What started as a joke from taking pictures of their food and posting them on Facebook has turned into a foodie powerhouse that is helping save local restaurants by working with them to get the word out and stay relevant during a time that has been extremely tough on the mom and pop shops of the world.

Local foodies Chod Yarnelli, an electrician by trade, and his wife Jodi were in the fun habit of taking pictures of their food and posting them on their social media (as one does) until one night during dinner at a local restaurant, Jodi jokingly said, “let’s just start a Facebook group”… and with that #chodeats was born!

Their public group describes itself as a fun loving group of foodies who love to create and share pictures of FOOD and encourage others to do the same.  It went from 0 to 5oo members in no time flat just from sharing it with friends and family.  When it hit 500 Chod decided it was already time to give back and planned an event.  It was supposed to be a picnic…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a92TkJsDrT0

Get ready for this episode with Jimmy Boheler. It’s packed with all the golden nuggets of information from motivation to his story; you’ll be sure to take something good away from this episode. Before the pandemic, Jimmy was selling life insurance. However, that became hard to connect with people in person. Jimmy knew that he loved serving the public and helping others, so he started to work for the company he’s currently working for as a Concierge Specialist. Jimmy works alongside many successful people and has learned how important your mindset is to everything in life.

He’s learned to be the influence, give more, give value, and surround yourself with the right people. Jimmy dives moe into how our mindset affects our overall success, the power of having mentors in our lives, and how he successfully came this far in his life in under a year.

Did you miss our episode last week with Michael Hirst? Watch or listen to it now!

Transcript

Jimmy Boheler (00:00:01):

Um, Angie’s seen a couple of my lives that they they’ve, they’ve grown a lot. Uh, they used to, um, uh, used to be very plain, very boring, but I, I heard something a while back was value value, value sale. So I just keep giving value one day, I’ll sell it, man. but, uh, but right now

Pat Cherubini (00:00:17):

You say you can give away everything, you know, for free because 99% won’t do anything with it. And the 1% the do don’t have the time and they’ll pay you for it. So

Announcer (00:00:26):

Starting sustaining and having a successful small business is hard, but you already knew that, but wouldn’t it be great to have a podcast that talks to and digs in to the people who’ve made it problem solved. This is local vibes, small business success stories, talking to successful small businesses from around America. You’ll hear awesome stories about how they got started and how they survived and thrived online. And in their communities, we find out their special vibe. Welcome to local vibes,

Announcer (00:01:05):

Brought to you by ultimate online marketing.com.

Announcer (00:01:10):

Now, here are your hosts, pat and Angie Cheri.

Announcer (00:01:14):

All right, let’s do this.

Angie Cherubini (00:01:18):

Hi everyone. It’s pat and Angie Cherubini on local vibes and day. We have Jimmy bowler and you know, we’ll, we’ll tell you a little bit more about him, but we’ll let him talk first about what exactly his business is and the origin behind it. And there’s a lot of businesses behind you. I know that. And we’ll get into that, but

Jimmy Boheler (00:01:41):

, that is true. What’s upon.

Jimmy Boheler (00:01:45):

Yep. Uh, best way to start. Yeah. Once upon a time, um, basically a little background I was doing life insurance was pretty much my gig and then COVID shut all that down. Uh, I definitely couldn’t go into, uh, miss Betty’s driveway anymore. She was like, no, not happening. uh, so, uh, so I had, I had to figure out something to do. Um, so I was looking, I was looking for, uh, you know, know some mentoring. I was looking for coaching. I, I had about, at that time I had about 13 streams of income. Uh, not all of them were cash flowing very well. Uh, but then I, uh, ran across a, a de a direct sales company and got excited and was like, and a mentor came, came to me and said, Hey, look, I’ve been doing this for 20 years. And all you gotta do is really just be coachable, be trainable.

Jimmy Boheler (00:02:27):

And I can show you a nice little system, uh, to make you very successful in a, not very long period of time. And so, uh, so in the past year has just been absolutely. I, uh, heard the term marketing to all as marketing to none. And so I took that and took that, ran with it and said, Hey, can let let’s slow, slow down all these other ones. Uh, as my father would say, shoot off a bunch of ducks . So I shot off a bunch of, a bunch of ducks and, uh, and, uh, came down to pretty much. Now I’m very rarely doing life insurance, and now I’m doing basically direct sales full-time, uh, it’s my full-time gig. And I basically help other people, uh, make money at online and at home.

Angie Cherubini (00:03:06):

Nice. Very nice. Why, what, let’s go back and talk about the origin of how we know each other, cuz um, you know, gosh, it started back when you started or when you were doing Southern chew mm-hmm do you remember that?

Jimmy Boheler (00:03:23):

I do. I do. uh,

Angie Cherubini (00:03:25):

Yeah, that was a family business. Wasn’t it?

Jimmy Boheler (00:03:28):

It was, uh, basically right outta college. I went to Appalachian state and uh, soon as I graduated out, even during college, I wanted cash and uh, my father and my mother said, Hey, look, you gotta get, you gotta get paid. You gotta make money. You can’t come, can’t come back home. Uh, and we decided very quickly that that’s a very quick cash making business and I fell in love with it. I love serving the public. I love serving people, uh, went all the way up to, um, you know, I was started serving tables. Then I was bartending. Then I was, uh, managing restaurants, uh, went all the way up to owning my own restaurant for by out three and a half years there. Uh, and it was funny because I really did not think, um, I, you know, my goal was to get to the top.

Jimmy Boheler (00:04:08):

Once, once I got there, I was like, I don’t wanna be here anymore. Uh, I mean, yeah, cause I got, I got married. I had, I had a kid on the way. Uh, didn’t have time. I mean, I just did not 80 hours a week, 90 hours in the restaurants anybody’s out there listens. And if you’ve done any type of restaurant work, it’s a lot, a lot of time, especially when you’re the janitor, you’re the bartender, you’re the cook. You do it all. Yeah. Uh, you know, welcome to business ownership. Yeah. And chief ball washer, that’s it. That’s it. So, uh, so then I, at that point, uh, we basically shut that down and I went into, uh, corporate America. Uh, I had never worked corporate America besides restaurants. So that gave me a good idea of that. Worked for a little tire company called Michelin tires. Uh, worked for those guys, did their, just

Angie Cherubini (00:04:49):

A little one,

Jimmy Boheler (00:04:50):

Just a little one. Uh, but I, I did that for a while. Um, that was for about three or four years, uh, and ran their social media. So they had over 5 million people on their, of social media platform. So we had to be very careful what we said, what we did. Uh, it was a team of us that ran that. But I, I learned a lot about zoom. I learned about, uh, social media and Instagram and YouTube and Google and everything, uh, coming from a big company like that had a lot of great training. Um, but I hated having a boss. I just could not do it. You honestly was constantly, ever since college was, I I’ve gotta, I wanna start at the top. And I remember my mom used to say, you can’t start at the top. And I was like, eh, maybe there’s gotta be a way somehow yeah.

Jimmy Boheler (00:05:33):

So, uh, so, uh, that’s when I got into life insurance and basically I never really had a foster there, so I did a life insurance and mortgage protection and a, and all that jazz. And then, like I said, COVID shut all that down. I had to do something. Uh, but the great thing about it, which was the win on this is I learned more about zoom because I started teaching others about life insurance and mortgage protection through this technology. Uh, so that’s been, so that was a very, very big game changer for me because now I was like, well, we can be pretty much anywhere now, uh, in a split second or even on a, on a cell phone and, and, and communicate and, and grow businesses. And I was like, so when I came into what I’m doing now, this direct sales that was, they said P Z private business zoom. And I went, I’m in . I like it. Let’s go. I

Angie Cherubini (00:06:21):

Already know it. I

Pat Cherubini (00:06:22):

Already know it’s here to stay too.

Jimmy Boheler (00:06:24):

And it’s, and it’s not going anywhere. The stock stocks rose on it. It’s, it’s not, it’s not going anywhere. And, uh, and so I, I basically put all those eggs right in that basket and said, I’m, if this is because, and I would love to teach I others out there, you know about that idea is once you put all your eggs in the baskets. Cause I had that approach to me several times. It’s like, you’re doing too much, you’ve got too many things out there and I’m sitting there spinning plates, like crazy. I was like, man, what are you talking about? I’m making money. Let’s go, you know? Yeah. Um, but I wasn’t an expert at anything and, and that’s the thing it’s and so when I really narrowed down to be coming the expert in what I do, uh that’s when that’s, when a lot of things changed,

Pat Cherubini (00:07:04):

You want me to tie the bow on how we actually connected because it’s, it’s a good entrepreneurial story. Yeah. How many years ago was it a lot?

Jimmy Boheler (00:07:14):

Eight,

Pat Cherubini (00:07:15):

Eight, something

Angie Cherubini (00:07:16):

Like that,

Jimmy Boheler (00:07:18):

Something

Pat Cherubini (00:07:18):

Like that. So you are in North Carolina, correct? Correct. Is that where you’re still at? We were in Ohio. We didn’t know each other at all. Nope. And you know, the story was, we were going on vacation and Angie has always been very good at this of figuring out a way to go. If we needed something, she could figure it, figure out a way. And I have no idea how you found Jimmy, but Judy had the restaurant and I believe you said you contacted him and said,

Angie Cherubini (00:07:47):

No, it’s

Pat Cherubini (00:07:47):

Because of the condo.

Angie Cherubini (00:07:48):

Yeah. It’s because I looked at your condo and mm-hmm then I looked at you and checked you out online to see what kind of business you did. And you needed a website for Southern ch that’s. Right. And we traded services. Yep. So

Pat Cherubini (00:08:03):

Like that, that’s that. And looking for a condo on the beach, we found him that’s right. And then, you know, one little offer I gotta do is ask. You never know, you know, so that’s it. That’s a good lesson for everybody. You gotta ask. Yep. If you don’t ask the answer is what?

Jimmy Boheler (00:08:16):

Nope. No.

Pat Cherubini (00:08:18):

So I, I just thought that was, uh, kind of funny that we’re right back here. Face to face finally, after you gave us a vacation

Jimmy Boheler (00:08:25):

I know, years later

Angie Cherubini (00:08:27):

Been a long time. Yep. Um, so would you say then was COVID your inspiration to start doing what you’re doing now?

Jimmy Boheler (00:08:37):

Yeah, absolutely. Because you know, COVID, I think changed a lot of people. The people there they’re people that survived and there’s people that are still trying to survive. Um, and I think what what’s exciting is, uh, I could have never dreamed this big that everybody that I would deal with now, uh, would know how to use zoom. I, I just couldn’t dream that big. I mean, that was the thing within overnight. Uh, all of a sudden this technology of video chats and, and talking through a computer was now very popular. Mm-hmm everybody knew and everybody knew how to do it. uh, so, so when I saw an opportunity and my mentor will tell you each and every day is there’s people that will make money online and there’s people that’ll watch people make money online. Mm-hmm . And so it’s, and it’s gonna be your choice, you know, if you’re still in a brick and mortar, good luck to you, I’m telling you it’s going by the wayside. Uh, there’s a lot of things that look at restaurants, restaurants, didn’t a lot of them. I mean, some of my favorite restaurants are gone, go down. We were talking about out the beach. A lot of those restaurants took a hit and they’re not gonna be back. They’re never going to be back. Especially

Angie Cherubini (00:09:41):

Those that didn’t adopt new ways of doing things. Um, when COVID hit, I mean, it totally exposed so many businesses.

Jimmy Boheler (00:09:51):

That’s right. That’s exactly right. So, and that’s, what was my fear was I was out there sling insurance in front of people and everything shut down. I mean, it literally, I couldn’t do anything, but get, find, find business that was online. And what I did, uh, little side story was, uh, I was doing the insurance and a lot of people didn’t do the insurance online. It was actually frowned upon, you know, you gotta be in front of the person. Right. But I was having success with it. So I started to others. Of course, uh, it was actually called the tele cell guru at one point. And, uh, started offering insurance online and teaching others how to do that. Uh, and a lot of it was just communication and talking skills and having the posture and things like that. But a lot of people didn’t know that because they just walked into a home and said, Hey, how you doing?

Jimmy Boheler (00:10:35):

I saw you filled out this little form here. Let’s go. Uh, let, lemme see if I can get you some insurance. And there’s a lot more to that. The numbers are a lot lower as far as selling online, but as long as you’re helping somebody, that’s the key. Uh, so, so I had to adapt. I mean, there was no, there was no choice. It was sink or swim. And I, and I definitely think that, uh, with this technology and everything that’s going on, I mean, just like this mean you were having, having a conversation now with you guys and, uh, we can do that now from anywhere.

Pat Cherubini (00:11:02):

Right. And there’s more, I mean, if you don’t know, we’re not on zoom, but this is just like zoom and there’s, there’s a handful of them now where even a couple years ago there wasn’t, mm-hmm so this is just what we used to record our courses with and we just have it. So, you know, we have zoom too, but is what we use. Yes. No different face to face virtual,

Jimmy Boheler (00:11:21):

That’s it? That’s right.

Angie Cherubini (00:11:23):

So then you, you know, honestly, what exactly, what exactly is your business

Jimmy Boheler (00:11:29):

Now? Okay. Um, well, you know, how, and, and, you know, I, I target real estate agents. That’s, that’s my go-to people. Uh, why real, why real estate agents is, is mainly because, uh, these guys, uh, if you’re a real estate agent, one of the number one questions that is asked to a real estate agent is where do I get my services from? Uh, so what I do is offer, uh, a concierge service to those real estate agents, because that last bit of the sale, that last two percents building that rapport with that real estate agent. And if that real estate agent can now offer those services of power, gas, uh, internet TV, all those services that, that customer’s asking for and get paid on it each and every month and just the ending of the sale or ending of helping that client, um, you know, that’s, it’s very beneficial. Um, so that’s what I do is, is basically offer a concierge service or a tr you know, a lot of their real estate agents call it transaction coordinator. Uh, that’s pretty much what I do, but, uh, a lot of times those, uh, those real estate agents do not get money or get any type of any type, the income by sending, uh, their own clients to, you know, for, for different types of services. Right,

Angie Cherubini (00:12:38):

Right.

Jimmy Boheler (00:12:38):

So they’re they’re. Yep. So they’re able to build that residual income each and every month, because most real estate agents do know that you’re only going from sale to sale or, you know, house to house, to house and, and it’s, you know, feast or famine,

Pat Cherubini (00:12:52):

You get paid, you ain’t getting paid until you sell something.

Jimmy Boheler (00:12:54):

Right. So, so I show them a way to make residual income each and every month. And that can builded on itself all the way up to 20% on, let’s say a home security system, or let’s say a, let’s say a power bill or a gas bill, very, very powerful stuff. And it’s not out there. We are the only real, the strong player with this because we partnered up with, at and T with direct TV, with spectrum names you’ve already heard of before. Right? Because we, we came in with a thousand, a thousand, uh, customers saying, Hey, look, here’s, here’s a bunch of customers. Can we do business with you? So the contracts are already there. I mean, it would take another company years to build the contracts that we built with these companies.

Angie Cherubini (00:13:33):

And it’d be easy for the, a real estate agents to then, you know, they’ve already built that rapport with that person once they’ve sold the house or, or just, you know, they they’ve totally built that rapport. So then they’ve, you know, people are gonna be like, yeah, what if this can make it easier for me that’s right. Of course I’ll do it so I can see how beneficial that would definitely be.

Pat Cherubini (00:13:59):

And I’ll be honest, I didn’t know this existed.

Jimmy Boheler (00:14:01):

Right. Well, and that’s the thing, because most real estate agents and, and of those real estate agents that are listening right now, they typically hold up a piece of paper that says, Hey, here’s where you go get your internet. Here’s where you get your TV. Here’s where you get your power. And now we can offer it’s a, a link to them. They get their own concierge link, they click on it and the customer can fill it out. And the real estate agent gets paid on that each and every month.

Angie Cherubini (00:14:25):

Nice, nice.

Jimmy Boheler (00:14:26):

Yes.

Pat Cherubini (00:14:27):

Recurring income is a good thing. Yes.

Jimmy Boheler (00:14:29):

Recurring income is a great thing.

Angie Cherubini (00:14:32):

That is very, very nice.

Pat Cherubini (00:14:35):

Yep. So how long have you been with this company?

Jimmy Boheler (00:14:38):

Less, less than a year. Uh, I’m now a regional director within the company, uh, did not take me very long. I’ve got about 200 and we call ’em business partners 225 business partners now, and over 1500 services that I’m making residual income each and every month. And that being power bills, gas bills, things like that. So it’s, it’s, it’s been very, very, uh, just a, a blessing. I mean, just a blessing outta the sky, because I’ll never forget. When I first started this two days, two days before I met my mentor, I was looking for a coach. I was looking, cause I didn’t know where I was going. All I kept hearing was get a mentor and get a coach, get a mentor and get a coach. I had a coach pretty much I was working with, but a mentor will take you down that road that you’re trying to go.

Jimmy Boheler (00:15:20):

They’re gonna make that road a little easier. And, uh, so I, uh, two days before I met him, I walked into my wife’s office and I said, I’m gonna, I’m gonna get a mentor. I’m gonna get somebody that’s gonna help me. Uh, but I it’s gonna cost me about 20. It’s gonna cost us about $25,000 just to get the coaching and the mentor and everything I need. And she goes, you lost your mind. and I was like, I know . I was like, I was like, I, I know. Uh, but to, and, and, and so we prayed about it and we talked about it. Never really got a firm. Yes, it’s okay for Jimmy to go out on the limb here. And, uh, and I ran into, uh, Patrick maser. Who’s my mentor, uh, met him on an online app. He reached out to me, said, congratulations on your success.

Jimmy Boheler (00:16:01):

Now guys, I was selling life insurance. And I was like, this isn’t says to me, um, and, uh, he said, but I’ve, he said, you know, you’ve got a big thing going, you you’ve got an energy, you’ve got a lightness about you, but you need a, but you need a system. You need a system to run with. You need a, uh, you know, we, we laugh about, you probably could see a little bit of the train tracks there. Uh, I started kind of getting this freight train mentality. He said, I love your freight train mentality, but that train needs a track brother. so, uh, that’s good. Yep. Yep. So, uh, so he showed me a system, a very duplicatable system and said, look, come in. Let’s, let’s make some money together. I think we can do some big things together. And the rest is history that was less than a year ago, but a year ago, April 14th, uh, is when I joined, when I joined this business and it’s been up ever since, I mean, of course, nothing is easy.

Jimmy Boheler (00:16:46):

I had a couple little, uh, S you know, on the way, but that’s, what’s great is having a mentor and having a coach, somebody to say, Don, that let’s go this way. , mm-hmm . Um, but, but it, but it is duplicatable. Anybody can do it. And, and my, you know, one of the reasons why I absolutely said yes to this is everything. You can have, everything you want. It’s all up here in your head, it’s all up. It’s all mindset. Uh, it is, I had the desire. I had the passion, but I didn’t have, I had the faith, but I just didn’t have that system. And you’ve got to have a system before anything will really take off for you. So that’s why I do lives. I think, uh, um, Angie’s seen a couple of my lives. They, they they’ve, they’ve grown a lot. Uh, they used to, um, uh, used to be very plain, very boring, but I, I heard something a while back was value, value, value, sale. so I just keep giving value one day. I’ll sell. Yeah. But, uh, but right now

Pat Cherubini (00:17:36):

You say, you can give away everything, you know, for free because 99% won’t do anything with it. Amen. And the 1% to dude don’t have the time and they’ll pay you for it. So

Jimmy Boheler (00:17:44):

That’s it.

