Know What Your Work Is Worth

In today’s episode, I sit down with Justin White to talk about the habits, mindset, and discipline that create lasting success. We discuss why contractors and entrepreneurs need to understand technology, perceived value, profitability, and the importance of knowing their bottom line. I share how daily non-negotiables around sleep, health, family, faith, finance, time, and meaning have shaped my life and business. We also talk about recovering from failure, building a stronger self-image, shortening the distance between problems and solutions, and becoming comfortable asking for what your work is worth while staying aligned with the person you want to become. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Welcome back to another episode of Trade Stock. I got an amazing guest in the podcast studio today. I've got David Metzler. David, welcome to the show.

• 0:08Speaker 01

  Thanks for having me. What a great opportunity is to have an intelligent conversation and figuring out value together and how it trades.

• 0:16Speaker 00

  I'm so excited for that. So one of my jobs in the Trade Stock podcast is to connect leading entrepreneurs with everyday entrepreneurs in the trades, doing the physical work, you know, doing the plumbing, the roofing during the day, and then trying to run their business at night. What is your advice for those individuals who are in the trades? You've hired so many contractors, I'm sure, over the years. What is your advice from your lessons to people in the trades today?

• 0:41Speaker 01

  You know, there's about a few things. Number one, spend the time to research technology. Unfortunately, when we're so busy working, a lot of times we forget to make money. But also, we're so busy working in the trades that we forget that technology has advanced every day what used to advance in a year. And so I see a lot of people in the trades that don't utilize technology efficiently, effectively, and with statistical success. So they're working harder and working smarter, but they're not working smarter on the right tools.

• 1:21Speaker 01

  And so that would be the first. And then the second one is a lot of tradesmen don't understand perceived value and bottom line. So 80% of the business they take, they're losing money on. They're either breaking even, or they're losing money because they don't know the perceived value in the bottom line. And if they would just go into every deal, knowing that perceived value is what they're comfortable and confident in articulating, but bottom line is essential, that you gotta go into each deal knowing your bottom line, and that bottom line has to be profitability.

• 1:55Speaker 00

  And I really like this because I think technology utilization leads to better profit. Now, you were on the forefront of technology 30 plus years ago. Tell us a little bit about that exponential change we're experiencing, because I think most of us have a hard time wrapping our heads around what you said. Things change more than a day than they do in a year compared to, you know, 20, 30 years ago.

• 2:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, so a lot of times people are hedging their bets with technology. But if technology changes, or there's better technology, we're actually wasting time and money by hedging our bet with technology. So what I like to talk about is capability, whether it be employees or technology. And when I say employees today, it's either our own employees, 1099 employees, or outsourced employees, or virtual employees, or so on and so forth with technology. But if we stick to capability, and we're aligning capability with what's stable, what's doing well today, and then take a percentage and figure out what capabilities

• 3:01Speaker 01

  you think will do well in the future, it will be the stable capabilities and what's doing well today that will continue to sustain the profitability, especially in the trades.

• 3:12Speaker 00

  Love that. Now, one of the things I admire most about you, your journey, your story, is your perseverance and your consistency to getting out there and doing the hard things every day. How do you get up, put a smile on your face, and go conquer, you know, whatever challenges are in front of you? You've been doing that for years.

• 3:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, first you gotta learn to love what you don't like or love about what you love and don't love. And I know that sounds silly, but I was a below average college football player, which meant that I had to learn to love a lot of things that I didn't like or love about football. But I love football, but I didn't like the, you know, sitting on the bench. I didn't like getting my ass kicked. I didn't like, you know, the practices and not being able to play, taping, films. While I had other things to do, but I love football so much, I learned to love practicing. I learned to love sitting on the bench. And I think a lot of people don't take the time to find the light, the love, and the lessons in things that they don't love.

• 4:16Speaker 01

  Therefore, they create resistance in doing what you call the hard things. I actually think people have a more difficult time doing the simple things, and they don't double down on the simple things, because the simple things to do are simple not to do. I also believe that people don't have non-negotiables in their life. One of the things that have kept me so consistent is I know the mathematical physics of linear time, which is two minutes a day of paying attention and giving intention to something equals two hours on a Saturday. So I use a definition of the extra miler compared to the empty miler. See, the extra miler, they go the extra mile every once in a while.

