The 6 E's of Business Success: Andy Richardson's Framework for Building a Flourishing Business

Wayne Herring00:00:00 - 00:00:29
Hey. Welcome, business builders. Today, we're joined by Andy Richardson. And Andy is the founder of 29e6, which is a structural engineering and design firm in Beaufort, South Carolina. A Lot of other cool things about Andy that fit into our business builder world too. Like, he's a dad. He's a very intentional husband. He's also working on creating an environment at home that is what what he and his wife love.
Wayne Herring00:00:29 - 00:00:50
He does intentional workouts, the back porch, workout program with his son, so he's run. And, Andy, for all those reasons, we're really happy to have you in business builder camp and in the Thursday morning builders group. And so thanks for showing up and spending some time and telling your story today.
Andy Richardson00:00:50 - 00:00:54
Thanks for having me. Yeah. Looking forward to
Wayne Herring00:00:54 - 00:01:09
it. Great. How about we start in the beginning? Maybe not all the way back. Or maybe sometimes people wanna talk about, the 1st business they had as a kid, but could you tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey and how you built 2096 to where you're at today?
Andy Richardson00:01:10 - 00:01:55
Sure. So I really never really thought about being a business owner until about 2007 or so, and I picked up a book called 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller, who you know as well, Wayne. And so I read that book and kinda got me on my entrepreneurial journey. At the time, I was an engineer and working for an engineering company and so forth and started thinking, you know, what business could I start and and work in. And immediately, I started looking at areas outside of engineering, other things. You know, make your millions on the Internet type of thing. And I did some of that. Right? I did some muses like Tim Ferris.
Andy Richardson00:01:55 - 00:02:31
I read his book as well. I've tried I've tried a lot of different things. Even did a a course an online course for the PE exam, which is the engineering exam that engineers have to take to be licensed. And we actually have that for sale steel. And so that was fun and these different things I've done, you know, inventions or ideas. But every time I did that, it seemed like it came back to engineering for whatever reason. I'm spiritual person, so I felt like God was bringing me back to that. And what it boiled down to is I I'm focused on being a business owner inside of engineering.
Andy Richardson00:02:31 - 00:03:29
And so I started my business in 2009, was doing some of these other things throughout that time, and was really amusing the engineering business to pay the bills while I tried all these other things and then finally decided, hey. Engineering is actually what I wanna be the I wanna work on building this business. And as a matter of fact, that's about when I started working with you 2017, and I rebranded the company name to its current name 2096. And that's just a a number in engineering, kinda like a constant, like pi. 2096, a number that's well known to engineering. Young's modulus is called, but not that that necessarily matters, but that's when we rebranded the company in that year. And there was a number of reasons, but one of the reasons was to grow the company and really build it. Because before that, it was more of a sole practitioner type situation where I I wore all the hats.
Andy Richardson00:03:29 - 00:04:11
I did the books. I did the drawings. I did the calculations. And I said, okay. Well, if I'm a keep doing engineering, I'm gonna really grow the business. And I made my 1st hire, like, my 1st real hire that year, and that was scary and, you know, have been growing ever since. And, obviously, roller coaster ride of business because at first from, like, 2009, it was about being a business owner in a steady way, sole practitioner, like learning more about the simple aspects of what I would call simple aspects, like how do you do books, how do you get your LLC. I mean, those things are a challenge at first, but and and the long story of it, compared to hiring and these other things, not quite as complex.
Andy Richardson00:04:11 - 00:04:25
So the last 6, 7 years have been about growing the business and how do you get sales and how do you make payroll and that type of thing. So that's a bit of a background in, where I'm at currently and how how I got here.
Wayne Herring00:04:25 - 00:05:00
So one of those muses or businesses that you started, This is partly what makes you who you are and makes you makes you interesting is the fact that you just went out and started these things and tried them, and that gave you skills that you have now that are unique. And in our community, those are some things that people at times may seek you out for because of willingness to do those things. So what the ace of PE was about that that's sell for sale. So if any of you have children who are trying to pass the PE exam there you go. Good. Wait. Wait.
Andy Richardson00:05:00 - 00:05:04
Yeah. Reach out to me directly if if you're interested. We'll try to get a hold of me later in the podcast.
Wayne Herring00:05:05 - 00:05:26
Cool. And I know you were teaching even at a college part time how to pass the the PE so that that's neat. I feel like your journey has included, actually, like, selling that company for a while, and then they gave you the right back to the content, everything. And so that's fascinating. And then wasn't one of your other muses some sort of online site about running or something?
