Transcript

Keeping the Blue Collar Spirit Alive with RJ Magee

From Home Service Expert · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 51 min · 10,127 words · 127 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Keeping the Blue Collar Spirit Alive with RJ Magee", an episode of Home Service Expert published November 24, 2025 (51 min, about 10,127 words). It mentions 58 people, works and ideas, including Culture (organizational culture), RJ, Certain Path, Google Business Profile (GBP), Succession planning.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Performance pay, Sierra Group, Acquisition, Commission pay
  2. – 10:00: Autonomous cars, Handheld cell phone
  3. – 15:00: Home Service Freedom, Law of the Lid, Thermostat
  4. – 20:00: Acquisition, Darius Liver, Lead aggregator
  5. – 25:00: Instant gratification society
  6. – 35:00: Infant swim rescue, Water safety
  7. – 40:00: Billy Madison, Profit, Tommy Jr.
  8. – 45:00: Certain Path, Bill Weaver, Food distribution, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles
  9. – 50:00: Benefits package, David Brobach, Equity incentive programs (EIP), Profit

Notable quotes from "Keeping the Blue Collar Spirit Alive with RJ Magee"

  • All right, guys. Welcome back to the home service expert. Today I got R.J.
    about R.J. McGee · at
  • Trades. My dad, was a new construction guy. he started a company out here in Vegas, Sierra Air Conditioning, and I used to come out here, work the summers. I actually grew up…
    about Sierra Air Conditioning · at
  • All of them have been acquisitions. a lot of them were, former owners that were ready to retire. So, we did went in and partnered with the former owners, helped them kind of build.
    about Acquisition · at
  • Plans that are prevalent in those markets. We're very much a performance pay shop. We believe in performance pay and getting, getting the existing tech base to buy into…
    about Performance pay · at
  • People that created a computing real computing power. Then you've got the handheld cell phone. you had the industrial revolution.
    about Handheld cell phone · at
  • Standpoint. We've got thermostats in every home with the sticker on the thermostat. So that drives down our marketing cost significantly. Just here in Vegas alone, we've installed over 220,000 homes here in the Vegas market. All.
    about Thermostat · at
  • Hiring too fast and scaling too fast or scaling revenue before profit.
    about Profit · at
  • There's been so many people along the way that I've been blessed to, be mentored by. some certain path coaches early on. Bill Weaver was huge. NextStar coach Scott Brinkley was…
    about Certain Path · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • RJ — Person · 4 mentions
  • R.J. McGee — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Darius Liver — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Time you got to make sure that there's a really good succession plan in place I agree with that I think Darius Liver you familiar with Darius I'm not familiar FH for he's like the first thing if you're buying a company enter 5 million.
  • Tommy Jr. — Person · 1 mention · first at
    I'm a I hustle, I grind, I and I'm afraid that hey, go get the jet ready, Tommy Jr., let's get that, like it's but I also you don't want to make them suffer if they don't have to.
  • Bill Weaver — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Way that I've been blessed to, be mentored by. some certain path coaches early on. Bill Weaver was huge. NextStar coach Scott Brinkley was huge in teaching me a lot about the…
  • Scott Brinkley — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Know, be mentored by. some certain path coaches early on. Bill Weaver was huge. NextStar coach Scott Brinkley was huge in teaching me a lot about the business. my dad and his…
  • Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Pepe Charles. Yep. and he's he's from food distribution and he asks us questions that we've never even like thought of asking before and I think that's really important like we all get.
  • Uma Thurman — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. I think that helping people build a Thurman.
  • David Brobach — Person · 1 mention · first at
    That's so funny. the David Brobach was just on my podcast.

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • Certain Path — Company · 3 mentions · first at
  • Sierra Group — Company · 2 mentions · first at
    Leadership, business development. He's actually based here in Vegas. He's the CEO at Sierra Group, a leading home service company based in Las Vegas, Nevada with over 15 years…
  • NextStar — Company · 2 mentions · first at
    Succession plan in those markets. And then we've then, brought in some of our NextStar coaches or their former Nextstar coaches. They work for us now. They go in and really…
  • MAP — Company · 2 mentions
  • Thumbtack — Company · 2 mentions
  • The Home Service Expert — Company · 1 mention · first at
    All right, guys. Welcome back to the home service expert. Today I got R.J.
  • Sierra Air Conditioning — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • sierracoolslv.com — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Probably best way is my email, RJ McGee. That's m a ge@ sierracoolslv.com.
  • Angi — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

Concepts & topics

  • Culture (organizational culture) — Concept · 5 mentions
  • Google Business Profile (GBP) — Concept · 3 mentions
  • Succession planning — Concept · 3 mentions
  • Acquisition — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
  • Performance pay — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
  • Profit — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
  • Greenfield — Concept · 2 mentions
  • Jesus — Concept · 2 mentions
  • LSA — Concept · 2 mentions
  • PPC — Concept · 2 mentions
  • Training reinforcement plan — Concept · 2 mentions
  • Commission pay — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Pay plans and getting their people more motivated from the performance pay, commission pay standpoint.
  • Autonomous cars — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    And when you insert AI into machines, which Tesla's market cap right now is 5 trillion on autonomous cars when the robots come out near the end of next year, 25 trillion. This…
  • Home Service Freedom — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    And efficiency. and I think that's really drove a lot of the success there. I we've got home service freedom and we did a Q&A two days ago and there's all these $10 million companies asking tons of questions. It's hard for me to go back.
  • Law of the Lid — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Grow and want to continue to raise their lid within the organization. we're big on John Maxwell, Law of the Lid. and so that's that's one thing is just at some point some…
  • Lead aggregator — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Prioritize the pictures, and then all of a sudden they're they're a slave to the lead aggregator.
  • Instant gratification society — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Take Amazon, you take all the technology, you take Uber Eats, Door Dash, we've created an instant gratification society. And so, we have to make sure that we're adapting as a…
  • Water safety — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Right now, we want to support like we're big on like water safety now. that's how our kid passed away was a drowning accident. So, we're big on like infant swim rescue, sponsoring families who can't afford it and helping them be.
  • Infant swim rescue — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Big on like water safety now. that's how our kid passed away was a drowning accident. So, we're big on like infant swim rescue, sponsoring families who can't afford it and…
  • Billy Madison — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Going to give them a head start, but how I teach them to utilize that head start is what really matters. It's like Billy Madison had to rego through school.
  • Food distribution — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Pepe Charles. Yep. and he's he's from food distribution and he asks us questions that we've never even like thought of asking before and I think that's really important like we all get so caught up in next star certain path.
  • Equity incentive programs (EIP) — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    When we create abundance, we're able to share abundance. And that's why I think profit units, EIP, equity incentive programs, enhancing benefits, newer vehicles, believe it or…
  • Benefits package — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Average age like 27. So, we're not health is not this massive thing. The benefits package are great. I think they could get better and they always can. my new HR gal, she's…
  • The Irish puff — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    That's all I'm saying. The Irish puff.
  • 1099 (independent contractor arrangement) — Concept · 1 mention
  • 30/60/90 plans — Concept · 1 mention
  • 5013C — Concept · 1 mention
  • Hire slow, fire fast — Concept · 1 mention
  • Innovation from different industries — Concept · 1 mention
  • Iron sharpens iron — Concept · 1 mention
  • Partnerships as a marriage — Concept · 1 mention
  • Reverse engineering (goal planning) — Concept · 1 mention
  • Systematizing business processes — Concept · 1 mention
  • Work-life balance (as a pipe dream) — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

