Q. give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
A. I became an entrepreneur early in my life. My first business was an Auto Detail business at age 19 while I was in college but I had been in business since I was 5. I would paint rocks and sell them. Design and create bracelets. Once I sold 300 poinsettias for a school function. My greatest accomplishment was selling about $4k worth of frozen cookie dough and pies for a school contest. My parents like to of killed me when they found out we had to deliver all those. HAHA. I think there are still some undelivered in the church basement freezer.
I have bulit and sold a car wash during 2021-2022. That was a fantastic accomplishment of mine.
I have owned, with my wife Mandy, a Valet Parking business called Royal Valet in Tulsa, OK for 12 years.
I joined James Roberts with Right Now Roofing as the Operations Partner and COO in 2022 and have reorganized the business, its workflows, and its workforce to create the $5 million company it is today.
Q. What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
A. Right Now Roofing. James approached me with some things he was having trouble with in the business. We were at a lunch and I felt like I could help him. I am very systems focused person and knew I could help bring some order to what was happening. I become his partner and joined his team and in a year we have created a pretty successful workflow and bringing some stability to the business.
This was my first time in an acquisition type position where I came into something needing systems and processes that was already moving very quickly with 3 locations around the county. Tulsa, Pensacola, and Port Charlotte, FL. It’s a very different experience from building something from the ground up. There have been stuggle points along the way but I’ve had a great wealth of learning so I can acquire more in the future.
Another business I built and sold is a car wash. I had a dream for about 10 years to own an express car wash. You know the ones that take you though automatically and then have the free vacuums for customers to use? I probably started and stopped the project 4 times in those 10 years. I would point out locations around our city that would be a good location for a car wash and within 6mo -1year, there was a car wash being built.
I got my opportunity to build it in 2021. I built the brand, the brand communication, the processes and procedures, the SOPs, and the training out. It was a HUGE project that, I of course, learned a lot about. I could build one in half the time now. We opened in Oct 2021 and had quick success. Within 4 months, I had people calling me wanting to buy the car wash. I was a little confused because we had no real numbers. Most places want a year under the belt before we know the type of business cash flow it’s going to generate. I didn’t pay any of them much attention until one came in August 2022 that I couldn’t look away from. We closed on that sale in Dec 2022. It was such a fast experience that It almost seems like it didn’t happen.
Q. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
A. (1). Don’t give up. It seems so cliché but it’s the truth. Everyone looks for the secret sauce for success and it’s actually quite simple. One of those principles is don’t give up. I have a picture hanging in my office that says: “It’s not over when you lose. It’s over when you quit.” I have lost plenty in my life. But losing doesn’t mean failure. Quitting means failure. Even if you had to adjust course, just do it and keep moving and don’t quit.
(2). Always Learn: Position yourself where you never always know all the answers. If you know all the answers, then you won’t be presented with new opportunities. New opportunities arise out of the unknown. Be a seeker of the unknown. The uncharted. Ask Questions and always stay learning. There is new opportunities in every day.
(3). Keep your priorities – Being an entrepreneur is not all it’s cracked up to be. Most people see the outside manifestation of years and years of hard work. You don’t see the long hours. You don’t see the many sacrifices. You don’t see the worry and anxiety of a startup trying to make payroll. But…if you keep your priorities and the things that are most important, you will be able to weather these hard times and have beautiful rewards on the other side. Your family is a priority. You only have so much time with them. Your faith is a priority. I am a Christian and my relationship with Jesus is very important to me. I make time to worship and to be in His presence. Your spouse is a priority. So many times it was so easy to put my spouse on the back burner chasing an idea or a vision. And, at times, I did do that. But I realized my spouse was my biggest fan and my biggest supporter so I needed to make sure she was a priority of mine and not lose sight that the journey of life includes the both of us.
Q. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
A. (1) Pivot – learn to pivot quickly when needed. It was will save you thousands and create more opportunities.
(2) Multiply Time – Quit chasing the money. Money is the byproduct of you compressing or multiplying time. If you can do this, it’s amazing the amount of things you have time for and the amount of money that flows to you.
(3) Leadership – Don’t forget self-development as a leader. I’ve seen so many entrepreneurs start to hire workers and fail because they can’t lead or manage for that matter.
Q. How many hours do you work a day on average?
A. 6-10. It really depends how many projects I have going.
Q. To what do you most attribute your success?
A. Wise Counsel – Surround yourself with people that are in different places than you. Not only in business but your faith and family as well. Create a space where you can ask this counsel questions about anything and don’t be so prideful that you can’t listen to what they say.
Q. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
A. It’s cliché but word of mouth is the BEST. But in order to have that, you have to have good systems and processes so you can take care of your customers. In the digital world, having a good social media plan as well as SEO is important.
