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From Door Knocking to Industry Leader: Taylor Armstrong's Blueprint for Success
1 Playsin 12 minutes
Today's episode is a segment of Jonathan Wilson's "Go Green Podcast," where I recently got invited on as a guest. I'll be talking about the recent changes in the solar industry and what it takes in today's market to become a productive "solarpreneur."
CLICK HERE: https://apply.solarpreneurs.com/
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Context
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey guys, Taylor here. i wanted to give a quick intro to this next podcast. Some of you know I recently had a surgery on the knee, tore the meniscus, so a little bit out of it here. Still hopped up on some drugs. So thought, you know, we're going to repurpose a podcast I had the privilege of being on with my friend Jonathan Wilson.
Future of the Solar Industry and Personal Growth
00:00:19
Speaker
He has this podcast called The Go Green Podcast. It's also focused on the solar industry.
00:00:24
Speaker
we're going to play the episode I was featured on. We talk about the future of solar, what's changed in the industry, what's helped me have success in solar, and then some of our favorite favorite books and things we enjoy that have helped us in the solar journey. So we're going break it into two episodes. Hope you enjoy this week's podcast. And we got a lot more exciting content coming soon. But for now, enjoy the episode.
Financial Struggles to Sales Success: Taylor's Journey
00:00:49
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.
00:01:06
Speaker
I teach you 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.
00:01:17
Speaker
What is a solopreneur you might ask? 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. Today, I'm excited to bring you today's guest, Taylor Armstrong. He's the host of the Solarpreneur podcast and a leader who's helped countless solar professionals grow their business and their careers.
00:01:38
Speaker
Today, we're to beyond solar and the sales strategy and talk about vision, leadership, service and legacy.
Impact of Podcasting on the Solar Industry
00:01:44
Speaker
He is a Brazilian jujitsu competitor. He has a family and again, runs the Solarpreneur podcast. Taylor, welcome to the show. Thank you so much, brother. Yeah, excited to do the podcast. And still remember having you on my show a couple years back. I'm happy to see other people creating content out there and putting out good stuff.
00:02:04
Speaker
Definitely needed. So I appreciate it, brother. Absolutely. Yeah, I've watched more of your content probably than anybody else in the solar space. And so I really appreciate you staying committed to that. We just talked kind of briefly before we started recording. And it's tough sometimes, you know staying consistent, you know putting out content. You've been doing content for how many years now? I think it's coming up on seven years about. Yeah. I mean, I think I was in solar about three years, been in solar 10 years. And I think I started the podcast about three years into selling panels. So yeah, I've been going a long time. But that's what it's about, man. Just staying consistent. And I believe that that's a key factor in in any type of success we want to have.
00:02:44
Speaker
So it's been fun keeping it going and connecting with people that way. Absolutely. Yeah, you've definitely led by example and led led with service. you know um I'm not sure if you've monetized it all recently, but a lot of what you do is free, if I'm not mistaken, right? Yeah, for sure. Well, even just putting content out because I tell this story to people. When I started in solar, there is very little content. If I don't think there's any content at all, really in solar cells, it was like you joined a company and you got the training within the company. You weren't really supposed to talk to other companies. People like even on social media, people are like, Oh, if you want me to share what we're doing, come join our company. And that was pretty much it you know like I started at a smaller company. We didn't have a ton of training. We had the guys within our company, but I saw people at other companies doing bigger numbers and seemed like they had better trainings. And I would reach out to some of these guys and you know I always got that answer. Come to our company and I'll tell you what we're doing. And so that's when I'm like, what if I started a podcast? Maybe people would be a little more open to sharing about it on a podcast.
00:03:47
Speaker
And um yeah, I noticed that people like to be featured, right? And then they tend to want to talk to you more when it's like you know being featured like that. And that's what I noticed. And it led me the podcast.
00:03:58
Speaker
Yeah. I like that. Right. It's like you're your're you know revealing all the secrets and and we need more of that. We're in alignment there. That's why I started doing mine as well as one. Right. You can get people to share stuff that maybe they wouldn't share otherwise. And then you can share it with other people. And, you know, like we had Ashton, which we'll talk about a little bit later in the and the podcast about, you know, some of the stuff you're doing over there at Legacy Power. But we had Ashton on last year, one of the top performers on the team, and he shared some amazing Really amazing insights. So yeah let's get into your journey a little bit, Taylor. I want to just kind of, if you could just briefly take us back. like How did you get into the solar
From Pest Control to Solar Sales: Career Transition
00:04:36
Speaker
industry?
