The Man Who Started Sun Control of Minnesota | Randy Jensen, Sun Control of Minnesota #018

Hi everyone, I'm Karissa from Shining Light on Minnesota. We have a very special guest here today. It's a man who wears many hats. Some may know him as the Yoda of Window Film. He is a dad, he's a father, he's a husband, he's a grandpa, but to a lot of us, he's he's our hero, our mentor, one we look up to. He's been like a second dad to me. Randy Jensen with Sun Control. Welcome, Randy. Well, boy, that's those are pretty kind words, Karissa. You bet. Um, yeah. I I guess it's fun being all those things that you said. I I think you maybe built me up maybe a little bit higher than No, probably not enough than what I am. Um I, you know, I've tried to uh get up here to the cities as often as I can. Now, um the days of sleeping in my office uh and working seven days a week, those days are are gone. Mhm. Um, I still have my little shop in Rochester. [snorts] Um, and it's it's just me me and the computer and I I do what I can do on the phone and the and the computer. Uh, but it's nice to have a place that you can uh I can't work at home so I I go to the to the office. Yeah. Um, but it's it's it's it thrills me to come up here and see the place and see how [snorts] how much you guys just have grown. Um, the the team that is here is is wonderful. um for me to be able to step away from the business like I had to do for 2 years. Um and to know that it's it's probably better that I am away. No, not at all. You guys have you guys have just done such a wonderful job. Um we've we've grown a lot and that's due to the the team that we have. Um, everybody is kind of on the same mission, same vision of being, you know, a big company that we are and expanding. Uh, the business started out, gosh, it was just two part-time people. How long ago was that now? Oh, boy. You're going to date me now. Um, it's almost this I think will be my 50th year. Mhm. Uh when I started in the business, I started with a gentleman that uh was actually the first number one 3M dealer that was set up. Amazing. Yeah. They were on their way to Chicago and he was in the awning business and we had a hotel that needed protection and so they came to us because we're in the awning business. That's what you did back then. Yep. And so I was I was with him for probably this was down in Rochester probably about three maybe four years and my job was to just set up dealers set up as many dealers across the country. Um and I had an opportunity to come up to St. Paul and one of our dealers decided that he just didn't want to do it anymore. Um this was a gentleman. He had the two part-time guys. Yep. Um, and back then there was probably just two people in town that did this business, right? You know, um, and so he he kind of left a pretty good business for me. They had jobs to do, so it wasn't like I was starting from scratch, but it was kind of scary. Um, it was in September that I bought the business. Um, by the time I found a mini warehouse storage building to operate out of Mhm. Um, I think I had like $300 in my checkbook. [laughter] And um, so that was a little bit scary and challenging. So that's kind of but it just it's all worked out great. Um, the one thing that was wonderful was that uh I got a hold of some people that I that wanted to grow with me. And so we've grown from that little mini warehouse storage building with no air conditioning. Um to now we think I've got a team of 45 people. Yep. Uh and we're kind of scattered out. We've got a shop in Duth. uh Elite Tinting. Uh we've obviously we've got the shop here in St. Paul, we're over Hudson, and then I got my little presence down in um in Rochester. Um so we're we're growing. Um [snorts] it when you get it's kind of a thing where you you get you have enough work for the people you have, but then when you get more work, you got to get more people. So you got to get more work for the people. So, it's just it's a never- ending stepping stone, right? Um, so that's that's where the the growth has come from. Uh, my son Todd is down in Florida now with a a window film company that we we bought. Uh, he's right on right on the ocean. So, and he's always wanted to be where it's warm and it's warm. Um, so we've we've grown that business down there. So if any of you want to come to Florida and work, we, you know, we have lots of opportunities down there. Yeah. And so his his job will be to travel Florida, you know, in kind of a triangle down there to uh maybe acquire another business. Mhm. Um to join us or just, you know, start another business. So, you know, we've got a lot of prospects, you know, where we might go to Wisconsin, we might go to Arizona. So, we're we're trying to grow. And when you've got people that have a vision that it's going to be bigger, you know, than what we've got right now. Um, it's great to have those people on the team. What motivates you? What keeps you keeps you going and keeps you Well, I'm going to cry. Um the why I guess is I I consider everybody um on the team to be family. Mhm. and I know they have kids and so it's to make sure that when they come to work every day that they have a, you know, a place that they know is going to be here and they can, you know, they've got, you know, an income or a paycheck. Um, I guess that's my biggest why. Um, obviously the other why is is my grandkids, right? Um, I've got seven grandkids. Um, so I, you know, I want to make sure their their future is is good. Absolutely. Um, my three kids, it's up to them. [laughter] To make their future good. They're wonderful kids. Sarah, Lindsay, and Todd. Yes. Yeah. I have Todd and then Sarah and Lindsay down in Rochester. Mhm. Um, so it's just it's kind of kind of my baby, I guess. It's what I've always done. I don't have hobbies, you know. I don't golf. I mean, [laughter] you