WEBVTT - Wired for Success: Doc Watts Electric 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:03.200 I told my boss, I said, I'm done with this. 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:04.800 I just couldn't do it no more. 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:08.960 Some businesses start from a great idea, some from a need. 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:13.000 But for Georgia and Margarita Rivera, their company, Dakwats Electric, 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:15.800 was founded in a moment of frustration. 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.639 He came home to pretty much let me know that 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.600 he had quit his job and that he was going 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:27.800 to do this side thing full time. It was super 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:31.320 bad timing. I'm eight months pregnant. I was just like, 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:32.680 what are you thinking? 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.560 The stakes are extremely hot. It's like do a die moment. 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:38.199 You know, either I'm going to put food on the 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:38.800 table or not. 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.600 Welcome to the Unshakables from Chase for Business and Ruby 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:50.280 Studio from iHeartMedia. I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.280 And I'm Tanya Nebo, a lawyer and consultant for business owners. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.280 On the Unshakables, we're sharing the daring stories of small 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.200 business owners facing their crisis points and telling the stories 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:02.680 of how they got through it. 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:05.840 Then we're back with another story. 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:07.280 Tell me all about it, Tanya. 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.560 Well, once upon a time, newlyweds George and Margarita decided 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.720 to leave behind everything they knew while raising an infant. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.440 Though the first few months were hard, they finally got 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.480 a huge break and put everything on the line. Would 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:23.240 this moment make or break the couple and the business. 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:25.640 Was that a Hollywood movie or a small business story. 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.200 I'll let you listen and then you can decide. On 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:36.960 today's episode, Doc Watts from Orlando, Florida. Growing up, a 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.440 lot of kids dream of being astronauts or ballerinas. Not 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:45.560 George Rivera. He only wanted to be one thing, an electrician. 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:47.520 That was born for this. And you talked to my mom, 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:49.480 she tells, y'all was born with a wire out of 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:49.800 my hand. 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:52.400 His dad was a handyman, and he tag along on 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.920 jobs and watch him build, shape, paint, and tear things down. 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.480 But nothing fascinated him quite like electricity. 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.120 It's a mystery. You can do a thousand different things. 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.320 You can turn the light bulb with different ways. It's 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:06.720 no one way to do it. 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.520 He went to an electrician training program, completed an apprenticeship, 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:14.120 and got a job at the Orlando Airport. Right away, 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.519 he was put on a multi million dollar electrical project. 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:19.760 I was the youngest guy there with the license that 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:23.359 very had any mustache, or beard, and they tell me, George, man, 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:24.840 what are you doing here? I've been doing this since 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:26.480 you're in diapers, you know, pretty much. 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.679 Although he was a lot younger than most of his coworkers, 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.000 George wasn't shy about taking charge. 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.840 They didn't like a young guy coming in a very aggressive, 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.560 very go get her. And there was one guy. I 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:39.760 told him, listen, man, one day, you're gonna be working 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:40.040 for me. 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.160 Before long, he was right. George quickly rose in the 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:47.160 ranks and soon was managing the same men that had 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:48.839 previously disrespected him. 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.200 We had thirty two guys. The guy show up, lady 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:52.280 and I said, you know, I feel like a big 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:52.960 babysitting here. 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.720 George got more and more frustrated. One day, after a 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:01.679 particularly infuriating moment, he marched straight in to his boss's office. 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:04.519 I told my boss, I said, I just couldn't do 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:06.280 it no more. I'm done with this. I'm going to 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:08.000 go out my own. And that's exactly what I did. 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:09.320 I didn't think about I knew I was going to 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.160 have a company one day, and I said now or never. 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.960 George may have known that this was the moment, but 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:21.680 his wife, Margarita had no idea. The whole ride home, 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:23.919 George dreaded, telling her. 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:27.639 I remember pulling up to the driveway and walking around 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:32.280 the van a thousand times, like in circles circle. 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:32.600 Yeah. 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:34.120 I think I had to redo the driveway after that. 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.840 Margarita was eight months pregnant with their son. They had 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.200 only one thousand dollars in the bank and lived in 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.840 a house with the foundation issues that made it slanted. 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:48.119 With all that was going on, the timing wasn't great. 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.560 He came home to pretty much let me know that 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.960 he had quit his job and that he was going 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.480 to do this side thing full time. 