They said nothing would change. Then everything did.

Sam Wakefield and Josh Baca have both lived the private equity acquisition from the front lines. Not from the boardroom. Not from the highlight reel. From the trucks, the sales calls, and the moments when you realize the company you believed in has become something you no longer recognize.

Josh spent three and a half years and closed $10.6 million in sales before making his exit. Sam lasted six weeks after the sale before handing in his notice the same afternoon a GM suggested offering a homeowner a box of filters instead of fixing the drywall his crew cracked.

This is that conversation.

In this episode:

• How Sam found out his company sold in an all hands meeting disguised as an insurance enrollment
• Why 80% turnover in the first year after a PE sale is more common than anyone admits
• What private equity does well and where it consistently breaks down
• Why the culture always fractures from the top down and what could be done differently
• How lead quality and qualification standards quietly erode after an acquisition
• Why the people who were there from the beginning feel it the hardest
• The comment that was the straw that broke the camel's back for Josh
• What it looks like to exit professionally when everything in you wants to walk out
• Why your skill set in this industry is repeatable, scalable, and fully portable
• How to channel frustration into your next move instead of burning bridges on the way out

Connect with Josh Baca:

TikTok: @joshbaca5

Instagram: josh.baca.716

Facebook: Josh Baca

Email: [email protected]

Connect with Sam Wakefield:

Website: https://www.closeitnow.net

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @therealcloseitnow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samuel.l.wakefield

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

Join the Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/closeitnow

Want Sam and Josh at your company for a full day of training and ride-alongs? Loop both in on the same email.

[email protected] | [email protected]

Book with Sam: calendar.app.google/KZH1j2Q1MAXTKbT38

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Google. Every review gets read, and if yours gets read on air you earn a no-charge one-on-one coaching session with Sam directly.

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

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.

Welcome back to Close It Now.

Sam Wakefield here, and you are in for a special treat today.

We've got a return guest today, Mr. Josh Baca himself.

Thank you for being on the show again, sir.

You're welcome.

Thanks for having me.

It's good to see you.

Yeah, man.

Glad you're here.

So don't tell everybody how this, this episode came about.

This episode came about literally a couple hours ago today.

And so we're texting with each other, just catching up a little bit.

And what happen is he says, hey, I change companies.

I was like, what?

What do you mean you change companies?

And so the funny thing is I literally just texted back and said, did you get too much of have enough of the pe private equity?

And so he starts cracking up.

And so we said, you know what, let's, let's come on the show and talk about this because everybody listen.

I don't know if I've ever on an episode told my story, my own personal journey through private equity and the straw that broke camel's back, so to speak, of why I left that company.

And so this is going to be a fun episode.

We'll just chop it up.

We'll talk about the goods, the bads, the evils of private equity, the good parts of private equity.

But it's hard not to get salty when you are in a company.

It's purchased or sold to organization like that and watching the changes because.

Oh, the changes.

But before we do that, before we do that, let's start off with something a little fun.

What is the most exciting thing in Josh Baca's life right now?

What are you most excited about?

Well, I mean, man, that's a good question.

I'd say Andrea and I are been qualified and we're going to be looking to buy a house here pretty soon.

So that's, that's huge.

We're excited.

We moved down here a couple of years ago to join Peak, and we're renting a house in a little neighborhood over here in Colorado Springs.

Really cool neighborhood.

And we almost bought a couple years ago, but we ended up reading the fine print and backing out.

It was our first time buying a home, so we didn't know what we're doing.

We still don't know what we're doing.

So now we're a little bit more knowledgeable.

We've been approved, so when our lease is up, we're going to be looking to transition into a house.

It's pretty huge.

It's pretty exciting for us.

Cool.

Congratulations, man.

That's awesome.

Hit me up outside of this.

Happy to give you some, some tips and lessons I learned along the way.

Yes, I'm all ears.

Trust me, I'm all ears.

But man, I love it, man.

That's.

That's super cool.

Well, at least you know, going in, you'll.

You'll be able to do some of your own inspections and know what you're looking at.

Yeah, yeah, I'm excited about that.

A group of my friends and I are already plotting and planning on the system.

If we can.

If we can get the system installed ourselves, everything from top to bottom, that'd be awesome.

If it can't, definitely going to be making some modifications to the system.

So.

Yeah, we're already, we're already looking at it.

Oh, love it, man.

Work on the ventilation for that cigar smoking room.

Right?

Exactly.

Boy, you know me well.

Boy, you know me well.

That's exactly what I was thinking too.

I tell you what, man, I. I've got mine like to just reach into my humidor right beside.

Oh, it's.

It's black.

It's not showing up on the screen here.

Anyway, see, we'll grab this little Cohiba I've got right here waiting for.

So.

Yeah, nice.

You get in.

I'll come up for your housewarming.

Yeah, man.

Hey, if you do make your way down here, I got some really good cigars for you, bro.

I got a nice little pack I'm gonna put together especially for you.

Oh, the Close it now pack.

There we go.

You're gonna love it.

Prep around some of those and say, hey, let's do that.

Funny enough, this is gonna be a fun episode.

Everybody listening.

I across a coffee shop here because I do the what's in your cup section sometimes.

And so there's a coffee shop real local to Me that I went in the other day, it's one of my favorites.

A little place there.

They roast their own beans there in the shop.

And it has this advertisement.

They're like, hey, put your company brand on these beans.

And so I was like, oh, yes, I can do that.

So perfect.

Because it's the cool cross between the what's in your cup, but also coffees for closers.

And that's what we do here.

Yeah,.

I mean, that's the whole point of what's in your cup.

Yuma May is this long.

It's a couple of years down the road of doing what's in your cup.

No one has picked up on that and said anything about it.

And so I'm just going to say coffee is for closers.

That's why I do the what's in your cup section.

That's right, man.

Coffee is for closers.

I love it.

I love it.

Yeah.

And I love that segment you do, man.

I love it.

So let's jump in here, man.

So tell us a little bit about.

So one of the things I was wanting to really discuss is because there's a lot of people that are in companies that will sell to private equity in this next season, next months, years, whatever.

For everybody listening, if you're in a company that has gone through that experience, somebody is on one side or the other of it.

Either you're going to or you already have.

It's kind of like what they say about people that work in attics.

You've either fallen through the ceiling or you're.

You step through the ceiling or you're going to.

It's going to.

It's going to happen.

That's it.

There's no avoiding it.

It's become the same thing with, you know, companies that are taking exits.

And I don't blame the owner one little bit because it's.

I mean, that's how to create generational wealth within your, your family and your team.

If you've built it out properly.

However, what's left in the aftermath?

That's the question of the day.

Yeah.

So tell us a little bit about what this journey has been like.

And because so you're recent.

So how long ago did the company you were with, how long ago did that transition take place?

And walk us through some of the timeline and really the big notices you made and the changes.

Yeah, well, it's like you said, you know, it's not a matter of if, it's when.

Because, you know, as you mentioned, owners need to have a way to exit they need to have a plan and they need to be able to walk away with some type of equity.

They put all that equity and that sweat into the company and it consumes their whole lives.

So inevitably is going to happen and it's not necessarily a bad thing.

It's an exciting time.

It's a lot of change.

But when you're, as you mentioned, when you're in that position, when you're with a company that's smaller and you're helping them grow and get to where you need to be once that change takes place, it's a lot.

It's a lot.

It's.

It's extremely hard thing to do to make it just super smooth.

And a lot of times it's touted or, or sold as, hey, it's gonna be just fine.

Everything's remain the same, you know.

And you know, oftentimes some things do, some things don't.

There are pluses to it.

