That Time We Talked About Marketing

This is episode number 49 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're glad you guys could join us for this special episode. They're all special.

They're all special.

Well, They're especially special now that you're actually back in the studio with us again. You've created some consistency with the audience.

Yeah, it's exciting times.

It is! If you guys have not yet, go ahead and hit the subscribe button, the thumbs up there on Facebook, whatever it is on Instagram and Twitter, and follow us in all the places. It's big fun.

Yep!

And mentioning that, we had a pretty big week this week.

Yeah, we did.

We hit some goals, but the most exciting news was, the wall for the studio went up.

Yeah, that was a, that was a fun project, man. If you, if you haven't seen it, go on our Facebook page and check it out.

Yeah, it is a 7-foot version of the Homeowner's Show logo.

Yeah, and it's on a 10-foot wall. So that's, uh, yeah, the, the, the better story is that we did the entire thing in 3 hours.

Yeah, it was pretty— it was impressive. Yeah.

Oh, and we were pulling wood from places we didn't even know wood existed.

It is, it is a full scrap wall, but it looks really cool.

It does.

So if you've ever wanted to have that, you know, what's the term they're using for that now?

Shabby chic?

Is it shabby chic?

Or rustic?

I think we got accused of that online. Someone was calling us shabby chic. It's like a taunt.

Yeah, we didn't know which one of us was shabby and which one was chic. Oh, I know. So does everybody else.

But anyway, we have a really cool episode for you guys. We have Nick and Christian in the studio. How you guys doing?

Good.

What's going on, guys?

Going really good. So tell, tell us who you are, and you probably can't tell us why you're here yet. I'm gonna, I'm gonna explain that here in a second, but tell us who you guys are with and what you guys do.

Gotcha. So my name is Nick Mitchell. I'm here with BizConnect and BWI Marketing. BizConnect is a networking platform that allows business owners to connect with each other, and BWI Marketing and BizConnect are kind of connected together because With marketing, there's networking and we're always looking to put people together. And so through BWI Marketing, we do websites, SEO, and small business marketing.

Awesome. And you're with him?

I'm tagging along.

Okay. Just here for the fun.

What he said.

All right. So how long have you guys been working together?

Man, we've been best friends since we were 15. Right. And we've basically been, uh, you know, always trying to figure out We've been dreamers since we were kids, how we were going to make it in life, man. And, uh, since we were 15, all the other kids were out partying. We did our share of partying, but we also had a lot of, uh, brainstorming sessions and things like that since a young age. And so, uh, you know, we started our first business together, I think like what, 4 years ago as a mobile car cleaning company.

Yep. 19 years old. So it's going on. Well, actually it's 7. I just turned 26.

Time flies.

Yep. So you say you started with a mobile car cleaning company? Yeah.

Okay. That was our first business ever. Uh, I think. Together and otherwise. Yeah. And, uh, it was cool. We, we both had full-time jobs at the time. Nick was a realtor. I was a salesman. And so it was one of those side things and, uh, we didn't have the time to put into it really. So obviously, you know, it didn't work out, uh, like we wanted to. We actually still get leads and we give them to, uh, yeah, one of our guys that has a website through us.

So it worked out great. We knew that it was going to come back and help us one day.

So hey, invest in leads from that.

Invest in your Google My Business page.

There you go.

There you go. Yeah.

Well, so if, if you're a regular listener to the Homeowner Show at this, at this moment in time, you might be thinking to yourself, self, why does Kevin and Craig have a marketing group and a marketing network group and consultants on the show?

On, I mean, this is a show about homeowners, right? So why would we bring in a group that is specifically geared toward marketing? Because the likelihood of you having to market your house or, or something, now those are called Realtors. And so, but we, we, one of the things that, that we're real interested in is helping connect our listeners to other people that can help them with their house. So whether that's a plumber, an AC guy, a leak detector, a roofer, a landscaper, whoever it is, we're, we're trying to help our listeners, um, know who to, who to talk to, and when they talk to them, how to talk to them, how to know, am I getting scammed, or has this person got my best interest in mind, those sorts of things. And so

I guess one of the things that we really want to talk to you guys about is, from a marketing standpoint, how do we know what a good company is versus a not good company? Because, um, I I can tell you just from personal experience, I've, you know, used companies that have great marketing schemes that have been—

Kevin has been recently burned by a home warranty company. So he's— there's a little bitterness in the heart and he's like, I bought the scheme.

I bought the scheme. And then there's others that, you know, maybe don't do any advertising except like a little, you know, placard on the side of their car or something. And they might be the best plumber in the world. So, so I guess one of the things that we want to talk to you guys about specifically is how do we tell, and how do you, um, how, what would you tell us and tell our listeners? How do you understand marketing from a perspective of a consumer?

So I would, I would talk about this more as the owner of Biz Connect than I would as BWO Marketing. See, Biz Connect, that's why we created Biz Connect. Biz Connect is a networking group for business owners and, uh, you know, to come in and to have a platform to advertise their services, but also have other people advertise their services for them. All right. And so that's a really big thing is referrals and Biz Connect. You know, when someone uses someone else's services, that's a platform now that they can go and say, hey, I recommend this guy. I used his services. Look what he did for me. Look at this barbecue pit that he built for me. Look at this remodel he did for me.

You know?

And so that's a platform for that as well as to market yourself. And so to answer your question, you know, how do you, how do you kind of figure out who's who? Go get 3 quotes from 3 different people and look at their reviews. And you can tell right off the bat if someone's paying people or saying, hey, brother, you know, will you go leave a review on my— you can tell by the quality of the review if it's heartfelt or if it's, you know, hey, I'm just doing this to help my friend out.

Right.