00:04:36
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, people who listen my podcast probably heard my journey a lot of times. But the short version is you know I did a church mission for two years in Columbia. um i had done a summer pest control, summer selling pest control before that. And then after I got back from my mission, I went and did pest control again, like a companion, a guy that went to the same mission down in Columbia as me named Dallin. Shout out Dallin. He was ah talking to me about solar. he went and did solar and I was trying to get him to pest control. And then after we ah finished our summers, we kind of compared the experiences and how much money we made. Anyone that's been in pest control, you know it's a grind. You're out there knocking typically like 10 to 12 hours a day in hot summers.
00:05:21
Speaker
Just a grind for like four months straight. And so after the summer, I talked to my buddy, Dallin, and um I'm like, yeah, I think I'd made like 10 grand the summer at the time, which was like, okay, but nothing great really for the amount of work we were doing. I asked him and he's, I think he'd made like 30 grand that summer.
00:05:38
Speaker
I asked him mike how much he was working and all that. And he showed me pictures of them at the beach all the time. And he's like, yeah, we're only we go to some appointments. We just got knocked afternoons and evenings, you know like four to six hours. And I'm like, you're telling me you were at the beach half the summer. You made like three times the amount I did. And he's like, yeah, it's pretty pretty laid back, man. So I'm like, all right, well we'll go check it out. And so went and checked it out. And yeah, the rest is pretty much... It had some ups and downs, which we can talk about later. But and that was kind of how I got into it. And yeah, started seeing the money and just like the lifestyle that I didn't have to be out there like all day long. can make great commissions doing it.
00:06:18
Speaker
So you're in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and you've been knocking doors for 10 years. Are you a masochist? I don't even have to tell what is a masochist. i don't even know if I know what that is. It means you you and you get pleasure out of pain. Okay.
00:06:34
Speaker
Well, maybe. I guess i didn't know the words. so yeah I'm on um yeah'm on a busted knee right now. So yeah I guess I that did. But yeah, not getting too much pleasure right now. That's for sure.
00:06:45
Speaker
Fair enough. Yeah, no, I was obviously joking, but it's, ah you know, it's like it's hard work out there. You know, you're out there putting your body and your mind through stuff that a lot of people wouldn't just voluntarily sign up for, you know, and so it's kind of like a joke is like there's something wrong with your head where you dropped as a baby. like Because it's so it's so hard. Like, you know, if you look back on your career and and look at some of those challenging, and we'll call them turning points. Can you share one or two of those
Commitment to Solar Sales: Proving Its Potential
00:07:14
Speaker
with the audience? Yeah, well, I would say the biggest turning point that shared many times in my podcast is just um you know about three years into solar or about a year and a half into solar, I was at a point where was making like okay money, but I had to make a decision if I was going to go back to school. i was I'm from Utah, so I was going to school in Utah before that.
00:07:33
Speaker
And my parents were bugging me because they thought solar was just going to be like a summer sales thing. And then you know I got married, we decided to go back out there. and i just try it out. And so about a year and a half, I was at the point where was making okay money, but not really justifying like skipping out on school. And so I kind of hit a point where my parents were bugging me. i had to make a decision if I was going to go all in on solar and really see what I can do or just kind of give up and go back to school and then maybe go try it out the next summer or something. And so we had a big competition coming up. It was like, they called it the Ironman. had been like a top 10 rep, but never, you know, like the best rep at the company I started at. And so I'm just like, you know what, I'm going to just go all in for these next six weeks, see how much money I can make, see what I can do. And if it goes well, then great. Maybe that's my answer that I should stay out here and keep doing solar. But if it doesn't go that great and I don't really make more money, then I'll just take that as my sign. I need to go back to school. Part of it was I wanted to prove my ah parents wrong too. you know Sometimes you get that like enemy mindset. You get people, you get you like your haters, your doubters, right? And you want to like go prove them wrong.