  • Reno — Place · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

All right, guys. Welcome back to the home service expert. Today I got R.J. McGee. He is a expert in operations, leadership, business development. He's actually based here in Vegas. He's the CEO at Sierra Group, a leading home service company based in Las Vegas, Nevada with over 15 years of experience in operations, leadership, and business development. R.J. has played a key role in scaling Sierra's success. A graduate of Texas Tech University with a degree in finance and an MBA from Syracuse University. He combines strategic vision and hands-on operational expertise. R.J.

is passionate about developing people, building sustainable growth, and redefining what excellent looks like in the trade. His leadership has positioned Sierra Group as one of the most respected names in the industry. Thanks for being here, brother.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Well, listen, man. Let's just start out. You know, how do you got in the trades and uh what's gone well? what you're looking forward to.

Yeah. Um, second generation in the trades. My dad, uh, was a new construction guy. Uh, he started a company out here in Vegas, Sierra Air Conditioning, and I used to come out here, work the summers. I actually grew up in Texas, but I'd work every summer out here being a tech, been a sheet metal, doing all the grunt work. And then ended up going to college out in Levik. Uh, met my wife, we moved out here in 2010, and then I got involved with the business and been doing it ever since. and what's going well. What are you looking forward to? It's it's uh so you're 15 years in the game.

Yeah, it's it's been a fun ride. We've partnered with private equity. We've uh been able to build a really great company here and we've got five other partners in other markets as well. Uh it's been fun working with the other teams, learning about the other markets, helping them grow and develop those companies. You know, 2025's been a challenging year with a lot of headwinds, but I think what's been exciting about it is the team's really figured out how to adapt and overcome and make the best out of a tough year.

What is um did you acquire those? Did you green field? How did you guys get involved in all the other markets?

All of them have been acquisitions. Um a lot of them were, you know, former owners that were ready to retire. So, we did went in and partnered with the former owners, helped them kind of build out their succession team and their succession plan in those markets. And then we've then, you know, brought in some of our NextStar coaches or their former Nextstar coaches. They work for us now. They go in and really help, you know, redefine the or rebuild the operations and really focus on the like sales, marketing, all the all the key needle movers we know that help those businesses grow.

Now, I told you previously I kind of got out of Portland. And there's nothing wrong with Portland. It's just a hard city to work in. Lot of politics, a lot of makes it tough for business owners. Similar to California, you're in Seattle. Uh what are some of the challenges in some of these markets? I I'm promploy 100 through and through, but some when it makes it hard and lawsuits come through the yin-yang and it's hard to get labor. What are some of the challenges in a market like that?

Well, I think one of the hardest things is really competing with some of the pay plans that are prevalent in those markets. We're very much a performance pay shop. We believe in performance pay and getting, you know, getting the existing tech base to buy into performance pay plans and how they can make a big difference in their paycheck long term. That's that's been a struggle along with just, you know, a lot of these companies are used to doing things a certain way. So, it's making sure that we're explaining to them like what what makes sense, how to how to train their people, how to really build experiences in the home, whatnot. But, I would say probably the number one thing is really just teaching them how to change up the pay plans and getting their people more motivated from the performance pay, commission pay standpoint.

Yeah. Staking the outcome changes everything. Every business you could go into when they got a stake,

you know, I always, hey, hourly people, not the best pay structures. No, no one's got an incentive to do the job the right way the first time, to build a client for life, to build a relationship. They don't see a reason to really I mean, we we take it all the way down to equity to the technicians and installers,

uh, which is hard to do with equity, but then you get people that really really try hard.

Mhm. And they still got to get five star reviews. And it's crazy. The top 10% of the company in sales, also gets the most fivestar reviews, also shows up to the meetings on time, also has a big smile, also becomes a mentor to the other guys, also is recruiting, handing their cards out at gas stations. Is that what it is for you?

Yeah, definitely. We want to we want to motivate the and drive the behaviors we want through the pay structure. So, we we definitely build the pay structures around that. And then really just educating them to understand that like they have, you know, they they have full control of their pay and their destiny. We don't believe in seniority. We don't believe that you have to work for us a certain amount of time before you can reach a certain pay level. We want you to come in and hit the ground running and you can grow as quickly or as slowly as you want within the organization. No tenure meritocracy.

Um, so what did, you know, I got an MBA from University of Arizona and I learned a couple cool things, but hindsight I'm like it didn't really help. Uh, the relationships I built were probably the best thing. Uh, do you think your MBA changed the way you look at business?

