From episode: TGMS Ep: 133 Words of Wisdom from the Industry Titan - Goodrich! Part 2
call you the Titan of the HVAC business world, just because you've done things so different than anyone else. But you've never been afraid to take advice. I mean, you've attended how many seminars throughout your career? Always willing to learn more. I mean, what, what does that say? And what, what does that tell our viewers on, you know, taking advice and listening to people that may know more than you? Well, let me tell you, when my go back to my original story, my origin story in, in one of those episodes, I was looking at trade magazine one night and I saw an active convention and I mean, I was at my last dollars, right? So I said, and, you know, it talked about networking and learning and, you know, you know, all the good stuff that these best practice groups bring. And it was in San Antonio. And I said, you know, I'm just going to go. So, you know, I took my last thousand bucks and went and I met some guys, older guys than me. I was probably, well, I was 26, 27 and started talking to them. And I wasn't afraid to ask advice. I guess that's another thing. So I would just ask, you know, and I didn't have any choice. So I had to get out of the hole. I had to find the answer. So I just started talking to them and they were open and sharing with me, invited me to lunch. And then, you know, after they started talking to me and figured out that I had a little bit to offer too, you know, we started to form some associations and groups. And that really taught me like, look, this is where I'm going to get the best information is these best practice groups where, you know, they have some written materials that I can use to implement on my own processes. But the most value is the fellowship that goes on between the members. Right. And, you know, you can find these guys are doing different things. And then the sharing that goes on. Hey, tell me how to run a sales department and I'll show you, you know, how I'm running my IQ program or something, you know, and that has really been one of my key learning methods is these conventions. And then I really have just really been a student of the industry. I got really interested in it, you know, talking about I really wanted out of the business and finding your passion. What I learned was your passion is something that you're good at. You know, if you get good at anything, it's going to be a passion because you're good at it and it gives you confidence. It gives you dopamine when you're doing it. And so I just got good at it. And the better I got at it, the more I applied myself because I wanted to be better. And I kept learning and kept learning. I went to Acca for a long time and then I joined Airtime 500. And 500, Airtime I was maybe in my mid 30s. And like, you know, every day, you know, they would have the big meetings, right? You know, you'd go to the seminars. I'd be there 45 minutes early and I would pick the front center seat. That was my seat, front center, I'm learning, I'm coming here to learn. And I would plan, okay, here's what the seminars things go to this one, this one, this one. Here's what I want to accomplish in this one. Here's what I want to accomplish in this one. Here's what I want to accomplish on the overall thing. I'm going to go to the trade show and vendors. I want to meet with this guy, this guy, and this guy. In other words, I'm going to invest the money and the time to go to these conventions. I'm going to plan it and I'm going to come away with something because it's so easy to go to those things and, you know, hang out at the bar at night, drink too much, miss the first meeting and then kind of half -ass the whole thing and hanging out with your buddies and really accomplish zero, right? Which is, which I see a lot of guys do. Yeah. So I just, that's how I learned. That's how I pulled it all together. And then the experiences that I had by selling my businesses six times, you know, and dealing with people who know things that I would never typically get exposed to, you know, like I said earlier, acquisitions and metrics and, you know, now I'm in the private equity world. We're dealing with big banking and big mergers and all kinds of stuff that, hey, sitting in an air conditioning shop, nobody would ever get the opportunity
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