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Speaker 1: I told my boss, I said, I'm done with this.

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Speaker 1: I just couldn't do it no more.

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Speaker 2: Some businesses start from a great idea, some from a need.

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Speaker 2: But for Georgia and Margarita Rivera, their company, Dakwats Electric,

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Speaker 2: was founded in a moment of frustration.

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Speaker 3: He came home to pretty much let me know that

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Speaker 3: he had quit his job and that he was going

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Speaker 3: to do this side thing full time. It was super

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Speaker 3: bad timing. I'm eight months pregnant. I was just like,

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Speaker 3: what are you thinking?

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Speaker 1: The stakes are extremely hot. It's like do a die moment.

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Speaker 1: You know, either I'm going to put food on the

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Speaker 1: table or not.

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Speaker 4: Welcome to the Unshakables from Chase for Business and Ruby

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Speaker 4: Studio from iHeartMedia. I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business.

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Speaker 2: And I'm Tanya Nebo, a lawyer and consultant for business owners.

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Speaker 4: On the Unshakables, we're sharing the daring stories of small

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Speaker 4: business owners facing their crisis points and telling the stories

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Speaker 4: of how they got through it.

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Speaker 2: Then we're back with another story.

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Speaker 4: Tell me all about it, Tanya.

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Speaker 2: Well, once upon a time, newlyweds George and Margarita decided

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Speaker 2: to leave behind everything they knew while raising an infant.

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Speaker 2: Though the first few months were hard, they finally got

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Speaker 2: a huge break and put everything on the line. Would

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Speaker 2: this moment make or break the couple and the business.

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Speaker 4: Was that a Hollywood movie or a small business story.

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Speaker 2: I'll let you listen and then you can decide. On

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Speaker 2: today's episode, Doc Watts from Orlando, Florida. Growing up, a

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Speaker 2: lot of kids dream of being astronauts or ballerinas. Not

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Speaker 2: George Rivera. He only wanted to be one thing, an electrician.

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Speaker 1: That was born for this. And you talked to my mom,

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Speaker 1: she tells, y'all was born with a wire out of

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Speaker 1: my hand.

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Speaker 2: His dad was a handyman, and he tag along on

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Speaker 2: jobs and watch him build, shape, paint, and tear things down.

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Speaker 2: But nothing fascinated him quite like electricity.

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Speaker 1: It's a mystery. You can do a thousand different things.

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Speaker 1: You can turn the light bulb with different ways. It's

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Speaker 1: no one way to do it.

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Speaker 2: He went to an electrician training program, completed an apprenticeship,

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Speaker 2: and got a job at the Orlando Airport. Right away,

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Speaker 2: he was put on a multi million dollar electrical project.

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Speaker 1: I was the youngest guy there with the license that

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Speaker 1: very had any mustache, or beard, and they tell me, George, man,

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Speaker 1: what are you doing here? I've been doing this since

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Speaker 1: you're in diapers, you know, pretty much.

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Speaker 2: Although he was a lot younger than most of his coworkers,

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Speaker 2: George wasn't shy about taking charge.

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Speaker 1: They didn't like a young guy coming in a very aggressive,

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Speaker 1: very go get her. And there was one guy. I

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Speaker 1: told him, listen, man, one day, you're gonna be working

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Speaker 1: for me.

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Speaker 2: Before long, he was right. George quickly rose in the

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Speaker 2: ranks and soon was managing the same men that had

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Speaker 2: previously disrespected him.

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Speaker 1: We had thirty two guys. The guy show up, lady

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Speaker 1: and I said, you know, I feel like a big

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Speaker 1: babysitting here.

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Speaker 2: George got more and more frustrated. One day, after a

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Speaker 2: particularly infuriating moment, he marched straight in to his boss's office.

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Speaker 1: I told my boss, I said, I just couldn't do

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Speaker 1: it no more. I'm done with this. I'm going to

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Speaker 1: go out my own. And that's exactly what I did.

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Speaker 1: I didn't think about I knew I was going to

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Speaker 1: have a company one day, and I said now or never.

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Speaker 2: George may have known that this was the moment, but

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Speaker 2: his wife, Margarita had no idea. The whole ride home,

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Speaker 2: George dreaded, telling her.

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Speaker 1: I remember pulling up to the driveway and walking around

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Speaker 1: the van a thousand times, like in circles circle.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I think I had to redo the driveway after that.

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Speaker 2: Margarita was eight months pregnant with their son. They had

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Speaker 2: only one thousand dollars in the bank and lived in

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Speaker 2: a house with the foundation issues that made it slanted.

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Speaker 2: With all that was going on, the timing wasn't great.

