1099 = Business Owner not a Rep Michael O’Donnell, Abundant Energy

By The D2D Experts

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34 Min Read

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Last Updated: November 25, 2018

Speaker 1: (00:02)

Bill, Can I help you?

Speaker2: Hey listen up, I’m bringing you the best content to ever exist in the door to door industry from sales leadership, recruiting, impersonal development.

Speaker 1:

Why would I need that?

Speaker 2:

Because never before have we been able to collaborate with the top experts in their industries, sharing their secrets and techniques and what makes them the best.

Speaker 1: Wait, who? Who are you?

Speaker 2:
I’m your host. Sam Taggart, creator of the D2D experts in D2Dcon. Is there a place we can sit down?

Speaker 1:
We’ll come on him.

Speaker 3: Register today for D2DCon, learn from over 40 amazing speakers including the real wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort. Come as a team. Learn as a team. Leave as a tribe.

Speaker 2: (00:48)

Hey Everybody. This is Sam Taggart, your host with the D2D podcast. And I’m here with the greatest sales solar rep and partner in the world, and I will hands down say that. And those who wants to fight me on this. Come fight me because you hasn’t won one golden door this year. He has not won two golden doors. He has won three golden door awards this year. That means three megawatts installed. These currently sitting at, he’s already earned it because it’s taking me out a hundred installs, installs this year already and last year, year and two and a half, two and a half golden door awards.
So everybody saw him up on stage. She was the only one to earn multiple golden door awards in one year. He is a partner at sun solar solutions. He runs its theme, uh, called the Abundant Power Urban to energy. Is that what it’s called by the power team? I’ve under power team. He’s out of Arizona. The one, the only Michael O’ Donnell. So welcome to the show. I hope that was a decent enough cause I don’t even think I could give a cool enough intro to this. Like this is awesome.

Speaker 3: (02:01)

Well, because they say a, I don’t, it’s hard to brag about yourself, but if it’s true in a bragging, so it’s good to hear you say some things that were true and I’m proud and honored to be able to be someone that identifies with those things and that they are true. So thanks for having me on it. But more to join in. Yes.

Speaker 2: (02:18)
Yeah. We’re looking forward. I’m looking forward to one this podcast, but to you speaking at door to door con last year I kind of like finagle Judy to come up on stage for a little bit. My workshop and my some old fart sells two and a half maybe once in her. In her. This guy get up here.

Speaker 3: (02:39)
Yeah. After mixing the two and a half golden doors were with old fart. Okay. I get it. I get it. Hey just cause I started selling solar in 1984 that does not make me an old fart. I’m going to be knocking on doors for all the time. I got a lot of years at,

Speaker 2: (02:52)
I think, no, this is like more power to you because you know what I mean? Times I run into, people are like, ah, once I hit 30 there’s no way I keep knocking doors. Like I dunno, my body can keep hacking it and I just hear so many dumb excuses of people that, you know, they think it’s a young man’s job, they think of this. It’s just like something that like all eventually graduate into real job. But it’s kind of like if somebody knew, okay, what the overrides where, and I don’t want to dive into this because I know people are selling all sorts of stuff listening to this, but people knew and understood what three megawatts personally sold being an owner would look like from a commission standpoint. I mean, that’s, I don’t know what you could call a real job at that point. It’s kind of, and that’s, I mean

Speaker 3: (03:40)
looted. And a pretty woman, when the sales guy comes up to Richard Gere, who’s told him to take care of his girls because there’s going to be spending a lot of money, remember that scene and that fills car guy comes up, he says, sir, are we talking about a lot of money? Are we talking about an obscene amount of money? And Richard Gere puts a cell phone down. He says, we’re talking of scene. Yeah. So yeah, if you can get 3 million watts of solar on the board and, and come into that at a pretty good level, you’re talking of seed money.

Speaker 2: (04:09)
I mean, I’m in, I’ve been in the solar space and I’m sold a heck of a lot of solar, but I would look like a freaking rookie in comparison, like not even like this is this. So the only comparable, the only comparable statistic that I could like hold the flame to when you do is Adam chance during in 207 in a week alarm accounts. And that was kind of like, Whoa, we can’t even fathom that this would be the comparable in the solar space to the rest of the world. Those that are listening to kind of put some, uh, just to put some perspective to this. So

Speaker 3: (04:46)
Lord, when you, uh, introduce the guy that had like 900 a sold closed alarm accounts last year, whenever that number, well, I mean, like, dude, you sold three a day, seven days a week. I mean, I, you know, wow. That’s insane. So yeah, that’s the good thing about d two d crime. No matter where you’re at, you’re going to find somebody who’s so far ahead of you and you’re also going to be able to talk to someone who’s just, you know, a little ways are, are, are quite a ways down the road behind you and either one of those places, you know, it’s a humbling experience to get, to be able to share it either one of those directions. And I think really that’s, that’s the core of what’s happening at Ddd con.

Speaker 2: (05:22)
Yeah, no it was cool that you came last year. I guess I kind of want to jam on door. Like a lot of people that are watching this are probably like, should I go to door to work on like why would I do first off, I want to know. I mean it got to like you, it’s like what do you got to learn? So why would, why the heck would you even go? Like, how’d you even hear about it? Like why did you even go to the event last year and what did you, what’d you take from it?

