153 | Why Most Entrepreneurs Fail and How to Beat the Odds W/ Nathan Lange

Feb 25

[00:01:08] Chaz Wolfe: All right, guys. Gathering the King's, Chaz Wolf. I've got Nathan Lange here. Welcome to the stage,

[00:01:15] Nathan Lange: bro. Thanks, uh, glad to be

[00:01:16] Chaz Wolfe: here. Did I say your last name right? .

[00:01:19] Nathan Lange: Yep. . As soon as

[00:01:21] Chaz Wolfe: I said it, I was like, oh geez.

Maybe it's Lane or, or Lane. Lane. Jean,

[00:01:25] Nathan Lange: is it? Yeah. .

[00:01:28] Chaz Wolfe: Oh man. Well, my, my editor will either keep this in and it'll be a good laugh at the beginning or, cut it out. I don't know. We'll see . So, well, good dude. Thanks for coming. We really appreciate, you just be willing to take a few minutes outta your day and, and, bless us with your, your knowledge.

tell us what kind of business you have, man.

[00:01:42] Nathan Lange: I got a couple different businesses. I got one, business that does natural stone, from granite countertops to landscape supplies, masonary supplies, as well as, monuments that you see in a cemetery. Wow. Another business I own is going to be insulation, so we do spray foam insulation, fiberglass, and there's also waterproofing foundations.

Yeah. And then, recently started a, a property management. We're gonna develop some commercial property for a leasing of other contractors and

[00:02:10] Chaz Wolfe: such. So, yeah, I love it. And I know a little bit of your, that's a wide range of stuff. Yeah, yeah. But, but they're all tied together and, and you know, from, from, us talking off air, you know, I know that they've started.

For different reasons along the way. And so I'm curious, to hear you talk a little bit more about that. But before we get kind of into the journey and some of the things that you've done along the way and such, but, tell us why at this stage, like, okay, so you just said, I'm about to start a third company, property management leasing, but you know what, blah, blah, blah.

But you already have multiple businesses that are at the seven figure mark, and you're crushing it. And for all intents and purposes, you've made it right. So why, like, why do you continue to push now?

[00:02:49] Nathan Lange: I guess part of it, well the reason we're, we're adding on another section is out of personal need somewhat.

we wanted to add a location. I looked and looked and looked, couldn't find one. So, well, it's, it comes down to if I'm looking, other people are looking, so why not, you know, we are in the position to be able to buy a property, right? On a major highway. let's build out a building. Make some property available for other people like me that aren't, you know, need a small building to lease out of their ready to move from the transition of moving from their house to a offsite property where, where they can lease that.

so that's kind of where that transition went to, to add that section of things. Yeah.

[00:03:24] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. So, I mean, and, and this is, you're just like super practical about, you know, that answer as well as just some of the other story that you've given me about your history. Just, you know, it made sense, like I needed it so other people would so great.

Might as well do it, but like, underneath that, underneath the practicality and logic. Okay. Why would you go through the process of starting a company and offering the cert, like when you don't have to, obvious. Is there, is there like, is there like this an eight drive for more? Is there like, you know, like you want to get to eight figures, you wanna become a billionaire?

Like what is it? I don't know.

[00:03:58] Nathan Lange: Yeah. I guess, yeah, I got a lot of internal drive to, to succeed. I got, I got a lot of ideas and vision and, can see a lot of the future and, and growing and, and taking people along with me. you know, as, as I've gotten bigger in the company and stuff and, and we've grown.

it's awesome to see your fellow employees grow with you, whether it's a new truck they bought, whether it's a new house they bought, and to see the joy on their faces and as well as our family grow. And the stuff that we're able to do internally, with our family and friends compared to where we were, you know, when you're scratching together and working multiple jobs or whatnot.

So, And actually I probably work more now than I did with multiple jobs, cuz I, I have them. But, you know, it's, it's the, I don't know, I just see a lot of things that I can accomplish yet, and I'm, I don't feel like I'm anywhere close to done. And, you know, a lot of the drive is, is bringing the people with me.

Family, friends, employees, promoting within and, and

[00:04:53] Chaz Wolfe: structure like that. Yeah, I, I love that mindset. you can have that before you're able to help others, like legitimately in your own businesses, bring your people along. They can buy a new house, new truck, you know, all the things that you've mentioned.

you can have that mindset before, but you're right. Before you actually get to that point in your business where you can provide the opportunity, where they can make that type of a money. It's just a thought, it's just a dream. and, and you have to keep your head down and keep growing the business so that it can get big enough.

Yeah. To be able to then offer those, those, things to other people. Yeah. And so that's the transition, right? Like the warrior to king stage. I know we talked briefly offline about that, , but you know, at the king stage, you're, you're thinking about the community, you're thinking about your team, you're thinking about your family, buying your time back, you know, all that fun stuff that, seems like the light at the end of the tunnel.

[00:05:41] Nathan Lange: Yeah. That's why we start it all, right? Yeah. You start a business and you get going and you're like, all right, I'm gonna do this so I, I can set my own hours, or I have my own freedoms. And then you realize, That you work seven days a week and sun up to sun down, and, and that's not there. But you know, there's just a transition to get there.

And it's a long transition depending on how, you know, some people it's quick, some people it's not. You've for long year, a long time. And, You know, it's just, it is a little bit, just recently, which we can cover later on too, about, of the, a little bit more freedom within the company too,

[00:06:11] Chaz Wolfe: so, yeah.

Yeah. A hundred percent good. I think that's an excellent start. Let's go back, you've got a, you've got a unique story on, on how, business, came into your life originally. Were you always like this? Was it the way you were raised? Like, give us, give us how it started for you.

[00:06:25] Nathan Lange: Yeah, I mean, I think I always had the entrepreneurial background.

I mean, I remember back when we were in elementary school, I mean, I got a picture of my wall that me and my buddies were in, were in Longville, the turtle race capital of the world. So you'd literally little green turtles and you'd go find them and you'd bring 'em in a cage and you'd rent them out and you'd make money, you know?

