Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, y' all know this is for nothing. Something else. I'm Josh. I'm sitting here with the great Tim McKennedy.
Business owner, father, husband, referee.
Not sure if you still do bmx, but, man, I'm on Jack of all trades, man. Staying busy. I just noticed you are in the process of growing your business, and I've been watching you for a while, building this thing up from the ground up, man. I'm just super proud of you. Thank you, man. You have become.
And I feel like, as we said, you know, people need to hear these stories about especially black men building businesses, but also black men being a husband and a father and just living life. Especially, you know, older we get. We ain't no young puppies no more, man. So, yeah, man, from the Food Max days, I was at Circuit City.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Oh, that's right, man. I forgot to get some frozen burritos for lunch. I forgot about Circuit City.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: That's crazy. Yeah. I was like, oh, yeah, that's right.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: When they still had CDs and stuff.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Yeah, CDs, man. Slinging the CDs and scratch protection plans. But why don't you actually tell the people who you are and what you do?
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Yeah. So like you said, I'm Timmy local. Been here my whole life. Moved here when I was 2. When you start with the Food Max days, I worked at FoodMax for 13 years. I started pushing carts.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Went on to check in. Went on to be one of the managers of the dairy department. Went on to be the of the managers. The frozen department. Was going to work at 3 o' clock in the morning, getting off at 12. Doing the BMX thing.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Building up the squad.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: My daughter at that time, so she was already born when I started working at Food Max. I would say she was like a year or two.
I started working at Food Max, so pretty much worked there the whole time trying to raise her on that income.
And I want to say about year 10, I started just having.
I don't even know what I would call it. I just started wanting to thinking about doing other stuff. I was still into the bikes and FoodMax allowed me to race my bikes. And that was like, other than being my dad, being a dad every other week when I'd have my kid. BMX was important to me. So I was like, as long as that would fund the bmx and if I got hurt, I had health insurance. I could take disability.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: You don't.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: I could be gone on the weekends to go to race nationals or whatever the case may be.
But one of the things that really started opening my eyeballs to wanting to do something different was we lost power at Foodmax one time, and we weren't sure how long we was gonna be out. But as hours went on, the refrigeration was down. We started pulling all the stuff off the shelves. Yeah, we pull everything off the shelves. I swear, by the time we got, like, the last bit of the products off the shelves, power comes back on.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: Boom. Oh, no. Oh, nah.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: And so at this time, it was like, they're looking around at everybody like, well, the stuff's got to go back on the shelves. Yeah, we got to get back in business.
And a lot of people left. Some people stayed.
At that time, I was like, I'm trying to get all the hours I can get.
I say all that to say it was like, that was one of the first times I felt like they looked at us employees to, like, put on the capes to come say the day. You know what I mean?
So kind of we put out that fire. I want to say the next catastrophe was the dam. I think the dam broke. Yeah, same kind of thing.
People are rushing in, people having all kinds of panic, panic buying, put on capes to save the day.
So when all that settled, it was right back to just business as usual. If you are 10 minutes late, you in trouble, like, mind you. I get you. You gotta be on time. But it was just interesting to see, like, how we were treated when we were saving the day to how we were treated when.
When it was business as usual.
So then I want to say the fire. The fire happened, the campfire, same scenario. Yeah, Everybody got to put on capes, help save the day. And I never really minded why we was doing the things it was. We all here to be a part of the community, take care of one another.
And then we got through the fire.
And a lot of people don't know this, but my mom was diagnosed with cancer.
And so that kind of just took a toll on, like, my psyche, really. And I would still show up to work, but this is when I really started to notice, like, if I was treated, how I was being treated, it was all good as long as I was showing up with the super ass on my chest, you know what I mean? But as soon as I, like, showed any signs of not being my top opera prime, it was like, oh, is everything okay with you at home? Well, we notice you're not performing as well as you are. And at this time, it was like, I started to see also a transition in, like, the types of employees. And it's just a generational.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Society changes. People think about making money different ways. Not everybody's a laborer worker. You know what I mean?
[00:04:56] Speaker A: It's different.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: But the issue I had with it was like they always would look at the people who would work twice as hard.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: And always expect them to work twice as hard because I knew they would work twice as hard. But then the people who would get hired on or the new environment that started a transition at the grocery store, a lot of people weren't held to the same standards.
So I hold myself to a fault of this because like my character is like you always. I'm always going to control my controllables. Yeah. But it was hard at times to just watch other people get away with stuff and still be gung ho about mine. Then I let it get to me. I let it get to me. So some of that would be what reflected on how they felt about my performance.
So we started butting heads. They started messing with my schedule. And that was a huge thing to me because I worked three in the morning till 12 and I had already gotten used to waking up that. So there wasn't the sleep part. A lot of people were like three in the morning. That's probably really early.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: Been in those schedules. Well, yeah, but once you're in that.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: But the other end of that is you're off by 12.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: So, yeah. My daughter was getting picked up by her mom to get taken to school. I missed her wake up times and stuff and taking her to school. But by 12 I was done.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: And I can go pick her up from school and spend the entire day with her. And so essentially from Monday through Friday, my daughter didn't even know I worked because by the time she was home from school, it was daddy daycare. Yeah, that's what I mean.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Let's go.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: And then I had weekends off.
