SPEAKER_00 0:00

Just be willing to just be silly, not make mistakes, have a good time. Uh, I think the phrase that I've picked up uh from some seminars I went to once was like, there's nothing wrong here.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

What's up, Northern Colorado? This is another episode of Connections That Matter, where we have awesome conversations with Northern Colorado's best networkers. Today I have the legendary Steve Martin from Charisma Construction. Steve, welcome to the show. That's very humbling.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Thank you so much, man. Good to be here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

If you've been to one of the networking events, uh every time that you're in there, you make your presence known. You bring the hype, you bring the energy. Uh, but if people haven't met you yet, tell us a little bit more about what you do.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Uh well, I um I love connecting other people with other people. Um and that's not what I do for money, but that's one of my favorite things to do. Um, I own charisma construction. Uh, we do commercial remodel tenant finishes, tenant improvements. If somebody has any kind of construction question, we always say, hey, just give me a call and I'll talk to you about it. But that's kind of what we're focused on is doing the commercial stuff. But I do love coming and bringing the hype to the networking groups. And um, a lot of what I do is just it's like customer service. I'm just, you know, a big customer service business who just happens to do construction. Sure. So I love connecting people with people. And so I appreciate you having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah, right on. Well, I I'm sure you talk to entrepreneurs who just spent a lot of money to get a space. Now they're building it now, building the business the way they are. But um, how would you describe the entrepreneurs that you work with with their ambition and drive uh from pre-construction all the way to their grand openings?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Well, I love it because like so I tell people that we're helping people build dreams. And that's because I looked around at the people we're working with, and they're like, they just wrote a business plan and they've got an idea, and some of sometimes it's a franchise, like a Hotworks or something that we've done. And then because we've done all of those, all five of those in northern Colorado. And then sometimes it's like medical offices where somebody's got this dream, like, I want to like open up this space and I'm gonna work out of it, but I'm gonna rent out all these other spaces to individual entrepreneurs as well. So we're working with some people doing that. Um it's exciting for me because there's uh there's a lot of fresh ideas and they're they're they've they've got a passion. And every time it's like, well, I've taken this big loan and I'm stepping out, but I'm gonna do it. And I'm just like, I'm right there with you. So I love getting to be there to support them, to be an encourager. Um, I think that's one of the the fun parts for me is uh just just getting to be there to be there, like almost like their family support while we're doing the build out.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

I love that. Uh and and you're a connector, you talked about like what do I do? I can I I'm a connector of people. Um, how has networking helped you with your business?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Uh for me, it's huge. I mean, it again, it's fun. Uh, that's one of the things I like about it, is it's fun, but it's helped me. Uh, I literally sat down seven years ago when I started this business, seven and a half years ago, and I called everybody in my cell phone. Hey, I'm stepping out, um, uh, I'm quitting my job. Uh, in about two weeks, I'm gonna be done. Uh, I literally called everybody in my phone and just said, Hey, you know, so how has networking helped my business? It's it's the it's the it's the foundation of my business. Um but that's an example of kind of what I did when I started my business. And then networking in general, it's like you've constantly got to meet people. Yeah, and not just like, oh, hey, here's my card, I'm such an awesome person. It's hey, tell me about you. And then you listen. So networking has helped my business because I've learned a lot about people. I've gotten to um find out how I can be useful and helpful to other people, and it just networking just comes back around. And just being unselfish and just reaching out to people. So networking has helped my business. Just getting out there and meeting people. I mean, that just it helps, it helps put me over the top, I would think.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Because then people remember me and they're like, oh yeah, I remember that guy. And that way I I really strive hard to in my actual business to to have a high attention to detail and to do really good work. In which, if you do really good work, you never have to chase a paycheck. And you just you you do right by people. And I don't know, that's just that's part of my networking. Uh, that's part of who I am as a person. I think we were talking about that at one point. Yeah, and you just it's just like, wow, who you are as a person and your brand just speaks volumes. And that was a compliment that I think you gave me, and I I'll take again. And it's just I, you know, just I get out there, I call people, I check on people, I check back up on people. Um, I don't know. I guess it's just how my parents raised me in general. Sure. As a person, and that's just what I've kind of put in in, you know, as part of what I do.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

