This week on The Huddle Paul, Daniel and Jose piggy-back off of last week's episode to give their final thoughts on setting goals, and setting yourself up for success.

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The HUDDLE is where the flooring industry can get together and talk about everything! Lead by Paul Stuart from Go Carerra who is joined by Daniel and Jose Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring.

https://www.preferredflooringmi.com

https://www.stuartandassociates.com

hey what's up everybody and welcome to

the Huddle where we come at you weekly

to discuss maintaining forward progress

in your flooring career any career for

that uh matter as we've found through

this journey uh most of the concepts

here are just uh conceptually business

just so happens we're in fluorine

uh hopefully we're able to provide some

value for you guys this week last week

was about goals and and setting them

this week uh we are going to be talking

about

um really the value and the plan to

succeed and your your goals as you work

through them the real value

is just as important in the plan as it

is the success itself so

uh really just a

um boiled down uh concept as it as we go

uh talking about goal and uh goals and

you know may

um sorry a little tongue-tied uh

achieving those goals so you know we

talked about writing them down and and

all of that so creating a plan is kind

of the next

step for any goal and

um

I'm not going to go through I mean I'm

sure we'll touch on some some ways that

each one of us plan but

I just wanted to bring up that the

um the real value as I talked about last

week and you guys discussed as well that

failure is not should not be looked at

as just this big negative thing that

that's where we learn uh that's how we

adjust and kind of get on course uh you

know they say a missile on a way you

know like a laser-guided missile on a

way to its Target

is off course about 80 percent of the

time it's always off course and

correcting as it goes right Wind Blows

it and it comes back and it's always

failing and it fails its way all the way

to that Target

and that's how we have to be we have to

believe that as long as we're moving

towards that goal as we hit failures we

just readjust and come back into keeping

that Target or that goal in in our

sights

so I'll give you an example I've I've

been working on a a large national

account deal and um I did a uh we're

we're working on a coding

um to be chemical resistant and

different things so we've worked with

many different coding uh products and um

each one of them have failed in some

Manner and just guided us to either the

next product or for example uh I read

some results uh or looked at some

results from a 24-hour test and one of

the main

products or chemicals we have to test

against is acid

well with 24 hours of this codeine being

down and 24 hours of dwell time with the

harsh chemical of acid

it has failed the coating failed so we

would expect uh you know

some level of that failure and that's

going to tell us what's next and so what

I'm saying is don't look at his negative

thing and that's kind of what this is

about making your plan but realizing

that when you get off course if you just

understand that that's not failure

that's just telling you to adjust and

get back on track to the to to that

Target so

I know I've got a lot of that that's

happened in my life and happens uh daily

I kind of accept failure as just a a

tool that's where I gain my tools and my

toolbox uh to um you know attack

different scenarios and business or or

in installation or whatever it may be so

what's your guys thoughts on that I know

it's kind of a continuation of last week

but I didn't didn't want to uh

completely abandon goals they seem to be

you know like the Paramount thing that

we should all do right

I I totally agree

um with us being co-owners and you know

we're

constantly coming up with ideas him more

than me right but a lot of the time it's

like that's that's a dumb idea and then

a lot of the time just like you know

what we're just gonna do it your way and

then when it comes down to it it's never

like a when I Told You So or I told you

this wasn't gonna work it's like

we tried we tried let's let's do

something else now and just to go back

on that too like uh you know preferred

flooring is what my third time trying to

do a flooring business installation

business uh per se but uh

it was everything that we learned from

day one from the first attempt to the

second attempt you know for the first

partnership separating from that

gentleman going on my own trying to go

the uh Women Business Enterprise route

that didn't work out uh you know trying

to have my mother become you know 51

owner that didn't work but he stepped

with the way Daniel was part of that

um whether he knew it or not he was

still part of it

um

and then we got to this right here we

already knew exactly what we didn't want

to do

um and that was because of you know like

the the perception of failure didn't

fail it just didn't work so make some

changes so that way we can all learn so

we can be better this time