Wow. so I have a picture of that renting turtles, and I have a picture of, you know, Different things in, in, whether it's, you know, a shop class, I could weld together a, a boat trailer for a guy and, and make 50 bucks, you know, so it was, yeah, it was always a, a way to. To better the current situation, whether it was mm-hmm.

to be the good graces with the principal at school, I'd build them a bookshelf. You know, there was always a way to better yourself, , financially and to other ways. So, I guess it's kind of how I've always looked at everything, you know, and I, I go to a project or I go to an event and I, I'm the guy that sits back and looks at like, Man who built all this and what did they charge and how does it work?

You know, I'm looking around at the structure and my wife's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm just looking at all the scaffolding set up, or whatever it may be, and the trucks it took to get here. And that my mind works like that. I always look at the background stuff and say, somebody did this and how'd they do it?

And you know, yeah. Knows. That's kinda how I was built. I, and growing up I had, you know, our, our granite company. We just recently purchased that. actually, well, the end of this month, it'll be one year. Wow. but I grew up in it. My parents started it, you know, 37 years ago I believe. And so I worked alongside my parents their whole way.

yeah. Very hardworking, kind of went out there. I mean, I remember every day after dinner we'd go out to have to work in the shop to get a project done. So, yeah. growing up in that atmosphere and, and. Just kinda led me onto other things. I would see things in the business that we were hiring a subcontractor for, and I'm like, well, I could be that subcontractor nights and weekends.

If the company can hire me to do that project, then I can make more money. And then, you know, so I just kinda keep diving off into left and right there and yeah. So

[00:08:20] Chaz Wolfe: yeah. That's interesting that you had the opportunities to be able to even do that, let alone know or have the skillset to then fulfill those requests, would would.

You know, knowing, knowing how you were raised, let's just say that. Would you, would you change anything about that to be able to better prepare you for business now? Or are you doing anything different with your own family, you know, like to, to prepare them any different? sounds like you had a pretty good, pretty cool entrepreneurial up

[00:08:51] Nathan Lange: upbringing.

Yeah, I think, you know, I was brought up during the building of the company, which was awesome to see because it, I, I see what it took. you know, you didn't always get to dinnertime. You didn't always, you know, grant it, I mean, family's everything, but at the same time, you know, if something went wrong or something problem happened in the company, you were there to provide.

So you, you had to maybe step away. And another, you know, close family friends, they were in the same thing. I mean, sometimes you missed a Christmas or, you know what I mean? Like if something broke down or equipment broke down, you had to fix it and you had to move on. So I think that was awesome to see.

And then I, I grew up, you know, in every aspect of the company. So I started at the ground. I shoveled, I swept, you know, when I was young, right. I worked my way up. and with my own kids the same thing. You know, I never, I'm not somebody that's gonna push my kid to do this. Our business, you know, I, I believe every kid has their own direction and they need to find that on their own.

Yeah. I'm the guy that's gonna give 'em great opportunity. If they want it. I'm not gonna push 'em. as far as in the business, in, in what I do, You know, someday, yeah, I'd love to have the kids take over, but if that's not in the cards, you know, it's not there. It's, it's not Sure, sure. You know, I'm not gonna be hurt about that.

But bringing them up, I mean, my son, he, Followed me along. He would come to work with me nights and weekends. He did some sandblast lettering, you know, on the side. His extra money again. Yeah. my daughter's 11 and she, she's doing filing. She wants a job this summer, so she's gonna start scanning old files into a computer system.

Yeah. You know, so she, you know, teach him the aspect of what money is and why you have it, and the good things you can do with money and, and, you know, it's, and, you know, accomplish something every. Yeah. You know, it's, yeah, at the end of the day, it's not all about money, obviously. It's, it's, you wanna have a, you feel good about yourself at the end of the day for the task that you

[00:10:35] Chaz Wolfe: accomplished.

So, yeah, a hundred percent. That makes me think of, something that my dad says currently, I didn't grow up with my dad, unfortunately, we met when I was 24, but he has said this many a times since I've gotten to know him. He would say things like, you know, I just wanted my kids to know a good, honest day's labor.

So that way at the end of everything, , they could at least know how to work hard to provide a meal and, and survive, take care of themselves. And that's, in essence, what I just heard you say is like, there's, there's opportunity and we'll teach 'em this, we'll teach 'em money mastery, we'll teach 'em how to, you know, organize multiple businesses and all the fun stuff that you and I get to do.

But, but the baseline is, Look, work ethic. Here's what, here's excellence, here's what, here's what good things look like. Here's good choices. That's what I'm hearing you say from, from like a father's perspective, at least that those are my dad ears perking up. You know? Am I, am I catching what you're saying there?

Yeah, .

[00:11:31] Nathan Lange: Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, that's the nuts and bolts of it. I mean, you know, through the whole journey of everything. I mean, you need a hard work ethic. I mean, you can't, you. Slough off and, you know, do a, do a nine to two and, and think you'd, you know, you're gonna get further along. Don't tell me you're not gonna have a bad life, but you're not going, you know, if you wanna be the overachiever and you wanna go further, you know, it takes that extra work.

It takes that, above and beyond attitude and then how hard day's work is what it is anywhere you do in life. I mean, if you put a hard, honest day's work and work hard and feel good about that, at the end of the day, you're gonna succeed. Yeah. You know, sometimes it takes a little longer, but it is.

[00:12:06] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah.

Yeah. The timeframe is, is everything. So, we'll can get into some of that, but, let's talk about a bad decision, that, that you've made. Now, granted, I, I want to hear maybe two answers from you. I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask double work, via today as one of my, as my guests, but you, you bought into a family business and, and was it already seven figures when you bought it or, or?

