Real No BS Talk About What It is Really Like Running A Small Blue Collar Business

Hey guys, we are live at five. You know, I kind of left the, let me change this around. I was actually going to try to go and do this on Instagram as well. I am having trouble trying to figure out how to get this to go live on Instagram. Let me see. Okay, I think it's doing it. Uh-huh. So basically, when you use this software on Instagram, you got to start over here, jump over to Instagram, hit a go live button, and come back. So I think that's happening. So if y'all see me on Instagram, y'all give me a comment. First, let me start off by saying thank you to the new members to the channel. I am producing... New videos every week, basically coaching how to start and run a small business, giving you all the advice that I've gotten accumulated for 15 years of running a business, the mistakes I've made, and in today's video, some of what to avoid and some of the problems that small business owners have. For me, I'll go ahead and talk about one of them. One of those problems was attracting and retaining good help. And one of the things I've talked about in today's video that I put on for the members only, and it looks like, forgive me, I don't know how to say this guy's name, but is that the employees that do a good job, are drug free, have a good driver's license, clean record, they're content to work for somebody else, they're not going to try to take your business and start their own business. All those employees are taken. They're already working for somebody else, and they probably have a job. It's given them a 401k, medical insurance. They have benefits. And for a small business to try and open a business and compete for those same employees, it's difficult. I found it hard to get the employees that I really wanted. And then sometimes when I did find somebody good, they weren't going to last. They were looking for something bigger and better. And I was trying to slowly grow the business. Those are some of the problems I have had trying to scale the business and try to grow it and make it bigger. And those problems eventually led to me attracting the wrong kind of employees that were causing me more harm than they were good. And it ended up with me basically going back to working by myself. I make more money that way and it's less stress, but getting over the hump of Making less money until you make more money, that's something I never could do because I couldn't attract the right kind of employees. It's difficult when you're competing with big companies that are offering really good benefits. Well, thank you, Kenneth. I appreciate that. I do try to put out real content. You're kind of leading me into another thing that I wanted Y'all forgive me, I hear my dog getting into something. One of the things I wanted to talk about is that when I started doing social media and putting content out, there was never the intent of doing it for the money. The intent was to share what little bit I know to somebody who or lots of people who might want to learn from it, because I really don't have any kids and I try to teach employees and I wanted somebody I wanted to be able to pass on what I know. Why I started the channel, the channel has evolved over the years, but the core thing that I am doing still to this day is showing real-life work and real-life solutions to problems that I find, and I hope that is beneficial to people. Let's see what Seton is saying here. Guys, and he commented, guys that stick with a one-man band usually have some serious flaws. The good ones either have their own business or work for someone that can offer more perks. Yes, that's good. That's true. I mean, because you're right. The guys that, you know, I don't want to say that some of the people that I hired had their flaws, but they did. I mean, there were some people, a couple of them that I did try to give like a second chance and it kind of backfired on me. I trusted people more than I should have. Let me try... Oh, nope. I was trying to show a ticker. I thought I had one ready. There we go. So it's really hard to get those employees, the ones that you really want. One of the examples I gave, there was one guy that I was trying to get from a company in town that was a well-established company, had a loyal base of customers, and they were paying him like $37 an hour. And we're talking 10 years ago. He had a 401k, he had medical insurance, and I was trying to get this guy because I knew the quality of work that he did, and I knew that he was knowledgeable. So he wouldn't leave. There was no way I could lure him away. So years later, management changed at that company, and they had a whole different direction. It was more like a private equity thing, and he left the company and joined another company as like a service manager. And his presence alone, this guy that I was trying to get, has quadrupled the size of that company. So the good employees, you know, they're hard to get. If you can get a good employee, take care of them, and hopefully they'll take care of you. I'm clicking on a whole line of those comments. I'm still working like I'm 30 years old. No, I'm not. Oh, my. No, I'm not. Back in those days, in the 30s, I was, like, catching calls as fast as I could and eight, nine calls