They say on average there's about 250 people surrounding that one person. And so once that one person comes, he's bringing along 250 other people that he can really leave a glowing review and bring in all his friends. Welcome back to The Art of Connecting Podcast. This is your host here, Haydynn, back with another episode for you guys today. And today we are here with Kyle Barksdale and I'm so glad that you can't see me right now. Because I dressed up today, I wore my button down Ralph Lauren shirt and my khakis and my. My Johnson and Murphy loafers and I am sweating like a pig. It's hot. It is hot. It is really hot out there. And yeah, when I go meet with one of my mentors, he always likes me to dress up. So I play the game. But after this episode, I'm getting into my Hawaiian shirt and my, I don't blame you one bit. Comfy shorts. So it's funny'cause I'm literally like half dressed right now. I have like my sleeves rolled up and my, my socks out. But you know what? You can't see me so it's fine. That's right. Kyle. Thanks for being here today. Absolutely. I'm sorry it's taken so long for us to get this episode started. It's been like he's, I've had this man help me carry, carry things into the office, and he's just always so helpful and I'm so glad that you're here today. So why don't you tell people a little bit about who you are, what your story is. Absolutely. Well, Aiden, it's a, it's an honor to be invited onto the podcast today. I'm, it's a. It's an opportunity that I'm not gonna take for granted. But yeah, as Haydynn said, my name's Kyle Barksdale. I think the, the simple cliff note version of my life is first I'm a Christian, second I'm a husband. Third I'm a father, and then I'm a brother and, and a friend, and then a business owner. And I've owned KB press washing technically for 10 years now, but five full-time years and. I'd say of those five years, I owned my job for about three of those years, and the last two years I've really been intentional about being a business owner and growing in that capacity instead of just owning my job. Awesome. Yeah. So what, what got you started in changing your mindset between, I'm a business owner who does everything and I'm the one washing and doing the bookkeeping and doing the truck maintenance. Into leveraging a team? Sure. Well, I mean, it's still me, so I'm still a solo entrepreneur. But I would say two years ago I started to see this cycle where it just didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. I was just kind of. F stuck in a sense. And so there was an opportunity to go to a business seminar up in Nashville. It was called the Huge Convention. It's for home services. It's a convention for home service business owners that draw people in from all over the world. And it just so happened to be up the street in Nashville. So I went to the convention not really knowing what I didn't know, right. And when I walked in the room and met all these businesses that were so professional, that were so systemized, I really, for the first time. Just felt like the dumbest person in the room, and that was a wonderful feeling. It's a good thing. I, I just soaked it in. I was there for three days at the Opryland Resort and. I just learned so much in those three days, not only from the classes and the seminar, but from networking with other people. And so in that moment it really taught me that there's so much more to owning a business than just doing the work. There's really the business side, and that's what I really neglected for years without really noting, knowing it. I just. I never had a background in business or anyone really guiding me to where I could really understand or, or at least I wasn't at that point understanding. But, so it was a really good experience for me. That's awesome. So it sounds like a convention like this is group of people coming together, change your perspective on. How you operate your business. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it, it really taught me more about professionalism systems and how really systems are the backbone to growth. Mm. So after that, after that we can call it a connection'cause, right? Yeah, absolutely. You connected to the, to the program there after you got connected to that group. What were some changes that you made, as soon as you came back? Yeah, so as soon as I came back, I, I realized I had a lot of shortcomings. So the first call I really made was to my mentor Don Britton, and I just, I was like, he's been working in my life for many years at this point. I just called him. I said, look, I just feel like I've been exposed to so much that I didn't know. I don't really know what to do with all of this. And so we got together and he agreed to coach me along and we created a punch list of items that I could tackle instantly. Things that I could work on over the next year or two years. And so, first and foremost, I think one of the greatest things I realized was in selling yourself, selling your business, you're selling trust. You're not selling price, you're not selling. You know, whatever other things you might think of, you're really selling trust. And so I realized that if I really focused on building trust within the community, then selling would be a lot easier for me, you know, building that reputation that people can call on me. And I'm known as the pressure washing company to go to in town. And so that was, that was big for me. So that's, I'd say what I really turned my focus towards right out of the gate. Hmm. Building trust. Absolutely. So how did you build trust when you came back? What, what was the starting point for that? Well, getting more professionalized. I, I adopted a CRM and, and automated a lot more where there was more points of communication with the customer and, and this really allowed me to raise my prices as well, just because. In the home service industry, just communication is a luxury, unfortunately. And so that really helped us raise prices. Professionalizing just across the board as far as our branding, being more professional with uniforms. You know, I used to show up with just kind of a vinyl pressed shirt and it looked terrible, but I can see how through the years I've grown professionally and that's allowed us to build more trust and really one of the greatest things that I walked away with it. It was kind of a culmination of the seminar and a few books I read at the time. See, I didn't even know before the seminar books were even a, a thing. This is kind of how new at it I was, but I realized that. Part of building trust in the community is caring for the community. And so I set it in my heart to look for needs within the community. And I had a newborn at the time and we went to the Creative Discovery Museum and I was looking around and I was like, man, this place is filthy. And so I just reached out and I said, Hey, you know. We're starting this community care initiative is kind of what I called it, and we'd love to bring you on as a community partner. And so we agreed at that point to donate$5,000 worth of services, and part of the idea behind that was. Partnering with institutions within the community that not only support the community, but that the community trust. And so the idea was if they can trust the community or this, so this community partner, the Creative Discovery Museum, they can partner with us. And so that was kind of the first domino in