You know, or if it's something they have past experience with. And so I think just to answer that question, um, sum it up. Yeah. You know, get, get multiple quotes. Um, check out reviews, Google reviews, uh, check out Facebook reviews. Um, maybe even contact those people who have done business with them or saying they've done business with them and get their input on it, you know? And, and if you do things like that, I think that can help you avoid running into those issues kind of like you did where you're getting in with a shady company. They may have, have a brilliant marketing scheme. And on the BWI side, we like to really vet and choose who we, who we work with, right? And then Biz Connect has really been a blessing for us because it's given us

a platform. Now we can be choosy on who we decide to market for. Whereas before we were, you know, we were trying to market for whoever we could help and whoever wanted our help. Now so many people want our help, we can really choose the best of the best to really market for. And I think that's, um, uh, one of the coolest things, um, for us to have both of those companies, um, work together.

Well, and I think that's something that a lot of people might be interested is, I mean, like, if you as a marketing company are vetting companies, what does that process look like for you guys?

Same thing I just kind of mentioned, man. You got to do your research. You got to go in, you got to check out their previous jobs. You have to talk to their previous people. You have to talk to referrals, people who are referring them or have left reviews. You know, you got to read their reviews. You got to see how long they've been in business. There's, there's different ways that you can go about vetting those people. And I think honestly, word of mouth is one of the coolest things in the world. A lot of people Um, you know, you rely on word of mouth so heavily, like you were saying, he may not have a big marketing production, but he's doing well because he does good work and people refer

them, you know? And so talking to those people, that's the most powerful thing you can do. And when you pair that with marketing, if you're a good marketer and you have good work, that's where you're really successful. And that's what we look for is someone who has the funds and the ability to want to help us grow their company and us help them. Um, that also does good work. You know, when you pair those 2 together, that's, that's how you have a successful company.

And our ideology behind marketing, I'm sure, is probably a lot different than other marketing companies. So we, we tend to invest more in the person and in the company. We'd rather have one client in one specific industry than 5 clients in one specific industry, because we would rather have that long-term relationship with one person over 5, 10 years instead of having, you know, a relationship with somebody over 3 or 6 months.

Right. Yeah. And that's just to touch on what Nick's saying. And that's kind of through the vetting process. You know, there may be 5 contractors that want us to market for them. We're going to choose one person that we can truly recommend. And then we market on so many different ways, right? It's not just your website. It's not just your SEO. It's not just your Facebook, but we use Biz Connect. We use out-of-the-box marketing strategies. We're hosting an event for one of our clients. He's a mortgage broker and we're hosting a real estate specific event for him to bring in referral partners for him that he can help and they can help him versus us having 3 mortgage people that we're marketing for. We can't do that for everyone.

Right.

So we choose one really great, and that way, and we also want our word to mean something when we say, hey, we recommend this person. They know we've went through that vetted process of, of, of seeing if that person is worth the referral, you know, and who should. And aside from that too, I want to get to a point more to where I don't just have one really awesome guy that I refer when I like on Biz Connect side, I want to refer like 3, you know, and let that cut. Cause you know, some people jive better with others, right? Some, you know, you, you, you may, as a pest control guy, you may really jive well with one person, but you know, someone else jives really well with this person. So if I recommend multiple

people, let it be their decision on who they feel is the best fit for them, you know, to do business with.

Right.

business with. And I think I really want to get more to that on the Biz Connect side instead of saying, hey, this is my guy. Like, I want to say, hey, this is who I personally use, but here's another couple options just in case he doesn't work out for you. And then you also get competitive pricing. It doesn't become so monopolized, you know? Yeah, absolutely.

That makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

Yeah. And I think one of the things that, that I like about what you're saying is, you know, whenever it comes to, to the review side of things, is is that it puts you in the driver's seat a little bit. But because here's part of the problem, I think a lot of these guys that are, that are owning businesses out there that are really doing a good job because they recognize that customer service is what is going to get them repeat business.

100%.

And, and if you provide good customer service, you give a good product and you provide good customer service, then they're going to tell their friends. The problem is a lot of those people are not good at marketing themselves. They're relying on other people to market for them. And so, you know, what I like about what you're saying is those people don't necessarily have to be the best marketers in order to be the best at what they're at, and those might not be the people you go after. However, it sounds to me like y'all have something set in place for those people to then market, get marketed better. Is that what I'm hearing?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and that's exactly what we're trying to do as far as the marketing marketing company goes is right along those lines. So, um, yeah.

Yeah. And I mean, when you're running your own business, it's impossible to wear everybody's like hat, you know, you can't be the salesperson, you can't be the marketing person. You can't be the, you know, the director of operations or the CFO. It's, it's so hard. And so that's how we're really able to help out a lot of companies. We're able to kind of fit in and port and put that important piece of the puzzle of successful business together. With what we can do in marketing.

Absolutely.

I mean, it's tough marketing. The, the amount of research and studying we've done into marketing, it wouldn't make sense for someone who's only marketing for their company to put that time and effort in when they can pay us because time is worth so much more. It's so, so valuable, right? And so these companies who are making big money and are looking to get from here to here, right? And they're trying to scale. They don't have time to sit there and, and take away from the, you know, let's say if they're a construction company, they're, they're running all these jobs. They're doing, like he said, he's, they're, they're, Nick said, they're wearing all these different hats.

They don't have time to do that.

And that's That's where we, that's why we started BWI. We saw that need in the marketplace. There's so many people like, and we were talking before the show, there's so many people who are really good at what they do. They're really good at, at, you know, at carpentry, right? But they have no idea how to market and that's okay. You know, and that's kind of where we fit in. And I think one really cool thing about Biz Connect is, you know, our time is valuable. So our prices aren't cheap for us to market. And a lot of new business owners need us, but can't afford us. And so what we've done with Biz Connect is try and put a free platform to try and help people elevate from beginner to intermediate, because

now we can help them get from intermediate to scale to successful, you know? And actually, and so that's really what we're trying to do, um, as our vision is to help people be able to afford our services. So we'll get 'em from beginner to intermediate and then they'll have to pay to get from intermediate to scale. Sure.

Yeah.

And so that's kind of our, um, thought with Biz Connect. And at the same time, you know, we get to help so many people, which is the coolest thing ever. I always told Nick, I was like, man, I wanna make a lot of money in life, but how cool is this? We get to make lot of money and help a lot of people. Like, that's the coolest way ever to become successful.