a day. And, you know, actually, now that I have slowed down, I'm still billing out about the same amount of money. I'm just being more thorough. Finding stuff that I may have missed back when I was younger catching eight calls a day. The other day I caught five. Well, I should say it was actually four. There was one I walked away from because there was sewage all over the ground. And I was like, hey, y'all got to get that cleaned up and dried out before I come back. So they'll probably get somebody else to do it. I'm just not going to wait around in somebody's poop to try to fix their air conditioner. I ain't going to do that. And back to the topic we were just talking about, a buddy over here at Seton Heating and AC talking about the good employees that you're trying to get. You do end up overpaying them to compensate for the benefits that you cannot offer. A past employee I had, he was specifically an installer and he needed the work. He had been doing some subcontract work and I was like, dude, I can bring you on, but we have to do all of our installs, everything in-house. There's no subbing anything. And he was on board for a while until I tried to teach him service work. That was just not in his wheelhouse. It never took. But he eventually wanted to go back to doing sub work. So he didn't last, but that's okay. I'm trying to pronounce his name. Is this Arame? Please comment and tell me what your name is. Thank you for becoming a member. I really do appreciate it. And if some of y'all would comment, if y'all are watching this from Instagram, I'm going to try to click over here. I can tell y'all are watching on Instagram. Hey, that's cool. Thank That's the first time I've ever been able to go live on Instagram. It's like a little trick we got to do here on the software. Purposely left today's topic kind of vague, not discussing what we would be talking about. you. There's when AI started to become a real thing that was changing how we do work. I said to some of the people that are close to me, this is going to be as big as the Internet was to computers. I am not joking. Everybody who uses a computer to basically do their job. is in danger of AI coming to get their job. Accountants, I mean, if you think about it, even journalists sometimes, they're just reading stories from somewhere else and doing a broadcast of a story that they read about or saw somewhere else. All of that AI can do. Stockbrokers, AI can do it better. That's better. Our jobs, blue-collar jobs, AI is actually helping us do our job. There are things that we can do. Tech support sometimes is AI, or looking up parts and stuff like that, or codes. Sometimes when I'm Googling a code on a piece of equipment, sometimes I get an AI response that is actually better than what Google could have done. AI is not coming for blue-collar jobs. I do not see where any kind of robot could actually do some of the stuff that we do. I was just talking to my buddy Jake. How are you going to teach a robot to solder in a compressor or even change a capacitor? Blue-collar jobs are safe. They're secure. You can get a job anywhere you go if you have a trade. And people going to school for a four-year education right now are finding it hard to get a job. And they're spending fortunes on getting their education. That is not a bird you hear in the background. That is Riley with a toy. I think he knows when I go live. And what you may not be hearing is my wife's in there trying to take the toy from him. But AI, in some of the ways that I use social media, I have learned to use AI to my benefit. And AI is actually changing social media, if you haven't noticed already. Especially on the Instagram, if you start watching the wrong kind of thing, like some baby dancing or something like that, you'll get stuck on a whole stream of AI videos. I'm not saying I'm using AI in my videos, but I use it sometimes for thumbnails or suggestions for titles and stuff like that. It helps. Let's see what Ms. Grip has to say. Yeah, but AI sometimes way inaccurate, especially with some info. It misidentified a valve on something I was doing. Didn't know hot from cold. Yes. I specifically, when I mention using AI when I'm doing some troubleshooting, I am using it to look for, like, error codes. Sometimes that can be hard to find. And some manufacturers, if it's a recent piece of equipment, like Trane or Carrier, will not publish their error codes unless you've gotten like a special link when you went to one of their classes that they give to their dealers. And I have found that extremely frustrating. I have found where AI has helped me get some of the codes and has helped me find the PDF manuals on installing some of the equipment that I needed. So it has been beneficial in that point. In some ways where I can say it has not been beneficial, I would throw the example of Bluon. If you pay, you can call and get a person on tech support. But if you have the free version, you might be able to chat with their AI bot that's supposed to help you figure out whatever you're working on. I got to say, that has been useless. I tried it two times and... Absolutely useless, and also when I was working, trying to use Bluon when it first came out to look up manuals, once again, they had plenty of stuff for commercial equipment, but