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Are you a business owner? Or are you on the verge of taking that side hustle to the next level? Or curious about the world of entrepreneurship? Join Vivian Kvam, Co-Owner of Tandem Works, each week for a behind-the-scenes at small businesses and what it takes to succeed.
Each episode is full of inspiration, education, tips, and great conversation with people like you, people who are figuring it out. Take your business to the next level with insight from expert guests in business, leadership, and marketing.
Vivian Kvam (00:04)
Hello, welcome to another encouraging episode of Writing Tandem. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce a fabulous guest, Josh Cowson, who is the president and co -owner of PowerTech. And this is a trailblazing company based right, Council of Wells, where we record the podcast, who specialize in electrical contracting, facility maintenance, and generator sales and services. And I've been looking forward to this interview knowing that personally, I was going to gain so much from the conversation and I have to tell you,
it did not disappoint. So I'm excited for you to be here today. Josh is a skilled businessman. He's a licensed electrician and he's led PowerTech to some pretty impressive heights along with his team, including a spot on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America for four consecutive years. And what I find truly inspiring about Josh and the PowerTech team is not only have they been successful as a business, but they've taken that success and they've spread it out into the community. And so we talk more.
about that and their charitable initiative, which I know you're going to find inspiring. We also explore Josh's journey, which I think is just so fun that he speaks so candidly because so often we just see people's success and we don't really see the journey and how they got there. And sometimes I think the journey surprises us a little bit. So Josh shares candidly about some of his early inspiration, which actually comes from his grandfather. He has some really awesome stories about that.
and just how he grew up through the construction industry. And then since then, how he has created and navigated business partnerships, bought businesses, and how he and his business partner bought PowerTech, and of course scaled it. And so his professional philosophy is really centered on solving customer problems and creating impactful solutions. And that has helped shape his leadership style. And we of course talk about all of those topics. We not only delve into the story of PowerTech's beginnings, but just the remarkable scaling.
and how PowerTech brought on an entire residential division and doubled their team almost overnight. So Josh is going to share insights and strategies and challenges and just stories from that time period of really rapid growth for them and what that looked like, which I know you're gonna find interesting as you also are scaling your businesses. One of my favorite parts of the conversation though is talking about PowerTech's Power to Give initiative. And I love PowerTech's dedication to community impact.
and just a personal challenge to business owners out there like yourself and me to create opportunities to give back no matter the size of your business. So as always, I'm excited to hear your thoughts on today's topics. Feel free to share your takeaways or questions on our social media channels. Love to hear from you there. And remember to always tune in every other week for another great episode where we're gonna dive into behind the scenes look and just real world tips for business owners like you.
And if you've enjoyed today's episode, please remember to subscribe and leave a review on whatever platform you're listening on. That really does help support us and bring great content your way to have those subscribers. So please take a moment to do that. And then last, remember to get in on the weekly emails that come from myself and the whole TandemWorks team, where we just send out great encouragement, ideas, inspiration, tips, things going on, as well as our online and in -person workshops. And those can come to your inbox once a week.
And you can find links for that in the show notes or go to the tandemworks .com and click on the about tab to get signed up for that. As always, be sure to just keep pushing boundaries and make sure as you're growing your business that you're just thinking about different ways that you can also make a difference. Okay, let's dive in. Well, Josh, welcome to the show. Thank you. Excited to have you. It's been fun because we've been doing a lot of like pre -chatter before hopping on here. And so I'm already thinking like,
Okay, let's not forget to tell that story and that story and that story. And that's one of the things I love about you is that you share such wisdom often through story. And I think that's really important and it resonates with people. So I'm excited for some stories today. Okay, I'll do my best. Cool. Well, Josh, so just so people know, Josh Cowson, you have such a fascinating story with power tech, but.
It didn't start with PowerTech, so I'll let you tell that story. Oh my goodness. Yes, so many things. So how far back should I go? Well, okay. Everything on here is about encouraging entrepreneurs, right? And business owners. So I think let's just go as far back as you feel like that story starts for you and just tell us about what that journey has been like. Because just to preface this a little bit, you've had some recent just successes. The business has really grown and flourished and team has grown a lot.
And I think sometimes people see that snapshot, and they don't see all the things that built up to it. So help us get where you're at now. OK, so that kind of unlocks a thought for me. And it's actually easy. My entrepreneurial journey starts as a very young person. And I knew, I can't tell you the age, but I would say,
you know, primary grades for sure, I knew that I wanted to own a business and operate a business. And that came from my grandfather who raised me. He was not a business owner. He had a lot of side hustles, as we call them now. But he had a nine to five. He was very conservative, you know, grew up in the depression. But he instilled in me that...
entrepreneurial spirit. Like for instance, you know, we'd go to garage sales, we'd buy things and we'd go to a flea market and sell them. And so I saw really early, you know, oh, wow, anybody can make money. Like you don't have to have a job. And so that was in my mind, like from the start. And that's for me. And I want to preface this by saying everybody has their own journey. So.
If someone's listening and they're like, oh, well, I didn't think that when I was that age. That's OK. You can get there many different ways. But for me, that's when it started, was under his tutelage and watching him buy and sell cattle and horses, and buy and sell antiques and guns and things like this. And I just saw that glimmer of independence and what that could offer. So.
I guess as I worked my way, you know, I had all the classic small Iowa farm town jobs. I bailed hay. I, you know, worked for farmers. I did all these things. And did you do detassling? No, actually, I tried because that paid really well. That's what it was. It was pretty like where I was in Lake City, Iowa. It was pretty exclusive.
