“From the Trenches to the Turnaround: Tim Young’s Real Talk on Building AAA Extreme Comfort”

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it. All right. Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.

0:46Today, I'm excited to be joined by Tim Young of AAA Extreme Comfort. So Tim, thanks for being here. Let's jump right in. Yes, buddy. Thanks for having me. Yeah, no problem at all. We're glad to have you. So for those who may not know it yet, who is Tim Young and what is AAA Extreme Comfort and what problems are you most passionate about solving for your clients? Man, me, I'm up in age now, you know, not old, but, you know, I'm in my 50s and, you know, been doing this since my teens. I always had, you know, just had a passion for helping people and, you know, got into, you know, the trade of heating and air and realized that a lot of homeowners as well as business owner, you know, are not really knowing just the extent of how their HVAC units work.

1:35And then a lot of this happened over time where they're not getting it maintained and stuff. And then, you know, say a unit tear up and they got a company out there. Hey, man, they go and tell them, hey, it's 20 grand to fix this. You know, they don't know that, you know, there's a lot of, you know, not price gouging, if you will. But, you know, people that's out here that can kind of mislead them on, you know, what the situation might truly be. So reason why I'm mentioning that is where I come in. You know, I'm transparent. I'm going to tell it like it is. I'm not going to try to be the customer, you know.

2:11So it is a passion I have out of, you know, you know, knowing a customer is being treated right, you know, with their heating and air situation. okay okay yeah so take us back to the very beginning what made you say you know yep i'm doing this i'm starting a business and i'm doing this well yeah you know probably about you know after i've worked for companies you know during my teens late teens and you know my 20s you know i'm working for companies and what have you um you know i'm taking certain classes here and there and, you know, trying to get better at what I do. And, you know, it just came to where I've noticed, you know, in the meetings and what have you that we were having at some of the companies I was working for.

3:00And just knowing how the guys would, you know, treat the job based on the price. You know, for instance, if the job is 22 grand, you know, you ought to give the customer, you know, the 22 grand what it's worth, you know, but a lot of companies I saw, you know, and it might've been just the guys they had working for them, but they just did shabby work, you know, stuff that wasn't being completed or not doing a thorough job, but the customer is not going up under their houses, up in the attic, checking behind, you know, the workers or what have you. So, you know, me as a lead guy, which I always eventually became in these companies was a lead guy, you know, a lead installer.

3:38You know, I would, you know, really just tatter stuff back apart, man, and redo it and be left at the job by myself while these guys just sitting, you know, in the trucks, you know, you know, calling back to the office like, hey, man, Tim, two our stuff apart, man. He's, you know, that's why we're still here, you know, and I'm trying to tell them, hey, it's not done right. These companies, these customers pay X amount and we ought to deliver on that, you know. So that's what really drove me to say, hey man i need to separate myself i can do this better than these guys you know so i i started really educating myself eventually gotten my contractor license so a lot of what i do now is uh what i've seen over the years and i wanted to do better and it's and it's just what i do to brand myself as well you know for instance sealing the joints you know um sealing duct work is extremely important and you got to layer this stuff up with the correct material um you know just proper installs, pulling proper vacuums, putting proper pressure tests on this stuff.

4:36You know, a lot of a lot of this wasn't really happening. And so I wanted to, you know, kind of do my thing and offer, you know, superb, excellent service, quality, efficient service. You know, not beating the customer, not trying to shortchange them, you know, actually giving them and delivering on my promise and delivering on the solution that I offer. And I'm presenting, you know. But yeah. But, you know, just a passion to help people, man, and have this stuff done right. And really to brand myself. And really, I got into it really to make money, you know, to really, you know, to be financially free, you know.