Speaker 3: (05:46)
Well, I’ll tell you, I have a lot to learn and had a lot to learn. Then I learned a tremendous amount. Uh, uh, a funny story about me is I was the hottest door to door solar salesman in 1984. Did that come along a long way? It just happened. I happened to have a kind of a natural knack for being able to get the door and then also being able to close. You know, I really consider myself a closer. Uh, there’s really a, there, there’s guys in the world that a greater knocking on doors and setting appointments or a guys that are great on the phone. There’s guys that are great at closing. Uh, you know, I have happened to have experience in all three of those realms. They started out as a, you know, knocking on doors, selling lawn, uh, you know, someone more your launch ops.

Speaker 3: (06:25)
When I was 12, I was the best, uh, uh, your recruiter or the best, uh, getting subscriptions paper boy while being the worst pain paper boy in the district. It the exact same time I buy my route manager wanted to fire me every week for being late and being lousy human being short on my bill. Uh, and yet he would pick me up every week and take me onto a route that needed subscriptions cause I could knock on door and sell, you know, five or six subscription. So I knew how to do that as a kid. Something I heard a door to door con that really hit me and that’s that. You know, somebody said, you know, yeah, I know you’re doing this door to door thing. Then the grandma doesn’t know that they’re making multiple six figures doing it. But when honey, what do you think you’re going to get a real job?

Speaker 3: (07:04)
And I was crushing the nod. I was crushing the planet of door to door when I was 16, 18, 19 years old. I started closing solar when I was 19 years old. I closed my first seven solar appointments, which were solar heaters in 1984 when I was going to college for it. I was going to college to learn how to be a, you know, an it engineer, which I never planned on being an engineer. I always planned on being a salesman, but in my mind a real job looked like we’re in an IBM blue suit and going to work for IBM being in corporate America and that’s where I wanted to be. I wanted to get a real job. So I learned how to make all kinds of money. Like, you know, my first month in solar, I sold the first seven and they just, every time I sold, when they handed me another four figure check, I mean college only need burn money.

Speaker 3: (07:48)
You don’t have a bank account. And I got people coming over to like hang out with me in my dorm room and they’re like, dude, this check is for $750 I’m like, yeah, that’s what they give me when I close one of these solar systems. Like no kidding man. Seven 50 yeah, that’s what they give me, dude. There’s another one of these checks on your, on your dresser here for $750 I go, yeah, they get any one of those every single time I sell one of those solar systems and there’s a stack of paper like on my dresser and he’s going to do all of these are checks for $750 what in the holy oh well yeah, my cash to one and I still have half the money left so I haven’t, you know, I don’t know what to do with the rest of them.

Speaker 3: (08:32)
He goes, dad, you got to go to the bank. Sometimes these companies go out of business. So you know, I learned how to do this, kind of had a knack for doing it by had it in my head. I have to go get a real job. And guys, I spent the next 25 years in corporate America doing conference calls at six 30 in the morning. And yeah, I was able to bang out, you know, a quarter of $1 million on a great year, a buck and a quarter on a bad. And somehow in my mind, I had developed this framework where if I was, you know, one point something, six figures or hey, maybe I had to, I had a year where I had 410 year, you know, and maybe I’m going to have another one of those years, but I’m going to deal with corporate America, structuring my pay and limiting what I can make and bullshit bullshit meetings.

Speaker 3: (09:15)
Can you say that on this podcast? Uh, and I spent 25 years showing up for that deal. And so sort of in this bracket and a, I got to tell Ya, when I finally had a friend of mine say, dude, you gotta come check this hour solar cell company and go, man, I know all about solar. I know how to sell solar. He goes, you’re not a sell solar. I go, yeah, I learned how to do when I was a kid. He says, come with me. We go down and I sold the first one. I sell the next one. I went into my company and I quit my job. And I said, you know what? I’m done having a real job. I’m going to go, ah, I’m going to go knock on doors. So when I came and found you a door to door, I was really in my, you know, first year and a half, two and a half years of doing that. I felt like I really did have a lot to learn and I do have lots of joint every time I talked to someone else who knocks on doors, whether it,

Speaker 4: (10:00)
yeah,

Speaker 3: (10:00)
B, you know, Ali and, and uh, Connecticut or whatever, those guys are every sing. I talked to those guys. I learned stuff that I’ve never seen. When I went to your little deal and I watched all you walk up to the door, he walks up to a door and the guy opens up the door, you know, the fake door on the stage. He knocks up on the door of all, he opens up the door and all he says, man, I got to go. Hold on, are open. How was lower on Elise says, he says, ah, I got to go.

Speaker 3: (10:25)
I just opened up my door and you’re standing in my door and told me I had to go. Yeah, I gotta go, Dude. I learned the most important thing in door to door sales, especially in solar. Uh, and not to take anything away from the guys that are getting people to sign stuff at the door. Cause man, I did this, like, I’m kind of overwhelmed thinking about getting someone to sign a pest control contract while I’m at their door for the first door night. We’re always setting appointments in the solar world. I got mad, mad, mad respect for people who knock on a door and get somebody to whip out a credit card in that session. Uh, but you know, I’ll listen. They’re in the solar business like me and like, we’re not going to sell you anything. And he says to the guy, opens doors, this guy I gotta to go on. I only have a minute. Uh, and uh, maybe I can stay for 10 more seconds, but I just, I just want to give you a card and then I have to go.

