Thursday Feb 06, 2025

5: The Ethan Moore Episode

In this episode of the Huge Transformations Podcast, Ethan Moore—founder of Moore Exteriors in Branson, Missouri—reveals how he built a profitable power washing business while simultaneously investing in real estate (including self-storage facilities) to achieve both financial and time freedom. Ethan explains his humble beginnings (from vending machines to window cleaning), highlights the importance of living below one’s means, and shares how he deliberately sets up his work routines and company culture to keep his priorities in check. Whether you aim to be “time rich” or expand your business without sacrificing family life, Ethan’s approach to intentional living and financial discipline offers a practical blueprint.

SHOW NOTES

  • Guest: Ethan Moore

    • Founder of Moore Exteriors (Website not provided)
    • Real estate investor: Residential rentals & self-storage facilities

  • Key Topics

    • Time-Rich Living: Balancing business growth with personal freedom
    • Intentional Money Habits: Living below means, channeling profits into real estate
    • Workday Shutdown Routine: Using structured end-of-day habits to fully disconnect from work
    • Company Culture: “I Am” statements—team members speak positive traits over themselves
    • Mastermind Influence: Leveraging peer mentorship to solve problems and accelerate business growth
    • Long-Term Vision: Embracing compounding effects in both finances and personal habits

  • Books Mentioned

  • Tools Mentioned

  • People & Mentions

    • Mike Dahlke – Business mentor and mastermind leader
    • Steve Weatherford – Mentor behind the “I Am” statements concept
    • Donald Miller – Speaker at The Huge Convention; business operating system references

  • Additional Resources

 

  • How You Can Support the Podcast

    • Subscribe to the Huge Transformations Podcast
    • Rate or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
    • Share with fellow entrepreneurs looking to build wealth and time freedom

Transcript:

Sid (Host):
 Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Huge Transformations Podcast. I'm Sid Graf out here in Montana.

Gabe (Co-Host):
And I'm Gabe Torres here in Nashville, Tennessee. We are your hosts and guides through the landscape of growing a successful home service business. We do this by interviewing the best home service business builders and owners in the industry—folks that have already built seven- and eight-figure home service businesses, and they want to help you succeed. Yep, no fake gurus on this show, just real life owners that have been in the trenches and can help show you the way to grow profitably. We get insights and truths from successful business builders, and every episode is 100 percent experience, 0 percent theory.

We are going to dig deep and reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly. Our guests will share with you the pitfalls to avoid and the keys to winning. In short, our guests will show you how to transform your home service business into a masterpiece. Thanks for joining us on the Wild Journey of Entrepreneurship. Let's dive in.

Sid (Host):
Hi, this is Sid Graf with the Huge Transformation Podcast, and I had the absolute delight to interview my good friend, Ethan Moore. Ethan Moore has Moore Exteriors out in Branson, Missouri. He's been in business for—well, he's been in business probably most of his life. Let's get this piece started—with gumball machines and vending machines. But he's grown this business from scratch to a sizable power washing company, but he's also a real estate investor, and he's done some other cool things. But today, when you listen to this podcast—I hope you enjoy it as much as I did—you’re going to learn about how Ethan thinks about time and being time rich, and some of the principles that he and his wife have applied for years that have compounded to give them a great season of life with their young children. He said they've always lived below their means, and then he also is very deliberate about how he ends the day so that his mind and thoughts can be free to spend with his wife and family and he's not distracted. And there's a whole lot more. You're going to love it. Join me as we interview and get to know Ethan Moore.

Sid (Host):
Welcome to the Huge Transformations Podcast, everybody. I'm Sid, I'm your host, and I've got Ethan Moore with us today. Ethan, thanks for joining us. How are you, man?

Ethan (Guest):
Ah, I'm so good. Yeah, I'm actually enjoying some time off, slow season, and so we're out in Colorado, so having fun.

Sid (Host):
Oh cool. Well, in Colorado right now—today I just talked with our friend Jared, and he said they were having blizzard time in Denver. You see the snow?

Ethan (Guest):
Oh shoot, no. I wish. We're actually, like, south of Durango, and we need snow. I came out here to snowboard, and there's no snow. It's driving me nuts.

Sid (Host):
Did you bring wheels to stick on your snowboard so you can…

Ethan (Guest):
Yeah, honestly, I need to. (Laughs) Yeah.