There's pros, there are cons to it.

And so I agreed to come on today and since it's recently freshly happened in my current situation, I can speak to both sides of that timelines, you know, when I got to where I was at, how long we grew it, what happened when, when it sold and things of that nature.

So yeah, I'm excited to talk about all those things today.

Wherever you want me to start, that's where we're going to jump in at.

Well, let's do this.

Let's start with a specific moment.

So I'll share mine if you share me yours.

Yeah, yeah, so I'll share my story.

Okay.

The moment that it was announced because I think that's a huge piece that comes at a surprise to most people because typically that type of a purchase or sell is kept under wraps and in secret until all of a sudden the big announcements made and completely catches most of the team completely blindsided.

And so my story was this.

It's come time to.

So there'd been some, you know, not really real changes, but they were hinting at a couple things and we were already evaluating the, the actual health insurance for the company.

And so what comes up?

It's the end of June in 20.

Email goes out to the entire organization and we were about 8.2, 8.5 million at the time.

Email goes out to the entire organization, which is roughly 50 people, give or take.

All hands on deck meeting July 1st.

Everyone meet in the, you know, we're meeting in the warehouse.

It's the Only place we had to house that many people at one time.

So all these chairs set up, and we show up.

And the second I walked in, there's an older gentleman on my sales team.

He looks at me and goes, you see those sport coats over there?

The company sold.

I was like, no, no, no, no way.

And so, sure enough.

Cause the email that went out said, all hands on deck meeting, because we're changing health care insurance, so everyone has to be here to sign up for the new insurance.

So that was the email that went out.

So we all show up in the warehouse, we sit down in our chairs, looking around at each other, and the owner's speech sounded like this.

Well, guys, it's been a good ride.

Here's your new owners.

Don't worry, nothing's going to change.

See y' all later.

And he left the building.

Wow.

That was it.

Wow.

Like, five minutes of talk and he's gone.

And so that.

Then the rest, the new people step in and go, well, okay, so he's right.

Nothing's gonna change.

So we're gonna have to meet with everybody individually so we can go over what the new changes are.

It was literally what they said.

Who are you kidding?

What.

So that was our moment.

What was your moment?

Yeah, that was a pretty abrupt.

Ours wasn't as.

As abrupt, but similar to that.

So we.

So.

So the company.

So I don't know if your viewers, I'm sure a lot of them are familiar with Weldon Long.

I know you are.

He's a mentor of mine.

He's a huge reason this.

On the last podcast I was on with you, we talked about it, I believe, but he's a big reason why I moved my family from the Denver area down to the Springs area.

He said, hey, we have a company down there, so I'm just gonna go back up a little bit, and then not too far, right back into it.

Yeah.

And so, you know, I think a lot of people know this.

So he'd been trying to get me down here for a while.

I agreed to it.

We sat down, had some talks.

I met with the owners.

And so his wife's sister, Shannon, and Mike owned the company at the time and had been around for, you know, a year or two, but they were wanting to build it right as everybody does, and wanting to build it with the sale in mind, you know, so it was.

It was.

It was known.

It was known.

And that's what.

That's what Weldon does.

Like, he does a lot of coaching, a lot of training, but he helps A lot of companies build and then helps them exit out.

He's familiar with a lot of private equity companies and he knows them, he's partnered with them.

And, and so all of that was a known entity.

But then you get caught up in the day to day, right, Building the sales team, you know, goals, numbers, transitioning into your new spot.

So you kind of forget that, hey, this thing's going to sell.

This is, this is going to happen.

Yeah.

So you're so busy doing that, trying to hit numbers and, you know, fine tuning things.

And what we did too is shortly after I came down and we started to grow rapidly.

We transitioned into a new facility, a new location, much bigger.

We also absorbed a company in the area.

There was a company that had been around for quite some time.

We acquired that company and I think 30 or 40 so employees came over with us.

And you know, and so that was a lot of movement, a lot of turbulence going on, a lot of unknowns.

Great culture though, trying to maintain a good culture throughout all of this.

So we get it up and running, it's running smoothly, we're making waves, we're positioning ourselves in the market as one of the premier companies.

You know, all of weld and long sales processes are in place, spearheaded by yours truly.

Right.

I've been running the Weldon long process for quite some time, your process for quite some time, almost a hybrid of, of yours and his.

And, and so at the point came for the sale and so it was similar to like what you were saying, all hands on deck meeting, everybody's crowded in, into the warehouse.

And, and so I think one of the biggest things that threw a lot of people, I, I was privy to a little bit of the inside information just because I'm friends with Weldon.

So me and the sales team, and he's huge in the sales obviously, so there's a lot of direct communication with me and the sales team.

So we, we were, we knew something was coming.

We weren't quite sure who it was going to be with, you know, so, and so this particular private equity, I think for a lot of people it was a shock because I know originally he had mentioned that it wasn't going to be with them, then it was.

And so Weldon had to come in and kind of smooth things out and say, hey, look guys, look.

And he did this.

So he did it gracefully, right?

And as, as, as smooth as it could be.

So I'll give props to him because probably not an easy thing to do.

He could have been like, the situation, you Were in where was like, hey, guys, this is what it is.

I'm gonna step away.

New guys are going to come in.

You know, so he.

But he just started out and he just told everybody, hey, look, I know at one point we said it wasn't going to be this, but I sat down with this group, I've gotten to know this group.

And he goes, I really like these guys.

These guys are good.

They're going to be good for you.

I wouldn't, I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it was going to be that way, obviously.

And so, you know, a lot of us, we, you know, just based on our relationship with Weldon, we're like, okay, you know, we trust you.

Um, if this is what you're saying is what you feel, we're on board.

We're going to continue to carry the culture through.

And, you know, and.

And then some people obviously were in shock and not, you know, they were feeling some type of way, like, wait a minute, you know, so a lot of us were talking to them like, hey, man, you know, how are you doing right now?

Is this the best you've ever done, right.

In your life?

Like, you know.

Well, yes.

Okay.

Do you trust, you know, management and Wally in this transition?

Well, yeah, but, you know, so, yeah, yeah.

Just trying to get everybody on the same page.

The idea of change.

Change is always uncertain 100%.

And not everybody receives that change or, or, you know, handles that change.

We all handle it differently.

Some of us freak out, some of us, you know, embrace it.

And so it was just those of us that were embracing it, we were in shock too, a little bit, but we were just attempting to get everybody on the same page so that we could maintain the culture.

That's the biggest thing, right?

The.

The company is the people.

It's the people.

So I, I know, me personally, I was just trying to keep the emphasis on the people and everything that, you know, we had accomplished together, everything that we have done together with Wally's process and stuff.

So I was a big proponent of, you know, just trying to talk to people and say, hey, look, I know this can be nerve wracking.

We don't know exactly what this is going to look like when it plays out, but I mean, really, it's.

It's up to us to make it what it's going to be.

And so that was.

That was the beginning of the transition.

And so I would say, you know, not.

Not quite as abrupt as what happened, but still was, you know, it's.

It's definitely like a nerve wracking time, you know.

But we had been used to the change because we moved to the one building, absorbed the company and then this came.

So we, we kind of saw constant state of transition.

It sounds like for a while there's.

100% And so yeah, so that was I guess would be the beginning of the whole process and then we can get deeper into that and then, and what happened once it, however you want to do it.

I guess one of the big questions because there's so many people that are looking ahead and looking for this and looking at it and wondering what truly happens inside a company once that transition happens because of the, because there's so many stories out there, you know, the sentiment around oh, private equity is running the industry, but is it.

So that's really the question.

Is it or are.