Speaker 3: (11:08)
I have to go. But I just want to let you know I’m at your door and I need to go. That’s like the most genius thing I’ve ever heard of it. I never thought of that my whole life. And I’ve been using it for a whole year and it’s the coolest thing. And you want to know why? Because when you knock on someone’s door and they’re pretty sure you’re trying to come in the door. So when they knock on the door and they opened the door, I go, I have to go on with your neighbors next door. Just sold them a solar system. I can’t stay, probably not going to be able to help you, but I didn’t want to leave your, your, your straight here helping your neighbors next door. I didn’t want to leave without giving you a card. Give you a possibility of maybe getting a little bit of time to talk about you going solar and you know, saving a quarter of $1 million in shelves.

Speaker 3: (11:44)
So anyway, here’s my card. I can’t go. Uh, however I tell you what I can do. You know, I can have an engineer look at your roof. We can figure out if solar is any good for you. Not Work for you at all. But if it does and I’ll come back and we’ll talk about, you know, what the numbers are. So I learned all you from doing that. I’m going, holy cow, how would anybody ever knocked on the door and say I have to go. So yeah, I’m looking forward to coming this year and getting that next next nugget bags really changed your can exchange this school last year.

Speaker 3: (12:32)
Well, so you know, I tell you it’s the real thing that happened while I was a d two D as I realized, uh, that, you know, at 2.6 megawatts I was going to have to do something different. For one thing, I had sort of the, uh, the crutch of having this huge deadline. I sold 600 megawatts a year ago, August. And that was because there was this monster is deadline, heck do with utility. So there was a real clutch to the crows are a crutch to the close because we were at someone’s door going, dude, you’re screwed if you don’t see a solar appointment now. And that’s good over here in the next two weeks, you’re just going to lose out and never be able to get solar with the deal that your neighbors have. So let’s just get this to happen now. So we have this huge deadline, 600 kilowatts in the month of July.

Speaker 3: (13:16)
So really what, how do I take this to the next level? And honestly, guys, I didn’t come from door to door and solar. Uh, back in the day when everyone had a phone number, we used to just, you know, you had a phone room. I started in solar in a phone room dialing, you know, smile and dial said he can punch. You can’t do that anymore because people don’t have landlines. They don’t, you don’t have cell phones. So we had to go back to the door to door thing because it works. So, you know, I was really looking for how do I take this to the next level? And that’s what it dawned on me, you know, uh, yes, I’m a partner in sun solar solutions. They did 20 megawatts last year. They’re going to exceed that this year. I’m proud to be a partner in that company, but I have, I have resisted all attempts and all of my own instincts to try and become a sales manager, VP of sales to come to that temptation all my life to say, Oh, you know, I’m the smartest guy in the best sales guy in the group.

Speaker 3: (14:03)
May Be whatever somebody thinks that maybe I think that. Anyway, uh, so maybe I should be the sales manager. I should get promoted to regional this and vice president of that guys. It’s always a cut and pay. It’s always, you know, go herd cats for a salary, uh, and try and make these guys that are, you know, losers. You’re not doctor, you’re a good winning salesman. Why don’t you go and try and hurt losers into not being losers anymore? It’s a bad job. And so I’ve really resisted the idea. Maybe I’ll go, I could promote myself. I work, you know, I can just declare myself the sales manager, VP of sales. I even have a title and a card that says VP of, but I, I do not try to be VP of sales. I’m a salesman at sun solar solutions. So how do I take that to another level?

Speaker 3: (14:44)
Uh, and I got this idea right off the bat and that’s, I’d never tried to knock on doors alone. You know, we make good money in the solar industry. You get many, there’s always three to 5 cents that you can carve out and say, kit home with me. You want to learn how to make $1 million a year? Come with me and I’ll show you how to do it. And then if you can figure this out, you can knock on doors for me. So every time I go and knock on doors, I always make sure I have some kid with me or a young guy or a my sister, my niece. I literally my sister or knocks on doors for me. She has a child psychologist door. Knocker I have a niece who’s a brand new mom and a door knocker I have people that I’m related to close to meet in a Denny’s, uh, whatever.

Speaker 3: (15:24)
But somebody says to me, I’d really like to, you know, learn how to make money. I said, all you got to do is jump in the truck, getting the truck. I’ll take you with you and I’ll let you let you see how to make money. Show up with me. Go out with me for a couple of hours and I’ll show you how to make a, you know, an obscene amount of money. And what I do is I make them go with me while I knock on doors and I’m teaching them extensively on teaching them how to knock on doors. Now, nine out of 10 of these people never, never knock on doors without me because most people can knock on doors. Guys, we have something that most people can’t have. Uh, the reason that we get paid and amount of money, that’s the scene. I mean, nobody gets paid the amount of money we get paid for standing at someone’s door for eight minutes or 27 minutes or we don’t. It doesn’t make any sense. The reason that we get paid that much money, it’s because no one can do it.

Speaker 3: (16:08)
They see somebody do it. They say, God, that’s the easiest thing in the world. They tell them that this is the easiest job in the whole world. You have to have no experience. Uh, you can listen to me do it once and you go do the next one and you’ll make up seed money and people can’t do it. And why can’t they do it? There’s just this thing inside them that is scared to death of rejection and our superstars are scared of death to death of rejection as well, but getting yourself to overcome it. So here’s a hack that grass, somebody who thinks they want to make money, who thinks they might be able to make it in sales and just have them go with you and tell them, I’m going to give you 5 cents. That’s a lot of money. 10 kilowatt sale, that’s $500 I’m going to give you 5 cents for every time somebody says your come a lot.