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.480 That's Margarita, George's wife and a co owner of Doc Watts. 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.440 I was just like, what are you thinking? We're going 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:08.600 to have a baby in a month. 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:11.800 Let's pretend George isn't sitting next to you. Were you 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:13.640 cussing him out in your mind? 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:15.680 You know? It was more like you really made the 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.440 decision without me. How is this going to happen? How 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.240 is this going to work? There was no plan. 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.200 Okay, Tanya, I have to stop you for a second. 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.239 Let me ask you honestly, Okay, if you were twenty 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.760 four years old, you're just married you're one month away 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:32.800 from having your first kid and your spouse comes out 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:34.800 and says, I've had it, I quit, I'm starting a 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:36.800 new business. Here we go, right, I mean. 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:38.719 Right, that sounds like you were cussing him out in 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:39.080 your mind. 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:39.320 Right. 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:40.200 She had to be. 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.000 She she deserves, she deserves an Olympic medal. 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:45.400 I mean, come on, yeah, that's a lot to be 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.880 as calm as it sounds like she was, even though 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.880 she's pissed because he didn't say anything to her about it. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.480 And then he makes such a major life decision when 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.200 she's about to give birth for God's sakes, Like what, yes, saint. 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.480 Okay, let's go back to the story. What happens next? 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.440 So then George had actually been preparing for this moment 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:04.839 months before he quit. He put ads in the local 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.800 paper for electrical work on the side. He even bought 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:08.600 a utility van. 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:11.680 I ain't had the customer base darting out nothing, just 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.360 really go out with faith, no money and no experience, 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:17.880 no business skills, one hundred percent of nothing. Still nothing. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.520 It's like do a die moment. You know, either I'm 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:22.520 gonna put food on the table or not. We had 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:23.640 no room to fail. 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:28.360 He knew that to stand out his business needed a 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.160 catchy name. And then one day he was talking to 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:31.960 a friend about it. 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.200 I remember, man, what's the name gonna be? What's the 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:37.719 name gonna be? So he throws his phone book on 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.240 his table and landed in the doctor pages. You know, 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.920 and you know how about Doc Wats Electric. I said, Oh, 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:47.560 that's corny and catchy. 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:50.000 Doc Watts Electric. He even had someone sketch out what 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:51.919 the character Doc Wats would look like. 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.000 Yeah, he's the older guy and lives like little Einstein. 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:56.839 You know, I tell people that's me in twenty years 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:58.040 holding a light bulb. 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.440 George even started wearing I used to. 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.720 Go with my Doc Watts like a lack hole, like. 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:05.440 A doctor's coat. 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.000 Yeah, and I used to pull up in the people houses. 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.560 I said, look at this guy. You know, I needed 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:14.960 some advertisement. I needed to be stand out. I was 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:16.960 trying to catch people's eyes, you know. I was trying 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.280 to attract the man, who is this guy walk in 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.000 this house or a lack hole? 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.080 He built his business through word of mouth and by 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.920 saying yes to any type of job he could get. 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.400 There was one time I was even doing flooring just 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:32.080 to get started. 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:37.280 His hustle paid off. He started with smaller household job 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:40.320 to build his client base and then landed contracts with 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:41.279 larger companies. 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.799 I worked day and night NonStop. There was times where 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.280 I needed to get something done the very next day. 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.320 He said, there's no way this guy's gonna get it done. 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:51.360 And I stayed there all night and the guy was 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.560 very impressed. So that's how you build client and tell 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:54.880 you you show them what you're made of. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.640 George was on his new path and Margarita was headed 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:00.760 back to work at the County court House after her 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:05.240 maternity lead. She'd found a sitter for their baby, but then. 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.360 Two weeks into me going back to work, I pick 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.160 my son up and she says to me, Margarita, I 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:15.000 can't watch him anymore. Oh no, I'm like, wait what? 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:20.040 And so I came home and I tell George. I'm like, 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:22.920 she just says she can't watch him anymore. We can't 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.600 afford daycare. Like what are we going to do? So 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:31.080 the conversation came up about me leaving my job and 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.560 doing this full time with him. George was like, well, 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:38.080 why don't we grow the business, why don't we do 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:43.280 this together? And so of course My thought process was like, Okay, 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:44.360 do I want to do that? 