almost nothing for the residential stuff that I was trying to look up. I mean, I'm not trying to look up the manual for a straight cool condenser with nothing but a capacitor and a contactor. I'm looking for the manuals on stuff. That has a little more technical troubleshooting, maybe the resistance on temperature sensors or something like that, and I just couldn't find it through Bluon. It was a complete waste of time. Speaking of which, Bluon started with offering an alternate refrigerant for R22. The refrigerant I spoke of last week, R4106A, does seem to be a real thing. But the only information I've been able to find out about it is from the private company that makes it. And it's a drop-in replacement for R454 that is not flammable. It seems to be recovered R410 and maybe altered with something else. And I've got to give a thanks to the wife of Rick Durmeier who did some of the research on this and helped me find all of this. And even if you Google it and get any information on it. All the information comes from the developer's website. The EPA has not given it a certification or its own R number. This R4106A is not a real refrigerant number. It is a product that somebody's trying to sell. So you can Google it just knowing the back of your head is not really EPA listed yet. And we have a comment from Harry here. Harry, I have, there was one brief time that I tried to sell paint equipment because I wanted to sell the, what is it, Evolution that Bryant was putting out, and I was trying to build up enough business so they would let me sell the Bryant And I saw in that brief time when I was selling just the paint equipment that carrier prices on parts were so high, and Trane has always been like that. I'm just like... You know, I'm not going to sell this. I'm not going to offer it to my customers if they ask for it. I might be able to get it, but it's not worth it. And like the Infinity and Evolution stuff that, you know, I was trying to get in to sell because that was, at the time, some of the top of the line stuff. Now, with what's coming out, with the equipment that's coming out, I feel like all those years of those really expensive... Evolutions and Infinities and some of the Trane series, the communicating stuff with their inverter compressors and stuff, I just kind of feel like it's all been a high-dollar scam, to tell you the truth, because they're basing that equipment on their SEER rating, and the SEER rating only covers five months of cooling. They don't tell you that when they're touting their high 19 SEER rating on a piece of equipment. So when it gets cold and your heat pump has to convert over to heating the house, that high efficiency rating goes right out the window. It is useless. And in fact, almost all those old pieces of equipment that they've been selling for 15, 20 years now, all needed heat strips, which means as soon as it really gets cold, like below 40 degrees, instead of pulling six amps during ideal conditions when it's cooling, It is now pulling 65 amps, and that is why I feel like the Infinity stuff and the high-seer Trane equipment that has been sold all these years, I have always felt like it's just kind of a scam. Why would you pay $20,000 for a piece of equipment that's going to start pulling over 60 amps when it gets cold? It's just, and some of the equipment that's now being offered is not like At least not around here. We don't get real cold. About as cold as it gets down here is like 15 degrees and a lot of the equipment that I've been offering and actually Carrier is now offering the exact same piece of equipment. They don't need heat strips around here and that's a really good option for customers down here in the south. I'm going to click over to Instagram here for just a second. I can see lots of comments. I really do appreciate it, guys. I do. Streaming on Instagram for me has been a little bit difficult because it's tricky in how to do it. Instagram is going to limit me to an hour, which means after about an hour, if I haven't shut up yet, they're going to cut me off. But, yeah, that's my first time being able to stream on Instagram like this using a streaming software. I do want to mention that probably next week I'm going to be doing a live stream. Maybe I'll do two. I'm going to do a live stream specifically for members so that they can interact with me and ask questions about starting and running a small business. The things that they want to ask me personally, I am going to do that next week on Sunday, maybe. Before I do the regular live stream, and that happens to be a suggestion from my good friend here, Jake, at Cooling with Krause. If you're not familiar with his channel, go visit. He puts out some really good stuff. He's one of my favorite people to watch on YouTube. Him and the Michigan Heating Guy. Florida has been nothing but junk. Is there another comment I'm missing? Speaking of my buddy, Jake, I hope my buddies. in Ohio, take care of him. I'm just saying. Jake really does put out some good content. He's entertaining. He's genuine. He's doing real world stuff just like me. He's just more fun to watch. I do like his content. Looks like we have a question from the gallery. Random question. Since I'm in the market for a new one, have by chance gotten to mess around with the