Navy Veteran to Impactful Entrepreneuer

Chris Kiefer (00:01.529)

Uh, and you are the live wire choice. I'm going to make the introduction and then let you explain it. But Scott wire, the founder of live wire productions or, uh, not productions, live wire training.

Scott Weyer (00:13.47)

Right, you're the producer, not me.

Chris Kiefer (00:15.173)

Yeah, but that's the that's the correct title. OK.

Scott Weyer (00:18.206)

Yes, live while I'm training. It's so clever, right, with my name? Ha ha.

Chris Kiefer (00:22.229)

Oh, I love the punniness. It's very good. That's awesome. Welcome back to the Pursuit of Purpose. My name is Chris Kieffer, and today I am with the one and only Scott Weier from LiveWire Training. Thank you so much, Scott, for coming on.

Scott Weyer (00:26.326)

January 2014 I started that.

Scott Weyer (00:42.514)

Hey, I appreciate it, Chris. Glad to be here.

Chris Kiefer (00:45.553)

So, Scott, give everybody that does not know Scott Wire or hasn't been in the home service world before, the concrete coatings world, who is Scott Wire?

Scott Weyer (00:57.366)

Oh my goodness, yeah. So I think I have about 3,500 people that either have my phone number and or follow me on some type of social media, which means there's like what? 300 billion that don't know me. So that's a lot of pressure. So who is Scott Wire? Gosh, so I'm just a center from a one blinker light town in Southern Indiana. Grew up on a small farm with son of a salesman and a homemaker.

My dad was a salesman who had a farm, which meant that as the oldest son, I was the farmer. So we grew just about everything we ate. We grew in the garden or in the barn. So we grew up like that. And I'm actually the oldest of nine altogether of us. So I guess that's where some of my leadership comes from. Went to a tiny little school. I'm from a one blinker light town. Chris, you've heard that story before. And

Not much is supposed to come out of Hayesville, Indiana, but we're very proud. There's been a lot of great people come out of there, including a bunch of wires, a bunch of my siblings. My parents still live in the same house that I was raised in. I was just there a few weeks ago, staying in the same bedroom I grew up in. I left home at 17, went in the Navy, spent about almost five years in the Navy and was in during Persian Gulf and did three tours on aircraft carriers and really enjoyed my time there, made lifelong friendships with that.

Basically, since I got out of the Navy, I started selling insurance door to door in the Midwest in a suit and tie, 20 and $40 policies. This was kind of Aflac before Aflac. We'd knock on somebody's door and write them a policy right then. And if they got hurt or got sick while they were off work, you could get paid. This was called combined insurance, started by the great W. Clement Stone 100 years ago. And I did that for two and a half years. I bought my first new car.

Chris Kiefer (02:44.85)

Mmm.

Scott Weyer (02:51.654)

uh... ever doing that uh... sweet flashy chrysler sebring elixir nineteen ninety six it was awesome uh... way before your time chris and uh... i've really been in sales and leadership since then i've worked for huge companies like pitney bows and wal-mart uh... and i've worked for tiny little companies that were getting started or been in business a long time like little corbyn's drapery or little company might have heard of called pentak and all kind of all in between so i but

I spent half my career, the first half of my career, on the retail side, selling in the home with homeowners. And the second half of my career, the last 20 years or so, working with dealers and small business owners and training their staff on how to market and sell in the home and how to build businesses.

Chris Kiefer (03:40.357)

That's awesome. The one thing so obviously we met through the Pentech world and ecosphere. One thing that I like from the first time that I met you, I was like, this guy's got so much energy. Everybody knows him likes him. You're always laughing. And I'm curious where like, was that like, that's how that's who you've been since you were a kid? Did you like discover that part of yourself?

in your career or like where did in your mind like I feel like everybody has uh like key points in their life like in most of the way I heard it have heard it described to me is that there are inflection points and there's lots of little ones but if you laid them all out on the timeline of your life there would be like one or two major ones that had a big change in the

Chris Kiefer (04:38.837)

would you say that, what would you say those are for you? Or what was the biggest one of like, man, at this point in this time of my life or at this company or this opportunity, that happened?

Scott Weyer (04:51.374)

I'd say really probably four things. It's a great question that I wasn't expecting, but fairly easy. So number one, growing up in a big family in a small town, you get to have a lot of fun and do a lot of laughter. And back then, I'm old, I'm almost 52, so we rode bikes and was all over the neighborhood, we're out in the woods and all that. And we just grew up in a very happy family and a lot of laughter, a lot of relatives, huge.

