Does Work/Life Balance Work When Starting A Business?

[00:00:03.13] - Steve Staples

Books in the Biz, a podcast that looks at both the financial and operational sides of success. Please welcome our hosts, Dan Paulson and Richard Veltre. Dan is the CEO of Envision Development International, and he works with leaders to increase sales and profits through great cultures with solid operations. Rich is CEO of the Veltre Group and a financial strategist working with companies to manage their money more effectively. Now on to the podcast.

[00:00:32.26] - Dan Paulson

Thank you for that wonderful introduction, Alice. Welcome back to Books in the Biz. Rich, how are you doing today?

[00:00:38.27] - Rich Veltre

I'm fabulous.

[00:00:40.25] - Dan Paulson

You're fabulous. Whether out in New York City, treating you well?

[00:00:45.14] - Rich Veltre

No, we went from a million degrees to high wind speeds. So I'm a little nervous right now.

[00:00:56.25] - Dan Paulson

Built-in fans, we call it. Built-in fans. It's a built-in fan. And we have a guest with us today. So Steve Staples, how are you doing?

[00:01:05.09] - Steve Staples

I'm doing pretty well. How are you guys?

[00:01:07.14] - Dan Paulson

We are excellent. We are excellent. So it's nice to have you on because as we were talking before we started this show, you are an entrepreneur, and you might be able to give us a little bit more background into what's it like to be an entrepreneur in the year 2024, and what challenges are you trying to overcome? So why don't you start by telling us a little bit about your business, what you do?

[00:01:30.09] - Steve Staples

Okay. My name is Steve Stables, own Accurate Electrical Solutions in the Greater Madison area, doing commercial residential electrical build installs, design builds, pretty much a full service electrical contractor. So, yeah, that's what I do. It's what my company does. And I've got many years in the industry. Started back in 2019, my wife, then girlfriend at the time, told me that, Hey, you're pretty smart. You're a hard working guy. Why don't you start your own business? And I was like, I don't know. It just seems too much going to the deep end. It seems like a lot of risk. And she says, Well, no risk, no reward. And she's been an entrepreneur for 14 years. She's on her own staffing agency and consulting agency. So it was nice having the support there, which is probably one of the hardest things to get. I think next next to having capital to use in starting a business. So, yeah, back started 2019, I worked full-time up until about two years ago. So I did that on the side, operating a business, gaining clientele, things like that.

[00:02:51.26] - Dan Paulson

So what got you into electrical work? Why did you pick this, of all things?

[00:02:56.04] - Steve Staples

Growing up, I got into electronics and a kid from Chicago that was stereo and TVs in the cars. And I was always in the cars. I'm still a car guy, but I'm on a little different scale now with cars. And then I went into working with cars and realized it's not what I wanted to do. I'm an enthusiast for automobiles, but I don't want to work on them for a living. I do it for fun. And I said, why don't I take my love for both electronics, cars, and not to mention my background in the trades. My father's a tradesman, been his whole life. I got plenty of trades with friends and family. I said, I'm going to put this all together. And he said, I'm going to go into electrical. So I went through a five year apprenticeship in Madison here through the union. And then I spent five years afterwards working for two of the larger contractors in Madison. And from there went to the city of Madison doing pretty much same electrical, same thing, except it got into something more sustainable and doable as as far as updating lighting, doing solar projects, EV chargers, things that are the wave of the future, and training, training a new group of kids, come up and comers, and trying to get the demo, all the multiple mixes of walks of life, get the young kids that don't have the opportunities into it.

[00:04:24.05] - Steve Staples

So I did that for about two and a half years, and that's when my, like I said, 2019, I got hired with the city in February of 2020. And my hiatus between my contracting job with one of the larger contractors and February, there was a lull, a gap there. When you're in the union, you got to... There's a big body of work there that at the end of every year, companies do their bottom line cost savings for the end of the year for their next year budgets. And so none of us all get to stay working through the holidays. So it was just one of those opportunities that I got to do some side work, start my business, do some side work, and then get with the city, build some clientele over time. And then 20 June, Was it June? Was it May? I'm sorry, May. I had my son, May of 2022, May fourth. So at that point, I had a six-week paternity leave, which was fantastic. And I kept working through the business. And my wife was like, you spend so much time and so much thought, so much anxiety, I guess, in a way, because you're trying to teach a younger generation electrical, be safe, do this, do that, and make sure you're doing it right and you're not leading down the wrong path.