know, I mean, that's that's still work though these days. Well, you're I mean that's you I'm surprised you have time to work. You're golfing so much. that you you have been a wonderful addition to this this company. Um it's it's been a joy. I mean everything that we do here, every one of our employees here do everything we do for you. It's it's growing and getting out there and building the future. Yeah. like to come into the shop and, you know, it's not like we have managers and supervisors and stuff. Everybody just knows kind of what to do. Mhm. And they and and I know they're going to do it and they do it and they do it great. Yep. Um all the the lunch and learns that you've been doing. Wow. That's that's massive action. Yeah. It's like every time I click on Facebook, it's like, whoa, you're there. you're there, you know, it's like you it's like you you're non-stop. Um, so it's being omniresent for the company. Yep. Um, so we do it for for the team, right? You know what I mean? At my age, everybody always asks me when I'm going to retire. Yeah. When I when I just can't do it anymore, that's when that's when you got to use it or you'll lose it. That's when I retire. Yep. Um, but it's it's again it's I feel proud that you guys just do what you do and you're so good at it. To think that back oh gosh 1987 I think is when I went to that meeting where all storage building I had no thoughts. I didn't even it it didn't even dawn on me that we would get to this size. Right. Um, all [snorts] I was worried about is getting some film up and and getting [snorts] some checks in so I could make payroll and and pay rent and have a kind of a halfway decent living. Um, if I kept doing that and I had to walk away from the business for a year, there wouldn't have been a business, right? Um, so I rely on all you young people. [laughter] um to uh to carry the torch, I guess. Yeah. Um but when I walk into the the film room and I see all the jobs that are to be done and I see 10 boxes of film sitting on a, you know, a pallet, I know that someone's out there working hard and doing well. and whether it's the installers or the salespeople, front office, um the marketing department, uh you guys are just doing just such a a whale of a job and again I'm I'm just so so proud. Yeah, I mean we're we're proud of you. We know the background that you've been in. I mean, the history you've been a veteran. Tell maybe our listeners a little bit about, you know, your growing up. You had your mom and dad that were on the force and kind of the way they raised you and what brought you into the window film world. Well, I was I was very lucky. Um I had a mom and dad that uh kept me out of trouble as as best they could. Uh my dad was a policeman. Mhm. Um and my mom was a a secretary at a ice cream plant in Rochester. Yep. It was on Broadway there. Um my dad I think was uh 8th grade is what he went to in high school. You know he was in one of them little one room school houses. Mhm. Um lived on a farm. Uh the dad came over from Denmark and back then you they'd send one person over and they would work and make some money and then send it back. And [snorts] so you have two people come over. Um, so my dad was he was kind of that generation where he lied to get into the service about his age. Mhm. Um he was on an aircraft carrier, a miniware one that got sunk in a big big battle. And he uh obviously then him and the whole crew were in the water for probably 18 hours and they were in a in a circle. Mhm. But the sharks were there too. So [snorts] luckily he had the right color. I guess you have if you have the right color pants on, the sharks don't see you as well. Nice. But uh so that was a harrowing experience that they talked about, but that's about all he talked about, right? Um but my mom was, you know, she was a hard worker and um so yeah, I every time I did something, it was always this something that I should be doing or not doing. Yep. Not that I didn't [gasps] stray once in a while, but it wasn't any straying that hurt anybody or uh anything. But uh yeah, I yeah, had some struggles there. Um when I got out of high school, I went into the service, right? Um went in there for three years. So that was that was some fun, some not fun. So Correct. Yeah. It's the the coming back from some of those that you don't get the welcome that you want or anything like that. Yeah. Yeah. That was it. Coming back, I guess whether they liked me or not, it was still there's just parts of the world that were crappy. Yeah. Yep. Still are. Still are. So, you got into the window film business. What have been some of your things that you've really been taken back by how much the window film world has changed? Oh gosh. when I got into the business. Uh, yeah, it was it was pretty I don't know what the word is, but it was the beginning, I would say. Uh, the films were very hard to put on. Um, they didn't have a a scratch coat surface on, so they were very very hard to clean and put on. Yep. And your choices were light silver or dark silver. Yep. Um, initially the films were for commercial use, so they wanted something that kept the most heat out. Correct. Um, but not homeowners didn't really appreciate the shininess, right? So then the manufacturers had to start putting out charcoal and bronze and neutral tones. So that was, you know, obviously that was great for the residential work. Mhm. Um, cars. We didn't really do cars in the beginning. Um, it wasn't until I I got this one installer, lady gal, Susette, who was just an awesome awesome installer. And so we hired her and then we brought on Rick who who you know who's still here. Yep. Um, Superman Rick. Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. He does everything. the the one the one reason I didn't get into cars in the beginning was one they were they were hard and you didn't have the techniques and the tools back then that you have now right and what I didn't like I guess in the beginning was the when the cars were done it might have been 4:00 and the installers would leave oh yeah I'm sitting there then at 5:00 when the customer comes to pick their car up so I'm always oh they're looking at their car and so if you got good installers You don't have to worry about that. I don't I the the guys we've got doing cars right now are they're just they're craftsman. They're they're very good. So the products have now have lifetime warranties. Yep. Uh we're back in the beginning they were probably three years. Um so that's a big difference. Um in the beginning the films we use were just kind of for solar control. Yep. to help with fading and and make buildings a little bit cooler to eliminate that hot and cold spot. Um, and then we at one point we added then the safety films um for the smash and grab and uh just maybe you know th people throwing rocks and stuff to keep the glass together. Yep. Um, now the safety films we have are are different and they're for different uses. Be it bomb blast or people rioting, you know, the the glasses just break it. Well, if you got the film on there, they have a hard time breaking it. Yeah, they might eventually still get through, but uh usually they're they don't. Um, we do a lot of decorative film for commercial buildings. Um, for privacy, for, you know, we might put a band of film across some glass in a, you know, in an office for privacy and decorative purposes. Uh, we have, I don't know how many printers we've got in our place here, but there's a lot. So, there's nothing that we can't print or duplicate. Um like these beautiful walls we have here. I'm not actually in a cabin. [laughter] Feels like we are. It feels like we're in a cabin. Yeah. Um I wish I was in a cabin except for the bugs on the outside. [laughter] Yeah. But this is actually uh the people designed it and then they print it and it looks looks real. Yeah. Um so we do a lot of that. Um mainly because when you're in the sun control business, you rely on the sun being out, right? Um if winter comes, there's three months where you don't get sunshine. So you've got to um do other things with with flow. Yep. So keep them busy. What have been some of your or who have been some of your motivators that have kept you intrigued and pushed you to grow and want to know more? Um probably you guys. um you and and you know Todd, my son, and Mark and everybody. Um George, you know, hi. I don't know if we can see or not, [laughter] but you're over there. Um but when when you guys, you know, like you kind of on your own created the marketing marketing department, you know, business. Yep. Um, we always talk we always talked about being omniresent, being everywhere, having eyes on you and and just massive action so people see you, right? Um, they don't know you. If they don't if they don't know you, they don't follow you. There you go. Um, so, uh, as far as outside the office, um, I I listen to, uh, Grant Cardone. Yep. Um, and I I read a lot of books or well, I can't say I read the books. I listen to them. Listen to them. Uh, I'm not a reader, but I can't two paragraphs that I'm I put the book down. So, I have a lot of books on my shelf in the office, but you know, it's it's audible. Audible. Yep. You can drive down the road and listen to a couple chapters of a book. Absolutely. Um, I'm trying to think of a gentleman uh way back when, Don Don something, but he uh he kind of got me started, I think, in being motivated and listening to tapes and stuff cuz he would uh the first time you meet him, he throws a peanut at you. You know, you want to work for peanuts? I'll give you all the peanuts you want. And then that's, you know, I forget what his name was, but um so I do my best to listen to motivated people. Yeah. Um especially when you're in an office in Rochester and you're by yourself, it it's hard to stay in in the same in the same groove, right? Where if you got two or three other people in the building, that kind of motivates you and keeps you going. And uh so hopefully we'll build that Rochester office up a little bit. Um but certainly St. Paul and Hudson and now Florida are the Yeah. are the key places. Yeah. As far as the business world's concerned, what do people get to look forward to? Do they like you guys come in and you like to acquire new businesses and grow and think outside the box? You've done a lot with it so far from just window film to decorative films to now podcast marketing. What else do you see that could blend into that? Um I think I'll run for president. Do it. [laughter] Um no I should be getting into that. That's [laughter] that makes my back hurt. Um I don't know. I don't know. I don't have an answer for that. When that comes up it'll come up. Yeah. Okay. What have you seen as far as kind of the changes with the window film world with all the temperatures? Do you think that there will be more growth down south or just kind of keep it keep building and then there won't be a slowdown time? Well, I mean that's one of the reasons I guess we're in Florida to make the whole package of of us um busier in the winter time. Although the last couple winters have been they've been steady. They've been they've been steady. last winter. I don't think we even had a winter. [laughter] Um, so that was nice. Hope that continues this year. Um, I don't ski or snow or anything, so I guess sorry for those people [laughter] depend on that business. Um, but in some areas like Minnesota, um, you see a lot more people doing cars than the flat glass. Yep. Uh especially like even down south, the car business is easier because the cars just come to you, right? Uh where if we do houses and buildings, you kind of have to promote to get that