Speaker 3: (16:47)
Let me, yeah, you can come over, show me a solar system. If they say yes to that and I come over, I show them a solar system and they buy it. I’m going to give you $500 you’re going to get 5 cents that’s $500 on a 10 kilowatt solar cells, and they do. I never knocked on doors for an hour and a half and they’ll get two or three appointments. I’ll sell two or three of them. That kid makes $1,000 he’s like, oh my God, you weren’t kidding you. We’re going to show me how to make a lot of money by not doing hardly anything for hardly any amount of time. So yeah, that’s absolutely the case. And then that kid never knocks on doors again. Why is that? Because he can’t do it, but am I? Am I do I regret having had that kid come with me and have him go with me and watch me knock on doors? No. You want to know why? Why is that saying why? Why am I glad that kid was there with me?

Speaker 3: (17:30)
Because it hell first movers because I was at the damn door. If he wasn’t with me, I wouldn’t have been at that damn door. Yeah, been in the dollar. You not a pen of Starbucks, man. I’d been, so I went a bid at the damn door, but because I got the kid with me on showing off and I’m showing them how to do it, I’m hoping, and you know, one out of 10 of those guys ends up, I shouldn’t really call them kids are of all ages, but the, you know, there a kid in our industry, there’s someone who wants to learn how to do this. Uh, one out of 10 of them will kind of get the gumption and go out by themselves, you know, and then started being all sudden. Next thing you know, you know, they’re doing it. Maybe you can’t do this 100 hours a week, man.

Speaker 3: (18:08)
You just can’t. If somebody is doing it, uh, 15 to 18 hours a week, that’s like a really lame parttime job. But if you actually do this for 18 hours and you do this four hours a day, you know, four days a week or five days a week, or you know, if you’re some crazy obsessed workaholic, uh, six days a week, like you really worked a whole 24 hours in a week, uh, you know, you’re going to get one appointment, an hour or two appointments in an hour, you get good. You’re going to get two or three appointments in an hour. You’re, you add that up. I don’t care what your pay rate is, it adds up to stupid money. And that’s if you’re a door knocker, that’s not if you’re closing. If you learned how to go and close the sale, that’s when it starts to become a seat. Now you’ve got the money for being at the door and you got the money, uh, for going in and closing the sale. You add those together. It’s, it’s truly obscene to get paid thousands of dollars for a couple hours work. You’re making more money than a brain surgeon.

Speaker 5: (19:04)
Cause at the end of the day,

Speaker 3: (19:11)
well first of all, I haven’t finished working today unless I have three appointments tomorrow, right? Because what? I have three appointments to them tomorrow. I’m like burning up hours that are worth thousands of dollars. So the way I know I’m done working today as if I have three appointments tomorrow, the way I know I’m done working on a week is if I have, you know, three appointments for several of the days next week. So I’m not done working on a Friday, which means I’m going to be working into a Saturday and a Sunday. If I don’t have three appointments a day for several, you know, getting into the first, second, third, maybe the fourth day of next week, that means I’m still, I’m still working. You know, I’m still at a door. I’m still rescheduling an appointment that’s slipped or whatever. So, you know, I’ve gotta be, I gotta have three appointments a day for two or three days out.

Speaker 3: (19:56)
So my schedule might be that I have all that done. And today I’m going to go play golf. I’m going to go do something else. I’m going to go up to my cabin. Um, you know, my schedule is a super, super intense or on super, super not working at all. That’s, that’s what my schedule is. So, but you know, I’ve got three appointments a day. That means I’m going to be in two or three presentations a day and then I’m going to be finding time to knock on doors with, you know, one of my door knockers so, and that’s what I’ve done. So I’m, I’m a partner at sun solar solutions. What? I got gotta d to d ECON and I walked away from d to d con with up with a plan, wrote it out on the airport was I was going to turn Mike O’Donnell into abundant power, which was going to be up flying v of like 12 door knockers and I literally have two or three and this isn’t a sales division, this isn’t some, I didn’t start a new solar company. This is just Mike O’Donnell. I’ve got three, four closers that work with me as me and I there on my appointments with me. So now I’m not in just two or three appointments a day. I’m in two or three appointments and they’re each on one or two appointments a day. So we’re doing like five appointments a day and we got this flying v of door knockers out, setting the appointments into that group and I’m on those cruise. I’m knocking on those doors at the same time.

Speaker 2: (21:14)
Team is all collectively doing kind of a team effort where you’re probably back and forth with those certain customers or, or maybe there are times where there’s a lot of people don’t realize like it’s anything that Adam Shands to is, I mean, it’s like you get in there and you sell it and then you just say, hey man, you finish up the financing and all the other stuff I’m gonna run to. The next one is,

Speaker 3: (21:35)
I mean, does that happen? I would like to have that. I, I’ve, I’ve done that strategy when we’re up against that, you know, really intense deadlines. Uh, and I really, you know, have five or six appointments a day. I’ll have somebody come with me, uh, but maybe more like an administrative person. And they’ll finish up the paperwork cause I go and start the next one and then they’ll follow behind and do that. But I liked that idea. That would be a great idea to have some okay finish and I’m out and go knock on the neighbor’s door. So yeah. But the idea that each and every single one of us is our own LLC. We’re our own company. Start thinking of yourself as an enterprise. Start thinking of yourself as a business stinks. Start sort of thinking of the fact that you’re going to be invoicing the company that you work for, for your paycheck and that that invoice can represent you know as much or as little of your own time and other people’s time as well.