So it was just like not too much to complain about. So I'm like, if I got to wake up at 3 o' clock in the morning and. And I can get off at 12 and I got my weekends off, then this is what we doing.
Well, when they started becoming an issue of butting heads about my performance and not being the same caliber of worker I was always.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: They started messing with my schedule as they do.
And so I got a little petty. I'll be honest with you. I got a little petty. So what I did, I started looking into like my options. And then what I did is because. Especially because everything that was going on. My mom, and we had just got back from the fire. All kinds of stuff was going on. I took what they call a stress leave.
Basically just left work.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: And they had to pay me.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: And I had sick hours accumulated because I never called in sick.
So I was getting paid almost as much as I was getting paid on disability, on stress leave, as I was just working.
So the first time I took stress leave is when I. I think it was, like, summer of 2019.
And that's when I started just doing yard work.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: And at that time, it was funny because I was doing all kinds of random things. I was like, I just. Like, I said, year 10, this. And so I'd worked three more years after I started thinking about being an entrepreneur.
And so at year 10, I started thinking about what kinds of businesses I would like to try to do.
You know, nothing really stuck. Nothing really, like, stuck out to me. Nothing was like, oh, yeah, that sounds like fun.
So when I took that first stress leave in 2019, I started doing all kinds of random stuff. I was fixing people's cars. I was fixing dryers, doing yard work. And then I started doing, like, research on, like, insurances and licenses, because it was like, if I'm going to do some of this stuff, I want to know what I'm getting into inside the house. Anything inside the house, building the house, I quickly got diverted from because it was like, if you mess this up, you're liable for this. If you mess this up, you're liable for this. If you don't fix the dryer correctly and somebody's house burns down, you lie over for this. I was like, whoo.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: Don't want to do that.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Same kind of scenario with the vehicles. Like, if you don't fix somebody's brakes, right.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: They might crash. Somebody's oil might leak after you fixed it, and now the engine blows up. Or you could have fixed something completely different, but the only thing they know is you. The last person, they touched their car. Yeah. So when that car breaks down a couple weeks from now, it's my fault.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: Yeah, it is.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: So I would go around in circles about what I wanted to do, and somehow I found I landed on landscaping, and I just basically started doing the same thing you see me doing now, Just like, posting on my stories. Word of mouth. I was still pretty familiar in the BMX scene. A lot of people knew that I was trying to do that. Got a lot of side work just from word of mouth.
And my three months of disability came to an end. And I started going back to work.
I told them. I was like, hey, I've started a business, like, so I'm not really too concerned about whatever you guys are doing with the schedule up here. I'm just basically here to keep my medical insurance until I can get this off the ground. And I expected to do that for quite some time, to be honest, because it was like, I just started the business, and I was making pretty good money at FoodMax. I've been there for 13 at that time. Probably like 12 years. Yeah, yeah, because it was 13 years when I left. It'd been like 12 and a half years by the time. So I was making good money. I was topped out at 25 an hour at full benefits. I had a week's three weeks paid vacation every year. So good time. So I was like, I'm going to just hold on to whatever y' all are giving me. So they started doing the same thing with my schedule, and I was still just going to tough it out. I was toughen it out. Then Covid happened, mind you. I said, this is 2019.
I got my official business license in October of 2019.
And then I was actually blessed with it by a good friend, a local friend here in town that hooked me up with my first commercial account. Okay. So I was already, like, kind of off to the races, but not. It wasn't as much as I was making a food max. So I didn't want to take the dive into that and then be short on the funds that I'd already built a life around.
Well, Covid happened, and it was like February, and I could start to see the writing on the wall again.
And they were messing with my schedule at this time.
I could see the glasses going up in the check stands, the masks and stuff. And I was like, I'm not doing this again.
So still with the same income that I was making off the one commercial account I took, like, hey, go ahead. Infinite two thirds of a income hit and just lived off of basically nothing. And I was like, it. It'll work out. Yeah, it'll work out.
And so what was that?
[00:11:04] Speaker A: Were you married at this time?
[00:11:06] Speaker B: I'm sorry?
[00:11:07] Speaker A: Were you married at this time?
[00:11:08] Speaker B: No. So it's funny you asked that. We just.
Me and Jaden started dating in February of 2020. Okay. And this is like, I'm wicked. And I was real heavy in the stock market at this time. Okay. So I was, like, seeing the stuff on cnbc. I seen it start over there in China. I seen it start. They show you the Map every day about how far it was spreading. I'm like, oh, this is getting kind of out of control.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: And then, like I said, I seen they started talking about the mask. They're putting the dividers up.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: Crazy time.
Yeah.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: But they started talking about the essential workers stuff. And I was hearing like, landscaping is essential workers. So I was like, you know what I mean?
