Ron Caruthers 0:01
So today we're chatting about, I called it entrepreneurial disasters. Although I don't know that it's really disasters, but it's Tales from the field. And I know Ryan is one of your friends. So I'm gonna let you do the introduction by catch my breath, because I literally flew into my driveway as I was firing this up. Well, that's,
Dominic Cummins 0:21
I love the advanced preparation that we put into this.
Ron Caruthers 0:26
Actually think about it, but I was like, I still had six more steps to go and I'm like, Oh, my God, I gotta get in here late like, I gotta go.
Dominic Cummins 0:33
Yeah, that explains the Pink Floyd t shirt then too. So sorry. Yeah, right,
Ron Caruthers 0:36
I had to take the hoodie off, because I was waiting so much. So anyway, let's do this while I catch my breath, right? This is a classy show. This is by the way, the make more keyboard podcast, which is all about lifestyle and money and making more and keeping more of it. By the way, I have a great story to tell you guys about my entrepreneurial disaster, but did introduce your friend here. I've never met him before. So anyway,
Dominic Cummins 1:03
we'll do so yeah, make more keep more show. And one of the things that's interesting, before I introduce Ryan is interesting to me is that how some of our most popular episodes after the fact you know, they get downloaded on on, all the everywhere, there's podcasts, by the way. So if you also want to catch back episodes, you can go make more, make more, keep more show.com and catch all the back episodes. Or you can just find us on iTunes and everywhere else that there's podcasts, Spotify, and everything. But the interesting thing is one of the most usually it's it's if you're talking about investments and market conditions and how to make money in a tough market, those are really popular, but our biggest, most most popular episodes tend to always be about the entrepreneurial journey, especially people turning their side hustle into their main hustle. And the challenges that go along with that. So earlier this week, I had a chance to spend some time had a call with Ryan last week. And that got me thinking and I asked you, Ron, like, hey, what if we get Ryan on the show? Because his entrepreneurial journey is pretty cool. So I've known Ryan for I figured out about 15 years, I think no, no, a little more than that little about 16 years, we've known each other, and his business partner, and I've been really close friends for almost 20 years now. And in fact, his business partner was the best man at my wedding. And Ryan also stood in my wedding. So So we've known each other and been good friends for a long time. But what's interesting is, is these guys had had an idea which I'll let him talk about, had an idea and now just ran with it and turned it into a business. And I think like a lot of us. That's that's really fun with this whole intrapreneurial journey is now you're into it a little bit and going, oh my god, this stuff I didn't know I didn't know. Right, like and actually interesting enough. Ryan's on the business for a long time. He's a fourth generation construction business here in the Los Angeles area. But this is a whole different ballgame. So this is this is Ryan Rossi from folden. Corp or Fulldome. I guess you guys usually go by what's the word somebody just asked? What's the website address is a full DynCorp.
Unknown Speaker 3:10
So the websites fold them.com Fo ldum.com. But all our social is at folden Corp.
Dominic Cummins 3:17
Okay, awesome. Sweet. So, so, again, we've known each other a long time. Ryan has a have we most actually somebody the other day asked us we were playing golf together with a buddy of mine. And he was like, well, like, Tell me some stories. And Ryan went there mostly shenanigans. And that's that's a really Oh, that website, well fold them cord folding website or our website. Thank you, Ron. So yeah, Ryan and I mostly our relationship is constituted one shenanigan to another I think is probably sums up our friendship for the most part. But it's an interesting thing. So tell us a little bit about what fold them does, because this is this alone is fascinating.
Unknown Speaker 3:56
Well, they we are making the most cost effective, rapidly transportable civilized housing space on the market, and that our goal is to mass produce them like cars, make a living space that's more civilized and secure than a tent, and more durable and affordable than an RV. And that space right there is a massive space and there's a ton of different applications that we've found over the last year of doing this that we didn't even think of from the beginning.
Dominic Cummins 4:29
Awesome. So interestingly enough, so Ron give you some perspective. And everybody here so you guys will see this most episodes, I do it from my little office, it's 120 square feet, which is the exact amount that you're allowed to build without a permit. So that's why it's this way. But Ryan stuff is what is 150 and then
Unknown Speaker 4:49
yeah, our main ones are 150 And the reason for that exact size is because we're able to fold them down and fit 12 of them into 140 foot high cube shipping container.
Dominic Cummins 5:00
Nice. So these things literally come in flat. And they expand them and help and you have a house like it's pretty crazy. And Ryan was telling me a story the other day about they dropped off one. Summer. Two, I want one of those. I know. Right. So. Yeah, so at us for those of you familiar, we've talked about real estate a lot on here before additional dwelling unit, I think is what that stands for. Right. auxilary but auxilary either. I always thought it was additional or ancillary. There we go. auxilary dwelling unit is it qualify? So mine doesn't have a bathroom? It's just this 120 foot we'll call it shed. And but the ones that come from fold them actually have a little bathroom in it, which is which is awesome. So a lot of applications. Yeah, a lot applications homeless, obviously big problem in LA and a lot of other places as well. Military applications for just, you know, putting them up and being able to do military housing. Disaster, right disaster relief, because they literally can trick them in and that was the story he was telling me is they he trucked one in recently to somebody dropped it off the back of the truck had it set up, the guy was watching Netflix and 20 minutes, from the literal time when it was flat to the guy was sitting in his living room watching Netflix. So solar
Ron Caruthers 6:15
comments here, right. And I think he just sold five of all before we've even gotten into it. So Amen.
Dominic Cummins 6:22
And and this is why I wanted to have him on. This is what we started talking about. Because this I actually brought him up last week he was telling me he was making fun of me because I brought him up placing content this last week. He's like, Dude, that was me, wasn't it? I was like that was the interesting thing is as an entrepreneur when you make that leap, and this is what I want to get into, which I think was valuable for the audience. When you make that leap. things go awry, not always in the wrong way. Right? Like dig just go differently. Like did you have any expectation that things would just like the like five people on a thing, here we go. Like I'm, I'm interested in your product right off the gate.