5:10So it sounds like you are naturally more of an entrepreneur than an employee. Yeah, pretty much. Always been that way. Always been that way. Okay. Okay. So, yeah, if you had to start again from absolute scratch, no brand, no clients, no safety net. what would you do differently the second time around man the second time around i would you know i would definitely uh you know pay more attention to you know um how you know you need working capital for this stuff so i would have made sure my credit and stuff like that was kind of uh prepared before starting uh because you need working capital you know you need a team um you know and that's something that you know i'm in the process of doing now is building my team because i started out by myself you know uh with my son you know before he went to college you know he he helped me a lot you know and i do have guys and people that are you know subcontractors and stuff like that that i utilize but i don't have a really an in-house team you know right now and um and and that's when i'm in the process of building but if i had to do all over again.

6:19It's just dotting all my eyes and crossing all my T's. And, you know, a lot of what I've learned, I've learned, you know, as far as the business part of it, it's just, you know, on the whim of just going and going down the road and down that path and then knowing that, hey, I need this or you need that, you know, you need this type of software, you need that type of platform, you know, you know, and that's just what I would, you know, I would have did, you know, more of a thorough, um, uh, preparation, you know, preparing to actually enter into the business. Cause once all I did was I passed my test, got my license, you know, and I went, I, you know, and I just start branding myself, start trying to market myself and, you know, and, you know, you just got to have certain platforms and, and softwares to actually, you know, uh, structure you your business to where it needs to be.

7:10Okay. Okay. So what's a lesson you learned the hard way as a business owner that no one really prepares you for?

7:20Man, just taxes and just knowing your financial, you know, just, just how to pay yourself, how to set money aside, how to defensorate accounts, you know, where, you know, you set up accounts where that we're handling the miscellaneous stuff or the contingencies that might come up, you know, because me, I was depositing into the business account. I might deposit some stuff into the personal account, but, you know, you just need, you know, to have certain entities in place to help you and protect you, you know, when it comes time to, you know, really divvy out the funds, you know, it's just not having financial literacy really is what I would, you know, what I had to learn the hard way, just financial literacy, because if I would have prepared myself, I probably could have secured a loan, you know, some capital by now, it's like working capital, but, you know, the way I just handle my finances, you know, when they go to try to examine or review my bank statements and stuff like that.

8:28It's just, it's everywhere. It's everywhere. It's not, it's not structured the way it should. So, you know, I had to learn the hard way as far as just how to handle the books, you know, working my books and, you know, you know, just setting up accounts and just making sure I'm covered and protected, you know, at the end of the year. Okay. Okay. No, I love that. That's good. That's good advice. So what would you say is one common myth people believe about running a business that makes you laugh that is easy oh that that is that is that you're just going to get rich quick you know just start a business and and you get a loan and you you know you you're gonna make money you know but uh it's it's a journey you know it's you know it's it's it's having things in place you know it's being able to purchase you know the items you need to make your business grow and to make it work.

9:24You know, it's more than just getting that name out there on that paper. You know, it's other devices you need. It's other, you know, products you need to help your business. And that's what I didn't have. You know, I didn't have that knowledge of what was out there to help me scale my business. Mm hmm. OK. OK. So how do you personally handle stepping away from the business, stepping aside like vacations, downtime, unplugging without everything falling apart? Well, that's the thing. You see, you know, I don't I've hadn't took a vacation, hadn't had had a opportunity to do that. see you know this conversation probably would go a lot better you know if i was an accomplished business owner if i was a thriving business owner but you're talking to a struggling business owner you're talking to somebody that is still in the trenches of this right i'm still working it i'm still out here turning drill guns turning the wrenches so i'm i'm not a entrepreneur that that i've made a million dollars i've made hundreds of thousands of dollars you know i'm i'm i'm still I'm five years in and I'm still, you know, spinning my wheels.

