Empowering Change: Jessie Cannizzaro on Crafting a Legacy Beyond Plumbing

Brad Herda (: 00:04

I am wonderful Mr. Stephen Doyle and what is it like in the great Motor City of Detroit today?

Steve Doyle (: 00:10

It is phenomenal in the Motor City today. It has low humidity and it is excellent if you love Cowpaster Pool. Just a glorious day for that. Which I know you are one of the many fans that love that Cowpaster Pool.

Brad Herda (: 00:26

Yep. And that'll be tomorrow morning's event. So that'll be good. I'm looking forward to it as per usual this time of year.

You know, it's all good. What else? You know, you taking the boat

Steve Doyle (: 00:40

No, we have a wedding tomorrow to go to. So that kind of takes care of the whole weekend. It's family. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Barbecue in next week. So we're all set for that. Looking forward to that. So, Brad, who do we got on the show today?

Brad Herda (: 00:46

Perfect. Okay.

Brad Herda (: 00:53

Perfect.

Brad Herda (: 00:57

Our guest today we met at our focal point conference and her story is amazing and we are blessed to have Jessie Canazario on us, the founder of Milestone Plumbing here in Wauwatosa. She provides residential and small commercial plumbing services, had her business for 13 years. She's one of roughly 6 ,000 females in the US that holds her master's plumbing license.

Steve Doyle (: 01:00

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 01:22

She went to the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and has her degree in business admin or MBA, been part of the ABC of Wisconsin. Nary gives back to the community, gives back to the trades and the foundation, and her legacy is to make it better when she leaves than when she started. And we are blessed to have her on today. Jesse, thank you so much for spending some time with

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 01:45

Thanks for the invite. It's an honor to be here.

Brad Herda (: 01:48

an honor. She says that she says that now.

Steve Doyle (: 01:48

So just wait, just wait. before I

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 01:53

I can tell by what Brad's got in his office alone that he is a fun guy to hang out with.

Steve Doyle (: 01:57

Yeah, he can be. He's been known to he has been known to. Yeah, we'll just leave it at

So Jesse, before I forget, which generation do you best fit in with identify with?

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 02:14

know, I had a hard time answering that on the form that I filled out. I technically, according to your debrief of which generations I fall into on your form, the Millennials, but I do not identify as a millennial. So depending on which forms you look at, sometimes you can skirt into different categories. But technically with a 1981 birth year,

Steve Doyle (: 02:30

Jessie Cannizzaro (02:40.372)

by the, you know, and I'm a rules person, so everything, the rules are there for a reason. I am in the millennial category.

Steve Doyle (: 02:46

All

Brad Herda (: 02:47

I don't know of many that's gonna get you out of that category. don't know of many of those categories that are gonna move you away out of that, so.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 02:50

Yeah, no.

Steve Doyle (: 02:51

Yeah.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 02:54

know, but millennials get kind of a bad rap, but I'm starting to notice that the newer generations, it's kind of like shifting. So maybe over time we won't get attacked as bad. So maybe I'll embrace it more as time goes

Brad Herda (: 03:01

Yes.

Brad Herda (: 03:06

Just so you know, eventually you will be a boomer, but just not called one. Unlike who Steve calls me a boomer and I'm not yet, but getting close to the higher part of that category. So Jesse plumbing is to say plumbing is in your DNA would be an understatement based on your work history and all the things. Can you just share how you started out

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 03:09

Yeah, that's true. Very true.

Steve Doyle (: 03:17

-huh.

Brad Herda (: 03:34

your journey in this world of plumbing and your family history a little

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 03:38

Absolutely. I was never going to be a plumber as a kid. So I can tell you that. So that's, you know, that's the crazy part. Yeah, I know. Right. So growing up, you know, dad, my dad just turned 81 this past weekend. So Ben, you know, master plumber for many, many years, over 50 years now. And he can still tinker. He's got some health issues going on, but still able to tinker and do plumbing and is the best service plumber I've ever worked with.

Brad Herda (: 03:43

Right. I can see that by your work history.

Steve Doyle (: 03:44

Yep.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 04:04

It was as a kid getting to go with dad on the weekends and in the summers was not exactly what every seven year old dreams of doing. So it kind of felt like a punishment at the time, if I'm being totally honest. know, and it's, you know, we actually had last summer for dad's 80th birthday, we had this huge banner made and my siblings and I surprised him with it at a surprise party. And it said essentially that we never held the flashlight in the right place. And that is such a true statement.

