--:-- JJ Virgin: Hey, JJ Virgin here. On my podcast, Well Beyond 40, we ditch the idea of aging gracefully and go all in on aging powerfully. Every week I host powerful experts who can give you powerful insights on building muscle, boosting your energy, and feeling amazing no matter what your age. This is your one life. And trust me, being smarter and stronger are superpowers that can turn lifespan into Strengthspan. Listen to Well Beyond 40 wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: For investors, it's your takeoff. Let's say I'm building multifamily. You're looking at a year to two-year process. If you're building out that interest payment hitting your bank account every month, the longer that bill takes, the more it's cutting into your investment. If it took you two years to finish a product, what if you could do it in three to six months? How much money would that save you on your bottom line? That is how we're bringing the investors back more money in their pockets because we can get to the properties a lot faster. While you're doing the horizontal, the plummet, the septic utilities, we're building the houses. So by the time everybody's done, we bring in, we set up a community in two weeks. It changes the game on everything.
--:-- Paul Alex: Hey guys, and welcome back to the Level Up Podcast. My name is Paul Alex, and today we have a phenomenal guest. You guys know that we interview the best of the best in every single industry in the entrepreneurship world. The Level Up podcast has to do with self-help, providing value, believing in core values, and absolutely just everyday people crushing it. Today's guest is actually a good friend of mine. We're in the same brotherhood with one of my mentors, Andy Elliott. I've known him for quite a while, about a year now I think. He's absolutely crushing it in this industry that we've never talked about before, guys. And you guys are going to love this episode because it's about giving back. It's about core values and all this jazz.
--:-- We have a powerhouse entrepreneur by the name of Kyler who turned a single shed he built by hand at 20 years old into a multimillion-dollar company. One of the fastest-growing modular and tiny home companies in the U.S., operating across multiple states. Kyler's redefining affordable housing with innovation, speed, and heart. It's about the vision, guys. From building cabinets to building dreams, his mission is clear: transform lives through scalable, beautiful, attainable homes for everyday people. Let's go ahead and dive into this. Welcome to Level Up.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Hey, thank you for having me on the show. I'm super excited. It's going to be good.
--:-- Paul Alex: I'm pumped, man. I'm pumped to dive into your story, brother. So let's dive into it. Your origin story. You built your first home or your first shed by hand at the age of 20. What led you from that one-off build to founding your multimillion-dollar company now? Just expanding, dude.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Yeah. Going back, I always grew up on a farm, dropped out at the eighth grade. I always had a passion to go out there and create something, make some more money. I was making $250 a week. I figured out, what the heck am I doing with my life? I was working for a guy out in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the guy didn't pay me for six months. It just led into different things where it wasn't working out. I came back. I saw the neighbors had a shed over there. So I said, hey, what if I created this and I sold it to a customer? I said, that might be a good idea. Never had a construction background. Didn't really know anything about it. But I said, what am I going to lose? I went to Lowe's, bought the materials. Two weeks later, had a shed constructed, found the customer, sold it to him. And I said, hey, I think I'm on to something. I think I can change a lot of people's lives by doing this. I know it's going to take a lot of hard work and it's going to take commitment. But I think I've found what my purpose is. I think this is it. And that has led to changing people's lives every single day.
--:-- Paul Alex: Absolutely, man. That's an amazing story. So let's go into the fine details of that origin story. What year was this? You dropped out of 8th grade. Was it the same year that you decided to do the shed? Because you were 20. So what year was it when you first built the first shed?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: It was August of 2018 when I built the first shed.
--:-- Paul Alex: So 2018, right before COVID.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Right before COVID.
--:-- Paul Alex: Wow, that's amazing, man. Did COVID affect your initial thought process of starting the business, or did you start the business before COVID?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: We started it before COVID, but I just, if I start something, I just go all in.
--:-- Paul Alex: And did COVID affect the actual business concept?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: You would think that it would affect it negatively, but it actually gave us a 200% growth that year. We learned to pivot at the right time. We saw it coming and said, hey, how can we create a product that a lot of people are going to want? So we pivoted and had 200% growth that year. The business started scaling super fast, faster than we could actually manage it. Because if you drop out of the eighth grade, you don't have the acumen. You don't have the skills that you need in order to run a business and a ton of employees. You've got anywhere from building the product, selling it, delivering it, and then figuring out how to manage customers and still manage making a profit.