Pat Cherubini (00:17:45):

Yeah. That’s kinda the way we work too. And that’s kind of what we’re doing now. You know, we just wanna share information. Um, so I, I probably know the answer to this because you have a coach and a mentor, but, you know, for those, you know, in any business, you know, local businesses was our jam. You know, when there are rough spots, you know, what did you do? You know, when the tough got going or the tough got tough, what did you get do to get going?

Jimmy Boheler (00:18:08):

Yeah, I definitely in our business, we talk about your, why, why are you in this business? Why are you going through so that, so in those trials and tribulations happened, that’s exactly what we go back to. Yep. We go back to here’s where we’re going. Uh, here’s here’s remember if we go back about three months, you told me you were doing this for your kids. You were doing this because you wanted out of that job of you were telling me that. And so I go all back all the way back to that. Why? Uh, so that’s, that’s the main reason when, anytime there’s hurdles or hiccups, things like that. I go back to my kid, go back to my wife. I go back to my, I don’t want a boss. That was a big one. Uh, I will ne I will. And, and, and sticking to that, it’s saying, I’m not gonna have a boss. And there will be nothing that gets me to a boss. Uh, so, uh, in making that commitment, me and my wife, you know, made a, made a commitment a long time ago when we said our vows was, we don’t even say divorce. We don’t even talk about it. And if you can do that, when it comes to a business, say I’m committed no matter what, I’m gonna give it. My all that’s when that’s, when things change,

Pat Cherubini (00:19:09):

We have a story long time ago. Neither one of us can remember who said it, but you know, when things were tough, somebody told us once, no matter what, never shut the doors. And that’s just the way we’ve been, you know, things get tough. It’s just not an option. We’re gonna keep going and figure it out.

Jimmy Boheler (00:19:24):

That’s it, that’s it. And, and even with, with the restaurant, uh, we, we were, God, we were really struggling those last six, well about last year. And so what I did is like you just said, I shut the front doors, but I left the catering doors open. Oh, right. And I catered for another. Yeah. I catered for another year, year and a half. I still do catering now. Um, but, uh, but, uh, yeah, I left the catering business open because I ha I was like, I can’t give up. There’s still something still a need out there. And then it was to matter. Do I want to, I’m SAC now I’m sacrificing life and I’m sacrificing time. And I was like, I don’t, I don’t wanna go through this for, for, this is, this is not what my life life’s too short for that. Um, so now, uh, all that, that led up to this now I have my own free time. Now I’m making more money I’ve ever made. I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had. Uh, and it’s, and I don’t do not have a boss. So I, so all that had to come, you know, brought me to this.

Angie Cherubini (00:20:17):

Awesome. That is, that’s really awesome.

Jimmy Boheler (00:20:21):

Yep.

Angie Cherubini (00:20:21):

What would you say is your most memorable moment so far

Jimmy Boheler (00:20:26):

That you, of man fall just falling on my face so many times and, and, and knowing that I can do it, the, I am, oh, there’s a perfect one. Um, so I do affirmations affirmation cards each and every day, and really digging into these, like these books behind me with the thinking grow rich and, uh, the science of getting rich. And so I would say the most memorable, memorable moments is the change that has been made the change from going from no longer me, but about them give more about the give than, than, than taking. And that was, that was very, that was hard for me. That was hard. Uh, cause that was always been instilled in me. I didn’t, I never even heard the word. This is gonna be sound crazy, but it, and I never heard of gratitude. I didn’t know what gratitude meant.

Jimmy Boheler (00:21:09):

Mm-hmm I didn’t know the word. The second one was EdFi I had never heard of Edify until I got in this business. I know that sounds crazy, but I just wasn’t around it. I wasn’t, I was around restaurant people. I was around. Yeah. You know, corporate, corporate, America people. They, we didn’t talk about that kind of stuff. Mm-hmm . And so when you get around and this is huge for everybody listening is when you get around heavy hitters, you’re, you’re taught the conversation changes. , you know, you get around people that are making more money that are making bigger decisions. Your conversation changes a lot. Um, and you know, they always say, if you’re around five broke people, you’re the six, if you’re around five rich people, you’re gonna be the six. So yeah. Uh, I had, I had to change my friends and uh, you know, whoever ends the up watching this or whatever I had to change those.

Jimmy Boheler (00:21:49):

I mean, they’re, they’re still my friends, but we don’t talk like we used to, we, that conversation is different now. Um, and I think, and I think that’s one of the things I, my coach tells me all the time, it’s an out body outta mind experience where you literally have to get out of an old mindset and into a new one and, and lot. And a lot of times your friends don’t go with, yeah, those are the ones that are not, that are knocking you down instead of pulling you up. And so I had just get new, new friends, bigger friends, bigger hitters, um, that drive nicer cars and have nicer houses. and, and that literally, and it changed. Yeah,

Pat Cherubini (00:22:21):

Go ahead. Yeah. I, I literally just made the post a week ago or so about that. Cuz we follow a lot of entrepreneurs, you know, big thinkers that it’s mindset, it’s gratitude. It’s, mm-hmm, , you know, morning routines and all that stuff that we do. And that’s one of the things that they’ve, I I’ve heard for years, you know, you can love your family doesn’t mean you have to be around ’em if they’re trying to bring you down and if you that’s right, you can’t change the people around you, you gotta change the people that you hang around. Yep. That’s it, you that doesn’t and a lot of people get that, you know, they feel bad for leaving ’em behind, but you know, they chose to stay behind. They could have come with you,

Jimmy Boheler (00:22:56):

That’s it? Yeah. I mean, I, some, some of the people that I know are right down the street, right in my area shop the same grocery store. And you know, my, my favorite book, the science of getting rich, he Wallace Wallace talks about that is you can live in the same neighborhood, drive down the street. And one person is very successful and the other person is not, has nothing to do with where you live. It’s all about that mindset. And, and you’re exactly right. You have, they have a choice. They know what I do. mm-hmm you know, so, uh, so it’s just a matter, some of them do reach out. I’ve had, I’ve had some recent ones, I’ve got a guy this week. Uh, that’s partnered up with him cause you know, he, I watched you, I’ve watched you grow and I’m ready. I, I think you’re ready for me now. He said, you wasn’t ready for me then. Okay. Let’s go. You know? So, um, but it, but it’s, you know, a lot of it goes back to just that changing of the mindset, getting, getting that, getting the, the impossible out of the way, cuz anything is possible. Anything. Um,

Pat Cherubini (00:23:51):

Yeah. And like I say, if anybody’s done it, you can too. Mm-hmm

Jimmy Boheler (00:23:54):

that’s right. You know, they talk, they talk that’s right. And they talk, uh, we were at a convention two weekends ago. One of the things they talked about was, you know, track, track racers, and you know, there’ll be a time limit and all the, of a sudden it’d be 4.2 seconds on a certain, you know, a lot of these NFL combine stuff. And so they’re timing these guys and all of a sudden somebody breaks the record. Yeah. Well now everybody’s mindset changes. Cause now it’s like, okay, wait a minute. I can do that. I can break that record. And, and that’s the same, that’s the same thing with, with what, what I’m learning, uh, each and every day is, is nothing is possible. I’m ready to break some records. I mean, that’s, that’s the thing. Anybody can break any record. That’s what they’re there for. Right? The brain be broken

Angie Cherubini (00:24:32):

I believe I will believe you will do that. I would say I was thinking one of your most memorable moments had to be when you were just on stage, because I remember you posting all about that and how exciting it was and your wife went and down there with you, where did you guys go?

Jimmy Boheler (00:24:48):

We were in Dallas, Texas. Um, and what’s interesting about that. It’s funny you said that cuz you’re right. That is a pretty good one. Uh, is when I met my mentor, I, you know, one of the things he asked me is, do you ever want, would you get on stage? I’m like, dude, hand me a microphone. Let’s go. And of course, uh, I took communication. So I took public speaking. And one of, of the scariest things to do is, is public speak people. Oh yeah. They won’t even speak at their own funeral. I mean, that’s how bad this is, you know? So, uh,

Pat Cherubini (00:25:13):

A big 50 years to get on zoom

Jimmy Boheler (00:25:16):

right. Um, yeah. Even lives. And that’s where some of that started from was I was, uh, another mentor had told me, Hey, look, if you start going live and start sharing yourself, you’ll get more comfortable, more comfortable, more comfortable. And then, uh, and it was funny because this past one that I was at, he gave me the microphone again. And this time he took the microphone from me after I got done and said, you’re getting good at this I said, I know.

Jimmy Boheler (00:25:43):

So, yep. So, so that’s but yes, that’s a very big, uh, that, that was a big one getting in front of people. I mean, I was in front of, uh, this past one. I mean we had probably, I think two or 3, 3, 2 or 3000 people. So it’s, and, and he said that he told me that from the beginning and said, look, man, I’m gonna put you in front of people that you ain’t going, you going, you gonna get a little nervous on this. And uh, he said, but the more that I do that, and the more that you get in front of those people, the more you’ll get comfortable with it. They’ll start hearing you, your, your, your speech will change. And then all of a sudden, and look, I mean, you guys reached out to me to do this. I mean, and that’s the thing is, is that’s what you gotta, you gotta get in front of more people. Uh, yeah. My, my, my main coach will say that it doesn’t take more money. It takes more people mm-hmm

Angie Cherubini (00:26:22):

so yeah, 100%. And we know that. I mean, that’s why you’ve started to do more again, and we’ve gotten back online now and now we’re starting to do lives as well. Um, you know, helping people and instructing them on doing the stuff that we do online. Um, we had a little hiatus from it for about six months, but, um, since then we, we knew that this is, you know, once you have a life changing moment, something life changing that happens, then you decide, and it makes it easier for you to decide, yes, this is what I wanna do. And, and helping other businesses was what we wanted to do. And that’s what we wanna definitely wanna focus on. So yeah,

Jimmy Boheler (00:27:11):

Good stuff. So

Pat Cherubini (00:27:12):

Transitioning right into that, you know, because we are marketers and that’s what we do. How do you get the word out? Yeah. For yourself, you know, when you’re trying to, to market and get, get yourself known. I think I know the answer, but you know, what

Jimmy Boheler (00:27:23):

Do you do

Pat Cherubini (00:27:23):

To get, get more people to know, know about Jimmy?

Jimmy Boheler (00:27:26):

Yeah. I, I fell in love with social media. I was always, uh, I, I, and it is funny because my social media, not only did, uh, my friends change, but my social media friends changed. Uh, I went from a I, yeah. If you, if you go back, uh, I don’t, I don’t know if it’s even possible, but go back probably two or three years ago. I never had over a thousand friends. Mm-hmm I think if I, I think if I can, today I’m meant 2 2500. So that, that grew, and I don’t know if you guys know this, but I got, uh, I never was really an Instagram person. I never really got on there much. Uh, but I found a nice little following there. I had 209,000 views the other day on just a quick reel. Uh, so what I like to do is have a little bit of comedy and also have a little bit of, and that’s been, uh, that’s been very, very beneficial. I don’t usually tell exactly what I do. I kind of give ’em a little bit of ice cream, a little bit of value. And that’s what, and my, uh, person, person of influence book by Mr. Uh, John Maxwell be the, be the influencer, be, be the one that they, they want to know more. And I mean, just as we’re talking, somebody disrupt me just now and say, what are you into these days? So that it’s working.

Pat Cherubini (00:28:28):

What do you do?

Jimmy Boheler (00:28:29):

right. What do you, what do you do? And I, and I love that. I love that question. What do you do? Let’s hop on a zoom. Let’s, let’s hop on a call or something. Let’s, let’s get to know each other. Let’s talk and let’s see if we can maybe work together. Let me see what they do. Uh, and see if I can help them out. Be a, be maybe be a value of them. And then if something, he comes to return, great. It’s not a big deal. At least I helped him out.

Pat Cherubini (00:28:49):

Maybe he’ll tell somebody about it.

Jimmy Boheler (00:28:51):

That that’s it. That’s it. Absolutely nice.

Angie Cherubini (00:28:56):

So what’s, I guess what would be the source of your inspiration for doing this

Jimmy Boheler (00:29:04):

Man? that’s it, uh, that’s, that’s a good one because, um, I would say my kid and the reason I would say that is because I was tired of telling, no, I can’t stand telling a kid. No, if they want something, then, then let’s go get it. I mean, that’s that? And, uh, it’s funny because he’s all in a NASCAR, which it started at a very early age. Uh, and so we, he’s got a, he’s got a box in there. I mean, I’m talking this sucker, it weighs, I, I, you gotta use a, uh, what do you call these things? Um, basically something to pull this, I mean, I probably weighs maybe a hundred pounds. I dunno, goodness. But it’s all, but it’s all matchbox cars. So he got into NASCAR. And so, uh, so to answer your question, I, you know, I want him to be able to, we go, we get, get on the private jet. I mean, think big, right? Get on my private, private jet and fly over and go to a race one Sunday and come back home.

Angie Cherubini (00:29:56):

That would be awesome. Nothing wrong with that? No, not at all.

Jimmy Boheler (00:30:02):

Yeah. So telling him, no, I don’t, I don’t wanna have to tell him no to that. I wanna be able to say, all right, well, let’s strap up. Let’s go.

Angie Cherubini (00:30:09):

Was your wife say now, now that, I mean, now that you spent the money on your, uh, mentor, is she happy?

Jimmy Boheler (00:30:16):

yeah, it’s crazy. Um, actually, and, and that’s yeah, that was the follow up of that is I do didn’t have to pay him anything. Oh, I pay him $25 a month. is what the, yeah. Yeah. So, uh, that was part of joining, joining the company was, it was, uh, our, our company’s, uh, 1 99, 1 time and $25 a month. And so $25 a month is what I got. I got a mentor that is TW I mean, this guy’s been on success magazine, this, I worked, you know, several millions, uh, you know, I stayed at his house lives in Texas, super cool guy. Uh, but again, I paid $25 a month for him. But as far as the wife, uh, yes, she’s, um, she it’s, it’s been almost surreal, uh, to, to watch the, the changes. She hasn’t seated as much as like my, my close friends, uh, some of my family have, but, uh, because she, she lives with me every day, you know?

Jimmy Boheler (00:31:07):

Yeah. Uh, but, but she has seen some big, some my decision making changed. And that’s another one that I would tell, tell your audience is your decisions everything’s based on your decisions. Mm-hmm uh, so when you start making better decisions, better results happen. One of the things that really changed in my life about six months ago is I was listening. I listened to a, uh, basically a motivation video or, um, music, whatever you call it each morning podcast, there you go. . And, uh, and on there, they were talking about calls and effect, and every calls has an effect. No matter how you look at it, if you change the calls, the effect changes mm-hmm . And so back in November, I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. So I changed the calls. I went out and I did did different things, got uncomfortable.

Jimmy Boheler (00:31:52):

That’s a big one guy got uncomfortable, did things I didn’t wanna do. And now my effect changed. And when I realized that a lot of stuff changed, because now I started going, wait a minute, I can do this to other things. So all I gotta do is change the calls and the effect has to change. Um, so that’s a big one. That was a big one for me is, is, is realizing that, that, you know, decisions that we make too many people are still in the same situation. I see my friends celebrating their same birthday parties at the same time, but the same friends doing the same thing. And, you know, and I real, I always thought growing up that your successful people, number one were really, really smart. And they’re not , uh, number, number two is that they were do, they were so just, I mean, it, it was so hard to be on top.

Jimmy Boheler (00:32:39):

I mean, it was like, and when I realized that it’s just action, they’re just doing action. I mean, 95% of the people aren’t doing anything. I get dudes do a little bit of action. Uh, the, the roads at the top are very, very empty . I mean, they are, uh, and, and it’s, and it’s just the difference I heard this, uh, probably two years ago was, you know, what’s the difference between a $50,000 man and a $500,000, man, that much, a little bit more, that’s the difference a little bit more. And I never, I never realized that until I started working with some big, heavy hitters, don’t get me wrong. They work hard, they work very hard, uh, and they are, they are smart to, to some extent, uh, but they are consistent. They are persistent. They do, it’s usually

Pat Cherubini (00:33:18):

A little bit a simplicity in there. It’s the same thing that works over

Jimmy Boheler (00:33:22):

And multiplying it and multiplying it. That’s right. Using, uh, my mentor says a lot of times, he’ll say when you start using multiplication multiplication, instead of addition, your money change is big. I know, you know, there you go. I like that.

Angie Cherubini (00:33:35):

Yes. I like that a lot.

Jimmy Boheler (00:33:38):

Yeah. So change, I’ve got a,

Pat Cherubini (00:33:40):

That may help other people that are, I’m just, I’m not an Instagram guy. I watch, I look at Instagram. Okay. I’m just now starting it. Our children are, our children are, we have two boys that are in their twenties that are in a daughter in a, well, the, the two boys in their twenties are like, they’re into mountain biking. And they’re pretty much getting to be considered influencers in that space.

Jimmy Boheler (00:34:04):

Okay.

Pat Cherubini (00:34:05):

10,000 followers, but they get, they make YouTube and they’re gettin

Get ready for this episode with Jimmy Boheler. It’s packed with all the golden nuggets of information from motivation to his story; you’ll be sure to take something good away from this episode. Before the pandemic, Jimmy was selling life insurance. However, that became hard to connect with people in person. Jimmy knew that he loved serving the public and helping others, so he started to work for the company he’s currently working for as a Concierge Specialist. Jimmy works alongside many successful people and has learned how important your mindset is to everything in life.

He’s learned to be the influence, give more, give value, and surround yourself with the right people. Jimmy dives moe into how our mindset affects our overall success, the power of having mentors in our lives, and how he successfully came this far in his life in under a year.

Did you miss our episode last week with Michael Hirst? Watch or listen to it now!

Transcript

Jimmy Boheler (00:00:01):

Um, Angie’s seen a couple of my lives that they they’ve, they’ve grown a lot. Uh, they used to, um, uh, used to be very plain, very boring, but I, I heard something a while back was value value, value sale. So I just keep giving value one day, I’ll sell it, man. but, uh, but right now

Pat Cherubini (00:00:17):

You say you can give away everything, you know, for free because 99% won’t do anything with it. And the 1% the do don’t have the time and they’ll pay you for it. So

Announcer (00:00:26):

Starting sustaining and having a successful small business is hard, but you already knew that, but wouldn’t it be great to have a podcast that talks to and digs in to the people who’ve made it problem solved. This is local vibes, small business success stories, talking to successful small businesses from around America. You’ll hear awesome stories about how they got started and how they survived and thrived online. And in their communities, we find out their special vibe. Welcome to local vibes,

Announcer (00:01:05):

Brought to you by ultimate online marketing.com.

Announcer (00:01:10):

Now, here are your hosts, pat and Angie Cheri.

Announcer (00:01:14):

All right, let’s do this.

Angie Cherubini (00:01:18):

Hi everyone. It’s pat and Angie Cherubini on local vibes and day. We have Jimmy bowler and you know, we’ll, we’ll tell you a little bit more about him, but we’ll let him talk first about what exactly his business is and the origin behind it. And there’s a lot of businesses behind you. I know that. And we’ll get into that, but

Jimmy Boheler (00:01:41):

, that is true. What’s upon.

Jimmy Boheler (00:01:45):

Yep. Uh, best way to start. Yeah. Once upon a time, um, basically a little background I was doing life insurance was pretty much my gig and then COVID shut all that down. Uh, I definitely couldn’t go into, uh, miss Betty’s driveway anymore. She was like, no, not happening. uh, so, uh, so I had, I had to figure out something to do. Um, so I was looking, I was looking for, uh, you know, know some mentoring. I was looking for coaching. I, I had about, at that time I had about 13 streams of income. Uh, not all of them were cash flowing very well. Uh, but then I, uh, ran across a, a de a direct sales company and got excited and was like, and a mentor came, came to me and said, Hey, look, I’ve been doing this for 20 years. And all you gotta do is really just be coachable, be trainable.