It was, yes, it

[00:12:28] Nathan Lange: was. Okay. So you have the perspective of, so the company was, go ahead, sorry. Yep. The company was a seven figure company and we were really based in, in countertops, let's say the granite countertop industry. Yeah. And in 2008 hit, I mean, our company dropped by by 80. 90%. I mean, our, it fa it went way down.

we might even below this have a figure number there for a while and then we, yeah, we had to build that back up and I was part of the build back up stage. kinda when I took over running the things middle of there, my parents, I mean, my dad was the guy, like I said, he, he's like, well, I can make more money going driving a truck.

So he drove truck for us and I kinda took over the day-to-day stuff and Sure. You know, to make ends meet at the same time figured out. Yeah. Kinda of build that, help build that company back up and then, , you know, and, and last year we've seen huge growth. Growth. I think we grew, you know, 34% last year.

Wow. Again, and then we're, we're, you know, hopefully setting ourselves up to do at least that or more, projection wise for this year. That's incredible. And then the insulation side. Yeah, the insulation side. I started from the ground up. Yeah. yeah. You know, I just, I wanted my own house insulated, so I thought I'd buy a spray foam rig.

. I figured why not? I can do it. If somebody else does it, I can do it. Right. And then, Ah-huh , you know, it was, it was an honest, it was a blessing, through the whole first, you know, and we, we built that company up and, it was a blessing through the building of the house. I needed the extra money.

So yeah, everybody was calling me to do these projects and I, I kept growing it and, you know, we were, we're busy. And then I came to the point of almost selling it, and then we ended up, finding a few employees and kind of growing and, and, You know, now I think there's 10 guys on payroll in that company and, and we have multiple rigs and the new location's gonna be for the spray foam company or, you know, full insulation companies.

[00:14:06] Chaz Wolfe: you, you, You did the thing. You, you bought, you bought into a thing. You helped build, rebuild the thing. You built your own thing. And so the, the, the question about a bad decision, I was kind of setting you up there for, for multiple angles or mul, maybe mul multiple answers, is that you've seen.

Different angle. Like, okay, multiple seven figures now drops down. Now we're rebuilding, starting something from scratch. Literally in all of that, or maybe there's even a couple different bad decisions in there, but what, what bad decisions can you share with the listener right now? They got their pen, they got their paper, they're ready, what shouldn't they do?

Or what did you do that they should avoid?

[00:14:39] Nathan Lange: . Well, you can always use the cliche of there is no bad decisions cuz you always learn from it, right? That's right, that's right. . But, which, which is very, very true when Yeah. You, it is. Look back at things. I mean, I made some decisions and you're like, what the heck?

But you learn and you grow through that as well. I agree. But specifically, is, there's two things that come to mind. Is, is one is very relevant in the last two years is gonna be pivot. you know, everybody is set in their way. You have a great plan. You have this well written down on a nice piece of paper.

And then covid hits or storm wipes out your inventory or, you know, that type of stuff. It happens every day. I mean, you have bad things happen every day. Yeah. so where do you pivot your company? You're gonna change things. It's gonna be online, it's gonna be, I mean, whoever thought Zoom that we're on right now.

Right. You know, three, four years ago is gonna be the way it is. right. So that's one thing is, is learn to pivot and keep an open mind and, you know, the direction that you originally set out in the class you thought you had isn't gonna be the one you might. . and be open-minded to that change is hard, but that's something that it, it happens a lot in, in business.

Yeah. another bad decision that it happens and, and, and it goes relevant for my both companies. I, I currently were running with employees is, Keeping a bad employee. for too long. Yeah. you know, we all in that mindset a lot of times of, you know, so that'd be one recommendation to somebody that's growing is you're, you got this guy and you've had him for a long time and, but he's, he's a bad egg and you know, he is, he's got a bad attitude or he is got something, he's bringing everybody else down or he is just not doing good work.

Like, well, I can't be without him, but at the same time, you know, if a guy's continually doing bad work, you hang onto 'em. So, I mean, there's, there's always the give and take with employees, but, you know, you gotta keep your head on a swivel with that too. Yeah.

[00:16:15] Chaz Wolfe: what, what could possibly come from that bad decision of hanging on to someone too

[00:16:21] Nathan Lange: long?

I mean, they can spoil the. , you know, apple basket. I mean, they, you get, you get a guy with a really bad attitude, and he's working amongst every, all the other people that you're working with. They're gonna bring 'em all down pretty soon. Everybody hates their life. Everybody hates their job. Everybody.

You know, if you, there's guys out there that do that. They, they're angry all the time and you, you don't know why. You don't know what it is. And, yeah. and they start spelling everybody else that, that works there pretty soon it, it's just trickles down. Or you get the, the guy that's not doing the best work and you keep doing 'em, removing them.

And no matter where you move them in the position, they continually do the bad work. And not that they're a bad person, they're just, they're not a good fit. They're not, they don't fit your culture maybe. Yeah. you know, so you gotta, you kind of gotta look at that and see what your culture is and do they fit or they.

Sometimes you're better off and attitude, your morale, your company might go up because that person, everybody's like, man, we are all waiting for you to get rid of that guy. we had a guy this winter, one of our, um, employees was, you know, he was an angry person and we hung onto him cause we're like, we don't have anybody else.

We need him on and on and on. And then we finally got into a big fight, kind of deal, kind of exploded. And he was, he was fired. And afterwards half the shop came up and said, man, what took you so long? Yeah. You know, and it. Oh, well, we were thinking the other way, like, it's gonna give you guys more workload, but Right.

So, you know, you're, you're in your head as sitting at a desk or an entrepreneur or wherever you're at. Yep. you're thinking one direction and sometimes your employees. Are thinking another, so, you know, ask them, see where they're sitting. You'll be open and honest

[00:17:46] Chaz Wolfe: with 'em. So That's so good. It, and it's so real too.

I mean, that's probably happened multiple times to you. It's happened multiple times to me. that exact example too of, of how you're just trying to protect the others and the others are actually. They'd be willing to step up. They, they want to step up. They're, they're waiting to step up. but, but we've made that decision for them holding on to this guy or this gal, whatever it is.