our resume in building that trust and. You know, we really saw a lot of results from that because we'd show up to people's homes and say, Hey, we clean for the Creative Discovery Museum. Oh really? You know, you, you do that. And it's like, yeah, you know, we can take care of your home. We take, we take care of this big property downtown and, and learning to market those things in a way that really helped build that trust was good for us. Yeah, I feel like there's a term for that. It's probably. I had to imagine probably called landmarking or something like that. Like yeah, that's not a bad way of putting it. It's such a genius way to do things. I was at a conference my friend Yamo put on who's been on the show and there was this guy that came up and he does mobile home parks. That's his thing. Yeah. And he was talking about how he got mobile homes for free, that he would sell for 10, 20,$30,000.'cause he'd go into a mobile home community. He'd, he'd go and find the ugliest mobile home and say. Maybe it had been abandoned and someone left it and say, can I pressure wash that and make your community prettier? And he'd go in and he'd pressure wash it and the park would be like, Hey, this guy hasn't paid his lot rent, and they're gone. Can we just give you the mobile home? We, we take it? Yeah.'cause they don't want it, they don't have the money to put in to fix it. Yeah. I'll take it. He rolls in, his crew drops 10 grand in to fix it, and then he sells it for 30. You know, and he gets the mobile home for free. Absolutely. Because he cleans it. Right? It's kind of the same model. Absolutely. I think that what I've found is. The, the more creative you think in how you advertise and market yourself, the more successful you are because everyone is kind of using the same approach, whether it's social media, you know, Google, in our industry, Google business listings, they're, they're all kind of going down the same road. Mm-hmm. And so if you're not doing anything to distinguish yourself, you know, to zig where they zag. Then why would a customer look at you any different? And so that's something that I've really tried to put a lot of emphasis on, is really focusing on how do we make ourself different from the competition? Because in our industry we have similar equipment, we have similar know-how, so how do we really distinguish ourself? And so that's where I think a lot of the reputation, the trust. And then as we're looking towards the future, how do we build an experience around using our services to where. They're really excited about bringing us back out. Mm-hmm. Was that kind of a scary thing to do at first to. Put all of those resources towards cleaning something for free, right? Sure, yeah. Like spending$5,000 of your Yeah. Of your time, effort, and equipment. Of course, it, it did, but I also saw it as kind of a, a way of advertising. But it was, you know, at first you're spending two days or so, three days there cleaning up the place, but now it's blossomed into such a beautiful relationship. That we have where we've done it for three years in a row now and there it's almost something that we take pride in. Yeah. That we, of course, care for the community by giving back to what supports us. You know, I mean, right. As a parent, I love the Creative Discovery Museum. I mean, it's a great place. I just see the, the imagination growing in Lilly, our daughter. Mm. It's really a fun thing to see and to know that I have a part in bringing that to our community. It's huge. Yeah. That's incredible. It, it truly just goes as like a testament to your character as well of how, how many people are gonna go. As a business owner, I know I notice things all the time. Yeah. Like when I go into a restaurant, I look up at the vents as a former restaurant worker and I'm like, they haven't dusted those vents. Like it's filthy. Right. Yeah. Or when I go into a house, I look at the trim like that is egregiously crooked. Yeah. Like that is terrible. Or you know, there's paint splatter on this and like I just notice little things like that. But it's one thing to notice it, but it's another to do something about it. Yeah, absolutely. There's a saying that that ideas are worthless. The execution is priceless. Right. I like that. Yeah. Because you know you have an idea and I meet these people sometimes they're like, oh, I've got this great idea, but I can't tell you about it'cause someone's gonna steal it'cause it's such a great idea. I'm like, don't you worry. Nobody's gonna steal that idea.'cause I guarantee you if it's good enough that someone else is probably thinking of it. As well. It's about who does it. That's, that's so true. It's really the follow through. I think that's really, as, as business owners, we can get so caught up on improving the nth degree, but we really miss out on just doing the things that we know to do. Yeah. The things that we don't really want to do, if we just go ahead and do those things, our business will blossom far greater than thinking of this, you know, cool, new way of doing something. And don't get me wrong, there's, there's room for that. If you're not doing the things you already know to do, then what's the point? You know? Right. So that's something that I'm really trying to focus on, is doing the things that I know to do. Yeah. I mean, you're, and you're doing something that's incredibly smart. And I always I talk about this on my, on my videos that I make it, it is not a bad thing to borrow credibility. Yep. It's the way that many great empires have been built. Sure. Right. Like when, when you go to introduce yourself to someone. I, I just did it in a meeting today and the guy didn't know who I was talking about, which kind of surprised me. He told me a lot about that. He, the fact that he didn't know the person that I was talking about, kind of made me question like, what is that guy really doing? What he said he was, so we were talking, it's this guy, and he said he was in the freight industry. And I go, oh, cool. Do you know Ted Allen who is one of the co-founders of the fund we're in right now? And he goes, no, no. I don't know who that is. And I'm like. He said he was in the freight industry, like Ted is a titan in the freight industry. Like he, he co-founded the, the largest freight company in the country and then sold it to the now of Sure. Again, the largest freight company in the country. Still be like, not knowing Michael Jordan, you know, of the freight industry. Of freight industry. Exactly. And I'm like, you don't know. It, it, it is just when, when, when someone says that, and, and there were some other things about this person in this meeting today where I was just like. It just didn't feel right, you know, and not, not to challenge that person's character. I'm sure they're a great person. But you know, there were several things where I was like, I left that meeting not knowing, but like, not to say that he. Didn't do what he said he did. He very well may have had a great freight business and and done very well and just happened to not know who I know. But yeah, whenever you know someone, it automatically is like boost your credibility'cause it's like, oh yeah, you know, this person that's done really a lot of cool stuff. Yep. And. It's not like I'm trying to utilize that. It's not a bad thing. Right? Yeah, of course. Like it's, it's honestly a great thing for both of us.'cause it