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.720 Margarita had earned a degree in psychology and dreamt of 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:50.760 actually working in the field full time. 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:56.320 You know, it's very difficult to think about leaving your 0:07:56.360 --> 0:08:02.120 career path, your dream to help fill your husband's. Do 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.440 you understand. Yeah, So that was a decision that I 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.880 had to make, and we decided that that's what we're 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:12.200 gonna do. There could have been because of that, a 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.720 little bit of resentment, even though that's what I thought 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:16.800 the best decision was. 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.680 It was a tough decision, but it really was the 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:21.800 only decision we had in our hands. We didn't have 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:23.600 no family member. We can't go back to mom and 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:25.960 dad's house. We had no options. 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.199 So Margarita would join Doc Wats as a co owner. 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.160 She'd start handling the administration and operation side of the business, 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.480 all while taking care of a newborn. They'd spend the 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.960 next few years learning on the job. 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.520 There was a lot of stress in the beginning, just 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.280 trying to figure things out. Neither of us had any 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.960 business knowledge, any business experience. 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:52.760 Well, I mean a ton of mistakes. I can tell 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:54.840 you that, you know, I wish I was a little 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.000 more educated in all that stuff. But you know, sometimes 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:58.840 you just got to be naive. You don't need to 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.040 have everything figured out. You just had to have the wheel, 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:02.280 the gut to do it. 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:06.240 While the company was taking off, Margarita had trouble letting 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:07.800 go of some resentment. 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:10.560 For a little bit because George was out front and 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.319 he was meeting the customers and things like that. There 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:15.720 was also sort of like a feeling of being in 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.760 the shadow. He was like the face, and then I 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.440 was like behind the scenes, you know, doing all the 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:22.480 background work. 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:27.720 Besides, this was her husband's dream, not hers. George tried 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:29.520 to convince her otherwise. 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.679 Through the whole process. I told, babe, you're a owner. 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.559 This is your baby. I was playing I see from 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:36.080 day one. 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:40.000 But all their efforts were working, clients were returning, and 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:43.120 referrals were coming in quickly. One of his clients ended 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.480 up recommending him for his biggest job yet. 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:49.360 He said, this is a big job. I'm not sure 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:51.800 if you can do it. I was doing multimay lot 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:53.960 of jobs at the airport. I could do it for 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:55.360 somebody else, I can do it for myself. 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.800 So even though he'd never done anything like this before, 0:09:59.120 --> 0:09:59.960 he been on the job. 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:02.320 There's like three or four other companies that I know 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.560 of were bidding, and they were well known, and I 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.000 just submitted a proposal. I wanted it so bad. I 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.200 talked to the owner, so listen, just give me a shot. 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.000 Doc Watts landed the gig and it was a big one. 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.400 But at first they felt like it was a little 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:18.200 out of their league. 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.200 I have no tools, I had no employees, no credit, 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:22.959 I had nothing. 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.520 Georgie and Margarita would be doing all the electrical work 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:30.520 for two buildings, near Universal Studios or Landou. The project 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:32.520 budget was one million dollars. 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.160 With this job landing on our desk, it stakes with 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:37.880 high again. This is either going to break us or 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:39.040 take us to the next level. 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.079 To get the job done, George would need some help. 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:46.120 He even brought in some of the guys he used 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.800 to work with at the airport, the same ones he 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.880 joked would work for him. One day. That day had come, I. 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.240 Called everybody and their mother to come help. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.319 We recruited his brother, Jonah. He was working at a 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:02.080 restaurant at the time. George was just like, you know, 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.160 I need you to come help me. Mind you his 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.599 brotherhood no electrical experience. 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.679 What was this like working this job? What did you 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:10.160 do to execute on this. 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.000 I pretty much lived there. I had no choice. Weekend, Saturday, Sunday, 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.800 sun up, some down. A group of ten people should 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:17.600 have done this job. 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.080 The crew wasn't the only thing that was absolutely invaluable 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.120 to pulling off this job. There was also the copper wiring. 