From the Yellow Chair
From the Yellow Chair
Navigating your business with your partner - the good, the bad, the ugly
What if working with your spouse or sibling could be your unfair advantage instead of a constant tug-of-war? We sit down with women leading HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and home service companies to unpack the real playbook for thriving in business together: define lanes, plan ahead, price with confidence, and protect the parts of life that matter most.
We start with the stories behind Anchor Heating and Air in Charleston, Rogers Heating & Cooling in Virginia, and High Five’s evolution from plumbing into multi-trade services. Each journey highlights a different kind of strength: brand and community marketing that creates loyal customers, operational rigor that keeps KPIs and costs in check, and leadership that builds teams who high-five clients at every turn. Along the way, we talk candidly about setting roles that align with natural talent, why budgets unlock creativity, and how to share the load so growth doesn’t steamroll your home life.
From there, we get practical. A simple five-year visualization exercise makes planning tangible, cutting through social media hype to choose the company size that actually fits your life. We dig into why new owners should set prices that reflect value, not fear, and how a virtual CFO or coach can fill talent gaps without adding permanent overhead. We also explore boundaries that preserve relationships: hobbies that force presence, hard stops on work talk, and vacations that don’t require a printer in the hotel room. The throughline is grace—own the tough year, seek mentors who’ve done it, and make decisions with context instead of copying playbooks that don’t match your market.
If you’re building a contracting company with a partner, you’ll walk away with a clearer org chart, a planning cadence that reduces friction, and the courage to delegate your way back to joy. Want to connect deeper and meet the voices behind these stories? Join us at the We Mean Business Conference in Charleston, Nov 9–11, and let’s get better together. If this conversation helped you, subscribe, share it with a partner in the trades, and leave a review to help more builders find it.
If you enjoyed this chat From the Yellow Chair, consider joining our newsletter, "Let's Sip Some Lemonade," where you can receive exclusive interviews, our bank of helpful downloadables, and updates on upcoming content.
Please consider following and drop a review below if you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to check out our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.
From the Yellow Chair is powered by Lemon Seed, a marketing strategy and branding company for the trades. Lemon Seed specializes in rebrands, creating unique, comprehensive, organized marketing plans, social media, and graphic design. Learn more at www.LemonSeedMarketing.com
Interested in being a guest on our show? Fill out this form!
We'll see you next time, Lemon Heads!
What's up, Lemon Heads? Welcome to a whole nother episode of From the Yellow Chair. I'm Crystal and today I am so pumped because I am in the midst of greatness here on today's episode full of rock star women who are killing it in this industry with wonder running, let me get my words together today, with running wonderful contracting businesses across the country. Um, or they have run, will run, continue to do great things. Um, and so guys, you're gonna want to settle in, grab your lemonade because it's about to get rowdy today. Let's zip some lemonade. Okay, ladies, welcome to the chaos as I call it. I'm really excited because this group of women, we're gonna get to all be in person together in Charleston, which is beautiful. Can't wait to be there. November 9th through the 11th at the We Mean Business Conference. So if you're listening to that afterwards, sorry about your luck. If you're listening ahead of time, you're gonna want to see if you can't grab the last few tickets that are there. Uh, because we are all talking about doing business together, either like me with my brother at McWilliams in East Texas, or I'm gonna let them introduce themselves and what kind of businesses they're running and with who they run them with. So let's get started with some of our guests. So, Stephanie, I'm gonna kick it to you and start with you.
SPEAKER_04:Well, thanks for having us. This is very exciting. Um, you know, as well as me. We've been working on this for many months. Um, but I'm Stephanie Postel. Um, I'm married to David Postel, and we together own Anchor Heating and Air in Charleston. And uh, we are the founders of the We Mean Business Conference uh coming up soon.
SPEAKER_00:Perfect. So exciting to have that. So we are getting to go there for the for the We Mean Business Conference. So that's gonna be exciting, okay. Alyssa.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, Alyssa Rogers with Rogers Heating and Cooling in South Boston, Virginia, very small town in Virginia, but doing big things. And it's uh myself and my husband, Joey Rogers, and we're just very excited to be at the We Mean Business Conference in November. And thank you to Stephanie for inviting us to be part of it.
SPEAKER_00:Perfection.