No, I mean it was a cool experience. You know, to your point, you learn, you know, learn different ways to look at things. At the end of the day, I could have learned it elsewhere. I think college is great to teach you networking, teach you how to build relationships, how to meet new people. Outside of that, I looking back, I I don't see the value of it. Uh that, you know, a lot of people put on college. I I have three kids right now, and that's a conversation that my wife and I talk about a lot is like, do we think we should send our

How old are they? They are 9, five, and four. You got nine years to have that conversation with the first one. Yeah, I can't imagine how much it's going to cost then. So, we'll see.

I don't know what this world Bill Gates came out and said in seven years you won't need a job.

Uh, which is a hard world to believe, but if you add up Alexander Graanbell invented the telephone, changed the game. And then IBM was one of the first people that created a computing real computing power. Then you've got the the handheld cell phone. Uh, you had the industrial revolution. uh you add all those things together times it by 10, it doesn't even come close to what the world's going to be like with AI.

No question. It's going to make a massive impact. And when you insert AI into machines, uh which Tesla's market cap right now is 5 trillion on autonomous cars when the robots come out near the end of next year, 25 trillion. This adds 20 trillion. Uh and he was able to negotiate a really nice bonus for himself. Really nice. But he's got to he's got to forex the company, which as a shareholder, I love giving him that because if you're not incentivizing the leadership team, they're not going to do it. Uh but it's it's a new world that's coming. What do you think? AI, machine learning, obviously it starts in the call center, dispatch, anything monotonous that happens over data entry, could be HR related, but what are the other things you anticipate with AI?

Well, I think it's going to redefine everything. I mean, call center for sure, they won't exist pretty soon. Um, logistics, dispatching, it it'll replace that. I think accounting is another area. Repeatable processes, AI's got to come in and systemize all of that very uh very soon. So I I think it's going to eliminate a lot of positions, but I think just like any industry, it's going to create a lot of positions as well and a lot of opportunities for those people to go move into new careers and new new sectors. I I forget the stat, but it was an astounding amount back in the days when there was phones and they have to put in the and it was like a crazy number of women that had that career and then that went away and they got another job.

There was still a need. They just got to learn how to train a new skill. I think humans are going to work really well with AI.

Yeah. I mean, I look at refrigeration. It's the same thing. We used to sell ice to people, right? Then refrigeration came around, all those people lost their job, but then a whole another industry was created.

Yeah. Wagons went to automobiles. There's a lot of examples of that. You know, um, one of the ratios we're paying attention to is the guys in the field versus all the indirect, and I know I'm indirect. I'm not in the field collecting checks anymore. That ratio of technicians, installers, the people out there doing the work versus not needs to start growing. that that there should be way more guys in the field and that number should go up dramatically with the help. So, we're building our whole org chart and saying what's the automation? It doesn't mean we're going to get rid of everybody. It means we're going to go on a freeze. What are your thoughts on that?

Yeah, I think I think it's smart. I mean, I think your typical like next star certain past they used to coach like 3:1 4:1. I I think it's very quickly going to double your office to field ratio. You know, I I think the way to not scare your scare the staff and the team is to basically say like, "We're going to continue to grow, but we think we can grow without adding a lot of bodies. Use AI to help enhance your position within the company and make you more valuable than we are to just come in and eliminate it."

Yeah. And you can make a lot more money if you work well with AI. And and machine learning and AI are two different things. One of them's historical, grabbing data, making the best assumptions. One of them is kind of looking outward. Mhm.

Uh, so you've been doing this for a while now. What are some of the pivotal things from project manager to CEO? Looking back, what are the pivotal lessons you've learned?

I I think the most important thing is recognizing like your people are really important and you've got to put people first. You got to be a servant leader. You've got to make sure that you're you're there to support them and give them the tools they need to be successful. um learning how to communicate and be patient. And we're all we're all people. We're all humans. We're messy. Like all humans are messy. And so we have to make sure we understand that people are going to make mistakes. And our most most important job in the organization is to be the chief repeating officer, not whatever other title you think it is. Like I I see where we don't have a lot of grace with our employees and we expect to just tell them something one time and they're going to remember it. And like I guarantee you there's things right now that are happening that you're forgetting and that I'm forgetting and yet we expect our our team and our

employees to be able to remember everything we've taught them. Yeah. That's where manual standard operating procedures and checklist come in and getting it and then having them initial each page. We go over in um October how to request PTO because Thanksgiving, Christmas is coming up and like we recite it, we go over it, we go over it, we go over it and it's a constant thing because we're hiring so many people. just you're right, we repeat. Uh what is your leadership philosophy and how's it evolved over the years?

Well, I think at first it was very much just like gritty and work hard. Like I think just like anybody that's come up, you know, with an entrepreneurial background, it's like I just have to work harder than everybody else and I'm going to get where I need to be. And then as the company continued to grow, you start to learn that, okay, I can't do this all on my own. And I've got to really start investing in people, investing in helping them grow. So that's where I think like being a servant leader comes in is that you have to be willing to put like your people first and give them the tools they need to succeed because it becomes less important about you succeeding and more important about them succeeding because you can do a lot more through people than you can't just by yourself.

Zig Ziggler, you could have anything you want if you help and people get what they want.

Uh how much percentage should we be spending of revenue on marketing? Uh across our portfolio, we average about four and a half percent.

Um so low. You're lucky. Yeah, we're really lucky. We've got some really mature brands in some really mature markets. Uh we we have a new construction background DNA. Uh that really helps us from a branding standpoint. We've got thermostats in every home with the sticker on the thermostat. So that drives down our marketing cost significantly. Just here in Vegas alone, we've installed over 220,000 homes here in the Vegas market. All those have Sierra stickers. They they call us. That's the first place they go when their AC breaks down. And then we're able to leverage that and lean in and cross-ell through plumbing as well.

When did this market start for Sierra? 1987. 1987. That's why I love it. Mhm. Uh, you know, Sierra's become a standout name in HVAC and plumbing, uh, not just for growth, but but not just growth, but consistency. What do you think has been the key to maintaining momentum while keeping your company culture intact? I I go back to the new construction. One thing that new one thing that new construction teaches you is process.

