Why Networking and Learning from Peers Are Essential for Contractors w/ Will Reyes

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of Contractor Freedom and enter the bliss of Contractor Freedom so you can have the Time, Money, and Freedom to Live Your Life With Purpose Beyond Your Business.

As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life, love, leadership, and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place.

Let's go. 

Jason Phillips: Hello Contractors, Jason Phillips here, and I have a special guest with us today, Mr. Will Reyes from Battle Born Painting in Reno, Nevada, and welcome Will. 

Will Reyes: Hey buddy, it's good to be here. 

Jason Phillips: I'm glad you're here. So I guess you're not currently in Reno, right? Looks [00:01:00] like you're remote. 

Will Reyes: I am. I'm actually in Guadalajara, Mexico, hanging out with some friends and having a good time and just taking a little R & R, if you will.

Jason Phillips: Oh, so I see you're, you're, you're hanging out for a living these days, huh? 

Will Reyes: Well, I mean, I'm trying to be like Jason Phillips. You might know the guy. 

Jason Phillips: Oh, no, no, no. Well, well, hey, man, I'm, I'm so glad we're getting, we're getting to connect. This is a, this is long overdue, you and I, and, uh, I'm, I'm super excited to have you on today.

And, and hey, by the way, you're going to be speaking at the upcoming Contractor Freedom Summit. And we can touch on that. Yeah. Excited for that. Hey Will, for those that don't know you, tell just a little bit about your company and give us, give us the high level, you know, the 30, 000 foot overview.

Will Reyes: Yeah, my name is Will Reyes. Like Jason said, I am more in painting, but we don't just paint, you know, we do a narrative things, you know, a lot of things we learn the hard way, but we do interior, exterior painting, which a lot of you probably do. We do, we have a concrete coatings division where we coat concrete with things like rough floors, [00:02:00] polishes, epoxies, polyureas, things of that nature.

We have a cabinet division that's separated from the painting division, so they just do cabinets all day long. And we have a gutter division that's going into year two that we really like, that's been doing well for us. And then we started, a nano coatings business last year that we had to put on hold, but this year we're actually taking off with it, and it's actually yielding some pretty good results.

We're really happy with it. 

Jason Phillips: Wow, man. Congratulations. It sounds like you've got a lot of irons in the fire. 

Will Reyes: Three years ago, that would have been a mess. Fast forward to today, it's not as hard as, not as hard as I was making it to be, if you will. 

Jason Phillips: Not yet. I get it. You know, sometimes we've got to just jump in and figure it out.

Take a leap of faith, right? 

Will Reyes: I am the absolute epitome of learning the hard way.

Jason Phillips: I get it. Yeah, me too. You know, for so if you guys haven't met Will in person, I, gosh, I met Will a number of years ago and we've just really developed a, uh, a great friendship. And, uh, you know, at first glance, Will's this huge, ominous, bearded, tattooed, rough, curly [00:03:00] guy.

But, you know, one of the things I've learned about Will, and I really appreciate about you, Will, is, man, you, you have a huge heart. You absolutely have a huge heart, and, you're a good friend, and you're running a good business out there. You know, interesting, interesting story, for our viewers and listeners here.

You know, Wills and Reno. I'm from Dallas. Well, I was, I was, out in Northern California bringing my son home from a Bible school out there and so we've got his Jeep and we picked up some, you know, some mountain bikes and we've got those strapped to the back of the Jeep. And we're going to head back through Colorado and Utah and Colorado and hit a bunch of famous mountain biking trails.

Well, the time of year we got to checking the snow hadn't melted on certain ones. So we went our, our, our secondary route. We had two routes. We were going to go, depending on what the snow was like. So we make a decision. We start going the secondary route. And all of a sudden I'm like, you know, I'm down here. Not too far from Will. Then my phone rings while I'm out in the middle of nowhere in California. And Will's like, Hey, buddy. What's [00:04:00] up? And I'm like, not, not too much, man. We're just headed up on such and such. He's like, dude, that's like 20 miles from my house or my business. So, so we popped on into Reno there and got to see your shop, which, you know, honestly, yours, uh, your shop is the first shop that I've ever visited.

Will Reyes: Oh, well, I didn't know that. I'm honored. I'm honored and a little embarrassed because it was messy. It's a lot better now. 

Jason Phillips: No, I tell you, I was, you know, I was, I was, uh, I was super impressed because, I mean, you guys have all these different stages. You have, you have a place for the craftsmen to work there, uh, and, and prep the cabinets, do the cabinets offside and all that.

And I was, I was just really impressed with, with the operation that you've got going there. 

Will Reyes: Thanks. Thanks. It's a work in progress. When you got it, it was really rough. But since then, we've cleaned it up a bunch. We've decorated, made it look a little more hospitable.

You know, it's like a little piece at a time, you know. Fast forward to today, it looks great compared to what it was then. But thank you for not judging too harshly [00:05:00] because it was a really rough... 

Jason Phillips: Well, you've been to our old place too, you know, one of the, right as I walked in the front door, I'm greeted with a right in the floor coating, the Battle Born logo.

