Episode information
Episode Number: 50
Date: September 2, 2024
Duration: 44:14
Host: Justin Deese
Website: JustinDeese.com
Contact: Justin@JustinDeese.com
Guest: Chris Michel
Guest Contact: cmichel@servicenation.com
Special Offer: $100 Off Service World Tickets use Promo Code FREEDOM24
Summary
In this episode of the Freedom Blueprint Podcast, host Justin Deese sits down with Chris Michel, the Training Director at Service Nation, to explore his inspiring journey from college football to a successful career in the HVAC industry. Chris shares valuable insights on leadership, personal growth, and the importance of living intentionally. They discuss Chris’s transition from being a sales expert to a training director, his philosophy on leadership, and the inspiration behind his book, “The Red Chair Experience.”
Takeaways
Perseverance and Failure: Chris Michel emphasizes the role of perseverance and how failure can be a great teacher on the path to success.
Living Intentionally: The importance of taking care of oneself to better help others, akin to the airplane safety advice of putting on your own mask first.
Transition in Careers: Insights into Chris’s journey from sales to leadership roles, highlighting his continuous growth and learning.
Service Nation and Service World: Exciting developments and opportunities at Service Nation and the upcoming Service World event.
Writing as Therapy: Chris’s experience in writing “The Red Chair Experience,” which helped him process his emotions and grow personally.
Chapters
00:01 – Introduction: Welcome and episode overview.
00:22 – Chris Michel’s Journey: Early career and entry into HVAC.
01:52 – Leadership Lessons: From sales to a training director.
04:09 – Personal Growth: Importance of learning financials and business acumen.
06:47 – Football and Sales: Lessons from Chris’s football career.
12:21 – Perseverance in Sales: Overcoming challenges and learning from failures.
16:17 – Writing “The Red Chair Experience”: Inspiration, process, and impact.
21:34 – Daily Routines and Intentional Living: Self-care and preparation.
28:53 – Service World Insights: Upcoming event details.
37:21 – Training Opportunities at Service Nation: Programs and resources for contractors.
40:25 – Closing Remarks: Final thoughts and signing off.
Keywords
Plumbing, HVAC, Air Conditioning, Electrical, Contractor, Freedom Blueprint Podcast, Justin Deese, Kristen Deese, When Your Business Partner is Your Spouse, Leadership in HVAC, Chris Michel, The Red Chair Experience, Personal Growth, Service Nation, Service World, HVAC Sales, Perseverance, Business Acumen, Daily Intentional Living, HVAC Training Programs, Chris Michel
Transcript
Justin Deese (00:01.789)
Welcome to Freedom Blueprint podcast. We got a pretty special guest today hanging out with us. We're gonna talk a little bit about Service Nation. We're gonna talk a little bit about Service World that's coming up. And we're gonna talk a little bit about Chris Michelle and his adventures and journey that led him to where he is today. Chris, how you doing?
Chris Michel (00:22.946)
doing great, Justin. Thanks for having me,
Justin Deese (00:25.461)
It's awesome to have you on here. And I'm excited to learn a little bit more about Chris Michelle, the mystery man. So you and I have known each other for a while, but I have so many questions. I can't wait to ask you in a recording setting.
Chris Michel (00:35.564)
All right, so let's go ahead. So let's start off with the one question everybody has. Yes, my last name is Michelle. It's pronounced the same. It's spelled the same as Matt. We are not related. No offense. Love, Matt. He's wonderful. I wish I was related to him, but we are not related. That's the one question I get like time and time again is that we are, are you related?
Justin Deese (01:02.985)
would pretend to be third cousins so that you could go to the ranch and hang out. That would be me.
Chris Michel (01:05.015)
Right.
Well, yeah, again, it's right rubbing elbows. It's rubbing elbows with the right people.
Justin Deese (01:13.359)
That's awesome. And that is, I mean, I remember when you joined Service Nation, that was a lot of, I think that was probably one of the first questions I asked you you're like, no.
Chris Michel (01:24.664)
Well, you and about 300 other people, yeah.
Justin Deese (01:27.143)
Right. tell us a little bit, obviously right now you are with Service Nation and your training director is your title, right? Did I say that right? But before Chris Michelle was the training director of Service Nation, what did, because you've been in our trade for quite some time. So tell us a little bit about what that journey has looked like for
Chris Michel (01:37.666)
Yes. Yes.