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Speaker 3: He came home to pretty much let me know that

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Speaker 3: he had quit his job and that he was going

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Speaker 3: to do this side thing full time.

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Speaker 2: That's Margarita, George's wife and a co owner of Doc Watts.

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Speaker 3: I was just like, what are you thinking? We're going

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Speaker 3: to have a baby in a month.

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Speaker 2: Let's pretend George isn't sitting next to you. Were you

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Speaker 2: cussing him out in your mind?

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Speaker 3: You know? It was more like you really made the

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Speaker 3: decision without me. How is this going to happen? How

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Speaker 3: is this going to work? There was no plan.

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Speaker 4: Okay, Tanya, I have to stop you for a second.

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Speaker 4: Let me ask you honestly, Okay, if you were twenty

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Speaker 4: four years old, you're just married you're one month away

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Speaker 4: from having your first kid and your spouse comes out

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Speaker 4: and says, I've had it, I quit, I'm starting a

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Speaker 4: new business. Here we go, right, I mean.

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Speaker 2: Right, that sounds like you were cussing him out in

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Speaker 2: your mind.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 2: She had to be.

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Speaker 4: She she deserves, she deserves an Olympic medal.

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Speaker 2: I mean, come on, yeah, that's a lot to be

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Speaker 2: as calm as it sounds like she was, even though

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Speaker 2: she's pissed because he didn't say anything to her about it.

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Speaker 2: And then he makes such a major life decision when

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Speaker 2: she's about to give birth for God's sakes, Like what, yes, saint.

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Speaker 4: Okay, let's go back to the story. What happens next?

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Speaker 2: So then George had actually been preparing for this moment

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Speaker 2: months before he quit. He put ads in the local

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Speaker 2: paper for electrical work on the side. He even bought

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Speaker 2: a utility van.

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Speaker 1: I ain't had the customer base darting out nothing, just

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Speaker 1: really go out with faith, no money and no experience,

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Speaker 1: no business skills, one hundred percent of nothing. Still nothing.

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Speaker 1: It's like do a die moment. You know, either I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna put food on the table or not. We had

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Speaker 1: no room to fail.

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Speaker 2: He knew that to stand out his business needed a

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Speaker 2: catchy name. And then one day he was talking to

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Speaker 2: a friend about it.

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Speaker 1: I remember, man, what's the name gonna be? What's the

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Speaker 1: name gonna be? So he throws his phone book on

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Speaker 1: his table and landed in the doctor pages. You know,

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Speaker 1: and you know how about Doc Wats Electric. I said, Oh,

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Speaker 1: that's corny and catchy.

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Speaker 2: Doc Watts Electric. He even had someone sketch out what

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Speaker 2: the character Doc Wats would look like.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he's the older guy and lives like little Einstein.

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Speaker 1: You know, I tell people that's me in twenty years

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Speaker 1: holding a light bulb.

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Speaker 2: George even started wearing I used to.

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Speaker 1: Go with my Doc Watts like a lack hole, like.

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Speaker 3: A doctor's coat.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I used to pull up in the people houses.

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Speaker 1: I said, look at this guy. You know, I needed

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Speaker 1: some advertisement. I needed to be stand out. I was

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Speaker 1: trying to catch people's eyes, you know. I was trying

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Speaker 1: to attract the man, who is this guy walk in

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Speaker 1: this house or a lack hole?

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Speaker 2: He built his business through word of mouth and by

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Speaker 2: saying yes to any type of job he could get.

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Speaker 1: There was one time I was even doing flooring just

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Speaker 1: to get started.

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Speaker 2: His hustle paid off. He started with smaller household job

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Speaker 2: to build his client base and then landed contracts with

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Speaker 2: larger companies.

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Speaker 1: I worked day and night NonStop. There was times where

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Speaker 1: I needed to get something done the very next day.

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Speaker 1: He said, there's no way this guy's gonna get it done.

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Speaker 1: And I stayed there all night and the guy was

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Speaker 1: very impressed. So that's how you build client and tell

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Speaker 1: you you show them what you're made of.

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Speaker 2: George was on his new path and Margarita was headed

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Speaker 2: back to work at the County court House after her

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Speaker 2: maternity lead. She'd found a sitter for their baby, but then.

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Speaker 3: Two weeks into me going back to work, I pick

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Speaker 3: my son up and she says to me, Margarita, I

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Speaker 3: can't watch him anymore. Oh no, I'm like, wait what?

