Dru Fay is more than a barber—he’s a serial entrepreneur, brand builder, mentor, and community connector.

In this inspiring conversation, Sam Wakefield sits down with Dru to unpack how he built multiple businesses starting from behind the barber chair. From launching his first business as a teenager to creating a thriving barber brand, product line, and nonprofit, Dru embodies the entrepreneurial hustle mindset.

If you want to learn about true brand building, stacking vertical businesses, overcoming setbacks, and making every move intentional… this episode is your blueprint.

💡 What You’ll Learn:

• Dru’s journey from car washes to barbering and beyond
• Why mindset + consistency = unstoppable momentum
• How to build multiple vertical business streams
• What it means to “bet on yourself” and execute relentlessly
• The lessons behind Dru’s “Mr. Make It Happen” nickname

📲 Connect with Dru Fay:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faymousfades/

📚 Recommended Reading:

The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

📲 Let’s Connect:

Website: https://www.closeitnow.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealcloseitnow

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/closeitnow/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/closeitnow

⭐ Love the episode? Leave a review and help others grow:

👉 https://g.page/r/CbfnnDqTCwQdEAE/review

💬 Final Thought:

“You don’t have to wait to be great.

Start where you are, with what you have, and build relentlessly.”

Welcome to Close it now, the podcast that's revolutionizing the H Vac and home improvement trades industries.

Get ready to dive deep into the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

We're turning up the heat on industry standards and cooling down misconceptions.

And we're not just talking about fixing vents and adjusting thermostats.

It's about the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H Vac and home improvement.

We're the driving force, inspiring top performers who crave excellence not only in their professional endeavors, but also in fitness, nutrition, relationships, and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all.

This is close it now, where excellence meets excitement.

Let's get to work now, your host, Sam Wakefield.

Well, all right.

Welcome back to the show.

Sam Wakefield here.

And I am so excited to bring you this guest today.

This is a an out of the box guest from what you would normally hear.

But if you know me, you know, if when everyone goes left, we go right.

If everybody goes up, we go down and vice versa.

So my guest today, he is someone that I actually connected with and met about five years ago.

Believe it or not, it's been that that long.

It was right in the heart of COVID Funny little story of how we connected.

And then I'll introd and I was right in the heart of COVID I was looking, I was getting all grizzly looking for a beard trim.

And so I was just yelping and googling the places in all the way across town from where I was in South Austin.

And sure enough, this place called Barber Barber for the people pops up.

And so I just walk in and coincidentally this barber shop with gosh, 10, 10 chairs or so just happened to end up sitting in this guy's chair.

And there's zero coincidences in life.

The universe always connects to the right people at the right time.

And that's where we started our friendship.

So not only is this my barber, which you will hear why that is important here in a minute, but also he is a serial entrepreneur.

This is Mr.

Make It Happen.

His name is Drew Fay.

He has been started off with a owned a chain of car washes, then moved into a bunch of different stuff.

We're going to hell out.

You give him.

Give you his highlight reel here in a second.

He's done everything from that to professional gambler to you name it.

He is definitely Mr.

Make It Happen.

So welcome to the show today, Drew.

I'm so happy to have you on.

Hey, Sam.

What's good, man?

Pleasure to be here.

Dude.

Dude, totally.

So.

But yeah, like I said, give everybody a little bit of your journey, man.

How in the world did you and kind of end up where we are and what you're doing now?

And then, of course, you're doing a lot of things.

It's not just barber.

And for everybody out there, there's no such thing as just barber.

Yeah, that's probably.

That's a serious, legitimate career.

But you, of course, you do a lot more things beside that.

So give everybody your highlight, really.

And we'd love to hear a bit of your philosophy, you know, what, how you function in life and business and in either order, whichever you want to cover there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, thanks for having me.

So it's.

It's fun, like, being a barber.

I get a chance to, like, meet all kinds of awesome individuals, like yourself included.

So that's kind of taking me almost full circle with, you know, how I've been going, like, moving into my 40s now, like, just being able to put all these different skills to.

To use.

And I think barbering is a great way to do that.

Like a good place to be to position yourself in the community to, you know, interact with a lot of people.

So I got very lucky in that way.

Growing up, that wasn't the case.

I started cutting hair for fun and out of necessity, probably in just, like, junior high school, just giving myself, just putting the.

Whatever guard on there and just shaving my head.

So it wasn't long and, you know, just kind of kept growing.

I got interested in girls, obviously not too long after that.

So, you know, before I had this huge, crazy afro.

I just wasn't gonna do it back then at the time.

So slowly started being my own guinea pig and with my cousins and stuff like that, just kind of cutting and getting better.

But I never thought of it as an occupation, like, at all.

I didn't know anything about barbering, had never been to a real barber shop or anything like that, and I never did until I pretty much got out of college.

But I was just developing this skill that I didn't know would be useful later on, and I was just doing it.

After a while, it just got fun to me and just started doing more friends at school, you know, that kind of thing, and then just going on and on and on.

And then ended up going to college, went to Texas A M, had a good time there, played soccer, and started out pre med.

Dyslexia and ADHD intervened pretty quickly in that route, so ended up going to the Mays Business school, eventually taking a lot of classes there.

And that's kind of what got me on the route to entrepreneurship.

Okay.

Yeah.

So it's, it's, it's been a while.

I like it, man.

So I love how.

Go ahead.

So it's interesting how the, the barber theme has kind of always been in your life, but that's not what you did for a long time.

Not at all.

Never, never in a million years would I think that I would be a barber for a living or have a men's grooming product line or just be in the barber industry at all.

Like, it was never a.

Something I aspire to.

And kind of thinking back on it, I really just believe a lot of that had to do with just having no experience with the whole, like that it's a whole, you know, culture.

And so once I got to the realization of that.

Thanks to YouTube University.

Sure.

Yeah.

Just, just fell in love.

Fell in love with the barber industry.

Yeah.

Oh, that's so cool.

Well, let's rewind a little bit because, you know, when we first met, one of the things that you said to me that's really stuck with me all these years, actually, I think this was probably our maybe second or third conversation even.

You said that because of the prices that you charge, the people that sit in your chair are worth knowing and worth connecting.

So you kind of became the center of this galaxy, of all of these influencers and high powered people and you're like the hub of this network.

So in a moment's notice you can make a phone call and connect anyone to anyone or have any resource available to yourself.

So how does, how does that kind of come about and, and how does that play into your entrepreneurial kind of mindset and everything that you're doing now?

Yeah, I mean, it sounds crazy just listening to you say that, but it's absolutely true.

And I don't know, I've just been, I've always, I was raised like, treat other people how you would want to be treated.

Like that's just been ingrained in my brain since I was little.

And so getting the opportunity to meet these individuals and you know, you guys, like I, I saw once I graduated from barber school and actually got into the barbershop, I saw people that were just there to cut hair and like that was, they were simple minded in that fact.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but that that's what the situation was.