Speaker 3: (22:26)
And if all you do is get one person to go knock on doors so that when you’re going into a presentation, they’re still knocking on the doors behind you in that neighborhood. That’s what that model was for me over the last few years. And then this year I decided to build that out on steroids and turn up London power into our real enterprise. And it’s, you know, it’s, uh, and that’s, that’s, that’s totally different from starting and owning and having a solar company. I’m talking about me, Mike O’Donnell being an enterprise that includes and building a other people, which has, you know, which has been very, very rewarding experience in itself.

Speaker 2: (23:04)
Well, I think sales guys, they get stuck. They don’t think very abundant. And I love the name abundant power. They think very scarcely. They’re like, this is my commission check. I need to keep 100% of my commission check. And they don’t really leverage it. It’s like if you were a 10 99 you are a true business owner. Most businesses have overhead as far as like an office space. Most businesses have been adamant businesses have, you know, softwares and things like that. So it’s like for people to say to, to really think of themselves as a w two person, not a 10 99 they’re limiting themselves and the opportunity to actually go expand and create team and create an around their enterprise. So I liked this Mostofi of really treating yourself as a 10 99 business owner, getting creative. And it reinvesting to really be abundant and really grow that money. And that’s something that you’ve obviously done extremely different than most in this space.

Speaker 3: (24:04)
I really think it’s a new paradigm really for American Enterprise in general to say, what do you do? Let’s compensate you extremely Pacific specifically by the value that you create. Let’s hand you the money and how you pay the taxes on it because you’re a business now. And then a, you can have your own overhead or not have overhead or however it is that you do it. And that really is the model. America is going to contract employees because, uh, enterprises need to be virtual. They need to have 20 accountants right now and then two for the rest of the year. And then they need to have this many guys that are involved in setting up trade shows for three days and then they don’t need any again for 90 more days. So people are starting to figure out what’s my value, how do I get paid from my value?

Speaker 3: (24:47)
How do I charge, uh, for my value? And then, you know, how do I, how do I increase the bandwidth, uh, to doing that? There’s so much going on in an economy. So the way that we do things by hiring people 10 99 and expecting them to deal with our own taxes and this and that. I was telling you earlier, we sort of struggle as business owners, as sun solar solutions, we struggle. How do we stay inside the framework so that the IRS won’t consider these people w two employees, you know, they have to really be independent. Well, let’s really embrace that. If the IRS is going to say, no, no, you really have to be a contractor. You have to be an independent business. That’s invoicing. So, you know, we made all of our salespeople that were 10 99 all go out and get an LLC.

Speaker 3: (25:27)
That’s kind of when I first got the first part of that idea, holy cow. Now I’m an LLC as a sales guy, I’m an LLC. And so, uh, what does that mean? It means I’m a business, you know, I my own business and then we invoice our company for those commissions are, you know, sales consulting or whatever the hell we call it. Uh, so I really think that that will really start to matriculate through the economy is saying as people figure out that if I write this article or do this or do that, that I should get paid for doing that based on how much it’s worth to the company who’s selling the top line a product.

Speaker 2: (26:01)
Yes. Yes. May just in a lot of people don’t ever have that paradigm shift. They just still think they’re W2 even though they’re 10 99 and they treat themselves like that. We, I just don’t feel like people fully embrace the fact it’s like, no, you’re getting 10 99 for a reason. The company wants that, you know, your business should want that. It’s your business. I love that. Um, and I think, I think the more people took that serious, the more of their production would go up because they take ownership over their business. They take responsibility, they take, um, it a little bit more like, yeah, I’m invoicing for time, I’m invoicing for value, I’m di, I’m, and investing in value to receive that. You know what I mean? There’s, you can make,

Speaker 3: (26:49)
and if were also at the same time, we’re creating all these 10, 99 employees, we’re really all, we’re starting to potential competitors and businesses have always been scared of starting potential competitors. We need to embrace that too. We need to be excited about the fact that somebody gets so successful that they say, it’s time for me to hang out a shingle and go, you know, dude, I’m proud of that. I’m proud of this guy, started out as a sales guy and now he’s my biggest competitor and you know, maybe kicking my butt. So we have to kind of lose the fear, let that go and embrace some of these things that we try to build barricades around and go, you know, let’s actually just embrace it and run after it.

Speaker 2: (27:26)
Abundant power.

Speaker 3: (27:27)
I loved it. There is 5%, I don’t know where you are, but 5% of Arizona, the sunshine state. The biggest state for solar in the world is 5% solar. You know, it’s going to be 50% solar in the next 10 years. Uh, there’s plenty of room for people to sell solar. You know, there’s, there’s, there’s, there’s not a scheme. This isn’t a scarcity thing. It truly is a thing of abundance.

