You're losing top level talent because your mission isn't clear. The reason people leave your organization or not join your organization isn't because they have a better paying opportunity. It's because your vision isn't bigger than theirs. And he who has the bigger vision will always win. The reason I stayed at a solar company for five years that was started in somebody's house for $13 an hour was not because I wanted to get paid $13 an hour. It's because the mission and the vision was painted so big and so clear to me that it would have been a disservice to my own story if I wasn't a part of it. And that's how Craigslist changed my life. I moved here in 2017 in Tri-Cities, Washington with almost no money in my bank account trying to figure out what am I going to do with my life after I failed the business venture prior. I was just homeless for six months when my best friend's family that I grew up with said that I could stay with them and start over. So I hopped around from a couple jobs. I worked at some retail jobs and eventually stumbled into car sales. I've always been a pretty good salesman, but I hate cars. And being in a used car salesman environment was completely toxic. It was awful. It was one of the few jobs where I actually hated showing up to work every single day. I was so desperate to find something that I could be a part of that I started scrolling through Craigslist. I eventually stumbled upon a Craigslist ad that was posted that said, startup company need help now call me. That's all it said. And then there was a phone number at the bottom. I sent in my resume. I called the phone number. They didn't answer, but they sent me an email back saying, we want to bring you in for an interview. All right, we're off to the races. So I drive out to the interview and keep in mind, I haven't lived here in Tri-Cities very long and I'm driving into North Pasco. And for those who aren't familiar with the Tri-Cities, we're in the countryside and I'm a city boy at heart. I'm very confused of where I'm at. I show up at this person's house. I call the number. Somebody answered on the other line. I told them I'm really sorry. I think I'm going to be late for my interview. I showed about somebody's house. I think I put in the wrong directions. The guy responded on the other side. Sternley was like, you're at the right spot. Just walk into the office. I go to the office. He goes, yes, it's in the shop. He convinced me that I was wrong to even think that the business wouldn't be at this house. I parked my car. I opened the door to the shop and all I could see around me is concrete floors, four desks on the left, a desk that was propped up on the right by books, and then three guys in the center table looking at different diagrams. And then I see a guy stand up in an L-shaped desk in the back right corner that took up like a fourth of the room. He sort of been said, you know this interview is casual, right? And I look down and I'm wearing a velvet suit. I'm dressed to the nines. Everybody else I realized was in jeans, sweatpants, and a hoodie. I sit down. I go, no, sorry, I didn't know it was casual. So we sit down and that person ended up being Chris Lee that I interviewed with. He asked me questions about my past, my life, what I'd been up to. I'd mentioned that I had a door-to-door sales background, which I found out that most people in that room came from the door-to-door space. So we bonded over that and he started to give me some more information about what the company was. He said, this is a solar company. We are going to be the largest solar installer in the entire nation. In five years, we'll be doing $100 million in revenue and we'll have over a thousand employees nationwide in my head internally. But this guy was crazy. I'm in this guy's house in a garage and there's only five other people here. How is it even possible that this could turn into that? But I was infatuated by how crazy this seemed. I was hooked. Right off the bat, he puts me to work. I ended up being a working interview that I was ill-prepared for. At that point, the role that I was showing up for was not a role that I was passionate about at all. It was designing solar systems. In the solar industry, we called it proposals. So after we collected an electric bill from a customer and we wanted to create a quote for them, they would send it into me, my role, and I would take that information and design the solar system on the roof of their home from Google Maps. They put me to work for about a half hour and I was already busting out proposals for a company that I didn't believe in just because I saw a vision that was unbelievably clear, even though it felt crazy. So after I worked for about 30 minutes, I went back to Chris, we chatted some more, and then he told me that they would be in touch with me. So I drive home and he immediately calls me, said, you know what, we really liked you. We would like to offer you for $12 an hour. Now at that time, I had two other interviews the following day that I knew I wanted to go interview at, potential other opportunities at a real business. I told him, hey, out of respect, I appreciate the offer, but I have two more interviews I would like to go. I'm going to go to those interviews and I'll get back to you after the interviews. Chris responds. He says, that's great. Unfortunately, the person that we're looking for would take action right now. And if you want to look at other places, that's awesome. I totally understand, but we will as well. I go, okay, let me think about it till tonight. I'll text you back tonight. That fair? Chris says, yes, we hang up. I go home that night and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do. They offer me $12 an hour. At that point, I believe that was minimum wage, maybe a little bit more. I had two other interviews for $15 an hour. I thought to myself, I can make an extra $3 an hour. One of them was a retail manager for a thrift store. The other was working in food again. I hated working in food, but I still wanted to do the interviews. So I lied. I texted Chris that night and I said, hey, Chris, thank you for the opportunity, but I'll join if you can pay me $15 an hour. We settled at $13.50. I felt like I beat him. I won. I got a $1.50 more than 12. He said, great, you can start tomorrow. I respond with, you know what? I would love to start tomorrow, but I just moved here into town. I still have to move some things around in my bank accounts. I need to go to the bank in the morning. I would be happy to start the day after. He responds, well, you can just come in right after you go to the bank. I say, you know what? What if I just came in fresh the day after? Finally, they caved and they're like, all right, whatever, weirdo. So then I showed up two days later. In between, I saw the opportunity that I had that I could still go to these other interviews. I went to the other interviews and they're great, but for $1.50 more per hour, for $15 an hour, I didn't get the same feeling that I got when I sat across from this L-shaped desk and talked to this crazy man about how this would be the biggest solar company in the nation. It didn't get me fired up being a retail manager at a first store. So I decided to not accept those positions and I went in with a full head of steam two days later to join the solar company. Now, I've been a part of a few other startups in my life and most of them didn't work out. It's like most startups don't work out. And I even thought, well, worst case scenario that doesn't work out in three months, I'll find something else. I was so glad that I was wrong. Five years later, that company that started in a