Chris Michel (01:52.632)
Well, I was born in, no, I won't go that far back, but I've been working in sales for over 30 years. And part of that journey was back in the early 2000s, I was traveling a lot and I had younger kids and a buddy of mine approached me and said, hey, would you be interested in getting into HVAC and sales? And I said, well, it depends, what's the deal?
He said, well, you could probably double your income and you get to stay home every day and every weekend and all that stuff. Right. I was like, all right, why not? Right. So I entered the trades, started working for service experts back in 2004. And the rest, as they say, is history. I've gotten to do so much and be a part of so many different things in the trades. Started my journey in sales.
Then I got an opportunity with service experts to go and lead a company over in Memphis, Tennessee for a few years. And as a general manager, I really learned how to understand the P &Ls and how to do all the financials and learning all that kind of background stuff from a guy named Greg Worley. And the guy was amazing. to this day, I would still run through a wall for him. I mean, he was that kind of a leader.
And so I learned a lot from him and how to raise leaders and things like that and how to be a leader. Throughout my journey though, I've done, I've been a sales manager. I've been an operations manager. The last contractor that I worked for was here in the Atlanta metro area. When I moved back to Atlanta back in 2012 and worked for them for a number of years, got into management and then they sold to a private equity group.
And when they did that, I stuck around for about another year and then I went to work for Deichen. And I was a territory sales manager for a number of years and learned a ton about how to really get in with the contractors and help them do what they do best and what they love to do. And, you know, as contractors, a lot of times we know how to turn a wrench. We just don't know how to run a business and
Chris Michel (04:09.8)
It's learning the financials. It's learning the business acumen. It's learning how to do those things that we really don't see day in and day out when we're turning wrenches or when we're selling equipment. And so I got to see and do all that stuff on the wholesale side because that was my job was not just selling boxes, but to really help the contractors get better at what they do. And after a couple of years there, I decided to start my own business. And when
I did that for a couple of years and then I started with Service Nation in May of 23.
Justin Deese (04:45.201)
Awesome and as the - so that's a big progression because when you started out, did you start out selling?
Chris Michel (04:53.512)
In what? Yes, outside of when I left college, when I finished college, I started in sales, but then my first job in the trades was in sales. And so it was a couple of years into that where I actually got to go and run a heating and air conditioning company because I wanted to do more. wanted to be more in selling was fine. I could do it and I really enjoyed it. But what I I just wanted to be more and do more. that whole journey of sales.
what I learned early on is that I really enjoyed helping people. And so my why got defined for me early on in my career, but it wasn't until about 2017 when I read 2016, 2017, somewhere in that timeframe where I read the book, Start With Why by Simon Sinek. And it really solidified that for me that my why was I'm inspired to help people do what inspires them so that they may be fulfilled.
Justin Deese (05:41.167)
Mmm. Great bug.
Chris Michel (05:52.524)
Well, I was doing that all along, right? And so I got the opportunity time and time again to help other people and be successful. And when I went to run that heating and air company, I one of the first meetings that I had with the team was, hey, Justin, you're on the team. You're a technician. That's awesome. Is that what you want to do the rest of your life? If not, where do you want to go? What do you want to be? Right. What does that look like for you? Do you want to do you want my job? If you want my job, let's figure out how to get you from where you are.
to where you need to be so that you can be in a position to take over my job, because I'm all for it. And that kind of fueled what I'm doing today. And that's why I love being the director of training, whatever. I love helping people get their aha moments, where they get that opportunity to go, you know what? This is how that works. This is how I can make this
Justin Deese (06:47.465)
Yeah, very cool. And you're very good at it. But I don't want to get to the today yet. Not yet. Because I don't want to gloss over a couple things that I think are important. And Chris, you're private guy. And I think that there's some big stuff you've done and you tend to not openly share. Not because you're embarrassed or whatever. I think you're very humble person. And I think that's a great trait. So yeah, when you got done with
Chris Michel (06:51.052)
Thank you.
Okay.
Justin Deese (07:17.033)
career in college football. Tell us a more about that. We want to know about that kind of stuff.
Chris Michel (07:22.166)
Yeah, I did. Well, I went to the University of Illinois back in the mid -1980s.