[00:05:50.23] - Steve Staples

Or I wouldn't even say that, but just making sure that they're absorbing the information and you're delivering it to them in a way that they understand. So she saw some of the headaches I'd come home with, not to mention big projects, small timelines. And she says, if you're going to go through all that stress, benefit yourself. Right there, I was like, I got back to work. And as much as I didn't want to be that person and be like, hey, I had six weeks off. Here's two more weeks that you got me for and I'm out of here. But for the betterment of my future, my family's future and my son, I said, here, we're I'm going to jump in the deep end. Here we go. And it's been great. It's been fun. It's a learning experience. And I love to learn and learn everything about the aspect of the culture of business ownership from business relations, get into the relationships, get to know people, doing the work, designing the projects. Because before I was just an installer, I was working under somebody else. Now I get to do it all and learn it at the same time.

[00:06:58.01] - Steve Staples

And it's got its challenges, but For me, the rewards outweigh the challenges of business.

[00:07:05.18] - Dan Paulson

So how have things changed from being the one to just doing the work? So you just punch the clock and do what you're doing to now where you got to worry about everything else Boy, the challenges of that which changes is finding the work, finding the people that need the jobs done, finding the clientele.

[00:07:27.16] - Steve Staples

But more importantly, though, having, like I said, the capital to start a business. I didn't have much. I had a few thousand dollars in the bank. And from there, you got to make do with that and try to find the work, go get the work, and set yourself up in a way, because there's a lot of businesses right now that can bankroll the startup of most jobs. When you're a small shop, a self-shop like myself, you You got to get the money up front, and trying to get people to spend the money and things like that is a challenge, especially up front, because they want to see the work first. But I think that and building the business relationships with more than just your customers, people in the banking world. You get time, you build your business up to a certain value, then you can start doing loans. So you can start going to get more equipment. Next thing is vans and then employees. And how do you traverse that atmosphere of ups and downs, highs and lows of you're going to be busy, and then you're going to be slow, then you're going to be busy, and then making sure you have the backing to keep it going when you have those low times.

[00:08:56.20] - Steve Staples

And that's where I get a little nervous at But every time I seem to find myself, I get calls and it picks right back up. So it's been nice getting my name out there a little more these days. It's been a little more consistent. So I think the night I stay up, lay a week thinking about, well, how am I going to get this done? How am I going to get more business? Well, there's that. So I think being the personality that I am has really helped with that. When you're driven, you're dedicated, motivated to go after what you want and what you need, and you have a positive attitude with it. Generally, things tend to fall in your lap in a way, but it's not luck. You put yourself in a position. Success is no accident. It's something my wife and I like to say. It's not like I was given success. You have to earn it. And it's a long, arduous process to get there, especially financially. Like I said, you're starting with nothing. You pretty much have a zero, zero score, and you're going against everybody else to get the work. So I think that's one of the biggest challenges that I faced.

[00:10:17.11] - Steve Staples

And I was lucky enough to have... My wife's got many contacts in the Madison area. Her family grew up here. She has many business connections. And one of them, I was very thankful for to really get me going was a job doing a large three and a half million dollar printer, doing the infrastructure for that, designing it, laying it out, getting the conductor sizes, conduit size, Getting that all in, getting the requirements for the machine. And the gentleman at this establishment, AM Solutions in Edgerton, he was generous enough to give me that break to To do a large project by myself. That took me about a week and a half, two weeks to do, because it wasn't just installing that machine. It was moving all of his other machines in their factory to make room for this one machine. So it was the one that kept me going even a year and a half later. I don't spend money that the business doesn't have. I have very little to no business debt. So it's been nice. And I guess, managing the money is always the hard part, I think for... I think most people would agree having when you're fresh out starting new, the money is the hard part.

[00:11:38.17] - Steve Staples

So it's been nice having that to keep me bankroll this whole time. Obviously, the other jobs coming in add to that But it's got me a lot of the equipment that I've needed to get a lot of these jobs done these days.