shows that good people around good people, you know. Yeah. And we, we of course had the service to back it up, you know, we weren't just some Home Depot pressure washers. Right. You know, we, we had the service to back it up. So I knew we could take good care of them, which is, it's it's allowing them to use the funds in another way. And so in return we just get to use their branding, their. Credibility. And so it's a win-win, really. And so and you know, it's really worked out really well for us, just in all areas. And I'm thankful we've done it. It's, it's, yeah, I mean, that's genius, man. It really is. And you, anyone can look at it now and be like, oh man, I wish I would've thought of that. Sure, of course. Right? All the other people, they're like, that would happily give away$5,000 worth of services to them right now, seeing what you've done. You were the one that acted right. You were the one that did it. Yeah. And, and it's, I was, so we were talking about this before we got on the show, but something that I very much admire about you is from the first minute I met you, you were always, you, you, you first said as soon as you came in, you said, Hey, how can I help you? You said, Hey, how can I help you? And you got to the meetup early and you were helping me put any, anytime that I'm at the meetup, there's always stuff to do in the beginning, of course, right? Yeah. I'm setting up the sound system, there's flyers to hand out all this kinda stuff. And I was like, anytime someone comes to me and says, Hey, can I help you? I'm like, yep, here you go. Put these flyers in the chair. Do this, do that.'cause there's just so many things that, that come in, go into putting that together. Of course. And, that was the first thing that I noticed about you. And then it just continued, you know, at the end of the event you stuck around and was like, Hey, is there anything I can help you with? And we were talking about this before the show and I was, I was like, man, I'm just so glad that my parents instilled that same quality in me. Is being willing to ask, is there anything that I can do to help? It has gotten me so far in life. Absolutely. Just asking that question, it's so valuable. Well, it really reflects care and, and kind of going back to how do you make a mark on people, you know, your meetups, we'll use that for an example. You know, there's a hundred people that come, but there's only maybe one or two that offer to help. And I don't have a lot in the real estate world to offer, you know, knowledge. Contracts, this and that. But I do have my time that I can give and I understand what goes into planning an event. And when you're trying to host a hundred people, there's a lot that goes on. But again, I knew that one of the greatest ways I could give back to the opportunity that you give us to be there and to learn and to make connections is to offer my time. And sometimes, you know, just offering your time is enough to make a mark. Yeah. And so, like yourself, my, my aunt and uncle really instilled in me. What can I do to help? And that's what I hope to instill in my daughter. So if I'm not living that same principle, then yeah, you know, what good is it teaching her? So, you know, it's really a wonderful principle to live by in life. Absolutely. Yeah. And I, I Cam was bringing in some office chairs and desks right before our episode. I'm in my freaking. Dress clothes over here and I was, I was gonna help him bring'em in, but he was like, no, no, no. Don't worry about it. I was secretly relieved that he said, don't worry about it, it's hot. I was gonna, I offered to help any, anytime I see it, it's just, it's instinct. It's second nature. Absolutely. There's no question about it. If I see someone doing some kind of work. I wanna offer to help them. Yeah. And like you were kind of pointing out, I think before we, we started the podcast, you know, everyone's so focused on themselves and I think as a Christian, some of the greatest ways we can make a mark on people's lives is just by doing something so simple because it shows that you care for them. And, and in a world where everyone's so focused on themselves, their problems, their issues. Just maybe one little mark here and there can really make a difference. And that's something that I really believe I live by is, is how can I make someone's life better? Yeah. And, and in pressure washing, I get the chance to do that. I get to serve our community. I get to serve homeowners. I get to maintain their homes and protect their greatest assets. And so really it goes back to care. And I think that's one of the things that make us so unique is at the core of who I am, which is. And reflection who the business is, is care. And that's really what I, I've really tried to build my brand around is, is care. Mm-hmm. And I think that's taken me a lot further than most places or most people would. And so for whoever's listening care, I, I'd say that's a great place to start. Just care for others. Yeah. I completely agree. So on that note, I want to talk about you know, kind of, I want to dive into some of the connections that have. Helped you grow your business and have been pivotal in your life. So I want to rewind the clock a little bit and go back the 10 years when you were first getting started, what did, what did KB pressure washing look like 10 years ago? So, 10 years ago, I, I just graduated high school, which is weird to think, but. I just graduated high school and I knew how to pressure wash. My uncle owns a national pressure washing company, and so from the time I was about 12 or 14, I was out working and doing those cross country runs with him. So I, I had some knowledge of how to do it and so starting out was summer and I needed something to kind of do during the summer before college. And I just started going knocking on doors and that was kind of what was instructed of me. And if I could go back and just be a fly on the wall, I was, mm-hmm. Awful. I mean, it was the worst. I probably went two weeks of knocking on doors every single day. Community after community, and it probably went something like, you know, knock, knock, knock. And they'd come to the door, I'd say, I know you don't want pressure washing done, but on the off chance that you do want it done, I'm not your guy. You know, like, it was just so terrible. And so my uncle, he, he, he sacrificed a day and he came out with me, you know, after two weeks of just nothing, he was like, what is going on here? So he was able to gimme some talking points and, and I realized something in myself that I didn't really know beforehand was. I'm very shy. Mm-hmm. In those moments, if I get to know you, I, you know, all the walls come down. I'm perfectly fine talking to you, being myself, not having a problem at all. But for some reason that. Moment. I just felt like such a burden to the homeowner and I just terrible at selling. So I've door knocked before I It, it's similar. Yeah. I had the same thing. You just feel like you're inconveniencing someone. Yeah. And you're like, they're gonna come to the door and shoot me. Yeah. Oh yeah. That was first on my thought. Yeah. You know, was I was thinking I was gonna get shot. You know, it'd be the. You know, a 17-year-old guy that gets shot by a homeowner, you know, at his door. You never hear that story though. I have. I've yet to hear that one. That's true. I've yet to hear of