Weldon Long
Appearances
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Listen, I went through a lot of years of my life in those prison years blaming the judges, the prosecutors, the ex-wife. Then one day it hit me like if all those things are the reason my life sucks, then all those things got to change for my life to get better. And that's probably not going to happen. But if I'm the problem, then I can change that, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Well, then, if you're going to take care of your family, If you're going to raise your children and provide for your family, don't you think it would be helpful to have a more positive belief system around sales since that's what you do for a living? Tommy, I was in a company one time up in the northeast. I think I was in Boston or somewhere up there, way up there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And it was this engineering company. I forget what they did. It was 15 years ago. Had about 50 salespeople, though. And so I'm up there doing a sales event. And I asked that question, what comes to mind when I say the word salesman? And there's this lady in the back row, and she's furiously writing. Like for five, ten seconds. And I'm like, man, what are you writing back there?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You seem very animated. Pushy, high pressure, lazy, irresponsible, dishonest, all these negative words. I'm like, dang. I said, what do you do here? She was the vice president of sales. And her core belief system about the men and the women that worked for her was so negative. How's that going to work? So I think like any problem, you've learned this in business and your personal life.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You've got to recognize the problem first.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Right. Oh, yeah. Listen, I went through a lot of years of my life in those prison years blaming the judges, the prosecutors, the ex-wife, her boyfriend, government witnesses, all this stuff. And then one day it hit me like – actually, I read it. I didn't really invent it, but it hit me. And it's like if all those things –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
are the reason my life sucks, then all those things got to change for my life to get better. And that's probably not going to happen. They're not going to change for me. Oh, that's a good thought process. Yeah. But if I'm the problem, then I can change that, right? I have control over my thoughts and my behaviors. So that was kind of a watershed kind of turning point for me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
But I really think it's about understanding that people understand their limiting beliefs, kind of their junk in their trunk around sales. And a lot of it's tied to income. Let me tell you the greatest example – of a sales process I've ever, ever seen in my life. I learned it from a guy named Joe, and he had a little company, I shit you not, called Joe the Concrete Guy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I lived up in a little town called Woodland Park, Colorado, which is about 30 miles west of Colorado Springs, 5,000 people, 9,000 feet elevation behind Pikes Peak, beautiful little mountain town. I lived there for about 10 years. And every day I would leave Woodland Park, you drive down this mountain pass about 20 miles, and there's a little restaurant there called The Hungry Bear.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And probably out of five mornings, at least three mornings, I would see this white Ford pickup in the parking lot that said Joe the Concrete Guy on a phone number. I used to get a kick out of it. You were talking about marketing messages and Dan Antonelli and the great work that he does. It's like, who does the work? Joe. What do they do? Concrete. It's the simplest marketing message ever.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Joe the concrete guy. So about two years after I'm living up there, I realize I need some steps poured at the end of my driveway. So I get kind of excited. I'm like, I'm going to meet Joe the concrete guy. So I get his phone number off his truck one day. I call him up. Joe comes up to my house. There's not a pretentious, pressure, sleazy bone in his body. He's a good old mountain boy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Big old bushy head of hair, beard, T-shirt cut off from flip-flops. He was like the honey badger. He didn't give a shit, right? He wasn't trying to impress anybody. He was not some slick, pretentious sales guy. I start talking about the steps, and it turns out it's about $1,000 to get the steps done I want done. I said, that's great. I said, let's do it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
He said, do you mind if I ask you a question? I'll fire away. He says, why is your motorcycle trailer parked in the dirt and the rocks next to your driveway? It was like this dry riverbed where water would run off or snow would run off. And I parked my trailer in there, a little motorcycle trailer from my son when he was young and riding dirt bikes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I said, well, Joe, as you can plainly see, the driveway is not wide enough for the trailer. He says, you know, when I'm here pouring your steps, I could widen your driveway. Like that, my budget went from $1,000 to $10,000. So I asked Joe after he did the paperwork. I said, Joe, where did you learn to do that technique? It was what technique? I said, you took it from 1,000 to 10,000 like that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
He said, with all due respect, it's not technique. It's common sense. I said, I know it's common sense, but it's not common practice. I deal with guys all the time in the service industry that don't do it. And then he said the magic words to me. He said, what does it say on my truck out there? I laughed. I said, it says Joe the concrete guy on your phone number. He says, yeah, Joe the concrete guy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
It doesn't say Joe the plumbing, HVAC, window, roofing, landscaping guy. All I do is concrete. I'm a specialist. Yeah. And then he said this, he said, I learned a long time ago, if I'm going to feed my family and pay my bills, I have a very simple job. Every time I walk onto a piece of property, I look for every problem that concrete can solve.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I tell the homeowners, there's your high pressure sales process, folks. There's nothing high pressure about it. But the truth is when guys say sales is high pressure, they don't want to do it. They think it's whatever. They just don't want to do the work.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Listen, how many times do you see in the garage door business, in the HVAC business, a guy walks in, fixes the basic problem, and leaves and never even looks around for other problems he can solve? You're back there the next year. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I had a client recently send a technician out. The guy had two HVAC systems in his house. Technician goes out, long-term customer, maintenance customer, this homeowner. The guy comes out. Service tech comes out. He finds one little problem and right away starts talking to the homeowner about replacing the system. Guy says, yeah, I'll talk to a comfort advisor. Comfort advisor comes out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Homeowner decides to keep both systems, not replace them. So they send the technician back out to do the repair. The technician starts doing the repair. He goes, well, I found like four or five more other problems. The homeowner went through the roof. He said, that's kind of suspicious, don't you think, that when I didn't buy a new system, suddenly there's four or five problems?