I love how you started that out. Like, hey, it's fun. Networking is a fun thing to do. And I talked to a lot of people about networking, and it's not fun for everybody. Let me just say that. There's some people who network, but it it like they get nervous, they don't know who they need to talk to, or they uh, you know, they just feel awkward and stuff. But you're like you're like naturally in your environment uh at a networking event. So any tips of how to make networking fun?

SPEAKER_00 5:34

I was a shy child, okay. Let's be honest. I don't believe it. Uh you you I know I I've been I keep trying to tell people that they're like, I don't believe it. Uh you should meet my nine-year-old. He's not shy. He is very much me as a child. Um, so what was your question? How do you make it fun?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

How do you make networking fun, or how do you keep it fun?

SPEAKER_00 5:51

You know, um I I was a police officer, as you know, for seven years, and we were always on. I mean, I told and I trained police officers for three years, and I was just like, whenever I told those guys people, I was just like, always assume you're VM video's. Just always assume all the time that you're on camera. Um, and then it's like, so it's just how do you make it fun? Just get out there and just just let it go. Be just be silly, be fun, be silly, say what pops into your head. And there's been some times I've I've been chit-chatting with some people at one of our events, and uh, and they'll just let loose, because I'm a very safe space for that, right? And so they'll let loose and I'll and then I'll let them talk, and at the end of it, I'll go, cool, that was perfect. Focus on saying these three things, and then that fourth thing, let that one go. And then the next time you talk to somebody, just say these three things, but don't say that thing. And so I kind of coach people a little bit, but it's just I think the biggest thing is just be silly, be silly, be fun, be willing to check your ego at the door and just be yourself. And whatever that self is, that's cool. It's cool. How whatever your self is, is cool. And naturally, as a like just your inner monologue, because a lot of entrepreneurs are people who are self-reflective. A lot of people in the room are are looking to learn, they're looking uh to better themselves. So I think you know, almost that even goes without saying. If they'll just be silly, they'll self-correct a little bit and then they'll just have a good time. Um just be willing to say the wrong thing, be willing to make a mistake. Like it's not that big of a deal. Like uh that I don't know, that's just those are my things. It's like just just be willing to just be silly, not make mistakes, have a good time. Uh, I think the phrase that I've picked up uh from some seminars I went to once was like, there's nothing wrong here.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Right. There's nothing wrong here. Just have a good time. Um, maybe most people are scared. Most people are afraid. You know, everybody has different experiences, you know. My experiences might be slightly different. So, no, I guess that would be the advice then. Just be silly, be fun. There's nothing wrong here, have a good time. Uh, and then just you know, be self-reflective and always try to grow a little bit, and it'll be fine.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Yeah, I love that. So, with your business, how much would you say of your new business comes in through referrals?

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Oh, like almost a hundred percent. Really? Yes. Um, especially now that we focused on doing mostly commercial, it's you know, you you can advertise as much as you want, but but when it comes to what I do, like it's hey, who who who did your build out? Who would you recommend? And then when they even call me, they're like, I still want three referrals. Like, I want to talk to three of your existing customers or your previous customers. So yeah, it's huge. It's like I'm in a world where you gotta do a good job and and you gotta keep good relationships with people because it's everything. And and and I don't think I'm unique by any means. I mean, I think a lot of businesses are that way, but that was a great question. I mean, it's referrals are referrals are huge because it's like nobody hires, you know. I mean, sometimes people will get on fishing and be like, oh, I'm looking for some basement contractor or whatever, which we still do some basements, but you know what I'm saying? It's like people will Google people and people will come out and look at things, but at the end of the day, like the strongest, the strongest is a referral. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Well, I was just at a social event and uh I was at Christina Graciano's photo studio. Yeah. And uh great studio, but she she mentioned that you you helped build that out, and it was one of your first projects that you did.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