[00:11:51.11] - Dan Paulson

Nice. Yeah. Rich, maybe you've got some ideas since you're my financial guru here, and you can ask some questions to see how you might be able to help Steve out.

[00:12:02.15] - Rich Veltre

I love the fact that he said exactly what I was thinking here. You're in a service business, right? So having no debt is an enormous... It's not just an advantage, right? It's a mantra. You have to do as much of it as possible with as little debt as possible, because, yes, you're going to need a truck, or you're going to need a piece of equipment or whatever. But the more you can do that off of the cash flow of the business, the debt will just come back to you. It always comes back to you when you hit a lull in the business. It's like an absolute... It has to happen. It's like the only time it can happen, right? Right. So you definitely hit a big piece there. How is it... I'd be very interested because I started my business, and luckily, my kids were a little older. So And I started my business because I got a fax that I wasn't supposed to get, and somebody else saw it.

[00:13:08.18] - Steve Staples

So that's why...

[00:13:10.18] - Rich Veltre

Yeah. So how is it? I think it's great that you started the business, but you've got a two year old, right? I mean, how does that impact you? I mean, because that's one of the influencers on, a lot of people really think about starting a business, but you want to start it when the kids are young or not born yet, and then there's also the, Hey, you could even start it later. You're starting right smack in the middle. So I'm just really curious how that impacts what you do.

[00:13:47.11] - Steve Staples

It is challenging. It is very challenging. And it challenges me because at night, I I listen to a lot of podcasts. I listen to a lot of entrepreneurial podcasts, books, listen to a lot of audio on how people have done it, not only in my industry, but many other industries around the world, a lot of them with kids. And a lot of these people that have done it, it comes at a cost, and the cost is time away. So there are some nights that I will have to work a little later because my wife and I also have this work-life that we like to maintain. 5:00 PM, I shut my laptop, I shut my phone. Unless I'm on a job that I absolutely have to get done, I try to keep that home life balance at 5:00. And What happens then is emails that come in for projects. I'm like, look, my doors are closed. But the downside to that is I'm not progressing that project that day. It'll have to wait to the following day where people are looking for right away answers. And The good thing about being my own business owners, I can decide to do that and be like, look, I'm spending time with my family, my son who's developing.

[00:15:09.19] - Steve Staples

I go home, mow the lawn, or I work on the car, or I go through material and stuff like that. He just helps me. I clean the trailer. I spend the time with him doing that. So I think the challenge there is some of my projects get delayed a little bit, where customers always go, let's go, let's go, let's go. And I was like, I'm not going to subject my time with my kid for another hour of the night, which I can deal with in the morning. And I get up at 5:00. I'll just do it in the morning. So the time spent as well as the management of the time with my family, I think, is where the the big setback would come in because it does happen. I think besides that, the freedom that I get is the super upside because I get the freedom to make those choices. I get the freedom to decide jobs I will and won't take, go on vacation. Just like next weekend, we're leaving for... We're going to go up, get a permanent site up north, with Northern Wisconsin for a month. I mean, I'm going to commute a few times I'm going to do a few things down here.

[00:16:31.12] - Steve Staples

But the first week, I'm going to almost be radio silent because I need the break. And when you're working for somebody else, especially in the Union, when I did was, well, you're leaving for a week. Well, your job may not be here When you get back, there's other people that are out there trying to work, and we need bodies here to get these jobs done. So I think that the downside to the entrepreneurial thing is the time that you have to invest, which I I have not gone full speed ahead because I don't want to lose that time with my son in his early years. As he gets older, he starts getting friends, things like that, he starts going away places with friends or or whatnot, then sure, I'll put a little more time in, but I think right now it's not something I'm willing to give up. And the upside is the freedom, the freedom I get with it. So I honestly have to say, I don't think no matter when you start, rather you don't have kids at all, right when they're born or even later in life, I think all of us can attest to that, that it's hard no matter when you start it.

