Rebecca meets Lon and they build an empire of home services companies that lead to the best Contractor Coaching Program.

Dave Young:

Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick in business partner, Dave Young.

Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So, here’s one of those.

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Stephen Semple:

Hey, it’s Stephen Semple here with the Empire Builders Podcast. And we’ve given Dave Young the week off. So, he’s sitting back and chilling and relaxing and drinking drinks by some pool somewhere, I’m hoping. I’m really excited. I have Rebecca Cassel with me. And her story, when I first heard it was just one of these ones where I’m, “How is Rebecca, especially in the home services space for what she’s accomplished, not a household name?”

And for full disclosure of the business that Rebecca has now, which is certain path that does this amazing training for people in the home services space is a customer of ours. I’ve got a team of people working with Rebecca and their group to promote their business more. But one of the things that was exciting is when we got together for the day and you started sharing some of these stories, I was like, “This is an incredible journey that you’ve gone on, let’s face it, especially as a woman in the home services space.”

So, I guess what I want to do is go right back to that beginning when you first got exposed to the home services space. And please, don’t forget to tell the story about the wearing of the booties. That’s one of my favorite ones.

Rebecca Cassel:

Great. Thank you. Stephen. I’m excited to be here. I can’t believe it’s been 25 years of CertainPath. And obviously, we used to be Success Group International. And my story is unique. I graduated with an accounting degree, SAT for the CPA exam, thought I was going to go into public accounting and realized really quickly that I didn’t like it and was looking for opportunity to use my financial degree to help small businesses.

And I actually answered an ad. And this is okay, so ’90s, this is how you found a job back in the ’90s is a newspaper and there’s this amazing newspaper ad. And it did tell me exactly what the company was. But it said, “If you want to use your accounting degree or your financial experience, if you want to help implement systems and processes in a small business and help them operationally expand, this is the job for you.”

Such a cool written ad. I decided to pick up the phone and schedule an interview. And at the end of the phone call, of course, they give you an address and there was no way to Google it back then. And so, she’s like, “Turn here by the McDonald’s and then go down.” So, I was like, “Okay. Great.” And I really don’t remember if in that call I heard the name of the company because I was so excited that I got the interview.

So, I pull up for the interview and I quickly realized maybe I’m not in the right spot because on the sign it had a name of a heating and air conditioning company. I was like, “Well, surely, this is not the company that put the ad in the paper.” Because I just thought appearance of the building, the sign that was cracked, the weeds in the parking lot, did not screen professional, professional.

But I kind of thought, “Well, I got to go find out if I’m in the right place or not. And if I’m here, so it is.” So, I walked in. And you got to remember back then, this is when women were pantyhose and I was in my black patent heels and my gray suit, totally looking super corporate. And I walk into this little …

Stephen Semple:

Did you have shoulder pads in the …

Rebecca Cassel:

Yes. They both match [inaudible 00:05:03] and my briefcase. So, I looked all official. I walked in and there is a lady who’s smoking a cigarette, sitting behind this old walled paneling, 1970s looking office and stacks of papers everywhere. And I’m like, “Are you going to talk to me? I’m standing here.” And I quickly realize she was on a personal phone call and she waved me over to a chair in the corner that’s one of those old orange plastic chairs, half of the chair was broken off.

Stephen Semple:

Oh, man. It just gets better.

Rebecca Cassel:

Yeah. I’m sitting here going, “Wait. I’m so confused. Why this professional, really cool ad describe my dream job?” And I feel like I was walking into the Twilight zone. So, I sit down. I wait for her to finish her phone call and she says, “Are you here for the interview?” And my heart sank and I quickly realized I was in the right …

Stephen Semple:

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I’m actually in the right place.

Rebecca Cassel:

I’m just observing because I’m like, “Wow. Super professional, really cool marketed job advertisement.” And a gentleman comes out and he actually looks like he’s close to my age and he asked me if I would go into the office and I did. And he asked me a few questions. I had a resume. But I was like, “Surely, this cannot be the owner of this company.” I mean this … I would say as a kid, you know me in our early 20s.

