Wisdom from 2020

This is episode number 123 of The Homeowner's Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to bring you the best information and options for you and your home. I'm Craig Williams, and Kevin's not here to do the intro.

So it's just me.

You guys just get me this week. We're doing a special episode this week. We wanted to bring you the highlights from 2020. We felt like we got a lot of really good answers to one of our show's favorite questions. Whenever we have a guest, which is, what is one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received? And here are the answers from our guests from 2020.

Hope you enjoy. All right, last question. You're almost there. What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received? Serve others. That's a good one. Yep. I can get behind that all day long. For sure. Kyle? Uh, never give up. So that, uh, Jimmy Valvano. Yeah, never give up. Yeah, never give up. So I mean, I— that's how I approach—

Actually, who is that?

Uh, he was a, uh, basketball coach in the college collegiate level. Okay. And, uh, it was ESPN does the V Foundation and all that, right? So hearing him say that, it always stuck with me. Never give up. And, uh, that's kind of how I approach things, is that, you know, in my line of work, it's problem solving. Yeah, 99% of the time. So giving up on a problem, that just doesn't happen. All right, last question. Yes, sir. All right, what is one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received? Yeah, uh, um, never lower the target. Hmm. It's another thing I regret every time. And you're— everybody listening, Every time you lowered your target or your, or your vision, your expectation that you wanted, you always regret it. Hmm. Always

regret it. Oh well, because you wanted it faster, you lowered the target, you compromised. Sometimes, oh, what could I have it now, but it's just a little bit— it's, it's, it's, it's okay. You always regret it. So in my life, the things I regret are because I lowered the target. I knew what I wanted, I had the vision of it, and I lowered the target. I settled for less and I paid for it dearly. Bad. Regret.

Is that something that you gleaned from experience or did you actually hear that from somebody?

Both. I gleaned from experience and when I heard someone say that, I was like, oh my God. And so I go, that's absolutely correct. It was the greatest word because it's like our insecurities cause us to lower the target. Well, maybe finances. Well, maybe I won't make that, so I'll lower the target. Or a relationship, maybe I'll, I'll settle for this person because maybe I won't meet that person. Like, the insecurities get involved. And my dad's advice to me, one of the best things was he was a guy who, he's like, it's the end result that counts. So my dad and my mom would be like, hey, that guy's, you know, he's stealing from us. It's the end result that counts. Like, you know, he was always about the end result. Mm-hmm. No matter, like, if people screwed him over. Like, he

was always like, as long as the end result. If I have to work harder than the other person, that's fine. It's always the end result, the finished product that counts. So the end result that counts. But on piggybacking on that, never lower the target. Yeah. Even if it means you never hit the target. Yeah. Because I think when you lower the target, you feel the regret and it's like your self-value goes down. Like you, you settled for something that was less than what you were worth. Hmm. I love that because, and this is something that I've taught for years, is people rise to expectation. But the opposite is also true, that they lower themselves to expectation. So set your expectations higher

and you'll achieve them because people rise to expectations. So it's a similar idea, a little bit different, but, you know, set expectations high and don't be afraid of them. Yeah, and I hear that too. I was watching, uh, some of the— a couple older guys were getting interviewed and like, ah, I just should have set my goals higher. And these were successful people. Yeah, they're like, really? Look how good you're doing. No, no, I, I I should have went for bigger goals. Yeah, we just, we just sold a bed. You're wondering how is this relevant, Kevin? It's coming around. So, so we just sold a bed. My daughter inherited a new bed. And so I put her old bed up on, up on Facebook Marketplace, right? I'm hoping the person that bought it is not listening

right now because 2 and a half years ago when we bought this bed, we bought it for $75. I felt like I got an incredible steal at the time. It's a beautiful bed, came with a mattress, everything. I sold it yesterday for $100. So I made $25 on this bed that I used for 2 and a half years. Jeez, that's awesome. And here's the crazy thing. I put it up on Thursday and by yesterday whenever I sold it I had over a dozen people asking if it was still available. So what I know is I should have priced it higher. Should have priced it higher. Right, I should have priced it higher. I should have priced it for $150