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Speaker 3: And so I came home and I tell George. I'm like,

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Speaker 3: she just says she can't watch him anymore. We can't

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Speaker 3: afford daycare. Like what are we going to do? So

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Speaker 3: the conversation came up about me leaving my job and

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Speaker 3: doing this full time with him. George was like, well,

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Speaker 3: why don't we grow the business, why don't we do

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Speaker 3: this together? And so of course My thought process was like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: do I want to do that?

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Speaker 2: Margarita had earned a degree in psychology and dreamt of

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Speaker 2: actually working in the field full time.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's very difficult to think about leaving your

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Speaker 3: career path, your dream to help fill your husband's. Do

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Speaker 3: you understand. Yeah, So that was a decision that I

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Speaker 3: had to make, and we decided that that's what we're

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Speaker 3: gonna do. There could have been because of that, a

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Speaker 3: little bit of resentment, even though that's what I thought

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Speaker 3: the best decision was.

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Speaker 1: It was a tough decision, but it really was the

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Speaker 1: only decision we had in our hands. We didn't have

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Speaker 1: no family member. We can't go back to mom and

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Speaker 1: dad's house. We had no options.

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Speaker 2: So Margarita would join Doc Wats as a co owner.

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Speaker 2: She'd start handling the administration and operation side of the business,

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Speaker 2: all while taking care of a newborn. They'd spend the

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Speaker 2: next few years learning on the job.

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Speaker 3: There was a lot of stress in the beginning, just

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Speaker 3: trying to figure things out. Neither of us had any

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Speaker 3: business knowledge, any business experience.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean a ton of mistakes. I can tell

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Speaker 1: you that, you know, I wish I was a little

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Speaker 1: more educated in all that stuff. But you know, sometimes

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Speaker 1: you just got to be naive. You don't need to

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Speaker 1: have everything figured out. You just had to have the wheel,

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Speaker 1: the gut to do it.

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Speaker 2: While the company was taking off, Margarita had trouble letting

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Speaker 2: go of some resentment.

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Speaker 3: For a little bit because George was out front and

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Speaker 3: he was meeting the customers and things like that. There

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Speaker 3: was also sort of like a feeling of being in

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Speaker 3: the shadow. He was like the face, and then I

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Speaker 3: was like behind the scenes, you know, doing all the

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Speaker 3: background work.

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Speaker 2: Besides, this was her husband's dream, not hers. George tried

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Speaker 2: to convince her otherwise.

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Speaker 1: Through the whole process. I told, babe, you're a owner.

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Speaker 1: This is your baby. I was playing I see from

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Speaker 1: day one.

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Speaker 2: But all their efforts were working, clients were returning, and

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Speaker 2: referrals were coming in quickly. One of his clients ended

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Speaker 2: up recommending him for his biggest job yet.

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Speaker 1: He said, this is a big job. I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: if you can do it. I was doing multimay lot

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Speaker 1: of jobs at the airport. I could do it for

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Speaker 1: somebody else, I can do it for myself.

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Speaker 2: So even though he'd never done anything like this before,

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Speaker 2: he been on the job.

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Speaker 1: There's like three or four other companies that I know

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Speaker 1: of were bidding, and they were well known, and I

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Speaker 1: just submitted a proposal. I wanted it so bad. I

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Speaker 1: talked to the owner, so listen, just give me a shot.

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Speaker 2: Doc Watts landed the gig and it was a big one.

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Speaker 2: But at first they felt like it was a little

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Speaker 2: out of their league.

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Speaker 1: I have no tools, I had no employees, no credit,

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Speaker 1: I had nothing.

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Speaker 2: Georgie and Margarita would be doing all the electrical work

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Speaker 2: for two buildings, near Universal Studios or Landou. The project

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Speaker 2: budget was one million dollars.

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Speaker 1: With this job landing on our desk, it stakes with

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Speaker 1: high again. This is either going to break us or

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Speaker 1: take us to the next level.

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Speaker 2: To get the job done, George would need some help.

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Speaker 2: He even brought in some of the guys he used

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Speaker 2: to work with at the airport, the same ones he

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Speaker 2: joked would work for him. One day. That day had come, I.

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Speaker 1: Called everybody and their mother to come help.

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Speaker 3: We recruited his brother, Jonah. He was working at a

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Speaker 3: restaurant at the time. George was just like, you know,

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Speaker 3: I need you to come help me. Mind you his

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Speaker 3: brotherhood no electrical experience.

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Speaker 2: What was this like working this job? What did you

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Speaker 2: do to execute on this.

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Speaker 1: I pretty much lived there. I had no choice. Weekend, Saturday, Sunday,

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Speaker 1: sun up, some down. A group of ten people should

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Speaker 1: have done this job.