Andy Richardson00:05:26 - 00:06:00
Yeah. I did that around 2011. It was called start running for beginners.com, and that was a muse. I built it up, tried to be number 1 in Google for that search term and thought, yeah, I'm gonna make millions by doing these niche sites. And so, again, what happened is I started getting busy with engineering and had to make a decision between, you know, the PE exam, engineering, and, like, this running site. It was just a diversity of attention. My attention was diversified, and I needed to consolidate that. So I I ended up getting rid of.
Andy Richardson00:06:00 - 00:06:10
I sold that site off actually for a few $100. It was fun. I enjoyed writing. I enjoyed blog, but it wasn't something I could maintain. So I needed to get rid of it.
Wayne Herring00:06:10 - 00:06:17
You still you build a niche Internet company and then sold it. So that's how we could say that if we were gonna, like, summarize it. And that's fun.
Andy Richardson00:06:18 - 00:06:23
An an Internet guru of how I built my niche site and sold it.
Wayne Herring00:06:23 - 00:06:43
Right. Yeah. Right. So you did that. And so then the engineering firm, I get it. You solopreneur, and then you start saying, no. I wanna build this into, quote, like, real business and hire people. And, yes, of course, it's been really fun to be on the journey with you and watch you as you experiment and as you hire people and do these things.
Wayne Herring00:06:44 - 00:07:16
And so from 2017, you you hired your 1st employee, and it was was scary. And now it's we just closed out 2023. So you you've gotten through 6 years here. Can you tell us, like, current state? You're designing buildings. You're doing construction support, some big buildings, some residential stuff, and and then you've got a team. And I'd like to dig in a little bit into your team because your your team and way you build that that is unique. So kinda paint the picture of the business now, if you would.
Andy Richardson00:07:17 - 00:08:20
Well, yeah, definitely went more traditional route and originally hiring local people, you know, training them and and building that up. And one of the advantages of, I would say, my background with teaching and and having a desire for that is I I really do like working with people and teaching them. And so one of the groups that we were actually in together where I met you, Wayne, was Scott Beebe, and he recommended really train, train, train. He made that a big part of his, coaching, and that was something I I really honed in on. And so if I was training with my employee at the time, I would hit record. Even if we're sitting right here in in person, I would hit record, like, online and and record that process. And I would definitely encourage that because even those videos and things weren't, like, YouTube level maybe, they got the job done. And the next person that came in was able to go through and watch those videos, and, yeah, it was not prepared or whatever.
Andy Richardson00:08:20 - 00:09:02
But the next person that came in was able to then take that, and I found that she was able to do a way better job of that. And that was one of the things that's able been able to help me grow the company is instead of me training, I have other people helping train. And not only helping train, but help create these video tutorials and training library. So when somebody comes in now, they have, I think, something like 20 hours of video, not to mention the ace to PE. We don't call it ace to PE. I think we call it ultimate PE or something. But they have that that library of information as well, but 20 hours of how do you do stuff here at our company. Because they have an engineering degree, but maybe they don't know how to design it our way, if that makes sense.
Andy Richardson00:09:03 - 00:10:21
And so that's one of the things because how how do you hire is always a big question. And do you go with a person who is a novice and needs training and needs growth, or do you go with a PE or somebody who is very experienced and then you have to kinda, like, retrain them on our way. Or if you don't do that, then you may have to end up kinda butting heads with that person about standards and things. And so those are growth challenges. Right? And I've gone all the above outside of that, inside of that, and and all the above because I've dealt with hiring a PE, and I think that was my first thing was, okay, hire a novice, train them, and grow them how you want, and then saw some challenges with that. And so I hired numerous kinda PESEs, which stands for structural engineer, and more experienced people, and that created some challenges for a number of reasons because you also get the situation where after you've trained somebody, they then go and leave you. Right? So what do you do then? You're back to square 1 again. And I've I've dealt with some of that, especially with COVID, and that created a a a number of the a number of factors with people leaving and coming and going.
Andy Richardson00:10:21 - 00:11:08
So about 2021, I think I had 2 or 3 full time employees and a couple of part time employees. And that was right about COVID too. And then I also had a few that either quit or or or went separate ways for whatever reason. So I got to looking at what is working at 2096, and I had 1 employee that was working part time and kind of moonlighting. And so I put a ad out, moonlight as a structural engineer, because that was working very well for us. And so I put a ad out for that and and it got a few people. And that was one thing that's helped is to have the part time. And that's one thing I think is unique about us is we have numerous people that are are on the part time moonlighting side, And then we started working more on the remote side as well.