It was my very first commercial project. It's funny, I was there too, and I got to toured again. I got a huge compliment. Somebody walked, I mean, because that was seven and that was seven years ago, man. Okay, that was seven years ago, and one of the people in the room noticed me and said, Hey, I heard you did this. And I was humbled because they were like, Wow, seven years? This place still looks amazing. I bet you do really good work. And I was super humbled, and I was just like, Yeah, thank you. Like, it felt good. It felt it was it was real humbling that somebody was just like, Wow, seven years later, this was your first project, and it still looks this good. And so I I appreciate that. And Christina has been a huge, huge uh vocal uh uh supporter of ours. And uh there's been some there's been lots of meetings where, but yeah, that that felt really good. Uh it's it was awesome being in that space. It was it was it was seriously humbling. That was my very first commercial project from start to finish.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

And now you're doing hot works. You said you did five hot works, but oh yeah. How do you go? So I'm going out on my own. I just imagine you're going through all of your phone, being like, hey, is there any anything I could follow up on? You get a break, you do the Christina Graciano Photo Studio. But how do you parlay that into uh consistent business where um you know it's not as scary as when you go out on your own?

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Well, it starts with a lot of work. So for example, I knocked every door on 4th Street in downtown Loveland in 2018, May of 2018. I knocked every door. I went to Maiden Loveland because it used to be in May, not February, where I met you and I met Christina at Maiden Loveland. Okay, actually, on at that uh at that uh con uh at that meeting and all that stuff. Anyways, um but I started just calling people, meeting people. When does it not get scary? I think if you just consistently attend things, make yourself available, um networking meetings, uh go to places where people are like you know, whether it's in Fort Collins or in Loveland, you know, whether it's the uh a seminar series or something, you go meet people, um, you you go to networking events, you talk to people. Eventually you just it just becomes a lifestyle, really. You go out, you meet new people, you meet new people. Um and then next thing you know, it's like you get opportunities, and then you you work, you work your butt off to make sure that you make the best of your opportunities, at least that's what I've been doing. And then you just keep being nice to people and you meet people. Is that answer your question?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

I think so for sure. And then beyond the referrals, how much repeat business? So people who come back to you to do multiple projects or different things.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Well, actually, you should ask. We are bidding a second project this year. We did a we did a project for somebody and and they uh it's going well and they started another business. So there you go. Yeah, it honestly, to be honest, it doesn't happen very often because most people kind of do one business and then and then they refer us to their friends because we did all the hot works in northern Colorado. We did Prime IV, we've done, we built, we ended up built helping build a church project and just all kinds of stuff. We built an addition on a church. Um, but yeah, that was actually kind of cool. This year I had a guy call me and just be like, Hey, uh, I know I just uh did one business with you, but we're starting a second business this year. And I was like, that's crazy. So it's actually it doesn't happen very often, but to this is the year where we're bidding uh uh a project. He called me and said, I want you to be my contractor, but I gotta get three bids. And I was like, that's understandable. Yeah, you know, we'll we'll we'll fight to earn your business, you know? Yeah, so yeah, that's it's funny that you mentioned that. But yeah, this is one of those years where somebody's actually doing a second project.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Well, and maybe even not the repeat business, but you do such a great job. Somebody would ask for a referral. Hey, who did your who did your work? It's nice to be able to have that that name being thrown out as a as a testimony of it.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

It's tumbling. I it feels really good. Um, you know, we love those five star reviews on Google. Um, in my laptop bag in the truck outside, I have a hand I have a hand-typed letter. Like with a typewriter type? Yeah, maybe. I don't know, it was close. So uh I'm pretty humbled. We we did that, we built an addition on a church. It was like a 13-month project. And um, at the end of it, the board members typed and they all hand signed. That was probably the best referral I probably could have. Because when people ask for uh numbers, I give them numbers and I'm like, hey, just so you know, I've got an actual typed letter with five signatures at the bottom of it, uh saying that if we ever need a referral, I was like, so if you want, I can give you these phone numbers to call people, but I also I've got an actual letter.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

