This episode we got the chance to interview Billy Salts, owner of Magic Valley Electric! In 2020 Magic was ranked as one of the top 5,000 fastest growing companies in the COUNTRY and it's easy to see why. Billy is a steady leader who casts clear vision for his team and empowers and trains them to succeed. The growth hasn't been without its challenges though. The founding of MVE was punctuated by Billy choosing to leave the family business and ultimately becoming competitors...
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Produced by the Team at Rinard Media: https://rinardmedia.com/
0:21 Zach (Host): This is Ruckus Makers, a show about entrepreneurs where the mission matters and the status quo isn't an option.
0:26 Zach (Host): I'm your host, Zach Rinard and in today's episode, we're talking with Billy Salt, the CEO and founder of one of the fastest growing companies in America, Magic Valley Electric, and the growing pains he went through to build what it is today.
0:39 Zach (Host): Well, Billy Salt, welcome to Ruckus Makers.
0:41 Zach (Host): We're so excited to have you.
0:43 Zach (Host): It's good to get you in here in our construction zone and talk to a construction guy.
0:48 Zach (Host): It's good to have you.
0:48 Bill (Guest): Thank you.
0:49 Bill (Guest): I'm excited to be here.
0:50 Bill (Guest): It's gonna be great.
0:51 Zach (Host): Yeah, it's wonderful watching MVE and Magic, what seems like an overnight success.
0:58 Zach (Host): You know, people tend to believe that it just happened, but we know you've been grinding for so long.
1:03 Zach (Host): So talk to me about Magic and MVE.
1:06 Zach (Host): What year did that start?
1:08 Bill (Guest): You know, we started January 1st, 2013 with Magic Valley Electric and grew that business to have multiple divisions.
1:18 Bill (Guest): It was ag, industrial, commercial, and then service.
1:22 Bill (Guest): As we grew that service division, we realized that it was just so different how it operates, its residential service.
1:31 Bill (Guest): It's kind of a different business model.
1:33 Bill (Guest): I mean, so many parts of it don't really align with the Magic Valley Electric, you know, with the ag, industrial, and commercial.
1:40 Bill (Guest): And so in 2019, we were kind of coming up with different ideas because our marketing, you know, we had Sun Valley Electric, Boise Valley Electric, Magic Valley Plumbing, you know, because we added a plumbing division in 2019.
1:52 Bill (Guest): And at that point in time, I thought, you know, let's, we gotta slow down here and simplify things.
1:59 Bill (Guest): So we split the operations and built Magic Services and Magic Valley Electric, which they're one company, just two separate operations in two separate buildings across the parking lot from each other.
2:11 Bill (Guest): And the day we went live with that, the day it just, you know, it made it easier to run.
2:18 Bill (Guest): I mean, the distractions went away.
2:21 Bill (Guest): You know, there was all the, I mean, just chaos, I'd almost call it sometimes, went away and we just streamlined things.
2:27 Bill (Guest): So 2013 for MVE and 2019 for Magic.
2:32 Zach (Host): That's awesome.
2:33 Zach (Host): And so when you first started, you were just doing electrical work.
2:35 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
2:36 Zach (Host): Why electrical work?
2:38 Zach (Host): How'd
2:38 Bill (Guest): that
2:38 Zach (Host): start?
2:39 Bill (Guest): You know, when I was, I'm a farm boy from back in the day and I, you know, I started at an early age working and I, you know, I always enjoyed it.
2:49 Bill (Guest): I mean, actually my first year, my first paycheck was when
2:53 Bill (Guest): I was eight years old and I've worked every year since then.
2:55 Bill (Guest): And,
2:55 Bill (Guest): you know, every year, I think we get that little social security thing in the mail and it shows you the years you worked and when you started that.
3:00 Bill (Guest): And I show my daughters and my son that, you know, that your dad started pretty young.
3:05 Bill (Guest): And eight years
3:05 Zach (Host): old, what were you doing?
3:06 Bill (Guest): Working on a farm, you know, picking rock, mowing yards for the farm operation.
3:12 Bill (Guest): And then I just kind of, you know, rolled into moving pipe and spraying weeds, whatever it took, you know?
3:18 Bill (Guest): And so I did that through high school.
3:21 Bill (Guest): And, you know, right after I graduated, I, you know, I thought college was for me.
3:26 Bill (Guest): And so I actually went to orientation at Utah State and got back and I just knew, even though I did pretty good in high school,
3:34 Bill (Guest): I just knew college wasn't for me.
3:36 Bill (Guest): You know, it just wasn't gonna be a good fit.
3:39 Bill (Guest): And so right after that, I, you know, had an opportunity to work as an electrical apprentice with a local company.
3:45 Bill (Guest): And I really, I remember first day, I still remember the first day, you know, and it was more ag based, but I was learning nonstop.
3:54 Bill (Guest): So many things I didn't know, which, you know, coming from, you know, working on a farm and, you know, doing sometimes I just move in tons and tons of pipe, you know, I was like, my mind goes a million miles an hour.
4:05 Bill (Guest): So I was like, I love the challenge.
4:07 Bill (Guest): And, you know, then after that, as I, you know, grew into my apprenticeship, I moved to a different company up in Ketchum.
4:17 Bill (Guest): And from there, I really excelled fast.
4:20 Bill (Guest): And, you know, as a third year apprentice, I was able to run projects and manage teams to a certain extent, and I love that.
4:27 Bill (Guest): I found like, that was like, I love the interaction with customers.
4:31 Bill (Guest): And I mean, my team was everything, right?
4:34 Bill (Guest): We would work together, work hard together, and we'd accomplish some, you know, some great things and build stuff.
4:40 Bill (Guest): And as that grew, I just, right then I knew I wanted to own my own business, you know?
4:45 Bill (Guest): And I was part of a good company, a great company there.
4:47 Bill (Guest): And they were relatively large.
4:49 Bill (Guest): They were about 50 employees when I was there.
4:52 Bill (Guest): And
4:52 Bill (Guest): - And that's the one in Ketchum?
4:53 Bill (Guest): Yeah, and they just, the culture was great.
4:57 Bill (Guest): The owners were awesome.
4:59 Bill (Guest): And they seen something in me that allowed me to excel.
5:02 Bill (Guest): And I don't know if I'd have had that at other places, you know, and it was different, you know?
5:06 Bill (Guest): We're in a construction business, and sometimes that just, you know, that doesn't get, you know, that doesn't get focused on.
5:14 Bill (Guest): And from there, I just kind of, you know, I started really learning about leadership.
5:20 Bill (Guest): And naturally, I had a passion for people.
5:22 Bill (Guest): I mean, that's why I love working with customers and my team, and I don't even know, I mean,
5:27 Bill (Guest): I was a good, I was a good electrician, but, and I've got guys that are a lot better than me.
5:32 Bill (Guest): Sure.
5:32 Bill (Guest): I was, I kind of just was drawn to that side of things.
5:35 Bill (Guest): And so I always did wanna, I always wanted to run my own company.
5:40 Zach (Host): Yeah, so when you were working for that company and doing your thing, they saw a spark in you.