Jimmy Boheler (00:02:27):

And I can show you a nice little system, uh, to make you very successful in a, not very long period of time. And so, uh, so in the past year has just been absolutely. I, uh, heard the term marketing to all as marketing to none. And so I took that and took that, ran with it and said, Hey, can let let’s slow, slow down all these other ones. Uh, as my father would say, shoot off a bunch of ducks . So I shot off a bunch of, a bunch of ducks and, uh, and, uh, came down to pretty much. Now I’m very rarely doing life insurance, and now I’m doing basically direct sales full-time, uh, it’s my full-time gig. And I basically help other people, uh, make money at online and at home.

Angie Cherubini (00:03:06):

Nice. Very nice. Why, what, let’s go back and talk about the origin of how we know each other, cuz um, you know, gosh, it started back when you started or when you were doing Southern chew mm-hmm do you remember that?

Jimmy Boheler (00:03:23):

I do. I do. uh,

Angie Cherubini (00:03:25):

Yeah, that was a family business. Wasn’t it?

Jimmy Boheler (00:03:28):

It was, uh, basically right outta college. I went to Appalachian state and uh, soon as I graduated out, even during college, I wanted cash and uh, my father and my mother said, Hey, look, you gotta get, you gotta get paid. You gotta make money. You can’t come, can’t come back home. Uh, and we decided very quickly that that’s a very quick cash making business and I fell in love with it. I love serving the public. I love serving people, uh, went all the way up to, um, you know, I was started serving tables. Then I was bartending. Then I was, uh, managing restaurants, uh, went all the way up to owning my own restaurant for by out three and a half years there. Uh, and it was funny because I really did not think, um, I, you know, my goal was to get to the top.

Jimmy Boheler (00:04:08):

Once, once I got there, I was like, I don’t wanna be here anymore. Uh, I mean, yeah, cause I got, I got married. I had, I had a kid on the way. Uh, didn’t have time. I mean, I just did not 80 hours a week, 90 hours in the restaurants anybody’s out there listens. And if you’ve done any type of restaurant work, it’s a lot, a lot of time, especially when you’re the janitor, you’re the bartender, you’re the cook. You do it all. Yeah. Uh, you know, welcome to business ownership. Yeah. And chief ball washer, that’s it. That’s it. So, uh, so then I, at that point, uh, we basically shut that down and I went into, uh, corporate America. Uh, I had never worked corporate America besides restaurants. So that gave me a good idea of that. Worked for a little tire company called Michelin tires. Uh, worked for those guys, did their, just

Angie Cherubini (00:04:49):

A little one,

Jimmy Boheler (00:04:50):

Just a little one. Uh, but I, I did that for a while. Um, that was for about three or four years, uh, and ran their social media. So they had over 5 million people on their, of social media platform. So we had to be very careful what we said, what we did. Uh, it was a team of us that ran that. But I, I learned a lot about zoom. I learned about, uh, social media and Instagram and YouTube and Google and everything, uh, coming from a big company like that had a lot of great training. Um, but I hated having a boss. I just could not do it. You honestly was constantly, ever since college was, I I’ve gotta, I wanna start at the top. And I remember my mom used to say, you can’t start at the top. And I was like, eh, maybe there’s gotta be a way somehow yeah.

Jimmy Boheler (00:05:33):

So, uh, so, uh, that’s when I got into life insurance and basically I never really had a foster there, so I did a life insurance and mortgage protection and a, and all that jazz. And then, like I said, COVID shut all that down. I had to do something. Uh, but the great thing about it, which was the win on this is I learned more about zoom because I started teaching others about life insurance and mortgage protection through this technology. Uh, so that’s been, so that was a very, very big game changer for me because now I was like, well, we can be pretty much anywhere now, uh, in a split second or even on a, on a cell phone and, and, and communicate and, and grow businesses. And I was like, so when I came into what I’m doing now, this direct sales that was, they said P Z private business zoom. And I went, I’m in . I like it. Let’s go. I

Angie Cherubini (00:06:21):

Already know it. I

Pat Cherubini (00:06:22):

Already know it’s here to stay too.

Jimmy Boheler (00:06:24):

And it’s, and it’s not going anywhere. The stock stocks rose on it. It’s, it’s not, it’s not going anywhere. And, uh, and so I, I basically put all those eggs right in that basket and said, I’m, if this is because, and I would love to teach I others out there, you know about that idea is once you put all your eggs in the baskets. Cause I had that approach to me several times. It’s like, you’re doing too much, you’ve got too many things out there and I’m sitting there spinning plates, like crazy. I was like, man, what are you talking about? I’m making money. Let’s go, you know? Yeah. Um, but I wasn’t an expert at anything and, and that’s the thing it’s and so when I really narrowed down to be coming the expert in what I do, uh that’s when that’s, when a lot of things changed,

Pat Cherubini (00:07:04):

You want me to tie the bow on how we actually connected because it’s, it’s a good entrepreneurial story. Yeah. How many years ago was it a lot?

Jimmy Boheler (00:07:14):

Eight,

Pat Cherubini (00:07:15):

Eight, something

Angie Cherubini (00:07:16):

Like that,

Jimmy Boheler (00:07:18):

Something

Pat Cherubini (00:07:18):

Like that. So you are in North Carolina, correct? Correct. Is that where you’re still at? We were in Ohio. We didn’t know each other at all. Nope. And you know, the story was, we were going on vacation and Angie has always been very good at this of figuring out a way to go. If we needed something, she could figure it, figure out a way. And I have no idea how you found Jimmy, but Judy had the restaurant and I believe you said you contacted him and said,

Angie Cherubini (00:07:47):

No, it’s

Pat Cherubini (00:07:47):

Because of the condo.

Angie Cherubini (00:07:48):

Yeah. It’s because I looked at your condo and mm-hmm then I looked at you and checked you out online to see what kind of business you did. And you needed a website for Southern ch that’s. Right. And we traded services. Yep. So

Pat Cherubini (00:08:03):

Like that, that’s that. And looking for a condo on the beach, we found him that’s right. And then, you know, one little offer I gotta do is ask. You never know, you know, so that’s it. That’s a good lesson for everybody. You gotta ask. Yep. If you don’t ask the answer is what?

Jimmy Boheler (00:08:16):

Nope. No.

Pat Cherubini (00:08:18):

So I, I just thought that was, uh, kind of funny that we’re right back here. Face to face finally, after you gave us a vacation

Jimmy Boheler (00:08:25):

I know, years later

Angie Cherubini (00:08:27):

Been a long time. Yep. Um, so would you say then was COVID your inspiration to start doing what you’re doing now?

Jimmy Boheler (00:08:37):

Yeah, absolutely. Because you know, COVID, I think changed a lot of people. The people there they’re people that survived and there’s people that are still trying to survive. Um, and I think what what’s exciting is, uh, I could have never dreamed this big that everybody that I would deal with now, uh, would know how to use zoom. I, I just couldn’t dream that big. I mean, that was the thing within overnight. Uh, all of a sudden this technology of video chats and, and talking through a computer was now very popular. Mm-hmm everybody knew and everybody knew how to do it. uh, so, so when I saw an opportunity and my mentor will tell you each and every day is there’s people that will make money online and there’s people that’ll watch people make money online. Mm-hmm . And so it’s, and it’s gonna be your choice, you know, if you’re still in a brick and mortar, good luck to you, I’m telling you it’s going by the wayside. Uh, there’s a lot of things that look at restaurants, restaurants, didn’t a lot of them. I mean, some of my favorite restaurants are gone, go down. We were talking about out the beach. A lot of those restaurants took a hit and they’re not gonna be back. They’re never going to be back. Especially

Angie Cherubini (00:09:41):

Those that didn’t adopt new ways of doing things. Um, when COVID hit, I mean, it totally exposed so many businesses.

Jimmy Boheler (00:09:51):

That’s right. That’s exactly right. So, and that’s, what was my fear was I was out there sling insurance in front of people and everything shut down. I mean, it literally, I couldn’t do anything, but get, find, find business that was online. And what I did, uh, little side story was, uh, I was doing the insurance and a lot of people didn’t do the insurance online. It was actually frowned upon, you know, you gotta be in front of the person. Right. But I was having success with it. So I started to others. Of course, uh, it was actually called the tele cell guru at one point. And, uh, started offering insurance online and teaching others how to do that. Uh, and a lot of it was just communication and talking skills and having the posture and things like that. But a lot of people didn’t know that because they just walked into a home and said, Hey, how you doing?

Jimmy Boheler (00:10:35):

I saw you filled out this little form here. Let’s go. Uh, let, lemme see if I can get you some insurance. And there’s a lot more to that. The numbers are a lot lower as far as selling online, but as long as you’re helping somebody, that’s the key. Uh, so, so I had to adapt. I mean, there was no, there was no choice. It was sink or swim. And I, and I definitely think that, uh, with this technology and everything that’s going on, I mean, just like this mean you were having, having a conversation now with you guys and, uh, we can do that now from anywhere.

Pat Cherubini (00:11:02):

Right. And there’s more, I mean, if you don’t know, we’re not on zoom, but this is just like zoom and there’s, there’s a handful of them now where even a couple years ago there wasn’t, mm-hmm so this is just what we used to record our courses with and we just have it. So, you know, we have zoom too, but is what we use. Yes. No different face to face virtual,

Jimmy Boheler (00:11:21):

That’s it? That’s right.

Angie Cherubini (00:11:23):

So then you, you know, honestly, what exactly, what exactly is your business

Jimmy Boheler (00:11:29):

Now? Okay. Um, well, you know, how, and, and, you know, I, I target real estate agents. That’s, that’s my go-to people. Uh, why real, why real estate agents is, is mainly because, uh, these guys, uh, if you’re a real estate agent, one of the number one questions that is asked to a real estate agent is where do I get my services from? Uh, so what I do is offer, uh, a concierge service to those real estate agents, because that last bit of the sale, that last two percents building that rapport with that real estate agent. And if that real estate agent can now offer those services of power, gas, uh, internet TV, all those services that, that customer’s asking for and get paid on it each and every month and just the ending of the sale or ending of helping that client, um, you know, that’s, it’s very beneficial. Um, so that’s what I do is, is basically offer a concierge service or a tr you know, a lot of their real estate agents call it transaction coordinator. Uh, that’s pretty much what I do, but, uh, a lot of times those, uh, those real estate agents do not get money or get any type of any type, the income by sending, uh, their own clients to, you know, for, for different types of services. Right,

Angie Cherubini (00:12:38):

Right.

Jimmy Boheler (00:12:38):

So they’re they’re. Yep. So they’re able to build that residual income each and every month, because most real estate agents do know that you’re only going from sale to sale or, you know, house to house, to house and, and it’s, you know, feast or famine,

Pat Cherubini (00:12:52):

You get paid, you ain’t getting paid until you sell something.

Jimmy Boheler (00:12:54):

Right. So, so I show them a way to make residual income each and every month. And that can builded on itself all the way up to 20% on, let’s say a home security system, or let’s say a, let’s say a power bill or a gas bill, very, very powerful stuff. And it’s not out there. We are the only real, the strong player with this because we partnered up with, at and T with direct TV, with spectrum names you’ve already heard of before. Right? Because we, we came in with a thousand, a thousand, uh, customers saying, Hey, look, here’s, here’s a bunch of customers. Can we do business with you? So the contracts are already there. I mean, it would take another company years to build the contracts that we built with these companies.

Angie Cherubini (00:13:33):

And it’d be easy for the, a real estate agents to then, you know, they’ve already built that rapport with that person once they’ve sold the house or, or just, you know, they they’ve totally built that rapport. So then they’ve, you know, people are gonna be like, yeah, what if this can make it easier for me that’s right. Of course I’ll do it so I can see how beneficial that would definitely be.

Pat Cherubini (00:13:59):

And I’ll be honest, I didn’t know this existed.

Jimmy Boheler (00:14:01):

Right. Well, and that’s the thing, because most real estate agents and, and of those real estate agents that are listening right now, they typically hold up a piece of paper that says, Hey, here’s where you go get your internet. Here’s where you get your TV. Here’s where you get your power. And now we can offer it’s a, a link to them. They get their own concierge link, they click on it and the customer can fill it out. And the real estate agent gets paid on that each and every month.

Angie Cherubini (00:14:25):

Nice, nice.

Jimmy Boheler (00:14:26):

Yes.

Pat Cherubini (00:14:27):

Recurring income is a good thing. Yes.

Jimmy Boheler (00:14:29):

Recurring income is a great thing.

Angie Cherubini (00:14:32):

That is very, very nice.

Pat Cherubini (00:14:35):

Yep. So how long have you been with this company?

Jimmy Boheler (00:14:38):

Less, less than a year. Uh, I’m now a regional director within the company, uh, did not take me very long. I’ve got about 200 and we call ’em business partners 225 business partners now, and over 1500 services that I’m making residual income each and every month. And that being power bills, gas bills, things like that. So it’s, it’s, it’s been very, very, uh, just a, a blessing. I mean, just a blessing outta the sky, because I’ll never forget. When I first started this two days, two days before I met my mentor, I was looking for a coach. I was looking, cause I didn’t know where I was going. All I kept hearing was get a mentor and get a coach, get a mentor and get a coach. I had a coach pretty much I was working with, but a mentor will take you down that road that you’re trying to go.

Jimmy Boheler (00:15:20):

They’re gonna make that road a little easier. And, uh, so I, uh, two days before I met him, I walked into my wife’s office and I said, I’m gonna, I’m gonna get a mentor. I’m gonna get somebody that’s gonna help me. Uh, but I it’s gonna cost me about 20. It’s gonna cost us about $25,000 just to get the coaching and the mentor and everything I need. And she goes, you lost your mind. and I was like, I know . I was like, I was like, I, I know. Uh, but to, and, and, and so we prayed about it and we talked about it. Never really got a firm. Yes, it’s okay for Jimmy to go out on the limb here. And, uh, and I ran into, uh, Patrick maser. Who’s my mentor, uh, met him on an online app. He reached out to me, said, congratulations on your success.

Jimmy Boheler (00:16:01):

Now guys, I was selling life insurance. And I was like, this isn’t says to me, um, and, uh, he said, but I’ve, he said, you know, you’ve got a big thing going, you you’ve got an energy, you’ve got a lightness about you, but you need a, but you need a system. You need a system to run with. You need a, uh, you know, we, we laugh about, you probably could see a little bit of the train tracks there. Uh, I started kind of getting this freight train mentality. He said, I love your freight train mentality, but that train needs a track brother. so, uh, that’s good. Yep. Yep. So, uh, so he showed me a system, a very duplicatable system and said, look, come in. Let’s, let’s make some money together. I think we can do some big things together. And the rest is history that was less than a year ago, but a year ago, April 14th, uh, is when I joined, when I joined this business and it’s been up ever since, I mean, of course, nothing is easy.

Jimmy Boheler (00:16:46):

I had a couple little, uh, S you know, on the way, but that’s, what’s great is having a mentor and having a coach, somebody to say, Don, that let’s go this way. , mm-hmm . Um, but, but it, but it is duplicatable. Anybody can do it. And, and my, you know, one of the reasons why I absolutely said yes to this is everything. You can have, everything you want. It’s all up here in your head, it’s all up. It’s all mindset. Uh, it is, I had the desire. I had the passion, but I didn’t have, I had the faith, but I just didn’t have that system. And you’ve got to have a system before anything will really take off for you. So that’s why I do lives. I think, uh, um, Angie’s seen a couple of my lives. They, they they’ve, they’ve grown a lot. Uh, they used to, um, uh, used to be very plain, very boring, but I, I heard something a while back was value, value, value, sale. so I just keep giving value one day. I’ll sell. Yeah. But, uh, but right now

Pat Cherubini (00:17:36):

You say, you can give away everything, you know, for free because 99% won’t do anything with it. Amen. And the 1% to dude don’t have the time and they’ll pay you for it. So

Jimmy Boheler (00:17:44):

That’s it.

Pat Cherubini (00:17:45):

Yeah. That’s kinda the way we work too. And that’s kind of what we’re doing now. You know, we just wanna share information. Um, so I, I probably know the answer to this because you have a coach and a mentor, but, you know, for those, you know, in any business, you know, local businesses was our jam. You know, when there are rough spots, you know, what did you do? You know, when the tough got going or the tough got tough, what did you get do to get going?

Jimmy Boheler (00:18:08):

Yeah, I definitely in our business, we talk about your, why, why are you in this business? Why are you going through so that, so in those trials and tribulations happened, that’s exactly what we go back to. Yep. We go back to here’s where we’re going. Uh, here’s here’s remember if we go back about three months, you told me you were doing this for your kids. You were doing this because you wanted out of that job of you were telling me that. And so I go all back all the way back to that. Why? Uh, so that’s, that’s the main reason when, anytime there’s hurdles or hiccups, things like that. I go back to my kid, go back to my wife. I go back to my, I don’t want a boss. That was a big one. Uh, I will ne I will. And, and, and sticking to that, it’s saying, I’m not gonna have a boss. And there will be nothing that gets me to a boss. Uh, so, uh, in making that commitment, me and my wife, you know, made a, made a commitment a long time ago when we said our vows was, we don’t even say divorce. We don’t even talk about it. And if you can do that, when it comes to a business, say I’m committed no matter what, I’m gonna give it. My all that’s when that’s, when things change,

Pat Cherubini (00:19:09):

We have a story long time ago. Neither one of us can remember who said it, but you know, when things were tough, somebody told us once, no matter what, never shut the doors. And that’s just the way we’ve been, you know, things get tough. It’s just not an option. We’re gonna keep going and figure it out.

Jimmy Boheler (00:19:24):

That’s it, that’s it. And, and even with, with the restaurant, uh, we, we were, God, we were really struggling those last six, well about last year. And so what I did is like you just said, I shut the front doors, but I left the catering doors open. Oh, right. And I catered for another. Yeah. I catered for another year, year and a half. I still do catering now. Um, but, uh, but, uh, yeah, I left the catering business open because I ha I was like, I can’t give up. There’s still something still a need out there. And then it was to matter. Do I want to, I’m SAC now I’m sacrificing life and I’m sacrificing time. And I was like, I don’t, I don’t wanna go through this for, for, this is, this is not what my life life’s too short for that. Um, so now, uh, all that, that led up to this now I have my own free time. Now I’m making more money I’ve ever made. I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had. Uh, and it’s, and I don’t do not have a boss. So I, so all that had to come, you know, brought me to this.

Angie Cherubini (00:20:17):

Awesome. That is, that’s really awesome.

Jimmy Boheler (00:20:21):

Yep.

Angie Cherubini (00:20:21):

What would you say is your most memorable moment so far

Jimmy Boheler (00:20:26):

That you, of man fall just falling on my face so many times and, and, and knowing that I can do it, the, I am, oh, there’s a perfect one. Um, so I do affirmations affirmation cards each and every day, and really digging into these, like these books behind me with the thinking grow rich and, uh, the science of getting rich. And so I would say the most memorable, memorable moments is the change that has been made the change from going from no longer me, but about them give more about the give than, than, than taking. And that was, that was very, that was hard for me. That was hard. Uh, cause that was always been instilled in me. I didn’t, I never even heard the word. This is gonna be sound crazy, but it, and I never heard of gratitude. I didn’t know what gratitude meant.