Back in the mid eighties and I got to play with some pretty incredible folks, right? I got to see some really amazing things and being ranked in the nation. Back in the days when football wasn't on, I mean, very few games were on television back then, right? Now you can't turn on television nowadays in the fall on the weekend without running over six different games on 20 different channels. right, I mean, but we were
Back in the day, was a walk on at the University of Illinois. And I was actually told by my high school coach that he didn't think I was good enough to play college football, let alone Big Ten football. And I was like, it's one of those hold my beer moments, right? I'll be right back. And so I really enjoyed it. I really had a good time and lettered at the University of Illinois through playing varsity
just had a great time. That's some great folks still in touch with some of those folks even today. But some of those guys went on to play professional football. And so when I was actually towards the end of my football career at the University of Illinois, I remember here's a fun story. I remember calling my dad and saying, you know, or calling my mom and say, mom, you know what? I'm done. I'm going to not going to play my fifth year. And she goes, thank God, you know, finally.
And I was like, all right, that's interesting, but OK. But she was married to a guy who played for Bear Bryant. And so her husband had played college football, but he blew out his knee. And as a result, they back in those days, they took away your scholarship. Now, he played a little bit before I did. But the last game that Bear Bryant ever coached was against the University of Illinois at.
Justin Deese (09:10.826)
Mmm.
Chris Michel (09:31.032)
the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee in 1982. So it was just before I came on. But so it was really interesting, you know, that dynamic between who this guy was, who I was that we played right and at these different colleges. Well, I called my dad and my dad, my dad didn't wasn't as appreciative of the fact that I was beating myself up daily to do this sport.
And so I said, dad, I'm not, I'm not gonna play anymore. And he goes, wow, you know, if they go to the Rolls -Ball next year, I'll never forgive you. And I went, what? And so that helped me write the book and we'll talk about that in a second, but that's one of those other little personal moments that was like, huh, all right. And I just, I remember hanging up the phone going, what, what was that? And
we eventually got to have a conversation and he said, all I was trying to do was motivate you. was like, well, that was a really crappy way of doing that, dad.
Justin Deese (10:36.595)
You missed the mark, just a smidge.
Chris Michel (10:38.068)
It's just, yeah. And so as a parent, right, you know, you go, probably not the best use of the wording.
Justin Deese (10:46.389)
So for anybody who has never met you in person, and I want to ask stats now, I'm talking in college, what, what, I mean, you're a, you're a tall guy.
Chris Michel (10:59.448)
-huh. I'm, I'm six five. I'm six five and I weight, believe it or not, I, I weigh less now than I did when I played football in college and I couldn't gain weight in college. So, well, it's, it took years of figuring out that, I'm not, I'm not the 10 % body fat, you know, really cut type of person that I was in college,
Justin Deese (11:00.917)
Like what's, how tall are you? Okay.
Justin Deese (11:12.191)
Good for you.
Chris Michel (11:27.672)
I couldn't, I couldn't gain weight. Yeah. I just couldn't gain weight in college. I just couldn't. but you know, I mean, like you hear about all these athletes, they're, burning thousands and thousands of calories a day. Just sitting around watching TV, right? Because they've been doing the work. They put in all the exercise and all these other things and they're just, metabolism is just off the charts. So, but, yeah, I was six, five, about two 30.
Justin Deese (11:29.155)
Yeah, me neither.
Chris Michel (11:57.144)
and 235 and I played, I only played three downs at tight end. That was my chosen position. I was mostly special teams. That's where I played and I got my hand dirty on defense and outside linebacker and defensive end. And I tried different things just to see where I could help out and contribute to the team.
Justin Deese (12:21.717)
That's awesome. So what are some things that you learned playing football and sales? Like what are some correlations between the two that are, that you're like, at the moment you're like, I see how this
Chris Michel (12:38.208)
Well, I can't say it was in the moment. was definitely years later when the aha moment, the epiphany kind of set in. I think for a lot of athletes, the ability to persevere and know that falling down on your face is going to happen. Failure is going to happen. But that doesn't stop you. It continues to help to sometimes motivate
but sometimes just to help move you in the right direction. Edison said, you know, I didn't fail a thousand times. I just figured out a thousand ways not to invent a light bulb, right? Or a thousand different ways to invent a light bulb. And so it's one of those where you look at that opportunity and you go, okay, now I can improve this. I've got to do this a little bit better, a little bit better. And that's sales, that's business, that's any of that stuff.
Justin Deese (13:17.097)
Mm -hmm.