• 5:01Speaker 01

  And then they use that to justify why they didn't get what they want, why they're not where they want to be. Where if you see the most successful people in all businesses, in all sports, in all parts of life, it is the people that learn to enjoy the consistent, every day, persistent, without quit pursuit of their potential. And so they're very good at, you know, for example, I'll use Spanish because it's my favorite example. I've never met a kid who studies Spanish 15 minutes a day, seven days a week, that doesn't get an A. I know tons of kids, including me, that studied 15 hours before the test and didn't get an A.

• 5:44Speaker 00

  Yeah. So is this, how much of this is it just a mental game of setting yourself up for success? Maybe give us some of those non-negotiables or some of the rituals you do daily that help, that help you.

• 5:58Speaker 01

  So yes, I have daily non-negotiables that I incorporate into daily practices with daily values. And so the non-negotiables have to have assigned time to them, a minimum amount of time assigned to them. And you have to understand what non-negotiable means. Non-negotiable means this. No matter what happens today, no matter what the weather is, the interest rates, no matter what arguments I get into, no matter what delays occur, no matter how much God laughs at me, I will assign a minimum amount of time to my sleep. I will sign a minimum amount of time to my health. I will sign a minimum amount of time, no matter what happens today, to my family, to my faith,

• 6:44Speaker 01

  to the study of my finance, the study of time itself, and also the study of meaning or relativity. And so for me, that equates to about 12 hours of non-negotiable time, majority of it's sleep, which leaves me 12 hours a day to prioritize according to what's important to me and the circumstances of the day. But know this, and most people don't believe me, but those who I coach, teach, and mentor, they know it to be true, that 90% of my success comes from not the circumstantial behavior, not the guesses of the what, the who, the how, the now, and the why, the daily practices of circumstance.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  90% of my success comes from sleeping every day, a minimum amount of time, health, family, faith, finance, the study of time and relativity. That's what creates the success. And so we learn humility, that we don't know what we don't know, as we prioritize the other 12 hours of awake time. Remember, most of the non-negotiable time is sleep that allows me to recover, which guarantees better performance, but it also guarantees me better access to information while I sleep, if I sleep correctly. I've had a sleep coach for 18 years.

• 8:01Speaker 00

  Tell me more about that.

• 8:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I travel 200 days a year. And so after I lost over $100 million and went bankrupt, I got two coaches. One, a comeback coach, his name was Tim Story, because I knew I needed to understand the mindset of a comeback. And then two, a sleep coach, because I knew a third of my life I spent sleeping, and most people don't ever pay attention or give intention to sleep. So most people go to bed at night, wake up tired in the morning. That's like going to eat all night and waking up hungry. That's ridiculous. So I decided that I get a sleep coach to teach me how to do two things. Recover better, because coming from the sports realm, where I ran the most notable sports agency in the world, I knew that my athletes that may not be as talented, but recovered better,

• 8:49Speaker 01

  they performed statistically better, even if they weren't as good as the other guys. And then two, through my spiritual work, my meditation, quantum healing, and other things that I studied, I knew that if I could elevate my awareness by accessing information while I slept, without interfering with my conscious, that I would have better decision-making process during this day. So unequivocally, quantitatively, nobody can argue that if you recover better, you don't perform better. Obviously, you recover better, you perform better, and nobody can argue if you have greater awareness. Like, for example, imagine having better awareness when to buy or sell. Who's going to make more money, me or you? If I have a greater, and I can get that through sleep.

• 9:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, so that's why I got a sleep coach to help me put myself, my mind, my body, and my soul in a position to recover and access information, to understand when to eat, the lighting, the temperature, the blankets, the eight sleep beds, the, all types of different technologies that exist today. It's the best. And so that's a coach that I've kept, both my comeback coach and of course, my sleep coach.

• 10:01Speaker 00

  Okay, so you mentioned time and relativity, and you dedicate time during the day to study this. I think this is something that's very foreign to people. Can you unpack what you mean by time and relativity?

