How Jeffrey Beam Built a Construction Company That Gives Felons and Recovering Addicts a First Chance

Jeffrey Beam (00:00)
It is the most terrifying thing and the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. I’m not just affecting one person. And it’s not even really me. I get these guys and gals because we hire everybody. These guys and gals, it’s one of those things. I’m not just affecting them. I don’t just get them in a room with a guy named Jesus.

I get the other people in their lives. You know, it’s that drop in the bucket and watching the ripple go and to see, you know, guys get their kids back in their lives and, and, and, and get their first apartment, uh, get their driver’s license back.

Scott Bursey (02:08)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel I’m your host Scott Bursey. And today we are getting a serious injection of strength. Our guest, Jeffrey Beam of R &R Handyman of Northwest Ohio brings the ultimate fuel of transformation. He went from a menace in society to a man of God. He’s leveraged his own survival story to create a survival manual for his employees, proving that construction is simply the vehicle he uses to finance his true mission, building people. Get ready for a high octane clarity. Pros, welcome, Jeffrey.

Jeffrey Beam (00:34.924)
Hi Scott, lovely to see you.

Scott Bursey (00:37.994)
It is great having you here. And for our listeners who may not be familiar with your journey, please give us a front row seat and how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Jeffrey Beam (00:49.686)
And when I started the company, was an amazing story. I was working with a moving company and we were moving some furniture. had recently got sober and this gentleman who went to our church, he prayed over our businesses. And when I got back in the truck, my boss who said, do know what just happened? I said, no, but I know one thing. I don’t own a business. And he said, apparently you do.

Um, so that’s how I got started. Um, I’m, uh, six years sober, August 27th of 2020, uh, it was when I got sober. So I’ll be six years of this August. Um, and when I got sober, I decided that I was going to get, uh, I was going to fast track and try and help the people, uh, that were still in recovery. They were still trying to find their way. Um, and took, I took a, uh, a page out of Sun Tzu’s Art of War, No Diami. And I decided I was going to become a chemical dependency counselor.

So I took accelerated courses and got two degrees in chemical dependency counseling. I spent the next year trying to find an employer that would let me get past the background check portion. The employers liked me, the HR people, they thought I’d be a great fit. And then background checks said, Jeff, you have felons, so you can’t do this. But I mean, I believe that, you know, I had done my time. I had served full sentences on my felon conviction. had gone through rehab. graduated probation.

It just didn’t make any sense. about a year and a half later, this lady named Bev, who works at the sober living facility attached to my rehab, she said she’d give me a chance. She stuck me in through background checks because they were doing a changeover. So I kind of got lost through the cracks and I just got grandfathered in as an employee because there was nobody to terminate me due to the background check as I started. she took a chance on me.

And while I’m working as a monitor at this rehab facility, I met these guys. was still doing the handyman service kind of on my own, just little stuff, know, mountain TVs, putting together Ikea furniture, little paint and stuff here and there. But it wasn’t, I didn’t see visions of it being a business. You know, it was just a hobby that I got paid to do. And I see these guys and like some of them, like I had two college degrees and an impeccable resume before drugs and alcohol took over completely.

Jeffrey Beam (03:10.958)
And I couldn’t find a job for a year and a half. Here’s these guys with no GED even, you know, we’re still any convictions. And the only work that they can find is a gas stations and French fry stands, know, and stuff like that. Not that there’s anything against that, but you know, for a guy coming out, you know, he feels like he’s done his time and society should give him a, another chance. And well, we’re a first chance employer, you know, God laid it on my heart to go back and only employ recovering drug addicts and convicted felons because

Again, we want to make sure that we’re going back for those that feel lost in the system. And it’s an amazing thing. Best compliment a customer ever gave me who said, you’re doing a service for your community while doing a service for your community. I see it as finding that person that was lost like I was.

Scott Bursey (04:05.698)
Jeffrey, what really caught my attention about you was the way that you’ve been able to utilize your powerful personal story of transformation from a difficult path to a man of God. That is just truly remarkable.

Jeffrey Beam (04:19.95)
Sorry, one more time. Thanks, Bella.

Scott Bursey (04:23.35)
Yes, yes, that is just truly remarkable. Thank you for sharing that with us. And Jeffrey, if you could tell us, how does teaching your team using your own survival manual give R &R handyman the edge?