00:08:46
Speaker
ah that's the I think competitors do that. They want to... Yeah. yeah Yeah, because it's like, you know I'm like, man, everyone's not believing in this. Yeah, not believing that I can make like a great opportunity out of this.
00:08:58
Speaker
And I'd seen other people go make great money. I'm like, why not me? I did all the things. you know i hired like a coach. um i just like got extra accountability. I had my wife go drop me off in neighborhoods to knock doors. So I couldn't leave once it got hot or once it got hard or anything.
00:09:15
Speaker
So she was taking me out, dropping me off um at like noon and not picking me up till 7, 8 o'clock at night. And yeah, that's how I did it for the next six weeks.
00:09:26
Speaker
And then um yeah, I ended up making more money than I ever had up to that point. i think I made like 25 grand or something in the next six weeks, which was more than I had made at that point.
00:09:37
Speaker
And in that time too, solar commissions were way less than they are now. For me, it was kind of like life changing that I could go and make something out of nothing and just hold myself to that extra accountability. And then um you know once I made the money, I think I have you know showed some of the paychecks to my parents and that kept them quiet for a minute. And they didn't bug me for a minute after that. I kind of bought myself some time. But yeah, that was kind of my turning point that I tell everyone where I had to make the decision to just go all in. And I think people listening to this, there's a lot of people in solar that they haven't really bet on themselves.
00:10:08
Speaker
I see so many people treat this as like a part-time thing that they don't really know the potential of the opportunity because they they haven't like challenged themselves like that. And they're just like, ah you know I'll go all in on solar when I see the money. Well, you're probably not going to see the money until you go all in, until you hold yourself to that standard, until you make that decision. So um that's what I challenge guys on my team all the time and people that do to do really just bet on yourself. sweet opportunity like the opportunity it deserves. Because I mean, that's when you're going to make life changing money. And that's when you're going to see the most results for it.
00:10:40
Speaker
So yeah, that was a big story, big turning point for me. That is awesome. Thank you for sharing that. I couldn't agree more. And I've noticed a pattern when I talk to top performers is that they do have to kind of get away from or create some distance from people usually in their family or immediate circle who are doubters and they're like, what are you doing and knocking on doors? That's not a real job. Or is that real money? and And just all the kind of negativity that can come from people who you know, don't understand the entrepreneur's path, right? And that's, that's really what I see is that you've kind of paved the entrepreneur, preneur are obviously, the solopreneur pathway for people. And you're sharing that, you know, generously. Now, um you mentioned your family is in and Utah. Do you have any family here in Southern California nearby? Or is it is it just you and your family? well Yeah, it's just us out here. We have like an aunt.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, i got an aunt and uncle and a henna, which is you know about an hour from us, hour and a half. Yeah, rather than that, it's just us out here. And I think we had to create our own thing, create our own opportunity in life, which is good in a way because when you're you know out of your comfort zone, when you're away from family, it forces you to... Yeah, I think it forces you go in on yourself more, see what you can do. i think it's been good for us.
00:11:49
Speaker
yeah Has there been any early lessons that you learned in your journey that you still apply today? Well, just like I mentioned before, the coaching and accountability aspects, because part of what that turning point for me is, um you know, I got like the extra accountability, I got the coach.
00:12:05
Speaker
And so I think people need to think of ways of how they can, you know, try things maybe they haven't done done before. Because um you know when you have when you're in the right corner, when you like you brought up surrounding yourself by with a like-minded people, maybe it's you got to get out of the environment you're in They say you're the average of the five people you're spending the time with. So it's like maybe you need to get around other people that can challenge you more. So I'd say those were some of the things that helped me the most is just ah getting extra accountability, getting getting extra training, sharpening the saw. And um yeah, I even put money on it too. like If guys want to get super serious about things, there's this app, it's called a Stick. I think it's S-T-I-K-K, where you can bet money. i don't know if you've heard of it, Jonathan, but you can bet money and like you can send it to your buddy for not for not hitting the standard you set for yourself.