And and that's usually my response as well, is like, wow, I didn't expect, even though, even though we're both, you know, seemingly good guys, seemingly good entrepreneurs, good bosses, if you will, good people to work for, why wouldn't they wanna step up? It's like, well, Sometimes we just kind of oversee those things, but the That's so good.

Yeah. So don't, so what you're saying, the the, the, the cap here, the point is don't hang on to the guy, just move on. because you're probably gonna have your other people step up anyway, or you'll get creative and figure it

[00:18:40] Nathan Lange: out. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of times that the work they were doing wasn't up to par, it wasn't up to your standards anyways, and you're having to.

Or they were just a bad attitude and brought everybody down and everybody's workload, you know, everybody's work went downhill with it. So yeah, a hundred percent

[00:18:57] Chaz Wolfe: good. Okay, let's flip the coin here and let's talk about a good decision that you've made, whether it be with the building of the, of the rebrand or the, the rebuilding or in the new business and, and maybe both.

[00:19:07] Nathan Lange: I mean, the best decision I made is marrying my wife, of course. . Now, you know, she's not gonna be

[00:19:12] Chaz Wolfe: listening.

[00:19:12] Nathan Lange: Give us the real, I'm just kidding. That's probably what I know. She might listen later though. So . No, I mean,good decisions. You know, another one is, that's funny is, right back to the employees.

I mean, Promote the good ones, you know, bring them along for the ride, bring them, you know, promote 'em, get them to help you out, ask their feedback. as, as everybody grows and we take on more. You know, I, I get asked a lot of times when I'm at these different groups and stuff, they're, you know, people that are, let's say they are smaller business, they're like, so how do you do everything?

And I'm like, why? Don't do everything? Yeah, I can't. I mean, I have good people. And I, I believe that, you know, I, we we're setting it all up in order to, you know, let them help achieve. They, they're gonna make mistakes too. I'm there for guidance. You can't come down on them for that, right? I mean, they are living and learning the same you are.

They're not gonna make the same decision you do. Hopefully you're, you're, you can guide them and help them, but you're gonna have to step away. You're gonna have to run to here and go. Or do that and somebody's gonna have to be there to make that decision. So a good decision is, is also the employee side is promoting, or you know, hiring somebody to take the position that you think, you know, that you're in or that you're not very good at.

Yeah. You know, everybody in this, role has to decide what they're good and what they're not. At some owners, I, I know many owners of businesses, they don't even sit, they don't even sit down in the office. They literally are in the field working every day and they hire people to do everything else.

Cause they're like, that's not what I'm good. . Yeah. So, but then there's the owners that are good at the business side of it, then, you know, they need somebody that's in the production side or the, you know, sure. warehouse side, so. Yep. I'd say that's another good decision is, is the people that you bring along with you.

I mean, I had a great example, like with last fall, with my spray phone company and this company. We were, I was working, I was stressed out. I was just, Crazy busy. The insulation, I mean, I was doing 30, 40 hours a week of sales. Wow. with that, the, the granite company, I couldn't leave because everybody was asking me the questions and Yeah.

I actually got to a little bit of point where, I would say, I guess I don't, I don't like using the word burnt out, but I mean, I got to the point where there was like a week there, I was just like, man, what the heck am I doing here? You know, you come to them realization, but you're like, do I have the money to do it?

Can I afford it? You know, and, and we sat down with my wife and we were talking. hiring a salesperson. Yep. And, and for this in, installation side, and we did. And it was an awesome move. Yeah. Right off the bat. Within two weeks I'm like, oh my God, this is amazing. Feeling like, why didn't I do it sooner?

I need a phone call. Exactly. You know, and I got a phone call and I can send it to that guy and he calls him back and I don't have to stress over, you know, three days that I didn't get to back to this customer. Cause it, it bugs me when you don't. Yeah, totally. and then as well as, In the Granite Company, we've promoted a guide to be a general manager to take off some of the day-to-day stuff off of mine, since both businesses are growing and there's more, yeah, what I needed to do over here in division and the securing the company.

So he's helping out with that and both of those aspects of it. Just changed everything dramatically, so, yeah. Yeah,

[00:22:09] Chaz Wolfe: that's huge. That's the good decisions that I'm hearing you say as a recap here, is not only, not only hire, cuz first off, you gotta have a team to, to bring 'em along, right? So you, you gotta mm-hmm.

you gotta give things away. Even at the level though, once you have those people and you're giving things away, Give more away is what I'm hearing you say. Give, give even more things, which, which is, which in essence then allows you what you said is to do the things that you're best at. and mm-hmm.

liked the decision to, hire the sales guy. It is funny, as you were saying that, I was thinking, oh man, he needs a sales guy. And then boom, 30 seconds later you're like, I hired a sales guy. My life changed. I'm like, yes, . That's incredible because listen, the, the, the guy who's listening right now, the gal who's listening, what you're thinking is, Oh, I can't afford it.

Or, oh, I'm, I'm scared. I'm terrified to bring on someone else. I gotta, and now I'm responsible for them too. And if I keep it small, then I don't need to worry about it. And I can just, I can, I'll, I'll take the customers, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll take the phone calls, I'll do the job, or I'll handle the client fulfillment.

But I'm telling you right now that there are other people, and to, to the point here, that Nathan's making is that they're probably even more qualified than you to do whatever that task is.

[00:23:21] Nathan Lange: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is, it's, it's, there's people out there that are, are, that are great salespeople. you know, you you, it's hard to find in the different industries we're involved with, but you know, you're not gonna hire an expert most of the time.