SPEAKER_03:And you have your own podcast. I do, the Hello Hello Podcast. Uh, and I um interview community leaders every week.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's a whole lot, it's a whole advertising tactic for you that is super smart. It is.
SPEAKER_03:Marketing is my love. So I love the community marketing and marketing in general. So I'm excited to talk about it in Charleston.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, that's gonna be a great one too. So, okay, Cassie. I got to meet Cassie for the first time literally on this podcast. So, Cassie, tell us a little bit.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so I'm uh Cassie Torres with High Five Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electric. So, my husband, Levi, and I, we started High Five um back as a plumbing-only business back in 2012. And then a couple of years ago, about a year and a half ago, we decided to bring on HVAC and electrical. Um, but our slogan here is every call ends with a high five. So we are big with um connecting our team with our clients. And so you'll see a lot like on social media where we're high-fiving clients. So we're all about uh connecting with people, serving them, and ending up ending every call with a high five.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, that just like speaks to my whole branding heart. Speaks to my whole heart there. I'll high five over that. Yeah, we're high five for sure. And then last but certainly not least, and I love Kristen, you guys have a great story about doing some great things and then actually getting to, I think you're gonna talk a little bit about maybe even exiting a little bit, but Kristen, your next sister.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm Kristen with virtual CFO for the trades. Um, I am married to my husband for 21 years, Justin Deese, and we have owned home service businesses for like 20 of those 21 years that we've been married. And um so, you know, HVAC, plumbing, remediation, appliance installation, all the things we've bought and sold and started and sold to private equity and all the things. So now we're both um helping contractors shorten the learning curve that we had to experience over the years, um, me specifically with numbers and him with leadership and still in the contracting world, um, which is a really, really great place to be.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. So, and then my brother and I, um, my grandfather, then my dad, now my brother started a heating and air conditioning company in 1974. We've been going strong about 50 years. And my brother actually started his own platform, and so now he is basically opening up other branches across the country. Um, and so he has a unique approach to business because we felt like once we set the parameters of how we grew, um, and we had the right people in place, the right processes in place, budgets, all that good stuff, we were able to run super successful businesses in in small areas. And so now my brother and sister and I have lemon seed marketing, we have spot on pest control, we have McWilliams. My brother has several other things, even on his own. I have part of a roofing company, so we live in the trades every single day. Um, and so again, probably no, there's another brother and sister combo, but other than us four, the rest of them are spouses. But listen, we is all different types of partnerships. But listen, you know, the truth of the truth of the matter is it's not always easy um to be in a partnership with people that you go home to at night or that you have to sit around a dinner table with. Um, and so my brother and sister and I, like one of our biggest things is we try to really not talk business because our poor spouses, um, for us, like we're trying to protect them, but also like it's so easy to converse with your spouse because they live the same life that you live, but it's almost like you never get a break from your business, right? You live it every single day. So, you know, working with your spouse or with a close family member isn't always easy. I'm curious, like, what do y'all think's been the hardest part? And like, how do y'all how do y'all make it work?
SPEAKER_04:I think it's a great question. I mean, that's that's why we're having the conference, honestly, is because it is very difficult to um, you know, go home with your spouse when especially there's you know tough stuff going on at the office. Um, it is never far away. And so um, you know, I think one of the things that we've done is just found really great hobbies that make us stop when we're out of the office um and focus on some fun stuff because uhwise you're always talking about the good and the bad, you know. I mean, we're very blessed. There's there's not a whole lot of bad. Um, but it's it's stress. Um, you know, you're always trying to work hard to take care of your people and all that. Um, so I think one thing, like I said, that we've done is just really focus when we're away of from work to to focus on that fun or that um hobby that we're doing. Um, and then sometimes David just says, tonight we're not talking about work. And I'm like, okay, fine.
SPEAKER_00:Well, because you guys like I know y'all love like because we kind of shared this a little bit, like uh bourbon, like you have a thing with that, and y'all ride the AT or the side by sides, again, an East Texas kind of thing. I think that's a great point of like you have to have a life outside of your job. Yeah, even though you own it together and do it together, you have to have other things to to hold on to. So my brother told me one time that he went and got his pilot's license. And I was like, why in the world would you go do something so stressful? And he said, if not, I was literally spending so much of my time obsessing over everything I was doing in the business. And it was just a really good, like kind of opened my eyes, like, man, if you can challenge yourself with something else, that's honestly why I love the podcast for myself is sometimes I just want to like talk, and it's a good way to like get that, get that out. Um people actually like to listen sometimes, so that's helpful. Um, but Cassie, what about you? What do you think you guys maybe is the hardest part for you guys?