Unknown Speaker 6:59
So yeah, we started a year ago, and it was just a side project because we had extra ones and we wanted to sell them. So we were thinking, we'll sell these extra ones and make our money back and carry on with our lives. But the response that we've gotten every time we've talked about these, show them to anyone has been overwhelming. And people are like, they need it on every level from the government level down to people wanting them in their backyards for their kids or their or an Airbnb or their grandparents. And so we really had to shift gears in our thinking, and realize that we can't make these one by one, we have to make them it mass produce them in order for us to make money in order for it to make sense in order to fill the void. You know, there's 500,000 homeless in the United States, there's 1.6 million people that get displaced every year by natural disasters. We watch the news, firefighters sleeping on the ground in the middle of fighting wildfires. And all these people doing disaster response, FEMA taking nine months to get houses there. There's there's a massive need for this type of housing. And so we're we were going from traditional construction contractors to trying to figure out how to be mass producers of these houses. And it's definitely a massive learning curve.
Dominic Cummins 8:12
And a perfect segue into what I was going to ask and Ron curious, you know, this is this is the great part of it. So your background must be in mass producing, manufacturing, international purchasing, government contracts, sales, marketing, CEO leadership, that's your background, right? Not at all. What is your background,
Unknown Speaker 8:34
that just traditional construction, we did commercial and residential, so we understand how to build it, we understand how to get it permitted. But as far as having the facilities I used to think that my family and I had a lot of warehouse space. But when it comes to building these houses, the amount of warehouse space we need is hundreds of times bigger. And so it's a whole different ballgame that I'm I'm really relying on on other people and industry experts to help us guide the way because it's a lot of it is new to us. But but it's not complicated. It's not like building a computer or building a car. We understand the the nuts and bolts of building it and we know that once we start getting into production mode, it's going to be more efficient and more cost effective. But getting from zero to one is the big learning curve.
Ron Caruthers 9:30
Can I jump in here, Dominic before you do real quickly, everybody listening to this that's thinking about starting an idea. This is notice my man Ryan here just passed the Gary Halbert test. And Gary Halbert was a famous copywriter, and he was a complete train wreck outside in his personal life hilarious, but an absolute disaster. But brilliant, probably the most brilliant copywriter of all time and he would write a sales letter and he would take it down went to the local bar, no focus groups, nothing like the local dive bar, and he would read it to them. And he knew if they said, Oh, that's a really great idea. He had a disaster on his hands. I mean, like, if they were like, oh, I want it, that's a great letter. That was the key disaster. When people were like, I want one of those, how can I get that? That's when he knew we had a winner. And notice with our idea, I'm like, I'm getting one of these, and I'm in line in front of all of you. Because I know Dominic knows, Ryan. But just a real interesting thing to keep in mind. If you're wondering if your idea is a good one. That is a really good test to go on. Which is, when you tell it to people, are they like, Oh, that's a great idea. Maybe it is, maybe it is that when they're like, Oh, dang, I want one of those. That's when you know, you've got a great idea. Yeah, carry back
Dominic Cummins 10:51
on No. And this is where I want to go with some of this stuff. Because there's a lot of things that Ryan's done really well. And, you know, we've known each other a long time. So I can say this, that he has no idea that he did well. And that's what's so great about some of this, right. And then some of it, he's finding out he did really well and some of it, he's and then he made a key point also, which we'll come back to is surround yourself with some people who know what they're doing. Because that's a that's a great way to get there. But you're right, like this whole concept. I've heard it termed as the PE certainty test, is what it's called, right, like so go out there and sell a couple and see if people buy him. And before you go big time into it. So it sounds like you guys had bought some for your own purposes, or had found a way no need for these. And then, and then had a few extra.
Unknown Speaker 11:34
Yeah, we were working on a project here in Inglewood. And I was I had my office was out of a shipping container. And for one reason or another, we couldn't get power to it. So the AC couldn't get turned on. And it was miserable being inside the thing. So and I was paying every month for it, you know, a couple 100 bucks. And I'm like, why am I paying all this money for this thing. When I hate being in it, I found these people that made the these these units, and it was the same price to ship one over as it was to ship 10. And so I'm like, Okay, I'll ship some extra, I'll turn around, fix them up sell them. And that's when I made the mistake of giving it to Travis Zeeman. And he made it so nice that everybody started drooling over him. And now it's now recording our day jobs.
Dominic Cummins 12:21
Night. And I wanted to get to that point. So this week, I heard him talking. So we're going to talk about investors, we're going to talk about some of the challenges of you know, the, you know, like the the interest from investors, even in a market conditions like this, we're gonna talk a little bit about some of the challenges you've had the sales, or just running into it, even though sales are really good, but what are the challenges? Because this is sort of the you know, make more, keep more show and get into some of that. But I did hear Ryan earlier this week, we play golf on Wednesday together. And I heard him earlier this week talking to an investor. And I think the question probably was something to the effect of I couldn't hear that side of the conversation. But I guessing he asked you like, well, how focused Are you on this business? And Ryan is getting ready, wrapping up his four four generation construction business about to kind of for all intents and purposes, shutter it to focus on this full time and, and I think that's such a cool, talk about turning your side hustle into your main hustle, which we've talked about a lot on the show. And it's such a cool, a cool place to be. But I would also imagine there's a fair bit of, you know, trepidation, there little bit of nervousness, when you're given up the
Unknown Speaker 13:30
surfing, it's like taking cruise control off and start off roading. Right.
Ron Caruthers 13:37
Good acknowledges
Dominic Cummins 13:38
it is a good analogy. So it's interesting. Ron and I talk a lot about week after week, we talk about market conditions. Obviously we all are well aware of what's going on in the market. I don't I haven't even looked at know if it's up today or down today. It was up yesterday. So it's probably gonna be down. So yeah, I mean, it's it's a nightmare. It's all over the place. And I think there's a lot of fear with people about starting a business in a market like this. Or whether or not they're going to be able to get a hold of investors. What's been your experience with like the I mean, has the investor well dried up? Or what's been your experience with even though the market conditions are tough?
