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Almost no contractor sells to private equity, and the ones who do usually take a decade or more. Nehal Kaiser did it in three years and ten months, for an eight figure exit. His point is the one most owners miss. He did not get there by being the best roofer. He got there by building a recruiting and sales machine and treating a clean, sellable business as the goal from the very first day.

Nehal spent about ten years at LA Fitness, rising from entry-level salesman to VP, where he learned to recruit, train, and develop people at scale inside a brutal accountability culture. He left during the pandemic, knocked doors while nearly broke, and built a roofing company from zero to almost a hundred people before selling to private equity. Blue Hammer is now part of the RAFTRx platform.

In this episode you'll learn:

• The STAR framework Nehal used to build his founding team, structure, technical, action, and relationship, and why a team missing any one of those usually implodes

• Why he says he was never really running a roofing company, he was running a sales, marketing, recruiting, and training business that happened to wear a roofing logo

• The buyout clause his partners wrote on day one, where four of five partners could remove anyone, and how it prevented the breakup that kills most partnerships

• How treating the business like a university, complete with a staff therapist, supported his belief that success is eighty percent mental and twenty percent mechanics

• Why his books were not actually sellable at first, what a quality of earnings review is, and how a fractional CFO got them ready for market

• The leaked group text, the surprise state audit, and the roof fall that all hit in the final two weeks before closing

• The roll-up math behind private equity, why you leave equity in the platform, and how that second bite can be worth more than the first

• The one thing he says every founder must accept long before they sell, that you are giving up control

This one is for any home service owner who is building something they might want to sell one day, and wants to know what the buyer will actually be looking at.

1

Mauricio Cardenal: Hey, Kaiser.

2

Kaiser: There we are. What's up, brother? How we doing, Mauricio?

3

Mauricio Cardenal: I'm doing good, how are you, man?

4

Kaiser: Very good, man, very good. Let me adjust this guy real quick. There we go, there we go. Yeah, man, thank you for making the time, I appreciate it.

5

Mauricio Cardenal: Oh, thank you. Thank you for taking the opportunity, man. I really appreciate talking with you.

6

Mauricio Cardenal: Got a lot of, insights from,

7

Mauricio Cardenal: From, Ray, from Raymond, he said you're… you're a big dog, man, doing… doing big things, so I wanted just to meet you. I don't know about that.

8

Kaiser: But I appreciate it, but I appreciate it. Yeah, Raymond's good people, man. We've known each other for a little while now, not a super long time, but yeah, he's a… obviously, you know, he's a pioneer in the space. He's a roofer through and through.

9

Kaiser: He's helped build a beautiful brand that we've partnered up, what, 2 years ago now? And, yeah, it's been a lot. It's been a lot, so…

10

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, man, so, the reason I'm reaching… I'm reaching out is because I started a podcast about 3 months ago. It's called the AI and Marketing Show for Home Service Companies.

11

Mauricio Cardenal: And basically, that's what the title is, it's about AI and marketing. And the target audience is smart contractors that want to grow using technology and marketing. So, I've been interviewing Raymond, came on two weeks ago, great conversation, talked about his story, his background.

12

Mauricio Cardenal: What he did to build, perimeter roofing, now building.

13

Mauricio Cardenal: you know, the next step in private equity, and now with SVG. So, just basically just talking to the leaders in the space, understanding what they did to grow their business using marketing technology, and just, basically, just conversations, right? My background, I started digital agencies 8 years ago now, so it's 8 years since I've been in this space. Been primarily working with roofing companies.

14

Mauricio Cardenal: In that time frame, now we've expanded to all home services.

15

Mauricio Cardenal: Right, so it's not only roofing, but now it's HVAC, plumbing, you know, all that. And, you know, with the private equity, the big change is that the three main levers they use to grow, according to what they've been saying, is that it's marketing, technology, and the third one is acquisitions. So…

16

Mauricio Cardenal: those are the things that I want to talk about, and just using these different aspects about that, just having conversations. So, just want to do, just go and get to know you a little bit now, like, just have a conversation where you are, background and stuff, and then we can just schedule something for later.

17

Kaiser: Beautiful, man, beautiful, yeah. More than help, happy to help answer questions, share whatever, so, pretty much open book, so we should be pretty good, huh?