and if I had 2 people come after me and say is this still available then I would have doubled what I— and used it for 2 and a half years. So again set your target higher and maybe you'll get more than what you expected out of yourself. Right. Always, always, always go higher. Yeah. She's starting to ask questions I don't want to answer. So let's go to the 4th one. We're doing the interview here. All right. What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice that you've ever received? Well, um, when it comes to home inspection, actually the very first guy I ever worked for, and this is a lot of the reason why I do inspections the way I do. I was talking about getting a lot of the

certifications that we've talked about that I don't have. And he goes, hey, And I went, what? Like, I was mid-conversation, just super excited, like, I'm gonna get this certification. He's like, hey, what? He goes, how about you just be a good home inspector? And so I've kind of kept that kind of in my back pocket. Just be a good home inspector. Yeah, like, know your role. Stay in your lane. Yes, exactly. Stay in your lane. Do what you do. Do what you do the best you can do what you do. And then if you get to where you want to do those other things, then figure that out. Yeah, but 567 inspections in. I'm okay just being a home inspector after all the stuff I've seen. Yeah, I've

seen some wild stuff, man. I spend a lot of time in Chinatown, so down in the International District, dude, that's, that's crazy. Is that before or after work? Well, it depends on how long I'm down there, but I can tell you this, I carry my own set of chopsticks around because them, them people down there know how to cook, man. I love it. That's the best part about going down there is I get some of the best food on the planet, man. You find one of those little dive hole-in-the-wall places and get your pho on, you know? Oh my God, pho. Mmm. My favorite's when they're like, are you sure you're gonna eat that? I'm like, yes,

put the blood cake in the pho. I'm okay.

It's all right.

I like that. Fourth question. Last question. I know this one. I know this one. Oh, you remember the question? I remember this question. Okay, I'm gonna give you— I'm gonna pass the reins over to you. All right. I should. I wrote it.

What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received?

Know how the project's going to finish before you start it. That's a good one. Yeah. No, that's really good. I mean, so I've been going through Aaron Franklin's masterclass. So, I mean, first of all, you know, Texas barbecue, it's hard to, it's hard to beat in general. And Aaron Franklin is truly the master. And one of the things that he does so well is he, he sits there and he writes out where he wants his cook to finish. And then he backtracks from there. And I think that there's a life lesson in that, not just in cooking a good brisket, but just in projects in general, for sure. Well, it's funny. So my— one of my best friends does the only national barbecue radio show. Oh, wow. So

he brings all of those guys on there from amazingribs.com to all those different guys out there. So him and I, I trade with him. He gets me meat. I, you know, we horse trade a little bit between us. But yeah, I've gotten to meet a lot of those professional barbecue guys and There's a very big art to that. Oh yeah, there is no doubt. I mean, I, I've, I've smoked my fair share of meats and so has Craig, and man, to get those perfectly consistent like they do each and every time, it's, it's absolutely fascinating to see them do it. Number 4, what's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice that you've ever received, Hal? Wow. I've received a lot. I've been very

blessed to get to know some great people, some great business leaders, and I've paid attention and listened and had a lot of really good advice. But probably the one that resonates most with what, you know, I've been doing for the last, you know, decade or so is, you know, focus on the customer experience. And this isn't really advice that someone told me, it's just, you know, I kind of picked it up, I guess, is, you know, focus on the customer experience. Don't worry about the money. Hmm. Don't worry about the technology. Focus on the customer first, you know, and then think about, you know, what that should look like. and wrap the tech around that. And by doing that, the money's just going to naturally happen.

And that's probably the best advice because that's what we're doing today is we're a company that— we're not a charity or nonprofit, but we're out to— Help people. to keep happy employees and acquire the best talent possible and retain them, and that costs money. Yeah. So we've gotta make a dollar here and there, but that's not our primary focus. Primary focus is the end-user experience and make that the best that it possibly can be today and improve on it tomorrow. So best advice is, like I said, focus on the customer, And the customer experience and wrap the tech around it. And don't worry about the money. Money will happen naturally if you do those first 2 things.

So just, just real quick, am I hearing you right? You said, are you saying wrap the tech around it?

Yeah, like take the, take the customer experience and figure out how you can make the tech fit around that experience. Don't, don't take a technical product or service and say, okay, this is it. Hope the customer likes it. Right. Start with the customer first. Awesome.

