Episode 13: Abby Buchmiller | Resilience, Reinvention, & Success in Solar

Hi there. We are so excited for this next guest that you're gonna listen to. We just got done filming with Abby Butchmiller. And Abby's a serial entrepreneur, CEO, powerhouse behind RDCL Services, a disruptive force in the home services and solar industry. She's got over twenty years in the trades, scaled her second business to over $200,000,000 in revenue, and now really teaches entrepreneurs how to build, scale, and dominate their industry. She's also the host of Blind Ambitions, a business strategist and straight shooting advocate for fearless entrepreneurship. So if you're ready for some unfiltered conversations, stick around, and we've got Abby here for you today. Welcome everyone to the Power Up Your Life podcast. I'm Kelly Rezendes. And I'm Mady McAllister. And we are so excited to have Abby, here on our show today. Just super excited to just have you share a little bit about your background. We've known each other through the solar industry for a little while, and you are just such a trailblazer. So let us know what you've been up to. And Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Good morning. Mandy and Kelly, thank you for having me. I'll give just a really short bio. Those can be somewhat boring, I know, but,

let's see. I am in my 20, maybe twenty first year in electrical contracting. So I come from a long line of coal miners, of tradesmen, and I got an early start in trying my hand at being an entrepreneur working for my dad's business, around the time I had my first baby in my lap. So I, was really lucky after I got kicked out of high school and had kind of a rough start in early years and wondered if there was something wrong with me or if I'd make something of myself. I got really lucky and had some great people in my life who gave me some awesome opportunities to take on a lot of responsibility and earn some, you know, some hard earned confidence throughout the the process there.

And I, after helping my dad sort of start a a family run business, get off the ground, we were in oil and gas primarily. We ran that business through some boom and bust times in oil and gas for, about fourteen years or so. And in one of our bottom out times, I decided to make a little bit of a lateral move into solar and started a residential solar energy company. And, that was my first, stint as CEO. Grew the company very large, right place, right time kind of situation in the home services space, over the first four I should say first. Over four years' time that the company, was, in in operation, we grew to over 200,000,000 in annual revenue, which is, quite an amazing feat and was also all sorts of chaos as you can imagine.

But, yes, I I have, some hard lessons learned from that experience, which I am very, excited to share with your audience or really anyone that asks because I think there's so much good that can come from some really hard times. And, here I am, you know, eager to share my story, eager to help anybody else, going through a tough time right now.

And, after this business that I'm referring to, unfortunately, sort of went up in flames and failed in a in a pretty large way. I, you know, licked my wounds and tried to figure out how I could give back to others and stay really focused on what it is that I'm here for and what I can give to others and how I can show up in the world. And I ended up launching another business. Right now, this business is called Radical Services, and we are in the labor sourcing, tech enabled space. So you could think of us like an Uber for labor. We're focusing in the solar industry because we love the solar industry, and we feel like there's a really great benefit there. But, we essentially offer a plug and play labor platform for anybody in the national space trying to build at scale.

That's amazing, Abby. And I think I think what I've always admired about you even before you went through the company failure was just that you have always shared. You've shared with other people your success. You know, you were you were the largest female executive in the in your industry and and whatnot, which is inspiring.

But, you know, walk us through going through that moment where you were stuck. Right? Your your business, your lifestyle, everything had to change. Like, what got you through it?

This is my moment where I I can't not pause and say, missus Kelly Resendez reached out to me, in such a dark moment for me. And as as somebody that did not did not get to a place that I was by ever asking for help or even really reaching out or allowing myself to receive. Receiving has been very difficult for me through my journey. I very much feel more comfortable in a giving space.

And I was connected, you know, and this is gonna sound like a purposeful plug. And I'm sorry, but I can't because I tell if you were swap anybody else on this podcast, I'd say I have to tell you the story about this person that just reached out to me, had no reason to, and helped me start to open myself up and find kind of a path forward. So, yes, a very few people who didn't know me very well, they weren't the people that I expected to be a pillar for me, reached out, you know, and said encouraging words that can mean a lot to somebody that are going through something like that. You know, it it can range from you have worth. It's going to be okay, to, you know, try to take look inward and focus on healing yourself, and also, you know, get out of your own head in certain ways. And and, all those influences really started to help me get my feet underneath me.