And I'm like, I was so jealous at that moment. That was super cool. 

Will Reyes: Yeah. That was the guy that worked for us that put that down there. It says Battle Born painting and it's a huge American flag on the ground. That's done in, uh, A mixture of polyurea, epoxies, and, um, you know, a little acid to disperse. And it was just like this whole wash.

It looks pretty cool. That took 48 hours. A guy named Chris Knott did that for us. He was a great kid. You know how long he works with right now. He lives in Vegas. But, it was a fun project, man. It really was. And it, it, it gets so many head turns. You know, we're really proud to be, you know, part of the area.

And, you know, born and raised in Nevada. And obviously we're proud Patriots as well to have the American flag sitting on the ground.

Jason Phillips: Nice. Nice. Well, you know, one of the things that a lot of, a lot of, I say a lot of, pretty much [00:06:00] every contractor deals with when, when they start growing, they've, they've got a team of people and it's hard to boil things down to simplicity.

And, I think a while back, didn't you implement the, the EOS system?

Will Reyes: Right. So unbeknownst to me, we were kind of doing it in a very rudimentary style. But then we went to the PCA, which if you're not a member, I highly suggest you go. Now, you could be like me in the beginning, where it was like, nah, what am I going to learn?

Who are these people? You know, I'm going to go for a trip, that sounds fun, and maybe I'll meet somebody cool. You know, or I want to go for the free drinks, or whatever, like I was in the beginning. And then you meet some people, and you develop some relationships, and you're like, wow, these people really care.

So we went to the PCA, this last February. Chris Elliott with Onnit Painting. Shout out to him. He's a good dude. He put on a class. That explain traction at EOS and, you know, we, Kristen and I were there and we looked at each other. We're like, well, we're doing a [00:07:00] lot of that. We should probably get into that.

And so, since then, we've implemented it. It's only taking things a lot faster, to where we want to be in our end goal. So, it really put things in perspective for us. So, highly recommended, you know, if you, haven't done it, look into traction at EOS. You know, reach out, you can reach out to me. You know, Chris Elliott's class is on the PCA website.

You should definitely check it out. If you're interested about a highly and anybody else that, you know, say like our host here, you is a good person to reach out and say, Hey, do you think this would be a good fit for me and mines? You know, along with that, you know, we got a really great recommendation to be doing, personally personality profiles, which I think is key in a running a business because this isn't.

The 70s. This isn't the 80s. It's not the 90s anymore. You just can't have one rule for everybody, you know. Rule with an iron fist and be like, this is it. This is how it's gonna run. The days are gone. So it's really key to understand how each person works and how to talk to that person and communicate to that person.

It doesn't make you less of a boss. It actually makes you a better boss. [00:08:00] That way you can understand like, oh, this is how this person receives information. So it was really good for us to, to take that advice and 

Jason Phillips: Yeah, that's good stuff. Definitely, definitely transformational in my business and my, actually my entire life.

Of course, you guys hear me say that, you guys hear me say that all the time, but you know, to hear it from you as well is, valuable. And, you know, one of the things is, you know, most, most, contractors, business owners, entrepreneurs, however you want to refer to yourself, you know, are smart people.

You don't know what you don't know. And then when you know, somehow you meet someone or you turn over and you rock and you learn new information, you're like, Oh, wow, how did I go all this time without this new information? 

Will Reyes: Uh, yeah. And if you're hard headed, me like that likes to learn the hard lesson.

I mean, I've heard about EOS and traction for the last five years. I was like, yeah, okay, that sounds great. And then it took one class with Chris Elliott for me to understand like, Oh, that's really is for us. [00:09:00] Well, I should really look into that. 

Jason Phillips: And it's, it's the, the thing about the e o s is none of it's rocket science.

It's, it's all, it's everything you already know. 

Will Reyes: But yeah, everything you already know 

Jason Phillips: is helping get every member of your team on the same page. That's when the, the. That's when the magic happens and that's wonderful. So, um, hey, weren't you reading that book, called Four Disciplines of Execution? 

Will Reyes: Yeah.

Yeah. It's, so we did, we went through the EOS, the traction books, which I highly recommend. And then, um, we got turned on to the Four Disciplines. Which at first is a really rough read, but after you hit chapter three, it really takes off and it does a good job of dovetailing into traction in EOS. You see a lot of similarities, a lot of same speak, you know, one thing they call this, one thing they call that, virtually the same.

But I think what the four disciplines does, and a really good job, if it narrows in on the things that EOS just kind of touch [00:10:00] upon. They really get into it. They really dig deep into it and really make you think like, Is this how I want to run my business? Is this how I want to treat my team? Do I really want to be, you know, acting this way?

You know, a lot of times I think as entrepreneurs and as business owners, people look to us to have all the answers and we get swept up into that really fast and really quick of like, Yeah, do this or no, don't do that, but really you shouldn't be doing a lot of that because it takes up too much time and you dedicate these jobs or delegate out these jobs to your, you know, leadership team and they really need to be doing that, but if you create the crutch for them to lean on every time, they're going to lean on you every time, so I think that four disciplines does a real good job of like teaching you as, you know, As at the top, you know, the, the leader or the boss or the owner or whatever you want to call yourself, it really does a good job of like, Hey, you need to delegate these things out and trust your team because you put them there for a reason.