Um, you have to be really efficient. And we were able to take what we learned in new construction and build that into a home service model. You know, we used to go to conferences all the time and we were trying to learn how to be good at service. We have no clue. Like we spent years asking and asking and people would be like, "How are you good at new construction?" And we were like, "Well, it's easy." Like because we'd built out the systems and the processes. And so as we started to learn how home service works and the interactions and the experience, we really focused on process and efficiency. Uh and I think that's really really drove a lot of the success there. You know, I we've got home service freedom and we did a Q&A two days ago and there's all these $10 million companies asking tons of questions. It's hard for me to go back.

So the question for you is what's the difference between a $10 million revenue versus a $100 million revenue company?

Um, you know, the thing I tell all the GMs is the team I had at 10 million isn't the team I had at 20 million isn't the team I had at 40 million and isn't the team we have at 100 million today. And so I think it's making sure that the people that you're surrounding yourself with are people who want to continue to grow and want to continue to raise their lid within the organization. Uh we're big on John Maxwell, Law of the Lid. Um and so that's that's one thing is just at some point some people just decide they can't grow anymore. And that's okay. Like it's okay. You know, those are tough conversations to have. But we still need to have them because we can't allow leaders to become what keeps us from growing.

Yeah, they're tough conversations, but it's only fair to cut them loose and say you're going to go do great somewhere else. And I've had to do that several times. It's never an easy conversation, but you got a lot of families depending on you to make those decisions. Other people within the company.

Um, I want to get back to marketing. You were talking a lot about, well, you don't do a whole lot at 4 and a half%, but still it's a big number. It's millions and millions of dollars. Where do you think the best investment is for a large company right now? Is it radio, TV? Is it Obviously, we've talked about a little bit about LLMs in the studio.

Uh, where where some people just do straight PBC. I don't know how they make money doing a straight BPC, but

well, I think mass media is obviously important. Uh I don't think you can say from a mass media standpoint, you should do this or that. You need to really pay attention to your, you know, your marketing pro through serviceite and figure out, you know, where your organic traffic is coming in. Is it coming in well? Okay, that means our mass media is working pretty well. If not, let's make sure we're paying attention to Google, Yelp. Uh I think if you're just starting, Google's where you have to live. uh SEO, PPC, LSA, those have to be the three that you're optimizing for right out of the gate. And

GVP, yeah, absolutely. 247. It needs to stay 24/7 instead of instead of 9 to5 Monday through Thursday.

Really making sure you're getting the reviews, making sure you're getting reviews with pictures, um anything that uh will help improve that GDP, help improve that LSA. That's where I think the most important place to live is. And then once you get those dialed in, that's when you start leaning into the Yelps of Thumbtax, um, that's not where you should start though. I think I see a lot of people start with Thumbtax, start with Angie, start with Yelp. They don't prioritize the reviews, they don't prioritize the pictures, and then all of a sudden they're they're a slave to the lead aggregator.

Yeah, that's not a good place to be. I mean, I I was just at a home improvement conference and and these guys, it's all lead ad companies. And if they decide, hopefully one day you could buy the lead act company if they're doing that well. But if they decide to someone's going to pay more for a lead, luckily I've always said whoever can pay more per lead will always win.

Yeah, that's that's why private equity is doing so well right now. I was going to ask you about private equity. I mean, what are the good, bad, and the ugly?

Um, I think with anything, you know, for us, we have a a small family office that we work with. uh they're very hands-off which is very much can be a blessing but also can be a curse sometime there's a there's a lack of direction and vision uh it it's good because it challenges us to step in and fill that role so it helps us raise our lid but I think also having you know a middle market PE or even a larger PE company they come with a lot of resources um whether it's recruiting whether it's um marketing whether it's HR resources IT resources like PE does bring a lot to the table, you know, but as they bring a lot to the table, everyone has to recognize, you know, to those who are giving much, much is expected. Like there's a level of accountability that comes with that. And they're going to ask questions that you've never been asked before. And they're going to challenge you and make you think in ways you haven't thought

before. And that can be that can be overwhelming at times. And so really making sure you vet the PE group, you you reference check who you're going to be partnering with, I think is really important for anybody that's thinking about doing it. What are some of the mistakes you see people doing with acquisitions? Because everybody in their brother's like, I'm just going to go buy like you do. And I'm like, we grow mostly organically or green field. But I think the first thing is getting rid of the founder. Like you you

especially if they're under 5 million of IB. Yeah. Like um they'll they'll hold you up. Yeah.

We were looking at a company in in Texas and it was a husband wife shop and they had grown from 0 to 10 million in four years. like really amazing growth but they wanted to walk and it was just them and that whole company would walk with them if they walked and I think PE sometimes just sees that's a really attractive IBIDA number and

oh you're saying keep the founders no I I I believe that for for a point in time you got to make sure that there's a really good succession plan in place

I agree with that I think Darius Liver you familiar with Darius I'm not familiar

uh FH for he's like the first thing if you're buying a company enter 5 million avid uh you got to figure out a transition plan because

I look at it buying a company as a marketing source. Sometimes you get great people along with it. A lot of times you do, sometimes you don't.

Yeah. But you get the name, you get the brand, you get the stickers, a lot of things you get. You get the GVPs with a bunch of reviews. I can make technicians. We've got a good leadership team that kind of sits on the head of everything. Integrations are harder than most people think. Like we we got the same price book in every market. We buy it from the same vendors in every market. same benefits in every market, same truck setup in every market. Even if it's a different name of the company like we are holistically one CFO, one CEO, one COO, uh three VPs of different regions, but a lot of companies haven't done that. They have not properly integrated.

No. And you're never going to be you're never going to get the top multiple if you don't fully integrate the way you're doing it.

Is that what you guys have done? Uh it's we're still in process. I would say that we're getting a lot closer than we've ever been, but it it's it's a grind and if the founders are still involved, it can become more challenging.