Chris Michel (13:31.85)
It's how do we get a little bit better at what we do as opposed to just doing the same thing over and over and hoping things get better. The reality is it's the thing with me and sports and sales and sports and business. It's it's that perseverance. It's that ability to look at failure is not. It's not like it's not an option. Failure is really how we learn, but it's also a great trainer. It's also a great way
go, okay, I did it this way that time and I got that result. What if I did this a little bit different? What if I said it this way? What if I, right? What if I just did this a little bit different? Could I get different results? And that's what it really taught me was the ability to continue to persevere and continue to move through the sometimes the failure is it can be overwhelming, right? Because you, you hit this rut and it's just loss after loss after loss after loss.
My senior year in high school. This is part of the reason why I got the conversation that said you shouldn't play football on a collegiate level was because we went into that season. Winners are junior year and we had a really good up and coming junior team. And we went winless that for that that season my senior year in high school and you look at that and you go wow, you probably should have just walked away. Well, there were five or six of us. Yeah, there was five or six of us who went on to play collegiate football.
Justin Deese (14:54.313)
That's tough.
Chris Michel (14:59.408)
and from an O and whatever team, right? But we also knew, we also understood that, you know, life's not, it doesn't stop with high school, it doesn't stop with college, it doesn't stop with whatever little shortcoming that you have, it just moves forward. And you got to figure out a way to work through that stuff and make yourself a little bit better.
Justin Deese (15:00.799)
That's impressive.
Justin Deese (15:25.023)
Yeah, I would say that that would be a really tough, tough way to stay positive in order to go to college is to have an O for season. for you guys to have half a dozen guys to go on to play college ball, I think for the majority of you that did that, my guess would be those half a dozen people, if you keep in touch with any of them now, most of them are probably successful because perseverance is probably one of their top key.
you know, personality traits and learning from mistakes. They probably all went, okay, here's what we should, you know, here's what we should do different next time. And then, you know, AB testing on the fly basically.
Chris Michel (16:02.296)
Yeah. Right. Yep. lot of if -then statements, right?
Justin Deese (16:10.335)
So you mentioned the book earlier and tell us a little bit more about the
Chris Michel (16:17.208)
So I wrote a book, it's called The Red Chair Experience. It is a daily inspiration for success in life and business. And so it's 366 entries that are inspired by quotes that I just picked up along the way. And so we were talking a bit earlier about.
We just realized for me, just realized sometimes I just go through life and do things and I don't recognize how big things are sometimes. And this was one of those projects that took me a year and a half. And it came about because a friend sent me a meme. But let me back up a little bit. So in July of 19, my daughter gets married and I didn't realize it at the time, but it would be the last time that I'd see my younger brother alive.
because two months later he would die by suicide. Well, six months later, the pandemic starts, right? And now it's, if you've ever lost somebody close to you, the emotions and all of that stuff that kind of goes with that, not kind of, all the stuff that goes with that can be a burden. But now you go six months later and you're in isolation and you're not supposed to be out with and amongst other people. And being in sales,
a number of years at that point in my life, 20 plus years in my life, that was one of those really difficult situations. And so what I learned and what I got the opportunity to do was because a buddy sent me a meme that said, if during this pandemic, you are not trying to improve yourself, not trying to find your side hustle, not looking for ways to do something different, then it's not that you didn't have the time, it's that you wasted it. And I was like, here we go.
And so I'd always wanted to write a book. had no idea what about and what I learned during this process was it was actually therapeutic and cathartic was to sit down and write out all of this stuff. And there's been a number of studies done on that, by the way, that are phenomenal. But that's part of the emotional processing that I got to do. And I think that helped me a ton. So I started writing the book in May of 2020.
Chris Michel (18:38.872)
finished it in November of 21 and published it in April of 22. And so it's been out for a couple of years now and a few hundred sold. And I continue. If people catch up with me at Service Nation or at one of the shows, I might have a book with me. At Service Nation, I have books with me. And so if anybody ever asked me about a book, I'm very happy to give.
them out or if somebody wants to pay me for them, that's fine too. But I love to be able to share it because when I originally did this, it was really more for me. It was about, I remember thinking if I could just, if one person would pick this thing up and get something out of it, right? That's how limited my thinking was, was, you know, just one person picked it up. I'd be happy, but that's all I wanted was to make an impression in one person's life. And here we are, you know, several hundred copies later.
and it's kind of cool.