We're just gonna go for it.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Turned up my two weeks at FoodMax and just went for it. And this time, I still only had the one commercial account. And I was just trying to do as many side jobs as I can outside of that, because what I was making on the one commercial account was again, only a third of what I was making at FoodMax. Working.
Granted, the trade off, I was working a fraction of the time too, though, so that was also, like an eye opener. I was working 40, 50 hours a week. A week just to make what I was making at FoodMax, where what I was doing on my landscaping business, I was working one, maybe a day and a half. So we're talking like 12 hours a week for a third of our. I was like, well, if I can just get a couple more of these, I could work a few days out of the week and be making more. So we'd be straight. It didn't necessarily pan out like that at first. I ended up having to do a lot of side jobs and a lot. And taking a lot of cuts on just getting jobs. And I try to advise people against this now because when you start doing work to just be the cheaper guy, you kind of get held to that. To that value, that price tag.
So. But I had to do what I had to do. And then luckily, one of the people I had did like, I redesigned her whole backyard, installed stod, did the sprinkler systems the whole night.
[00:13:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: Mind you, I learned how to do all this stuff on YouTube.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Yeah, there it is. There it is.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: But I call myself a university of YouTube masters.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: Hey, look, all this stuff. You've seen all these visuals. YouTube.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, it's very. It's very useful. So I. I ended up teaching myself how to do full irrigation systems, teaching myself how to install st. I designed her entire backyard. Well, come to find out, she's one of the directing managers at the ARC of Butte County.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: So it's a thrift store. They're, like, in charge of the off of 20th. Yeah. Over there. And they actually are pretty good business.
So she was like, hey, one of our hourly employees just kind of does the work around the building. He doesn't have all the equipment. He kind of just does what he can with what he's got. And we pay him hourly when we could be paying him hourly to do other stuff.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: So I went over there, checked it out. One thing led to another, another commercial account.
So I had two commercial accounts, and now we're at, like, basically what I was making at Foodmax before taxes, because that works a lot differently than. That's a whole conversation.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: There's a whole nother pie right there.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: That's another podcast, for sure. But.
But at the end of the day, I was making what I was making over there before taxes, and again, only working three days out of the week instead of 40 to 50 hours.
And then so, same same thing, same thing. I just was working those two commercial contracts, trying to do projects on the side, Just keep building the business. And then as me and Jaden started dating more, I got a little complacent. And then Covid kind of made things weird.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: It was a weird time.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: It was easy to just be like, go do that.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: Come home.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: Go do that. Come home. And I allowed myself to kind of get really complacent and just count on my commercial accounts. And I let a lot of my side projects go, and a lot of just my foot on the gas. I was not just cruise control.
So we probably did that for a few years and just picking up jobs. Like, I. I was going through all of my. My records and my pictures and all the projects I've done. I still did quite a few jobs.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: But you can tell it was, like, lackluster compared to what I was doing when I was trying to get stuff off the ground.
And one thing to another, we started talking about wanting to start a family and getting married. And so we ended up really trying to have a kid. And then in that process, we ended up getting married. And it took a while for us to actually conceive a child. But then when we did, it was like, here we go. Now we're off to the races, and we're in family mode again. I allowed myself to push the business kind to the side, just doing what seemed like I wanted to do at the time. And it was. And I am all for it. I love everything we got going on, but I just didn't have my foot on the gas. Same thing I was talking about with my buddy. Like, it's a competitive market. If you aren't out here getting after it, somebody else who's going to be getting after it is going to be in front of you.
And then I also just was like, just re budgeted everything I had going on. So it was able to just live off of what I was bringing in with what I had coming in.
It's easy to be complacent. Then she was about eight months pregnant. I stopped riding bmx, I stopped working out, got even more complacent. Son was born, got even more complacent.
And it's like I have to remind myself sometimes that it's not too much of a bad thing because it was like, we're building a family.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Not a bad thing. But at the end of the day, your family needs to eat.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Exactly. So now you gotta get back into the race.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. So my son, he'll be three next month. And then really the catalyst that really just like pushed me to put my foot back on the gas. This is something I haven't really told nobody is that I got in tax trouble, which is easy to do with self employed.
It's rough because if you're grossing 50, they want 5 on top off. Just self employment tax. That's before you even deduct any of your business expenses, so on and so forth. So I just put my head in the sand, kind of snort it. Kept paying the bills that I could afford to pay. Kept paying the bills I could afford to pay. Kept putting my head in the sand.
Well, at the beginning of this year, I started getting notices.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: Yeah, they want that money.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Yeah, they want that money money. So there's only so much you can put your head in the sand unless you want to go back to work. And I told myself a long time ago when I started business, plus like if you know me, when I was a kid, I was one of those kids that was like I was making dream catchers to go sell to the neighbors. I was buying ice creams at the store to come sell in the neighborhood.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: So you always had the entrepreneur.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: I always, always had the entrepreneurial spirit. So when I really like figured out that it's a real thing as an adult too.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Yeah, for real.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: I don't know if I can go back to work unless bless everybody who can. And there's people like we need people who are. But I don't think I'm built that
[00:18:12] Speaker A: I'm telling you, it's different.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: So I like, I had to sit down and have a real conversation with myself. When I started getting the notices from the IRS and the FTB about the money I was going to owe and filing and making sure I was compliant with everything.