um and that's really all it is is it's

hard for some people to view it that way

I know it can be tough in the mix it can

be really tough and I've got some you

know different scenarios that I could

run through uh I wanted to keep this

kind of concise on technique of getting

through those things

uh but

if you're pushing the limit or you're

pushing the barrier of what you've done

before you are going to have some

setbacks that now learning from those is

is what I'm preaching what I'm what I'm

saying we should do I know that's

difficult it's especially difficult when

money is involved yes and finances and

things like that can really stress I

know for from experience

um it can stress that your tolerance you

know if it was a rubber band it

stretched all the way out sometimes when

it comes when you add money to the mix

um so what I would say is

the plan

is part of that so you're you're trying

to make as best of a plan as you can to

achieve whatever goal

um you have in mind now

goals vary so much that we I think it

would be you could waste two hours or

use two hours of time trying to uh you

know run the run different types of

goals through this Theory but the fact

is is

if you can if you can have a good plan

you'll eliminate some of the failure

than just going at it you know what I

mean uh if you want to be

I don't know if you want to if you're a

a small business owner and you want to

double your growth well how do you

achieve that uh you don't just say okay

I'm gonna go bid twice as much work I

mean that would make sense but that

might not be the best way to go about

that goal so really making a plan

um

we we found in that kind of a realm that

monitoring our land rates with as a

commander and

type of project and stuff like that was

a good way to to look at it and plan

based off of the feedback given so a lot

of times what I'm getting at here is the

plan turns into action turns into

feedback turns into readjusting and more

action and that's kind of what the way

that I I've looked at it

um

I'm not great at executing on it I'm

good but I'm not great I got a lot of

room to improve I know some guys that do

that process and they just seem you know

one of the some of these guys just seem

like they're Superman when it comes to

like being able to adjust from a plan

that they had to reach a goal adjust and

then react

um with the same Target in mind but

readjusting

um yeah it's pretty fascinating when you

see guys at the top of performance and

you know we all know that Elon Musk of

the world if you you looked I've read

his book and if you've looked through

all the setbacks and failures and

changes and things that he had to go

through to get to the point of launching

a rocket

um I mean

I know we're not we're not launching

Rockets over here but my point is is

that readjusting and not taking that as

a as a failure so

yeah that's a

that's a hard one to get through right

everyone sees all the successes that you

have they don't understand the steps

that you take that you've taken to get

there they don't see all the failures

but one success can have a hundred

failures but as long as you have that

one success at at the end of The 100

failures because you're learning from it

and your process is going to evolve and

um to add on to what you said about the

gentlemen who are like Superman

um you know some some guys they have

that that strength where they just have

that foresight like you know they start

seeing those dominoes falling in a

pattern that they don't want it to fall

so they start adjusting before it gets

to the last Domino and then they they

you know they Veer a little bit they

help it out they help steer it the way

it needs to be done

um to experience the success they're

looking for I think a lot of that comes

from the plan itself

um I can do better at putting more

effort in the plan of a of achieving a

goal

um I think that's where I can improve to

be honest and possibly be able to course

correct sooner just like you said that

you see something's going to go wrong as

opposed to waiting for it to go wrong

um so

I would say some specific techniques

have you guys used any

um

do you guys when you set a goal or you

have something on the vision board

detract the progress versus a timeline

or have you have you started that's

something that's something that we have

to work on too was actually uh setting

dates I think right because you we set

open-ended goals like uh we want to get

here we want to have this done but then

um the vision board is kind of what what

you know put this in my head is because

we talked you know we talked last week

about baby sister and doing the vision

boards and stuff and we told the guys

hey do the vision boards

we still have a handful of guys that

haven't got it done so it's like

you guys had two weeks like there's no

reason for this like this stuff has to

be done by next week no ifs and your

butts set the date that way you have

something to shoot for cause

realistically

you know humans are procrastinators

right we're gonna wait till the very

last minute in order to get something

done