18

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, yeah, so tell me, like, your story, like, a little bit about your background, and what made you get into the roofing space.

19

Kaiser: Yeah, sure, man. Listen, I don't have a wild prison story like Ray. I was arrested at a very young age, but thank God it wasn't for a very long time.

20

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah.

21

Kaiser: So, I don't have one of those crazy stories. So, mine's actually a little bit unique and different. Like, I come from the fitness industry, and I come from a corporate background.

22

Mauricio Cardenal: rough.

23

Kaiser: Oh…

24

Kaiser: I'm originally from the Middle East, but I was born there, raised in the U.S, I've been in Texas for most of that time, in Dallas specifically. So I got in the fitness space.

25

Kaiser: So, I started off selling memberships at the gas station, going and talking to people at Walmart, anyone that I could get to come inside the gym. So, I just essentially worked my way up from salesperson to assistant manager, general manager, district manager, regional. Anyways, by the time I left, I was there 10 years. Same company.

26

Kaiser: And I was an executive vice president by the time I left. The thing about this fitness industry that people don't understand is everyone thinks it's, like, very passive and, you know, you show up, hey, you want to buy a membership? Bro, listen.

27

Kaiser: This was the most intense industry ever.

28

Kaiser: Every single two weeks, someone's getting demoted or fired.

29

Kaiser: Or promoted.

30

Kaiser: You work 6-7 days a week. You clock in for 40 hours, but you're easily working 60 to 70, 80 hours a week.

31

Kaiser: We only shut down one day out of the year, which was Christmas Day, so for 10 years, I worked every Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving Eve, didn't even know what other holidays were, so it was a high level of accountability and intensity.

32

Kaiser: Which is one of those things where if you go in and you do well, when you leave, you'll probably be okay. If you didn't make it, you know, it is what it is. So…

33

Kaiser: And you'll see in our industry, there's a bunch of guys that came from the fitness space, and now they're doing very well here. But because of…

34

Mauricio Cardenal: Kurt Linear, right? Kurt Linear Roofing, one of the guys, right?

35

Kaiser: Yeah, yeah, and he's a very close friend of mine. Matter of fact, we were hanging out last weekend.

36

Kaiser: So, yeah, anyways, success leaves clues, right? So, that was that. Long story short.

37

Kaiser: I was working side-by-side with Kurt, and he had started up the roofing company. So I'm seeing this guy's life change, right? I'm seeing new car, new house, new woman, new everything, and I'm like…

38

Kaiser: this isn't LA Fitness money. Like, we're making good money doing that, but not the money that, you know, I saw. So anyways,

39

Kaiser: I took a leap of faith in June of 19, but what I did is, I was doing both at the same time. I was working 8am to 6 p.m. at LA Fitness, I'd change shirts in the car, and I'd go knock doors from 6 to 9 p.m, because the sun went down late summertime in Texas. Yeah. So I did that.

40

Kaiser: August 20th of 19, I get a call.

41

Kaiser: And they're like, hey, we need you to make a decision. We found out you're the owner of this roofing company, we saw how this worked out with Kurt already, we need you to make a decision.

42

Kaiser: And long story short,

43

Kaiser: I was like, okay, I appreciate it, it's been a great 10 years. That was my final day.

44

Kaiser: Walked out, went all in on roofing, and here's the crazy thing. I left with one other VP.

45

Kaiser: who's a good friend, his name is Christian Jimenez, Chico is what we call him, and

46

Kaiser: We were killing it in sales.

47

Kaiser: Only one problem. We knew nothing about backend. Yeah. So, within the first 6 months of doing this.

48

Kaiser: We're about half a million dollars in debt.

49

Kaiser: We started in June, and literally by end of December, going into 2020… going into 2020, we're about half a million in debt.

50

Kaiser: credit cards are all maxed out, our SRS, our ABC line, all of those are capped. My Home Depot account is done, my personal credit card, and…

51

Kaiser: It's a long story I'll save for another day, but I hit up a buddy of mine who had been in the roofing space. He helped us start solving some of these problems. As a matter of fact, he helped me solve the problem so well that we started up Blue Hammer Roofing with him.