SPEAKER_05:Oh man. Well, what it kind of depends honestly on the season that we've been in, because I feel like we've been doing this for a long time. So Levi and I have been together since we were really young. I got pregnant when I was 17. Um, we got married like a couple weeks later. Um, we just like we we've done everything really quick and we just go all in. And so I feel like for us, a lot of the things um looking back now on communication and respecting kind of just like the bubble of our marriage, the bubble that we created as working as um husband and wife in a relationship, and also the bubble we have as a business partner and kind of looking at that and respecting it. Like I think over the last couple of years, I really looked back and how have I been communicating, how I've been showing up in good and bad ways, and how can I learn from that and move forward? Like, and so I think for me it's kind of just trying to go in with as much love and compassion for the other person because you don't know where they are, and try to have that open communication because what I'm assuming is probably not what he's thinking. And when we actually started really talking, I'm like, you were thinking that because that is the opposite. So for us, the biggest thing that's really helped us grow um, regardless of where we've been, just because we've been together for so long and we've worked in so many different aspects of the business together. It's just about like communication and really trying to understand, like being a good listener. I'm very spicy and I'll jump in there. So I've had to kind of like tame down and try to listen a little bit better because I'll jump in right away. And where it's like, okay, how can I have ask some better questions? How can I communicate better? And what is our goal? And I think that's always been the thing. It's like, what's our goal here? And when we have a goal and we communicate, it works well. When we don't have a goal, it's kind of tough. So I think that overall, that's been the biggest thing for for us is communication, setting goals and trying to be a little bit compassionate and asking those like questions so you can really, really know somebody and where they're coming at, because where I assume he's coming at, it's probably different from where he's coming.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think there's like a strong dynamic that, you know, if you don't, if nobody has directions to where you're headed, then everybody's lost, right? So, you know, one of the or you don't know if you're lost a lot of times, but you know, having those common goals, like I still am amazed, y'all. I mean, I work with you know a ton of contractors across the country, and I'll say, okay, when is your planning? When are you planning for 2026? And they're like, Well, and I'm like, Y'all, absolutely not. Like, you must sit down and plan your next year because it is imperative that everybody know where you're headed, especially a husband and wife. I mean, because you could, like you're saying, you could totally and innocently be off track there. Well, let me flip it. So, what about the biggest advantage of working together? So, like Alyssa and and Kristen, I'd love y'all's feedback on this. Like, I know there's some big advantages to working with your partner. Like, when does it feel like maybe it's like a superpower to be on the same team? Alyssa, what do you think?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I would say, um, I mean, we're all in. And when Joey convinced me to join him on this journey, I had dreams and ambitions of climbing the corporate ladder. And he's like, get off that ladder, come help me. So um, when he convinced me, we were all in and we set what our roles were going to be. He knew my strengths, I knew his strengths. And so it can be a superpower when you know what your roles are in this business, and you know what you're good at, and you know what he's good at. Um, and you can come together and achieve those goals. There's no greater feeling than that. And being able to come home and talk about the wins because we are in separate parts of the business. And so we can kind of come in and go over our goals together. His goals are different than mine, and then of course we have ours combined, but I'm able to share those wins with him and he's able to share his with mine, and then having our daughter see that and hear those conversations and her be able to see her parents work together and achieve these goals. I just feel like it's been a superpower of ours. Absolutely. I love that.
