Scale With Speed Podcast

Brian Lazcano joins Victor Rancor on the Scale With Speed Podcast to share his journey from a one-man electrical business to building Harmony, a growing HVAC, plumbing, and electrical company.

In This Episode

• Turning sales training into real-world growth
• Using unexpected leads to create bigger opportunities
• Building systems and processes that scale
• Growing from $1M to a business pacing toward $10M
• Hiring the right people and building strong teams
• The importance of company culture and leadership
• Sacrificing today to build long-term growth
• Brian’s vision for taking Harmony toward $50M

🎙️ Guest: Brian Lazcano 🏢 Company: Harmony 🎤 Host: Victor Rancor

What happens when you stop playing it safe and go all in?

In this episode of Scale With Speed, Victor Rancour sits down with Andrew Hooper to talk about his incredible journey from being an unemployed 19-year-old to building a successful career in the skilled trades and generating millions in HVAC sales.

Andrew started in plumbing with little experience and quickly discovered that he had a natural ability for sales. After losing his job, he made a life-changing decision: he packed a backpack, grabbed his boots, and flew across the country to Dallas to pursue an opportunity in HVAC.

With almost no HVAC experience, Andrew sold $100,000 in his first week and continued to develop his skills in sales, customer communication, and the trades. His journey eventually took him to Ohio, where he learned how to turn home warranty calls—often viewed as undesirable by technicians—into major opportunities.

Over the past year, Andrew generated approximately $4.8 million in sales, completely transforming his financial situation and lifestyle in the process.

In this conversation, Victor and Andrew discuss taking risks, developing the right mindset, finding opportunity where others don't, and why the skilled trades can create life-changing opportunities for people willing to commit.

In This Episode

• Andrew's journey into plumbing at 19
• How water heater flushes became a major sales opportunity
• Going from plumbing to HVAC
• The decision to move across the country with only a backpack and boots
• Selling $100,000 in HVAC during his first week
• Learning HVAC while selling in the field
• Moving from Dallas to Ohio for a new opportunity
• How to approach home warranty calls differently
• Turning overlooked calls into major sales opportunities
• The importance of communication and customer trust
• How Andrew's career changed his financial life
• Cutting out distractions and developing better habits
• Why going all in can create new opportunities
• The potential of careers in the skilled trades
• Andrew's advice for technicians and people entering the trades
• His next goal: acquiring a company and building an empire

Key Takeaway

You don't always need to have everything figured out before taking the next step. Andrew's story is about recognizing an opportunity, putting fear aside, and committing fully to learning and growing.

Sometimes, the opportunity you're looking for is hiding inside the calls, jobs, or situations that everyone else overlooks.

Business is a sport. Let's go out and win.

Episode Highlights

• The "Hand-to-Hand Combat" Phase: Kevin and Victor discuss the early days of guerrilla marketing—from sponsoring local teams for $50 to paying employees' wives to scout leads in Facebook groups.
• The Owner-Operator Trap: Kevin recalls the grueling days of installing units by himself in 150°F attics, crying from the stress of not being able to afford help.
• The Turning Point: The moment Kevin realized he was "the rot at the head of the fish" and made the life-altering decision to get sober and overhaul his health.
• Scaling in a Tiny Market: How they achieved $1.2M months in a rural area with no local equipment distribution and a limited talent pool.
• Ultramarathons & Business: Why suffering through 50K races is the ultimate training ground for the "pain caves" of high-level business operations.

Key Takeaways

1. The Power of Technical Mastery

Dustin emphasizes that while sales and communication are vital, a deep passion for the "technical box" (HVAC, Electrical, Plumbing) is what builds true confidence.

• The "Easy" Part: Once you know you can fix anything, you can stop worrying about the technical side and focus entirely on the customer experience.
• The Challenge: The industry must do a better job of showing the younger generation how "cool" it is to bring a home to life through these complex systems.

2. Scaling Culture Across 30 Locations

A major concern during Any Hour’s growth was maintaining culture. Dustin explains that culture isn't a single thing—it's an umbrella.

• Empowered Leadership: To grow, you must train mid-level managers to build their own "mini-cultures" within their departments (Drains, Electrical, etc.).
• The Leader's Vibe: "The fish rots from the head." If the leader is stressed and negative, the whole shop will be. Leaders must "correct their state of mind" before walking through the doors.

3. Attracting "A-Players" When You're Small

Victor and Dustin discuss how to hire elite talent when you can’t yet offer the biggest paycheck:

• Sell the Vision: People don't want to work for a stagnant $1M company; they want to be part of a $1M company that is clearly heading to $10M.
• Act Bigger Than You Are: Invest in the "A-Player" environment (clean trucks, uniforms, benefits) before you think you can afford them. This is the only way to attract "Lions."

4. "Business as a Sport"

Victor shares his philosophy on competition:

• Leaderboards: Use national or internal rankings to keep high-performers (Lions) motivated.
• Celebration: Publicly celebrate the small wins. It rewards the individual and motivates the observers.