Right. But you can train 'em, you can totally coach 'em, you can help 'em along the way. And a lot of times you the same thing. And that, and that's one recommendation is. You know, obviously I don't know at all. I, I learn as I go here and a lot of this stuff is tried and trued coming from, you know, my, my failures here too is, yeah, I, I know for a fact last fall I was.

crippling the insulation company cuz I couldn't get back to people. Yeah. I was losing jobs left and right because I couldn't do it. Yeah. And that's when I, that one, like I said, that one week I just had to come to the realization like, I can't do all of this. And, and at the time, like the company's growing, so we're investing all our money back into it, you know, with the, with the new location and buildings and people and rigs and all of this stuff and inventory.

As we're growing, I need more inventory so all my money is tied back up into the company. But I'm like, can I, can I afford to do this or can I not? And I'm like, you know, like the conversation with my wife and I was, I wasn't paying myself very much. And and I'm like, well, I just pay nothing I guess, and just we'll get this going.

And, and you look at the bigger picture. Yeah. Sometimes you have to take a step back, to move forward. Yeah. So, and that's kind of, kind of what I had to do personally, you know,

[00:24:41] Chaz Wolfe: a hundred percent challenge, I guess. And the deal that the deals, the just one fact alone, that that guy will close deals that you would not have even gotten will pay for himself.

Mm-hmm. . . Yep. So when you run the numbers on it, it always makes sense, but it doesn't, it doesn't take away from the emotional of like, oh, I'm scared, or, do we have the money or is that the right move? And, and, and I know, that the guys and gals listening right now are thinking these same things. And so for you to be able to share these things, even at your level, it makes perfect sense that we know what the right thing to do is.

But sometimes in that moment it's, it's still, we just gotta. Grind out that, that type of decision. So let me ask you this. When it comes to decisions, I'm just huge on decisions and, and obviously, like you said, the cliche piece is that we don't make bad decisions. We just, we have things that we go through that we learn from

do you have a process or a discipline of any kind? You said you chatted with your wife. Do you have a process that you follow when you try to make big decisions or just any decisions?

[00:25:41] Nathan Lange: I would say I, I mean, I probably. Go with my gut. majority of the time now, as we've gotten a little bit bigger, I do have a team of people that I, I bounce ideas off and I get sure, you know, their feelings.

And I get like that. I mean, grow. When I, when I was growing through the business, I'm just like, well, I need this. So I go there and now I'm going here. I go there. I just. I'm all over the boards, and that's just how it worked and, and it worked. Yeah. but as you get bigger and you're affecting more people's lives and the, and the, the risk is a little higher.

Yeah. I do value everybody's opinion more. Ultimately, a lot of times I, I can, I can see the end. I just need to know how to get there. So I, I kind of, I would say I almost work backwards, you know? Sure. Like, I know we're backed up in this, how do we make that go away? Okay, we need to do this, we need to buy a machine, we need to reorganize this.

How, you know, what's the steps to get to the end? You know? yeah. You know, you need to have a destination if you know you're gonna. Yeah. and that destination's gonna always change, but you don't get in your car and say, Hey, let's go to dinner. And you have no, I you turn right or left, right. , you know, so if you know you want to go to this certain restaurant, what road do I do to take to get there?

Right? And that's, you know, the same, similar thing. And so I guess that's kind of how I make the decisions And, you know, I, I always look at the ROI and what's it gonna take and how many years is, you know, the payback on big purchases or Right. New locations and Yeah. And some of it is, is. I would say most entrepreneurs are probably a little bit of a gambling kind of guy.

I mean, , you're gambling, you know, some people don't. And, and I would say back to like, you know, with my wife, she's not at all, she's not a risk taker. And I would probably say I am a big risk taker. I mean, I will probably would, I would risk most of everything to achieve what I want, . So it's, it's really, it's kinda good.

You and me both back down a little bit and, and so. You know, so that part of it. And so I guess that's kind of it. You've gotta find the end goal. Yeah. And what's it gonna take? And work backwards and, and, and simply write it on a piece of paper. I saw more effective in the last two months is write it down.

Yeah. You know, it's always up in my head and it's always going, but, you know, write it down. This is what we want to accomplish. And just start making notes and, and, and growing from that. And, and the more you grow with the, the, the journey and the more people you meet and the more experiences you have.

You know, a decision you made when you were, let's say, just starting out nowadays, like whether you need a tool or a saw or whatever, you're like, man, I don't know if I wanna go spend a thousand dollars. I mean, that still crosses my sign the mind sometimes. But now, now it's not that. Now they're bigger decisions, but it's ultimately the same thing you like, you wanna, you wanna achieve.

You know, whether it's financial freedom or freedom of your time or whatever may be the goal and. , you know, how do I get there? Yeah.

[00:28:25] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I love, I love, the description that you've given, which is first the identification of where you're going. I think that's huge. And so as I kind of recap all this for the, for the listener, you have to identify first what you want and maybe even why you want it.

right? Like, okay, so like you said, maybe it's financial freedom, maybe it's more revenue, maybe it's more money, maybe it's a bigger team. Like why, where are we going and why? And to your, to your dinner example, it's like, well, we're gonna go to dinner at Eddie v's. Here in kc and it's because I've got some amazing steak known for seafood.

But man, bro, that steak, yeah. The point is, is that we know, and so then that, that, that then fuel. , all of my decisions along the way. The turns, the amount of gas I'm gonna need, maybe the type of dress that we wear, like all of those things. And so I think that what Nathan has given to you is probably a clearer roadmap than he even realizes, which is if you can identify what you want and then potentially even why, literally as it comes across your desk, then all you have to do is compare whatever it is that you're deciding on to what you want.

Does it help you? Do it. Don't hesitate. Make the decision. Do it. Whether it costs money, whether it's time, whether it's scary, whether you want to hesitate. It doesn't matter. If it helps you get what you want, boom. You make the decision, you do it. If it doesn't help you get what you've already identified that you want, you don't do it.

Why are you doing it? Yep. You run the other way as fast as possible, not because it's a bad thing, whatever it might be, but it's not gonna help you get what you, I've already identified what you want. I love what you say. Write it down too. That's a, that's an old hack, that you can get from many books.