And then over time, eat.

I saw.

So let me take a second to just say there's a Million ways to be a.

A barber, a successful barber.

And there's a million clients to fill those needs.

Right?

And so, kind of with that in mind, I would see barbers who would start to, like, lose love for the game because they were just accepting any and every person that wanted to sit in those chairs.

And, you know, sometimes you got to do what you got to do.

But at the end of the day, as I would just see this time pass, I would start to understand that sometimes those clients who.

The barbers would look at their schedule, be like, oh, my God, here comes this guy.

I gotta cut him again.

He's gonna come in and just wreck the shop and blah, blah.

Not only would it affect that barber, that client would also affect, like, the tone of the environment and just have like, this.

This snowball effect.

And so I just started to think about it.

Like, the barbers that I see were happy.

Were happy dealing with clients that they genuinely wanted to have a conversation with.

Because when you're sitting in the chair, you're going to be there for about an hour, 30 minutes to an hour, you know, maybe even a little bit longer if you're doing luxury service, if.

You get the works like I do, or hour and a half each time.

Yeah, hour, full, pamper, you know, neck up, the whole thing.

But what I realized, and what kind of crosses any genre is I wanted to.

I've always tried since I was young to have a job that I enjoy doing because you spend so much of your time at work that you might as well enjoy something that you're going to spend so much of your time doing.

So I've always tried to kind of go that direction with my choices, a lot of times harder than others to make that choice, you know, especially financially and this, this and that.

But I say that to say over time when I would watch the happiest people in even my.

My day.

Now when I look at my schedule, I got 10, 12 guys, whatever, and I'm excited about my day.

It pumps me up.

Oh, crap.

Sam's coming in today.

I know he's done 10 different things that's gonna blow my mind.

And I'm gonna have to step my game up for the next time I see him, you know, and that just happens, like client after client after client all day.

And so that I think I was able to kind of cultivate that because I was willing to take the time to prune that.

It takes years to kind of do that.

And in the front end, it's not a lot of fun.

And you Know, you really put yourself through a tough situation willingly.

And I think that's how.

That's how I was able to do it just by, you know, I'm just a regular guy able to do well and kind of create my dreams that I had when I was a kid for myself.

And I'm not that smart of a guy, right?

Like, I couldn't even get to med school.

And so I know there's.

There's guys like me that I can do it.

There's thousands of these guys everywhere, you know, especially in, like, a city like Austin that just attracts that type of environment.

And so I would always focus on being willing to wait for the right customer and then treat that customer how I would want to be treated.

And another thing that kind of comes to mind with that situation is also there's a lot of barbers who are worried about, oh, I can't lose this client, because it's going to be whatever.

Well, I kind of think about the opposite.

Like, I want my clients to go to another shop and get a haircut, because then some of the.

Then you realize some of the small things and the differences in the service.

And so, like, I kind of appreciate that, you know, because then you're like, next time.

Well, you know, the haircut was all right, but damn, he didn't do this or he didn't hit a hot towel or whatever.

You know, it's just difference.

And I, like, kind of welcome that.

So I just.

I seem to kind of just have that energy and kind of attract similar energy or try to anyways to other individuals.

I love that.

So it.

The two.

Two big things that are really standing out to me here.

One, is that what you were just saying?

When you truly have a product or service, that you're really showing up as your best.

The best version of yourself and really taking care of people in all different service industries.

It's a service industry just like any other home service or anything else.

When we truly are exceptional and step above the.

The baseline standard, then it's.

I've done the same thing in houses.

When somebody's like, oh, I'm getting other bids.

I'm like, okay, absolutely.

I challenge you.

Go find someone as good as we are, because I know you're not going to be able to do that, and that's perfectly fine.

And we're not here to hold you captive.

We're here to show you how exceptional we are, so you come back and choose us.

And so I love what you said there.

Bingo.

I think that is a huge Goal is like.

Like, you're not like, kidnapping people or businesses or industry.

You want them to choose you out of what's possible.

And it's like, that's the game, right?

Like, that's what everyone wants to do.

Same thing.

You're, like, dating, trying to date chicks or whatever.

Like, you're not gonna, like, just buy this girl drinks until she's drunk and then ask her out.

Like, if you're smart, you're gonna become the person you need to be to make her want to choose you.

Right.

Or vice versa, whoever it may be.

I love this.

Very true.

The other element that, what I was really hearing out of what you were saying, there kind of circles around finding your best fit client.

Because if we do a job for everyone, that means we're doing a job for no one, because then we're shooting, casting our net way, way, way too big.

And so being able to recognize who do we serve best and what does that avatar look like?

What is the category of that specific person or type of person?

That way our marketing, our messaging can be very specific.

The way that we show up for that client is not how other clients want us to show up for them.

And so it sounds like across time, you've gotten really good at recognizing who that specific avatar is and being able to really laser beam focus to that.

And so no wonder your.

Your chair is always full because, you know great people know great people.

So the word spreads also.

Absolutely.

Man.

I.

I always say, you guys are my.

Y' all are my walking billboards.

Like, that's how I get so much of my business.

And like.

And so in doing so, I'm, like, servicing fewer clients during the day, but having more of an impact and a better service, I believe.

But it's also not to be blind and think that that's what everyone wants.

Right?

Like, there's plenty of people who, if you got a $7 haircut, like, that's what they're looking for.

Sure.

There's a huge clientele base for that, and there's barbers who need to service that.

For me, with the product that I wanted to do and kind of the demographic that I want to get into, you choose that same way, just opposite direction.

So it.

And it's been wonderful, like, barbering.

I just.

I started this industry out of just sheer wanting something to do and kind of be creative.

And it's.

It's opened up so many different channels to me.

Just outside of actually, actually cutting hair, it's.

It's been.

It's been awesome.

So let's, let's actually dive into that a little bit because you know, I've, I've done the numbers, I, I have able to do math here.

So for everybody listening and because I know there's a lot of people that you know in the community that listen to this show that have done, you know, have been barbers and are currently barbers that are also doing, you know, reaching across and doing sales in home services and H vac and plumbing and electrical and garage doors and roofing and all the things especially in the bounce back and forth if a lot of that work is seasonal.

One of the things that is really interesting with this conversation is a lot of people don't realize barbering can be actually a really high paying career.

It's six figures plus if you're doing it right and if you have the right pricing.

Yes, absolutely.

I love this conversation because out of that you mentioned earlier your own product line.

So let's kind of step away from specifically barbering for a second.

Talk to us about an entrepreneurial mindset and thinking of how to include other services, products, different things.

Can generalize this a little bit, but as that, because I know you've done a lot of things over the years, there's a couple things I want to ask you about here in a minute, but sure.

You know, in your entrepreneurial journey, how have you come like being able to recognize those opportunities and how to include those into what you're currently doing?

