[00:00:02.380] - Chris
I think third time is the charm. So for those of you that haven't you followed the podcast, you've learned that we have our guests on and we do the interviews and then we record the introduction later... Because we found out all about them and whatever. That's why we're laughing because......
[00:00:17.190] - Brandon
It took us three times to record this. thanks for joining us for the ride.
[00:00:22.720] - Chris
Thank you very much. Yeah, so Gerrett Stier GMS distribution. https://gmsdist.com/collections/frontpage So a lot of you are familiar with Gerrett's G unit, which we found the history
[00:00:32.520] - Brandon
I love..haha
[00:00:32.950] - Chris
But we learned the history of that product name, which was a fun little surprise. We'll save that for the show. I think what I really enjoyed about Gerrett is he is so chill, man. There's a little bit of a surfer vibe there, but we found out it's more of a hunting vibe, really thoughtful about the way he approaches his business. And very intentional. Like, that laid back vibe was kind of engineered. Yeah.
[00:00:58.340] - Brandon
Not in a fake way or false way. Just wanting to be true to himself.
[00:01:01.910] - Chris
Yes.
[00:01:02.170] - Chris
Setting up the business in a way that creates the least amount of stress and anxiety and the most enjoyment for him, which is like, man is'nt that what all of us business owners want. So even though he's got a very different kind of business, right, than a lot of us in the resto industry, I think there's something really cool that all of us can take away from this in terms of how we set up our life and how we set up our role in our business.
[00:01:24.420] - Brandon
Yeah, absolutely. I kind of walked away from the show wanting to equate him to something like a sleeper... The custom cars, but on the outside you don't quite understand what's completely happening underneath the hood, right?
[00:01:36.740] - Chris
Yeah.
[00:01:37.320] - Chris
If there's a custom exhaust and there's a blue printed engine under the hood.
[00:01:40.980] - Brandon
That's right. Gerrett is for sure. Very intentional, very thought through, very Proactive, man. He's just a great guy, but he's a sleeper. He'll catch you off guard if you underestimate his capacity. It was a really good show. It was fun. Yeah, we had a lot of fun.
[00:02:02.590] - Chris
Welcome back to the Head, Heart and Boots podcast. I'm Chris.
[00:02:06.250] - Brandon
And I'm Brandon. Join us as we wrestle with what it takes to transform ourselves and the businesses we lead.
[00:02:13.510] - Chris
What do you think?
[00:02:14.680] - Brandon
It's kind of serious.
[00:02:16.570] - Chris
Should we laugh?
[00:02:21.590] - Brandon
Hey, brother, we're really excited to hang out with you, so thanks for jumping on the show and spending a little time with us today.
[00:02:28.030] - Chris
Yeah, absolutely, man. Thanks for having me. This is going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it.
[00:02:31.800] - Brandon
One of the things that was motivating me to get you on the show is just everything that I've listened to you participate in is like you bring this element of down to Earth and not in some really lame way, but just in a lot of fun. Like, you keep everybody grounded you keep things real. And that's pretty exciting. Hopefully that comes out in this show today. We're certainly going to cover some serious...
[00:02:51.390] - Gerrett
yeah, i hope I don't come accross lame in the show.
[00:02:53.190] - Chris
Yeah, well, if anybody's going to come across lame, it could have been me before we hit record where we were calling you Garrett. And you're like, yeah, the name is Gerrett. So hopefully this is sort of a PSA for everybody else in the industry that's seen your name all over the place and you're like, oh, yeah, Garrett stier.
[00:03:07.920] - Chris
Everybody it's Gerrett.
[00:03:08.340] - Brandon
It's Gerrett.
[00:03:09.590] - Chris
Everybody loves to hear their name and it pronounced properly.
[00:03:13.370] - Gerrett
And Stier. Gerrett, Stier.
[00:03:15.270] - Chris
Gerrett, Stier. Okay, I did and I said it wrong. Oh, dear.
[00:03:19.460] - Brandon
Okay. Well, we're certainly off to a strong start, so that's good. Everybody who's listening is now totally at ease, which is great. That's the point.
[00:03:26.850] - Gerrett
Hey, you're just lucky you have easy names.
[00:03:29.280] - Brandon
Yeah, that's true. If you signed this up, like Dan Smith or something, we're probably pretty close. Before we get in any kind of seriousness. I think Chris has a question.
[00:03:39.050] - Gerrett
okay
[00:03:40.250] - Chris
ok, this is just really....
[00:03:41.450] - Gerrett
i didnt know we were getting into seriousness?!
[00:03:44.630] - Brandon
Sometimes the bar is high Intellectually, And sometimes the bar is low.
[00:03:47.290] - Chris
We're going to start out with the bar very low and work our way in. Yeah. So your G unit.
[00:03:53.210] - Gerrett
Yes.
[00:03:53.900] - Chris
Okay, I get it. Your name starts with G. And so you've got GMSs distribution. The G unit.
[00:03:59.710] - Brandon
Or you're a 50 Cent fan.
[00:04:00.930] - Chris
Yeah.
[00:04:01.080] - Chris
There's a real, like, rapper hip hop feel to that. Where did that name come from? Does your wife name your G unit? How did this come about?
[00:04:08.250] - Gerrett
So I'll tell you. So we're looking at it and it's the GMSs portal power distribution unit. That's the Ul term for the product that I have. It's a portable power distribution unit. I was trying to come up with something a little smaller, a little shorter. I am a huge 50 Cent fan. I'm listening to 50 cent while trying to come up with it.
[00:04:25.560] - Brandon
know wait what?!
[00:04:26.070] - Gerrett
Oh absolutely absolutely
[00:04:28.610] - Brandon
see I called it
[00:04:28.610] - Gerrett
huge fan, especially you're talking twelve years ago, and I still listen to 50 cent, so huge fan.... And I said I'll call it G unit, that's what I'll call it. So, yeah, I had some people that were like, you probably shouldn't do that. But I was like, I'm going for it. I'm doing it.
[00:04:41.960] - Brandon
oh, I love it.
