Part 2 Remodeling your Career with Francisco Duron

Welcome back to part two of my conversation with Mr. Francisco Duron, who also is my cousin. This half of the conversation, Francisco talks to us about what he thought his career was going to be when he got all growed up. How he's building his team. And his business, which those of you that know, like you can't grow the business without growing your team. And he's also got some special advice for all the micromanagers out there. And believe me, I ain't judging. I've been working on my micro management for a very, very long time and he's got some good advice there. But before you get all of that, goodness, I want to give a shout out to LnM Family member, Ms. Claudia Garcia, Ms. ms. Claudia dropped this comment on the LinkedIn on the some posts that I had put out there. It touched me in a meaningful way. And so of course I wanted to share it. She is looking for perfection and feeling defeated. When I am pushed to sacrifice quality over quantity, making me feel there is simply not enough of me to go around. If I want to meet the expectations of performance for everyone. by my standards. Not theirs. It's crazy. The tapes we play in our minds. Definitely have been trying to develop awareness over those feelings to change course when I noticed them coming through. And your posts and the no BS tribe have helped incredibly. So thank you. Our welcome Ms. Claudia, and thank you for not just the time to post and share your thoughts and your own personal experience, but the vulnerability that you brought in the post, we were talking about quality and quantity and. And the self-imposed expectations that we have. Um, and, and Claudia was sharing what that's like. And I bet she ain't the only one that feels that way. I don't know if you caught it, but there was a bit of a name drop in there of. Calling out, no BS with Jen and Jess. And if you haven't connected with the no BS tribe, we've got a, we can do a live stream every other Saturday at 8:00 AM central. I'm gonna put a link down in the show notes. Because we're actually on the YouTube and and you can catch like the previous conversations that we've had over, like the last two years and all the future ones coming up. And here we go on to Mr. Francisco.

So back when you were at Tafoya what was it? What did you think you were going? to do in terms of your career.

Nothing. It was just like, grow up and get ready to work there. And it's nothing, it's not a knock on my parents, because they grew up. That way it was like, you just work, and you take care of family. There was never really much of a push for education. Thank God that I was blessed with, the ability to solve problems and, pick up things. I was pretty smart, but I was lazy. I was still pretty lazy. As soon as I get home, I don't want to do anything but watch TV Ready for dinner. That's it. I'm not gonna lie I never had any direction. it's not like they, my family didn't support me. Whatever I wanted to do, they were like yeah go do it. We'll be there. I wanted to play any kind of sport, join any kind of group or whatever. I had that kind of support. It's not like they were like, they would ever talk down to me Oh. And I've heard, I'm sure you've heard people talk to kids not very good. Oh yeah. You're not going to be anything be anything when you grow up. It's pretty sad. And I'm not going to say like my family was there cheering me on but yeah, like there wasn't much of a push for education. It was just helping get a job. And it wasn't until my mid to late twenties is when I started to think about what am I going to do?

Okay, now what?

Yeah. And this is where it gets real personal for me and I hope it inspires somebody. I got into alcohol and I didn't let go until my third DWI and after each one I felt like I need to change. I need to get better. But it is, like when you have no direction and you hang around those people. It's all the same thing. Hey, let's go out. Let's go party. Let's do this. Let's do that. And I was always the guy to call. I was always ready to go out. Hey, I got 50 bucks. Let's go spend all of it. I got 50 bucks and it's just sitting there in my pocket. I didn't grow up So I went through all that for 12 years and then finally it just hit me like, like I got to get my act together or it's going to end up like really bad. Like it does for a lot of people. A lot of, and in all honesty, full disclosure, like I'm a felon. I am considered a felon because I had my third DWI. and I was like, I can't do anything now. I'm going to be making pizza the rest of my life. And it depressed me even more than I was depressed because that's where my alcohol came from. It was depression that I didn't know I had. And it took me all of 12 years to figure out like, hey dude, you're depressed. You're just drinking to it. To get rid of it, and it's not helping you. It was just up to me to eventually decide Hey, I'm gonna put this stuff down, and set myself free, and get to work. Now things are like, way better. Way better.