Yeah, I mean for me it's just kind of like see a hole, fill a void kind of deal.

I was looking for some products for myself.

I have crazy hair and I could never any.

Oh, I don't know if I.

What I did here.

Oh, there we go.

So I had just crazy hair and I could never find any products for myself.

That wasn't exactly kind of what I wanted and just kind of getting frustrated either.

It had crazy paraffin, sodium lauryl sulfates, like just crazy ingredients that were harmful or it made my hair too sticky or whatever the case.

And so I just slowly started looking in, into building myself basically on these products I got to use on that I could use on myself.

And so right around that time, that was actually when I had decided to go back to barber school.

And then once I got into the barber school, we had all kinds of different product reps and companies coming into the barber school trying to sign barbers and hairstylists and to these deals.

And so having the business background I kind of look at, you know, why are these guys spending this time and sending a sales rep over to a barber college in Austin, Texas.

And you know, 10, 12 different multimillion dollar organizations on a, on a regular basis.

Yeah, you think they're pharmaceutical reps or something?

100%.

So I kind of started doing the same thing.

I was like, okay, well they're dropping off X amount of units here and we're selling this amount.

I was like, oh, that's when I kind of got open to the game and started doing a little more research and finding out that in fact, the beauty product industry, if for lack of a better term, including me, is a multi billion dollar a year annual business.

And so I always try and vertically integrate my time.

Right.

Just do as, take care of as much things as I can with the same amount of time.

That way I have less to do later.

Right.

Just trying to be lazy.

And so at the barbershop, like if you're either cutting or you're sitting there, but you're spending time, there's.

And so to me, I was like, okay, we got this incentive that I'm doing $7 haircuts and $7 shaves in barber school and I don't get the money.

I just get a tip and the money goes to barber school.

That's what it was.

Yes.

So like it real investment.

Right.

And so but every month, the person who sold the most product during their hours at school got to go to a nice restaurant of their choosing.

So I was like, hey, got it.

I might have been making much money, but they're definitely taking me out to eat.

And so then it became like this challenge of every week.

We would have to collect these dots of haircuts, grades on haircuts, and amount of products you sold.

And so I started thinking, you know, these, these guys are spending so much time sitting in this barbershop and maybe 60 of the time they're cutting hair.

Maybe 90 for some of the guys, maybe 40.

And so what else can we do with that time while we're sitting around or while we're cutting hair?

Busy and obviously cash register ringing.

Right.

Like sales things that you don't have to do with manual labor.

And so it just, the timing on those two things just kind of came together for me at the right time and just a light went off.

So I started developing these organic products and that's what developed the famous hair.

Yeah, I like it.

Oh, very cool.

You said something there.

And I Love the way you said that.

The vertically integration of your time, because that, that's such a.

That's a powerful concept when we start really thinking about it.

Something I talk about a lot because, you know, especially, you know, a salesperson in the field, you know, have two, three, four appointments throughout the day, and at the end of the day, there's a lot of time in between.

And so.

Or especially in seasons where it slows down.

And I get calls all the time.

Hey, what do I, you know, I need leads.

I need to do this, I need to do this.

And I'm like, well, go find them.

What are you doing with your time?

How can you get in front of more people?

How can you have your opportunity in front of more people?

How can we vertically integrate our time here?

Absolutely.

You said lazy.

I think it actually, maybe it would be more like efficient than lazy.

Yeah, there you go.

That sounds way better.

It's all about how you say it.

So good, man.

So good.

Well, let's.

You mind if we rewind your history a little bit?

Because I'd love to talk about your.

A bit more of your entrepreneur, entrepreneurial journey before you got back into actually barber school and doing what you're doing now.

And for everybody that if you didn't catch that as a barber, you get to basically work for free for 10 months until you get your certificate and actually can step out and do it in the real world.

Everybody in the home services, you guys are so blessed to get paid to learn along the way in what we do.

So never, ever, ever take that for granted.

Because.

Granted for granted.

Make sure I say that correctly.

That's one of my big pet peeves.

People that take it for granted take it for granted that.

Yeah.

That we don't end up with this crazy amount of student debt or those types of things before we get into our industry, like doctors and, and surgeons or the barber school.

So it's.

It's one of those things that I, I've always appreciated about home services and, and coming from you, hearing your story, it really reinforces that.

So no matter who you are out there listening, whatever role you have, you're getting paid to learn.

So don't.

Hey, and don't forget it.

Let me, Let me add this real quick.

Sorry to interrupt, Sam.

No, you're good, man.

Being that I do deal with so many people sitting in my chairs, like, I get to hear information and conversations with congressmen, doctors, lawyers, blah, blah, blah, surgeons, con, construction guys, people who don't report taxes, you know, kind of everywhere and, and now there is a trend going towards the trade.

Right.

So I'm seeing a lot of tech sales guys, you know, a lot of H Vac plumbers that are.

That's like, what's being more sought at because people are under.

Starting to understand that in these trades, that's where the money's at right now.

And, and honestly, really, if you're being able to grind and you have, like, just the minimal amount of discipline and financial discipline that you can really set your.

Set your future up.

And in all these trades, and I hear these office guys coming in all the time talking about, oh, man, you know, if I could do it all over again, I would go back and.

And do a trade or do something different.

Because kind of like you mentioned up front, it's rough, but if you're willing to risk the time to really get good at it at whatever your.

Your service is, like, you can make as much or more than.

Than anybody that you can think of, like, definitely turn yourself into a millionaire.

Many of these industries.

And I've.

I've seen it happen quite a few times.

Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.

I.

I love that this.

Really cool, cool hearing this from your perspective, you know, because you do talk to plenty of people that I don't get the opportunity to hang around and have communication with very often.

But let's rewind a little bit.

Yeah.

Because I'd love to talk about your journey.

Let's start with the car washes, because when we first talked years ago, that was so intriguing to me about how you started out, you know, there and then, you know, grew it, sold it, and then moved into some different things.

And.

And of course, I definitely want to talk about the nonprofit as well before we're.

We're done with this episode, so don't let me forget, but let's talk about the car washes, man.

How did you get into that?

And because it's such an interesting, you know, I guess as a business owner, and then, of course, you grew it and sold it.

A lot of people don't necessarily have that exit in that type of a thing.

Normally it's just like you have one or two and they flounder and, you know, fall apart is how most people's journey with that goes.

Yeah, I mean, I.

I honestly believe that it all goes back to discipline and, you know, everybody's different.

Right.

But for me, I've always been the guy who.

I don't need someone looking over my shoulder every 10 seconds.

In fact, I have a better performance if that's not the case.

Kind of give me the directions, clearly state the instructions that you need and then give me the proper time to do it and don't bother me during that time.

And so I'm pretty self disciplined in doing that.

But I know a lot of people aren't like that.