Speaker 2: (27:50)
Didn’t go to door to door icon or didn’t back up simply because of that. They’re like, what if my guy finds out that he could write on a business? I got to find out. Yeah. It’s just like he’s going to, it’s like if you treat him as their leader and you show him clear pass, then he’ll keep growing with you. If you don’t, then he’ll leave and go do it. Either way, whether this event happens or not to start thinking a little bit more abundant and they promise you you’ll start to grow as an individual. And you know, that was kind of this embraced that. I wanted the industry to have this uptick because the essence of the whole event is around, up leveling everyone. So there’s 30 plus people listening to this live right now. And every single one of them I hope has a freaking tick of like, I need to step my own freaking game up. I need to take ownership over my damn paychecks and I need to start thinking a lot more abundantly. And guess what? That your family life, your personal life, your business, your investments here, everything has a big uptick, but starts with that abundant mindset.

Speaker 3: (29:00)
So you can think big, but you can ask small. I mean when I’m talking about is like you were literally visual in visualizing, visualizing yourself as this enterprise growth, more bandwidth, whatever. But really what I’m talking about is talking to, you’re talking to your cousin and to come in with you this afternoon. Come with me, man. I’m knocking on doors and making money. Just check this out. See what it is. Maybe you can do this too. Uh, and by the way, when I go into this presentation, you’re not on the next 20 doors. And if a, and if you saw it, if you get an appointment in one of these things, sell, you’re going to make 500 bucks. What do you have to lose? Let’s give this a shot.

Speaker 3: (29:34)
And you know, something I learned at needed econ last year, the, the, the, the legendary dude from a solar city that spoke and whatever I was talking about recruiting this and that. And I haven’t done any hardcore recruiting. Uh, we’ve started to actually do some advertising and things like that to find a door knockers and things appointment setters. But he said, never underestimate how miserable somebody is doing what they’re doing right now. You know, now that I’m using that in my pitch today for solar were 90 days away from the tax credit. Somebody by solar today, they’re going to $15,000 in their hands and January. Never underestimate how desperate somebody is to have $15,000 in their hands in January and a, so that same, you know, that’s, that’s in the pitch of solar, but in the pitch are going to knock on doors. You know, never underestimate how, you know, how much somebody’s dreams mean to them that they’d be willing to come out and try this or just have had a shot at it. And to have you give them a minute to, uh, to show him, but it’s purely self serving. And the reason I have people go with me when I knock on doors is so that they’ll keep knocking on doors when I go into the house and then maybe, you know, one night I can go to the movies or something while they’re knocking on doors and uh, and it’s, it’s purely self serving but it also, you know, it also really, uh, turns around.

Speaker 2: (30:49)
I love that. I want to, I want to kind of finish up with this question that we kind of had proposed at the beginning. You know, this whole pack of like, I’m making so many millions of dollars yet I still got to get out of the car door every day. You know, I think, I think a lot of people think you’re superman, right? They’re going like this kind of just must’ve been dropped on his head and weird as a kid. So you just get so excited to just knock on doors every day. Like I, I don’t think that that’s the case. I just think you’ve done something different. It is trained yourself to do, to do it, you know what I mean? What is it that gets you out of that car? Like what are like what are some of those hacks?

Speaker 3: (31:34)
Well, I tell Ya, if, uh, if you can, if you know how to drop me on my head so that I could feel that way every day, feel free to drop me on my head, blown me and somebody else who doesn’t do this is that I can do it. Not that I do, do I need so that I can do it. Lots of people cannot do this and I tell that to people. This is the easiest job in the world, but it’s the hardest job in the world. There’s a really, really good chance that you can’t do it and there and it’s not because of you. It’s because most people can’t do this. And that’s why we get paid, you know, obscene amounts of money for very short periods of time and, and, and you have to figure out what I have to do for me is I have to break it down. Why is that a, why am I getting paid a lot of money for a really short amount of time? And the reason is is because age reasons people can’t do it. And B, I’m not getting paid for the time that I’m at the door with the yes.

Speaker 3: (32:29)
All right. Getting a yes. It’s just a byproduct. The reason that I get paid a lot of money for the yeses, how many nos it takes to get to a yes. And you’ve got to figure out a way to hack your brain to get you to understand that because human nature is takes rejection as an anathema. It’s to be avoided at all costs. The amount of inertia to propel yourself up to the first door of the day or off the couch that you happen to be on or the bed that you’re sleeping in and somehow magically make yourself appear at a door of someone you don’t know have never met and you’re pretty damn sure they’re not going to be happy that you’re there. And then I say, and I got that guy with me and that’s why I schedule people to go with me. Cause I got to go meet them at Starbucks and buy coffee and then go pick a neighborhood and then show up and then there I am and I go, no, I’m going to teach you the secret. This is $1 million secret. You Ready? Here we are. This is it. Those are black. This if you’re ready for the secret, the secret is you and I are standing on this doorstep.

Speaker 3: (33:39)
We on the door. Hold on. Here it comes. That’s the magic. The truth is they’re going to come to the door. If they’re home, they’re probably not home, right? But if they’re going to get their home, they’re going to come to the door. They’re going to come to north. I’m going to say some stuff. They’re going to say some stuff and I’m going to leave with an appointment or without an appointment. It doesn’t even matter. It doesn’t even matter. So why are we getting paid so much to do that? Because people can make themselves to do it. So how do you make yourself do it? You have to understand what you’re getting paid for. You’re not getting paid for the appointment. You’re getting paid for the 19 knows that it takes to get to one. Yes. And you and you have to viscerally feel that.