I was like, you got two choices, bro. You go back to work or you double down.
So I doubled down and I just went back to the formula that worked for me to begin with, like, and I told my daughter this when she was trying to start a nail business. A lot of times if you just make it look like you're busy, people think you're busy.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: And granted I am busy and I have enough to make it look like I'm way busier than I am. But I just.
Every day, every day, every day, every day. And like, I'm a fan of Gary Vee and he'll tell you the same thing. If you are not posting 10 times a day, it's like doing push ups. Yeah, man, if, if you're not doing 10 push ups a day, like you're not going to get strong, you don't
[00:19:05] Speaker A: look a little different.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: So, so if you look at. Exactly, exactly. So if you're only doing one push up a day or that is one post a day or no post a day, like how much can you really feel like you should be getting stronger? It's almost silly to think you're going to get stronger.
[00:19:21] Speaker A: Man, I battle with this all the time, especially being in the creative marketing world.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: I hate it. Yeah.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Because man, especially because it gets younger every day.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: Every day.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: And I'm like, man, what should I post? And same thing I'm, I could post for everyone else but for myself when I'm terrible. But I always tell people, man, like all most of the stuff you see me posting, some, most of that's not paid work. It's just staying busy, looking busy, staying busy, looking busy. Next thing you know they come and
[00:19:46] Speaker B: call and then it's. It's funny how you can, I don't want to use the word manufacturer because it sounds like I'm like faking it to make it. But I have a lot of stuff that I could share because I'm really good at taking pictures and stuff. I just got lazy when it came to putting exactly my feet to the pavement. I'm getting posts out and advertising.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: I too picky with myself.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: And then that's the other thing. You start second guessing it, like, is this good or is that. And so I told myself when those notices started coming, I was like, you know what, we're going to start adding services. You got these commercial contracts.
It's really easy, especially if you already have commercial contracts. Like, I'm going to add services.
So I told them like, hey, I do gutter cleaning now. Hey, I do Window cleaning, do solar panel cleaning now. Don't have none of the equipment for none of this stuff.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: I'm trying to say, but you get it.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: Exactly. So this is a secret for y' all out there. If you ever are trying to start a business, just build what you are gonna buy into whatever it is you propose for an offer. So, like, it's the same thing I did with my equipment, actually. I didn't even tell the whole story about how I actually started the landscaping business. One of the BMX friends that I had, they had a scene. I was just trying to do landscaping, but I was just out there with the rake of stuff. Yeah, they. They gave me a call. They were like, hey, Timmy, if you come by and help us get all of our yard cleaned up, we got a shed full of power equipment.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Some of it works, some of it doesn't. You get it to work, you can have it hit the ground running. So I went over there, help them with their yard. A lot of the equipment didn't work. Yeah, back to the YouTube.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: All right, there you go. I see what's.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Back to the YouTube. So I got enough of the equipment to work, Just start doing jobs. And then what I realized, like, and I'm YouTube nerd about starting businesses and all this stuff. And they're like, dude, first money you get, buy equipment. That's what I did. I would bid a big job if I needed a leaf blower. The leaf blower is a $800 leaf blower. Well, the job is 1200 bucks.
We spend the first 800 bucks on a leaf blower.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: So I said, I want a new camera. My next job is gonna pay for that camera.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: Exactly. So you just keep doing that.
And one thing led to another.
I was able to acquire my landscaping trailer, a riding mower, a push mower, and everything I needed until I was able to keep upgrading to what I have now.
Yeah, but back. Fast forward back to where I was at with adding the services.
I knew I didn't have none of this equipment, but all I needed to do is book the job. Because as soon as I book the job, I'm gonna go get the equipment and it's gonna pay for it. And then you got it, and you're moving forward. So I gutter cleaning, window cleaning, solar panel cleaning, and the two commercial accounts I had, they start adding services. We start getting more revenue coming in. Now I have more stuff to post. Now I'm posting more stuff and just hitting the ground running every time I have a chance.
And every time I turn around, I'm just post, post, post.
I was telling the wife this the other day. It's so funny. I have been adding people to my Facebook account like it is a virus.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: Because that's another thing I didn't do. Like, I just was complacent with the reach I had. Yeah, but you'd be surprised how much Facebook and Instagram is. Literally, it's built for that. I don't want to say it's life, but I don't. I can't think of a better way to explain it right now. But, like, the more people you have, the more reach, because you don't even have to be their friend's friends. But because you guys are all in the same atmosphere, everybody sees it. And I started getting calls left and right, left and right, left and right. And then I'm like, we're gonna expand.
And I've always been okay with just doing the maintenance that I've been doing. Yeah, I got my landscape trailer, I got my zero turn mower, my push mower, ten thousand dollar landscape roof.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Let's go.