Something that I've done myself for many, many years. You write it down and I'll tell you what, Nathan's right, that stuff starts like popping up like, wow, that happened. I wrote that down years ago. Holy moly, .

[00:30:12] Nathan Lange: Right? You know, the vision thing of it. It's a, it's a big thing. . I do believe big in that. I mean, I, so this piece of property we just bought, I drove by that piece of property for two years.

and I'd send a picture to my wife and I'm like, ah, this would be a cool piece of property someday. And we could die. We could build, we could do whatever we, you know, like it would just be a cool location for another landscape yard. And I didn't even own the company at the time, or it'd be an awesome location for my spray foam company, you know, and then we went looking for, I mean, I was looking to lease and I looked everywhere.

I looked at all these buildings, I looked at everything and nothing came out. Yeah. And I bet I called this guy who owned the property. All he had was a little sign in the corner for a sale. It was there for six, seven years. , even in this economy. It was just, it still sat there. And, I finally got up on the phone.

I bet. After 15 calls. Yeah. I just wanted to know what he wanted for it. For, for a year and a half I called. Wow. Leave message. You know, that's why it was still on the market . Right. And, I mean, honestly, when it all came down, I'm like, really, that's, that's what you want? Like, it's nine acres on a main highway.

Is that like, it wasn't even near what I thought he was gonna tell me. Right. And then it all, you know, it aligned out and we were able to make it work. But, you know, I, you know, you can say it's your vision. You can say, You know, you work hard towards that goal, but it's kind of like buying a new car. I mean, when once you buy a white car, you see all sorts of white cars or Ford explorers, you see all sorts.

That's what's in your mind at the time, and that's what you're driving towards. Yeah, so I love, I guess it's. It's the formula there too.

[00:31:40] Chaz Wolfe: So Yeah. Put it in the mind's eye like you just said. that's, that's, that's so good. I hope that, you're taking notes on this. I've kind of lingered on this moment for a mo or on this point for a moment, so that you can take these notes.

Cause I think it's just so important. If I could nail down, I don't know, top five things ever that's made me, you know, a ton of freaking. , and this would be one of 'em for sure. So I'm, I'm totally in alignment with you. So, okay, let's, let's, let's hop over to the speed round. Change the, change the pace here a little bit for the, for the listener.

We're gonna go one word answers, but, I'm, I'm like known to like, dig in and ask follow-up questions, so don't, don't hesitate to, give me more, especially if I ask for it. speed round question number one. You obviously have two large businesses and you've got, you're starting a third and you have all these important things that I'm sure you pay attention to, but if you could only track one metric in all of your businesses forever, what would it be?

Profit. And is that profit on every job? Is that profit at the end of the year? Is that profit?

[00:32:39] Nathan Lange: No, profit. quarterly, let's say, if you wanna track it. That's way, it goes right down to, like you just said, with every job. No, you don't make money out of the job. I would say another one would be, that goes along with this would be customer satisfaction.

I will be, I'm the kind of guy that would go, I will lose money to make a customer happy. Sure. I've done it. I actually just had a meeting with my insulators this morning. and I told, you know, one of the big things as we tell 'em is we clean the job sites. Every one of 'em, I clean the carpenter's mess, the electrician's mess.

The homeowner's mess. When they, when they get that job, that homeowner, that's spotless. That costs me money. Yeah. But ultimately the customer's happy. They walk in there, they're happy, they're wowed. Granted, yes. I mean, if they're not, if they're, if, if the project didn't go good, you know, I do everything I can.

I'll be there tomorrow if I can. Sure. We've sold steps in products before at a loss just because we made the mistake. you can't make a habit of that. But in the big picture of thing, the customer satisfaction and happy, happiness and helping, you know, helping them. , you know, reach their goal, your customer's goal.

Yeah. is more important in that instead of watching dollars and cents on every single job. Yep. You gotta watch your profit. Profit's not a bad word. People like to, you know, people will be like, oh my God, you're making so much money on this and that. Well, in turn, most businesses you're not, I mean, the profit margins are low and yes, you're making a living, you're making money.

And most companies put it back in, but the profit is, has to. . Yeah. and, and even like last year with all these price increases and supply chains and all of this, you have to watch it hard. Yep. We raised our prices I think four to five times last year. You know, just to, because all of the different market shifts and what we had to do and we had to buy product at a higher price in order to get it right.

We had it, you know, so. Yep. You gotta keep track of that cuz if you don't have it, you're gonna. You're gonna fail. Yeah. You'll go the opposite

[00:34:22] Chaz Wolfe: direction and fast. Exactly. Yeah. So, so what he said there, just to, just to, make sure that you're paying along here paying attention is you gotta make money. But I loved how intimately he linked customer satisfaction with profit.

Because if you have happy customers, it doesn't mean that you go looking for ways to lose money to make your people happy. But if they're happy, you're making money. Most.

likely

[00:34:50] Nathan Lange: and then they're gonna tell their friend they're happy. Yeah. Yeah. so that you, it just trickles down onto all of that. I mean, it's customer satisfaction.

You're, it's gotta be one of your, your main things. One of your main goals in businesses is to achieve what the customers, you know, trying to achieve. Help them achieve their goal, help them achieve their dream of what you're looking for. You know, I always, another thing I always tell 'em, like, all my guys here, I'm like, you know, we're not just doing a granite countertop.

I mean, we're building a granite countertop. our customer that saved their whole life and all she wanted was a nice kitchen. Okay. This could be a second home in our area, that this is a cabin. And they've dreamt their whole life that they want a cabin on the lake and they finally have it, and we get to help them put steps to the lake.

This was their dream. They've had their vision for years. Yeah. We helped them with that. You know, and, and on the insulation companies, the same thing. I mean, it's, it, it's. You can, you can say whatever you want, but I just tell 'em the guys like, we're insulating their house for, for multiple reasons. But you know that one bedroom upstairs in the corner, that's gonna be their baby's room.