52

Kaiser: Yeah. And then, man, it was just… we knew the front end, because we knew sales, we knew marketing, we knew how to hustle, we knew how to do all that, and then he helped a ton with the product knowledge and the back end, and then it was just, off to the races. So…

53

Kaiser: we won, with Inc. 5000 two years in a row, fastest growing roofing company in all the U.S. out of all privately held companies, so that was pretty cool. And in the construction space. And then, you know, just… we just kept building, man, we kept building, and then… maybe someone's beat us now, but I do think we set the record for the fastest

54

Kaiser: The fastest 8-figure exit in the roofing space, which was 3 years and 10 months.

55

Kaiser: That's amazing. Yeah, we started January 2020 officially, and October 16th of 2023, we partnered with private equity. So, I don't know if someone's beat us by now. The records are meant to be broken, right? But.

56

Mauricio Cardenal: Amazing.

57

Kaiser: That's a short version of a long story.

58

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, 36 months to get that exit. That's amazing. And then now, like, is that… you guys are, like, taking another bite at the apple? Is that the next step? And.

59

Kaiser: Yeah.

60

Mauricio Cardenal: And doing another exit, hopefully.

61

Kaiser: Yeah.

62

Kaiser: Yeah, 100%. We're just… we're integrating all the companies, learning a bunch about the other brands, and other owners, and how people are when it comes to their baby, you know, good and bad.

63

Kaiser: And then the organic growth, right? Like, if someone's gonna buy your product, someone's gonna buy your business, they wanna…

64

Kaiser: see that the business has good trends, right? Like, it's going this way, not this way. So, we're just, we're really locked in on, one, as you mentioned earlier, acquisitions being a big piece, and then just, you know, just organic growth.

65

Kaiser: Like, what can we build from what we got? Because there's one other piece in what you mentioned that I think is very critical. You mentioned the marketing, you mentioned.

66

Mauricio Cardenal: What was that?

67

Kaiser: and maybe this falls under the marketing bin, but we've always considered ourselves a sales, recruiting, and marketing company. We just happen to be wearing a roofing logo.

68

Kaiser: But, like, that's what we are. You can have us literally go sell alarms tomorrow, we can go sell solar the next day, we can go sell cars the next day. But that's our… that's our model.

69

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, so recruiting is a big part of that, so that's a big challenge, right? How do you recruit people? How do you recruit team leaders to your company?

70

Kaiser: Yeah, that's a good question. We, we've got a couple different metrics. We do all the Indeed and all that stuff, but one thing has stood to be true, and that is the best recruits that we have in our company today.

71

Kaiser: Are from people that are already on our team.

72

Kaiser: So what we do is, we incentivize them.

73

Kaiser: Listen, if you're a top performer, you probably have a friend or two that are also top performers. That's how… that's how this goes, right? You are who you attract. Like, I've never seen a bunch of guys who do really well hang out with a bunch of people who are broke, or vice versa, right? So…

74

Kaiser: We incentivize our existing guys to… if you bring someone on board, and you help them with their first 3 sales, we give you $1,000.

75

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah. But really, what… it's more of an attraction piece than it is the thousand, because they don't do it for the thousand. That's just…

76

Kaiser: An add-on. You gotta, you gotta think, right? Like, over 90% of people are unhappy at their existing workplace. They don't trust their boss, they don't trust the people that they work with, they don't enjoy the work that they do. So our big piece is we want to create a culture that really gets people excited to show up to work.

77

Kaiser: Through competitions, by making it feel like a family. We have a fitness committee. We go work out outside one time a week. We got flag football tomorrow. We do all these things where people actually want to show up. We pay well, we're very competitive in how we pay. And most importantly, we just make people feel like they're a human versus a number.

78

Kaiser: And…

79

Kaiser: when we ask them to bring their friends, they bring their friends, and that's how we've literally grown the business. And then I personally… I go headhunt.

80

Kaiser: But not at other roofing companies.

81

Kaiser: I go fitness industry, I go restaurants, I go high-end places where they're used to providing a high level of customer service and working for their money.

82

Kaiser: So, a combination of those two things is how we've built Blue Hammer.

83

Mauricio Cardenal: Awesome. And that's primarily…

84

Mauricio Cardenal: So recruiting, top talent, rewarding them, incentivizing them, and then yourself creating these relationships and networks to…

85

Mauricio Cardenal: to kind of bring more people on board, right? That's kind of the aspect.