Q. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
A. II’ve used several avenues. For the car wash we did an SBA small business loan. Let me tell you, it’s a grueling process but it’s an incredible tool for someone that doesn’t have the assets to back up the entire loan. I would highly recommend it but be prepared to go through a lot.
My best capital has come from people I know. I’ve lived a life of integrity and ethical behavior. I don’t screw my partners and I treat my friends well. I have a list of people that are ready to do business with me. They say things like “I would help fund a project with you any time”. I actually was at lunch with a friend about 3 years ago when I was lamenting about a capital partner I was trying to work with (someone I didn’t know) and feeling like it wasn’t going to happen. Next thing I knew, he is agreeing to be my capital partner and we built the car wash with the SBA’s help.
Q. What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
A. I’d look at the three skills above. Always stay learning. It’s worked well for me and I think it paves the path for long term success.
I would also say: Learn to mitigate your taxes. Success brings lots of money. If you aren’t smart in this area or hire smart people, it’s going to bite you big time.
Q. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
A. I’m a serial entrepreneur so I will continue to add businesses to the profile. Buy and flip a few businesses. I love what I do so I don’t ever see the word retirement in my future.
Q. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
A. I might cause a few ripples here, but I really admire Elon Musk. I think he exhibits the Always Learning posture that I have so much. He pushed forward into an industry that people laughed at him for and has created amazing technology and very forward thinking. With his acquisition of Twitter, he figured he would learn social media and I believe it’s been better because of it. Before his life ends, I believe his name will be in our history books for ways he has helped the United States as well as humanity with his inventions.
Q. How important have good employees been to your success?
A. Good employees are the life blood of any business owners success and if they don’t mention it or agree, I’d stop listening to them. I try to find “entrepreneurs” in my businesses. There are people that have the work ethic and drive like an entrepreneur but they just prefer to be employed. These people are very valuable, and I don’t mind rewarding them for their own success within my companies.
I once gave an employee of mine a year salary as a bonus when I sold the business. He was integral to the success of the operation, and I wanted to reward him appropriately
Q. How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
A. I have a saying that I got from a business consultant of mine: “Follow the rope until it ends”. Every idea is worth following the rope. Some ropes are really really short and others are attached to big big ships and sail you into abundant blessings. My wife learned very quick with me that I have a lot of ideas and I’m going to do due diligence about most of them.
Every idea I have I start talking about it like I’m going to do it. Until I run down the end of the rope. If the rope doesn’t end….then we are still talking about it.
Q. What motivates you?
A. Watching my family enjoy the fruits of all the labor I’ve put in motivates me. I’m also motivated by the help we are able to give to those around us. It’s a joy to be generous with my time and resources. Generosity opens more doors for me than I could ever imagine.
Q. What are your ideals?
A. Our family has three core values: (1) Wisdom – always ask for it. (2) Excellence – everything doesn’t have to be perfect but it should be done with excellence. (3) Generosity – Generosity paves the way.
Q. How do you generate new ideas?
A. Honestly, I just go about my day. I am processing and thinking all day long. I’m a classic overthinker. When I come into a situation that needs a solution or an idea, I will just put it into my head that I need an idea. Sometimes I’ll continue to think about it, other times I just move on. Then suddenly, and sometimes randomly, the solution will pop into my head. I’m always amazed at what my subconscious continues to process when I’m not actively focused on the situation that needs the solution.
Q. How do you define success?
A. If I can serve people with the gifts I have been given and make some money along the way, I consider that a success. Serving people will always generate success. Sometimes it’s immediate and sometimes it is the long game. The wisdom is knowing which is which so you don’t give up too soon.
Q. How do you build a successful customer base?
A. Here is another cliché but it’s rather simple: Do what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it. In the world today where customers aren’t treated with honor and respect, just doing what you say you are going to do will put you quickly to the top of the pack. That ….and delivering a good product.
Q. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
A. I love the freedom it gives me. I’m always busy and always in some sort of project but if I want to set that project aside, I can. Entrepreneurs are always “on” but having a team that I have built up around me is tremendously helpful.
Q. What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
A. My most satisfying moment so far is selling the car wash exactly a year after I built it and opened it for a 2200% return on my investment. That was a fantastic moment and incredible satisfying. To know someone wanted something that I built so quickly.
Q. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
A. I would say Risk tolerance. It’s incredibly risky to step out into entrepreneurship. You put everything on the line on a hope and a dream of that type of success.
Q. What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
A. Culture is really important in any of my organizations. We walk in integrity. We walk in excellence. We treat our employees right and our customers. I serve my employees. It’s the best way to drive culture. Also constantly putting vision in front of the team is really important to drive that culture as well.
Q. In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
A. Full