Oh, like to get an opportunity? Yeah, yeah, you had to be kind of invited because there were... Everyone wanted the job, right? Yeah, because it really paid well. And so I was super envious because, you know, some of those guys were making $300 a week. Which is like bank. Yeah, huge money. Especially at that age. Huge money. That's what I made all summer sometimes, you know. But... So I didn't take the classic...
trip, but there probably isn't one. But I didn't go to college. I had a child very young, 18 years old actually, right after high school. And got a job. I got a job, and I went to work every day. And it was hard. It was dirty. It was manual labor. And there were years that.
While I always did something, I had those side hustles like my grandpa had taught me. I raised cattle all through those times. Bought and sold, you know, whatever I could. I flipped things before flipping was cool. My husband really enjoys that. He actually came home with two bikes last night. Yeah, I love that. He's doing like this research. He's asking people like, do kids still ride bikes? And then he's like, hey, I'm...
headed out and buy these bikes, they're on sale, and I research them, like, great. Yeah. I love that. And when I see an opportunity like that, I can't help myself. I have to like. good deal. I'm like, oh, I can buy that, and I know I can make like $50 on that if I sell it. Even though it's probably a waste of time. Sometimes it's just fun, though. Yeah. So anyway, you know, there were some early years I really had to kind of fight through some stuff. And.
It took me a number of years to establish a base. But I was very conservative, and I saved. I save, save, save. Every week, I tried to put something in my savings account. Because I knew that it took. Everybody knows it takes money to make money, right? You hear that all the time. So I knew that was important. And I decided that.
I'd heard plenty about the electrical trade and how it was a really good way to make a living. So it took me a couple years of applying. And I finally got accepted into an electrical apprenticeship program and completed that. And the whole time, I'm thinking to myself, there's no way I want to do this. This is not what I want to do.
Interesting. Yeah, it is like so especially to apply for a number of years, right? But okay, sorry so clarify there. I was thinking there's no way I want to do this for my business I see okay. Yeah, cuz I remember I knew I was gonna be a business owner and I'm like, there's no way I'm gonna be an electric contractor I know that That's funny how yeah, yeah So back that back in those days I was like I was on the
volunteer fire department and I was super involved in that and I thought, okay, I know what I'll do. I'll go be a professional firefighter and then I'll, you know, maybe I'll have a little electrical company on the side and I'll do that. Right, because you're all about side hustles. Yes, yeah. And that's kind of how I thought it would turn out. You know, I'm like, well, in order to do all this stuff, I need time and...
I know as a firefighter, you get so many days off every month. And so to me, it just naturally fit. And I'm like, well, I like firefighting and I like business. So I'll combine those two. And then, you know. A lot of firefighters, my understanding is, will have businesses. Seems to be very common. Very yeah. My ex -husband and I did a whole series of videos about fire trucks and how they're built and how they're all very custom.
And that was a reoccurring theme, though, as we talked with different firefighters in different departments. Like, oh, and so -and -so runs this business and that business and that business. That's interesting. Yeah. No, I think it's very common. I mean, the time thing's important. I so many times talk with people who are thinking about leaving a job, and they're trying to start something. And that's one of the questions they ask me a lot, is how do I know when to make the jump? Oh, yeah. And there's no perfect answer for everybody.
But I do think straddling to trying to do them both at the same level is hard. So it's super hard. Making strategic time decisions. I get that same question. And usually, you know, somebody told me it's not my advice. I just regurgitate it. But somebody told me it's just like having kids. If you wait until you're ready, you're never going to do it. do it. And my other big thing is like, you've got to burn the lifeboat. Like, leave the job. That's a good way to say it. Yeah.
But yeah, you can have a plan. You got to kind of the city. Yeah, if you're cleaning, if you don't have the need and the hunger for it, you've got to feel a little bit of pain. Sure. Sometimes a lot of pain depending on who you are. I was like, as long as you've got that fallback, you're likely to fall back on it. Right. OK, keep us going. So you're thinking, no way am I going to have a Yeah, so I was like, no way am I going to be an electrical contractor. Like, I just don't really have that passion. You know?
Like it's a skill I possess, but it's not like I kept looking for something that I would derive this great satisfaction and great passion from. Did you have ideas of what that might be at that time? I wasn't really sure. You know, like I said, grew up farming, you know, so I love cattle. I, you know, I love all that stuff. Everything ag related was, I knew it well, it was comfortable.
But I couldn't really wrap my mind around what this future business might be. Sure. And so as I was going through that progression, working through those thoughts of, should I try this combination thing, I was living in a house that is.
was owned by my now current business partner's father. And I had known Cody, you know Cody. Yeah, I know Cody. I had known him for I shot Cody's wedding. Yeah, that's right. I forgot that. Weird connection there. Yeah, and that would have been the first time I ever met you. And we didn't even know it. And we didn't know it. We'll put that together later. I'm like, you're probably in these pictures. Oh, yeah. There you are. I was definitely in those pictures.
But it took us a while to put that together. Yeah. So I was living in Cody's dad's house. And by the way, I always credit him as being one of the people that really was transformational in my life and helped me get where I'm at, because he allowed me to live rent free. And then I just had to work for him on the farm after work. So when you have zero money, that's a big deal to have no cost housing. Yeah.
So anyway, I'm on the farm. I'm working for Cody's dad. Cody keeps popping in and out. He's at college. He's doing his thing. And of course, I'd already known him for years. And all of a sudden, Cody's dad, he's off doing his thing. And Lowell knows that I'm trying to get something going. And he's standing there, and he's connecting the dots. And he's like, hey, you t---- -.
Two should talk, you know? And so that really got that connection going. And it wasn't until May of 2006 is when we first.