5:46 Zach (Host): Like, talk about that moment where they pulled you aside and said, hey, we're gonna invest in you.
5:51 Zach (Host): I'm assuming that's what happened.
5:53 Zach (Host): Talk about that a little bit.
5:54 Bill (Guest): Yeah, it was, it was, it's, you know, I was young.
5:57 Bill (Guest): I was really young and I, you know, I worked extremely hard.
6:00 Bill (Guest): That was one of the things I knew how to do, but I was intelligent at the same time.
6:05 Bill (Guest): And they seen that, and it took them kind of, you know, seeing that and stopping me for a second and saying, hey, you know, we see that you could do more and we wanna give you the opportunity.
6:16 Bill (Guest): So at that time I was, Lutron Homeworks was a smart house lighting system.
6:22 Bill (Guest): And, you know, they sent me to training and I was able to program homes.
6:27 Bill (Guest): And I just thought that was awesome.
6:28 Bill (Guest): You know, the other guys in the company were, you know, in their forties and I was probably the youngest.
6:34 Bill (Guest): Well, I was the youngest at that time.
6:36 Bill (Guest): And I just was super impressed that they had that much trust in me, you know?
6:42 Bill (Guest): And it kind of, and it was, for me, I felt like, okay, I'm not gonna let you down.
6:47 Bill (Guest): I'm gonna be the best I can be.
6:49 Bill (Guest): And, you know, at that time you're a young kid and you're, you know, we all, I mean, I see it all the time.
6:54 Bill (Guest): I've got a lot of young electricians and techs and you're young, you're kind of, I guess say, you know, out doing wild things.
7:02 Bill (Guest): And that was like a trigger for me right about that time.
7:04 Bill (Guest): I was like, all right, it's time to get serious about life because it was starting, you know?
7:08 Bill (Guest): And I
7:08 Bill (Guest): - And how old were you then?
7:09 Bill (Guest): Right about 23, yeah.
7:12 Bill (Guest): And it was, you know, and then I just kind of just went from there.
7:17 Zach (Host): Yeah, interesting.
7:18 Zach (Host): Okay, so you're working up in Ketchum, you're 23 years old.
7:21 Zach (Host): How long were you with that company?
7:23 Zach (Host): I was
7:23 Bill (Guest): with them until I was 26.
7:26 Zach (Host): 26, and then did you start MVE out of that?
7:30 Bill (Guest): No, I actually,
7:31 Bill (Guest): it was, and then me during that time, I met my wife, you know, and we got married and she, her father owned an electrical business in the Magic Valley.
7:42 Bill (Guest): And so I, you know, got my journeyman's license with that company up in Ketchum.
7:47 Bill (Guest): But on the weekends, you know, I would help him.
7:50 Bill (Guest): We really got along.
7:51 Bill (Guest): His work ethic is just unbelievable.
7:54 Bill (Guest): His experience is unbelievable.
7:55 Bill (Guest): He had a great business, great name.
7:57 Bill (Guest): So I'd come down here.
7:58 Bill (Guest): I learned a lot with him because he was heavily into the commercial side of things.
8:02 Bill (Guest): And then we got along.
8:03 Bill (Guest): I just kind of yin and yang.
8:05 Bill (Guest): He found something that could work as hard as him.
8:07 Bill (Guest): And I was really impressed.
8:08 Bill (Guest): I could learn a lot from him on that level.
8:11 Bill (Guest): And so over time, I think, you know, I went about a year after being married, you know, he talked to me about, you know, what do you think about coming to work for me?
8:21 Bill (Guest): And at that time I was kind of in the transition where I was thinking about, you know, I'm gonna get my contractor's license, start my own business.
8:28 Bill (Guest): And I lived in the Magic Valley and was driving back and forth every day.
8:32 Bill (Guest): And so, you
8:33 Bill (Guest): know, I knew that was not gonna happen forever.
8:35 Bill (Guest): I could either move up there, stay down here and find, you know, find work or build a career here.
8:41 Bill (Guest): And so it sounded great.
8:44 Bill (Guest): It was like the perfect fit.
8:45 Bill (Guest): And we just went down that road.
8:47 Bill (Guest): I came to work for Gietzen Electric and we took off from there, you know, we grew it together at that point.
8:55 Zach (Host): Yeah, you know, I grew up here in the Magic Valley.
8:58 Zach (Host): And if I think of electrical contractors and like the big ones, I do think of Gietzen, right?
9:02 Zach (Host): Like I've seen them around for a long, long time.
9:04 Zach (Host): And so I thought that was kind of interesting.
9:06 Zach (Host): Like, you know, you marry into an electrical family.
9:09 Zach (Host): I think that that's kind of random, but
9:11 Bill (Guest): how
9:12 Zach (Host): lucky
9:12 Bill (Guest): is that?
9:13 Bill (Guest): You know, that's kind
9:14 Zach (Host): of cool.
9:14 Bill (Guest): It is crazy.
9:15 Bill (Guest): And it's just wild.
9:16 Bill (Guest): Cause I met Paula, Danielle's mom and Doug's wife years before that, years before me and Danny dated.
9:23 Bill (Guest): And I always, my wife and me have a history.
9:26 Bill (Guest): I've tried to date her for a lot of years before she ever would.
9:30 Bill (Guest): And I met her mom and when she was, she seen I was wearing like an electrical shirt that had the company's name.
9:37 Bill (Guest): And she said, you know, you ought to come work for us.
9:38 Bill (Guest): We own Gietzen Electric.
9:39 Bill (Guest): And I'm pretty happy where I'm at.
9:41 Bill (Guest): And that was literally like three years before I ever went to work for them.
9:44 Bill (Guest): And you know, at that time I wasn't dating her daughter.
9:47 Bill (Guest): Anything, I still remember it, you know?
9:48 Bill (Guest): And so it's just, it's funny how things happen.
9:51 Zach (Host): Yeah, absolutely.
9:52 Zach (Host): So one thing that you were talking about was, you know, when you're working on the farm, did you have an entrepreneurial type mindset during that time?
10:01 Zach (Host): Or were you kind of just learning how to work and do what you're told?
10:04 Zach (Host): Or were you thinking, hey, we can do this better?
10:07 Bill (Guest): You know, for me as a young kid, I mean, I knew hard work is if I wanted something, I had to do it.
10:13 Bill (Guest): I mean, I came from a family that's how it happened.
10:16 Bill (Guest): If I wanted clothes, if I wanted a haircut, I had to go to work and make the money to do that.
10:21 Bill (Guest): You know, and I realized real fast that it was up to me to, you know, to kind of set my path.
10:27 Bill (Guest): And, you know, I'm grateful for my, you know, my past and the people in it, just because it has really shaped me to who I am today.
10:35 Bill (Guest): But, you know, at that time, I just knew I wanted to do more.
10:40 Bill (Guest): You know, there's a saying, you know, if your parents didn't teach you to become, they taught you who not to be.
10:47 Bill (Guest): And, you know, that's kind of where my obsession started with making a difference and becoming the best I could be in my life.