10:42So, you know, that's just being transparent. I don't know how to really fake it in this sense, you know, because the conversation would go a whole lot better had I had some experiences on really winning, you know, and a lot of this is just because, you know, lack of knowledge, you know, lack of knowledge on my end, you know, I thought, yes, I know my trade. I can do it blindfolded, but business is different, you know running a business knowing how to scale that business and and it's just it's different you know um and you need people to help you you need people on your team i got a guy that i helped get his contract the license and he's a millionaire now but he had his brother and both their wives helping him me my wife she works she's not going you know she's owning something else like you know she don't really know how to really help with me in that aspect but you know um and it hasn't like I haven't been out there trying and asking, you know, I've sat down with some people, but they got other things going as well.

11:40But that's pretty much it in a nutshell. It's just me being, you know, solo in this, you know, without working capital, not being able to secure a loan. You know, had I had those things in place? Yeah, I'd be a lot further alone. But right now, yeah, that's just where I'm at. You know, a good face off a great product. You know, my product is good. You know, I got off a great product. I got a great business model. but you know in order to scale a company you need working capital and you need branding you need to be able to put yourself out there you know yeah money talks yeah yeah no understood so you know and i know you said you work with some some other people when you're building a team what traits matter more to you than what's on someone's resume you look for any personality traits?

12:25Yeah, being able to, you know, communicate, communication, you know, just, you know, having knowledge, you know, you know, being knowledgeable is a trait, you know, and not so much as being, you know, somebody that's just going to follow somebody else's, you know, but being able to offer, you know, some something as well, you know, based on their, their research, you know um and just being you know friendly you know uh because we are in the in the uh customer you know social uh you know we we're out here you know our our product is is our services so we're dealing with with homeowners and business owners so you got to be able to have a easy you know personality and and being able to really uh handle you know rejections or handle you know pressure being easygoing you know and being friendly is really the traits that you know being able to put a smile on your face even though it might be tough you know those type of people you know really going to thrive as you know somebody that's easy to get their feelings hurt or something that will go their way and then they cry and then they're not able to make for a good day they're not able to get through the day so you know the traits I look for is a strong-minded, you know, a strong-willed person.

13:47Yeah, no, understood, understood. All right, so what we're going to head into now is what's called the quick fire round. So basically what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you one word, and I want you to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear each word in regards to running your business. All right. The first word is education. The education is necessary. Education is paramount, you know. Yeah. Next word is planning. Planning is essential. You know, without planning, you know, you just, you know, you're going to kind of crash. You know, you got to plan, you know, strategies.

14:28You know, you got to plan, you know, your journey. You know, you got to plan these processes. You know, you can't just dive in without actually planning, you know. And a lot of stuff I've done, I've done on a whim, you know, and realizing after some time I should have planned for this. Oh, man, I should have planned for that, you know. But, yeah, planning is essential. It's very paramount. I mean, planning is very important. Yes. Inspiration. Oh, it's needed. It's necessary. You know, finding, you know, the things that happen that inspire you, you know, and finding that in especially in this industry.

15:11It really, you know, having something that inspires you keeps you going. You know, it keeps you, you know, it keeps you, you know, fighting. It keeps you motivated, you know, because of, you know, whatever it is that, you know, you find that inspires you. and I'm inspired really just by the satisfaction of people. You know, when I go in and I fix a problem or I find a solution for a customer, you know, at a reasonable and affordable price, you know, and they leave in that great review, you know, that inspires me to keep going, you know, to not actually give up, even though I may be in a rough patch at that moment, you know, but just finding that inspiration.

15:52Yeah, getting that positive feedback. Yeah, it's very important. the next word is commitment yeah being committed you know uh that separates you know that separates you you know being committed is is just you know without that commitment you know you you'll drop the ball you know you can't be dependent you're not dependable you know and people can see when you're not committed you know they can see when you're dropping the fumbling the ball you know And, you know, that commitment keeps you, you know, hey, man, it's 15 below, man. It's cold as heck, but I got to get up out here, man. I got to go.

16:29You know, I'm just committed to this. You know, I'm already committed, so I got to complete it. You know, and then not only that, you know, commitment carries you through projects because, you know, a lot of these projects you go in, you know, you open a can of worms, you want to quit. You know, you want to walk away, but, you know, you got to stay to the task and commit to the end. And then that's where the reward come in because that just, it makes that statement much bigger, you know, that you're trying to portray once you commit to something to the end. It's like, wow, man, I saw what he faced mid-trial, mid-journey.

