SHOW NOTES:

SUMMARY: In this episode, Dave Johnson and Matt Zaun discuss the dynamics of owning a family business and how simple truths can lead to more wisdom as a leader.

DAVE JOHNSON BIO: Dave is the Managing Partner of Bentz Jaz USA, and he’s the Owner and CEO of Covenant Services.

For more info, check out the website or Dave Johnson’s LinkedIn account.

MATT ZAUN BIO: Matt is an award-winning speaker and storyteller who empowers organizations to attract more clients through the art of strategic storytelling. Matt’s past engagements have catalyzed radical sales increases for over 300 organizations that range from financial institutions to the health and wellness industry.

Matt shares his expertise in persuasion with executives, sales professionals, and entrepreneurs, who he coaches on the art of influence and how to leverage this for profits and impact.

For more info, check out Matt Zaun HERE. 

 

*Below is an AI-generated transcript, which may contain errors.

 

Matt Zaun

Hey welcome to the stores with traction podcast Thank you for having me.

It's good to be here So I really appreciate your time because You have a million Literally probably a million different things going

on and that's where I want to start. I want to kind of tackle and unpack how you're able to keep all these plates moving.

Okay. So I want to talk a little bit about what you do for your companies, but also how you're able to do take on more projects and expand the way you have.

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

So can you can you let our listeners know some of the responsibilities that you have within your companies? Yeah, so one of the main things I've got is Covenant Services, which is a services company.

We're doing a lot of different things underneath. We have a plumbing company that is our main focus. We also do excavation work.

do new construction. We do a lot of different things underneath that and that title. My son and my daughter and my wife all work in that company, so they kind of take a lot of that off of me.

I do the financial piece. I do the sales piece. I'm the, you know, me out there when it comes to customer relations and things like that.

So that takes up a lot of my time. But again, they take the day-to-day operations off. mean, my wife does all the bill paying and all that thing.

And my daughter does the customer facing. My son does a lot of the other stuff. We also have my partners in a manufacturer's supply coming to Pessentral industry.

And we manufacture some products and we distribute a lot of others and we're getting that up and rolling now.

That's a new venture. We just started back toward the middle of this year partners. We have offices in five countries.

We're reaching out to the Pessentral industry and bringing out some innovative products. And with that, I head up the USA operations.

All pieces of that. The sales, the marketing, the import, export, all that stuff. So all that is on me in the US.

I have a few people that help me with that. But for the most part, that's what I do with that.

then. And I'm also a consultant in the Pestaltrow industry. That's where I spent 20 years in that industry. So I did some consulting there as well.

And we've got a couple of things in the works now that we're going to be starting up relatively soon.

But it's just a matter of being very conscious of your time. You've only got so much time every day.

for me, we just married off my daughter not too long ago. so my wife and my time is different now.

So we're making sure we're making the most of that every day. But I've got a lot to do. And I just make sure that I'm accounting for all those times.

get up early, you get going. when you get time at night and you pull that top back out and you finish up while you watch TV or whatever you're doing, you just got to multitask.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

All right, so there's a lot to unpack with what you said. So let's handle the first piece where you said family.

So there are people that are going to listen to this episode. And as soon as you said that, they got excited because they're also in a family business and they love.

of that they can give back to their family. Their family can take part in the goals of expansion, and they're fighting for a common mission.

So some people listen to that, they heard you say that, and they got excited. And then some people heard you say that, and they got horrified, because they're also in a family business, and they recognize that to some people, it's not as easy as it looks, because not only you have that family relationship, but there could be different fights and strife, and all these different things that come up.

So for anyone listening that is in a family business, what's some words of advice that you can give to them to continue to keep it going, and to fight for those missions that they are trying to hit?

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

You know, we've been doing it now for three and a half years. I bought this company three and a half years ago, and we've learned a lot of lessons over that time, and I always wanted to do something with my kids.

I've always wanted to be able to do that because for years I traveled a lot and was all over the world doing things and you know it took time away from the family.

So this is really a time when my kids are older They're all adults. So I'm able to spend time as an adult with them and Part of that is you have to differentiate between You know being family and being at work.

So you have to have a clear Boundary between those two I think you still recognize I mean those are still my kids and I still love them And I'm gonna defend them if somebody attacks.