Because from one perspective, you know, the reason that a lot of companies seem to explode overnight when a company, you know, when a private equity company buys them is all of a sudden they install systems and procedures and processes that didn't exist before.

So that's one good thing because a lot of companies need those.

And so let's talk a little bit about the transit because so our companies were definitely probably run very differently ours I would say we were a six out of, we were doing great, we were growing like crazy.

But I would say we're you know, maybe a 6 out 6 or 7 out of 10 when it came to processes and procedures and you know, we were still somewhat, somewhat had free range opportunities, that type of thing.

And so for us that transition was like going from being able to graze in the pasture to waking up in a jail cell the next day because of what the way that they.

And I think a lot of it has to do with the way that it's introduced.

The organization that purchased the company I was with, they basically rule with an iron fist and said this is what will happen or else if you don't like it, sayonara.

And so that, that was the way they did it.

So that's why I only lasted six weeks after the transition.

Which we'll get to the like, you know, the last story here in a minute.

But, but what were some of the changes that you saw happen?

And would you agree with that?

From my personal experience, of course watching this happen to a bunch of other companies, the systems, processes, even if it's already good, they're going to change it to the universal model, right?

100%.

So I think we lucked out based on having Wally Steer the ship.

He was such a huge part of the original company, especially with, you know, with Shannon and Mike, you know, his brother in law and sister in law in, in that position of ownership.

So we would see Wally, Wally would come down, Wally would talk to the sales team.

We had a strong sales, you know, we had a strong sales process already implemented and we were using one of the strongest, you know, super so processes were in place because this is what he does.

So it was a little bit different in terms of, it may have been a little bit smoother, I feel like.

And so, and then having him be here in the same state in the springs, right.

Coming in, talking to the group and I think he probably told the group as well that, you know, that acquired us, that we sold to.

No, hey, I want this to be as smooth as possible.

It's all about the people.

We need to take care of the people.

So I think there was a strong emphasis on that.

To their credit, they were looking at that.

And that made those of us more veteran kind of feel, feel good about that because you hear, you know, your mentors and leaders saying, upper management saying, hey, this is, this is.

We knew it was going to happen and it's going to be smooth.

Not many things are going to change.

And in the beginning, to their credit, you didn't immediately feel a lot of change at all.

So for us that was, that was a good thing because it allows you to stay focused where your head needs to be, which is what the client running calls.

If you're a comfort advisor, your technicians, you know, running demand calls, tune ups, maintenances, you got enough on your plate at that point in time that you're dealing with, you know, your vehicles, co workers, different jobs, installs that are going in, reviews, you know, your own personal goals.

It's a lot of moving parts in the H vac world.

So, so yeah, he, you know, I felt like in the beginning I, I was pleasantly surprised to feel that it, it, it was running, you know, pretty smoothly.

But then, you know, a lot of things need to change too, right?

Insurances, you got, everybody needs to get re.

Enrolled and there was those.

And then, you know, there's, there's lead generation, call acquisition there.

You know, we start to, when you start to get into the meat and potatoes of it, there's, there's the sales process and how that evolves or devolves as you mentioned, because these groups do have their own universal way.

I love the way when you said that, how they, how their playbook.

Right.

And so I think I think with our situation and Wally being who he is and this group being who they are, they wanted that smoother, longer kind of transition, that kind of play out before they came in and implemented their.

You know, you say that with this.

Big ominous voice before Darth Vader came.

Around the corner and said, look, those days are gone, boys.

No, it wasn't anything like that.

That's funny because that's almost what it sounded like for us.

So, you know, and looking back, it's really interesting.

There's things that I would have done differently.

You know, obviously I was right in the middle of the change, so I was feeling the emotions of it.

But at the same time, you know, they.

One of the big ones was, well, I mean, the numbers don't lie.

Talk about the company is the people.

Well, in 12 months after that company was purchased, there was an 80% turnover inside the company.

80%, Right.

That's what we saw.

There's a company in San Antonio actually by, owned by now by the same company that purchased the one you left in San Antonio.

In the first year, they've had a 90% turnover.

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah.

So it just is really interesting when you start to see that happen.

Yeah.

And it is my first time experiencing this firsthand on the front lines.

But that's the exact same thing we started to see, you know.

And how long has it been since that, since that purchase for y'?

All?

Yeah.

So a lot of what you're talking about is exactly what we experienced.

Key players, key people in management positions, just different people in your, within your organization that are pivotal players in that, in those roles would, you know, people started to migrate out and you saw this slow migration and then of course you needed to rehire, so newer people were coming in.

So it was this almost sense of, you know, it was like a fractured core group that you had now, which meant that the, the players that did stay are now expected.

You know, you step up to the plate, we're training new people, we're trying to get everybody on the same page.

But you know what, what happens is as you, as you, as you transition into that mode, that small time family, feel the closeness, the culture, you know, we would go on golfing, outings together and things of that nature.

And just those were almost like a thing of the past.

And so you say to yourself, okay, this is just normal.

This is, you know, this is how it goes.

I don't, you know, I don't know.

So I guess, I guess so.

So you're kind of just rolling with the punches.

Yeah.

And then you really have to get some distance from it, to examine it, you know, to, to really examine it and spend some time with it.

And so it wasn't till, you know, I started seeing it from a distance and then just.

You feel it too.

You feel it.

You feel these people are gone now.

And these people were instrumental maybe like for instance, installation managers or operations managers or sometimes our sales.

Sales managers.

When these people migrate out and leave, you kind of start scratching your head a little bit like, you know, what does this mean overall?

What is this going to mean on a day to day?

And then that's, that's when you start, you know.

And I'm hardcore, I'm a very loyal person.

You know, I, I, you know, I'm always one that, that's not quick to jump ship or hey, the grass is greener over here.

It's.

I feel like it's green wherever you water it.

Right.

100.

So I don't have a track record of just like, hey, you know, every year and a half I'm gone.

You know, I'm not, I'm more like, let me sit down, let me build.

Let's accomplish.

That's how you can hit true numbers and hit your goals as if you're secure in a place for a while.

So I really would, I wouldn't say I had my blinders on, but I was like simply trying to examine the positive.

You know, highly trained.

We're trained to, to, to always be optim.

Realistic but optimistically instead of pessimistically realistic.

So yeah, keep your hopes up high and your head down low.

Right.

That's exactly what I was doing.

You know, but then eventually, you know, you gotta bring your head up, you gotta, you gotta take a look around you and, and, and you know, and that's what I did.

And.

Yeah, so, so, so let's get into a couple of the specifics because there's so some of the things that I saw.

One was the way that the, it was the.

Well, it's two things.

One, I love that we're talking about culture because this is really the, the piece that holds a company together.

It's the glue, so to speak.

And from my perspective, the way that the re.

One of the reasons I see that this happens is I feel like there's a better way.

I feel like a company could, if I was, if I had a PE company and I was to buy a contracting company, what I would do is I would start a year ahead and place a new GM in place that's going to be the one that's going to take over with me.

And that new GM is going to be the one that's leading the charge, driving culture and creating a place where when that transition happens, they stay intact and keep the culture with the ship.

That's how I would do it.

If I had a PE group and I was buying companies to do this with, I would put the operator in place first.

That's going to hold the culture together.

But because that's not what happens, what we see is typically the owner or whoever the main person is in the organization is the one that holds the culture together.

Well, they're the ones taking the exit.

So now they're gone.

So then everything from the top down shifts right immediately.

So that's how, that's one of the reasons I see why things fracture so bad.

What, what are your thoughts around that component of it?

No, I'm in, I'm in complete alignment.