Yeah. I mean, anytime you can help other people, I mean, it's one, it's enjoyable for you to do that, but if you can make money along the way, it's just cheddar on top.

That's right.

Yeah. It's good stuff.

Right.

So, so I'm curious as to, for both of you guys, let's just say for instance, you guys need an AC guy, you know, where, where is your eye going to go? Is it going to go to the phone? Is it going to go to the webpage? Is it going to go to Facebook? Where are you guys, where are you guys starting your search?

For us personally, it's gonna be through Biz Connect.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're gonna go to the people who have been there for us, who have done jobs for me already that I know that I can trust, you know? And so we've, we've really integrated our personal network into Biz Connect.

Mm-hmm.

And, and now vice versa, we've started integrating Biz Connect into our personal network.

Yeah.

Um, and so I think, you know, for us, uh, if you would've asked me that question 3 months ago, I'd have said Google.

Google. If I needed AC guy, I was gonna say, because like Google, I don't, I mean like it's, it's a closed group, right?

Right.

Right.

So like, I mean like average person's not gonna So if you don't have that, I mean, which is an incredible resource, are you going to go to Google? Are you going to go to—

It depends. You know, if you have someone, let's say your mom's been using the same AC guy for 30 years and he's done great work and you've seen him here and there and you ask your mom, you know, either Google or someone you trust, someone who's, who's been through that. So, hey, you know, have you ever used any guy? The last guy I used wasn't too great. Guess where I'm going? Google. You know, but if she says, hey, this guy's awesome, right? That word of mouth is more powerful than any Google directory. You know what I mean? So once again, back to word of mouth, right?

Yeah.

I think a lot of people don't recognize how of their own networks that they, that they have, right? Whether it's your coworkers or, you know, the friends that your, your kids go to school with, their parents, um, or maybe your church or, you know, um, a community organization that you're, you're involved with, um, or a, you know, like the Kiwanis Club or something like that. People are naturally inclined to have a network of some sort.

Absolutely.

So ask those people, who are you using? And, and honestly, one of the things that, that I've found, um, just, you know, through doing this show and some other things is people will say, well, let me tell you who not to use.

Right.

That's also good to know.

And so, and so it's like, you know, sometimes you get that as well. Um, and so maybe it's wise to start there and then hit up Google and see if the two things mesh together. And if they do, maybe you're back to the drawing board, um, on some of those things.

Absolutely. Yeah, I agree with that 100%.

Yeah. And so let's, let's, let's flip over to the other side because I mean, one, we have, we have homeowners listening to the show, but we also have a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs and things like that who own their own businesses that are listening to the show. And, and I know a lot of them, you know, marketing's not their thing.

Right.

And, and so what are, what are some areas like, you know, let's say you are kind of a mom and pop, you know, you're just getting on your feet. And maybe I'm not at the level where I can afford a marketing team yet. What are the sort of things that I should be focusing on as a businessman?

Oh man, I love this question. This is exact— Nick always looks at me, dude, you talk too much on this. I'm always trying to help people. So Facebook, man, right now, go listen to Gary Vee, go find these guys who have all this content on YouTube. They're giving you the answers, they're writing books. Facebook and social media, Instagram with hashtags, right? And it obviously varies from industry to industry, right? If you're a photographer, you need to be on Instagram, you need to be using hashtags. You know, if you're a—

Well, and for some of these guys, I mean, like, explain what a hashtag is. I think a lot of people don't even know what that is.

Okay, yeah, so hashtag's great. Like, let's say you're a photographer, or let's say you're looking for a photographer, photography. You can go on Instagram and search a hashtag, and you can go see everyone who used that hashtag on all their posts and on one feed. Right, everyone who's tagged hashtag, you know, photography, hashtag Photoshop, hashtag, you know, whatever it is. And those hashtags are just a way to get people to see your post by kind of— it's kind of like keywords through websites, right? Yeah, right. So like when somebody goes to Google and they type in, you know, pest control in Conroe, you know, who pops up on there? And those same keywords are like hashtags, and you can use them through Instagram, but but other than just hashtags, right, that's just one aspect of it. Just

the social media in general, Facebook groups, right? You can— every business I've ever ran, I have exploded in groups as well through other groups, other Facebook groups, you know. And you can go to so many Facebook groups that will allow you to use their group as a platform to advertise your own business. Okay, it's just— it's in building up your own personal organic page.

100% free, by the way.

Yeah, 100% free. to post in these groups, you know? So, so that's something you should definitely be using. Um, and, and there's so many little tricks and tips. I mean, I could, I could write a book on it. So many people already have. And go read those books because that— you got to do the research. Go watch YouTube videos. If you are a carpenter, go on YouTube and say, how do I get business as a carpenter? And there will be 20 videos that will give you so much valuable information. Uh, also one big thing I tell people, don't reinvent the wheel.

Yeah.

There are other carpenters in Oklahoma that are in no competition with you who probably have a social media page that is booming. Go find their social media page, take ideas from them. Don't copyright it, you know, don't plagiarize it, you know, rewrite it, but take their ideas that they're using. You're not in competition with them, they're in Oklahoma, right? So they don't care, nor will they probably even find out. But you can use that as an inspiration to then post your own content that will get your own engagement, right? So go find other people who are successful at what you're trying to do and don't reinvent the wheel. Just add some brakes, add a steering wheel, right? Make it better.

Yeah.

Improve upon an already established system.

I'm glad you mentioned Gary Vee because I recommend his book Crushing It all the time to guys. Like, look, if you don't understand what each of these platforms is for, here's a great guide to it, and here's a guy that's actually killing it, crushing it on every single one of them.

And helping other people. Yeah, you know, it's proven. People— I mean, it's just, he's brilliant. I love Gary Vee. I hope I meet him one day. That's my goal.

So Nick, aside from, you know, social media, what are some other things these guys can be can be paying attention to and focusing on if they're, if they're doing their own thing?