Established our our first business and what was what was that? Yeah, so we we started out by grinding stumps. We were stump grinders and Not where people are thinking they're thinking this whole electrical things. No, right. Yeah, that's it's crazy, right but you know back to the comment about passion and so forth, you know, they're never really had a passion for stump grinding either, but sure what I
What I found out later was you can have passion for the process, not necessarily what you're doing. So I want to make sure and drive that point home. I'm not unhappy that I'm an electrical contractor, like I may have alluded to earlier. I'm very happy with that. But what I love is the act of running a business. Yeah. So I can relate to that. Like,
I was having a conversation even yesterday with a friend mentor and he was saying, Hey, baby, and you need to tell your story a little more. And I'm like, gosh, it feels so disjointed. I almost feel awkward explaining the history of how I am where I'm at. But the common thread is I like running a business. That's what I like. And I've done it in different ways. So I can resonate with that. And I appreciate you saying that. Cause I think sometimes people are like, Oh,
I have to take a passion and turn it into a business, or I've lost the passion for this thing that I used to like. And it's like, well, do you actually like running a business? Yeah. And they're two separate things. I think of it in terms of if oftentimes people will say, well, he's a great electrician. He should start his own business. Or he's a great, or she's a great whatever. They should do their own thing. But it's.
Oftentimes, those people would be happier to just stay an electrician or to stay whatever they are. They might be a terrible business owner and really hate it. Just because you possess this great skill does not mean it's going to translate into successful business ownership. It's a whole different skill set. What do you think, not to pause too much in your story here, but what do you feel like some of those skill sets are? Like if you're trying to help somebody identify that.
What do you think some of those skills are? Well, it's largely the soft skills, the intangibles, I think. It's the critical thinking, the problem solving, the ability to take abuse, right? We could do a whole podcast on that, I think. Probably. Learning all the lessons the hard way. You've got to be a problem solver. Have you read the Musk biography by James? No, I haven't. OK, so I really should.
I highly recommend I always write these things down when people are saying. Regardless of, for anybody listening, regardless of how you feel of his politics, I think it's absolutely fascinating. One of my huge takeaways was just how simply he can look at some of these magnificent problems. And for me, one thing that helps me currently is he has like this, he calls it his algorithm, but.
Basically, if the laws of physics say that something is possible, then he works on it until he solves it. I mean, it's fair. But isn't that just a It is. It's so simple, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so he's got engineers that come up to him, and they'll say, well, that's not possible. He says, well, which law of physics does it violate?
Isn't that crazy? That's like a whole nother level. Yeah. It's interesting how the most brilliant people are often very simple. And I think we often overcomplicate it and go, I'm not brilliant because I can't come up with all these formulas or throw fancy words around. And yet, some of the most profound things are so simple. That's the hard part. Yeah.
We're getting deep now. Yeah, we are. But I think it's a lot of those skills are what's key to entrepreneurship. I would say too, and I think you're alluding to this with what you're saying, like imagination and curiosity. OK, so one of the greatest compliments that I've received is by a person you know very well that owns the business right next door. Yeah, at Barley's. Yeah, Matt Johnson.
He told me one time he said that he said That from his perspective that my curiosity is has been a Huge factor in my success. So yeah, it's funny you mentioned that I'm I'm a learner right? Mm -hmm, and I know you are too. Mm -hmm. I think that's a That's another big one. I do too and Michaela also is that way?
We like to just know things. Yes, I love to know. Even when they don't seem at all related. Yeah. And then sometimes we end up down these rabbit trails. Yeah. But the rabbit trails always pan out into something valuable. And I can't quite explain how that works, but that random piece of information comes up later, or you can apply it in a way you weren't expecting, or you had to work through a problem just for the fun of it, and then you learned things. I like to go through exercises a lot.
just to play out, well, could this work? Might it work? I mean, maybe it's a little bit like, well, does it violate any laws of physics? Maybe this is possible. Yeah. So what were you imagining at this point when you were jumping into grinding stumps? Just what we were doing was we kind of told ourselves this is just our first step. And we knew that we weren't going to.
be career stump grinders. There's only so many trees cut down. And our total addressable market was too small for us, I guess. Sure.
But we had to create revenue. And the machinery was relatively inexpensive to get started. And the labor was free, right? Do it yourself. Yes. Yeah. It was do it ourselves. And it was just the two of you at the time? Yeah. Yeah. So Cody had actually started that on his own. And then as our connection grew deeper,
We just made the decision to put all of our chips together and see what we could do. Was that a quick and easy decision? I'm always curious about how, especially when friends, in a sense, because it sounds like you were friends, decide to do that, because it can be very risky. Yeah. So a little context on that decision. We had a.
So we were grinding stumps, but then also I had like this electrical slash construction knowledge. That's right. Right? So early on we were grinding and so you have this specific equipment, you know, for grinding stumps, but some of it, like skid steer, for example, or a tractor or a loader that we would rent or, you know, we eventually bought one, could be used for other construction activities.
So I was like, well, jeez, I have this skill. And we've got this equipment. Why are we not trying to do some of this other stuff? And so we got into this conversation of, well, how are we going to split it up? From Cody's perspective, he's like, well, if I bought this trailer and this tractor, and it's your specialty. Yeah, so someone's putting the money in. Someone's putting the.
Sweat equity in. Someone's got the knowledge. How do you value that? Yep. How are we going to split these jobs? So we set out trying to figure all that out. And it occurred to, I don't remember who, but it occurred to one of us like, why don't we just put everything together? Why don't we just combine everything and we'll see if the sum of two parts is greater than, and it turned out to be. So.
I wouldn't have been as comfortable doing it had I not known him for a long time. I knew to the core who Cody was. And again, remember, his dad was a key figure in my life. So there was just a lot of trust already. And so that made it pretty easy. Also, back to my grandfather.
When it came time to sign the, you know, because I bought half of his equipment, essentially, and I had to mortgage my house to do so, when it came time to sign that second mortgage to be able to write Kodi a check for half of the equipment, and that's how we valued it, by the way. You know, there was no goodwill or any of that. It was just, you know, look at the balance sheet and I'll write you a check for half.