Steve Doyle (: 04:16

Hehehehehe

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 04:35

because people are like, yeah, I had it rough. And I'm like, no, you didn't stand a chance. When you would stand there and you would with all your might, Brad and Steve, try to hold that flashlight beam. And you would, and it was never, and you would grab it and jerk it where he wanted it. I was like, so growing a thick skin, being a female in the industry, it started with the flashlight, I can tell you that. And so I learned what the tools were young.

Brad Herda (: 04:46

Steady as you can, don't shake

Steve Doyle (: 04:47

Let's study.

Steve Doyle (: 04:53

You

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 05:02

Learned what the fittings were young and I helped him. like, think a lot of generations, I was the first to go to college, which was a huge, huge deal. Right out of high school, every guidance counselor funnels you into that college path. I had no clue what I was doing, but we went right down that path. And after that first year, I took some time away because I was like, geez, this is not what I thought it was going to be. I really don't know what I want to major in. This is really expensive if we're going to keep doing this and not know what we want. And so I took some time away.

And then eventually went back for business. thought was business is a great coverall. And at the time dad was still, you know, doing plumbing, but it was like, that's not what I'm going to do. Nobody really grows up wanting to do what their parents do. And plumbing, let's be honest, it's not all roses and pretty things all the time. So, you know, it just was like, business sounds great. Having a desk job sounds like, you know, an amazing thing. And getting that degree was super important to my parents.

Steve Doyle (: 05:49

Nope.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 05:59

And it really wasn't until my dad had a stroke while I was going to school at UW Milwaukee, and he had to take some time away from work. Mom went back to school for nursing. My mom worked with my dad side by side for like my entire childhood and into my adult years. So she knew a ton about plumbing. And when dad got had that stroke, and you know, here's a two person family business, health insurance at the time for family business like that wasn't something that was very affordable. So my mom actually went back to school.

as an adult for nursing to get better health care given dad's situation and not knowing for sure if he was going to be able to go back into plumbing. And after a few months of recovery and building that strength back up, he was able to go back and so in between classes at UW -Milwaukee, and then dad doing some jobs here and there, I would juggle my schedule and I would help him out. And I can tell you guys that as you know, a young adult in their

I suddenly had this appreciation that at the age of seven, I did not have right where, you know, like paperwork and going to college and doing papers and you know, taking exams and like the, wasn't fulfilling, but at the end of a job, seeing what we had helped that client with, if they had drains that weren't functioning, getting things flowing again and how much appreciation they had for what we had done and the fact that I could see what we were doing and have that payback as a visual reward.

was huge. And so here I am, you know, like, well, I'm gonna go and, know, have this office job someday. And, know, with this business degree, and suddenly, I'm like, you know, I think I want to serve an apprenticeship. So we kind of decided to kind of do a complete, you know, 180. And I signed up for a plumbing apprenticeship under my dad, worked for him for a couple years before he retired for the first time, because there were several retirements along the way, you know, it's, it's hard. Yep.

Brad Herda (: 07:48

Of course there were. That's how most family businesses work. You'll retire a couple times too, Jesse. Don't worry, it'll be

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 07:53

Yeah, probably, you know, he, loves plumbing. And so he has said he's retiring so many times. We don't even believe him anymore, but you know, so, and then I moved on to another plumbing contractor in the Waukesha area, worked there for five years, and then eventually left there and decided to take the business degrees and marry those with the plumbing licenses

Steve Doyle (: 08:01

Yeah.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 08:15

was it just made logical sense of let's create a plumbing company. And so we've been based out of the Wauwatosa area for 13 years as of last month. The business has grown a ton, much more than I ever anticipated that it would. You know, in the beginning, like the growth plan, was, I didn't guess I didn't really think through what we were going to grow to. So it's kind of an ever evolving thing.

Brad Herda (: 08:38

That's spectacular. Congratulations on 13 years. That's a big deal, right? Getting past 10 is a big deal. How many full -time employees do you currently

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 08:41

Thank you.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 08:46

We are at 19 full -time employees.

Brad Herda (: 08:49

That is spectacular. And most people don't recognize it's your type of business is that your business and you know, the next door guy that's doing trim work or whoever it is, the HVAC, that is what's keeping our society moving forward and keeping things happening. So.