[00:23:31] Speaker B: Built from nothing.
So next plan was like, I need to expand. I need to get a dump trailer. I need to get a bobcat. I need to get my contractor's license so I can do bigger jobs and bid on bigger jobs and eventually be the guy that you see around town doing the jobs with the city.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: There we go.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: And then I started looking into the research about the truck.
So my truck that I had bought, and this is where I want to talk to people about credit, too. I learned a lot about credit. Yeah, I always thought I had good credit because when I first turned 18, I would go get the Little Kay jeweler things and buy earrings and pay on them and so on and so forth.
But somewhere along the line, I allowed my credit to get messed up. And I say that to say, when I bought the first truck, the truck I just traded in, I got ripped off bad.
And then I didn't do the research. I kind of just had stars in my eyes when I seen the truck. I was like, ooh, that's a nice truck. At the time, I was driving a Cadillac Escalade on 24S, getting nine miles to the gallon, pulling up to a lot of job sites, and people are looking at me like, what is wrong with this clown? This the landscaper?
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Let's do so. He ain't serious.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: I got rid of that truck and got the. That Chevy 1500 that I was driving.
But I started putting a toll on that truck, because it wasn't really made for a lot of towing. It would tow, it can tow. This is something I think a lot of people don't understand. All the trucks can tow.
[00:24:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: But how much you're towing and the frequency of towing that you're doing makes a difference.
So I was like, before I can do anything, we got to figure out what we're doing with this truck. It started showing signs of his age anyways. And I was stuck under a ungodly amount of a payment for something that it wasn't worth. Like I make the same payments on the truck I have now. But when you look at the value difference of the trucks, it makes sense now. It didn't before. So I'm stuck under this ridiculous payment. This truck's probably going to break down soon. It ain't even doing what I need it to be doing. It's going to stop doing what I need to do soon. So we traded the truck in and now with that being the case, I can tow basically anything.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: So again, back to when I start selling bigger jobs. We'll just go get a trailer. But that's the goal now, is to just try and get a dump trailer and a bobcat and get my contractor's license and keep on pushing for.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Keep on growing. Nah, man.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: That.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: That thought process and the growth process and understanding, like you said, getting the job and then getting the equipment that you need. I've done a lot of different things where, like, I wrote articles, I'm a published author.
I. I took a job, I ain't playing. That was my fault. I didn't fully read the description, what they wanted. I was just like, yeah, I could do that.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: It was like how to stream or stream live events or how to film live events. And I was like, oh, I'd be at events all day filming. It was streaming and this is before it was, you know, on the phone. So this is when you need all types of wires. I had no idea how to do that. So I'm up all night doing research to write this article, wrote it, got paid. Google me, Josh Edwards, filmmaker. Bought all types of stuff, man.
Did a little short film. Like, have you done short films? Like, yeah, yeah, this is me. I just made skits for me and my kids. That's all I've done. They're like, you're going to have this insurance and million dollar insurance for this. Million dollar insurance for that. You got it. So, yeah, no problem.
Went home.
Insurance. How do you get insurance? I was like, ah, figured it out, you know, and got the job, got paid and realized, yeah, you know, commercial work, Brandon, is where it's at.
But yeah, it's just taking the time to learn the stuff stuff, dive into it and really make it work for you. A lot of people just want to just get all the fancy stuff right away. Yeah, I had a little cheapo camera.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: Yeah, hi.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: That Chico State. I do bash my camera because it's talking about students using it. And he had to use a student camera once. Like, yeah, use this crappy student camera. I'm like, dude, just hired me with this camera. But you know, making, making your, your equipment work for you and then understand, you know, what you're trying to get. Yeah. From there.
So with the.
Your youngest. Oh, now your oldest.
I got one of them things too.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: Yeah. 18.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: Navigating the business. And then now, like I said, the pickup times is different. You're working on your own schedule, having a family.
You're still reffing because I know you're super rough and that's why mainly why you be in the gym too.
How's house now?
Now with trying to get commercialized. Got the 18 year old kid, got the 3 year old, got the wife.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:13] Speaker A: And. And doesn't your wife coach too?
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Yeah, she now she. She coaches both the girls and the boys Goodwill basketball team.
And then she also is an assistant coach for the JVPV girls basketball team.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Okay. And then you the ref.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: Yeah, but I can't those conversations.