Unknown Speaker 14:23
Well, this is my first time trying to raise capital. And so I don't really have much to compare it to other than stories that you read about. And we have a pretty good team that we have with us that's helping, it's kind of already plugged in and the things that I'm hearing from them is that is that yes, they're a little bit of dragging their feet right now and kind of see maybe what the markets doing. And I think that a lot of times, most investors will get more excited about like software as a service type thing these days and this doing a hardware play is something that they made you Don't really stay away from. But I think everyone that we've talked to has recognized the need and recognize that this space of having affordable housing is is a massive need. And so the conversations have have continued that but yeah, the stories you hear about people getting funded, instantly, we haven't had that experience.
Ron Caruthers 15:25
So question, I have a question for you. Where are you actually going to raise capital? Are you doing? We haven't really talked about this done? Are you going to friends and family? Are you going to Angel groups? What are you exactly doing Ryan to raise capital?
Unknown Speaker 15:41
So so far, my partner, Travis and I, we put up probably the quarter million dollars, and then we've gone to friends and family and raised about the same amount. And then, right now we have several private equity firms, and venture capitalist firms that we've given our pitch deck to and started conversations with. And then we also have a couple of potential joint ventures with other manufacturers that do similar things that want to get into the market in the United States. And so we're trying to figure out what what's going to work best for us, we're kind of looking for the lowest hanging fruit right now just to keep going. But again, this is the first time I've done it. So I didn't really have a checklist to follow, we've kind of just been going after the recommendations of the people that we're working with.
Dominic Cummins 16:38
Yeah, and that's an interesting point. So you know, I invest I know, a couple of guys who were were, you know, investor types, and I introduced them, one of them. And if you guys saw, I don't know, what is going on at Ron's house right now, but it is loud. So
Ron Caruthers 16:54
I'm trying to get some water because I'm dying of thirst. And I figured my air pods
Dominic Cummins 16:58
would not cancel that out, not what it sounded like but and that was wrong using the toilet. No. So always said the classy on the make more, keep more show. But ya know, so I'm, it's interesting, because I, one of the if you guys watched any of my content on social media, I was talking about, like strategic playing golf strategically this week. And that was one of the things that that one of the strategic meetings I had this week was to introduce Ryan, to a buddy of mine who does some really good investing, or does a lot of investing in companies. And it is interesting to start seeing that process of, you know, you get that initial rush of people, the friends and the family and things. But then his advice this week was okay. Don't be overly desperate to, you know, take money that's coming in. And don't Don't be desperate to take every dollar that comes in. And that's really hard when you're starting up a company. And and especially when you've been self funded up to this point. And I think there was some, there's some good learnings in there, again, why I wanted to have Ryan on the show is some good learnings in there is, is, you know, people will throw some money at it, an investor will tell you like, Okay, I'll throw 10 grand at your business. But that's not really necessarily the meaningful money that you could use or could or actually need to really make a difference or an impact on your business. And so that's the, that's the really kind of key piece there to me is is that patience, which is, you know, how hard is your patient? Or how hard is it to be patient when you're starting up that company? You know, I mean, it's, it's really, it's really challenging. So those are some of the the things that are going on. Now, I mentioned you last week, as you figured out, I mentioned you last week during our show, when it came to entrepreneurial challenges. And one of those challenges was now a now that you're getting people, people are interested in working with you like actually coming on board, fold them and saying, Hey, how can we help this company? You're going out to events, and people are helping you work those events. And then people are saying and raising their hands and saying I want some of these units, which is all like, those are positive problems to have. But what are some of the things you're seeing now that you're like, oh, my gosh, that I wasn't expecting that or I didn't I didn't know I don't know what to do now tell us some of the like those challenges.
Unknown Speaker 19:22
Yeah, I forget what book it was maybe the J curve or something like that, where they call this part of starting a business, the valley of death. And I'm realizing why. Because it's almost like everything is more difficult. We have people interested and we have our CRM growing almost 1000 people right now want a unit and there's literally not enough time for me to sit down and call them all back. And we don't have a sales team and we don't have we don't have marketing setup. We don't have advertising setup and yet just going from the 10 shows that we went to over the last year, it's generated so much interest that and our goal with those shows was kind of get a feel for what the market was gonna be like what we need to do. And it did help us out a lot we pivoted several times, we changed the name of our company, we, our focus was going to be business to consumer focus, but we realized that there's so much more that we can do by doing business to business and business to government. And so we shift that focus. And, and so it like every little task that has to be done, can't be done just by me. And so trying to get people to help out is a it's a nonstop juggling game. And we're really excited to get to the point where we have money in the bank, we can set up payroll, and we can turn, what is a handful of people doing doing a dozen jobs each into actual departments and teams.
Dominic Cummins 20:59
Right? Yeah. And it's interesting, because you know, those challenges for some would feel like reasons not to do the business. Or I think those are, maybe that's not the way to put it. Let me let me rephrase that. I think some for some people, that's the type of stuff that scares people about going into to a business of like, what if my idea isn't perfect? Or? Or what if I don't have it all figured out? Or whatever? And I mean, to me, it sounds like that's almost the fun part of it, you know, is like, Okay, well, that's not going to work, but this set turns out, it's gonna be that much better. How much do you think that like? I mean, it sounds like you have to really keep your ego out of it.
Unknown Speaker 21:42
It's true in in your head in my head, I visualize where I think things should go and how things should look and the pace and then reality sets in and you get all this feedback and you have to listen in order to be successful. Or because just because you think it has to go one way doesn't mean that that's going to work or that other people are gonna like it. And so it's it is it's you can't be fully married to any idea that you have. It's a it's a an interesting courtship with starting a business.
Dominic Cummins 22:21
Yeah, absolutely. Just for those of you who just joined, this is the make more keep more show. And I'm Dominique, and our guest today is Ryan Rossi. And for a good portion of the show, my co host hasn't been here but that's okay. Dropping but I was dying.
Ron Caruthers 22:38
I came from the gym today. I was dying of thirst. I hadn't got my my after workout shaken. So I don't want to start my games with a Z. So I took care of all that off camera. Now. I'm back amongst you guys. I drink my shake. So I don't distract you guys.