86

Kaiser: Yeah, the culture, the culture piece is important.

87

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, culture, too, as well. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah. What, like, what's the size of the company? How big… how many, employees are you guys, and, like, revenue?

88

Kaiser: Blue Hammer, we're a little bit over, 200 guys.

89

Mauricio Cardenal: 100 people, wow, you've… that's the main growth.

90

Kaiser: We're going to 2026 for over, 200.

91

Mauricio Cardenal: 100 people, wow. So, and then you're expanding to different locations, too, or just multiple locations across the country, or…

92

Kaiser: So what we're gonna do is, we've shifted our strategy a little bit, going into 26. We will have 5 active markets, all in Texas.

93

Mauricio Cardenal: Texas, okay.

94

Kaiser: And that'll, you know, with us being over 50 mil this year, with a target of over, you know, 65, 70 mil for 2026.

95

Mauricio Cardenal: Amazing, man. That's amazing growth. What, what, what…

96

Mauricio Cardenal: That, that is a… that is great, that's a fast success. What, what is a primary… so, is it door-to-door? Is, like, the primary way you generate, like, business, or… or… or is that…

97

Kaiser: Yeah, listen, we've…

98

Kaiser: do we have other streams, working with realtors? Unfortunately, what we've seen from a marketing perspective in Texas, the cost per click is so high. The SEO in Dallas specifically is just absolutely insane, because surely you've seen the numbers, there's 3,400 roofing companies in Dallas-Fort Worth, which is insane.

99

Kaiser: So that doesn't work as effectively, but relationships with realtors works great. Relationships with property management companies works great. And then, listen, at the end of the day, I hate to say it sometimes, but we absolutely, positively train the crap out of our guys to be very good at the door.

100

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah.

101

Mauricio Cardenal: Training.

102

Kaiser: Because that's what works here.

103

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah.

104

Kaiser: So…

105

Mauricio Cardenal: What do you think people, like…

106

Mauricio Cardenal: if you picture other contractors, right, that… because you've been in the space now for a few years, so you know who you're speaking to. Like, what do you think they need to hear that

107

Mauricio Cardenal: can help them with their success? What do you think we should, like, kind of discuss that you think that they need to hear that it can help them with success?

108

Kaiser: I think… I think it revolves around…

109

Kaiser: developing the next tier of leaders, so you're not the cork in the business. Like, you know, a cork is what you put on the wine, right? So it doesn't flow freely. You want your business to be able to flow freely, and not be so dependent on you. So, something along the lines of

110

Kaiser: You know, Recruiting, training, and developing that next tier of leaders.

111

Kaiser: Excuse me, so you can focus on the next big task. Because I think what happens with a lot of these businesses, because I've studied them, I've mentored and I've coached some of these guys.

112

Kaiser: They were once the solution in their business, and they were one of the most important parts, until it started growing, and then now, they don't even realize it, they're the problem in the business. Because they're holding, like, they're holding everyone else down.

113

Kaiser: They're not letting the ideas come up, they're not allowing the business to flourish. They're the problem. And they can't see it. And whether it's ego or whatever.

114

Kaiser: And that's why you see a lot of these guys, they get stuck in that 5 to 7 to 8, 10 mil range.

115

Kaiser: Because it's all way too dependent on them. We built this business

116

Kaiser: To not be dependent on us.

117

Mauricio Cardenal: Got it, got it.

118

Kaiser: I think a lot of the guys have issues with scaling, so maybe somewhere in that realm, I think I could be a value add for your podcast.

119

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah.

120

Kaiser: Unless you feel otherwise, I'm.

121

Mauricio Cardenal: No, I think that's great, that's great. I think… well, I mean, something that I spoke to, yesterday, I spoke with…

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Mauricio Cardenal: the owner, Mike Fiesel, the owner of RoofMax, and…

123

Mauricio Cardenal: They have, like, 380 plus dealers, and…

124

Mauricio Cardenal: you know, I think they were doing, like, collectively, like, $250 million.

125

Mauricio Cardenal: He mentioned… he mentioned, like, the similar thing, that… that's… he… because he's talked to… he's been in the space, like, 40 years, and he said that a lot of guys get stuck between the $2 and $3 million mark, $5 million mark.