Yeah, no, I just want to make sure I heard you right though.

That's awesome. Yeah. All right, Carter, you're next. What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice that you've ever received? Yeah, that's, that's another— that's a, that's a really tough parting question here. I would say it's slow down. I would say it's slow down. Um, and it's ironic that we're in a that I've co-founded a company that's sole focus is on bringing the fastest we can get, speed up and all that. But ironically, it's actually about finding time, right? And so when Hal talked earlier in this episode about the user experience, do you want to be waiting or do you actually want to be in control of your life? Yeah. And so especially as we're speeding up as a company, as we're growing,

expanding, and pressing on the accelerator, I'm also, and I'm sure Hal has found this as well, we're blessed to have just an amazing team that allows us to leverage ourselves and allows us to, less load is concentrated on any one person. So it really allows you to take a step back, gain perspective, and slow down a bit. And I also slow down with prayer. Other people do different ways. I slow down by working out in the morning as well, kind of having alone time. And so, that's what it's all about. It's about kind of— I think that's really how you gain your perspective and make sure that life just doesn't consume you because you know what? If you allow it to, it's going to. Yeah.

Definitely. Yeah, Carter— That's why Carter and I make a fantastic team. Man, I— There is no floor to my— there is no floor to my accelerator. No, I'm—

I'm right there with you because I think— I think a lot of people, you know, will— will tell you that I don't have time for that even though they say that they would completely recognize that the thing that they're avoiding is the thing that would probably be the most healthy for them to be engaging in. You know, and so the best thing they could do is to slow down and participate in those things, whether it be working out, whether it be praying, whether it be meditating, whether it be, you know, focusing on a good diet, all those different kinds of things. Just to take the time and slow down would just increase their ability to speed up

the other aspects of their life further on down the road. So that's a good word, man.

Yeah, it's— it's kind of like what my wife, you know, says to me. She's— she's so amazing. But she says, it's not that you didn't have the time to do it, it's that you didn't make the time. There you go. And it goes back to intentionality, right? Be intentional with your family, you'll make it happen. You'll find ways to carve out time. And so that's just, that's what it's all about. Yeah, I tell people all the time, listen, you make time for things that are important and you don't skip those things. And so at the end of the day, what you're telling me you don't have time for is something that you just don't find important. And so

if you find it important, you'll find time for it. So, um, so yeah, that's, uh, that's, that's good, good stuff for sure. For sure. Well, we, uh, might have some other advice. Yeah, enjoy the journey. Don't, don't focus so much on the, on the goal. Enjoy the journey. Yeah. Oh boy. That's, that's for sure.

It's got a lot to tell you.

And that's the thing, like there's bumps in the road, man. I mean, there's potholes and there's, you know, there's obstacles and all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, like, are you making positive headway? And if not, what stood in the way? Are you enjoying what you're doing? And if not, find something else. Yeah. Both Hal and I have some very formative entrepreneurial experiences that define where we got to today. It's kind of like one of the first things I said to Hal was, I don't partner with any entrepreneur who hasn't already failed. Right? Because I don't want you to fail with me, right? And I'm not here to fail with you. And so, let's take what we've learned today and

let's make something of it. But yeah, we are the sum of all of our parts and we cannot— we can't help it. So, embrace it. It is all about the journey. Use the bad for good. Yeah. Yeah. Man, that's good stuff. Y'all are very wise men. I appreciate y'all taking the time to share those bits of wisdom. What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received? So I have to think about this one. A philosophical question. I know. Ask the question one more time. What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received? Well, I'm going to take this not on a serious note because my son, when he wakes up in the morning, he likes to eat sweets. Okay. And

it always bothers me. I'm always like, oh, it's not good for him to have cookies for breakfast or this. But my mom told me, he's going to eat it at some point in the day, so why not let him eat it then? And so I think that was good advice from her because I'm always very hard on myself about that. So now I just let him have the cookies if he wants it. He's going to have them one way or the other. Exactly. He's going to eat it at 3 or 4 or 5. He's going to have it. So just let him have it.

As long as he's not getting it at all of them.