That is, if I, I'm the same way.

If I own one, I.

It's easy for me to say that, right.

If I was a P group, this is.

But, but it's so true us being in these organizations that that would be the way that I think the issue with us.

We had a gm and so, so that's another thing.

So our GM that was in place was.

Used to be our sales manager and he got promoted to gm.

Had a pivotal role in, in that transition and holding things together.

As far as culture, I mean, that, that could have been a huge part of, of me moving forward, making my decisions.

I feel like maybe that ball was dropped a little bit.

And, and, and, and I'm not, probably not the only one that feels that way because shortly thereafter our GM was removed and then we had a new GM come in in place of him.

Great guy, no H VAC experience, but experience leading men.

And like I said, great guy.

I know the guy personally, met his wife and his kid.

We still talk to this day.

And he has since exited.

And all of this happened in a very short period of time.

So not only did we go through the trauma of the actual.

So when you say short period of time, what's the actual timeline there?

I'm just curious, what is that short period of time?

I spent three and a half years with Pete and I just recently left.

And so, and this, this, this move happened maybe less than a year ago, probably, probably within the Last six months.

Got it.

So within the last six months we were sold to pe, lost our general manager, got a new general manager and now he's gone.

I'm no longer there.

I was like one of the last guys from that original group.

Right.

A ton of our key players are gone.

Yeah.

So it happened pretty quickly and so, man, a lot of turbulence.

Yeah.

What were some of the actual boots on the ground changes that were big shake up moments for you in this transition?

I think for me a strong part.

Was when Darth Vader came in and said, hey, we're changing things.

You like how he did that for dramatic effect, right?

Use the force.

Use the force, Luke.

I'd say some of the things on the ground that I started to see, you know, which just the attention to details I think, I think were huge for me.

Being on that front line.

You see everything and you feel everything.

Right.

So you, you have the benefit of a smaller organization, feeling the interaction with the owners, seeing the owners there on a day to day, how we're setting schedules for our sales guys, how are those, those leads acquired, how are they qualified?

And then when changes happen, how are they, how are they not qualified?

Not being qualified or they may not.

Be, you know, and so just little changes and it's.

You start to feel it.

So then I'll give an example.

I ran a call and we're a company that we'll go.

We cover a large territory, which pros and cons to that, right?

Large, large territory.

So we're going all over the place in both directions.

You spend a lot of time driving.

I'm sure there's a lot of companies that are like that.

There's some companies that they just focus on a certain area.

Yeah.

Awesome.

I bet it's a pretty big split.

So most of the rural Americas covers huge areas like that.

Then very few places have actually the population density to be able to stay in with.

Oh, we don't go 30 minutes outside of our circle.

Anytime I hear that, especially when I'm doing ride along because I know you're getting into training and we'll be starting to do some of these.

I can just tell you when you hear the company that say, oh yeah, we don't go 30 minutes away from our office.

Those are the days you just want to bless the stars.

Otherwise you're going to end up, dear Lord, all over God's green earth.

But windshield time means good training time with whoever you're riding with.

But anyway, this is kind of the fun part here.

No, this, that's true too.

And so we have companies in our market that they just stay here.

But we were just one that happened that we would go all over the place, which can't, it can be a good thing.

I mean, especially when you're out there and then you end up closing the deal and you close it now and you close the deal and okay, so it makes that whole drive, you know, worth it.

And that's exactly the, the mindset going into it.

You're thinking, hey, doesn't matter.

I'm going to serve this client to my highest level, are going to get the best of our company, they're going to get taken care of, come up with solution, they're going to choose us.

And oftentimes it was because we came that far.

Because they were having a hard time getting quality companies out that far.

Exactly.

So when that culture is in place, that's a good thing.

You know, where it's not is when you start, you know, getting sent out.

You know, it's not qualified.

There's not a whole lot of communication on it.

And then this, it starts to get frustrating because, you know, when it happens repeatedly over and over, you start scratching your head a little bit, you know, and it is when you take just.

Over two hours to go look at somebody's venting water heater or, or, or,.

You know, you see these on these long stretches of highway, these like RV like camping zones.

Yeah.

And you're getting hauled out to go do an estimate on a, in a campground place that, where they can't even pay, you can't get, they can't even pay you until they collect rent type of.

And you're just like, okay, what do we, what do we do?

How, who, who book?

You know, but, you know, but it just sounds like, oh, just another entitled sales guy complaining about the leads, yada, yada.

But I mean, if you've been in those situations, you feel the pain, you know, but it's not even.

That's exactly it.

I mean, when, you know, if it was the everyday diet the whole time, it was no big deal because your leads are your leads.

There's no bad leads.

It's what we do with them to a degree.

But when all of a sudden you had, you know, years of highly qualified leads because they've done a great job on every step of the way.

And then all of a sudden they're sending you out to three, you know, a quarter of them are now trash.

And no reason you should ever be there.

That's a very different story.

So There is some merit, some credibility in that piece of the conversation, for sure.

For sure.

It's not, you know, and just to, you know, I'm not.

I'm not, you know, complaining or tripping.

I just.

We're just.

We're just talking about observations we've made, you know, being in these situations that are real to us.

And that's exactly like you said.

There was attention to detail prior.

There was.

There was good conversation.

For instance, if I sent you out, right, Two and a half hours away, and you get there and not qualified, or maybe I leave that.

You know, I would at least on your way back, if you called me and I was your sales manager, I'd say, sam, brother dropped the ball.

I shouldn't have sent you.

I'm gonna.

I'm gonna take a closer look at that in hindsight.

But, yeah, that probably wasn't the.

You know, looking at it now, we.

You shouldn't have been sent out on that.

And, you know, in fact, grab some dinner, man.

That's on me.

And we'll take a look at your schedule for tomorrow, maybe get you three of them in.

In.

In home.

In this area.

And just, you know, just little things like in the.

In the past, you're like, okay, makes you feel a little bit better.

Like, dang, okay, you were feeling it, but they noticed it, spoke on it.

You feel a little bit better.

As opposed to.

That's all part of the game.

Yeah, it's all part of the game.

As opposed to, like, you know, man, poor Sam, man, we're shooting.

You get, you know, it's just a barrage of BS from time to time.

And then.

And then you start looking at, okay, what was sold, what did the company look like versus, you know, what is the company ultimately doing?

Is it go?

Is it.

Is it trending in the right, or is it like, right, scrambling?

That's what it starts to feel like.

That's what it felt like for us.

You know, one of the interesting things I noticed.

I'm curious if you noticed this as well, is as those changes started to happen and it wasn't necessary same, you know, especially when we get down into the, say, our installation department and our service department, when we start talking about attention to detail.

The.

The new private equity organization was doing everything they could to meet what they call their green dot numbers, because instead of taking care of people and making a profit, all of a sudden, everything had to be managed off of the spreadsheet.

So what would happen is now our technicians, who were already running at pretty close to capacity a lot of times now have one more call, squeeze in for the day and the installs teams now will do that.

Oh, okay.

It's all right.

It's noon.

Sure.

Of course.

Yeah.

Let's go ahead and knock out this change.

Another change out today.

You finished the first.

So we're all of a sudden our install teams are doing two change outs in a day.

And so attention to detail.

Not that the people changed, but they didn't have time to keep quality up.

And so we started to see things start to slip.

So now we've got the guys forget to just all of the pace.

Well, they didn't glue the drain line.

So now the.

Now the condensate's leaking on somebody's ceiling.

When that never happened before, you know, the little things started to happen more so frequently.

It just got really annoying, really gross because it wasn't being well and then the management wasn't, hey guys, what's happening here?