Steve Doyle (: 08:50

Nice.

Steve Doyle (: 09:04

Hmm?

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 09:05

Absolutely. We have an interview next week for potentially number 20. And so we're very excited about that. Yeah. So it's, it's a, it's a big deal. You know, somebody, know, we have a lot of hiring process that there's benchmarks along the way. And when somebody gets to this point where they're coming in for a face -to -face interview, it's something the team gets really excited about.

Steve Doyle (: 09:10

nice.

Steve Doyle (: 09:24

That's cool. That's really cool. So for our listeners, just help put some context. Are you mainly residential, little industrial commercial?

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 09:35

Yeah, so our focus is primarily residential, we do small commercial. our kind of we have two different bread and butter divisions, we've got our service and repair division, which we're, you know, doing mostly residential, but then we've also got commercial clients, you know, that throughout the area that may need faucets fixed, drains cleaned out new toilets replaced. So it's kind of one big division there. And then we've also got the remodeling division, which as you know, throughout Milwaukee,

Steve Doyle (: 09:38

Mm

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 10:02

has a lot of really old homes. And so we've been kind of become a niche market for those older 80 plus year old homes that sometimes the trades like to shy away from because you don't know what you're going to find behind that wall.

Brad Herda (: 10:16

Well, you do know what you're gonna find behind that wall. You do know what it is

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 10:21

Yeah, it's sometimes it's a hot mess when you open it up and some people don't like

Brad Herda (: 10:24

It, it, yeah, it's likely a galvanized steel pipe that may have slowly had a leak itself just rust itself closed. And you go, huh, let's not touch that. What if I scrape this away? Don't do that.

Steve Doyle (: 10:35

I'll do that. Don't touch that.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 10:38

We, and it's surprising that we don't do a ton of new construction. And part of that is I did not enjoy new construction. It became very cookie cutter. It was not mentally challenging. It was boring. Being on the same job site for extended periods of time by myself, roughing in homes was not something I ever enjoyed. And so we do some new construction now for like existing clients that decide to move and build a home.

Steve Doyle (: 10:50

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 11:04

But really, it's not a market we focus in. I love the challenge. Our team is incredibly, you know, resourceful with figuring out. But when they reach out to me for another perspective and together we can work through to come up with a solution, those are really fun days for me. It's that mental puzzle that makes us all think. Otherwise, it gets really boring.

Brad Herda (: 11:27

So I want to go back to your, cause you, unlike many others in your position today, worked for somebody and then went out on their own. That's how many trades companies start, right? They may have worked for their family. They may have gone. What caused the trigger to decide to go down your entrepreneurial path to say, Hey, I can do this or I can do it differently or can I do it better? What was the trigger that said I'm going to go do this on my

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 11:55

That's a great question. So there's two main components to that. The first one was I had approached my old employer and just, you know, let him know that I was interested in moving up. were actually at a wedding when I was like, Hey, you know, like I'd like to have advancements, you know, at that point, I'd become a licensed plumber and I love working with my hands and what I was doing, but I've always wanted like, what's the next challenge? What am I going to do next? And I really didn't feel like it

that dynamic you know, those: 6000

Steve Doyle (: 12:38

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 12:47

Some of the spouses don't have to worry about like, how are you going to carry a baby while still working for your career? And so that was a big piece of what are the advancements here? It didn't feel like there was ever going to be anything. And then the other component too, and just from like studying culture, like I am a huge culture nut. Like I love looking at and thinking about different ways to improve culture within our team. And I, in my business plan, I literally like at the time, cause this would have been back in like 2010.

Google was a huge deal. They were putting in snack bars and they had foosball tables and they had bidet style toilet seats like yes, we do. I know. See, there it is again, right? So they had, you know, created this awesome culture and in the business plan that I wrote that I presented to the banks, I said, I want to be the Google of plumbing companies. I want to create this really cool culture.

Brad Herda (: 13:22

Yeah, all you millennials like that stuff.

Steve Doyle (: 13:22

Yes.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 13:41

this family environment where we truly care about the employee first and making sure that they're well taken care of. And I can tell you that even today, 13 years later, every decision that's made, that is still a major component. Yes, we don't have an unlimited budget, so we can't do everything we would like to do, but we seriously look at it and that's how we build out our team, the benefits we

Brad Herda (: 14:05

How many flip cup tables do you

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 14:08

We have no flip cup tables back there. We have bags. just played bags last weekend. Bags and beer like right that goes over well in the Midwest.