And I feel like that may come with people having issues not because the business doesn't work out, but because the business is starting to work out and people don't know how to, you know, bottle that lightning in that small amount of time.

That's.

That's real important right there.

I think that's probably more the case in, in what I've seen.

Yeah.

Could you unpack that a little bit for us?

Because I think you hit on something really important there.

Yeah, I don't know if that really makes too much sense, but kind of like, you know, a lot of guys, especially guys that are in the servicery industry, like us, like I went to college, but plenty of people are owning and running all these companies very successfully without going to college.

And so the environment that, you know, some people come from, like, that's not the case.

Like if, let's say you're gonna go start a H Vac company, well, you may have worked at HEB before that, or you may have just had like a regular job before that and not necessarily known what it's like to have the freedom of working for yourself.

So that's kind of a skill to have, I think, all on its own.

Because yeah, if you got your boss hounding you, telling you all the time, this is what you're gonna do, yeah, that sucks.

But you don't have any responsibility when you own your own H Vac company or your own solar company or whatever.

And you used to work at H E B a year ago and now you got your first $200,000 contract.

How.

And you get paid off of that.

Let's say you get the job done and you get paid off of that.

Bam.

I got 200 racks.

I'm about to go to Vegas.

Or am I going to put it back in the flip?

Let's hire some more people, let's put some money in marketing, and let's turn it into a million dollar company and before the end of the year.

So I.

And I feel like it's actually not insanely difficult to do it.

I think it's just as important as once you do it, like continuing to funnel those channels properly, in my opinion.

No, I definitely agree with that.

I see owners, a lot of time they'll see a level of success that's more than they've ever had, but relative to so it becomes like a big fish in a small pond type of syndrome.

They're like, oh, man, I'm doing so great.

But they step across the street, and everybody's like, oh, you're just getting started.

What do you mean?

So it's this relative perspective, and it's almost like we get lazy and stop grinding.

And it didn't have to even be a grind if we have a great plan and we had to intentionally attract the right things into our life and we're doing the work.

But it doesn't even have to be insanely stressful if we have the right resources and the right mentors along the way.

But, yeah, I totally see that.

I think John Maxwell calls that the law of the lid.

Your income can never outgrow your personal growth level.

And if it does, your personal growth will smash it right back down to where your brain says you're comfortable.

So that's why we always have to constantly be working on ourselves more than we work on our business to stay ahead of that.

That way, it can continue to grow along with it.

That's.

That's so true.

That's so true.

And, you know, I think that.

But it also can be a grind.

Like, if you're used to having a regular paycheck every two weeks, and then you decide to start your own landscaping business, and, you know, no one.

No one's coming to save you.

Right?

So if you're not gonna make money, at least I'm gonna put out a thousand flyers today.

Or I'm gonna create a social media clip that's gonna go viral or give me some views.

I'm gonna do something with.

This time today, I'm getting out of bed, not just sitting there like, oh, this sucks.

No one's helping me.

Blah, blah, blah.

Like, I don't know.

I love it, man.

It's entrepreneurial mindset.

Yeah.

And the things are easy to do.

And easy not to do.

And we're wired weird, right?

Like, it's something wrong with us, but it's like the most beautiful thing.

Like, once you make it out the other end, like, you got to be willing to, like, you know, oh, the.

The Navy guys, they used to have that phrase, like, embrace the suck.

You know, you just got to be willing to.

To make it worth it.

And I think that that.

That goes to, like, big dogs around you.

We're going to watch that, too.

Like, right?

People, you might not even know that know who you are or pay attention to you.

Like, okay, he's been, he's been doing good and he's stuck now.

Let's see how he deals with this.

And if he comes out the other side of that, who knows what will happen to you, you know, and that come from that.

I kind of seen that happen a lot too.

Sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

It does suck a lot.

You know, you see all this gray hair, a lot of stress.

But I've learned over time to just try and become friends with that feeling and that experience and just learn how to flip it to my advantage.

Love.

That's some nuggets right there, man.

So talk to us a little bit about your exit from the car washes and give us a little feel.

I mean you had what was it, 30 something at one point.

Yeah, I had had quite a bit of shops like over 40.

40.

Wow.

Yep, just all, all around town.

Started with a mobile detail trailer.

Whenever I got out of a.

M.

I couldn't really get a job that I was interested in.

And there I was in the center for new ventures and entrepreneurship program at the Maze Business School.

And one of the things that we had to do there during that time was develop this business plan and kind of go in front of executives with it and, and just use it as a trial run.

So I figured, hey, I don't have any debt.

I'm not in any responsibility.

Let me just try this business plan.

Because nothing out is working out.

Nothing else is working out right now.

And so I had gotten some good feedback during the competition about the plan.

And so I just started.

I bought a little mobile detailing trailer and some supplies and I would just drive around to people's homes and just knock doors on businesses and just kind of just built it that way.

Started doing like retail washing for folks as well as like business industrial wholesaling, a lot of vehicle auction barns, car washes, car dealerships, as well as like individual homes.

Just honestly, whatever it was, just because that first year, so I graduated in May and so I gave myself to the end of the year I'm just going to see like all out.

No matter if it works or not.

I'm going to see where I'm at at December 31st and see if I can make a yearly salary working at like some minimum wage job for a whole year.

I'm going to see if I can do that in six months.

That was my goal.

And so then got there, got to Christmas time, I blew myself away.

I actually made it and I kept, kept doing that and Then.

So we did mobile details for quite a bit of time.

So then in.

Bought the first brick and mortar car wash where you go and wash it yourself or you swipe the card and have someone hand detail it and kind of that.

So then we kind of started growing like ancillary income routes with selling car wash products and all that at the car wash and that kind of vertically.

Integrating your time again, even back.

Exactly, exactly.

Because I was like.

At first I was doing this all out of my trailer, right out of the trunk.

But initially I started getting to where we were busy.

We started having like lots of equipment, equipment and machinery.

And I'm like, why?

Why would I just go pay somewhere to store all this stuff and rent?

So I was like, instead of just renting somewhere to store all this equipment, let me just buy a car wash.

I'm already in the business.

I can store my equipment there and then I can make it to where it's operable 24, 7, even while I'm sleep.

I said, trying to make as much money as I can while I sleep so I don't work until I die.

Love it.

And then we just kind of kept.

Just kind of kept growing and growing, growing from there.

So I did that all.

And then was able to sell all that and took a couple years off.

I became the first.

First video host selected for music and entertainment television.

Okay.

So I have, you know, was able to.

I have been doing small parts in movies and things like that while I was in college.

And one of the reason I was kind of directed to Austin, because I would come down to Austin to be an extra in the vampire movie or like in a commercial or whatever.

So I had come down here, developed some relationships with some agents.

So I signed with an agent not too long after that.

And it was crazy.

Like it was just an open casting call.

I wanted to be an actor.

At the time, it was like the little Hollywood here.