How can we help?

How can we make this better?

How can we.

It was okay.

Every time this happens, we're taking it out of your check.

You're going your own time to fix it and don't ever let it happen again.

Right.

And so.

Right.

Because we're not meeting our numbers.

So now we're all in trouble.

Yeah, yeah.

And yeah, definitely.

When we're on the front line and I'm with a client and I'm in that house for hours and you got this rock solid sales process and you're, you're making all these promises to the homeowner about this fantastic company they're about to spend 30 to 40 grand with.

Right.

You know, in your heart of heart, when you know that that's true, the confidence is there, the tone is there, you know, and the, and the homeowners pick up on that.

They're.

They're gonna sense.

And this guy really, truly loves, you know, this organization.

He moved his family down here to be with this organization.

You know, he's got all these testimonials from prior clients.

You know, when all that's gone and it, and it changes, you know, and you're sitting, you know, you're asking yourself, man, I don't, I don't even, I don't even believe this anymore.

But yeah, you can't say that at the table, but they're feeling that.

And then when clients too are trying to call the organization and can't get through.

So now you're trying to run your.

Not two, maybe three really good qualified leagues, but squeeze in those four or, you know, three all over the planet.

Surely you're also on the swing by this real quick.

Yeah.

You got clients calling you like, josh, we just did this install, man.

You know, what's up with this?

And they're sending you pictures and you're like, okay, so then you're trying to get that taken care of, but as you mentioned, instead of, hey man, we got you, you know, and then it just turns to, oh, well, you, you, that's your job.

You sold it.

You're responsible for all of that.

Yeah.

You're like, take care of it, man.

Why aren't you taking care of it?

Yeah, okay, I'll run right out there, I'll glue that condensate trap.

I'll get the primer on it myself.

I'll do that sometime in between my four and my six o' clock call.

I'll find a way to let me just clone myself.

Yeah.

Let me drive it four or three hours the other way so I can flip the switch on, on the gas valve that they forgot to turn on.

Bingo.

Things of that nature.

And that's where the frustration comes in.

You know, when, when, when you're asking for help, like, hey, man, we're, we're dropping the ball here.

But then you're, you know, you're being told, well, you're dropping the ball.

You sold that.

That's, it's, you know, so there's, there's a time where it's clearly on the design consultant.

There's another time where it's clearly, you know, the design consultant did, did his job, did it professionally.

And, and in the three and a half years, 10.6 million is what I sold in the three and a half years.

Respectable, not the best, definitely not the worst.

Whole lot of work went into that.

But then you see your year to year.

I don't mind going through all that trauma as long as I'm continuing to hit my goals and grow personally.

But when I'm hitting all that turbulence and, but I'm seeing my own personal finance, like, wait a minute, I'm going in the wrong direction here.

That's when.

Extra work and less pay.

What's going on here?

Exactly.

Exactly.

And so, you know, and so if anybody else that's had to deal with that or been through that, I always hear about it, never really.

But now I'm a bit more empathetic to that because you have to kind of go through that to feel that.

Yeah, I'm so much the same way.

You know, it's all theory until it Happens to you.

You know, and the interesting thing with this because, you know, we're talking about if I had my own private equity, et cetera.

Well, I mean, don't tell anybody, but I'm working on something kind of like that with companies.

You go, boy.

We'll talk about that a whole lot more in the future.

But where my head is is around because we all know every company has to have processes and procedures and sequences and et cetera.

What it seems to me like is there's this Hugh.

So like the original handful of companies in whatever private equity, if it's started correctly like that probably has a fantastically run all of the things.

It's their flagship companies.

All the systems are nailed, the processes are nailed, procedures are nailed.

But as it expands, the growth outpaces the ability to keep quality control.

And that to me seems like one of the biggest breakdowns.

And so as I play with it, and we know there are groups that do a better job than that.

There's a few that do a great job.

I mean, shout out to Ken Burn with call the brands.

I mean, he's got it on lockdown.

He knows what to do with this and it keeps the consistency, but at the same time, so many of them are not.

And so where is this?

How can it be done and done better?

And that.

That's what I'm working on, reinventing this wheel here.

So tell.

I'm curious.

Go, go for it, whatever you got.

Oh, I was just gonna say.

And you know, you know, in their defense, I mean, I couldn't imagine being on, on their side of it, trying to do what they're trying to do, which is be growth focused, you know.

Cause let's face it, that's, that's what it's about.

But at the same time, maintaining that, that level of quality and focusing on your employee, it's not going to be perfect.

Some do it better than others.

All in all, you know, shout out to a lot of the people in that organization on those higher levels that.

But they're just not necessarily on the boots.

They're looking at screens and spreadsheets.

So they don't, they're not, they're far away from what I'm feeling on a daily basis and some of my guys are feeling on a daily basis.

But so I'm not knocking.

I mean it's incredibly hard thing to probably do and pull off.

So I'm not just, I'm not trashing them.

I'm just simply, you know, stating my personal experience on what I was feeling on the front, front line of it and how it went down for me.

So I just wanted that to be clear.

I'm not sitting here.

But.

Yeah, no, I think you're right.

Yeah, no, the same.

I'm not, not just completely bashing private equity in general.

It's more of like the.

But we, the thing.

I think the reason this conversation keeps coming up is because we see these situations way too often.

And that's part of why the, you know, it's just, it's, it's a virus that's spreading.

It's like, it's this necessary thing, but it's also the like gross underbelly of it in a way.

It's a good point.

That's a really good point.

Yeah.

So.

So I'm curious.

So tell us about the.

So the tipping point.

There always.

There's always a tipping point.

I'm super curious to hear what, what is your story of the tipping point?

And, and I'll share mine, of course.

But so what, what was that moment for me?

So I'm deeply invested in the work, the team, the culture, anywhere that I'm, I'm at.

You know, I'm.

If I'm.

When I'm with you, I'm with you.

You know, like you've known me for a long time now and in any, any organization I've been involved with, you know, my, my, my presence was felt and it was significant because I do care.

I do care.

I came up in this trade, you know, from the very beginning to, to where I'm at now and where I'm, where I'm headed.

But always it was attention to detail.

For me.

It's a, it is about the people, is about quality work, you know, and so I would always strive for those things.

So the tipping point came from me when I, you know, as a design consultant, a ca.

You got one.

Or you know, you got to follow the chain command.

So you always are coming to your, your sales manager.

And so, you know, we had a guy that was implemented and you know, great guy.

I just, for me it was voicing some of these concerns and some of these issues that were real on a day to day.

I just feel like maybe he might have been so overwhelmed with everything that was going on.

I mean, I know he was overwhelmed, but you know, a comment was made to me by him that didn't set well at all.

Just there are certain things you just do and certain things you don't say to your top performers.

And again, I know how it comes across like, oh, Is diva design consultant.

No thick skin.

Trust me, I got some pretty thick skin.

Yeah.

Josh has some of the thickest skin of anybody.

I got some.

If you, if you know anything about me and my background.

What?

Yeah, you know, you know, you'll know, man.

I got some very thick skin, but at the same time, it's like, hold up, you know, there was a comment made to me and it.

Something to the effect of, you know, that, you know, my just at the end of the day, just completely minimized my contribution.

And it was, it was basically like, look, I hear, I hear what you're saying with this and that, but hey, it's, it's, it's, it's you, brother.

It's.

And you know, the only reason you've accomplished all this is because, you know, it wasn't really you.

You know, it's just people just kind of, you know, helping you and, and, and, and, and, and, and cleaning things up along the way.

Some.

Something, you know, I'm not getting.

So what did he really say?

Yeah, you know what?