[00:17:41.26] - Steve Staples

It takes your time. You're pretty much raising another, something with a heartbeat, almost. How do you say? Analogy, analytically, not analytically, but you get what I'm saying. You're raising something new as well as an actual living life form. So it's tough to transcend some days. But I think we do a pretty good job with my wife and I with that.

[00:18:09.27] - Dan Paulson

Well, that is impressive that you've been able to balance that out. Rich, you were going to say something?

[00:18:15.06] - Rich Veltre

No, that's what I was going to say. You seem like you have it thought out. Most of us didn't.

[00:18:22.24] - Dan Paulson

So they're still working on that. But hey. Yeah.

[00:18:25.23] - Steve Staples

I wouldn't say I have it thought out, but I know what I'm willing to give, and I know what I'm willing willing to take. And I think that's what it comes down to, is whenever I first started this, I sat down with my wife, my, well, where am I drawing the line? Because it's not a line in... I mean, it is a line in the sand at first, but as they get older and as things progress, you can move that line. But for right now, it's a line in concrete that I'm not willing to shake just yet. I need my time with my kid. I need my downtime away from the chaos of a business most days. And I think we We like shutting things down and, Hey, I'm going to go play some volleyball or basketball or go spend time. My wife and I are going to go to dinner, kid, and we're all going to go do something down at the lake. You got to keep that going, because if you lose that, you lose your support. And I don't want to give that up. So I'll let some things take a hit as far as the amount of jobs I'm taking and the amount of capital I gain early on just to have that time with family.

[00:19:30.10] - Dan Paulson

So what do your clients say about all that? Because as you point out, we live in a world where instant gratification is key. And I think if you look at the construction industry, that is especially true, that they want it when they want it, which is usually right now or at the most inconvenient time anyway. How have you been able to manage that with clients?

[00:19:54.12] - Steve Staples

Transparency. Just being wide open with them and going What's running through the whole process from start to finish of what's running through my head and what's going on through their day to day operations and things like that. How do we manage it? But for me, the biggest thing I am with my customers is transparent. I'm up front. I tell them what I've got going, about what I can do, what my schedule is, things like that. And most of my clients and customers have I'm very receptive of just complete transparency and honesty and not leaving them hanging. I communicate a lot through email, through anything. If I'm taking too long doing something I feel, I reach out and give them an And let them know where I'm at and that I am still working on getting their project on task and whatnot. But it's just transparency, being open with your customer and making them feel part of the whole family family, friend, dynamic. Granted, we're just contractors, but we are people for a lot of contractors, and I'd say a lot of laborers, regardless of your industry, we frequent these places. We do business with a lot of these people.

[00:21:17.07] - Steve Staples

This is how business gets built. It's relationships. And when you're visiting them, they're calling you, you're giving them business. They give you business. You get a nice back and forth. So honesty, because if you're not honest with them and you go see them and they're going to look at you like that, you weren't very upfront with me. So I'm a very talk through, transparent, honest, upfront person when it comes to jobs and customers. So far it's worked. I'm trying to get a Google review page, but my IT guys are a little busy, too. So things are out there. But, yeah, I would say that's That's how I keep people happy, is just complete transparency.

[00:22:04.20] - Dan Paulson

Well, there's never a shortage of stuff to do, that's for sure. So what's the next step for accurate? Where are you planning on taking the business?

[00:22:17.25] - Steve Staples

Upwards and forwards, upwards and onwards, really. I'd like to get it to a point where it's just self-sustaining. I wanted to be able to gain It can market itself. It can gain clients on its own. It just becomes its own entity is my ultimate goal, where when I retire, my wife and I take our retirement, take our IRAs, we take capital from the business, and we just go live. We go do what everybody would love to do as they get older, is just travel, go live, and enjoy life. So that's my ultimate goal. I know I'm quite a ways away from that, but my long term goal is self-sustaining and something that I can pass on to my son if he choose to have that interest and be a pillar of the community, where the people know that Accred Electrical is your go to shop for honest, clean work. And And upfront, I guess, that transparency. So that's my ultimate goal, is self-sustainability and something that I can pass on to my son and be a pillar of the community and surrounding communities.

[00:23:43.26] - Dan Paulson

What do you see that's going to change from where the business is at now to when you have employees? Are you going to do things differently than you do now?