Steve Doyle (: 14:12

Nice. Right? That works. That works. So with your 19 full -time employees, if you don't mind for our audience, what's the breakdown in the generational categories, like Boomers, GenX, Gen Z?

Brad Herda (: 14:15

That'll work.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 14:33

Yeah. So, you know, I think through most of them are going to fall in that 20 year old age range. we've got, yeah. So we've got, we spend a lot of time, a huge component of this business is the training and the advocacy for the future. So we do have some of us in our forties that, you know, fall into both generations.

Steve Doyle (: 14:40

Cool.

Steve Doyle (: 14:53

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 14:55

But we've got a lot of 20 year olds that are getting paired up. So if you have our team come out to your home, it is not uncommon to see the licensed plumber with their apprentice and that apprentice is learning hands on what the plumber does and serving an apprenticeship with our team. We, most of our guys have apprentices working with them side by side throughout the

We have a really cool apprenticeship program here where we do the first year focused in the warehouse where they get to get exposed to what are the tools, what are the fittings, going out and helping on jobs, running parts back and forth because that's kind of a test period of does the team like this individual and equally as important does this individual like this team before we put them into that five -year apprenticeship which is a huge commitment. if they don't after six months, if they hate plumbing,

it's not the right career path and that's okay. Let's help you find a different career path. Now there's only been two instances where we brought somebody in and it hasn't been the right fit for them and no hard feelings. It just wasn't the right time in their life for them to be, you know, pursuing this. We've also had, you know, Dan is 40. He's coming up on 40. We have a birthday coming. Dan was in woodworking and in his, you know, early thirties decided

this just isn't what I love to do and sought us out, decided to do an apprenticeship. He is actually writing his test next month with the state. So he had a career change well into adulthood, but he pursued what he wanted to do, which is awesome. We've got a plumber who can be kind of grumpy sometimes. It's actually, you know.

He's in his mid fifties and we love him to death, right? He's been, he's an integral part of this team, but he ironically is the journeyman plumber that when I was an apprentice working at another company, I worked underneath him day in and day out on projects. And so we've been friends and known each other for, geez, like 18 years.

Brad Herda (: 16:55

Hmm. So how has it been for him to come work for the person that he trained? How has his attitude been towards that? How was that transition when you asked him to come over? Did you ask him or did he ask

Steve Doyle (: 16:57

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 17:09

right

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 17:12

He asked me, so he came to me about it and we actually went out for dinner and we talked on the phone a few times about it. But then I said, and I knew his wife, right? So because I had worked with him for so long, knew his family, knew who his kids were. We actually had dinner with him and his wife and we sat down and it was like, why are you looking to make a change? And he, you know, he knew who I was. We'd worked together for years. He knew I'm kind of the.

devil is in the details type of a person right that you've got to cross t's and dot i's so he knew what he you know what he was coming into and I'll never forget there we were out at a company outing probably a year after he had started and his wife came up to me and she said he needed this change thank you for what he did for him and I think he just needed a change of scenery to be in a better place and when I say he's grumpy he has that sense of humor where things come across sometimes a little

Steve Doyle (: 17:40

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 18:03

Yes, weird, red, relatable to someone.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 18:03

But as you get to know him, you're like, this is just who he is. So and my dad was that way. So I embrace it. Yep, because I grew up with it. So the sarcasm that sometimes is criticism is meant from a place of love. But if you don't know somebody, well, you don't know

Brad Herda (: 18:05

I can relate.

Steve Doyle (: 18:22

Right.

