For decades, Erick Slabaugh has lived the entrepreneur’s life. He owns and operates two companies in the Seattle area and has helped lead EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) at the regional and global levels.
Our conversation with Erick is an unvarnished look at the life of an entrepreneur—its highs, lows, and everything in between.
Erick shares his mistakes when he took over the family business at 19, lessons learned on hiring, managing, and growing his companies, and the single most important reason for his success.
“Entrepreneurs don’t do what they do because every day is easy and fun,” says BEATS WORKING host Mark Wright. “Erick says they do it because they see a need in the marketplace and want to fix it using their time, energy, and money. In the process, they make the world a better place.”
That’s one way to redeem work, and Erick Slabaugh certainly fits that bill.
Resources from the episode:
- Connect with Erick on LinkedIn.
- Follow Erick on Facebook.
- Erick is the CEO of Absco Solutions, a 40+ year market veteran in the facility security and fire-life safety industry. Learn more about the company and the services they provide here.
- Erick is also the founder and CEO of FCP Insight, a construction management software company. Learn more about them here.
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Transcript
The following transcript is not certified. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. The information contained within this document is for general information purposes only.
[00:00:00] Mark Wright: Erick Slabaugh. Welcome to the BEATS WORKING podcast. My friend. It’s so good to have you here.
[00:00:04] Erick Slabaugh: Thank you for having me, Mark. It’s great to spend some time with you today. I’m loving the project that you guys have got going.
[00:00:10] Erick Slabaugh: So
[00:00:10] Mark Wright: And you know, Dan Rogers, the founder of this podcast, you two have been connected with entrepreneurs organization for a long time. So we’ll get to that in just a little bit. Also, maybe I’ll get some dirt on Dan that you may have. So that’ll be fun.
[00:00:23] Erick Slabaugh: you know, it’s form confidential and I got to take it to my grave. So I, I don’t think that’s going to happen, but, uh, yeah, good luck.
[00:00:30] Mark Wright: So Erick, one of the reasons I wanted to have you on the show is. Is you have been an entrepreneur for decades and you are living the entrepreneurial life and you’ve done it successfully. And I’m not saying that every chapter has just been rainbows and unicorns in your career. You’ve had some rough patches in your career.
[00:00:48] Mark Wright: You’ve had some amazing successes in your career. But really what I’d like to do is shed some light. On what it is an entrepreneur does and what that [00:01:00] business model looks like. So let’s, let’s start there, Erick. What is an entrepreneur in your mind?
[00:01:07] Erick Slabaugh: That’s a, that’s a big question. , I, I think an entrepreneur is somebody who, , sees a need in the marketplace, , either their own need or, or the need of others and has a desire to fix it. , at its base core and is willing to invest personal time, , energy, , talent, , finances, treasure, , in trying to solve for whatever that is.
[00:01:31] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, and in the process of that, , starts, uh, building, , a business around. , solving whatever that need in the community is or that need in the, in the, um, broader world is, , and in doing that, rallies others to that same cause. and it’s basic sense. I think that’s what an entrepreneurship really is.
[00:01:50] Mark Wright: So you have a couple of companies, Absco solutions. You’re the CEO of that and also FCP insight, which is a software company. We’ll talk more about those two companies [00:02:00] in just a second, but you, you got, uh, kind of an early baptism by fire at 19 years old, you took over the family business, take. Take us back, Erick, to that time and explain what ABSCO is in the first place.
[00:02:13] Mark Wright: And what led to, to you having to take over , that company at such a young age?
[00:02:18] Erick Slabaugh: so Absco is a life safety and security integration company. Uh, really addressing, , physical vulnerabilities for sites around safety and security. So think fire, life safety, mass notification, video surveillance, access control, intrusion detection, all of those various systems, and really working to bring those into a unified system, , that provides better information and, , in many cases, automated.
[00:02:45] Erick Slabaugh: And more rapid response to emergency issues while also taking some of those same assets and utilizing them to improve operations and workflow. , and so, yeah, 19 years old, , my, , my parents, , started the company with a gentleman named [00:03:00] Jimmy Upjohn, , way back in 1977. By 1987, Jimmy had exited the company and sold his shares to other people.
[00:03:07] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, the company had a customer that represented a third of their annual revenue that would be called client, , concentration. Something that is generally frowned upon, , when you value a company, too much of a, of a single client, , can be a really bad thing if that client suddenly evaporates. And in that instance, that customer was bought by a company called National Guardian out of Minneapolis, and they consolidated all of their procurement to Minneapolis, and literally in about a 30 day window, , the company lost a third of its annual revenue.
[00:03:35] Erick Slabaugh: , and so over, uh, over the course of the next six, seven months, uh, the company went from positive owner’s equity to negative owner’s equity and three to two payables to receivables, which is not a good financial position. , it was 19 years old. I, I, uh, was attending the university of Washington. And my dad asked if I was going to re up for all fall quarter.
[00:03:52] Erick Slabaugh: And when I said, yeah, I was planning on it. He said, okay, I guess we’ll sell the house, which is not something you expect to hear your dad say.
[00:03:59] Mark Wright: my [00:04:00] goodness.
[00:04:00] Erick Slabaugh: yeah, it was like, okay. , or the, the alternative. Or you can come make a go of the family business. And so, , obviously left the university of Washington, which, , was, , was not the worst thing that ever happened.
[00:04:11] Erick Slabaugh: I, I was, uh, I was struggling with chemistry, so that wasn’t so bad. But then, , really engaged with the business and, , started buying shares from other owners, who literally thought this is never going to be worth anything anyway, so. I think I got 25 percent of the company for 2, 500, when it was negative 70, 000 owner’s equity.
[00:04:29] Erick Slabaugh: So theoretically I was buying, the opportunity to pay off debt. Yeah. Yeah. So, , yeah. , but then, you know, recruited, , my best friend at the time, Dan Norton. We were, , best friends since the seventh grade. He came on board, , when I was 21. So it was about two years later, he came on board and, and we turned it around.
[00:04:47] Erick Slabaugh: I will say my first meeting with a banker, , at 19, I wanted a 10, 000 line of credit, , and, uh, the gentleman put his arm around my shoulders and walked me out of the building. Cause he said, you know, it wouldn’t be prudent to loan you the bank’s money. You’re going to be out of business in the [00:05:00] next 90 days.