ACIQ Water heaters. I know almost nothing about the ACIQ water heaters. Last week, my guest that was on the show, Rick Durmeier at HVACR Survival, we talked about it because he installed one of those in his house. It looks like that heat pump water heater has cut his power bill by 30%. That's phenomenal. My only problem is with these ACIQ or any heat pump water heater is that when there's a problem with the heat pump nobody's going to fix it. You got to replace the whole water heater and to me that's a little bit problematic especially if you're having to pay for somebody to come in and replace your water heater just because maybe a sensor went out or something or You know what I mean? Nobody's going to work on that water heater. Plumbers aren't going to know how to work on the refrigeration part of it. HVAC guys are going to charge so much it's not going to be worth it to work with. It's going to be like working on a window unit. So literally, as soon as it quits working, they're going to have to replace it and you better hope it's under warranty. HVAC with Jesse is commenting about Jake's most recent video. I got to mention in Jake's most recent video, he made me laugh about his intermission right in the middle of the video. He's funny. Ms. Grip, I have been questioning this about those heat pump water heaters from the very start. Honestly, if they could make the heat pump that sits on top of it somehow modular, where you could remove the heat pump and put another one back on top of it and just hook it back up and without having to replace the whole water heater, that would be great. But that's not the case. If an engineer is listening, I've got some great ideas on how to do that. I'm just saying you could. You could use a heat exchanger that fits down in the water on your water tank that is completely removable and pulls out of the water tank. I mean that's one way. The electrolysis corrosion, I'm going to talk about a comment here, the ACIQ water heaters are known to have issues with electrolysis corrosion. I think any heat pump water heater is going to have something like this which If I'm not mistaken, what he's talking about is when liquid is running through a copper pipe, it slowly strips away the electrons from the outer molecules and causes a leak. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I think that's what you're talking about. We have dealt with that with heat pumps that are used sometimes as auxiliary heat for water heaters where you run your hot gas over there. to your hot water heater to help heat it. It used to be a thing years ago. I've had to disconnect many of those because of the pump where you have the heat exchanger where the refrigerant and the water are flowing right next to each other develops leaks. And if I'm not mistaken, that's the electrolysis that he is talking about. What I found funny in Jake's video today was how he promoted his sponsor. And he's talking about, this is not planned. I swear to God, it's not. He's talking about these, and those are Camel City Mills socks. But the way he introduced it in his video, man, it was funny. All right. They really are good socks. They are not a sponsor. They don't pay me anything, but they do really do what they are advertising, which is wick away moisture from your feet. They really do that. I like them. They're some of the best socks I've had. So go use Krause's code. Is it Kraus 10? Kraus, post your code and go buy you some of those socks. Yeah, they're really good to walk around the house in instead of wearing your boots all the time. They got like some kind of five or 10 year warranty on them. So if I wear them out, I'll get some more. Right back to the electrolysis. OK, Kraus's code is simply Kraus. K-R-A-U-S-S. So go get you some Camel City Mills socks and tell them Kraus sent you. Back to the electrolysis. According to Harry here, it's mostly due to the aluminum versus copper dissimilar metals. Once the water flows through, there is a stray electron that causes the copper coils to fail. I'm sorry, maybe I'm reading that wrong. I've never fully understood why The electrolysis happens especially with the flowing water, maybe it is because of the dissimilar metals, but that has been a problem on similar systems where we use hot gas to heat water heaters down here. It used to be a really popular thing and I have probably re-piped half a dozen heat pumps to cut out the water heater that was attached to it because of the electrolysis problem. Mike Trader, at HVAC guy, I have been repairing my own AC for 15 years, even a compressor swap. Own all the tools, want to get 608 and get into the trade without school. Yeah, you can get into the trade without school. I did. I started out doing duct work and helping out with installs and worked my way up to being a technician. But a lot of people get into the trades with no trade school. Oh. I didn't go to trade school until I was already working as a technician. And I got to say, if somebody is able to follow that same path, that is really a good way to learn. Because what you're learning in trade school, you are able to take the next day and put it into practice. And that was a great way for me to learn. And some of the crucial things that your teacher is trying to teach you and drill into your head. If