We recently connected with Joe Carbajal and have shared our conversation below.
Joe, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Well that’s the million dollar question that everybody wants to know. There is really not one thing that makes you successful, and success is measured differently by everybody. But this is my take on this subject, there is a lot of ingredients that you need to be successful in my opinion, like when you bake a cake, it needs all the ingredients in order to make a great tasting and good looking cake. First of My Faith, has kept me going, because without it, i wouldnt be where im at. Another of the things that I have learned is that Consistency is a must, you must be consistent in the little boring things, day after day. Just like when you work out, it wont happen right away, you have to keep on working out, to see results. You must keep on going to the gym or wherever you work out consistently. You must also be obsessed in what you are going after, NO EXCUSES! I mean you must not let anything distract you, when my wife and I started our journey in this business, we refrained from going out and doing what everybody else was doing, we disciplined ourselves for 10 years. (That was hard, in the beginning). Also you have to be ethical all the time, with everybody (your team, customers, vendors, etc……….). You also have to get a great team on your side. Sometimes I talk to other business owners and I hear “That there is no great employees out there” or ” That they don’t make them like they use to” Which I believe is not accurate, there is a lot of great employees (We have a lot of them in our team). But it also depends on your culture. We focus on our team a lot, we have recently taken some of them on trips, (like to Vegas, Puerto Rico, Disney World. Because at the end of the day we wouldn’t be successful without our team. These are just 3 important factors of what I think it takes to be successful.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Joe Carbajal, owner of Texas Quality Plumbing. I started plumbing in my early 20’s , I used to hate the trade, and would tell my wife that I didn’t want to do this the rest of my life, I worked in the construction side of plumbing, and work was not always stable, I also had to travel out of town for work, which I hated. I did always have a entrepreneur spirit though, and I once was gifted a book, that really changed my mindset. I didn’t finish High School, and really didn’t have any direction of what I wanted to do, till I was 30 years old, that’s when I started our company (Texas Quality Plumbing). I was always disciplined to a certain degree, I have always worked out, but now I take it more serious and eat healthy. We run a plumbing company that specialize in residential. Our culture sets us apart, we are constantly remind by our team, that we are a fun company to work for. I am living the American Dream, even though I feel like I have much more to accomplish, I haven’t even scratched the surface. I would tell anybody reading this, that no matter your beginning in life, if you really want to be successful, you can do it!
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
The first book i read about personal finance was “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, that book really opened my mind up to entrepreneurship. There have been other books that have really impacted me.’ ‘Think and Grow Rich” is another of my favorites, that book has helped me learn about affirmations, which i still practice till this day. Another book is called “The Power of Consistency”. I also attend seminars, about 3-4 a year, from Entrepreneurs that i follow, and i am consistently learning wheather its thru books or VR.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Well we got a loan from my parents, they got a loan on there home. It was around $60k.So i had no choice but to succeed because i didnt want my parents to loose there home. It was scary, thinking if i failed, they can loose there home. So i got the BURN THE SHIP mentality. No excuses, it had to work. And thank God it did!
Contact Info:
- Website: texasqualityplumbing.com
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