[00:23:55.11] - Steve Staples

Well, if the name broke, don't fix it, right? If it's working that way, and I can pass on my work ethic and my, how do I say it? My drive, my personality and make the culture of that to pass that and instill that into the next person, and then we can start snowballing from there the next person. So if there's something that needs to be adjusted, I guess I won't know it until I see it. Right now, just me being me, all I know is what I know, and I interact how I interact with people. But I'd like to build a culture fit around, obviously me. It's a business that I started. It's something I cultivated from the beginning. And it's something so far that's been good for me. It's worked for me, and it's gained me some good clientele. So I'm ultimately just create that as a culture. And as time goes on, we all make adjustments. I don't think I hit the shark tank idea right on the head the first time. It's going to take time. It's going to take adjustments. But I think I have the wherewithal to make that happen.

[00:25:18.25] - Rich Veltre

I'll give you one quick piece of advice. I used to own 50 % of an electric alarm company. Okay. A digital alarm company. And a lot about it was very similar to having an electrical business, except we didn't have your license.

[00:25:40.05] - Dan Paulson

We were entirely low voltage, while you guys could handle the higher voltage.

[00:25:45.22] - Rich Veltre

So the only thing I would tell you is from day one, since you're relatively new, keep track of whether you're making more money from residential residential versus commercial. Watch the split, because that's going to tell you what your people or what your customers are most interested in you. And then you can also figure out, what should I grow? So I would just almost treat it a little bit like you got two businesses, even though you're one guy. Treat it like you got two businesses, and that way, you can see which one's more carrying the weight. And then you can make financial decisions. Purely not an operational It's a professional task, purely financial, right? It's basically telling you. The business will tell you things, and if you're looking for them, you can read them. So follow the numbers, and that's the only piece of unsolicited advice I'll throw on the podcast here.

[00:26:47.17] - Steve Staples

Sure. And that's the hard thing to learn, too, is somebody who doesn't have that background where people get masters, and associates, and PhDs, and finance, and business And business operations and things like that. I don't have any of that. It's learning the fundamentals that I think have been my... I think I've been my biggest challenge is just understanding the fundamentals because I'm a hands-on person. So learning to be hands-on and then turn that side of your brain off and go to the other side of the brain has been the challenge because there's days I should be in the computer and I'm in a laptop going through certain things. And I'm just like, I got to do something. I got to get my hands dirty doing something. So it's been a hard transition to make that happen. But I'm getting there. I'm getting the right people in place, CPAs, legal advice for certain things. I've got a lot of people in my network that own their own businesses that are very good at what they do that have helped me out. So it's been good that way. But there's still so much that requires my hands on approach to understanding what I'm doing, because I don't think there's really any of the podcast I've listened to, any of the books I've read or listened to anything that any of those successful entrepreneurial folks and businesses, None of them have said, Hey, I just handed this off to somebody, and they just did it for me, without understanding what is actually going on with the finances, with the percentages, with margins, with any of that.

[00:28:27.19] - Steve Staples

Marketing, CPAs, legality, these. If you don't have your heads in all of it, at least a little bit to understand what those people are doing, it's going to be a tough road. And that's where I'm learning the hardships of that as I'm getting ready to start year three full-time, but technically, I'm year five in the books. So, yeah, I appreciate that advice because that That is something I didn't think about. To me, it's income. Okay, what's my margins? What's my percentages? I got my markup, I got my labor, and what are my expenses? I see that stuff, and I can see that through my spreadsheets. But the one thing I don't see is the difference between residential and commercial. So maybe that's something I should do in my ledgers is have a residential account and a business account in my accounting software. I appreciate that. Sure. That's something I will definitely look into.

[00:29:38.09] - Dan Paulson

Okay. Well, that leads in to be careful not to chase the next shiny object, because that's also another thing that Yeah. Businesses just starting out do, because any way that can fog a mirror and cash a check is a good client. And we quickly find out that that's not the case. It's actually a bad thing to be in a situation where You're taking jobs just for the paycheck, more or less. And then all of a sudden you realize that you're not getting the business that you want out of it. The other side of that is, there's so many different facets, even in what you do, that you can chase after. That might sound good or might seem good, but you dilute yourself to the point where maybe none of it's making the money you need it to. So now it loops back to the finance side of things, where can you build the margins, versus where are you going to be commoditized and put in a situation where you got to worry about every penny that comes in. So, yeah, those are just, I guess, a couple of things to concern yourself with. How about from you?