• 10:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, so the human experience is linear in its nature, and it's bookend. It's bookend by the time your heart starts till the time it stops. That determines a lifetime. Nothing else. Your eyes can stop working, your hair can fall out, you can lose a leg, even your brain can stop. But if your heart stops, that's the end. Now, God gives you a guarantee in this whole human experience. God says, I'm going to give you guaranteed 24 hours every single day of your life. Except for the last day, I'm going to cheat you. So under the context of rationality and pragmatic thinking, I know that time is really important

• 10:56Speaker 01

  because it's the only consistent, dependent variable of the human experience. We all get 24 hours a day. So if I have an objective of finding my higher self, of being productive, accessible, and gracious with my time, then I'm going to study it, which means I'm going to use the mathematical equation of luck, which says, I'm going to pay attention to what I do, say, think, feel, and believe. And I'm going to give it my intention aligned with where I want to be or better. I also am going to give meaning, which is relativity. I'm going to give meaning to mistakes, setbacks, defining moments, historical relevances of my past.

• 11:39Speaker 01

  So I'm going to align the lessons, the meaning, the relativity of the past with my divine direction of where I want to be or better. And I'm also going to align my attention plus my intention to my divine direction. Because my attention and intention equals the coincidences every day. The coinciding coincidence, the coinciding of the universe. And the reason relativity is studied within the context of time is that I have the power to give meaning to everything I see. So I have the power to give my bankruptcy, a meaning of protection, promotion, love and perfection, not punishment. Because if I don't give it a meaning aligned with this positive pursuit, then I will limit my self-image.

• 12:23Speaker 01

  And I know one thing, and everybody should know this out there. If you will never, never, ever overachieve your own self-image. So that's why I study time in the divine and relativity aligned with that divine. So that I can take advantage of the mathematical equation of luck, which says, what I pay attention to and what I give intention to equals the coincidences in my life, the coinciding of what I desire.

• 12:48Speaker 00

  This is so powerful.

• 12:52Speaker 02

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• 13:21Speaker 00

  I believe our subconscious is programmable. And that's exactly what I'm understanding here. And if you can develop a self-image that is positive, even through your darkest times, 18 years ago, you lost a hundred million, went bankrupt. Like, most of us have never gone through something like that. Yet every day, and this really is, I think, prevalent in the trades industry. Entrepreneurs are burning out at the highest rate, highest rate, highest rates than ever. And their solution oftentimes is to work more hours, meaning into the night, reducing their sleep, reducing their self-image, reducing their strength. Tell us, talk to that contractor who's burning out right now and just trying to work more hours to solve the problem.

• 14:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I would like to offer to all the contractors and tradesmen out there and women, I will send you the book that I've written about this for free. I will sign it, I will send it, I'll pay for shipping in the book. So make sure you get my email, [email protected]. Put it in the notes, David means beloved. D is my first initial, Meltzer means servant, [email protected]. But the idea is really simple. I categorize things. Am I doing, saying, thinking, feeling and believing aligned with where I want to be or better? Or am I interfering with it? It's a simple categorization.

• 14:46Speaker 01

  And so is my not sleeping, is that aligned with where I want to be or better? Is that interfering with it? Is my need to be right, offended, separate, inferior, superior, anxious, frustrated, angry, guilty, resentful, worried? Is this worrying? Is this aligned with where I want to be or better? Is it interfering with it? And so what I will teach you through my book in here today is that when we start seeing the clues and the patterns of what I do to interfere with compared to what I'm doing aligned with. And then realize that most contractors out there, when they are interfering with their best self, interfering with their best work, interfering with their best health and wealth,

• 15:29Speaker 01

  they usually try to go over it, under it, through it, around it. They try to resist it. They try to lie to it, cheat it, manipulate it, or deny it. What I will teach you to do is to use your free will and your faith to stop. Simply stop. When you're worried, just stop and breathe. Drop down, remind yourself with your God. Remember yourself with your God. Recollect yourself with your higher self, your God. And now you will roll back into your divine direction. So instead of just being disciplined, getting so busy working, you forget to make money. Getting so busy working, you forget to be healthy.

• 16:11Speaker 01

  Getting so busy working, you forget for the sake of why you're working for your family. So instead of being so disciplined working, you now have a different definition of discipline, which is called devotional. You become devotional about your activities, which is your best intention in a divine direction, in a consistent, persistent manner, in the pursuit of your higher self, your best self, which is someone who recovers, who spends time on their faith, their family, on their health, on their finance, the study of time and relativity.