Networking groups, getting out there and meeting new people. Uh, obviously, uh, I mean, the biggest thing in business and sales is relationships.

Yeah.

Um, develop those skills, learn how to, you know, be outgoing and hold a conversation, or if you can't do it, find somebody who can and partner with them. Um, that along with social media, I think is a great plan of attack for, growing your business, getting those sales?

Yeah. One of the biggest things is, uh, is, is making referral partners and business alliances. And I watched a video and it literally triggered my entire mindset and gave me a paradigm shift on marketing. It was like, like this guy who owns a marketing company, right? All of his business comes from, or I think it was like 70% of his business was coming from business alliances. So he's in B2B sales, right? His client is a business owner. So what did he do? He went and found other businesses whose client was also a business owner. They weren't in competition, they had the same client. So when he's talking to his client, he's like, by the way, oh, you need a CPA? I got a great CPA. When that CPA's doing this guy's

taxes, he's like, oh, you need some marketing? By the way, I got this guy, because they have the same ideal client. So go build business alliances with other businesses that you can refer business to back and forth.

Yeah.

Join mastermind groups. You know, I'm not gonna, you know, like Biz Connect, we're creating a lot of mastermind groups.

groups.

BNI has their own. Ours is a version of BNI that's free. Right. And within our mastermind group, we all refer business back and forth. We have AC guys referring business to contractors and contractors referring business to them and back and forth and mortgage brokers and real estate agents and go build those relationships because it's free. And you don't have to, and you can have a referral program where you give referrals, but the best thing in the world is to trade referrals. Oh yeah.

So yeah, I was talking to, uh, to one of our friends who was on our show way back towards the beginning. Uh, Samir, who is a landscaper. So you can go check out his, uh, episode back on Slack number 5, way back there, way back there.

Samir's old now.

Yeah, exactly. Uh, but one of the things that I asked him one day is I said, hey, do you, do you do stamped concrete? And he said, no, uh, but I use a guy. I use a guy that does. And, um, I, I He said, you know, I use stamped concrete in a lot of the platforms that I'm using for some of these outdoor grills and things like that that I'm doing, but I don't do the work, but I know him and I would tell you to go use him. So a lot of times maybe think of sistering companies to what you're doing. So if you, if you are having a plumbing issue and you have a relationship with an AC guy,

They may know somebody. And, and those types of referrals are, like you said, you, you have a trusted person that you feel like, I can trust this person, they trust that person, so inherently I should trust that person.

Absolutely.

And that's the model of networking. I don't know if anybody, uh, who's listening has ever been to a BNI show or anyone here. It's kind of funny when you go— I'm not, I'm not sure if all of them do this, but They kind of do this presentation where one person stands up and he says, hey, I'm a lawyer and, um, I need to find a, uh, a real estate agent to help one of my clients sell their house. And so then the real estate agent that's at the table will stand up and then she'll pass it on to somebody maybe that does construction. She needs somebody to help fix their house. And that's kind of like, it's like hypothetical, right?

It's a hypothetical thing they do where they just make a hypothetical, like, how can I? And, and it works like that in real life sometimes. That's a really neat thing. You know, it, it will be like that exactly what Nick said. You know, and, uh, so I thought that was a really cool piece that, uh, we took from the BNI meeting we went to.

And I think that's a lever that like a lot of homeowners don't pull, right? I mean, because they're inevitably, they, they have someone that they're going to interact with and if they like what they do, it, it, to me, it makes sense to go, you know, I'm going to need some other services at some point in time. Do you know a plumber? Do you know an electrician? Do you, I mean, like ask these business owners, I mean, cause that's, they're gonna, they're not going to tell you people, I mean, people who are have paid, you have paid, you know, they want to keep you as a good customer. They're not going to refer anybody to you that's going to do a bad job.

Exactly.

Yeah. So they're only going to tell you the best of the best.

And 9 times out of 10, they know someone that will help you. Yeah. So that, that's, that's a brilliant way to look at it. You know, always, always ask, you know.

Yeah. I think that happens all the time is when you are doing something successfully, you wind up associating yourself with other people that are successful. Absolutely. In a similar industry. And the service industry is an, is a, a grouped industry.

Mm-hmm.

Just like, you know, I, I don't know, like the lawyer industry. The thing of, the thing about being a lawyer, an attorney, is there's so many different types of attorneys out there.

Right.

You know, there's defense, there's, you know, uh, there, there's like the money side.

Family.

Family.

Yeah.

There's the, You know, divorce. I mean, there's so many things out there, but, you know, sometimes you'll talk to someone that you, you know, oh, I got a lawyer friend, I'll see if they can help me with this. And they're like, I don't do that at all. I work with insurance. Like, I'm an insurance attorney. Like, I don't know anything about how to get you out of that ticket, but I know someone who does, right? And so the same is true in the service industry, I think.

Absolutely.

So, you know, use that and leverage it is what I'm hearing you say.

That's, that's just smart business alliances. That's what, that's what that guy said on that video. And I've loved that term ever since, make business alliances. My cousin works for ADP, right? And so he, his whole thing, they train them on this. I didn't have to tell them this, but they trained them on, but, you know, go find CPAs, go find accountants that, that, cause he does payroll services, you know, that they, they do different things but have the same ideal client. Right. And homeowner is the ideal client. And so an AC guy will know a plumber who will know a carpenter who will know a pest control guy and all that. And the same thing with insurance. We actually have 4 different

insurance agents in our mastermind, right? And we only allow one industry-specific person in our mastermind. So we only have one real estate agent, one remodeler, one new home builder, right? We have 4 insurance agents. And the same thing, like you're saying with lawyers, there's so many different types of insurance. Well, I wanted to build a group of all the insurance people and then have all of them tell each other what they do.

Right.

So they can all refer business because you don't know, I don't even know the first thing about insurance. I do now because I've talked to them for it. But at the beginning I'm like, I don't even know what the difference between your insurance, your insurance, and yours. I just know I need insurance on my car. Which one of you can help me?

Right.