But when I was getting ready to sometimes is like cleaner. Yes. Yeah, it was. Yeah. Because we were like, how the hell with that? Let's just get to work. Yeah. We both had Kayla and I also tried to figure that out because we had equipment to bring into the relationship. And I had a lot of equipment. She had a lot of equipment. But we were starting something different and new. We'd been friends. I'd been through a really rough divorce, lost the business, lost and -
I mean, just it was emotionally difficult. So I was scared to do, but I wanted to do it, but I was scared. So we did the same. What we ended up doing is just making a list of everything we had we valued, everything we had just based off of if insurance had to replace it. And we started there and went, are we close in assets? Are we both bringing about the same amount? And we were close enough that we didn't end up exchanging checks, but we valued it.
with money, right? And if we sold this and that, are we close enough? But we were preparing for one of us might have a lot more of the hard assets to bring. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So when it came time to write the check, it really was easy for me, even though I was taking a second mortgage on a home and putting all the chips on the table, right? So to speak. Back to my grandfather.
He had a sign hung in his office. And today it hangs in my office. And it says, the greatest mistake one can make in life is to continually fear you'll make one. And so remember I told you, he was a nine to fiver with all these side hustles. So part of the stories that formed me into who I am were.
he would tell me about, well, back when I was back in whatever, I had this opportunity and I didn't do it. And then we'd be driving through the country and he'd see it. And he says, I had an opportunity to buy that farm over there and I didn't do it. And so I could literally hundreds of examples.
And I think that was his way of letting me know. I remember him telling me, just trust yourself and do it. And so I'm pretty dang fearless when it comes. When my mind's made up, it's crazy. Like I have no fear in the business world. Yeah. And it's.
It stems from that. I know it does. How has that benefited you? And has it ever? I guess I don't know if hurt use the right word. Has it ever bit you in the been the but well, so deliberative is in my top five Clifton. So I do think before I jump takes a while to decide. Definitely. I think before I jump, no question. Has it bit me? I honestly.
I mean, I'm sure in small ways, but I've never made a big mistake. Sure. Knock on wood. Right. One that I can't recover from. Right, right, right. Which I think most everything is recoverable. Right. That's I really do think that's. And I learned that by going through the divorce and losing the business, and it felt like utter devastation. And then realizing, huh, OK, we're all still here, and we can do this again.
That's the point I wanted to get to is how far are you going to fall? You can get so caught up in the...
ramifications of a decision that you can be paralysis by analysis, I think is what they say. But really for me, I'm like, well, what's at risk here? If I can tolerate the risk and I believe it's a right decision, look out. Decision made, I'm onto the next thing.
I feel like I'm in a counseling session right now. Really? Oh, yeah. I'm sitting here like, I needed to hear this today. Thank you. That's the next business. You were talking, thinking about taking risks and things like that. You were sharing a story before we hopped on here about grinding stumps, taking a risk on a piece of equipment. Oh, yeah. Do you mind? Let's recount that. It's one of Cody and I's favorite stories. It comes up often.
when it's the two of us and we're hashing out whether or not to do something. But early on we had this, we sold a, there was a massive tree stump that we were hired to take out. And so when you grind a stump, the, you know, the,
dense wood turns into wood chips and the volume expands exponentially. So if you can cut the stump shorter with a saw, it drastically cuts down the amount of material that you have to deal with. So this stump was humongous. So Cody goes and he finds a saw and he buys it and it was like a thousand or 1200 or whatever.
It was a tremendous amount of money. And so we get ready to do the job, and the lady cancels. And we're like, oh, man, we just spent a lot of money. And so he took the saw back, got our money back. He took it back. And some people are like, well,
Why would you do that? You'll probably use it. Well, because that's a lot of money. And we're running this thing super tight. And we're investing and reinvesting everything. And we're talking like cash flow is a real thing. Oh, cash flow. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if anything's not recoverable, I feel like sometimes it feels like that's the big one. Yeah. So that'll.
That'll kill your business. I don't mess with cash flow. That'll kill you. Running out of cash will kill a business faster than anything that I'm aware of.
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Let's make your digital presence as impactful as your business with a social sidekick where we're amplifying your story one post at a time. Okay, let's jump back in. Yeah, I so past life past business, that was probably one of the most contentious things dealing with my business partner who's also my ex husband now. His risk tolerance was very high.
and he was willing to outlay a lot of money. I'm a saver. I think there's benefits on both ends of that spectrum, like needing to know. But it was the cash flow piece that was the most stressful and I feel like caused a lot of problems because cash would get laid out in large sums with the hope of recovering it through this way and that way. And sometimes you have to take that risk. There were times that risks,
were taken that I maybe wouldn't have, I think I would now, because now I understand that more, that did pan out. And then there were other times where it did not. And the one thing I'm going to say on that piece of cash flow, and then let's move on, is a total side story, right? But don't ever take out a line of credit for payroll. Like, just don't do it. And that was one of the biggest bells, whistles going off, where I was like, ah, I just, you know.
Because I'm just a huge believer and you don't mess with other people's money Yeah, right. So if you don't have it, then you don't have work for them And if you do have it then you do have work for them and that's just that yeah So little side off the off the topic here, but just thinking about cash flow. Mm -hmm came to mind so just thinking about going from Where you were then and even just talking about, you know, a thousand dollars felt really big to now?
that doesn't feel as big because you've grown into a completely different business at a very different scale. Fast forward us a little bit through your journey. How did you arrive there? Because you're not grinding stumps anymore. No, no. So Cody and I, we went through several.
changes in models and several iterations. We ended up for...
Four years we owned a gas pipeline services company. I did not know this. Yeah. We started that with another couple of partners and ended up, it's a great business, outstanding business. I would be happy to still be in it. But there was a difference in philosophy on how to run the company.