Southern Indiana, huge Irish Catholic, a German Catholic, and all that kind of stuff. Huge families and big get togethers, a lot. I'm a big get together guy. You know me, I love to feed everybody and have everybody have a full stomach and laugh and do all that. So that was, I just grew up with it. I think that's the first thing. My mom's got one of the most infectious laughs in the world, besides my wife. I'd say the second thing is, in the Navy, you're on a ship with.

5,500 men for 10 months at a time. And you wanna cry a lot because you miss people back home and you're 17, 18, 19, and you're defending your country and you just got you and your shipmates. So there's a lot of laughing, a lot of diversity. I mean, you're sleeping in bunks next to guys from Compton and guys from Denver that are ranchers and guys from.

uh... new york city that are italian and just all over and i'm a you know southern india hazel kids so you have a lot of fun and laughter in the navy as well uh... my wife she's uh... she twenty six years now we just had our twenty six valentine's day nila and uh... she's a super happy person you never see her without a smile i'd like to take credit for that you know she's had a smile on her face since i've known her but she was like that before i met her too she's just a happy person very outgoing smiling uh...

the constant hostess and entertainer. So she's great to spend life with. She's my best friend and we have a blast. Anybody that knows us knows that. And then last but not least, I would say, because I'm in the small entrepreneur or small business world, most companies are from zero to less than $50 million. And I work with mostly salespeople. So a lot of guys and girls under the age of 35.

Scott Weyer (07:12.578)

And they're fun too and they love to laugh and have a good time and you have to because this is a tough business It can get you Daily and from one point to the other three times a day You could go from on top of the world You could run through a brick wall to I want to cash my chips in and go run a cash register at Lowe's tomorrow And just not have responsibility and so it's a very high swing with this world of commission and the world of sales and homeowners and try to make your boss happy and

and try to make you know, take care of your family and take care of your family on your personality is a big pressure. So I think you have to laugh a lot and I always say find your spots. Get in where you fit in is too short would say. Find your spots. So I'd say my upbringing, my Navy shipmates, my wife and all my fellow sales grinders throughout the United States that have to make a living on commission and talent.

Chris Kiefer (08:11.081)

That's fantastic. I'm curious, the thing that, another thing that we've connected on, obviously the show called The Pursuit of Purpose, you have a pretty inspiring purpose or mission in life. Tell us about that and we'll build on the conversation from there.

Scott Weyer (08:34.026)

Yeah, so my mission statement or my mission is called 1% Impact. And I don't have a business card nowadays because we have everything digital, right? So when I started my company LiveWR training in 2014, a year later I started with my previous employer, Pentech. And I decided that between Pentech and raising a family and three sons, that I was gonna have to put that business on hold. It wasn't gonna be fair.

to my family or my employer to try to run a side sales training business. So I put it on hold for eight years. I reactivated it January 6th of this year. And I got my digital business card because we don't do business cards anymore. And I thought about what am I going to put on there? The number one thing was 1% impact. And I was in the hot side with my middle son the other night. He's 19 and he runs his own clothing label. And we were talking and he saw my business card.

and he said, what's 1% impact? And that's why I put it that way, because I want people to ask me that. In my younger days, I thought, and I was egotistical enough to think, that I could impact people by 40%, 50%, like, oh man, if I really spent time with Chris, I could change his life for the better by 70%. We get all these big, huge numbers that we're gonna really change everybody. I was sitting at Thanksgiving about three years ago,

say a little story in Indiana where my parents live, where I grew up and my dad sitting to my right where he always sits, my dad Kenny who's 76, wise old Al been in sales forever and a great dad and a great business guy and my wife sitting to my left and so my dad says, how's your little sister's business coming along? Now that's my little sister Ashley that you know, Decelete Concrete Coatings down in Tallahassee and she's the baby, she's the youngest.

and not his daughter, her and I have a different dad. But he loves her just like anybody, and he's in business, he's like, how's your little sister's business going? I'm like, well, they had a goal their first year to do 1.1 million, and the first year they did 3.1, and they're on their way to do over six the second year, and then on and on to probably eight or nine third year, and this was a few years ago. And my wife being the supportive wife, she'll probably kill me for telling the story, but she pipes up and says, yeah, and it's all because of Scott.