[00:05:01] Erick Slabaugh: And my response was, my parents will lose their house. That’s not an option. He said, well, I’m really sorry to hear that. About four years later, he was in my office soliciting business. So that was kind of awesome.
[00:05:10] Mark Wright: Wow. So Erick, back then, what, what did absco do in terms of a product line back then? Was it like smoke alarms and burglar alarms? And what was absco then compared to what it is today?
[00:05:21] Erick Slabaugh: actually it’s funny. , I, I joke about that with some of our technicians , our technicians today use their laptops a lot. , they, , are, , constantly programming something. , they’re constantly, , you know, laptops are as important a tool as there is. And, uh, back then, first of all, there were no laptops, I mean, I think we got our first laptop in like 95 or 97, something like that.
[00:05:46] Erick Slabaugh: And it, it was a brick, it’s, you know. 20 pounds or something. I mean, it was, it was crazy. Uh, our first cell phone was about the same thing, huge antenna off the end of it and all that. , but you know, we, yeah, it was fire alarms. It was intrusion detection. I had to [00:06:00] know Ohm’s law and, , you know, transistors and all that, , back in the day.
[00:06:03] Erick Slabaugh: Now a part goes down, you don’t repair it, you just replace it. Cause it’s cheaper to just get a new board, than it is to try and carry the parts around it with, and you know, there’s UL listings and all that. So. Yeah, it’s a very different world than it was then.
[00:06:17] Mark Wright: And, and I know a lot about your business just because we’ve been friends for a long time. And I’m not going to mention any of your clients by name, but you now provide security for universities for. Major sports stadiums for major government installations. It’s, it’s really a very sophisticated company today in terms of just the size of the projects and the clientele that you have, take me back though.
[00:06:42] Mark Wright: Erick is you started to grow absco back in the day. I I’d love to get some life lessons. From you in terms of what it takes to successfully grow a business. What were some of the pain points? What were some of the big lessons that you learned back then?
[00:06:58] Erick Slabaugh: know, early on, [00:07:00] Mark, this is a really good question. Early on, uh, I was the lead salesperson, the project manager, the general manager, the, , lead journeyman, you know, have my electrical license at 18, , which is unusual. You know, did CAD work or, well, actually no, actually back then did drafting on a drafting board.
[00:07:21] Erick Slabaugh: Absolutely fascinating. , and what I learned early on was I didn’t have enough hours in a day for all the different hats I was wearing. , to go out and find new customers every other day. And so back then, a lot of, you know, a lot of residential security systems were just starting to be put in and there was good money to be made on monitoring and, and reasonable money to be made on installations of security systems and residences.
[00:07:44] Erick Slabaugh: The problem is, unless I was going to bring on a residential builder that was building a lot of houses and wanted security in it. It just made zero sense to even play in that market. And so, you know, we really did focus on universities and we landed two really [00:08:00] big universities that are still customers today, 35 plus years later, , and you know, knowing that, we could get to know them really well and understand their needs intimately and service their needs intimately was, was absolutely critical to being good at what we did and to our success, , our longevity.
[00:08:19] Erick Slabaugh: , and, , as that happened, what we realized is we’re really suited. And we, we really built our reputation and our product base around serving large multi site. , venues. So things like the U S Navy makes a lot of sense to doing work at the Navy bases. , we’re good at that. Uh, you know, taking on a, team and a stadium and, integrating the, different systems is, we’re good at it.
[00:08:43] Erick Slabaugh: So, yeah, , pretty much all of our customers, you know, even a major retailer that is nationwide, you can look at and go, well, they want their systems integrated to their security operations center. In Pica City, USA. And so that’s, it’s just one giant campus with the internet today. [00:09:00] So. The globe is a giant campus with the internet.
[00:09:03] Mark Wright: Talk about cashflow, Erick, because I think a lot of us who have never owned a business have no concept of how critical having cash on hand is when, or at least lines of credit, when you have to go buy millions of dollars worth of equipment and then you have to install it. And then, oh, by the way, it’s going to take a while for that client to pay their bill.
[00:09:26] Mark Wright: How, what, what were some of the big lessons that you learned about? You know, invoicing cashflow lines of credit, because that just seems like it could make or break any business.
[00:09:38] Erick Slabaugh: Yeah. I, you know, the, the really interesting thing around that is, you can be slowly losing money, but have good cashflow. You could be making a profit hand over fist and going out of business because the cashflow is not keeping up. And so there is an internal, I mean, one of the learn this in the entrepreneurs organization early [00:10:00] on, I got to go to the birthing of giants program at, , MIT back in 2000 to 2002.
[00:10:06] Erick Slabaugh: And, you know, learn the term, , internal rate of financeable growth. And it’s, uh, it’s literally based on this much profit. This is how much you can grow. , based on this many days of collections and the Delta, right? Between what you have to pay and when you receive collection. And so a company like Dell, when they first started out, right, they, , they got their vendors to extend them 45 day terms.
[00:10:31] Erick Slabaugh: They were collecting money from, , customers via credit card on day one. So they had really positive cashflow. They could grow. infinitely in that scenario, , as long as they continue to be profitable on what they were generating. , whereas, you know, a company that’s in the construction industry where you’re buying materials three, four, six months in advance, uh, sometimes, uh, to lock in pricing, uh, and I, I will say this, the pandemic with the, the supply chain issues, I think anybody that was in [00:11:00] any hard goods, , especially if they had hard contracts with like the federal government really.
[00:11:05] Erick Slabaugh: Got nailed, uh, in a major way, , during the pandemic because all of a sudden things were jumping, 25, 30%, , but the contracts didn’t jump at all. Uh, you know, this is, it’s a fixed contract. You’re, gonna, you’re going to do the work for what you said you were going to do the work for. So, , there wasn’t a lot of relief to be had, uh, in that scenario.
[00:11:23] Erick Slabaugh: , so yeah, it was really interesting. , cashflow is absolutely critical to keep an organization alive. Uh, it’s, it’s like, think of it as, as the blood in your veins. , you can be bleeding a little, but you’re not going to die. Uh, you get a big gash, it’s probably going to kill you.
[00:11:40] Mark Wright: Yeah. How much credit should a business have on hand, Erick? And does that depend on the size of the business?
[00:11:47] Erick Slabaugh: Oh, it absolutely does. Yeah. I mean, ideally capitalized is somewhere between 90 days and six months of cash on hand, uh, based on normal business flows, , for CapEx and, , and, OpEx, , [00:12:00] et cetera. But, a few small businesses actually achieve that with any. significance. , when they do, it’s usually when they start to really take off in a significant way.