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And called the owner of the company and fired them and said, I don't ever want – they'd been a customer for years and fired the company. Now, the technician probably thought he was doing a favor, finding one little problem, whatever. If you don't do your job thoroughly and they find more problems later, they're going to think you're pulling a scam on them if they don't buy a new system.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I had in my house, I live in an old house. It's been redone, but it's still, the bones are old. The mainline sewer is old. And a few years ago, we started having some backup problems in the basement. Got some bathrooms down there, bar, it's kind of my man cave. And it's backing up a little bit. I call the guy out, he clear it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I'm like, you think it might be a problem with the big trees in my front yard? It's a hundred year old neighborhood. Oh man, he goes, I'll come out every six months. He goes, we guarantee no clogs for six months. He goes, you're better off paying me 250 bucks every six months than spending tens of thousands on a mainline. Being an adult, right? And I know this business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I'm like, it makes sense to me. Well, that worked until it didn't. And I was gone for a week. And I got a big house. And I got, at the time, kids there. And for a week that I'm gone, it backed up. The catastrophe happened.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Every time they flush the toilet, every time they shower upstairs, for a week that I'm gone, because they don't go downstairs when I'm not there, backs up out of the shower, in the bedroom, into my bar, into my living room. Massive catastrophe. This technician thought he was doing me a favor. He was going to save me $25,000.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Well, I ended up having to pay the $25,000 and a ton of other restoration work. This mindset these guys have that they're doing the right thing, they're just fooling themselves. They're just copping out because they don't want to do the work. They don't have the stones to just sit there and tell people the truth. They think they're doing them a favor, and they're not doing them a favor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Plan B? William Sonoma, kitchenware company, a high-end kitchen for people that are really good at cooking and stuff, knives, pots and pans, all that kind of stuff. A number of years ago, they wanted to put a bread baking oven in their stores. It was going to be a thing. People want to bake their own bread. They go out and find this high-value, great-priced, nice bread-baking oven.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
They put it in all those stores. They can't give them away. If I'm like, well, maybe our customers want something a little – expect more because we're William Sonoma and maybe higher end. They go out and source another bread-baking oven, more expensive. They start swapping out the inventory. Some of those stores accidentally leave both on the shelf.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
What do you think starts happening to the lower-cost one? Start selling hotcakes. Right. It's a concept of compromise choices. When you give somebody one option, you're giving them an all or nothing option. Yeah. And then a lot of times they take nothing. When you give them something else, we all go to the middle. Right. It's just common sense. It's just human nature. So you're exactly right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Well, first of all, let me say how happy I am to be here. I was telling Ashley, your executive assistant, that of the young bucks coming up, like you're the brand. You know, you got the old guys like me, the Drew Camerons, the Joe Calloway. You know, we're all fading, right? And you got this new group of energetic, talented, super dynamic people. And I've been following you, too, for a bit.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You're exactly right. It's an ultimatum, as you call it, which is completely accurate. Buy this or nothing. Well, fine. I'll take nothing. Yeah, I'll get another estimate. Compromise choices.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
It's the scarcity mentality that a lot of the owners have. You just mentioned it, financial transparency. And my company, talk to Krista and my speaking company, other people that work with us and HVAC companies, they know how to read an income statement. They know what cost of goods means. They know what gross profit means. They know what overhead means.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
They know each department gets allocated overhead. So if everything goes perfect in an HVAC company, The average. I mean, not the elite, not the brass ring guys, you know, 20% EBITDA. The average guy that's doing two or three gets to 10%, let's say, 12% EBITDA.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And that means on every dollar of brain damage, every dollar of financial risk, every dollar of service install, every dollar of everything, when it's all said and done, the company, not even the owner, gets to keep a dime of it. And probably half of that's going to get reinvested into your new trucks. That doesn't seem like absurd profitability.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I think when people understand it, when they see the books, listen, if we go out and make a few hundred thousand dollars, I'm not ashamed of that either. I'll say, hey, guys, we made some money. They're going to know when we're doing well and when we're not doing well. And I think there's a scarcity mentality. A lot of our ownership, like you said, they don't want to share the information.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I have control over my thoughts and my behaviors. So that was kind of a watershed kind of turning point for me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Educate these dudes. Educate them about cost of goods and overhead and all these different things. And they're going to see, like, man, it's all you can do to make 10% of this business. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Take the mechanics.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I'm really pleased to be here. I'm really proud and inspired by the work that you're doing. You're a badass. And I think that's really cool. I also want to say this. I agree with you. As much as I'm into sales, I always say nothing happens until something gets sold. Nothing gets sold until somebody sets a lead. And that is kind of the priority for me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah. When I started my first company in 2004, there was this guy in town that was literally, this was back in early 2000s, would do a basic 80s furnace in a 13-serie condition. It might have been 10-serie back in those days. I can't remember. But he would do the whole system for like $4,500.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I was just opening my first company and I was starting to crunch the numbers and put some budgets together and all those things you just listed. I'm like, how the hell can you do it? How do you do that? You know? So I happened to see his truck one day at a Waffle House. And I pulled in there. And I went and introduced myself. And I said, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