17:05But man, his commitment to the end and look at it, you know, it's flourishing. So, you know, it really adds some value to you, you know, by being committed to whatever you're committed to. So, yeah, commitment is top of my list. OK, OK. Next word is discipline. Oh, man. Discipline. Discipline, man, is, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, it doesn't feel good. You know, discipline causes you to, you know, you know, maybe, you know, kind of desert comfort, you know. and it's, you know, you might want to run, run to comfort and, and, you know, discipline causes you to just, you know, you know, stay to the task, you know, um, you know, discipline is just, you know, it causes you to just, you know, um, it actually caused you actually to go through certain situations, you know, where you normally without that discipline would have just, you know, um, you probably would have, you know, kind of, kind of, you know, fumbled, you know, you would have you would have broken you know it would have broke you you know but discipline being discipline really uh separates you as well uh because it keeps you on the path it keeps you on that path of uh accomplishing your goals you know doing what you need to do uh and what have you so yeah discipline is is uh is a necessity and uh and it's something that you got to you know always kind of embrace is uh it's always keeping yourself disciplined not letting yourself just go with what you know being greedy upon just those things that that can deter you or distract you you know but discipline causes you to stay focused you know okay and uh and the next word is risk yeah risk is you got to limit your risk man you know uh i used to be i used to take a lot of risk you know being young, you know, but now, you know, you kind of like got to, you know, take calculated, you know, steps and you got to do your planning and you got to, you know, have that discipline and that commitment and, and, and to truth and, and to, uh, to, to education, to all of that, because, you know, uh, you risk it, man.

19:24A lot of times, man, you, you know, you risk something, man. The consequences kind of turn out where, you know, it costs you more than, than what you thought, you know, so limit your risk, limit risk. You know, sometimes I know they say, you know, take a risk sometimes it's good to take a risk, but I say limit your risk. No, without a doubt, educate yourself, you know, have some discipline, you know, commit yourself to, to, to something that's right. And, and that's a quality and that's, that's, uh, that's thorough, you know, you know uh commit commit to to uh something that's that's long lasting you know uh longevity you know um but yeah limit your risk man limit that risk yeah risk and cost and and the last word yeah no i agree with you and the last word is execution and execute it once you got everything planned out once you don't educate yourself educated yourself and you don't commit it to that and the journey has proven itself and everything has added up to, you know, your discipline and how you've been committed and focused, you know, now it's time to execute, you know, execute everything you learned.

20:35And when you execute it, it's going to go the way you planned. You're going to see, you know, because a lot of, now that I see the things that I planned, that I've committed to, that I disciplined myself to, man, and when I executed it, it was flawless. So when you ever, you know know that when you educate yourself and you commit yourself and you discipline yourself when you execute that man it's going to be flawless it's going to go like it's too good to be true but don't think it's too good to be true man you've educated yourself you committed love it you know you've committed so don't hey man don't be surprised it's going to go smooth don't be like man this went too easy nah it's because all the work you put in so don't fear executing what you've learned what you've planned yes sir okay all right so so um and i want you to be as candid as you can be you know and and give as much advice as you can on this answer here for this question but if if you were a business owner listening right now and you feel stuck or overwhelmed what piece of advice would you want somebody to hear today and find a business coach find a business coach at the beginning, find somebody that can coach us, somebody that has been through, you know, that has, uh, that has knowledge in your field.

21:54You know, uh, I've just begun to talk to a business coach, right? So if you're stuck, find some business coach, somebody that can mentor you, somebody that can, uh, offer you, uh, advice, you know, to know what products to get, know what path to take, know what, you know, uh, number to call to help out with, uh, whatever the situation is that's, you know, causing this, you to be stuck, you know, it's just having that, having that, um, having a coach, man, just somebody that can, that can offer that information, you know, um, that can help get you out of that, that, you know, that rut or that stuck place.