Andy Richardson00:11:08 - 00:11:33
So pretty much we're a remote company now. That's another aspect that's very not necessarily unique, but even if you still look around as structural engineers, it's still predominantly in on-site even though it's becoming more and more commonplace to be remote, especially with COVID and everything in Zoom. And then we're also, you know, remote in the US, and we also have people all over the world, really, you know, in in
Wayne Herring00:11:33 - 00:11:36
the international an international company.
Andy Richardson00:11:36 - 00:12:08
Yeah. So we have US based. We have Mexico. My assistant is in Mexico. We've got a few drafters that are in India and engineers in India and then also Romania. And we found them different ways and connected with them different ways, but everybody that works for us is pretty much directly employed. Meaning, we don't have, like, a company per se that we hire. It I found that to be helpful when you're working with somebody over, you know, you're offshoring, basically.
Andy Richardson00:12:08 - 00:12:52
I found it to be better to work direct have a direct connection as opposed to, like, I'm working for, hey, this company that's got, like, a 100 drafters or engineers or something. I just feel like the direct connection is better when you're dealing with that type of situation because you just don't know who's doing the work and what the quality. It goes back to training and understanding of what the requirements are for the job. So Yeah. That's kinda where we're at right now is a a mix of different employee types. And there are certain types of work and tasks that are suited well for that, like the offshore and the outsource. Even though, again, their direct employees are just happen to be in India or Romania. But those things for certain tasks works fine.
Andy Richardson00:12:53 - 00:13:34
But then there's other things that I really need somebody here in the office or 2 hours away. And so we brought in a full time PE and rehired that, but it's been really hard to hire lately local US people. The salaries, the demand, everything has just been difficult. And we bumped our salaries up. We keep bumping them up 10%, 20%, 30%. And so we have a really competitive salary package for a project manager, PE, but the people overseas, they're they're asking me for a job, and I'm not seeing that local. So that's one of the reasons we went off outsource and overseas. And, obviously, there's a there's a rate benefit of that.
Wayne Herring00:13:34 - 00:14:05
And the moo the moonlighting piece, that is unique too. Like, you've had a number of engineers who were I I think you've had some people who are retired from their primary job, and then they're doing some fractional work, and then you have people in other parts of the US or locally too who have a full time job elsewhere, but they'd like to get an extra 10 or 15 hours of work in a week, and you found a way to pull them into your system as well. That's what you mean when you say moonlighting. Right?
Andy Richardson00:14:05 - 00:14:28
Yeah. Moonlight. Yeah. Because, you know, the local guy here, Scott, he he was that first test case that I was discussing, and he does the site visit jobs where somebody needs a wall taken out in their kitchen. He'll go do the site visit, but he just does it 2 nights a week. He's got a full time job. He likes his job. He'll probably never come work for me full time because he's got a great job, and he works for the government.
Andy Richardson00:14:28 - 00:14:58
So why would he? Right? But he likes working for me because he commutes here to our town, and he's here 2 days a week. And so while he's here, away from his family. He's like, well, I might as well work if I'm away from my family. Sure. So that's why it it it everybody has a different story that works for us in these moonlight situations. Another one lives in Augusta, and he works for the government as well. And he likes his job as well, but he just doesn't do any design work. And so he wants more design experience.
Andy Richardson00:14:59 - 00:15:49
We find that a lot. Like, people that just want more design experience and otherwise would not have been able to be hired as, like, a engineer full time because you're not gonna have the pay that you would as a 20 year veteran in the industry. Maybe you're working for the government, but you never really got into design. How would you do that? Well, you could try moonlighting for somebody and get an, like, a novice rate, an introductory rate, but it's supplementary to your regular income. So that's one reason. Or the engineer in Utah who had a tutoring business, and she was good with what she was doing, but she wanted to use her engineering degree. So she worked part time, and she moved up to full time recently. So that's an example of you could be on the way into full time in kind of a trial basis.
Andy Richardson00:15:49 - 00:16:05
So that's an advantage of that. Not to mention, now we have a Utah engineer, and we're looking to get work in Utah. And so we have an engineer in Columbia, South Carolina, and we're looking to grow our business that place, and then also Columbia, South America.