Well, if you go to the wrong person, they're going to refer you to the right one. And same thing we're talking about, you know, and so business alliances, that's where this guy that I thought was awesome on that YouTube video made 70% of his marketing sales through business alliances.

So I'll tell you another place it's really good to find information on people to use, uh, if you're looking for a home. There's this podcast called The Homeowner Show.

There you go.

If you go listen to The Homeowner Show, chances are you'll find somebody in an industry that you can either, you know, ask or, you know, find someone that's modeled after that person. Maybe you'll find someone worth talking to, you know.

Absolutely. That's very cool that you guys have this show, man.

I mean, it's— I It's a learning tool for us because we're just both a couple of chuckleheads that have no idea what we're doing.

No, we muddle through. I think that's everyone in life, right? As a parent, I feel the same way.

Yeah, for sure.

I always thought my parents had it together, and now that I'm a parent, I'm like, okay, we're all just trying to figure it out as we go.

I'm really stoked that the wall that we put up the other day is still standing.

All right.

Exactly.

Well, and that's actually a perfect example of what we're talking about here. Because here's the thing, like, you know, we, we had a contingency of wood to put this thing together, and we got about, what, almost halfway up, maybe a third of the way up with what we had, and went, oh crap, we don't have enough wood.

Which also goes to prove once again we didn't know what we were doing.

Exactly.

Because we didn't plan right.

Exactly. And so we literally start pooling from different places and going, okay, can we make do with this piece? Oh, check out this turquoise piece. I had no idea that this was even laying around here. And so we piecemealed it together and what we came out with was really a beautiful product.

Yeah, absolutely.

And so sometimes, you know, you are probably going to hit a miss every once in a while.

Absolutely.

Right. But you know, that's just one, one of those things. Everybody's going to hit a miss and whenever you do, Um, just, you know, keep going.

Absolutely.

You know, get back in the batter's box and swing again.

I've got a big miss coming up because right after my wife saw that wall, she's like, why don't you build something like that in our house?

Yeah.

I'm like, I gotta recreate this thing.

Well, we will never have one like it.

Going dumpster diving.

That's what's good.

That's exactly—

well, yeah. Yeah.

Well, cool. Well, what else? Um, if you know, What else would you tell a homeowner if there's anything that we haven't hit on? Like, this is something that you should be looking for whenever you're trying to vet somebody. Is there a— let's say, let's say you get someone on the phone and you're just trying to ask them a question. What do you have anything that just boom, ask this question or try to, try to get them to give you this type of information? Hmm.

Off the top of my head, I did not prepare for this question.

I think one big thing is meeting with them in person.

person.

Yeah.

And maybe fill them out, man.

Somebody else with you so that you could be talking to them and the other person could be more focused and listening to what exactly they're saying. And so that you guys, you know, and one thing I could say is, you know, avoid signing the deal there. Um, yeah.

Anybody's trying to pressure you, back off.

Right.

Okay.

Yeah.

I don't like pressure.

This isn't like 1970 anymore. It's not like there's not like high pressure sales.

Yeah.

Right.

You gotta sign right now. Yeah. If someone does that, run.

I didn't know 1970. I didn't know 1970 was the year of high pressure.

No, it was.

I wasn't alive.

I was sleeping in that history class.

That's just what my grandparents told me.

Well, yeah, and so I think, you know, you bring up a really good point there, is that there's a powerful word in the English language that most of us don't do very well with, and that's no.

Right.

You know, being able to say, no, I'm not going to hire you right here on the spot, I've got other people, that actually can be a very powerful tool in your tool belt to say no. It does. It gives you an out to say, no, I'm not ready. I need to think about this. You know, one of, one of the big decisions my wife and I made early on in our marriage is we're not going to make big decisions without sleeping first.

Right.

You know, we want to wake up the next morning and see if we actually feel good about it and do it. Absolutely. And I think that's something that a lot of people can learn from, is just don't feel rushed into anything. But the other thing is, whenever you tell somebody, you know what, I got 2 other plumbers on their way, Like, uh, you're, you're almost telling them, give me your best deal.

Right.

You know, I'm, I'm trying to let you know that, that you're not my only person here. I have other options. And so, uh, you know, be willing to say no and, and don't feel pressured into anything. That's really good.

And at the same time, don't ever let price dictate also who you pick, because sometimes the lower price isn't the right way to go.

Right.

You know, and so you really gotta, you're in And that's, I'm so glad that you guys brought this up. Everyone should really think about this.

Right.

Because what we're saying is just off the top of our head. Right. But this is such an important subject that people really need to think about when you, you know, it's tough. Like if your AC goes out, right.

Yeah.

This is, that's hot in Texas. You gotta get that thing fixed.

There's other pressures at that point.

Right.

And so you, but you know, don't rush into just picking the cheapest or, you know, you really just, you gotta figure that out for yourself on your vetting process and research it. You know, there's probably people that put a lot more thought into these questions than I have or Nick has at this moment. Go research that. And before you do anything, go figure out, hey, what's the best vetting? I love Google. You can learn anything. Go watch a video. There's probably a guy who's really put a lot of thought into that question and can answer it like really, like really educationally and can tell you like all the things you should do to vet a person.

Trust your gut.

Yeah.

And that's another thing, man. Like when you're talking to someone, feel them out, get their vibes. You know, it's like, that's so important. To me, I feel like I'm really good at reading someone's intentions, you know? And if you're not, then find another way to vet them. But that's another thing why I like meeting people in person, you know? Um, I can really feel them out and you can get their intentions and who they are, you know?

Yeah. You know, some of the people that I've used for like remodel purposes, I had one guy that, and I should tell y'all that story sometime. It was awful. The end product wound up coming out okay, but it took about 9 times longer than it should have. Um, but you know, one of the things that I've learned is some of the, some of the people that are the best at what they do will come out and straight up tell you, I am not the cheapest. And there's a reason for that.

Absolutely. Everyone who's the best at what they do shouldn't— is usually not the cheapest.

No.

Right.

Yeah. And, and a lot of times they don't have a problem telling you that.