Brad Herda (: 18:24

So as you bring in the young talent into your organization, what is the one skill, what is the one or two things that a 18, 16, 20 year old can go and do to be able to come into a construction firm, into a plumbing, into a manufacturing, do blue collar world? What does, what, cause they may not, they don't know the thing, they don't know the task, but what can they bring with them to be a valuable asset and team

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 18:53

So for us, absolutely safety is extremely important. So if somebody is going to come in and start cutting corners and put anybody at risk, including themselves, like that is just not going to fly. And we're not going to be taught. actually, unfortunately had a, let a younger individual go last summer because after numerous, it was only here for a couple of months, but numerous discussions about driving and he could not understand that, like you cannot speed. have to

being careful while you're driving a company vehicle. And I want you to be careful even when you're driving your own personal vehicle, because we don't want anything bad to happen to you. And so from a safety perspective, it just was not ever going to get there quick enough. And so we had to unfortunately, you know, part ways on that. I would say safety is absolutely number one. Equally like kind

Steve Doyle (: 19:26

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 19:40

with safety is the ability to listen and receive that feedback because if somebody comes in here and thinks that at 16 to 18 they know everything already it's not a good fit right and we've all my kids are six and four

Brad Herda (: 19:51

How old are your kids?

Okay, so you got about 10 years to you about six to eight to 10 years before they know more than you just so you just let me know.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 20:03

Yeah,

Steve Doyle (: 20:03

Jessie Cannizzaro (20:06.73)

It may come sooner than that. And I will have to prepare for that. you know, we and that happens, you know, we have and we even get and I shouldn't just put it in that 16 to 18 year old range, like I'll get some resumes that will come through or applicants through our website. And they'll talk about how they've been doing plumbing for five years, and they understand how to do all applications. And you just read through and you're like, this person can't learn anything from me, because they already know it all like this is not gonna probably be a good fit. And

Steve Doyle (: 20:18

Steve Doyle (20:34.962)

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 20:35

The ability to be humble enough to recognize that none of us know everything yet, including those of us that have done this for a long time, I learned something new every single day. And I know that that's never going to change. So that I would say is also a crucial thing for us in coming on board. And then also wanting to go the extra mile to make sure things are done 100 % processes are being followed.

understanding that consistency is key to any stable, high functioning team. If somebody's going to, because a process becomes mundane, just start skipping steps to simply get something done, they're probably not a great fit for what we're looking for. And so my advice to younger people looking to possibly get into the trades, no matter if it's plumbing, electrical, HVAC, welding, whatever it may be, safety first.

ability to listen and receive that feedback and genuinely want to apply it. And then also go the extra mile that'll set you apart every single time and you will get so many more opportunities by simply showing that you care enough to complete things at the

Brad Herda (: 21:47

spectacular advice. Thank you for sharing that with our audience. We appreciate that because they don't get that information in school typically. They don't get that right because it's regarding memorizing regurgitate so you can pass the test and move on to the next thing and that's not what life is about. Life isn't about memorizing regurgitating for

Steve Doyle (: 21:48

Yeah,

Steve Doyle (: 21:56

Jessie Cannizzaro (22:05.31)

You know, another big thing too, and I, you know, I taught at WCTC for a little bit and met some really incredible apprentices during that time. And the only reason I left was my youngest who's now four was on the way and probably a lot to juggle. And I was like, we got to probably start saying no to some things. I fully intend to go back to teaching, but my time with those apprentices and going into like the high schools and the grade schools to continue advocating for the trades. And then even with our team.

I think something that gets overlooked and it's a common sense thing is having integrity to do the right thing even when you think no one is watching. And there have been times over my career that things have happened that it just it shocks me because I don't think that people have as much integrity as they may think that they do themselves.

And you know, maybe it's, and we run into situations and my team knows this, where we might be bringing a big water heater in and out of a house or a big cast iron bathtub and something could get damaged. And the expectation here is that you absolutely make that phone call. Yes, that phone call sucks to make, but you call the manager, you let them know, Hey, this is what happened. So we can fix it and proactively be upfront with the client. And it doesn't look like anything's been hid. And that is so important to this team.

And I hear stories that not all contractors conduct themselves that way. And I don't know if it's always a leadership thing, or is it the technician that was out and there's a breakdown in the communication. But it's, you know, yes, it's going to cost money to fix it, but you're going to earn the respect to that client long term. If you proactively just handle it, they're going to notice the people that think they're going to get away with things, you're not going to get away with it. And I think

Steve Doyle (: 23:27

right.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 23:49

I am the type of person that I go home at night and if I can't sleep with a clear conscience, I'm not going to sleep and the clear conscience matters so much to

Steve Doyle (: 23:58

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 23:59

It's a combination. It's a combination of both those things of leadership and the people. You know, it's like the story you shared with us at conference. Somebody else will sweep that up. No, no, no. Nobody else is going to know you sweep it up and put it away because you made the mess. Pick up all your tail. Pick up all the shravings. Just make it better than when you left it when you got here,

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 24:11

Mm -hmm. Nope.