[00:04:42.360] - Gerrett
That's me. That's who I am. And we're going to roll with it. We're going with Gunit, and it's been great. There's probably about half the customers don't know who 50 Cent is, and the other customers talk to me like ....
[00:04:54.450] - Chris
Man, he's an interesting guy, man. If you follow 50 Cent? Like, he followed some of his work? Like, if you follow what he did with Robert Green, the guy who wrote 48 Laws of Power.
[00:05:02.650] - Chris
I did not, no
[00:05:03.300] - Brandon
everybody's like, say what?
[00:05:05.420] - Gerrett
I'm more just a music fan, but he trolls so many people and causes so many problems. And it's like, come on, man. But no, I go back to the get rich, or die trying.
[00:05:13.210] - Chris
right on, that was it, That was the question.
[00:05:15.750] - Brandon
We were excited to find out the back story.
[00:05:17.290] - Chris
No, I'm talking about the 48 Hours.
[00:05:18.770] - Chris
Oh, yeah. Anyway, so Robert Green writes these books like 48 Laws of Power, the 48 Laws of Mastery. He has this whole series, really great New York Times bestsellers. Well, anyway, he did a collaboration with 50 Cent, and I think it was basically an updated version of his 48 Laws of Power, where 50 cent, he's done a bunch of business deals. He's gone bankrupt. He's become a billionaire. All these things. Did he invest in life water or something? Like some huge got, like 50 million dollars...
[00:05:45.390] - Gerrett
Vitamin water.
[00:05:46.320] - Chris
Vitamin water,right.
[00:05:47.420] - Gerrett
Vitamin water.
[00:05:48.170] - Chris
Like 100K investment. He turned into like 40 million or something crazy. Anyway, I'll link to it,I'll send you a link.
[00:05:53.720] - Brandon
And the whole get rich or die trying.... He's certainly succeeding in the get rich portion. He tried to die a couple of times, but apparently he wasn't rich.
[00:06:02.168] - Chris
He made it through.
[00:06:02.330] - Brandon
All right, well, thanks for filling us in on the G unit. I got to tell you, the 14 year old school kid and me certainly went rounds with the name, which is, I think, awesome. I think it's why people are not going to forget that particular tool, which is Rad. I love it. I do have kind of a serious question for you.
[00:06:19.060] - Gerrett
I got a fed ex delivery. Just a second. All right, we got it.
[00:06:23.550] - Brandon
Is that a bow hanging up in the background? Or am I...
[00:06:27.110] - Gerrett
Yes. I never shoot my bow enough. And I was listening to I think it's Remy Warren. If it wasn't Warren, I'm just going to give a shout out to him. Anyway, he's my favorite Hunter ever. I love watching and listening to him, but no, it definitely was him. But he said, Hang your bow by your door. And then whenever you walk past the door, just grab it, fire three shots off and move on. So, yeah, I have my bow hanging there, and I got a target. It's 18 yards the back of the shop, and I'll just rip arrows off all day long. And it's really helped out from not shooting at all and regretting it to I probably fire up 60 arrows a day now.
[00:06:58.220] - Brandon
Right on. Is that guy an Oregonian? Isn't there a huge Hunter that's based out of Oregon somewhere? Like a real famous.....
[00:07:04.730] - Gerrett
Oh, Oregonian,ok
[00:07:05.640] - Gerrett
Okay, well, I don't know where he's from, but he lives in Montana now.
[00:07:10.630] - Brandon
Oh, yeah. I think probably if you Hunt, everybody makes their way there. I don't know who it is. I'm talking out the side of my neck, clearly from the depth of my knowledge here. But there's a gentleman, I think, based out of Oregon that's really well known in the hunting area, and I think he's a bow Hunter.
[00:07:25.620] - Gerrett
Okay.
[00:07:26.170] - Brandon
You know how, like, all the sports tend to go through, like, these phases where they get almost refueled right by the right personality, becoming fairly famous inside that particular sport or genre. I think this is one of the guys that kind of really propelled that bow hunting scene again. You know what I mean? Kind of give it new life.
[00:07:44.260] - Chris
I think Joe rugby propelled the bow hunting. He's another one industry, too, right? I mean, Joe's a fanatic in the last five years.
[00:07:52.050] - Gerrett
Yeah. Now he is. Yeah. I would say I think for me and I don't know how many other people for me, it was Steve Ranila at Meat Eater was the first one that kind of got me interested in Western hunting. And Joe hunted with Steve, and yes, Joe's really big into it. And then Cam Haines, there's so many people. Is Camp Haines from Oregon?
[00:08:12.850] - Chris
I think he lives in Oregon because he also works with a company like Kiwi Outdoors. Or there's another hunting specific tech brand that he's involved.
[00:08:22.080] - Gerrett
It seems like they're all either sponsored, but they rotate sponsors, too. Now I want to know if campaigns are from Oregon.
[00:08:28.390] - Brandon
Yeah. If my laptop was closer, I'd be looking it up.
[00:08:31.250] - Chris
Okay dude, I got a serious question for you. We're about to open Pandora's Box with this one. I don't know if that's true, but I got a question for you.
[00:08:37.510] - Brandon
All right, so when I met you the first time, virtually, you and I were having a conversation, and something stuck out to m in that conversation. You were just talking about the way that you designed your company. It's growth strategy, where you wanted to be in your business. And I am certainly not going to go into any of those specific details unless that's something you want to share. But I think what struck me was how intentional you were about the specific size of organization that you wanted to build and how that kind of related to the lifestyle that you wanted to have. And I think what was very interesting about that for me is it kind of caught me off guard because Chris and I are essentially building a brand right now. We're kind of in some of those initial years of lift. Right.
[00:09:18.000] - Brandon
And we struggle to say yes to certain things and say no probably is our biggest struggle. And I just really admired the clarity that you had. Do you mind just kind of unpacking that a little bit for us?