Sid (Host):
That’s cool. Well, you're from—you're a business owner from Branson, Missouri, right?

Ethan (Guest):
Branson, Missouri. We had the Huge Convention in Branson in 2019.

Sid (Host):
How big is Branson? What's the population of the area?

Ethan (Guest):
Like, the city is small, so it's a tourism town. I think the city is like 20,000 people or something. The county’s maybe 80,000 or so, but we serve like 7 or 8 million tourists a year. So it's a tourist town. It's a little different than most markets, but…

Sid (Host):
Yeah, as far as a market for a home service business, it's a small market. Which I think is, you know, we'll dig into that just a little bit with the growth and success you've had with your own business. So let's do this: just tell me—like, now you have several businesses. What did you start with and why?

Ethan (Guest):
Oh, well, let's see. When I was a kid, it was like gumballs and gumball machines.

Sid (Host):
Yes! Did you have a route?

Ethan (Guest):
I only had like two machines. My brother had like two or three machines. Our grandma helped us get them set up, but that was the best type of business ever. Actually, that kind of ties into one of my favorite businesses I'm in now, which is self-storage, because it's kind of the same. But anyway, that was when I was a kid. I loved that, because you just got to open it up and see the quarters and take them to the bank. As a kid, that was so fun. So that was real early on.

But yeah, so we started cleaning windows. A friend of mine taught me how to clean some windows that he used to do when he was a kid in this town. He was telling me how he's making X amount an hour, and I'm like, well, that sounds pretty good, and I've always kind of wanted my own business. So I started doing that when I was like 16 or 17, and just did it on the side for a long time, worked waiting jobs—Bob Evans, IHOP—waiting tables, Dolly Parton Stampede, all that. I'd do that while cleaning windows and power washing on the side on weekends. I did that for probably six years.

Sid (Host):
Right, so I'm going to ask you this question this way: you’ve been part of the Mastermind since the earliest days. When we called it the BBB and we started meeting—very informal group of guys and gals that run businesses. We said, “Let's get together in person and focus on talking business and helping each other solve problems.” From that, did you start right out in your first year, or five years ago?

Ethan (Guest):
Oh yeah, yep, the first year.

Sid (Host):
So I want you to paint a picture for everybody listening. Five years ago (and obviously there are a lot of other areas where you learn and have mentors, etc.), but let's do this for the Mastermind. So paint a picture: where you were then with your business and family, and where you are now with business and family.

Ethan (Guest):
Yeah, that's fun. I remember this like yesterday. The first or maybe second meeting we did as a Mastermind was a Q1 meeting—winter. Historically, I'd always take winters off because our tourism is dead in the winter. So anyway, I remember talking to all these other owners, bigger businesses, me with a $100,000 or less in revenue, right? And they asked, “What are you doing right now?” I'm like, “I'm just chilling for the next two months. I'm just snowboarding and traveling. We have no kids.” And I remember everyone being so jealous, saying “Oh man, I wish we could do that.” (Laughs) So that was something I was like, “Huh, there's something to that.” These folks have bigger businesses, but they don't have that time freedom. Then there was an awkward season in between. Maybe it was six or seven years, I'm not sure, but there's a middle gap where I kind of fell into that “start growing the company, skip the time off.” Then I'd look back like, oh man, I want that time freedom again. And now I'm back on it, so I'm blessed to have built something so I can be time rich.

Sid (Host):
Yeah, you said “time rich.” That’s amazing. So let's talk about your business growth. You ended up with Moore Exteriors, the power washing side, plus real estate. How did that all unfold?

Ethan (Guest):
I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur. The best advice I ever got was, “You become the average of the five people you associate with the most.” So that’s why I joined the Mastermind, listened to books, etc. I'm around people who are where I want to be. We overcame a lot of hurdles, spent nights working too much, personal frustration, all that stuff. But I do enjoy improving, raising my ceiling.

Anyway, so now we built the pressure washing company to about 800k in sales a year. Then four or five years ago, or longer, we started investing in real estate. We bought our first house, convinced my wife to live in a fifth wheel so we could rent that house. Then I'd say “Oh, let's do this for six months,” but it turned into five years. (Laughs)

Sid (Host):
You’re a great salesman. (Laughs)

Ethan (Guest):
But we always lived below our means, too. That’s the big key: we saved and invested everything. We started early, it’s a snowball effect. But we had about four single-family rentals, and I realized I hated dealing with tenants. So I looked into other real estate investments, found self-storage. Loved everything about it. We started buying self-storage units off-market. Now we have six facilities—700 units between them—plus the power washing company. And yeah, it’s definitely a bit of a rocket ride in a short time. But there's no magic bullet, it’s lots of daily consistent stuff.