--:-- Paul Alex: No, absolutely, man. Let me ask about your environment when you grew up. Did you grow up with your parents being entrepreneurs? Any siblings that were entrepreneurs? How did you have that entrepreneurial spirit? Because not everybody has that, dude.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Right. Ever since I dropped out of the eighth grade, I was 14 years old. But I've always had that entrepreneur spirit to go out there, make it happen, to want to run a business, make some more money, to chase the success. I've seen it out there. I'm like, how can I go get it? I had parents that grew up, they always were entrepreneurs. My dad always had a business. So I learned from him the fundamentals of what it takes to run a business. I've seen him run a $4 or $5 million business a year. So I learned. I just grew up around that.
--:-- Paul Alex: No, that's great, dude. I have a kid on the way and it's going to be my first.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Congratulations.
--:-- Paul Alex: Thanks, man. It's one of those things where when I grew up, I didn't grow up in the richest area. I grew up in poverty. I remember I used to have a group of friends that would be like, oh, that person's so lucky. They're well off, they got out there, they're born with a spoon in their mouth. Now as an adult, it's like, that's not a bad thing. It's a good thing that their parents made the right decisions to level up their family's generational wealth.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Absolutely. They were the ones who did it.
--:-- Paul Alex: I want the same thing for my kids. I'm going to tell my kid, you should be proud that you're getting dropped off in a nice car and a nice neighborhood and you have solutions. That's what it should be. So I love that. I love the fact that your parents taught you to be an entrepreneur, because that's the same thing I want to do for my kid. It's a wonderful thing. I always resonate on that. I always reflect on that, man.
--:-- So, okay, your company's expanding to multiple states. What states are you guys expanding to?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado as well. I've got investors out there. I've got single-family homeowners and I've serviced some schools out in Colorado that have had trouble bringing affordable housing. So expanding to those states to be able to help families out there as well, other than the four states that we currently do.
--:-- Paul Alex: And with your company, what's making you guys stand out over the competition? Because obviously, just like with any company, you always get, "What makes you so special?" I'm pretty sure you have competitors and all that jazz. But what makes you stand out? What makes people want to do business with you?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Absolutely. The normal answer would be the quality, the price points, the warranties that I have. But I'm going to say that's not it. It's the people that I have inside of my company, the mission and vision that we're all on, which is to bring the affordable dream back into America. My people are, I always say I have the number one team in the world, and we're going to be the Ritz Carlton of tiny homes. I love it. That's what I preach every single day, and I teach it. I don't just preach it, but I talk it. I live it. I say, hey, this is the company that we're going to be. We can be like everybody else. We can just build. It's just another home. But what can we do to that family that would make an impact in their families so they can go tell five other families? Because of the experience, because the people. When you walk into Saddlebrook, I want you to feel a certain way so that when you leave, your life was impacted, whether you bought a home or whether you didn't buy. But I made an impact and it was well worth your time.
--:-- Paul Alex: I love that, man. I love that. You're leading by example. You want to be the best. You are the best. And you guys are growing massively. So that's wonderful, man.
--:-- Let's actually talk about the product and the process now. Here at The Level Up, we have about a hundred thousand listeners a day, which is phenomenal. We've been blessed to do that in a little bit over a year and a half. The concept, dude, self. You have to conquer your mindset first before you get into entrepreneurship. I always tell people that. I could show you absolutely everything I've done to be successful, but at the end of the day, if your mindset isn't right, it isn't going to help you.
--:-- So let's talk about the product and process. You offer tiny homes, modular homes, cabins, sheds, and custom designs. Walk us through your 4D process from discovery to delivery. What makes it so seamless?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: The first thing you do when you come into our marketing to our team, we look at our discovery, which we figure out, okay, what is it exactly that you need? What are your needs? What are your wants? And we dictate the wants versus needs. Once that comes in, we create a product. We create the home for you that fits your budget, that fits the needs that you have. And then we start building it. We're all one-stop shop. So you design, we build it, we deliver it, and we set it up. And we're the ones that hook up your electric, everything. The simple process is you're not messing with the middle guy. We are directly to the manufacturer where everything happens in-house.
--:-- Paul Alex: You're the source.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I'm the source.
--:-- Paul Alex: I love that. The source. And it's in America.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: And it's in America.