well I I read a quote that said you know

if you give yourself 30 days to clean

the house it's going to take you 30 days

if you give yourself three days it'll

take you three you know uh or three

hours I mean the point is is that in

some aggressive timelines to it

um you know how efficient you are in

that last

if we use the house the last day that

you're cleaning the house you are Ultra

efficient and really good

the 29 days ahead of that you may not

have been near as efficient like when

that deadline's there you know what I

mean

it's setting that deadline I think I

think is is a big thing and then uh

Rollin actually asked if

if any of us have sat down and built a

short-term and long-term business plan

and us we have not but I have talked to

the Small Business Development Council

because they give free classes and you

know they'll actually assign you someone

that'll actually work on it with you and

I've I've been talking to them a little

bit and trying to eventually get

something set up to the points where I

can break off and actually take some

time to do it but have we actually done

it no and you know that's something that

we need to improve on too is actually

putting something like that in place

um coming from how small we were to

where we're at now we never really

thought that we would need one but then

the bigger you get the more you realize

like man it would have been way easier

if we would have did this like five

years ago when it was just a handful of

people and we actually you don't think

about it right because we were in the

field all the time and it's like but

really we had more time back then than

we actually do right now yeah it's crazy

how that works I we kind of touch on

that I can't remember which huddle it

was but we kind of touch on that same

thing where doing it early you know

whether you're just getting started get

a bank account get an entity set up you

know doing those things early

um will come at you you'll come out

ahead and it's similar to that it took

us to several years before we did that

but we have done a few times uh short

and long-term business plans

the

short term is always a breakdown of the

long term it's like the kind of plan

within a plan is the way we've done it

in the past

um again sometimes we don't hit those

those uh those objectives and then

sometimes we've surprised ourselves so

either way you kind of just have to you

know be

um fluid in it meaning don't take

anything you know I probably what didn't

do anything Ultra great when I got

surprised and things went well sometimes

things just work out well sometimes

things just don't work out and you gotta

adjust as well but um you know so the

answer is yeah we've we have on our side

done uh short term and long-term

business uh planning a lot of that you

can do with your Banker as well if you

got a good Banker they love to do that

stuff if he's a good Banker a Hands-On

kind of guy I found those guys are

pretty

they they're pretty bought into your

business because they're helping you

finance the things so a lot of times

they have been inherent you know uh skin

in the game so to speak uh but that's

awesome you guys are going to take the

step with the small business

administration is that correct or is

that true Business Development Council

so okay

it's we got introduced

um to them through the local chamber and

then when we started looking at getting

uh certified to become a minority

business Enterprise it's something that

I never even knew existed until I

started looking into and it's like man

these guys offer a bunch of stuff at no

cost and it's like

might have to take advantage of this

sometime you get into the right programs

in the right groups there's a lot of

information at your disposal a lot of

help right but

ton and walk you through it they're

going to say

this is the direction you have to go

this is where your information is

located and yeah you got to take some

initiative yeah they'll bring you to

water but they're not going to make you

drink

yeah well I think a lot of times uh

you bring up a good point that there's a

lot of resources out there that we

probably

um

you know it it'd be helpful

if you kind of understood what the

chamber brings uh you know the chambers

involved in a lot of that and different

um you know different cities

um so a good piece of of advice might be

to get with your local chamber and and

ask about small business resources and

planning uh business planning gets

really deep past goals even because you

start really planning on

not just

financially or or size or whatever your

goals are but you're really getting down

into the nitty-gritty of how you're

going to get there and what your assets

are from uh financing standpoint and if

uh if those all align for you to

actually be able to hit that goal or hit

you know make that business plan a

reality

so it's a good exercise

um

I would just

reiterate that the importance of like

being

okay with not hitting that

it's always the touchy subject because

you want people to go at their goals

aggressively but at the same time not be

deflated if you don't hit those and I