I mean it, I'm not gonna get too crazy in exactly what was said, but it was something to that effect.

And, and that, that, that's, that's what got to me because I'm, I am so deeply vested in what I do, and I'm showing up always the first guy.

I mean, any, any, any top performer at an organization or even in the top three of an organization, you know, you know, how much you put into this, you know, with collecting the five star reviews, the testimonials, going back to your jobs, you know, bringing homeowners gifts and saying, hey, thank you for trusting.

Me with the phone calls on Sunday evening, everything.

Exactly 100 sacrifice.

So, you know, so for somebody in that position, he's supposed to be like, man, I got you, man.

As your, as your, as your sales manager, bro.

Like, you know, what do you need from me?

And, and hey, I might be a little bit overwhelmed here, so bear with me.

Is there anything I can do?

How can I help you?

Right?

There's a certain way to handle things, you know, not, hey, I ain't got time.

I'm overwhelmed.

And this, this is all on you.

You're not even, you're not even as great as you think you are type of deal.

And it's just, it ain't even the, it's just the, the feeling that it leaves you with is like, wait, hey, wait a minute, time out now.

You know, let's examine that for a minute.

You know, and so ultimately that was the straw that broke the camel's back, you know.

And so when I resigned, you know, I did it professionally, put my two weeks in and went straight to that individual and said, hey, you know, and then that was just one straw.

There's multiple straws, sure.

I mean, it has to build.

Otherwise something out of the blue on the one off that would just be, hey, let's have a conversation.

That's just one.

Yeah, no big deal.

That's just something you speed bump, get over it.

But that, you know, that on top of all everything else that had already transpired was that's when I was like, okay, you know, for me to be good for a company and for them to be good for me, there has to be a certain semblance of a cult, you know, of a relationship there where certain boundaries would never get get crossed.

Once I felt that that was gone, then, then it, I realized, okay, I need to find a new home, otherwise I won't be performing up to my best.

And I, and I did, I made it a point to, up to the end to perform on the highest level.

You know, we have a ton of lead generators in the Home Depots, so I got to get.

All the lead generators were there one day and our guys that headed up that department had me speak to those guys and I was like a day or two from leaving, talked to them for 45 minutes straight.

And then I got feedback from their supervisor and he was like, man, I said, give me a little bit of feedback.

How was that received?

And he's like, man, you, I, I got the text messages to prove it.

He's just like, man, you, you knocked that out of the park.

They all had said the same comment, like, man, this company is super excited and lucky to have you and just, you could feel the love.

Right?

And so, and I think that's the biggest thing if you're going to be private equity, you're going to make these huge acquisitions, man.

Make sure, make sure that as best that you can.

I know you're in offices and you're far away, but make sure, as you mentioned earlier, who, you know, the leadership from the top down has to set that tone.

Yeah.

And so, and, and then, and it may, and it may be that it's course corrects, the right leadership is now in place.

And, and somebody told me something that was really insightful and made a lot of sense.

I think people coming into that organization, it's already there.

But if you were there from the beginning and felt what it morphed into, that's the hard part for me is I knew what it was and what it currently is, so just had to make a change.

And the beautiful part about this industry is if your skill set is rock solid and you're getting better on a year to year, you're continuing to coach, you might be doing some coaching on your own, which I am.

And, and you're still striving for these goals, there's always going to be an organization that would be thrilled to have you, no doubt.

And, and you know, so you can't, you can't get salty, you can't get bitter, you can't, you just got to take it for what it is and then, you know, apply your trade and craft somewhere else.

So.

But you have to transition out of that spot correctly.

And I, I pray and hope that I did that correctly.

I did everything by the book as best I could.

Said, said, you know, and, and I received a lot of love on my way out.

So all in all it was a, you know, a great gracious situation and I got a lot of love still for that company and that organization.

Just for me personally, I held on and it was just time for me to do my thing.

Well, you know, that's what I love about our industry as well is you know too that my.

Yes, and to this I guess is to your point, you build that muscle, you can throw a dart and really have a position anywhere globally that you want to go.

And you build a.

Especially the sales muscle, you get good at sales in general, you can pick an industry, it doesn't even matter because the conversation is the conversation at this point.

I've trained companies in a dozen different industries and all.

Everything from property management to digital marketing to plumbing, electrical, you know, H vac, garage doors, you name it.

Solar.

The solar, yeah.

Tons of tons and tons of solar.

Heck we did in three years, we did 40 million on our team, something like that in three years from zero.

So I mean the conversation is the conversation.

And so once you build that muscle, that's the cool part is you can go anywhere and never lack opportunity.

So that's the best part about it.

And at the same time, you know, life, especially in these kinds of industries, unless you're the key person.

A lot of times we are in seasons in companies.

You know, it's like leaves on a tree.

Sometimes they're seasoned, sometimes it's there for a long time, sometimes it's just for a while.

And knowing how to read the signs when it changes and how to move gracefully through it.

I think is a really.

Is just as important of a skill set.

So kudos to you for making the proper way to exit.

Oh, man.

Bro, that was well said.

And thank you for saying that.

And, you know, I'm learning too.

You know, I think if this ever happened again, I would have a much broader, you know, perspective on the whole situation.

And there may have been, you know, let's face it, I am not.

I am no angel.

I could be a handful at times as well.

Yeah.

But I got a lot of love loyalty.

We're top performers.

We're gonna be hard to manage sometimes.

There's gonna be those times, especially those of us that are super passionate about what we do.

Yeah, of course.

We are invested.

That's also, you know, sales performers.

Exactly.

And so.

So.

But all in all, I'm so thank you for saying that.

And I did, honestly, from the bottom of my heart, you know, just try to make this a graceful transition.

And the funny part is I went to a company that is private equity.

However, they have been for quite some time, a little bit more established.

And I feel like I got the best of both worlds because it's a.

It's a branch off of a Denver, a Denver branch, a Denver organization.

Now it's a branch and it's a smaller.

So I got that small time feel that it was.

I was lacking and I missed and that I loved, but still with all the resources of pe.

So for me, it's like it's the best of both worlds and I'm coming into it as opposed to, you know, being there from the beginning, seeing it be one thing and then it totally morphing into something else.

Right.

And, you know, and that could really be a part of why there's such a shakeup when that happens.

Because just like you're saying if you get a good look at it before you step in it into it and say, hey, yeah, this is.

This.

I know what I'm signing up for.

That's very different than going from, hey, this is how we used to do.

I mean, it's the old adage, like, anything that's been done the same way anytime that.

What's the sentence?

That's not how we used to do it.

That's usually a recipe for disaster.

100%, Man.

I totally hear you.

So my moment to wrap up this conversation here was when.

And things had started stacking.

Things that had started stacking.

So we're into August, towards the end of August, and sitting at the sales meeting one day.

And so it was actually the second company in Austin that this PE group had bought.

They bought another one a year or two prior.

Well, they took the GM from that company, and he's now running both companies.

And so we're sitting in our sales meeting one day and, you know, standard install.

We had a scuttle access in a hallway, smaller house, crack the sheetrock in the trim, getting the old furnace out, the new furnace in.

That's why we keep drywall people in retainer.

This literally, it's like, okay, cool.

So I just had to get approval to send our guy to go fix it.

And this was.

This moment with me was the reason when I knew I didn't want to be there.

The GM says, well, you know, we had to give a little.

Take a little bit of a hit on that one to win the job, so see if they'll take a box of filters instead.

And I'm like, what?

What do you mean?

He's like, yeah, see if they'll take a box of filters that'll cost us like 15 bucks instead of fixing their drywall.