[00:09:29.460] - Gerrett
No. Yeah, we can talk about that. Kind of like through the life of the company so far. And I think it's probably also important to feel like I never meant to own a company. It just kind of happened, and I just kept up with it. But then you go through some phases and.... Well, let me back up. So basically the reason I say that I didn't want to own a company, like, I wasn't educated to own a company. I didn't come out with a business degree. I wasn't trying to be an entrepreneur. I'm not studying anything. It's just like it kind of happened. So here I am as an electrician with a manufacturing company. So immediately I go to books and any other resource that I can get to try to get information on how to run a company and how to grow a company. And through all of that, you always hear about growth, about culture, about employees, finding people that are better than you to do certain projects and look at your markets and open up into other markets. And then once you get distribution, that's the hard part. Now come up with new products and new products so that you can keep growing.
[00:10:17.630] - Gerrett
And I went through all of those phases in the last ten years. I've tried them, I went through them. I've spent a lot of money doing it. And kind of at the end of that journey, I was having some conversations with some people. I guess at the end of it, I wasn't happy. So many times I was like whining I was doing.. I'll tell you. So I'm talking to some people and they would go, "you need to forget what everyone else says, forget what everyone else is doing, what anyone else is telling you. You need to look at your situation and decide what you want. You have to decide what you want. And then you put your vision together for what you want. You may not even want to be in this business, but sit down, figure out what you want, and put that vision together." And I found out basically when I'm the happiest is when I'm in my shop, when I'm shooting my bow, when I'm building power boxes, when I get a couple of phone calls a day and get to do some customer service, and when I'm shipping product, that's when I'm the happiest. I'm not the happiest making Flyers.
[00:11:14.520] - Gerrett
I'm not the happiest. When I'm marketing, I'm not the happiest selling. There's a lot of those kinds of things that maybe you could say lack in my business. But at the same time, we have enough business and we've been around and established long enough that it keeps me 100% busy. I love coming to work every single day. I'm so happy. It does everything that I want it to do for me. And then also it gives me the freedom to enjoy my most favorite things to do, which is travel with my wife and go hunting. And at any point, if I want to take off two weeks, I can take off two weeks and I can go do those things. And I don't have to worry; I don't worry about anything. And I think that's a big thing. When I say happiness, I think it's stress... There was a lot of stress. I don't like stress. I'm not that guy. I don't enjoy it. So for me, just been doing it for this long and being where I'm at now in my life, it was making that vision. It's going, this is what I want and then just sticking to it.
[00:12:05.740] - Gerrett
It's offered such a peace of mind, too, just to be able to commit to that and say, I don't care what everyone else is doing, what everyone else thinks, what they think I should be doing. This is what I want to do, and it's working for me, and I'm happy. That's where I'm at right now.
[00:12:18.400] - Brandon
And I think in a lot of ways I might be reading into this a little bit, but I think people see that on you. They experience it. I think that's part of the reason that when we've heard versions of your show, when you have guests on or you're participating as a guest on other people's show, there is kind of an element that you bring that's just like, yeah, it's just easy, it's good. And I think that a lot of that must come from this stress management by you just being really clear on what kind of company and business that you want to have and building it to that layer. I respect the hell out of that, man. I really do. I think there's a lot happening there, right? It says a lot about your self awareness. It says a lot about maturity in terms of control of ego. And to be able to make those kinds of decisions and keep those things in check is pretty impressive. Dude.
[00:13:01.190] - Chris
How did you get there? You went through ten years of kind of building the company in different ways and shapes and forms, and you followed some of these book guidelines and stuff that you were getting. Where did the turn happen? How did you come to terms with, I'm not happy doing this? Can you talk us through that a little bit? Where you making money and still unhappy while making money? Or was it part of the struggle to just make ends meet as well as part of the process? Or you were making money and you still weren't happy?
[00:13:27.160] - Gerrett
I was making money and still wasn't happy, and it wasn't the struggle in that sense. I was making money and just wasn't happy. And I think it's trial and error. It's make a mistake and you learn from it kind of thing. And it was just over the years of just trying the next thing. That's another thing about me. I'm not scared to try something. I mean, that was with the podcast two years ago when we launched that, and I've talked about it before because I decided to do a podcast. And I just went, I'm going to do one a week for six months, and I dropped three grand on equipment, and I went all in, I'll try, I'll see what happens. And so business or less. And there's a lot of that kind of thing has happened. And it was like when I would do something that didn't work well, we're going to try something different. We're going to move on pretty quickly and try something new. And then the things that did work great. That's awesome. But we're just going to keep plugging through it. And I think to your question, we went through a lot of things to where when I get to this point where now I'm 40, I moved my shop from Indiana to Seattle.
[00:14:16.350] - Gerrett
So it was almost kind of like I got a fresh start. And it was then when I sat down, I was like, okay, when this business gets to Seattle, what do we want it to look like? Once we get it out here, what is it going to look like? It was just realizing having some conversations with people they said "make it what you want," and then going back and kind of revisiting all of those steps through business where I was doing different things and it was like, when was I the happiest? And it was like, this is what I want, this is what I want, this is what I want. And then just pick those things and do them. And I'm at a point now unfortunate to where the customer base is large enough that it can support those five happy things that I want to do. That's where my focus is. That's what I'm doing. And not being arrogant, but there's distributors that we're not taking the distributors right now. I'm busy, actually. I'm back ordered right now, but I have just what I want, just what I need and I'm happy and we're not deviating from that at least.
[00:15:04.550] - Gerrett
I also look at the podcast six months and this is a one year thing. I'm going to reassess in one year, but for one year I'm going to 100% stick to is this what I want? Is this what makes me happy? And in one year we'll see. It may change, it may completely change in a year, but I'm going to stick to it for a year. And so far it's working out pretty well. I feel good.
[00:15:22.450] - Brandon
I like that. I like the strategy of being really Crystal clear on where you're going to put your effort, but then also giving yourself the freedom that, hey, I'm a person, I'm going to be changing as the years go by and my evaluation of this needs to be redone, right? Like I need to take the time to reassess and see where I'm at and I need to change it or want to change it. I got the freedom to do that. I like that decision making process. I think it's super healthy.