Dominic Cummins 22:56
You can drink your shake. Nobody cares. So I drink a shake usually on the show. So but yeah, so this is this is the make more, make more keep more show with Ron Carruthers there in the Pink Floyd shirt. And I'm Dominic Cummins. Usually I'm the make more he's the keep more but as you probably watched 17 episodes into this. We talked about everything. And then our guest today is Ryan Rossi. If you want to follow his company, it's at folden Corp at folden Corp is the the handle on all the on all the socials, if you will. And you can see some videos of how they set these things up, which they're pretty darn cool. And it's affordable housing is the short version of it. But unit a unit like almost like this little office that I'm in here, but but with a little bathroom and things and doesn't need to be built. And actually, I think you could have done it for less money than I paid for this thing, which is pretty impressive. So but what we're talking about is the entrepreneurial journey. And if you kind of tuning in late, what's interesting about it is, you know, Ryan, is we're talking through some of the challenges. I think Ron called this the entrepreneurial disasters, I certainly wouldn't say fold them as a disaster. But it's definitely been it's certainly has has had its challenges, right. And one of the things that he just talked about, which I love so much, and I think someone echoed it, it's all you know, in the chat there it went by but gotta listen to that feedback. And you got to keep your ego out of the equation because it's interesting to hear you guys I didn't know that about it. But you guys started out like you were gonna go business to consumer, like sell these to people wanting an adu somebody who needs a little place to set up. And then you found you know, a bunch of feedback and find it allow there's a massive market opportunity here that we could do elsewhere. And I think that that's really I know, for me, starting my business was hard when people would say like, oh, I don't I don't know if that idea is gonna work but here's a different one. You're like, Oh, but I was so sure it was gonna work. But are there deals, there are pieces of it where you've had to, you know, kind of Ignore the naysayers if you will. Have there been situations where you've had to like, somebody's gone like, oh, I don't know if that's a good idea. And you're like, alright, well, I'm gonna keep doing it anyway.
Unknown Speaker 25:10
I think one of the biggest things is, it's funny because we talked about it yesterday or two days ago, is price. And everyone that looks at it that has a business background says your price is too low, you need to bring it up. And I think it that that is one of our fundamental things that is going to make us go from being a small business to a massive business that might go public, is that if we keep our prices it at a point that the masses can afford, then well, it might not be the most savvy business model to start out with or to for a small business. But I think personally, that that's what's going to take us to like be on the next level. And it is a challenge because everyone from my dad, to my friends to financial advisors to ISIS to Well,
Dominic Cummins 26:04
I was one of those ones. I said the other day told him his prices are too low. And I'm not quite ready to do give up on that thought process yet. So we'll have to have him back right or on in like, I don't know, a year and see where we're at with whether or not he should have raised his prices or not. But But yeah, I mean, it's,
Ron Caruthers 26:22
I just want I just want my shed before he raised his price
Unknown Speaker 26:26
data I care about every every every buyer wants that. Right,
Dominic Cummins 26:31
he's actually talking about lowering the prices. So
Ron Caruthers 26:34
I do I think real quick, real quickly, though, Ryan, what I would say is, my grandpa was actually friends with Sam Walton, before Walmart existed. And Sam Walton knew his plays, which was he was going to go to towns where there weren't a lot of things, put one store everything under one roof, and it was going to be price driven. And that model works for him. Nordstrom, really now has become a discount real retailer, because there's more Nordstrom racks than there are main stores. But Nordstrom was the total opposite end of the spectrum for normal people. And I worked there back in the 80s. Real briefly when they had a piano player and they bring stuff out to your car don't even know if they do that anymore. So the point is there's there's both ends of the market. And if your end is the lower end to mass produce, and it works and your margins are met, great. Maybe we come along and you do a higher end version of it later. For the consumers that want you know, a little office, but there are both ends of the markets. That's my two cents on it. Absolutely. And well, and Walmart makes money and Nordstrom makes money. For sure.
Dominic Cummins 27:47
So this entrepreneurial journey, so sales, we finding out getting people on there, you mentioned to me, I know we talked a little bit about it, you were like, how do I pay these people if they sell the product? Right? Like those are? Those are questions that come up on that. And I mean, what are some of the other what are some of the other ones that have just sort of caught you by like, Oh, my goodness.
Unknown Speaker 28:09
So it's all every aspect of the business and and trying to not put the cart before the horse, we are, are looking at what other people are doing. And seeing that, you know, having a lot of advertising having a lot of marketing, people are hungry for for this exact type of product. And yet, you can get more people that are interested then you can actually perform. And it's an interesting cycle where our big potential clients, they want to see us having a facility and they want us to see us having the proof that we can that we can build. But in order to be in that facility, we need to have sales in order to have the sales, we are having to go after the one offs, the customers that aren't going to be our main focus. And so it nothing's just falling into place. We're having to kind of massage away in a step by step in order to show all the elements in order for it to fall into place. And that's a learning process. We we kind of you know, we you sit down on paper and you think, Okay, I'm going to order this many I'm going to build them and I'm going to sell them. And then it turns out no, we're going to some people want to leave some some people want to buy them by the 1000. Some people want them the fold down a fold up and some just one in one spot and have sewer and a concrete pad laid and they stay there forever. And so the actual transaction to the customer turns into like 100 different possible things. And they're all asking, Well, what's your pricing and the pricing is different for every one of those things. And so we're happy we're happy to build all we're having to build everything at once and And and the people that are selling it, we've got real estate agents that want to sell them. We've got contractors that want to sell them, we got RV dealerships, we want to sell them. And they're all like, Okay, what's your pricing, what's your catalog are like, we're literally building it as we go, I'm out there snapping photos, putting them on Instagram, and then that goes into the catalog, and we put a price on it. But the price that it is now we're building it the most expensive way possible with California labor, one at a time, out of our small 5000 square foot warehouse. Very soon, we're going to be mechanizing it are going to be mass producing, I'm building 20 at a time, and we're going to distribute the labor by having warehouses in Texas and Florida and Mexico. And that way the price is going to be able to go down. But in the meantime, we're doing it the most difficult way to build these things, which is the traditional way. And I love the illustration that other companies use all the time they say, would you build a house? Or would you build a car, if somebody brought all the parts and put them on your driveway and build a car in your driveway, it wouldn't make nearly as much sense as building it in a factory on a assembly line. And same thing with with a house, it's the least efficient way to bring all the materials to your property and Bill it in place. And so we were really anxious to get to that point. But to get to that point, we need the money and to get to the money, we need to have the customers to have the customers, we need the product. And so we're we're slowly trying to build up to be able to do it in a more sane and efficient way.