[00:28:32] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: I can't ref at PV anymore. They'd be really interesting. It's funny because a lot of people like I have had to sub in. I went to a game one time just to go watch and one of the refs there had hurt his leg and I said I had my stuff because I just came from my own game. And so I had my stuff in the truck. He was like, timmy, I need you. I'm not gonna be able to make it. And my buddy Quan was the other guy on the, on the game. So I was like, all right, I'll just jump in. But as a PB game, my wife stepped on the coach. Some people had some things to say, say about it, but I have the same thing. Like when I do do AAU ball, like I know all these kids.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: I have relationships with all the parents. And if you think I'm going to call a game unfair for any reason, really, like in the nicest way possible, it says more about your character than it says about me. Because I'm gonna just call the Game, how it's supposed to be called, regardless. And the wife already knows that. The wife's head coach of the PV team knows that. She's like, he's gonna be fair regardless.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: But it's just that conflict interest. So I end up not getting her games, which is fine. I understand that. But it's just funny sometimes where it's
[00:29:28] Speaker A: like, man, I, I, I am, I love sports.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: I used to coach.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: I used to do all that stuff. I'm done, man. Yeah, I, I tried to coach my last summer, my son's third grade flat football team. Nobody want to play quarterback. Nobody want, Nobody wanted to be quarterback.
[00:29:43] Speaker B: What's going on? Everybody wanted to be.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: That's it.
[00:29:46] Speaker B: Decision when we was kids, quarterback.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: So I was like, this just is different, man. And then, you know, the parents, the tall time, the money, the cost, everything. I try to ref once, man. Hats off to y', all, bro. Cuz, the same thing. I think my buddy was raing and he ended up having to leave. And so he's like, yo, Josh, jump in there. I ain't call nothing.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:05] Speaker A: The other ref was like, josh, help me. I like, nah, man.
[00:30:08] Speaker B: They call it analysis paralysis.
The first game, you going to call
[00:30:13] Speaker A: it, you see me just get off the sideline. I don't know what I'm doing. They're on me like, I was a veteran ref call that. I was like, I know what I'm doing. Yeah, man. I handle that whistle off so quick to someone else.
That's even, that's more stressful being a coach.
[00:30:27] Speaker B: But to answer your question, so the thing with my daughter, when she was 18, a lot of people may or may not know this. People who know me know this. But when she was like 1 years old, me and her mother split waves. So I had her week on, week off, week on, week off. And that's been the case for her entire life until she was 14 and she decided she wanted to go stay with her mom full time.
But I say all that to say like it gave. I don't want to say free time.
Probably wasn't time that I needed. But it also made me tell myself, I'm not having another kid unless I'm gonna have a whole family unit.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: So to answer your question, because we have a whole family unit, and my son is the first grandkid on her mom's side.
Grandma takes him all the time.
[00:31:10] Speaker A: There we go.
[00:31:11] Speaker B: So it was, it was different. Grandma, shout out to grandma.
So when I was week on, week off with my daughter, it was hard to want to take on too much stuff. Because when I had her for the week, like, I didn't want to do nothing else. That was the time I had with her. And now that I might wake up with my son and I go to sleep with my son, I have my son all day long. He's home every day. I don't want to say it's easier to venture out a little bit more, but it's just more comforting knowing that if I don't get to see him today or as much, he's at least
[00:31:38] Speaker A: at home, you do.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: Where I'm coming home to.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:31:41] Speaker B: And then when I wake up, he's going to see me wake up, and so on and so forth.
So I told myself that when I have another kid, it won't be unless we're married in a whole.
What's the word? A nuclear family. That we were going to stay together. So it really makes a difference. So there you go.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: No, I hear that. I mean, I split time for my kids.
And so it was one of the things, whether it was my job or any other job, it was like, look, this is my time. This is my week. I gotta be there. I don't care. My brother's like, man, I was going to work. He's like, why'd you tell them those your hours? Like, Cause they are my hours. I gotta be off to pick my kid up. And every job is around that.
So that's a big thing. You know, a lot of people are opposite on that.
[00:32:25] Speaker B: It's literally the time is cut in half. Like, if you think about it, my son right now, he's about to be three years old.
By the time my daughter was six, I've already had my son more time than I've had my daughter by the time she was 6. It's cut in half.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:42] Speaker B: So, like, every moment I had with her was like, this is the time I got.
[00:32:46] Speaker A: But. And then I take advantage of the time off, you know, now my kids live with their mom full time in Texas, which. And, you know, custody battles for days a day. That's my own podcast I go on about. But one of the things I was like, man, like, not that I would love to have my kids all day, every day, 100% if I could, but understanding life and how things work and kids need both of their parents, I'm still firm believer in that. Even through everything, I was like, look, I love my kids and I love them to death, but that week off, yeah, man, that was like grind time towards the max. And I was like, man, you could totally. I just, like I said, go on adventures and really go dive after it. So, you know, maximize your time and the energy that you have is important and understanding, you know, how to balance
[00:33:37] Speaker B: everything is really important.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: And I'm glad you shared on that too because like I said, it's. I know a lot of people are just in the situation with kids and families and mixed families and things of that nature. So being entrepreneur and balancing life in general is hard enough, but especially when you're trying to hang on to those kind of relationships.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:57] Speaker A: So thanks for sharing that.
[00:33:58] Speaker B: Well, now she's 18 now and she wants to do her own thing. Yeah, it's like I text her all the time, like, come hang out your boyfriend. She, I mean, I got a bugger all the time.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:07] Speaker B: And at least she's busy productively now. It was frustrating when she wasn't being productive and she was just trying to coast through life.