SPEAKER_02:Kristen, what about you guys? I think for us, um my strengths are Justin's weaknesses and his strengths are my weaknesses. So there's definitely always been a synergy there. Um, but I think more than more than anything, the wonderful part about having a partner in all of this is you can share the load. So I mean, it's like running these businesses is a is a lot to do. And when you have that partner in there to share it with, that's you know is going for the same ultimate outcome that you are. There's no question about that. Um, they have the same interests of the business in mind, they have the same interests of the employees in mind. Um, to be able to take all the things that one person might be doing as a business owner and now be able to split it amongst two and share it. Um, that really is a lot of what makes us go further faster.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. And I'm just curious. So, like for me, I had to set the rules with myself that my brother was in charge. Now I'm the oldest, and then we have a sister, and then my brother. So my brother just turned 40 and I'll be 44 in December. And so my sister's right in the middle, and so um people are like, How did because I have a pretty strong personality, no one is surprised by that. And my brother has a is a very dominant personality, and so I'm a high eye, he's a high D on the disc profile. Um, I'm like, you have he literally is like 110 high D, and I'm over here like 110 I. I'm like, we look like oil and water, but I kind of had to decide that like he's the boss. So once I set that in place, and I think he would have done the same for me if the role would have been reversed, right? But at the time I was designed to be in a marketing role, not in a large like COO role. He was in that role, so I had to play my part, right, regardless of the family connection, and nothing was owed to me either. Like I, if anything, I had to work harder than everyone else on the team. I had to be earlier and faster and more, you know, I tried to almost overprove myself because I didn't want anyone to say, well, Crystal gets to do the marketing because Trey's her brother. Um, and because that's not a goal. And I I just remember like I will never be the one that's asking for exceptions because the team is looking to see if Crystal has the same expectations that everyone else has. And so I took that on as a personal thing um from myself and Trey. Um, and it was more just so I could, you know, save to be honest, like speak truthfully to them. Um, but when both of our partners, when both partners bring strength to the table, so you know, Trey's very driven on the operational side, the KPI side, the tracking side, you know, he was an expert at negotiating our equipment costs. And I'm like, gross, I don't want to do any of that. I want to be like, it's your birthday, or like, you know, yay. I and I wanted to be working on our brand and building ways for us to be active in our community. And um, he and I, one day I said, Listen, if you'll give me a budget, I will stay within the budget. And then when he brought me the first budget, I was like, Can you come back to me with a better budget for me? Um, but it it kind of became a game, and I could stand strong and he could stand strong. Only one time do I remember him ever like what I would say speaking a little off to me. And he actually came to me later and was like, I apologize. I think I'll let my emotions get the best of me. And I think that was good for me to be like, okay, at least he acknowledged that he maybe was a little rougher than he needed to be. Um, and I remember it's because one day I said, we either want him to do it or we don't. And he was like, oh, you know, and I'm like, well, so I mean, because I'm not really confrontational, but what I am is creative and I'm wild. Like my visions and what I want to do are somebody has to bring me back down to reality sometimes, you know. Um, and so I think that makes everything really interesting to people. So if you're if y'all know that right now there's people listening that are maybe they're new in business or they just, you know, the wife just decided to leave the business or the or leave their current job and come into the business, or the husband. We have lots of rock star female owners right now that their husbands are coming on board in different roles. I want each of you to tell me, like, what is one piece of advice that you would give that couple that's young in business, whether they're older people or not, but they're young as far as being in business together. Does anybody want to start?
SPEAKER_04:Well, I think yeah, I'll start kind of where um what you're talking about, you know, one thing is figuring out what your lanes are, you know, and and you might uh like Kristen said, we're similar in that, you know, my strengths are David's weaknesses. And then there's some things where we we are both weak. And I think that's real, um, you know, uh having that insight and that reflection to be able to go outside of your business and say, okay, we're we're both not good at this. So who do we bring in, either as an employee or a mentor or a coach to fill that gap until we get better at that thing. Um, and I think a lot of times newer businesses, you know, your hair is on fire at the beginning, you know, either when you're starting or when you decided to grow. Because there's a lot of people, a lot of guys that have been in business a long time that didn't grow. Um, maybe it was because their kids were little or they were keeping it a one-man show or just a few people. And then sometimes their wives are like, hey, kids are in school now, you know, what can I do? Um, and then they jump in. And so that's sometimes where the business takes off. Um, and so that can give a little bit of rub, right? Like, hey, I was fine until you got here and now we're growing because you're connecting and all that stuff. I think it's just a constant communication, reflection about where you are and what you're good at, um, and just making sure that you're communicating that to each other and getting people outside the business to help you if needed. Um, and then beyond whether you're husband or wife, if you're not charging enough for your service and you don't value what you do, you're not gonna be able to grow anyway. And that makes for a lot of arguments over money. So let's get that one out of the way. Yeah, yeah. And then that way we have the money and then we can decide. Um, because having the money to make choices is a whole lot better than not having it.