[00:12:11] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, the challenge is when they take off in a significant way, if you grow, you know, high double digits, low, , triple digits, even that is not enough. So then lines of credit and other financing vehicles really become important.
[00:12:25] Mark Wright: Erick, what did you learn about hiring and firing, , as the company was growing, because it seems like if you’re Boeing and you have that many employees, if you make a bad hire, the impact is going to be felt, but you can get rid of that person. But it seems like with a small growing company, one bad hire could really damage.
[00:12:44] Mark Wright: growth, it could damage morale. It could damage profitability. What were some of the lessons that you learned about hiring and firing?
[00:12:51] Erick Slabaugh: I would argue Boeing is no different than the rest of us. , this recent door issue with, uh, with Boeing, , it’s just one employee, perhaps, maybe two, [00:13:00] being careless, , can destroy the reputation of a generational, , company. I mean, like multi generational company. , And I don’t think anybody would argue that the door issue with the Alaska flight, , has really done some harm, , to Boeing’s reputation.
[00:13:17] Erick Slabaugh: What I realized, uh, and it, you know, filling a job with a body is not even close to good enough. , filling a job with somebody who can do the job well. , is barely a start, um, making sure that not only can they do it, but they want to do it, that it’s aligned with who they are as a person. Uh, you know, we use the Culture Index as one of the many tools, that, that we utilize to try and align, , how people behave just normally, uh, with the requirements that their job has.
[00:13:49] Erick Slabaugh: So, you know, if I’m, , ultra studious and I, I, I’m not fast paced, but I, I’m, you know, I’m going to get it done right. I want that person in the accounting department. I still need them to hit the [00:14:00] deadlines, but, but I want them to do it right. If I, there are other roles. I just need people to be really great communicators and fast paced.
[00:14:08] Erick Slabaugh: And so aligning the right people to the right role is absolutely critical. , and then, , , culture really matters. I will say this as far as firing goes, I, I don’t know that we’ve ever fired anyone too soon for their sake or ours. , I think we tend to, you know, try and make it work. Uh, I think a lot of entrepreneurs are that way.
[00:14:29] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, I think I. I’m impressed with entrepreneurs who can say, yep, I got, I got it right. I fired him right when I should have, or I let him go or we transition them. And by the way, I, you know, the term firing, you know, I don’t think anybody should ever be surprised that there’s a transition coming.
[00:14:43] Erick Slabaugh: , I think we should have had good conversation about that. Well in advance of, Hey, look, this is what we need from this role. And, uh, if you’re able to do it, great. And if you’re not, we’ll help you move on.
[00:14:56] Mark Wright: Erick, you attribute your success, most of it to your [00:15:00] core values. And I’d love to explore that a little bit deeper with you. What, what are the core values that, , constitute who you are as a person and a business person?
[00:15:11] Erick Slabaugh: You know, there’s some hard lessons in,
[00:15:12] Erick Slabaugh: I’ll, I’ll say this. I, I personally believe that you should be able to do business with me on a handshake. I have learned that that does not apply to a large percentage of the population. Sometimes the hard. Uh, when people make a commitment, Oh yeah, we’re going to get that to you, but we need you to move ahead.
[00:15:33] Erick Slabaugh: Well, that doesn’t mean they’re ever going to get it. You know, we, we’re going to get you that change order, but we need you to get this done right away. Okay. Uh, what I found is, People say the right things, but oftentimes ethics and, uh, values are situational for a lot of people. I strive to have integrity in, in my values.
[00:15:52] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, and when I miss the mark, I, I tell, uh, all of our team members, like if I’ve got spinach in my teeth, do me a favor, do me the kindness of letting me know, [00:16:00] which it goes directly with, if I missed the mark on one of our values. Please let me know, like, if you think I got it wrong, let’s have a conversation.
[00:16:10] Erick Slabaugh: , but I, I think building transparent, mutually beneficial relationships is critical. , I think honoring, , our commitments is critical and it’s not to say that we get it 100 percent right. I mean, some of it’s beyond our control. If, , we plan to do a job and all of a sudden the part is a year out.
[00:16:27] Erick Slabaugh: Well, we’re going to have to have a conversation and it’s not going to be fun for anybody, but, uh, it is what it is. We’re dealing with vendors. So I, I, you know, I think we need to judge our success by the way we impact others, uh, those around us. , true success is not something that happens alone. Our customers, , should, you know, Feel they got great benefit out of our relationship.
[00:16:49] Erick Slabaugh: And so judging how we did based on how we did for them is really critical. , and I, I think the same is true with the internal team too. I mean, I, you know, I, I want to see our team not just be [00:17:00] successful at their job, but have a successful life. And, you know, that’s a little different than just writing a check at the end of the day.
[00:17:08] Erick Slabaugh: It’s, you know, Like what’s important to them.
[00:17:11] Mark Wright: Erick, do you think too many bosses hide too much from employees when it comes to maybe the financial situation of a company or some of the inner workings of the company? I mean, how much should an employer share with the team? Because I feel like for most of my career, at least in broadcasting, , the managers were not super transparent about how they were being compensated by the parent company.
[00:17:35] Mark Wright: You know, what was, What were the metrics on their performance review? And, and I just feel like in a lot of companies, I think the atmosphere could be much improved if there was just a lot more transparency. I’d be okay. If you told me corporate says we’re getting zero raises this year. Nope. Well, then, you know, our budget is not going to increase next year.
[00:17:57] Mark Wright: I would respect that more than I, you know, would [00:18:00] somebody saying, well, you know, you don’t deserve a raise or something like that.
[00:18:03] Erick Slabaugh: yeah, I, yeah, I mean, I, to your point, I think, , having a conversation and being transparent about the economics of a particular industry, right. , Hey, our industry is going through a shift and margins have dropped and. You know, ad buys have dropped and, we, we literally can’t afford raises this year.
[00:18:22] Erick Slabaugh: , we need to hold the line. , I think that’s a very real conversation that people ought to have rather than denigrating their team members. , denigrating, like if, if I feel the need to denigrate a team member, it’s, I, it’s time for us to part company. I mean, like my job as a leader is to, , See people, you know, one of my mentors, Warren Rustin says, we are people becoming, we are, we are humans becoming, we’re not humans being.