They hate a product. They say we'll never carry that. They you know because 20 years ago it was a bad product and then obviously they veters could change the OEM manufacturer could get better or worse. And that's where I think if you are going to have a founder that's staying on board, you got to really make sure that you're you're selling the vision and they understand the future direction of the company. Also, you want to make sure that if they are staying on, they're they're rolling so that they have a stake in the game as well with you. Um, and they want to succeed just as much as you want to succeed.

What's one leadership mistake or misconception that you see a lot of owners make? I think just again expecting that you're, you know, your communication with your people, thinking that you only have to tell somebody how to do something one time. I think that we we just have such high expectations for for whether it's techs frontline managers that come out of the field. We don't set them up with the right tools, the right training to be successful. We don't give them 30 6090s. We don't give them job descriptions. We just say like, "Hey, you're a service manager now or you're an operations manager now." And then they they stumble and they fail. Not because they weren't ready for the position, because we didn't properly prepare them for the position.

Yeah. The orientation, the onboarding process, the training that it's got to continue to evolve. Training never ends. It's got to be something that's the DNA of the company.

You got to give people a road map. You got to give them a vision. You got to let them know like where we're going, how we expect them to get there. And if we don't do that then and they fail, it's not on them, it's on us as a leader.

I like the idea of a road map. Um, when you think about the team you've built, what do you look for in people beyond their skill set?

For us, I it's attitude. Um, attitude is really important. Um, of course, I want people that are smarter than me. Like I want to be the dumbest person in the room all the time. like and so we we we target people that are really have been around, have been in the trades for a while, have worked for PE in the past, but still can maintain that um connection with the operators. I think that's really important. I see some of the other PE companies, they bring in outside resources, which are extremely smart. I do not discredit that at all.

But I think they lose touch for what the plight of a GM is, what an operator is really going through, the grind, how to communicate with technicians, how to communicate with sales guys, and we lose a little bit of that that bluecollar feel. And I think for the organization to stay successful, you got to keep that bluecollar feel within it,

that family feel like that's not massive corporation. What's changed the most about the customer or the industry in the past few years? Well, I think from a customer standpoint, they're not nearly as patient as they used to be. I think you take Amazon, you take all the technology, you take Uber Eats, Door Dash, we've created an instant gratification society. And so, we have to make sure that we're adapting as a as an organization from a sales delivery uh perspective. There's we should be either doing same day installs or at minimum next day installs on everything that we do and that's so that we can continue to you know the millennials are coming up and they're becoming the largest part of the workforce and those are the ones we need to be catering to the most and they want things done right now. They want to make quick decisions and they want to move on with their life.

Yeah. What's the m I I love working around millennials, Gen X, Gen Z. Uh I think they just want to be more involved and they want to see a path. They they talk about work life balance which uh baby boomers don't.

What's the difference between because your dad was in the business and and he had partners. What's the good and bad about that? Well, like growing up like with my dad and his partners, it was you didn't ask why. You did what you were told. If you didn't do what you were told, something was getting thrown at you. like it was like you can ask questions when we say you can ask questions and we'll explain the why when we think that you're ready to know the why. So you just had to go and do it first which I it worked for a really long time. I was actually I was talking with our COO about this this morning and that that that reinforcement that old school reinforcement of just like do what I say right away like that that used to work really well. It doesn't work now with the like millennials the jinzers. You can't just like yell at them. You can't scream at them. You have to really make sure that

they understand what we're doing, why we're doing it, how we're doing it, why it impacts them, why it impacts the customer, how it's impacting the team. Like they need to know all of that. And then they need to know the big picture of where we're going so that they like buy in and do what you want them to do. So I I think the old school mentality of of leading while was effective, it's just it cannot continue to be effective with the new workforce that we have. What what do you define success now that you might have thought differently when you were younger?

Well, for me like success used to be my own like personal growth, right? Like how was I going to grow within the organization? How was I going to make more money? How was I going to support my family? Like to me now success is like helping others. Like how do we how do we help others grow? How do we help our technicians, you know, buy homes? How do we help them achieve their goals that they're setting? Uh, you know, we've got sales guys now that are buying rental properties, buying investment properties. We've got 20some year olds that are being able to buy their home when they're seeing their counterparts that are still in college in college can't can't buy a home living with their parents. So, I I think that is where we really see success. I love it when people say they want to go start their own company. Like, we're we're all about that. Like, here, let me help you. Let me I'll sign off on your contractor's

board license. Like, I want them to go and do it. I also warned them like it's not as easy as you think it is, but we we don't we we celebrate other people succeeding and growing within the organization. And that really like fulfills me.

It's it's hard just knowing what we've been through to say go do this because you're what one in 10 chances of succeeding. You're going to lose hair relationships. You're going to lose your health. Not all the time.

Mhm. But technicians specifically tend to think, well, I know how to do the work, but do they understand what a balance sheet income statement is or how to recruit or understand accelerated depreciation or understand how to make the phone ring or understand what happens when a someone doesn't come in or understand when uh the especially the lead genen side of it and there's so much more. Understanding leases and workers comp and the e-mod score and the right type of insurance and benefits. uh the technicians. We I work for the technicians and the installers, but there's a lot of other things that happen in the background, even beyond my scope today.

It's like, dude, I I don't even know a return to work policy. I've never even heard of that.

You know what I mean? Yeah. No, absolutely. I mean, it's owning a business, it's it's not for the faint of heart. That that's for sure.

Not a lot of people can pull it off. And when you do, it's a team that gets you there. and I think bringing the team up with you. Uh

what's something you've learned about yourself as a leader that surprised you? Um I think just through my life, um you know, I was I've always been a very driven person. I've always been, you know, motivated by success, motivated by, you know, growth of myself, you know, and doing better. I think, you know, I've had some life experiences. Uh my wife and I, we lost one of our children in 2019, and that really like

gave me a moment. Yeah. But it it really brought a lot of things into perspective of, you know, you only get one life, right? And you only get so much time to spend with your family. You only get so much time to spend with your kids, to be a dad, to be present. You know, a lot of people have asked me like, "Why don't you just go start your own thing now?" And it's like, well, I got young kids and I got a family and I've built a really amazing team and, you know, it hasn't been without a grind, but you know, I used to want to be a billionaire and I used to want to have hundreds of millions of dollars and now, like, don't get me wrong, I still want to make a lot of money over my lifetime, but it becomes less important, right? It becomes way more important. Are are we showing up at home? Are we bringing our leftovers home or are we uh are we showing up as the dad and the husband that we need to show up as? And so I

think that for me has been the biggest change from like a leadership growth perspective is not only recognizing myself like hey what's really and I have to remind myself all the time like being a good dad being a good husband is actually way harder for me than being a good leader in an organization like I can do the I love business I love home service. I can do it all day every day. I could do it 18 hours a day and be the happiest person in the world. It's hard to be a good dad. It's hard to be a good husband. It's hard to prioritize that over your job and your people and your team. So, I think that perspective has been really really good for you.