you're able to put it right into practice the next day, it sticks. But yeah, if you do have some experience, you're motivated, you can get a job in the trades. I got to tell you, speaking about getting a job in the trades, around here, if you're drug-free, you're not a drunk, you got a good driver's license, you're motivated and you're hardworking, you got a leg up on more than half the population trying to get a job in the trades around here. I'm just saying. And if that's the case with you and you're applying for a job, make sure they know that you're drug-free, you got a good driver's license, you're not an alcoholic, because blue-collar employers wonder about that every time they interview somebody. Just saying. Then Mike Trader, go apply for a job. The EPA license is really easy to get, the universal license. Around here, what I did, I went to, at the time it was called C.C. Dixon. They gave me like a 12-page little booklet. I read the booklet in the parking lot, went back in, took the test, and I was universally certified the same day. So it's really easy to get. I don't think that that universal certification will get you the job. What's going to get you the job is the motivation and the desire to work, and that's what gets you the job. We have a question here from Michael Duff. What would you recommend a multimeter to help get a true reading on amps? Basically any clamp meter should help you get a true reading on amps on a name brand that you may trust. Unless you're trying to read DC amps, that's not every meter does that. So sometimes if you're trying to read very low amps, an amp meter can be difficult to use. Thank you for your views. But you can wrap the wire around the amp meter and increase it if you want to be more specific. I think Jake has started talking to his dogs, and he's got the mic turned on. Jake, I'm glad to have you in the comments. I really am. Um, all right. We need to get you on the show sometime. I think it would be cool. To all the other viewers, I will tell you something that I kind of voiced to Jake. I was going to invite Jake and Adrian to come on the show one day and just shoot the crap for a short little while like we used to. Forgive me, I'm reading the comments. If y'all see me looking over here to the side, I'm trying to keep everybody involved. I'm going to look over here to the Instagram here for just a second. And on. I'm trying to leave a, I was trying to leave a comment, but it seems to be more difficult than what I am capable of doing. Oh, hold on a sec. No, I don't want to. I did it. I'm glad I'm able to stream on Instagram. It's the first time I've been able to do it. If y'all like that, hey, and on the Instagram, I got to say, if y'all aren't subscribed, subscribe. It does help out. It really does. I prepare these little banners and tickers and stuff ahead of time. When I'm getting ready to do a live, there is a lot of work that actually goes into it. I spend about an hour in the morning getting ready, preparing the post, getting my scenes ready, writing out all of this stuff that you're seeing on the screen right now. It does take some time, but it is worth it. There is something that I have not really mentioned yet When it comes to... Social media and the things that I am promoting, I have had difficulty with sponsors and either they're not even remotely related to my content and I don't accept them or they are related to the content and they want to lowball me and treat me like a redheaded stepchild. So some of the sponsors, I just basically told them to jump off a cliff. I know my value. And what I have started doing instead, like this little link you see up in the corner, it should also be in the description. If it's not, I'll try to put it there. That is a link to my Amazon store. And that is something that I am promoting. I can promote products that I use. I can, anything that is basically on Amazon, I can put in that store. So I try to put everything that is in my van that you may have seen in my videos in the store. And the store I can promote without selling my soul to a sponsor that is wanting something that I don't want to give or asking me to say something that I don't want to say. The Amazon store is my way of replacing that. And I wanted to say that it has been, thanks to some of y'all, it has been doing okay. It is getting off the ground. Now the Ion. When I started the Amazon journey with the store, I was making like eight or twenty dollars a month off of Amazon links that were in the description that don't work. So I've actually been listening to some people in the YouTube space who just some of them just do YouTube now, and some of them are absolute geniuses when it comes to making money. And that was a suggestion from some of them. that I create an influencer store and put the things that I use in the store. I can promote whatever is on Amazon, just put it in the store. If people see it in my videos, that's why it's there. So, I have replaced sponsors doing that. So, I did want to mention that. From Steven, we get a great comment and five dollars. Thank you very much. You don't need to do that. Curtis, you are an important part of my career. You help me do things the right way. I have the same trailer magnets and Veto bag. Thanks from Virginia. You are very