00:12:56
Speaker
So it's like if you say you're going to go make... 10 calls or talk to 10 people, or whatever, knock X amount of doors, you don't do it, then you can have it set to automatically send the money to like a charity. So for you for you, Jonathan, I know we could send all the money to like the Democrats and everything and and you're you're going to work harder than anyone. so It's the negative. It's like anti-goal. It's like, hey, if you don't hit this goal, you know we're going to donate $1,000 to campaign. Exactly. yeah
00:13:27
Speaker
and Yeah, Jonathan's going to be out there all day if if that if that's on the line. You know me well. That's awesome. um So I totally agree. It's like mentorship's key. It always blows me away whenever you know reps who either, yeah, one, like i have a lot of people on my team that quite frankly, haven't gone all in. I don't want to put anybody on blast, but A lot of people treat this like it's a part-time gig and they make you know really good money on the deals that they put through, but they don't go all in. And we can maybe talk about that a little bit, but I've noticed that a lot of people just won't invest. I was telling my wife, I don't know, several days ago,
00:14:02
Speaker
i was like I was like, it's so frustrating how people will be like, oh, i don't know if I'm gonna spend $20 on a book or $100 on a course, or let alone the very, very few who spend thousands to go to live events and and attend workshops and go spend you know several days or a week away from their family to really commit to themselves and their journey and their growth. And like you said, put put yourself in a good environment where you can really immerse yourself and learn. a lot of people won't do that. Like I've been, you know a lot of people know,
00:14:32
Speaker
fan like tony robbins i've spent over twenty thousand dollars on his master university programs you know attended a lot of live events met him lot of times in person won some awards attended other workshops and events of you know a laundry list but the point is you know i've spent not quite i think just under six figures in the past you know 13 years or so on my journey investing into myself and i think a lot of people they they they kind of have that mentality similar to the all-in mentality where they go you know I'll invest when i get this much money or I'll invest in myself when.
00:15:05
Speaker
And the reality is a lot of times when I invested in myself, I remember one time i went to Tony Robbins event and I had a money for the ticket. It was Date with Destiny. And it was in 2015. It was out in Boca Raton, Florida. I had barely enough money to get the plane ticket, bought the ticket, which was like $5,000 to that event. it was like a six day event with Tony Robbins.
00:15:22
Speaker
And I had no money when I landed. I literally, for the first night, slept on the floor of the airport, was trying to reach out to people who were also at the event to have somebody come pick me up at the airport to take me to day one of the event. Because I literally had no, I just had to find a way.
00:15:37
Speaker
you know And a lot of people don't have that mentality of like, you know we call it burning the boats, where you just kind of cut off all other options or decisions. And they just have this mentality of like one foot in, one foot out.
00:15:50
Speaker
And I think it's what hurts people the most in their entrepreneur journey. So I just love that you have that same experience. like Mentorship is worth every penny. You've tried to make mentors available for free on your podcast. you know Obviously, as do I. so You know, as somebody who has been doing this 10 years, I'm really just curious to hear from you as a leader in the space. What are you most excited about with the future of solar and home energy?
Professionalism and Regulations in Solar
00:16:15
Speaker
um Yeah, I mean, i I just, yeah, I think it's ah requiring a new level of ah professionalism. um and I'm sure you'd agree. Solar's changed a lot just to where you do have to be more all in. I think, um you know, to your point going on. on Yeah, I love that story. that's That's crazy. You showed up to the van.
00:16:33
Speaker
I've never done something like that, but that's a good story. um But it's like now, maybe in the past, I think guys could come into solar and not really know a lot about the product, know, I think when we both started, you you really needed very little product knowledge to go out there and just knock a door and say, hey, you're gonna we're just going to switch you over. no batteries needed. just pay a lower bill.
00:16:55
Speaker
And that was that. But what I've seen the way solar evolves is like you just have to know way more about the process. You have to know way more about the batteries. You have to know how to size the batteries correctly. Because I think we're seeing a time where you know at at the time we're recording this, there's so many companies now that have disappeared.
00:17:14
Speaker
And you know we just saw the whole freedom for everything. And i think a big reason for that was just because guys were going out being knuckleheads and not knowing what they're offering. And yeah, just putting customers in a bad spot, i'm not knowing a lot about the product themselves.