Justin Deese (19:42.485)
So I'll back you on this. Chris and I wrote a book and it took us about probably four years to write it because it is a very long, tedious process. It literally, when you think about all the boxes that it checks, it checks none of my boxes as far as organizational or any of that stuff. But when we finally said, okay, this is gonna be it, was the same thing you just mentioned. The pandemic had happened.
Chris Michel (20:01.144)
Right.
Justin Deese (20:10.867)
And we kind of went, we have to finish. Like we always talk about not having enough time. We got time. So let's do this thing. And, and, and let me say this too, for anybody who wants a copy of the book, just buy the copy of the book. They're not expensive. Again, I'm saying this as an author as well. It's, it's not even about the couple of bucks that the book sales, but it does help recoup because it has a lot of time, a lot of money.
Chris Michel (20:17.799)
Nothing but time now.
Justin Deese (20:39.199)
and a lot of energy to write a book. now you can, I'm gonna guilt trip people. If you give them a book, I'm gonna say, you need to give the man some
Chris Michel (20:46.006)
Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. But I say that to say that I do have copies and occasionally people ask me, they're like, do you have a copy of the book? Can I buy one for me? I'm like, yeah, absolutely. And that was the one thing that I heard. Justin, you probably do the same thing. You probably have a box of books sitting in your car or very close to your car so that whenever you're out and about, if somebody asks you about it, you've got one. I'm not actively out, know, hey, buy my book.
you know, somebody asked me about it, I'm like, absolutely. And I do give them out on occasions because there are people that inspire me and I want to do likewise for them. I want to give them something that hopefully will inspire them and bring a little bit of joy to their life.
Justin Deese (21:34.111)
Well, and I will tell you for me, I love daily readers. I love daily readers of just you've got a couple minutes to refocus, hopefully at the start of your day to kind of re -center on what is it that I'm going to focus on today. Because I think a lot of times people, especially business owners, we tend to be caught in that, you know, doing it, doing it, doing it phases and not in the let's be strategic and let's be in charge of our time and let's push forward. I think that's
I think it's fantastic.
Chris Michel (22:03.912)
Yeah. Well, Maxwell, John Maxwell talks about this a lot, know, living intentionally, right? And living with purpose. It's interesting. We can easily get caught up in, especially as contractors, we can get caught up in the daily grind. I've got to get up. I've got to do this, right? I have to start at 6 a because I have to beat everybody to the office and I have to take care of all this stuff. What if you took 15, 30 minutes to just take care of you first?
Right? And I'm a huge proponent of that. What if you just took 15 to 30 minutes to take care of you first, to calm yourself, to get available to receive what in the world is going to happen today? Because you have no idea the good, bad, the ugly. Right? But what if you just took time to take care of you for just a few minutes? What that does for the rest of your day is amazing.
Justin Deese (22:55.829)
I go through, as most people do, seasons of life, right? And that's a big thing with me is there's seasons where I do a really, really good job of being intentional about my day. And actually I'm in a season right now where I'm doing a very good job in the mornings of me. Like I have that time where I have my coffee, I have my AG1, I do some reading. And I can tell you the difference it makes is big, but then on the flip side of
Chris Michel (22:59.832)
Absolutely.
Justin Deese (23:22.453)
I've had many, many seasons where I've been up at 430 in the morning and I have this almost anticipation of if I don't go to the shop right now, it will burn down. So yeah.
Chris Michel (23:34.115)
Hmm. Yeah. Well, and we can get caught in that, right? I mean, that's but that's part of the thinking that we need to adjust, that we need to help out with that. That story I told about my dad, that was one of those things that, you know, is those conversations you never forget. and I don't blame my dad, but that was the start. That was one of those moments in life where I went, I'm not good enough. I'm just not good enough. Right. And that was the play that just kept running in my head was
I'm not good enough, I'm not good enough. And it wasn't his fault, other than him making the comment, it wasn't his fault that I perpetuated that in my mind. Right? And so that's where if we can cut that off, right? By reading something that says, hey, you are enough. You're awesome. You're amazing. Right? You've got this to look forward to. To your point, that stops the, the burn, the place is going to burn down if I don't show up at 435. Right? So it's the ability to be able to do that sometimes that,
Again, if we learn to take care of ourselves, that's huge. That's huge.