Dominic Cummins 31:29
And I think this is what again, I thought interesting. You know, Ron, when you and I talked about bringing Ryan on, I think this is the fun part of it is I think there's a part where, you know, when you when you look at any business, again, the stuff that changes and the stuff that that you know, from the from your prove your concept, and then proving the concept. It doesn't just translate right into scaling a business. And I think where if for those of you who are, you know, have contemplated your side hustle or you know, you've got one or you want to start one and you're thinking about or you're starting a business and or you're just stuck. I think it's it's sometimes it's fun when you get somebody who has, you know, it's interesting to listen to a story about Elon Musk, you know, regardless of your thoughts on Elon Musk and the Twitter situation. You know, it's interesting to hear those stories where somebody's now worth $100 billion, or somebody, I'm not sure what that question was, but it referenced Mark Zuckerberg, but like, you know, those, those are fascinating stories to listen to, but they're not realistic for the average person. And I think what's fascinating about having Ryan on is, he's six months ahead of some of you or a year ahead of some of you, right. And I like that lovely CJP Good to see you as always. But that's good question. So we'll ask you in just a second here. But you know, that's the interesting thing is is Ryan's in that process is still figuring this stuff out. And I think it's really it's fascinating to hear that that like, Hey, Ryan can do this, like we established kind of early on I mean, Ryan's Ryan's a super smart dude and, and Travis, his business partner is incredible when it comes to construction and engineering and things just brilliant mind for that. But yet these guys don't have that background, like in built and scaling a business and figuring out mass production and pricing at a at a mass production level. And I think that's so awesome to just hear those stories and realize you can do it too like you if you're holding back. I'm hoping that this episode motivates some of you just to just to get going so lovely. See JP who's one of our regular listeners. Let me open it up also under send it to me, but she had a question is what when did you know it was time to bring more help into the operation? To grow your business? Because it started with you and Travis and probably, you know, Travis, his wife helping a little bit and stuff. But But when did you start to say like, oh, wow, we need to really start bringing more people in.
Unknown Speaker 34:02
Yeah, I think that we started and we pretty much still are at the point where because he has a construction company and I have a construction company and we're using our, our labor and our our office staff from our construction companies to help us to grow this new company. And we kind of just as we needed it. They helped us with certain things. But now Well basically, we did the Del Mar Fair, which was about a month ago and was four weeks long. And we got hundreds and hundreds of people that wanted units in their backyards in San Diego. And at that point, I was like this is just too much. We need to have someone else on here that's like following up on this. And so now we've got the guys going around, measuring in people's backyards and making phone calls. And it I mean We have any we've been paying our the guys that have helped us with the shows and help us build a production prototype models from our construction company. But now we're to the point where we need to start setting up a payroll and it has been a challenge, you sit down and you make a an Excel spreadsheet and say, Okay, these are all the people that I need right now. And then you say this is how many people I can afford. And so then you just you, you try and dial it and say, okay, which Who do I really need, who's the one I need the most. And it's like, because we have the construction part down, that has kind of taken care of itself. But the parts that we don't excel at Travis and I are not good at sales, and we're not going to sit down during our day and make phone calls and talk to people to do a customer service. Because in our heads, we don't think that's the best use of our time. And so that was one of our first people that we brought on board some of the good help was that and it's helping us out a lot are we're trying to sell our units are ensuite units for 29,000. And this guy we brought on he sold one for $64,000. Because he added so many bells and whistles, and he had the time to sit there and listen to what the person wanted and just kept adding things to it. And we're like great, like we never would have done this on our own. This is so, so crucial. And so it literally wasn't a choice of of this is the person that I want. It just got to the point where this is absolutely the person we need. And now it's the point where he can't even do it all he needs a team under him. And so we're we're growing at the rate that we can afford of what money is in the bank and what orders that we have. And we're we still have a laundry list of people that we think we need, but we just can't afford them
Ron Caruthers 36:45
yet. I have a quick question for you, Ryan, how many hours? Are you guys getting up sleep a night? would you estimate? And how many hours? Are you working on us today?
Unknown Speaker 36:55
So it's it's it's pretty full on? It's? If you asked me I'd say it's normal. I'm getting normal amount of sleep and normal amount of work. If you ask my wife, she would say that I'm an absolute lunatic and need to cut back but I guess it's relative.
Ron Caruthers 37:11
Got it? Are you having to use any trucker speed or anything like that? Get through them get through the day or anything?
Unknown Speaker 37:17
No, I, I know that when I go to bed at night, there's there's always like I constantly say that my checklist never gets shorter. It's always getting longer. And I know when I go to sleep every night that there are many things that I didn't get done that I really should have gotten done. But that's, I think from from being an instruction, you realize, if you sweat the small things, you'll go crazy. Because there's always going to be small things that are unbuttoned and and loose. If you if you're trying to micromanage multiple construction projects at once, you'll go insane.
Ron Caruthers 37:56
You know, that's a really interesting point when you guys make the jump to entrepreneurs, and particularly if you've come from a corporate background where maybe your checklist gets done every day. And you know, your meetings are on time and they're all nicely scheduled in your Outlook calendar and you've got reminders and stuff, you start going on entrepreneurial, and like Ryan just said there's more stuff off, particularly in the early stages when a business is getting off the ground that more stuff than ever gonna get done. So you just have to prioritize and do the most important things. Let some of the other stuff slide till the next day or until you come along and clean it up. Well, I don't know, Dominic, I think Ryan might be using trucker speed on the side. He looked a little guilty when I asked the question. No judgment, Ryan. No judgments for me.