And I quickly realized it was the son. So, then I got introduced to the owner and really cool people, just salt of the earth people who are really working hard, providing HVAC service, and they were looking for someone to come in and help them with their operations and get their systems and processes and their accounting in order.

And they had told me, they said, “We joined this organization and they’re the ones that wrote the ad and they’re the ones telling us that we need someone like you to help us fix our company.” And I said, “Do you mind if you can tell me the name of the organization?” And they did. And I said, “Well, how much did you pay to join this organization?” They said, “Well, it’s $25,000 upfront and then we have to pay a monthly fee and we have to go to training. So, this is a big investment for us.” And I was shocked.

I was like, “This is a scam. This is not for real. Someone took advantage of these poor people who are innocent trying to run their business.” And I just said, “Look, I don’t know if this is the right thing for me.” I thought I was walking into something different. We actually had a little bit more of a conversation. And I found out they did a lot of new construction where they were trying to get into the residential side of HVAC and that this organization that they joined was going to lead them down the path and that was going to help them know exactly what to do.

So, I kindly excused myself and said, “Look, I just don’t think this is for real, and I’m sorry that you spent this kind of money. But if I were you, I would rot.” So, I decide to leave.

Stephen Semple:

Which is wrapped in so much irony right now.

Rebecca Cassel:

Exactly. I decided to leave and the next day I got a phone call. They asked me if I would come back in for another interview. Like, “No. You don’t understand. This is really not what I thought I was going to do with my career. I don’t think that you could probably even afford me. I think this is the wrong thing.”

And they go, “Well, you talk to the person who is actually going to teach the class in Houston that we want to go to, that we want you to go to if you would take this job.” And I said, “Okay. I will.” So, I took the gentleman’s phone call and his name was Lon Cassel.

Stephen Semple:

So, there’s the beginning. Okay.

Rebecca Cassel:

And Lon had owned seven different heating and air conditioning companies and was a part of selling some of them to service experts in the mid-’90s and then had a passion for helping contractors. He had a consulting business. But at the time, he was doing some classes for the training organization that this contractor had joined.

And he said, “Look, I’m going to tell you right now, this is for real. This business really does help contractors. We give them a business model, a path, we give them training, we give them coaching, we give them everything that they need to succeed, but what they need is somebody to help implement all these things with their business. And if you come to this class, it will change your life.”

And I was like, “I don’t know. HVAC, I’m an accountant. How does this work?” He goes, “I guarantee you. You will see and you’ll understand, but you’re going to have to take a leap of faith. Take the job and get to the class.” So, I called the owner back and we did another interview. And I found out in the interview, too, that they really hadn’t been making any money.

So, then it made me even feel guilty about saying, “Hey, I got to make money here myself. I am young. I got to have a job.” But that was on a Thursday I took the job. On that Sunday, we flew to Houston to attend this class, and really my first day on the job was at this training class in Houston, Texas. And I went through the first week of training. The whole concept of it was go to the training a week, go back, implement, come back a week, go back and implement.

So, it was this ongoing thing. The owner went with me. And so, we were learning it together and deciding what we’re going to go back. And it was eye-opening. I was amazed. It was as close to giving someone exactly how to start a business from scratch in the HVAC world as I had ever seen before. And I thought, “Wow. Every small business could use a playbook like this.”

Dave Young:

Stay tuned. We’re going to wrap up this story and tell you how to apply this lesson to your business right after this.

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Stephen Semple:

Let’s pick up our story where we left off. And trust me, you haven’t missed a thing.

Rebecca Cassel:

The whole concept of it was go to the training a week, go back, implement, come back a week, go back and implement. So, it was this ongoing thing. The owner went with me. And so, we were learning it together and deciding what we’re going to go back. And it was eye-opening. I was amazed. It was as close to giving someone exactly how to start a business from scratch in the HVAC world as I had ever seen before. And I thought, “Wow. Every small business could use a playbook like this.”