Let me ask you this. You get $100 million. You know, let me let me just clarify. I have a lot of people going, "Man, I want to do what you did. I want to get you. I'd love to have 100 million, $200 million." I'm like, why? Like, are are you going to help out your parents? Are you trying to set your kids up? Like, what are you going to do with the money? And like, I don't know. It's just like, dude, it's a big goal. It's a be hag. I'm like, yeah, but what would a 100 do that 20 wouldn't? Like, what's the the why the Simon synynic why behind it? So, you get a 100 million, what's the plan? What's the bucket list? What's happening with that money? For me, it'd be setting up generational wealth for the kids. Um, we're in the process of, you know, setting up our own little like charity.

Right now, we want to support like we're big on like water safety now. Uh, that's how our kid passed away was a drowning accident. So, we're big on like infant swim rescue, sponsoring families who can't afford it and helping them uh be able to get their kids in there and, you know, educating people on just how important water safety is for their children. And so like for us it's more about how we can use that to not only um you know better our family position but also how can we help and influence others. We're really involved with our church. You know we'd want to help there wherever we can. So those those are the things that I think matter a lot more because at the end of the day whether you have 100 million, whether you have a billion, two billion, 10 billion, you can't take it with you when you go, right? Like and as far as I'm concerned it's it's really not ours anyways. Like I think it's all a gift from God. And so

it's our job to steward it in the way he wants us to steward it. And so more importantly than the money, it's how how does God want us to really use that money to uh the way he wants us to use it, right? Because these businesses that we own, the b the money that we have, like it's all just because he's allowed us to steward it right now. You know, I was with my dad. I took him to Idaho and he's a big scripture guy. I mean, you name a scripture, he'll tell you the story. He probably remembers the scripture. And uh he's walking through this new house we're building in Idaho, and it's a it's a pretty big house. It's a beautiful house. And he goes, "You know something, Tommy?" He goes, "I don't think you know this, but Jesus and you know, or God, he he wants you to have this." He goes, "You might not seem that way." And I said, "What? What's behind this conversation, Dad?" He goes, "Well, some people think that God wants

you to just give everything away, but you build relationships and you show up for people." And we talked about it for a while and I'm like, "Dad, can we just kind of live in the moment for a second?" Cuz he'll go straight Jesus on you for hours.

Yeah. And he's at that age where he's turning into my grandpa where he's just And it's great. And I love the time because you know what? Tomorrow's not promised. He almost died in COVID. He's 72 years old. And I don't know. I'm hoping I got 20 years. I'm hoping I got 50 years. Who knows with modern medicine? But you don't know. Mhm. How do you, you know, I've never been a father. I've been a son. How do you qualify time with your your I don't know, you haven't talked about mom much but

Yeah. My my wife or your I guess your uh your dad. No, my dad. I mean, I didn't grow up with I'm really blessed. Like I grew up in Texas with my mom. My mom and dad split when I was really young. Uh she got remarried uh to my dad in Texas. I call them both my dad. I got two dads, two moms as far as I'm concerned. Um, I had a great dad in Texas that was there for me all the time, was at, you know, every sporting event, always just there to take care of me, help me through all of the stupid stuff we do when we're young. And then I didn't have the greatest relationship with my dad that was out here in Vegas. He was building a business and he was working really hard out here um to build what he felt he was doing to support his family, right? And so, you know, as I got older, I really started to develop my relationship with him later in my career or my life. And it's been amazing to have, you know, two

dads that have been able to be be there with me throughout different phases of my life and help really support me throughout those different phases of my life. And that's what I want to do for my kids is be there, be consistent, um, help them wherever it is. Like I, you know, who knows whatever they want to do. I just want to be there to help support them and guide them and keep them on the right track cuz I know they're going to do stupid stuff. We all do, right? Like

fail forward hopefully. So, but yeah, just being that good father that supports whatever their dreams and ambitions are and also if if it's maybe not the best direction, helping them guide them right in the back the right direction.

Yeah. you know, did you have any idea when you were wondering where your your biological father was and he was building the business out here in Vegas, did you ever think when you got in the business maybe 3 five years in like now I get it?

Oh, 100%. Like it's I think it maybe not it was probably more when I really got into cuz I started in like accounting. I was been in sheet metal. I wasn't dealing with the people the way he was dealing he they had companies in Sacramento. They had companies in Reno. He was traveling all the time. He was they had at one point they were about 550 employees here in Vegas.

Holy 08 hit. They went from 550 to 70 in the matter of 90 days. So I mean the stress he was going through everything he was building and doing. I totally got it and I appreciate it. like it's what his sacrifice that he made early on is what's allowed me to be in the seat I'm in today right and so you know doesn't mean it wasn't without the you know trials and tribulations but everything happens for a reason and you just got to kind of trust the process you know your uh your dad started in 1987 is that right

that's when he started here in Vegas he actually had a company in Texas before that that didn't do do great so he moved back here and started Sierra

so I four. It's been around for a long time. How old are you right now? 38. 38. And um if you could go back to your very first year at Sierra, what advice would you give yourself?

Be patient. Yeah. When people overestimate what they could do in one year, under they can do it in 10.

Delayed gratification, right? Like it's below your means. 100%. like just when we came out here, I mean, I was making $32,000 a year. My wife was she came out in 2010. She wanted to be a realtor. Like Vegas's market wasn't great in 2010 to be a realtor.