[00:18:50] Erick Slabaugh: And one of our jobs as leaders is to see the potential in others and help them to achieve that. And the day that I don’t see the potential in someone [00:19:00] anymore, and I need, I feel the need to denigrate them, especially on a personal level, that’s a good time for me to either transition them to someone else to lead them within the organization or to transition them to another organization.
[00:19:13] Mark Wright: That’s interesting that you quoted Warren. My boss and your friend, , Dan Rogers, also quotes Warren on a regular basis. You and Dan have some history during the pandemic. Dan really started to refine his vision of this mission to redeem work. He decided to start this podcast, started sidekicking, , essentially consulting, , companies for free and for fun, , with the idea that you could make money and be successful as a business and still, have people feel good at work , and fulfilled.
[00:19:45] Mark Wright: And so this idea of redeeming work, as you’ve, been kind of a bystander to this, as Dan has rolled this out into the world. And I’d love to know just what your perspective is on Dan’s mission to redeem work, because this is the [00:20:00] craziest, most amazing rollercoaster ride that I’ve ever been on in terms of work.
[00:20:04] Mark Wright: There’s no job description. The only job description, and Dan recently told me this is be Mark and be awesome. Who, who, who, who says that? But it’s leading. It’s leading to some amazing thing.
[00:20:18] Erick Slabaugh: yeah, apparently Dan does. It’s funny when we talk with salespeople, It’s like, Oh, well, do you, do I need to, no, I don’t need you to keep a time card. Like you have your own schedule and you do what you want to do. As long as you succeed, be, be who you are, go out, be successful.
[00:20:33] Erick Slabaugh: And as long as you’re successful, we don’t have to have a whole lot of other conversations. Yes. We want to track some level of metrics as it relates to performance, but, kPIs are important. I, , yeah, early on Dan and I got out to lunch and Dan kind of ran through everything , that he was thinking about and it wasn’t quite formulated at the level that it is today.
[00:20:53] Erick Slabaugh: I mean, the fun thing is to watch him bring all of these, brainstorm thoughts into a [00:21:00] much more cohesive, , and, , Actualized, , activity. And it’s fun to watch that start to come, , well, it’s been happening for some time, but you know, with the book coming out and all of that, it’s, it’s fun to see all of these things that are tangible come as a result of, of some of his early thoughts.
[00:21:18] Erick Slabaugh: , I really do think it’s, you know, it’s almost a calling for him, , as much as anything else. And I think it’s, I think it’s something that we need. You know, , we lack the number of people we need in the construction industry because it’s physical labor and people don’t want to do physical labor.
[00:21:33] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, there aren’t enough salespeople in the world right now because nobody wants to go out and actually interact with other human beings. It’s, and yet these are things that are. Noble. And at the end of the day, you get to look at this tangible thing that you produced and feel proud of what you’ve done and have a positive impact on your community.
[00:21:53] Erick Slabaugh: , and so I think it’s, I think there’s value, huge value. And, uh, you know, I look at Mike Rowe is another guy that, that, you know, he’s the dirty [00:22:00] jobs, right? Like he goes out and, this is what it takes to keep the city running, but nobody’s aware of it because these people are in the sewers, right?
[00:22:08] Erick Slabaugh: Like I just look at that and I go, that’s. It’s flippin awesome. So, yeah.
[00:22:13] Mark Wright: Yeah, this mission to redeem work is really fun to explore through this podcast because we get to talk with people like you and other people who are engaging in a way that actually feels good and is doing good in the world. And so that’s our goal is just to showcase as many different.
[00:22:31] Mark Wright: Stories from different viewpoints so that it gives inspiration for people who are running businesses to maybe look at doing it a better way. So I’d love to ask you a little bit more about entrepreneurs organization, Erick. When did you get involved in EO? I know you’ve held some, uh, global leadership positions with EO, but for people who know nothing about.
[00:22:51] Mark Wright: E O. What is it?
[00:22:52] Erick Slabaugh: Yeah. Well, so when I joined, it was the Young Entrepreneurs Organization. Thank heaven we changed it to the Entrepreneurs Organization [00:23:00] or I would have, would have been out about 15 years now, , because you had to exit when you were 40. I joined in, uh, 1997. , I was at the Columbia Tower Club and, , at the, what, what was then the Stimson Library.
[00:23:13] Erick Slabaugh: And, uh, Mark Blumenthal and Phil Erickson and Michael Miller, uh, held an event for perspective, entrepreneurs for this young entrepreneurs organization. Never heard of it. That was interesting. I had prior to that day, I, you know, like growing up as a kid, , I, you know, I knew about the Columbia tower club, , never had hit the members only button.
[00:23:34] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, I thought, wow, I don’t belong here. Uh, and by the way, I think a lot of entrepreneurs actually. Have, , imposter syndrome issues that we have to overcome. Uh, and you know, for some, it takes a year and for some, it takes a lifetime. I think I got over mine about a decade ago, but for the longest time, I was like, I just, I don’t belong in this room.
[00:23:53] Erick Slabaugh: Right. Like whenever I was in,
[00:23:55] Mark Wright: have to stop you because I don’t think you’ll mention this, but I will, because I’ve been to [00:24:00] the Columbia Tower Club with you. There’s actually a menu item called the Slaybaw special, uh, on the menu at the Columbia Tower Club. That’s how far you’ve come, Erick Slaybaw.
[00:24:11] Erick Slabaugh: yeah,
[00:24:11] Mark Wright: Explain what, explain the Slaybaw special for people who’ve not, uh, seen it.
[00:24:17] Erick Slabaugh: so I will say this. It’s not currently on the menu. They took it off a couple of weeks ago, but, , it was gone for the better part of a year, , but, uh, it’s still part of the secret menu. And for years, it was a secret menu item that nobody knew about, uh, except the chefs and, uh, some of the, some of the waitstaff, , Uh, and yeah, I was, I was trying to, you know, trying to drop, uh, pounds.
[00:24:38] Erick Slabaugh: , I had put, uh, you know, I heard a great saying, don’t spend, , your life force building a fortune only to spend your fortune, , to regain your health. Uh, and, , about a decade ago, I decided I needed to be a hell of a lot more healthy than I was. , and, so I, I started doing low carb, , and, you know, I’d go to the club and there was carbs on [00:25:00] anything or everything.