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah. I love that too, because I love what Stephanie said about like that, that those are the hard days. It's kind of like when you go back to even being like first married, you're like, okay, we have five dollars. Like, what are we gonna do with this? You know, and business can be that way, and you know, marketing is expensive and training is expensive and equipment's expensive. So you've got all these things, and so the more you can be aligned at the beginning, um, and the more you can know. I say this about marketing. It's like sitting down at a game of chess where you're constantly being strategic and moving pieces, but you never get to get up. Like there's rarely ever a checkmate where you just get to get up and walk away because marketing constantly is changing, and so is business. As soon as you feel like you have everything rocking and rolling, a technician leaves. Um, your plumbing department got up and going and your plumber left, right? Like, or you know, COVID happens or nobody has equipment or whatever. Um, and so the more that you are settled in who you are as people and as a couple and as a business, those just become roadblocks, not road closures, you know. So there's definitely some power there. Um, what about you, Cassie?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I think something I would something I would tell somebody that's working with a partner, whether it's spouse, whoever it is, um, when you guys both know what your roles are going to be and you're working in the business, I know for me specifically, just um I've I've worn different hats in the business. So, like when we first started, I was heavily involved in marketing. I really loved it. I loved being creative. I loved coming up with the idea. Our techs wear um baseball jerseys. And so one day me and Levi were just watching um a Rockies baseball game, and I was like, wow, what if our team was wearing those and literally we created it and rolled it out? So I would tell people to find ways that spark some joy in your business. For me, it was being creative. Now, over as we've grown, so as we've been scaling and growing, I've kind of been pulled back into some of the like accounting CFO role where I like it. I like making money, I like watching reports and those things. But to be honest, marketing is what I I really enjoy. And so it's kind of like looking at those things um long term and not getting put into a spot just because your business is growing. Like for me, I wish I would have pushed more to stay involved in marketing instead of getting more involved in financials. And I'm sure Kristen's gonna be able to talk a lot about the CFO. I'm like, okay, Kristen, I've known her forever. I'm like, I should have been using you so I could be in marketing.
SPEAKER_04:Like that's the best thing about this, though. Because I think it's also about surrounding yourself with people who can say, you know what, you should do Cassie. Like you're saying it right there, you know. And I know a girl, and I know a girl that can help you out because I think we do we can lose that. That's where you lose your joy of your business, is because you get yourself into a position that you don't love, and then you're like, I could literally let this place burn down today. It would not hurt my feelings at all.
unknown:You know?
SPEAKER_05:So like I wish to be honest, like, especially like the pressure, because I put so much pressure on myself. Like, to be honest, I'm like the word, like I am like a perfectionist. I put pressure, I want to perform. If I have a plan, we're gonna do it, we're gonna accomplish it. I put pressure on myself, I put like 10 times the pressure on my husband and also the person that's the CEO. Like, that's a lot of pressure. And so I feel like when you're scaling your business, we got to a certain size where we we had some mid-level management, but we really needed to build that as well as also maybe potentially having a board, having some outside coaching to kind of be in the middle of both We Vive and I and the decisions and the communication, because it's a lot like when you're selling a business, it's a lot of pressure. And so having not just where you and your partner are coming together, whether it's your actual leadership. And if you don't have that leadership built yet, are you outsourcing that with coaches, whether it's like uh Kristen, you know, who's doing the CFO virtual our virtual CFO or who's coming and helping you? Are you leaving it only up to to each other? Because sometimes you get to a point where that's a lot of pressure. And so I think when I look back on our history, it's like find those resources and really lean into them because you don't have to do it all on your on your own. And actually, you're gonna have better results if you can actually start delegating. And I feel like this year I've I've had to start delegating more because I'm like, it's time and I've I've watched like anything that I've been involved with grow. But I've like, why haven't I delegated before? And I think that's where it's like, okay, let's really work with people that are gonna help push you out of your limits because as a business owner, you get stuck in your own head. So who are you talking to to help help build you? Is it your management team or are you outsourcing that with some coaching? And I think that's like the biggest thing is to just to really make sure, because being a business owner can be very, very lonely. Don't get put in that spot. Like, don't ever don't let it get to that point. So I think that's like my biggest thing. Make sure you're you're reaching out to people for help.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. I love the coaches and the support side. Um, and listen, like, that's what Lemon Seed was built for. Like when we um my brother was like, other contractors need to take advantage of someone that they can like spout off all these ideas to, and uh, you like me, I mean, I would go get it done. I spoke Trey, I would go get it done, right? Um, and and then I got to put in my own creativity, and then we need to do the graphic design side, social media side. Like, that's literally what Lemon Z was built off of. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but that's exactly what we we do for contractors because they there's too many hats when you're small, too many hats, and you should put on the hat that you like, um, and that you're good at, but sometimes it forces you into some hats that you don't really want to wear either.