Scott Weyer (10:58.602)

And I go, no, no. I said, they did all the work. I said, it ain't because of me, it's because of them. Because Ashley and Buck are the hardest working, you know, best people on the planet. They're just awesome business owners and bosses and entrepreneurs of the American, you know, American story, American dream. And so my dad, wise old Al says, well, would you take a 1% credit on?

getting them started in this business and helping them build it and giving them advice and help. I'm like, well, sure. Yeah, that'd be fine. He goes, okay. He goes, so how many dealers do you have? I said, oh, I don't know, probably like 160 and maybe 200 markets in the US or something like that. And he said, and how many companies have you worked for? How many dealers have you helped do that? Like, oh gosh, you know, probably 500 dealers or something in the last, you know, 15, 20 years in this.

like maybe 3,500 people or so, salespeople and business owners and all that. And he said, well, and how many people do you interact with every day? Like, what do you mean? He's like, well, on planes, the flight attendant, the, um, at the hotel at 11 o'clock at night, check it in your waitress, you know, your salespeople that you work with, sometimes you're training three, sometimes you're training 30. I said, oh gosh, a lot of people. He said, so if you can have a 1% impact on all of those people, I think that'd be pretty good.

he says to me and it was this moment chris of like and i was probably forty seven at the time of you know fifty two normal forty eight maybe fifty two now most and it was this moment of holy shhhhhh i don't know if i should tell us but holy shoot holy freak that's it this pressure that i put on myself for all these years to have this huge impact on

every salesperson, every company, every new entrepreneur, my bosses, my people I work for and making them money and all those things. The wise old Al, my stepdad narrows it down to just have a 1% impact and he said that'll be good enough. And so from that day, Chris, I changed my mindset to every single person I come in contact with every day. I want to try. You can't always succeed, but I want to try to have a 1% positive impact.

Scott Weyer (13:20.726)

on their life because you don't know what that 19 year old pregnant young lady at the Hampton Inn at 11 o'clock at night had for her day when you check in as the last guy. And you don't know what that guy stewardess that's his, not stewardess but flight attendant, that's his fourth flight ever and he's nervous and he's trying to figure out how to be a flight attendant. Or that salesperson that you're working with that thinks they're getting ready to lose their house or their car because they're on a low streak for three months and they're about to get fired and they need inspiration.

You don't know. So just gotta have a 1% impact. That's the shortest way to tell that story. So big props to the wise old Al, my dad, Kenny Weir.

Chris Kiefer (14:00.073)

Um, I was just, I, uh, while you were saying that I was looking up, uh, the, I asked chat GPT, if you're 1% off course, when you leave, um, uh, the leave New York on an airplane, you know, a 1% correction at the right time in your life that can set you on a pretty big difference in the end. Right. And so I love that. I think it's a great reminder that we don't have to,

I think, I mean, I resonate with a lot of what you're saying, like the desire to be great and be remembered and make an impact and like have people talk about you when you're gone and all that stuff. Yeah. Of course I have those feelings and there's pressure and excitement and driving and whatnot. And then you, you know, like, uh, this is kind of, I didn't, I wasn't planning on having this conversation, but why not? This is fun. The, um, I heard somebody

Chris Kiefer (15:00.945)

Like everybody's digging a hole. So you get to dig a hole in your life. You can big as big dig as big of a hole as you want. But when you die, that hole gets filled in and it's like you were never there. And uh, so there's two, there's two contrasts to this. Obviously that could be, some people might look at that as being very pessimistic or um, like, uh, what's the word depressing? Yeah. But it's like the idea to me that was inspiring when I heard that is like

Scott Weyer (15:24.502)

A little morbid.

Chris Kiefer (15:31.045)

What and I should clarify what that means is like how many billions of people Live die and then are never talked about again, you know And that I would say 99.9999 percent of us are never gonna be talked about again in a far enough timeframe Right like Socrates and Aristotle they made like they're the point 0001 percent of people that actually are still talked about or have an impact, you know, but even them

everybody is going to be forgotten. You know? And so for me, it's like, okay, I can dig, like I have the opportunity to just like sit here and not dig any hole, or I can try and dig a hole as big as the Empire State Building. Take your pick. It doesn't, like on one hand, it doesn't matter. And then I would say from my Christian perspective, every single thing that you do matters, and they're both true.