He goes, knock yourself out. And so I sit down. He gets me a cup of coffee. Nicest guy. And I said, how do you do systems for $4,500? And he says, well, do you know anything about the business side? I said, well, I'm starting to learn the business side. I've been a comfort advisor, but I'm opening my own business and trying to do a budget, and I'm finding out what things cost.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And he says, well, how much is the equipment on that system? I said, probably $3,000. This was a long time ago, 20 years ago. This was $3,000 for the furnace, the transition, the air conditioner, whatever. He goes, yeah, about $3,000. So at $4,500, how much money do I make? I'm like, you mean your gross profit? He goes, well, what do you call what you want? How much do I make?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I said, well, you've got $1,500 gross profit there if you're not paying any sales commission, any labor, because all you mentioned was the equipment, not to mention burden and these other issues. He goes, I don't have to deal with that. I work out of my house. He goes, I make $1,500 in two days. He goes, I make Dr. Surgeon money. And I'm like, how can you ever reason with that guy?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That's what he believes, that he was making $1,500. That's the stupidity that we're dealing with. with our competition. What I tell our guys is that, hey, because they'll come back, hey, man, that guy was $3,000 less than ours. I'm like, oh, did he show you the letter from the IRS where he's two years behind on his taxes?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Did he show you the letter from his mortgage company where he's fixing to go into foreclosure? Did you see the part where his wife had to go back to work because he couldn't support the family? Did they have all that on the kitchen table or just his cheap price? They don't see the whole picture, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
My story, you kind of outlined, I was a ninth grade high school dropout, started running the streets, pulled a gun on a guy in 1987, got sentenced to prison the first time for 10 years at 23 years old, and did about four and a half years in Colorado, at the state system in Colorado.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
The best time to sell somebody something is right after they bought something. Right. Once you get to make that psychological and it clicks, I'm doing this. We all have the experience. You go to the car dealership, very stressful. When you make the decision, it's like. You're all in. You're buying everything. Then they send you to finance.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You may have had him on your podcast before. Cialdini?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
He's a good buddy of mine. Yeah, he's here in town, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, so I was watching a video of his years ago. And he goes, yeah, everybody knows people buy from people they like. He said, what you may not have thought about is people also buy from people who like them. Yep. And so what I teach is I teach our people to ask the advice about something from your homeowner. Ask their advice. Who do you ask advice from? Your friends.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Somebody you like and you trust. So you send a very strong message. We spend so much time getting people to like us, and that's important. Like you say, that's the number one thing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
After four and a half years, the parole board and their infinite wisdom thought I was rehabilitated, and they kicked me out in the street. So I get out. I'm 27 years old. Still a ninth grade high school dropout. No experience, no education. Now I'm a convicted felon, right? Not a real impressive track record. Made it to about 18 months.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
No, no, no. If they've got an RV. Hey, Mr. Homeowner, I see that RV out there. I've been thinking for years about getting in the RV life. How do you go about doing that? What's that like? Just find something I'm interested in. Ask my advice. Yeah, and I'm in your garage.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Hey, I used to go to golf clubs. I've been thinking for years I should learn how to play golf. Ask him anything. Dude, I'm an old guy. You come to my house and you ask me about my cars or my RV, and we're going to talk for an hour, and I'm going to tell you about them. Right? And it's like, listen, it's almost like what's that old saying?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I think Zig Ziglar used to say, the sweetest sound you'll ever hear is the sound of your own name. Yeah. Right? Getting people, making them feel like a freaking rock star, letting them know you like them by ask their opinion on stuff. Ask their advice. It's important that they like you, but they've got to know that you like them. And you touched on it just a minute ago.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
The number one need we have as humans is to be heard, to be understood. And we don't get much of that. Think back when you were a kid and you're trying to explain to a teacher or your mom and dad, like, no, no, no, that's not what happened. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. I know what happened. And how frustrating was that as a kid when people wouldn't listen to you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Dude, I remember when I was in fourth grade. I was 10 years old, fourth grade, and they had a baking a cake contest. I can't remember what it was for, some fundraiser. And all the kids had to go bake a cake. Well, as it turned out, that our neighbor was a professional cake baker. She made wedding cakes, birthday cakes. And so I went over there with my mom and I said, hey, I got to bake a cake.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Can I use some of your molds? And she gave me this Mickey Mouse mold. I made the entire cake from that point. I just used her mold and she told me how to do it. I baked the cake. I used the little thing to put the eyes on. Beautiful freaking cake. We go to the contest. My mom and dad are with me. We're in the auditorium, the gymnasium of the school.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And they disqualify my cake because they said there's no way a 10-year-old made that cake. And, dude, I was like, no, no, no, I promise you. We don't want to hear it, young man. This is very dishonest. And I'm like, no, no, I made the kick up. I didn't want to hear it. Dude, I wanted to freaking strangle somebody. It's so frustrating when people won't listen to you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
If you just listen to people, make them feel heard, they will fall in love with you. The other thing is laughter, right? Now, you've got to be careful with this because you can put your foot in your mouth real quick. But I read this article. I forget even where. But, you know, when you laugh, we have the dopamine you were talking about earlier gets released, and it feels good.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Went back to prison a second time for a couple of years on gun charges. Got out again at 30 years old. 30 years old now, my 20s, I gave up to the penitentiary system. Knucklehead, first-class POS type of just garden variety loser. Nothing good to say about it. And 30 years old, I'm out again, and I hook up with some guys in Vegas doing some sketchy telemarketing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That research has shown that the person laughing attributes that good feeling to the person that made them laugh. This is why Marilyn Monroe said if you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything. Well, it's true for men, too. It sounds sexist, but it's true for all of us. If you can make me laugh, because I attribute all that endorphin, all that feeling to the guy that made me laugh.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Just a minute ago, you were telling me, I forget what you said. You had me laughing really good. And I'm thinking to myself, this fucking Tommy Mello is really cool. Yeah. Because you made me laugh. And I got these endorphins. I feel good. And, dude, it's relationship. It's what you said. The most important thing is a homeowner likes the guy, the technician or the gal. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Well, I always go back to kind of old faithful, the first is Seven Habits. The second, you know, Habits 1, 2, and 3 are about personal development. 3, 4, 5, and 6 are more... External leadership, but for personal development, that one. Think and Grow Rich, of course, classic. The Pullen Hill. Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