126

Mauricio Cardenal: And that's exactly what he said, like, a lot of… it's because they… it's hard for them to develop the skill set to expand past that range because of…

127

Mauricio Cardenal: really knowledge and just lack of training, right? And kind of understanding what it takes to be, like, that next step. It's, like, there really, like, there's, like, barriers. There's, like, invisible barriers between, like, the 1 million mark.

128

Mauricio Cardenal: Right? And then another barrier in the 3 million mark, and then another barrier at the 10 million mark, and then the 20 million mark. So I'm sure you… you probably had those barriers, and then you found a way to break through those barriers, right? So that's a good thing, actually a good…

129

Mauricio Cardenal: talking point to address. The different barriers you have for each level, right?

130

Kaiser: Yeah, and I think people have to realize, as much as it sucks to say that, like, who got you here?

131

Kaiser: won't get you there. It's just like that old saying, what got you here won't get you there. It applies to who as well. And unfortunately, part of that growth, you lose people along the way, people that you don't want… people you thought were going to be there with you, but they're not, because they weren't willing to evolve.

132

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah.

133

Kaiser: So they intentionally held others down.

134

Kaiser: And sometimes you have to make these tough decisions that it's addition by subtraction.

135

Kaiser: Right? Like, you have to subtract one guy to be able to, essentially, effectively multiply the business. So, just some of these things that I think people struggle with when it comes to not only developing leaders, but…

136

Kaiser: Getting rid of people that are problems.

137

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, yeah. Guys I talk to, they struggle with that. I'm assuming your model is based on… is it insurance? Like, insurance-based model, right? It's, like, the storm-related, storm, and then knock doors.

138

Kaiser: Yes, sir.

139

Mauricio Cardenal: Okay, okay. So, that, that, that is, there's a lot of debate about this. I actually asked one of the private equity guys, he said there doesn't really matter, but I want your opinion on this. Like, between insurance and retail, is that, is that, does that matter to private equity, or… or it doesn't matter?

140

Kaiser: It's a good question, and I think the best answer is each

141

Kaiser: Equity group has a different appetite.

142

Kaiser: Some guys love it.

143

Kaiser: And some guys love the other model. It really is… it's coming down to what their appetite is, what they believe the future is, and they're investing in that.

144

Kaiser: And then, so you've got some models that are doing both. Because, like, they like this one, but they're not fully sold, they like this one, they're not fully sold. Alright, let's do a hybrid model. Then you've got some that are retail only, some that are insurance only, and, you know, and everything in between. So, I truly do believe that every PE has a different appetite.

145

Mauricio Cardenal: Are you using AI for training, for sales training?

146

Kaiser: We're… we… yes, we are. Probably not at the highest level, but, like, some of the stuff that we're doing right now inside of our, our training academies is, we have, we have guys speaking into… I forget the… I forget the app, but…

147

Mauricio Cardenal: Vela, Villa?

148

Kaiser: I think we're using a different one. I know, really, I know those guys, but we may have gone back to them, and it's given them real life, real-time feedback. We have guys now doing quizzes, that we've created, modules and all the rest of it, and in that,

149

Kaiser: it's given us a score on how well they'll do by the time they start, what their strong points are, what their weaknesses are. So, we have started incorporating it, yeah. Early stages for us, though.

150

Mauricio Cardenal: Awesome, yeah. Yeah, so I'd love to schedule, man. Let me, let me see, let me pull up my calendar.

151

Kaiser: Where do you, where do you live?

152

Mauricio Cardenal: I live in Miami.

153

Kaiser: Okay, beautiful, man. Beautiful.

154

Mauricio Cardenal: How about you, how about yourself? You're in Dallas?

155

Kaiser: I'm in Dallas. I've got property out there, though.

156

Mauricio Cardenal: apart.

157

Kaiser: In Midtown?

158

Mauricio Cardenal: Midtown? Yeah, I'm in Brickell, so it's nearby.

159

Kaiser: Oh, okay, beautiful.

160

Mauricio Cardenal: Oh, yeah, yeah.

161

Kaiser: Do any of these in person?

162

Mauricio Cardenal: I, pod… I… I haven't done them in person.

163

Kaiser: Let's do it, man.