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Speaker 2: The crew wasn't the only thing that was absolutely invaluable

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Speaker 2: to pulling off this job. There was also the copper wiring.

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Speaker 2: The cost of copper wire had gone way up and

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Speaker 2: they had spent seventy thousand dollars on it for this

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Speaker 2: project alone. Theft of copper wire was on the rise,

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Speaker 2: so George couldn't take any chances.

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Speaker 1: At the time, gas was going up, the copper's going up.

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Speaker 1: We had this big delivery to the job. I said, man,

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Speaker 1: I had to stay here, and my wife said, what

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Speaker 1: do you mean to stay here? I said yeah, because

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Speaker 1: if I if somebody takes a foot two foot of

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Speaker 1: one of these cuts a wire, it was done. You Miles,

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Speaker 1: well pack your bags. I spent a night at the

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Speaker 1: job site. I don't think I slept. I mean I

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Speaker 1: was out there and keep my head on a swivel,

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Speaker 1: you know, I was looking around, looking around. I don't

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Speaker 1: remember sleeping.

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Speaker 2: Up until this point, Margarita had mostly been working in

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Speaker 2: the background at Dacwatts. But this job changed everything.

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Speaker 3: I was super involved in that job, and so I

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Speaker 3: think the beginning of this job is when I took ownership.

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Speaker 3: I purposely tried to be out front to where like, Okay, yeah,

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Speaker 3: he's the doc, but I'm here too. There's certain things

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Speaker 3: that all of us bring to the table, and so

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Speaker 3: I kind of had to just realize those I may

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Speaker 3: not have all of this electrical knowledge, but I have

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Speaker 3: something to bring. I have something that is going to

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Speaker 3: help this business grow.

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Speaker 1: That's when she became owner. And let me tell you,

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Speaker 1: Sky was a limit.

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Speaker 2: The project was grueling, but George and Margherita small but

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Speaker 2: mighty team pulled it off. This million dollar contract changes

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Speaker 2: the game for Dock Watts.

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Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, right in the middle of the recession and

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Speaker 1: we were thriving. That was doing the biggest job in

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Speaker 1: my life. And I had a brother with me and

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Speaker 1: my wife. Oh man, you can't write this if you

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Speaker 1: wanted to.

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Speaker 2: With a million dollar project under their belt, Doc Wats

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Speaker 2: started beating on other large jobs and started hiring more employees.

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Speaker 2: They also decided to make another big bet.

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Speaker 1: We end up buying a little small building.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: We went from my house to a storage unit to

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Speaker 1: actually in twenty eleven, we end up buying a little

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Speaker 1: twenty one hundred square foot building lit a tiny little thing.

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Speaker 2: For many, real estate is the business, but for Doc Watts,

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Speaker 2: real estate was the insurance policy.

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Speaker 1: I was working for the other company. Remember that they

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Speaker 1: rented their spot for eighteen years and they went out

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Speaker 1: of business, and they had no assets and all, nothing

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Speaker 1: like that. And you know I would not be like them.

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Speaker 1: So we can rent it out to have other incomes

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Speaker 1: just in case, you know, something God forbid, something happens

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Speaker 1: to Dog Wats. We always had something to full bag on.

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Speaker 2: While Georgia Marcurita made some strategic moves to expand, one

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Speaker 2: of the biggest growth areas for their business came from

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Speaker 2: a moment of just being human. In twenty seventeen, when

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Speaker 2: Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Doc Wats donated two generators

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Speaker 2: to a charity helping to rebuild. This turned out to

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Speaker 2: be the first step in what would be a major

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Speaker 2: pivot for the company.

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Speaker 1: We wasn't built to do generators. We were doing commercial

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Speaker 1: job service and all that stuff. As a man, what

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Speaker 1: a great opportunity to take advantage of this and we

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Speaker 1: capitalize that we do the maintenance, we do the programming,

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Speaker 1: we do all the warranty claims. It was a whole

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Speaker 1: different department. We have a generated department now because of

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Speaker 1: the Hurricane Maria and the hurricanes afterwards.

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Speaker 2: Today doc wats continues to grow their core business and

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Speaker 2: no one has to sleep on the work sites anymore.

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Speaker 3: The business has grown significantly from us doing all the

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Speaker 3: tasks and now we have an office team, a field team,

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Speaker 3: and now just recently we finished our office expansion and

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Speaker 3: now it's twelve thousand, so one hundred square feet. So

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Speaker 3: it's a little surreal to think about it.

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Speaker 2: And that twelve seven hundred square feet isn't just for

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Speaker 2: their doc wats business. It's also home to their dance

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Speaker 2: studio and an event space they rent out on the weekends.