Out of 10,000 people, they picked me off the radio.

Who knows why?

And so I was able to, through we do a daily TV show that was getting a million viewers an episode, which at the time was crazy.

It was like holy moly.

Yeah.

Yeah, man.

We were in the daily hour every day at 4pm Monday through Friday.

And that was the Oprah time slot.

So I think you got a million.

Views on top of Oprah.

We were beating Oprah at this time.

Like this, it's just a hip hop show and it just became wildly popular.

Yeah.

And you weren't even giving away cars.

Yeah.

And like people would see me out in public and they would be like, dude, why are you washing cars?

We thought that was a front.

And that's also something that was weird because I would go from like hanging out with Willie Nelson at the TV studio to two hours later I'm washing some soccer mom's wheels off and vacuuming her kids popcorn out of the back seat.

It like really give like a balance of, of perspective.

Oh, no joke.

So I wasn't going to let it go.

Was able to actually breathe a little bit, take some time away, just do lots of traveling and kind of figure out what I wanted to do there, which is something I always wanted to do.

Did that for a while, Got bored with it.

I didn't realize understand what I was actually doing to myself and then try to get into golf.

And I played a lot, got really good at it.

Something I'm getting back into now.

Yeah.

And then during that time actually buying my own freedom is how I like to see it.

Just purchase my freedom out of the rat race.

I was able to figure out what I really wanted to do in my life and something that I was interested in pursuing.

And that's how the products and the barbering stuff.

Okay, so in those that we'll call it the gap years, I guess.

Yeah.

That couple years there.

And that's what you tell me you, you did a lot of.

Of poker during that time.

Yes, that.

That's also like I didn't have anything to do during the day for the first time in my life since I can remember by like 7 or 8 years old.

Right.

Every bills are paid, everybody's good, everybody's happy.

What are we going to do?

Poker.

You know, so they had a poker house here.

And so I would just go there every once in a while and hang out.

I would always like to play.

That was like during the full tilt Chris Moneymaker winning a million dollars on tv kind of explosion of poker right around that time.

So we started holding, was just slamming.

Like crazy, going crazy everywhere, the World Series of Poker and all that.

So got a chance to kind of do that.

Like, I would play golf in the morning, try and develop just different connections as much as possible with different folks, and then in the afternoon, had no kids yet, none of that.

So I would go play poker in the afternoon into the evenings and.

Well, tell us how your music career fit into all this, because I know you're a really accomplished guitar player, played with some big names across the years.

And how did that weave through all of this?

And I.

And you mentioned something a second ago that I definitely want to come back to is in those years where that you took off really figuring out what you wanted to do.

You said you didn't realize what.

What that was doing to yourself and definitely want you to unpack that a little bit, too.

Yeah, sure.

Well, kind of what I meant by that was, you know, you have this idea, or at least I did, that one day I'm going to retire and everything's going to be great and that.

So you work so hard, then that opportunity actually presents itself.

You do it.

And it's just.

For me, it was just way different than what I thought it was going to be like.

It was a lot of fun for like, six months to a year maybe.

But after that, it was like, I.

I'm a person.

I like to be creative.

I like to produce.

I'm a producer.

And so I didn't understand how important that was to me.

And that's one of the lessons that I was able to kind of figure out during that time.

And I've heard other people say it before.

Like, I feel like that's one of those things that you can't tell somebody.

You got to kind of let them figure it out for themselves.

And I also do think that that's a lot.

What happened with some people during COVID too, similar situation, even though maybe not as long or as wild of a trip, you know, But I think a lot of people were able to kind of get that, like, having to do nothing really isn't that awesome for an extended period of time thing, you know?

Yeah, no, that's super powerful there.

I've.

I was having this, actually, interestingly enough, I was having a conversation yesterday with one of my mentors, and we were talking about a friend of ours that sold their company not too long ago, and all of a sudden their entire identity was wrapped up in their company.

And now that that's Gone.

They're just like, there's.

Interestingly enough, there's a statistic for owners who have sold, have taken big exits that eight figure, nine figure exits and more, that there's a wild suicide rate among those.

Highly successful entrepreneurs have more money than they know what to do with, and now they have no purpose and they lost their identity.

And it's really interesting, the depression and suicide rate that happens there.

So can you talk a little bit about that and how you, you know, what you did to kind of find yourself again and figure out exactly where that.

Where your mission is, Realizing that you're a producer and you like doing these things and being creative.

How did that shift and kind of turn into where you are now?

And I guess purpose is a good.

A good word that would apply here as well.

Yeah, for me, it was just about actually figuring out what I want to do.

Another thing that I kind of do is I always, I like to ask interesting people, like, what would they do if skill or time wasn't an issue and they knew no matter what, they wouldn't fail?

And you'd be surprised how many of those people would say, oh, I never thought about that, or I don't know what I would do.

So fortunately for me, I just have been able to make that happen for myself.

And in doing so, it's kind of like one of those things.

You get there, the goal posts move, but you don't know that they move.

And they can't move until you get there first.

Right.

Like whenever you're in junior high, you might want the coolest car or whatever.

That's like the biggest, best thing you can think of.

And then you get 30 and you're like, man, f that car, I want a house or I don't have to work here anymore.

Right.

Like, it always, it always changes.

And so for me, I've always tried to stay grounded.

And I think, you know, one of the biggest helpers for me is kind of like I was mentioning to a few minutes ago during those times when I would be doing a concert with 10,000 people or hanging out with celebrities, and then later on that day or the next day, I'm washing cars and, you know, wiping tires down.

Like, it really, like, brings that perspective.

And I feel like it's just as important to have the skill as it is to be able to ride the wave.

Like.

Like, you can't get too high when you're too high, and you can't get too low when you're too low.

And I think that's Something that I always, I've always been able to like work on something that I just watched my dad do.

And I think I have, was very fortunate to get that example from him.

And I think that's what helps me because, you know, you can't be feeling like you're Superman one day because you're not.

And then eventually you're going to figure that out and then you're going to feel like the worst thing ever.

Right.

So trying to just stay level and even keel.

No matter what comes, what goes, need our health, we need the people that care about us.

We need to pay our bills.

Outside of that, well, let's try and do something enjoyable.

Right?

I love this.

It's.

It really makes me think a lot.

Well, it's really keeping our ego in check partly, 100% for sure.

And lately I've been diving into a lot more of stoicism and some of the, you know, the Epictetus and you know, the old Greek and Roman philosophers and this is one of their main tenants in the, in stoicism is be the observer of the situations and just wait.

Take a breath and wait longer and watch what happens.

Instead of reacting, it's more choosing your responses of reacting to.

As the situations in life ebbs and flows because it's going to, you know, it's how we can, how we respond that, you know, determines our success or not and our mental state and our mental condition.

Not just reacting to things.

That's all we have, right?

Like is our response to things.