She didn't do a a traditional sale for the first three years as a realtor. It was all short sales, um, bankruptcies. And so, we just we were patient. We grinded it out. We learned how to scrap. You know, there were days we were wondering if the debit card was going to pay for the McDonald's that day. And that's all right. Like it taught us how to be scrappy. But I think like I got ahead of myself wanting more and getting a little impatient at times throughout that process. And I I think I would just tell myself like enjoy this moment right now because you're going to you're going to miss it. You're going to miss how simple times were.

Yeah. I I missed that probably in middle school when life was just like it felt like I'm like I can't wait to get older. Mhm.

I'm like, man, I go walk around my old neighborhood in Michigan. I'm like, those were the days, man. Like I had to do a couple little homework assignments, go hang out with my buddies, you know, that we me and Bri have been talking about this a lot. My fiance is like money of like my mom worked three jobs when my mom and dad got a divorce. And I just think back of like I was like I had to go shovel snow and molons and get a dishwasher job when I was 12 under the table. And I'm like, that kind of created this DNA inside of me to just I'm a I hustle, I grind, I

and I'm afraid that like, hey, go get the jet ready, Tommy Jr., let's get that, you know, like it's like, but I also you don't want to make them suffer if they don't have to. So, I don't know the best way to do it. I'm curious your advice.

There are a lot of people out there in the world that probably had a much further head start than you did. and look at where you're at today. Right? And so from a father's standpoint, I'm going to give my kids privilege and I'm going to give them a head start, but how I teach them to utilize that head start is what really matters. It's like Billy Madison had to rego through school. Uh what's one business mistake that all entrepreneurs should avoid when scaling their business? And there's probably several. I got a lot. Um

hiring too fast. Yeah. hiring too fast and scaling too fast or scaling revenue before profit.

Yeah. Bringing uh bringing people in just for the sake of bringing people in and not making sure you bring the right person in. The right person can offset three mediocre hires easily. Yeah. I think sometimes we hire out of desperation and you don't do the best interviews. You're like, I just I'm drawn. I just come in here and see what you could do. And that'll take a company very quickly.

And that's probably some of the best advice is hire slow. Like get the right people, learn how to interview better, maybe even get people for a threemonth, pay them as a 1099. That's what Kevin Olirri talked about is like he he's does subcontractors and says, "Look, I'll pay you more. You come on board. We see that we both love each other. We do we say what we're do going to do with each other." And I think it's a big opportunity. What else do you think is there's so many mistake? I I I know 10 times more mistakes than I know what went well.

100%. I mean, and I I had three great mentors that taught me a lot, and I still make a ton of mistakes every day. Um I the higher, slow, fire, fast is is one that I always say to everyone. Um making sure that you're really systematizing everything you do within your business. Um don't just train for the sake of training. You have to have a reinforcement plan for all of your training. That's one mistake I've seen throughout our portfolio is, you know, we got out, you know, I've been down to your shop. I've seen your training facility. It gave me a lot of inspiration. And so, we built out a great training program. We forgot the most important part though, which was making sure that we had reinforcement behind that training to where when our techs uh left the training, we had a way to one measure the effectiveness of the training and two measure the manager's ability to reinforce that training once

the training was done. I love that. Um, what's what or who has had the greatest influence on you and led you to help make the right decisions?

There's been so many people along the way that I've uh been blessed to, you know, be mentored by. Um, some certain path coaches early on. Bill Weaver was huge. Uh, NextStar coach Scott Brinkley was huge in teaching me a lot about the business. Uh, my dad and his partners taught me like the gritty side, the process side of the business. Um, we work with a consulting company called MAP and our MAP coach is phenomenal.

Talks about him. Yeah. He just he pushes us. He's got he's not from the industry. He's

what's his name? Pepe. Pepe. Pepe. Pepe Charles. Yep. and he's he's from food distribution and he asks us questions that we've never even like thought of asking before and I think that's really important like we all get so caught up in next star certain path whatever industry best practice group is out there which they're important everybody should join them I believe in that fullheartedly but you also need to look outside the industry you need to look for uh innovation that comes from different industries that you can bring into this industry to uh to better your company and organization because if everyone just goes the next or certain path, whatever the, you know, practice, whatever is out there, we're all just going to be doing the same thing. So, you got to find ways to differentiate yourself. I got a few more questions.

So, you're This has been great, by the way. Your dad has had partners in the past. Uh, I had a partner. Uh, it's not easy. What What lessons could you tell me? Partnerships, no partnerships. What are your thoughts?

It's a marriage, man. Like it's it's you're with those partners more than you are with your wife, your kids a lot of time. Um like communication is so critical. Like vision is so critical. I think most partners stop or start out of necessity because you need extra equity, right? And so you say, "Hey, let's do this together so I can hedge my risk a little bit." And I think if you guys don't spend enough time really plotting out the vision of where you want to go, at some point in time you're gonna you're going to come into a roadblock. Um I think my dad and his partners were really lucky. They all brought different, you know, strengths to the group. Somebody always kind of emerges as the alpha when there's partners. And I I think where my dad and his partners did a good job is they recognized who the alpha was within the group and who was kind of the face and allowed them to lean into that. And then you know the

other partners were able to compliment where they they needed to be complimented. So if you are going to have partners make sure that they are complimenting you and not the exact same mold that you are.

That's true. You know right now I started building out my life at 45. I'm 42. So I put a lot of things in there where I want to go. I'm starting to manifest reverse engineer make sure because I'm not going to wake up in one day oh I'm 45. It's like it's going to take time, effort, energy and money to become that. What do you want by the time you're 45? Where do you want to go? What family trips? If you could have any car, where do you want to build another house? Like, what kind of things are you thinking about?

You know, we're we're me and my wife, we're pretty simple people. We uh, you know, we just want our kids to be happy. We want to Here's the thing. I I want to make sure that whatever I'm doing, whenever the the day comes where I I got to meet my maker, that he's not disappointed, right? And I think that's what's most important. You know, I can have all the dreams and visions I want. I just got to make sure they align with what his his dreams and visions are for me. So, for me, it's really just making sure that whatever we are pushing for because you got to have goals, right?