Justin Deese (24:38.709)
So one of the things that I know I've shared, I've made you share so much stuff that most people probably don't know about you. I'll say this, you are probably, not probably, you are one of the top 1 % of readers that I know. And I read a lot of, and by read I mean audible, but I consume a lot of books and videos, personal development. Like that's just such a big passion of mine. But how many books did you read last year?
There's a
Chris Michel (25:10.52)
Well, I'm going to put the caveat on this. So last year was a lot, but last year, towards the end of the year, I read all of the Agatha Christie, Hercules Perot stories. There are like 50 of them. And I read probably 35 of them in the last couple of months. They're not very long stories, they are, but they're stories, right? So take out those 35 and I probably only read 50 books.
but you say that and I say that, you know, that was something I had to work on because when I remember being younger and not really enjoying reading and not just, not just enjoying the opportunity to kind of soak some things up. I was having a conversation with somebody last week and they said, yeah. I was a voracious reader and I'd read 60 or 70, 80 books a year that are self -help books. And he said,
And then I realized one time somebody asked me, what did you get out of any one of those books? And it stopped him dead in his tracks. And what he was doing was, and we can get caught up in this, is the reading just to read. But he said, I backed off to like 10 books a year, 10 self -help books or business books. And I have, I use Goodreads to track my reading and what I do. like you, Audible is a big, big help for me.
But I don't mind reading regular paged books. So I typically like to read about 60 books a year. That's about five a month. And I want at least one, if not one and a half a month to be business or some sort of personal growth. So my goal is to read because I had heard a stat years ago that really savvy business owners, the really wealthy kind of smart people read 16 books a year.
And I was like, you know what? I want 16 just good, solid business or personal growth books a year. The rest of them can be fun. I can't even think of them now, but yeah.
Justin Deese (27:24.347)
I can say it, I don't know the last time I read a perp. Like for me, I can't think of a perp, like besides reading to my kids when they were small, any books that I read typically are around business or perp. Like that is my pleasure.
Chris Michel (27:40.13)
Well, when I was in sales, I'd be in my truck all the time. And so if I wasn't prepping or making phone calls, I was reading a book. And so I got to listen to, absolutely. And so that was really what started my journey in terms of really starting to listen to CDs and audible and that kind of stuff, because it was downtime. Now, when I travel and I get on a plane, right, I'm listening to a book. I'm maybe watching a movie, but more times than not, I'm listening to a book.
Justin Deese (27:44.073)
Mm -hmm.
Justin Deese (27:48.797)
Automobile University, it's a great thing.
Chris Michel (28:09.348)
And whether it's for pleasure or for business, it doesn't matter. But sometimes like Monday morning, you know, if I'm on a plane, I'm reading a book for business. the plane home, if I haven't finished that business book, maybe I'm finishing that one. Or maybe by the time I'm coming back on Thursday or Friday, I'm like, done. I just need something that just don't care. Exactly. Exactly. That's me living that fantasy world, you know, for just a little while.
Justin Deese (28:31.317)
checks me out.
Chris Michel (28:39.18)
before I have to hit the road again. But yeah, that's what really sparked it for me was being in sales and having that ability, that drive time. It was just dead time. And I just want to make use of it.
Justin Deese (28:41.514)
That's awesome.
Justin Deese (28:53.429)
So I to shift gears a little bit to an upcoming, amazing, awesome, spectacular, magical, one might say, event coming up, which is Service World.
Chris Michel (29:02.013)
One might say that. One might say that it's going to be magical. Absolutely. Yes, we've got this.
Justin Deese (29:10.047)
So tell us a little bit about what people can expect by, I mean, obviously hanging out with you and I is a big bonus for anybody that goes to ServiceWorld. But what are some things they can expect?
Chris Michel (29:23.788)
Well, a couple of things. First and foremost, as supporters of the Joseph Grow Foundation, every year before, the day before Service World begins, there's a golf outing and we help to sponsor that with, so it's a golf outing for the Joseph Grow Foundation in whatever city that we are in. So this year in Orlando, we are going to have on Monday, we're going to have that Joseph Grow golf outing. And so I'm going to be participating in that this year.