--:-- Paul Alex: That's what I'm talking about. American-made. All right, so you're the source. Where are pricing starting for these models, for these tiny homes?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I've got prices. I sell low, medium, high ticket. I've got products that start at $25,000, which is a shell if you want a DIY project. When COVID hit, DIY projects were very popular because people wanted backyard projects and wanted to do their own things. That was very popular then. But my homes start anywhere from $65,000 and go all the way to $150,000.
--:-- Paul Alex: Wow, so very affordable.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: We are anywhere from $130 to $104 per square foot for your homes.
--:-- Paul Alex: That's amazing, man. So with the prebuilt models costing starting off at the price point of like 65K, what trade-offs or innovations help maintain quality without sky-high price tags?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: We have a philosophy that says we don't shop out of convenience, we shop out of price. When we buy our materials, we're getting materials all over, but we're getting them at such a big quantity. When I built the 12 by 16 shed, I went and bought a couple of sticks of lumber at the lumber store. You're going to pay top dollar for that. Then you go to a bundle. Then you go to a truckload. Then you go to a trainload. Then you go to a shipload. So how can you get to where you can get pricing for a shipload? You can solve a lot of people's problems. So you've got to go get a lot of customers. When you get a lot of customers, you can drive everybody's prices down for their lumber. So not just your house is going to be at an affordable price, all the other people that buy on a monthly basis, their homes are going to be the same price. That's one thing we figured out with the AI that's coming in that helps us purchase from all over the world and see where the best prices are. And we've got a good team.
--:-- Paul Alex: Phenomenal, man. Phenomenal. I'm pretty sure you're such a great leader, so I'm pretty sure you're delegating it. You've got people building relationships. Your network is just growing massively and now you're bringing in more investors. So let's say for example, we get clients here. I just had somebody that's doing a massive global AI security camera company that's helped schools prevent school shooters. That dude's all over the world, hedge fund too. The guy that's 21 years old. Right before you today, dude that's doing content creation. So we vary. We don't have that one dish audience. It's amazing, dude. So for the investors that listen to this show, how can they invest with you?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: They can invest by doing communities where we're bringing in these tiny homes and setting up communities for the affordable market. A lot of workers that come into small towns, you can't get housing in there. So what happens is for investors, it's your takeoff. We're seeing all across the world that if I'm building multifamily, you're looking at a year to two-year process. And if you're building out that interest payment, it's hitting your bank account every month. So the longer that bill takes, the more it's cutting into your investment. What I've figured out is when you have the horizontal and vertical done at the same time, you can get to the renter a lot faster. If it took you two years to finish a product, to get it all done, get it rented out or sold, what if you could do it in three to six months? How much money would that save you for the investor and for the capital groups that are investing? How much money would that save you on your bottom line? That is how we're bringing the investors back more money in their pockets because we can get to the properties a lot faster by building in the factory. It doesn't matter if it's raining, snowing, sleet, doesn't matter. We're building five, six days a week and we can have your product to your property while you're doing the horizontal, the plummet, the septic, utilities. We're building the houses. So by the time everybody's done, we bring in, we set up a community in two weeks. It changes the game on everything.
--:-- Paul Alex: Wow. So basically the saying that I like to say, especially for my sales team, speed to lead.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Speed to lead.
--:-- Paul Alex: Dude. Speed to lead. I love that.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Success loves speed, my friend.
--:-- Paul Alex: All right. Well, absolutely. Let's talk about your business model and how you're scaling it. Your lifetime warranty and financing options are awesome, dude. They're bold. How do you balance risk and customer trust while scaling so fast? Because some people might see it as crazy what he's doing. But how do you balance the risk and customer trust while scaling?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: It's all about the product that you build. If I do everything in-house, I know how long the customer is going to keep their house. The average customer keeps their home five to seven years. So if you do a lifetime warranty, you're really looking at how many customers are actually going to keep the home for the 40 years. Most times, the products that I'm covering are covered by the manufacturers. I've got deals that are covered on that side. When you have trust in your clients and trust in your product, I believe the risk isn't as much as people would think it is. It's not as risky.
--:-- Paul Alex: Right, right. Because you know your product, you know the process, you know your quality.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Absolutely.
--:-- Paul Alex: No, I love the level of conviction, dude. That's what people buy. They're buying your level of conviction, especially when you've got the founder and the company on the podcast saying, "Yo, our quality is the best" or "Make it happen." That's what it's about, man.
--:-- So from 509 units delivered in 2021 to 654 in 2022, what systems and team structures enabled that growth? Because that's massive growth. In the very beginning of the podcast, you said you were at a little bit over a hundred employees. Now correct?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: 109 employees.