The one book that changed my life because that was the first time I realized that maybe all my screw-ups weren't for waste, right? There was going to be something good come from it. I'm a big fan of some of the old school guys, Emerson, Thoreau. James Allen is probably my favorite. I have a James Allen anthology that sits on my desk. It's about 1,000 pages long.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
It's a series of, I don't know, hundreds of little essays that he wrote. Dude, you can pick that book up, like the Bible, by the way. And I'm not like a religious nut or anything, but there's historical reality in the Bible. There's a lot of good advice in Proverbs and Psalms. I mean, you can say whatever you want, but there's historical accuracy. I can open James Allen.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And Krista will tell you over here. I will open it, and I'll read one line, and I can do an hour-long training on it because it just blows me away. Like, what did he say? One of my favorites, Tommy. What kills me about these guys is kind of the joke in literature about these guys. And having written three books, and I know you've written some books, and I read a lot about other people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That's how I learned how to write a book. I read books about how to write a book because I didn't know how. And so the old guys like Thoreau and Emerson, they use too many prepositions. And you write a paragraph and go through and take every prepositional phrase out, and now you'll have some clarity in there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And so they get criticized because in the old days they would use all these prepositional phrases. It's fascinating to me, though, dude. And James Allen wrote six words one time. He's most famous for As a Man Thinketh, right? But he wrote another essay on the power of focus. And listen to this, six words. Dispersion is weakness. concentration is power.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
My success is a product of hard work, of course, but focus, dude. Like I'm a bulldog getting focused. It's going to get finished. I won't give up. And you know how hard it is to write a book. The last 10% or 20% is the really, really hard part, right, because you get the basic stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Tell people I should have been suspicious when they hired me because it doesn't say much about their hiring standards at that point. Did that for a couple of years until one day we all get indicted on federal money laundering and mail fraud charges. Went to the federal joint for seven years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Right, exactly. But that's the thing, man. So those, James Allen, Thoreau, Emerson, I love that stuff. Emerson, we become what we think about all day long. Classic, obviously. And I love the Tony Robbins stuff. Dude, it's so funny. Tony Robbins endorsed my first book, and I never met him. I've been to his events, but I've never actually met him.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
But we met through social media, and he endorsed my book through social media. When Twitter first came on, this was like 2008, 2009. Yeah. and I went to follow Tony Robbins, and he had like five followers. So I followed him, he followed me back. If you go to his site today, he follows like 50 people. I happened to be one of them because when he first started, he followed me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Of course, he got millions of followers, huge fan. So when I was in federal prison in the mid to late 90s, which, by the way, we were there last week. We were in the federal prison last week. I go in on a pretty regular basis and talk to guys. He had the personal power program. I don't know if you remember that. It was a 30-day program he had on – on a cassette.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And the prison library had that program, and you could go in and sign in and get a little cassette player and a set of headphones. And you're supposed to listen to one lesson every day for 30 days. And at the conclusion of each lesson, he says, now do something today that's taking decisive action towards what we talked about, whatever it was. And I would do it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That freaking program, dude, as simple as it was, it changed everything for me. It just absolutely changed everything for me. So I'm a huge fan of Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey. I mean, Tom Hopkins, who lives here. Yep, the art of the deal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Last time I talked to his wife, they were in Prescott for the holiday. I used to listen to Tom Hopkins' cassette tapes because my mom was a realtor. Oh, my gosh, dude. I've done a ton of events with him. This was probably 15 years ago. I have a promoter who happened to live in Denver, came to one of my events, and he was a promoter for Tom Hopkins.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And he comes to me and goes, would you like to speak with Tom Hopkins? I'm like, dude, are you kidding me? I love that guy. I spent almost five years traveling with Tom. We would do four events a year. This promoter would go into a town, and he would go hustle up three or four or 500 people to come see Tom Hopkins.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
But it was during that last seven years that the change happened, right, kind of the moment of clarity, the epiphany. It was June 10th, 1996. I know exactly when it was. One of the cops walked into a cell house, called me aside, and told me my dad died. Fifty-nine years old. I was 32. He was 59, very young, which is really young now because now I'm 61. And the kid just really seems young.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And Tom would allow me to open for him, and I would do my mindset stuff in the morning. Then Tom would come in and do his legendary stuff. And he used to do a boot camp every year here. The last two years he did it, he brought me in to keynote it. Like, that dude was so generous to me. Stephen Covey was the same way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Stephen Covey's son, Stephen M. R. Covey, who wrote The Speed of Trust, wrote the foreword to my last book, Consistency Selling. Dude, when I read the foreword to it, I cried. He talks about how he learned about me through his dad, his dad telling him the story about me. I mean, you know the craziest thing, Tommy? The most successful guys... are the most generous. People like Tony Robbins.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Tony Robbins endorsed my first book. What could I possibly do for him? Nothing. Stephen Covey, nothing. Tom Hopkins, nothing. Mark Victor Hanson, nothing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah. These guys all endorsed my books and gave me this praise. There's nothing I could do for them. It is funny because, and I learned this in the penitentiary system, Like the guys that are yoked like you, right? You go in the weight pile with those guys, they're encouraging you. Come on, man, you can do it, dude. Don't hurt yourself. Those guys encourage.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