I mean, truthfully, it's a very long, messy story of how how everything sort of came about. And it it wasn't just like a month and it was done. It was it was a lot of painful months of fighting and, you know, trying really hard to keep everything together and processing lots of letdown and lots of hurt from other people, you know, that were involved, unfortunately. And then it sparked, an ongoing legal challenge and challenges that I honestly am still not through in my life.

And so what happened in the darkest moments was, now that I'm looking back on it, the foundation of me starting to just look at the process differently and and looking at it as a process, It was I was able to start to dissect me from the person who had had the success, and this journey from I've now had this failure. What am I? Who am I? And how can I move forward to this is a journey? This is a process. We all have the highs. We all have the lows, and you have to be able to stay brave through the lows and try to figure out what life is telling you, what the journey is trying to show you, trying to teach you, and take everything that you can because sometimes it's all you have.

I mean, we lost everything. You know, it was a it was a total net loss, even for the time spent in the business. And I don't say that with pride. I, you know, I only say it to say that I had to take something from that experience. And now I I'm I'm four of going on five years out from that process, and I I just have nothing but an insane amount of gratitude that I got to experience that, that I got to see things that most people won't, that the you know, I got to learn such great lessons, and I have great people in my life. And I just hope to be, you know, a Kelly Rezendis to someone else in my life. That's my personal goal.

That's beautiful. I feel the same way about our girl, Kel. I I just I feel like the the shift in identity, like, a a big I ventured big and it didn't work out. Like, that shift of identity to to realize what actually matters. And, you know, if you're in darkness, maybe it's because you've been planted Yeah. And you're gonna grow into something much bigger. So thank you for for diving into that so vulnerably because I I know that some women and and men listening are gonna learn from it.

I I think that, you know, I came from, a house that had, entrepreneurs as well, and I think, you know, it ends up in your blood. And I think that you end up being very, a nonconventional thinker. You might end up to to be drawn to entrepreneurship. You're gonna be against the grain in some way.

Yes. I'm curious. What are, one or two unconventional strategies or things that you believe that someone else might not agree with? Oh, gosh. That's a great question.

You know, this might get into the female approach or, you know, masculine approach in business. I think that a lot of people can look at vulnerability and see weakness. And I have very much, been proven to myself multiple times over how much vulnerability can and is a strength, especially when it's used in a way to show people a path to be a beacon for someone else to when it comes to business, growing a business, creating a product or service out of nothing, and then getting it out out into the world, it requires this vulnerability through the process. And you have to create relationships with people that, are authentic. And people know whether your message is fake, whether it's, you know, sitting across the table, or whether you're telling the world, you know, this is what we're doing. Here's a culture that I'm building. Here's a company I'm creating. Come join us. You know, whether it's recruiting sales, whatever it is, there has to be authenticity. People can feel it if it's there. And if it's not there, it's worth nothing. And so how do you create authenticity? You do so by being able to be comfortable in a vulnerable vulnerable space, and that's not meaning, hey. Guess what? You know, I'm a piece of garbage. It is, I have failed. I have made multiple mistakes. I am far from perfect, and it's okay that you are too, and let's focus on being better together. And that's just such a compelling message in business.

Oh my gosh. So important too, and yet something that a lot of women especially believe that we have to always be put together or we need to show up differently. And I think it's our superpower. I think our authenticity is our superpower.