That's pretty much all we have.

Yeah, man, I love it.

So let's, let's pull this forward a little bit because you're doing something really awesome that I'd love to talk about.

I mentioned purpose a minute ago when you, and this was what year and a half ago or so that you bought some non profits or bought some.

Well, you bought some schools and turned them into nonprofits I'm guessing is maybe the journey.

Talk to us about that and why you, why you took that step and talk about the bigger picture and really the big mission of what you're doing now.

Sure.

Well, the school started by Coach ll, one of my mentors from the barber school that I went to and so kind of helped.

Just, you know, he was really impactful on my professionalism, my growth and turning from someone who cut hair into a barber.

And he had run and owned multiple shops before he became the director of the barber school.

And so when he went to start this company called Impact Barber Academy and asked me to Help him out.

I was like, yeah, of course, anything you need, I'm down, I'm here to help.

And I was just actually there earlier today, shout out to all the prospective barbers going to impact Barber Academy, Ms.

Yasha and Coach Leonard dropping off some product.

And so he was kind of, he had a real big impact on me as a person coming into the industry, not knowing anything and really guiding me along.

And I think he's done that for a lot of other people too.

And so, excuse me, whenever he asked me to kind of help him out with that, that venture, it was just like, yeah, of course, anything I can do to help.

Because this guy affects so many people positively and really helps people like maybe not from the best backgrounds kind of get a career that's a legit career.

You don't have to work at another part time job to pay the bills.

Like you can pay everything you need for a good life just using the skill that you learn in barber school.

And people that graduated high school didn't go to college.

Sometimes you can get barber cosmetology license in school, in jail.

So it's a way to reach a whole different demographic.

And just in my time, I've been in the industry for I guess going on seven, seven years now, almost eight.

Just seeing the impact that that has.

And not only that, like the impact that each barber has.

Like, so if you know you're a barber and you're doing, let's say, let's just call it 50 cuts a week, which you're probably going to do way more than that.

You know, you have 200 people that you're touching every single month.

Wow.

You know what I mean?

And then so what, almost 4,000 people that you're affecting every year and you're coming in contact with again, vertical integration like during that time, you want to develop people that are going to be able to support their families doing this, impact wherever they spread out to doing this, the barber is going to be a pillar in their community.

And so not only do you get to affect them, you get to have some kind of ripple down of effect of everybody that they're affecting, which you or me as an individual could never do that in that short amount of time.

So that, that's been really good for me.

And they, they've been graduating quite a few people.

Just got some new students in there.

It's really exciting to see in a very diverse group of students because I know whenever I went through barber school I was already in my early 30s.

So complete kind of A non traditional student, as they would say.

Yeah.

You know, but then also you can be 18 years old, you just got out of high school, and if you hustle and you get yourself in the right position, you can make a hundred thousand dollars you very first year as a barber.

Like, I don't know a lot of other places that you can do that.

You know, only in the trades like ours.

Yeah.

And, and technically, I mean, I guess, you know, barbering and cosmetology is technically a trade.

We have the exact same license from the state.

Yep.

We're all regulated by tdlr.

Yeah.

I love it.

So that's been great to be, just to be in, involved with that.

Oh, 100.

And I love, I've always said that too.

I love taking guys out of high school and it's like, listen, I will, I can show you how to make six figures in just a couple years and we'll pay you to learn.

Always, always the case.

So when you were first telling me about the schools, one of the things that you were talking about that I remember our conversation, we were talking about some of the bigger picture with what's happening with the state, some of the different lobbying and that type of effect that this is going to have.

Expand this a little bit.

Talk to us a little bit more about that because I know that there's a bigger, you know.

Absolutely.

The impact on the students coming through and showing people a better way of life so they don't have to go down a bad road.

But there's, there's a lot of other things in play right now too.

Oh yeah, for sure.

And like you're saying the barber industry, it's a trade just like other, every other industry.

And you know, all these guys have their lobbyists and their representatives down at, at the Capitol.

Right.

And so when I kind of got into this, I started understanding, I think there's over 20,000 cosmetologists in Austin, like 10,000 barbers.

That might not be exactly correct.

Right.

But we don't have representation down there.

And you know, a lot of the there, you know, billions of dollars coming through this city and a big chunk of that is going to the beauty products, barbershops, hair salons.

Like they're very impactful individuals and really help the, the economy.

And you know, nurses have their things, H Vacs got theirs, plumbers, so on and so on.

And I just, when I got into looking at the board and everything, going to these board meetings, there would not be that many people there to represent Us, because we didn't have any actual, you know, law firm representation, let alone 100 barbers to show up to these, these meetings.

So that's one thing that we really are trying to work to change is to give all these individuals a voice just like everyone else.

So it's crazy that that's not the case and it's still kind of the wild west in that fashion.

But hopefully before too long, we'll, we'll get that change somehow.

I love that.

You know, it's.

And this is a really hot topic right now.

I was talking to a gentleman at an event I spoke at in Minneapolis not too long ago.

Shout out to Phil Olson.

He's got so good marketing.

They do, they do anything.

The searches for Barber Near Me, H Vac Near Me, those types of searches, they have one of the very best products for that that I've ever seen.

So anybody that, anybody out there listening, reach out to Phil, I say Phil, Paul, Paul Olson.

Olson at so good.

And he'll get you, get you guys hooked up for that.

But the conversation around licensing in the state, especially in Texas, and I know it's hit and miss all over the country, so this is important for everybody, listen up.

Because representation on the national level and at the state level for all of the trades, you know, everything from cosmetology to barbering to, you know, any other type of trade that requires a license, it's under fire right now.

And now, especially in Texas, our long sitting governor, I won't mention any names, love him or hate him, he does not believe that any skilled person should make more than $15 an hour.

He believes every single trade should make minimum wage and not be licensed.

And it's a very core belief of his.

And it's painful to me to hear that, especially knowing that we literally hold.

Even as a barber, you have like, I mean, your schooling is what so much of it is, health and anatomy and physiology.

You literally have people's health in your hands.

And you know, we can kill people if we don't hook up a gas line ride or you know, carbon monoxide, all those types of things.

And he's wanting to take the licensing away.

So this is a really important conversation right now in our current climate.

Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, like, and it doesn't even have to do with industry.

Right.

Like, the people at that down there making those decisions, they don't care.

They just got a clerk and the clerk comes in front of them, tells them this is what's important, this is who's here?

Like, if we got to be the ones to represent.

Like, you know, if you're ha.

If you're having a meeting down at tdlr, like, I've gone down there and seen, like, if no one shows up at your meeting, they're just going to pass whatever they want to pass and the business is going to do whatever they want to do because no one's paying attention and no one cares either way.

Right.

So it's not even that difficult.

We just have to show up and say, hey, my trade is here.

These are the things that are important to us.

And it doesn't necessarily have to do with great sums of money, but you have to show up as a whole of an industry or else that's exactly what they're going to do.