00:17:30
Speaker
So I think the people that are going to stay in solar are the ones that are professionals that learn about the batteries, that learn how to size things correctly, um that learn how to really explain the process well to the homeowners.
00:17:42
Speaker
and Just because, you know, it's now more than ever, we need ah people that can be professionals and go out there and explain it. you know That's how you're going to get these things to the roof and um keep solar sustainable.
00:17:54
Speaker
So yeah, that's what I'm excited about just since now, um I think we're going to see a lot less knuckleheads out there, a lot less of the solar bro culture where it's just like you go out and it's all about the money. um i see solar being more like, you know maybe maybe somewhere to like a real estate thing where it's like there's going to be, we've seen it get more and more regulated. Now we got more strict welcome calls.
00:18:15
Speaker
and a verification for homeowners, which know first we complain about it, but I think it's going to be a good thing ultimately because it protects us. right I'm seeing even where I've had some experiences recently where customers have tried to like say that, yeah, that I didn't explain one thing or another. And like I can literally go back now to like a welcome call that they did and they recorded. And actually, yeah, I'll share just one experience recently. I had a customer who said that i created like his email, that i put in a fake email for him.
00:18:45
Speaker
or something. He was like an older guy. And so I told him to like create his email and then you know he did it. he He created the password and everything. you know He was an older guy, so maybe he didn't even remember that he created it. But he tried to come back later and say that he never got anything and that that's not his sexual email and all that. And I'm like, hey man, like we you did this and you confirmed with the company that that was your email that you have control of and you created.
00:19:10
Speaker
You did it so you shouldn't be. like Don't come back and say that day that I did fraud. like It makes it sound like a I'm doing fraud or something. And he's like, oh. And he kind of like realized that he was making up stuff and We actually got it installed, which was great. But but yeah, just situations like that, I was actually glad that we had a a verification process. In the past, a guy could have come and claimed something like that. And I think it could have caused a lot more problems.
00:19:35
Speaker
But since there's more strict verifications, it actually protected me as the sales rep. And I was able to go back to that welcome call and show him that he actually confirmed that he created it and had control of it. And then I think he realized that he maybe just forgot whatever. And then ended up getting installed just a couple weeks ago. I mean, that's what I see. here That's a good story. And it's a... I mean, just last night, it was 9pm and I was watching the Michael Jackson documentary with my wife and my rep calls me and he's like, Hey, I'm with the customer right now. Can you jump on ah on a speakerphone call? so I'm like, Sure, let me pause what I'm doing. Jump on the call.
00:20:09
Speaker
And he's like, you know starts getting real defensive about stuff. Oh, I never knew i was gonna i pay a $20 connection fee to the utility and nobody told me that. And the reps like, sir, you talked to five different companies. like I'm sure a lot of them told you I told you for sure how much connection fee was and well I don't know. And you know he's just kind of like... And his experience is not uncommon. like A lot of homeowners, they essentially have this a certain type of like buyer's remorse. Maybe they signed up for the program months ago and they forgot 90% of what you even said. And now they've got this system on their house and they're like freaked out and they just take it out on the city sales rep or they start to like forget or misremember things. So that's really good. like
00:20:48
Speaker
Yeah, the verification calls are there to protect not just the homeowner, but the sales rep. Just make sure everything is... is Because people forget you know And that's why I try to record things and try to have a system and try to say the exact same things every time. But there is room for human error. you know And I think it's good because there are people out there who just have the mentality like, hey, let's just go and you know make as much money as we can and put one 5-kilowatt battery on this lady's house and and put her in a situation where she's going to have You know, a crazy bill and then on to the next. So I love that you're you're doing that. You're leading the way, showing people the way it's done.
00:21:23
Speaker
And so if you were to kind of look over the next, if you had a crystal ball or to look over the next five years, you know, what are some of the trends that you're excited about or things that you hope to see
Trends and Market Consolidation in Solar Industry
00:21:34
Speaker
in the industry? Do you have anything like that that you hope to see in the future of solar?