SPEAKER_05:But I will say, I feel like most women, to be honest, I don't know from my experience, most women get pushed kind of into the accounting office manager role, and it's like, is that really what you want to do, or do you want to go outside or go out to clients and sell water quality? Because you can actually earn a huge commission doing that. And so I feel like it's kind of like women don't have to just if you're coming on board, you don't have to just go into the office accounting side.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, so I have to jump in there and say that. So we worked with Cassie and Levi many, many, many moons ago. And I remember the conversation with you, Cassie, when we were like, you were telling us what you did in the business, and it was like really office and number related. And um, we asked the simple question, is that what you want to be doing in the business? And you were like, Well, no, actually, I'd rather be out in the community and doing this and doing that. And we're like, Yes, do that. Do that thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I'm telling you, I'm telling you guys, like, you know, from the outside looking in, like, I'll be honest, like, my husband doesn't even work with me at Lemon Seed, he does some things for me, but honestly, like I I'm a little scared of it because I'm like, I do not want us to be looking at each other every day and then go home and look at each other every night. And like, I love the separation of tell me about your life, like, tell me about that. Um, but also sometimes I like I wish he was more involved and that he could have on a hat that he loved to wear and that I love to wear. And I think sometimes we get frustrated as new business owners that we can't just like I wish I didn't have to do any of this, but you can't afford to hire all these positions. I'll another thing is like um I was dealing with GoTime Success Group one time, and they were they were literally looking at one of my clients and they were like, You have so many middle management leaders, and you are only a two and a half million dollar company. You literally need half of these people. And the guy was like, Oh, I just don't want to do it. He's like, Yeah, so you so he was like, Yeah, so you also don't want to make the money, right? So, like, we we can't have our cake and eat it too here, and look, but those are like such unique. I know it sounds corny now, but those are just lessons that I think people are like, Well, I don't want to do the financials. And I'm like, Well, you kind of have to. Don't worry, you don't have many transactions coming in right now, anyway. Like, just deal with that. But no, y'all are so right. Like, when you can get yourself to a place where you can choose what hat to put on, that is such a glorious place to be um in business because it means you've worked hard to kind of work yourself out of it. Um, you know, so who wants to go next on advice?
SPEAKER_03:I have some advice, you know. A couple of things, uh I had a mentor ask me recently. Um, he sat down with Joey and I, and we were kind of planning for the next for 2026. And he had us kind of close our eyes for a second and say, where do you see yourself in five years? Where do you want to be? Like truly think about where you see yourself in five years and what does that look like? And it doesn't have to be within the business, but the first thing that comes to your mind, and I think when you can close your eyes and really think of that first thing, it'll help you plan for the future better. Um, because of course we can always start out as a business owner and say, I want to grow this massive company, and then you're in the trenches, you're like, I don't know if I want to do that anymore, right? And you really need to set your priorities of how big do you actually want to get, and then understanding what it's gonna take to get to that size. And I think in this world that we live in now with social media and the highlight reels and all of that, we can seem to think it's a great idea to grow a$50 million company, for instance. But maybe that doesn't align with what we truly want. Yeah, we have to know that's okay. If you want to build a$10 million company and live a great life, that is okay, and no one is going Be upset with you for that, or even a two million dollar company, but truly understanding where you want to go and not letting outside influences try to change that because you still have to be true to yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I love that.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you for that. That's great. I think that goes into the same thing in our whole industry is that we we see these Facebook groups, we see what people are doing, and whether it's the highlight reel or it's just it is their reality, but we're not good at asking the follow-up questions. And the follow-up questions come with, I'm the only show in town. Uh, I've been doing this for 70 years. We have 75 managers on top of all these people, you know. Um, I chose to stay small. I like that, you know. Um, and I think that's the I think that's the biggest thing and the lesson that we do have to learn is ask the follow-up questions and then be okay with the answer that it might not apply to you.