Because they know their worth.

They know their worth. Right. And they know that there's somebody else around the corner who will hire them. And at the end of the day, they're not trying to gouge you necessarily. They're just telling you, listen, I'm at a point in my career where I have the luxury to, to charge you this amount because I will do it right. And a lot of times they're the ones who are saying, and if it's not done right, I will fix it.

Big point right there. Absolutely. I agree with that 100%. There's a guy that I follow, his name's Jamie Wade. He's in Dallas and he owns the AC Hero and a brilliant guy, man. And he's not anywhere close to the cheapest AC person. in Dallas, but he is the best and well-known because whenever a customer needs him, he is there 100%. And when you have an AC issue in Dallas, Texas, you need your guy to be there. So it's worth it to pay him a little bit of extra. And so I took a lot from him and his face, very active on Facebook, uh, with his ideologies and his mindset. And I love mindset. That's probably one of the most

important things to me when I meet someone, I like to know their mindset.

Yeah.

I don't condemn you if you have a mindset, I want to help you change it. That's the coolest thing about mindset is it can be changed and altered, you know, and that mindset, uh, that he has with his customers is what led him to be so successful. You know, he's not the cheapest by any means, but he does the best work and he'll always be there. And he'll go out of his way if it's 9 o'clock at night and his technician can't make it, he'll drive himself and he's a millionaire. And he'll, and I've seen it all over Facebook. He, you know, if they delay a shipment, he'll drive an hour and a half and go pick it up in his pickup truck and drive it to just to make sure

that person's taken care of. And so, you know, you gotta find people like that.

And if you can't, you know, I mean, if you ever listen to Mattress Mack, that's always what he preaches.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Mattress Mack said it all. I mean, that's a perfect example, Nick. Matchless Mac, man. He's still doing it every day. He's like 70-some years old. He's in it. We just actually were, uh, we had to follow up on a speech to 50 salespeople, follow him up. Um, Nick and I, that was, that was fun. So, uh, he did really great in that speech and he talked a lot about that. Um, and you know, he's there every single day. He's probably, he's probably one of the first ones there and the last ones to leave. Yeah. And you know, shows his success shows because of that.

Yeah.

Well, I want to, I want to go back to something Nick said just a little bit ago. He said, you know, meet that person in person, which is honestly in my business is something that rarely happens or something that, something rarely they ask of me, which is surprising because I think most business owners are willing to go and meet with someone in person. They actually want to do that because I mean it's a mutual relationship, but it surprises me when people just buy my services over the phone. Now I'm charming and you know—

Okay, wow.

But I'm not that charming. That charming, you know. And like, it seems like people are paying more for, you know, convenience in that than actually wanting to have a relationship with the people that they're doing business with. But what you said, man, I think that's absolutely critical, is to take the time to actually meet that person before you get married, right? I mean, because that—

I think a lot of people are scared because they feel obligated, because they're, you know, a lot of people are pushovers, you know. Obviously us 4 are not pushovers, but there are people who are pushovers, and so they get intimidated. And if they see you in person, they can't say no to you in person. So you just got to really come up with a plan before you meet them, which is I need to talk to my wife or my husband or whatever the case is, you know?

Yeah. And, and, you know, Craig, to your point, um, I remember whenever you and I met, um, I was actually talking to your dad. I didn't have an idea what y'all were doing. And he said he was in pest control and, you know, of course, of course, you know, immediately I was kinda like, oh, well, you know, we're, we're going to be buying a house soon and We've always had someone do quarterly stuff for us. And your dad immediately went into discussing with me why your company is different than other companies. Right. And, and one of the things that he said that would just made so much sense to me is he said, we kill the bugs before they ever get in your house. We don't

spray inside your house.

Right.

And because, you know, there's chemicals, you don't really need chemicals inside your house. You want the bugs to stay outside of your house, not inside. Let's spray so they won't get in. It made a lot of sense to me. And I think one of the questions that you can put in your tool belt whenever you're talking to someone face to face is what makes you different? Why should I choose you over this other company? And, you know, hopefully they've got an answer.

They should.

Yeah, definitely.

So yourself.

And if they don't, then you probably have your answer right there. Go with the next guy.

Absolutely.

So that's probably a good segue for you guys. I mean, so like new client comes in, you know, and they say, why should I choose you to do my marketing? What do you guys tell them?

Yeah, man. I kind of made a post about that last night, actually had to delete it because we went to Monday and Friday self-promotion only on the group so we can really keep it more value-driven and not so much spam and ads. So I had to follow my own rules. I kind of remember what I said and basically what I said is, you know, the reason you should choose us over another marketing company is I'm not gonna just go do your SEO. Any guy can do that that knows tech, right? I'm not gonna just build you a website. I'm gonna think outside the box and figure out how it is that I can help you as a business owner in every way, in every shape and form, right? And creatively, which is, you know, like I said earlier, I mentioned, you know, we

have a mortgage broker. We're doing an event, a real estate-specific event to help him gain referral partners.

Right.

Right. And like I said, business alliances is the best thing you can do because I can get you, I can send you a referral and that's a one-time thing. If I send you a business alliance referral, How many referrals are they going to bring you over the lifetime that you have that relationship? Right. And so those are the types of things we do. We think outside the box at BWI Marketing and we pair it with the power of Biz Connect and the, and the, and the group and the reach that we have with that.

Yeah.

You know, and so between those 2 things, that's what, that's what makes us different.

Yeah. And real quick, I mean, like, cause that group has grown rather quickly. I mean, where are you guys at?

We started at, uh, at about 20 people and that was in April and that was really just our friends and our personal network.

Right.

And from there we grew it to about 200 people.

We had about 200 people in early July. I think what really sets our group apart though, is not the amount of people, right? There's other groups out there, local Northeastern groups, 5,000, 6,000 people. It's the quality of people that we have in our group.

Mm-hmm.