Jimmy Boheler (00:21:09):

Mm-hmm I didn’t know the word. The second one was EdFi I had never heard of Edify until I got in this business. I know that sounds crazy, but I just wasn’t around it. I wasn’t, I was around restaurant people. I was around. Yeah. You know, corporate, corporate, America people. They, we didn’t talk about that kind of stuff. Mm-hmm . And so when you get around and this is huge for everybody listening is when you get around heavy hitters, you’re, you’re taught the conversation changes. , you know, you get around people that are making more money that are making bigger decisions. Your conversation changes a lot. Um, and you know, they always say, if you’re around five broke people, you’re the six, if you’re around five rich people, you’re gonna be the six. So yeah. Uh, I had, I had to change my friends and uh, you know, whoever ends the up watching this or whatever I had to change those.

Jimmy Boheler (00:21:49):

I mean, they’re, they’re still my friends, but we don’t talk like we used to, we, that conversation is different now. Um, and I think, and I think that’s one of the things I, my coach tells me all the time, it’s an out body outta mind experience where you literally have to get out of an old mindset and into a new one and, and lot. And a lot of times your friends don’t go with, yeah, those are the ones that are not, that are knocking you down instead of pulling you up. And so I had just get new, new friends, bigger friends, bigger hitters, um, that drive nicer cars and have nicer houses. and, and that literally, and it changed. Yeah,

Pat Cherubini (00:22:21):

Go ahead. Yeah. I, I literally just made the post a week ago or so about that. Cuz we follow a lot of entrepreneurs, you know, big thinkers that it’s mindset, it’s gratitude. It’s, mm-hmm, , you know, morning routines and all that stuff that we do. And that’s one of the things that they’ve, I I’ve heard for years, you know, you can love your family doesn’t mean you have to be around ’em if they’re trying to bring you down and if you that’s right, you can’t change the people around you, you gotta change the people that you hang around. Yep. That’s it, you that doesn’t and a lot of people get that, you know, they feel bad for leaving ’em behind, but you know, they chose to stay behind. They could have come with you,

Jimmy Boheler (00:22:56):

That’s it? Yeah. I mean, I, some, some of the people that I know are right down the street, right in my area shop the same grocery store. And you know, my, my favorite book, the science of getting rich, he Wallace Wallace talks about that is you can live in the same neighborhood, drive down the street. And one person is very successful and the other person is not, has nothing to do with where you live. It’s all about that mindset. And, and you’re exactly right. You have, they have a choice. They know what I do. mm-hmm you know, so, uh, so it’s just a matter, some of them do reach out. I’ve had, I’ve had some recent ones, I’ve got a guy this week. Uh, that’s partnered up with him cause you know, he, I watched you, I’ve watched you grow and I’m ready. I, I think you’re ready for me now. He said, you wasn’t ready for me then. Okay. Let’s go. You know? So, um, but it, but it’s, you know, a lot of it goes back to just that changing of the mindset, getting, getting that, getting the, the impossible out of the way, cuz anything is possible. Anything. Um,

Pat Cherubini (00:23:51):

Yeah. And like I say, if anybody’s done it, you can too. Mm-hmm

Jimmy Boheler (00:23:54):

that’s right. You know, they talk, they talk that’s right. And they talk, uh, we were at a convention two weekends ago. One of the things they talked about was, you know, track, track racers, and you know, there’ll be a time limit and all the, of a sudden it’d be 4.2 seconds on a certain, you know, a lot of these NFL combine stuff. And so they’re timing these guys and all of a sudden somebody breaks the record. Yeah. Well now everybody’s mindset changes. Cause now it’s like, okay, wait a minute. I can do that. I can break that record. And, and that’s the same, that’s the same thing with, with what, what I’m learning, uh, each and every day is, is nothing is possible. I’m ready to break some records. I mean, that’s, that’s the thing. Anybody can break any record. That’s what they’re there for. Right? The brain be broken

Angie Cherubini (00:24:32):

I believe I will believe you will do that. I would say I was thinking one of your most memorable moments had to be when you were just on stage, because I remember you posting all about that and how exciting it was and your wife went and down there with you, where did you guys go?

Jimmy Boheler (00:24:48):

We were in Dallas, Texas. Um, and what’s interesting about that. It’s funny you said that cuz you’re right. That is a pretty good one. Uh, is when I met my mentor, I, you know, one of the things he asked me is, do you ever want, would you get on stage? I’m like, dude, hand me a microphone. Let’s go. And of course, uh, I took communication. So I took public speaking. And one of, of the scariest things to do is, is public speak people. Oh yeah. They won’t even speak at their own funeral. I mean, that’s how bad this is, you know? So, uh,

Pat Cherubini (00:25:13):

A big 50 years to get on zoom

Jimmy Boheler (00:25:16):

right. Um, yeah. Even lives. And that’s where some of that started from was I was, uh, another mentor had told me, Hey, look, if you start going live and start sharing yourself, you’ll get more comfortable, more comfortable, more comfortable. And then, uh, and it was funny because this past one that I was at, he gave me the microphone again. And this time he took the microphone from me after I got done and said, you’re getting good at this I said, I know.

Jimmy Boheler (00:25:43):

So, yep. So, so that’s but yes, that’s a very big, uh, that, that was a big one getting in front of people. I mean, I was in front of, uh, this past one. I mean we had probably, I think two or 3, 3, 2 or 3000 people. So it’s, and, and he said that he told me that from the beginning and said, look, man, I’m gonna put you in front of people that you ain’t going, you going, you gonna get a little nervous on this. And uh, he said, but the more that I do that, and the more that you get in front of those people, the more you’ll get comfortable with it. They’ll start hearing you, your, your, your speech will change. And then all of a sudden, and look, I mean, you guys reached out to me to do this. I mean, and that’s the thing is, is that’s what you gotta, you gotta get in front of more people. Uh, yeah. My, my, my main coach will say that it doesn’t take more money. It takes more people mm-hmm

Angie Cherubini (00:26:22):

so yeah, 100%. And we know that. I mean, that’s why you’ve started to do more again, and we’ve gotten back online now and now we’re starting to do lives as well. Um, you know, helping people and instructing them on doing the stuff that we do online. Um, we had a little hiatus from it for about six months, but, um, since then we, we knew that this is, you know, once you have a life changing moment, something life changing that happens, then you decide, and it makes it easier for you to decide, yes, this is what I wanna do. And, and helping other businesses was what we wanted to do. And that’s what we wanna definitely wanna focus on. So yeah,

Jimmy Boheler (00:27:11):

Good stuff. So

Pat Cherubini (00:27:12):

Transitioning right into that, you know, because we are marketers and that’s what we do. How do you get the word out? Yeah. For yourself, you know, when you’re trying to, to market and get, get yourself known. I think I know the answer, but you know, what

Jimmy Boheler (00:27:23):

Do you do

Pat Cherubini (00:27:23):

To get, get more people to know, know about Jimmy?

Jimmy Boheler (00:27:26):

Yeah. I, I fell in love with social media. I was always, uh, I, I, and it is funny because my social media, not only did, uh, my friends change, but my social media friends changed. Uh, I went from a I, yeah. If you, if you go back, uh, I don’t, I don’t know if it’s even possible, but go back probably two or three years ago. I never had over a thousand friends. Mm-hmm I think if I, I think if I can, today I’m meant 2 2500. So that, that grew, and I don’t know if you guys know this, but I got, uh, I never was really an Instagram person. I never really got on there much. Uh, but I found a nice little following there. I had 209,000 views the other day on just a quick reel. Uh, so what I like to do is have a little bit of comedy and also have a little bit of, and that’s been, uh, that’s been very, very beneficial. I don’t usually tell exactly what I do. I kind of give ’em a little bit of ice cream, a little bit of value. And that’s what, and my, uh, person, person of influence book by Mr. Uh, John Maxwell be the, be the influencer, be, be the one that they, they want to know more. And I mean, just as we’re talking, somebody disrupt me just now and say, what are you into these days? So that it’s working.

Pat Cherubini (00:28:28):

What do you do?

Jimmy Boheler (00:28:29):

right. What do you, what do you do? And I, and I love that. I love that question. What do you do? Let’s hop on a zoom. Let’s, let’s hop on a call or something. Let’s, let’s get to know each other. Let’s talk and let’s see if we can maybe work together. Let me see what they do. Uh, and see if I can help them out. Be a, be maybe be a value of them. And then if something, he comes to return, great. It’s not a big deal. At least I helped him out.

Pat Cherubini (00:28:49):

Maybe he’ll tell somebody about it.

Jimmy Boheler (00:28:51):

That that’s it. That’s it. Absolutely nice.

Angie Cherubini (00:28:56):

So what’s, I guess what would be the source of your inspiration for doing this

Jimmy Boheler (00:29:04):

Man? that’s it, uh, that’s, that’s a good one because, um, I would say my kid and the reason I would say that is because I was tired of telling, no, I can’t stand telling a kid. No, if they want something, then, then let’s go get it. I mean, that’s that? And, uh, it’s funny because he’s all in a NASCAR, which it started at a very early age. Uh, and so we, he’s got a, he’s got a box in there. I mean, I’m talking this sucker, it weighs, I, I, you gotta use a, uh, what do you call these things? Um, basically something to pull this, I mean, I probably weighs maybe a hundred pounds. I dunno, goodness. But it’s all, but it’s all matchbox cars. So he got into NASCAR. And so, uh, so to answer your question, I, you know, I want him to be able to, we go, we get, get on the private jet. I mean, think big, right? Get on my private, private jet and fly over and go to a race one Sunday and come back home.

Angie Cherubini (00:29:56):

That would be awesome. Nothing wrong with that? No, not at all.

Jimmy Boheler (00:30:02):

Yeah. So telling him, no, I don’t, I don’t wanna have to tell him no to that. I wanna be able to say, all right, well, let’s strap up. Let’s go.

Angie Cherubini (00:30:09):

Was your wife say now, now that, I mean, now that you spent the money on your, uh, mentor, is she happy?

Jimmy Boheler (00:30:16):

yeah, it’s crazy. Um, actually, and, and that’s yeah, that was the follow up of that is I do didn’t have to pay him anything. Oh, I pay him $25 a month. is what the, yeah. Yeah. So, uh, that was part of joining, joining the company was, it was, uh, our, our company’s, uh, 1 99, 1 time and $25 a month. And so $25 a month is what I got. I got a mentor that is TW I mean, this guy’s been on success magazine, this, I worked, you know, several millions, uh, you know, I stayed at his house lives in Texas, super cool guy. Uh, but again, I paid $25 a month for him. But as far as the wife, uh, yes, she’s, um, she it’s, it’s been almost surreal, uh, to, to watch the, the changes. She hasn’t seated as much as like my, my close friends, uh, some of my family have, but, uh, because she, she lives with me every day, you know?

Jimmy Boheler (00:31:07):

Yeah. Uh, but, but she has seen some big, some my decision making changed. And that’s another one that I would tell, tell your audience is your decisions everything’s based on your decisions. Mm-hmm uh, so when you start making better decisions, better results happen. One of the things that really changed in my life about six months ago is I was listening. I listened to a, uh, basically a motivation video or, um, music, whatever you call it each morning podcast, there you go. . And, uh, and on there, they were talking about calls and effect, and every calls has an effect. No matter how you look at it, if you change the calls, the effect changes mm-hmm . And so back in November, I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. So I changed the calls. I went out and I did did different things, got uncomfortable.

Jimmy Boheler (00:31:52):

That’s a big one guy got uncomfortable, did things I didn’t wanna do. And now my effect changed. And when I realized that a lot of stuff changed, because now I started going, wait a minute, I can do this to other things. So all I gotta do is change the calls and the effect has to change. Um, so that’s a big one. That was a big one for me is, is, is realizing that, that, you know, decisions that we make too many people are still in the same situation. I see my friends celebrating their same birthday parties at the same time, but the same friends doing the same thing. And, you know, and I real, I always thought growing up that your successful people, number one were really, really smart. And they’re not , uh, number, number two is that they were do, they were so just, I mean, it, it was so hard to be on top.

Jimmy Boheler (00:32:39):

I mean, it was like, and when I realized that it’s just action, they’re just doing action. I mean, 95% of the people aren’t doing anything. I get dudes do a little bit of action. Uh, the, the roads at the top are very, very empty . I mean, they are, uh, and, and it’s, and it’s just the difference I heard this, uh, probably two years ago was, you know, what’s the difference between a $50,000 man and a $500,000, man, that much, a little bit more, that’s the difference a little bit more. And I never, I never realized that until I started working with some big, heavy hitters, don’t get me wrong. They work hard, they work very hard, uh, and they are, they are smart to, to some extent, uh, but they are consistent. They are persistent. They do, it’s usually

Pat Cherubini (00:33:18):

A little bit a simplicity in there. It’s the same thing that works over

Jimmy Boheler (00:33:22):

And multiplying it and multiplying it. That’s right. Using, uh, my mentor says a lot of times, he’ll say when you start using multiplication multiplication, instead of addition, your money change is big. I know, you know, there you go. I like that.

Angie Cherubini (00:33:35):

Yes. I like that a lot.

Jimmy Boheler (00:33:38):

Yeah. So change, I’ve got a,

Pat Cherubini (00:33:40):

That may help other people that are, I’m just, I’m not an Instagram guy. I watch, I look at Instagram. Okay. I’m just now starting it. Our children are, our children are, we have two boys that are in their twenties that are in a daughter in a, well, the, the two boys in their twenties are like, they’re into mountain biking. And they’re pretty much getting to be considered influencers in that space.

Jimmy Boheler (00:34:04):

Okay.

Pat Cherubini (00:34:05):

10,000 followers, but they get, they make YouTube and they’re g

The pride of a veteran is evident in Michael Hirst’s work ethic. He never gave up on himself or those around him, especially when faced with adversity. Michael had a job lined up to go back overseas, but he was faced with the possibility of unemployment again when the pandemic hit.

Michael researched jobs online, and that’s when he came across the solar industry!

Michael began working in solar and jumped from company to company. He was quickly learning everything about solar and decided to leap. He began offering his services as a solar consultant by starting his own business, Hirst Solar Consulting. 

Michael helps solar businesses improve sales practices and operations. Hard work and dedication have paid off for Hirst, who is now well on his way to achieving the American Dream. He believes that solar power is an ethical, sustainable option in energy production!

Missed last week’s episode with Kim Workman? Watch or listen to it now!

Transcript

Michael Hirst (00:00):

Um, but with the motivation, it’s a lot of, it’s the fact that I have these kids, like, I’d say 90% of it. Um, but the rest of my motivation is that I got, I got my mom, I got my grandparents, my sister. I mean, I have all this family that I have a rare opportunity to be the first to make some real money, you know, aside from my grandpa and my grandma, but that was over decades and decades that if I can, if I can do this, I have the opportunity to change the trajectory of my family for generations and, and help other people do the same that I bring with me. And that’s what, that’s what really motivates me because I don’t want my kids to have to go work three jobs, you know, mm-hmm, , I I’d like them to, to pick a career path and, and chase it as long as they feel like it. And if they don’t feel like doing it anymore, they can go do something else and be able to chase their passions,

Announcer (01:00):

Starting sustaining, and having a successful small business is hard, but you already knew that, but wouldn’t it be great to have a podcast that talks to and digs in to the people who’ve made it problem solved. This is local vibes, small business success stories, talking to success, us full small businesses from around America. You’ll hear awesome stories about how they got started and how they survived and thrived online. And in their communities, we find out their special vibe. Welcome to local vibes, brought to you by ultimate online marketing.com. Now, here are your hosts, pat and Angie Cher.

Announcer (01:48):

All right, let’s do this.

Angie Cherubini (01:52):

Well, welcome everyone. It’s it’s pat Angie Cini. And we are talking with Michael Hurst, who is the president of her solar consulting, which is a Texas based solar or company. And I’ve had the pleasure of being a, basically a Facebook friend of, um, of Michael’s now for maybe over a year, something like that. Yeah. We’ve connect. And I think we first connected, was it in a, um, business group?

Michael Hirst (02:24):

I believe so.

Angie Cherubini (02:26):

I think so. I, I’m not sure which one, because I’m a member of, of a ton of them, but, um, I think that’s where it was and he offers residential commercial and, uh, public solar solutions. And, you know, people may ask a question of why did we have ’em on our, on our podcast? And, you know, he’s a veteran which thank you for your service first off, thank your

Michael Hirst (02:51):

Support.

Angie Cherubini (02:52):

Um, he loves America and has a passion for making our environment healthier. And I think that’s a vibe that everyone can appreciate.

Pat Cherubini (03:01):

So, yeah. So welcome. We’ll let you, you know, tell your origin story and like, what were you doing before you started this business? What, you know, got you into it and just, uh, do your little, your little spiel about what you do.

Michael Hirst (03:13):

Okay. Um, I’ll try to be fast with that. I, uh, so I was in the R me, um, I was a human intelligence collector. Um, interrogations did that five years, Iraq, Afghanistan got out, couldn’t really find work. Um, we we’ve been living in east Texas finding work around here outside the old fields is difficult. So I went back overseas for, uh, defense contract for a few missed my family decided, Hey, I need to find something close to home. And kind of bit the bullet got in the oil field, worked in on an oil rig for two years. Um, two weeks on two weeks off, had knee surgery, cuz I blew my knee out on oil rig and I had to rehab got laid off. And then I went back overseas for almost three years and then got tired of that. The money was good, but it wasn’t, you know, I have a big family. Um, yeah. So I came back from that. Couldn’t find any work before I ran outta savings. So I went to Alabama and worked environmental construction, which is just the fancy for digging holes and, and swing a sledge hammer, helping do environmental cleanup and then came home from that, worked on fun, a job again, gone into, uh, climbing wind turbines in Colorado.

Angie Cherubini (04:31):

I read that, did

Michael Hirst (04:32):

That. That was fun. I loved that. And then, uh, that

Pat Cherubini (04:35):

Sounds fun at all.

Angie Cherubini (04:36):

You are crazy. How high, how high did you have to go?

Michael Hirst (04:39):

Um, they’re like 300 meters I think is what they were 300 feet, 300 meters. I can’t remember exactly. Um, but they’re super cool. Um, and that’s the main reason I did that. They were gonna pay me good, but also cuz I wanted to climb either a cell phone tower or a wind turbine at least once in my life. Um, but that was, that was hard too, cuz it was even though I wasn’t overseas, I was still away from my family and I was gonna miss birthdays and stuff like that. So I ended up quitting that job cuz I wasn’t gonna get any home time. And then I, uh, came back to Texas. So this is fall of 2019 and did birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. And I was like, all right, cool. Can’t find anything to do here. I’m gonna go back overseas. I have a contract lined up. I got hired and was just waiting for a date to ship over and then COVID happened and it just shut

Pat Cherubini (05:34):

Everything down.

Michael Hirst (05:37):

So I, I didn’t know what to do. Hold on rescue. Oh, nevermind. I rescue this cat just knocked down bigger puzzle um,

Pat Cherubini (05:48):

We just had our cat tear this thing down, but this tree behind us when we were doing a video just a couple days ago, so no problem

Michael Hirst (05:56):

She’s uh, attacking her tail. So everybody told me not to get her catnap and I did anyways and Julia . Um, but with the solar thing, I figured since I was good at talking to people from all my time, working in human intelligence collection and counterintelligence that I should try to least work in sales. Um, I learned pretty quick when I first got into sales that my morality conflicts with a lot of sales training. Um, but I got into solar because I was looking at all these different sales jobs and I had no money at this time. Like I had just enough money for like gas for necessities. Um, and other than that I was, I was flat broke. So I, I couldn’t afford to get my licensing for insurance sales. Um, I couldn’t afford to drive to town and, and back every day to try to sell cars.