And it's something that we have the ability to change at the moment, but that might change if we don't do something about it pretty soon.

And, you know, all of us are.

Are with it there.

Barbering industry in particular.

Now it's a thousand hours to get your license.

Right.

And so I.

And it's just kind of slowly kind of creeping.

That's why they're going to do it slow, because they're going to bump it up.

Oh, well, you know, they.

They rebelled.

All.

All the electricians got together and they didn't bump that.

They didn't agree with that law.

So we're going to table that until the next two years.

And then what they're going to do is they're going to come back in the next two years and they're going to hope that you don't come back again and you're going to forget about it.

And they do that about all.

I've seen it happen, all these things.

And it's not like they're doing anything wrong.

It's just where's the support and what's in front of.

I think that's what kind of shocked me once.

I kind of got in a little peek behind the door and figured out what's kind of going on.

That's kind of.

It was shocking to kind of find that it was more about a lot of these industries and ours included.

There's just not much representation.

So, of course, if they have lobbyists on the other side saying, hey, we should do this, yeah, this is.

Why wouldn't we do that?

They're the only ones.

Nobody's opposed to it.

So I guess so, yeah.

So definitely important.

And as individuals, we really have a lot more power with that, with our unions, with our groups than we think we do and definitely shouldn't take that for granted.

100% agree.

And it, you know, it's very clear in government when people don't oppose something, it just happens.

I mean, we can watch the Handmaid's Tale and see what happens if we don't stand up to things that we don't agree with.

So I'm a big advocate for, you know, of course, obviously a big advocate for the trades, all the trades.

And this is why I wanted to have you on.

Because a lot of people, you know, in, you know, the, in home services don't understand that the trades means a lot more than just, hey, I'm working on someone's home.

You know, there's a lot of trades that are especially underrepresented.

And I'm definitely here to support you along the way.

And, you know, anything we can do to help with this fight, we're there for you.

This is a time where we all have to stand together, otherwise we're going to get bulldozed, like you were just saying.

And you know, there's, there's too many lives on the, on, on the line to allow that to happen and too many incomes and families that depend on this, on all of these industries, you know, to allow that to happen.

Yeah, I agree.

And just to play devil's advocate, so let's say we don't do anything about it, right?

They change it and they deregulate everything.

Well, that would suck.

But that's only going to last for a little while.

And then what they're going to do is they're going to go the complete other direction eventually.

And then they're gonna over govern everything that was completely decentralized.

If we think it's hard now or it sucks when they deregulate, let's wait till that pendulum swims back the other way and then that's going to be a situation that no one wants to deal with.

Right, true.

You know, it's, it's interesting.

I was in my event last week in Boston.

This is a, this topic came up and from the stage I was saying we have a short window, especially in the H Vac industry and the H Vac plumbing and electrical right now.

There's some real bad apples that are running the, you know, a huge platform that's ruining a lot of the industry and federal, the FBI is looking into it as we speak.

And so it's like we've got a short window to spread the word as fast as possible to do things the right way, bring trust back to all the trades, raise the integrity.

Or when federal regulation comes in, it can cripple an industry in no time.

We've seen it happen with other industries and all of a sudden we're just a commodity.

And it's so regulated, there is no ability stand out and be exceptional because everyone is forced to do the exact same thing all day long.

And so just.

It runs any bit of capitalism with inside that, because we're all the same now.

So why would anybody pay more than $7 haircut for anybody?

Yep.

Yep.

15 bucks an hour, right?

Yep.

That's it.

Man, I love this conversation.

I never knew where.

I never know where they're going to go.

And it just always lands in some fun spots.

Heck yeah, man.

It's been.

It's been great, you know, and it's been fun coming on kind of hearing all this, this conversation and understanding that it's not just our industry, that a lot of these things are.

Are the same and the ways that we can complement each other has been awesome because, you know, you always want to hear from your H Vac guy about a plumber or about electrician or where they get their haircut and vice versa.

And so right now, there's so many quote unquote small businesses that have not been taken over by a big conglomerate that are spread all across this entire country who have the value and the manpower and the financial ability to do amazing things and keep it with the people.

I think it's just important that kind of like you having me on today, that we just kind of understand that and are able to connect and interact with each other and kind of grow our networks.

100% agree with that, man.

Something this podcast is known for is giving everybody out there really actionable, something they can take and implement right away.

I've said for a long time, success happens at the speed of implementation.

I'm going to throw you a curveball question here.

Sure.

As a longtime barber and we've had this conversation in the past, but I want to hear from you because there's a big opportunity for referrals with someone in your position.

So if someone comes to you and say they're in whatever home service, if it's solar H vac or plumbing or whatever it is, what would a conversation sound like that would really make you sit up and listen?

And actually something that you would want to start passing referrals back and forth with that person.

What would that sound like?

Because there's so much opportunity there.

But nobody really thinks about this as such a big hub for that type of thing.

Yeah, 100%.

And for me I think it's the most valuable part of my industry is the community and the connections.

And you know, I think that's kind of like a multi headed answer there for that question because I think people are different and businesses are different.

And so me as an individual, one of the things that I do is I try and connect like minded individuals with other like minded individuals.

Like A might not be right for D, but might be right for C.

And so I try and put those two people in contact.

Like if I know a builder or a developer and you know, I know another guy who does the H Vac or plumbing or real estate or whatever, which happens all the time.

I'm always trying to gel people who will work well with each other and have like a good personality fit, assuming all the foundations are there, right?

Like you have to be a good human being.

Something that shows me what happens is when you show up to your appointment on time or early, like I'm just like a very observant person person.

And so you can, you, those are kind of the things you can't talk about, right?

That you, when you notice someone's habits, like you can have a really good lip service but your habits are going to give you away every time.

So I'm always, you know, especially when you start getting into these bigger contracts, like some of these guys are going in and bidding on $7 million jobs, a million dollar jobs, getting in with the state having a five year contract that's going to bring you who knows how much money, right?

And so like me as a barber, I'm not going to send someone over there who's a general contractor to try and bid for some of these jobs.

And they're always 10 minutes late to their appointment.

Every once in a while their payment doesn't work, they've got an excuse.

What, they're rude to other people, you know what I mean?

Like I'm gonna find, I, I see pictures of their work, it's not that great.

Like, and kind of the other end of that spectrum, you can be the nicest guy in the world, but if your product isn't worth where it's going to be sent to, it's going to do you and me a disservice to do that recommendation, right?

So for me, anytime I Pass someone's information to another.

It's because I'm trying to be an asset to both parties, and I think it's something that is gonna, like, mutually benefit both other parties, because they're already coming and paying me, so I'm trying to give something back to them.

And, you know, hey, Drew, you know, I got this tech company, and I'm.

I'm looking to fill two sales positions or.

Or whatever the case may be.