--:-- Paul Alex: 109 employees. So what systems and team structures enabled that growth, man?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Systems and processes. 509 units. I remember that year down to the day, year, week, month. That year was six days a week, 18-hour days, figuring it out, delivering. I delivered every one of those houses. I was in the truck delivering it. I was making sure lumber got there for the builders. At that time, we had about 50 people. COVID was going crazy. If someone showed up and I had the product there, they would buy, guaranteed buy. But the thing is, we had no systems. We had some systems that were broken, but we really didn't have any systems. We really didn't know if we were actually making any money. That year, we grew so fast that we were on the verge of bankruptcy because we didn't actually know if we were making any money. We were just growing so fast that the systems and processes were not in place to actually handle that amount of growth.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: It all came down to people and systems and processes. I learned that year that if you don't grow the right way, it can actually take your company down. If you grow too fast, it actually can hurt you because more is not better if you don't have the right systems that are going to take on the growth that you're about to get.
--:-- Paul Alex: Correct.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: So I like to be prepared. I have to think, okay, if I do 50 million, what are the systems and processes that I'm going to need? Who are the people that I need in place and the leaders that I need to delegate these things to? And what's our growth strategy going forward? Now with the system process, everything that I've learned, we've come over that. I believe, I give God all the credit. I'm a big faith guy. I learned a lot from that. When you hit rock bottom, you figure out a place where God is the rock at the bottom and there's no way but up. I remember that story because three years before that, and I kind of know that this is the reason why I got there, a guy told me that you'll never make it. He said, by year three, you're going to fail and you're going to go bankrupt. I remember that. We were sitting with the bankruptcy lawyers and I said, we're not going bankrupt. We're going to figure this thing out. We're going to get out of this hole because we have a lot of customers to serve. We've got a mission, a vision, and I love what I do. We're going to get ourselves out. We climbed ourselves out, and ever since we've been profitable, we've been serving a lot of customers. We've pivoted into the tiny home, the modular space, not the sheds anymore, and that has extremely helped us out in where I'm taking this company.
--:-- Paul Alex: And is it because of higher net profit margins? Is that the reason why you made that pivot? Because the sheds weren't as profitable as the modular projects that you guys were doing?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I saw a shift in the market after COVID hit. There were so many sheds that were sold that in 2024 I knew that the sheds were not going to be as popular as the affordable housing. I saw where housing was going through COVID. Prices were going, I mean, if you're in Florida, Texas, housing prices, I had 26 rentals at that time that I bought myself all over Arkansas, Texas. I gained so much equity overnight that I'm like, this is not natural growth. I was like, what the heck is going on? I need to get into housing so I can actually serve the people that want an affordable house. How can I do that? How can I solve that problem? I just see the problem and I pivoted. I said, hey, what do we need to do to make this shift?
--:-- Paul Alex: So you hyper-focused to fill in the void and came out successful out of it. That's fire, dude. I love that.
--:-- Okay, so tiny homes often get criticized as impractical. How do you convince families that a 384 to 500 square foot space can be a full-time comfortable home?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: It's about what you do with the space that you have. A lot of people, if you have a 3,000 square foot home, 4,000 square foot home, how much of that space do you actually use? Our clients are 40 to 60 years old that buy our tiny homes. They are downsizing. They're tired of it. The kids all moved out. They're not home anymore. So you're really looking at the quality of life versus having a big house where you have to clean it and all this. The people that are buying these, they want time with their grandkids. They want to spend time with the family. They have more things that are more important to them. When you're talking about 384 to 500 square feet, we've actually created a product where we can go up to 1,200 square feet. For the people that don't like the small stuff, we can actually go up to 1,200 square feet in one piece and deliver it down the road, all in-house. So we've created a product for both. I do a one bed, one bath, all the way up to a three bed, two bath.
--:-- Paul Alex: Dude, that's awesome. I'm solving problems from the tiny home to the modular space. And for the 1,200 square feet, if you don't mind me asking for myself, what is the pricing around that, just vaguely?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: That price is around $169,000 for a three bed, two bath.
--:-- Paul Alex: Dude, that's not bad. Brand new. That's not bad at all.
--:-- Paul Alex: Wow. That's awesome. I love that.