[00:25:01] Erick Slabaugh: And so finally I sat down with the chef, and, , at the time was chef, , chef, Tyler. And he said, well, what, what do you enjoy? You know, would you enjoy salmon? Would you enjoy it? It was like, yeah, grilled salmon would be great. Some grilled broccoli or asparagus and a couple of grilled shrimp and a couple of grilled scallops would be wonderful.
[00:25:17] Erick Slabaugh: I mean, I’d probably eat half of it now and half of it for dinner. He’s like, done. It’s the Slay Boss Special. It’s like, okay. So yeah, it worked out pretty
[00:25:25] Erick Slabaugh: Well,
[00:25:25] Mark Wright: Well, we got sidetracked. I’m not going to reprimand you right now, Erick, but you’ll have to listen to our other podcast, Fat Science with Dr. Emily Cooper, carbs are actually good for you. And, and so we will have that, uh, as a sidebar discussion.
[00:25:37] Erick Slabaugh: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:25:42] Mark Wright: Erick, what was the value that you got out of EO then?
[00:25:45] Mark Wright: Um, and it seems like a really valuable community to a lot of entrepreneurs.
[00:25:49] Erick Slabaugh: So, , for those that don’t know, there’s a handful of organizations that are, , really tailored to, C suite and, , and owners of [00:26:00] businesses. , and, most of them, will have you in a, what’s called a forum, which is the smallest unit. of the organization, whatever organization it happens to be, where you’re with six to 11, 12 other, , like minded people.
[00:26:17] Erick Slabaugh: Situated people, but from different industries so that there’s no business conflict. Uh, and so I, I joined a forum early on, uh, and just got huge value out of it. Like I, you know, I, in my twenties, I was a terrible leader. Uh, I once told, uh, , an employee, uh, you know, who do I need to fire over this? And, uh, yeah, and that employee totally shamed me.
[00:26:42] Erick Slabaugh: It was like a punch in the nose when they turned and looked at me and said, well, I’m responsible for it. But this was a process issue, not a people issue. So if you feel the need to fire somebody, fire me. And I’m like, Okay. I’m a jackass. Right. And, and, I can’t say that I’m perfect today, but man, I’ll tell [00:27:00] you what, I’m a much better leader today than I was then.
[00:27:02] Erick Slabaugh: , and the entrepreneurs organization has been a huge part of that. I mean, EO has, allowed me to have the best experiences of my life. , dining in the Benjamin Franklin dining room of the state department. My, my mentors, , Torstein and Warren Rustan, , getting to spend life with, you know, and time with them is invaluable.
[00:27:21] Erick Slabaugh: Just having the opportunity to have met them, , would have been invaluable. , traveling parts of the world, serving on the global board. Uh, there’s just so many things that EO has made me just a better human being as a whole. And nearly all of my best friends today , are EO members, other EO members.
[00:27:38] Erick Slabaugh: So, yeah,
[00:27:40] Mark Wright: it’s continuing education, right? To Erick. Not only do you have that forum where if you’ve got a problem going on in your business, you can, you can reach out to the groups. Hey, has anybody experienced this before and get some help that way? But you also have more formalized learning too, right?
[00:27:55] Erick Slabaugh: both, I mean, there’s an event coming up about, you know, [00:28:00] managing, uh, Washington state, , capital gains tax. And, uh, unfortunately I have a conflict, but I really like to be there. Cause I’d like to understand like when I go to exit the business, what is the impact, things like getting through the pandemic and under understanding, , PPP and ERC credits.
[00:28:15] Erick Slabaugh: There were just amazing information that was shared collectively. And, and that’s the really cool thing about entrepreneurs is by and large, we don’t see each other as competitors as much as, you know, fellow travelers on this entrepreneurial journey, who, where we can lend a hand and, you know, lift somebody up and, and lift where we stand.
[00:28:34] Erick Slabaugh: We know that it’s going to be paid forward.
[00:28:36]
[00:28:36] Mark Wright: Boy, a highlight for me, Erick, was when you invited me to go back with you to the Kauffman foundation with EO to judge the global student entrepreneur awards. And, , Adam Brotman. From, uh, Starbucks fame and, , now his own company, , came along with us. , and it was just a really amazing experience to see not only the group of entrepreneurs at your level, but also these students [00:29:00] who were just brilliant.
[00:29:02] Mark Wright: And the next generation of global entrepreneurs competing. For these prizes and to be a judge on that, I’ll always remember that, Erick, and be grateful for the experience that you gave me to go back there and to experience that. And I shot a couple of stories to, you know, to put on TV, , at the time, but that, that’s the kind of thing that EO does is just cultivate this, this culture of finding solutions and inspiring the next generation.
[00:29:26] Erick Slabaugh: Yeah, it’s really cool. If you, um, I think it’s on Disney plus or whatever, but, , the, there’s a movie called own the room, which was about one of the subsequent, uh, global student entrepreneurs awards, uh, years. Uh, and I, yeah, I did that a handful of years and, and just an amazing experience. If I’m not mistaken, the entrepreneur who won, , Kansas city, , turned around and about three weeks later sold his business for a hundred million dollars.
[00:29:51] Erick Slabaugh: , and, , It’s like, I gotta be honest. There’s times when I’m around stuff like that, where I go, wow, I’m failing epically, like I [00:30:00] am just, uh, you know, it’s entertaining to, to, and I, I say that I’m not jealous, I wouldn’t trade my life for anything I love, I love where I’m at, , but, , it is really cool to see.
[00:30:11] Erick Slabaugh: , the next generation of entrepreneurs come up and, you know, you have the opportunity to meet the next, , Bezos or, you know, Gates or, you know, fill in the, fill in the blank. I mean, that person who’s going to innovate something in a way that we all go, Oh my gosh, I didn’t see that coming.
[00:30:25] Erick Slabaugh: I remember when I, , I remember being at a GLC and meeting the founder of a LinkedIn, He was sitting in the front row and I was on the global board at the time. And when I walked in, I’m like, , why is this guy, he doesn’t look like he’s a member. He doesn’t look like he even belongs here. And talk about judging a book by your cut, by its cover.
[00:30:42] Erick Slabaugh: I mean, like I was so far off, , and, , Shelby, uh, Scarborough was on the board, , came up and said, Erick, I’d love for you to meet my friend and introduced us and we started talking and all of a sudden I realized, Oh my gosh, he’s the keynote. And he goes up and starts talking about LinkedIn. And this is, you know, like LinkedIn had maybe two, [00:31:00] 3000 members on it at the time.
