Real HVAC Insights From Our New Hosts

What happens when you put two industry-recognized HVAC business owners in a studio, hand them the mic, and let them talk through what it really takes to grow in the trades? You get magic… and the kickoff of a new Cracking The Code season built around real experience, hard-earned lessons, and conversations you only get from people still doing the reps every day.

In this first episode of an all new season of Cracking The Code, hosts Brad Barron, CEO of Barron Heating AC Electrical & Plumbing, and Jason Walker, Owner of Royalty Heating & Cooling, introduce the reimagined show and share the journeys that shaped their perspective as contractors and business owners. Brad shares the challenges that came with scaling a long-standing family business into new trade verticals while earning trust, building teams and leading through change. Jason shares his path from warehouse cleaner to high-performing comfort advisor to owner, and the obstacles he overcame starting a company from scratch. Together, they set the tone for a new era of the show, focused on honest conversations about growth, leadership, and the lessons contractors learn only by going through the fire.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

00:00:00:01 – 00:00:18:01

Business owners. Sometimes we have this false narrative of shame in our life. Like when we make a mistake, it’s like you can’t, you know, share that with anyone. It’s like, oh, stop. We if you could see the scars on my body from the mistakes that I’ve made, and I’ve only been doing this at barren for ten years, it’s okay.

00:00:18:03 – 00:00:42:06

They’re actually pride marks, right? And we need to share that and help others win. You got to be the sponge and absorb, right? I could learn from anybody. I could learn from a pass runner. And I tell everybody I’m no better than anybody in this room. If you’re, you know, a $2 million business or a $200 million business, there’s still those challenges as you’re looking to grow and scale the different facets of the company or different trade verticals.

00:00:42:08 – 00:01:04:04

What’s up? We are listening to Cracking the Code. This is the new season and I’m your host, Jason Walker, aka J.W. moneymaker. And we got my co-host Brad right here. Brad Baron, I scare you a little bit. No. You’re good. I thought for some reason you were going to pause and be like, what’s his last name? I didn’t know.

00:01:04:05 – 00:01:24:08

No, no, but but it was good, right? It was good. Well, first off, man, we are the first ones to record in the new studio, right? I mean, it feels nice. We’re breaking it. Including this little I don’t know, what is that? That they asked for a request. This fingernail sensory thing, it’s got bristles. It’s fantastic on this table.

00:01:24:08 – 00:01:44:19

So. Yeah. But, yeah, we’re we’re here first ones to do it in the new studio, so. Well I’m excited. Well, for all the listeners, everyone that’s out there listening to Cracking the Code, I just want to tell you all, I’m super excited to be here with you. All I know, Brad, is Brad. Introduce yourself to everyone with. Yeah.

00:01:44:21 – 00:02:05:18

Talk about real quick because you come from fourth generation of a hack operation company. So can you kind of talk about that journey with for generations? Because usually it doesn’t make it through one generation. Yeah. At the end of the day, I’m really blessed. I get a chance to work with a family business that has been around for 55 years.

00:02:05:18 – 00:02:28:14

So it was my grandpa who actually worked with my great grandpa who came out of retirement. He was a sheet metal worker in the Seattle area, moved up to a small town called Bellingham at the time, and launched barren heating and air conditioning. But it’s funny, back in the early 70s, there wasn’t a lot of cooling happening in Washington state because a it just it’s not that hot up there and then be it was expensive.

00:02:28:14 – 00:02:47:10

It was a luxury. But my grandpa Dan had the foresight to call it barren heating and air conditioning, which was pretty sweet. And so did fireplaces, furnaces, and then ended up at the end of the day, getting into electrical and plumbing when I came on board back. Man, it’s almost been ten years now. I’ve been at barren ten years almost.

00:02:47:11 – 00:03:03:06

Yeah, it’s getting there, but I’m not in the family business by trade, meaning I started doing something completely different. Would you start? So I’m an engineer or as my dad likes to call me, a social nerd, which I still to this day don’t really know exactly what that means. I’m assuming it must be an okay thing. Like, I’m.

00:03:03:08 – 00:03:21:11

I’m social, I guess I know, but I like to build things and design things. I like to solve problems. Right. And so I did ten years of that, went to school, was a professional engineer for a period of time. Still am, I guess, but did design work. And then I hated, hated sitting behind a desk. This is fun though.

00:03:21:11 – 00:03:35:02

I like sitting. I was going to say we’re sitting behind a desk. Well, it’s like a table. Okay. Yeah, it is kind of a table. Kind of a table. But I hated sitting behind a desk. And so, I had a mentor that challenged me and said, hey, I think you’d be good in sales. And to me, sales.