10:54 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
10:54 Bill (Guest): You know, I had a lot of good friends.
10:56 Bill (Guest): I really valued friendship and I seen, you know, opportunities, I seen people with, you know, nice homes and great lives.
11:03 Bill (Guest): And I just, I wanted that so bad.
11:06 Bill (Guest): And it's not about the material.
11:08 Bill (Guest): I just wanted to, you know, create a good life for myself and then my family down the road.
11:14 Bill (Guest): And so it just really stuck with me.
11:17 Bill (Guest): And to get there, you know, I started realizing, hey, you know, owning your own business, having that control over your own destiny is how you're going to do it.
11:27 Bill (Guest): And, you know, and I don't know, even though I talked to my wife about this a lot, you know, my, from a young age, really young, I had a positive mindset always.
11:36 Bill (Guest): And I don't know, I used to just, you know, tell myself if you just, if you stay positive, stay happy, good things will happen.
11:42 Bill (Guest): And, you know, they tend to do if you focus on the positives.
11:47 Zach (Host): Right.
11:47 Zach (Host): Yeah, so you had this unnatural ability just to not look at the negative and keep pushing forward.
11:54 Bill (Guest): Yeah, there's a lot of things out there you can focus on.
11:56 Bill (Guest): You get to choose that, right?
11:58 Bill (Guest): Yeah, absolutely.
11:59 Bill (Guest): And I always choose to focus on the positive.
12:02 Bill (Guest): Yeah,
12:03 Zach (Host): did one of your parents have that?
12:04 Zach (Host): Or did that just?
12:06 Bill (Guest): Yeah, I'd say my mother did.
12:07 Bill (Guest): Yeah, she was always a supporter of me as a young kid.
12:10 Bill (Guest): You know, if
12:11 Bill (Guest): I was told that I was going to be the best football player ever, she'd tell me I could be.
12:16 Bill (Guest): And, you know, and I think that's always just stuck with me.
12:19 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
12:21 Zach (Host): Was dad hard on you or difficult
12:23 Bill (Guest): in that way?
12:24 Bill (Guest): Yeah, absolutely.
12:24 Bill (Guest): To kind of balance that out?
12:25 Bill (Guest): Yeah, big time.
12:26 Bill (Guest): You know, I mean, he was, he was, and I loved him to death for it, you know?
12:31 Bill (Guest): I mean, he's, he definitely was old school and he pretty much made it that way.
12:36 Bill (Guest): If you're going to, if you want something, you got to go get it.
12:39 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
12:39 Bill (Guest): And nobody's going to, nobody's going to give it to you.
12:41 Bill (Guest): And so, you know, that's kind of how the road I took.
12:45 Zach (Host): Well, I mean, teaching you how to work hard and then making you believe you can do anything, kind of the perfect setup,
12:51 Bill (Guest): you know?
12:52 Zach (Host): The saying you said earlier is absolutely correct.
12:54 Zach (Host): Like, you know, they teach you what you need to know and they teach you what you don't need to know,
12:58 Bill (Guest): you know, what you
12:58 Zach (Host): don't need to do.
12:59 Zach (Host): And so I think parents are awesome that way.
13:01 Bill (Guest): Absolutely.
13:03 Zach (Host): So now you're with, we're with Geetz in those years, right?
13:06 Zach (Host): And
13:06 Bill (Guest): you're
13:06 Zach (Host): working with family.
13:08 Zach (Host): How was family business and dynamics?
13:10 Bill (Guest): You know, it was awesome.
13:12 Bill (Guest): I really enjoyed it.
13:13 Bill (Guest): You know, I wasn't really close, you know, I didn't have a really tight family growing up.
13:20 Bill (Guest): And it was nice to have that.
13:22 Bill (Guest): I mean, you know, business and family together can be difficult no matter what, you know?
13:28 Bill (Guest): That's something that's just, it can be hard.
13:30 Bill (Guest): But it was really good because we were doing it together.
13:34 Bill (Guest): You know, it was fun to have the wins together and, you know, just, we had a team, but it was family.
13:41 Bill (Guest): And so the dynamics, it was really good, you know?
13:45 Bill (Guest): You know, for us, when we were, you know, when I was with Geetz and Electric, it came down to timing, you know?
13:52 Bill (Guest): I was a little eager.
13:55 Bill (Guest): I'm just always wanting to go, you know?
13:57 Bill (Guest): And timing was everything.
14:00 Bill (Guest): And it was the wrong time.
14:01 Bill (Guest): You know, I was ready to, you know, after six years with Geetz and Electric, I was ready to take on, you know, that ownership role and really set my vision of what I wanted to do with that great company.
14:14 Bill (Guest): And it was a great company.
14:16 Bill (Guest): It ran great already.
14:18 Bill (Guest): You know, just the timing wasn't right for my in-laws.
14:22 Bill (Guest): And so, you know, at that time, you know, and I understood, we decided to leave and start Magic Valley Electric.
14:30 Bill (Guest): It was, the struggle of that was, you know, the family life did change, you know?
14:35 Bill (Guest): We just, overnight, pretty quick,
14:38 Bill (Guest): it did.
14:39 Bill (Guest): And it was tough.
14:40 Bill (Guest): It was tough on, you know, my wife.
14:43 Bill (Guest): It was definitely, you know, it was tough on me.
14:45 Bill (Guest): And we were kind of, you know, in somewhat of competition at that point in time, which can be a big dynamic when you're talking families, you know?
14:54 Zach (Host): I mean, Thanksgiving will be a little different,
14:56 Bill (Guest): that's for sure.
14:56 Bill (Guest): Yeah, yeah, and we really, you know, we really missed that.
14:59 Bill (Guest): You know, so it's been exciting.
15:02 Bill (Guest): It's been awesome to bring that back together with the merger.
15:05 Bill (Guest): I mean, it's just, you know, I seen Doug this morning.
15:08 Bill (Guest): We had a,
15:09 Bill (Guest): just a projects meeting this morning and, you know, gave him a big hug.
15:13 Bill (Guest): And he's just, he's loving it.
15:15 Bill (Guest): You know, his son, Logan, you know, he's a superstar and he's getting to work, I work with him every day.
15:21 Bill (Guest): He's managing our solar division and just be able to work together towards, you know, one goal has been awesome.
15:29 Zach (Host): When you sat down with them and had that conversation of, hey, we want to do our own thing, did they try to give you something to manage or let you cast vision and help grow Geetson?
15:43 Zach (Host): Or was it
15:44 Bill (Guest): kind of
15:44 Zach (Host): a, this is our thing and?
15:46 Bill (Guest): Well, I was already there.
15:47 Bill (Guest): You know, I was, I had a small piece of ownership and I was the vice president at that time.
15:52 Bill (Guest): So I was, me and Doug really were the two.
15:55 Bill (Guest): I mean, we led the company at that time.
16:00 Bill (Guest): And, you know, it was just a, you know, they had, you know, obviously Logan was moving into the company too, or, you know, growing into the company.
16:08 Bill (Guest): Wanted to start a solar division off of that.