I love that you say you had to set yourself free because, I don't know if but me too, right? Except I have a, I have four, so I'm winning. No, I say it jokingly, it's a serious matter, but it really is setting ourselves free whatever torture what are you thinking about the the super negative. Playlist that I run in my head over and over and over again and all the doubts and fear and if I let that take over, that's what contributes or helps me continue to drink and dilute myself. But I, all I gotta do is set myself free from that and trust and con, that's just trust. Like it's not, you know it ain't that easy. Like you gotta put in on that, right? You gotta work, you gotta sacrifice. You have some hard... Stupid lessons, embarrassing lessons and painful lessons. But you get up and you keep going. There's no reason. There's no gain from going back the other way. If we just set ourselves free. And so how I'm wondering, what has your experience been with hiring? And motivating people on your team. Has that been like super

easy? No not at all. So hiring for me, I, it's a lot of family and friends and people I've met working with other people. The family and friends is hard because it's hard to fire them when you really want to. And it feels bad because with, with family, it's it's going to get around, everybody's going to know that you fired. Someone in the family and it may or may not look that bad on you or if not, they'll understand, they'll constantly ask do you got work now? Come back or whatever. And it's as much as I'd like to help you do, like you really didn't want the job, like everybody wants money, but for me, this is my career, my commitment, my future. And. I'm at the point now where it's I want this to work and I want it to get bigger and I want the money, all that kind of stuff. And it takes professionals, you can't hire the cheap guy that's going to work like a hundred dollars a day now like you. You need to put your money where your mouth is. If you want to get bigger and you want to grow, you got to put the money in, but you also have to provide some of the training you need to set the expectation, you need to call people out, but you also need to let them know hey, I appreciate what you're doing good work, but this is where you also need work. So now I have monthly meetings. I never had meetings before. It was just like, all work, no play, show up and go home and thank you. And for me, that was good enough for me, but that's not good enough for everybody. A lot of people need the pat on the back, or they need to know what they're doing wrong, or where they can get better. So now every month, throughout the month, I'll come across situations, or whatever it is. I'll jot down this little note hey, bring this up in the meeting. We handle a lot of occupied repairs where there's tenants and we get callbacks on those because my guys sometimes like they want to get in and out because we don't get paid a lot so I push them like, trying to make it quick but I wasn't telling them like you need to make sure that the tenant is happy with what you did and that the problem is actually fixed. Like you need to test it. I tell my guys the difference between a bad installer and a good installer is just testing it. Just test it to make sure it works. And if it doesn't work, you'll be there to fix it right away, you look like the greatest dude in the world, because you did it. Yes! And they don't always think of that, and I put that on myself as well, because I was never telling them, That's what I do now I need to work on complimenting more for whatever reason, I have a whole lot of difficulty. I don't do pats on the back, I don't... Yeah, I'm not good at really oh man, you did such a great job here, you did such a great job there. I don't know why that's just the way I am, because I know that's what these guys need to hear I do share it a little y'all are doing good, y'all are doing better, and things are looking better, that's about as close as I get I just throw it out it's a big blanket yeah, y'all are doing good, great. I also introduce one on ones that I'm going to try out. And that helped me out a lot because a couple guys where it's they would come and go. Yeah. And I understand because, they have family and they want to make. Like everybody else, they want to make the most money they can. And so one guy he worked with me last year for about a month. He left to go work with his brother. And I was like, okay, yeah I understand. You gotta do what you gotta do. It kinda sucks for me, but, I get it. I'm never gonna hold it against anyone that they're gonna go and try to do better for their family. I'll never, or even themselves I'll never hold that against anyone. I get it. So I said I had a meeting with everybody. I said, look, this is what I want to do. This is where I want to go. This is what I want my business to be. And if I can get to that point, there's going to be a whole lot of work and a whole lot of money when we get there. And y'all are going to be the guys to fill the supervisor and management positions. I'm showing you guys like how I want it and y'all are gonna know this is what he wants. Versus me hiring someone I have no idea if I can trust him or not. My guys now they've got credit cards under the business, they, they've got, I've got a truck and a trailer that one guy uses exclusively, the other guy who's been with me like. He's really good, he just needs to focus on making sure the work's done right. I can see in him the same fire that I see in myself, where, he wants to make money and he wants, to provide for his family. Not that I'm, how do I say this if I can direct him, and I sat him down and I told him, I said, look I want to know what it is you want to do, because last year you came, and you were here for about a month, and you left. And that's fine, I told him, I said, that's fine, I get it, I understand why you left. And then it didn't work out with his brother, and then he went to work for someone else. He got burned by them and then he came back and he actually he told me he's like I'm painting houses if you ever need a painter you know he's pretty committed to him so I was like thanks I'll let you know if I get backed up on houses to paint you know I'll shoot one or two your way or whatever I can but it came to a point where it's like you know I need another full time guy. So I text him and I'm like, Hey, I know you're looking for full pay, but I have an opening for a full time guy. And I like the way you work. If you're willing to come on, I can give you full time hours and I know you need more money than I can pay hourly. If I ever get something that I can sub you out for, like a full time job, that your way as well that way you're making more money on the side that I sat him down and I spoke with him on the one on one and I said, I'd like to know where you're going because this is what I'm trying to do. it if my guys are leaving after two or three months. I can't commit to these bigger... bold that I have without, I have a team behind me that I can rely on. And he wanted to, he wants to go into like trucking or something. And I told him, I was like, look, dude I'll be honest with you, you're a tradesman, like the way I see you work, like you don't have the education like I do, but you're doing it and you're doing it quick and with a little. Bit of training. You can kick ass. Yeah. You can make a lot of money. There's a lot of money in this industry. If you do it right. And I'll tell you, I want, if I can make like 10 million a year, like I'll do what I can to make that 10 million, I'm not going to get there without, people helping me. And if you're willing to stick around and commit, I'm going to take you for that ride. Back to the marketing issue. It's working on getting out there. Yeah.