know I keep harping on that but I've

personally been affected in the past

where you have this goal you really

think you're going to hit it and then

things don't happen the way you want

them to and it can be deflating I just

want to encourage people just to kind of

strap up your boots and realize that

that's a possibility and when it does

happen don't let it deflate you just

realize that that's course correction

and to get back on the right course

right and I think a lot of this has to

do like um we're talking about the

chamber and stuff like that and a lot of

this

kind of came our way because a friend of

mine that I went to high school with

reached out and um

his dad was vice president of one of the

larger construction companies over here

at the time and he was like hey are you

a part of the minority contractors

Association I was like I have no idea

and then he got into how it's part of

the chamber and how you know they got

this going on and then it's like

it's the information right and then you

have to be vulnerable to to actually

realize all right I have a goal but I

don't know how to get there I can

actually have resources at my you know

fingertips saying to ask questions so I

can say hey I'm kind of stuck right here

it's not even can you help me it's do

you know anyone that can help me because

their network is so vast that they know

everyone in the area and they're like

they're they're quick to put out a name

boom this person will be able to help

you out boom this person and be able to

help you out and it's a

we talk about networking all the time

and usually we're talking about you know

going to the conventions and stuff but

this is a great local networking type of

thing to where

um they do man they can kind of put your

goals into

smaller chunks like and and things that

you never really thought about so

they'll take it and be like well have

you tried this and it's like man I never

even thought of that and then that's all

you need to get going yeah it's a bad

story man they help you connect the dots

well and getting you in touch with other

people that you can communicate with

um you know the old saying your network

is your net worth and it it has to be it

has to do with be surrounding yourself

with people with like mindset and

surrounding yourself with people who are

goal oriented and being able to to

utilize uh other people's wisdom you

know

um I do a lot of quotes here but I heard

a quote that a smart man learns from his

own mistakes and a wise man learns from

others

so

um you know

if you can

kind of get to know other people that

can help you see some of those pitfalls

um in growing business then that's a net

plus so that's what you get from the

chamber right yeah and it's it's like a

trickle effect right you you start with

your goal in mind and then you meet

other people and then bounce ideas off

of them and then that's where you start

you know going all over the place right

and and readjusting and that that's kind

of what we've done and then through the

chamber we've also

um joined our local Builder Builders

Exchange and then through the Builders

Exchange there was a group of guys uh

two guys in there that

um just started a construction company

and it was like I already met one of the

guys at the gym when he worked for

another one but it was like you know

that got us talking and I was just at

lunch with them earlier today and we're

doing you know projects for them now and

it's like a lot of this networking stuff

and talking to people about your goals

that actually lead you

to expanding that like I never thought

that doing this one class was going to

lead us to I think we've done four jobs

for them this year

and uh

it's they were pretty sizable jobs

well that's where you find synergies

right that is when you're working next

to people and you you end up just things

just seem to work out those are

synergies that because you have similar

goals or similar aspirations and and

you're working with other people that

that share those uh those synergies seem

to happen and you just uh that's pretty

cool it was not a class too by the way

so just to let everyone know it was

called applied estimating applied

estimating we were the only flooring

individuals in there but

we just wanted to learn more and it led

to that it was just a class to help

educate us through the general

contractor's eyes

um for contracts and actually it was

through the through the Architects

Architects that is correct yeah wow and

the guy that was leading the class

actually like it got down to the

make sure you read everything in the

contract because they'll put line items

in there like include this in your bin

if you don't and you win the bid guess

what you're coming out of pocket for

that now yeah

yeah we did a bit of a dive on the

contracts and stuff in an earlier huddle

they can certainly

I mean make or break you and but

learning from you know the people you

get around I I think one of the things

that all this kind of plays into is

again getting involved so many times

small business owners don't believe that

they should uh take the time to to go to