business and then you have to send the installers out to do it. Uh but certainly the installers are the key to everything. Mhm. If I go out and dazzle a customer and to get on and put 20 film on 20 windows, they'll forget who I am, right? But they won't forget the installers that came out to do the work. They'll remember if the installers took their shoes off. Yep. They'll remember if the installers wiped the edges and didn't didn't wreck everything and it was a just a, you know, a perfect thing. Yep. Not that they don't goof up once in a while, but for the most part, they're just they're awesome. You know, they're they work hard and they take pride in what they do and they they treat people's home just like like it was their own home. So, what they're kind of the key to that link, you know. Yeah, for sure. What makes Sun Control different from all the other window film companies? What makes us stand out? Um, well, Karissa and George and Mark, I used to say that, you know, for the most part, window film is window film, no matter what brand it is. Uh, especially up here in Minnesota, we don't get the sun that Arizona and Florida get. Yep. So, it's it's it's who who you choose and feel most comfortable with, who you think has been around. Mhm. uh the the comfort level you have in the sales person that comes out to explain the product. Y and again it's the capabilities. I mean we've got I don't know I'd have to count but something like 18 installers. Yep. Where most companies have maybe two two or one where they do it themselves. Um not that that's bad, right? And that's but that's their business model is they only want they don't want to grow. They just want maybe one or two installers and and and that's it. Where we've got we're kind of a onestop shop with the printing that we can do. Yep. Uh the speed at which we can get to a job. Um, if you go to a fairly big job that the customer doesn't want you around for 8 days to do the job and then maybe they don't come back one day to finish because they got something else going. We just, you know, we've got the capability of finishing a job and taking taking on pretty much any scope, right? Whether it's frosted film or safety film or decorative film, no jobs too big or too small. No job's too big or too small. We handle it all. And service is senior to sales. And I think that that's one thing that you've instilled in us is not just the being prompt, courteous, having integrity, but putting service first. Yep. That's the Boy Scout. See, it's Boy Scout motto or pledge. Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, curvies, kind, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and river. How's that for There you go. I don't even know if I can remember all that. Boy [laughter] Scout for that, man. That was long time ago. Yeah. Um but no, that's being the scouts was good for me. Yeah. Um so I learned how to cook outside and do a lot of stuff. So what do you think in the future? Obviously we are we're growing. We're taking over. We're dominating the world. Yes. With everybody that we have as one. How do you think what's another way for us to get out there and let people know that we're around? Um, well, that's part of it is we have a great marketing department with George, something that we did we've never had, right? Um, but going to what you do, the lunch and learns, uh, obviously it's getting in front of people, getting those people to know us. Mhm. So like when they think of Karissa, they think of window film and when they think of window film, they think of Karissa. Yep. Um or Brian or Mark. Um to just to leave that that I guess the brand of what you said, trustworthy and loyal. They do a great job. They have a great product and they stand behind what what they do. I mean, we wouldn't be here 50 years if [snorts] if we were goof offs, right? Not that we don't make a mistake once in a while, but you you know that we we'll stand behind that and make that happen, make it right with you. Well, and I think what people don't always realize, too, is we're not always going to be the lowest when we come in on bids, but we have so much to offer above and beyond just what the bid is wanting. Yep. Yep. Um, if you're talking to someone and you're close in price, they think of Karissa because you you took care of them and you they know you and um yeah, it's all about it's all about service and making people happy. So, if they'll tell other people about us, right, then can make them happy. Well, I know we have a pretty big team here that really looks up to you and you have been like a second dad to a lot of us, not just myself, but all the sales staff, everybody that's in the company. We appreciate having you on. We want to grow this. We want to make your baby worldwide. We want to keep expanding and keep growing 10x, right? Twins. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] But anything that we can do, we're always here and we want to keep growing for you. Okay. I'm down in Rochester thinking of things for you guys. We'll do it. We'll come down and visit and we'll have we'll have our meeting of our minds down there in Rochester. Please come down and visit once. You I get visit her once in a while, but uh I'm usually there unless I'm in How do people get a hold of Randy Jensen? How do they get a hold of me? Uh I'll give you my cell number. Do it. Um 612 840-6417. Perfect. And [snorts] if I'm in Rochester and you call me, we've got plenty of people up in St. Paul that I'll just refer that that number to you. Yep. Or we have installers in Rochester. We have installers all over. Yep. All right. Well, we appreciate having you on today, Randy. We look forward to growing and doing this again in a couple years down the road and show everybody where we're at. Oh, my pleasure. All right. Thank you. See you back, Karissa.