[00:15:45.710] - Chris
One of the things I'm hearing when you talk about that is discipline. There's a level of discipline there. I'm going to make this change. I'm going to do it for a year. Which maybe some people hearing that are like, well, yeah, it's just a year. But I think for most business owners, making a change and committing to that change for a full year to really see it through is not easy for a lot of people, like the moment they encounter some hardships. Maybe this wasn't the right idea and they waffle. But that mindset of I'm going to give this a year, reevaluate, do something different. Have you always kind of been geared that way, or has that been a growing edge for you?
[00:16:20.320] - Gerrett
No, I think that's coming with experience. The one thing you said, it's like when something doesn't go right and maybe that wasn't the right decision, I want to change. I mean, you can do that every other day with anything if you want to. So I think that comes with experience. When I was younger, I'm chasing everything and second guessing everything. But then I think as you get older and you start looking back at that stuff where we can all look back at our lives through personal or business and go at this point, oh, my gosh, this is the most important decision in my entire life. I was putting all of my energy into it and five years later it didn't matter at all. Not at all. So I think it's with experience and with that growth that you can come this many years later and go, even if I did it wrong, maybe even if this is the wrong decision for the year, it's not going to change anything. It's not going to devastate anything to where it's going to put me bankrupt and I'm going to be homeless or it's not that big of a deal, even if you are wrong.
[00:17:10.120] - Gerrett
But the only way you're going to see if you're right is if you can stick to it, hold to it and put in that longevity at the end and see if it worked out, because there's going to be days in this journey where it's not going to work out 100%, but it'll work out over the year. And that's what you have to look at. You look at the length of it and have that commitment. If you don't have that commitment and the time to put into it and the dedication and the discipline, then you're never going to know if it worked. You didn't give it the time to work.
[00:17:34.580] - Brandon
I feel like too, in a lot of ways that behavior builds on itself. Right. If you can get really good at what would we call that maybe iterations of planning out and operating in these iterations for a prolonged period of time? I think everything that you do and experience, it's not like you start over at the end of that experience. You get to add to it. It's exponential. Right. In terms of what lessons are learned and what you can deploy next time. It seems like.
[00:18:00.410] - Gerrett
Well, even if you're wrong, you still learn something at the end. You're better for it as long as you can learn from your mistakes. That's something else that we kind of well, maybe for me I take for granted because that's just how I operate. You've got to be able to learn from your mistakes in order to start doing any of these thing.
[00:18:14.590] - Brandon
Again, I'm always careful with details, I leave that on our guests to deliver what level of detail they want. But another exchange that you and I had not that long ago was just the fact that you've been pursuing some peer groups in some different formats that you've wanted to participate in. What drives that? What benefit are you seeking from that? And how has that influenced what you've been doing?
[00:18:34.570] - Gerrett
This change in this vision that I'm talking about is coming directly out of those peer groups. For me, one of the biggest well, I think for anybody, the biggest problem in your company is you. That's pretty much standard. I've heard it from a lot of different people. You guys are consultants. I'm sure you've said it. The biggest problem in your business is you. I can sit here in my shop by myself and talk myself into anything. It's one of my biggest problems. I can get myself excited about anything and think it's a great idea when it really wasn't. I talked to one person and it's like, oh, no, I didn't think about it that way. I know I shouldn't do that. So I think getting around so kind of two things. One, there's that the second thing is thinking that there's some kind of master plan where everything in business is just like this perfect, detailed list or it's like there's some living document that shows you exactly how to do everything. And when you get into these peer groups, I'm on the smaller end with no employees. And then we have people with some people with a lot, people with hundreds.
[00:19:23.730] - Gerrett
We're all in the same room. We're all talking. They have the same problems I have. They're still asking the same questions I'm asking. So I think then that kind of gives you some clarity. One, that there isn't some magic secret out there that we're all just working together. And then two, now it's really where are you at in your business? Where are you at in yours? And how did you get there? And how can you help me get to where I want to go? And now it's that networking, but it's people of a like mind that have businesses. I don't have anybody in my personal friends or in my family where I can go have a business conversation. And they're like minded like me, even my wife. I have a hard time even communicating with her. She gets her paycheck at the end of the week and deposits it. She doesn't understand why sometimes I make some really good money in a month, and sometimes I have a really bad... She's like, just pay yourself. It doesn't really work that way. But it's been getting around people that have the same problems, have the same goals, and have the same mindset and are like, you getting around people that are like you so that you can then communicate with them.
[00:20:22.960] - Gerrett
I don't know about you, but I've been in this experience so many times where I want to listen to someone's advice from going, you have no idea what I'm talking about. I want to respect your advice and your opinion, but you have no idea where I'm coming from. I don't know if that's happened to you guys.
[00:20:39.150] - Brandon
it's like no context
[00:20:39.150] - Gerrett
When you get into these groups, not every group is created equal. But when you find a good group, now you're talking to people that get you. They understand what you're going through. They understand the struggles, they understand those successes, they understand the questions. And when they provide feedback, you want to listen, you take it and you absorb it. Even if I would have got some like, vision instruction, I mean, I could have got it from somebody else and I wouldn't believe them at all. But now I get into this group and someone says it and I believe them, and I think it's about putting yourself in those situations where like minded people, where you can respect the things that are being said in the groups, the decisions that are being made, and you can grow from that.
[00:21:13.140] - Brandon
Is that always been how you've been wired to this whole pursuit, experience and more knowledge and getting some self checks from time to time? What brought that on?
[00:21:23.570] - Gerrett
I mean, it wasn't always like that. When I was younger, I was probably a Knowitall and you couldn't tell me anything. And obviously, with the growth of the business and things that happen, there are some very obvious mistakes that I made. And I think for me, when you learn from mistakes, there's something that in the electrical world, we're wiring a house, and I'm working for my dad. Let's say I'm like 14 years old, but I'm working for my dad, and we're running Romex wire through studs through a house, and you get to the corner and you have two studs that butt up against each other at a parallel to make a 90 degree angle, and you drill a hole in each one. Now you're going to get the wire from one side and around and out the other side. Does that make sense? To go around the corner with a wire that would go out and drill the holes? I come through and start pushing the wire, and you get to a corner. I'd be working on it for two minutes, three minutes, four minutes. And then in my head like, this is impossible. You can't do it.