Like, you know, my wife and I, we want to have $100 million, you know, at some point in time. We want to own rental properties. We want to, you know, start a charity that can support people uh through the ISR stuff we were talking about. I think those goals are all important, but I I think more importantly, like like I've got good plans, but I God's got way better plans than I've got.

Yeah. Give it up to him. Yep. Uh leadership in the trades often requires balance balancing empathy with accountability. How do you hold people to the highest standards without burning them out?

I think it starts with culture. Um I think a lot of times people think that if you have a good culture, you can't have accountability. And I I think it's the exact opposite. Like culture isn't, you know, pizza parties. Culture isn't, you know, dinners. It it culture is a group of people that come together for a shared vision. And in that shared vision, there there is a high level of accountability within the organization. And we want to make sure that, you know, iron sharpens irons, that it's competitive, that we're pushing each other. And so I I think that that's what's most important is that you breed that culture, but when everybody talks about culture, they know that one of the core values of that culture is accountability. What's the goal as a company? And I'll just kind of tell you my thoughts on this. A goal of any company other than a 5013C, what should it be? What's the one underlying thing

that every company should be focused on? Ebida profit. So, and why is that? It's the most important important metric we have. I mean, that's what creates growth. That's what um allows the organization to uh provide for the employees. Again, when when we create abundance, we're able to share abundance. And that's why I think profit units, EIP, equity incentive programs, enhancing benefits, newer vehicles, believe it or not, the questions we get is, do I get a new vehicle or is it used? That's one of the first questions. Another one is, do we pay weekly or bi-weekly?

Now, bi-weekly was awesome because people save money easier, but a lot of people want weekly. It's just crazy because never once has somebody been like, "Tell me about the dental plan."

Or like, you know what I mean? Or no, no one's ever like, "Man, I really needed the best health insurance unless they got a, you know, an underlying issue." Uh, most of the people were hiring the average age like 27. So, we're not health is not this massive thing. The benefits package are great. I think uh they could get better and they always can. Uh my new HR gal, she's amazing, but she's like, "We need to be I'm" I'm like, "Dude, we're not Silicon Valley. Like, we're a garage door shop." Like, like like look at this. She's like, "Well, I'm like I want to have the best, but the best in home service, home improvement amongst my peers. I can't compete like OpenAI's given a $100 million sign on bonus

uh to to one of like 20 people that would come on." But I'm like, you got to compare industries.

Yeah. It's it's hard for people to understand that from that don't come from the industry. And I'm like, well, listen, if you're willing to chip in 10% of your paycheck, we could probably do that. I'll chip in from mine. What are some books that have changed your lives or your life? Um, Rockefeller's 38 Letters to a Son is a really, really good book. like Rockefeller was ruthless, but also you can learn so much about business through reading his letters to his son. I I think that was just a very, you know, when I first saw the book, I was like, who wants to read a bunch of letters?

And then you start read I like couldn't put the book down. I was just fascinated by it. And I I love studying like historical leaders. Um I think another one that I love is Offbalance on Purpose.

Yeah. I think that helping people build a Thurman. Yeah. Helping people to understand that work life balance is a bit of a pipe dream.

No, you go all in on certain phases of your life. Yeah. It's you're going to move a lot faster if you are intentional about where you're putting your time and your resources. Um I think like Rich Dad Poor Dad obviously everybody's read that. Um Automatic Millionaire is I think a book that every technician should read. Did you hear my latest podcast with him?

No. That's so funny. Uh the David Brobach was just on my podcast. Okay. It hasn't even come out yet. I That's so weird that you mentioned that.

I think it's an amazing book. Pay yourself first. Let compound interest do it work.

100%. You know, pay your mortgage, you know, a couple extra times a year. Just really simple concepts that can help people get ahead so quickly in life. Um, somebody wants to get a hold of you, RJ. What's the best way to reach out?

Um, probably best way is my email, RJ McGee. That's m a ge@ sierracoolslv.com. You should open a bar called McGee. That's all I'm saying. The Irish puff. Um, and finally, I'm just going to let you close us out. Whatever final thoughts, whatever you want the listeners to listen to. I really appreciate our time. and there's a little bit of time and confusion, so thanks for hanging out for a bit.

No, this is great. I really appreciate it. I I think, you know, my thing is just remembering that, you know, not every day is promised, like you said. Um, be really intentional with your family. We're all really business operators. We're really driven entrepreneurs, and that's that's great. I think sometimes remembering that's the easy part of our lives and making sure we show up as good husbands, good fathers, and really investing in that future is is a lot a lot of times more important than maybe that extra phone call you want to take or that extra meeting you want to book that day.

Well, not being a father, uh, you know, everybody's like, "Get it out of the way early." I'm like, "Shit, I was stupid. I didn't have any money. I don't know. I mean, it's fine, but I'm like now I'm just going to be an old ass dad. So, it's all right. RJ, this has been a blast, brother. Thank you very much. Appreciate you.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Keeping the Blue Collar Spirit Alive with RJ Magee"?

In order: 0:00 Performance pay, Sierra Group, Acquisition, Commission pay; 5:00 Autonomous cars, Handheld cell phone; 10:00 Home Service Freedom, Law of the Lid, Thermostat; 15:00 Acquisition, Darius Liver, Lead aggregator; 20:00 Instant gratification society; 30:00 Infant swim rescue, Water safety; 35:00 Billy Madison, Profit, Tommy Jr.; 40:00 Certain Path, Bill Weaver, Food distribution, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles; 45:00 Benefits package, David Brobach, Equity incentive programs (EIP), Profit.

What is mentioned in this Home Service Expert episode?

58 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Culture (organizational culture), RJ, Certain Path, Google Business Profile (GBP), Succession planning, R.J. McGee. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Keeping the Blue Collar Spirit Alive with RJ Magee"?

The episode runs 51 min; the transcript is about 10,127 words in 127 timestamped sections.

More from Home Service Expert

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated December 16, 2025.