Speaker 3: (34:20)
You have to viscerally feel that and you have to understand that I’m going to go up to that door, I’m going to go get a no, and I’m going to walk down the driver and goal 50 bucks to know baby. And you have to warn, you have to celebrate the no, you have to know him. I just made $50 because we’re not paying you 500 for the one guy that says, okay, show me an estimate. I do want to go solar sign here. Oh here’s your $500 that is not what the money’s for. Cause any monkey could have been sent to the guy that said, yeah, I kind of want solar. So yeah, come over. You know, and by the way, that guy got paid more than the guy who knocked on the door. That’s a whole nother question, right. I think somethings are are the closers don’t close if he didn’t get an up, if he’s not in the door.

Speaker 3: (35:03)
So you know, if, if you’re paying yourself a $1,500 for the clothes and $500 for the door, knock on, sorry, you’re bad at math because you didn’t get paid 1500 for the clothes and 500 for the door knock. You got paid 2000 for the door knob. You got paid. Now the appointment setter didn’t get 2000 and you cheated him and only paid him 500 for knocking on the door. You know the kid that knocked on the door for you, if he happened to get an appointment with you or for you, I’m happy to give that guy 500 if I get 1500 more because I knocked on the door, I pitched it myself the appointment, and then I closed it. I hand the kid $500 you got to think I’m a moron, but I wouldn’t have been on that door. So the magic is being on the door and understanding that the, what the money is for is for being the door. Because 99% of the people who actually have a job doing this, not talking about the people who wish they could do it and make that kind of money. The people who are employed doing this or not on the door right now.

Speaker 2: (36:01)
And then you can get yourself to show up and be there. Can you share, can I share my bunch of centers? I mean one of them’s on your brain and fish. She’s listening to this and he was part of this transition. It’s fun that he’s like, why? And he’s commenting on this. I’m like, speak to this just cause he’s here. So give them a thumbs up. But uh, so and bread, he was kind of like part of this whole transition anyways on here too. So anyways, so I’m not here and I’m watching the setters that are studs, like I had some of the sharpest centers and I was like, you know, and we had the set of payscale and I was like, man, I feel like they should get paid way more. And then I had these users and these closers, if they didn’t have an appointment that day, guess what they did during the bar. They’re the, they’re doing absolutely nothing.

Speaker 2: (36:51)
They’re doing whatever. And I’m like, okay, so you’re, you’re telling me you’re going to show up to this appointment, that somebody’s got another car, there was hustle there EOF the Shoah to somebody that’s interested in solar enough to like have an appointment with you. You present a savings to the customer, they then buy and now all of a sudden you’re like some of the magical, like you should be put on a pair of school. Like, yeah, I’m a closer, I would never be seen as a canvasser. I’m not, et Cetera. And it’s boggles my mind. So I was like, this is all backwards. Like they should be paying the sitter’s way more or they should be out there with the senators and they should be getting in the trenches. And they, it was just so backwards to the point where I was like, if you can’t close in your center, you’re gone and you can’t set and you’re in closer, you’re gone. And I just literally cut the company half cause I was like, this is so backwards. And I think you said it best. I think that so many people get so messed up when they like can’t get it out of their freaking car and get on the doors because it’s the nose. It’s the $50. Every know that you’re getting paid for because that means you were out there.

Speaker 3: (38:02)
Get the know, celebrate the no come down the driveway man. I got to know you’ve got an employment. Good for you. That’s a byproduct. Every 20 doors someone’s going to accidentally say yes or maybe you got a little good at talking to people and they said, oh like overcame an objection. And they said yes. But no matter what, so many people out of so many door knocks are going to say yes. The yes is not the celebration. You got yourself to knock on 19 doors to get to that and you need to attribute that value in your own mind. You have to hack your brain. Uh, so you’re talking about the guy who can do it and, and, and, and is getting himself to do it. Those are two different. So those are two different things inside of me. I’m two different guys. All right? So I’ve got the day that I’m meeting the appointment center or you know, I, I did this or do that. So I’m, I’m also that guy that’s in my truck. I just wrote a 15 kilowatt deal. I just made thousands of dollars on a door knock that I made and I’m looking at a guy washing his car next door.

Speaker 6: (38:57)
He’s in the driveway to the next door neighbor. I don’t want to get out of the truck. It’s crazy cause he’s just made so it’s money that you’re like, I’m okay. What is it that, what is that? It’s my mode. It doesn’t make any sense.

Speaker 3: (39:16)
I’ll tell you what it is. It’s irrational. It’s irrational. And the only way to overcome irrational is to hack it. So you got to come up with hacks and I’ve got a couple of hacks and they work. First Hack, I already shared it with you. Make an appointment with some kid you meet at Starbucks or your nephew or your cousin. Find someone who couldn’t do this in a million years and tell him you’re going to pay him $500 to hold the water bottle to dilute, learn how to do this. But you know what’s going to happen? A, you’re going to show up. That’s the magic number two, you’re going to show off. When someone’s with me, I show off. Okay? So, you know, I show off. I’m really good at the door because I’m showing off. Number two, I like hustle up to the next door. Why?