Dominic Cummins 38:41
No, I have no right a long time. Energy is never an issue. You too. would if you were in the same room, I'm fairly sure the room would implode. So I used to have the similar nonstop energy
Ron Caruthers 38:55
show. It's not a show. We don't get to bring up trucker speed. While Yeah, exactly.
Dominic Cummins 38:59
Yeah, no, but I think there's a couple of ones the one to to piggyback on your last point. I mean, I always laugh when people were like I'm an inbox zero. And I'm like yeah, you don't have enough business.
Ron Caruthers 39:12
100,000 I have 100,000 unread emails in my Outlook No, not from clients. I mean I go through and prioritize but just stuff I haven't even gotten around to deleting it's like 100,914
Dominic Cummins 39:22
Ryan just showed me his it's 253 404 There you go. Now mine isn't that bad anymore because I have all a Saundra and she literally cleaned up my inbox like but like what's what's awesome but then she went on vacation for a few days and I'm sure she really enjoyed coming back to see my inbox but but yeah, I mean I think that's the thing is you just have to I love that point of like don't sweat the small stuff and and then there are small details that you need that need to be sweat. But but sometimes you bring on somebody to do that right? Oh yeah, Lindsey is one of those Inbox Zero. I forgot that she's one of the Those people but but Lindsey wants more clients. So there you go. So here's Tony's Hold on,
Ron Caruthers 40:07
we gotta go Tony's in the house, I love that place, I get away with them. Nice Uncle Tony is awesome. We got to get out and go. I love that if you guys are in Vista, Uncle Tony says the best. Nice. So anyway, keep going. I
Dominic Cummins 40:23
was gonna say I think what a really great point and one that I want to emphasize for everybody who's either got a business right now, in this is a mistake I see a lot in like Lindsay's in in my group. And so she'll know what I'm about to say, or we'll know it as soon as I say is you've got to let growth drive the need for employees. Don't let employees try to drive your growth. Like it has to be in the right order. And I think that what Ryan is doing is really smart, like, get some orders like go down to the Del Mar fair, or what did they call it these days in San Diego something or other fair or whatever? You know, that fair is you went down there you did that event, you you actually I remember, we were talking before just before the event, you were like I may have to be there all full time. And then you found some people kind of help you out a little bit with it. So you don't have to be there every day for four weeks. But then out of that you get 400 500 leads people who say not just leads but people who are like, No, I want one of these. And then you start getting people to fulfill that because you absolutely can't do it by yourself. And I think what happens I see especially on the sales side, I get real, you know, because that's my background, that's what I help people work with is on sales is I need to drive sales. So can you help me hire a salesperson? And I go, Well, do you have any sales right now? Not many, but if I get a salesperson, I will No, that's not how it works. Like it just doesn't work that way, what you need to do is figure out your lead flow, get people, right, you know, calling people or reaching out to you filling out web forms, whatever it might be. And then you use that growth to drive the need for a salesperson or other people. Because otherwise you're just paying salaries, and losing money, right and left. And you're never going to be able to pick that up because employees don't drive growth. Unless there's already some growth there to build on. I don't know what your thoughts were on you. You have like maybe, you
Ron Caruthers 42:21
know, that was just I'm still catching my breath from working out. We did have a question, though. Totally agree with that. Chaz, earlier if it was like Chad seven, six asked, once you get a good salesperson? And maybe this isn't a question as much for Ryan is for you, Dominic, we'll get back to you in a sec. Ryan. Anyway, how do you keep them? How do you keep them from leaving? Like, what are the ways? Or is that a whole other? Should we just make a whole other episode out of how to hire and keep good people?
Dominic Cummins 42:51
We should do an episode in a minute. Yeah, I can answer it in a minute. But we should also do an episode because there's a there's a there's a short answer. And there's a long answer, give us the short version of them will deal with the long answer. Ultimately, what I just said is part of the deal of keeping salespeople. Salespeople in most cases are they'll always say like, Hey, man, as long as I have somebody to meet with, I'm going to close it, you'll hear salespeople say some sort of expression, like just give me the at bat and I got this taken care of what they're really saying is, yeah, as long as I get the opportunity to meet with people, I can close them, which is probably true, if you're not giving them the opportunity to to close people they're going to leave. That's one thing because they just got to be able to, they got to be able to have success. Nobody likes being in a job where they suck. So you have to give them the lead flow, you have to give them the things to do to be able to be successful. You also have to give them way more than you think and what kills a lot of and what I call founder selling syndrome, which is, you know, I'll drop the herpes reference, again, is the founder selling syndrome is the big issue that people go, Yeah, I'm out here selling. So if you know, and I'm getting busy. So let me just hire a salesperson and they'll figure it out. No salespeople rarely just figure it out. And I know some of these salespeople are going to be like, oh, yeah, I can figure it out. No, you can't stop lying. You're good at it when you're fed what to do. And then work great at it. I'm myself included. And so be prepared to give them scripts, be prepared to give them all the stuff they need, give them the tools that's what's keeping them around. If you don't do that, they leave but we'll do a whole we should do an episode on that I actually have a whole series of stuff about how to hire when you should hire your first salesperson how to hire your salesperson then obviously how to compensate him and how to keep them some stuff I'll be actually helping Ryan with here in the in the coming weeks. So we can do a whole episode around that for sure.
Ron Caruthers 44:41
Beautiful, it's good. Okay, back to right. What else do we need to ask Ryan and our 15 minutes remaining. By the way for those of you that are just jumping on before we get to that? This is the make more keyboard show. You can find all the back episodes that make more keep more show.com and, or your favorite iTunes Spotify, whatever. And we basically talk about all things related to business and money with the occasional trucker speed or herpes reference thrown in just for good measure to make sure you guys are staying away. And today we've got Ryan, who has a company that's kind of in its early stages of blowing up. And by the way, I have a totally side question for Ryan, were you down by Did you ever go over and talk to the carotenes guys at the Del Mar fair? They do like to barbecue bowls, barbecue, barbecues, and like hot tubs and stuff like that. They take up I think about quarter to a third of one of the area's there. Did you ever bump into those guys? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 45:41
they were in the same O'Brien hall that we were in.