Jeffrey Beam (04:39.886)
What’s really sticking out for me is the amount of loyalty that our employees have, not just for the company, but for each other. We stand up for each other. We break bread together quite often. We’re moving into summer months, so we’re going to have a cookout about every six weeks because I like doing life with my guys. They understand that life happens, that they’ve got a guy who understands, who had to go through the probation, who had to go to the meeting, had to go to the PHPs and the…

Like you have to reschedule your entire life. So they see my loyalty and my tenacity to keep them in meaningful work. And so they give me meaningful results.

Scott Bursey (05:19.458)
You know, the most successful businesses are built on deep commitment and that mission is a blueprint that is just so inspiring.

Jeffrey Beam (05:32.056)
Thank you so very much. It’s a honor to get to serve. It’s a blessing to be a blessing to somebody else. It tells me in a good book that no greater love than to lay down his life for his brother. We get to lay down our lives for each other every day. We make sure that each other is held accountable. And we hold ourselves to little bit higher standard because again, we are working back against some things that we do have to overcome as far as the world is concerned.

And at the end of the day, also understand, know, we pray in every single day. And so, you know, we get to share the fact that we understand that we’re forgiven because of what he did 2000 years ago. You know, so yes, the old is dead and gone, but we also understand that perception is everything. We’re trying to be impeccable in all that we do, you know? So, man, my guys, they’re great. They’re the best.

Scott Bursey (06:25.068)
What’s the biggest opportunity for your operation right now?

Jeffrey Beam (06:29.666)
Man, the biggest opportunity for us, we’re always looking for qualified helpers, but the biggest opportunity that we have right now, we’re working through bath and kitchen remodels. And that’s really working well for us. What we’re trying to do is dial into one thing and do it very, very well. And baths and kitchens is what we’ve been doing really, really well. We have other exterior things, fencing and decks and stuff like that.

But really, yeah, we’re focusing on the bathroom kitchen. There’s not a lot of bathroom kitchen remodelers in our area.

Scott Bursey (07:02.356)
If someone’s listening to this, Jeffrey, and they’re thinking, hey, this is somebody that I’d really like to learn from. What would you like them to know first about your business?

Jeffrey Beam (07:11.502)
man, man, it isn’t about the money. It’s really not about the money. It’s about the lives that we’re impacting. You know, I was taught a long time ago. I can’t remember who it was, but they told me they said, if you take care of people, the money will come. Like if you take it, if you worry about the money, if you focus on the money, you can get some money, but you’re going to lose the people along the way. But he said, if you focus on the people and helping people, the money will follow it. just automatically will. You know, so it feels hard.

you know, that first year or two where, you know, you’re like, man, how did I make this? Just take it, have no plan B, you know, dive in a hundred percent, you know, and just be amazed at what you can accomplish when you have to. You know, there’s going to be some scary nights, but the good news is, is anything we’re doing is going to be scary. Yeah. Of course it’s, of course it’s scary. It’s unfamiliar territory. You’ve never seen success before. You’ve seen what other people were willing to give you and call success.

But I will never work for anyone else ever again. I it’s just like, I decide what I’m worth.

Scott Bursey (08:17.166)
And no business is perfect. What’s one thing that you’re still trying to figure out?

Jeffrey Beam (08:22.702)
Yeah, for us, the big thing that we’re trying to figure out right now, again, we’re a growing company. We’re three years old, but we’ve grown year over year. We’re looking at 1.2 million in revenue this year, our third year in business. So we’re pretty excited about that. But the biggest problem for us is since we are such a young company, most of our standard operating procedures were handed down word of mouth. We don’t have them in writing. Yeah. So there’s not, you know, a clear rule book as far as, hey, when we’re, when we’re going in to do a bathroom demo.

You know, we’re going to demo this, this, this, and this, make sure you shut off the water first. You know, number one, did you take before pictures? And we have that for the social media. We don’t have it in writing. It’s been handed down orally because we had smaller amounts of employees right now. We’re working at 14 full-time employees and seven of which has been hired, I believe in the last nine months. So it’s one of those things that, you know, we’re growing, which is great, but with the kind of growing pains. So.

Scott Bursey (09:21.922)
Speaking of the growing pains, what is some long-term vision? Let’s say like the next five to 10 years for your operation.

Jeffrey Beam (09:29.132)
Awesome question. I’m really glad you asked that. We actually, we were looking at a one year, three year and five year goals of 1.2, five million by three and 10 by five. With the area that we’re in, we may not be able to accomplish all of that with construction, but we’re actually, one of our 12 month goals is actually to purchase our first flip house at the company and then convert the assets from that to purchase a duplex or a multi

multi units. So that way we have some revenue stream coming in to cover things like insurance and stuff like that. Kind of use it as a loss leader and then leverage the property. work with a lot of real estate investors. They kind of put the bug in me just a little bit because you’re seeing these guys and it’s like, I’m doing the work. I should be doing this for me. Maybe, But that’s our 12 month goal for that. 10 years, I would love to see.