Michael Hirst (06:52):

And so I was looking online, I was like, oh, I gotta figure something out. Um, and I stumbled upon solar. I didn’t even know it existed. I mean probably in the back of my, in my head I realized it, but it wasn’t something I thought about, um, especially in east Texas. So I basically was staying up until like four or five in the morning, you know, most nights just reading and studying. And then, um, you know, Facebook works with every fifth post being an ad. I was looking through Facebook ads and I, I made a list of companies that I would be okay with working for. And the first company was tri smart solar and I filled out their ad. They sent a guy to my house for a, uh, I think it was Sunpro um, sent a guy to, for a solar consultation and I talked him in to get me a job and he helped me get a job with tri smart solar in may of 2020. And here I am now, um,

Pat Cherubini (07:50):

Is that who you’re still with or are you completely on your own? No,

Michael Hirst (07:53):

Uh, no. Uh, funny story I have, I’ve worked with over 30 solar companies, onboarded and everything, um, with over 30 solar companies since then.

Angie Cherubini (08:05):

Wow.

Michael Hirst (08:07):

Yeah.

Pat Cherubini (08:07):

So how does that work? The, the companies are, are, are you like a franchise or are you just

Michael Hirst (08:14):

I’m I’m a 10 99. Yeah, I’m a 10 99 independent consultant. Um, anytime I’ve signed up with any of these companies, I keep a close eye on what my nondisclosure agreement entails. So that way I know whether I even wanna sign the contract in the first place. Um, but, uh, I’m 31 about to be 32. If I was in my early twenties, I’d probably stick with one of these companies, you know, hit the doors all the time, work six days a week like these guys do and, and just grind at it, make much money as possible, but I, I don’t believe the sales organization’s going to exist as it does, um, in a couple years. And what I’ve been really striving for obviously is making sales. So I can keep a roof over our heads and make some money, but is mapping out this industry and figuring out how things have been done and how things can improve and then improving on those things, setting about my own processes, um, training my own guys and then essentially helping improve the industry.

Michael Hirst (09:14):

Um, and that’s ultimately why I’ve gone through so many companies because if I started working with a company and they weren’t paying people well, um, I just moved to a different company cause there’s so much money in the, in the, in solar. And then if I was working with a company and they, their training was unethical, I just cut ties and I’d moved to a different company. Good for you. And just so I wanted so, so forth and I just tried to figure out how to sell ethically and I’ve learned that it’s extremely difficult. It’s it kept, it keeps me up most nights it’s stressful, but uh, it’s worth it.

Pat Cherubini (09:47):

Well, you said something about your, when you were talking about your struggles and, and I usually ask about your motivation. I think we talked a little bit, I think I know what your motivation is. Can you tell how many kids you have?

Michael Hirst (09:58):

I have seven,

Pat Cherubini (10:00):

Seven kid.

Michael Hirst (10:01):

Great. Um, but with the motivation, it’s a lot of, it’s the fact that I have these kids, like, I’d say 90% of it. Um, but the rest of my motivation is that I got, I got my mom, I got my grandparents, my sister. I mean, I have all this family that I have, have a rare opportunity to be the first, to make some real money, you know, aside from my grandpa and my grandma, but that was over decades and decades that if I can, if I can do this, I have the opportunity to change the trajectory of my family for generations and, and how help other people do the same that I bring with me. And that’s what, that’s what really motivates me because I don’t want my kids to have to go work three jobs, you know? Um, mm-hmm, , I I’d like them to, to pick a career path and, and chase it as long as they feel like it. And if they don’t feel like doing it anymore, they can go do something else and be able to chase their passions. Um, cuz me, when I was leaving high school, I had the choice of trying to go to college and play in sports, um, and dealing with the drug addictions that I had or, or joined in the military. And thankfully I chose the military, but that could have went a completely different route. Oh, absolutely.

Angie Cherubini (11:16):

Yeah. I know you, we talked, um, gosh, we talked a little, I posted, or I replied on a post or commented on a post that you made that David Goins, uh, about his book and how mm-hmm similar, your guys’ lives were when you were younger and the, and the struggles you went through. I had no idea. David

Michael Hirst (11:36):

Goins is, is a pretty incredible human. I mean, that’s understanding it for sure, but it’s bill,

Pat Cherubini (11:44):

It’s

Michael Hirst (11:44):

The, it’s the realization that no matter how hard you get kicked in the teeth by life, that it’s up to you to pick yourself back up and to keep going. If you have to make changes, you make changes, but you can’t, you can’t feel sorry for yourself. You can’t blame other people cuz everybody else is just living their life too, you know? Um, so nobody’s

Pat Cherubini (12:04):

Coming to save you.

Michael Hirst (12:06):

Absolutely. Nobody’s coming to save you. Um, it’s it’s between you and, and if you believe in God, it’s between you and God, you know,

Angie Cherubini (12:13):

So, and thank God. I mean, it’s like the American dream is what, what, you’re, what you’ve done. I mean, thank God we’re in a country that allows us to do this. That

Michael Hirst (12:22):

Absolutely

Angie Cherubini (12:24):

We can find something else to do. And something else that we have a passion for. I mean, we, I I’m sure, you know, after being overseas we’re we live in a pretty awesome country to be able to, to have that opportunity

Michael Hirst (12:39):

We AB we absolutely do. Um, there’s, there’s an endless amount of opportunities for people in the United States because where I’m at in east Texas say, I, I talk about how hard it was to find a job all these years and how I had to go, you all this other stuff and that’s not to have anybody kind of feel sorry for my situation, cuz realistically my wife and I are our adults. We could have sold our house and moved to a different town that had better job opportunities, you know? Um, we just chose to kind of stick it out for the kids so we didn’t have to move them again. Um, but that’s the same way it is. And the entire United States, um, you, you can be trapped, but you, you always have the opportunity to leave, whether it’s just with you and the clothes on your back or whether you work a side job and save up for, for a bus ticket. So you can take luggage with you, you know?

Angie Cherubini (13:26):

Yep,

Pat Cherubini (13:28):

Yep. You can’t change where you’re at change where you’re at.

Angie Cherubini (13:30):

Yep. Most definitely. And I know you’ve got, I saw on your, on your website that basically you’re, you’re really obviously in the Southern states the most, um, or you can service the, the Southern states the most that have the most sun, but I, I see Ohio’s coming, that’s where we’re at. So,

Pat Cherubini (13:50):

And we don’t have these. Yeah,

Michael Hirst (13:51):

Actually. Yeah. It’s not, there’s not a whole lot. It’s just like, like Washington in a way it’s just

Pat Cherubini (13:57):

Gray

Angie Cherubini (13:58):

but you still can help. I, I mean, I guess, you know, would solar panels still be good for people here in Ohio who don’t have as much? I

Michael Hirst (14:08):

Think, I think it would be, um, it’s it just comes down to how many you need and how much that cost in comparison to what you already spent on electricity. Mm-hmm if, if the expenditure’s already there and you have the infrastructure, which, which there’s, the infrastructure exists in pretty much every state to where, when, when the sun hits your roof, you you’re saving money. The main thing in, in states like that, that don’t have as sun hours, the main things that benefit are businesses, commercial outfits, um, schools, stuff like that because they consume so much electricity that the return on investment is insane. Yeah. Um, with a homeowner you’re looking at spend or saving tens of thousands of dollars between like 30 and 50 on average over the next 25 years, but a school a school’s gonna save millions of dollars. Wow. And that’s taxpayer dollars. Right. Um, that, that it saves and, and that’s stuff that they can either choose to save that taxpayer money or they can roll that savings into teachers benefits, um, extracurriculars, stuff like that.

Angie Cherubini (15:18):

That’s cool. That’s definitely cool. Good to

Pat Cherubini (15:21):

Know. So are you dealing mostly with Texans right now or, I mean, I, I know that’s where you’re at is that how’s, you know, how’s it going right now?

Michael Hirst (15:32):

Uh, yes. I’m dealing mostly with Texans. It’s going pretty good. Um, it could be going better, but that’s, that’s my own. I, I didn’t move fast enough in business. Um, when it came to hiring and getting guys out there and knocking doors and stuff like that, I’ve been kind, been kind of doing it, solo recruiting people behind the scenes that also do business stuff. Um, east, Texas, I can thank a company called Lumi. They call themselves Luo bros or something like that. They’re, they’re what I would’ve want be a part at or what I would’ve wanted to be a part of when I was in like my early twenties, there are a bunch of young, 20 somethings that they shipped in here from outta state, like 40 of them. And, and they just knock doors every day. Um, the people of east Texas don’t really appreciate them, but I do because most of my clientele are coming from people that got their door knocked. Didn’t appreciate it. And they’re like, I’m gonna go to somebody local. And I’m like, Hey, thanks guys.

Pat Cherubini (16:29):

Yep. Taught ’em a little bit about solar and then they moved on to

Michael Hirst (16:32):

Yeah, because they’ve been seeing me on Facebook for almost two years now, you know, and they know I’m local. They see me, I sponsor events and stuff when I can. And

Angie Cherubini (16:42):

Um, and I wanted to tell you, cuz I was looking at, uh, of course I was looking more in depth on your, um, personal, as well as your business profile. You need to get your face on there more. You need

Michael Hirst (16:54):

To talk

Angie Cherubini (16:55):

To the camera more.

Michael Hirst (16:57):

Yeah. I, so I I’m sure you saw the Facebook post. I messed my beard up so I had to shave it. And um, so I’m, I’m working on, I’m working on liking myself a little bit more, you know, I was kind of in a slump last year. My dad passed away and I, yeah, I kind of, I don’t know. I don’t know if I used it as an excuse to just keep being unhealthy. Um, but all that’s kind of said and done, I found healthier outlets and one of those is swinging a sledgehammer, um, with my tire and it helps, you know? And so I’m getting back into that. That’s a thing. Yeah. And as I’m thinning up, I’m starting to like myself a bit more, you know, my appearance, um, I’m feeling and better. And I absolutely, I wanna, I mean, I have a TikTok with zero videos and like a ton of followers so far. Cause I stay active in the comment sections Uhhuh. And if I could just get that going, I think that would help me a lot too

Pat Cherubini (17:50):

Well that that’s motivating is someone who’s an older guy with a great hairdo and you know, all, everything I got going for me, it’s not, it wasn’t easy putting my face out there and talking to people and you know, the more you do it, the easier it gets, you know? And we tell people all the time, stick the phone up and start talking to it, tell people what you do and where you’re at and how they get ahold of you. And it, it happens. It just

Michael Hirst (18:11):

Happens. Absolutely. Yeah.

Angie Cherubini (18:13):

And you, you may not think, and I’m sure you, you deal with this. I know you do because you’re a business owner and when you post things on your personal profile, you, you know, nobody comments and when it comes to business, they only comment on, you know, cute family things or cat things like with me. Um, but people do watch. And we know that now that I’m going back out in the public more, uh, since my cancer that I don’t know if you knew that I had that, but I had cancer and was, am recovering from that. We didn’t get out a whole lot, but you know, now we do. And that’s like the first thing that people say to me is, Hey, you know, I, I follow your story. I see what you post. And it’s like, really? I never see a comment, but that’s, that’s awesome. So people do see you and they do follow you. They may not comment. Absolutely. But they see

Michael Hirst (19:05):

You. And I, and I knew that you were struggling, um, with something, I didn’t know exactly how it was cancer, but I’m super glad that you beat it. Mm. Thank you. I know. That’s I know that had to have been really scary.

Angie Cherubini (19:15):

It was, but just like you, I mean, it, you know, it’s something that everybody’s got something and it’s what you do with it. And you know, for us it was a, it, it like came out of the freaking blue . And so it wasn’t something that we were expecting because quite honestly, I’m probably one of the healthiest people in my family and extended family. Um, and it just, it was all of a sudden, but, you know, it was something that then caused us to like, you know, come to a screeching hole as to, okay, well, what are are we doing? And so we shifted gears and we knew that we wanted to help and, and talk to small businesses and help small businesses online, cuz it was a, and you know, it’s a passion and I wanted to help other people get, um, get healthy too. That’s another passion of mine too. Lean in, oh, keep,

Pat Cherubini (20:10):

Keep sliding out.

Michael Hirst (20:11):

Well I’m and I’m glad that you guys do what you do because aside from aside from the podcast, um, I mean, everybody that listens to this or watches this or anything, they don’t, they’re not gonna know how much kinda advice you guys have. You guys kind of steered me, you know, here and there over the last, over the last year. Um, and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate that. Um, because I do take your advice and I’m like, all right, I need to, I need to make some moves here. And I know you guys know how overwhelming all of this can be, especially when somebody’s starting off, um, new in something. Um, but having you guys there is kind of like that you guys have like experience and other things that are very similar, um, and kind, you know, you were, you have a lot of tact when you, when you recommend things to people and it, and it works out well,

Angie Cherubini (21:01):

Thank you for saying

Pat Cherubini (21:02):

That. That’s kind of what, what started this is we’re in a pretty small town yeah. In central Ohio. And you know, we’ve always kind of joked, it’s 10 years behind the rest of the country and we can’t help everybody. Yeah. Here. And you know, some people can’t, we, I mean, we do, they’ll still build websites and do marketing and stuff and some can afford it some can’t, but we still want to help because yeah. If we, if people don’t help save the small businesses, the Amazons and the Walmarts that are already eating the world, as my cat comes up,

Angie Cherubini (21:38):

this is Karen

Michael Hirst (21:40):

Mine’s over here tearing up a, uh, jacket.

Pat Cherubini (21:44):

She loves being in the camera. Well, as I was saying, you know, we, I really believe that the small businesses can sustain themselves because they’re the ones that help the community. Yes. I feel, you know, mm-hmm, the big corporations do for show, but you know, mom and pop are still running the show.

Michael Hirst (22:04):

Absolutely. And I saw it growing up in Montana that when, when some and small businesses are able to thrive, um, where people work hard enough to keep those small businesses alive, then the cost of living is affordable. You know? Um, when, for instance, when I was a kid, PIDA came to a little town called Libby Montana. And before then the closest Walmart was two hours away in Sandpoint, Idaho. And you had, if you wanted choose, you went to pay less shoes. You know, if you wanted this, you went to a different store and all that ACE hardware and everything. Um, but when POA came, it just started killing businesses. And with that people left the town. Um, I’m gonna let her go in a second, but this is, uh, this is, this is kitty she’s, uh, she’s ferocious. Yeah. Kitty, some wild things. So,

Pat Cherubini (22:54):

Well, ours is name Karen, so

Michael Hirst (22:56):

That’s good. Karen,

Pat Cherubini (22:58):

Karen manages the, the rest of us

Angie Cherubini (23:01):

Quit.

Michael Hirst (23:01):

She, uh, I deemed her kitty cuz she likes to knock things off of, if a kid comes out in the kitchen and gets a glass of water and then leaves it sitting on the counter or on the, the, uh, table, she’ll jump up there. And in the morning there will be a cup on the floor with a puddle of water.

Angie Cherubini (23:17):

Sounds a little bit familiar. definitely

Pat Cherubini (23:24):

We’re back. Camera froze. So we’re at well,

Angie Cherubini (23:29):

How about let’s what’s a memorable moment you’ve had in the, in the business.

Michael Hirst (23:37):

Um, there’s been a couple, I think, I still think my favorite is, is when I got hired, um, a lot’s happened since then. You know, I met a lot of friends and everything helped a lot of people, but my favorite memory was talking with my buddy Joey before he was my buddy, Joey, you know, he’s the one that came and tried to sell me solar and he got me a job. And the very next day I was talking with the sales manager, shout out to Jordan with, uh, tri smart, who now owns bright solar. Um, yeah, he, he got me a job and gave me a job interview when I was on the road. And he is like, yeah, you don’t even need to drive all the way here, man. He’s like, you can turn around cuz it was an hour and a half drive. I was gonna drive all the way there for an interview. And uh, I turned, he came back to the house and then the next day I drove all the way to Dallas and went and sat there and did some sales training with him and he kinda, you know, opened the doors to the industry for me.

Angie Cherubini (24:35):

Well, that’s cool. Yeah. And you said you had another one, any other,

Michael Hirst (24:41):

Um, yeah, it’s just kind of a, I’d say it’s just like a summary of everything that I’ve done is, is my favorite. It’s my favorite memory of this industry encompasses the last two years because like for instance, I’m on, I’m on this call with you guys. It’s eight twenty five in the morning here and I’m here with two of my daughters, you know, that aren’t in school yet. And so I’m able to, I obviously I change diapers and, and pick up and stuff like that, but I get to play with ’em. I get to be present, you know? Um, and, and that’s my favorite part of this is that if we want to go do something on a Saturday, we go do something on a Saturday. I don’t have somebody telling me now you gotta be here. Like, sorry, man. I gotta reschedule. Like my kids come first.

Angie Cherubini (25:27):

You’ll love that

Pat Cherubini (25:28):

Coming from, uh, two that have done the same thing for 24 years now, four years. That’s exactly it, man. I was home for my kids. I coached my kids and it’s a big deal.

Michael Hirst (25:38):

That’s that’s what I’m working towards. Yeah. Yeah. I’d love to be able to coach

Angie Cherubini (25:43):

You’ll love that. And your, your kids will, you know, your kids will watch and they’ll eventually appreciate it. It, that, that you are able to do that because that that’s one thing that, that they’ve talked about. Our three with us is that the fact that we were here and that everybody, you know, they talk about their friends and how their parents weren’t there for them at home and stuff like that. They came home to a, to a house by themselves. I know in a lot of situations, that’s just the way it has to be, but it, it was nice being able to have this choice. There

Pat Cherubini (26:16):

Were a lot of entrepreneurs that are driven by that.

Michael Hirst (26:19):

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Angie Cherubini (26:22):

So when you’re out there, um, what’s, what’s one of the biggest myths that people have about your industry. Like when you’re talking to, you know, when you, when you finally get to have a consultation with somebody, what’s one of the biggest myths.

Pat Cherubini (26:35):

Yeah. I feel like they’re always saying like, what’s the catch mm-hmm

Angie Cherubini (26:38):

Michael Hirst (26:39):

Yeah. So I think there’s gonna be three. Okay. So the first one is that solar winds up in landfills, when it’s, when it’s reached the end of life, um, for one there’s panels that are still working that have been installed since the sixties, but with solar, they’re not gonna throw it in landfills because it’s made with rare earth, uh, metals, you know, um, they, it’s all recyclable. I think solar and lithium ion batteries, right as it stands, um, are recyclable. And reclaimable up to 85% of raw materials that they could then use to make new solar panels and new batteries. Um, that’s, I think that’s the number one biggest myth is pollution. Um, the second biggest myth is cost. Um, the industry kind of helps with that because as people don’t realize that you don’t have, you can get financed for solar, with put, without putting any money down.

Michael Hirst (27:30):

Um, but where the industry is kind of harmed that is salesmen, go out chasing commission checks, and they’re trying to sell people as high as they can. Um, and that hurts the industry because have the rare opportunity to be saving people money and to be ambassadors for an entire industry that, I mean, in 20 years, we’re gonna look back and we’re gonna be amazed at how far we’ve come. But if, if you can, if you can get somebody solar and their payments with their electric company, everything, everything works out to where they’re saving money every month. Um, that for me, that’s just an incredible feeling, but it helps the industry as a whole, as a whole. And that’s possible for sure. Um, the other biggest myth is the 26% tax credit. And as a sales guy, I probably, this is probably not the right way to approach it, but there, it needs to be a lot more transparency in the issue with homeowners.