[00:22:08.820] - Gerrett
And then I'd go, dad, you have to read all that one. It's impossible. And he would come over and he would have it done in 3 seconds, literally. He's like, There you go. And I think that making that realization that I had convinced myself mentally that something was impossible where somebody else, it wasn't even a challenge. It wasn't even on their radar as a challenge. I was convinced it was impossible. So I think once you realize that happens in the world, and you can accept that, that you don't know everything. There are challenges and things you're going to run into, but there may not be a challenge for anybody else. Now. It's just a matter of finding the right people to network with, to communicate with and have the right conversations with that will help you overcome these impossibilities because there's a lot of other people out there that these things aren't even challenges for.
[00:22:52.030] - Brandon
Gosh, I love that. I can relate to that big time. Wow.
[00:22:56.100] - Chris
I like that analogy.
[00:22:57.060] - Brandon
We could probably just hang up now. It'd be just fine. That was the nugget right there gang. that was solid.
[00:23:03.490] - Chris
Kind of along those lines, going back to something you said, just the importance of leading ourselves, I think, or you said some version of that of like, your leadership or business really starts with us understanding ourselves and leading ourselves. Well, over the last ten years, so much has changed in your business since you left being an electrician. What's that growth curve been like for you? I mean, what have been some of the major growing edges for you as a person? You're not thinking about just the nuts and bolts of business, but what has that look like for you in terms of learning and behavior change. That kind of stuff?
[00:23:34.600] - Gerrett
I don't know if there's like, any one thing that sticks out. Maybe if I had some time to think about it, I could probably come up with something. But I think with the growth and with the challenges, it's just about overcoming. It's just about getting to the next thing. Once we were established, once we were really set in the market because there were years that I was just fighting to get my product into the market where now I think we've got a good spot. People are asking for us. They know who we are, and that's good. So I think it was probably the first storm season. I never had a storm season for us. Let's say I was in business for five years before I had a storm season. When that storm season came through, like, it wiped me out. I wasn't ready for it, and I missed out on a ton of sales because I didn't have a stock. I had the stock ready for the next month in August, but I didn't have a stock ready for storms. So I think that was probably in the business. And personally, like one of those things in the business that really stands out where it's like you have to be prepared for this.
[00:24:20.940] - Gerrett
And then even going ahead of that, it's like, now what are the other things that we also need to prepare for? We thought we had to go. We thought we were running just fine. And now this thing comes in and it completely devastated the business in a sense of just wiping us out of stock and putting us in a pinch of getting things out and orders and cash flow and those kinds of things. And it was like we need to be more prepared. We need to be more ready to do something. Now I say that, but now we just had a supply chain issue. And anybody listening to this, who's waiting on a power box and has been for the last three months, they're going to be like, yeah, dude, you are really prepared for me to fall victim to the supply chain issue. And we're going to learn something from that, too. I am. I'm going to learn something from that. And we are taking steps, but that's not going to happen again. But I think it's that you always have to be ready. You always have to expect the unexpected. Just be ready to handle it day to day and then learn from it, make changes and grow for the next time.
[00:25:13.030] - Chris
All right. Let's take a minute to recognize and thank our MIT restaurant sponsor, Accelerate Restoration Software. And I'm fully aware, by the way, that when I say those last two words.
[00:25:25.950] - Chris
Restoration software that instantly creates heartburn for some of you out there.
[00:25:30.000] - Chris
Right?
[00:25:30.230] - Chris
Because we probably all fall into one of two camps when it comes to software. We've either cobbled together kind of a version of free website tools and spreadsheets just to make our business work, or we're in the camp where we've adopted one of these existing restoration platforms.
[00:25:47.810] - Chris
One that has all the bells and whistles and supposedly does it all.
[00:25:51.810] - Chris
But we can't get our team to consistently adopt it and input information to it. Yeah.
[00:25:58.190] - Brandon
And that's really where Accelerate has honed their focus. They've created a system that's simple, right? It's intuitive and it focuses on the most mission critical information, ie, guys, your team will actually use it.
[00:26:12.870] - Chris
Let's talk about sales.
[00:26:14.120] - Chris
Right?
[00:26:14.440] - Chris
After years of leading sales and marketing teams.
[00:26:17.570] - Chris
The biggest trick is getting them to consistently update notes about their interactions with referral, partners and clients. And the essential piece there is there's got to be a mobile app experience. And in our experience, the solutions that were previously out there were just too cumbersome and tricky to use.
[00:26:36.340] - Brandon
Yes.
[00:26:36.750] - Brandon
Imagine, guys, how your business would change if your entire team was actually consistently using the system. Do yourself a favor, go check these guys [email protected] MRM. And check out the special offers they're providing to MRM. Listeners.
[00:26:56.110] - Chris
Alright, let's talk about Actionable Insights owners. GMSs, you can't be your business expert on all things estimated you might have been three years ago when you're writing sheets in the field, but the industry is always changing and so are the tools. If you're the smartest person in the room when it comes to exempt Matterport, how does that scale you're the bottleneck? I know I'm preaching to the choir, but this is where actual Insights comes in. They're a technical partner that can equip your team with the latest bleeding edge information and best practices and then update them with webinars and training resources when the game inevitably changes again. For this reason, we recommend actual insights to all of our clients.
[00:27:36.340] - Brandon
Yeah, three of the kind of big things that stuck out to me when being introduced to AI and their team. First off, is this consistently updated training. At the end of the day, these guys are the experts. They're out front all the time. They're constantly learning new trade secrets and ensuring that your team has got access to those things. A 3700 plus page database of exact amount templates. I don't know what else to say here other than don't reinvent the wheel. It's already available. Download it, copy it, use it. Bam database of commonly missed items. I think this is huge. So many of us can change the numbers by just moving the needle a couple of points and those commonly missed items can make all the difference in the world. So go check them out at Value Gitinsights.org.