Actually how to manage cash flow. Yeah, so it's big one. Oh Cody and I are very aligned You know, we're very different people, but we have Incredibly similar business principles and convictions and that's why we've survived we've never had hardly so much as a crossword In in the nearly 20 years we've been together, that's really cool. Yeah
But what were we talking about? Well, before we move on, because I want to pause there for a minute, what would you say are a couple of those philosophies or things that you align on? Not that they necessarily need to be adopted by others, but what are a few that anchor the two of you? Well, for us, it was our risk tolerance is very, very similar. We just operationally see things the same way. We run things lean. We're efficient. We have our principles. And.
way we want to conduct ourselves is just very similar. Yeah. I think that's really important with having a partner. There's a lot of nuances. There's like such cool things with having a partner. And then there are some real difficult things, honestly. Oh, totally. So the cool thing is that we are very different. So he's got a completely different angle of problem solving than I do. But that's a huge benefit, right? Because.
And then the other thing is is that I've got a couple of blind spots big time So does he? But it just so happens that we kind of fill each other's blind spots, you know I think that's huge. I had a conversation with Michaela today and said to her Hey, I'm not sure about this decision. We're talking about making I said, but I don't want to make a decision out of fear And so she will often balance a little more with like
hey, it's OK, we can take that jump. And I'll be more like, I want to have every duck thought about. It might not be in a row, but I want to have thought about the duck that might be in the pond so I can quickly configure how to get them in a row, depending on what happens. I feel like there should be a video game for entrepreneurs about ducks in a pond now and putting them in a row. But I do think that's huge, having the different perspectives. Because.
I, like you're saying, like I do have blind spots and there's certain things I wouldn't have done that I'm really glad that we did. We all do. Everyone has blind spots, you know?
So what has it been like with PowerTech? I think one of the interesting stories about PowerTech is how you scaled the business essentially overnight by bringing on a whole department. What was the business like prior to that? And then what happened when you brought on a whole department there? So we were growing. We were a growth company. We had a growth mindset. Cody and I both do. We always have. We still do. Probably will never leave me.
Might but who knows So we had taken well when we when we purchased power tech in 2016 So we sold out of the gas line pipeline services company and we use that Those proceeds as a down payment that covered the down payment for power tech and we acquired power tech 2016. There was eight of us. Okay, so
The event you're talking about occurred in 2020, which was COVID. April of 2020 is the event you're talking about. So one month after lockdown. So we'd been in business for four years as PowerTech. And during those four years, there's eight of you. Were you like boots on the ground, electrical work? Like what were you doing? So PowerTech is actually, despite the name, it was created as a maintenance company.
mostly for the telecom industry. But yes, I was very much boots on the ground. I was on call. I did service calls on top of at night, on top of running the business. And I did that for a long time. And so when we bought in 2016, by the time 2020 rolls around, we had
you know, grown to probably low 50s in head count. Which is pretty significant growth. Yeah. Yeah, it was. And then, uh, um,
You know, as always happens with business, stumps things seem to come out of the blue. And we get a phone call. And a competitor had let this certain individual go who I had history with. And we got to talking. And he says, well, I need a place to land. And I think I could, I think I'll.
bring a lot of business with me. And so we ended up bringing him on. And within, jeez, I don't know, four or five weeks, we hired nearly 50 additional people. So we essentially doubled our headcount in four to five weeks. And we had to buy trucks and tools and ladders and all this stuff. So were you at Menards? What were you doing?
Get all these things. Just show up at the dealership. I'll take everything on the lot. So that's funny. Turns out nobody has that many service vehicles on a lot. So we had to go to a lot of different places. And we're resourceful. So we worked hard at it. And we scraped everything together. And we hired all these people and took over all these accounts. And off to the races.
When we talk about that, you make it sound very simple in a sense. And yet knowing what it's like even to bring on one to 10 employees can feel like a lot. To bring that many people on to have to bring in equipment to support them, but then also just like the management to support them, et cetera. How did you guys just lock yourself in a room for a couple days and try to figure it all out? And then what? Yeah, I feel good enough about this. Let's do it.
Were you figuring out a lot as you went? Oh, like how did it work? All of the above. It was very much.
Trial by Fire, we went in with a pretty good plan. We knew the key things that we were going to need. And so yes, we did lock ourselves in a room. And it wasn't just Cody and I. It was a number of people. And we just ideated on, OK, what do we need to purchase? Let's take it step at a time, right? That's how you do everything. Like work it backwards, basically, right? If we did this, what would we need to get there? Yeah.
And so procurement, what do we need to procure? Well, the guy, they're going to need this, this, this, and this. OK, well, you start down that process, and there's always a curveball with every single thing. So then you pivot, and you do. But anyway, we just systematically set up a work.
process, you know, we're gonna work through these things and then you just check them off, you know, how do you eat an elephant? Right Do you feel like it not knowing exactly how that all works logistically Someone calls you up. You have an opportunity for business you work through a plan Do you feel like there were things that you had done up to that point that made you ready to be able to do that? And I'm thinking of things like cash flow, etc. I mean it's
It seems like there would be some outlay of money in order to make that happen, as well as just management people, team being ready, leadership principles being in play. It seems like there's some things that probably needed to have been cultivated to even make that a consideration. Yeah. So I told you, financially, Cody and I are both conservative. So yeah, we were in a good spot. We have always.
carried, except for the first couple of years we owned PowerTech. With the exception of those couple of years, we've always carried an extremely strong balance sheet with no debt to speak of in our history, except for the first couple of years of PowerTech. And that's pretty remarkable, right? It is. Absolutely. But it's something that we want. We.
we want the flexibility and the security that cash provides. And it allows us to do big things like this. Because you're ready for it. It was at the start of COVID, you know, when things were... Remember how terrifying that was when nobody knew what was going to happen? Yeah. We didn't know if like, is everybody going to die? Right, right. So...