the, the knock door knocking salesman that got murdered for knocking on a door. I haven't heard that one yet. Fortunately, as time has gone on, I've gotten much better at it, but still it, it's, it's something I have to kind of force myself to do. I typically. You know, knock on the neighbor's doors as we do work just to kind of see if they're interested or if we're messing with their property at all, or, you know, just try to open that door with them. But so yeah, 10 years. Then I went to college and in college I got a job working for a credit union here in town, and I started working with them as a teller. And then as I progressed, as I went through college I moved over to being what's called the vault specialist which allowed me to be on the operation side of the branch. So I managed the machines, the A at M ims, which is like a interactive teller machines. And I did that for a year, or yeah, about a year. And then I moved over to the loan officer side and I was the youngest loan officer in the company at the time. Which, which T-V-F-C-U. It was T-V-F-C-U. Yeah. And it was a, it was a big. Kind of achievement. And I was kinda on the fast track to leadership and, and growing in that, you know, space. But as we kept progressing, you know, I was getting a 20 cent raise here, 5 cent raise there. Oh, we're gonna take that back because you didn't stay for a full year in that position. And, you know, long term. I mean, I was making like$10 an hour, you know? Oh my gosh. Working night and day, going to college at the same time. And so it, it. I was blessed to have people in my life to say, Hey, look, you know, here's, here are your goals. You're married, you're hoping to bring your home, your wife home. You're, you're hoping to raise a family. What's the future looking like if you're gonna be making, you know.$13 an hour,$15 an hour. And it, there was really, there was, I'm sure a future to some degree there, but not really the future that could provide an adequate living for a stay at home family. And so I decided to make the jump. I was already doing pressure washing part-time on the weekends, so decided to go full-time and you know, really go full force with it. And that's where I stepped into owning that job, as I discussed for about three years and had some challenges and I learned as I went, but. I really feel like the last two years it's just been an exponential curve of really learning business, really learning how to know my numbers, learning how to brand myself well, learning how to make connections, learning how to network. It's been big and I think that it's, it's, it's fun to watch as I grow the company, it put a lot of thought into the foundation of where we're at. So that's kind of brings you up to speed of our 10 year history. Yeah. I really like to think we've only been in business for about two years really, but or maybe I've been an entrepreneur for two years, but it's really a journey. I mean, that's, that's the greatest thing. I mean, it's really a fun journey, but I've made a lot of mistakes, but it's been good. It's all worked out for my good. Yeah. You know, something that's really interesting is I was reading there's this book at UTC that they hand out at the business college for their events. It's the Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame. And so it's all of these amazing people that grew up in Chattanooga or lived in Chattanooga that started these big businesses that grew to be wildly successful and, and national international brands. And something that was really fascinating is I was reading of all these titans that helped build Chattanooga, and I kept underlining and starring these places. I would say probably 60 to 70% of them worked in banking at one point. That's really interesting. Really? That's wild. Really interesting to me.'cause I kept, I kept reading and the more bios I read it said this person started Tennessee National Trust. Sure. Tennessee National Bank and Trust. And then the Coke guys were, they started in banking and became attorneys. And then there's the, the McClellans who started in banking and then went into something else. And then all of these people. That ended up starting these big businesses that were super successful. It just, it's this line that just kept going back to banking. Yeah, that's, and I was like, that is really, that's a really interesting connection. Fascinating. Yeah. Be and I think, I don't know, I have no idea why that is, but I mean, I, it, a high percentage of these Uber successful men that came from our city started in banks. So I think part of that is like. When you go into banking, there's, there's things that you just don't know. About how money works. And then I imagine these guys went into banking and they realized how money actually works. Yeah, that's fair. And then that gave them an edge in business. Yeah. You really learned a lot about the foundational principles that maybe you don't learn in school. I mean, at least in my situation, you know, I learned a lot about debt income ratio. I learned about, you know, course credit scores and in great detail I learned what they look for. I, I really learned a lot in that role and really understanding too, you know. Spending habits. I, I got to see people's bank accounts. I got to see how pretty much everyone's broke. You know, and how they were able to spend a lot on weight, you know, pointless things, but not really save up for what matters. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, I, I could see that playing a foundational role in, in, in an entrepreneur's mind if, if you're successful is, you know, what, what it really boils down to is, you know, finances. Yeah. And you also learn about fractional reserves debt. And then you make the connections Yep. To the people that run the bank. Absolutely. And when you know the person who runs the bank and you have a business venture that seems to make good sense to you, it's way easier to get them to approve a loan when you can go to the president and say, Hey, what do you think about this than when you're, you know, coming off the street. It's totally different ball game. Yeah. I mean, banks look at relationships, you know, as, as one of their key indicators. You know, Hey, can we trust this guy? What's the history look like? So, you know, that plays a huge role in their decisioning process as well. So it's interesting to see how almost networking principles apply there as well. Yeah, yeah, that was very, I was just very fascinated by that as I was. Reading that book and I'll, I'll have to, I'll get you a copy. Yeah, sure. So you can, so you can take a look at it. It's very, it's fascinating. It'll put you to sleep. Oh, nice. Or actually in my case, it'll keep you up.'cause I, I guess I shouldn't say it'll put you sleep. It actually kept me awake all night because. I read all these stories about all these entrepreneurs and how they started it and I couldn't go to sleep, so I like wrote down all of my, all of the things that I needed to do to get my ventures to where I want them to be. That's pretty neat though that you had that insight at, at. Kind of a young age to see that, see the themes, kind of see where you were wanting to go, see how it could apply to you. That that's pretty interesting. Oh yeah. I mean, I was underwriting all the things that's really stuck out to me. So what, what drives you? Like why, why have you