And so with those 200 people, it was awesome, right? Because everyone was sharing value, helping each other out, referring business. So then as people started to be added into the group, they saw that and it's contagious, that, that atmosphere, that, that, that culture that we, we bred into this group and everyone kind of followed our lead, you know. And so everyone who joined the group is like, holy cow, this is so cool, right? And then they would go tell all their friends. And so we went from early July having 200 people to the end of July having 3,000 people. And now we're at, I think, 3,300.

Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.

So, and like I said, it's— the quantity is nothing in a group like that. You have so many big groups that aren't managed right and get no engagement. Someone makes a post in there and it could be an awesome post and and it gets absolutely zero engagement, right?

Yeah.

It's not fun. Right. But with Biz Connect, that's what sets us apart is the active members that are in there, right? The 3,300 people is not the cool part. It's the, the, the how active they are in the group, you know, and how much value they're willing to share. And that's really the, the founding principle of our group is give value first. Me and Nick, when we started this group, we didn't advertise BWI at all.

Yeah.

Zip. All we did was help people for free.

Mm-hmm.

We didn't charge for events, we didn't charge for help, nothing. We don't need any money. We just provided value first, and in return we've gotten tenfold, right, back, you know. And, and, and I think that's something that everyone should take, you know, is provide value first in any relationship. Don't go to someone and say, how can you help me? Say, how can I help you? And then you'll get yours back.

Yeah, so that's cool.

Great.

Well, so you guys, you guys have some pretty big events coming up too that you guys wanted to talk about. What do we have coming up?

So we've got our, our main event that we hold monthly. It's going to be on the 20th at Big Texas in spring. Uh, as of right now, I think we've got over 450 people interested or going.

Will there be square dancing?

No, not this event.

It'll all be slightly different. I'm out.

Sorry, Kev. I'm out. He's a master square dancer. Yeah.

Yeah.

And the place holds 1,000 people and it's absolutely perfectly set up for marketing. Have a big stage, giant projector screen, um, lots of TVs for, for our sponsors, uh, to put their ads up and, uh, And it's gonna be great. And what's really cool, the last event that we had was at a restaurant and it's really awkward if you're sitting down having a drink and someone's walking next to you, standing up towering over you looking down talking. So now all the tables and bars are all stand or high.

Oh, okay, nice.

So the whole entire venue is literally set up for not sitting down but moving around, marketing and just networking. I think it's gonna be an awesome event. So yeah, we're really excited for that one.

And then we got, then we've got a, a real estate event on the 27th. So we're gonna have, uh, mortgage brokers, uh, real estate agents, uh, real estate attorneys, uh, title companies, uh, inspectors, uh, construction guys, right? Everybody. So that's gonna be a good event. That event is not gonna be as big as, uh, the event on the 20th, our main event. It's gonna be more personable. It's gonna be about 100 people. So we kind of came up with the idea of like, so these events are only 3 hours long. And so you, there's no possible way you could talk to 500 people in 3 hours. And so I think this event's going to be really good for everyone that's in the real estate industry because you're going to get a lot of value out of it. And there's going to be a lot of opportunity to make

key relationships in your industry.

Or anyone that services the real estate industry, you know, pest control, all those different things. You know, a lot of people that own homes in here, the people that are servicing their homes, you know, that can really help in the real estate industry. So that's going to be a really cool niche-specific event that we'll be holding.

And we've got more Yeah.

And we want to, we like, we want to have one rockstar event and we may even move it to 4 rockstar events a year where like everyone from Southeastern, everyone comes out and it's just, it's fun. You know, it's, you're not gonna be able to talk to everyone.

Right.

But it's gonna be fun. And then we're gonna have a lot of smaller mixers. Um, and, and those will be spread out in different areas. We'll have Conroe, we'll have Southeastern downtown, we'll have Woodlands and those smaller mixers, like Nick was saying, and they're just as powerful as the big ones because you, you know, you have 180 minutes. If you talk to one person every minute, you're only gonna get, and that's impossible to do.

do.

Sure.

You're only talking to 108 people. So, you know, really from the average, probably 30 to 50 people. If you're good, if you're good at moving around, that's a lot of talking. That is, you know, and so you don't need these huge events to really have the same impact for you as a business professional. Um, but it is cool to have that, that large atmosphere, that hype, having a motivational speaker. Like we're actually trying to get Mattress Mack. So if you're listening to Mattress Mack, yeah, come on, buddy. We'd really like to get him to come speak for us. And, uh, so we've We've got sponsors that are going to help us. And hopefully if he, if he charges,

I know he does a lot of things for free. I know he charges. So we'll see what happens with that.

But yeah, I'm sure he listens. Yeah. Well, if he doesn't, I mean, we gotta, we gotta open opportunity next week. Oh, he can come on next week.

That would be cool.

There you go.

Absolutely.

Good.

He can follow me up this time. It ain't fun following him up. He's a good speaker, man. I'll tell you that.

Yeah, that's good.

He is cool.

Oh man. So, so what else have we, have we missed? Cause we're running up against our time here. Oh man. Let's get, I mean, as long as we got?

I think the last thing we got, man, is the final 4. The final 4. Yeah, I think it's it.

Cool. Let's do it.

Let's do it. All right. These are the final 4 questions we ask all of our guests. So, uh, we're just gonna roll them out here and we'll let each of y'all, y'all answer.

Okay.

And, uh, there are no wrong answers, but there definitely are right answers.

So, um, there's terrible answers. Yeah, exactly.

Did you get your list down already?

Well, no, I didn't write answers.

I just wrote the We're in the same boat.

We're completely unprepared.

Beads of sweater for me. It's okay. It's totally normal.

All right. Well, if Craig can do it, anybody can.

That's right.

All right, here we go.

First question. What's the must-have tool you won't leave your house without?

Being a marketing company, I gotta say my phone. Okay. Um, I gotta, I gotta be connected to all my people all day long. If I don't have that, I'd, I'd, I'd be a nervous wreck. I'd be freaking out. Losing my phone would be the worst thing on the planet. Like take my wallet. Take my car, just leave my phone and we're good to go.