That's cool. That's super cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Yep. We did a yeah, we did that project in 2023 for the Prince of Peace, the Lutheran Church, and they were they were awesome.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Really cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

They were awesome people.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Well, a lot of business owners network because they're wanting to receive business, but I imagine as a contractor making connections so that you have the subcontractors that you trust, people that you can um bring into different projects to help them is huge. So anybody specific you want to highlight that uh you constantly give referrals to that help your business do um what you do?

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Um, I'll yeah. Um if I leave somebody out, I'm sorry. I mean, sure. Uh there's a well, so we work uh there's lots of different people we work with. So Alliance Electric is one of the ones that we work with. Uh Hunter Hadfield with Hadfield Handyman, who's also in our group, um, met with him this morning. Um, Justin Ewing with uh JJ Deck and Pergola does a great job. Uh we've also done some work with Lone Vicker Electric. Um uh Polar Bear Plumbing Heating and Air is someone that we've been spending some time with. We actually uh smoked off uh a bunch of pork butts last week and took them out and uh we fed them lunch. That was a lot of fun because I was I spent a lot of time working in the restaurant industry and I love cooking. And so we just had some opportunity. Aster Architects in Berthed, uh they've been really cool. Bree Huber, Huber Interiors. Um, let's see. Uh Kron Brothers construction. Yeah, we've we've just been we've been blessed. Palomar Concrete, they do a good job. Uh we just I've I've been meeting people since I started my business. Like, I'll just I'll pull into Home Depot and just be like, hey, can I get your cards? Can I get your cards? I'll try people out. And so uh, I mean, I I spent seven years as a police officer, so I like to vet people out really hardcore. And um, I love the people we work with. They've been, I would have them in my house, around my kids, around, you know, just you know, I love I love those people that we've been working with. So, yeah, those are those are just some of the many. I bet if we sat here longer, yeah, I get I could probably spill out a few more. Sure. But uh yeah, those are those are some good ones. If anybody ever wants to call me and just say, hey, I need a good this guy, or yeah, you know, I need a good that, uh, Alpine Landscape is good. Uh Alpine Sprinklers and Landscape. Uh, just just yeah, whatever. But those are good. Really good.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Those are good people. How do you how do you vet them? Um, because a lot of people go to networking events, they're trying to make a connection, but you don't you're not gonna give it necessarily an account over just because I grabbed your business card. Um, but if you're gonna give somebody a shot to be like, hey, you're on my list, um, what what kind of things do you do so people end up on your list?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Well, that's a that's a trade secret. So I don't know if I can I don't know if I can tell you that really. Yeah, that's my trade secret. Um there's a some of it's intuition, some of it's just that old gut feeling. Um questions. Again, I like to talk, but I I find out if I ask people questions, tell me about yourself. People have a really hard time really hiding who they are as a person. Just like, hey, tell me about yourself, tell me about your life a little bit, tell me about your kids. You know, what are some things that are passionate? What are you passionate about? You know, so once you start asking questions at let people talk, because I don't know. I just I think people will will will will fire off a few flares right away, letting you know who they are as a real person. Just give them an opportunity to be authentic. And so once people get authentic, and then and then asking them, like, what are some things you've done? You know, what are some things you're working on? And then just meet meet some real people in their life, meet some of their customers. Um it's pretty quick, you know, and then you can give people a test and you give people an opportunity, you know, and once I give them that opportunity, I just watch them close. You know, watch them. And most of the people that we connect with, when I say we as like people on my team or whatever, most of the people that we connect with uh turn out to be great people. So asking people's questions, like I said, what are they passionate about? What are they into? Um, you know, are you married? Do you have kids? You know, whatever. And there's no wrong answer either. It's just giving people an opportunity and just kind of see whether we click. You know?