[00:28:29.150] - Chris
Brandon and I, we've been talking recently. We actually did a podcast, just you and I chatting about how there's these moments that every business person faces where it's like, okay, there's this new phase I'm entering into and there's new demands, there's a new way I have to think or a new skill that I need. And that's a difficult jump for some people. It's like some business people may have encountered that storm season and just been totally knocked off balance. Like, okay, well, they would just stay a little tiny mom and pop shop instead of trying to figure out how to navigate those huge influx of business and planning ahead like you're talking about, they would shrink back and be like, I don't know how to do this. And they would just stay this little tiny shopkeeper rather than growing through it. So, yeah, no, it's good.
[00:29:13.560] - Brandon
So one of the things you touched base early was this traveling with your wife. Talk to us a little bit about that. What do you guys prioritize? What are you guys doing?
[00:29:21.330] - Gerrett
Well, before COVID, we haven't done a lot of travel recently, but before COVID, we basically committed that we were going to go overseas at least once a year and we don't know where, but just out of the country. Our first trip, mine and hers out of the country, was for our honeymoon. We went to Paris, we went to London, Versailles. It was amazing. We loved it. We had a great time. And when we came back from that, I was like, you know what? We should do that again. And I think as far as travel, I've been fortunate in my business that I've been able to travel a lot and go see a lot of places where trade shows and open houses and going and meeting people. So I've really been fortunate that I've seen a lot of the US. And then when I was traveling, I always took the opportunity. I always stayed an extra day or two days to go to the site, go see some stuff, go enjoy some food. That's the thing that I enjoyed to do. Go into a new city, find that little dive and little gem somewhere, talk to some locals and go there and enjoy that.
[00:30:09.930] - Gerrett
Enjoy a brewery, enjoy a barbecue, whatever. Go and do those things. And my wife, with her work, she was traveling a lot. So when we went overseas, that was a completely new experience for us. It was awesome. We had the greatest time. And so that was one thing make the commitment that we're going to go overseas at least once a year on some trip. But like I said with COVID, we haven't been able to do that yet. That was one of the things. And then we always try to get away for a little three day weekend whenever we can or go just like outdoor in the Pacific Northwest, go hiking, go camping. She loves to get one of those camper vans and go to a winery or something like that. Just go out, go explore, see stuff, see new stuff.
[00:30:45.670] - Brandon
How do you guys keep that fun? My personal experience, obviously, is when you're either leading a company or you're growing a business, like, it is hard to not have your mind in that thing 24/7. Finding that time to be present and really stop what you're doing and be clued in on your partner and those exchanges of those times together is hard, man. How do you guys manage that?
[00:31:09.800] - Gerrett
Her and I are both so independent and business driven. I mean, she's very career driven. We made the move out here for her career. I'm very business driven. So I think a lot of even in our personal time for us is still talking about business and goals and careers and where we're heading and are we getting there and are we on track? And a lot of those conversations that bring us close together are still about business at the same time. You do have to turn it off. I think for me when I turn it off is when I go hunting, when I can just turn the cell phone off, I put a do not disturb on my voicemail, already says I don't listen to voicemails and I can just put that away, go up on a mountain somewhere and just forget about everything. And I think with her too, when we do get together in her a personal level, when we go out like that, exploring new things and seeing new things, that's going to keep our mind occupied, eating new foods and that kind of thing, meeting new people, I think that for both of us, keeps us occupied enough that we can step out of that business for a minute.
[00:32:08.340] - Brandon
Yeah, that's cool. Is that all pretty intentional or is it just happened that way? Do you guys talk about like, here's a priority that we want to have? Let's try to protect this or is it pretty natural between the two of you?
[00:32:18.970] - Gerrett
We talk about it. We're very intentional with our time, who we spend it with, where we spend it, what we do. It's all very much talked about and planned, and then we go do it thinking that it's like the business. Like, well, we'll just go try it. If we don't like it, we won't do it again. If we do like it, we'll put it on the list for next year and do it again. But it's like, let's go try stuff. But it's very intentional. We sit down, we know when we're going to take vacations and we force ourselves to I mean, it's like, hey, it's coming up on this month and we haven't done this yet. We need to get it scheduled. We need to get it done because it is it's important to have those things, to have those things to look forward, to have those experiences outside of businesses. It can't be work all the time. And I think so many people to get caught up in. I have work to do. I can't leave. I can't take off. That work will be there when you get back. I've never come back to work and it hasn't been here.
[00:33:01.770] - Gerrett
You didn't lose it. It'll still be there. So I think understanding that and just allowing yourself to go, this is my time. I'm going to go do this and it's going to happen. It's mental. It's preparation, it's planning and the execution. You just have to go do it.
[00:33:16.400] - Brandon
One of the things I really appreciate about a lot of the conversation that we've had today, dude, is this idea of you're a down to Earth guy, you're a blue collar guy, came up in the trades. Your trade industry now that you focus on is really surrounded by and serving the blue collar working force. And I hate to say this, but your intellectual capacity is so high, bro, like, in terms of your self awareness, the way that you think about your business, the way that you think about your relationships. Here's where I'm going with that. I think one of our biggest struggles and one of the things that we just get honestly heartbroken about is how little our current younger generations, how little they know about trade environments and blue collar environments and the fact that we have really done ourselves a disservice of beating down and devaluing the kind of people that do what you do, that do what we do anyway. I just want to take note of is like, you're the kind of guy that I want more young people to be hearing because you are so relatable and real, but yet at the same time and there is so much happening in your mind that you're not only executing on, but that you can communicate and articulate so well for people to understand and hold onto it's like we need more people to hear guys like you because there's so much potential, the stuff that you're building, the type of companies that you work with and partner with, what an awesome experience.
[00:34:44.580] - Brandon
And so much more than I think in a lot of ways, what we've said is available to those that pursue careers or industries like you have.