picked this path? Was there someone in your family that's, you know, done this before you, is there an entrepreneur bug there? Like, what, what's got you going? Let me flip the table around here. That's a great question. So I'm actually, I'm working on writing a book right now and, the first question that I have in my book is, how did you end up like this? Right. That's a good question. I get that question all the time. And I would, I I don't exactly know the answer to it. And, and I guess I'll have to reflect on this as I write my book, but I think that the reason why I got so interested in. How connections work is. Ever since I was a little kid, I was always just interested in how things work. You know, going to the Creative Discovery Museum. I grew up going there. Yeah, going to the Creative Discovery Museum and like. Putting the things in the right holes to make, make it work, or like learning about how light bulbs work and all these random things. I was just like really, really fascinated with all of that. But I was never really fascinated with doing math or you know, learning about other things. I was just like to learn how things work, right? And now as I grow up, I started to realize everything in this world. Works on the people, you know, with the exception of biology, that all works differently, you know? But like, like business wise, yeah, because I was always a little interested in business, like business. Every single thing that happens, the reason why we're in this building right now is because the five guys over there, three of them invested in two of the other guys, and then they ended up creating an amazingly successful company and then they created this all together. But that all, like everything here was born by. Connections. Absolutely. And it's the same for everything. Yeah. I mean it's amazing how connections really are, are the difference between success and, you know, failure. Yeah. I mean that's really I. You hear when you get into business, it's not what you know, it's who you know and you kind of think, oh yeah, you know, you hear that all the time. But I mean, the more you progress in business, the more you see how true that is. You know, just as we kind of harken back to the Creative Discovery Museum, that's really been the launchpad to several of our largest clients is. They knew who managed the Discovery Museum, and that's led over to, you know, the, the Tennessee Aquarium that's led over to, you know, the Hunter Art Museum. That's led over to a lot of our biggest, you know, kind of name recognizable clients. And again, it goes back to connections. You know, I didn't have to market or sell myself. They were calling me. I mean, with the aquarium, that was an exception. I was after them for like two years. You were, you were calling them? Yeah. We're, we're at a point where. Like the Hunter Art Museum, they reached out to me because of my reputation as being professional, reputable, and, and so it's again, where it's, we're building that organic connection where we're, we're kind of known around town as the pressure washing company. And that's big. I mean, again, it goes all back to connections. I mean, you can't. You can't have an ad budget for that. You know, you can't spend thousands of dollars to develop that. That takes time, that takes connections and that's, you know, really invaluable. Yeah. And all it takes is one. Oh, a hundred percent. You know, you score one. We, I was sitting down with one of the founders of one of the companies in here, and we were talking about my fundraise for Acadia Capital, which by the way, the show is sponsored by Acadia Capital. Oh, hey there. It's me again. I know you expected Morgan Freeman to come on and talk about the biggest company in the world. Well, I'm sorry, but you get the next best thing. This show is sponsored by the company that I co founded, Acadia Capital, and acadia is a hard money lending fund originating loans in Southeast Tennessee and Northern Georgia on residential one to four unit renovation properties. We are regulation D five Oh six C fund and are actively seeking accredited investors. We provide fantastic first position real estate back returns. If you're ready to get your tired and lazy capital to work with a minimum 8 percent return, go to Acadia loans. com backslash invest. Not only do we accept standard investments, but we can also accept self directed IRAs and other self directed retirement accounts to take advantage of tax advantage investing. Thank you so much for listening to Art of Connecting now back to the show. but now that we're back we were talking about Acadia Capital and my fundraise and we, we were just talking about how you get one investor that puts in a million,$2 million, that is the big name, and then all the other ones falling behind it. Mm-hmm. Right? Yep. You, you get that one name behind you that. Is that name like, it's like, oh yeah, I know that com. Like they invested in it. I'm investing in them too. And you know what's beautiful about that though is it's not just one. They say on average there's about 250 people surrounding that one person. And so once that one person comes, he's bringing along 250 other people that he can really leave a glowing review and bring in all his friends, or he can leave a scathing, you know, negative review. Absolutely. And so you really, with every person you bring along. You're not just bringing that one person, you're bringing all their connections and all that opportunity. So it's, that's what's so beautiful about networking, is it's just really never ending. Yeah. And it's the interesting part too, as, as someone who's dedicated their life to this, you also have to watch out. Yeah. And this may not have been your case yet, and, and maybe it is, but people will see that you're a connector and that you know a lot of people and then they want a piece of it. Right. And I've had people approach me and say, Hey, do you wanna start this venture or help me, help me raise money for this or help me do this or land this customer and I'll give you this. And you have to constantly evaluate, are these people who I align with? Yeah. Are they people who I want to get in bed with business wise? Because there's been several people where I, I just say no. You know, I could make Oh, but you can make so much money. No. It, it doesn't, it doesn't align. Yeah. Right. Well, yeah, I mean you know, as a Christian, I kind of think to the biblical principle of being unequally yoked, you know, if you don't have similar principles, then you know you're gonna be pulling in opposite directions. Mm-hmm. And you're tied together. So wherever that ship's going, you're going with it. Right. And so you really have to be careful. I mean, I've not experienced that myself quite yet. I mean, I'm still pretty small fish in this big pond compared to yourself. And I'm a minnow buddy. Well, if you're a minno, then I'm a, I'm a min, a really small TA hole, but. I might be just speck floating along the bottom of the pond. Oh man. But no, yeah, it's so important. I mean, really who we connect with and who we spend time with, who we invest in, you know, just even with our time, I mean, we can be influenced in so many ways, and so I a hundred percent I could see your point. Yeah. And it goes the other way too. I remember. When, when we first, when we first met in person, I had seen your videos already. We, we, you