I'm gonna defend them, but I don't treat them any differently the other employee They have their response was their held accountable or responsibilities But to you at when we're at home where you know unless there's something that has to be talked about we don't talk about work You know we it's a it's a defining line.

mean I work all the time I you know my wife, you know says I work too much, but that's where I get my joy You know I can know

I'm a black guy, I'm a black guy, and my hobby is work. I get bored easily so I start new things.

That's just what I do. With the family, it's just making sure that you don't let business interfere with the relationship.

The relationships are separate, they're different. As long as everyone understands that ultimately I'm the boss and I've got other responsibilities to that people who work for us and that's where I responsibility is live first when we're at work and we've been able to do that.

There's always strife, there's always someone's going to come up, but for the most part everybody understands that our employees come first.

As a family we all put our employees first. If somebody didn't get a paycheck it would be us. That's what we do.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

Alright, so I really appreciate you mentioning just not only that point that we'll get to, but also just the sheer amount that you work.

I can relate to you, I feel like I'm working around the clock. as well. Now, the advantage we have is we have the flexibility to work with different things when we want, but we also have, we're pulled in so many different directions.

And there's this reoccurring theme right now with different younger generations, particularly about having a work like, like, balance and people always touting about, you know, not doing too much and all these different things.

But it's interesting because the same people will always tell high achievers and those high achievers didn't get it by working as little as they possibly could.

So it's an amazing, it's amazing to me that in order for us to truly get the goals that you and I want, we do need to work and put in, we do need to grind it out.

So I appreciate you mentioned that.

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

Well, let me, let me, let me say something to that point. I'm probably going to make a lot of people angry when I talk, when you talk about work, life balance, a lot of people who talk about work, life balance, want life into work.

They don't put any value in work. And I was raised up. I watched my dad work 16, 18 hours a day sometimes, building a business.

And whenever he was home, he was with us. But I understood that he had to work. And my dad got enjoyment from work.

And he built that into us. as I go to work every day, I'm building something. That's enjoyment to me.

I bring my family along. I bring, whenever there's things to do, it's just a part of who you are.

And if all you live for is, and you different in between life and work, mean, same thing to me.

I work so that I can live, but I live to work as well. I value work. I value achievement.

I value that drive. And that's what keeps me alarming. mean, people do you see they return. I already died two years later, know?

And to me, it worked like balance means you work hard and play hard and you have fun.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from. And it's amazing that there are certain things that that all do, just like you, where it doesn't feel like work.

I'm so passionate about it. time gets away from me. I'll look down on my clock and I can't even believe it's 4 p.m.

Right? it's time speeds up when you are doing something that you love. I also want to circle it back a little bit to the family piece because I'm interested.

So this is more of a personal question, but I think I'll help other people listening. So you'd mentioned not letting business interfere with family relationships.

so first off, so people know, like you and I've had in person conversations, I was doing a workshop down the Atlanta area.

I met you. was fascinated by all the different things you have going on. So I wanted to have you on.

So you know a little bit more about my story. have three young kids and not. I'm an eight year old and a five year old and my nine year old is really starting to become part of the process.

He wants to hear more about my goals, setting goals, how to achieve them. He's given me some pretty amazing business suggestions, believe it or not, from everyone listed.

I mean, fascinating. I'm actually implementing some of the suggestions that he's given me because he's very obsessed with marketing and messaging and so from that age, yeah, it's awesome.

I love it. It's like bringing them, you know, part of the process. But from that young of an age, what would you recommend that I would do?

Because right now he is, he's talking about taking over my company. He wants to, you know, be a part of it.

He's excited. That's why he probably obsesses over some of stuff like I do because it excites him now. He's very young though.

So what would you recommend I do? saying delicately, but what do I do to continue to teach him, but not interfere with a really important time from father

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

son, he's nine, he's just learning about the world. What do you recommend I do to kind of set the pace for that?

So, I mean, my recommendation and what I was able to do because I was seven-pleud when my kids were really, really young and I was able to take them with me sometimes.

They were able to go with me and see what I did and do things. So, I think it's very, very valuable that if your son is interested that he goes and sees what you do, he can go, I mean, when I was in the comp you did for us, mean, your son could set in the corner and listen and watch his dad work.

mean, there's no bigger thrill for me when my kids get to see me, you know, do a pitch or close a deal or, you know, talk with the customer and fix the situation.