--:-- Okay, so this is The Level Up Podcast. We always like to talk about people's success. Let's talk about success, dude. Can you share a standout story where your company changed someone's life? Maybe a retiree finding peace. You were just talking about your avatar currently who are looking to downsize typically because they want to get more out of life. Hey, I can resonate with that, dude. I just moved to Puerto Rico three months ago. You hit it right on the target. 5,000 square feet here in Miami, probably 1,600 square feet over there. But my quality of life is so much better.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Absolutely.
--:-- Paul Alex: So yeah. Or a family finally being able to afford a home. I know inflation is through the roof. People can't afford it. They're scared. They're like, dude, we're never going to be able to find a home. I think there was a new study that came out now, people in their 20s, before their parents were able to afford a house, look forward to buying a house. And now people can't afford a house until like their 30s, 40s or whatnot. So what story would you have that stands out out of the rest?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I had a customer about a year ago. Her house burned down. She lost everything. She lost everything in the house. She thought that we were a company that was the most expensive company. We're not the cheapest, but I believe in my product. She thought we were the most expensive. She just didn't think of the option. But someone told her, hey, go check them out. We actually helped her get into two houses. Two of the 384 square feet. Completely changed her life. I brought her on the podcast. She was telling us the story of how we made her feel. I think that's the biggest thing. I go to my team and I say, hey, there's too many people out there in the world. If I tried to go change everybody, I can't. But if I teach you guys how to take care of our customers, how can we make an even bigger impact? I brought her in and she was in tears because it completely changed her and her family's life because of the product that we were able to deliver at the speed. Her house burned down and within two months, we got her a house. So speed to lead.
--:-- Paul Alex: No, speed to lead.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: But we got her exactly what she wanted at an affordable rate.
--:-- Paul Alex: And that's life changing, especially for her life and what she's been through. Some trauma. So let me ask you, dude, what is your why? Why do you do all this? I ask entrepreneurs this all the time, and I always tell people this. My why changed so many times from seven years ago when I first got serious about entrepreneurship until now. Now I have a kid on the way. Your why is shifting. It shifts, I feel like, almost every year, dude. So what's your why currently right now?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I go back to when I first started this company. My why was completely different. I grew up not having it. I had money. My parents had money, but I was always wanting money. I thought that chasing money was my why. I thought that getting out there chasing that success was actually going to be my why. But what I realized, my why is how I can make an impact in my team's quality of life and how I can make an impact in my customers. When that shifted, something shifted in my business that started attracting the right people in my business. My leaders started changing. My employees started changing. And the success started coming back to me. I was making a video in the car and I said, you know, I'm super excited to be back home with my team. I love my team. I love the impact that we're making. We have a Slack channel that we're on every day. I see the wins in there. Honestly, Paul, if you asked me, do you want the cars? Do you want the house? Do you want any of that? I don't. It's about the people that I come in contact with that I can make a change in their life. I love seeing their wins. I love seeing their change in life. "Hey, you changed my life today." "Hey, you changed my perspective on this." "Hey, I've seen you do this." And it, like, you changed my life. That is the reason I get up every day. For my team. For my family. For the impact that Saddlebrook is making in the world.
--:-- Paul Alex: Yeah, dude, impact. From what I'm hearing right now, you're a servant leader, dude. That's honorable, bro. That's good for you, man. I love that. And I agree. Same thing, dude. Back in 2021 was one of the best years of entrepreneurship for me. I bought all the nice toys, all the stuff, and I'm like, I made it. Right? And then depression hit me, dude. I was just like, bro, why do I feel so empty? That's when I shifted my mindset into being more purpose-driven with people's results. That's why we always have a saying here in my organization: your success is our success.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Love that.
--:-- Paul Alex: Love that. And it's true, dude, because without the people, without the culture, without the belief, the vision, the majority of people do not stay at a company very long, bro. They don't. Right now, if you're a CEO or founder or a leader and you're trying to really dominate as a leader in your organization, you will find this out very quickly. I've met business owners that treat their employees like they're just managers. You can't be a manager. You've got to lead them, dude. You've got to be the example that they want to be.
--:-- Paul Alex: That's a huge thing, man. I like it. We have a lot in common, brother.
--:-- So let's talk about some challenges. Entrepreneurship has challenges every day. There's always hurdles. It's not always perfect every day. I think 90% of the time is just figuring it out.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Absolutely. Solution driven.