Banks weren't in the mood to lend money. So we couldn't have done this had we not had a solid, rock solid balance sheet. Yeah. I agree. I think that's super important. And one of the tricky things sometimes to figure out is just making sure that you have a solid. One of the books I really enjoy is Profit First. And it was interesting listening through that. And I'm going to butcher.
trying to say his last name, so I'm not going to attempt. I'll link it in the show notes. But we had been running on an almost profit -first model, and then there were things that brought up, and I went, OK, this makes so much sense. But a big piece of it being, knowing your numbers really well, and then remembering that you do need to pay yourself, but then also, how are you allocating funds, and are you keeping on top of it, and looking those over? And I really like how that is set up.
And I think that is a downfall for businesses and something I'm still learning to exercise, like how to exercise those muscles as well in a thoughtful way. Because I do agree that so often having that cash on reserve, if for no other reason, right, there's a peace of mind that I think then frees us up to be more creative.
when you're worried about where the next dollar's coming from, which is so common in entrepreneurship, and I certainly have lived in that, and at times still trying to figure it out, right? It's so debilitating. Like your brain just starts to fry. Mine does, when I'm thinking about that. So when I talk with people, or Mikhail and I talk, we're always trying to make that decision of how much cushion do we want to risk? How much do we want to have on hand?
just for our mental health to some degree. Oh, totally. Right? Yes. Like, OK, we know that if something happened, we could ride this for a little while. Yes. And when we're making a decision about depleting that and bringing it down, we really have to think about that. So that's important conversations to have. Yeah. And sometimes people are like, oh, risk takers, you just throw money around everywhere and everything comes back in. I'm like, I don't know. I don't think that's how it works. That's not good business. No, it's not how I do it. You know?
When you start small, it looks completely different, right? As you grow, you're like, okay, well, here's my receivables and I know that's going to be coming in. And so I think as you grow, you have to.
how you perceive cash has to change, right? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Thinking about just cash and growth, we're for sure going to have to do another one of these podcasts, because there's a million things that I want to ask right now. Yeah. But one of the things that I find so awesome about PowerTech is that you not only have grown and scaled and bootstrapped and, you know,
all the way up to the point where you're at now, brought a whole department on, essentially overnight. But you have a really strong commitment to giving back through your Power to Give initiative. And I think that is really, it's both interesting, unique, and just shows a lot of integrity as a business owners, as business owners, and also for the team, because I know a lot of the teams very bought in to that as well.
Where did that come from, the desire to do that? When was that birthed? And then maybe explain a little bit about what it does for everybody to understand too. Okay, so.
Oh geez, I could go a lot of directions, but for brevity, I think where it came from is Cody and I are both just grateful, right? Like we understand that...
we may not have ended up here, right? There's certainly hard work and skill and all those things, but it's also, we're fortunate that we were born at the right time in the United States and to good parents and so forth. Mentors who've been in your life, yeah. Yeah. So we know.
we're fortunate. We know there's a lot of people that aren't. And so without getting too in the weeds, I would say that given our life experiences, and particularly mine, have made a difference.
causes around the focus on children and particularly mental health. So if it affects both of those areas, we're pretty interested in what we can do to help. And what was your second question? Or did that cover it? Yeah, no, you're covering it really well. You're doing great. I know a lot of business owners who talk about wanting to give back. Yeah.
and yet they're kind of stretching for every dollar at the same time. And they're trying to figure out how to do it. Do you have any thoughts on that? Because you've put a whole initiative together. It's quite robust. Did it start that way? Any advice for those who might want to do something similar at whatever scale they want to do it at? Well, what we try to do is, um,
I think what I see a lot, Vivian, is people want to be, they want to give back, they want to do things. So when the Little League team calls, they donate. And then when the church group calls, they donate. And when the Lions club, and then - And there are many calls. Yes, there is. As a business owner, it's nonstop, right? Right. Especially when people figure out you donate. Yes.
Then you're on the top of this list. And donating for silent auctions. Yes. Yes. Which, you know, I'm kind of poking fun. Like, you want to give, though. Yes. Yeah, you want good causes. So they, in people that fundraise or that solicit donations, they're good at asking, right? So they can make you feel like, oh, geez, well, I better. But what I would say is, say no. It's OK. It's OK to say no. Pick.
something that's important and focus on it. Be intentional. We decided to give money away the same way we made it. So we're very intentional. And if it doesn't fit our parameters, we don't do it. Now, we do make allowances for the silent auction type donations, things like that that are relatively small. Yeah.
But if it's a big commitment, dollar -wise, it has to pass our litmus test. Is that something you've actually documented down, or is it more funneled? We do have, we have mission values, all that stuff. We have it documented. We have a...
framework that is you know, it's not ironclad. It's not super rigid, but we do have a framework for decision -making. Yes, and do you make decisions just between you and Cody? No, we have others so we the power to give This is what we call it. The power to solve is power text tagline. So And we the power to give we started a committee that supports that so we have
Currently there's five employees that are very like -minded. And we meet and we go over, we set budgets and we allocate dollars and we identify goals. And...
So that's how we do it. It's really neat, too, to include the team, right? Because then it's Well, that's how you get the buy -in. That's right. And the cool thing about us is we have people. I can't tell you the exact number. But we have a number of people that take money out of their check every week and help and contribute it to our dollars because they believe in us. That's cool. How cool is that? Very cool. Yeah.
I love that because I feel like it has such an impact on people at a personal level too. I know for myself just growing up in a churched background, you know, they talk a lot about tithing, giving back, giving back. So I grew up with this idea of giving back all the time. And there is something very personal about it, even if it's not very much, right? But doing it on a regular basis.