Wayne Herring00:16:05 - 00:16:06
Right. Right.
Andy Richardson00:16:06 - 00:16:08
So we're kind of
Wayne Herring00:16:09 - 00:17:11
disappointed. So and and one of the things I hope listeners some of them may be completely familiar with this business model, structural engineering, and design. And, I mean, I guess it just it makes sense. And I'm an engineer course by training, so I've been around and studied some of the same things you have. But for those who who don't know, you and your work and the people on your team are the ones who make sure that bridges and buildings, like, stay up and don't fall down, and also aren't vibrating or shaking in such a way that is disturbing to people while they're in it, or makes them feel fearful. So you take architect's vision and the owner's use that they desire the building, and you make sure that it's serviceable, and stays up, and all those things, and it's the right size of steel or wood or concrete, so on and so forth. Your job and the work that you do is very important, but it's not always kind of the the glamorous visible part of it. But it's it's a great service to society if somebody's doing this.
Wayne Herring00:17:11 - 00:17:22
So I'm just curious, what are some of your favorite structures, maybe buildings, bridges, whatever, that that you've you in 2096 have designed? What are some of the the best ones?
Andy Richardson00:17:23 - 00:18:03
That's a good question. Let's see. It it was one that was done really prior to the the actual founding of 2096, but it was done as sole practitioner. This beach house in Hilton Head always stands out, and it was one I touched personally. Meaning, I did most of the or a lot of the. And I did have some help on that one, and that was taste of outsourcing even though it was a US based company that supported me. But that was a a really cool project because it was modern design. It had a lot of steel and concrete and a product called CLT, which is like mass timber as these thick pieces of wood.
Andy Richardson00:18:03 - 00:18:49
Some peep the guy that was the architect for it called it plywood on steroids, because it's like 3 inch thick plywood that can span, you know, 5 or 8 feet. So that was a cool project. Over the past couple of years, we have this one. We're gonna be down at Savannah next week, of course, and you'll be able to see one of the jobs that we're working on it, in Ellis Square. It's a a 6 story, micro hotel or or boutique hotel right there in in Savannah, Georgia. So that's a cool building. A steel mostly steel, and and it's got some really interesting nuances to it in terms of there's an existing building that's 0 feet away literally from this building. So we have a a like an expansion joint between the 2 buildings.
Andy Richardson00:18:49 - 00:19:39
So there's a couple interesting things about that, and we were discussing that one a little bit earlier too about some of the challenges I've been dealing with on the project. But with good projects, usually come good challenges. And then, like, that was interesting because it's probably one of the tallest buildings we've done. And then another interesting one was in right here in our backyard Beaufort, there's a a church school or like a a private school called Holy Trinity, and we did some really long trusses for that. I think something like a 100 feet long. So it was kind of neat because this building had these really wide spans, and then the Digby and l square had some really tall span tall heights. So one and we did all those in the same year. So it was neat to see, okay, a really wide building and a really tall building all in the same year.
Andy Richardson00:19:39 - 00:19:41
So that was kinda fun.
Wayne Herring00:19:42 - 00:20:17
So we're just go going back. So you have these remote people. You you've built this company that is local people who are part time, local people that are full time, plus other areas of the country and even other areas of the world. You're bringing them together to create structures such as you just described. In 2096 so there's 2 things I wanna explore before we, wrap up today. 1 is 2096, Yeah. Modulus of elasticity. Right? And it's steel and how it behaves when you put load on it and pull on it, basically.
Wayne Herring00:20:18 - 00:21:23
But you've also taken that 2096, and some people in the business books talk about having values, core values, that's spoken of a lot. And sometimes companies go through a values determination exercise, or sometimes they just go copy ones that look good on the Internet, and maybe they post something on the wall that they think their clients would wanna see. But they don't really take the time to, like, work them and get curious about how to work them and try to see how to get better and how to talk about it again and how to exemplify when you do it. And that's something that's unique about your company. It's certainly foundational to being able to have remote employees, is to have core values that you actually really believe in, that you actually really work with everybody, because that's a journey for them. They're coming to you. It's the values of the company that you're working to live into every day, but people are coming from outside. And, of course, you're looking for people that fit, but you're gonna have to almost help train them to use your word train or coach.
Wayne Herring00:21:23 - 00:21:37
You're a pretty good coach too. You're a trainer coach. So could you share with people how is that that you establish the values, and then how you're making sure you get better and better at living them and working them as a company.