Dude, we were just down in Honduras and one of the leaders in our group lost his phone in Honduras. And what's really bizarre is he— so he ordered one, had one waiting for him when he got back to the States. But just a few days ago, had someone call from down there and go, hey, I found your phone.

Exactly.

It was awesome.

And apparently knew the security code.

Yes.

Wow.

Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, pretty awesome. I'm gonna have to second Nick on that. It would definitely be my phone. Yeah, it's generic, but I mean, truth, I think. Yeah.

So are you guys, are you guys rocking Apple? Were you doing some Android?

I'm an Android guy. Yeah, I've always been an Android guy. I love my free movie apps, so okay, rocking it.

Oh, okay. So divide family divided. That's okay.

Yeah.

All good, man. You're just bridging the gap. Got it all covered.

All right.

Second question. What's a job you walked away from?

I'll let you go first this time.

All right. I've walked away from many jobs. So, um, I know this question originally was for homeowners. And so I'll say I've walked away from every job that ever had anything to do with my house because I'm not a handyman in inclined. So yeah, I've walked away from all those and every other job I've ever worked at, I've walked away from and I own my own business. So hopefully I'll never have to go back.

Yeah.

There you go.

Yeah.

He, yeah. Um, probably the hardest thing I've ever walked away from, the hardest job I've ever walked away from was probably leaving the real estate industry after being set in stone for being a real estate professional for 3 years and, uh, being successful in that. And then realizing the opportunity that was in front of us with marketing and Biz Connect and just Just being able to say no and turn that away was just, it was brutal, like so painful, but at the same time, so good for me.

Okay.

It's hard to walk away from a sure thing, man.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, cool. Uh, next, how do you wind down at the end of a long day?

That's a good question. Um, I like to, uh, try and wind down. Sometimes it doesn't happen. Sometimes I work from the moment my eyes open because I work from my phone. You know, it's easy to get in that habit. So, Um, I think, you know, just with my fiancée, um, she says, put your phone away. We have a Netflix, you know, we're going to watch some Netflix and chill, you know? So that's a good way to wind down, you know? Sure it is.

Absolutely.

So, uh, it's different every night. I wish I was, man, more routine when it came to going to sleep. Usually my favorite way to wind down is just able to kind of calmly watch Netflix and pass out.

There you go.

Yep.

Yep.

Life of a single man.

Yep. Hey, I'm a bachelor, so I'm allowed to say that. And I'm only 26, so by the time I'm 30, I promise Mom, I'm quitting all that stuff.

You say that now.

It comes quick.

Yeah, it definitely comes quick. All right. Last one. You're in the home stretch here. What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received?

Definitely providing value first. I thought about that question, by the way. That is the number one thing I would give advice. I would give to anyone in anything you do, no matter what it is, you know, always look for a way to help other people first and provide value first. And I'm pretty sure Mattress Mack, along with so many other brilliant people, have said that over and over again. Yeah, it's finally stuck, right? And that, that to me is the most important thing, is help as many people as you can. Zig Ziglar, actually, it was Zig Ziglar that first said that, right? He said, you know, to get what you want in life, the best way is to help as many people get what they want in life. Something along those lines, right? That's not exactly quoted, but—

No, it's close.

Yeah, it's very close. And I believe, you know, since I've— like I said, me and Nick, since we were 15 years old, have been aspiring to be entrepreneurs and be successful. That was our only goal. Um, and well, one of our best goals. And, you know, Zig Ziglar was a big influence on that. Just trying to get the mindset. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Cool.

Um, for me, I guess it would be what you believe is your reality. Um, how your mindset shapes you. I mean, what you think is possible is what you're able to achieve. And if you're able to, you know, change your mindset, Christian talked a little bit about that earlier. Um, those are really when the doors can start to open up and you can take yourself to a whole other level.

Absolutely.

Yep.

Cool. Okay. So the 5th and secret question of the show.

All right.

How do people find you if they want to get ahold of you?

Uh, they can reach us, uh, for BWI Marketing and Biz Connect at 936-217-7587, or they can email us at info, info@bwi-marketing.com, or, uh, on Instagram at @bwi.marketing or search us on Facebook for Biz Connect, um, uh, just through the Facebook search. And same thing with BWI Marketing, you can find our page there.

Yep.

Awesome.

Yep. Very cool. Well guys, uh, listen, I, I've learned a lot, so I hope our listeners, um, have stuck with us to the end here because it's good stuff. So, um, man, thanks for, thanks for spending some time with us tonight.

Absolutely. Thanks for having us, guys. Yeah, awesome show.

Inspiration, words of wisdom, Yeah. Lots of intensity.

I love it.

Yeah.

And you know, I, I would say, you know, one of the things that I really heard is if you've ever got a question about who to use or what to, you know, if you're trying to find, uh, someone in the service industry to come to your house, I mean, check out some of the platforms that y'all are already providing and then that might be a great opportunity. So, um, check out some of those things. We'll link them up in the show notes. And, um, so yeah, what else, Craig?

I think that's it, man. Again, hit the subscribe button. Share a review, share an episode. Send us a note as to— remember, we're doing the deal this month. Send us a note as to what you have learned from one of our episodes.

What's your favorite thing that you've learned? We've also got the contest going on, right?

That's right, the free t-shirts.

Go leave us a review. We're going to look through those and decide which ones we like the best. It's so subjective.

We might like Nick and Christian Yeah.

So leave us a review, Nick and Christian. And, um, yes, we're— I might enter in myself.

You're gonna enter in? You need another one?

I need another t-shirt. Uh, but yeah, leave us a review and, uh, you know, we'll, we'll probably send you a t-shirt. So do that. Um, and as always, man, we're, we're here every Tuesday. Thanks for, uh, listening. Thanks for making this, uh, a fun, a fun thing. Um, we just hit a really cool goal. We just hit 3,000 downloads. That's a, that's a big deal for us. We were hoping to hit 2,000.

Yeah.

And, uh, we're zeroing in here. So good stuff. Thanks for joining us, and we're here every Tuesday. So until then, we'll see you later.

See ya.