I would love to see us expand out to more than just Northwest Ohio to actually be multi-state. I would love to see that.

Scott Bursey (10:33.759)
That’s absolute rocket fuel right there for our pros. Any challenges you’re watching closely? Market risk, competition, access to deals or capital, you know, that sort of thing?

Jeffrey Beam (10:45.614)
I mean, the thing that we always worry about in the construction field, especially with things like fuel costs going up is the total cost of the job. You know, we started following the metric of fuel and maintenance within the last six months. Again, I had hired an administrator. Again, I had to buy some of my time back and delegate some of those $12 an hour tasks to somebody. But it freed up my time to do the other parts of it. So yeah, that’d be it right there.

It’s dealing with those fluctuating charges that come bigger fleet, more insurance, more gas, more oil changes, the whole thing. So we’re building kind of our own shop to take care of some of that. We’re trying to, if I’m going to pay somebody by the hour to work on my equipment and I have competent people that can do it, let’s utilize them because I’m paying somebody might as well be my people.

Scott Bursey (11:40.571)
And what is the biggest tension point in using the construction side of your business to consistently fund your spiritual and development mission?

Jeffrey Beam (11:52.014)
It is the most terrifying thing and the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. I’m not just affecting one person. And it’s not even really me. I get these guys and gals because we hire everybody. These guys and gals, it’s one of those things, I’m not just affecting them. I don’t just get them in a room with a guy named Jesus.

I get the other people in their lives, you know, it’s that drop in the bucket and watching the ripple go and to see, you know, guys get their kids back in their lives and, and, and, and get their first apartment, get their driver’s license back. You know, those were the things we actually incentivize in our pay plan. that those are the things you get raises for you. You your, you get your GED, you pay off, you know, watching these guys go through it. but the biggest, best part is sitting there and watching them have that aha moment.

Like I can do this because then they can stack those wins on other life stuff. You know, it’s not just a job to us. You know, it’s not just learning to swing hammer. It’s learning how to be a person, you know, because we forgot somewhere when we were out there lost doing what we were doing and we lost a little bit of our humanity, but you give people a little bit of pride back. You know, I volunteer at the, at the coping center at Defiance ProMedica hospital.

So I get to go in and I talk to people who were who either got admitted because they had attempted suicide. They were having a hard time dealing with life on life’s terms. I had that meeting today. And it’s amazing because you walk in there and you think that, you know, these people, you know, they’re sad and they’re hopeless. Like, like, like, like, like they’re hopeless and to give somebody hope, like to truly give them the sense that if you can do it, I can do it.

to get honest with him and just be like, I was where you are. was sitting in that chair, sitting there wondering, know, was I ever going to feel like a human being again? You know, because so many stigmas followed, not just the mental health, not just the addiction, not just the felony, so many stigmas follow it. You know, and at the end of the day, if everybody thought about it, if we all stood trial for the worst thing we ever did, we’d all be in prison for a really long time.

Jeffrey Beam (14:11.894)
My good friend likes to say, if we all had to pay for our own mistakes, we’d make a whole lot less of them. And it’s just one of those things I like to instill hope in my guys. That’s more rewarding than any paycheck.

Scott Bursey (14:26.272)
And Jeffrey, on that note, what is the biggest opportunity right now to scale the building people mission beyond R &R handyman?

Jeffrey Beam (14:36.338)
we actually, we, we get a lot of requests from people that are looking for employment. I’ve had a few, contractors that I work with, you know, these are good people. You still have to take them through your vetting process. We have a vetting process. We want to make sure, you know, we’re going to be inside people’s homes. We want to make sure that they’re taken care of. But again, you know, maybe loosen the restrictions that you have on people. If they have a certain amount of time where they’re off, you know, look at the person, not the paperwork.

Yeah, we have to start thinking with our hearts again, because somebody took a chance on you or else you wouldn’t be in that chair. That’s just all there is to it. Take a chance on them. Give them their first chance. Because again, first chance employment. You’ve your debt to society. You worked some kind of program recovery. You’re trying to say that you’re a changed human being. Great. This is your first chance.