Exactly. Yeah. Okay. All right, Aaron, what about you? Best piece of wisdom or advice you've ever received? That's pretty— I guess it's kind of basic. Just don't, you know, just don't be so serious with life, you know, have more fun with life, you know. Yeah. You know, every day is a gift and you should treat it that way. Yeah. So no, we, we love that. And we, Craig and I definitely, definitely feel that way for sure.

So Well, cool.

Son's feeling that way.

I mean, he's getting the cookies.

I know.

I'm not there.

He is not there.

I want to be living that life.

No kidding. You only get to be a kid once. Yeah. What is one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice that you've ever received? So I have 2 people that I really— this is gonna be almost silly, but I have 2 people that I listen to almost every day on YouTube. Thanks. Thanks. Feels good. You're already On the show, you don't have to plug it. Right. So, and you guys know them. One is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who he's, he's kind of, you know, as he's gone out of the bodybuilding and into like, you know, the whole government and then the whole motivational speaking, he's He was one person I listened to every day. And he was always like, his one thing was like, always follow your dreams, always work really

hard. So he's had a couple of speeches that I really like, I took to heart. And he's like, if you just follow these 5 rules, you're going to be great, but you really have to be true to yourself. And so Arnold is someone who I always in bodybuilding looked up to and always loved his movies as a kid. But now, being older, he's got this motivation and I've always really listened to that. And, the other person that I've started listening to is Steve Harvey. Yeah.

No, he's got some good stuff.

Yeah. So, Steve Harvey, he's on all these shows and he's He's on TV every single night now, but he's got some really incredible motivational speeches. And one of them is just about jumping. One of them is just about at least one time in your life, whatever you do, whatever you're gifted at, just jump. Yeah. Take off, like get to that cliff when you're ready. And just, just one, at least one time in your life, Just jump and see what happens. So, you know, I took that really to heart also about, you know, have some faith, believe in yourself. And at least one time, if you have a gift, or you have something that's in your heart that you really want to do,

you know, against all odds, just one time in your life, just take that jump. And I really took that to heart about, about my life in general, but in the business, like, don't, don't be afraid. Yeah. If you want, you know, if you, if you, if you want something, ask for it. And, you know, so those are some things that I really— that those are 2 guys that I really just watch and kind of keep me motivated. keep me going every day. And I really enjoy sharing those stories with other people.

Is that the Steve Harvey talk where he talks about his friend that cuts grass and his friend that cuts hair and the lady that bakes pies?

Is that that talk? Oh yeah, there's— he's got 3 of them, but that's one of them. Okay, where he's talked about a guy, he's like, that's all he does is cut hair, right? He don't do anything special. Yeah, that's all he does is cut hair. You know, it makes $5 million, $5 million a year now. Got another friend, all he does is cut grass. He don't do anything else. He's nothing special. But he's a professional, gifted at cutting grass. That's what he's always done. He's like, you know, yeah. And that's what he talks about following your gift. He's like, you know, your career is what your made for, but your gift is what's inside of you. And if you let out your gift, you'll never work a day in your life. Yeah. You know,

just do what you're gifted at. Yep.

So, you know, so I'll tell you this, man.

There's a guy that he—

I don't know if he learned it directly from him or not, but the guy named Dr. Miles Monroe, who has a talk that he does about the gift, which if you haven't ever heard it, there's a couple of mashups of him and Steve Harvey talking about it, and you can see how they kind of line up a little bit. But if you haven't ever heard of him or listened to his talk on gifting, incredible stuff, man. Absolutely incredible.

I love that talk by Steve Harvey.

It's awesome. Kev, if we can, we should link that up in the show notes for sure.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Oh dude, I tell everybody those Steve Harvey videos, there's 2 of them. They're about 30 minutes long, man. I listened to one first time I heard it, man. I started— I was washing my truck. I was washing my truck, listening to it first time. I started crying.

Yeah, no, it's good.

First time I ever heard it, I was like, man, it was just— it just hit me. I was like, wow, that's incredible. That's incredible. Talking about, you know, being true to yourself, whatever you're gifted at, dude. And that's— and that's why I feel like I'm in real estate. Like, I'm— yes, I'm selling homes, selling land, but I'm more of a helping facilitator in those situations.

Yeah.