had friended me on Facebook and I had been seeing your stuff for, for probably a month or two. And I just remember being really impressed. I was like, that's awesome. This guy, you know, it was really come in swinging and when you approached me after the meetup about a sponsorship, I didn't have, I wasn't gonna have another sponsor to the event. I was kind of capped out. But because of the reputation that you had built up and seeing the work that you did and also offering to help, I, I opened up an extra sponsorship, so, well, I really appreciate that, that I, I, I really like to make sure that anyone that sponsors my events are, it's gotta be someone who I would do business with myself. Right, right. And I'm very selective and oftentimes I'll have people ask and it's just, I'm like, ah. It's not really a great fit. But if there's someone that comes in and I'm like, I would do business with, with them right away, like, I'll make room. You know? And I, that was something that, that I, when, when you first approached me, if anyone else had asked, it would've been like, yeah, no, we, we, we aren't taking any more sponsors. Well, kudos to you, you know, for even knowing our videos. Like that was pretty huge for me. You know, when I, when I first came to the, the meetup, it kind of went back to that similar feeling where. That I had at the seminar. It's a feeling that I've come to not ignore. When I walked in the room and sat and listened, I, Ken was the speaker that day. I just had that same feeling of I'm the dumbest person in this room. And I, I try not to ignore that feeling because usually when I pay attention to that feeling, when I really invest in that feeling, I. Then I know that good things come from it, and so growth is about to happen. Yeah. And, and so it's been big for me just to really understand how the real estate world works. You know, your podcast, the meetup, it's been big for me to learn how to message to kind of ideal clients, property owners. Yeah. You know, kind of the movers and shakers around town. And that's something that again, I, I wouldn't have been privy to, had you not let me in. Mm. And so I've been really thankful for that opportunity. Well, I just had a thought. My connector brain, if you want to clean some properties in the West Village Oh, a hundred percent. We can we can, we can get you going. That would be phenomenal. I mean, those are really kind of what I really enjoy doing. Yeah. Is those big projects around downtown. Of course the margin and the the prices is nice, but really, you know, again, I care so much about our city of Chattanooga. That to me, knowing that it. When we drive through downtown, I know I make an impact. Yeah. I know I can help prolong the life of all these buildings and, and keep this city looking so beautiful. I mean, we really live in the most beautiful community, I think in, in, in the country. Just not only the scenic views, but just the beauty and the culture, the, the beauty and the community, how we really care for one another. I mean, I, I've traveled to a lot of cities and it's hard to find. Same. Yeah. And I think I've been all over the world. It's hard to find. Yeah. I mean, we really take it for granted. I think from. Time to time. I mean, we really miss that, that beauty sometimes. And so for me to know that I have a small role in giving back to the community to support our community, it's really a, a beautiful thing for me. It just fills me with such gratitude and so whatever opportunity there is there for sure, we'll make a connection. I'd be very grateful. Yeah. That's awesome. Oh man, I totally forgot I was going with that. There was a point that came into my head and then it just ran right out. Well, let me ask you a question if you don't mind. Yeah, sure. You've been hot on the social medias. What is your game plan, what's your goal with social media videos? Those fun little clips that you make? They're very, they're, they're very well done. Thank you. That's a great question. And actually that's a perfect question'cause it reminds me of the question I was gonna ask you too.'Cause or something I was gonna mention you were, you were talking about your videos. I, when, when I met you, I already knew your brand and I had already seen what you had done because of your, your social media. I've started to have people when I literally walk around, like I was in the grocery store last night. Someone was like, Hey, I've been seeing your videos. And then a few days before that I was in the Northwestern Mutual office meeting with Chad Voitick, one of my, one of my friends, and there was a girl in the lobby and she said, Hey, I've been seeing your videos. I was like, Hey, have I met you before? She's like, no, I haven't met you before. And so it's really. Kind of a weird feeling to like walk around town and people were like, I could only imagine. Yeah. Recognizing me, I only have 1500 followers, man. Like I am not a celebrity. I think I've got like 300, so, you know, maybe three. I have like 3000 on Facebook. Like nothing. Nothing crazy at all. But they're all very engaged. Yeah. Which is amazing. And the purpose of the videos are to really try to provide value in an environment where. Mostly what's being provided is just garbage. Right. Most of social media is, and I learned this, I actually deleted Instagram off my phone to, to not get sucked in for the next week. But when you're scrolling through a reel, you're scrolling through emotions. Yep. The reason why something goes viral is because it gives you emotion, even your content. Right. Yeah. The Creative Discovery Museum that creates, it invokes an emotion of belonging of community. Yeah. It's like, oh, my kids grew up playing there or I grew up playing there. Right? Yeah, absolutely. And so you're invoking motion and that's why it got brought into my feed Yeah. Is because people saw it and they go, oh, that's great. This guy is cleaning up something that matters to me. And you are absolutely right. Yeah. Yeah. And so a lot of that is unhealthy though, right? That's very true. A lot of social media that you see is designed and engineered to evoke. Anger or sadness or lust or all these many different emotions that don't progress us further towards our goal. So my emotion that I want to invoke in people is drive. Yeah. If that even is an emotion or like the emotion that I want to invoke is like being a little unsettled, like, like an uneasiness. The reason for that is I don't want people to feel uneasy or not not confident about themself. I want the opposite. I want people to feel a little uneasy and like think, am I doing enough? Like is there, is there more that I could be doing to push towards my goal? Yeah, absolutely. Could I be more intentional in what I'm doing to create connections with people and also just to educate people on. Some of the ways that I've found to be really helpful as I go throughout this journey of life. So yeah, that's kind of the, that's the purpose of the, the social media videos. And part of it too is just brand awareness, right? Like building up people that know me like me, trust me'cause I'm raising capital. I'm raising$15 million this year. So. With that, you need to be known by people, right? Yeah, of course. Yeah. If some random person comes to you and pitches you an idea, you're probably not gonna listen to it as closely as someone who you've followed on Instagram for six months. Right. And, and enjoy their content. Yeah. It really gives you a wonderful opportunity to build trust before you even meet the person. 