--:-- Paul Alex: Solution driven. So with the housing industry having tight margins and complex logistics, what have been the toughest hurdles in building, manufacturing, and delivering these tiny homes?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Speed and quality. Speed and quality. Getting enough volume. Getting a home out fast enough. Right now, we were 62 homes behind. If you can build one right now, it takes us about 15 to 22 days to get a house built from start to finish. We want to get that down to a nine-day process where when we start it, every day we build a home. Getting the speed and keeping the same quality is some of the biggest challenges we face. If you're faster but keep the quality, you can get the prices down. If it takes you longer, then your fixed costs stay the same.
--:-- Paul Alex: No, absolutely. And right now, so you guys are at a nine-day window. What is your goal for the future? Are you trying to get it even less than that?
--:-- Paul Alex: Less. Less. Like what is your goal? Let's say within the next year.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I think you can build a house in 48 hours. We can have 48 hours inside of a house with the right processes.
--:-- Paul Alex: Yeah. Wow.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Because I've seen it. You can build a house if you have the right processes, the right systems. And if it's not too custom, I guarantee you can build a house. I'm going to keep that goal because I know that it can be done.
--:-- Paul Alex: Dude, I love that. I love that. You have the vision for it. You know that it can be done. You make it happen. And I can save a lot of customers a lot of money because if I can get it faster and if I can clean up my process, it's always about—you know, Elon says, hey, take a process. Every time you do, take out—how do you make the process faster?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Yeah. No, absolutely. That's my mission.
--:-- Paul Alex: Yeah, that's great, man. And I'm pretty sure a lot of people are going to hear that and be like, oh man.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Yeah. Yeah.
--:-- Paul Alex: Awesome. So, let's talk about your future growth and legacy. I always talk about legacy being a bloodline breaker. That's from Andy. You're really in multiple states, dude. What is your three to five year plan right now? Are you thinking about new regions, bigger modular units, or adding more services?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: We offer different services already, but the future plan is to have multiple locations where I have my manufacturing so I can cut down on cost and logistics. That's my future—to have five more manufacturers. So we build 67,000 square feet of manufacturing at each location.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: So we can get that speed and keep the inventory in-house.
--:-- Paul Alex: Any specific states that you guys are thinking of for stationing those manufacturing factories?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I need one in Colorado. I need one in Arizona. I need two more in Texas.
--:-- Paul Alex: Wow. Okay. That's good, man. All right. So let's talk about building dreams, transforming lives. I love it. How does the broader mission—building dreams, transforming lives—influence your leadership, your hiring, and community involvement?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I say I take that and I turn it around to building teams and transforming lives. I believe it starts with the team, but before that, it starts with you. It starts with you as a leader. Two years ago, when we met, we both met Andy and we got in the brotherhood. When Evan came down, he completely shifted the way that we did business, how we did sales and everything. And I believe it comes down to—if you want to grow, it comes down to having a team. You can't serve at a high level that I want to if you don't have a team that is executing and has the same mission and drive as you do. And I quickly realized that if I'm not a leader that creates the example, why are the people going to do more if I'm not willing to actually go out there and do it? So starting the year, we had six executives and all six of those are not with us anymore. We made a decision that we're going to build the team the right way. We want to add culture values and we have core values. But it starts with the leader. You have to be that example first before someone else is going to step into the foot that you're doing.
--:-- Paul Alex: Absolutely.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: And I believe in my team. I believe in teaching them how to fish versus actually giving them a fish. So I have leaders now that are 25, they're 30, that I am teaching, "Hey, this is why you make this decision. This is how we go into these areas." So building dreams, building teams, and transforming lives starts with the people inside the business that can go and make an impact outside. So how do I go from 107 people to a thousand people that reach 10,000 people? I want to reach the people inside of my company to say, "Hey, we're on a mission to make an impact in the world." But for me, I want to make an impact inside of my company because I'm building people, not companies.
--:-- Paul Alex: That's powerful, man.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I'm building the people inside the company because they're the ones that are going to take that vision that I have and go and spread that mission. That is the whole goal. God has called me to step out and to be bold. I love what I do, and I'm teaching the team that you've got to think bigger. It all comes down to how you think and what kind of mindset do you have. If you think that you can't do it, then you can't.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I'm an eighth grade dropout, 26 years old, 107 employees, big company—you could say a lot to be proud of.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: But I still every single day ask, how can I make an impact inside of my company? Because they're the ones that are coming in contact with my customers. We sold a ton today and I never came in contact, but they did and they made an impact.