Stephen Semple:

Right. So, you suddenly went from this skeptic, how is this going to help anybody, you’ve overspent, run away to suddenly you’re exposed to it and realizing people in the HVAC business are taught the technology. They’re taught the how to do this, but not how to run a business. And this was a playbook that literally could be followed. And I remember you telling me that that had a huge impact on this business.

Rebecca Cassel:

Absolutely. So, I was excited. The owner was excited. We ended up going back and had great plans of what we were going to implement, everything from getting price right to the marketing, to getting the sales in place, to systems and procedures, measuring KPIs, getting their accounting fixed. And one of the hard things was when we get back, we were excited, but no one in the company was excited about all this change that we were getting ready to do.

It was a family business. I found out the wife was the one behind the desk that day that I went to interview. I did not know that. The son was the salesperson. The uncle was the installer. So, there was a lot of resistance to really doing what we needed to do. I worked with Lon a lot to figure out ways to get people excited about the changes.

And so, over a period of time, a little less than a year, we got that business on track. They started making money. We were growing in the residential repair and replacement. It was a really exciting time in my career to see that implementing these key business things could really completely turn a business around. Yep. Very exciting.

Stephen Semple:

Yeah. And then following that, if I remember correctly, so you got these guys going, following that was the next step you went into become then a coach with Lon. Isn’t that what the next step was?

Rebecca Cassel:

So, Lon Cassel had Cassel Consultants and there was a lot of opportunity for people who said, “I want to improve my business, just like what you did over here.” And Lon said, “Look, if you’re willing to get on the road, I’ve got more contractors and more business that I can handle.” And so, I worked for Cassel Consultants next, and I went to 27 different companies over almost a two-year period of time helping them implement and understand the systems, the processes, the KPIs, all the business things that weren’t in place, and then help put them in place.

And then we would go back and touch base with them and see how they were doing after we implemented and transformation galore, which got me so excited that I went to Lon and I said, “I can do this myself. I can have my own HVAC company,” right?

Stephen Semple:

Right. This is one of my favorite parts.

Rebecca Cassel:

Yeah. It’s like doing all this for everybody and I see that I can do this and I would really love to start my own HVAC or make an acquisition. Would you be my business partner? He agreed to be my business partner. In 1997, we started Airco Home Comfort in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And the greatest and hardest experience of my entire career, probably, because North Carolina was completely different place. I lived in Tennessee.

But also starting from scratch is a lot more difficult than until you acquired something. And we wanted to be there for numerous reasons, but we wanted to have access to these systems of processes. The whole system that we knew worked. And so, I started from scratch. And in our first year, we just did a little over a million dollars.

Stephen Semple:

Which is amazing.

Rebecca Cassel:

I was call-taker, dispatcher. I was a salesperson. I did everything except install and repair. I knew enough to get the right technical people on my team and had some really sharp people. I would go out on job sites. I would get in crawl spaces and attics, had no problem doing that. But from the technical perspective, we always had really, really great technical people and it was great.

Lots of challenges that come along with running your own business, but feeling, knowing exactly what it means to generate calls, make sure that the jobs get done right, make sure they pass inspection, customer’s happy, making payroll, growing the business, doing all the things was really a great experience.

Stephen Semple:

Yes. It’s one thing to experience it as a coach and as an employee and as a mentor and all those other things. And it’s something completely different to experience having done it your own and starting it, as you said, from scratch. One of the stories I want you to share, because you went out and you did sales, and I remember you saying one point where if you didn’t make the sale, you had to call.

At the end of each one you had to call Lon and say, “Did you get the sale or not?” Which I found really interesting. But there was one in particular that you talked about where you came up to the house and you’re like, “This sale isn’t going to happen.”

Rebecca Cassel:

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it’s one of the things that I told Lon, I was like, “I’ve known a salesperson.” He goes, “The moment that you step in to being a business owner, means you need to know how to do all of it. You may not be the best at it, but you have to know how to do it. How else can you hold someone accountable?”