I mean, that to me, that, you know, I want them to see that. want them because I think I'm good at it.

So, I want them to see, you know, it means I want them see that. I want them see summer and we spent a lot of time together and I learned so much.

But it's also not putting the pressure on him that you have to follow him up for steps. Oh, I expect you to be here.

expect you to do this. This is your legacy. Because our kids are going to be different. And what your nine-year-old is now, not what he is when he's 15.

You know, my middle son was all about animals when he was really, really young, loved animals. And then we got older.

It became cameras. It became, you know, videography and all this other stuff. So, you know, they're going to morph and they're going to change and they're going to be different.

You have to let them be who they're going to be. And my daughter is a free spirit. She's loud and boisterous and, you know, but she's great with customers.

So, that's what she does for us. And she deals with the customers and the customers love her. And, you know, that's, you just let them blossom where they blossom and pay attention to who they are and realize that they're not us.

You know, they're not a mini me. They're going to be a mixture of myself. My family above me and my wife and her family.

around her, you know, they're going to have all those parts in them and let them be who they're going to be, you know, raise them up the way they'll go and they won't depart from it, you know, that kind of thing.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

I love that. Thank you for sharing that. I was laughing when you said, I think I'm good at it because I have a laundry list of stuff here and I'm just, I randomly just pick something off this sheet.

So for everyone listening, this is some of the things he's good at something. Dave, you have closed contracts with Disney, with SeaWorld, you travel to Saudi Arabia and closed over a million dollar sale.

So clearly, clearly, you are great at it. What, how did you learn negotiation strategy?

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

So, you know, a few things my dad taught me that I think go toward, you know, that relationship building that, and it's all about relationships for me, but he told me that my handshake and my name is one thing that he can give me and make sure that he hands it off to me.

It's still valuable. Don't ever mess up. If you shake on something that you're word, your word you're on, your name is all you have.

I learned that early, so I don't lie. one of his quotes was, I'm not smart enough to lie. I can remember the truth.

I can't remember a lie. So that was one of my dad's biggest quotes that I remember. So to always be honest and to always protect my name and reputation is foremost in my mind all the time.

But two, it's all about if you're going to be in sales, but just about everything is sales. If you're going to be in some kind of marketing sales, growing a business, whatever, you have to, if you're going to do the reach out and the relationship building piece of it, you have to give first.

So you have to be able, willing to give your information, give your knowledge, you know, so I'd wait for free.

know, you know, you don't give it all away, but. You're willing to help you willing to do things for others and then that creates the value and who you are in what you have to offer So as you talk to people and as you you know go to functions You're always willing to hey, know, can look at that the way I the way I got into one of the biggest hotels in Orlando Was the guy I was having a on the shoe.

This is about what I was in pest control He's having a bedbug issue in there in their hotel and I said let me come look at it Let me look at what you're doing now.

Let me look at your processes I went out for free walk through their whole system walk through it all look that I'm a tell him you need to do this This and this six months later.

had his business didn't ask for it. So You know, that's the way it works So six months later you had his business.

So how do you?

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

How do you get that through people's heads that are listening that something as simple as flying down there? But then also for free so some people might be thinking like are you out of your mind that you would do that for free?

And you had to wait six months later before it came to fruition So what is your stance regarding patience when it comes to you closing all these deals?

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

Well, I mean, you can either have a, you know, it depends on what you're selling to. I you're talking about a $150,000 sale.

You know, it's a whole lot easier to wait on that than it is to wait on, you know, a $200 sale.

You know, there's a big difference. But understand that the wheels of progress don't always churn quickly. They churn slowly a lot of times.

And if you're going to be in the game, give me the long game, you know, you have to build up.

When I took over the operation of Orlando, mean, we couldn't even get into hotels. We were in the Pessentre industry and they would laugh us out of the door because of the reputation that our company had at that time in Orlando.

It took us two years to change that mindset. And it was through grinding it out and offering to help and doing things that that held value and doing it for free a lot of times and getting into.

involved in the community. you know, if you want to get in, if you want to gain a customer, find out what they love and volunteer there, you know, find out what their passion is, find out what they volunteer for and, you know, and get involved and be seen and give back and create value in yourself.

If you're not creating value, you're just another, you know, person in the room.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

I love that. But I also want to speak to this because I see a lot of businesses going this direction.