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.040 The cost of copper wire had gone way up and 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.760 they had spent seventy thousand dollars on it for this 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.000 project alone. Theft of copper wire was on the rise, 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.400 so George couldn't take any chances. 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.160 At the time, gas was going up, the copper's going up. 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.840 We had this big delivery to the job. I said, man, 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.559 I had to stay here, and my wife said, what 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:45.400 do you mean to stay here? I said yeah, because 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.079 if I if somebody takes a foot two foot of 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:50.959 one of these cuts a wire, it was done. You Miles, 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:52.880 well pack your bags. I spent a night at the 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.000 job site. I don't think I slept. I mean I 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:56.960 was out there and keep my head on a swivel, 0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:59.080 you know, I was looking around, looking around. I don't 0:11:59.120 --> 0:11:59.840 remember sleeping. 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.080 Up until this point, Margarita had mostly been working in 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:07.880 the background at Dacwatts. But this job changed everything. 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:12.360 I was super involved in that job, and so I 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:16.280 think the beginning of this job is when I took ownership. 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:21.120 I purposely tried to be out front to where like, Okay, yeah, 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:25.480 he's the doc, but I'm here too. There's certain things 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:28.720 that all of us bring to the table, and so 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.840 I kind of had to just realize those I may 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:36.040 not have all of this electrical knowledge, but I have 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:40.360 something to bring. I have something that is going to 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.120 help this business grow. 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.960 That's when she became owner. And let me tell you, 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:47.360 Sky was a limit. 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:51.480 The project was grueling, but George and Margherita small but 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:55.760 mighty team pulled it off. This million dollar contract changes 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:56.800 the game for Dock Watts. 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.120 Yes, absolutely, right in the middle of the recession and 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.160 we were thriving. That was doing the biggest job in 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.319 my life. And I had a brother with me and 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.840 my wife. Oh man, you can't write this if you 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:10.160 wanted to. 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.920 With a million dollar project under their belt, Doc Wats 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:17.800 started beating on other large jobs and started hiring more employees. 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.960 They also decided to make another big bet. 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.280 We end up buying a little small building. 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:24.480 You know. 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.240 We went from my house to a storage unit to 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:29.480 actually in twenty eleven, we end up buying a little 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.199 twenty one hundred square foot building lit a tiny little thing. 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:36.800 For many, real estate is the business, but for Doc Watts, 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.160 real estate was the insurance policy. 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.000 I was working for the other company. Remember that they 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:45.400 rented their spot for eighteen years and they went out 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.600 of business, and they had no assets and all, nothing 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:49.360 like that. And you know I would not be like them. 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.800 So we can rent it out to have other incomes 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.040 just in case, you know, something God forbid, something happens 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:57.120 to Dog Wats. We always had something to full bag on. 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.360 While Georgia Marcurita made some strategic moves to expand, one 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:04.800 of the biggest growth areas for their business came from 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:09.199 a moment of just being human. In twenty seventeen, when 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:14.160 Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Doc Wats donated two generators 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.920 to a charity helping to rebuild. This turned out to 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.280 be the first step in what would be a major 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:20.840 pivot for the company. 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.680 We wasn't built to do generators. We were doing commercial 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:25.920 job service and all that stuff. As a man, what 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.600 a great opportunity to take advantage of this and we 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.360 capitalize that we do the maintenance, we do the programming, 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.680 we do all the warranty claims. It was a whole 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.800 different department. We have a generated department now because of 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.080 the Hurricane Maria and the hurricanes afterwards. 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.720 Today doc wats continues to grow their core business and 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.000 no one has to sleep on the work sites anymore. 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.920 The business has grown significantly from us doing all the 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.560 tasks and now we have an office team, a field team, 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:58.680 and now just recently we finished our office expansion and 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:01.720 now it's twelve thousand, so one hundred square feet. So 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.800 it's a little surreal to think about it. 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.880 And that twelve seven hundred square feet isn't just for 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.920 their doc wats business. It's also home to their dance 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.960 studio and an event space they rent out on the weekends. 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:17.760 Doc wats has been in business since two thousand and eight. 