And then on Tuesday, we're doing something a little bit different this year. And on Tuesday morning, Tuesday, like nine to one, we're going to have four different kinds of workshops. And those workshops are going to be really geared towards people wanting to learn a little bit more. So we're going to have one on AI. We're going to have one on I'm actually going to do a class on leadership communication. We've got another one on business.
kind of business acumen and financials and that kind of stuff. So there's a number of things that we're doing a little bit different. And then that evening, we're going to kick things off with, I believe, Damon John is going to be speaking on Tuesday night. And so we've got some really exciting things coming with some speakers. We've got educational workshops that we're doing. And we made that shift last year.
As we saw a real need that we were kind of getting away from the real solid stuff, we were doing a little too many, if you will, business commercials. And so people were coming in and talking about really good stuff, but then it was just a commercial for their business or it was a commercial for somebody else's business. And so we're doing these workshops that are contractor focused that will give people the opportunity to walk away with.
a short list of things to do. And I do mean short because we don't want you to walk away with 30 different things to change. We want you to walk away with one or two or three. And we're going to make them actionable. So you're to have time in the workshops to work on that first step. Who's going to be involved? How much is going to take? What's the time it's going to take involved in all this stuff? What other resources do I need? Right. We're to help you to work through that stuff and prep you so that when you leave Service World, you know what you're going to do come Monday morning.
Chris Michel (31:45.04)
When you get back in the office, you know that first step. Hey, guess what? I've already started it. I've already got it moving in the right direction. so that's one of the things. Plus, we've got a ton of vendor partners that are going to be there to show you some of the stuff that they're doing, some of the things that they've got that they're excited about doing. And there's so many people that we get to work with, which is really kind cool. So we've got some really cool things set off and
You called it magical. I'm sure it's magical for a reason because it is being held down on the Disney property down in Orlando, Florida. So we're really looking forward to
Justin Deese (32:22.205)
I mean, I'll tell you, Service Nation as a whole and Service World, just over the last couple of years, just every time it gets better. And it's really fun and exciting to watch that progression. And then from the workshops that happened this year with Service Nation, making the shift that you guys did to more workshop -based, so great, so impactful. And like you said,
as a contractor, as a student of this business, it was nice to be able to have the time and space to learn something, one or two things, and then be able to actually action them, leave, and implement it. So, Service World this year, I'm pretty pumped up. I'm excited.
Chris Michel (33:10.198)
Well, one of the other things, and I'm glad you are, I'm really looking forward to it too, now that I've started going and I start to see the same people, right? This is the other piece of it, and this is what I really, I wanna make sure that we focus on this too, and we give people the opportunity to do this. We have time built in so that people can get to know each other. They can network, right? So if they come to you and they're like, hey Justin, I've got questions, man. I see you did this, you've worked your business this way, right?
But it's also a chance to build those relationships so that six months from now you're at another event and you're like, hey, Justin, can we grab lunch? Love to catch up with you. Haven't seen you in a bit. Right. And we've kind of had that relationship over the last year since I've been here. Year and a half I've been here is we've had that in passing. We've gotten to see each other a couple of events, but it's really been kind of in passing where it's like, hey, let's grab five minutes. Let's grab 20 minutes. Let's let's talk about this. Let's do this real quick. But
But that's one of the things that I really love about what Service Nation is all about, and that is building the relationships.
Justin Deese (34:12.009)
Yeah, there's so much good stuff with networking and Tom Peregrino, I had him on an episode a little couple of weeks ago and he was telling a story about somebody basically busting into a circle of people and was like, hey, tell me stuff and how that guy is growing and he still continues to come. I will say, obviously for people that are listening, that if you're an extrovert, that's super easy. You're like, cool people, let's go. People that are introvert, that is a little more difficult.
but there is a good group of people that go. There is a lot of the same people that go, but it's not so clicky that if it's your first time, you're gonna feel like an outsider. So don't feel that way. I will say though, because it's an event, you do have to just kind of mentally prepare to put yourself out there a little bit, right? I mean, that's the whole point is you gotta be, and listen, if you're watching this, you've never, very nice to meet
Very nice to meet Chris. You know us, so you can come find us and say, hey guys, I saw you on the podcast. Great to meet you. you know, everybody's very nice and everybody's in the same, everybody may not be in the same season of life, but everybody's going down the same path of, you know, running a business and growing a business. And it doesn't matter what stage or season you're in. Every business owner has got to challenge your opportunity that they're working on every one of
Chris Michel (35:08.888)
Got two people, my name's Chris.
Chris Michel (35:15.394)
Yes.