And I said, tell you what, don't worry about it.

I'll pay for it myself.

And consider this my two weeks notice.

And then, of course, he goes, well, tell you what, I'll do you one better.

Just bring your truck in tomorrow and turn your stuff in.

Wow.

And so I said, well, tell you what, I could even get better than that.

How about I just bring it back this afternoon?

And he's like, all right, no problem.

Thanks.

Yeah.

And that's it.

That's how it was.

Just.

Just severed.

Because it was just such a toxic environment.

And all they.

Literally, all they really cared about was, what does the bottom line say?

We don't care about people anymore.

And my heart just can't live in that place where we stop caring about our clients.

We have to care.

If we care, then, ugh, it just gets gross.

And it turns into exactly why, you know, the Federal Trade Commission and all of these organizations are looking into the trades right now for bad sales and business practices because too many people care about the bottom dollar instead of caring, taking care of people anymore.

Yeah, 100%.

Once it gets gross like that, it's like, you know, I can't, you know, and I, we.

We hear this all the time.

Design consultants, comfort advisors.

We're sitting across from a client at the table where the promise makers and the companies are the promise keepers.

It's difficult when you're making promises that, you know, you just know aren't.

They're not gonna.

Hope they get crew A and not.

Crew B. Oh, my gosh.

Always breaks something.

Yeah, yeah.

And it is.

It starts to get.

It starts to get gross.

Yeah.

It's like, ah, man, that isn't.

It's not how you treat people.

Yeah.

I mean, the first company I was with years ago, love them to pieces, the greatest people in the world.

And I'm sure that they know this.

It's no new information, but the sentiment around town was call them for your installation because they do the best installs on the planet, but pray to God you never have to have their service people out.

And so what would happen is they would call us for the install and then they would call another company across town to do all the service work because we couldn't keep decent service people.

And it was like, oh.

I was like, so I was fine.

I was selling installs all the time because we had the reputation as the best install.

But when it came to service, so there was no long term relationship being built after a while.

And it was painful.

And so I've lived at both places.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

So, man, love it.

So question then.

So words of wisdom time from Josh Baca.

Well, first of all, are you still spitting game?

You haven't made a.

You haven't sent me a track in a while, man.

I haven't sat down.

I've got.

I've had multiple people asking me, you know, I got to tell you this, it's one of the hardest things on planet Earth to do.

And if anybody, if anybody that loves that genre and loves music and has ever sat down and written out any type of freestyle, anything, man, it is one of the hardest things.

It's easy to do if you don't care what you're saying or what you're putting out.

Right?

But to have something that people embrace and absorb, it is difficult.

It is a difficult thing.

And I, and I always tell people, you know, I'm just a guy that sells ACs and furnaces that happen or can rap.

And they're like, well, do some more.

And I'm like, I'm like the one hit wonder.

I got one really amazing one that I was able to put down, got the beat made and spit it, and it was well received.

And anybody that's heard it was like, man, that is phenomenal.

And they all say the same thing, you need more, you need to do more.

And I'm like, dude, I'm not a rapper.

I do love it.

And it was just something I did for fun.

And I think, thank God it came out well.

But it.

I really need.

I need like a full week off.

I need to sit down.

That's how it is for me.

I don't know.

And some of these other people, their process.

But I.

If I have that time where I can just sit down, I can come up with something really amazing that sounds really good to certain beat and.

And I love it.

It's just, man, life takes over, you.

Know, the busy season 100 understand.

It's been my mission, I say quote unquote mission for the last probably three years now, to open up enough bandwidth in my life to.

To start another band because I've played in bands most of my life.

In the last probably three or four years, I haven't hardly touched my guitar.

So it's like.

Yeah, so I hear you.

So these hobbies that we love, these.

Things that we love.

Yeah, yeah.

Get swallowed up with.

With our career and our passion for the industry and it's.

It's hard to jump.

You, You.

You hearken back to those days where you had that time and where things were simply for the.

The love of it.

Right.

You know, and when I made that beat and that and that song, it was.

I was fully in tune with that part of me, the younger part of me that just, you know, we were young, we would go to parties, everybody would huddle around one microphone and we would have beats and people would just freestyle, people from different areas.

And it was just.

It was all for the love of that, you know, So I was really in.

I got to get in tune, in touch with that, to sit there and create because on something like that, that's that creative.

It's gotta be all, there can't be.

For me, there can't be.

And, you know, I had a friend in the industry that wanted me to create a song for him.

And.

And he.

He does a lot of things nationally and.

And he has a guy that did a couple raps for him and, you know, and I reached out to him and I.

But man, I feel so bad because he's always like, dude, what's up?

What's up?

And I'm like, man, I've.

I've sat down and I'm just hitting writer's block when I'm on a schedule, you know, it's just like.

It doesn't.

Doesn't flow.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Come out dumb.

Yeah, you.

You listen to it and you're like, I'm not putting this out, I probably got 30 things I could have given to him.

And I'm like, there's no way.

There's no way.

So it's got to be to that level of the one that I put out that received tons of positive feedback.

But now I'm like, dang, dude, where.

Can people find it?

So you can get on TikTok and check it out.

I think there's close to the full.

Maybe even some of my Instagram as well.

So TikTok would be at Josh Baca 5, one word.

And then Facebook, obviously under Josh Baca, and then Instagram, Josh Baca716.

Nice.

And for everybody.

Listen, I'll make sure to have all of these in the notes so you can go back and find Josh through that.

Yeah.

And reach out to me.

I'm still doing some consulting too.

Like, people have been calling me and I'll sit down and schedule hour long conversations.

And on the sales side of it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Tell everybody about that.

What, what, what do you do and what do you want more of?

Well, so I got a lot of exposure, you know, originally thanks to you and some other podcasts that I've been on in the beginning.

And then once, once I got with Weldon, oftentimes he would have me speak at some of his events.

He.

He holds some really amazing events down here for sales guys and business owners in the spring.

So I would come through and he would graciously introduce me and I would come on and field questions.

Well, a lot of the people that I would meet at these events afterwards, it was really fun because, you know, you'd be able to drink some whiskey and smoke some cigars and hang out with tradespeople.

And so that's when a lot of people were like, dude, how can we get you out here?

Can do you do ride alongs.

Can.

Can we, can we get you out here?

Booked out for maybe three or four days to, you know, and that's when I'd be reaching out to you, like, hey, man, like, how do I do this logistically?

What do I do?

And so, but yeah, but in the meantime, people would follow me on social media and then start messaging me and they're like, hey, man, like, dude, I'm in a slump.

I need a conversation with you, like, asap.

Nice.

I'm in between running calls and I'm trying to get home.

My wife's got dinner, you know, on this in the stove, you know, so I'm like, bro, like, I seriously got an hour.

But here's here's what we would need to do for that.

Done.

Let me send it to you.

Bang.

And then I would sit down with them and chat for an hour.

And then, then I would follow up too.

I'd call him back in a day or two and be like, hey, how'd your next calls go?

Were you, are you able to close?

Are you starting to kind of see?

Because we get in our way sometimes.

I still call you to this day and I'm like, sam, bro, talk to me, man.

I'm like hitting a brick wall.

So I still do that and that's almost easier for me to do right now.

As we approach the shoulder season, I think I'm going to be more available for actual on sites.

Sure.

But at any given time I can find.

I'm not as savvy as it you send links and schedules.

It's a beautiful thing.

I'm not to that point yet.

I just get with that technician or that design consultant and say, okay, what's your schedule look like?

Well, here's my.

Okay, Wednesday.

We'll do two hours on Wednesday starting at 4pm Beautiful.