And, um, also as you, as a leader, when you're reading that and [00:11:00] you're reading it with your team, your team is reading it going, Hey. I really need to take responsibility of this role and wow, you know, my, my, my boss, my leader, you know, the owner really trusted me with this. So it really is upon me to take this and own this, this task and move along with it.

You know, we did the training and we went through it. And as we were reading, the four disciplines, I could see the people in the room every week, their mindsets start to change of like. I would get a call every day to now it's not even once a week and now it's a report in like, Hey, I got this. I'm on task.

Here's what we can do. Like, I, I'm going good. And then I'll be like, so anybody need help? Now we got it. Like, are you sure? Cause now I'm at the point, like, are you sure? Are you sure? Cause you know, when you've done it one way so long and I don't want to say as a dictator, but you're in that position of doing all the decision making and, um, you know, saying the yes thing, the no, I'm not giving out the responsibility or the authority.

Now I'm like, well, shit, are you guys sure you don't need me for nothing? And then, you know, [00:12:00] when they go, no, we're, we're good. We're good. We got this. And then they come in with a report and I'm like, oh, wow. Yeah. Everything's that's exactly, yeah, no, this, this looks great. And then you almost feel like a sense of like, well, gosh, they don't need me anymore.

But then you're like, well, I'm glad they don't need me more. Now I can dedicate my time into doing something else. And as an owner, as a boss, as a leader, as a, you know, The dictator, however you want to the overlord, however you want to call yourself and your business, you know, whatever comical name you want to give yourself.

Now you can focus on things that you didn't think were possible, which is like adding another trade to your business or adding another service. So now those things become. A lot easier for you. And, these are some of the things that we'll talk about in the summit in October. I don't want to get too deep into it, but you know, these are just some of the gems that I think those two books, three books really do a good job in helping you become a better leader.

And a better employee as well, too. You know, I don't like to refer to myself as people's bosses. You know, I got one guy that works for me. I don't, you probably don't like that term either. [00:13:00] And, you know, because I'll end at the end of the day, we all work for the company. That's right. You know everybody's replaceable, you know, and we all collect the paycheck.

So, you know, I'm just a co worker So my position is a little different from a lot of people but you know Like my guys when they need help, they'll call me up and be like, hey boss, you want to come paint today? I'm like, okay, cool. Let's go paint and when I get to the site, I don't even ask All right. I don't come over.

I don't take over. I what's going on I just get on site and go where do you want me and they go? Okay, go tape off the the concrete. Okay What do you want me at? You want me on the highest ladder on the sunny side? Okay. And, you know, and a lot of times they'll do it just to mess with me. And they, and they know I'll just get up there and go.

And when I get it done, I come back down and they go, all right, all right, let's go to the shady side. But, you know, we're at the point where they all appreciate me just getting in there and working with them and not, you know, trying to be the guy that wants to have all the answers and to tell everyone what to do with every little step because it gets taxing.

[00:14:00] And there's just no, there's just no way somebody can do that. There's just not enough hours in the day. 

Jason Phillips: You know, back to the, back to the book, just for, for a question, a quick moment, you know, people that have gone through EOS want to create their scorecard and, and their, their, their measures or their KPIs, well, a lot of people struggle with what exactly to measure.

And so. They might be measuring things that really don't matter or, and not measuring the most important things. And that's one of the things that, that helped me train my, my managers on was measuring things that are predictive. So, you know, again, to use just a simple illustration that we all know, well, if, You know, if you want to, let's say lose weight, well, let's say I want to lose five pounds, then we need to somehow have a net calorie loss.

So we need to measure our calories out and our calories in. And so measuring like for instance, calories in [00:15:00] like literally logging every meal and coming in within your calorie goal is predictive of what's eventually going to happen. When you step on the scale and then so taking that same concept and applying it to your business whether it's sales profits leads production , you know culture all of those things and I feel like that I feel like that book can help can help people really grasp an understanding of hey, here's how I make quality Measures for the key numbers in my business.

Will Reyes: Yeah, I agree with you a hundred percent. And just to touch on what you were just saying there, I was one of the people that was like keeping track of stuff that didn't matter because I thought, well, I need to know this. And then, you know, you start to look at it and go, well, why the hell do I need to know that?

You know, that's where it's good to reach out to a community of painters like yourself, because you're the one that showed us the, the roadmap. And we took it and go, okay, we see what Jason's doing, but here's what's going to work best for us. So we just took that as a rough, you know, outline for us, and then adjusted it to the point where we're like, okay, this is the [00:16:00] best for us.

This is what's going to work for us. And since we did that, we're like, okay. And then we still work on it to this day. We're like, okay, we want a little of this, we want a little of that. Okay, we got all this information right here. Now we want a little more information right there. You're absolutely right.

You gotta, it's like, like you said, it's fitness. You don't know where you're going unless you know where you've been. So writing it down is always the best way. You know, I mean, you're...