100%. Kind of look at it as planting seeds. Yeah. You know? You never really know where it's gonna bloom. You never know when you're gonna meet someone in the grocery store and they know you and you don't know them. You never know who's gonna watch it. You know, like you saw our videos. I, I never met you prior to the, you know, that time and, and you'd seen our videos. And so again, it just plants such wonderful seeds. And you, you're, you're a hundred percent right on the fact that it drives an emotion. It drives something, you know, I, part of the reason why we did. Look at doing videos on the bigger projects was I really got this picture of how all of our competition was doing. Just pictures, you know? And people will give you a like or two just because they like you, they wanna support you, but no one cares, right? No one cares about a, no one cares at all. Exactly. So I really thought, I really asked myself, what's in it for them? What's in it for the receiver? We as as business owners, sometimes just. Send out our message, send out our message, send out our message, but no one listens because there's nothing in it for them. Right. And so I started with them in mind thinking, well, if I, you know, put music to it and I, I, you know, did fun things around town that people know. Put your logo in it. Yeah. You know, I make it entertaining and I make it to where something they'd actually like to look at. Yeah. I mean, my, my views went from like two to three, you know, likes here and there to, you know, 80 to a hundred, you know, 120. It's been shared 30 times. You know, people like that. And there's, there's something in it for them that they can participate in supporting us, of course, supporting the community. So it's, it's almost like we're building a culture, you know, at a very small scale, but really starting with them in mind, it gives them that, that, that feeling, you know? Yeah. And so that's a hundred percent right and it's, it's planted seeds, places that I never even thought would bloom when you never know what impact one post is gonna have. Yeah. Right. And you never know if a post could go viral. Yeah. I could post a video and you know, there could be 3 million, 5 million people that see it. Yeah. Right. That's a real possibility. How crazy is that? It's like, that's wild. Yeah. And also I want to give a huge shout out to Mattias and Caitlyn, my social media team.'cause none of this is possible without them. I don't do this alone. So all of the quality videos that you see, it's Raven Tree Media. They do like the podcast I did with Mitch Patel. They edited and did all of that footage. And so they're absolutely rock stars. And they, I mean, every single mo we, we shoot for eight hours a month. On a shoot day, I bring all of my Hawaiian shirts. So I'll roll in with a, you know, arm full of like 12 different Hawaiian shirts and they make all of my strategy so they take my ideas and create scripts and hooks and things like that around them. So the team is everything. It's absolutely everything. And I'm really starting to reflect more and more on that of. You asked me these questions, the questions that you've asked me, and it all, it all comes back to like, I have a great team. Yeah. Like, like it's, you see me on the camera Right. But there, there is, you know, my executive assistant, my director of operations, my director of creations, like all these Sure. People that are behind the scenes, editing things, making things happen that like it's mind numbing. Sure. To think about that, that I, I'm blessed with this team. So what would you say to someone who. Is just getting going. You know, someone similar to myself where maybe you're not quite at that point yet, where you can put together a team where you're still growing, you're still putting together, you know, capital, you're still trying to fund, you know, the future of the business where that doesn't really, it's not really for us at this moment. So what would you say to someone like me? So I asked Ken for life advice today. I was meeting with Ken before this morning'cause I. Not about business. It ended up being a little bit of business advice too. I asked him for life advice and we ended up getting somehow into talking about having a kid. But he said, having a child will, will change everything. And I don't have a kid, so I don't know. I'm, I'd imagine, oh, a hundred percent changes your life. You take life seriously, right? Oh, you really start living, if you do it right, you start living for. Start, he said, he said, started sacrificing for your family. You start, your life starts when you have a child, is basically the way can put it. I agree. Yeah, I agree. And, and, but he also said you're never gonna be ready financially to have that child. I think it goes the exact same way with employees. Getting your first team member, if you hire right, will completely change the life of your business, but you're never gonna be ready for them. You're never gonna hit a point to where you're like, alright, I, if you're rolling solo, you're, in my opinion, you're never gonna hit that point to where you're like, alright, great. I can hire somebody Now there's this abundant money flowing over. Right. And, and I, and I'm ready. I understand that. Of course. And so also another thing that I would say is be the person that would attract your dream team. Yep. And this has happened for me and I'm, this is kind of why I wanna meet with Ken, is like, I wanna be the person that's gonna attract my dream wife. Right. I figured out the dream team part. I attract the team. My team is incredible. But now I'm moving on to that chapter of like, I want to figure out how to attract my dream wife. Right? And so that's why I was talking to Ken about and asking him about, just for full disclosure for those of you that wanted to be nosy about my life. But anyways, so for all you single ladies Yeah, yeah, for sure. Hit me up. So anyways, with that though. You're never gonna be ready for your employee. And my first hire was Autumn, my executive assistant. And Autumn came to me. We sat on this couch right over here in the office, and she DMed me on Facebook. She had just seen some of my social media. Someone had told her to connect with me. I don't even know who. And we sat down and talked about what she wanted to do. She's like, I wanna buy a storage facility. I have these ambitions in these dreams. And I was like, yeah, great. That's awesome. Well, I've gotta go to another meeting. Let's sit down. Another time we came in here. And I sat down with her and after we talked about what I was working on building, she was like, I wanna be a part of the, what you're doing. She said, I wanna be a part of what you're doing. She's like, you don't have to pay me. Yeah. And I was like, autumn, I, you can't work for me for free. That sounds what, what, what, what are your living expenses? Like what, you know, I can at least cover your living expenses. Right. And so I won't disclose what, what I pay autumn, but she said a number and I said, okay, I can do that. Yeah. And so why don't we start with, I'll cover your living expenses and then. Let's build a system where you can make more so for you. Right. What is the, the question is, what is your