Right. So it's like, who cares? Don't do anything or have the biggest impact that you want in worldly perspectives. Nothing's going to have any impact lasting beyond, you know, a hundred years or 500 or whatever. But at the same time, the thing that's interesting to me is just like, the way I take it is take the pressure off yourself. You're not that important, Chris. Like nobody cares. But at the same time, it's like,

Scott Weyer (16:55.33)

No

Chris Kiefer (16:59.005)

That doesn't mean you don't show up. And when you see the person, you smile at them and that has an impact. And that, you know, like the ripple effect of being a good person is that that's huge. But forget about your name or whatever, because that doesn't matter. Cause no one's gonna remember you. Does that make sense?

Scott Weyer (17:18.103)

It makes sense to just response to that. Number one, I'd say 90% of the people that we have a chance to impact will never know our name. So I'd say you have to know every day going into it that you're not doing it for you, you're doing it for them. So that person that will never know your name, that you're in seat 21A or that you're at

or that they're renting you a car or you smile and shake their hand at church, whatever it is, they may never know your name. And that's okay because you're not doing it for you, you're doing it for them. That's the point of it, right? The other side that I'll say, the contradictory side is I'm a big guy on legacy and I think the older I get the more it's confirmed. The only thing we ever have in this world is our name. It's why what you're doing, Chris, is so important.

Scott Wires is the only thing I got. So since my kids been in kindergarten and going to middle school and high school, I've told them first day of school every year, hey, you're going out in the community and when you leave this home, you don't just carry your name, you carry my name and your mom's name and your grandpa and your great grandpa and I named the names and uncles and aunts. And guess what? We care about our name. We've worked hard to build it and protect it and you will go out and you will protect it and you will not mess up my name.

and build your own name. And so I have three sons, 24, 19, and about to be 17 next week. And so sons and raising kids, I have like 24 nieces and nephews. So I think your legacy, my mom bought me a book years ago called Lineage, Line, and Legacy, and it's about what you leave the people that are directly in your family. So my sons, and if they decide to have kids or grandkids, and my wife and I talk about, and it sounds corny, but it's really real.

My wife and I, as you know, we love to go out and do all kinds of fun stuff and all kinds of different events and all that. And anybody who follows me on social media is probably dizzy and bored by now. But we love to do all that stuff. And we talk about that someday our grandkids and great grandnieces and, and great grandsons will say, wow, my, like we might do if we knew our ancestors in the twenties, let's say, or the 18 eighties or whatever we, or the fifties, we might look back at those pictures and those times and say, wow.

Scott Weyer (19:40.982)

they look like they were a classy couple, or they look like they were loving or had a blast, and look at all these fun things they did, and look how they lived life together for 70 years of marriage or however long, you know, we get to be on the search to do that. And so for me, the legacy for my kids, grandkids, great-grandnieces, all those, to know that my wife and I lived the way we lived, which is not for everyone, but it's for us.

and had the fun and we still did things with care. Those things are important. And I think having three sons for me was very impactful. The first son was the most impactful obviously, because that's when you're like, oh man, it's real now. But then when you start having, and I've got a bunch of nieces too, so it's the same with daughters. But for me, it's my job to raise three young boys to become men and go out and try to make their legacy and keep my name.

Chris Kiefer (20:24.445)

Yes.

Scott Weyer (20:37.646)

the way I want it and my dad and my grandpa and my great grandpa. So I think legacy is really important when you're thinking about your family specifically.

Chris Kiefer (20:45.777)

Now, I love the only thing you own in life. Or you can, did you say own or control or both?

Scott Weyer (20:55.286)

The only thing you have, you could say own, control, have, and I was recently reminded of it, Chris, about six weeks ago, is when you think you have something or something's your baby or you own something, then you're reminded, no, the only thing you have is your name. And so you have to do whatever you can to protect and build your name for not only yourself and your spouse, but your kids and grandkids and great grandkids.

Chris Kiefer (20:56.765)

have.

Scott Weyer (21:22.698)

You better do everything possible. You better be ferocious in protecting that name, because that's all you got.

Chris Kiefer (21:28.493)

Mm, yeah, I love that. So the. There was something I was thinking about the.