Yeah. You want it drafty and cold and moldy because you got condensation issues. Or do you wanna say, when you're all said and done at the end of the day, that, that you help that whole customer Yeah. Achieve a very well-balanced, healthy. home So that you can continue on and be happy and, and hold your head high about that and have the customer be happy for the next 30 to 50 years until somebody else remodels it.

Yeah.

[00:36:11] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. So big. Yeah. Giving, giving even your, your crew a reason to press in. all that's so good. I mean, we, we could, we could do a whole show just on that. Even if we just had just that one piece, you would've provided already so much value. Nevertheless. The next question is this. What book would you recommend that a six figure owner read that wants to get to the seven figure mark?

[00:36:34] Nathan Lange: I have two . Perfect. Double, profit First. Yes. Profit First, goes Ties with My Profit. Yep. it's a very good book on, on how to basically spend within your means. It's kind of funny. I mean, it goes not to go into deep with it, but it basically, I mean, if you have $5, you'll figure out how to spend five.

If you have a hundred, you spend a hundred. But if you have 50 and that's all you have, you're gonna only spend the 50. So it's a very good way to, to structure that. Otherwise, I do believe it. It's, it's easy to look at your bank account and say, wow, I got some money. I'm gonna go buy this or buy that. You know, and this kind of helps you structure that and it, I think that's a good book.

Yep. And another one's an old one is the Think Can Grow Rich. it goes back to your vision of, of what you're gonna, you know, You know, basically it's in the wording, think and Grow Rich. It's, it's your vision of where you're gonna go and what you're gonna accomplish. Yep.

[00:37:20] Chaz Wolfe: I can attest to both of those books.

I think you're right. Paying yourself, first is basically the principle and making sure that the excess comes, after. And, and then of course thinking Grow Rich. That's an annual read. Must, must, must read that book. Mm-hmm. regularly. Very good. Okay, so next question. Do you, do you intentionally mastermind, or network with other entre.

[00:37:41] Nathan Lange: yes. more, probably the more so in the last two years I've seen the value of this versus in prior years. , I'm in a lot of different industries, so it does make it a little bit harder. Sure. As far as what industries, but I did, like, this year I had three trade shows I attended, you know, one for insulation, one for countertops, and one for monuments.

right. And also on that, I mean, you know, you can, it's, it's one thing to go to these things and you spend the money and you say, okay, the company's gonna spend this much money. We're gonna go to this event to try to, It's the next thing to actually network. everybody can go walk a show floor. Yep.

Right. introduce yourself, meet somebody. It's very hard. And it was harder for me. It's a lot easier now. I'm a talker so I can talk my way into something. Sure. excuse me. And, but it's very hard. I remember the first convention I went to, I mean, when we're all sitting that we walked the convention floor, we went back to our hotel and that was it.

Like we sat. and then we went to dinner with no one . And then I'm like, this isn't, you know, then I'm like, no, I'm going to this cocktail hour and I'm gonna have a beer with these guys and I'm gonna meet some people, you know? And, and now I mean this on the one industry. Now I sit on the board for the, for the monument industry and I'm a VP on the board.

It's all volunteer for our organization and Sure. Yeah. And, I mean, it's just an awesome, and now you're in that, you're higher level networking, you know? Yep, yep. And, , all of that. The conventions, the, the, any networking, whether it comes down to. your local chamber. You know, if you don't have any money or if you're just starting out, your local chamber, your local events, your, every town has an event of some sort.

Start going to 'em mall. Yep. You know, another one is, I am actually on the, the, I'm the chief of the local fire department as well. Wow. And I mean, that's, you get some great, opportunity to network with your fellow firemen that are all in the industry. Granted, I know 'em all, but now we see each other twice a month.

you know, . So, but, but all of that stuff is all networking. It doesn't necessarily like it's a set structure. Yeah. Or Mastermind or, or something like that. But it's all the networking part of it. But then I also do, like I said, in the last two years, I've done more of the mastermind stuff. I have, joined a few different groups, kinda like the one that you host.

Where, you know, if you wanna level up, I do believe you need that. You know, there's other people that have been through all of this. Whether you're a six figure, seven figure, eight figure, nine figure, wherever you're gonna go in life. Yeah. If you're somebody who wants, you know, I'm starting out and I'm a five figure and wanna go to six, we'll start talking to six figure and figure out how they do it.

We'll start talking to seven figure owners and start, how did they do it? What are the tr Where are you buying your product? What are you doing? How are you handling employees? Where are you finding them? Right. these are all things that everybody will talk about. I, the, the cliche of they're a competitor.

Even like the, the more I've learned the competitors out there. Yeah. You always have a competitor, but Sure. I just went to a convention and sat with one of my biggest competitors and we sat there over beers and bullshitted and talked about all sorts of stuff. Yep. You know, Yep. And they're not really competitors.

Everybody's there in the industry that wants to see everybody succeed. Yeah. You know, you always have your secrets that you're like, man, I don't like that guy. But at the end of the day, we. , you know, everybody wants to succeed. So, and you know, it just depends on the level you're at, I guess. Yeah. You know, it's, to start with, it's, it's a local group, it's smaller stuff and then, but the faster you want to grow, you need to talk to the higher level people.

Yeah. I mean, I've learned a ton in a few masterminds and, and phone calls and, and stuff like that, that it totally. It catapults you to the next level faster than you could get there on your own.

[00:40:56] Chaz Wolfe: Oh, a hundred percent And most, to your point, most people, at least clients of mine one. One decision. instantly.

It makes the whole thing, quote unquote worth it. Right? One connection. One, one, I didn't do that and instead I did this because I met so-and-so or whatever. it, it, it can, you don't know what you don't know and you don't know who you don't know. Yeah. So, I love how you said that cuz me being an introvert, I'm the same way as you described, going to your first, in your first, conference there, man, like.