• 16:46Speaker 00

  Oh, this is so good. And I think it's counterintuitive for most contractors, including myself. We just want to get the jackhammer out and pile through the wall, because that's what we do.

• 16:58Speaker 00

  So one of your stated missions, or maybe your stated mission, I read this, you have a goal that you want to make one billion people happy. Can you tell me more about that?

• 17:07Speaker 01

  Over a billion, don't limit me.

• 17:08Speaker 00

  Thank you, over a billion, no, yeah, no limits here. All right, tell me more about how you came to that.

• 17:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a touching story that I sometimes wonder about. So I recovered from losing everything. And I purchased a dream home for my wife in South Mission Beach in San Diego. I was speaking with her and I said, is there anything else I can do for you? Without you, I wouldn't be here. Thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for believing in me more sometimes than I believed in myself. Thank you for guiding me and telling me the truth of where my holes were and what I needed to work on and who I needed to take stock in. Just thank you.

• 17:53Speaker 01

  And as I was saying that to her, my 12-year-old daughter came out and she was crying. And we both said, well, my God, what's the matter, Marlena? Her best friend, who was 12 years old, committed suicide. Now, I've been around this stuff, drugs, alcohol, PTSD, CTE, depression. You know, there's a lot of shit that happens to you when you're older. But I couldn't fathom why an affluent 12-year-old girl who wasn't using drugs, who got great grades, who had tons of friends, in what world would this type of person ever even consider at 12 years old, taking their own life?

• 18:35Speaker 01

  So I immediately broke down crying, I took off my shoes and socks, and I told my wife, I need to go walk. Right? I was, I still get very upset about it. So I was walking on the beach and not a very religious person, I was still just finding my faith at that time. And God spoke to me. God gave me a calling. He said, you know, son, you, you have the capability to help change the world. You, you know how to make a lot of money. You've always made a lot of money for the sake of helping others and you have fun doing it. Like we talked about, learning to love what you don't like or love about what you love. You can change the world.

• 19:19Speaker 01

  And now I'm freaking out because I didn't really believe people when they said they were called by God or whatever they say. And I'm like, shit, am I going crazy? Like, have I lost it? And, and how do I tell anyone? So I called Tim Story, my comeback coach, who's kind of like a minister and a reverend himself, right? And has worked with Oprah, Robert Downey Jr., Charlie Sheen, you know, Quincy Jones, there's a ton of different people. And I called Tim and I was like, man, Tim, do you believe that God talks to people? And he's like, yeah. I said, well, I know this is going to sound crazy, don't laugh at me. He goes, I won't laugh at you. I said, God called me to change the world by teaching people to make a lot of money, help a lot of people with it and have fun.

• 20:04Speaker 01

  But I'm not going to tell anybody because I can't even tell my wife. People will think I lost my lid, especially I finally made this comeback. Now people are thinking I found God and, you know, that whole bullshit story. And he said something that changed my life. He said, David, God will not give you an invitation without already knowing this limitation. Do with it what you want. So I went home and tested the waters and I said, I know this sounds crazy to my wife. I said, but I know why I'm here. She's, what do you mean? I said, I know why I'm on earth. She said, why? I said, because I know how to make a lot of money for the sake of helping others and having fun.

• 20:47Speaker 01

  And I can empower a thousand people to do that, that will empower a thousand, to empower a thousand, thousand times a million, thousands of million, a million times a thousands, a billion. Sweetheart, I can change the world. Humbly, I can find a thousand people like you, bro, that will empower a thousand to empower, I can do this, especially with the world of social media and technology. I can do this, sweetheart. I can change the world. And I say that in all humility. I just need to find a thousand people like you. And instead of laughing at me, scoffing at me and making fun of me, my wife applauded me and she supported me. And I started telling people on podcasts and TV shows and movies and stages and coaching

• 21:31Speaker 01

  clients and interviews and meetups and holding courts, all the things I do in 200 cities a year. And you know what? I don't know anyone, at least to my face, that isn't on board. Nobody is laughing at me, scoffing at me or making fun of me.

• 21:47Speaker 00

  This is so powerful. And so many people are listening to this exact podcast and I think, I think are motivated and inspired by this. How has your life changed since discovering that purpose and discovering that divine meaning?

