Guys, this was three years ago. I've learned a lot in three years.
I learned my lesson with KEC guys. It's a diverse group for sure. Roger Medbery soaked as much information as he could then called me an asshole for sharing it with others. I don't know what he did after his first order of filters because he didn't even have the integrity to keep ordering filters from my supplier so I could at least get a little commission off of them. But his first sale was around $40k per year in quarterly air filter service. Since Roger had already made sales prior to the class I didn't ask him to pay for the class. I told him the only thing I'd ask of him would be that he give testimonials of how well the system works. Once the class was over he refused and told me I was an idiot for sharing all this information.
Trey Posin or Posey or whatever his name is told me he was broke and begged me to let him come to the class for free and promised to pay me when he got back home. I let him come and learn. Later he called me with a $1000+ coil cleaning job and asked me for help. After it was done he said it was the easiest money he ever made. It wasn't till over a year later, the same week he had a meeting with Daryl Mirza that he sent me a check for the class. I don't know whether Daryl told him to pay me so I couldn't come back later and say he didn't pay, or if he paid because he didn't want me to be able to tell Daryl he hadn't paid. I really don't care. He turned on me just like Roger. They come from the same cloth. I wouldn't waste the energy to spit on either of them.
Anthony Blanton, who knows what he's doing? I've only texted or spoken to him a few times since then. I try to text him everytime I pass through his town on the way to LA. I really liked and respected him. Shelly does to. All I know is he knew what Roger and Trey did to me and did nothing in my defense. Thanks Anthony. At least Anthony paid. That helped a little with the steak dinner everybody got and the bags of tools I supplied everyone.
Jim Gamble said he couldn't afford the class either with the gas cost from the drive out here. He said he probably wouldn't use it, but he'd like to take the class. I don't have any problem with Jim doing that, he wasn't trying to use me to make money for himself, he just didn't want to pay for something he probably wouldn't use anyway.
Chris Chappell. I volunteered the class for free to Chris in exchange for his help that week in setting up classes and everything. He did more than he was asked and it was worth every penny. Chris has found that Texas is now on the warpath about coil cleaning and hasn't been able to do too much with it until he gets and HVAC license. I'm glad he didn't have to pay anything for the info.
By now hopefully you guys are getting the fact that I wasn't in this to make BANK.
Jason also paid. He is a great guy! He went home and opened up a duct cleaning business. I think he did it to help a relative if memory serves me right. He has since had a baby and I haven't kept up with him as much as I should have. I hope he's doing well. I have a LOT of respect for Jason.
Matt. Oh Matt. He's been working on marketing and I am flying to Denver on Tuesday to help him work with an HVAC company that wants him to clean all their customer's coils. Within the next 5 years, according to the size of this company he is going to be working with, this could be a million dollar a year relationship. Over the past three years Matt has been taking it slow and methodical but he hasn't given up. That is how this business works. Congratulations Matt! See you Tuesday.
Tom in Tucson came to the next class. Tom already has filter and coil customers and has for quite a while now. He has a guy who just works on that part of the business now from what I understand. I went down over a year ago to work with Tom on bidding a good sized coil job for a grocery store and he has taken it from there and is doing well. I don't know how much he wants me to reveal about what he's doing now. Tom is an innovator and I have used one of his "inventions" to set us apart from the competition. Thanks Tom!!!
Mike Tessaro called me a couple of times to help bid some jobs. I don't think he ever did them though. Mike also happily paid for the class. Mike and I have subsequently become friends. I don't know how much he will be able to do in Texas the way things are going there now, but I hope he was at least able to get back his $350 or however much it was for the class. Mike is another anomaly in the KEC world. He's never shown anything but integrity in his dealings with me and my family.
Robert Gallegos and Melissa Jiron - I think I only ever heard from them once or twice afterwards, but it seemed like they were getting somewhere with it. I think Robert is a KEC guy too. He seemed like a nice enough guy.
There were two others in the classes mentioned above who never go on these boards who are doing well. They are also selling filters online. I get calls from them quite a bit. I don't think they want to be mentioned online.
I've had other, longer classes, since this one. As you can tell, there's not a lot of money to be made doing classes. Especially if the guys don't even have the integrity to buy from your supplier so you can at least get a little something for your time.
I lost over $2k on that roundtable. But out of that I got guys like Tom and Matt and the other two "non forum" guys. At least I was able to help some decent people make some money for their families.
The classes that have gotten the most return were the most intensive and the most expensive. It seems like guys who aren't invested aren't as eager to get out and make money.
Well. That was three years ago. I offered this to the forum community because I was thankful for what the forums had done for me in saving me time and effort by having information at my fingertips.
I'm no longer doing anymore classes. I've got the areas I want covered by guys like Tom and Matt and others who have been able to take on whatever multi regional bids come our way. Wherever we are not covered, we are setting up our own shops as the need arises.
Thanks to all you guys who I've made friends with over these three years. I don't know how much they want to share on the boards about their experience with me or the knowledge I've given them. That's up to them. I didn't make a deal with them to share it like I did with Roger.
And for all the users, you can suck it. You will never prosper, except in your own minds.