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yep. Yeah. How do uh how do you how do you manage it all? I work with a lot of trades, trades business, and oh my gosh. A lot of them struggle to network because they're on a job or uh they're backed up, but it's a balance. Yeah. Any any tips or any any any industry trade secrets that you're all right?

SPEAKER_00 19:33

So this for being just 100% raw today, you know. Um, I would say there's a phrase, and you can repeat it over and over. I need to stay organized. Okay, I need to stay organized. Okay, how do I stay organized? I need to stay organized. That's a huge part of it. How do you stay balanced? To stay balanced, you have to ask yourself that question or tell yourself that statement. Like, okay, I need to be organized. How do we put hard things on the calendar, have hard meetings, have only a certain number of meetings a week, and then have make family time for your with your kids or your family or whatever, if it's your pets, whatever it is. It's like you put hard meetings on the calendar that are non-negotiable. And once those fill up, it's that next week. One of my close friends told me one time plan meetings out. And if you have to, say, I'll see you in three weeks. You can't, you got to have non-negotiable time. For me, like I like to go to the gym, I like to take my kids to school, or I like to pick my kids up, or we go to the arcade. We were at that B Rad's arcade uh uh on Saturday. Uh, we had family time uh at CSU for, you know, our uh Joy's daughter was doing as five, it was parents' weekend for five-mute sorority, so we're up there. But you gotta have those like work things and non-work things that are non-negotiable. This is what I'm doing. I'm going to the gym these three days a week at this time, which for me today is at 4:30. And it's like I can't miss it. I want to talk myself out of it because I'm not feeling like it today, but that's when you know you need to talk yourself into it. When you're talking yourself out of your stuff, so that's where the balance comes from. Make these things, make commitments, say you're gonna do these things, and then just say, okay, I need to stay organized, I need to stay on task, I need to do what I said I was gonna do. I think it's the integrity part of it, honestly. Just do what you say you're gonna do. And I think that's what translates for me. I would like to think that's what translates into my business is the integrity aspect of is we do what we say we're gonna do. We commit to something, it doesn't matter how hard it is. You just do what you say you're gonna do. It's non-negotiable. And that, like I said, it's meetings, it's your family time, it's your personal time.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

So that's what I think. I love it. Um, well, uh this connections that matter, there's people watching this that really like love your energy, would love to connect. Um, is there any specific industries that you're looking to connect with, do one to ones or or to meet new connections with?

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Well, mine, you know, I'm I like to be out there. Um I ha I'm willing to I'm willing to connect with any of the industries, honestly. That's a great question. They kind of kind of caught me off guard there. I'm not sure. Cause I work with all kinds of different people. Um I'm always I'm always looking to meet with dreamers, people who are trying to like get out of their house, they're getting out of their garage, they're tired of having that storage unit, and they're trying to find a place. Um I think sometimes it's retail, people who are into retail selling stuff. Sometimes it's service businesses, whether it's a salon or whether they're, you know, um, or whether it's physical therapy or whatever, because we've got some different clients that are like opening up businesses. It's people who are trying to like get out of their house, get out, or they're in a small place. Maybe they're in a small unit and they're they're gonna lease a bigger place, or maybe they're trying to buy a building and then lease some stuff out of themselves. So I think uh I think we work well with people who are in retail of some sorts. Um, we've done the the gyms. Uh we're doing the spas, we're doing the salons, we're doing stuff like that, the medical offices. So um, yeah, that's the best thing I can do on short notice there.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Yeah, no, those, those are really good. I'm just thinking about that entrepreneur that it's working out of the garage or they're making stuff in the basement, and it's it's a big swing or a big investment to get a storefront somewhere. Any advice you would give to an entrepreneur, the dreamer that you would uh call read all the boring books.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