welcome. Honestly, that is the reason I started the channel so many five years ago. Five years? Yeah. Is to try to help people who were receptive to the help. That's the only reason I started the channel I felt like the little bit that I know was going to die with me. So that's why I started the channel. That's the honest truth. Okay Mike, I still need a better recovery machine. Thank you for considering using my Amazon link. If what you're looking for is not in the store, just let me know. Like for example, I have yet to find that Milwaukee M18 recovery machine on Amazon. I prefer to use Amazon links than trying to use a Home Depot link. I try to do it all on Amazon. The problem is Amazon doesn't, not that I know of, have an official Milwaukee store of any kind on Amazon. There are vendors that Milwaukee approves. One of them is Home Depot, maybe Ohio Power Tool and stuff like that. But as far as like an Amazon vendor. Milwaukee doesn't, I don't think there's one that Milwaukee recognizes on Amazon, so it's hard to find newly released tools from Milwaukee on Amazon. And there's a reason for that. They are afraid that if people are ordering from Amazon, they might get a fake. Now, they've told me that themselves, and I have mentioned, is there an approved store on Amazon? Anybody in the Amazon space that I can use for my links, and there's not. Ms. Grip, how bad are gas prices affecting one-man shops at the moment? Give me a moment. Basically, our gas prices recently in the last few months have gone from like $3.15 to $4. So far, I have been absorbing that. If I have a long drive, like a 45-minute drive, I may mention adding a travel fee. But so far, I'm absorbing all of that. I hope that this... Problem we're having in the Middle East will go away soon, and gas prices will get back to normal. Actually, in Georgia, our governor did away with the gas tax to help lower the gas prices, but everything was going on for so long that he could no longer do that. So overnight, our gas prices went from $3.30 to $3.99, and there were lines at gas stations the night before it happened. It was a mess. Yes. I think recently it was like, what do you call that little store, the little gas station out in front of Walmart? I think it was like $3.99 there. So most places are a little bit higher than that. Let me try to answer this question. Assuming someone has the necessary license and capabilities, is it ever worth it to stay an employee rather than opening Yes, there are times when that's the case. If you can make a go of it as a business owner, yes, you can make more money, but I'll give you an example. A friend of mine who I went through tech school with years ago has been running the service department for a big business, one of the biggest in town. I would say during the summer period, they probably have about 80 employees. They also do kitchen equipment and stuff like He has the skill set to open and run his own business. He just chose not to because they were paying him very well and good benefits. You got to weigh that because if you go out on your own, there are no benefits unless you pay for them. I happen to have the advantage of my wife's retirement. I have medical insurance through that. So that is a benefit that she's still helping me with. But anybody going out on their own, they need to think about that because the benefits go out the window as soon as you quit your job. And my buddy who's been running this other business, he has an unexpected child on the way and he is thinking about starting his own business now because he thinks he's going to need the extra income coming down the road. I don't think he has done that yet, but I know he was talking about it. He's a really good guy. But yeah, those are things you got to think about before you jump out on your own. You're not assured that you're going to make it. It's a gamble. Anybody who starts a business is gambling that they're going to be successful. It's, I hate to say it like that, it might be an educated gamble, knowing you have the skill set and maybe the people skills, but still, there's no assured thing that you're going to be successful. Well, you may be arriving late, but thank you for showing up. I do appreciate everybody coming out. And like I said, I think next week I am going to do a live just for members so that they can be able to ask their questions and communicate with me personally. I don't have about 12 members on my channel, so I may do that, you know, like at 4:30, 4 o'clock before I go live for everybody. And maybe I'll have a guest next week. Guys, I do know that Instagram is going to cut me off in about 10 minutes. And I would like to be able to watch a movie tonight. So I'm going to watch the news and then watch a movie. Thank I was able to take time to go grocery shopping today. I haven't had time to even do anything like that for two or three weeks. So it was nice to take just a little bit of time for myself. I needed this after some of what I've been through. you. I had been sick. I've been feeling better lately. So it was nice to just take the time and take care of myself. I recommend everybody do that, including the one-man business owners. Take the time to take care of yourself. And, y'all, thank you for tuning in. I do appreciate it. And I will catch y'all.