Andy Richardson00:21:37 - 00:22:05
Yeah. I mean, you mentioned some of the business books, and I I mentioned a couple as well. And one of the first things that you'll read in any business book is you gotta have a a set of it's called different things. Right? Maybe mission values or a mission statement. And, actually, it's confusing because you you try to put these things together with different business books, and it it doesn't really make sense. So I kinda just created my own thing. Really, what I think the the real thing is you have to make it your own. And I call it the 6 e's.
Andy Richardson00:22:05 - 00:22:45
So 29 e 6 and the 6 e's of 2096, which it's sort of like vision mission values all in 1, but it's broken down by 6 things. And not necessarily in any particular order, but I'll try to hit all 6. Hopefully, I can do that. But so one of them is enhance the world around us, and it sounds a little bit like a miss America pageant is what I say sometimes. Like, meaning, it lofty idea, but it's what gets you up in the morning. It's sort of our why we do what we do. And we're designing buildings and some are wide and some are tall and some are porches and not quite as but that's porch was somebody's dream. Right? Like, they wanted to expand their porch.
Andy Richardson00:22:45 - 00:23:13
You know? We we had this gold star, this guy who wanted to have gold star families in his house. That's really cool. Like, that's enhancing the world around you and just our interaction with people. And so that gets me excited. Like, how can we enhance the world around us? And I want our team to get excited about that. And it it may be just the way that we work. Right? So that's one thing. And then we as engineers, our number one thing is ensure safety.
Andy Richardson00:23:13 - 00:23:53
That's why that's what we do. That's what we do. Right? And we're making sure that when you walk around in the building, you shouldn't have to think about, did the engineer do the right job here? So that's what we do. And we also wanna do everything we do with excellence. So that was really important to me to to make sure that's somehow documented or somehow a part of our culture is, I don't ever wanna just say, yeah. I think that was I think that's okay or that's probably gonna do it or that's probably gonna cut it. I don't ever want that to be a type of how how we work. And that's not just the calcs or that's not just the drawings.
Andy Richardson00:23:53 - 00:24:40
That's, again, how we interact with people, you know, etcetera. So that's 3 of them. But as a business, we know we have to have e for earn because that's the lifeblood of a business is the money. And without profit, you can't run a business. So that's definitely one of our ease, and we talk about that, and we wanna make a profit, and I want my employees to enjoy some of that profit. I wanna enjoy that profit. And, also, I want the work that we do to lend itself to profit for the people we work for. So, again, that gold star guy or or the guy who's building a hotel, they're doing it most likely to either earn a profit or maybe in the case of a Porsche, they can use some of that money.
Andy Richardson00:24:40 - 00:25:11
They don't have to spend all their money on this porch. Right? So we wanna do efficiently, which is one of our other ease. Right? We wanna be efficient, and that's more going to the how we do things. In other words, you could call it our USP, our unique selling proposition. So we do it efficiently, and and that does have multiple angles. So the the end result, like the design we do, we don't wanna design a building. While we do wanna be safe and ensure safety, we don't wanna have so much steel. It costs too much money, or it doesn't make sense how it's built.
Andy Richardson00:25:11 - 00:26:00
Right? It takes too much time, which would be inefficient. And then thirdly, inefficient in the sense of the design that we do. Like, the time it takes us to do the calcs and put the drawings together. Because each one of these e's, by the way, it has a a number of umbrellas that come under or trees that come under it. You know? So how does e work out? Well, that's a whole ball of wax in terms of our process, and we have what we call I and I team, the innovations and impediments team that works on how to become more efficient. And and that's a big part of our company is be more efficient so that we can in turn earn, but it all lays out with these 6 e's. And the last 1, I think this is 6, but the last 1 is enjoy. So, you know, enjoy is another one that's very important.
Andy Richardson00:26:00 - 00:26:40
And how do we interact with each other. We've talked I've talked about that a couple of them because some of these overlap, of course. How do we interact with our our, clients? And, also, how we do our work. Like, we wanna have jobs that are, you know, enjoyable. And the people that work here, we want them to work in the area of expertise because usually when you're working in the area that you enjoy, you're very good at it. Right? Or vice versa. So, we work with, obviously, on making sure that people's personality profile, for example, is in their area of strength. Like, we don't want somebody who loves to be in the office doing calculations out making cold calls or something like that.