--:-- Paul Alex: Absolutely, man.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: I'm here to create a legacy. So I just have a big vision. I have a big mission. And I have a conviction that I can serve people across the world, whether you're watching me from a screen, whether you're in person, that I'm going to make an impact inside of your life somehow, someway. God just gave me the tiny homes, but I believe that there's a bigger story here that he's showing me right now. It just so happens that I'm selling tiny homes and I'm changing people's lives through that.
--:-- Paul Alex: I like exactly how you get down, dude. The reason why I say that is because when I first started getting really serious about entrepreneurship back when I was a detective in the city of Oakland in California, dude, I told myself, I was like, you know what, I did this one business but I don't want to be known for just this one business. This is just going to be the beginning of entrepreneurship for me. I want to go ahead and show that I could do it. And then once I accomplish it, cool, move on to the next. So I feel like for people that do this for the love of the game—because that's where I think you're at, dude—you love the game. The game is the fulfillment of helping others. And some of the greatest entrepreneurs that I've seen, they have that. They just love doing it. When somebody asks me, "Hey, what do you like to do in your spare time?" I'm like, "What do you mean, bro? It's a vacation every day. I love entrepreneurship. I love what I do. Why would I want a break from it?" People are like, "Oh, you need balance." What are you talking about? We help so many people.
--:-- Kyler Kropf: It's like an addiction to it. A good addiction.
--:-- Paul Alex: But no, that's awesome, dude. That's great. All right. So let's go ahead and talk about the last thing that I ask every single guest that comes here on The Level Up Podcast. And it's one of the most important questions that we ask here, dude. It's what would you tell yourself back when you were 20 years old, when you were building that first shed? Just imagine if you could see yourself back when you were 20, 70 years ago, and you're right now you could reach out to him and be like, "Yo, this is what you need to focus on. Motivation, mindset, discipline, grit. Don't worry about X, Y, and Z. Don't worry about the people." What would you tell him?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Four words: just go do it. You've got to be at some point where you got to choose. It's either one day or day one. And that day one is the decision that God gives you a calling. God has something on your heart that says, "Hey, you go do that." Four words: just go do it. Don't quit. If I were to look at that 20 year old and he said, "Hey, it's not possible," everybody's going to tell you that it's not possible. Everybody's going to tell you that doubts and fears are going to come in your mind, but that's not true. If you have a mindset, if your mind is set on that mission and you just decide not to quit, you will do it and you will accomplish everything that you've dreamed of. Is it going to get challenging? Absolutely. Is it going to get hard? Absolutely. But that is where God prepares you because of where he's about to take you. And when he takes you there, you can steward what he's about to give you. I'm a 26-year-old and I've learned so many things throughout the years. And if I would have told you that I didn't like going through the hard times—but it's actually the things that taught me entrepreneurship, business ownership, leadership, how to steward what it is giving me now. Just go do it and don't quit. You have to go through the experiences in order to learn. And then you take those lessons and you just duplicate it, man. You create other leaders.
--:-- Paul Alex: Absolutely. I love it. Absolutely. And guys, that's the level up. I love that, dude. Level up. Level up. So where can they find you? Where can they find your company? Where can they go ahead and do business with you, dude? Where can they go ahead and tell you, bro?
--:-- Kyler Kropf: Go to—we're on YouTube, Saddlebrook Life, and we have a tiny home podcast. We talk about our tiny homes. We talk about our products. We talk about the mission that we're on, the vision. You can find us on all platforms: TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, at Saddlebrook Life. That is where all our products are. And you can find me at Instagram, TikTok, official Kyler Kropf. If you want to know more about me, get close to me, figure out what we're doing and be a part of it.
--:-- Paul Alex: I love it. I love it. And guys, there you have it. Kyler crushing it with the tiny homes industry. Guys, look out for him. He's going to be dominating the industry. Guys, make sure to leave a five star review on Spotify, Apple, and make sure to actually go ahead and subscribe to our YouTube channel as well. We freshly just started that YouTube channel just a couple months ago, but we are currently number one in business on Apple Podcasts and also top 25 in all categories, guys. We're trying to get to Rogan. Rogan, what's up? Let me jump on the pod. With that being said, guys, if you guys like this episode, you find Kyler's story inspiring, share it with a friend, family member, someone you care about, somebody who's looking for a tiny home. Somebody who's saying, "Man, housing is so expensive." Well, there you go. We just gave you a solution. With that being said, guys, my name is Paul Alex. We'll catch you on the next one. Thank you.