• 22:04Speaker 01

  Yeah. So I've always sought wisdom and I've always believed making a lot of money is a good thing, but I had to learn for the sake of what. But what really changed in my life is I realized that every problem that exists, every failure, mistake, setback, struggle, pain that exists, the solution is already there or was already there. It was just a lapse of time before it became a resolution, a resolution to the problem. And so as I went through this process, I said, so I live in a linear timeframe. Why not shorten the distance of resistance between the problem and the solution if it's already there?

• 22:50Speaker 01

  And I've always thought the fastest way to do that would be to ask someone that already knew the answer. Get the teacher's guide or help somebody else get to where they want to be. And that'll help you find the answer. In other words, seek wisdom and provide wisdom. But what I didn't realize, I was always missing this one component, which I learned through this process called faith. Faith that even though the evidence today, when I lost everything, including my mom's house, only reason I wanted to be rich was to buy my mom a house. I lost her effing house in the break.

• 23:24Speaker 00

  Oh dude.

• 23:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. My basement had a basement. But what I learned is that wisdom is great. Knowledge is a commodity today. Anyone that knows AI, you could, I went to law school, business school. You could answer legal questions better than I, and I went to one of the best law schools in the country and did very well. But knowledge is a commodity, wisdom and faith. When there's no evidence, like when I told my mom she was moving, there was no evidence that I would be here today, especially in the position that I'd be in. In fact, all the evidence that day was contrary that I would be here today or be in the position I'm in today. But with wisdom and faith, I shortened the distance of resistance and I found the resolution.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  I filled the God sized hole that I was trying to fill with everything with God. But God, once I started to fill that hole with God, I came passionate, purposeful, fulfilled and profitable beyond belief.

• 24:23Speaker 00

  What a story. And I think the biggest challenge facing contractors, one of is you mentioned it. This idea that making money isn't a bad thing. And a lot of times, for whatever reason, we discount our services. We give money back to the clients. We don't charge them for change orders. We give everything away and we work so hard for it. I think it's a mindset issue. As we wrap this podcast up, just a few minutes left. What's your message to those who are kind of stuck in that, in that gray area right now?

• 24:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, look, if I came in and I'm happy to do this to help people, 80% of especially of contractors build businesses, 80% will bankrupt you. 80% of the business you do today will bankrupt you. Let me tell you why, because 80% of your business is either breaking even or losing you money. And if all you had was at 80%, you obviously would be bankrupt because you would be losing money on every deal. Until you realize that you can't give what you don't have. Until you realize your own self value through perceived value and bottom line, and be able to say, I am not working to break even.

• 25:35Speaker 01

  I am not working to lose money because if I do, I will be out of business and I won't be able to help anybody, including me or my family. So next time you make a quote or next time you do a change order, practice two things. One, being comfortable and confident in the asking price. Because that's all that matters, especially in contracting, just like speaking, right? What's the difference between a $50,000 speaker and a $100,000 speaker? I charge $100,000 to speak. Do you know what the difference between me and someone who charges $50,000? Is I'm more comfortable and confident in asking for a hundred than they are.

• 26:18Speaker 01

  Now, does that mean I get a hundred thousand every single time? No, because I have a bottom line, according to the situational knowledge that I gain for each of the different experiences of speaking. And the same holds true to contracting, right? You know, here, here's what I'm comfortable and confident in articulating the value. But here's my bottom line. And if you go below my bottom line, I'm sorry, I can't do it for that price.

• 26:43Speaker 00

  No, you're worth.

• 26:43Speaker 01

  If you're above the bottom line, now you're profitable. And you'll be more profitable because you are comfortable and confident in articulating the perceived value, which means people will believe that it's worth it. They'll have the perception that it's worth it.

• 26:58Speaker 00

  They'll be, yes. And okay, last thing, every episode I end with a trade secret, just a quick little one liner or a piece of advice, something you've learned. You've learned so much over the years, I'm sure. But what's your trade secret for our guest today?

• 27:12Speaker 01

  Oh, in this business, the trade secret is have a conversation with everyone you meet to figure out two things. Would it help you if, or do you know anyone that could help me? And if you do that in person on the phone via email and social, every single day, just one time, you'll have 112 people a month buying from you and selling for you for life. And that's a lot of value coming your way.

• 27:38Speaker 00

  David, thanks so much for being on the trade stock podcast, man.

• 27:41Speaker 01

  You got it, man. Thank you so much.