And so, sales for an accounting person was completely out of my comfort zone. But the system that they thought, the tools that we use, things that we still teach contractors today, was easy for me to pick up and figure out. And so, Lon goes, “You can’t hire a salesperson until we generate X amount of revenue because it’s just adding more costs to the business. So, you need to generate the first million dollars of sales, and then after that you can get a comfort advisor.”

So, I was highly motivated. I could go hire somebody else. There’s two very, very specific leads that I’ll never forget. One, I pulled up to the house at 7:00. We go through the whole thing of confirming husband, wife at home, all the decision-makers going to be there. But I pull up to the home. And after every single call for accountability, Lon would debrief, “How did it go?” And I’d have to beep him. We had beepers back then. And he just code it.

So, the codes on certain things, and I hated the one code, which meant I didn’t sell it. If I didn’t sell it, had to go back to the office, pick up the phone and tell him why. But anyway, he wanted [inaudible 00:18:35] I got in the lead, got to the door. This is Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The guy opens the door, and I could tell he was either riskily high drunk, on something and he was flirting. And I’m in my mid-20s, blonde female coming out, and I’m like, “Yeah. 7:00 at night.” I go, “Is your wife home?” He is like, “Yeah. I know my wife’s not home, but you can come on in.”

And I go, “I think I’m going to reschedule.” Go back to the office, beep Lon knowing that I have to have a conversation. And I talked to him and he goes, “What happened at the lead?” I go, “Well, the guy was on something. He was high. He was way flirty.” He goes, “Go back. You can close that. People who are high or drunk are the easiest people to call.” And I said, “Are you serious? I am a female. It’s not safe. It’s 7:00 at night. It’s already …”

Stephen Semple:

And by the way, we’re not condoning this today, but it’s a fun story.

Rebecca Cassel:

Long time to ago. And let’s just say that on that phone call, I coined the term Asshole Cassel. So, I can [inaudible 00:19:42]. I did not go back and didn’t go back in that house. So, anyway, yeah, lots of accountability though for what we’re supposed to be doing in this and great experiences there.

The other one that we were talking about, the other lead is sometimes as salespeople, you drive up to a house and you make pre-judgements about how the call’s going to go. And Lon always told me, “Do not make judgments. You go in and you run every call. You do all the steps. You do everything I’ve taught you to do. You’ll be surprised how people will surprise you.” So, I drive up and I’m literally going …

Stephen Semple:

So, true.

Rebecca Cassel:

I’m going to put the shoe covers on to protect my feet to go into this home, not to protect their home. It was that kind of … Right?

Stephen Semple:

And you’re going to burn the shoe covers when you’re done.

Rebecca Cassel:

Exactly. Like, “Oh, my gosh.” And of course, the lady says, “You don’t have to put those on.” And go, “Oh, no. It’s policy. We’re good. Thank you.” Anyway, I did the whole thing. And we spend 90 minutes in the home. So, I walked through a whole presentation and then at the end she says, “I love you, honey. I think it’s great that you’re a female and your about this business.” And I’m like, “Okay. Great.”

She gets up. She walks out. She comes back. She’s got a shoebox. And she just starts counting me cash. My installer’s probably fainted the next day and said, “This is a crazy job.” I go, “I know it. But she paid. This is the system she wanted and we’re installing it and we’re going to guarantee it like we do all of our others.”

So, it’s just a lesson to me. Every homeowner deserves a shot. You can’t judge where people are. And it’s been something I’ve been able to teach other salespeople. It’s like, “Hey, every lead counts. Every lead matters.”

Stephen Semple:

And we judge both ways, and we’ve all had it happen. You pull up to the home that’s palatial and every blade of grass in place, and you can’t even get them financing.

Rebecca Cassel:

Exactly.

Stephen Semple:

You’re like, “What the heck?” But I also am going to guess, I think part of the reason why she bought from you as well is because you didn’t judge her and anybody else would. And when somebody comes into your life like that and doesn’t judge, treat you well, treat you like how you treat everybody else. You’re like, “They give that respect back.”