[00:34:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: It was like.
But now she's busy doing productive stuff. She's in school, she's working, she's bought a car. Like she's taking care of business. So it's like, if you, you busy, then you're busy. Yeah, I'm going be where I'm at. You know where.
[00:34:28] Speaker A: No, same with my son. He rolled up in here the other day, cuz he's helping, doing some work. I don't know, getting paid. Just good.
What's up, sir? See you in the video. What's up? Hey, dad, what's up? Gave me a high five minutes left. I was like, you know, let me know if you want to get together to eat sometime. If I can feed you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then just left. I was like, man, it's crazy. It's crazy, man. And I remember, I think I took a picture of your daughter away. Like, you know, just some old, just pictures back in the day. It's just crazy. See everyone growing up, man, you know, like yourself and myself and, and like I said, I like you never know who's watching and paying attention. So that's why I appreciate you posting, man. Nothing but motivation. And I was like, yeah, I gotta get back on my grind too. Yeah, I gotta get back on my pies and stuff. Stuff and working. So I, you know, this is good, good way to get back in the mix.
And yeah, man, that's what it's all about. Growth and process. And again, if there's anything else you want to tell people about running business or just being. Being that guy. So we're not here too long, but
[00:35:30] Speaker B: I mean, like, just to touch in on the. On the ref thing. It's. Oh, and I also want to give my wife some more credit. She's actually doing really well. She started working at the school, so she got her foot in the door by coaching and just being familiar with the kids. But then she started being a campus supervisor. Yard narcs.
[00:35:50] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:35:54] Speaker B: Don't tell her I said that.
[00:35:55] Speaker A: That's all right.
[00:35:57] Speaker B: But then she can't see it. She went. Yeah, she went from that, but she stayed with it. She's got such a.
A contagious energy, and people love her, kids love her. And so that led to one thing, and then she actually. One of her, like, the people who overlook what she does at the school is named Mr. McKay.
He's a principal over there. Like, he kind of took her under her wing, and I guess they bumped heads when she was a kid. Like, she was.
[00:36:22] Speaker A: Yeah, he took my lunch. Yeah, we played basketball for it. He played basketball. He.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: He.
[00:36:26] Speaker A: He found me. I was about to game one. He found me. He said there was no foul. Then he scored, and he took my lunch. Still. He's like, yo, I love that. For real. Mr. McKay is a G. I love that dude, man. Because most teachers be like, nah, I'm just playing. He really took my life.
[00:36:40] Speaker B: I say all that to say. She went from that to being, like, in the classroom working with difficult kids. Some of them have, like, diagnosis, like, whatever the case may be. Yeah, yeah, all kinds of things. And some of them are just kids that grew up in rough homes and just lash out, and nobody can get them to do their work. And. But some way she's been able to.
[00:37:03] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:37:04] Speaker B: And so Mr. McKay started seeing that in her, and they kept, like, pushing her to get these different certifications and take these different classes, and now she's a paraprofessional. She actually has, like, a designated desk in the classroom. She has kids that she looks over that she's responsible for helping get their work done. And from everything I've heard and seen, like, she's taken kids that were, like. Like not getting nothing done. Nobody can get them to get nothing done. And they're getting passing grades, excelling thriving school. And so now they're even pushing her even further where she's doing some more stuff. She's getting ready to enroll back into online school.
[00:37:41] Speaker A: I mean, it's hard to find good people.
[00:37:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
So we're busy, but like I said, with us being a nuclear family and doing what we're doing. Our son is always home with one of us or both. Both of us or exact grandmas. And then the referee thing, like, I kind of fell into that. My daughter had always played basketball from when she was 5 until forever.
And then when she stopped playing basketball, kind of. Kind of hit me, you know, I was like, well, I'm bored now.
[00:38:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: And the funny thing about that was, is, like, I never was one of those bad parents that are, like, chirping at the rest, dad. But I'd like to.
What's going on with that? Like, I'm more curious than I am judgmental. You know what I mean?
How does that work? Why does that happen like this, but not like this? And then sometimes the wrestler would maybe take it wrong. And then, you know, my wife, like, she's. She's a spark plug. So they would have some smart stuff to say to her sometimes. One of the times that stuck out to us was like, I don't got no skin in this game. Like, I'm gonna call what I see. And then another one explained to me, like, so some stuff that I just plain. I didn't know about any aspect of it. So I was like, you know what? My daughter stopped playing basketball. I was like, let me go rest.
Let me go get back into it. So I got into it, started learning the ropes.
I feel like one of my blessings, I call them, it has to be, because I don't know what it is. Everything I feel like I want to do or try to do, I get really good at.