Getting out and like purposely talking, like that's a choice. That's a choice. especially for someone like me who's an introvert by nature, and it's just like, man, I, I, I need to shake hands and it's not easy and I have to choose to do it. But the value that's come not only. To my businesses, but to me personally, I have grown as an individual.

Mm-hmm. because of hands that I've shaken. Guys like you. Like that's how we met. I reached out, I can't remember if he was, you reached out to me or I reached out to you, but we reached out. Yeah. We, that's just how we, that's how high performers connect is you reach out, you don't care what other people think, and you just meet people.

That's just, that's just how things happen. And it's

[00:41:59] Nathan Lange: crazy. You meet, like I said, I sit on that board, we meet quarterly and I see 'em more than my family half the time, you know, my extended family and I mean, they're good friends. You can pick up the phone. Hey, what are you doing? , you're sending goofy texts between people.

It's, it's more of a friendship and it grows and Totally. And the business side is, is the easy side at that point.

[00:42:14] Chaz Wolfe: Yep, exactly. I love that perspective. Okay, last question. and, and sometimes it's the heaviest, I leave it to the end, if you lost it all, what would you do, Nathan? What would you do?

[00:42:27] Nathan Lange: I would. . I mean, I, I'd probably end up starting another business of some sort and , whether it's, I mean, I don't know, it's just kind of my mentality.

I always see something that I think to do, and I mean, I would probably fire off another direction. I mean, and you, you work hard and you get through it and you know, you, you cut back on the things you need and you make it through it, you know, and grow it from there. Yep. I don't know, I just always, you know, a lot of people say when they're growing up and stuff, , you know, not everybody knows what they were doing.

I feel like I was fairly fortunate. I, I did kind of know what I wanted to do. I mean, I, I kind of felt like, you know, growing up in the granite business and like, I know that that's prob, I mean, not probably that's like what I wanted to do. No one forced me to do any of this. Sure. the spray foam kind of fell on my lap.

But I mean, it was, it's a great adventure and I love seeing it grow and I love the people that are, that they work with every day and the, and the products we do. Yeah. . So I would probably end up starting another, another business and yeah. You know, and it, some people say my businesses are all over the place too, but they're actually kind of linear.

You know, there is kind of a ladder effect with 'em all. I mean, we go from waterproofing, somebody's foundation, you know, to insulating their home. So now we can do their granite countertops, we can do their landscape supplies, their masonary supplies, you know, and then, I mean, if you wanna get darker, it's the monument side, but , you know, I mean, so there's kinda a, a linear progression there.

Are you saying you have 'em covered

[00:43:48] Chaz Wolfe: from the beginning to

[00:43:49] Nathan Lange: the end? kinda, yeah. We got 'em covered from their home build to the end there. Oh, that's too much. I'll put that on the trailers if we got you covered from the beginning to the end. That's right. Hey,

[00:43:59] Chaz Wolfe: I only asked for 1%. Okay. I lo learned long time ago.

You don't, I don't need the whole pie. I'll sell it to you for only 1%. right. Nathan. Dude, this has been incredible. Your story. I, I love the perspective of buying into a family business, a big family business, and then having to rebuild it. Obviously there's family dynamics that I'm sure that went into that.

Having something else on the side that's grown into an actual company. I mean, your side project ha employs. More people than, you know, 80% of the, the, the businesses out there that are solopreneurs, you know? Mm-hmm. , like, you're obviously a, a, a killer. You're obviously a high performer. So like, congratulations number one, but just thank you, thank you for coming.

Thank you for sharing. Yeah. Anytime. If, if somebody, resonated with just everything you've got going on, they want to connect with you, maybe they wanna come work for you, I don't know. how would they f how would they find you? ?

[00:44:47] Nathan Lange: You know, I'm, I'm always willing to help with anything. I learned a long time ago that, you know, you gotta give to receive.

so I'm always willing to help anybody's questions, anybody's. I don't have 'em all. I'm a long ways from knowing everything . but you can connect with me on Facebook. you know, it's, it's Nathan Lang. you know, I've got my, my Facebook for my Northland spray foam company, my Northland Monument Company.

but personally it's Nathan Lang. Or you can, you know, you can contact me too on the websites of northland spray foam.com or northland monument.com. my Instagram is, chief Mutton. so you can kinda, any, any way you want there. We, so

[00:45:21] Chaz Wolfe: we've got, we've got lots of ways to connect you. Nathan Lang.

Yeah, that's l a n g e. If you didn't, depend upon if my editor cut out the beginning where I, I potentially buffed as. first his last name, but, but I didn't though I said it right. ?

[00:45:34] Nathan Lange: Nope. You hit or I'm the target .

[00:45:36] Chaz Wolfe: That's awesome, brother. The way I so appreciate you. I know the listener does as well. You gave, way more than we bargained for.

So thank you again and, best of luck to everything you have going on. Thank you.

Host Chaz Wolfe is bringing the 🔥heat🔥 with his latest episode featuring the entrepreneurial king, Nathan Lange. Nathan is the man behind several successful businesses, including Northland Monument, Northland Spray Foam, and his latest venture in property management. Nathan has been a hustler since elementary school, making money through turtle races and selling his woodshop creations to his school's principal. This entrepreneurial spirit has been instilled in him from a young age and has led him to the success he has today. But he's not one to force his kids into the family business, instead encouraging them to find their own paths. In this episode, Nathan shares his experience in growing multiple 7-figure businesses and the importance of pivoting when things don't go according to plan. He emphasizes the significance of customer satisfaction over profit and the value of networking with other entrepreneurs in your industry. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows, as Nathan shares his challenges in rebuilding after setbacks and the tough decision to let go of bad employees. He also stresses the importance of having a clear direction and goal in mind when starting a business. If you're ready to level up in your entrepreneurial journey, then you don't want to miss this episode of Gathering the Kings. Like, subscribe, leave a review, and share with your friends to show your support and keep the good vibes rolling.

Nathan Lange:

Website :https://northlandmonument.com

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