Scott Bursey (15:23.586)
What is the greatest threat to maintaining the integrity of your man of God mission while operating in the hard driving construction industry?

Jeffrey Beam (15:32.878)
And, you know, of course corporate espionage is a real time, you know, people, they’re there. I found more people are willing to stand behind our mission, and be men of their word, ladies of their word. you know, I, with, with a lot of my, my property managers and stuff that we do stuff for, we will do verbal agreements. I set up a bathroom remodel that’s going to start on Monday, for one of my, for one of my, my clients, based off of a, based off of the text message.

You know, there some people I need 50 % down, you’re first born in the deed to your house. You know, but I have such a relationship with the people that I work with. doesn’t seem to get to me as much, but it’s hard. know, this industry can harden your heart. There are some people who are very cutthroat. We like to work in a collaborative thing. So we collaborate with a lot of different businesses because we don’t need to be in competition. We’re all selling the same candy.

They either like your mission or they like mine. Let the customer choose.

Scott Bursey (16:36.994)
What is the fastest way to measure true transformation in an employee?

Jeffrey Beam (16:43.394)
Wow. Man. So our Wednesday spotlight for our employees this week was Jeremy. Jeremy is one of those people. I asked him to do a task and he does it. I give him a set goal and he does it. Now he’s, it’s just one of those things. I had to find his why to get him to do those things, but it’s one of those things. With my team, it’s amazing. know, we, they know how willing we are to give to them and buy into their new beginning.

that, that when we ask them to do things, it’s pretty simple. Again, when you, when you show people you genuinely care, they have your back, you know, most of you guys consider this their family and not their employer.

Scott Bursey (17:27.49)
Jeffrey, you’ve given us so much great insight to your operation and your quest. Could you leave our listeners with any additional words of wisdom today?

Jeffrey Beam (17:40.024)
Man, words of wisdom, as far as business or personal.

Scott Bursey (17:46.432)
It could be either or or both.

Jeffrey Beam (17:54.382)
Well, I try not to let the two mix. That’s why I ask as a small business owner and as I would hope to think an entrepreneur at some point as we grow this into something other than construction or not just construction, you know, that I can have that not work life balance, but at least I can check out of the office long enough to spend some time with my wife. You know, that was the hardest part of the last two years was I lost sight of my why.

I forgot that I wasn’t just doing it to rebuild people, that I had a family at home that also depends on me. And while the mission is important and the ministry is important, my most important ministry is my home. What does a man profit if he gains the world, yet he loses his soul? And they tell me that when I’m married, we’re joined as one. So I lose my wife to get the company. What did I gain? I didn’t gain anything. I’d sell it tomorrow. I’d close the doors.

If it meant that, you know, if it was bothering my wife that much, I’m grateful that she’s okay with me having long hours and nights away from home if I have to. You know, but it was one of those things I had to make sure that she knew that yes, this was going to be on the table. So prepare your families for it. Like if you’re going to buy in a hundred percent, there are going to be long nights. There’s going to be nights. There’s nights now I wake up one o’clock in the morning going, how are we going to cover payroll? And I have to do the quick math on.

on where we are month to date with revenue. I’m like, okay, well, statistically based off of our historic margins, we’re fine, Jeff, like you’re just having a nightmare. But my wife has been a saint. My mother has been a saint. My family has been there for me and making sure that I’m not having a transactional type of relationship with my family as well, because some of them do work for me, has been the most important part of it.

So again, don’t lose sight of the actual why. Lamborghini’s great, but there’s room in that thing for two for a reason. There should be somebody next to you to help you enjoy it. So make sure you don’t lose the people that matter most in your quest for more.

Scott Bursey (20:02.818)
Thank you for those wonderful words, those wonderful words of wisdom. And for our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving or collaborate with you, what is the best way for them to reach you?

Jeffrey Beam (20:15.436)
Wonderful. They can contact our home office. Our home office number is 419-770-0242. They would talk to Taylor there and then she can get the information over to me when it’s on the schedule. So that way we can make some time for you guys.

Scott Bursey (20:35.16)
Thank you. Thank you for that, Jeffrey. And listeners, as Jeffrey highlighted, the greatest asset you can build isn’t a portfolio of properties, but a portfolio of people. Invest in human capital. That is the real high octane growth strategy. Jeffrey, thank you for joining us today.

Jeffrey Beam (20:54.168)
Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Scott Bursey (20:56.558)
And we appreciate you. And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you got value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with a lineup of elite guests just like Jeffrey, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you on the next episode, everyone.