Episode 1 - From 'Maybe' to Millionaire w/Guillermo Castillo

Rise II Rise Ep1 Guillermo CastilloTue, Nov 01, 2022 5:09PM • 1:03:03SUMMARY KEYWORDSbusiness, people, service, bit, clay, customers, electrician, absolutely, wife, number, contractors, life, organization, technician, big, guillermo, company, talked, rise, electricalSPEAKERSGuillermo, Clay NeumeyerOutlineDon’t throw the towel in.0:00How he got into the business of electrical work.1:57What is it about Residential Service that sets it apart from everything else?8:21Clay’s passion for helping youth and youth.15:08The importance of onboarding your staff and why.21:24Winners and losers have the same goal, they do.27:32Keep going and keep going.32:27The highway of pain and suffering is the highway of suffering.36:43The importance of having faith in your life.41:01What is the most important mental shift you need to make as a business owner?45:32The six basic human needs that every person has.52:44What’s the most important thing he would give advice to other contractors?57:15Remember, the housing market crashed, we lost so many clients, I was able to get the largest mitigation company as one of my clients. So no matter what the economy did, we were always had work. Because when there's a fire, or a flood or something, a house has to be rebuilt. Two things happened to me while that time with the mechanic, we're working with that mitigation company. Number one, I saw firsthand what electrical hazards can do to a home, most electricians don't see it, all they do is do new construction, remodel, whatever. But when you're one of the worst things you can see is when you see a homeowner shifting through, burnt up pieces of what their house is used to be to pick up burnt up pictures, that has an impact on you. So it really made me start to think like, what I do isn't about just putting up lights and plugs or dimmers or anything. I have the direct knowledge of keeping people in my community safe. And then number two, what it did for me was, I started to, you know, do the estimates and everything more more with a fine tooth comb. And I saw how the profit margins with these type jobs were so razor thin, one change order could could could wipe us out. And would there came a moment in this in time of our company history, where we were owed a lot of money by this mitigation company. And when you're dealing with contractors and insurance company, you almost float every single job and become their bank. And we were owed a lot of money. And I had to scrounge around for quarters and dimes out of a penny jar to buy cheeseburgers a feed me and my wife. Now, I don't know about you, Clay. But that was one of the most humbling things that I had to do. And as a man when you can't provide, I started looking at other ways to be able to change things up for us. So those are the two things that I kind of got out of that moment in time. For sure.Clay Neumeyer  08:21No, that's incredible. And I appreciate that share. Because I'm sure if if you're listening to this now you might be one of these people facing those cashflow issues. And for me and you both and I can only imagine, in fact, would you tell us again, like how long are durations are we going without payment after a project is complete?