Jason Waller here true underdog podcast and YouTube channel listen make sure you subscribe today. You can go to iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple podcast. You can go to our YouTube channel true underdog or you can visit trueunderdog.com and subscribe to all of it.

Hey Jason, welcome. Hey Jeff, thanks for having me on. I'm super excited. Great, great to have you on. You know, I noticed from your LinkedIn. I mean, I introduced you as the founder and CEO of Power Home Solar, but you're also the host of the amazing podcast true underdog. It seems like the things that you're touching these days really meet with

tremendous success. That podcast is no exception. Just curious. First tell us how's the podcast doing podcast is boom. And I appreciate that it's called true underdog. It's, you know, we've had a lot of entrepreneurs. We've had you on there. We've had Jeff F on there. I don't want to screw up his name. Yes, we've had Brian Elias. Those are some big Detroit names that we've had on there. You know, I just had a freeway Ricky Ross on there. Joseph Newgarden, Barry Sanders, Kevin O'Leary from Shark Tank. A lot of, you know, the CEO

of hint water. I mean, a lot of entrepreneurs. I've got to talk to different walks of life that have actually, you know, turned a bad situation into a great situation. And, you know, our team really bust their butt. We use young and profitable podcasting. And they, they've helped manage and do everything what they did is we've been a top five entrepreneur podcast for almost two months. I think two months in a row. And number 21 on Apple trending. So we're super excited and proud of that. It's incredible. Now the reason I mentioned the podcast right now.

First of all, did you name the podcast? I did not. Okay. Where did that name come from? Because I know it's how you. It is in your DNA. You are the true underdog made great. So tell us about the brand.

So, you know, I deal with a company called Susman Agency here in the Detroit area. And they are the ones that changed our brand for power home last year. Kind of put my face on the brand, which I was against up front. I'm like, I'm kind of

bothered and dozed out about that. I don't want my face everywhere. That's weird. But they sold me on that. You, you got to have a trustworthy face in a home. You got to have, you know, a big smile. They got to have a face with the logo and the brand. And their goal was kind of

And I'm nowhere near this. So I'm not comparing myself, but how Steve Jobs is to Apple and iPhones. They want me to be the face of solar. So, you know, you got to, you got to take the stairs. You can't take the elevator. So it's a slow process. But, you know, it's become, you know, a big thing. And then they came

I got excited. I won the entrepreneur the year award last year for the southeast. And that, you know, some of the winners there in the judges were like, you got to write a book. I'm like, I've never read a book. So I started to start a podcast. Right. I just started a podcast. And it blew up. I mean, I didn't expect it to get as big as it did. It, it took off. And, you know, super jacked about that. And then now I've got a book thing going. But I'm still, you know, for front. I'm the, you know, the commander in chief of power home

solar, we are booming. We just had our holiday party this past Saturday, where we gave out over $210,000 to our employees on a virtual holiday party. We had $5,000, $5,000 winner. So we literally changed some of our employees' lives this past weekend. We were super excited about that.

That's amazing. That's got to feel great. Let me go back to a couple of things. You mentioned the Sustman Agency. Alan Sustman is a genius. And he really relies heavily on this idea of icon marketing. That's what you're referring to. It's not so much about, you know,

your picture, your face as the face of the company, but it's your face as part of the branding and the orientation and the brand attributes that Sustman is able to put together around that

personality, that key figurehead of the company, that icon that really drives the company. And certainly we've seen you on the Lions commercials Detroit Lions, you know, there you are. My kids, I tell them, I know that guy and my kids say, you know, that guy, you know, and that's the thing about it.

It creates this kind of, you know, you write a book and all of a sudden you're an expert. You put your face on a commercial on a front of a successful company and all of a sudden you're, you know, a rock star.

And you are these days and Sustman's done an amazing job. I think that has to be one of your key moves. In fact, was going to that icon marketing method. But let's before we get to the key moves. Let's make sure people understand your story and the story of power home solar your company that makes it all go.

That is the heart of everything. It's what's driving the revenues and allows you to do all these cool things now. Now look in your own words. I thought this was so interesting on your LinkedIn profile. Here's the way you describe yourself. After hearing the words know or you can't too many times you unleash the power within to start three companies with your most recent venture power home seller skyrocketing on a path to becoming a billion dollar enterprise now with over 1600 employees and almost a billion revenue.

Look, it's an amazing success story. We all want to be great entrepreneurs. We all want the byproduct of success that comes to being a great entrepreneur. Look, you're a kid from a trailer park. You heard no too many times and look at you. How did you do this? Tell us about the story. How did the company get started? Why solar power, etc.

Yeah, no, no, thanks. Thanks for the kind words and explain it. I mean, you know, it's I still get chill bumps thinking of the of where I started and where I'm at now. And I'm still humbled and I'm still thankful and I'm still blessed. And you know, I think God, I got a great family. I got a lot of things that go my way. But I didn't finish high school. I didn't go to college. I had a kid in my teens with my wife. We have four beautiful kids now and a granddaughter and a grandson on the way. And I'm only 41, Jeff. So I'm life's only starting for me.

Listen, listen, I can tell in meeting you the short time they have you live five lives for every one of our, you know, every one of our one. You're just you're on fire, man.

I appreciate that. My wife says she wishes she can take a little bit of my energy and just give it to herself up because I don't know what it is. I wish there was a way I could turn it off. I can't because I do get tired. Every now and then. But I need to be pushed. And, you know, my parents were hard workers. You know, I grew up in a little less than, you know, middle class. I mean, we, you know,

in North Carolina, we were less than no class. And we moved to North Carolina. It was less than that. You know, we did live in a

trail park. I didn't know there was a judgment zone or there was an issue with a trailer park. You know, grown up in Phoenix. It was no big deal.

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