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and everyone right now, everyone take it from one, everyone's a marketer, everyone's a business coach, everyone, everyone's these things. And like one day this guy, I mean, he was like super a little egregious on a call, but he was like, Well, I just don't like tell me about marketing, tell me about being a business owner. So I was like, Okay, let me tell you about my life here. And at the end, he's like, You I have talked to six different marketers, and they all worked in a business two years, did this or that. He's like, But none of them can talk the talk. Um, and I'm like, it it does remind me a lot of times, like social media, if that is your business coach, that's a terrible decision. Um, because Facebook, what and Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn doesn't even matter. Now everybody's putting out a lot of content, and it's kind of like chat GPT, that's only a dissemination of content that's out there. There's no like fact checking, right? So, you know, I try to speak wholly and honestly about what we've done and how we do it, but honestly, it's easy. Like, I'm you don't know what I've really done. You don't know where people, these coaches, if they really done it, and so you have to like have some gut instinct there, but also like I and it, it's a very like, you know, I live my life by very Christian values, like you know, as as husband and wife or brother and sister or whatever that you are, uncle and niece, I have a lot of that too. Um, you need to have grace for yourself, for your spouse, for your business partner, for these vendor partners that you use. Like, you need to you need to have some grace in business and understand like this is you better enjoy the ride. Because if not, you're gonna want to get off at every stop. You know, like let me off. Um, but learn to enjoy the ups and downs. And I know that feels weird, but I think Cassie mentioned this earlier. Like, you gotta find joy in the hustle because Facebook is gonna make you doubt yourself, you're gonna get aligned with a bad partner, a bad like vendor partner. You're gonna watch and think, Well, this guy told me this was gonna work, it didn't work. Like, you know, you're gonna live all of those things, and just having some grace for yourself and others is such an impactful thing. Well, Kristen, what about you? You're the last one here, but some good advice for some young people new to the partnership idea.
SPEAKER_02:So for us, we were growing a business and raising young children at the same time, and that's a huge feat to try to tackle um at the same time. And what we learned is that um the business steamrolled everything if we let it. It would literally run everything and came all up into the personal life, disrupted family time, um, kept us away from family vacations. I can remember going on on vacations, um, we would take our kids and we would go to the beach, and I would have my laptop, a second screen, a full-out fax copy printer scanner, um, all of the things so that we could be on vacation, but we were working the whole time. Um, and it was, it it took a long time for us to get there, but it was being able to put the business in the box and keep it in the box so that we could like stand our ground around raising our kids and being a family and spending that time together. Because let me tell you now, ours are now 18 and 20, and boy, does that go fast. And now we're in the house, and it's like, holy cow, what were we doing all of those years? What have we missed?
SPEAKER_00:Um, so just don't let that business steamroll the rest of your life. No, I love that. And I will tell you this. I I share this with Emily, my business partner here at Lemon Seed. So she uh she and her husband own a couple of other businesses, and her girls are little, she's got three little girls. I think they're like eight, seven, and five. And so my kids are 15 and 18. And so I'm like, my life is totally different. Like they don't want to be around us right now, like they're all like super independent, right? Her kids need her to put every hairbow in, every dinner, every they're they're not self-sufficient. I'm like, I don't, I don't miss that, but at the same breath, I miss that. Um, and so I I've tried to tell her, and she does a great job, honestly. She kills it at managing all of that, but I think also like you lose connection with your spouse on a romantic level, on a on a on a true like partner, and I hate to be this way because it's kind of corny, but even like the lover side of life, the boyfriend or girlfriend side of life, because you become like irritated with one another, or you feel you feel neglected because they might have chosen someone else, someone else, like there was a disagreement between you and someone else in the business, and they chose their side. And you're like, I'm so disrespected by that. Like, there's all these things that can go on, and um, I just think you know, even with like brother and sister, like I mentioned with it, like, you know, then there's my husband and his his wife, uh, or my sister-in-law and his brother-in-law, and we're all like, We spend more time with each other, brother and sister, than we're actually getting to spend with our own spouses, and so that was even awkward sometimes. Like my sister-in-law would be like, Do you know where my husband is? You know, and I'm like, Yes, you know, but but too, um, I love everything that you guys said, and I think what's bringing out of all of this is it can be a wonderful adventure to work together and you two be able to look up and almost like look what we built together in front of our kids. Alyssa mentioned that and um in front of our kids and for our kids and you know for yourselves. But listen, ladies, each of you are such a good mentor, would be wonderful mentors to to other women and to business partners. And so if any of our listeners are listening that are craving guidance and mentorship, um in our show notes, we'll put contact information for these ladies. If you're really looking for a place to connect, I encourage you to consider the We Mean Business um conference that Stephanie has graciously allowed me to be a part of. But we're going to be in Charleston in November, the 9th through the 11th. It's a very affordable conference. And listen, I had think Stephanie has done an amazing job at the content. All of these ladies on the call, including myself and Trey, will be talking um about what we've done, how we did it. And it's not an all-sappy conference. This is about like gritty side of doing this together.