The guy who's not doing it, the guy sitting on the sidelines. Talking shit. Oh, look, a tough guy over there going to get buff on the weight pile. Same thing. I used to run a lot. When I was in a penitentiary, I used to run 30 miles a week. And the guys who never run, oh, look at Mr. Running Shot. The other runners out there, come on, man, you can do this. It's amazing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
The people who are the most successful are the most generous with their praise. And the guy who's on the sidelines who's not in the game is the one that's going to criticize. And if you look at social media, a perfect example, I got this nasty – I meant to show it to Krista. I got this nasty gram from this lady last night because I've been following you for years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I came in through Patrick Shaw's organization. He was a friend of mine. And I just thought you were like – and all you care about is money now. That's all you care about. And I'm like, well, that's interesting because I was in a federal penitentiary last week working with guys for nothing. I never charged for that stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
But it's amazing how critical and obnoxious people will be, but it's always the people who aren't doing it. I guarantee the guys that criticize you are the guys who can't do what you do or won't do what you do.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Well, they're watching your stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That's true.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And but that was that was Tommy. That was kind of my moment of clarity. I'm like, I'm a first class piece of shit. I had a three year old son that I had fathered when I was out on parole, abandoned him. He was left with his drug addicted, heroin addicted mother. I'm in prison. Now my dad's dead. And so that was kind of my turning point. So I made the decision.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah. No, I can sum it up in a few minutes, really. It's simple. And as I always say, it's easy. It's just easier not to. There's nothing fantastic about what I do. When I first started selling, I'm living in a halfway house, and I get a job selling air conditioners. And it changed my life. This industry completely changed my life.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And this was 20 years ago. Changed my life. Everything I have I owe to the HVAC industry. Even the other stuff I do for the FedExes of the world and the Comcast and that kind of stuff, none of that stuff happens if the HVAC thing didn't happen. Those books never happen. None of that stuff happens. So I am...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I'm in a bookstore in 2004 and just started selling, and I see a copy on the magazine rack of American Scientific Mind and a guy that apparently you know well. Cialdini had written an article for that magazine about the persuasion principles, the seven principles. Persuasion, persuasion, yeah, seven principles. I love that. I love him so much. He's 79.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I use it in everything still to this day. In fact, I give Cialdini a lot of credit. Brian Burton has a podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, I think they just had him. And he said, man, we told him that you're a big fan of his and blah, blah, blah. But I'm reading this thing. Now, I'm just in the sales, in HVAC sales, and I'm like, holy cow. I can see how this could work in sales. The consistency principle. Public declarations dictate future actions.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I had been running leads for a couple of months and I realized really quick that the same three objections. I want to think about it. I need a cheaper price. I got three bids coming. What if I could get people to make statements that were in contravention to that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And so I figured out through some storytelling and some sales, some questions, that within 30 or 45 minutes of the conversation, I get my homeowner to acknowledge that price is not the most important factor, three bids will not protect them, and that they can let me know tonight whether I'm a good fit. And those are perfectly acceptable answers.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I get the homeowners to make those three public declarations to me. Because the consistency principle, it can work against you. When we're going out on a sales call, the homeowners are having a conversation. What's the last thing they tell each other before I get there? We're not buying tonight. We're getting three beers. We're getting a good price. Right? Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
So if I don't counter that, then those public declarations will drive their future actions at the end. Even if they fall in love with me, Tommy, and they think it's a great deal. Oh, I told my wife I wasn't buying tonight.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
But if I can get them to make those public declarations to each other as I work through my process, all of a sudden now I feel like, you know, because when a guy says, yeah, price isn't the most important, I say, ma'am, do you agree? Yeah, I agree. 15 minutes ago before I got there, they said they were getting a cheap price. Now they're telling me price isn't the most important.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
They're telling me they're getting three bids. I go through a series of stories and questions. So if you had to choose between me that would do that kind of service for my customers and three guys that would tell you anything to get their hands on your money, which of those would you prefer? I would prefer your company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
that I was going to find out what really successful people do. One of the things I love about you and following you is how much you're into reading and studying what the masters have done, and you're smart enough just to go out there and do it. You might improve it even, which is cool. But I started reading a lot of those same books.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, yeah. So on the price thing, there's several things I use. I attack price about three times in the presentation. The first one is with Consumer Reports Department of Energy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That say very clearly that the single most important thing is the quality of the contractor and the proper load calculation.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That's it. Listen, I guarantee you I could go on the Internet right now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And we do it. I did it for FedEx. I went and found that when you're choosing your shipping partner in a small business, price is not the most important factor. You can find it for anything. And so I'm going to sell garage doors, Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner. This article from Angie's List or whatever.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Do you agree with this at the price? Well, yeah. I mean, it's got to work properly. By the way, I bought a garage door from one of your family members. Had a company in Colorado Springs. I think it was your uncle, your cousin or something.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah. He came. He said, yeah, he's the whole thing. And then turned me on to the guy that did my floors, the whole thing. And it's been a 20 grand. The floors, the whole thing, right? They were great.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I heard he sold his company. I said, I wonder if Tommy is a family member. I figured. My point is, is that you have to be proactive. Listen. And I love the Tom Hopkins, the Brian Tracys of the world. Don't get me wrong. Everything I know, I learned from those guys reading their books.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