Podcast Episode Notes: Scale Speed Podcast

Host: Victor Rancour Guest: Bill Rossell, CEO of LB Capital

Episode Overview

In this episode, Victor Rancour sits down with his mentor and industry leader, Bill Rossell. Recorded at a massive new 60,000 sq. ft. HVAC training facility, the two dive deep into the power of vulnerability, the "abundance mindset" in the trades, and the raw reality of overcoming addiction while leading a multi-million dollar enterprise.

Key Discussion Points

• The Future of Training: Victor showcases his new Ohio-based training facility—a transformed Dish Network building designed to take technicians "off the streets" and turn them into pros for HVAC, sales, and call centers.
• The "Abundance Mindset": Bill reflects on how the trades changed his perspective. Unlike the digital marketing space where people hide their "secret sauce," the trades thrive on open-door policies and sharing processes.
• Sobriety & Leadership: Bill shares the emotional story of his "trial separation" from alcohol. He discusses the deception involved in high-functioning addiction and how choosing sobriety over three years ago saved his marriage and his professional purpose.
• The "Wolf of HVAC" Era: Victor opens up about his past struggles with success at a young age, admitting that while he was a "rockstar" in the industry, he lacked the self-awareness to handle the ego and money that came with it.
• Building a Circle of Trust: Both leaders emphasize that success isn't about proving people wrong, but about proving the people who stayed by you right.

Core Business Principles

• Master One Trade: Become dominant in one niche before expanding; adding trades too early creates distractions and loses money.
• Price for the Future: Charge based on the $5M or $10M company you want to be, not the small shop you are now.
• Prioritize Profit over Revenue: High revenue ($8M+) means nothing if your net profit is zero or you cannot make payroll.

Operational Lessons

• Financial Literacy: Owners must master their numbers (P&L, balance sheets) rather than outsourcing them entirely to an accountant.
• Exit Commercial Work: David Hirst shifted from commercial to residential service to ensure faster payment and better cash flow.
• Hire an Operator: Visionary owners need a "no" person or an operations manager to manage the chaos of scaling.

Leadership & Growth

• Personal Branding: Social media is the "new currency" for recruiting top talent and attracting customers.
• Mental Health: Victor and David advocate for therapy and extreme accountability to handle the stress of entrepreneurship.
• Abundance Mindset: Modern contractors should share "secrets" and train others to elevate the entire industry.

Key Topics & Takeaways

• Why Contractors Distrust Marketing
  • “Set it and forget it” agencies, no accountability, no trade knowledge
• The Power of Niching Down
  • Specializing in home services = faster onboarding, better results
• Marketing Isn’t a Black Hole
  • Track real revenue, not just leads or vanity metrics
• SEO That Drives Revenue
  • Google Business Profile, reviews, citations, and long-term planning
• Yelp, Apple Maps & Review Diversity
  • Why Yelp still matters and how AI search pulls local data
• Local SEO Ranking Factors
  • Business name keywords, seasonal categories, 2026 insights
• Omnichannel & Brand Growth
  • OTT/CTV, radio, brand search, and credibility marketing
• CSR & Call Performance
  • Speed-to-lead, call monitoring, and CSRs as sales reps
• Guerrilla & Community Marketing
  • Job-site signage, door knocking, events, and local backlinks
• Lifetime Value Over New Leads
  • Retarget existing customers to keep the call board full

In this high-energy episode, we dive deep into the mindset shift required to move from being a "technician in a truck" to a sophisticated business architect. We explore why the home services industry is often misunderstood as "salesy" when it’s actually about education and trust. From the psychology of pricing to the "The Witcher" method of building rapport, this conversation is a masterclass in modernizing your trade business for the next generation of homeowners.

• The Vet Clinic Analogy: Why nobody feels "sold" at the vet, even when they spend thousands, and how to mirror that trust in HVAC.
• Marketing vs. Process: Why investing in marketing before you have a sales process is like pouring water into a leaky bucket.
• Exchanging Knowledge for Trust: Moving fast "technician babble" to help customers understand the why behind a repair.
• Performance Pay vs. Hourly: How to sell your team on a pay structure that rewards opportunity rather than just time.
• Game Theory in Sales: Shifting from a "Zero-Sum" (I win, you lose) mindset to a "Non-Zero Sum" mindset where both the tech and the customer win.
• The Witcher & Pokemon Cards: A wild story about how obsessive rapport-building turned a "stonewall" customer into a $50,000 job.
• Modern Metrics: Why the "Millennial Homeowner" buys differently than the Boomer, and how to adapt your digital presence.
• Accounting for Growth: The difference between "Bank Account Accounting" and true job costing.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• The Career Pivot: How 9/11 forced Chuck out of aerospace and into home improvement—and why he never looked back.
• The "COVID Hangover": Why the easy market of the last few years created "soft" sales teams and how to fix it.
• Activity vs. Results: Why you must manage the activity to ensure the results happen.
• The Sales Manager Trap: Why promoting your top sales rep to manager is often a recipe for disaster.
• Building a Training Culture: The secret to getting your team to buy into daily training and discipline.
• Personal Branding: Why your personal social media is the most powerful (and free) recruiting and marketing tool you own.