garage with just eight of us ended up being the largest residential solar installer in the entire country with over 1200 people nationwide, 10 states, 20 plus locations, and we did double the amount of revenue that we thought. We eventually sold that company for over $200 million. I was a part of that journey, not because I negotiated for $13.50. I was a part of that because I knew whatever I had to do, I wanted to contribute to the vision of becoming the largest solar installer in the nation. But it started with having a strong emission statement. That mission statement for us was building a brighter future for our people. That included both internally our employees, and included our customers, and it included our community. To me, that was something that I could be a part of. That felt like something that I could attach my name to and I would be proud of. You need to define your mission statement for both your internal employees and your customers and your community. What is it that your company stands for? A good mission statement should tell you what, and then people should ask how. Building a brighter future for our people, how are you going to do that? Well, this is how we're going to do that, our solar company, and then you can get into the weeds of it. Our mission statement was so clear, we taught that from the very first day anybody was onboarded, that if you were a part of that mission, there's a likelihood that you would not be a part of this company long term. And that was okay, because if people come to you for money, they will leave you for money. So your compensation has to be much more than just a dollar that hits the bank account. It's your culture. Having a strong mission and having a strong vision of where you want to be will allow you to change the strategy. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Building a five-year roadmap for yourself and for your company is so important, which is why we teach it first as you join the community. Because if you want to know where you want to go, and you want to plug in directions on your phone, you need to know two places, where you want to end up and where you're starting. But most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate how much they can accomplish in five. So start building out your five-year roadmap. Where do you want to be in five years? Where does this company need to be in five years? Do you want to do an exit? Do you want to do an M&A? Do you want to stay in the business and scale it to the largest HVAC company in the nation? What is it that you want this business to serve you? From there, your yearly goals should make sure that they're aligned to that five-year goal. That five-year plan was laid out to me from my very first interview, which is why I felt, man, this guy is crazy, but there is a plan. There is a strategy here. This isn't just some number he pulled out of his butt that he just wanted to make a hundred million dollars. No, there was a method to his madness. As you guys are interviewing potential employees or partners into your company, you need to have this so that way you can paint a vision bigger than theirs. That's how we were able to recruit in so much top-level talent, and they were willing to take a pay cut to come work with us because they believed in the vision. A lot of the times we get caught up in is this person the most qualified? We look at the resume, we look at the background and their experience. Is this person qualified and how much should we pay them if they're the qualified person? You guys are failing to look at the bigger picture. You guys need to think about five years down the road, where does this person belong in your organization? You got to identify, is this person a cultural fit? Do they believe in the vision too? Should they be on your bus? If yes, they belong on your bus. The seat can move around. I was in the wrong seat multiple times. I started off doing proposal designers like I shared. I also ended up being the director of operations. I helped build out our early permitting processes and scheduling installs and working with inspectors. I was 21 years old at the time. No business being in the role that I was in, but it was a seat that was necessary for the operation of the business. Eventually though, that seat outgrew me. I was 22 years old and I had taken that role as far as I could, and unfortunately I wasn't capable to take that to the next level, to get us to the next mark. I was demoted. It was a tough conversation with Chris and Darryl. Hey Levi, we don't know where you're going to fit in the organization, but we know that we want you here. So they threw me in sales, got a sales background. I was exploring a time in my life for the first time that I was so unhappy with where I was at in the company, that I was just demoted from what I thought was supposed to be my path for the rest of the five years of our plan, and that was just stripped away from me. I was exploring other options. I was job hunting else on the market because I knew somebody out there would appreciate my experience. Month later, I was doing sales, still doing sales, and then I get a call from Chris and Darryl and they bring me back into the office and say, Levi, we carved out this new role for you, just for you. We want you to be the head of our culture in our company. And all of a sudden, things started kicking into higher gear again. I started to remember why I was a part of this mission in the first place. I realized that I had taken this role as far as I could and with an honest and hard conversation with Chris and Darryl, I realized that this culture role that they had created for me was necessary for us to still be a part of that five year plan. We needed to bring in high level talent. We needed to keep sales reps incentivized. And I realized that these are the things that I have strengths in, and even greater strengths than me being in a director of operations role. From there, I built out this culture position for another year and a half and we realized we needed more help in marketing. So then my seat changed again and I joined the marketing department, helped build it from the ground up, finding my home in my place in the company. So although my seat changed multiple times, I knew that I belonged on this bus and I wanted to ensure that this bus got to its final destination. But without setting the expectation from the very beginning in my very first interview, I would have left the company the moment I got demoted. So I ask you guys, I challenge you guys, are you having these conversations with your employees, these hard honest teammates? Do they know the mission that you're on? Are they clear on the vision? Because if you're not clear, why would they be? Go home, write and work through your five year plan, your roadmap, figure out where is it you actually want to end up at, not just for the rest of 2025, but where do you want to be in 2030? And does your habits and your actions and your strategies right now align with that? If not, change them. Create your mission statement. Create something that your teammates, your employees, your partners that they would be proud of to stand behind. Building a brighter future for people, it didn't matter what vehicle that we did that in, whether it was solar, whether it's electrical work, whether it's home services and roofing and whatever it might be, we knew that whatever it is that we could pivot, because our mission was still the same. Culture will eat strategy for breakfast. And the reason why people are leaving your organization is not because you can't pay them enough, is because your vision is not bigger than theirs.