16:12 Bill (Guest): And I could see the ground was getting a little tough, you know, and it was nobody's fault.
16:16 Bill (Guest): It's just, you know, there was a lot of dynamics with family and, you know, looking back, it was a,
16:23 Bill (Guest): you know, it made the most sense that, hey, if I, you know, if I do leave, this will allow, you know, this can allow them to do their thing.
16:30 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
16:31 Bill (Guest): And that's how it went.
16:32 Bill (Guest): Actually, it was really good when we decided to leave, like talking, you know, they did want us to stay.
16:37 Bill (Guest): And at that point in time, you know, we knew that, okay, you know, if we do, I don't know if myself, if I can kind of go after my goal of doing, you know, making it the way I want.
16:51 Bill (Guest): And so that was the, that was a change.
16:54 Bill (Guest): And, you know, and all in all, it really did work out.
16:56 Bill (Guest): You know, I mean, Doug and Logan grew a great company.
17:00 Bill (Guest): You know, Logan grew a great solar division.
17:04 Bill (Guest): And then we, you know, we did our thing.
17:06 Bill (Guest): There was just that, that competition.
17:08 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
17:08 Bill (Guest): We had an eight year stint there of pretty much zero to no communication.
17:12 Zach (Host): Oh, that's, I mean, dealing with family.
17:17 Zach (Host): So I come from a line of family entrepreneurs and so I really get some of that family business stuff and not, you know, communicating or being limited or being, you know, hey, hush, hush about what you're doing.
17:29 Zach (Host): Like that would tear me apart.
17:30 Zach (Host): Like, how'd you guys do that?
17:32 Zach (Host): Like, how'd you do that for eight years?
17:33 Zach (Host): Oh man.
17:34 Zach (Host): Like you and your family specifically.
17:35 Bill (Guest): My wife, I mean, she's the backbone of our family.
17:40 Bill (Guest): Just an amazing human being.
17:42 Bill (Guest): And she really was like, she's my cheerleader.
17:46 Bill (Guest): You know, you work 16, 18 hours and come home and it still was a hard, tough, maybe not even great day.
17:52 Bill (Guest): And she'd pump me up and get me ready for the next day.
17:55 Bill (Guest): And she just, she held our family together.
17:58 Bill (Guest): You know, I mean, I go back and look at, I mean, I put, you know, it was, my back was against the wall.
18:03 Bill (Guest): That was kind of my only choice, but to just go.
18:05 Bill (Guest): And so I put a ton of hours in along with my team, my team as well.
18:11 Bill (Guest): But I, my mom or my wife was, she was mom, dad, everybody, grandma.
18:17 Bill (Guest): I mean, she took care of those, our kids.
18:19 Bill (Guest): We have three kids and, and the things I think about now of what, like, you know, when your bank account's at zero and, you know, we'd have a car for a while.
18:30 Bill (Guest): And I mean, we, she went from, you know, a nice new car from when we were with our, you know, Gates and Electric to a 10 year old van with 260,000 miles on it.
18:39 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
18:40 Bill (Guest): And she, she didn't care.
18:41 Bill (Guest): I mean, I went, I think we had 14 new service trucks by the time I, she finally would allow me to get her a new car.
18:50 Bill (Guest): And so there's, you know, that's, it's a team and she's, you know, just was behind the scenes.
18:55 Bill (Guest): And so it's really, there's so many stories there that I look back and they were fun stories.
19:00 Bill (Guest): I mean, we'd hop in a truck or hop in a car and I'd find this great deal on a bucket truck down in Utah.
19:07 Bill (Guest): And it was kind of like, got to get down there right now.
19:09 Bill (Guest): Tuesday night, we're driving down there.
19:10 Bill (Guest): We got the kids in the back and, you know, we get down there.
19:13 Bill (Guest): I
19:13 Bill (Guest): remember one time we're coming back and her air conditioner runs out on her car, you know, that little van.
19:17 Bill (Guest): And we threw all the kids in this service van that I bought, you know, and she's just, it was a team.
19:23 Bill (Guest): It was pretty exciting.
19:24 Bill (Guest): Yeah, that's awesome.
19:25 Zach (Host): I mean, like, one thing we realized with entrepreneurs is there's so many good people around them that help them do it.
19:31 Zach (Host): You know what I mean?
19:32 Zach (Host): But they typically have a lot of vision, right?
19:33 Zach (Host): They typically have a lot of direction that they want to go but they can't do it themselves.
19:38 Bill (Guest): 100%
19:39 Zach (Host): in this case.
19:41 Zach (Host): So in 2013, that's when you started Magic by Electric, right?
19:43 Zach (Host): So that's when you left Geetz and started that.
19:46 Zach (Host): What did the early days look like?
19:48 Zach (Host): Where did you find customers?
19:49 Bill (Guest): It was tough.
19:51 Bill (Guest): You know, I was lucky enough, I did have a lot of relationships in this valley because I'm from here, you know, and I worked pretty hard on that throughout the years.
20:01 Bill (Guest): But, you know, you're the new company, you know, that maybe not a lot of people are rooting for.
20:06 Bill (Guest): Some are, some aren't.
20:08 Bill (Guest): And, you know, customers are one thing but, you know, team members are another.
20:12 Bill (Guest): And I had a vision of building something different.
20:17 Bill (Guest): In the construction industry, it's changing now, you know, quicker than ever.
20:22 Bill (Guest): But back in 2013, it was definitely old school.
20:26 Bill (Guest): You know, there wasn't a lot of culture in electrical businesses.
20:30 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
20:30 Bill (Guest): You know, and I really, really wanted that.
20:33 Bill (Guest): And I focused on that.
20:35 Bill (Guest): I mean, development, you know, we were always finding ways if it was events or trainings, how can we develop our team?
20:43 Bill (Guest): And as I, you know, was in interviews, I think a lot of the team members that work with me now, they've seen that passion.
20:51 Bill (Guest): And, but they would go into my, you know, our first shop was just a little thing, you know, one office, one tiny little shop, you know, one bathroom just.
20:59 Bill (Guest): And I still look back.
21:01 Bill (Guest): I'm like, gosh, I mean, either I was really good at, you know, they believe them, but I still wonder how did that happen?
21:07 Bill (Guest): And how did we get, you know, some of the best people, you know, in the industry, and they were still young at that time, but they believed in me and I really appreciate that, you know, cause, and it's too, it's husband and wife.
21:21 Bill (Guest): You know, I had a lot of meetings with the wives too, and they would ask a lot of questions and I would lay it out for them and, you know, tell them what I'm doing and what I want to do.
21:29 Bill (Guest): And it's from that day one, it's been a team effort.
21:34 Bill (Guest): Our family, I mean, that's the magic team,
21:37 Bill (Guest): you know, Magic Valley Electric, Magic Services, it's all about our people.
21:42 Bill (Guest): Like I couldn't do this without them.
21:45 Bill (Guest): And there's so much engagement every single day.
21:50 Bill (Guest): It just makes me excited.
21:51 Bill (Guest): I mean, I, you would, you could go into our business and you won't know who the owner is.
