[Music] Nate is in Charlotte North Carolina hi Nate how are you I'm doing good Dave how are you doing today better than I deserve what's up hey so I work in a for a landscape installation company and they made last year about TW uh $10 million in Revenue Topline and uh I got hired on to be the purchaser it is a it is familyowned so I'm uh uh looking towards my future so I'm looking for a little bit of help uh my father and I disagree with how some things should be run and I I in in respect to him I didn't create a million dollar a month company so uh I but I do have opinions on how he can make it better okay and how old are you me 34 I just how old is he uh he was born in 64 so he'll be 60 in March okay and um and you just now started what was your former career I was uh active duty Navy uh in the nuclear Community okay thank you for your service thank you for your support you you come from in your former career from a uh some great training because it is a culture of Honor agreed M yes sir and uh so I want to apply culture of honor to this subject Founders are the first generation of a family business the founder I'm one of them are hardheads we're we're we're stubborn we're we're nasty sorts we don't like people telling us what to do we started the business cuz we didn't like bosses mhm we scratched and clawed and grew something out of nothing and we weren't taking a poll while we were doing it that is the beautiful part about Founders the negative part about Founders is we're Control Freaks and we're thickheaded and we're stubborn and we're the last to change we end up with sacred cows in our lives if we're not careful it's hard for Founders to make the adjustment to allow family input number one later even family ownership and family leadership and family taking over for them the the as we've studied family businesses and I've experienced it myself and I'm in the midst of experiencing it myself uh it is my opinion that the hardest succession plan emotionally psychologically is Gen one to gen two because there's so much uh piss and vinegar in the mix you following me yes sir so that's your dad am I wrong you're uh he is he is stubborn hardheaded very very big big Ideas guy not a not a very big details guy I where I uh I I look I'll look at an invoice and and when in doubt he tries to out earn his stupidity oh yeah me too hey we're abundance people we Founders we don't believe in shortages we believe in abundance we believe if there's not enough money it's just cuz we didn't go get it yet you know that's how we think about it and so these are all wonderful traits that your dad has if you recognize those you can honor them uh my son and my daughters work in this business and they have honored me in that regard uh but I'm also self-aware enough to know that I'm also could be what's holding back progress around here or my standing on some of these ridiculous things uh is holding on holding up progress I taught our team this morning on trade leadership University which is our leadership development thing and I was talking about the stages of business and in that I I was talking about how we entrepreneurs that start things uh we we uh we move so fast and we change things so quickly in the early days and then we get stuck and it's hard for us to uh to to to move on to the next technology after a while the next whatever I don't even like changing my freak phone out because I have to go learn something right um and that kind of stuff so I I get where your dad is but I think what your question is how do I help him move from there but first way is you honor him the second way is you understand him that's why I was talking about this you honored him in the in your opening when you said I'm not the guy who made a million dollar a month company he is a12 million $10 million Topline company and so you honored him when you did that you you admitted that he's done something you have never done and so I need to step into that but I also can see some systems and things so I think you just start by honoring him to his face and in front of the other people and then say and I'm kind of new around here but I'd really think if we change this one thing you know we could probably change our our expense ratio and uh you don't have to go for the big dog try to find some little wins where you get credibility with him and with the team you've not been there long um no not at all yeah and so go find a few little things you can change and a some little wins to where you earn the respect your that you have good ideas and your ability to implement the good ideas is earned over time and so then you can earn the right to say you know well we really need to do this big thing but if my son who is now our president has been here 12 years if he in his first year here when he was selling ads for the radio show and he was a a lowly ad sales guy getting a crap beat out of him right which is what you do in the ad sales business is horrible but um if he had come in and suggested that we make major strategic moves I would have um been kind but but when he left the room I would have been laughing you know like you know right so yeah you got to avoid but then he went and became our top salesman and that helped him right and then he left that and went into an area that was in struggling and helped with the leadership team on that turn it around and then he led an area that we led into to to doing better and then he led another area in digital into another area by the time he finished all that lots of people around here wanted his opinion and then I had to take it you see how I backed into that I I do I do yeah I'll uh I'm gonna have to go in in his honor and little wins first that's easy like you said baby steps you you were taught to honor the general when he comes into the room you stand at attention and yet that General could have been a jerker he could have been a great man or a great woman right oh yeah respect the rank exactly respect what's been done before you got here there's uh one of things we do is we'll hand out an English pound occasionally the English pound is a coin and around the edges is a quote from Sir is Isaac Newton it says we are standing on the shoulders of giants so the business that you will build in the Next Generation Nate was built on the platform that your dad laid the foundation for you'll be standing on the shoulders of a giant and that's why we honor that's why we pay homage and and not to say he's a messiah he's not he's probably doing some really stupid butt things that you're actually recognizing um but you'll have to tolerate the big ones for a while and I think though that if you get some quick wins you be surprised within 24 36 months how much influence you could have around there if you do it with a servants mentality a level of service a level of Excellence while paying honor and um even let other people have the credit for some of your ideas all that kind of stuff just get some of the changes made some of the lwh hanging fruit that you see and processes systems those are things that your dad probably needs that he doesn't have and you're probably really good at those things uh entrepreneurs typically build processes and systems about the fourth stage third stage of business of the 12 Trailblazer stage is where we start to see processes and systems until then we just go until then we just get it and we offset the lack of systems are poor processes by just simply hustle and uh you could do it a lot easier if you put a good system in place but we entrepreneurs tend to not do that so you're probably sitting right there that $10 million business tells me you're probably in the business is probably in the Pathfinder or Trailblazer area um I don't think you're a peak performer yet so uh I think that's where you sit so that's how I would look at this and you know study the Entre leadership Elite grab the Entre I tell you what I'm going to give you two Entre leadership books one for you and one for him and just say hey Dad I'm reading this book give it a look because uh you can you'll relate to this guy he's like you I mean he he's an incredible business mind like you Dad and hand it to him and just see you know that way again paying honor that's what I'm doing and honor is due if you grow a $10 million Topline landscape business honor is due that guy's a stud D Nate's dad is a stud and Nate is too for asking the question on how to do this right very very well done good stuff you guys very cool