22:37It's just seeking that knowledge, you know, you know, continuing to educate yourself, you know, um, yeah, because you, you know, you, you, you'll get stuck, but if you try to figure it out yourself, you know, you might be in that place, you know, for, for a little bit, you know, but if you not, you know, you step outside of yourself and say, Hey, you know, you, you know, you, you know, you just start, you know, kind of researching or trying to find, Hey man, Let me find somebody that is familiar with my, you know, my circumstance, you know, my situation and what I'm trying to do with this company, you know, because believe me, man, I didn't know.

23:14But, you know, there's people out there, man, that are great coaches, you know, and they can actually coach you through, you know, these problems, you know, these issues and stuff that might come up, you know. But, yeah. I definitely agree. Yeah. Okay. No, I appreciate that. I think that's really good advice. So what would you say is next for AAA Extreme Comfort? What should people be excited about? Man, the rebrand, the rebrand, the rebrand. You know, AAA Extreme Comfort, you know, the three A's was acronym for available anytime ASAP. I'm an extreme guy wanting to provide extreme comfort, you know.

23:51But it's, you know, people, I'm always having to say it's extreme without the E. And they're trying to spell AAA Extreme Comfort. It's just for marketing reasons, that's not going to work. So I'm excited about the rebrand. It's going to be a totally different name. Something that's going to be that's going to think that's going to be fun, you know, just finding the colors, finding the new logos. You know, what's going to really, you know, separate us and, you know, set us apart, you know, from our competitors. So just having to put in that work, you know, that planning, educating ourselves on our, you know, on the competition and things that we need to really come out swinging this go around with a bang.

24:38You know, we do great work. Nothing going to stop about our quality, but just the way we present ourselves are going to be, you know, it's going to be fun and exciting. You know, just read the rebrand. Yeah. So, yeah, just look out for us, man. It's going to be a rebrand and, you know, a lot of customers, you know, hopefully, you know, they're they'll be excited about it as well, because we got over seventeen hundred customers, believe it or not. You know, that's been on our team for quite a while, you know. But yeah. But that's what's in the horizon. Yeah. OK. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. And finally, what's the best way for someone to connect with you or learn about what you do?

25:17Hey, the best way to connect, we have a Facebook page, AAA Extreme Comfort. You can go on our website, which is, you know, AAA Extreme Comfort dot com. And our phone number is 864-479-6737. Again, that number is 864-479-6737. Yep. And if you want to get a hold of us. Yep. And that's that. That's the best way. okay any social media so anybody can see what you do facebook that's the only thing we got right now my son was trying to uh put us on um what is that instagram so he might got some stuff on instagram i think we have something but um i think he had was um he put us on a facebook page and he put us on the instagram like i said i'm 54 i'll be 54 this year and i you know i'm not really savvy with the social media and all of that.

26:14So I got a son that's 21 that, you know, he was helping me out with that. So, but we do have a Facebook page and somewhat of an Instagram page and a website. Yeah. Okay, okay. All right, perfect. Yeah, Tim, this has been fantastic. Yeah, thank you so much for sharing your story, your perspective, and your real behind the scenes of building your business. We really appreciate you coming on and being a guest today. Oh man, thanks for having me, man. I wish I was more, more prepared, you know, just I guess you know having having gotten to a place where I feel like you know I'm I'm I'm ready for something like this to really offer advice you know I just feel kind of like I the advice I offer you know what I mean it's kind of like you know I hadn't really gotten there yet you know what I mean all I can relate to is the struggle right now you know you know and um but yeah I would hope to revisit this in probably about about six months to a year you know I would love to revisit this.

27:08The conversation might be different. My tone of voice might be different. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And I'd definitely love to have you on in a future episode. Thank you very much. Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part.

27:35It's Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email. Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you.

28:23Hey, and until then, all the best.