21:56 Bill (Guest): And that's a good feeling to have, right?
21:58 Bill (Guest): That's a ton of awesome leaders.
22:00 Bill (Guest): And so we just really snowballed, you know, once that, you know, I guess the new wore off and the things, you know, the facts started showing through, right?
22:10 Bill (Guest): It wasn't all smoke and mirrors, you know, it was happening, like we were focused on our team.
22:16 Bill (Guest): We were building the best culture and, you know, that's one side, and we had to be dang good at being an electrical company, you know, so trainings, how to, you know, be the best technicians, wire the, you know, some big facilities, professional organized, that was combined in that.
22:34 Bill (Guest): And so that's what we did.
22:36 Bill (Guest): And we continue to do that almost every day.
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23:25 Zach (Host): You know, one thing you mentioned when you were with Geetson is that you could like, you love to talk to customers, you love to run teams.
23:31 Zach (Host): From my outside perspective, it seems that you guys are really good at developing people.
23:37 Zach (Host): And, you know, you've grown how many team members now?
23:40 Zach (Host): 156.
23:41 Zach (Host): 156, that's just a couple, okay.
23:44 Zach (Host): Like, how do you develop people?
23:45 Zach (Host): Like, how do you do it realistically?
23:47 Bill (Guest): You know, we're, I mean, if there's something we're focused on right now is that.
23:55 Bill (Guest): We've seen how, you know, I mean, we all have something in us that makes us special, you know, and that comes naturally, but that only takes you so far.
24:04 Bill (Guest): You need the tools and the resources to take yourself to the next level.
24:08 Bill (Guest): And once we started training and learning about, you know, even the smallest things about communication and how important that is in the workplace, and it really just hit home.
24:19 Bill (Guest): Like, this is gonna make us better.
24:21 Bill (Guest): It's gonna make us better leaders and, you know, better electricians, better managers, and overall as a better business.
24:29 Bill (Guest): So we started with, you know, a couple trainings.
24:32 Bill (Guest): I went to some trainings at Boise State with a couple of the team members, and it just, it began to grow from there.
24:40 Bill (Guest): You know, we'd have, you know, trainings at the shop that, you know, even technical trainings.
24:45 Bill (Guest): And obviously if you're just constantly sharpening that blade or,
24:49 Bill (Guest): you know, I guess, you know, building that muscle, you're just gonna be better and better.
24:54 Bill (Guest): And, you know, then we got into leadership and that's really amazing.
25:00 Bill (Guest): I mean, that was the biggest thing I see in the, you know, the biggest change in our company.
25:05 Bill (Guest): Cause it, you know, leadership's hard.
25:07 Bill (Guest): We know that, you know, and I've done it wrong many times where I've got the best electrician doing the biggest jobs and I move him into a leadership role.
25:17 Bill (Guest): There's, they're not the same.
25:19 Bill (Guest): Doesn't work.
25:19 Bill (Guest): Yeah, it doesn't work, you know?
25:21 Bill (Guest): And that's something that we found, you know, let's, we got to focus on really grooming our leaders, all our people to become the best leaders.
25:30 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
25:30 Bill (Guest): You know, learning those interpersonal skills, you know, learning how to communicate better, learning how to listen better and just how to build a connection with your team because, you know, if you care, your team cares.
25:45 Bill (Guest): And just, it really is taking off.
25:47 Bill (Guest): And even right now, I mean, actually, we're going to bring in a full-time trainer this year.
25:51 Bill (Guest): I've actually hired one cause we do so much.
25:53 Bill (Guest): I mean, you know, yesterday we had 17 people in a training session we do every two weeks.
25:59 Bill (Guest): It's called Next Level Leadership that we bring a third party company in from Boise.
26:04 Bill (Guest): And, you know, it's amazing to have that, but we're going to really put more focus and be more strategic.
26:11 Bill (Guest): And, you know, when we do see somebody that has that thing, you know, that, you know, we all see, right?
26:18 Bill (Guest): You meet somebody like, man.
26:20 Bill (Guest): Yeah, charisma, something.
26:21 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
26:22 Bill (Guest): And, you know, we're going to figure out, okay, let's groom this person, you know, this team member.
26:27 Bill (Guest): Let's take them, they want to be at the next level.
26:29 Bill (Guest): Well, let's put the resources, you know, let's put the horsepower behind them,
26:33 Bill (Guest): you know, let's train them, teach them, whatever it takes.
26:36 Bill (Guest): Because, you know, I'm always looking, I want somebody to replace me someday.
26:40 Bill (Guest): And if you're, you know, if you don't start looking at that or training the people to take your spot, you're always going to be the guy, right?
26:47 Bill (Guest): And that's a lot of stress.
26:48 Zach (Host): That's the 2 a.m.
26:49 Zach (Host): phone calls
26:50 Bill (Guest): and everything.
26:51 Bill (Guest): Yeah, and it's, you know, it's something we've fostered in our operation is train your replacement.
26:58 Bill (Guest): If you said that in other businesses or companies, that would probably not go over well.
27:03 Bill (Guest): But for us, it means if you want to grow, you've got to train somebody that's going to take your place.
27:09 Bill (Guest): And so that's, it's going to be an ongoing every day, every year.
27:14 Bill (Guest): I mean, that training never stops.
27:15 Bill (Guest): I take probably two of the same communications trainings every year because I tend to regress.
27:24 Bill (Guest): I mean-
27:24 Bill (Guest): And that's for you.
27:24 Bill (Guest): That's your personal training.
27:25 Bill (Guest): Yeah, I mean, I do it with a group, you know, because I go, oh man, I'm doing that again.
27:30 Bill (Guest): Billy, what are you doing?
27:31 Bill (Guest): You know, being passive aggressive or whatever, you know?
27:33 Bill (Guest): And it's just, it's repetition.
27:36 Bill (Guest): You know, it's never going to stop.
27:38 Bill (Guest): And then, you know, you learn the new things.
27:39 Bill (Guest): You need to learn what's, you know, kind of, you know, if it's, how you can be that next level leader, how you can be that, you know, that, just that, you know, really focused on your team.
27:50 Bill (Guest): You know, I mean, really, you know, for us, I mean, we're, I'm really trying to figure out a way to be a better visionary leader right now, you know?
28:01 Bill (Guest): Because I love being in the trenches and I love my team, right?
28:04 Bill (Guest): But I want to set long-term goals that are so clear that we're all, and everybody sees them and we're all rowing in the same direction.
28:14 Bill (Guest): We've done okay with that, but man, it's really important.
28:17 Bill (Guest): We've got a lot of livelihoods at stake and I want to make sure that it's going to be, you know, just perfect.
28:22 Zach (Host): Yeah, sustainable and last beyond yourself, I'm assuming,
28:25 Bill (Guest): right? Absolutely.
28:26 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
28:27 Bill (Guest): Yeah, absolutely.
28:28 Zach (Host): So, taking back to recent events, so you recently merged, acquired, I don't know specifically what that is, with Geetzen and those families come back together.
28:40 Zach (Host): Talk about that conversation.
28:42 Zach (Host): How did that even start?