164

Mauricio Cardenal: Do you want to do it in person? Yeah.

165

Kaiser: Yeah, I'll be out there. I just booked a flight last night. It's probably not an ideal time for you,

166

Kaiser: Because…

167

Mauricio Cardenal: Well, I'm actually going to the… this is kind of crazy. So this week is our basil week, but… but I'm actually going to Roofing Process Conference, I'll be back on Friday, but…

168

Mauricio Cardenal: I do have a studio. I don't have a studio in my apartment, it's… I do have an office, but I have a… there's a studio that I use for the YouTube videos, and that… so we can go there and do, like, a podcast there.

169

Kaiser: It'd be cool. Yeah, it'd be fun. I like the face-to-face, you know, I don't take many podcasts anymore. I was telling Raymond that, like, I stopped for a while.

170

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

171

Kaiser: Because I just want to be picky and choosy, like, pick and choose who, but you seem like good people, and that's a place that I go. I'll be there the week of… probably not a good one, so I can reschedule another time. The week of Christmas, I'll be there from, like, the 24th through the 29th.

172

Kaiser: So, if you're around,

173

Mauricio Cardenal: Okay, the 29th… actually, let me see, because I'm actually taking a trip. Let me see when I get back.

174

Kaiser: Where you going? I think I get back, I'm going to Panama.

175

Kaiser: Is that where you're from?

176

Mauricio Cardenal: No, my family's from Nicaragua. I was born in Miami, born and raised in Miami, but I have family in Panama, so I'm gonna go and see them for Christmas. But let me see when I get back.

177

Mauricio Cardenal: Because I… we might have… might actually be a good day, because I do…

178

Mauricio Cardenal: Let me see something. Let me pull that up.

179

Kaiser: It'll be.

180

Mauricio Cardenal: Okay, I got back the 28th.

181

Mauricio Cardenal: So… When do you leave till the 30th, right?

182

Mauricio Cardenal: The 29th?

183

Kaiser: I can probably adjust a little bit. When you head out. I get there.

184

Mauricio Cardenal: I get back the 28th, so I… Monday I'm available.

185

Kaiser: What do you like?

186

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah.

187

Kaiser: Okay, let me… let me shoot you a message and I'll confirm with you. Let me check with, my lady the dates that were booked to be out there, and maybe I can, adjust and catch.

188

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, it's a cool studio, so it's a… so it's a studio I use, I wanna show you the…

189

Kaiser: Yeah. Do a channel?

190

Mauricio Cardenal: So that's where I do all my videos on YouTube.

191

Mauricio Cardenal: Let me show you right now.

192

Kaiser: Where did I record in Miami? I did the move?

193

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, that's… that's where it is. That's… it's the same building. It… the moon…

194

Kaiser: The new one that they did, or the older building that they were at?

195

Mauricio Cardenal: No, it's… it's the same… it's the same building. Literally the same building, and… and just a different floor. It's a different studio.

196

Mauricio Cardenal: I have done videos at the move before, but it's literally, like, a similar thing. It's just, it's less expensive, and I think it's just great. It's called the, the Content HQ.

197

Mauricio Cardenal: But it's literally the same building as The Move. They're actually older than The Move.

198

Kaiser: Oh, no way, okay.

199

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, so… but it's that… that studio, exactly. So if it's… if you know the move, then it's similar to what you're doing. It's exactly… it's a studio podcast, we sit together like that, we do a chatting. I've actually never done it in person, so I'm excited to do it.

200

Kaiser: Yeah, it'll be good, man. This'll be a good way to do it. What are you doing for Mocha Buena, man? Where are you gonna be?

201

Mauricio Cardenal: I'm gonna, I'm gonna be, in Miami. I'm gonna swim in Panama? In Panama.

202

Kaiser: Oh, you've been about a month. Okay, very nice.

203

Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah.

204

Kaiser: That's, that's good. Who on the family is over there?

205

Mauricio Cardenal: So, my… my aunt, I'm sorry, my mom, sister, my aunt, right, she married a Panamanian. She's… she's fully Nicaraguan, but she has,

206

Mauricio Cardenal: you know, family in Panama, and they're actually really close. We're really close to them, so… she married a Panamanium, she had 7 kids.