00:03:35:03 – 00:03:55:01

And you can appreciate this because technicians feel this way, too. Sales sounded like a dirty word, right? It’s like, oh, slimy. I’m an engineer. Yeah, exactly. Everything. I imagine you are like Jason just exactly that way. That’s what they usually say it is. Yeah, yeah. By the way, you’ve proven it completely wrong. So nice to get to know you, but sales engineer, I drove in and ended up loving it.

00:03:55:01 – 00:04:14:18

And so I managed to four state territory before joining the family business. But you asked the question, what’s it like working for a fourth generation family business? And there’s there’s the pros and cons. Nice to have some level of establishment. I came in Barron was about 75 employees at the time, doing 13, 13.5 million in revenue or something like that.

00:04:14:18 – 00:04:34:22

So we were we’ve been doing work for 45 years, right. Established. But there’s pressure associated with that when you come in and you’re the third gen owner, fourth gen worker in the company and all that to be said, I looked at it and I just said, my goal is to solve problems, knock down barriers for people and ultimately make their lives better.

00:04:34:22 – 00:04:53:09

But tell me a little bit about your side of the business here in California. Royalty. What’s going on in your neck of the woods? My neck of the woods. Well, I have royalty heat in there. We’ve been based for two years outside of Sacramento. Right before talking about royalty, I’ve been in the HVAC trades for 17 years now.

00:04:53:11 – 00:05:17:14

Started as your gofer grunt guy. And when I say your grunt guy, I was the shop warehouse cleaner sweeping the floors 530 in the morning, install trucks all lined up right. So I understand what it it’s like from going from the bottom to the top, right, learning how to set your team up for success. And then from there, I really got to discover that I had a gift and a passion to help people grow.

00:05:17:17 – 00:05:48:11

And I took that leap of faith in that fear. Right? Yeah. And I was making really good money selling HVAC systems to do something that I had no idea was going to happen. Right. It was a gut feeling that, hey, you should do this. You should take the faith and go be a national trainer and a podcaster. And so after I started that, I started to really see how the impact was sure, at the different companies that I was going to.

00:05:48:11 – 00:06:12:12

And really, I say when technicians, you know, they live in a mindset of a limited belief within their head, right? By the way, I think a lot of humans do. Exactly. And what’s possible strike technician to say in general. But I do agree in the trades. It is a that self-limiting belief is incredibly challenging, incredibly challenging. I thought it would be a great idea to start a HVAC company from scratch, right?

00:06:12:13 – 00:06:40:22

No partnership, no funding, no buying into an HVAC company. Because as I travel and I train, a lot of technicians and installers actually vision to start their own company one day, but they don’t know what. Just just because you’re a great technician doesn’t mean you’re good. Operator. No. Right. Yeah. So when I started royalty, I actually wanted to have it a project and showcase what it looks like to have a company from scratch and what the sweat equity tears, the grunt, the grind looks like.

00:06:40:23 – 00:07:08:06

Sure. Right. And so being able to showcase that royalty has been able to grow a massive amount the last two years, we’re on track to do 2.5 million this year. We just had our biggest month last month, which we ended up June at 330,000 installed revenue. Attaboy. So everything’s going great, right? So I mean, sky’s the limit of what’s what’s the future look like?

00:07:08:07 – 00:07:24:13

Yeah, well, I always tell everyone this when we’re on on sites and doing training, right. You always got to be the student, right? You got to be the sponge and absorb, right? I could learn from anybody. I could learn from a parts runner. And I tell everybody I’m no better than anybody in this room, right? As long as you’re willing to listen to them, you know?

00:07:24:17 – 00:07:50:11

And actually, your ego is not your amigo. Yeah, right. That’s what they said. He is not your amigo. I’m gonna lock that one away, I like that, yeah. So as you’re continuing to grow your company, fourth generation, what have been some obstacles and challenges? Yeah, my dad had a really good piece of advice, one that I leaned into when I first started at Barron, and that was work in the different facets of the business.

00:07:50:11 – 00:08:13:17

You could understand to your point, listen and learn what’s working, what’s not, what the pain points are. And so I spent the first 18 months I spent doing everything from sheet metal fabrication. I still have all my my digits on my hand after doing that for a few few months, we, you know, all the way to to service to service, you know, technician ride alongs, whether that’s maintenance or repair.

00:08:13:18 – 00:08:30:15

One of our core values is trustworthy. And so the only way you can really build trust is by actually going in and meeting people and learning who they are. And again, ride alongs are a great way to do that. When you’re as a trainer, you’re going around and actually getting windshield time is super valuable. Talk to talk and walk the walk.

00:08:30:17 – 00:08:48:23

What I say. Yeah. But, so that was that was an inherent challenge of coming in. Now, I had, you know, you know, a plaque on the wall to show I had a four year degree. I had the professional engineering license, so I had some credentials. But for the guys in the trades and gals and trades, they didn’t really care.