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Speaker 2: Doc wats has been in business since two thousand and eight.

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Speaker 2: It's been a long time since Georgia and Margarita first

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Speaker 2: started learning how to run a company, but they're still

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Speaker 2: devoted to growing as entrepreneurs.

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Speaker 1: We got to get better leaders, which means I'm looking

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Speaker 1: to leadership schooling, get mentors. I mean, we got to

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Speaker 1: this level from knowing no business skills or no education.

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Speaker 1: Now we gotta get smarter, we gotta get educated, because

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Speaker 1: we can't continue the way we're doing now.

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Speaker 2: George wasn't the only one who had to develop as

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Speaker 2: a business owner. Margarita also had to go through an

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Speaker 2: evolution of her own as we've grown.

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Speaker 3: There are things that I have taken on in the

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Speaker 3: business that have helped it grow, and so I have

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Speaker 3: to stand proud in those things to continue to not

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Speaker 3: let resentment in. I am proud of the fact that,

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Speaker 3: oh that for me to know that this could not

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Speaker 3: have been built alone, and for me to stand in

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Speaker 3: that pride to know that I was a part of

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Speaker 3: it and that I helped bring it here. I's just

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Speaker 3: seeing your value and that's where I've come to, and

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Speaker 3: I'm not backing down today.

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Speaker 2: Doc Watts is a seven figure company and they're moving

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Speaker 2: quickly toward eight figures. They now have twenty employees and

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Speaker 2: eleven electrical trucks on the road. George and Margarita hoped

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Speaker 2: to open another location in Fort Myers, Florida sometime soon.

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Speaker 2: They even plan to start selling DAC Watts merch in

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Speaker 2: an online store. What would you say was the smartest

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Speaker 2: thing that you want throughout this process.

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Speaker 3: I think that us being able to build something together

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Speaker 3: really says a lot. And we were able to feed

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Speaker 3: off of our strengths and persevere through a lot of challenges,

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Speaker 3: and where we are today really shows that.

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Speaker 1: Every day I do like fifty first dates, I like

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Speaker 1: st every day. It's like, what a joy I get

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Speaker 1: to do this venture with my wife, you know, so

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Speaker 1: I think we get that right.

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Speaker 2: What a story, right?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: You know what I really love about it. Part of

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Speaker 4: the reason that we wanted to do this podcast was

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Speaker 4: to talk to real businesses. You know, there's so much

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Speaker 4: out there that talks about the latest billion dollar VC

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Speaker 4: backed startup or you know, the household name that everyone

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Speaker 4: knows about, but those aren't the everyday businesses that you know,

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Speaker 4: sponsor your local little league and keep your community going

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Speaker 4: and employ local people in the same way. And we

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Speaker 4: really wanted to tell those stories. And I just George

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Speaker 4: and Margarita's story is so rich with that. They're real

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Speaker 4: people facing real business challenges and real family challenges every

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Speaker 4: day and making that work.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, hustle right, and then doing things even when you

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Speaker 2: don't feel like you're qualified to do them. They didn't

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Speaker 2: know what they were doing. Yeah, it's amazing, right, and

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Speaker 2: yet they still you know, George is still not shock himself.

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Speaker 4: But beyond that, oh yeah, he knew the electrical.

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Speaker 2: Part technical p Yeah. But you have Margarita who's psychology background,

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Speaker 2: and then suddenly she's running this business with her husband

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Speaker 2: and they are just freestyling doing what has to be

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Speaker 2: done in order to make it happen.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 4: I think that's really important. We hear from from our

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Speaker 4: clients all the time. You know, the first time I

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Speaker 4: ever did something was the first time I ever had

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Speaker 4: to do something. When you have a job and you

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Speaker 4: work for a company, sort of people tell you what

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Speaker 4: to do or there's a roadmap or there's an app

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Speaker 4: for that, and in small business there really is no app.

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Speaker 4: There's no playbook to follow. And so this, this is

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Speaker 4: classic necessity. Is the mother invention kind of stuff where

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Speaker 4: you see a challenge, you have to do something about it,

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Speaker 4: and so what do you do? You just figure it out.

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Speaker 2: You just figured it out. Yeah, And that's what both

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Speaker 2: of them had to do at the same time, with

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Speaker 2: a brand new baby, with a house that's slanted, I mean,

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Speaker 2: just it was a number of things coming together all

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Speaker 2: at one time, yet they still made it happen.