And and one of the things that you have done with your career in this pivot, right, is you looked at an industry and you saw a problem. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about how that helped you build this next business. Because a lot of times, people don't build businesses from problems, which the biggest businesses

succeed because they focus on problems. Yes. Right? Yes. And bring a solution. So tell me a little bit about what that looked like because you got a lot of options. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of people were surprised to see, you know, I come from contracting not to jump back in and and build, another contracting company. And, you know, that maybe maybe that's part of my path and journey at some point in time. But I what I love so much about this problem solution that we've, you know, identified and created is that Radical really is the company that I wish existed when we were trying to build and scale a quality national contracting organization. And, you know, a lot of businesses and across a lot of industries are are challenge you know, having challenges right now. This isn't just a solar related issue. I'm gonna speak to solar because it's my everyday. But, in the solar space in particular, we've seen so many companies that have gone out, have had similar fates to mine, one after another. There's just been a lot of, turmoil and and, you know, tumultuousness and and and a lot of confusion why is this happening. Right? And and so when I take a step back and look at, you know, what should we have done differently? What could we have done differently? There's been so many move forwards in the industry that have just just have improved. But what it comes down to at its core, we have companies that can run a really quality profitable business in their own backyard. They know their clientele really well. They see them at the grocery store. Right? And, they, you know, there's this this profitable platform, call it, you know, for solar numbers, between five and ten crews. You're working within a metro area. You've got steady, consistent clientele coming in. Pipelines are healthy, and you've got faster turn times. And then you've got these companies that that go, okay. This is great. This is this is a phenomenal business model. I'm now going to branch out into multiple different areas. Well well, guess what? These areas have long drawn out turn times. Cash management becomes nearly impossible. You've got business owners trying to level up faster than many humans are just simply able to and lessons learned there. So what our company provides essentially is the right person with the right training at the right place at a fixed cost. Whereas companies typically nationally would plug some people in, pay w two labor, manage overhead cost, buy some vehicles, they'd invest in an area, maybe sales aren't consistent, Maybe they have, you know, somebody that steals from them and takes off. Whatever it is, it's a risk that a company is taking within an area, and this is very typical for solar. And those costs oftentimes, unfortunately, end up being a loss that we see at the end of the day, which is leading to so many of these companies struggling. They have some projects that they're performing at decent profit margins, and by and large, as they're trying to expand and and operate nationally. And at scale, they're failing and they're losing more on on many other projects. So we're really trying to bridge that gap, and I feel so great about how we're going about it. We're saying, here's the markets. You can, again, do not expand your overhead more than you need to. Lean on our team to get things done within these areas and stay focused on your profitable core.

Well, I think so many great businesses began with the I wish I had this when. Right. You know? So kudos to you for recognizing the problem and building the solution to it.

I I wanna talk a little bit about clarity and finding clarity. So when you are in a circumstance, especially in the darker times, and and you don't know what to do next, what is something kinda actionable that you do to help yourself find clarity when you need it?

Oh, gosh. This was one thing that just stands out so strongly to me that, was advice that was given to me is try to focus on the things you don't want. When you're in a really rough time, you just that that feeling of being lost is so miserable, and and it sounds like a voice in your head that says, I shouldn't have ever done this. This is not for me. I can't do this. I'm not capable of doing these things. What do I even want? Do I even want this? You know? And and you start you have a really difficult time seeing the hurt through the intuitive guidance forward and how to move forward in the right way. Right?

And I love that piece of advice to start listing out the things that you do not want in your life when you're at rock bottom. I know that I don't want a tumultuous business partnership, for example. I know that I don't want to feel like x or y or z ever again. And in having that clarity of the things that you don't wanna call into your life anymore or the things that you don't want to recreate in your next phase.

I think it provides so much clarity to, okay. I I know who I am, and I I do know what it is that I want. I love that piece of advice. I just feel like it's very actionable when you can feel really stuck.

Yeah. Absolutely. Well, it's a great exercise. And in order to create the future that you want, now you've gotta take those don'ts and reframe them into, you know, I want powerful partnerships that are mutually supportive or I want, you know, whatever those things are because, unfortunately, our brain ends up you know, it doesn't it it doesn't you doesn't differentiate between don't and do. You know? So it's definitely there.