28:43 Bill (Guest): You know, that's a good story.
28:45 Bill (Guest): I mean, it really is.
28:47 Bill (Guest): I think I might get teary-eyed.
28:50 Bill (Guest): You know, so we've been separated, you know, for a lot of years.
28:55 Bill (Guest): A couple times I did reach out, maybe we could put something together.
28:59 Bill (Guest): You know, that was probably, it was probably not always the right time to.
29:05 Bill (Guest): Actually, the day before Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law contacted me and we hadn't spoken, I don't know how many years, it's been a lot of years, you know, I still kick myself now thinking about it.
29:16 Bill (Guest): You know, what were you thinking, Billy?
29:18 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
29:18 Bill (Guest): You know, but you tend to get in that, just that grind where you're just, this is how it's going to be and this is what we're doing.
29:23 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
29:23 Bill (Guest): He came to talk to me about, we talked on the phone, then we met.
29:28 Bill (Guest): And, you know, he was, him and my wife are definitely, they're a lot alike.
29:34 Bill (Guest): They're just great people with great hearts.
29:38 Bill (Guest): And, you know, he is a extremely good family man, great dad, great husband.
29:44 Bill (Guest): And, you know, he came to me and he just talked about, you know, he wanted to find a way to, you know, come together as a family again.
29:56 Bill (Guest): You know, and he's, he was, you know, he knows where he's at in his life and his career and where he could use help and what he wants to focus on.
30:05 Bill (Guest): And, you know, and where I'm good at is I'm passionate.
30:08 Bill (Guest): I'm not being passionate, I'm obsessed about our business.
30:13 Bill (Guest): And that's where I'm good at.
30:14 Bill (Guest): That's my genius zone, I guess you'd call it.
30:17 Bill (Guest): And so we discussed it, a couple of things, you know, and he wanted to see if we could bring to come together as companies, you know, we would acquire them and then he would run and grow the solar division because he is passionate about solar.
30:33 Bill (Guest): He's really good at it.
30:35 Bill (Guest): Electrical, not as much, but he's a great electrician.
30:38 Bill (Guest): But, you know, it was like, all right.
30:40 Bill (Guest): And I really love that, right?
30:41 Bill (Guest): I thought, you know, I mean, from a lot of standpoints, I love the idea of us coming together as a family.
30:47 Bill (Guest): And, you know, and I told him, I said, you know, Logue, I want this to be something you, you know, you talk to your parents about it and your wife and everybody, you know, everybody involved.
30:58 Bill (Guest): And,
30:59 Bill (Guest): but I can set this, I can make it happen.
31:01 Bill (Guest): I just want to make sure it's everybody's on the same team, same page.
31:06 Bill (Guest): I mean,
31:06 Zach (Host): more than one family member, yeah.
31:07 Bill (Guest): Yeah, you know, it's important, right?
31:09 Bill (Guest): And there's a lot of stuff that happened throughout the years that, you know, that we have to talk through.
31:14 Bill (Guest): And so literally, I think it was like four days later, we had a kind of a top secret meeting at the magic building in our conference room.
31:21 Bill (Guest): And we hadn't had that group of people in the room, same room in eight years, yeah, eight years, easy.
31:29 Bill (Guest): Hadn't even seen them, you know, I mean, a lot of them.
31:32 Bill (Guest): And so we had that, that meeting.
31:35 Bill (Guest): Were you nervous?
31:36 Bill (Guest): Yeah, oh yeah, I'd be lying if
31:40 Bill (Guest): I said I wasn't.
31:40 Bill (Guest): I mean, yeah, really nervous.
31:42 Bill (Guest): And, you know, we, we didn't, you didn't know what was going to happen, right?
31:47 Bill (Guest): Right.
31:48 Bill (Guest): And it went really good.
31:50 Bill (Guest): We did, you know, we went around the room and then, you know, we started, the business was one thing.
31:54 Bill (Guest): That's a separate thing, right?
31:55 Bill (Guest): We wanted to talk about the family because the business isn't important.
32:00 Bill (Guest): If we can't do the family first and focus on that and figure out how to get past, you know, what's happened, let's not talk about the business.
32:08 Bill (Guest): And so we started there.
32:10 Bill (Guest): I mean, we spent, I don't know, two, three hours in that room talking and it, you know, there were some emotions in there and good, you know, really good stuff happened.
32:19 Bill (Guest): You know, we made some breakthroughs, I'd call it, you know, and I'm, I'm a person, I don't look back to go forward, you know, but I was willing to do whatever, you know, cause it's important to me.
32:27 Bill (Guest): And, and, and so we did, we worked through that.
32:33 Bill (Guest): And then, you know, everybody was on the same page.
32:35 Bill (Guest): You know, I mean, we knew if we brought both companies together that we could do something extremely amazing, you know, just, you know, two great companies in the, in the Magic Valley coming together as one team.
32:51 Bill (Guest): And so that's, that's the next step.
32:53 Bill (Guest): We started working on that and, you know, going through all the details and, yeah, and we made it happen.
33:01 Bill (Guest): So it was, and,
33:02 Bill (Guest): and, you know, and right away, this is a, this is exactly, this is what makes it feel so good, you know, coming into, you know, bringing, coming back together and mending those relationships, you know, and you're, you have stories in your head that, oh, this is going
33:16 Bill (Guest): to be hard.
33:18 Bill (Guest): What, what are they going to say?
33:20 Bill (Guest): What am I going
33:20 Bill (Guest): to say?
33:20 Bill (Guest): Kind of, you know, you could easily do that.
33:22 Bill (Guest): Well, we took right off.
33:23 Bill (Guest): Like it was like two days ago when we split.
33:25 Bill (Guest): I mean, it really has, it was a, you know, great relationships.
33:29 Bill (Guest): I mean, just, it was like, we didn't skip a beat.
33:32 Bill (Guest): And I have talked to Logan about this too.
33:34 Bill (Guest): Cause he said it too.
33:35 Bill (Guest): I was like, man, that, that means it's meant to be right.
33:38 Bill (Guest): It's, it was, it just felt good.
33:42 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
33:42 Bill (Guest): So it's now, here we are, you know, a couple of months after the, after coming together and.
33:47 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
33:48 Bill (Guest): And now we're off, off and running.
33:49 Zach (Host): How has the integration of the cultures gone?
33:54 Zach (Host): Right.
33:54 Zach (Host): So magic has this very unique culture, of course.
33:57 Zach (Host): And Geetson had their culture.
33:58 Zach (Host): And when you bring in some guys, like how, how'd that go?
34:02 Zach (Host): It
34:03 Bill (Guest): went extremely well, you know, considering the circumstances.
34:08 Bill (Guest): Okay.
34:08 Bill (Guest): I was telling this to my father-in-law.
34:10 Bill (Guest): I said, okay, Doug, we had, you know, two companies.
34:16 Bill (Guest): Okay.
34:16 Bill (Guest): And any, any acquisition or merger, if you have two companies that don't know each other, to bring them together is extremely hard.
34:23 Bill (Guest): Well, in our case, we had two companies that didn't like each other in a sense.