What are the boring ones? Read all the boring books, take the SVA class, go do the class, like write write, like actually write your business plan. If I had to start over, I would have written a better business plan. I would have met with an accountant who's also a business consultant. Because a lot of the accountants out there, uh, there are a lot of really good accountants in our area, like uh elevated tax and consulting in Windsor, Zach Roth, he's really awesome. He's one of those guys that's like he's he's a he's an affordable consultant. You can go, and I I totally didn't mean to plug his business there, but way to go, Zach. Um, he's one of those guys. If I could have met him seven years ago instead of three years ago, he it totally transformed my business. Just doing things by the numbers because it's magical. When you do the boring book, you read the boring books, you write the boring business plans, and you chart the actual sales targets. I know that's the thing. A lot of business owners are very, you know, they're dreamers. But if you can balance yourself, like we were talking earlier, if you can balance yourself out, do all the boring stuff, then you've got real sales targets. You got real goals, you got real things to strive after. Meet with the people who know who are smart with money. It took me four years of running this business to figure out I needed to find somebody smarter than me, which it didn't take very long to find somebody smarter than me, but I need to find somebody who was smarter than me about money. And I was just like, hey, tell me what I don't know about money. And that and that's that's always the fun. Find out what you don't know you don't know, right? You know that you've heard that before. You find out what you don't know, you don't know. And especially a lot of times, if you can balance yourself out, because if you're a dreamer and you can balance yourself out with people who are just really good with numbers and data, they they can just be like, oh, I got 10 other clients just like you who are construction companies, Steve. Here's what you should be doing. And it's like, great, thank you. I don't mind, put me in my place. You know, I don't mind. You know, tell me what I don't know about money. You know, what how can I grow? You know, how can I be more competitive or how can I be more profitable? Like, what do I look at my numbers? Tell me what, tell me what you see. Because what I take away from a balance sheet is gonna be different than what a CPA takes away from a balance sheet. They can be like, Why are you spending so much money over here? Why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you doing that? So find out what you don't know that you don't know. That's what that's what I would tell people when it comes to things. Read the boring books, you know, reread how to win flends and influence people. Just be straight honest with you. That's another, that's another thing that I've been that somebody asked me last week, like, what are you reading, Steve? You're gonna be honest, I'm rereading how to win friends and influence people. And somebody said, Why would you need to do that? And I said, Well, I'll take that compliment, but at the same time, just do it, reread it. It's because we gotta remember that it's always about other people. How can we help other people? And we're never too smart to start over, to re to reinvent ourselves, to reread things. Don't, you know, don't be so narcissistic. Don't don't think you're so awesome that you can't just like start over and redo some things. And so I don't know. I just I try to embody that in my own personal habits. And you notice like I'm getting really real with you right here, but that's it. You know, never, never, my mom would say, like, don't be too big for your own bridges. You know what I mean? This it's just like you gotta make sure that you're out helping people and doing good by people and never forget where you come from. Yeah, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

So that's real stuff, Steve. I love I love that. Yeah. Uh good insight. I think you know, you highlighted uh from a networking standpoint, not just to chase your next deal or relationship or build something where you can get referrals, but chase your next smart person, somebody who's an industry expert that uh if you're out there spending time networking, that could really help you scale your business. Um, Steve, thanks so much for coming on the show. I know there's people watching. Maybe they're they got that dream, the business in the garage, they're looking for a storefront. So maybe either they want to do a one-to-one with you or they might have a construction project. Uh, but how can people get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Iron sharpened iron, man. Give me a call, email me, text me. My phone number's there on my website that actually rings to my real cell phone. Uh so yeah, I would love to meet the next person that can help pull me up and and and make me better. And I'd love to meet the next person. Maybe I can help somebody else else out. So I'd love to just, you know, think tank with each other.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

So that'd be great. Right on.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Do you want to give the phone number out or an out or 970-541-1101? So there you go. Yeah, feel free to give me a call. Uh, it's always a pleasure getting to see, getting to see you, man. Yeah, you seem to always bring the best out in people.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

I love that. Right on, see. Well, appreciate you. Thanks for coming on the show. And uh see you around Northern Colorado. Sounds good. Thanks. Hey all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado. I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh, go in the podcast description. There's a way so that you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe uh you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.