these classes or to you know expand your

knowledge I would say when we when we

did the Huddle on starting your business

or expanding your business we talked

about the need to uh you know gain

knowledge education educating yourself

and you guys have obviously done that

and that's that's admirable and also

very necessary to take those next steps

it's all kind of priming the pump so to

speak to uh take you to the next level

so

I I know it can sometimes feel like you

know I can't I don't have time to do X Y

and Z and we're all in that boat like

you guys are busy you have to make the

time for that right you guys had to like

carve out the time and go yeah it goes

back to what what I like to say all the

time it's I started saying it when we

switched over from 1099 to W2 right and

it's like

we keep on saying that

I can't afford it right and at some

point we have to start switching our

mindset to we can't afford not to do it

so that's kind of what what we've been

doing and

you got to start being proactive instead

of reacting and you're reactive it might

be a little too late

um and you still learn if you're

reactive you're still learning but if

you're proactive you're making

Corrections before uh the bad situation

arises and

well you're planning planning that's all

I was going to say it goes back to

actually having a plan yeah

cool well this is gonna uh be a shorter

uh huddle than normal

um just because we really Dove pretty

deep into all these Concepts last week I

just wanted to expand on you know the

plan itself and and understanding that

the you know all these sayings the

journey not the destination all of that

stuff is because of what you learned

during the the planning and start and

that execution or the journey phase

most people get to a goal and they're

like Ah that's not as satisfying as I

thought but they really look back and

say man I learned a lot through that

process so that's what I'm encouraging

everybody to do is to kind of push

yourself to expand your limits and

um you know make a plan

realize that we're not writing down the

Ten Commandments in stone we're we're

putting our best guess is imperfect

human beings uh as to what we want to

have happen

if it doesn't happen exactly that way we

just have to course correct so

awesome well I know this was really

short this week you guys got anything to

jump in on and and uh anything to add

before we close it up for the this

huddle short week short huddle yeah just

um

I would say to everybody just just

understand that what no matter what

you're doing if you're trying to grow

expand or if you're trying to stay uh

just an individual or with a couple of

uh employees

just know that you're going to look back

and at what you've accomplished in

do yourself a favor make sure that

you're proud of what you accomplished

make sure that there is no regrets right

like don't regret anything

um do your best to try to put yourself

10 years ahead and look back

you'll you'll see what Corrections need

to be made uh it'll give you a little

bit more drive if you're not in a good

spot right now or if you want to be in a

different spot

um there are options

and I'll just say what I just said it's

uh

gotta stop saying that you can't afford

to do things you can start realizing

that you can't afford not to do them

good pieces guys good nuggets I

appreciate you guys this week and uh

we'll see you guys next week and um

I'm gonna we're gonna work to publish

what each week's uh Huddle's gonna be on

our website so we can so everybody kind

of knows ahead of time what we'll be

talking about uh we're gonna set that up

we're trying to make things kind of flow

so we should have that up before next

Tuesday we're hoping uh but otherwise

um we will will continue to be on the

Huddle uh you guys uh anybody on we

certainly appreciate you joining us and

if you have any questions

um

you know please feel free to to ask

those questions I would say the one uh

bit of uh communication here is

uh the question of Ethics when it comes

to uh all of this so I would just say

you know doing things ethically and and

trying to do things what is you know

considered to be right can can get

blurred sometimes you have to really

rely on your your morals sometimes and

and making sure you're doing right by

your cut your company your employees and

society as a whole

um uh when you're making these plans

this isn't just

a lot of times if we're planning just on

our on our uh for personal goals you

know it can feel really selfish

um

that's okay but at the same time you

gotta you gotta have a good moral

compass to what you're going against

money just gaining money I think is

where that comment came from uh is not

shouldn't be the goal I mean we gotta

you gotta do the things that make the

money as the goal and let money come

um you do good work you do qual do good

quality be trained uh do good business

practices uh that that eventually turns

into money so

um that's the best way I can answer that

question or

so all right guys well I appreciate you

joining and I'm gonna call you on the

phone after this

all right

all right thanks guys