34:27 Bill (Guest): I mean, I wouldn't say it like, you know, there was a major competition and we bring those two teams together, there's, that could be some, some big challenges ahead of you, you know?
34:37 Bill (Guest): So knowing that we worked really hard.
34:40 Bill (Guest): I did one-on-ones.
34:41 Bill (Guest): That was like my main priority, one-on-ones with every single team member.
34:46 Bill (Guest): Nice.
34:46 Bill (Guest): You know, and our team was super, super important to this because, you know, they had to be obviously really open-minded and excited about it, as excited as I was.
34:56 Bill (Guest): And they were, luckily, you know, everybody was on the same page and on board and, you know, was open arms to helping and doing whatever.
35:04 Bill (Guest): And so that, it really came down to a good structure.
35:07 Bill (Guest): A lot of people, you know, from, you know, all of our technicians to obviously marketing, HR, everything, everybody put this together and really made the Geetson team feel at home.
35:23 Bill (Guest): We did orientations and, you know, showed them the culture over, you know, what we're into, what we're all about.
35:30 Bill (Guest): And at first it was, you know, I think they were probably a little overwhelmed as anybody would be,
35:38 Bill (Guest): you know, cause it's their career, it's their livelihood.
35:39 Bill (Guest): And it just kind of changed pretty quick.
35:43 Bill (Guest): But I reassured them that, you know, we want you guys on the team.
35:48 Bill (Guest): We want everybody on the team and it's, trust me, we're only going to make it better.
35:51 Bill (Guest): Yeah.
35:52 Bill (Guest): So just really taking the time and focusing on the people.
35:56 Bill (Guest): I mean, I wasn't focused on the jobs and the, I mean, you know, we got to keep an operation, but it's not, you know, if that job was, we got to keep that job profitable.
36:04 Bill (Guest): We got to keep this.
36:05 Bill (Guest): Right.
36:05 Bill (Guest): You know, we work, we're good at operations, but our priority was our team and their team coming together and as one.
36:13 Zach (Host): Yeah.
36:13 Zach (Host): That's, I think it's incredible.
36:16 Zach (Host): A lot of statistics say when companies merge, they don't do so well.
36:20 Zach (Host): Like if you
36:21 Bill (Guest): look at
36:21 Zach (Host): the data and it looks like you guys are doing great, it looks like things are going well.
36:26 Zach (Host): So congratulations.
36:27 Zach (Host): Thank
36:27 Bill (Guest): you. That's
36:28 Zach (Host): incredible.
36:28 Bill (Guest): You know, and COVID doesn't add any help to that either.
36:31 Bill (Guest): Right.
36:31 Bill (Guest): Cause we couldn't have a big event at that time.
36:34 Bill (Guest): So we had to be really strategic of how we did things from our orientations to just, you know, trying to get everybody together.
36:42 Bill (Guest): So it added a lot, a challenge.
36:45 Bill (Guest): We're excited.
36:46 Bill (Guest): We're going to have a big company party very soon.
36:49 Bill (Guest): We've got a plan and you know, it's going to be, it's going to be a lot of fun.
36:53 Bill (Guest): And it's not for anything but that.
36:56 Bill (Guest): Bringing the teams together, celebrating, you know, just doing what we do and just having a good time and even building that bond stronger.
37:07 Zach (Host): Yeah.
37:07 Zach (Host): That's interesting.
37:09 Zach (Host): You use the phrase one team, one dream, right?
37:13 Zach (Host): That's your slogan that you've been saying for a long time actually.
37:17 Zach (Host): What does that mean?
37:18 Zach (Host): You know, if we could have the story behind that, what does that actually mean?
37:21 Zach (Host): And then what does that look like going forward?
37:23 Bill (Guest): Well, you know, from the outside looking in, we've got, we look like a big company, which we got a lot of people, right?
37:30 Bill (Guest): We got, you know, over 150 employees and, but it's not that, it's a lot of small focus divisions, you know, separate divisions,
37:39 Bill (Guest): you got Ag, Industrial, Commercial, Express, Automation, Service, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, Boise, and then, you know, Boise Electrical and Boise Plumbing.
37:49 Bill (Guest): So there's a lot of, it could be segregation, right?
37:52 Bill (Guest): You could have a lot of teams that don't.
37:53 Bill (Guest): A lot of silos.
37:54 Bill (Guest): A lot of silos, right?
37:56 Bill (Guest): That's, when you grow, that can happen.
37:59 Bill (Guest): That corporate feel can happen.
38:01 Bill (Guest): And that's, I'm a thousand percent against that.
38:04 Bill (Guest): I do everything I can not to have that.
38:06 Bill (Guest): You have to have processes,
38:07 Bill (Guest): but you, I'm trying to always not, I'm trying to keep that culture strong.
38:12 Bill (Guest): So with that one team, one dream, that's exactly what it is.
38:15 Bill (Guest): I mean, our group, our team is so impressive on, you know, if it's a, if it's an industrial team member, I mean, they are friends and have relationships with that service team member,
38:29 Bill (Guest): you know, and they have each other's back.
38:31 Bill (Guest): I
38:32 Bill (Guest): mean, we are always working together to help each other level up.
38:34 Bill (Guest): It's not silos, you know, but it could be.
38:37 Bill (Guest): You know, we focus hard on our company goals as, you know, as we win together, right?
38:43 Bill (Guest): We win and lose together.
38:45 Bill (Guest): But the focus is just that one team, one dream.
38:48 Bill (Guest): I mean, just even having, you know, two buildings, that's, that can be tough, right?
38:54 Bill (Guest): If I could go all over again, I would start, I'd build one building and have us all under one, even though we're 40 feet apart from each other, 50 feet apart, it can create some segregation.
39:05 Bill (Guest): And so we try so hard because that's our magic to keep us as one team and, you know, keep that dream alive always.
39:13 Bill (Guest): And, you know, and it's about moving up in the company.
39:17 Bill (Guest): You know, we promote within so much that in all levels, I mean, from service to industrial, we really foster that.
39:27 Bill (Guest): And we want our team to always believe that.
39:31 Bill (Guest): And, you know, just keep that in front of them at all times.
39:36 Bill (Guest): So one team, one dream is always, and it just, it means so much, you know, it's where we've got here today.
39:42 Bill (Guest): I mean, it's, there's just so much to it that, I mean, I'm so proud because there's so many people in our operations that you, you know, that are amazing.
39:52 Bill (Guest): And in all sides of the operation.
39:55 Bill (Guest): And so it's not just one, it's definitely not just one.
39:58 Bill (Guest): It's not just me.
39:59 Bill (Guest): It's everybody around me, everybody on our team.
40:02 Bill (Guest): And so that, you know, that's our, that's the one team.
40:05 Zach (Host): Yeah, man, I commend you.
40:08 Zach (Host): Like I talk to your people, like I know you, you know what
40:11 Zach (Host): I mean?
40:11 Bill (Guest): I see them all the time
40:12 Zach (Host): and I've had, I've seen people from the outside that would look at that slogan and kind of like, yeah, right.