Justin Deese (35:33.954)
I am not excluded from that, nor does anyone else that I know, unless you have stalled and retired and now you've got other issues that you're working on.
Chris Michel (35:41.932)
Well, and again, we all get an opportunity to be around like minded individuals and introvert, extrovert doesn't matter. mean, I think my girlfriend calls me the most extroverted introvert she's ever met or most introverted extrovert she has. Anyways, I like people to a certain extent and then I'm done with people. And what I mean by that is I can only handle so much of that time. And so you're right, as an introvert,
Sometimes we have to mentally prepare for that and say, I can do one conversation. I can do two, right? And then you have to go sit in the corner and kind of regroup and that's OK. But don't let those moments slip away either. Right. And maybe you need just that one more. Let me get one more conversation. Let me go. You know what? I saw Justin on the show. I saw Chris on the show. Let me go and just say hi to those guys real quick. And I have no problem. And I know you're the same. If somebody walks up and says, hey, you don't know
That's okay.
Justin Deese (36:40.137)
We do now.
Chris Michel (36:41.452)
We do now, but don't be afraid. If you see, like you said, Tom talking about that guy that jumped just fully immersed himself into a circle of people talking, don't be a jerk. But at the same time, don't be afraid to step up into a conversation and become a part of it, because I guarantee at least one person, if not more than one person, is going to look over at you and go, hey, my name is Chris. Welcome. Come on in.
Justin Deese (37:10.857)
Yep. Well, man, it has been awesome catching up. Any last minute thoughts you want to leave us with before we check out
Chris Michel (37:21.56)
Well, you know, being the training director, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the training program. We've got a lot of we've got a lot of awesome trainings that we do throughout the year. And what I'm trying to do is as you see behind me, there's a calendar. It's blank right now. That's 25. And I'm working on the 25 calendar right now. But what we've done is we've reached out to contractors and we said, what do you want? Tell us what you want. What do you need as a business owner? And
Justin Deese (37:27.954)
Absolutely.
Chris Michel (37:51.064)
I'm working really hard to make sure that we're providing those kind of classes that you want and need, whether it's in person, online, whatever, through an LMS, we want to help you. we've got over 70 classes that we do every year, again, in person or online. And they're great opportunities to come and meet some folks to really learn and hear from your fellow contractors. And it's
I know for me, a lot of times I lead and facilitate a group is what I do. When the trainings that I do, I've got some teaching, but the reality is it's a facilitation of the conversations that's going on. And that's what I love is we want people to get involved because we can learn so much from each other.
Justin Deese (38:42.291)
Yeah, Service Nation has been one of those, Chris and I and our business, I don't even know how long we've been a part of it, but it's been a long time and one of those very impactful parts. So for anybody who listens to the show on regular basis, I know that we talk a lot about Service Nation and I hope if you're somebody who listens to the show a lot that you're a member of Service Nation and if you're not, what are you waiting on? But there's such good training, there's such good networking. I can tell
Like I have lifelong friends that I have met through some of the networking. Like we talk about books. I've got Justin Norquist and I, have a book club that we do once a week. So, I mean, there's great friendships and relationships that are bonded inside of the group. So if you're not a part of it, we'll put all the information on the show notes. Chris, what's a good way for somebody to get in touch with you if they want to find out more?
Chris Michel (39:21.624)
I did not know
Chris Michel (39:39.992)
The best way to reach out to me is just shoot me an email and that is CMichelle, -I -C -H -E -L, at servicenation .com. And I know we'll put that in the line of notes, but yeah, don't hesitate to reach out. If you have any questions whatsoever, I usually respond pretty quickly unless I'm in the middle of teaching, then it usually takes about 24 to 48 hours for me to get back to you. But we've got a lot of great opportunities.
And I would love to connect with anybody out there that has any questions or just wants to learn a little bit more about what we do or you just want to know Justin and
Justin Deese (40:21.513)
See us at ServiceWorld.
Chris Michel (40:23.746)
Yes.
Justin Deese (40:25.181)
Awesome, Chris, thanks for coming and hanging out with us, man. We're gonna have to have you back on, because there's still a lot of stuff that we didn't even scratch the surface on that I wanna talk about disk, and I wanna talk about leadership, and I know that stuff that you love geeking out with me on. So we'll definitely have you back on. But Chris, I appreciate it,
Chris Michel (40:39.252)
Absolutely.