00:08:48:23 – 00:09:06:22

They looked at me as like, He’s Brad Barron, son of John Barron, and of course he’s here and he’s going to take over the business. And so earning trust and respect and starting to to show that you’re here to help them was an imperative part of that journey. But, you know, we scaled from one trade vertical when I started to now we’re in, you know, 3 to 4.

00:09:07:01 – 00:09:24:14

That’s sort of an interesting one because we’re trying to determine whether or not solar is a separate vertical from electrical. I believe it is. I think there are two different verticals. But so with that being said, we do heating and cooling and then electrical, solar and plumbing. And so it doesn’t matter if you’re a $2 million business or a $200 million business.

00:09:24:14 – 00:09:41:05

There’s still those challenges as you’re looking to grow and scale the different facets of a company or different trade verticals. And so we had to deal with that at Barron. And and I think business owners, sometimes we have this false narrative of shame in our life. Like when we make a mistake, it’s like I can’t, you know, share that with anyone.

00:09:41:05 – 00:10:07:13

It’s like, oh, stop. Like we if you could see the scars on my body from the mistakes that I’ve made, and I’ve only been doing this at Barron for ten years, it’s okay. They’re actually pride marks, right. And we need to share that and help others win. Well, one thing that we were talking about is we were talking also about families, you know, and I think it’s really important for everyone that’s listening to this podcast to really get to know us, not just in business, but also on our personal life.

00:10:07:13 – 00:10:34:15

To talk a little bit about your family, your wife, you were talking about your celebrating yours in September. Yes, of 15 years. Yes. Because I’m just a little head of it’s a little bit ahead. I think I’m using your words on that though. But yeah. No, I been married for almost 15 years to my high school sweetheart, so we were best friends, junior high school up in Whatcom County of Washington state, and then dated for senior year of high school all the way through college.

00:10:34:16 – 00:10:51:10

Got married when we were 22 and did what young 22 year olds when the first married do a lot, and that’s tried to save as much money as possible, but also have as much fun as possible, like sort of fund balance. So we were able we’re blessed. We were able to do some travel while we were younger. Waited till we were.

00:10:51:15 – 00:11:09:18

Brooke was my wife’s name is Brooke. I think she was 28 when we ended up having our first Declan. So I’ve got three boys. I have an eight year old and then twin, six year old Aiden and Connor. And so life is easy and simple. It’s totally not at all. I know you’re running, so I don’t, I get it.

00:11:09:19 – 00:11:30:04

It’s really funny. We all of our best friends that we have in our area where we live, all of them have girls. And I look at them and I’m like, man, they sit, they color at the table, they listen. And my boys are wild, you know, hyenas running around in the backyard, like, yeah, like all that. But anyway, we’re very blessed.

00:11:30:04 – 00:11:47:20

We’ve got three kiddos. I’m a believer. So I’ll speak about my faith to. And I love Jesus, and I do my best every single day to try to embody that. And I fail quite often in that journey. But I do the best I can. And yeah, we’re like, have you heard you’ve heard Zac Brown Band song before, right?

00:11:47:21 – 00:12:04:02

Homegrown agree with that song. I feel like that encapsulates our life a little bit. And Brad, what are your hobbies like, what do you like to do when you’re not just hyper focused on work? I like to golf. So in high school I wrestled and played golf because it was like big junks to position between intense physical sport.

00:12:04:03 – 00:12:24:08

Yeah. And then I’m like, what do I do to come down from this on the spring? I go, I still like to go, I’m a hack. I’m not very good at it. I’m usually, I don’t know, mid upper 90s, but I saw the good to me to my ball goes, yeah, yeah. But every other time I’m over there I donate and then I receive and then I donate and receive from the woods on the outside I hear you, but that’s fun.

00:12:24:09 – 00:12:47:23

I like to ski both snow and water. So one nice thing about Washington State is we have beautiful mountains. Like my home mountain is Mount Baker. It’s an awesome, awesome spot. But my parents have a spot on a small lake up in Bellingham. And so I grew up water skiing and wakeboarding. I don’t wakeboard anymore because when you fall wakeboarding, your head feels like a catapult just smacking the water a thousand miles an hour.

00:12:48:01 – 00:13:04:08

And I’m getting older now, so I just, I don’t want that. It’s funny that you say that because I say that about riding moto now. Yeah, I say, I would love to go on a moto and go jump on a track, right? But the older I get, the harder that crowd is. Yeah. You know, it’s. And it’s a little like you’re like, do I really want to fall?

00:13:04:09 – 00:13:22:21

And the craziness is still inside of us, though, you know, where we tempt ourselves. Well, I think that’s where, like, I look at my young boys and I’m like, they’re still fast to me. That never really outgrows that. What about you? Jason? Let’s throw it back. My wife and I, Jackie, we have three beautiful kids. Our oldest is Dawn.