Steve Doyle (: 24:12

and

Steve Doyle (: 24:21

Right. Yeah. One of the questions that I have is more for parents, for those kids that are kind of like, they've been told they have to go to college, but they know that college isn't for them. And they talk to their parents. What advice would you have for parents, for kids that are contemplating going into the trades?

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 24:21

Absolutely.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 24:49

So we, do job shadows here and Brad's heard me talk about this before too. And so, you know, we'll have a student reach out and they might still be in high school or maybe they're, you know, a young adult that's in a newer career and they're kind of thinking. that recently we had a welder that came here. That's not sure he wants to do welding forever. And, but his parents are like, this is a really great career. You need to stay on this path. And he's kind of like thinking, well, I don't know if I want to do this. And what, no matter if you're going the college route, a different career route, it doesn't matter. I always tell people shadow at a company.

But more importantly, when there's resistance from the parent and maybe a little bit of pushback, we invite the parents to come here as well. Come meet the team. Come find out what we're doing here. Come take a tour with your son or daughter and learn about us before you dictate and try to push them in that direction because you're both right. Parents have a huge influence on their kids.

Steve Doyle (: 25:31

Yeah.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 25:43

I came from a family that was that way as well. And the trades are, I think, more respected today than they were 10, 20 years ago. But we still have a long way to go. And you know, it's when you see somebody and they're talking about their kids and they're getting ready to graduate, it's always what school are they going off to? It shouldn't matter what school, what career are they picking? That's a much more appropriate question.

Because if they're not going to go off to UW -Milwaukee, UW -Madison, that doesn't mean that they've done anything that's insignificant. They're choosing something that should be equally as respected. So I think we need to start changing what the questions are and the conversations so that people aren't being stigmatized by the things that are being asked. you know, the parents that reach out to us to learn about the trades.

Steve Doyle (: 26:22

and

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 26:35

I actively have conversations either by email or by phone and answer questions just to kind of calm their nerves around things a little bit too. We do the youth apprenticeship program, so it's not uncommon for us to have a part -time employee that's under 18 here. We take special attention with those because they're not legal adults yet.

Their parents have lots of questions. And so I usually will give my personal cell number to the parent. If you have questions, I'm always reachable. Please reach out to me. And we encourage them to come learn about the team.

Steve Doyle (: 27:04

Mm -hmm.

That's awesome. That's just unheard of right now. I'm just kind of like, just immensely, I'm giving you applause right now. Just, yeah,

Brad Herda (: 27:07

spectacular. Right.

My our chamber board, they were talking about the high school level of having this big ceremony for all those college signing days and things. I'm like, so what about all the ones that went to WCTC or are going in the military or already have the job because they took their dual enrollment opportunity and now they're working wherever. What about those kids? Where are they? Where's their recognition? And everybody's heads kind of went. What are you talking about? Really? Why are we making this separation of of good and bad? We should.

Either recognize everybody or don't recognize anybody for just moving on the next stage of life. Pick one, but it can't be one or the

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 27:52

Yeah. And, and there's nothing saying they can't do both. And I, you know, I've told, you know, kids that too, you look at the night school offerings or the online education now too. And if somebody wants to start their own business someday, absolutely take, and you don't have to do full bachelor's or a master's degree, get an associates, do something to get that understanding. Because how many trades people out there just, you know, they buy a van, they've got some tools. They're now out on their own, you know, they're doing cash business, right? And I, so

Steve Doyle (: 28:19

Yeah.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 28:21

one thing that you'll hear me say around here is Jess does not look good in orange. We have to play by the IRS's rules, right? Like we we could get audited someday. No, definitely not. So, you know, but there's they don't know any better or they go out on their own and they don't have the right insurance or they don't have workers comp and suddenly they fall off of a ladder. I mean, it just and the thing that blows my mind sometimes too is like the side job. You know, we we have

Steve Doyle (: 28:27

Right.

Brad Herda (: 28:29

Orange is not your color, huh?