Letting people know what you do, services you provide., I think for me, what stands out is like your commitment to your team, to, to your vision. And like getting it done, right? Test it, make sure it works, fool. Be their hero, make their day, make sure it works before you leave. And I think it's those things. Cause you know, a bunch of people out there been burned by handymen, tradesmen, like master licensed people that just they do crappy work and the people are stuck with it and they're living with it or they're working in that space. So reliability, right? If you can have, I can rely on somebody to do what they say they're going to do, own it if they don't do it right and make it right. That's high value, whatever that

is. I hear it all the time on both sides. I hear the homeowners They don't trust contractors. They don't trust any tradesmen because they've been burned or they've heard the horror stories of what happened to whoever they know. And the same thing with the trades they go and do all this work and they don't get paid because... Oh god, yes. Yeah, and then it turns into a big mess. They don't have contracts, so they have no rights To do anything like they're out 5, 000, 10, 000, 15, 000 because, they were trusting the homeowner and it's back and forth, honestly. And it's interesting to see. But it happens, and it's just a difficult thing to deal with. That's why I say if this is what you want to do, or any job, or any business, career, whatever, if it's what you want to do, commit, get better, earn as much as you can, and do the best you can. You're not always going to do the greatest job, but you will get better as long as you do it. Amen, man, that will always carry you for the rest of your life

yep. So you said$10 million business. What, like what footprint do you intend to leave on the world?

I hadn't thought about it before. To me it was always like, just get bigger. But the older I get, the more stuff that I see I've helped every one of my immediate family members with something. But the opportunity was there for me to help my family. And to me, that's like a dream come true that I never even had, able to help them. It feels great to help family but sometimes you see them go back into what they did before, same place. And it's understandable, it's going to be hard for them, just like me, to get out of the alcohol, it's going to take them some time to learn to get out of whatever situation they're in. I'll get into the whole, everybody wants to buy a mom's house for them. Oh yeah. I bought mom's house and I'm happy that, I made it to that point where I don't worry about it.