They teach us to get to the end, build a relationship, get to the end, and then overcome areas of concern, objections, whatever you want to call them. I try to get them to say yes a bunch of times. But to me, when are people at their highest level of defensiveness? At the beginning or the end when you're talking about money? They're on DEF CON 1 at the end.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Try convincing somebody price is not the most important factor at the end. Good luck. They know what you're doing. If I ask them an hour before, oh, do you agree with this? The price is not the most important. Yeah, because it's conversational then. But all that stuff goes in, and then I use the three most powerful words in sales.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Earlier you said, Mr. Homeowner, will you trust me with this recommendation? Oh, you're just a little too expensive. Earlier you mentioned that you agree with Consumer Reports and Department of Energy that price was the most important factor. I mean, you feel like that's changed? Well, no, it's not changed. It's just a lot of money. No, I understand. What should we do?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, what should we do, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I'll just say, well, great. With your permission, start the paperwork. So they don't care what I say, but they care very much what they said an hour ago. Yeah, they've got to stay consistent. Right. It's a consistency principle. Yeah. So that's the – and then there are a few other concepts.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Earlier you said –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Right. Earlier you said the price wasn't the most important factor. Has that changed? Earlier you said that three bids wouldn't protect you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
The first book I picked up on that day, four or five hours after I heard the news my father died, was a A little book you've probably read, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Not knowing that Stephen Covey would be a mentor and a friend and endorse my books years later, I was just a loser in a cell.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You got to be careful. You can't be like, yo, bitch, earlier you said price didn't matter. You got to be – I call it the Columbo. You're probably too young to remember Columbo. I know Columbo. The old detective, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you got to be like, you know, Mr. Homeowner – Correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah, he used to do that a lot. Yeah, you got it. Because if you shove it in their face, people don't like being held accountable. Right? You said it earlier. The only shot is if you're accountable to yourself. We don't like accountability from anybody else.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
So if they don't like it when you tell them, you have to be very subtle. That's a big part of the training. You have to be savvy enough and subtle enough that I can remind you. It feels like earlier we mentioned this. Did I misunderstand that? Did it change? You've got to be careful. You've got to be careful. You're treading on thin ice there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And if you're belligerent and too direct about it, you get your ass thrown out of the house.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Look, I love Service Titan. I know you're a partner with theirs, right? And we view Service Titan. I hate all the electronic digital stuff for presenting options. I spend two hours building a relationship with you. Connection, relationship, right? It's the most important thing. And then we get down to the end. I got Tommy. I got Tommy's wife. And I said, well, great.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Let me put some options together. Now I got to go to Service Titan, and I'm in there for seven or eight or ten minutes. Tommy's cooking dinner. My wife's helping kids with homework. And I go, okay, I got your options. Hey, man, could you just e-mail it? Try herding those cats again. So what I do is after my trial close, I go straight 8 1⁄2 by 14-inch laminated price cards. Old school. Old school.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
How big? Eight and a half by 14. Right? It's like a Denny's menu. And I got seven systems on there. And I go straight for my trial clothes. I reach in my bag. I pull out my three-ton options. Seven options. Yeah. Well, and that's important, too. That's another Cialdini thing. We use six. Yeah. Six is good. But it's really important. And what freaks me out is guys are afraid.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
People say, no, if you look at the concession principle, as described by Cialdini, right? Yeah. That if I ask you for $5, there's about a 15% or 20% chance you'll give it to me on average.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You become three times more likely to say yes. So I want you to say no to $25,000. It's like ASU when they bought the chocolate from there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I want you to say no to this. I want you to say no because the research, Cialdini tells me, and I believe him, I trust him, that you become way more likely to say yes to $17,000 after you said no to some higher options.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
But I read that book, Tommy, and it's like for the first time I really understood the importance of the right value system. Honor, integrity, hard work, fidelity, faith, all those things. And that book set me on the road. There was hundreds of others after that. Seven years later, I started changing my mindset with that whole process.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
So I want them to say no a couple of times. That's why you've got to have the six options or seven options. So, yeah, it's a little old school. I mean, it's airtime 500, like, old school stuff. But I'm telling you, man, there's a time for high tech. There's a time for high touch.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You're doing the takeaway. I love it. I tell people all the time, put your hand up like this and start pushing somebody else's hand. Don't tell them to push back. Just start pushing. What do they do? Start pushing back to human nature. So I like what you're doing. You're doing the takeaway. You're flipping the script.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Dude, if you could ever work it out where I could meet Cialdini, like I've met a lot of big people, dude. That guy to me is, it's like Leland Smith, I call Leland Godfather. That to me, Cialdini is that guy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I'd love to do it, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I wrote out what I refer to as my prosperity plan, my first one on a sheet of paper, and stuck it to the wall of my cell with toothpaste, right, because we didn't have glue or tape in the penitentiary. And every morning I would meditate on it and study it, just like Napoleon Hill said, right? Imagine yourself already in possession of these things. So I started visualizing it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