Chris Kiefer (21:43.157)

Kids. Oh yeah, so I guess with like, you're a sales guy through and through. I have thought for the longest time, the most valuable skill that, I mean, I don't know if you can think of another one. Being able to sell, being a salesman, a true like honest, full of integrity salesman with great sales skills and tactics.

I feel like that's the most valuable skill you could have as a human. Would you agree with that? Or would you put any caveats or re-describe what I'm saying?

Scott Weyer (22:23.122)

I wouldn't agree. I think we're all salesmen at heart, whether you're a kid trying to get a cookie or somebody trying to get a better deal on a car or a better insurance in your house, whatever it is. We're all salesmen. There's a salesman inside of all of us. Even the people who despise and hate salespeople, they are one. I can give them 50 instances where they are one. But I don't think that's the most important skill. I'll give you an example. One of my younger brothers runs

a CNC machine and makes parts and very important parts, medical and government and all this stuff. And my biological dad, Mark did that as well. He was a machinist and I got many friends and they stand in front of the CNC machine, they clock in like 630 a.m., they stand in front of this machine eight or 10 hours a day making these parts, listening to podcasts and doing their stuff all day, every day for 50.

years right so i grew up in a in a factory community so jasper engines and transmissions kimball international jasper was a working capital of the world all this furniture all this stuff and my dad was a little bit of a black sheep because he grew up in the factory mentality this factory world of you get a good job you get benefits you work there 38 years you get a little pension your thing that was the thing back in you know 60 70 80 whatever my dad decides he's going to go

Scott Weyer (23:45.022)

He had to follow his dream and change his life. He was hauling Pepsi's at the time and working in a factory. And his relatives and my grandparents are like, you're crazy, you're leaving this great job. And so my point to that is no matter what you do, I don't care.

Scott Weyer (24:07.55)

what it is that you do Just be the best at it be number one be an expert at it and If you're the best at what you do or build your name what you do you'll never be broke or unemployed because If you're that talented at doing that thing sales running a machine doing podcasts Being a pilot a jet a jet pilot whatever you are So I don't I don't put sales higher than the best rancher

in Colorado are the best farmer in southern Indiana or the best car mechanic in you know Kentucky. Just be the best at what you are and you should have a pretty good life. To top off on that, what I said at Pentech for years before Pentech and I still live by it today, some do, some don't, you need four things Chris, okay you ready? Here's your four things.

friends, my teammates, my sons, whoever, four things when it comes to your career. You gotta be able to make a good, clean living doing something you're passionate about alongside people you respect. And those are four very different things. And I've said it at every national dealer meeting, every sharpening, every whatever for years, people know me, because good living, and this is for you and your partners, whoever you're partnered up with, your clients, your distributors, your dealers, whoever.

Good living is something different. Clean living, sleeping at night, laying your head on the pillow. All the old guys that have advised me that are all in their 60s, 70s, and 80s that have all made plenty of money, too much money some of them, talk about being able to lay your head on the pillow at night and sleep well knowing that you did what was right and that you're doing something that's clean. Passionate being, you know I always say sales is only the transfer of knowledge and enthusiasm from one person to another and you got an hour to do it in the home, right? Or on a podcast, whatever.

That's all it is. That's what it boils down to. So you gotta have passion, whatever you do. I don't care if you like to play guitar, you're in a band, or you like to do podcasts. Doesn't matter. And then working alongside people you respect. You can do all those, Chris. You can make a great living, a good living. You can be passionate about it. You can sleep at night, right, and do it clean. But then if the people you're with, or you're working alongside, don't respect you, or you don't respect them,

Scott Weyer (26:34.334)

It's just a recipe for disaster. So what I wish for all my friends and teammates and sons and everybody I know is that for your professional career, you should be able to make a good clean living doing something you're passionate about with people you respect. And if you can't do all four, it's completely wrong. You gotta find something else to do.

Chris Kiefer (26:56.469)

I love it. I was going to say you took my statement and kind of twisted or went in another direction not in a bad way, but you said something I'm like, nah, that's what I was talking about. Sales is the transfer of enthusiasm and knowledge to the other person, right? And to me, that's like, I want to rephrase mine. I think sales skills or learning how to sell is the most

Scott Weyer (27:13.75)

Yes.