Michael Hirst (28:28):

Not solar is not a good fit for every single person yet. Um, but there’s a 26% federal investment tax credit. Not everybody’s gonna get that 26% of their total job costs back. But all of the residential lending options want that 26, 6% back, um, after 18 months because your payments start off really low. And then after 18 months, your loan will ream tries. If, if you don’t put that back in there. So it’s my job to allow the homeowner to see that and explain, Hey, even though I’m not a CPA and I can’t give you realistic tax advice based on your situation, I can say you need to talk to a CPA because you make X amount of dollars. You only write off X amount of things and, and you need to talk to your CPA to ensure that you’re gonna get this $8,000, $12,000, whatever, back in taxes, if it’s not looking like you are, then we have like 40 different loan options with a good majority of the them based on how I price this system out, where if you don’t put that tax credit back in 18 months.

Michael Hirst (29:32):

Yeah. Your payment goes up a little bit, but I’m, I can show you right here, how you’re still saving a lot of money, you know, and, and being able to work with each client as their own, instead of having everything, just be cookie cutter across everything you do, you know, mm-hmm, be transparent with those guys, cuz yeah, you might not make that sale because of that thing that you said, um, about the tax credit. But do you want to make that sale? And then in 18 months that person gets hosed by that payment going up because now it’s no longer in their budget and, and now they hate you and mm-hmm, all of their friends dislike you too, you know? Um, I’d rather walk away from those deals or at least give that person an opportunity, um, to make sure it’s a good fit for them.

Pat Cherubini (30:15):

You’re a difficult kinda salesman aren’t you?

Michael Hirst (30:18):

Yeah. Um, I think it’s,

Pat Cherubini (30:20):

That’s good. I,

Michael Hirst (30:21):

Part of it’s because of all the things we’ve gone through overseas, um, yeah, I’ve done a lot of interrogations. I’ve done a lot of, um, talking to assets and stuff overseas and going on missions. And, and then on the civilian side, I mean I did counterintelligence screenings for almost three years working my way from junior level screener, all the way up to senior counterintelligence advisor for special operations joint task force. There’s things you do in any industry, especially in the military that do not mesh with your morals. Um, I have the opportunity to change that. At least in my situation, you know, I can sell ethically and, and, and more at least to where I can sleep at night. Mm-hmm, trying it, it hurts the bottom line. You know, if, if I didn’t talk about the tax credit, like a lot of other salesmen are trained to not talk about it.

Michael Hirst (31:14):

Um, as much, you know, I I’d probably have a higher close ratio and my close ratio is a decent, you know, but I probably have a higher one. Um, but that’s also why I don’t run a lot of ads because the ad copy that you have to use in this industry to get people to click and then click through it is shady. Um, I’m sure you guys see it with solar after you talk to me and you get a couple solar ads, you know, mm-hmm, , mm-hmm, , you’ll see where they offer there’s government programs that help you get solar for free and it’s all this other stuff. And it’s like,

Pat Cherubini (31:45):

And that’s why I ask what’s the catch because I do see that, you know, zero down free grants, government, all that stuff. And it seems to too good to be true

Michael Hirst (31:54):

The way solar works. And this is just gonna be a really quick rundown. You can get solar with cash, um, and that’s gonna be your cheapest, but you’s gonna be your most out of pocket expense. You can get solar finances, zero down all the way from 0% interest, 1.49, 2.99 all the way up to like 7.5% interest. The higher interest rate you have on a loan is gonna be your lowest overall cost because there are there financing charges like with any other loan type mm-hmm . So if you have a 0% interest loan, say your, say it’s a cash price of like $40,000, right? And with a 0% interest loan, now your cash price is like $80,000, same exact everything, 0% loan, 0% down. But if you did, as, as if you did the same 25 year loan option on like a seven and a half percent interest, right?

Michael Hirst (32:44):

Your loan, your total loan amount would be still like 40 something thousand, which is way cheaper than the 0% across the board. But your payments are like, uh, in this instance, in my head, it’s about a 80 bucks higher, um, per month. And some people can’t swing that. So it’s, it really comes down to sitting down with the individual and figuring out what their situation is because the homeowner they’re not set up to lose. If, if I go to a homeowner or do a zoom call with a homeowner, I build them everything out for free. I sit down with them, give them all the time that they need. And if they don’t want to go solar, they don’t go solar. And that’s completely cool with me, but at least they learned. So when somebody else in the industry comes along, if that happens, they they’re educated already. They know what to look out for and they can go with them or they can go with me. It doesn’t, it doesn’t, I don’t care who they go with. Um, just that they don’t wind up being another one of these people that gets put in a bad situation because they were oversold. Um, you know,

Pat Cherubini (33:44):

Yep. Well, you just created the next, uh, 10 videos in my mind of teaching people. Exactly what you just taught us. Yeah. Because they’re gonna get the, the correct information from an obviously upstanding guy. And they’re gonna start to doubt the stuff that the, the O more shady guys are telling ’em. So that’s get on there and teach.

Michael Hirst (34:04):

Definitely. That’s definitely what I need to do. Um, yep. I, we see it across the board in every industry that the, the path of least resistance is the path that marketers choose and people don’t realize that marketing is propaganda and it’s, uh, no, absolutely. It’s, it’s, um, psychological operations, you know, some marketing is more ethical than others, but at the end of the day, it’s, it’s what psychological tricks can you play on words, um, and imagery to get your demographic to click and then click again and fill their information out and keep clicking. Um, it seems

Pat Cherubini (34:37):

Like that’s every, every screen we look at is like that. Yeah.

Michael Hirst (34:40):

Yeah. It’s, we’ve, we’re with, for lack of a better term, we’re kind of, uh, modern day human cattle in the sense that our economy is driven by how much we purchase. Right. Um, yeah.

Pat Cherubini (34:54):

Most

Michael Hirst (34:54):

Definitely. That’s a whole different podcast.

Pat Cherubini (34:56):

oh, yeah. That I see a rabbit hole over there. We we’re gonna stay away from that. Yep. So

Angie Cherubini (35:02):

We’re kinda along the same lines, but we’ll still stay away from that.

Pat Cherubini (35:06):

What’s the, uh, the question that we didn’t ask that you wish we would’ve, did we miss anything?

Michael Hirst (35:14):

Um, no, I don’t really think you guys missed anything, but if there are people listening that want to get into solar, um, they can reach out to me. They don’t have to work for me. I can help ’em find a place in the industry, whether they wanna work as a laborer, help, ’em put stuff on roofs, or they wanna work knocking doors and setting appointments for people or marketing or, or actually selling systems. Um, there’s a, there’s a place in the industry. There’s a massive boom going on right now. It’s essentially a gold rush, um, that, that a lot of people are ignoring. Um, but yeah, if, if anybody wants to get into this industry, no matter what state they’re in, I can help ’em. Um, I can find ’em a place in, with a different company if need be.

Angie Cherubini (35:58):

That’s great. Okay. What’s another, well, that’s the, that was my question. What advice would, yeah, you nailed it. What’d you give so,

Pat Cherubini (36:10):

So I, you know, we’re call, we, we’re calling the podcast local vibes, you know? Okay. So we, we, we wanna start asking people, what’s the vibe like where you’re local, you know, what’s your town, what’s the vibe of your town? Cause we always say your vibe attracts your tribe. And there are a lot of towns that aren’t trying real hard. So, you know, does your, does your town have a good vibe or not?

Michael Hirst (36:29):

Yeah, my town, my town is Linde, Texas, you know, uh, right outside of Tyler and Tyler, Texas is the rose capital of United States, you know, um, we’re about an hour and a half east of Dallas and our economy is blown up the housing market’s insane. Um, but the town has been doing a good job of expanding. They, they added a new park, um, not too long ago. Sorry, I got hiccups. They added a new park, not too, too long ago. And the population here in, in like five years is it’s gonna look completely different. Um, so I think, I think I’m in a good town. It’s gonna expand rapidly. Um, there’s a lot more jobs that are gonna be coming into the area. Um, and a, and a fresh batch of people from outside of the state, whether it’s California, New York, it it’ll shake. It’s shaking things up a little bit because Tyler, Texas, and this area of Texas has always kind of been old oil field money, you know?

The pride of a veteran is evident in Michael Hirst’s work ethic. He never gave up on himself or those around him, especially when faced with adversity. Michael had a job lined up to go back overseas, but he was faced with the possibility of unemployment again when the pandemic hit.

Michael researched jobs online, and that’s when he came across the solar industry!

Michael began working in solar and jumped from company to company. He was quickly learning everything about solar and decided to leap. He began offering his services as a solar consultant by starting his own business, Hirst Solar Consulting. 

Michael helps solar businesses improve sales practices and operations. Hard work and dedication have paid off for Hirst, who is now well on his way to achieving the American Dream. He believes that solar power is an ethical, sustainable option in energy production!

Missed last week’s episode with Kim Workman? Watch or listen to it now!

Transcript

Michael Hirst (00:00):

Um, but with the motivation, it’s a lot of, it’s the fact that I have these kids, like, I’d say 90% of it. Um, but the rest of my motivation is that I got, I got my mom, I got my grandparents, my sister. I mean, I have all this family that I have a rare opportunity to be the first to make some real money, you know, aside from my grandpa and my grandma, but that was over decades and decades that if I can, if I can do this, I have the opportunity to change the trajectory of my family for generations and, and help other people do the same that I bring with me. And that’s what, that’s what really motivates me because I don’t want my kids to have to go work three jobs, you know, mm-hmm, , I I’d like them to, to pick a career path and, and chase it as long as they feel like it. And if they don’t feel like doing it anymore, they can go do something else and be able to chase their passions,

Announcer (01:00):

Starting sustaining, and having a successful small business is hard, but you already knew that, but wouldn’t it be great to have a podcast that talks to and digs in to the people who’ve made it problem solved. This is local vibes, small business success stories, talking to success, us full small businesses from around America. You’ll hear awesome stories about how they got started and how they survived and thrived online. And in their communities, we find out their special vibe. Welcome to local vibes, brought to you by ultimate online marketing.com. Now, here are your hosts, pat and Angie Cher.

Announcer (01:48):

All right, let’s do this.

Angie Cherubini (01:52):

Well, welcome everyone. It’s it’s pat Angie Cini. And we are talking with Michael Hurst, who is the president of her solar consulting, which is a Texas based solar or company. And I’ve had the pleasure of being a, basically a Facebook friend of, um, of Michael’s now for maybe over a year, something like that. Yeah. We’ve connect. And I think we first connected, was it in a, um, business group?

Michael Hirst (02:24):

I believe so.

Angie Cherubini (02:26):

I think so. I, I’m not sure which one, because I’m a member of, of a ton of them, but, um, I think that’s where it was and he offers residential commercial and, uh, public solar solutions. And, you know, people may ask a question of why did we have ’em on our, on our podcast? And, you know, he’s a veteran which thank you for your service first off, thank your

Michael Hirst (02:51):

Support.

Angie Cherubini (02:52):

Um, he loves America and has a passion for making our environment healthier. And I think that’s a vibe that everyone can appreciate.

Pat Cherubini (03:01):

So, yeah. So welcome. We’ll let you, you know, tell your origin story and like, what were you doing before you started this business? What, you know, got you into it and just, uh, do your little, your little spiel about what you do.

Michael Hirst (03:13):

Okay. Um, I’ll try to be fast with that. I, uh, so I was in the R me, um, I was a human intelligence collector. Um, interrogations did that five years, Iraq, Afghanistan got out, couldn’t really find work. Um, we we’ve been living in east Texas finding work around here outside the old fields is difficult. So I went back overseas for, uh, defense contract for a few missed my family decided, Hey, I need to find something close to home. And kind of bit the bullet got in the oil field, worked in on an oil rig for two years. Um, two weeks on two weeks off, had knee surgery, cuz I blew my knee out on oil rig and I had to rehab got laid off. And then I went back overseas for almost three years and then got tired of that. The money was good, but it wasn’t, you know, I have a big family. Um, yeah. So I came back from that. Couldn’t find any work before I ran outta savings. So I went to Alabama and worked environmental construction, which is just the fancy for digging holes and, and swing a sledge hammer, helping do environmental cleanup and then came home from that, worked on fun, a job again, gone into, uh, climbing wind turbines in Colorado.

Angie Cherubini (04:31):

I read that, did

Michael Hirst (04:32):

That. That was fun. I loved that. And then, uh, that

Pat Cherubini (04:35):

Sounds fun at all.

Angie Cherubini (04:36):

You are crazy. How high, how high did you have to go?

Michael Hirst (04:39):

Um, they’re like 300 meters I think is what they were 300 feet, 300 meters. I can’t remember exactly. Um, but they’re super cool. Um, and that’s the main reason I did that. They were gonna pay me good, but also cuz I wanted to climb either a cell phone tower or a wind turbine at least once in my life. Um, but that was, that was hard too, cuz it was even though I wasn’t overseas, I was still away from my family and I was gonna miss birthdays and stuff like that. So I ended up quitting that job cuz I wasn’t gonna get any home time. And then I, uh, came back to Texas. So this is fall of 2019 and did birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. And I was like, all right, cool. Can’t find anything to do here. I’m gonna go back overseas. I have a contract lined up. I got hired and was just waiting for a date to ship over and then COVID happened and it just shut

Pat Cherubini (05:34):

Everything down.

Michael Hirst (05:37):

So I, I didn’t know what to do. Hold on rescue. Oh, nevermind. I rescue this cat just knocked down bigger puzzle um,

Pat Cherubini (05:48):

We just had our cat tear this thing down, but this tree behind us when we were doing a video just a couple days ago, so no problem

Michael Hirst (05:56):

She’s uh, attacking her tail. So everybody told me not to get her catnap and I did anyways and Julia . Um, but with the solar thing, I figured since I was good at talking to people from all my time, working in human intelligence collection and counterintelligence that I should try to least work in sales. Um, I learned pretty quick when I first got into sales that my morality conflicts with a lot of sales training. Um, but I got into solar because I was looking at all these different sales jobs and I had no money at this time. Like I had just enough money for like gas for necessities. Um, and other than that I was, I was flat broke. So I, I couldn’t afford to get my licensing for insurance sales. Um, I couldn’t afford to drive to town and, and back every day to try to sell cars.

Michael Hirst (06:52):

And so I was looking online, I was like, oh, I gotta figure something out. Um, and I stumbled upon solar. I didn’t even know it existed. I mean probably in the back of my, in my head I realized it, but it wasn’t something I thought about, um, especially in east Texas. So I basically was staying up until like four or five in the morning, you know, most nights just reading and studying. And then, um, you know, Facebook works with every fifth post being an ad. I was looking through Facebook ads and I, I made a list of companies that I would be okay with working for. And the first company was tri smart solar and I filled out their ad. They sent a guy to my house for a, uh, I think it was Sunpro um, sent a guy to, for a solar consultation and I talked him in to get me a job and he helped me get a job with tri smart solar in may of 2020. And here I am now, um,

Pat Cherubini (07:50):

Is that who you’re still with or are you completely on your own? No,

Michael Hirst (07:53):

Uh, no. Uh, funny story I have, I’ve worked with over 30 solar companies, onboarded and everything, um, with over 30 solar companies since then.

Angie Cherubini (08:05):

Wow.

Michael Hirst (08:07):

Yeah.

Pat Cherubini (08:07):

So how does that work? The, the companies are, are, are you like a franchise or are you just

Michael Hirst (08:14):

I’m I’m a 10 99. Yeah, I’m a 10 99 independent consultant. Um, anytime I’ve signed up with any of these companies, I keep a close eye on what my nondisclosure agreement entails. So that way I know whether I even wanna sign the contract in the first place. Um, but, uh, I’m 31 about to be 32. If I was in my early twenties, I’d probably stick with one of these companies, you know, hit the doors all the time, work six days a week like these guys do and, and just grind at it, make much money as possible, but I, I don’t believe the sales organization’s going to exist as it does, um, in a couple years. And what I’ve been really striving for obviously is making sales. So I can keep a roof over our heads and make some money, but is mapping out this industry and figuring out how things have been done and how things can improve and then improving on those things, setting about my own processes, um, training my own guys and then essentially helping improve the industry.

Michael Hirst (09:14):

Um, and that’s ultimately why I’ve gone through so many companies because if I started working with a company and they weren’t paying people well, um, I just moved to a different company cause there’s so much money in the, in the, in solar. And then if I was working with a company and they, their training was unethical, I just cut ties and I’d moved to a different company. Good for you. And just so I wanted so, so forth and I just tried to figure out how to sell ethically and I’ve learned that it’s extremely difficult. It’s it kept, it keeps me up most nights it’s stressful, but uh, it’s worth it.

Pat Cherubini (09:47):

Well, you said something about your, when you were talking about your struggles and, and I usually ask about your motivation. I think we talked a little bit, I think I know what your motivation is. Can you tell how many kids you have?

Michael Hirst (09:58):

I have seven,

Pat Cherubini (10:00):

Seven kid.

Michael Hirst (10:01):

Great. Um, but with the motivation, it’s a lot of, it’s the fact that I have these kids, like, I’d say 90% of it. Um, but the rest of my motivation is that I got, I got my mom, I got my grandparents, my sister. I mean, I have all this family that I have, have a rare opportunity to be the first, to make some real money, you know, aside from my grandpa and my grandma, but that was over decades and decades that if I can, if I can do this, I have the opportunity to change the trajectory of my family for generations and, and how help other people do the same that I bring with me. And that’s what, that’s what really motivates me because I don’t want my kids to have to go work three jobs, you know? Um, mm-hmm, , I I’d like them to, to pick a career path and, and chase it as long as they feel like it. And if they don’t feel like doing it anymore, they can go do something else and be able to chase their passions. Um, cuz me, when I was leaving high school, I had the choice of trying to go to college and play in sports, um, and dealing with the drug addictions that I had or, or joined in the military. And thankfully I chose the military, but that could have went a completely different route. Oh, absolutely.

Angie Cherubini (11:16):

Yeah. I know you, we talked, um, gosh, we talked a little, I posted, or I replied on a post or commented on a post that you made that David Goins, uh, about his book and how mm-hmm similar, your guys’ lives were when you were younger and the, and the struggles you went through. I had no idea. David

Michael Hirst (11:36):

Goins is, is a pretty incredible human. I mean, that’s understanding it for sure, but it’s bill,

Pat Cherubini (11:44):

It’s

Michael Hirst (11:44):

The, it’s the realization that no matter how hard you get kicked in the teeth by life, that it’s up to you to pick yourself back up and to keep going. If you have to make changes, you make changes, but you can’t, you can’t feel sorry for yourself. You can’t blame other people cuz everybody else is just living their life too, you know? Um, so nobody’s

Pat Cherubini (12:04):

Coming to save you.

Michael Hirst (12:06):

Absolutely. Nobody’s coming to save you. Um, it’s it’s between you and, and if you believe in God, it’s between you and God, you know,

Angie Cherubini (12:13):

So, and thank God. I mean, it’s like the American dream is what, what, you’re, what you’ve done. I mean, thank God we’re in a country that allows us to do this. That

Michael Hirst (12:22):

Absolutely

Angie Cherubini (12:24):

We can find something else to do. And something else that we have a passion for. I mean, we, I I’m sure, you know, after being overseas we’re we live in a pretty awesome country to be able to, to have that opportunity

Michael Hirst (12:39):

We AB we absolutely do. Um, there’s, there’s an endless amount of opportunities for people in the United States because where I’m at in east Texas say, I, I talk about how hard it was to find a job all these years and how I had to go, you all this other stuff and that’s not to have anybody kind of feel sorry for my situation, cuz realistically my wife and I are our adults. We could have sold our house and moved to a different town that had better job opportunities, you know? Um, we just chose to kind of stick it out for the kids so we didn’t have to move them again. Um, but that’s the same way it is. And the entire United States, um, you, you can be trapped, but you, you always have the opportunity to leave, whether it’s just with you and the clothes on your back or whether you work a side job and save up for, for a bus ticket. So you can take luggage with you, you know?