Amazing, man. So people want to get ahold of you. What's the name of your business? Where do they find you? Do you have a fans only page with pictures of your feet?

They're remodeling renovations. Oh, I got

you. All right. There it is on the hat. Remodels and renovations.

The office number it's 210 269 0013. My sister answers that line. Yeah, my phone rings like 50 times a day and because I'm still hands on, I'm not just managing. It's very difficult for me to answer all the time. She's pretty much next to me all day, so she can relay whatever message or email as well. It's all on the website.

San Antonio area or you work all across the country?

I wish all across the country. But for me, I'm a little bit of a micromanager, so that's hard. I'm trying to get away from that. I'm trying to get away. That's hard, man. I know it. I still find myself like, you know what, just let me do it, let me do it, because it's going to be faster. But for those who are micromanagers, your guys are never going to learn if you just keep stepping in there. You gotta take the hit. It's gonna, your guy's going to sit there for four hours to do that 30 minute job to figure it out. But you know what after the four hour effort, the next one's going to take two hours, and the one after that's going to take an hour. And then it's just going to get better and better. And if it doesn't, then sorry to say that guys probably not in the right career path. And there's nothing wrong with that. Like not everything is for everybody, and it's, there's plenty of people out there who work at jobs that they hate, but they're not very good at, and, but they need to put food on the table and pay their bills. That's just part of the way the world works. There's some people who are fortunate enough to find. Something that they enjoy and something that they're good at. But just know if you're not good at anything, you got to go figure out what you want to be good at. Like I keep saying, educate yourself. Go get the education. It's, you got to suffer before you can enjoy man, I suffered for years. Everybody gets to see me posting pictures of what I have now, and they're like, Man, you're so lucky, and I'm like, you have no idea how hard it was to get here. I'm not gonna let it go. I'm gonna keep fighting for it until I can't. And I know what it's like to be poor, and I know what it's like to, I wouldn't consider myself rich, but I'm good. I'm not worried. Yeah. I'd rather be good and not worry. And the other thing is work life balance, to each their own, there's people who want that balance, and there's honestly people who don't. There's people who are more committed to their jobs, or more committed to their family. And it's up to them. You, it's not up to you. To tell them what they want, or to tell them to do what you want. You got to understand hey, that's what they want. If you want them to see things your way, it's going to be a fight and it's going to be a struggle. and you got to figure out what you're willing to do and what you're willing to accept.

A decision.

And it's hard. It's difficult. It's difficult for a lot of people.

So anybody you want to give a shout out to before we wrap up?

In particular my crew. Yeah. Thanks for sticking around, hopefully they can see and believe that this is what I'm trying to do and this is where I'm trying to go. My family, loved ones, friends, the same people. Yeah. Yeah, just everyone who's behind me, everyone who's supporting me, and everyone I'm doing this for.

Oh, my goodness. Did he say work-life balance? You know, the key point that I took away from his comment about work-life balance is. To each his own, the definition of balances up to the individual. I think I've said it to you all before. My perspective on it. It's a matter of intensity when I give all the things in my life, the same amount of intensity, um, beings turn out to be amazing. So. If that works for you, go ahead and use it. If not, whatever is working for you. Keep doing it. And if you're still trying to figure it out and you're like you're missing the mark At home or at work and the yard and the gym and the truck and the car and the kids. And you're looking for some inspiration to get on the path of becoming the promise you're intended to be. The audio book is available on Spotify and Spotify just made some announcement. Where like you can get the book, like buy the book directly. And if you have a membership that. You can just kind of listen to it as the way you listen to all the other music and stuff that you're taking in. Haven't I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds super cool, but I know the book, the book's pretty good. So check it out. Be kind to yourself. Be cool. And we'll talk at your next time.