[00:34:52.000] - Brandon
I don't know. How do you feel about that? What have you been wrestling with in regards to that?
[00:34:56.250] - Gerrett
Just as far as, like, more people coming up in the trades, younger people, I don't know when we start talking about the younger generation and the younger workforce, that's one of the decisions why I decided to work alone, because that's what makes me happy. It doesn't make me happy to work with other people on the bench. I don't know. I think there's a difference in work ethic there. I also listened to your guys'podcast. I don't remember his name, but basically he was talking about the mentorship rather than leadership, talking about that. And I'll be honest, I was listening to that, and I was just cringing. I was like, I could not imagine if I had to come to work and be a mentor for four people. I just want to come in and get my work done. And I want you to realize that I'm the old school guy. I just want you to realize that I appreciate you and that's why you get a paycheck. I share my money with you. I created an opportunity for you, and then I pay you to help me with that opportunity. That should be enough. I don't understand how that's not enough.
[00:35:41.500] - Gerrett
I think that that mentality is what's also hurting it. Maybe the trades aren't sexy, but maybe also the kind of guys that are in the trades right now are guys like me. We're just old school. I don't know that we as leaders in the trades, the owners of trade companies. I mean, I know my dad owns electro company. He doesn't mentor anyone. He's like, you're asked to work. That's what I pay you for. I think it may be too, that some of the new people coming in, they also just can't make it in the trade. The trades aren't offering them what they need to succeed in work, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. I'm trying to say, like, one person is bad, one person's good. It's just that I don't know that they're going to get what they need. I don't know that the trades even are available to offer this whole other side, this whole mentorship, this whole other side of employees and employee relationships. I don't know if it's there, and I don't know if it'll take a generation to pick that up, but from my experience and everybody I've worked with in the trades, it's very simple.
[00:36:33.090] - Gerrett
Put your phone down, go to work well.
[00:36:34.840] - Brandon
And I think it does lend itself to the fact that own personal drive, because at the end of the day. It's like companies can work really hard to connect the dots for a prospect or for an employee. But there is some self vision that's required by someone in order for them to progress and grow and move forward at a reasonable pace. And so I think that no matter what, we're certainly going to see, I guess, limitations on someone's career path. If there's really no ability to look a corner or two down the road and have some idea or vision of what could be seeing the opportunity versus what's right here, ready right now. I think that is challenging. I think that's a human problem right now. In general. I know too many adults too, that have been around too many trips around the track, if you will. That still, if it's not spelled out A through Z, they just do not have the ability to see what lies in front of them. I mean, that's certainly a limited factor for anyone. Clearly not something you've wrestled with, man. It sounds like you've always had a pretty clear idea of what to try next.
[00:37:35.910] - Brandon
I love it.
[00:37:36.620] - Chris
Yeah, right.
[00:37:37.590] - Brandon
Something else that hit me. I was thinking about you. I've really watched the way that you've kind of interacted with some of the names in our industry. I was going back to that podcast series that you did with Rachel, which I really dug, how you guys kind of swapped roles depending on whose show it was. That was so great, man. And I didn't catch all the folks that you had mentioned on your side. But if you don't mind that one person that you feel like has really had the most impact on, it doesn't even need to be career. I'm thinking like, man, who you are, who had the biggest influence on that?What was it?
[00:38:12.680] - Gerrett
My dad for sure. And you can go back to that podcast. Who did what? That was one of the most fun podcasts I've done and recorded. That was such a good time. But yeah, who did what? My dad, for me, for sure is the biggest influence to come to you back. Like I said, he owns his electrical company. I was working with my dad when I was 13 years old the summer of 13. And I'm very money driven too. So I'm getting paid to go to work. That's all I want to do. So summer, when I'm 13, I'm working eight to 10 hours a day with my dad. I'm around him all the time. Probably the biggest takeaway and even goes back to that story with the wire in the corner and the studs. Dad, I can't do this. He's like, don't say can't. I don't know how many times. As soon as the word can't come out of your mouth around my dad, he goes, don't say can't. Say can't. And I know so many times where something that I thought was impossible. And then it wasn't even a challenge this one can't be done.
[00:38:59.170] - Gerrett
We can't do this. They can't. And he would come over. We just have to figure it out. We just need to think about it hard. We just need to think about it from a different angle. He's the one that kind of opened things up to where you weren't just stuck in this bubble of like, well, I can't do it, so it's not going to get done. If you can't do it now, then let's figure out a way to get it done. And so working with him and in that atmosphere for so long, and then even in my job, my job, we did a lot of remodels. And my dad is very good at bathroom remodels, kitchen remodels, because where somebody else would want to come and just cut a notch all the way around, drill holes and run the wire and have a bunch of patchwork to do, my dad would sit there and figure out, well, if we drop that out of the ceiling and we can get a hole over here and then we can push that up to the attic, he would figure out how to maneuver and get things done without making holes everywhere.
[00:39:40.500] - Gerrett
And so being on jobs with him, learning that you just walk into a job and it's like this thing is a puzzle. We just have to figure it out. The easy path isn't always the right path. So it's like we just have to figure it out. It's a little harder. But at the end of the day, we're going to have a better job. And so definitely working with him. And when I say working with my dentist, I'm working with my dad eight to 10 hours a day. But for years, when I finished my junior year in high school, I was in the truck full time. I had another guy that was working with me. By the time it came out of my senior year, I tried to convince my mom to let me drop out, get my GED. That way I could just work all the time. She didn't go for it. So I ended up doing this work program where I went to school the first two and a half hours, and then I was out by like 10:00. So as soon as I would get off work, I drive to the job site and I was there and work with the guys and then set up the next day.
[00:40:26.340] - Gerrett
And then I do that from school. I was pretty much working full time since my junior year of summer. It's just a lot of time and a lot of hours spent with my dad and just having just this reinforcement from him that pretty much you can do anything you want to do. He taught me about hard work. He taught me, if you want something, you go work hard for it. And I know what hard work is. I've done those days before I've done plenty of them just to figure things out. My dad, for sure.