Ron Caruthers 45:44
Nice. Did you ever talk to Julian their head guy involved Mexican dude.
Unknown Speaker 45:50
Not Not that I know of. But go ahead. What's the question?
Ron Caruthers 45:54
Oh, no, I was just saying Julian's a buddy of mine, who works not fair, the Orange County and the Del Mar fair. He's the GM for carotenes, which does barbecues and hot tubs. And I know he the first few years basically lived there was there 1416 hours a day while they were getting that go on.
Unknown Speaker 46:13
Those guys, they work very hard. And I was I was really impressed with them. We didn't even want to do it. We had another guy that had the booth. And he wanted to fill it with something. And he knew about our product, and just said, Hey, can we drop off one of our houses there. And then he said, but I don't have anyone to staff it. So you have to go there and you have to be there too. And but just seeing how these guys are the Fair Work 12 hour days for 21 days straight is intense. And then they pack everything up and they go to the next show.
Ron Caruthers 46:45
And Orange County right? Yeah, Orange County, then they'll go to LA then they'll go up to Paso Robles. Yeah, it's crazy.
Unknown Speaker 46:51
And so what we're so that's one of the things in line with your make more keep more is we are actively looking for partners to work with these guys at the fair, we're going to be building them some houses that they're going to be taking to all the fairs so that we don't have to go and that they're going to be selling for us we're actively looking for people like real estate agents and contractors that they know the clients already they know the homeowners and they know that the market, right i The statistic was that there was more real estate agents and there were houses for sale at one point in the past few years. And so they're they're looking for and then just now, in January, the Senate bill nine law passed, that made these back houses a lot easier to put in a lot easier to be permitted in almost every city. And so a lot of people don't even aren't even aware of that, that they can do this now, because it used to be illegal used to not be able to have a container house in your backyard, and the laws have changed. So educating people, people that are that want to be a part of it, or contact us, let us know because there's so many ways that and then once we get our certifications lined up, these things can be financed. And so a homeowner can say put put some down like a one $2,000 And then have like one to $300 a month payment. And if they're air being being it, they can instantly be making money. So using our houses to put in people's backyards could be a whole business in itself and we want people to make money and we want to work with them because we know we can't do it all ourselves and we want to we want the tide to rise for everyone.
Ron Caruthers 48:29
And I just got to point out that one of the number one things that I teach my clients is the tax rules were written for the self employed individual and so having a business any business opens up a whole door to tax savings that you don't have when you're just a W two employee. So all of this ties back around alright Dominic, you can go you go back we got about 10 minutes you can ask your your friend I think he's my friend now too. Yeah, for sure. We can talk we can talk about later Ryan and discuss the level of our friendship but what other questions do you want to get into what other questions do you guys have for Ryan? Yeah,
Dominic Cummins 49:06
definitely. If you guys have any questions drop them in here. I just saw Andy Bach well join I invited a fool right here man can love Andy he tried to kill me recently he knows I'm allergic to shellfish and then he made Thai food and actually literally handed me like lobster paste to put into my tried to kill me, man. It's brutal. Anyway, no, I'm so is interesting. Actually, this reminded me Ron and you and I did an episode. I think season one maybe like second or third episode. We did something about corporate structures. I didn't tell Ryan we were gonna talk about this, but we're going to talk about sticking to Andy. But the the it's interesting. So Ryan, you guys, you you're an S corp. Right? Is that how I remember your structured?
Unknown Speaker 49:49
Yes, currently we are.
Dominic Cummins 49:53
And then he's been getting advice. Okay, we'll get the lovely CJP We'll talk about that I did want to talk about those. So thank you, then you got advice that he should be in a C Corp? Because if he's going to take on investors, he would definitely need to be have a C Corp, which you're you are the guy who actually knows these answers to this sort of thing.
Ron Caruthers 50:15
Yeah. So an S corp allows you to take on up to 35, I think is the current number on it. And it's weird in the tax world, you always have to catch everything because they change it constantly. Think the code, last time I looked was 81, or 82,000 pages. So it does kind of irritate me when Elizabeth Warren goes off on a rant about these evil corporations like into it. And all the time, it takes people and they're working. They're scamming people out of billions of dollars. And it's like, lady, they're not the ones in charge of the code. That's you, you and your people are in charge of the code and your dependents that make it so freakin complicated. However, if you're going to take investors, generally, C Corp is a better structure. And it'll probably help you guys because you'll be able to stack up some some losses in there that you can take later that you're going to need later, as opposed to having him spun off to you guys personally, each year. So yeah, I'd probably go C Corp on that. But right, if you ever want to talk offline about it, you know where to find me, Dominic knows how to find me.
Dominic Cummins 51:18
Well, and as a follow up to that, though, it was interesting, because we were sitting with a with a guy who who's pretty savvy on this stuff, but he said he was like, I don't know, because he's like, then I think the you have a, you know, everybody gets on like a one or something. And then you get double taxed because the corporation gets taxed. And then individual investors to tax
Ron Caruthers 51:35
you do but but not as much as you think. And in the early stages where there is no profit any ways, necessarily, even if you guys are banking, cash, you've got all this built up kind of expenses and losses and things like that. So it's probably not gonna hurt you guys. And you can always we always like to marry the two simple generally for our clients as they start to move up to the higher income levels. Like we got a client in New York right now that's netting a million and a half dollars on a on a, you know, showroom business. And so now we're going to put a C Corp next to it or at least suggested, because now it becomes a second retirement plan for him. Because he can keep money in their habitats that 21% rather than 37, or whatever the top tax rate is. Plus, it hurts his other deductions. So I'm going way deep into the weeds, but they'll chat offline, but just realize that at some point, you have to pay attention to this. But it's not the most important thing, the most important thing that Ryan did was have a thing that he came up with that people were like, get me one of those now. And then you can figure out the rest of it later. The question we got from lovely CJP by the way, Ryan was, what was the biggest mistake that you've made that you learned from and how would you do it differently?