Angie Cherubini (13:26):

Yep,

Pat Cherubini (13:28):

Yep. You can’t change where you’re at change where you’re at.

Angie Cherubini (13:30):

Yep. Most definitely. And I know you’ve got, I saw on your, on your website that basically you’re, you’re really obviously in the Southern states the most, um, or you can service the, the Southern states the most that have the most sun, but I, I see Ohio’s coming, that’s where we’re at. So,

Pat Cherubini (13:50):

And we don’t have these. Yeah,

Michael Hirst (13:51):

Actually. Yeah. It’s not, there’s not a whole lot. It’s just like, like Washington in a way it’s just

Pat Cherubini (13:57):

Gray

Angie Cherubini (13:58):

but you still can help. I, I mean, I guess, you know, would solar panels still be good for people here in Ohio who don’t have as much? I

Michael Hirst (14:08):

Think, I think it would be, um, it’s it just comes down to how many you need and how much that cost in comparison to what you already spent on electricity. Mm-hmm if, if the expenditure’s already there and you have the infrastructure, which, which there’s, the infrastructure exists in pretty much every state to where, when, when the sun hits your roof, you you’re saving money. The main thing in, in states like that, that don’t have as sun hours, the main things that benefit are businesses, commercial outfits, um, schools, stuff like that because they consume so much electricity that the return on investment is insane. Yeah. Um, with a homeowner you’re looking at spend or saving tens of thousands of dollars between like 30 and 50 on average over the next 25 years, but a school a school’s gonna save millions of dollars. Wow. And that’s taxpayer dollars. Right. Um, that, that it saves and, and that’s stuff that they can either choose to save that taxpayer money or they can roll that savings into teachers benefits, um, extracurriculars, stuff like that.

Angie Cherubini (15:18):

That’s cool. That’s definitely cool. Good to

Pat Cherubini (15:21):

Know. So are you dealing mostly with Texans right now or, I mean, I, I know that’s where you’re at is that how’s, you know, how’s it going right now?

Michael Hirst (15:32):

Uh, yes. I’m dealing mostly with Texans. It’s going pretty good. Um, it could be going better, but that’s, that’s my own. I, I didn’t move fast enough in business. Um, when it came to hiring and getting guys out there and knocking doors and stuff like that, I’ve been kind, been kind of doing it, solo recruiting people behind the scenes that also do business stuff. Um, east, Texas, I can thank a company called Lumi. They call themselves Luo bros or something like that. They’re, they’re what I would’ve want be a part at or what I would’ve wanted to be a part of when I was in like my early twenties, there are a bunch of young, 20 somethings that they shipped in here from outta state, like 40 of them. And, and they just knock doors every day. Um, the people of east Texas don’t really appreciate them, but I do because most of my clientele are coming from people that got their door knocked. Didn’t appreciate it. And they’re like, I’m gonna go to somebody local. And I’m like, Hey, thanks guys.

Pat Cherubini (16:29):

Yep. Taught ’em a little bit about solar and then they moved on to

Michael Hirst (16:32):

Yeah, because they’ve been seeing me on Facebook for almost two years now, you know, and they know I’m local. They see me, I sponsor events and stuff when I can. And

Angie Cherubini (16:42):

Um, and I wanted to tell you, cuz I was looking at, uh, of course I was looking more in depth on your, um, personal, as well as your business profile. You need to get your face on there more. You need

Michael Hirst (16:54):

To talk

Angie Cherubini (16:55):

To the camera more.

Michael Hirst (16:57):

Yeah. I, so I I’m sure you saw the Facebook post. I messed my beard up so I had to shave it. And um, so I’m, I’m working on, I’m working on liking myself a little bit more, you know, I was kind of in a slump last year. My dad passed away and I, yeah, I kind of, I don’t know. I don’t know if I used it as an excuse to just keep being unhealthy. Um, but all that’s kind of said and done, I found healthier outlets and one of those is swinging a sledgehammer, um, with my tire and it helps, you know? And so I’m getting back into that. That’s a thing. Yeah. And as I’m thinning up, I’m starting to like myself a bit more, you know, my appearance, um, I’m feeling and better. And I absolutely, I wanna, I mean, I have a TikTok with zero videos and like a ton of followers so far. Cause I stay active in the comment sections Uhhuh. And if I could just get that going, I think that would help me a lot too

Pat Cherubini (17:50):

Well that that’s motivating is someone who’s an older guy with a great hairdo and you know, all, everything I got going for me, it’s not, it wasn’t easy putting my face out there and talking to people and you know, the more you do it, the easier it gets, you know? And we tell people all the time, stick the phone up and start talking to it, tell people what you do and where you’re at and how they get ahold of you. And it, it happens. It just

Michael Hirst (18:11):

Happens. Absolutely. Yeah.

Angie Cherubini (18:13):

And you, you may not think, and I’m sure you, you deal with this. I know you do because you’re a business owner and when you post things on your personal profile, you, you know, nobody comments and when it comes to business, they only comment on, you know, cute family things or cat things like with me. Um, but people do watch. And we know that now that I’m going back out in the public more, uh, since my cancer that I don’t know if you knew that I had that, but I had cancer and was, am recovering from that. We didn’t get out a whole lot, but you know, now we do. And that’s like the first thing that people say to me is, Hey, you know, I, I follow your story. I see what you post. And it’s like, really? I never see a comment, but that’s, that’s awesome. So people do see you and they do follow you. They may not comment. Absolutely. But they see

Michael Hirst (19:05):

You. And I, and I knew that you were struggling, um, with something, I didn’t know exactly how it was cancer, but I’m super glad that you beat it. Mm. Thank you. I know. That’s I know that had to have been really scary.

Angie Cherubini (19:15):

It was, but just like you, I mean, it, you know, it’s something that everybody’s got something and it’s what you do with it. And you know, for us it was a, it, it like came out of the freaking blue . And so it wasn’t something that we were expecting because quite honestly, I’m probably one of the healthiest people in my family and extended family. Um, and it just, it was all of a sudden, but, you know, it was something that then caused us to like, you know, come to a screeching hole as to, okay, well, what are are we doing? And so we shifted gears and we knew that we wanted to help and, and talk to small businesses and help small businesses online, cuz it was a, and you know, it’s a passion and I wanted to help other people get, um, get healthy too. That’s another passion of mine too. Lean in, oh, keep,

Pat Cherubini (20:10):

Keep sliding out.

Michael Hirst (20:11):

Well I’m and I’m glad that you guys do what you do because aside from aside from the podcast, um, I mean, everybody that listens to this or watches this or anything, they don’t, they’re not gonna know how much kinda advice you guys have. You guys kind of steered me, you know, here and there over the last, over the last year. Um, and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate that. Um, because I do take your advice and I’m like, all right, I need to, I need to make some moves here. And I know you guys know how overwhelming all of this can be, especially when somebody’s starting off, um, new in something. Um, but having you guys there is kind of like that you guys have like experience and other things that are very similar, um, and kind, you know, you were, you have a lot of tact when you, when you recommend things to people and it, and it works out well,

Angie Cherubini (21:01):

Thank you for saying

Pat Cherubini (21:02):

That. That’s kind of what, what started this is we’re in a pretty small town yeah. In central Ohio. And you know, we’ve always kind of joked, it’s 10 years behind the rest of the country and we can’t help everybody. Yeah. Here. And you know, some people can’t, we, I mean, we do, they’ll still build websites and do marketing and stuff and some can afford it some can’t, but we still want to help because yeah. If we, if people don’t help save the small businesses, the Amazons and the Walmarts that are already eating the world, as my cat comes up,

Angie Cherubini (21:38):

this is Karen

Michael Hirst (21:40):

Mine’s over here tearing up a, uh, jacket.

Pat Cherubini (21:44):

She loves being in the camera. Well, as I was saying, you know, we, I really believe that the small businesses can sustain themselves because they’re the ones that help the community. Yes. I feel, you know, mm-hmm, the big corporations do for show, but you know, mom and pop are still running the show.

Michael Hirst (22:04):

Absolutely. And I saw it growing up in Montana that when, when some and small businesses are able to thrive, um, where people work hard enough to keep those small businesses alive, then the cost of living is affordable. You know? Um, when, for instance, when I was a kid, PIDA came to a little town called Libby Montana. And before then the closest Walmart was two hours away in Sandpoint, Idaho. And you had, if you wanted choose, you went to pay less shoes. You know, if you wanted this, you went to a different store and all that ACE hardware and everything. Um, but when POA came, it just started killing businesses. And with that people left the town. Um, I’m gonna let her go in a second, but this is, uh, this is, this is kitty she’s, uh, she’s ferocious. Yeah. Kitty, some wild things. So,

Pat Cherubini (22:54):

Well, ours is name Karen, so

Michael Hirst (22:56):

That’s good. Karen,

Pat Cherubini (22:58):

Karen manages the, the rest of us

Angie Cherubini (23:01):

Quit.

Michael Hirst (23:01):

She, uh, I deemed her kitty cuz she likes to knock things off of, if a kid comes out in the kitchen and gets a glass of water and then leaves it sitting on the counter or on the, the, uh, table, she’ll jump up there. And in the morning there will be a cup on the floor with a puddle of water.

Angie Cherubini (23:17):

Sounds a little bit familiar. definitely

Pat Cherubini (23:24):

We’re back. Camera froze. So we’re at well,

Angie Cherubini (23:29):

How about let’s what’s a memorable moment you’ve had in the, in the business.

Michael Hirst (23:37):

Um, there’s been a couple, I think, I still think my favorite is, is when I got hired, um, a lot’s happened since then. You know, I met a lot of friends and everything helped a lot of people, but my favorite memory was talking with my buddy Joey before he was my buddy, Joey, you know, he’s the one that came and tried to sell me solar and he got me a job. And the very next day I was talking with the sales manager, shout out to Jordan with, uh, tri smart, who now owns bright solar. Um, yeah, he, he got me a job and gave me a job interview when I was on the road. And he is like, yeah, you don’t even need to drive all the way here, man. He’s like, you can turn around cuz it was an hour and a half drive. I was gonna drive all the way there for an interview. And uh, I turned, he came back to the house and then the next day I drove all the way to Dallas and went and sat there and did some sales training with him and he kinda, you know, opened the doors to the industry for me.

Angie Cherubini (24:35):

Well, that’s cool. Yeah. And you said you had another one, any other,

Michael Hirst (24:41):

Um, yeah, it’s just kind of a, I’d say it’s just like a summary of everything that I’ve done is, is my favorite. It’s my favorite memory of this industry encompasses the last two years because like for instance, I’m on, I’m on this call with you guys. It’s eight twenty five in the morning here and I’m here with two of my daughters, you know, that aren’t in school yet. And so I’m able to, I obviously I change diapers and, and pick up and stuff like that, but I get to play with ’em. I get to be present, you know? Um, and, and that’s my favorite part of this is that if we want to go do something on a Saturday, we go do something on a Saturday. I don’t have somebody telling me now you gotta be here. Like, sorry, man. I gotta reschedule. Like my kids come first.

Angie Cherubini (25:27):

You’ll love that

Pat Cherubini (25:28):

Coming from, uh, two that have done the same thing for 24 years now, four years. That’s exactly it, man. I was home for my kids. I coached my kids and it’s a big deal.

Michael Hirst (25:38):

That’s that’s what I’m working towards. Yeah. Yeah. I’d love to be able to coach

Angie Cherubini (25:43):

You’ll love that. And your, your kids will, you know, your kids will watch and they’ll eventually appreciate it. It, that, that you are able to do that because that that’s one thing that, that they’ve talked about. Our three with us is that the fact that we were here and that everybody, you know, they talk about their friends and how their parents weren’t there for them at home and stuff like that. They came home to a, to a house by themselves. I know in a lot of situations, that’s just the way it has to be, but it, it was nice being able to have this choice. There

Pat Cherubini (26:16):

Were a lot of entrepreneurs that are driven by that.

Michael Hirst (26:19):

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Angie Cherubini (26:22):

So when you’re out there, um, what’s, what’s one of the biggest myths that people have about your industry. Like when you’re talking to, you know, when you, when you finally get to have a consultation with somebody, what’s one of the biggest myths.

Pat Cherubini (26:35):

Yeah. I feel like they’re always saying like, what’s the catch mm-hmm

Angie Cherubini (26:38):

Michael Hirst (26:39):

Yeah. So I think there’s gonna be three. Okay. So the first one is that solar winds up in landfills, when it’s, when it’s reached the end of life, um, for one there’s panels that are still working that have been installed since the sixties, but with solar, they’re not gonna throw it in landfills because it’s made with rare earth, uh, metals, you know, um, they, it’s all recyclable. I think solar and lithium ion batteries, right as it stands, um, are recyclable. And reclaimable up to 85% of raw materials that they could then use to make new solar panels and new batteries. Um, that’s, I think that’s the number one biggest myth is pollution. Um, the second biggest myth is cost. Um, the industry kind of helps with that because as people don’t realize that you don’t have, you can get financed for solar, with put, without putting any money down.

Michael Hirst (27:30):

Um, but where the industry is kind of harmed that is salesmen, go out chasing commission checks, and they’re trying to sell people as high as they can. Um, and that hurts the industry because have the rare opportunity to be saving people money and to be ambassadors for an entire industry that, I mean, in 20 years, we’re gonna look back and we’re gonna be amazed at how far we’ve come. But if, if you can, if you can get somebody solar and their payments with their electric company, everything, everything works out to where they’re saving money every month. Um, that for me, that’s just an incredible feeling, but it helps the industry as a whole, as a whole. And that’s possible for sure. Um, the other biggest myth is the 26% tax credit. And as a sales guy, I probably, this is probably not the right way to approach it, but there, it needs to be a lot more transparency in the issue with homeowners.

Michael Hirst (28:28):

Not solar is not a good fit for every single person yet. Um, but there’s a 26% federal investment tax credit. Not everybody’s gonna get that 26% of their total job costs back. But all of the residential lending options want that 26, 6% back, um, after 18 months because your payments start off really low. And then after 18 months, your loan will ream tries. If, if you don’t put that back in there. So it’s my job to allow the homeowner to see that and explain, Hey, even though I’m not a CPA and I can’t give you realistic tax advice based on your situation, I can say you need to talk to a CPA because you make X amount of dollars. You only write off X amount of things and, and you need to talk to your CPA to ensure that you’re gonna get this $8,000, $12,000, whatever, back in taxes, if it’s not looking like you are, then we have like 40 different loan options with a good majority of the them based on how I price this system out, where if you don’t put that tax credit back in 18 months.

Michael Hirst (29:32):

Yeah. Your payment goes up a little bit, but I’m, I can show you right here, how you’re still saving a lot of money, you know, and, and being able to work with each client as their own, instead of having everything, just be cookie cutter across everything you do, you know, mm-hmm, be transparent with those guys, cuz yeah, you might not make that sale because of that thing that you said, um, about the tax credit. But do you want to make that sale? And then in 18 months that person gets hosed by that payment going up because now it’s no longer in their budget and, and now they hate you and mm-hmm, all of their friends dislike you too, you know? Um, I’d rather walk away from those deals or at least give that person an opportunity, um, to make sure it’s a good fit for them.

Pat Cherubini (30:15):

You’re a difficult kinda salesman aren’t you?

Michael Hirst (30:18):

Yeah. Um, I think it’s,

Pat Cherubini (30:20):

That’s good. I,

Michael Hirst (30:21):

Part of it’s because of all the things we’ve gone through overseas, um, yeah, I’ve done a lot of interrogations. I’ve done a lot of, um, talking to assets and stuff overseas and going on missions. And, and then on the civilian side, I mean I did counterintelligence screenings for almost three years working my way from junior level screener, all the way up to senior counterintelligence advisor for special operations joint task force. There’s things you do in any industry, especially in the military that do not mesh with your morals. Um, I have the opportunity to change that. At least in my situation, you know, I can sell ethically and, and, and more at least to where I can sleep at night. Mm-hmm, trying it, it hurts the bottom line. You know, if, if I didn’t talk about the tax credit, like a lot of other salesmen are trained to not talk about it.

Michael Hirst (31:14):

Um, as much, you know, I I’d probably have a higher close ratio and my close ratio is a decent, you know, but I probably have a higher one. Um, but that’s also why I don’t run a lot of ads because the ad copy that you have to use in this industry to get people to click and then click through it is shady. Um, I’m sure you guys see it with solar after you talk to me and you get a couple solar ads, you know, mm-hmm, , mm-hmm, , you’ll see where they offer there’s government programs that help you get solar for free and it’s all this other stuff. And it’s like,

Pat Cherubini (31:45):

And that’s why I ask what’s the catch because I do see that, you know, zero down free grants, government, all that stuff. And it seems to too good to be true

Michael Hirst (31:54):

The way solar works. And this is just gonna be a really quick rundown. You can get solar with cash, um, and that’s gonna be your cheapest, but you’s gonna be your most out of pocket expense. You can get solar finances, zero down all the way from 0% interest, 1.49, 2.99 all the way up to like 7.5% interest. The higher interest rate you have on a loan is gonna be your lowest overall cost because there are there financing charges like with any other loan type mm-hmm . So if you have a 0% interest loan, say your, say it’s a cash price of like $40,000, right? And with a 0% interest loan, now your cash price is like $80,000, same exact everything, 0% loan, 0% down. But if you did, as, as if you did the same 25 year loan option on like a seven and a half percent interest, right?

Michael Hirst (32:44):

Your loan, your total loan amount would be still like 40 something thousand, which is way cheaper than the 0% across the board. But your payments are like, uh, in this instance, in my head, it’s about a 80 bucks higher, um, per month. And some people can’t swing that. So it’s, it really comes down to sitting down with the individual and figuring out what their situation is because the homeowner they’re not set up to lose. If, if I go to a homeowner or do a zoom call with a homeowner, I build them everything out for free. I sit down with them, give them all the time that they need. And if they don’t want to go solar, they don’t go solar. And that’s completely cool with me, but at least they learned. So when somebody else in the industry comes along, if that happens, they they’re educated already. They know what to look out for and they can go with them or they can go with me. It doesn’t, it doesn’t, I don’t care who they go with. Um, just that they don’t wind up being another one of these people that gets put in a bad situation because they were oversold. Um, you know,

Pat Cherubini (33:44):

Yep. Well, you just created the next, uh, 10 videos in my mind of teaching people. Exactly what you just taught us. Yeah. Because they’re gonna get the, the correct information from an obviously upstanding guy. And they’re gonna start to doubt the stuff that the, the O more shady guys are telling ’em. So that’s get on there and teach.

Michael Hirst (34:04):

Definitely. That’s definitely what I need to do. Um, yep. I, we see it across the board in every industry that the, the path of least resistance is the path that marketers choose and people don’t realize that marketing is propaganda and it’s, uh, no, absolutely. It’s, it’s, um, psychological operations, you know, some marketing is more ethical than others, but at the end of the day, it’s, it’s what psychological tricks can you play on words, um, and imagery to get your demographic to click and then click again and fill their information out and keep clicking. Um, it seems

Pat Cherubini (34:37):

Like that’s every, every screen we look at is like that. Yeah.

Michael Hirst (34:40):

Yeah. It’s, we’ve, we’re with, for lack of a better term, we’re kind of, uh, modern day human cattle in the sense that our economy is driven by how much we purchase. Right. Um, yeah.

Pat Cherubini (34:54):

Most

Michael Hirst (34:54):

Definitely. That’s a whole different podcast.

Pat Cherubini (34:56):

oh, yeah. That I see a rabbit hole over there. We we’re gonna stay away from that. Yep. So

Angie Cherubini (35:02):

We’re kinda along the same lines, but we’ll still stay away from that.