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Mauricio Cardenal: You know, and it's a cousin's there, but my sister… I'm sorry, my mom's sister… that's the only sister left. My mom has 9 brothers and sisters.

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Kaiser: And literally, like, there's…

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Mauricio Cardenal: two left, from that. My mom is the youngest.

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Mauricio Cardenal: She, she's 18, was 18 years younger than my older, my uncle, who died, you know, a few years ago. But yeah, that's, that's my aunt is the only one left, so that's my, my mom's sister. So we go there for, for, for Christmas. It's a big family, so I like, I like that stuff.

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Mauricio Cardenal: You know, so I don't… I don't have a woman yet, so I'm trying to look for a woman yet, to get married and stuff, but I don't have any kids.

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Mauricio Cardenal: But yeah, I'm so…

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Kaiser: Old are you?

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Mauricio Cardenal: I just turned 40 years old, man, so…

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Kaiser: You're looking good, man, you're looking good.

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Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, thank you, thank you. How about yourself?

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Kaiser: Yes, ma'am.

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Mauricio Cardenal: How about yourself? 35. 35? Yeah, same age, same age. Yeah, so yeah, man, if you ever come down to Miami, like, I'd love to either come down, do the podcast together. But yeah, obviously Miami's a great place, and we can, you know, do things together.

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Kaiser: 100%, man, yeah, let's plan for it. What's your, will you send me a message, or I could text you, so I can.

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Mauricio Cardenal: Let me, let me, give me a second, let me, let me, let me text you right now, give me a second.

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Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, so, I'll text you right… I'll put you my… I'll pull up my number right now.

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Mauricio Cardenal: Just text me.

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Kaiser: Perfect, I got my phone here.

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Mauricio Cardenal: Right there.

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Kaiser: Alright…

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Kaiser: What's your background, bro? What were you doing before you started this podcast?

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Mauricio Cardenal: I, I, so, I have a sales background before digital marketing, and then…

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Mauricio Cardenal: I've been doing digital marketing since, literally since 2010, so it's been a long time. I was re… I quit my job in 2015.

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Mauricio Cardenal: I freelanced for a couple years, and then in 2017, I decided to start the agency. We worked with about 400 contractors in that time, right? And it's a small team, we have about 30 people on the team, but, you know, building the agency and trying to grow and scale it as well.

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Kaiser: That's awesome, man. And, how big is that team now? You said 30?

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Mauricio Cardenal: We have 30 people on the team.

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Kaiser: Okay, awesome. Good for you, man.

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Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, yeah.

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Kaiser: Very nice. It's a great field to be in, it's a great industry to be in, isn't it?

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Mauricio Cardenal: It's a great industry, it's challenging. The challenging thing is actually the clients. It's the service work, so dealing with the clients is a tough thing, but…

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Mauricio Cardenal: you know, also this year has been tough because of the changes with AI. It's been really, really, like… there's a lot of changes with AI, so you have to kind of adapt and make sure you're, you know, you're doing the right things. So, yeah, I mean, it's a great industry. The skills you learn are… help you in anything.

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Mauricio Cardenal: So I, I, I really do…

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Mauricio Cardenal: this is just one business. What I mean by that is I see myself… you know,

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Mauricio Cardenal: Selling this company, and then starting another business.

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Mauricio Cardenal: you know, soon, like, in the future, right? So I do… I see myself doing this multiple times. So, that's what I see. And congratulations on that exit, that's a good… I'm sure you'll do this again, so I'm sure, like, you're still young, and you probably can do it, you know, another time, once you are done with the,

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Mauricio Cardenal: you know, with the next pie, you'll probably start something else, right? So, that's… for me, that's what I'm doing. I don't want to do that as well.

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Kaiser: Heck yeah, man, good. Yeah, just some time. I'm sure you'll pick up enough, you seem like a sharp guy, so… some good time, a lot of hard work, man, some hard lessons, and it's just… it'll happen.

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Mauricio Cardenal: Yeah, for sure.

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Kaiser: There's a lot to… and whatever I can do to help out, man, I'll be around, so let's plan to catch up some more in person, huh?

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Mauricio Cardenal: Thanks, man. Yeah, we'll talk to you soon. Thank you so much, alright. Thanks, man. Bye.

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Kaiser: Here, man, see ya.