Your Business Is Making Money. Are You?

Erik Caballero built OX Plumbing out of a van in Mesa, Arizona. He's five years in now and can tell you his margins. For most of the run before that, he couldn't. Money came in, money went out, and he ran the company off the balance in his bank account. In this episode he says that out loud, and Arrow, the guy who came in and organized his numbers, walks through exactly what he found when he opened the books. Then I get into the part nobody warned me about. Your business is probably the best wealth building tool you'll ever own, and at some point keeping everything inside it becomes the risk. I go through the test I use before I take money out, the mistake I'm still making today, and what I actually paid myself in the early years. If you're one to three years in and the money is coming in but the wealth isn't, this one is for you. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR How Erik picked plumbing, failed the license exam seven times, then quit his job and studied for a month straight. The first six months in the van, when the phone rang about ten times Knocking doors and handing out pamphlets, because it cost him nothing but time Erik in his own words: "Money was coming in, money was going out. I didn't even know what I was even making." What Arrow walked into: one revenue account, one credit card, some personal expenses mixed in, and a profit check that came down to seeing if anything was left after the card got paid. What changed once the financial statements were real: he can price the work, buy a truck, hire, and they're getting a shop. The test I use before I pull money out of a business, and the reserve I keep first My own confession: 72 percent of my net worth is tied up in privately held businesses I own. That's way too high. I don't always practice what I preach. Why trading a high return for a lower return asset isn't a downgrade, it's buying stability. What I actually paid myself: $20,000, then $36,000, then $36,000, then $600,000, while living off savings in a two bedroom apartment in Detroit Where the 10 Laws came from, and why the first one is that you have to believe you're worthy of wealth before you build any. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 In the studio with Erik and Arrow, and how OX Plumbing started 2:25 Failing the plumbing license exam seven times 8:56 Three years in a van, about ten calls in six months 12:27 "I didn't even know what I was even making" 14:18 One revenue account, one credit card 15:56 What changed once the numbers got real 21:17 Law 1: you have to believe you're worthy of it 22:55 Two nickels to rub together 28:34 When to stop reinvesting and start taking money out 30:50 My confession: 72 percent in one basket 42:02 Debt rules, and why real estate is not passive 46:17 Trading return for stability 49:06 $20,000. $36,000. $36,000. $600,000. 56:32 The talk in Chile that started the reading list JOIN THE COMMUNITY The Wealth Code community on Skool is where this stops being a podcast and starts being a plan. Come in, ask your question, and work through the laws with other owners who are in the same season you are. https://skool.com/thewealthcode GUESTS Erik Caballero and Arrow Duplain, OX Plumbing Services, Mesa, Arizona https://oxplumbing.com I'm putting this out there as a value add, from me to you, not as advice. Educational purposes only. Not financial, legal or tax advice. I'm not a CPA and I'm not a licensed financial advisor. Your situation and your results will differ. #BlueCollarBusiness #SmallBusinessOwner #TheWealthCode --------------------------------- Most men weren't handed the code. This channel exists to change that. I'm Allan Draper — and The Wealth Code is for the man who already works hard, already earns decent money, and still feels behind. No hype. No shame. No guru-speak. Just the principles, habits, and systems that actually build real wealth — taught straight. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ LISTEN TO THE WEALTH CODE PODCAST New episodes every week. 👉 https://thewealthcode.buzzsprout.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📩 STAY CONNECTED Subscribe to this channel:    / @its-the-wealth-code   Instagram:   / itsthewealthcode   Website: https://thewealthcode.money ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ WHAT THIS CHANNEL IS ABOUT → Financial psychology — because behavior follows identity → Disciplined habits that compound quietly until they don't → Wealth strategies in plain language, no jargon → Legacy and leadership — wealth as a tool to serve → Simple systems that replace stress with clarity If you're done reacting to money and ready to lead it — you're in the right place. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ DISCLAIMER The content on this channel is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions. #TheWealthCode #AllanDraper #FinancialLeadership #WealthBuilding #MoneyMindset