00:21:37
Speaker
you know i'm I'm probably not the best guy to ask ask for that. I'm more of like the sales focus thing. I can always say what I want to see. i don't know. I would just say, like I said, getting getting a bit more regulated. I think we're going to see more and more. Yeah, a little bit stricter guidelines on things. I think we're going to see like lenders, financers tightening down, continuing to tighten down their processes. you know We're seeing a lot of companies just... What's the word? A lot of A lot of the bigger players just come together. yeah know i think with the SORT consolidation. Because yeah, I mean, five years ago, it seemed like everyone had their own solar dealer and everyone was running out and starting like a small company. Now as we're reporting this, it's like...
00:22:20
Speaker
I think most you you don't see a ton of smaller dealers out there. It's like a lot of people are coming into these bigger players. um I know you're with with Power, you got like the Sunrun, you got like the Legacy. you know There's not a lot of lakes smaller companies out there anymore.
00:22:35
Speaker
So I think we're going to continue to see that. Yeah, it's the people that are doing doing it right. I think they're all going to get and kind of eaten up by these bigger players. And I don't know, maybe in five years, tough to say, but maybe in five years, it's just going to be a couple companies around. Who knows? That's what i say.
00:22:54
Speaker
I think it's easier to regulate a handful of big companies than it is a bunch of these little small fractured dealerships. So I think from a regulation standpoint, that that's where things are going to keep moving is you can only sell solar through these you know verified legitimate pathways, which does create...
00:23:13
Speaker
more certainty for homeowners and more a more mature market you know if you think of any other major developed industry mature industry there's not you know unlimited players there's you know a handful of bigger brands and known names and that's what's happening but i guess maybe let's take it to the solarpreneur brand just specifically since that one you have a little bit more control over what's your
Vision for the Solarpreneur Podcast as a Training Resource
00:23:35
Speaker
hope or vision for what you would like so the solarpreneur or podcast or brand to become Yeah, I i just want it to become the resource that people had, um other people that that people can have. It's something that I wish I had when I started.
00:23:50
Speaker
so really, I just want it to be the go-to thing that's when people think of solar training, they can go to Solopreneur and come there and know that there's going to be a resource that there's nothing held back. I'm an open book. I share everything on there. So yeah, i used to do we used to do ah coaching. So um we may bring that back. Right now, it's more just um yeah it's more just the resource. As things get busy, you know how it is, Jonathan. It's like you try to build your team and and manage all these customers. You got to pick and choose what you're focusing on. So we're not making a big focus on um coaching program within the brand right now. Right now, the goal is just build the business. build the team. And really, I want it to be a resource that people can go to. And then anyone that is looking for them, as we're seeing these big call and consolidations happen. Yeah, my hope is the podcast can be something where people like, man, this is... I want to work with people associated with this brand and that they can reach out and um either I can help them find a solid team or you know they can come work with us. So I want it to be something, just a resource that way too, where people know where to go and help them land in a place that really has the best resources for them and it's going to give them the best success.
00:25:00
Speaker
So yeah, that's the goal right now. It's it's always evolving it' as the industry involves right now. It's the focus on building the team. Yeah, we'll see just want to be the biggest podcast out there for solar and hopefully the industry keeps succeeding.
00:25:13
Speaker
So that's kind of the hope. I love it. Yeah, I've seen, you know, you've been doing it for so long, your view counts. and I'm seeing even recent, like you've got, was it it Danny Relentless, I think, is what goes by. Yeah, yeah. He's funny, but you have you have like really big names on the podcast that are doing really high volume. I know you just, you know, ah was it, I've been seeing you post some records, I feel like recently for yourself. You've been putting in some deals and kind of showing people how you do it, how other people do it.
00:25:43
Speaker
And you are, you're peeling back the curtain for people to see, how do I do 10 deals in a week? you know What does that look like? How much effort does that take? um And maybe just real high level, like for yourself or for people you've interviewed, like what's maybe one or two patterns you've noticed in these top performers that are putting in 10 deals in a week? I think just they've ah put in the time. you look at all these guys is I think a common thread is you know they're in a lot of deals, a lot of appointments.
00:26:12
Speaker
And um the high level people, maybe we can get into this a little bit too, is um yeah, I think they're really focusing their time on the most effective tasks because that's something that's I would say was another turning point for me and my success is when I first started in solar, i would spend time on everything, you know creating the leads, following up with the customer, coming home, doing laundry, coming home, cooking my food, coming home, like editing podcasts, all these different tasks we have.