[00:31:02] Erick Slabaugh: Right. And he goes up and he starts talking and I’m like, Oh my God, this guy’s Not only brilliant, he’s fricking Einstein. He’s going to change the world. This is revolutionary. Uh, it was fascinating. So,
[00:31:15] Mark Wright: You also have a software company that you started F’s, , FCP insight. Um, and for those who don’t know what a SAS. , business solution company is what, what is SAS? What is that?
[00:31:26] Erick Slabaugh: yeah, so SAS is a software as a service. Uh, so it’s just S A A S uh, software as a service. And so think Microsoft 360. , if you’re buying it annually or you’re buying it monthly, you’re paying for it monthly, it’s. It’s just, uh, you’re renting the software for all intent and purpose, or you’re leasing the software.
[00:31:46] Erick Slabaugh: And so it’s, , yeah, we, we built a business solution, uh, for ABSCO and, uh, and decided to take it to the market because we think we’ve got something that’s, that’s worth helping other entrepreneurs to better run [00:32:00] their businesses,
[00:32:01] Erick Slabaugh: uh,
[00:32:01] Mark Wright: is software for, for contractors,
[00:32:04] Erick Slabaugh: for contractors. Yeah. Right now we’re focused on electrical contractors, but it has ramifications for a broader marketplace.
[00:32:10] Erick Slabaugh: So, and there’s a couple of really cool things we’re doing, , specifically for AppScore right now that I think are game changing for others. So
[00:32:17] Mark Wright: So you took a challenge, , within your own business and then created a business model out of that.
[00:32:22] Erick Slabaugh: Well, it sounds like it’s a much faster process. Yeah, we took it. So in 2001, I was at the birthing of Giants program and Vern Harnish said, Hey, what is a industry issue that if you solve it, you spend a million dollars to solve that industry issue. It’s a Yeah. Yeah. A hundred million or a billion dollar idea, you know, net now it’s almost laughable because back then a hundred million and a billion were a lot.
[00:32:45] Erick Slabaugh: And now we look at it and go, well, you know, if it’s not a 20 billion idea that you really want to pursue, like whatever. So, , yeah, I mean, we started working on it in 2002 and we, we didn’t take it to market until, uh, two years ago. We, we went out [00:33:00] and raised the, raised money and really got it and started to get after it.
[00:33:03] Erick Slabaugh: So.
[00:33:04] Mark Wright: Erick, what did you learn in that process of raising capital, company ownership, uh, when, when people are doing a true startup, what’s some good advice
[00:33:14] Erick Slabaugh: Oh, you know, actually, I, I would say this is not just advice about doing a startup, but this is advice about life in general. And, you know, I was listening to a young man speak about, Hey, I really want to get to 3 million in the bank. Cause then I’ll never have to work again. It was like, okay, well, Hey, if that’s true, get used to living on half of whatever you bring home.
[00:33:36] Erick Slabaugh: And that way you can set half aside so that you can get to that number. Uh, over some reasonable period of time , and B you’ll also be accustomed to that so that the number you have to get to as inflation starts to adjust will remain about where you think it is right now. few of us are really good at doing that, right?
[00:33:53] Erick Slabaugh: , I think starting a business, it takes twice as long as anybody thinks it does. It, , especially the software takes [00:34:00] three or four times as long as anybody says it will, , to get it right. , and, uh, You know, it, it takes twice the investment that anybody thinks it will. And, and making sure that you’re, you know, you’re not banking on everything going perfectly because inevitably it won’t, uh, something’s going to go wrong.
[00:34:16] Erick Slabaugh: It’s inevitable.
[00:34:18] Erick Slabaugh: So nobody plans for a pandemic.
[00:34:20] Mark Wright: Yeah. Oh my gosh. And typically, Erick, , as companies are, are doing rounds of fundraising. Well, what’s a typical cut of to a venture capitalist? Like if you, if you’re raising a million dollars, how much of that do you give in ownership to that? Or is it just a completely fluid?
[00:34:39] Erick Slabaugh: yeah, it varies entirely on the valuation of the idea. And there are ideas that can get funded simply because they’re brilliant ideas with exceptional management teams that have had past, , past execution and success, , conversely, there are, , well thought out and, viable, products that are [00:35:00] fully developed that will struggle to get funding because the growth curve doesn’t look appealing.
[00:35:06] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, and so it’s all over the board.
[00:35:08] Mark Wright: I’d love to talk about your boys a little bit. I’ve, I’ve had the honor of, of getting to know your boys. And are they both Eagle scouts? Is that, am I correct in that? Because I went to one ceremony for your younger son.
[00:35:19] Erick Slabaugh: Yes. Yeah. They are. Yeah. The, the other one got his Eagle during the pandemic. And so that was, , yeah, he, didn’t really have a court of honor. He didn’t have a prom. I mean, it was, you know, it was a tough year to graduate high school, , just in general. , but my younger, , one, uh, yes. And thank you for joining us, by the way, we were honored by your presence, but, , yeah, they were both Eagle scouts and, , they both, you know, I, I can’t it’s We’re so proud of both of them.
[00:35:45] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, it’s amazing to watch the human beings that they are becoming and that they currently are. , they’re both a little wise beyond their years. , It’s just a joy to watch. ,
[00:35:57] Mark Wright: What, what have you taught them, Erick, about [00:36:00] entrepreneurism and business ownership? Have there been any key moments in their, their lives? You’re laughing.
[00:36:08] Erick Slabaugh: I might’ve mentioned this. I think that’s why you’re probably going there. , when my youngest was five years old and he laughs about this with me now, But when he was five years old, we were at the office. I was, , on a CAD machine working on a tree fort design after hours. So it was like, you know, six, seven o’clock at night.
[00:36:25] Erick Slabaugh: One of our guys had a late evening and was coming back in to check some stuff in and, uh, walks in and my five year old turns and looks at him and goes, you’re, you’re my dad’s employee, right? And I’m like, Oh, like, what did he just say? He’s five years old from the mouth of babes. Evan, uh, he’s one of our valued team members and we really appreciate his contributions and care of our customers.
[00:36:46] Erick Slabaugh: Well, yeah. Okay. Right. But you’re, you’re my dad’s. And he graciously, yes, I’m one of your dad’s employees. And then, then he turns and he looks at me and goes, dad, when we’re older, which of us gets the company, , EJ or me?