So hopefully I feel like I'm in the right spot. So we'll see how it goes. Awesome. Man, that's awesome. Number 4, last question. We're in the homestretch, right? What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice that you've ever received? So I think one of the best pieces of advice that I've ever received is to Align myself with people who are better than me so that I can learn from them. Um, align yourself with people who have the same passions as you. Um, and just be open to learning, uh, 'cause you can't do it all by yourself. Right. So hire really well and treat your employees really well, because if your employees are happy, um, it'll show through in their work and then you'll have happy clients. Yeah, that's, that's for sure. I mean,

when you, when you look at some of these, um, you know, Fortune 100 companies and you, and you look at the way they treat their employees— Yes. It's incredible.

Um, I had a—

just for example, I've got a number of friends actually that work for Southwest Airlines, and one specific friend who worked in their corporate office, uh, there in, in the DFW area, and I would go have lunch with him from time to time. And when you walk down their hallways, there are pictures of their employees. Right. And so whenever you get hired on there, they, they give you one of those, uh, collage picture frames that has, you know, like, like 8 or 10 picture frames in one, and you get to put pictures of your family in it and they put it on the wall. I mean, that's just a It's an amazing thing that they're saying, listen,

family is important. You are important. This job is not about the dollars and cents. It's about you. It's about these different things. And what you find out is people that love their job perform better. And also people that feel that their employer appreciates them. Because without them out there doing that, working, we're nothing, right? So, we have to let them know. And attaboy goes a long, long, long way. Our culture is, you know, when I— when my vision for this was to build a culture of women that really are uplifting, that are cheerleaders for other women, that, you know, when it's your winning season, let's be happy for that person because your time's coming. And as it— if women stick together, we're so— we're amazing. We can do

anything. Sure. With that sisterhood. So that's our culture. That's the type of women I want to hire. And that's the type of— culture that we want to have. You know, everybody is a team, everybody is winning, let's lift each other up when we're down. And so, um, I think we've been able to do that, and, and I think that's, uh, kind of one thing that sets us apart. You know, we're a family business. They're our family. Yeah, they're our work family.

Yeah, I think that— I think the thing that you said that I keyed in on the most right there is the culture, because I think it— I mean, like, and I don't think a lot of people realize, I think it's easy to, to Start and build a business.

It's hard to build a diff— a good culture. Yes.

I think that's probably one of the most difficult things, but like when, when it's good, it's really good.

It is. Um, but when it's bad, it's toxic. It is. People want to come to work where, I mean, like, right, we work hard, but let's have a little fun. You know, let's cheer each other on. When some, when one of your team, uh, teammates is having a, a bad day, let's pick them up. Yeah. You know, um, let's change, change the, the vibe. Yeah. Yeah. It's important.

Because that's, that's a totally different mindset because like in, in a lot of businesses when somebody's down, it now becomes their fault for all the bad things that have happened instead of how can we help pick you up?

Absolutely.

And, and make this day, make this day better for all of us.

Right. Make this situation better for all of us. That's a totally different mindset. Yeah.

Yeah.

And I think along with all of those things, like clear expectations go a long way, you know, like 100%. I think that so many times people wind up failing because they just don't really know what they needed to do to succeed. And so, once you know what that is, then you wind up getting the attaboy, right? Yes, absolutely. Because I did what I was expected to do. But if I don't know what that is, it's hard to really be successful. Right. And I'm usually very clear about that upfront. The expectations are high. The standard is high. We can't teach character. We can't teach work ethic. We can't teach you to be kind. We can teach you how to clean the way we want you to

clean, but all those other things you need to come with. And then you're, you're the model employee because we can teach you how to do what we do. Yeah. Yeah. Good people are good people. Yeah. Last question. What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received? Um, it's got to be from my dad. Can't soar with eagles and fly with buzzards. You are who you hang out with. Absolutely. That, man, I, I cannot tell you how often I literally preach that. Yeah. So that hit home, huh? Yeah, man. I completely agree. You're a product of your 5 closest friends. Yeah. So that's absolutely true. Yep.

And we hope you enjoyed this week's special edition of The Homeowners Show, and that you gleaned a little something from it. Remember, if you enjoyed the content, To share it, like it, post it, do whatever it is. Do all the clickety-clicks on all the social medias and the YouTubes and the whatevers.

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Thank you for tuning in. We'll be back next Tuesday with some brand new content. Have a great week.

Have a great week.