00:26:41
Speaker
And so I think to be ah especially to as we talk high volume, it really comes down to focusing on the most effective things. At the end of the day, we all have the same 24 hours, the highest performers, they're focusing on those little things throughout the day that are getting the best results. So that's like closing the deals, right? So I think it comes down to if you want to close the high volume, you have to figure out, okay, how can you get inside more appointments?
00:27:05
Speaker
How can you optimize your time? So it's not like you know you're coming you're coming home instead of you like, focus on, I gotta do this. Because even those little things that sometimes we don't think about, where it's like, oh, I would be home at this time anyways.
00:27:17
Speaker
Well, instead of me coming home and I'm having to like do on, do your foot bandwidth towards other tasks and everything, The times when I'm producing most, it's like count folks I'm focused on pretty much closing and then coming off and like you know mentally decompressing or whatever. And then that's actually what's helping me produce at a higher level. Because before it's like I would come home and do all these other things and I couldn't decompress. And then it's like I was back out of the next day. and I think it made it harder to produce at a higher level. That's a big thing that's helped me and something I've seen in higher Hire producers too, is they're just yeah figuring out a way to be most effective and i get as many appointments as possible. So a lot of guys, like you know they have multiple lead sources.
00:27:59
Speaker
Maybe they have the FF setters too. They're doing the task of finding the lead. that can be done self-training your own deals. But you know you just have to look at the numbers and optimize those, figure out how you can get in front of as many people as possible.
00:28:12
Speaker
But yeah, those are a couple of things that help me. How has Brazilian Jiu Jitsu played into that? Yeah, well, I love Jiu Jitsu, man. it's um Yeah, we can talk about Jiu Jitsu all day, but it's I think Jiu Jitsu is a thing that requires discipline.
00:28:27
Speaker
And just like any of of my my background is, i don't know if i ever told you, Jonathan is actually music. I was a music major in college and everything. And so I actually see a parallel in a lot of these things that you're developing a skill. And I'd say Jiu Jitsu is no different. It just requires discipline, requires showing up every day it requires like you know mentally focusing in, being consistent. So all the principles that I think you can develop in learning an instrument, doing Jiu Jitsu, what I've seen if you apply to that same level to a learning slower, if you treat it like a craft, if you treat it like a skill you're trying to develop, and really just the the people that become great, they're obsessed with these things, right? And so that's what I've seen in Jiu Jitsu. And you got to pick and choose. So Jiu Jitsu, sometimes I got to tone it down even in Jiu Jitsu because I'm like, okay, do I want to, do I want to take this appointment or do I want to go train Jiu Jitsu tonight? so it's, So it's like even that, sometimes I'm like gonna pick and choose. But yeah, no, it's helped. It just helps with the discipline. and um
00:29:26
Speaker
And it's just something that I realized, okay, and it's kind of this new excitement. So in a way, it's helped the solar because I remember how I went first was when I was learning to sell solar. It's like I was looking up every possible way to improve. as I started Jiu Jitsu. I've been training for years, so I'm still somewhat new in Jiu Jitsu. But um and I just remember like, now I'm learning the moves. Now I'm looking up videos to learn this. Now I'm getting into this training course.
00:29:51
Speaker
So it's yeah almost from a, okay, I need to bring back some of that excitement to solar too. it's kind of like as you learn, if you get something new that you're excited about, it reminds you maybe use some excitement you lost lost for some other things. And so it reminded me, okay, solar can be fresh that way too. is I can take some of that excitement and I should be doing this for solar again. So I think it's helped in that way. Just you know give me something to be excited to learn. And yeah, try to remember the same feelings I had as I was yeah you know learning to sell solar.
Introducing SolarScout: A Tool for Solar Professionals
00:30:22
Speaker
So some of you already know that I run my own door to door sales team here in San Diego. And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:30:33
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout, but it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market. It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
00:30:57
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show. can give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:31:11
Speaker
So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:31:24
Speaker
Okay. 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.
00:31:38
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.
00:32:03
Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give Solar Pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45
00:32:22
Speaker
Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled. So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now. This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to SoulCity.co and join. We'll see you on the inside.