And I love that businesses can offer that type of opportunity as well. Because there's something that changes for the individual at the individual level when they have an outlet for regularly giving to something. And sometimes I think individuals just struggle with, I'm not sure what exactly to give to and trying to research and figure it out and you always meant to and you're gonna get around to it and then you didn't. So you throw a little cash at this every once in while.
But giving regularly to something I think really does, it does something at a personal level that's very special and important. So I love the idea that employers can give that opportunity as well. And it really creates a neat impact in the community. And people know about Power Tech's giving initiative, the power to give. They know about it. It's great. Yeah, so we encourage people to, you know,
We do the payroll deductions, actually, for people. And it's tracked and accounted for. And we report on what those dollars are spent on. But then we also encourage volunteerism. So we do that in two ways. We will organize work days or, you know,
We work with a few nonprofits. So we'll fill needs for what they're looking to accomplish. And we'll organize those opportunities that they can just show up and volunteer. Or we also do paid work days. So we will, if an initiative is important enough to us,
we will actually select employees and pay them if they're unable to give up their time on a weekend or whatever. We'll pay select employees to go volunteer, I guess. So we do both routes. That's really neat. And we get really good participation. Didn't start that way, but as with anything in business, if you stick with it.
And you talk about it, I think that's important as well. You create buy -in and people see it. Now they're like, OK, this isn't going away. This is real. We're committed to this. It probably did seem unusual at first when we rolled it out. I think probably so, especially though you're
your business has grown and is much larger than the eight. I feel like you hear about some give back campaigns things at a really enterprise level, right? Google or really large, but not as much in those mid to large companies. And certainly not small companies. So not that they don't, I just think it's not super common.
It was one of the things that Michaela and I talked a lot about the beginning and it was an odd conversation to have like I said because you're like trying to stretch every dollar and so you're like Really gonna like put some money aside and we started with 3 % Which especially getting started 3 % was not very much money and it felt at times it felt a little silly like there's literally times where I move the monies around and You know
I distributed $12 into these accounts at the beginning, but it did add up and it was so cool when somebody would come to us or something would align or present itself and we were like, yes, we absolutely have $100 to give to that and we're not even gonna question it. It was set aside for that and it's a really neat feeling. Yeah. Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah.
And it's part of why, like when we talk about building businesses, what I like about building businesses is that I like the potential there of building my own legacy. I'm not ashamed to say like, I want to be successful. I want to make money. I don't mind having my name in lights kind of thing. But I really want to build legacies for other people too, or not build it for them, but present opportunities for them to build their own legacies, especially folks who maybe come from similar backgrounds as I do.
who maybe don't have, you they didn't necessarily come into something with a bunch of wealth to get started with. And I really like too the idea of building businesses that start to impact people at an individual level who then go out to the community and make changes. That's really cool to me. Whatever it is they want to do. So that's part of our mission is to help affect that change, you know, whether it be on an individual level or...
or for other businesses. And so basically what I'm saying is I have no problem peer pressuring other businesses. Right? Yeah. So like one thing I've noticed when I What are you doing out there? Come on, guys. One thing I've noticed about philanthropy is people always go after the banks. People always go after the insurance guys. You know? Like there's.
You know who I'm talking about, right? Yeah, it's always those same people they get picked on. And so when we were talking about starting They're on the hit list. Yeah. When we were starting to talk about this, I was like, we decided to do this because we're doing well. I know we're not the only business in our category that's doing well. Right. Like, how come these other guys aren't? How come they don't contribute?
And so the joke I made. And do you have a list? I think you have a secret list. Yes. I knew it. Yeah. But it has worked. We've approached these guys. We've talked to them. There's people that are contributing now that didn't before. And I feel really, and I don't care if they're supporting our cause or not. I want them to do something. We all benefit from the community. Put back into it. Right?
I think that's really cool. And I love that you're challenging people in that way in businesses. So I'm going to throw a co -challenge out there of even if you don't feel successful yet, the fact that you're doing what you're doing does make you more successful than someone else who hasn't started yet. And I do think your $12 matters. Yeah. And if you get in that habit and your muscles are being exercised, when you have
$12 ,000 and $12 million, that habit and exercise is already there. I think that's one of the big things. You suddenly get big, but you haven't worked those muscles. You gotta work the muscles. It doesn't matter how much it is. And yes, your time. You were saying about your time. Yeah. You made the $12 analogy. Well, you can affect change with your time as well. Look at you. Look at you and Troy.
what you're doing. I mean, it's awesome. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. I'm guessing you're alluding to foster care. I am. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We don't mind talking about it too, Sam, but yeah, we love it. It's hard. Yeah. It's incredibly hard. And it takes a tremendous amount of time. So much time. But you're doing things that changes the world for that human. Yeah. We hope so. Well, I think it's.
Hard to argue. I think it's hard to argue. So that's, you know, I think people should do what they can. And if you're not doing anything, you know, maybe you should think about doing something. I agree. Because, I mean, ultimately, not to get all morbid here, but we're just going to die. We're just going to die. We're going to die at some point, right? That is one of the, what are we talking about? Musk and the whole, like, that is proven.
That is proven. That's happening. It's like what impact do you want to leave and what stories do you want people to tell? And you know, it sounds kind of cliche, but it is all that. How do you want to be remembered as an individual? But if you're a business owner, your business can be remembered. And I think that's important to remember. Like you're writing a story with your business. And you know, do you like that story? It's important to think about.
Okay, we're gonna have to wrap up. I know we are. I'm like, I gotta look at the time and everything, and like, ugh. But I know the time has come, but I really appreciate you coming on. I've wanted to have this conversation for a while, because I just knew there was so much here that's encouraging to people, a challenge to people. A little bit of a kick in the butt is good. Well, hopefully. I don't feel like, hopefully. Yes, it is. It's so helpful. Yeah.