Chris Kiefer (27:22.501)

applicable and broadly useful thing that a human can learn how to do. Because to your point of a farmer, a, um, a mechanic, whatever it is, that if you are able to be excited about what you sell or what you do, if you're not in sales, what you do, like I, that's, I mean, honestly, that's like what I love about the podcast is I don't care who I interview on the podcast, as long as they're passionate about something.

because to me, I feel like whether or not the people that come on that talk to me are, would call themselves salespeople or in it, they're like formerly in a sales role, the people that like, for me, I get excited on like talking to pilots or like, you know, artists, just like totally random, different teachers, like my old, I interviewed old high school teachers and it's like, I've had people and I know people that are so passionate about something, which kind of dovetails into the other thing that you're saying that it's like,

Yes, like hard. It's first, it's hard to sell something you're not passionate about or, uh, you don't believe in. And even if you, if you can sell it, then there's probably something wrong with you. Um, but being genuinely passionate and excited about something like, and then you couple it with sales skills. Like there are, there's like better ways and you know, more efficient ways to be to transfer the enthusiasm to somebody. Like if you got sales skills, it's like,

Everybody needs sales skills. Parents need sales skills. You know, try raising kids without good sales skills. You know, you're going to struggle. So I love that.

Scott Weyer (28:54.206)

No doubt. The passion is big. That's why the same person can love John Dutton versus M&M versus Teddy Roosevelt versus Shakespeare. Because passion comes through no matter who you are.

Chris Kiefer (29:07.549)

Mm.

Chris Kiefer (29:10.777)

Yeah, yeah, totally. So yeah, tell me what's the horizon look like for Scott? So you, I mean, I feel like it's just notable for people that don't know you. I don't know how, unless there's like secrecy and you're not able to disclose numbers, but you grew Pentek from, not single-handedly, you were involved in the scaling growing company from X to Y.

and now you're a free agent, you're looking for the next thing. I feel like, again, to whatever extent you can disclose or talk about ballpark figures, I feel like you have tremendous amount of knowledge and experience in sales and you're very, very good at transferring enthusiasm of like, and I also would say like, it's the

the sales trainer has to also not only transfer the enthusiasm of how to sell, but instill like belief in people like I can do this. Like I actually, I think I could do this. Like, give me that. Let me run this next appointment. Like that's a piece of like the number of people that I personally have talked to that come in. They're kind of like, yeah, I didn't really like my old job. I hope this concrete coatings thing works out. And then they leave the trainings that you and other people help facilitate.

And they're like excited there. And they, and I think, yes, they're excited, but they also genuinely were uncertain if they had what it took to, to succeed and through being around all the other people that are going through the same thing and hearing people like yourself, I think that's the, um, that's the power. So anyways, yeah, I, to whatever extent you want to talk about that, I'm curious, like, what do you have your site set on next? Or what, what are you passionate about that you're kind of, uh, looking for?

Scott Weyer (31:03.798)

Yeah, I just touch on the passion for a minute before tell you about that. So one of the best compliments I ever got was one of my teammates was probably four or five years ago with Pentek, one of my regional sales teammates. And we were at a meeting together and he was telling one of the new guys that was there. He said, Scott's Bruce Lee. And he said,

What's that mean? What do you mean he's Bruce Lee? He's like, well, if you go into a bar and you're with Bruce Lee, you always feel comfortable that you're gonna be safe. Like he's the badass, right? No matter what, you got Bruce Lee with you. And so that was one of the best, I love that as kind of a little ego stroke. That was one of my best compliments is that, you know, if you're a leader, and you have to lead from the front, and you have to know that your guys and gals have to know that you'll run through a brick wall for them, and then they'll run through a brick wall for you.

If you can't be the baddest ass in the group and lead from the front, you don't know what you're talking about, you're just not gonna have that deep, deep companionship with your team. They have to feel that you are the Bruce Lee of that team and that comes with being a leader. You gotta be able to walk the walk and talk to talk and all those things. As far as numbers and all that go, I won't get into numbers too much. I'll just say, and I was talking to a nice lady yesterday in Orlando, she was at GutterCon starting today and her and I were...

having a chat and she runs her own gutter manufacturing company on the East Coast and getting ready to start trying to grow a lot and yeah gutter cons a real thing I didn't know it either it's in Orlando crazy like it's like roof con and you know one for window treatments and roofing that you know every everyone has one and so her and I were talking yesterday and I

Chris Kiefer (32:31.577)

You say it's called gutter con?