[00:30:42.06] - Dan Paulson

So you being the guy that's been in business for about five years, total three for the most part, full-time, what would you tell another entrepreneur?

[00:30:54.11] - Steve Staples

I would say, And that's a good question because I've got so many things I tell myself all the time, and it goes back and forth. I would say, don't give up too soon. Don't feel like just because you're not where you want to be in year two, doesn't mean you're not going to be there in Year 10. People that give up and have to start over, they end up starting back at the bottom. And once you start your foundation, build on the foundation. Just stay true to who you are. Keep pushing forward. It's going to be tough. Keep pushing forward. If you believe in it, build it. If you truly believe in it and you believe in yourself, keep pushing forward and learn along the way because you don't have all the answers right away. I've learned so much, and I'm such a controlled... I'm a person that I like to have a grip on everything, and you're just not going to have it. You've got to be able to let some things go and just believe in the process, learn as you go, and just keep pushing forward. Don't give up too soon. So that'd be what I'd say.

[00:32:08.18] - Steve Staples

You're going to have a lot of soupless nights, a lot of soupless nights. So that you will.

[00:32:16.12] - Dan Paulson

That you will. But that is good advice because I think a lot of people try to control everything. In fact, I know many business owners that have been in business for a lot longer than you that still try to control everything. And that tends to be the problems they run into.

[00:32:30.20] - Steve Staples

Yeah. I know a few of them, and they struggle with it. And you got to keep pushing forward. Having a support group that I have, though, has made it obtain Has made it. I've got people who are in my corner, people who have supported me, people who have given me breaks to get started. It's creating a Like I was saying before, create the culture that you want and be the person that you would want to see on the other end of the transaction. You know what I mean? You as a person would want somebody coming in your house doing the It comes a certain way. Well, be that person. Be that person because nobody wants to deal with the other one. So it can make things a little hairy at times. So just keep pushing. Be true to yourself. Keep pushing. Don't give up. Expect some rough, sleepless evenings. But once you get to a... The machine feeds itself a little bit, things will start to take off. So just keep pushing forward. It's not easy, but it gets there. Not saying it's easy for me now, but it's not nearly as nerve-wracking as it was when I first started.

[00:33:51.19] - Dan Paulson

Yeah, those first steps are the scariest ones.

[00:33:55.08] - Steve Staples

Yeah. Like watching your kid walk through the house not knowing how to walk, and you're covering every table and corner. Yeah, stay away from there.

[00:34:02.12] - Dan Paulson

It's a lot like that.

[00:34:03.19] - Steve Staples

Yeah. Stay away from there. Don't go over there. Come back over here. Eat your food.

[00:34:09.28] - Dan Paulson

So yeah, Steve, this has been great. Tell us a little bit more, how did people get a hold of you if they need your services? Obviously, you're not nationwide. So we'll say the Southern Wisconsin area, if they need to get a hold of you, what's the best way to do it?

[00:34:24.15] - Steve Staples

I go to my web page, accurateelectricalsolution.com. Not solutions, you'll get a company in Oregon.

[00:34:32.08] - Dan Paulson

So not plural, just singular. Not plural.

[00:34:34.25] - Steve Staples

Yeah. And through my web page, you'll have my phone number and my email address. So the best way to get a hold of me would be accurateelectricalsolution.com. It would be the accurateelectricalsolution.com.

[00:34:45.19] - Dan Paulson

Excellent. Well, thank you for that, Rich, as always. Pleasure to have you as part of the team here. And we will talk to you again next week. And Steve will have to catch up maybe another year down the road, see what's going on in your world, see what's changed.

[00:35:02.16] - Steve Staples

Yeah, sounds great, gentlemen. Thanks for your time.

[00:35:04.19] - Dan Paulson

All right. Take care, everybody.

[00:35:06.10] - Steve Staples

You too. Bye-bye.