SPEAKER_04:And so we're gonna start it off with some major grit, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_00:So and listen, she also has some fun parties planned. So listen, you need to come hang out, spend time with your partner, come and hang out with us. And so, Stephanie, really quick, tell them how to get tickets and things like that.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, for sure. Well, I'm gonna take a second just to say that I am going to congratulate myself on this lineup of speakers because everyone that is speaking is my first choice. So I picked these people and I said, This is who I'm asking, and I'm very, very honored, David and I both are that they have all you all have agreed to to take part in this because this is the this is the conference, not our second choice conference. This is the conference that we wanted to create because we really have grown so much from the connections that we've made with other contractors and these contractors specifically. Um, so and I think you're gonna see a little bit of everything, like you said, ones people that are still working in the business, people that have exited, people that are growing platforms, people that have, you know, taken their business and have a complimentary business to that. So um, so there's just so much, and I think that this is what we need. Um, it's been a hard year in home services across the board, whether you're plumbing HBAC or whatever. Um, and so this is the time instead of pulling back, this is where it's time to lean in and get around people who can say, Yeah, it was really hard for me too. Um, but what are we gonna do about it? Because we're not quitting. So, like we gotta, we're gonna come out of this some way. And um, and these are the people that you want to hear from, not to mention also that the people that have already signed up are amazing too. Um, and so they there are many of them that could be on the stage as well. And um, and so that that's where the great connection is gonna be. So, not only are we in Charleston, because that's where you may fly into, but we're gonna move right over the bridge to the Isle of Palm, South Carolina, and you're gonna be at the Wild Dunes Resort, which is amazing. Hopefully, Charleston weather, um, at least for one or two days, I'll take that. We'll be uh and maybe in the 80s, because you're gonna be on the beach. Um, and we there is some time for us to be outside, enjoy um southern hospitality and weather. Um, and so you can go to our website. It's www.we mean business chs.com um and you can get tickets. Lots of these ladies have promo codes that you can use um so that you can save a little bit on your registration. Um definitely got to get that uh room booked, but um we're just looking to have a really great time, great food, great parties, a little bit of uh Charleston speakeasy with the jazz band. Um, you know, it's it's really gonna be a great time. And um so thankful also to all of the sponsors that are taking part um in the conference. Um, they understand that this is contractor led. This is not a sales pitch for what they have, though they will, they're they're my vendors, and so they are road tested and they are great, great vendors. Um, but I appreciate so much um their willingness to let this be contractor-led and and vendor supported. Um, and so uh it's gonna be different than any conference that you've been to ever. Um, so I'm excited about that. And I'm thank all of you all for definitely uh participating and um and being there with us.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's it's gonna be a great time. Well, thank you, Stephanie, Alyssa, Cassie, Kristen, for joining me today. I think we did a great job of navigating a podcast with there being five of us on a call that like to talk. So I think we did a great job. Um, but I think what we've learned today is being with a partner in business takes intentionality, it takes a whole lot of grace and some clarity of roles and things like that. And so I really appreciate you guys sharing with us. And if you're still watching and listening in the show notes, I'll have all their contact information. We will be sharing about how you can reach out to them, even if you can't make it to the conference. And so, guys, thank you so much for listening to another episode of From the Yellow Chair. If you love what you heard, please share this episode with all the people that you know that are doing business together as a partner and hopefully it helps guide them in a positive direction. And we will catch you next time. See you soon.