But I just love the whole thing of don’t judge, because I think too often we do, and it completely messes us up when that happens. So, those are two fantastic stories. But the fun part that I still like is the realization that you made at a certain point. And I believe it was with this business where you suddenly realized that as much as you had done the coaching, that when you’re in the business, there was a certain point where you realized you actually needed a coach.

Rebecca Cassel:

Yeah. I mean, I would never have been successful or able to do what I’m doing if I wouldn’t have had a mentor and Lon. And then the systems, the process, the tools, the coaching behind what to do. There’s always the “I think I know what to do, but I’ve never done this before.” And so, I need someone to call. I need someone to say, “I’ve been there, I’ve done that. I’ve made a ton of these mistakes. Don’t make that mistake. I can help you faster.”

And I really think, could I have maybe taken 4 or 5, 6, 10 years to do a million dollars in revenue? Absolutely. But because I had a coach, I had a mentor who was telling me exactly what to do, how to do it, and to stay the course with the system, the system it doesn’t fail. Yeah. A huge epiphany for me, and especially as a female. I mean, in the ’90s, there weren’t too many women running HVAC businesses, let alone in the trades.

And so, I would often go to association events and conferences and be the only female in the room. And so, talking about being judged or intimidated in that particular role, I think that really helped me go, “I’m going to approach this a little bit differently and I’m going to do the things I need to do, and I’m going to follow the system exactly like my coach is telling me and implement as much as I can and prove that women can do this.” And so, super exciting time.

Stephen Semple:

So, you grew the business to a million bucks. You ended up getting salespeople and you go through it. But let’s talk about the next evolution of growth. You ended up taking this way beyond the single HVAC company in the Carolinas, right?

Rebecca Cassel:

Yeah. So, Lon, as I said, he was my business partner. And it was funny. I would say that sometimes you really like your business partners and sometimes you don’t. And I think Lon and I went through the, “Hey, I don’t like you very much.” But we really respect to each other. We had very different strengths and weaknesses. I am very operational, strategic, and accounting. He was sales and marketing and relational. And so, the combination was pretty fierce.

And he called me one day and he said, “Hey, we’re going to start an organization. And I just got invited to join a group of investors in St. Louis to start an organization that will help more contractors.” And he said, “We’re going to actually branch out just doing HVAC. I think we’re going to do plumbing and maybe eventually electrical.”

And I go, “Wow, that’s really exciting.” He goes, “I’m moving to St. Louis, so I’ll keep in touch with what’s going on.” I was living in North Carolina and he was living in Illinois at the time. And I thought, “Wow. What a cool thing.” I go, “Well, if I can be of help, obviously, I’m here doing it, writing operations manuals or procedures, or obviously I’d love to be a client. So, when we get this all up and going, that’ll be exciting.”

About three months later, he called me and he said, “Hey, I think you should be a part of this.” And I was like, “What do you mean?” I’m running an HVAC business in a completely different state. And again, before all the technology where you could do everything remote. He goes, “I think what we’re going to do is going to really change the industry dramatically and I know you would want to be a part of that.”

And he said, “Why don’t you find a way to develop our comfort advisor and into the general manager, and let’s get this going to where maybe you could come be a part of this operationally.”

Stephen Semple:

And which business was this, Rebecca?

Rebecca Cassel:

This was Success Group International. I went in and talked with some of the other founders about what we’re going to do, the CEO, Jim Abrams. And Lon was already employed. And I got to meet Patty Meyers, who was their VP of finance, and I ended up being the fourth employee.

Brian:

Oh, no, no.

Rick:

What?

Brian:

I was enjoying this episode.

Rick:

Don’t worry. Part 2 is coming next week.

Brian:

It better.

Dave Young:

Thanks for listening to the podcast. Please share us, subscribe on your favorite podcast app, and leave us a big, fat, Juicy five-star rating and review at Apple Podcasts. And if you’d like to schedule your own 90-minute Empire Building session, you can do it at empirebuildingprogram.com.