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Speaker 4: You know, Tanya. One of the things I hear from

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Speaker 4: business owners all the time is how hard it was

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Speaker 4: just to get started, you know, to win those very

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Speaker 4: first customers. And I hear stories about trial and error

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Speaker 4: and people try advertising, it doesn't work. People try all

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Speaker 4: different kinds of methods and it's hard. It's hard when

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Speaker 4: you first get started. So what have you heard from

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Speaker 4: your clients about that first kernel of success when they

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Speaker 4: win their first customers? How do they do it?

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Speaker 2: A lot of it was its similar to how Doc

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Speaker 2: Wats did it, and that is that word of mouth

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Speaker 2: that referral business. I think one thing that Doc Wats

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Speaker 2: did really, really well was being able to differentiate themselves

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Speaker 2: in a sea of frankly non differentiated companies, right And

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Speaker 2: I think they found a way to be unique. They

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Speaker 2: found a way to be memorable. They found a way

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Speaker 2: to make an impression on the people that they were

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Speaker 2: doing their work for. That's huge. And the fact that

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Speaker 2: he was thinking about this very early on and established

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Speaker 2: this is how we're going to become memorable to people.

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Speaker 2: I think that's really important. I think more people starting

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Speaker 2: out should be aware of that.

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Speaker 4: You know, Look, George says he's an introvert, but it's

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Speaker 4: clear that when he needs to be, he can turn

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Speaker 4: it on. And when you think about small business and

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Speaker 4: the fact that they don't have a whole marketing machine,

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Speaker 4: you know, they are the business. So he found his

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Speaker 4: own authentic way to turn it on when he needed to.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. But then I want to transition a little bit

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Speaker 2: and talk about their use of commercial real estate as

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Speaker 2: part of their growth strategy. As you know, this is

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Speaker 2: a significant part of my practice, and I like seeing

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Speaker 2: how they use that as an opportunity to advance their business.

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Speaker 2: So what do you think about that?

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Speaker 4: So, there's lots of ways to use property as a

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Speaker 4: tool to either balance your income out, to invest profits

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Speaker 4: for the business, or to make it more resilient. All

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Speaker 4: those are perfectly acceptable reasons to buy property, like anything else,

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Speaker 4: as long as you can get it at a reasonable

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Speaker 4: price for what you're buying.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, as long as it makes sense, right, So with

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Speaker 2: them to your point, for some small business owners, it's

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Speaker 2: really a risk management approach. And I think that's a

442
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,600
Speaker 2: thing we've got on the show here, which is what

443
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,240
Speaker 2: strategy makes the most sense for your business? Right, Like

444
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:22,439
Speaker 2: is it a risk management type of thing, Is it

445
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,119
Speaker 2: a diversification kind of play. What is it that is

446
00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:28,520
Speaker 2: going to help this particular business in the long term.

447
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:31,639
Speaker 4: Yeah, And also I encourage people to think about you know,

448
00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:33,959
Speaker 4: when you get into anything, doesn't matter what it is,

449
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,800
Speaker 4: you need to understand it completely. So just like I

450
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,080
Speaker 4: would tell people who are renting buying their first home,

451
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:41,960
Speaker 4: don't think that it's just like renting. It's yes you

452
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:43,280
Speaker 4: live in it. Yes you live in it, but you're

453
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,240
Speaker 4: now responsible for taking care of it and paying the

454
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,600
Speaker 4: taxes and maintaining it and all those things. And the

455
00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:49,919
Speaker 4: same is true for a business that buys its property. Now,

456
00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:51,439
Speaker 4: that doesn't mean it's not a good thing to do.

457
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:53,679
Speaker 4: It's often a very good thing to do. But business

458
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 4: owners need to appreciate that when they're buying a property,

459
00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:57,960
Speaker 4: whether they're going to use it for their business or

460
00:21:58,000 --> 00:21:59,320
Speaker 4: they're going to rent it out, it comes with a

461
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:01,399
Speaker 4: new set of obligations that they need to be prepared

462
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:01,800
Speaker 4: to handle.

463
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,680
Speaker 2: It does. But I don't want us to discourage people

464
00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,480
Speaker 2: who may not understand commercial real estate, right, So I

465
00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,879
Speaker 2: get your point. Yes, it's important to understand anything that

466
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,640
Speaker 2: you're getting into completely. At the same time, though, don't

467
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:17,800
Speaker 2: be afraid because you don't know what it's about. If

468
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,760
Speaker 2: it's a great play or potentially good play for your business,

469
00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:24,840
Speaker 2: it's incumbent upon you to become aware or educate yourself.

470
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,560
Speaker 2: So what do you suggest people do or think about

471
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:30,600
Speaker 2: when they're trying to figure out that next step?