What would you say, like, taking care of yourself, being a female entrepreneur, being somebody that's gone through these things? Like, what what disciplines do you have about making sure that you're taken care of so that you have the energy to be able to, you know, support this business?

I just came from an event where, you know, one of the things was, like, what most people don't realize when you put yourself and your relationships first, your business flourishes. A lot of people think, but when my business flourishes, then I'll be able to Right. Spend more time with my family or on my health.

I love that question, and I you probably hear hesitance in my voice because it's something that I feel like I have not yet figured out. But what I do know is that is women, especially as women who are also moms and trying to work and run a business, you know, I I watched my incredible mom with seven kids who also worked, and there was no such thing as her ever putting herself first, and she is the most selfless human being. And it's such a great quality that I just she she's just amazing. But it can be it can also be such a negative, trait, right, that I don't wanna pass on to my daughters in its fullness, in its full form. Right? And so I'm I'm cognizant of it.

To answer your question, I think that for me, as somebody who resonates with an ADD type personality, I just can't ever stop. For me, it's action, action, action. That's where I feel good. It's where I feel strong. It's been hard to force myself to slow down and go, wait. I don't feel like me. I don't feel strength. I need to tap into that energy and to find, okay, where where that is that balance?

And so I think the biggest step forward for me has been being able to tap into breath work and meditation and having that moment where I can find stillness, purposeful stillness that makes me feel connected to myself in new ways that I just didn't realize were possible. And those purposeful small breaks, I think, give me the fuel to just be able to continue to go at the pace that I go. And I I do feel good in that pace in a lot of ways. You know? Amazing.

Stillness. I I love I love that that phrase. I'm gonna totally borrow that. You've said so many things that have been so impactful to to me today. I loved the idea of heal yourself first, and that vulnerability is a strength that helps you get to to full authenticity. That resonates with me so much. Kelly, what were some things for you?

Yeah. I think when you're building a business, really looking at what problems are out there that you have to solve. And then the other thing is is knowing that let's be honest. A lot of us aren't really good or it's not natural for us to start with self care. And and so just knowing, like, we all struggle with it. It might look like Abby's, like, completely whatever, but it's it's something she still struggles with. Start with something. You know, meditation, breath work, something that's gonna get you more connected to your body so that you can show up energetically. So such an important part of what we need to do. So thank you.

Abby, one of the things that we really love on the power up your life podcast is we wanna help you power up your life too. So what what you know, whether it's a life changing introduction, resource, or something that we can do to support you in your career and what you've got going on. So this is your opportunity to ask for help, which I know you like you said, is is a little challenging, but we gotta get really good at it. This is a part of abundance that we gotta get really good at. How can we support you? Oh, gosh. Well,

that is sweet, and I have to laugh at how uncomfortable that makes me feel still. Let's see. Yes.

Any any national scale organizations that are forward thinking, that are looking for partnerships with introductions to young scrappy, very caring people who are very eager to transform the home and services landscape introductions to help our dream that we just love and are funding with our blood, sweat, and tears and get that moving forward, that would be wonderful.

That's awesome.

And then what is the best way for listeners to get ahold of you?

I am very active on both LinkedIn and Instagram. Abby Buckmiller is the name on both platforms. And, yeah, I'd love to connect on those two platforms primarily.

Beautiful. We will make sure to put that in the show notes. Thank you so much for joining us on the Power Up Your Life podcast, Abby. This is an honor. Of our listeners out there. If you haven't subscribed yet, make sure that you do. Make sure you are sharing this with a friend who needs to power up your life.

We will talk to you again next time. Yeah. And I would just say, Abby, just for anyone listening, don't be afraid to fail. Do not be afraid to fail. Abby is living proof that you can have a business that goes sideways and come back even stronger and more radiant. I mean, holy moly, lady. You always just fire me up about that.

But just just don't ever be afraid to take those risks on yourself and trust that everything's gonna always work out okay for you. So thank you again for joining us, Abby. Thank you both. Bye, everyone.