Okay.

Lock it in.

Yep.

And we work out, you know, we work out, you know, so, so that's, that's still, still, still going and I hope to do more of that.

But as of right now, just full on design consultant.

Yeah.

Especially at the new place.

You got to get ingrained into the new organization culture and everything.

Anyway.

That's right.

So I am going to put this out there because I was talking to Josh about this for everybody that's listening.

Yes, I do.

On sites.

Yes.

Into the shoulder seasons.

Josh does on sites.

If you want us out together to get some, have us out and double team your team and we'll come out, we'll do the training.

Two people doing ride alongs would be absolute fire.

You have no idea the magnitude that would the value add to your organization.

So reach out to us.

Reach out to me.

They're not ready for both of us.

I don't think there's a squad out there that's ready for that amount of value.

It would be a deadly.

I don't think so.

I don't think so.

So this is the challenge.

If you think you're ready for both of us at the same time, then reach out and let us know.

But I've got some new stuff that I've been working on that I can't wait to train in the field anyway.

So yeah, it would be an honor.

To do something like that with you.

And I told you from the beginning.

Yeah, you call me and I'm gonna be there.

But, boy, the people on the receiving end of that amount of knowledge that just the role plays, the ride alongs, you know, the autopsies of the call afterward and then even.

And the fun parts, right?

Hanging out at topgolf afterwards and getting together with the company and the guys.

Yeah, yeah.

It would be a nice, solid one, two punch for any sales team.

Just the amount of experience you've had doing that and then what I bring to the table as well.

Phenomenal.

I love the.

So the raw that you bring, the raw aspect of it all is such a refreshing piece to this.

I've been doing it so much.

I work so hard to be in the field still.

That's why I do the ride alongs, because I don't ever want to lose touch of that.

But I'm not doing it daily like you are anymore.

And so that combination is like, seriously fire.

So if y'.

All.

If you want to talk about it, everybody out there, pop me a message.

Sam, close it now.net hit.

Josh gave you all his contact info.

Contact him, contact me.

Loop both of us.

What's your.

What's your email that way?

I mean, if you want to copy us both.

Yeah.

So you can reach me at boss76.

Excellent.

And of course, Sam, close it now.net puts both in the email chain.

And yeah, we'll hop on a call and have a conversation.

It would be dope.

So legit.

So, dude, thanks for being on today.

This has been a fun conversation.

It's not the norm for the show, but I really appreciate these just real world experience type of.

Of stories because there's thousands of people in our trade that have either just gone through it or gonna go through it or some variation in between, or maybe they're going through it again.

Who knows?

And so how do we navigate it?

So drop.

So that's.

That's what I was gonna ask you.

Drop a.

What would be your best advice, you know, or tips or whatever.

How to.

How to better prepare for that and how to navigate through it and come out in a better place than just being, you know, what both of us did.

At least I did it was freaked out to holy crap, it's changed to I don't like this to, you know, all of this.

Basically walk through all the stages of grief along the way.

How do we do it better than that?

Because that's really what I want to get out of this episode.

Excellent point.

Yeah.

So it's.

It's Tough.

So, I mean, it's, it is a necessary evil to use that term.

But I think the best advice would just be for people to be aware.

And if anybody's going through it, you know, it's similar to when you're, you're running your sales calls and you're learning these processes and we're expert communicators, but what makes a lot of us good is the ability to also listen.

Listen and comprehend.

So try to always lead with your heart.

Show compassion for those in the management positions.

Show loyalty and compassion for those your, your, your compadres, your teammates.

And just try as hard as you can, even in the most frustrating parts of it, to keep yourself in check.

Keep, you know, and, and to not.

Because it's easy to want.

There was times I wanted to just lose it, man, it just built up and out.

So invest in a punching bag, lift weights, do some things that you can, get some of that and then reach out, reach out to mentors.

Don't internalize the whole thing.

If you're frustrated, you know, and you need to sit down, call a meeting, say, hey, can I talk to you in private for about 10 minutes, get a hold of your manager and just say, hey, look, I could have maybe done better with that.

I let a lot of things go and I let some things build up to where finally there was a comment made and that was it.

I was like, no, we ain't doing this, you know, so just learn from our mistakes and just try to use the skills that you have, which is communication skills at the end of the day.

And ultimately, you know, one of my mentors told me this, Weldon was like, well, you know, at the end of the day, and you mentioned it several times as well, you've now acquired a skill set that's repeatable, scalable.

And so, you know, if you need to go out there and interview other companies, have them interview you.

You know, there's a, that's one beautiful thing about this industry.

There's a spot for you.

There's a spot right now for you out there.

So if you think that you're stuck or that it's end all be all, don't just know that you are looking for a great opportunity when you found the current company that you're at.

So instead of focusing on this, take all of that energy, that frustration, that anger sometimes and that depression sometimes, and just channel it to finding a spot that's going to be perfect for you and you're going to be good for them and then crush it.

Get right back in line with your goals.

But, yeah, if you need to take that time out to find that and have that.

Have that, you know, conversation with yourself, stop and do that before, you know, you misstep.

You know, you just.

You just always.

I always wanted to make sure that I didn't burn any bridges and that I respectfully made my exit and be aware of that, because we're all people in this together.

There are people, too, that have feelings, too.

It's not just like some.

Some organization that's robotic.

No, it's full of people, too.

They're doing the best they can as well.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, just keep that in mind as you go forward, because it's real easy to just be like, I don't know what movie it was.

I think.

I don't know where the guy quit, and he was just like, f you.

F you.

You're cool.

And F you, and I'm out of here.

And then he just quits.

Don't do that.

Nope, nope.

As tempting as that is to do,.

100% Can ditto everything you just said.

It's like, you know, remembering that, you know, as the professional, we say we have so much personal growth, and we're all these things will show it.

You know, listen to, understand not to respond.

Work on our choosing our reactions or choosing our responses and not just our reactions.

And I think that will go a long way.

And then ask yourself, I mean, if.

If.

If I had to do it differently, I would have asked myself questions like, what do I need to learn right now?

What am I?

What do I need to become better at?

So I don't take.

So I don't take this as personally.

I would have started asking myself those kind of questions, and instead.

Instead of twist it off.

And that is so good.

Yeah.

So it doesn't.

You know, it doesn't mean that still the right May or may not still be the right fit, but if you do it, ask yourself those questions, at least the choices will come from a very different place.

Well, that's.

Well said, man.

That was really good.

Yep.

Good stuff, man.

Dude, I love it.

Well, thanks for being on the show.

We got to land this plane, and we'll do more episodes.

Of course.

Yeah, man.

I'm looking forward to it, brother.

So.

But everybody out there, reach out, get us out together.

It'll be fun.

We'll come and knock your socks off and definitely blow the doors off of your sales team, because 100%, I promise you, I talk to so many owners out there, and they say, oh, yeah, my guys are good.

They sell just fine.

And then we see the number line and it's like, are you kidding me?

You think this is good?

So the thing is, what I want to not saying everybody out there is bad.

There's plenty of incredible people.

What I want you to know is wherever they're at, there's so much potential available that they haven't even.

Don't even know is there and that they haven't started to even tap into.

That's what we would have the ability to unlock for them.

So let's get.

And they will absolutely love it.

They would love it.

Yeah, 100%.

So, you know, all right, man.

Well, this is.

This type of conversation is how we grow and how we become someone worth buying from.

So for everybody listening, until next time, work to become someone worth buying from.

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

Our passion is to dive headfirst 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, relationships and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all.

We hope you've enjoyed the show.

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We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find the [email protected] find us on Instagram at thereal.

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It.