That is, of course there is, of course there is, yeah.

Scott Weyer (32:53.862)

I kind of forget where I was going with that. Hold on. So, oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, we're talking about it. Yeah, I don't want to talk about numbers too much, but what I said to her, and I realized it when I said it, because we were talking numbers a little bit, and I said, to my knowledge, to my knowledge, before eight years ago, before I started at Pentech, November 30th, 2015, there was no such thing as a national dealer network for Coding's companies. It didn't exist.

Chris Kiefer (32:57.473)

Sorry, I derailed. You're saying that you're talking to this lady.

Scott Weyer (33:23.762)

I didn't even know of any, to my knowledge, I didn't even know of any actual franchises, which we were not a franchise, Pentecost is not a franchise. It just didn't exist, right? So everybody had gutter topper and windows and window treatments at Hunter Douglas, all these companies had all these different national dealer networks. But there wasn't one for coatings. And so I didn't have the idea for it, I was just the guy that was hired to drive it and grow it.

and build the teams and I was very fortunate to work alongside a lot of very talented people, a lot of whom are still there that are close friends like brothers and sisters to me and really great people and workers and dedicated. So it's been a huge group effort at Penn Sac starting from when I was employee number three and it was just the owner and his trainer.

all the way through now, you know, maybe up to 50 employees or so and in probably over 200 markets throughout the US and the largest Coding's dealer network in the country. I know others may claim that but that's not true that I can find And and to me the best, you know Pintech We I'm very proud of the work that we did there that they're still doing and I'm very Interested in them growing and doing well

love those guys. But yeah, so I'm very proud of what we did in that eight years that I was there. I wouldn't change a thing about it. They had some changes that they wanted to make and I wasn't a fan of some of those changes and so we decided to have a peaceful separation as they call it and my eight years, my eight-year run with Pintec came to an end January 5th and so

I realized the next morning one of my great buddies shot me a text because my phone of course blew up when I made my little announcement on Facebook. A lot of people that were shocked and a lot of people who knew me that weren't shocked. It was interesting to see who was shocked and who wasn't. One of my buddies texted me next morning and he said, wow, so how does it feel to be a free agent again?

Scott Weyer (35:46.398)

It just hit me weird, Chris, because I've never been a free agent in my life. I've never left a job on a Friday with a notice and not had a job to go to on Monday. I've just not done that. And when I left. Pentech on January 5th, I didn't have a job to go to that Monday. And it just was so crazy to hear my friends the next morning, like, well, you're a free agent. I let that sink in for a minute. I'm like, holy smokes. Like.

Chris Kiefer (36:00.52)

Mmm.

Scott Weyer (36:13.782)

There's a few people out there that probably want to talk to me. There's a few people out there that might want me to help them build what they want to build next. What I, what I know is there's a lot of great entrepreneurs that are friends of mine and acquaintances of mine that they've got capital and they've got ideas, but they need somebody to strap on their boots and strap on a briefcase and get on Delta and fly, you know, 1.5 million miles and go out there and be with all the dealers and, and knock on the doors and create relationships and have the

steak dinners and all that kind of stuff, right? Because they're either at a point in their career where they don't want to or they don't have to and that's what I'm for. I just learned a few years ago at a Patrick B. David event called The Vault, my buddy Josh Abramson invited me to, it was awesome, what an entrepreneur was. I always knew what an entrepreneur was and I never knew what an entrepreneur was until...

Chris Kiefer (37:03.473)

Mmmm

Scott Weyer (37:17.609)

or your idea, right? Everybody's got all these ideas and they got capital to do it, but to make that a reality. And so whether it was me at Pentech or before that with Liners Direct and Bathraps, before they were Jacuzzi, or at CraftBuilt, which has been in business 80-plus years in Pennsylvania with sunrooms and awnings, or when I sold insurance, I have put together a decent reputation for myself for being a driver and someone who likes to grow businesses. And that will.

strap on the boots and the hard hat and go to work and build teams and build relationships. So right now what I'm doing, Chris, is I'm looking and listening with my eyes and my ears and my heart wide open, taking a lot of meetings, having great discussions, some with people who I've known a long, long time that I've always wanted to work with, and some who I didn't know knew me and reached out to me and said, hey, we'd like to talk to you. And I don't even know who these people are. I had to research, you know, what they...

how they knew me and through this person. As you know, it's all through relationships. So whether it's going to Dave Yoho events for 15 years or Accelerate Live or QR Top 500 or all these things or all the Chris's and web foot, all the people that I've got to meet and know, I found out as a free agent, there's a few people who think I'm a pretty swell guy and think I could probably help them realize their dream and grow. And so right now I'm just trying to...