biggest bottleneck? I'd say for us, the biggest bottleneck is, well, me in a sense that I'm the only guy. So part of the problem we have is lead generation on a kind of a consistent basis. You know, when you're a solo entrepreneur, you go in, you kind of gather all the work together. Yeah. You, you load it all up. Yep. And then you're just focused on doing the work. And then you come to the end of that work. Yeah. And then all of a sudden you look up and you're like, oh. So I, we don't really have any more work. Yeah. So you have to kind of start this cycle. So we really start to see kind of a wave to, you know, we have great months, you know, probably some of the best months we've ever had. And then, you know, like this month it's not been so great. Yeah. So it's like how do we, you know, levelize that,'cause that's part of the fear in hiring someone is. If, if, if I don't have enough work to keep myself busy, you know, some months, how is it that I, you know, so that's kind of the, the process there. So I've listened to thousands of interviews of entrepreneurs and I've been through probably hundreds of talks at this point, and read a hundred, maybe a hundred books. And your number one problem can be boiled down to one word. Sales. Yeah, that's a good point. Sales solves everything. Sales solves everything. You can out earn stupid sometimes if you have sales. If you have sales are good. What? What becomes the next problem? After sales, if you figure sales out follow through. Fulfillment. Yeah. Sales and fulfillment. That's all services businesses. Sales fulfillment. Sales fulfillment. So with you being the solopreneur right now, if you can find someone to do sales, which is by the way. The easiest job to find someone to go that's willing to work and put themselves out there for commission. You go find a rockstar that sees what you're doing. Yeah. And will go and work for a commission with a small base.'cause you, you know, I, I like to give a small base just to give enough to like live. But I. Maybe you don't even have to do that. You know, hire two or three. Yeah. I'm coaching Caitlyn and Mattias in their, yeah. Social media business. And I was like, you'd be killing it. Yeah. I was like, put an ad out there for an intern. There are so many kids that graduate in marketing and they don't have a job because there's something like, I mean, there's thousands and thousands of marketing students that graduate hundreds of thousands every single semester. And there's not enough marketing jobs for these kids to take. So they have a marketing degree. And so I said, I have friends that were excited to get offered a job to work for free for a marketing firm. You have a marketing firm, put ads out there, put not just one, put multiple out there seeking an intern. And literally my director of operations, she started as an intern, literally like a month ago, and she was too good to be an intern, so I promoted her. Mm-hmm. So you could even advertise for a sales intern, right. You get a young college student who's hungry. Teach'em how to go door knock. And then now you have sales going on, and then you can send them out on their own. And then now your focus is fulfillment. Mm-hmm. Right. And then filling in sales where sales need to be filled. True. And then once you have sales rocking and rolling, then now you can refocus your effort into hiring to help with fulfillment. Yeah. And then you just continue to feed it. So that's what I would say, but you're never gonna be ready. Sure. Yeah.'cause that's, that's one of the things that I think I struggle with from time to time is, is just figuring out,'cause I, I think we've got a really good foundation, right? We've got, you have an amazing foundation. It's just how do we, there's a reason why you're sitting in the seat right now. Well, I appreciate that. And it is like, how do we scale from here? And it's like, I feel like there's different stages to business. And we're at now, we're at that kind of in-between stage where I'm trying to push as hard as I can to get to that next stage. Punch through and, and get to where I start to put together a team. And that's what I really look forward to and, and what I'm really excited about.'Cause I do feel like leadership is a skill of mine that I can, I can really capitalize on and put together a, a good team. And so that's what I'm excited about as far as the future goes. So I, I really appreciate that advice. Yeah. Got some live coaching going on the show. Yeah. Awesome. Well, Kyle, we're coming up on our time here, so I wanna ask our final question, and that is, what is a connection to a person or group of people that's changed a trajectory of your life or career? When I think about a connection that's really changed my life, I mentioned him earlier, but Don Britton. Mm. I, I grew up in a really, kind of a terrible situation and, and really was in a really bad spot and. You know, he, he kind of saw our situation and took me under his wing and mentored me for not just one year, not for two years. He's still in my life today. So from the time I was about 10 to here I am 27. So 17 years, he's really been a kind of a cornerstone to my life. Someone I could look to for advice look for marriage advice, life advice, business advice, just in every aspect, spiritual advice. He's honestly, if I could be a 10th of man that he is, then I, I know I have succeeded in life. I mean, he has really just been such a, a, a force in my life that I just, I know God has used him for my good, and if no one else, then, you know, has been good for me. And, and I, I just, that connection has been huge and I, I, I, I really am, am so humbled to, to know him. Hmm, that's awesome. So, yeah. Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show today. If people want to follow along with you as you're cleaning our Chattanooga landmarks that we have around here, your landmarking, that's the new term that I've created today. That's really good. I like that. Your landmarking Yeah, it you really are amazing at, if people wanna follow along with you, where do they do that? Yeah, so you can find us online@cleanchattanooga.com, or you can follow us on Facebook or Instagram. On Facebook. It's. KB Pressure Washing, I believe it's KB Pressure Washing Chattanooga on Instagram. That's still kind of new. We're still slowly getting more on there. I personally don't use a lot of social media, but you know, our business page is usually rocking and rolling. We post a lot of projects on there, so find us there and yeah. Awesome. Great and guys, thanks so much for listening to the show. Just. I always have this moment of gratitude at the end of the show. It's truly a podcast is nothing without the people that listen to it. It's literally me, just like yapping into a microphone. So, so glad that you're here listening to the show. One favorite that I too ask of you is if you got value outta the show. please click that share button and share it with someone else is truly the best way for a podcast to grow. And then also, if you could leave a five star review wherever you're listening to your show, that also really helps us out as we're growing the art of connecting. So thanks to Acadia Capital for sponsoring the show as well, which is also my company. So thank you Haydynn. We will catch you guys on the next episode of the Art of Connecting. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.