Sid (Host):
What's one big challenge or pitfall?

Ethan (Guest):
Probably time management. Not knowing how much to work on the business or in the business, how to not overshadow your relationships. It's easy to let everything slip if you're overdoing it. The best tool that helped me was from our coaching with Mike Dahlke and the Mastermind. The Full Focus Planner stuff: a “Workday Shutdown Routine.” Because I'd carry stresses or undone tasks into the evening, every day, never shutting off. My wife didn’t like that, so we created a system where I'd tie up all the loose ends, go through emails, tasks, archive them for tomorrow. Then I can rest. It let me keep growing but not lose what's important.

Sid (Host):
Brilliant. So the last question: you told me about your “I Am” statements in your company culture. Could you expand on that?

Ethan (Guest):
Sure. We do these “I Am” personal contracts—got the idea from Steve Weatherford. He created a personal contract, an “I Am” statement. So for me: “My name is Ethan Moore, I’m a relational man of intention, I’m obedient to the King, disciplined to deny my flesh so I can live out my calling.” The team then says, “Yes, you are.” It’s speaking life over yourself, often in areas you want to grow into. It's powerful. We teach each technician to do it. They might start off timid, but eventually they believe it, it shapes their identity. It's the culture we build intentionally.

Sid (Host):
Great. The last question now for real: advice for your younger self?

Ethan (Guest):
We overestimate what we can do in one year and underestimate what we can do in ten years. Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen in a year—compounding is huge. Ten years can do crazy things if you’re consistent.

Sid (Host):
That’s fantastic. Thanks again, Ethan. So good to have you. I appreciate your time, and I'll see you soon at the next Mastermind.

Ethan (Guest):
Yeah, thanks, Sid.

Sid (Host – Outro):
Hello, my friend. This is Sid. Thank you again so much for taking your time to listen to today’s episode. I hope you got some value from it. And listen, anything that was covered—any resources, books, tools—anything like that is in the show notes. So it’s easy for you to find and check it out.

Also, the mission for The Huge Convention and for this podcast is to help our blue-collar business owners—like you and me—gain financial and time freedom through running a better business. And we do that in four ways:

  1. Our free weekly newsletter, it’s called the Huge Insider. I hope you subscribe. It is the most valuable newsletter for the home service industry, period—paid or otherwise—and this one’s free.
  2. The Huge Foundations education platform—that is, we’ve got over 120 hours of industry-specific education and resources for you. And every month, we do a topical webinar and Q&A with seven- and eight-figure business owners, and it’s available to you for a $1 trial for seven days.
  3. Of course, The Huge Convention. If you haven’t been, you got to check it out. It’s every August. This year, it’s in Nashville, Tennessee—that’s August 20th through 22nd in 2025—and it is the largest and number one-rated trade show and convention for home service business builders. We’ve got the biggest trade show, so you can check out all the coolest tools and meet the vendors and check out the software to run your business. And we’ve got world-class education and educators and speakers that will teach you how to run a better business. And it’s the best networking opportunity you can have within the home service business.
  4. Lastly, if you want to pour jet fuel in your business, check out The Huge Mastermind. Now it's not for everyone—you’ve got to be at over $750K of revenue, building toward $1M, $5M, or $10M in the next five years. It’s a network, mentorship, and a mastermind of your peers, and we help you understand and implement the Freedom Operating System.

We go into more detail, but you can get all the info on all four of these programs and how we’ll help you advance your business quickly just by going to https://www.thehugeconvention.com and scrolling down and clicking on the Freedom Path. Or, of course, you can find the links here in the show notes. Sorry, I feel like I’m getting a little bit wordy, but I just want to let you know of the resources that are available to you to help you accelerate and advance your beautiful small business. So keep on growing, keep on learning, keep advancing. And if you like the show, go ahead—take 90 seconds and give us a review on iTunes, then subscribe and share it. Man, it would really mean the world to us. It would help other people as we continue our mission to help people just like you and me. So thanks again for listening. We’ll see you on the next episode.

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