And I do think it's going to backfire on a lot of them. We love the shiny new things in the marketplace.

And right now, there's so many people. I've seen this where they're switching up elements of their business model based on AI.

So they're changing strategy, they're trying to cut corners. And I'm not saying that AI isn't the future. It absolutely is.

There's many things that we're going to be able to do to serve our customers even better based on AI.

But there's people listening to this that. at our hearing some of your stories and thinking, oh, well, he's just old school.

And that AI is going to change so many different things, and they're going to be able to accelerate the process.

But you know that there's a lot of elements that AI can't change, which AI can't fly down to Orlando to our Lando to shake the hand of your prospect.

So for anyone thinking that AI, that they should just go after AI to try to cut corners, what would you say about these simplistic truths, this wisdom that you're sharing regarding the connection, the human element, what would you say to that?

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

I mean, is AI going to go and look somewhere in the eye and shake their hand and say, this is what I'll do for you?

I will come down and I will do a free assessment of what you're going to do. AI can't, they can write a pretty letter, can write a pretty email, but that doesn't get you.

Once you get in front of the people, what are you going to do? If everybody else is using AI.

I have an assistant in the same email. You know, you've got to differentiate yourself through personal connection. And if you aren't creating those connections, that personal connection, you know, that goes with, you know, goes with your employees as well.

If you're not able to take and create a relationship that goes beyond business, excuse me. Sorry. You're going to be just another person in the room, I said earlier.

There's no differentiation between you and someone else.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

It's too hard.

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

And AI, like I said, AI can get nice. Make a nice letter and consider a nice email, but it can't the relationships.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

Now it's really. That's a really good point. So let's shift gears a little bit. I want to continue to highlight some of the things that you said in the beginning.

So we talked about the family piece. But also there's another piece that you didn't directly say, but it was implied, was that you had to delegate.

Right? You're not a one man shop. have tons of different people that are helping you spread this mission, this vision, and connect and create a better life for your customer.

So let's talk about delegation. It's talked about in many business circles, but it's amazing that a lot of leaders are not willing to delegate.

They still want to be in every detail, and I see so many of them get stressed. Was there an aha moment in your business where you recognized, hey, I can't be everything to everybody.

I need to start delegating.

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

Sorry. That tickles. Yeah, so. So whenever you're running. running a company that's got 30 employees and you've got three managers and you've got to look at all those different moving parts.

You have to trust people. You have to trust those that are around you that you don't agree with you.

And yes, strategy with people that you can trust. So being in the family owned business here, it's been really nice to be able to have my kids who I know I can trust financially and those kind of things.

But it's also good to know that I have built up a level of friends around the industries that I can call in and pull in and also trust them to give me good advice and lean on others as well.

Okay. A It comes to delegating. There's so many things I've got going on that I have to do that I can't take on things that other people can do.

I don't schedule the calls. don't answer the phone. I don't pay the bills. don't, a lot of things I don't do because I don't have the time.

And when it comes to my consulting, they have to give me what I'm going to talk about. have to give me what I'm going to look at.

I can't go searching for it. There's just so many things that you have to do that you have to rely on others and trust them if they've got to give you their best.

And again, you have to put them accountable as well. You have to make sure that they understand what the best is and what your expectations are.

Because if you just delegate and don't give them good direction, they're going to make it up on their own.

And they might make it completely be opposite of what you are.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

So while you're speaking. This came to my mind. You didn't directly say it, but it was very much implied with everything that you were saying is if you say yes to everything, you're potentially saying no to what you're great at.

Meaning if you're saying yes to every aspect of your business, if your financial at sales and negotiation, you're actually saying no to that because you're stuck doing all the different things you should be delegating.

I think a lot of business leaders need to hear that, that there's a lot of power in delegation for sure.

I want to hit one more point with you, Dave, about time management. Okay, so I want to kind of shift gears and talk about time management for a second because people can't see my desk right now.

I have seven sheets of paper with things that Dave has done in recent years. So we could have a three-hour podcast just based on all the different things that you've done.

Let's talk about a time management perspective for a moment. Again, a lot of people talk about time management. read about time management.

They think they're good at time management. What are some things you'd say to people regarding time management on how you were able to do all that you're able to do?

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

I create extra time.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

I'm old time around now.

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

One of the things you have to do is emails and phone calls and texts are time suckers. You have to put them in their proper perspective.