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.920 It's been a long time since Georgia and Margarita first 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:23.640 started learning how to run a company, but they're still 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:25.800 devoted to growing as entrepreneurs. 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.280 We got to get better leaders, which means I'm looking 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.880 to leadership schooling, get mentors. I mean, we got to 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:36.360 this level from knowing no business skills or no education. 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.240 Now we gotta get smarter, we gotta get educated, because 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:41.120 we can't continue the way we're doing now. 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:43.960 George wasn't the only one who had to develop as 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:47.240 a business owner. Margarita also had to go through an 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.760 evolution of her own as we've grown. 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:55.280 There are things that I have taken on in the 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:59.920 business that have helped it grow, and so I have 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:05.160 to stand proud in those things to continue to not 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:10.560 let resentment in. I am proud of the fact that, 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:20.000 oh that for me to know that this could not 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:24.800 have been built alone, and for me to stand in 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.600 that pride to know that I was a part of 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:31.800 it and that I helped bring it here. I's just 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:35.680 seeing your value and that's where I've come to, and 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.840 I'm not backing down today. 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.520 Doc Watts is a seven figure company and they're moving 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.320 quickly toward eight figures. They now have twenty employees and 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.480 eleven electrical trucks on the road. George and Margarita hoped 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:52.040 to open another location in Fort Myers, Florida sometime soon. 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:54.960 They even plan to start selling DAC Watts merch in 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:59.080 an online store. What would you say was the smartest 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.920 thing that you want throughout this process. 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:07.720 I think that us being able to build something together 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.960 really says a lot. And we were able to feed 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:15.840 off of our strengths and persevere through a lot of challenges, 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:20.120 and where we are today really shows that. 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:23.720 Every day I do like fifty first dates, I like 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.640 st every day. It's like, what a joy I get 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.679 to do this venture with my wife, you know, so 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.359 I think we get that right. 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:41.400 What a story, right? 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:42.080 Yeah? 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:43.720 You know what I really love about it. Part of 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.719 the reason that we wanted to do this podcast was 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.000 to talk to real businesses. You know, there's so much 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:53.240 out there that talks about the latest billion dollar VC 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.320 backed startup or you know, the household name that everyone 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:58.919 knows about, but those aren't the everyday businesses that you know, 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.600 sponsor your local little league and keep your community going 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.040 and employ local people in the same way. And we 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:06.240 really wanted to tell those stories. And I just George 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.320 and Margarita's story is so rich with that. They're real 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:13.480 people facing real business challenges and real family challenges every 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:14.920 day and making that work. 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.199 Yeah, hustle right, and then doing things even when you 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:20.960 don't feel like you're qualified to do them. They didn't 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.040 know what they were doing. Yeah, it's amazing, right, and 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:27.560 yet they still you know, George is still not shock himself. 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:30.920 But beyond that, oh yeah, he knew the electrical. 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:34.960 Part technical p Yeah. But you have Margarita who's psychology background, 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.000 and then suddenly she's running this business with her husband 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:41.080 and they are just freestyling doing what has to be 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:42.320 done in order to make it happen. 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:42.600 Right. 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.040 I think that's really important. We hear from from our 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:47.199 clients all the time. You know, the first time I 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:49.080 ever did something was the first time I ever had 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:50.800 to do something. When you have a job and you 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:52.760 work for a company, sort of people tell you what 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:54.800 to do or there's a roadmap or there's an app 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.200 for that, and in small business there really is no app. 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.159 There's no playbook to follow. And so this, this is 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.920 classic necessity. Is the mother invention kind of stuff where 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:05.439 you see a challenge, you have to do something about it, 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:08.080 and so what do you do? You just figure it out. 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:09.840 You just figured it out. Yeah, And that's what both 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:12.240 of them had to do at the same time, with 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:15.280 a brand new baby, with a house that's slanted, I mean, 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.440 just it was a number of things coming together all 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.560 at one time, yet they still made it happen. 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:23.240 You know, Tanya. One of the things I hear from 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.679 business owners all the time is how hard it was 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.040 just to get started, you know, to win those very 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.160