Andy Richardson00:26:40 - 00:27:29
So, being in, you know, working area of joy is important. And so what I do is I really use those 6 e's to make our decisions for the company, And I I really encourage our team to use those to make decisions as well, whether it's a job based decision or whether it's like a decision about moving forward. And we also try to go through those e's when we have our company meetings, and we may have a, like, a an e of the month or e of the week that we go through. And how can we really work on this. Not every meeting, but we'll go through that. It's it's a way to really, encourage everybody to understand what our values are. So that's some of the things that as you can tell, I get excited about it because it's something that I spend a lot of time on. And when it clicks and it makes sense, it makes it more enjoyable.
Andy Richardson00:27:29 - 00:27:29
So
Wayne Herring00:27:29 - 00:28:17
Yeah. It it's it's who you are. It's not just words on a wall. So the other thing I would ask you, and we're gonna work to kinda land the the plane here a bit in this podcast, is 2096 is the modulus of elasticity. Right? And and it's about steel. And what I remember in engineering lab or materials lab, wherever we did this, is we had a a sample of steel, a rod of steel. And this rod of steel had enlarged ends to it that were threaded, and so so people could picture that. And you'd put that rod of steel with the threaded ends would be inside this machine that was able to apply a significant force or stress to that steel rod, and it would pull on it.
Wayne Herring00:28:17 - 00:28:52
It would put it intention to be pulling that steel rod apart. And the way I remember it, which I may not have it exactly right, Andy, but the modulus elasticity is what governs how much it stretches given the amount of stress I put on it. So the more load I'm putting on it, in simple terms, I'm pulling my arms apart on the YouTube. I'm pulling this thing apart. I put more load on it, and then it, like, stretches kinda log like a rubber band. Right? But, of course, it doesn't thankfully stretch all the way out like a rubber band. It's just incrementally stretching a little bit. And then as the load goes off, it goes back.
Wayne Herring00:28:52 - 00:29:46
And as the load goes on, it stretches, then it goes back. Right? And as I remember it, as long as you keep the load within the right range for that sample of steel, it just keeps doing that. You stretch, it goes back, stretch, it goes back, which is what happens in a building. But if you stretch it too much, then it starts to go into the zone called yield. And as I remember, it stretches out, and eventually, it would get real thin, and it would just break. So it but it goes to this behavior where it, like and we know this from a paper clip or something, like, where we, like, over flex it, and then it, like, breaks, and that steel is like that. After it reaches that maximum load, it no longer goes back, and now it yields, and now it's never going to be the same again. And so here's the analogy: a lot of business builders, as they're growing their business from 2017 to 2013, like you, of course, you had a solo practice before then.
Wayne Herring00:29:46 - 00:30:26
So you knew your craft, you knew what you were doing, but then you started reading books like E Myth, and you decide you're gonna build a real business. And it's great to have a solo practice or anybody who's doing that. Right? But you've decided you're gonna start changing and doing that. My observation to you, Andy, is that you've had a lot of times where there's been stresses, things haven't you've been trying to figure it out, and you hire people, and then you get back to those values that you have. And those values, I know, are not only corporate values. You've got a pretty strong value system internally and in your life. So you stretch and then you go back. And for all the business builders out there, it's not the business build journey is not always.
Wayne Herring00:30:27 - 00:31:20
It's not Facebook for everybody, or it's not Tesla or Elon Musk, although he had, you know, his own problems and own challenges, sometimes outside of the business. But, Andy, you've managed to do it. You've managed to stay into that in your, like, zone of elasticity, and you get recentered, and then you get ready, and you keep going. And over the years, progressively, boom boom boom. You keep moving a bit forward, a bit forward, a bit forward in terms of the work you do, the revenue, the the profit. I know sometimes it's been hard to have free time at home and vacation's free, but you've done really well. Any tips for other people on that journey for how they can try to stay in that elastic zone so they don't hit the yield point and break and quit? Because we know that happens to a lot of businesses, right? There's that well published stat about businesses failing, but a lot of times because the entrepreneur just says this isn't worth it, and they yield. And that's okay, too.
Wayne Herring00:31:20 - 00:31:32
Like, sometimes there can be a lot that people shouldn't stick with a business because they're afraid of going back to a job. It's fine to go get a job for some people. There's no shame in that either, but any thoughts on any of that?