Steve Doyle (: 28:41

Jessie Cannizzaro (28:48.778)

clients over the years that have solicited for side jobs. And we have, you know, a process and the team is very transparent with me about that. And if somebody is doing a side job, not underneath an umbrella of a company's insurance, and there is an issue, the homeowners insurance is responsible, and they can go after the individual. And I think people don't understand that and bad things happen with property damage claims all the

Brad Herda (: 29:16

Bad things happen to good people when they think they're doing a good deed without crossing the T's and dotting the I's and all those fun things. So Jesse, if people want to find out more about you, find out about all the great things you are doing, how do they find you? Where do they contact you? Where do they find all the good things that you do?

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 29:20

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 29:24

Absolutely.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 29:37

We are super easy to track down. We've got a great social media presence. So we got the Facebook going. If anybody wants to get on there and check us out, we've got an awesome website. actually have a new edition of the website that I didn't think to tell you until you asked about this. So I'm going to just real quick go over. We have a foster a pup program that we started this past winter, came out of something I saw in California while I was gone for an ABC conference.

And we, as we speak right now on the other side of this wall, our third foster dog is in our office right now, integrating with our team during the day. The dogs come home with me at night, so they hang out with my kids, get socialized with my dog. But it's a way for our team to give back. Sometimes people don't know that I wanted to be a veterinarian growing up. So I think this has become like my way to like marry this love of animals with now the trades. But you can actually follow our foster

Steve Doyle (: 30:21

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 30:27

program on the website and see which dog we currently have as well as seeing the stories about the dogs that we've had as well. We're participating in events this summer with like Maddock and Tailwagers and Haws, which are great rescues in the area as well. We have a team full of avid animal lovers, which is

Brad Herda (: 30:46

No, I'm looking right now at your site and Stacey and Bruno and Avery. like, my, those are, yes.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 30:53

You gentlemen will have to come for a visit. They are, even if you don't want to get a dog, it's good. Like if you pop by and come hang out or the FedEx and Amazon drivers will come in the office and they bring them treats. We're helping these dogs get socialized. These dogs that we've been getting, they are from Texas. Their last shot to making it before euthanization is getting on a transit to come to Wisconsin. And so our team will continue doing this to make sure that they get, they get a fair shake.

Steve Doyle (: 30:53

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 31:14

Mm

Brad Herda (: 31:22

That's spectacular. That is very, very cool.

Steve Doyle (: 31:22

Wow, that's awesome.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 31:27

This is what happens when you're at a conference and the hotel has a foster program in the lobby and you've had a glass of wine and you're like, well, we could do this. So we could do this. And my, marketing team got an email at like 11 50 that night and they were like, is she nuts? And they now have embraced it. But at first there was a, this is crazy, but we had our insurance companies sign off on it. Right? Like I'm always like rules are there for a reason. So we were very transparent.

Steve Doyle (: 31:27

This fantastic.

Steve Doyle (: 31:35

Well, you can do this too.

Steve Doyle (: 31:43

That's awesome.

Brad Herda (: 31:53

You heard?

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 31:55

They appreciated being told we put some rules in place to make sure that we were reducing risk with our team and people that come and go throughout, which is why we're doing the puppies, right? They're a little more predictable than an older dog will be.

Steve Doyle (: 32:04

Right. Yep. Yeah, that's just, that's really cool.

Brad Herda (: 32:09

That's very, very cool. So not only do we fix plumbing, we fix puppies. That's awesome. All

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 32:14

We help puppies find homes, so you'll have to stop by and come meet our foster pups.

Steve Doyle (: 32:16

Yeah.

That's cool. Very cool. I know.

Brad Herda (: 32:20

Yeah, Jesse, I don't know what else to say but other than congratulations. Congratulations. You are an awesome, awesome person. We appreciate you spending some time with us to share your story. I have like a thousand other questions I'd love to ask, but maybe another time we can get you on to ask some more of those behind the scenes questions. But thank you for sharing with our audience. Thank you for what you do for the industry here locally and nationally. And just thank you

being a steward of your industry.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 32:51

Awesome, and thank you for the opportunity to be on the show. I'd be happy to come back if you'll have

Brad Herda (: 32:57

absolutely. Careful what you ask for.

Steve Doyle (: 32:58

yeah. yeah. yeah. We have plenty more questions to ask. So thank you very much.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 32:58

Okay.

Brad Herda (: 33:04

All right, thanks so much. a great weekend.

Steve Doyle (: 33:05

Yep.

Jessie Cannizzaro (: 33:06

You too.