Unknown Speaker 53:03
So I think the biggest mistakes we made, we're probably in the middle of them and trying to figure out which one's the worst one. I think, I think everything's going slower than I want it to. And if I were to do everything again, I would probably talk with people like you and Dominic from day one. But we've been figuring it out as we go and dragging our feet and finishing our construction projects all at the same time. And, but but I know that we're leaving so much on the table, and we could be so further ahead if we would have done things faster. And so I don't know, I can't think of one thing right now that was like that. That was a bad idea. But overall, I know that if I would have been more diligent from the beginning, we would be probably in multiple warehouses right now making 1000s of units a day. But it's just it hasn't worked out that way. So we're hoping to be that point next year.
Ron Caruthers 54:07
I didn't want Dominic, I don't know your take on this. But mine is it never does work out. You can go to school, what are the things I teach all my employees is you know, who went to school or maybe got tax license? And then we're like, yeah, what you learned in the books was great, but that's not the way the real world works. So we always start up really slow for a season. You know, make them do some pro bono work, make them do some stuff that they don't get paid for, because then they learn how the real world works. And the one thing for any of you guys that I would say, who are looking to jump, you know and make a leap is you're not going to know everything at once. Just as long as you try to learn fast and only make the same mistakes a couple of times before you figure it out. You're gonna be fine. As long as you don't get way too out in front, what's the saying? Don't get out too far over your skis but I Don't even I know what that means, but I hear it used a lot. Bottom line is you figure this out as you go. You know. And and one other thing that Ryan said that I wanted to emphasize real quickly, and then I'll let you guys wrap up is he talked about we're doing this or we're doing this, we're kind of doing it all at once. And that is kind of the point when you're getting started, is you do kind of everything does become a tenant, some points where you have multiple things that have to get done. And even when he was talking about going for investors, his like, Well, we went here, and we went here, and we went here and moved by here, which is really smart. He didn't wait for one thing to work out. Ooh, it didn't work out. Okay, let me go try the next thing. Because you just need to go fast and get some momentum going. Yeah, well, final words are what final question. Dominic, do you want to ask Ryan? Or do you want to say as we begin to wrap this up here? Well, I
Dominic Cummins 55:50
just want to come on the back of that point, I do think you make a great point. I think one of the really smart things Ryan doing obviously, the idea itself was pretty dang smart, since you're gonna buy one. But the end had I thought about it sooner, I probably would have put one in, he actually, funnily enough, had a note about the difference in the law. That's what the only reason that held us up from doing something bigger in this area for this office, and maybe putting a bathroom in it was not knowing that the law makes it a lot easier to put those in your backyard. But I think the smart thing that Ryan's doing, and this is just a great advice for everyone is he's letting the growth of the company drive the need for everything else. And I think that's such a smart thing. Don't Don't go throw a ton of money at stuff to hope that it turns into sales, whereas he's allowing it to you know, the sales itself is to drive the need and lovely CJP does want to buy one for her mother in law when she visits so that's a smart repeat Srijit
Ron Caruthers 56:47
what CJP didn't say she lives on the edge of a cliff and she's going to put the house right again.
Dominic Cummins 56:52
I was gonna say CJ let me see an earthquake country Yeah, lovely. See JP was actually going to ask you if there's a way to put the locks on the outside of the door. That's what she's asking for a custom version but to lock mother in law in so
Ron Caruthers 57:08
CJP I feel you I wouldn't have done my current mother in law lover to death. But the first one I would have had those thoughts.
Dominic Cummins 57:17
It's not my mother in law. I love my mother in law. It's my father in law. But anyway, so But besides the make more keep more show being your favorite podcast. Where are you getting some some you know, offline advice, you know, without like hiring somebody where he Where are you picking up some stuff? Podcasts books? What are some things that are holding you up?
Unknown Speaker 57:39
Yeah, I drive a lot. So I'm, I think my favorite podcast is ours. But is yours? Yeah, sure. Thank you. And the one I've been listening to for a really long time is This Week in Startups with Jason Calacanis got great advice. And now he's doing the all in podcast, which is fascinating. But you know, books, all the all the new ones that come out about starting companies and startups there, they all have good advice. And so I just turned it on Audible. And and go, it's it's almost like every everyone's got good advice. But and you can't take it all. But the more you hear it, the more you kind of get in the mode of just like basically being out there and doing it and staying on top of things. And you'll get stuff done. I love it.
Ron Caruthers 58:28
Great point. Let's wrap this up, boys. We appreciate having you so much on the show. Dominic, do you have any final words? We're gonna get Ryan back on its feet into mind any year to see where he's at? That'd be awesome. Six months. Dominic, do you realize like, football season starts in five or six weeks?
Dominic Cummins 58:47
I can't get that to look I cannot wait Are we going to opening day? I mean, I could call you and ask this but the audience is curious. Are we going to the Rams game are we doing the opener we
Ron Caruthers 58:56
are we are I found out already got a tailgate for us to go to and I'm just trying to find out if my hair who has a box with Vince Ferragamo, former rams Super Bowl attending quarterback if she's got room and she can squeeze this and so I'm trying to decide if we spend a little more money on the tickets. These are my treat by the way, Dominic, since you provide the charters tickets, I refuse to give that filthy bastard Dean standouts, one dime of my money. Carpetbagger. So I'll buy these tickets and I don't mind given stay on the money. Your local crack, baby.
Dominic Cummins 59:32
He's late. We missed you today. Yeah,
Ron Caruthers 59:35
we gotta wrap this up. Awesome. Do it again next week. Ryan, thank you so much for coming on the show. I look forward to meeting you in person and getting me one of them fancy houses.
Dominic Cummins 59:42
And if you guys want to follow them and see what they're up to, it's at foldup FOLDUM Corp Corp. That at Folsom Corp is where the you can find Ryan and everything they're doing and there's some cool little videos on them of setting up these units and some of the things that they're doing so I think to check it out, watch out for this one it could be it'll be huge, so be awesome. And don't
Ron Caruthers 1:00:05
forget back shows your local crack babies. If you missed it, you can go to make more, keep more show.com, Spotify, Apple, iTunes, all of that. Alright guys, awesome pleasure as always take care.
Dominic Cummins 1:00:17
See you guys. Thanks everybody. Thank you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