The fancy word is trans-derivational search, right, which really means your mind's eye. Trans-derivational search is a fancy word for that. If I tell you a quick story, you will search for the images. You don't search for the words. So if I said, Tommy, man, this bride, she was the most beautiful bride I've ever seen.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And that day she stepped out of the porch of the church, a little white church, and she walked down the steps and she put her foot in the grass. It was like the greenest, most beautiful lush grass. And she looked out at the lake and there was her new husband. And she walked across the yard to meet him and gave him a gentle kiss. You saw the bride or you saw the church or you saw the lake.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You saw something. You've got to make people search for images. We get in, well, this is variable speed. You know, nobody gives a shit about variable speed. What I tell people is you've got to use a very simple phrase, what that means to you. It forces me, the salesperson, to translate the feature into the benefit. Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner, this is a variable speed motor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
What that means to you is that it mixes the air very gently in the house. You ever been in a situation where you take a really hot bath and then the water starts to cool off and you turn the water back on? What's the first thing you do? Oh, I start swirling it around my hand. Yeah, that's what a variable speed motor does. We have to use stories. You've heard it many times.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You've probably said it many times. Facts tell, stories tell. Stories tell, right? Maya Angelou, people won't remember what you told them, but they'll always remember the way you made them feel. Stories make people, it elicits emotion. That's why I've been successful in my speaking. Because I just tell stories. And I came off the stage today and people said, you had me in tears.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I tell some stories about my kid. You know? Everybody can relate to.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
So my first book was The Upside of Fear, which was the memoir. It told the whole story, the crime drama, the prison drama, the courtroom drama, all that stuff. I self-published that book, and it turned out in 2010, I think, or 2009, Writer's Digest Best Book of the Year, New York Book Festival Best Autobiography of the Year. I'm like, dang, I guess I can write.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I wrote every word of that book myself. I could go into a long story about how I failed my first grammar test. in prison, but I learned how to write. You can teach yourself to do anything. Second book, The Power of Consistency. That's about the mindset. That's a lot of what I learned from Cialdini, how I applied that into my sales, into the mindset part, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That book hit number five on New York Times, number two on Wall Street Journal, because that was kind of like my big, that was my big heyday, right? And third book is Consistency Selling, where I take all the consistency principles that I've learned and used and and develop them into the sales process that I use.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, and they're available in audio. I read them myself. I go in the studio and read them myself. People seem to like that. They're available, of course, on Amazon, all that kind of usual stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That one's skipping ahead.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Best way is social media, at Weldon Long on everything. Our website is WeldonLong.com. You can reach me or Krista at the info at. We both get copies of those emails that come in. Yeah, we're easy to find.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
We're not hiding from the internet.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I know I'm not your dad or family, but I'm really proud of you, man. Thank you. You're a solid dude. You're doing a lot of great stuff for the industry, and you're raising the bar, man, on the guys that what I did 20 years ago. The stuff you're doing today is like next level, and I really admire what you're doing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, I got a bunch of cars. Cars have been my thing. And it's like... Man, it's a lot of work just keeping them clean. And they've got to go to the dealership. I'm like, every week I'm going somewhere new. And it's like, I didn't think about this part. I just wanted some cool cars. But it all comes with strings attached, man, all of it. Thank you very much.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
39. 39, when I walked out the last time. 39, getting out of federal prison. Yeah, and you built all this, and you're about that age now. That's crazy, dude. Oh, my God. Yeah. I can't imagine. It blows me away when I see what youngsters like you have done. Anyway, by the way, the guy that hired me that gave me the job, you probably know, Drew Cameron.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Drew was the guy that was a consultant for the local company that hired me. I told Drew my story. He goes, dude, I think you're a changed man. I'm like, damn straight, Drew. And Drew and I, of course, are friends all these years later, do a lot of work together. Uh, did that for a year, opened my first company, HVAC company, not really knowing what I was doing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I don't know anything about the mechanical side to this day. I don't know the first thing about the mechanical side. Uh, I'm a sales marketing guy, much like yourself. And, um, I grew that company from $0 in 2004 to about $20 million in total revenue in five years and sold that. My first book came out in 2009, so I started traveling and speaking.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
By that time, I started doing a ton of work for Carrier and Bryant because we were a Bryant dealer, and they were like, dude, you're selling a ton of stuff. And so I said, I got this sales system that I put together, which is just my interpretation of all the masters, you know, Tommy Hopkins and all those people who lives here. We should stop and see him. Tommy's a good friend.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
He's been very, very generous to me. did that and started Travel and Speaking. Then as you and I were talking about off the record earlier in 2019, I got back on the HVAC side because crazy stupid money was coming in in private equity. So I built that company, grew that to $42 million in total revenue in five years. We just sold that
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And we purchased five others that we're developing around the country and hope to grow those and maybe make some money and turn those at some point. So it's been kind of a only in America story. And anywhere else I'd have been shot a long time ago, put away for life or whatever. So I'm very grateful. I'm a very grateful person. I appreciate every opportunity that we have in this country.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I love to see, as I mentioned, with the young guys like you, and I know you're not a baby and you're a grown-ass man. But it's coming with a new energy. Your brand has been so much fun to watch, and there's a lot of other guys out there. But you're definitely in kind of a league by yourself. Just watching the youngsters coming up. You've got the old goats like me. We're done, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