472
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,200
Speaker 4: Or run the numbers, run the numbers, really understand it's

473
00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,080
Speaker 4: what is it going to cost to own this piece

474
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:38,680
Speaker 4: of property? What's it going to cost to service the debt?

475
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,359
Speaker 4: And when I say service this piece of property, I

476
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:43,639
Speaker 4: mean everything to maintain it properly. If you don't maintain

477
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,800
Speaker 4: it properly, you're not going to hold the value. If

478
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:47,520
Speaker 4: you can't pay the taxes, it's not going to hold

479
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:49,760
Speaker 4: its value. So what is it really going to take

480
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,600
Speaker 4: to service this property properly, to really do it right?

481
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:55,120
Speaker 4: And how does that work within the numbers that your

482
00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,600
Speaker 4: business generates? And if you run the numbers and it works,

483
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:00,280
Speaker 4: then it's a great investment in many cases, And if

484
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:01,480
Speaker 4: it doesn't, then you're not ready.

485
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:03,160
Speaker 2: Yeah. True.

486
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 4: The other lesson I took away from the story is

487
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 4: that you just never know where a great idea will

488
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,399
Speaker 4: come from, and it's important to pay attention to the

489
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:12,760
Speaker 4: world around you, and you know, sometimes even a great

490
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,679
Speaker 4: business idea can come from the way that you give

491
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,199
Speaker 4: back to the world. Think about what happened in Puerto Rico, right,

492
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:20,840
Speaker 4: I mean, he donated some generators to Puerto Rico after

493
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:22,680
Speaker 4: the storm when they were without power, and of course

494
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 4: that was a tragedy for the people who live there

495
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,280
Speaker 4: and he was able to help. But out of that

496
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:27,560
Speaker 4: grew a new business idea.

497
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 2: Yeah. I thought that was awesome. You know, came from

498
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,800
Speaker 2: a great place of just wanting to help others who

499
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,440
Speaker 2: were in a really, really tough situation, and then from

500
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,440
Speaker 2: that his ability to see that there was a need

501
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,520
Speaker 2: there that he could serve. He found something that complimented

502
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:44,119
Speaker 2: his core business. And I think that that's great, just

503
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,679
Speaker 2: being aware of the potential opportunities to grow without it

504
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 2: being detrimental to the business.

505
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:51,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it helped him see around the corner, right,

506
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:53,920
Speaker 4: so he could see that what had happened in Puerto

507
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 4: Rico could happen in Florida and that people were starting

508
00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:57,959
Speaker 4: to wake up to that reality, and it gave him

509
00:23:57,960 --> 00:23:59,119
Speaker 4: an opportunity for the business.

510
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,400
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's just a testament to being open and being

511
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:05,919
Speaker 2: aware that business is dynamic. You don't continue to do

512
00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 2: the same thing over and over again for years and

513
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:10,520
Speaker 2: years without being willing to adjust.

514
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,080
Speaker 4: Yeah. I know very few entrepreneurs who say, my business

515
00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 4: is exactly in every way what I envisioned when I start.

516
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:17,640
Speaker 2: And you have to know when to kind of cut

517
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,639
Speaker 2: some things loose or when to expand and try some

518
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:21,200
Speaker 2: new things.

519
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:23,600
Speaker 4: I want to give George real credit for one other thing.

520
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 4: I want to give him credit for his growth mindset.

521
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,120
Speaker 4: And what I mean by that is he's not static,

522
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:32,639
Speaker 4: he's not satisfied. He and Marguerite have been enormously successful,

523
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:34,720
Speaker 4: but they don't take that as a reason to sit

524
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 4: back and enjoy the spoils. They know that to get

525
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,440
Speaker 4: to the next level, they're going to have to continue

526
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:41,879
Speaker 4: to learn and grow because every day they run a

527
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,760
Speaker 4: bigger business than they've ever run. Because it's important that

528
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 4: people understand that as long as you own a business,

529
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,120
Speaker 4: there's never a moment at which you spike the football

530
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 4: into Claar victory. It doesn't work that way. As long

531
00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 4: as you own that business, competitors are coming for you.

532
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 4: Things you can't control are going to impact it. Whatever

533
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,040
Speaker 4: it is. There's always the issues. As long as you

534
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,840
Speaker 4: own a business, and if you're not getting smarter and

535
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,439
Speaker 4: learning and growing and developing with that business, you're going

536
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 4: to fall behind. As long as you own that business,

537
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:10,679
Speaker 4: you cannot declare victory.

538
00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:11,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that.