[00:36:57] Mark Wright: Oh my goodness.
[00:36:58] Erick Slabaugh: And I’m like, he’s five. [00:37:00] I like to go, well, buddy, neither of you, because we have a rule at the company that you can’t work in line.
[00:37:07] Erick Slabaugh: With a manager up line from you, that is a family member. And since I am at the top of that line, uh, and everybody ultimately reports to me, you can never work here. And if you can’t work here, you can’t be an employee here and you can’t be an owner. And he, he was really down trot. And I looked at him, I think he even started to have a tear in his eye.
[00:37:27] Erick Slabaugh: And I looked at him and I go, but buddy, it’s okay. Dad will invest in whatever business you want to get started. But you might find cheaper money elsewhere and, you know, clearly five years old. He didn’t have a clue as to what that meant. Both boys understand exactly what that meant. And my oldest, about five, six months ago, we were at dinner at the Columbia tower.
[00:37:48] Erick Slabaugh: And, , he looked at me and he goes, dad, I want to thank you for the best thing you ever did for Evan and I. And I said, EJ, what, what, what, you know, Aaron, what’s, what’s that about? What, what, you know, like I, by the way, whenever my kids say one of those things, it’s like, Oh God, [00:38:00] here it comes. I’m like, I’m terrified of what they might say.
[00:38:03] Erick Slabaugh: And he looks at me and he goes, by telling us that neither of us could participate in the company, it forced us to figure out what our dreams were and to pursue what we wanted. And I was like, Oh, thank God. , he understood. He got it.
[00:38:15] Mark Wright: Wow. That’s interesting advice, Erick, because when I was interviewing someone recently for this podcast, one of their best bits of advice in terms of generational, you know, Succession of business is in that company that they had, they had a rule that you had to go out and find independent success in the world before you could come back and join that company.
[00:38:38] Mark Wright: That was a family company, and it totally made sense. You know, it’s kind of like a state planning and it’s like, , I’m in the process of, finally getting a will put together and the attorney said, do you want. If something happens to you guys, do you want the kids to get it all at once or not?
[00:38:55] Mark Wright: And I said, well, why don’t you walk me down both paths? He said, well, some [00:39:00] people believe that , you need to sort of succeed in the world on your own before you should have control of, money. You know, from somebody else. And it made me really start to think about that impact that potentially could happen of, getting money before you’re ready for it.
[00:39:14] Mark Wright: Right.
[00:39:16] Erick Slabaugh: Yeah. Um, Seattle hosted the, the EO Alchemy event, which is the Western region, , regional event. And we had a great speaker on, , generational wealth, had run the Walton family, fund at the time. Taking care of the Gates, , worked with the Gates foundation, a bunch of other stuff, just an amazing individual.
[00:39:32] Erick Slabaugh: And one of the things he spoke about was, , sometimes when we create our wills, we suddenly create a situation where family members, , may become hostile towards one another because they’re now in a situation like, oh, we want you to take over the charity. So your job now for the rest of your life, whether you wanted it to be or not, Is to manage the charity, uh, and it sounds noble in the moment, right?
[00:39:58] Erick Slabaugh: It sounds like something we [00:40:00] should want and we, we want to provide for family members in a meaningful way, but, but I just look at it and I go, I don’t want either of my kids to be saddled with my dreams. I, I got saddled with my parents dreams for a time and turned them into mine. , I don’t want my kids to have to go through that.
[00:40:17] Erick Slabaugh: And, and to your point that I love the idea of go out, make your way in the world and be worthy of us wanting to recruit you to come back.
[00:40:26] Mark Wright: Erick, another way that you and I crossed paths was as members of the Rotary Club of Seattle, and you’ve had a heart for service for a long time. And I’d love if you wouldn’t mind speaking to the idea of service as a core tenant, as a business leader.
[00:40:43] Erick Slabaugh: I would, I would liken it this way. My, my mentor, uh, My mentors have poured into my life, , Torstein, uh, when we were in Vancouver in 2001, uh, was in charge of the YPO, WPO, , mentorship program. And I’d asked for a mentor and, he just wasn’t finding anybody. And [00:41:00] he said, Erick, I’m struggling to find somebody in Seattle who’s ready to be a mentor.
[00:41:04] Erick Slabaugh: , and he said, but like, if I don’t find somebody in the next 90 days. I’ll be your mentor. And I looked at him. I said, are you serious? And he said, yeah. Why? I said, I gotta be honest. I hope you don’t find anybody. And he said, are you serious? I said, yeah. Why? He said, done. And Tor has, I mean, he serves on the board of both of our companies.
[00:41:22] Erick Slabaugh: , and has just been a lifelong friend at travel with he and Mona were at, , his and Mona’s wedding travel with them in Croatia. , go and visit them, uh, at their home. , just dear friends, I think it’s an, , it’s mandatory that we all pay it forward because you know, at the Columbia tower club, we have a program called on the shoulder of giants, right?
[00:41:46] Erick Slabaugh: Like we all build on, you can’t build a 75th floor if the 74th floor doesn’t exist. Right. It’s just not possible. And, , I think the opportunity to give back to the community in a meaningful way to, , [00:42:00] to give back to others, to pour into others and, you know, mentorship to, you know, the Seattle Fire Foundation, helping to get that off the ground was, was really important.
[00:42:09] Erick Slabaugh: , the fire department at the time needed bulletproof vests for their eight people. Right. Just crazy stuff. But, you know, if the, if the city’s not in a position to take care of it, we as community members need to step up. And I, I look at people like Phil Smart, who, was known as the real Santa Claus at Children’s Hospital.
[00:42:27] Erick Slabaugh: Like what a loving, gentle, kind soul. And for me, this is a lot of entrepreneurs that I know that that’s who they are.
[00:42:35] Mark Wright: Yeah. When I first met Phil, he was a member of the Rotary Club of Seattle. He had these business cards that had three eights on the business card and he handed me his business card and he shook my hand and he said, hi Mark. And I asked about the eights. He said, well, you’ve, you’ve got three, eight, three, three, eight hour periods during a day.
[00:42:53] Mark Wright: You can sleep for eight hours. You can work for eight hours and you’ve got a third eight. What are you going to do with your third eight to [00:43:00] make the world a better place? And he’d look, he just looked at me and I was like, whoa.