[00:40:53.000] - Brandon
I think what's so cool about that is that it's really an apprenticeship. It's just a non formalized apprenticeship that you experienced. That I think is really cool. And I think there's something to be said about the value of those kinds of relationships and the way they change us and the way that they change our perspective. Right. Like your dad taught you a new way to think about what your capacities are and what you're capable of. Look how many doors opened for you. That's huge, man.
[00:41:18.360] - Gerrett
I don't know how many times in business. Hey, can you guys do this, for instance? Can you guys build this generator system? I'm like, don't. They can't. Yeah, I'll figure it out. I'll figure out how to build it, or we had losses in the industry. It's emergency stuff. We've got a guy that calls me from St. Louis. Hey, can you give me 20 boxes down here by tomorrow? And I'm like, don't say can't. That's going to be very difficult. But don't say can't. And we did it. So there's a lot of things in my business, too, where probably, maybe we should have said can't or someone else would have, and I didn't. And I just put my head down. I just did the hard work, and I thought about it a little harder, and I put some things together and made it work. So even that don't say can. That still applies to today. I may get on the phone later today, Pop, and I don't say can't. Figure it out. Get it done.
[00:42:03.610] - Chris
He sounds like a mentor. I'm revisiting that. Clint Pover, my notes right here. The five C's of mentorship. Confident. The person has to be confident. Credible to know what the hell they're talking about. Competent, able to do the thing that they're mentoring and they're candid and then they care. Last piece. Sounds like most, if not all those elements your dad brought to that experience, that relationship you have with your dad.
[00:42:25.920] - Gerrett
Absolutely.
[00:42:26.830] - Chris
That's neat.
[00:42:27.500] - Brandon
That's cool, man. Clearly it was a trajectory setter for you and played a big role in that. It's pretty Rad. I have another question for you.
[00:42:35.130] - Gerrett
Sure.
[00:42:35.320] - Brandon
What was the largest, most effed up mistake that you've made in your ten year path with building your business? The one that you're like? That one hurt.
[00:42:48.590] - Gerrett
I don't even know if I want to talk about it. It would have been in the time I had distribution. It was like, all right, now GMSs needs to make a new product. We only make one product. We need to make something else and get that into the industry and started looking around and finding some people, and I'll call them out. Chris Laney, really good friend of mine, he has this idea. We ended up calling it Electro Dry. And it works. It does work. But I'll tell you, the biggest mistake that we made basically when you're trying to dry out a wall or doing some custom drying behind cabinets, you pop the face plates off of the outlets. And then we had a plastic boot that would attach to the outlet through the plate screw so it would fasten to the wall and you attach your hose to it and pull on the outlet because there's enough air and gaps around those boxes where you can pull the wet air out of the wall that way. We thought it was the greatest idea ever. His company used it. We went through full production of it. I think we made like 5000 of them.
[00:43:40.720] - Gerrett
And I think we sold $300 and we marketed the crap out of it. We tried to get into distribution, gave it away. And yet at the end of the day, it was like, well, there's a $30,000 mistake. What do you want to do now? That was probably the one and the other reason why it hurts so bad too. So the other lesson I learned was with margins. So my product was called $1,000. My product sells for $1,000. There's a lot of money in that. $1,000 for profits, for margin, for other distributors. There's a lot when you're talking about the electro drying, it's a little piece of plastic. And I always use kind of the same model, the same percentage margin model. This is our cost. This is what we need to charge to make money. This thing was like $100. There wasn't even enough money to even care about it to begin with. And then if you did want to charge what it would take if you were going to charge what it would take to actually care about it and make money, well, now no one is going to buy it anyway. So not only was there a mistake in misreading the market and how they would react to the product, there is also a huge mistake in understanding the profitability of that product and how to apply percentages and margins to make money on something.
[00:44:47.730] - Gerrett
It was a complete wreck.
[00:44:49.110] - Brandon
How long did it take you to recover from that, Bruce?
[00:44:51.960] - Gerrett
I don't know if we are recovered that's Chris. We're still just like.
[00:44:55.730] - Brandon
It'S still painful over there. The IP is on a Saturday. That's wild. All right, dude. I feel like we could probably just keep going and keep going, but I want to be conscious of your time and clearly you prioritize that and so we don't want to take advantage of that. But, dude, thanks for hanging out with us, man. I appreciate it.
[00:45:14.940] - Chris
That was fun man.
[00:45:15.030] - Gerrett
I want to tell you that I've had a great time. I've been on a lot of podcasts. I do a podcast. I think for me, I say if you can get on a podcast and then forget your recording and forget your podcasting, that's when it was good. This one was really good, guys.
[00:45:27.210] - Chris
Right on.
[00:45:27.630] - Brandon
Awesome, man. We appreciate that. We actually want to plant. The seed broke. We're excited to maybe try to meet up with you this year at an event somewhere so offline let's chat a little bit about where you're going to end up being and then let's try to circle the wagons. Maybe with you and we really like hanging out with the blue collar guys too. They're a hoot.
[00:45:46.880] - Gerrett
They're so much fun.
[00:45:48.440] - Brandon
They're Rad. Yeah, they were fun.
[00:45:50.640] - Chris
I think a future combined podcast with a whole bunch of us would be cool.
[00:45:53.970] - Brandon
I think so. It'd be Rad.
[00:45:56.810] - Gerrett
Oh, that would be awesome. I love it.
[00:45:58.450] - Brandon
All right, brother. Thanks again, man. We'll catch up with you real soon.
[00:46:01.170] - Gerrett
All right. Sounds good.
[00:46:03.890] - Brandon
All right, everybody.
[00:46:04.800] - Brandon
Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, Heart and Boots.
[00:46:08.390] - Chris
And if you're enjoying the show but you love this episode, please hit follow only known to subscribe. Write us through review you or share this episode with a friend. Share it on LinkedIn. Share it via text whatever.
[00:46:20.260] - Chris
It all helps.
[00:46:21.230] - Chris
Thanks for listening.