Pat Cherubini (35:06):

What’s the, uh, the question that we didn’t ask that you wish we would’ve, did we miss anything?

Michael Hirst (35:14):

Um, no, I don’t really think you guys missed anything, but if there are people listening that want to get into solar, um, they can reach out to me. They don’t have to work for me. I can help ’em find a place in the industry, whether they wanna work as a laborer, help, ’em put stuff on roofs, or they wanna work knocking doors and setting appointments for people or marketing or, or actually selling systems. Um, there’s a, there’s a place in the industry. There’s a massive boom going on right now. It’s essentially a gold rush, um, that, that a lot of people are ignoring. Um, but yeah, if, if anybody wants to get into this industry, no matter what state they’re in, I can help ’em. Um, I can find ’em a place in, with a different company if need be.

Angie Cherubini (35:58):

That’s great. Okay. What’s another, well, that’s the, that was my question. What advice would, yeah, you nailed it. What’d you give so,

Pat Cherubini (36:10):

So I, you know, we’re call, we, we’re calling the podcast local vibes, you know? Okay. So we, we, we wanna start asking people, what’s the vibe like where you’re local, you know, what’s your town, what’s the vibe of your town? Cause we always say your vibe attracts your tribe. And there are a lot of towns that aren’t trying real hard. So, you know, does your, does your town have a good vibe or not?

Michael Hirst (36:29):

Yeah, my town, my town is Linde, Texas, you know, uh, right outside of Tyler and Tyler, Texas is the rose capital of United States, you know, um, we’re about an hour and a half east of Dallas and our economy is blown up the housing market’s insane. Um, but the town has been doing a good job of expanding. They, they added a new park, um, not too long ago. Sorry, I got hiccups. They added a new park, not too, too long ago. And the population here in, in like five years is it’s gonna look completely different. Um, so I think, I think I’m in a good town. It’s gonna expand rapidly. Um, there’s a lot more jobs that are gonna be coming into the area. Um, and a, and a fresh batch of people from outside of the state, whether it’s California, New York, it it’ll shake. It’s shaking things up a little bit because Tyler, Texas, and this area of Texas has always kind of been old oil field money, you kno

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy; our Local Vibes podcast spotlights the hardworking men and women who make them successful!

In our latest episode, we sit down with Kim Workman, owner of Escape It, escape rooms in Newark, Ohio.

Kim shares her inspiring story of how she got started in the business six years ago and overcame the challenges in her business.

She also talks about her plans for Escape It and offers helpful advice for anyone considering starting their own small business.

This episode will give you valuable insights, whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or a longtime small business owner.

Transcript

Angie Cherubini (00:01):

Angie Cherubini (00:03):

Pat Cherubini (00:04):

Angie Cherubini (00:11):

Angie Cherubini (00:13):

Pat Cherubini (00:18):

Announcer (00:27):

Announcer (01:06):

Announcer (01:11):

Announcer (01:15):

Pat Cherubini (01:27):

Angie Cherubini (01:35):

Kim Workman (01:52):

New Speaker (01:54):

Angie Cherubini (01:56):

Kim Workman (02:03):

Angie Cherubini (02:10):

Pat Cherubini (02:11):

Kim Workman (02:24):

Pat Cherubini (02:39):

Angie Cherubini (02:43):

Kim Workman (02:51):

Angie Cherubini (02:51):

Kim Workman (02:53):

Angie Cherubini (03:18):

Pat Cherubini (03:21):

Angie Cherubini (03:23):

Pat Cherubini (03:31):

Angie Cherubini (03:38):

Pat Cherubini (03:39):

Kim Workman (03:42):

Angie Cherubini (03:51):

Kim Workman (03:52):

Angie Cherubini (03:54):

Kim Workman (03:55):

Pat Cherubini (04:02):

Angie Cherubini (04:03):

Kim Workman (04:19):

Pat Cherubini (05:28):

Angie Cherubini (05:49):

Kim Workman (05:52):

Angie Cherubini (05:53):

Kim Workman (05:56):

Pat Cherubini (06:16):

Kim Workman (06:17):

Pat Cherubini (06:24):

Kim Workman (06:28):

Angie Cherubini (06:33):

Kim Workman (06:38):

Angie Cherubini (06:48):

Kim Workman (06:50):

Angie Cherubini (07:00):

Kim Workman (07:06):

Angie Cherubini (07:25):

Kim Workman (07:27):

Angie Cherubini (07:49):

Pat Cherubini (07:51):

Angie Cherubini (07:54):

Kim Workman (08:07):

Pat Cherubini (08:59):

Angie Cherubini (09:01):

Pat Cherubini (09:07):

Kim Workman (09:11):

Pat Cherubini (09:28):

Angie Cherubini (09:29):

Kim Workman (09:31):

Angie Cherubini (09:33):

Kim Workman (09:43):

Pat Cherubini (09:48):

Angie Cherubini (09:59):

Kim Workman (10:01):

Angie Cherubini (10:50):

Kim Workman (10:55):

Pat Cherubini (11:28):

Angie Cherubini (11:35):

Kim Workman (11:37):

Angie Cherubini (11:37):

Kim Workman (11:39):

Pat Cherubini (11:41):

Kim Workman (11:46):

Pat Cherubini (11:51):

Angie Cherubini (11:56):

Pat Cherubini (11:57):

Angie Cherubini (11:59):

Pat Cherubini (11:59):

Kim Workman (12:05):

Pat Cherubini (12:07):

Angie Cherubini (12:14):

Kim Workman (12:39):

Kim Workman (13:50):

Angie Cherubini (14:21):

Kim Workman (14:38):

Angie Cherubini (15:15):

Kim Workman (15:19):

Pat Cherubini (15:26):

Kim Workman (15:28):

Angie Cherubini (15:30):

Kim Workman (15:31):

Angie Cherubini (15:49):

Pat Cherubini (15:50):

Kim Workman (15:52):

Angie Cherubini (16:11):

Kim Workman (16:25):

Angie Cherubini (16:46):

Speaker 8 (16:48):

Angie Cherubini (16:55):

Kim Workman (17:15):

Pat Cherubini (18:02):

Kim Workman (18:20):

Angie Cherubini (18:54):

Kim Workman (18:55):

Pat Cherubini (19:01):

Kim Workman (19:28):

Angie Cherubini (19:30):

Kim Workman (19:47):

Angie Cherubini (19:57):

Kim Workman (19:58):

Pat Cherubini (20:04):

Angie Cherubini (20:06):

Kim Workman (20:08):

Angie Cherubini (20:09):

Kim Workman (20:15):

Angie Cherubini (20:29):

Pat Cherubini (20:31):

Kim Workman (20:33):

Angie Cherubini (21:02):

Kim Workman (21:15):

Angie Cherubini (22:06):

Pat Cherubini (22:15):

Angie Cherubini (22:17):

Pat Cherubini (22:26):

Kim Workman (22:33):

Pat Cherubini (22:43):

Kim Workman (22:45):

Angie Cherubini (22:50):

Kim Workman (22:52):

Pat Cherubini (23:02):

Kim Workman (23:07):

Angie Cherubini (23:11):

Kim Workman (23:12):

Pat Cherubini (23:33):

Angie Cherubini (23:35):

Kim Workman (23:38):

Angie Cherubini (24:06):

Kim Workman (24:07):

Angie Cherubini (24:18):

Kim Workman (24:20):

Pat Cherubini (24:21):

Angie Cherubini (24:22):

Kim Workman (24:23):

Pat Cherubini (24:24):

Angie Cherubini (24:27):

Kim Workman (24:27):

Pat Cherubini (24:58):

Kim Workman (25:01):

Angie Cherubini (25:05):

Pat Cherubini (25:09):

Angie Cherubini (25:15):

Pat Cherubini (25:22):

Kim Workman (25:31):

Pat Cherubini (25:36):

Angie Cherubini (25:37):

Pat Cherubini (25:37):

Angie Cherubini (25:44):

Pat Cherubini (25:45):

Angie Cherubini (25:45):

Kim Workman (26:05):

Pat Cherubini (26:07):

Kim Workman (26:09):

Pat Cherubini (26:30):

Kim Workman (26:36):

Pat Cherubini (26:48):

Kim Workman (26:53):

Pat Cherubini (26:53):

Angie Cherubini (26:55):

Kim Workman (27:11):

Pat Cherubini (28:14):

Kim Workman (28:24):

Pat Cherubini (28:24):

Angie Cherubini (28:30):

Kim Workman (28:38):

Pat Cherubini (29:13):

Kim Workman (29:15):

Pat Cherubini (29:16):

Kim Workman (29:21):

Pat Cherubini (29:25):

Angie Cherubini (29:26):

Pat Cherubini (30:08):

Angie Cherubini (30:09):

Kim Workman (30:11):

Angie Cherubini (30:12):

Kim Workman (30:13):

Pat Cherubini (30:34):

Kim Workman (30:39):

Pat Cherubini (30:53):

Kim Workman (31:00):

Angie Cherubini (31:01):

Kim Workman (31:03):

Speaker 9 (31:05):

Angie Cherubini (31:06):

Kim Workman (31:20):

Kim Workman (31:31):

Angie Cherubini (32:09):

Pat Cherubini (32:10):

Speaker 9 (32:32):

Pat Cherubini (32:34):

Kim Workman (32:41):

Pat Cherubini (32:53):

Kim Workman (33:29):

Pat Cherubini (33:30):

Kim Workman (33:31):

Angie Cherubini (33:42):

Pat Cherubini (33:44):

Angie Cherubini (33:57):

Kim Workman (34:00):

Pat Cherubini (34:13):

Angie Cherubini (34:15):

Pat Cherubini (34:16):

Kim Workman (34:19):

Angie Cherubini (34:21):

Kim Workman (34:34):

Angie Cherubini (34:38):

Pat Cherubini (34:40):

Kim Workman (34:52):

Pat Cherubini (34:56):

Kim Workman (34:59):

Pat Cherubini (35:16):

Angie Cherubini (35:20):

Kim Workman (35:26):

Angie Cherubini (35:43):

Kim Workman (35:49):

Pat Cherubini (35:52):

Kim Workman (35:58):

Pat Cherubini (36:16):

Angie Cherubini (36:16):

Pat Cherubini (36:19):

Angie Cherubini (36:24):

Kim Workman (36:46):

Angie Cherubini (36:48):

Pat Cherubini (36:57):

Kim Workman (36:58):

Pat Cherubini (37:04):

Kim Workman (37:06):

Pat Cherubini (37:07):

Kim Workman (37:09):

Pat Cherubini (37:15):

Kim Workman (37:19):

Pat Cherubini (37:27):

Angie Cherubini (37:28):

Pat Cherubini (37:32):

Kim Workman (37:33):

Pat Cherubini (37:36):

Angie Cherubini (37:38):

Pat Cherubini (38:03):

Angie Cherubini (38:07):

Announcer (38:11):

Announcer (38:28):

Announcer (38:30):

Announcer  (38:50):

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy; our Local Vibes podcast spotlights the hardworking men and women who make them successful!

In our latest episode, we sit down with Kim Workman, owner of Escape It, escape rooms in Newark, Ohio.

Kim shares her inspiring story of how she got started in the business six years ago and overcame the challenges in her business.

She also talks about her plans for Escape It and offers helpful advice for anyone considering starting their own small business.

This episode will give you valuable insights, whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or a longtime small business owner.

Transcript

Angie Cherubini (00:01):

Angie Cherubini (00:03):

Pat Cherubini (00:04):

Angie Cherubini (00:11):

Angie Cherubini (00:13):

Pat Cherubini (00:18):

Announcer (00:27):

Announcer (01:06):

Announcer (01:11):

Announcer (01:15):

Pat Cherubini (01:27):

Angie Cherubini (01:35):

Kim Workman (01:52):

New Speaker (01:54):

Angie Cherubini (01:56):

Kim Workman (02:03):

Angie Cherubini (02:10):

Pat Cherubini (02:11):

Kim Workman (02:24):

Pat Cherubini (02:39):

Angie Cherubini (02:43):

Kim Workman (02:51):

Angie Cherubini (02:51):

Kim Workman (02:53):

Angie Cherubini (03:18):

Pat Cherubini (03:21):

Angie Cherubini (03:23):

Pat Cherubini (03:31):

Angie Cherubini (03:38):

Pat Cherubini (03:39):

Kim Workman (03:42):

Angie Cherubini (03:51):

Kim Workman (03:52):

Angie Cherubini (03:54):

Kim Workman (03:55):

Pat Cherubini (04:02):

Angie Cherubini (04:03):

Kim Workman (04:19):

Pat Cherubini (05:28):

Angie Cherubini (05:49):

Kim Workman (05:52):

Angie Cherubini (05:53):

Kim Workman (05:56):

Pat Cherubini (06:16):

Kim Workman (06:17):

Pat Cherubini (06:24):

Kim Workman (06:28):

Angie Cherubini (06:33):

Kim Workman (06:38):

Angie Cherubini (06:48):

Kim Workman (06:50):

Angie Cherubini (07:00):

Kim Workman (07:06):

Angie Cherubini (07:25):

Kim Workman (07:27):

Angie Cherubini (07:49):

Pat Cherubini (07:51):

Angie Cherubini (07:54):

Kim Workman (08:07):

Pat Cherubini (08:59):

Angie Cherubini (09:01):

Pat Cherubini (09:07):

Kim Workman (09:11):

Pat Cherubini (09:28):

Angie Cherubini (09:29):

Kim Workman (09:31):

Angie Cherubini (09:33):

Kim Workman (09:43):

Pat Cherubini (09:48):

Angie Cherubini (09:59):

Kim Workman (10:01):

Angie Cherubini (10:50):

Kim Workman (10:55):

Pat Cherubini (11:28):

Angie Cherubini (11:35):

Kim Workman (11:37):

Angie Cherubini (11:37):

Kim Workman (11:39):

Pat Cherubini (11:41):

Kim Workman (11:46):

Pat Cherubini (11:51):

Angie Cherubini (11:56):

Pat Cherubini (11:57):

Angie Cherubini (11:59):

Pat Cherubini (11:59):

Kim Workman (12:05):

Pat Cherubini (12:07):

Angie Cherubini (12:14):

Kim Workman (12:39):

Kim Workman (13:50):

Angie Cherubini (14:21):

Kim Workman (14:38):

Angie Cherubini (15:15):

Kim Workman (15:19):

Pat Cherubini (15:26):

Kim Workman (15:28):

Angie Cherubini (15:30):

Kim Workman (15:31):

Angie Cherubini (15:49):

Pat Cherubini (15:50):

Kim Workman (15:52):

Angie Cherubini (16:11):

Kim Workman (16:25):

Angie Cherubini (16:46):

Speaker 8 (16:48):

Angie Cherubini (16:55):

Kim Workman (17:15):

Pat Cherubini (18:02):

Kim Workman (18:20):

Angie Cherubini (18:54):

Kim Workman (18:55):

Pat Cherubini (19:01):

Kim Workman (19:28):

Angie Cherubini (19:30):

Kim Workman (19:47):

Angie Cherubini (19:57):

Kim Workman (19:58):

Pat Cherubini (20:04):

Angie Cherubini (20:06):

Kim Workman (20:08):

Angie Cherubini (20:09):

Kim Workman (20:15):

Angie Cherubini (20:29):

Pat Cherubini (20:31):

Kim Workman (20:33):

Angie Cherubini (21:02):

Kim Workman (21:15):

Angie Cherubini (22:06):

Pat Cherubini (22:15):

Angie Cherubini (22:17):

Pat Cherubini (22:26):

Kim Workman (22:33):

Pat Cherubini (22:43):

Kim Workman (22:45):

Angie Cherubini (22:50):

Kim Workman (22:52):

Pat Cherubini (23:02):

Kim Workman (23:07):

Angie Cherubini (23:11):

Kim Workman (23:12):

Pat Cherubini (23:33):

Angie Cherubini (23:35):

Kim Workman (23:38):

Angie Cherubini (24:06):

Kim Workman (24:07):

Angie Cherubini (24:18):

Kim Workman (24:20):

Pat Cherubini (24:21):

Angie Cherubini (24:22):

Kim Workman (24:23):

Pat Cherubini (24:24):

Angie Cherubini (24:27):

Kim Workman (24:27):

Pat Cherubini (24:58):

Kim Workman (25:01):

Angie Cherubini (25:05):

Pat Cherubini (25:09):

Angie Cherubini (25:15):

Pat Cherubini (25:22):

Kim Workman (25:31):

Pat Cherubini (25:36):

Angie Cherubini (25:37):

Pat Cherubini (25:37):

Angie Cherubini (25:44):

Pat Cherubini (25:45):

Angie Cherubini (25:45):

Kim Workman (26:05):

Pat Cherubini (26:07):

Kim Workman (26:09):

Pat Cherubini (26:30):

Kim Workman (26:36):

Pat Cherubini (26:48):

Kim Workman (26:53):

Pat Cherubini (26:53):

Angie Cherubini (26:55):

Kim Workman (27:11):

Pat Cherubini (28:14):

Kim Workman (28:24):

Pat Cherubini (28:24):

Angie Cherubini (28:30):

Kim Workman (28:38):

Pat Cherubini (29:13):

Kim Workman (29:15):

Pat Cherubini (29:16):

Kim Workman (29:21):

Pat Cherubini (29:25):

Angie Cherubini (29:26):

Pat Cherubini (30:08):

Angie Cherubini (30:09):

Kim Workman (30:11):

Angie Cherubini (30:12):

Kim Workman (30:13):

Pat Cherubini (30:34):

Kim Workman (30:39):

Pat Cherubini (30:53):

Kim Workman (31:00):

Angie Cherubini (31:01):

Kim Workman (31:03):

Speaker 9 (31:05):

Angie Cherubini (31:06):

Kim Workman (31:20):

Kim Workman (31:31):

Angie Cherubini (32:09):

Pat Cherubini (32:10):

Speaker 9 (32:32):

Pat Cherubini (32:34):

Kim Workman (32:41):

Pat Cherubini (32:53):

Kim Workman (33:29):

Pat Cherubini (33:30):

Kim Workman (33:31):

Angie Cherubini (33:42):

Pat Cherubini (33:44):

Angie Cherubini (33:57):

Kim Workman (34:00):

Pat Cherubini (34:13):

Angie Cherubini (34:15):

Pat Cherubini (34:16):

Kim Workman (34:19):

Angie Cherubini (34:21):

Kim Workman (34:34):

Angie Cherubini (34:38):

Pat Cherubini (34:40):

Kim Workman (34:52):

Pat Cherubini (34:56):

Kim Workman (34:59):

Pat Cherubini (35:16):

Angie Cherubini (35:20):

Kim Workman (35:26):

Angie Cherubini (35:43):

Kim Workman (35:49):

Pat Cherubini (35:52):

Kim Workman (35:58):

Pat Cherubini (36:16):

Angie Cherubini (36:16):

Pat Cherubini (36:19):

Angie Cherubini (36:24):

Kim Workman (36:46):

Angie Cherubini (36:48):

Pat Cherubini (36:57):

Kim Workman (36:58):

Pat Cherubini (37:04):

Kim Workman (37:06):

Pat Cherubini (37:07):

Kim Workman (37:09):

Pat Cherubini (37:15):

Kim Workman (37:19):

Pat Cherubini (37:27):

Angie Cherubini (37:28):

Pat Cherubini (37:32):

Kim Workman (37:33):

Pat Cherubini (37:36):

Angie Cherubini (37:38):

Pat Cherubini (38:03):

Angie Cherubini (38:07):

Announcer (38:11):

Announcer (38:28):

Announcer (38:30):

Announcer  (38:50):