40:19 Zach (Host): Like it's not, it's not one
40:21 Bill (Guest): team.
40:21 Zach (Host): And then they join in and they get in the culture and you talk to them a couple of weeks later and it's really fun to watch that transformation.
40:28 Zach (Host): So yeah, you're obviously helping people.
40:29 Zach (Host): You're inspiring people and investing in them and they obviously love it.
40:33 Zach (Host): So way
40:33 Bill (Guest): to go.
40:34 Bill (Guest): It's, I think it kind of takes off, you know, it really starts to snowball when you, cause somebody's seen something in me one time and it changed my life.
40:43 Bill (Guest): And so I've, I've seen that same thing in a lot of others.
40:47 Bill (Guest): And, you know, I mean, they've grown in our company and they're our top leaders, you know, and they're going to continue to grow.
40:54 Bill (Guest): And they're not just going
40:55 Bill (Guest): to be leaders in our company.
40:56 Bill (Guest): They're going to be leaders in the, in the community.
40:59 Bill (Guest): That's what I want.
40:59 Bill (Guest): You know, I, you, you know how it goes, Zach.
41:01 Bill (Guest): I mean, it, this doesn't just stop at work.
41:04 Bill (Guest): It carries on into your life.
41:06 Bill (Guest): And if you're doing these things and practicing things at these things that in your job that you do every day, there's a pretty good chance you're going to practice them with your wife and with your kids, which, you know, helps us, you know, you want them to be great leaders and great, you know, human beings and do the right things in life.
41:23 Bill (Guest): And so I think, you know, that's kind of the momentum we have going.
41:29 Zach (Host): So coming to a close here, you're 10 years approaching a decade here, a couple more, and why do you still do it?
41:38 Zach (Host): From, from every outside perspective, it's a success, right?
41:41 Zach (Host): You've made it if you want to call it that, but why do you wake up and continue the grind?
41:46 Bill (Guest): You know, it's, it's crazy, but I feel like my back's getting swoll every day.
41:52 Bill (Guest): And I, my wife says, you should sleep in, you should, but I, it's an obsession.
41:57 Bill (Guest): I'm, I'm really, I'm passionate, but it's more than passionate.
42:00 Bill (Guest): It's an obsession.
42:02 Bill (Guest): And so that, that, you know, we've had to have these talks with my team because ego can mess things up in life, right?
42:08 Bill (Guest): And that's one thing we throw out the door at Magic and MVE because ego can really change things in a company.
42:15 Bill (Guest): And we've, we have had those meetings where I say, we're not that good guys.
42:20 Bill (Guest): And it kind of, they're like, you know, wow, that's coming from him.
42:24 Bill (Guest): And, and it kind of resets us.
42:26 Bill (Guest): So knowing our back's always against the wall, and if we want to be the best, we got to always keep pushing.
42:31 Bill (Guest): I mean, I, I naturally wake up about 3.30, four o
42:35 Bill (Guest): 'clock in the morning and I get going every day, you know, and, and it's exciting.
42:39 Bill (Guest): Like my best time is in the morning.
42:41 Bill (Guest): I'm like pumped.
42:42 Bill (Guest): Everybody gets the, I'm ahead kind of everybody,
42:44 Bill (Guest): you know, is ready to go.
42:46 Bill (Guest): And, and it's hard on my wife because she's the opposite.
42:48 Bill (Guest): She don't really like the mornings, you know, and I'm like talking to her when I'm getting ready in the morning.
42:52 Bill (Guest): It's not, not a good thing.
42:55 Bill (Guest): But it's just cause I do love what I do and I'm not doing it just for me by any means.
43:00 Bill (Guest): It's my team now, you know, or my team, it always has been and my family.
43:04 Bill (Guest): But you know, that's, it's just, there's so many more people that are involved now and I don't want to let anybody down.
43:11 Bill (Guest): And so, cause they're not letting me down.
43:13 Bill (Guest): So there's, you know, we hold each other accountable here.
43:15 Zach (Host): Yeah.
43:16 Zach (Host): I mean, it's a team, right?
43:17 Zach (Host): Absolutely.
43:17 Zach (Host): Teams
43:17 Bill (Guest): need
43:18 Zach (Host): good leaders.
43:18 Zach (Host): And so,
43:19 Bill (Guest): it makes sense.
43:20 Bill (Guest): Yeah, it's, it's been exciting.
43:21 Bill (Guest): You know, that's, that's the one thing I feel, you know, I think we're at our, we're at our best we ever have been right now.
43:28 Bill (Guest): And it's, there's on a lot of levels, you know, on the technical side, on our structure, on our, you know, just our, our, our team and how well they're developed.
43:38 Bill (Guest): And, you know, that, that culture of continuous improvement, you know, we always are improving.
43:44 Bill (Guest): You know, I, I believe in it.
43:46 Bill (Guest): And now, I mean, our, obviously our team does as well.
43:49 Zach (Host): Yeah.
43:50 Zach (Host): Well, you've built a strong team and, and it shows like, the community is literally changing and businesses are being inspired and growing because of your service to the Magic Valley.
43:59 Zach (Host): And that's,
44:00 Bill (Guest): and it's,
44:00 Zach (Host): and it's inspiring.
44:01 Zach (Host): It's good for people to watch and, and want to chase after it as well.
44:05 Zach (Host): You know, whatever that thing is, it's in their heart that they feel that they want to do.
44:08 Zach (Host): So way to go.
44:08 Bill (Guest): Absolutely.
44:09 Bill (Guest): Well, thank you, Zach.
44:09 Bill (Guest): I appreciate that.
44:10 Zach (Host): Thank you for being on the show.
44:12 Zach (Host): I appreciate you.
44:12 Zach (Host): Thank you for your time.
44:13 Bill (Guest): Absolutely, man.
44:14 Zach (Host): And we, we're thankful.
44:15 Zach (Host): We're thankful
44:16 Bill (Guest): for
44:16 Zach (Host): you and the community is as well.
44:18 Bill (Guest): Absolutely.
44:18 Bill (Guest): Well, thank you.
44:19 Bill (Guest): And I appreciate being on here and hopefully get to come back someday soon.
44:23 Zach (Host): Yeah, absolutely.
44:24 Zach (Host): We'll
44:24 Bill (Guest): see you later.
44:24 Zach (Host): See ya.
44:25 Zach (Host): Thanks for joining us on the show today.
44:27 Zach (Host): Show Magic some love and give them a call on your next electrical,
44:30 Zach (Host): plumbing, or HVAC project.
44:31 Zach (Host): Always remember that businesses are made up of people.
44:34 Zach (Host): When you invest in yourself as a leader or invest in your leadership team like Magic, the entire team gets better.
44:40 Zach (Host): We want to hear from you and get the show out to passionate people.
44:42 Zach (Host): So if you are enjoying the show, would you please leave us a review and share the show with someone who would love it?
44:47 Zach (Host): We want to inspire as many people as possible.
44:49 Zach (Host): We can't do that without you.
44:50 Zach (Host): Life is short.
44:51 Zach (Host): Make a ruckus.