00:13:22:22 – 00:13:43:17

Okay. Don is ten years old. Then we got little Jake. He’s five. That’s my daredevil right there. Yeah, Don’s a little cautious. And then we got little Ranger and Rangers. Nine months old and not quite a daredevil yet. Not maybe. I’m, you know, over the weekend, you know, he’s taking his walker and he’s trying to go off the patio.

00:13:43:17 – 00:14:05:11

So maybe a little bit of Daredevil. Yeah. But, you know, with my my sports and everything or my hobbies, I just like you. Adventure. I’ve always liked to ride the line a little bit with extreme sports, which is surprising when I got to know you that that’d be the case, right? Yeah. You seem like a pretty lukewarm, you know, like guy.

00:14:05:13 – 00:14:27:22

So one of the big decisions, one of our art watching this, one of the best things I think that I enjoy the most is just going up to the mountains and either having a dirt bike on me and being able just to enjoy, like you said, right? Having faith. God’s God’s creation, it is. Yeah, absolutely. And just being alone or side by side.

00:14:27:23 – 00:14:52:22

Yeah. I had the opportunity to go to North Carolina on a on site, and that was the first time where I really felt like I could disconnect without thinking about work, because so often, right, as we’re busy as entrepreneurs, business owners, operators, managers, supervisors, it’s hard to turn this thing off. Like literally almost impossible. Including in the shower, on the toilet.

00:14:53:01 – 00:15:13:10

Right? Even when you some of my best ideas come in the shower to the toilet. Do you have a pen and paper right there, right now? I might, I might. Okay, I see it. Yeah. Or just Siri. Yeah. Write that down now as we’re here, you know, in the EGA studio. Yes. Breaking it in. Yeah. You know contractor University.

00:15:13:16 – 00:15:40:20

Let me ask you what are you most excited about. I think a mentor mentee relationship and what we’re able to do here, bringing people on are really powerful because like I said earlier, I think running a business is really lonely. And I think sometimes, even if you’re not the owner but you’re up there, whether it’s general manager or a VP, ops or whatever it is, those positions are lonely too, and sometimes you feel like you’re stuck and you don’t know what to do or where to go.

00:15:40:20 – 00:16:05:00

Do am, I hope, is that you got to say, cracking the code. Go cook. Cracking the code that we’re able today, and then in future episodes that we’re able to help break down those barriers, show that it’s okay to to be vulnerable, to be transparent. Transparent is big. Yeah, absolutely. And because like I said, I it’s hard enough as it is.

00:16:05:01 – 00:16:30:21

So let’s try to lighten the load. What about you? Jason. Oh man I’m excited. First off the journey. Yeah. No one knows the journey for me. So I’ve been very, very interested in joining the EGI team for about the last five years. And this opportunity for me is is an absolute blessing to be able to be in front of the community to show people what’s possible, like you said.

00:16:30:23 – 00:16:47:12

Right? Because as I travel and I train, like I said early in the episode, technicians and everybody lives in this box of what they think is possible. But when you could lead them and coach them, and I really hate the saying that it’s lonely on top of the mountain, because I hear that too much. And as a leader, right.

00:16:47:13 – 00:17:14:22

Like you’re saying, all ties, right? Rise all 100%. We should all lead and rise everybody together. Yes, absolutely. Amen. And so that’s what I’m really passionate about, is to really show everybody through the EGI platform what’s possible. What what are you willing also to to not just dream what’s possible but also sacrifice. Right. Right. Because you do have to sacrifice a lot in order to to get to the level of success that you guys want to achieve.

00:17:14:22 – 00:17:36:01

And that’s what I really want everyone to understand is it’s never an easy journey, right? You’re not the only one going through it. No, there’s multiple people going through the same obstacles and challenges that you’re going through. And I think that’s what me and Brad are really excited for, is to share those stories in those hot seats. So we could talk about those stories and ventures.

00:17:36:01 – 00:17:55:00

Because how many people do you think are struggling with the same things on the other side? Well, I get a chance to work with contractors all across the US. We all are. Right. No one’s exempt from any of those challenges. 100%. So I couldn’t agree more. And I think that because they think that bigger companies are big, that they don’t have challenges.

00:17:55:00 – 00:18:20:02

But I really think that the bigger you are, the bigger you have, right? So I’m just really excited about the journey and what’s to come with Egea. Absolutely. And what’s to come with everyone that’s a part of the EGI community? Yeah, no, I’m happy to be a part of the journey with you. Jason. Absolutely. This is just the beginning and I can’t wait to meet new people.

00:18:20:02 – 00:18:28:11

And again, just help elevate the trades. So let’s do it. All right. Until next time, y’all cracking the code.