Speaker 3: (39:59)
I’m showing off. Okay? And uh, someone says yes. I said, you know what you do after you get an appointment, you go knock on the next door. You know, so I’m showing up. Do I do that when I’m by myself? It’s a different level. I tried to do on that myself, but I don’t do it the same when I’m by myself. So have somebody to show off with. Plus it’s nice to have the company. Uh, and if, and if at the worst case they’ll get a free Starbucks or something like that. That’s hack number one. So here’s hack number two. I told you the most meaningful thing that happened to me last year, it needed a was Jeremy Andrus today is CEO of Trager, used to own skull candy, has so much to offer in a short period of time as an executive and as a salesperson and a marketing person.

Speaker 3: (40:38)
But he happened to say something totally biocide aside. Sure. It wasn’t in his notes. And he said, you know, it’s kind of like doing one pushups. It’s like doing one push up a day for many habits and what will, what, what is, I wrote that in my little, you know, d two d kind of notebook, a one pushup at day door. What does that, and so I ordered the book on the plane on the way home. It’s a book called Mini Habits. Uh, and the idea of many habits. Go get the book. I’m mentioning it as an aside. Get the book, it’ll, it’s changed my life. I take vitamins every day now. I’ve never been able to take vitamins for more than three days at a time. And when you’re my age, you’re supposed to take that little tiny 81 milligram aspirin every day, or maybe bad things will happen someday.

Speaker 3: (41:14)
So I’m really glad that I’ve learned how to take my vitamins every day, but I learned how to do that by reading the book many habits. And I now do one, push up the debt. So if you’re curious what one push of the day is, go read the book. You’ll find out, one push up the day of. But that one push up the day, uh, will change your life. But what it’s about is hacking your own brain and you’re hacking your own brain by giving yourself goals that are so absurd that you would feel ridiculous and stupid if you did not accomplish that one stupid goal. You would feel stupid if you had a goal of doing one push of the day and somehow you didn’t do one pushup. You’re like, I was too tired. I was too lazy. I didn’t have enough time. So I was just about to tell you my hack number two and that’s where I lost you.

Speaker 3: (41:55)
And then it was just like many habits make something so ridiculous that you cannot do it or you’ll feel like an idiot. So my hack is every single time and I don’t on three appointments a day. So I’m always in a neighborhood. I don’t have to get myself to a neighborhood and I’m always there. But what would be my reason for walking out of a guy’s house with a 10 megawatt contract, kilowatt contract and the guys next door, Washington’s car. Why am I not talking to him? Right? So I came up with a mini habit and the mini habit is every single time I walk out of a house, it doesn’t matter. Win, lose or dos sale close. Doesn’t matter. I am going to get one. No one, no, not a yes. I at first I said, I’m going to knock on one door. I’m going to talk to one person.

Speaker 3: (42:38)
I found myself getting in the truck and driving out of the neighborhood and not do it. And I said, why is that? And in the book mini habits, he says, if you find yourself not doing a mini habit, you said it’s not ridiculous enough. You have to make the mini habit more ridiculous. And so I had to lower the threshold of the ridiculous habit of knocking on one door or talking to one person. That’s that. That hack is made me tens of thousands of dollars making myself get one note before I leave a neighborhood or after I’ve wrapped up knocking under section, I’m going to get one more. No, not a yes. I’m going to get one more. No. So between those two acts this year, it’s made a world of difference of taught him a lot of the guys that uh, I work with. Then it’s just a, it’s a big important part.

Speaker 3: (43:20)
So getting yourself to overcoming guys. When we were talking about not wanting to get out of the truck, I not only not want to get out of the truck. I’ve been doing this 30 years, I’m pretty successful at it. I’ve trained lots of people to do it. I feel like throwing up in the bushes when I’m standing at that first store. So you know, there’s this overcoming the resistance to this all encompassing fear of rejection. And you’ve just got to push yourself through it and knock on that first door. And that’s the first hack. Understanding that you’re just trying to get there to get a no, I don’t need this guy to say yes, I need him to say no. Get the know, get excited about it, get to the next door, keep rolling. Um, you know, it’s, those are things that are just, you know, they’re worth their weight in gold, but they’re very, very hard to viscerally feel right here in your guts where that spot is that you, where you feel like you want to throw up in the bushes.

Speaker 3: (44:10)
You’ve got to instead feel that I am trying to get to know, uh, what that Noah’s work and I’m going to get one more. No. Yeah. So guys, something I really am looking forward to talking to you more about Sam later and really to all of you, uh, one of the things that came from the idea of the mini habit and doing something that’s so ridiculously small, one pushup and day, uh, when I go to get my coffee, I get my vitamins now from the counter that I put them up in the coffee. Those are little tiny habits that make, you know, a world of difference. One of the things that led me to doing was reading a book I’ve had on my shelf for 30 years. The name of that book is think and grow rich and uh, it’s a book that’s Apic. It’s a book that’s world renowned.

Speaker 3: (44:53)
There’s millions of people that about that all the time. Uh, but it’s been on my shelf 30 years. I’ve never been able to get myself to read books that I wanted myself to read and this many habit of reading two pages a day. As soon as I finished reading mini habits, I need another book. One of my guys walked up and handed me Napoleon Hill’s think and grow rich. That book, uh, is changed the lives of so many people that do what we do, including my own. Uh, it is the basic texts of teaching your brain how to be employed, uh

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