539
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,359
Speaker 4: And look, one of the things he's struggling with is

540
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,199
Speaker 4: growing as a leader means finding other leaders to be

541
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 4: part of his organization. You know, people who work in

542
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 4: big companies naturally understand that. It's a big part of

543
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,560
Speaker 4: what they do is help grow generations of leaders and

544
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,119
Speaker 4: lead leaders. It's not something that helps you build the

545
00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:29,879
Speaker 4: business from zero. So there's always a pivot that comes

546
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 4: for small businesses when they get to a certain size

547
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 4: where suddenly the business owner can't know everything and has

548
00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:38,040
Speaker 4: to have people that they trust who can lead others

549
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 4: on their behalf. And that's a big leap for a

550
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:40,320
Speaker 4: lot of people.

551
00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:42,560
Speaker 2: It is a big lead, and I want to say

552
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,479
Speaker 2: it's a huge challenge for a lot of small business owners.

553
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,320
Speaker 2: They've been so entrenched in their business, they know how

554
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,479
Speaker 2: to do it, they're developing themselves, they've become great leaders.

555
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,880
Speaker 2: But finding those people who will kind of step into

556
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,679
Speaker 2: their shoes and do what they used to do or

557
00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,439
Speaker 2: who will even perhaps to see them later. Is a

558
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:03,679
Speaker 2: widespread challenge, and I'm hearing from a lot of different

559
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,240
Speaker 2: small business owners and the question is how do you

560
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 2: do it when you're not big business.

561
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:10,680
Speaker 4: As a business gets bigger, one of the most important

562
00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 4: things it can do is hire people who have worked

563
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,680
Speaker 4: in bigger businesses, who understand how leadership at scale can

564
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 4: look and feel. By definition, if you started your business

565
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 4: from zero, if you've never worked in corporate you don't

566
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,160
Speaker 4: know what that looks like. So you don't necessarily want

567
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,920
Speaker 4: to turn your business into a large corporation overnight. That's

568
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 4: not a good thing. But you do want to bring

569
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,200
Speaker 4: in people who can teach you how to do those

570
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,159
Speaker 4: things and show others what good looks like when it

571
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,639
Speaker 4: comes to that leadership. Now, there's a catch, which is

572
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,119
Speaker 4: you have to be open to someone who wants to

573
00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 4: do things in a different way. Yeah, and you have

574
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:42,120
Speaker 4: to find a way to do that in a way

575
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 4: that's authentic to you. But you have to bring in

576
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 4: people who've seen it done at scale. If you want

577
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 4: to operate at scale.

578
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,680
Speaker 2: Well, Ben, I'm excited to see what doc Lots is

579
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,280
Speaker 2: going to do. They've taken some big risks and have

580
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 2: had some big wins as a result. So it's cool

581
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 2: to see what they're doing and I look forward to

582
00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:58,320
Speaker 2: seeing more from them.

583
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,840
Speaker 4: I expect a lot, Tanya. I want to go back

584
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,119
Speaker 4: to your chat with Rivera's. They had some words of

585
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:06,920
Speaker 4: advice that really highlight the spirit and determination of all

586
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:08,560
Speaker 4: small business owners that we should share.

587
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 2: Let's hear it.

588
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 1: It's real simple for me, it's just take action. You

589
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:14,600
Speaker 1: don't have to be the smartest guy. You don't have

590
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 1: to have everything figured out. You can get educated later on.

591
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,120
Speaker 1: The thing is how many books you're going to read,

592
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,119
Speaker 1: how many seminars and all that stuff you can read.

593
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,400
Speaker 1: But if you don't take no action, that's my advice.

594
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:25,959
Speaker 1: Just take the action as a matter what positions you are,

595
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:29,600
Speaker 1: where you are in light, start somewhere, fail forward, just

596
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:30,280
Speaker 1: do something.

597
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,800
Speaker 3: I would say, write up plan, write your goals, write

598
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,440
Speaker 3: your vision, and then kind of write down like how

599
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,160
Speaker 3: you're going to get there and then remembering why you started.

600
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 3: For us, I had to quit my job to do this.

601
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 3: There is no looking back, there is no giving up.

602
00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 3: Keep going and make it happen.

603
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,200
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the unshakables. If you like the show.

604
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,800
Speaker 2: Please rate and review it to help other listeners find it.

605
00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 2: In the next episode, after a severe allergic reaction shakes

606
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,880
Speaker 2: her family, Denise Woodard is inspired to create a line

607
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 2: of allergen free snacks to protect her daughter and others.

608
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,920
Speaker 2: I'm Tanya Nebo and this is The Unshakables from Chase

609
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 2: for Business and Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia.

610
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,360
Speaker 3: The Unshakables is a production of Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia.

611
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:20,199
Speaker 3: And We'll have