You know, I'm a landscaper, man.

You know, anybody that's got a neighborhood going in or anything that we can try and get in on the ground floor, that's, like, the best part of my job.

But I can connect two people, and they fit, and then I see that they're both making money and both, like, being successful off a connection that I put together, I'm like, hell, yeah.

Love it.

Good stuff.

So everybody listening?

One.

I mean, step one is find yourself a great barber, because all of you out there, you've got to look like.

Was it like, the new penny?

Yeah.

Every time you get off that chair.

Like, what does Deion Sanders say?

Look good, feel good, feel good, Play good, play good.

They pay good.

Mm.

It's important.

Like, it happens all the time.

Like, I'll.

I'll have someone come in who's, let's say, been getting super cuts.

No shade to super cuts or anybody else.

Right.

But going to a different type of barbershop experience.

And then they come in to see me.

Like, my favorite thing is, like, most of the time, they don't know what.

How other people are going to treat them with a good haircut.

So I.

I just wait on it to the next time I see them, because they don't understand.

Like, a lot of people will just look at it as, like, a dollar value.

Oh, your haircuts are 70 dol.

Like, are you kidding me?

It's like someone who says that doesn't.

Hasn't had the experience of getting that grade A haircut and then going out into public and seeing how people treat them right.

People so differently.

Maybe like an H VAC system getting put in your house that's done properly.

The people are clean.

They don't leave trash everywhere.

They're in and out.

When they say they're supposed to be when you're done, you're like, damn, that was a great service.

It was worth probably paying a little more.

They even wrote the instructions down for me on how to program everything or whatever.

Like, just the difference in variance in situation, I think.

Oh, you've Nailed it.

So much so.

So for everybody, listen, one, you gotta.

You gotta look good, play good, feel good, they pay good.

Second part of this is so many of you, I know hundreds of you, thousands of you, list that listen to the show, are sleeping on this.

So make sure this is the other.

The other side of that is when you get connected to somebody that's worth.

That's worth getting a cut from and pay the money to.

And just like what we do, we.

When you set your prices higher, you get better clients.

When you find someone that's worth getting a cut from, pay more for the extra service, pay more for the better cut.

Because what that means is the people sitting in their chair is going to be your best fit buyer for your services as well, because that demographic doesn't change.

And so don't sleep on this.

Make a solid connection with somebody, a barber or a hairstylist that does a really exceptional job that charges the right prices for it, and you'll be amazed at what comes out of that, strictly because you show up, be that person worth buying from, and then they recognize that.

And, you know, and for everybody, I can tell you, Drew's connected me some to some really cool people over the years that we've done some really cool stuff with.

And, you know, it just happened out of relationship.

It wasn't for anything else other than, you know what.

I thought of something.

I need to connect you to this guy.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's so true.

And it's a.

It's a beautiful.

It's so beautiful.

Like, your network is your net worth.

Right?

Like, everyone always says that.

It's so true.

And I just feel so blessed to just be, like, someone who's, like, being able to be in the middle of that and have that ecosystem.

And it's hard out here, man.

It's hard.

If it was easy, everybody would do it, right?

But.

Man, I appreciate it.

Well, it is time to land this plane.

So, man, I'm so grateful you came on the show today.

This has been so much fun.

Any parting words or words of wisdom or nuggets you want to drop on anybody before we sign off here?

Oh, man.

You know, Sam, it's always a pleasure every time you come through, man, to the barbershop, you.

You're lifting up the shop and giving us all positive vibes.

And so it's been, you know, such a pleasure being able to be your barber and service you in that way and see your growth over this time, you know, from the podcast to the book to the speaking to the different companies like, you know, people like that, like you, you're, you're hard working and a lot of times you got your nose to the grindstone.

You don't really understand the effect that you're having on other people.

But just know that it's, you know, it's noticed, bro.

Keep fighting the good fight.

And as far as us, if you're interested in barbering service in Austin, Texas, come see me at Famous Fades.

Yeah, give everybody all your info, man.

How they get a hold of you, your Insta so they can follow you and see what you do.

All the things.

Okay.

Yeah, Instagram, Famous Fades.

I got tons of haircut product videos up there.

If you're looking for any premium men's grooming products, you can catch us@famous hair.com.

that's famous with the.

Yeah, I love it.

And I can give a shout out too.

I've used the.

I love having a knowing I've got a nice clean, non toxic product in my hair.

You know, this is one of the things we talk about on the show a lot is health and, and nutrition and fitness and you know, what we put on our skin and on our body is important as what we put in it.

When it comes to, you know, artificial sweeteners, etc.

You know, same thing.

If we're putting chemicals on us all the time, then you know, our skin.

Skin is what, the largest organ in the body that absorbs everything that touches it?

Yeah, most absorbent.

And it's not what you do once in a while that affects you, it's what you do every day that is the consistency is what's going to get you.

So if you're consistently putting bad products on your head or your skin over 10 years or a longer time period, who knows what's going to happen.

And kind of the opposite of that, if you're taking good care of your hair, good care of your skin using good products, well then you know, when time expands out, that's also going to show.

It's a quick side note for everybody listening, I'm going to.

This is new information.

My red light therapy cap got delivered today.

So I'm going to for everybody, if you've seen any of those and you've got a receding hairline, I found, I bought one.

And so I'll be reporting back to you on the podcast, let you know if they work or not and so you can pick one up.

So Drew, next time you see me, we'll do a quick comparison and see if it's working.

Hell, yeah, so.

Well, man, it's been a pleasure.

I appreciate every bit of the wisdom you dropped on us.

It's really cool hearing a journey still within the trades, but outside of what we would normally kind of consider in that same space and realizing how similar so much of what you do is, from the sales conversation to the vertical integration.

I didn't used to always get the works every time I came.

And one time you're like, hey, you know what?

You combined this service and this service.

You know, you probably want to just do this because when we bundle it together, it's cheaper and you get a lot more bang for your buck.

And I said, you know what?

Let's give it a try.

And after that experience, I've never gone back.

And so, same thing with the.

With the products.

And it's the same conversation we all have, no matter what we're doing.

And it's fun to realize that end of the day, we're way more similar than we are different, man, so much.

You know, we all need each other and, you know, it's easier with other people.

And, like, at least for me, I try and be one of the people that I want to run into out in the world.

Working so far, we couldn't have ended on any better of a statement.

So for everybody, listen.

You know how we always do make sure it's getting hot out there.

You're going to be seeing a lot of people.

You go out there and be someone worth buying from.

You've been listening to the Close it now podcast.

Our passion is to dive head first into the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H VAC and home improvement and at the same time, covering fitness, nutrition, relationships and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all.

We hope you've enjoyed the show.

If you did, make sure to, like, rate and review.

We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find the website@CloseItNow.net find us on Instagram herealcloseitnow and on Facebook @CloseItNow.

See you next time.