We're going golfing and fishing, and you guys are really, really tearing it up out there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
In the hour.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I saw your affirmation in there about being a billionaire. I don't know if it's happened yet, but I'm sure it will if it hasn't. I think it all starts with mindset.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You mentioned the keynote I was doing for that financial services group this morning. It was all about the mindset. And that's what I realized after my dad died in 96 and I started this journey of reading. I remember I came across a quote from Nietzsche. Nietzsche said, we attract that which we fear. And to be honest with you, when I first read that, I'm like, well, that's bullshit.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Like, why would I attract things in my life that I fear that I don't want? So I just kind of ignored it. A couple of months later, in the summer of 96, I'm reading through the Bible, just randomly grabbing some scriptures. I come across a scripture in Job. Father, that which I have feared has come upon me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I'm like, well, that's, you know, Nietzsche was an atheist, right, and a secular kind of guy, and Job, obviously, a God-fearing guy, thousands of years apart, saying the exact same thing. I attract that which I fear, that which I have feared has come upon me. Then I was reading Man's Search for Meaning and come across a line where Viktor Frankl says that fear may come true.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And so I started thinking like, wait a second, maybe, maybe just maybe all this miserable life I have, I'm attracting to me. So I sat down and wrote a list out of everything I feared the most. And it was, it was my life. Not being a father, being incarcerated, being broke, being homeless. Like everything I wrote down, that was my life. Like I have indeed. This is around 30 to 40 years old.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
No, this was 32 when my dad died. Oh, I'm still in prison. I got seven years left to go at this point. Yeah. So I'm in prison and I start realizing this. So then I started reading all the classics, Think and Go Rich, that type of stuff. And I realized I got to change what's in here. And so what I realized is like this brain up here, I use a metaphor of a box, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And in that box, if I have a motorcycle, all the components for a motorcycle, and I pull the parts out and put it together, it's a motorcycle. It's not something else. It's going to be the same thing it was in the box. Well, to me, the metaphor is our mind is a box. And every day, neuroscientists say that we pull 30,000 decisions out of there every day. Imagine that, 30,000.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Subconscious, second nature system decisions. But every time we make a decision, we pull out a little piece of our life. The question then becomes what's in there and where did it come from? And most of it came from when we were kids and other people put it in there. Well, what if I want something different than my dad wanted? What if I want to be a better father, a better husband?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
What if I want to be wealthy instead of broke like my dad was? Well, as long as I'm making decisions based on what he put in here, I'm screwed. I've got to change the contents of the box. That's what The Power of Consistency, my second book, is all about. How do I change the contents of that box?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah. Well, you walk into any HVAC company and get a group of technicians, comfort advisors, even people in the office, installers, and ask them what the first word comes to mind when you say the word salesman. And what I've been doing this 20 years, 70% of them have a negative word comes to mind. Now stop and think about this. We're in a sales-driven organization, a marketing-driven organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That's what our business is. And 70% of the people in our companies have a negative impression of sales, high pressure, sleazy, whatever, dishonest. And we wonder why so many small service companies struggle with the sales because they don't have a sales culture because the belief is, the mindset is that sales is sleazy. It's high pressure. It's whatever.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And so the first thing that we do when we work with an organization, for example, is we change the mindset. It doesn't matter how good a sales system is if you've got 70% of the people that refuse to use it. You know? So I got to get there and change it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah. So I think it goes back to the Great Depression because everybody in this country is two or three generations removed. And kind of the mindset, the scarcity mindset, the anti-business, the anti-sales mindset, in my mind, started then. If you think back to your high school history class, we had a name for those successful guys, right? The robber barons. Vanderbilt, J.P.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Morgan, J. Paul Getty, all those guys, right? They were bad names. When I was growing up, my dad used to tell me rich people were crooks. Where do you think he learned that? From his father that grew up in the Great Depression. So I think a big part of it, Tommy, is... We first have to identify the problem. So I'll say, what do you think about when I say salesman? They give me some negative word.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
How do you think that's going to work given the fact you're in sales? How is that going to work for you? If you think fundamentally that sales is sleazy, high pressure, whatever, and so hopefully getting them to recognize the problem. And then talk about where those beliefs came from, right? It's probably something, what I call junk in the trunk, some idea we picked up along the way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
When you're 10 years old and your dad says rich people are crooks, you don't second guess that. That's gospel. My grandfather, Tommy, when we would do like a big meal, my mom, my grandmother cooked these big meals. He'd have us say a blessing. And after he said amen, he would say, look how good the po-folk is eating tonight. I think is rooted in the Great Depression.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And unless your name's a Rockefeller or Vanderbilt or Morgan or J. Paul Getty, you probably were poor. Your family was probably poor in the Great Depression, just like my family was. And so we had this animosity, and it's been growing for 100 years. And I think we're just seeing the total manifestation of it. People think they can't do it. They think there's something wrong with it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Rich people are crooks and all that business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And what we're hoping to find is having kind of an aha moment. Like, oh, yeah, you're right. My dad used to say negative things about wealth and salespeople. And, you know, we've got all these negative beliefs. And you start to see it. And then you say, well, listen, you're in sales. Are you planning on going back to install or whatever? No, I want to be in sales.