Andy Richardson00:31:32 - 00:32:10
Yeah. I mean talk about. Yeah. I mean, you hit the nail on the head with the, you know, the personal life side because that's the real reason we're supposed to be building business. I mean, obviously, everybody to his own, but, ultimately, it's it's to have more flexibility. I mean, if we wanted to be working for a JOB, we would we would have a JOB. Right? But the idea behind I mean, obviously, more money may maybe, but for me, it's I I want more flexibility. And I think the biggest thing is what can you do to simplify your life a little bit more? And maybe it's not a 100%, maybe it's 1% or 10%.
Andy Richardson00:32:10 - 00:32:56
So, I mean, I'm preaching to the choir here and, like, it's definitely something I continue to work on. And we were going over some of those goals earlier about taking off a hat or two that I'm wearing, you know, too many hats. And so what can I do that I can either delegate or cut out maybe a a work type or simplify something or train somebody to do something or whatever it is, basically looking at that? And because the real fact is those projects or those jobs or whatever it is that you're doing is there's gonna be more jobs next week and next month. Like, I think, oh, yeah. I've gotta please this client because whatever. And that client, they're gone. They may never come back. Right? But my family's still there.
Andy Richardson00:32:56 - 00:33:32
I mean, that's the legacy. And what I what I do for spiritual reasons and for the lord and for my family, that's what really matters long term, and the business is just a way to get there. So that's hopefully my 2¢ on it. And that's what we talk about here at business builder with you and with our Thursday group and then going to, like, camp, we we try to figure out most mostly, it's about how can we make our businesses better, but, really, the purpose of all that is to make our lives better, not to be zillionaires. I mean, that'd be great, I guess. But
Wayne Herring00:33:33 - 00:33:48
Yep. We'll we'll take a little bit of that too. And millionaires is good. There's there's plenty of room between 1 millionaire and 999 millionaire. We don't have to go for the zillionaire. You're right. We'll just keep it to 909 a millionaire. Right? Yep.
Wayne Herring00:33:48 - 00:33:53
Andy, if anybody would like to get in touch with you, how could they reach you and connect?
Andy Richardson00:33:55 - 00:33:58
They can just email me, andy@296.co.
Wayne Herring00:34:01 - 00:34:07
That's pretty easy. Yeah. That sounds good. Andy, thanks so much for showing up and sharing your story.
Andy Richardson00:34:08 - 00:34:11
Yeah. No way. But thank you, Wayne. Enjoyed it.
Wayne Herring00:34:11 - 00:34:22
Yeah. Andy@29e6.c0, no m on the end, .co. Okay. Got it. Thanks, Andy. And as always to you and everybody else, go get them.
Andy Richardson00:34:22 - 00:34:23
Alright. Thank you.

00:00 Started business, rebranded in 2017, focused on engineering.

03:29 Transitioned from sole practitioner to business owner.

09:03 Hiring inexperienced vs. experienced staff: Challenges and outcomes.

10:21 2021 staffing changes, part-time employees, remote work.

16:09 Structural engineering and design ensure safety, stability.

18:49 Discussing challenges and interesting projects completed recently.

20:18 Emphasize genuine core values for successful company.

26:40 Utilize 6 E's for company decision-making and values.

28:52 Steel stretches, returns until it yields. Business growth compared to steel's behavior.

32:10 Focusing on essential tasks, not pleasing everyone.

1. How does Andy Richardson's emphasis on building a business for personal life benefits challenge traditional views of entrepreneurship solely for financial gain?
2. In what ways does Andy Richardson's approach to delegating tasks and training others reflect a commitment to work-life balance and personal fulfillment?
3. How does Andy Richardson integrate family, legacy, and spiritual goals into the way he approaches building and growing his business?
4. What challenges has 29e6 faced in terms of hiring and managing a diverse team, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic?
5. What benefits and drawbacks has 29e6 experienced in transitioning to a remote-based company with employees in various countries?
6. How does Andy Richardson's personal journey in exploring various business ventures before finding his passion in engineering reflect the process of discovering purpose and career fulfillment?
7. What unique challenges and successes has 29e6 encountered as they expanded their business into different geographical locations such as Utah and Columbia?
8. In what ways does the concept of the "6 e's of 29e6" reflect the company's approach to business values and operations? How are these values personalized to the company and its employees?
9. How does the analogy of the modulus of elasticity in steel relate to the stresses and challenges faced in business growth? What insights can business owners draw from this analogy?
10. How does Andy Richardson's journey from a sole practitioner to building and managing a team at 29e6 provide valuable lessons for other entrepreneurs and small business owners?