know, these investors and financers and ah government, right? There's a lot of things that can change, but that's part of what I also love about solar keeps you on your toes. and for me, it actually is exciting to see changes.
00:16:45
Speaker
and to see new problems because new problems guess what they also create new opportunities and i know for me i've stuck in this and i'd be able to become a leader and um add a lot of perspective going through these changes and these challenges so i hope you listening to this gives you some courage to move forward to stick with this Again, hit me up if you you know want to hear more, want to chat more, or want any additional guidance. But shout out to all my brothers and sisters that were affected by this freedom.
00:17:20
Speaker
Announcements, we are praying for you. We feel for you. And I hope you can continue to stick it out in solar or whatever your next opportunity is. God bless you guys.
Return of Ricardo Richie
00:17:30
Speaker
So ah next episode, you are not going to want to miss out because we've got someone that has been our most popular guests, definitely top five most popular guests. That is Ricardo Richie. He's coming back on the show. This guy is Mr. Golden Door. He ah consistently does four to 600 deals a year. i know he has stepped a little bit back. He's focused on supporting his reps, but this guy, he does deals like clockwork. So make sure you tune in. And he does actually hit on a little bit of this as well. So tune in to next podcast. We're going to have Ricardo Richie on for the third time. He dropped some bombs. You do not want to miss out. So I'll see you on the next one.
Introducing Solciety Learning Community
00:18:08
Speaker
Hey Solarpreneurs, quick question. What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day.
00:18:20
Speaker
For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level. That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry. And it's called Solciety.
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Speaker
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00:19:04
Speaker
Currently, Soul Society is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled. So go to soulciety.co to learn more and join the learning experience now. This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to soulciety.co and join. We'll see you on the inside.