I reactivated live wire training because I had some people that wanted me to do some training for them right away. So I'm in doing that. Some I've posted, some I haven't. That's tough for me because you know I post everything. Here's my toast for breakfast. That's me. And so yeah, I'm not in a hurry. I got plenty of time. And I'm just trying to decide what the next five to 10 years, I'm 51 and a half. I'm feeling better than ever. I'm down.

27 pounds since November and I'm healthy as I've been in 20 years and I got a great rock behind me my wife Nila and I'm in a position where I can kind of take my time and do the right thing And I just get jazzed and pumped up by helping people grow and doing the things that maybe they're not comfortable doing because I've never been and probably will never be the world's greatest entrepreneur But I don't know an entrepreneur better than me that

Chris Kiefer (39:28.505)

Mm.

Scott Weyer (39:43.809)

kicks ass like I do. I'm pretty confident in that. I've got a pretty long track record of that.

Chris Kiefer (39:46.465)

Love that. I second that. I mismanaged our time. We got to go rapid fire on the book question or the wrap up. So let's go. What are your three book recommendations?

Scott Weyer (39:55.361)

Rappin' fire, I love it. Let's do it.

Scott Weyer (40:01.461)

Okay, so I have more than three, but I will give you some. This one's my buddy, Matt Hollander, the Daily Klein. You should definitely have him on your podcast. You have Brian Brock. This is his partner at Orange Rhino. Matt Hollander, awesome, awesome book. 10 Principles to Live Your Life. Read it twice this year. My buddy, Stephen Cooper, who's an engineer that wrote Love Always. Awesome book. This is actually from last year. And from the business side, this has nothing to do with home improvement, but you'll love it. I read it twice last year.

Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Gadara about the guy who built the number one restaurant in the world. It goes for everything even though it's not home improvement sales. And then the last little extra one or two extra ones, Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss, amazing, and Getting to Neutral, Trevor Moad. Those are a little bit more business side, but so that's my, those are my books. That's a lot.

Chris Kiefer (40:44.073)

Hmm

Chris Kiefer (40:53.337)

love it. And then favorite movie.

Scott Weyer (40:56.885)

Okay, so these are sales movies that you don't think are sales movies. Ready? Cinderella Man, Eight Mile, Ford vs. Ferrari. My favorite movies are actually Godfather 2 and Goodfellas, but that wasn't for the purpose of the podcast. The purpose of the podcast is to give you three movies that are awesome sales movies that you don't think are sales movies until you're a salesman watching them and you're like, this is a damn sales movie. So, Cinderella, Eight Mile, Ford vs. Ferrari, sales movies.

Chris Kiefer (41:07.303)

Ooh.

Chris Kiefer (41:23.569)

I love that. Well, Scott, if someone wants to reach out, chat with you, pick your brain, hire you for some consulting or coaching, how do you recommend that they do that?

Scott Weyer (41:34.945)

Yeah, so I'm pretty easy to find. I've had the same phone number for 25 years, 317-695-4624. Still Indianapolis number. I'm Indiana boy. Scott Wire, Ormond Beach is my Facebook. Pretty easy to find there. At Wire Lifestyle is my Instagram. My email, you can use live wire training at gmail.com. Wire spelled like my name, W-E-Y-E-R, because I'm clever, right, Chris?

or my normal Scott underscore wire at Yahoo that I've had since Yahoo started. But yeah, you can text me, Facebook message me, people. I'm one of those guys that you can reach out to me any way you want and I'll get back to you. I love trying to help people and do whatever I can to have a 1% impact.

Chris Kiefer (42:23.533)

Awesome, well Scott, super fun conversation. I'm glad we finally made it happen. And I'm sure, I know, I'm sure we'll see you around. And yeah, thank you so much for your wisdom and knowledge and inspiration. I really appreciate it.

Scott Weyer (42:28.714)

Holy cow, it's been a long time in the making, I feel like.

Scott Weyer (42:38.265)

Chris, great. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate everything you're doing. Keep up the good work, buddy.