And so I may not be the best at it, but, I mean, I'll be the master. But everything I do, I'm better than the average. And so that ended up showing its presence in the same thing in the basketball, in the referee world. So I'm four years in. I'm getting ready to start my fourth season. And I just got hired on as a supplemental, like a substitute ref. So, like, at the junior college level, which is what you have to do to even keep on going on to the next level.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:39:37] Speaker B: And so I got the phone call over the summer. I've done two hiring camps this last summer and the summer before, known as the Bronc camp. And I got the phone call. They were like, hey, we want to bring you out of supplemental ref. Keep expanding your knowledge and your experience. And if we get a guy that can't make a game or somebody gets hurt or calls him sick, I need you to be able to get to the game.
You got it? That's Crazy. So I'm adding that to my regular reference assignments this year. Right.
[00:40:04] Speaker A: Hey, that's a big up. I mean, like I said, as a coach, I'm like, I don't want no part of it. As a parent, I'm like, man, I have to be a part of it.
But like, I mean, as you said, we're. It's different generations.
[00:40:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: And so I've just seen, just being on the sideline, the difference in it. I'm like, man, it's just, it's, it's not the same. I don't like it. Honestly.
What do you see as a referee? I mean, from how we grew up and, you know, the culture, styles we got.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: It's abuse now to, you know, these kids having.
[00:40:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:40] Speaker A: I feel like the whole world thrown at them and then the cost of things and I don't know, there's so many options, which is good. But do you see that affecting the game in a better way, more positive way? Do you see the dressing, other youth being.
Being pushed in a better or positive way?
[00:40:58] Speaker B: So I'm, I'm hyper analytical.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:01] Speaker B: And I could have hour long conversations with each one of those questions.
[00:41:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:41:05] Speaker B: So if I were to give her an overview about it, first and foremost. I won't, I won't say this is a generalization to all the, about all the kids. They don't get out and play like how we used to. Not far. Yeah. Like, if it's not practice or a game, they're not getting out and playing. Like, mind you, I know some kids that are and you can tell the difference in their growth year over year. But as a general thing, like, they're not getting out and playing. And it's like you said, they got so much stuff thrown at them. Social media is probably the biggest thing.
And it's funny how that works because that also could be a gift and a curse because I'm sitting here telling you about how much I've grown my business on social media. And then on the other end of that, a lot of kids are being stunted because of social media.
So this day and age, I mean, capitalism kind of ruins things.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:05] Speaker B: Is it? Again, I can't complain too much because I capitalize on capitalism as well. So I guess it just depends on where we're headed as a society really.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: But do you feel like some kids would be.
I feel like, I don't know, like, because there's so much offered and availability and access to things, like kids are being thrown in before they're Ready? And it's kind of diluting the pot.
[00:42:38] Speaker B: And that's a good. That's a good way of putting this. Definitely diluted. There's so much, so much, so much. So, like, when I was a kid, there was one AAU program.
[00:42:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:48] Speaker B: And you had to be really good.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:42:50] Speaker B: To even get invited to the trial.
Was that.
[00:42:54] Speaker A: I said no. For real.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: Yeah. You had to be really good to even get invited to the trial.
[00:42:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:59] Speaker B: And now I'm not knocking it. And. Because there's a lot of good coaches and. And I have not met a bad AAU director. And they develop and they teach their kids well. But again, it's just. It's diluted. There's games all the time. There's practices all the time.
There's everything all the time. Where sometimes quantity is not better than quality.
[00:43:26] Speaker A: So I can't get kids to show up to practice.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: I'm like, man, this is GI Battle. I'm like, I can't even penalize you because you're not driving yourself. Yourself.
[00:43:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:34] Speaker A: So, you know, this is a tough world, but like I said, having individuals who understand the work process and how hard it is to just make it.
That's why I appreciate you even more, because I know you're one of those people that are gonna, as you know from the podcast, take people from nothing to something else.
And it's a big deal having. Having good influencers and just get mentors out there like your wife. And while I was rubbing my hands together, you know, I am the youth director, children youth director of this church right here. And. And I'm also always looking for good. Follow me. So your wife ever wants to kick it when, you know, if you got an event going on, I need a hand or two with someone, you know, I know who to reach out to for sure.
But no, I mean, like I said, I appreciate and admire everything you're doing. And, you know, if you need anything on the creative side or whatever, let me know. I got you for sure, brother. And, yeah, let them know who you are and where they can find you and your information.
[00:44:29] Speaker B: My name is Timmy Kennedy. I'm owner, operator of Total Coverture Exterior Home services.
Phone number 530-354-2149. I got no problem putting that out there because it's public information anyways. License insured, very experienced, very detailed, orientated, prompt. Except we're getting here, stuck in traffic.
[00:44:51] Speaker A: No worries.
[00:44:53] Speaker B: There's nothing outside of your house that I can't take care of for you.
If you are looking to have your kids mentored by anybody. My wife loves kids.
She spends days on end trying to figure out what it is that she can get the kids to do more of what she thinks the kids should be doing. So anything, really, like just reach out on all platforms is just Timmy Kennedy. No special names, no nothing.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: There it is, man.
[00:45:19] Speaker B: Just the guy.
[00:45:19] Speaker A: That's how it is. Appreciate you, man.
[00:45:22] Speaker B: Appreciate you, Josh.