[00:43:05] Mark Wright: Um, and there’s a guy who, I don’t know, was it 40 years, 50 years every week, he would go up to children’s hospital.
[00:43:13] Mark Wright: And here he is a major car dealer, uh, owner of Phil Smart Mercedes Benz in Seattle, didn’t have to do this, but he would, he would go read stories and play board games with children, many of whom didn’t survive their illnesses.
[00:43:29] Erick Slabaugh: Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah.
[00:43:32] Mark Wright: is the kind of guy Phil Smart was. And when you mentioned him, that, that. That idea of, you know, we’re here to serve is really the best business model.
[00:43:43] Erick Slabaugh: Yeah. I think one of the best stories I ever heard, uh, Phil tell was, you know, he was in World War II. , he was in Africa and then in Germany and, you know, , so had fought against Germany and here he is representing Mercedes Benz. And when he had a financial [00:44:00] issue, they showed up and helped him and said, you will not fail.
[00:44:04] Erick Slabaugh: We’re here for you. You are our friend and, , you know, talk about just those touching moments. We, I think we all have those moments, some point in our life where we need somebody to come alongside of us and just be there. And, you know, so many of us put on the, I’m Superman Cape and I got it. I don’t need anybody.
[00:44:24] Erick Slabaugh: And man, it’s, it’s truly humbling and amazing when people come alongside you in that moment of need and just.
[00:44:34] Mark Wright: Just about done, Erick. I wanted to ask you, a friend of mine started an architecture firm and we were next door neighbors in Spokane. And, , he said, before I started a business, I had no idea how stressful it would be. He said, I’ve got a dozen people on my payroll and I’m awake at nights.
[00:44:54] Mark Wright: A lot of nights figuring out how am I going to meet me payroll and I’ve got all these people [00:45:00] depending on me. And I think Erick, what I’m getting to is that I think a lot of us have romantic ideas of what it would be to be the boss, to own the company, to call the shots. But the flip side of that is an enormous amount of responsibility.
[00:45:15] Mark Wright: And you’ve got families counting on you, like you, not. Your team, you. And so I’d love just some perspective from you when it comes to that idea of business ownership and maybe, dovetail that with advice for someone listening who might be considering a life of entrepreneurism,
[00:45:35] Erick Slabaugh: the first thing I would say is, an entrepreneur’s life, the roller coaster is a little bigger. The hills are a little steeper, and they happen a little more frequently. , like the highs are really high. I mean, you know, having dinner on the seal of the National Archives with Justice Breyer or driving, you know, street legal go karts in the streets of [00:46:00] Berlin past the Brandenburg Gate.
[00:46:01] Erick Slabaugh: I mean, crap that I just, you know, I just look at it and I go like, that’s, that’s never going to be my life. And then it, it, you know, I almost feel like Forrest Gump, right? Like hopefully, , you know, just. Amazing events around amazing events, and participating in amazing events. And then, you know, the lows are low, you know, getting in a contractual fight, , for 1.
[00:46:22] Erick Slabaugh: 2 million with the federal government and taking four years to collect when cashflow really was not in a position to accept that. And, you know, being not sleeping, being stressed out and, and, uh, wondering like, is, did I just, did I just run this into the ground? Uh, is this going to be a giant smoking hole, uh, and a crater and, you know, coming out the other side of that and suddenly having a quote windfall, because it was a giant savings account, I guess, you know, suddenly it’s like, oh, my goodness, we made it.
[00:46:55] Erick Slabaugh: And so the highs are high and the lows are low. , I, I heard a great [00:47:00] saying that, uh, we get to work half days. , any 12 hours we want. Uh, now I say that jokingly, I think it’s important that we delegate effectively, that we build great teams, that we lead effectively so that we’re not in that situation, but when it really gets tough. There are days that that is the life. The flip side is, yeah, you’ve got a little more flexibility. And like, if it’s really important, I’d be at my kid’s play. I’m going to be at my kid’s play in the middle of the day. Might mean I’m working late that night.
[00:47:32] Mark Wright: So final question, Erick, and that is what redeemed work looks like from your perspective. You know, our goal is just to show people a better way that that work is honorable and can benefit everyone. But, uh, I just love some final thoughts on what, what it is to redeem work from, from your perspective.
[00:47:53] Erick Slabaugh: yeah, I love the concept of the virtuous cycle, uh, that everybody. [00:48:00] understands what’s, , what’s important, , and why we’re doing what we’re doing. I mean, at ABSCO, , it’s important that everybody understands that what we do saves lives and that we’re not just showing up to quote, make money or, you know, sell something.
[00:48:13] Erick Slabaugh: Our job is to go out and make our community safer. And at FCP, it’s really important that the team understand that this is helping business owners run better and more stable businesses so that they can employ more people and grow effectively. And I think both of those are noble endeavors. , I think it’s really important that people understand how they contribute and where they contribute and that their role be aligned with who they are as a human being at the core values of the organization be aligned with who they are as a core, as a, person at their core.
[00:48:44] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, and that, uh, we put people in, in positions where they, , can succeed and feel a sense of pride in what they do. And I, you know, I don’t know that, I don’t know that we succeed a hundred percent of the time, but I think we’re, I think we’re doing a pretty good [00:49:00] job at a, uh, a large percentage of the time.
[00:49:02] Erick Slabaugh: And I think that’s really what more of us need to do is, is, , seek to build that kind of organization.
[00:49:09] Mark Wright: And, you know, just when we go out into the world, You know, companies like yours get no recognition, you know, we send our kids to university, not knowing that you’ve built a system at a university to deal with an active shooter that can lock an entire campus down in what a second or two.
[00:49:27] Erick Slabaugh: Uh, seven, 17, but yeah,
[00:49:29] Mark Wright: 17. Okay. Or that when we go to, uh, a major sporting event , that our safety is, is hinging on technology that you’ve installed in.
[00:49:38] Mark Wright: And there are so many businesses that are just sort of unsung heroes in our, in our community. And I really count yours among them, not only just, you know, You know, from the work that you do, Erick, but the person that you are and how you conduct yourself in the world. So keep up the great work, my friend.
[00:49:54] Mark Wright: This has been super fun. Learned a ton as usual and keep it up.
[00:49:59] Erick Slabaugh: Mark, [00:50:00] thank you so much for the opportunity to join you today. It’s always a pleasure and I look forward to our next round of golf.
[00:50:05] Mark Wright: All right. See you soon.