For me, I'm just talking about all the stuff I know about. So I don't hope this is of value. It surely is. I always end podcasts with some rapid fire questions. Oh. Some kind of just fun. Some that are, you know. OK. So we're going to end with these. You didn't prep me for that. I don't ever prep anybody. OK. It's just off the cuff, whatever comes to mind for you. OK. The first one is, what do you think is?
one of the biggest misconceptions about owning a company? The money. People think that you just are made of it. People think it falls out of your pockets. I see that. I hear that. I feel that, right? And even though we have achieved success, we are continually reinvesting. I can promise you there's plenty of W -2 wage earners out there that take home more than we do.
Yeah. But people don't think that. So that's easy. OK. What's an important piece of advice that you have been given and applied to your business? That one I already told you about from my grandfather, about not being afraid to make mistakes. Yeah. I love that one. Is there anything you would tell your 18 -year -old self, which I think you mentioned, 18 -year -old self was maybe a dad. Yeah. Yes.
Knowing what you know now. Is there anything you would just tell yourself? Well, it would have been a great time to load up on Amazon stock. Perfect. So true. Remember when that wasn't going to be a thing? Yeah. Yeah, the internet was a fad. It's a series of tubes. Do you have a favorite kickback and relaxed beverage? Anymore, it's sparkling water. Yeah.
We also keep assortment of sparkling waters. I'm very partial to bubbly. Oh Kale likes, you know, La Croix. Uh huh, yeah. I'm like, did I say that right? And I like bubbler. Have you tried bubbler? That's caffeinated, isn't it? It is caffeinated, I think you're right. You stay away from that one. Well, is it sweet or is it? It depends on the flavor. I'm not much Not a sweet one, yeah. I started drinking kombucha. Oh, I love kombucha.
I feel like kind of a hipster. You can make kombucha. Did you know that? No. It's so easy to make. Oh my goodness. OK, I'm going to get you a starter. It's like friendship bread, but not. We're going to have friendship kombucha. This is great. Oh, man. You just made my heart like, yes. Is there a song or a book or a podcast or anything like that that's kind of speaking to you right now or has? I listen to Chris Powers has a real estate podcast. I listen to that. I love real estate. It's a.
That's kind of a passion for me. So Cody and I, we've got another business entity in the real estate realm. So I listened to that Chris Powers podcast. I mentioned the Musk biography. I read that last, as soon as it came out, I think last summer. That was fantastic. But yeah, I read a lot of business type.
how my mind works. It's what I'm comfortable with. It's what I enjoy. Yeah. Have you read Prophet first? No, I haven't. I'm just curious if you'd like it or not. What excites you the most about the future?
Uhhh...
I'm excited to see. I just had a conversation with both of my daughters, 26 and 24. I'm excited to see where they end up and what they do, because they're doing some really cool shit. And they're going to be, both of them, they're going to be way ahead of me. That's the goal, right? As a parent, I'm guessing? Yeah. For sure is. And it's happening. So it's fun to watch.
Is there something that people often get wrong about you?
Hmm.
I had questions, I had answers to your questions pretty readily until right now. Yeah, I do this. I throw people off. Oh boy. Adolf Kupf stuff is always so interesting though. Yeah. What they get wrong.
I don't know. They may not. Yeah, I don't. It's kind of an open book. I'm not sure how to answer that. People think that I'm an extrovert all the time. I am not an extrovert at all. No. Very introverted. People exhaust me. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. I like people. You guys all just exhaust me. I don't know. I guess I don't know how to answer that. That's fair. My last one is, and I think we've circled around on this, but let's just drive it home because I know you're passionate about it.
What do you think business owners can do that makes the world a better place?
Well, part of the reason I'm fascinated with Musk is he's changed the world in multiple arenas. levels. So there's that extreme. Right. If we want to go there, yes. Yeah. You literally can literally change the world. You literally can. So I didn't bring that up in jest. There are things that a person can do to change the world. And that's a.
That's pretty remarkable. Do I want to change the world? No, that's not my ambition. But I certainly want to make this part of the world that we live in a better place. And I encourage other business owners to take that approach. Not necessarily don't need to go for the moonshot. But if you can make your town, your neighborhood, your street better, go for it. Yeah.
I love it. Because if you don't, who else will? Yeah. Right? We're waiting on you. Right. Mm -hmm. I think that all the time, like, so much unlocked potential. I am a get out of bed, change the entire world type of person. I have a lot of energy when I wake up in the morning. It's a little bit. Troy's like, uh. And then around 10, 11 o 'clock when I realize it's not all going to happen today, there's a little bit of a crisis moment.
Then I usually get it wrangled back together around noon and then I finish the day out, you know, but Yeah, I totally agree. There's so many great opportunities to affect whatever circle you're in. Absolutely. So Thanks for thanks for coming and affecting our circles. Yeah, like this is really in here. This is awesome I don't know how much time we spent but it went very quickly. Yeah, it does go fast, doesn't it? Yeah, I've thought so many times I'm like this really could be if if audience was willing to hang around for I'm like this
could be a two to three hour broadcast. Because there's so many stories and I think we connect with stories. And I hate to cut the story short. Yeah. And I wasn't sure which direction this was going to go today. But I had just some things kind of teed up a little bit. And if this was a - there any you want to share? Well, if this was a value. Yeah. It's all a value. Let's do it again. Yeah. You know? Because -
I think it'd be fun to get into some concepts like leadership and talk about that journey. That could be a whole series, the journey of learning how to lead from an entrepreneurial standpoint. When you start at you, and it's easy to lead when it's just you. Then you add these people. Yeah. What's the saying?
If there were no customers or employees, business would be a piece of cake. That's so true, right? Managing people is so difficult. So I think we could bite a bunch off there. All right, so you'll come back for part two. Totally will. Thank you. You bet.