I generally check my email once an hour and respond to the things that are urgent. If not, at the end of the day, I'll go back and circle back to things that need to be addressed.

I got an open door policy. My door is always open. Which can lead to issues because people want to come in and sit and talk.

But I tend to say, hey, I've got other stuff I've got. So you have to curtail things. You don't want to be rude.

have to curtail things. Because people will suck your time. I think it's, you know, you take those when I'm sitting in a truck, I take my laptop with me.

So if I've got to sit and wait on somebody, I can pull my laptop out and do work. You know, just don't waste time.

You have to make sure you're, you know, I got a presentation I do about 86,400s and number of seconds in a day.

You can't get them back. You can't, you know, if you waste them, they're gone. They're not infinite. They're finite.

So get to account for everyone of those seconds every day. And some of those had to be family. Need to be family.

Some of those were going to be sleep. Need to be sleep. Other ones have got to eat. know, so that leaves you, you know, only so many seconds in a day that you've got to fill with productive time.

And you have to look at where, you know, where are you wasting time? have to, everybody's different. Some people's phone calls and they, you know, they just talk all down the phone.

You know, they elongate conversations when they don't have to. You know, if you're busy, you have to delegate. You you have to man.

It's that time and Shortening things down. mean I look at you know a wrestling presidential or memoirs and things about how regimented their time was You know, I've got 15 minutes for this.

I'll get 10 minutes for this You got five minutes you go speak to this person. You're backing. know, it's you know You don't get that regimented, you need to have a focus on You know where you're spending your time and look back at the day I mean I've had Dave and like man, got a lot done today And I flew back to what did I do differently today?

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

And it's just I was focused all day You know, then that's where you gotta kind of pay attention to All right So I appreciate you mentioning the the presidential piece because I do want to make this point So what's fascinating to me is if you look at the last The last presence we've had through the last however many decades, okay as this has been tracked based on this specific role Regardless of party the president that we've had that has been the most effective and efficient They had a phenomenal chief of

staff in the chief of staff seat. And they're the one saying, this is the priority, this is what we're focused on.

They work with a team of people regarding calendar management is huge. the ones that get it wrong, they hire on the wrong person that is handing their calendar in not so good of a way.

And they're the ones that don't get their initiatives passed through Congress.

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

So I appreciate you mention that it's so unbelievably important. Yep, I agree.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

So Dave, you're a man of tremendous wisdom. I've learned from you in person speaking to you. We had a phone call recently where I learned a bunch from you.

And during this conversation, I learned some really good wisdom from you. So I appreciate it. There's three things in particular that I will remember from our conversation.

really appreciate you mentioned into me. Don't let business interfere with family relationships. This is really good for me to recognize because being a man that I really want to be an incredible husband and father.

I cannot, even though I'm like you, where I work around the clock and sometimes maybe people would say too much, I need to make sure that I'm not letting it interfere with my family because I'm doing it for them.

So why would I let it interfere with them? So I appreciate that first point. The second point is I appreciate the story that you shared regarding your father.

You talked about how your father taught you how to shake someone's hand, how to look them in the eye and remember a name.

Basically your word is your bond and to protect your name and reputation. Everyone wants to talk about branding today.

one of the ways you protect your brand is through that incredible reputation. I appreciate you mentioning that. And then the third and final piece where there's tons of wisdom in this.

I love this. Based on all the different messages and stories that you shared, it really boils down to if you say yes to everything, you're potentially saying no to what you're great at.

We have to get great at delegation. So Dave, thank you so much for your time.

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

If people want to learn more about your.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

services and they want to get in touch with you. Where's the best place they can go to get that information?

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

Easiest place to get me is Dave Johnson at bitjazz.com. That's my email. You can look us up online at bitjazzusa.com.

That's our website and you can look me up on LinkedIn. I'm big on LinkedIn, Dave Johnson or David Johnson on LinkedIn.

That's where I'm at. So if I want to reach that to me, I'll talk. enjoy, I enjoy helping. So we'll talk to anybody.

 

Matt Zaun (mattzaun.com)

Great. Well, thank you so much. I'll include all that in the show notes. People could just click and go from there.

 

Devon Johnson (CityWIDE Plumbing)

But thank you again, Dave. I appreciate it. Man, I enjoyed it. Thanks a lot, bud.