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If you're trying to scale up your home service business, this video is for you.
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I'm talking to a group of entrepreneurs that are trying to scale past seven figures in their home service business.
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We're going to be talking about moving into a new market and expansion, how to handle multiple locations and a general manager's compensation.
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We're also going to be talking about how to delegate sales, operations and admin, and in what sequence should we be delegating and handing those roles off to our employees.
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Lots of questions, lots of answers.
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Let's get started.
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Hey, Mike, how you doing?
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Good, brother.
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How you doing?
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Congrats on location two, brother.
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Yeah, thank you.
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Appreciate it.
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So, yeah, I'm going to ask you about that location.
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So we've kind of done a soft launch.
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We've done some door hangers, ball cleanup stuff, and got a few customers, a few one-time cleanups, some winter services, but we're really going hard in the spring next year.
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And I'm wondering, for our service area, should we expand that to the entire territory while planning it to focus on just a small kind of third of it with our door hangers and our marketing?
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Yeah.
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Or should we reduce the service area to that third that we're planning to focus on?
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Yeah.
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So whenever I've gone to a new market, I always will say, okay, this is the area I think I'm going into.
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Here's what I know I want to go after.
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The reason is because I don't want to say no to customers.
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And then all of a sudden, like we've had a couple of times where all of a sudden we start getting a bunch of calls from a certain area of town where no one else is ranking.
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We just immediately crushed it on Google.
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And I don't want me saying no to them.
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So if I was you, Matt, I would take the whole territory in your service area, but then where you market, just be more focused in terms of where you want customers.
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And then if down the road, like a year from now, you're like, okay, 80% of them are where we're marketing.
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Let's just leave the other part.
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You could do that, especially in your market where from one side or the other could be traffic.
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It gets crazy.
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And so...
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So I'm more of the opinion, like leaving it open at the beginning just to test and see, because a lot of times those areas that are harder to get to or people kind of disqualify and you don't market to are also places where you rank first on Google.
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And all of a sudden you're just getting leads for for nothing, essentially.
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So I would do that service area, full territory.
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But then like where are we focused in terms of marketing on that more smaller radius?
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Okay, that makes sense.
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Then if something comes in and, you know, outside of that area I'm focusing on, then maybe we start doing door hangers around there and kind of try to build up a day or whatever it is, a route.
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Yeah, this happened to my location out in North Carolina.
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I was like, oh, my, oh, it would definitely be as close as possible as Charlotte.
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And then because we could not rank the first two spots on Charlotte in the first year, we all everything was like on the north side.
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And I was like, oh, okay, we're just going to make.
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start focusing on that area.
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And now I'd say probably 70% of the clients are in that top north area because it wasn't being overshadowed by huge companies in Charlotte.
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Cool, cool.
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Okay, just maybe another question.
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So I've got a really solid kind of technician that's going to be leading the fieldwork in White Rock.
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He's also really good at talking to customers and, you know,
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You know, he really cares about doing good work.
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He's one of my good buddies, too.
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So I trust him.
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I'm wondering, you know, I'm hoping he kind of develops and earns a GM working GM role.
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So what should my role be in year one?
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And then what should I kind of plan to be in the next couple of years?
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Like, should I be doing sales?
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Let him handle it.
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Should I, you know, and if he's doing a lot of that, what am I focusing on?
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You know, I feel like that's not a 100% full time job if I'm not actually out there doing that work.
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Yes, there's first off a little bit of color coming to this next month for you, Matt.
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I would say in general, when you're growing a location quickly, I know you guys that's your intention, because your first location is already kind of busting at the seams.
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Like I would take on scheduling off of his plate for the first 90 days.
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Scheduling when you're getting 510 15 new customers every week is very hard on a working GM.
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And so what I would really encourage is you to actually be the person that kind of just like blocks for the GM while they, cause while the same time you're getting a bunch of new customers, you also have to be hiring a bunch of new people.
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And this is why putting a GM into an area that is a new location is so stressful for them because they might be great at operations, like running the location.
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But when you start adding new customers every single day and new employees every single week, that's when they, a great GM can still fall apart because they're not, they're not a growth minded GM.
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Yeah.
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And so if I was you, Matt, I'd have a very clear 30, 60 and 90 day window of, okay, the first 30 days, you just get out and do the work and we will give you employees that you train up.
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Day 30 to 60, you will start doing some of the scheduling.
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It's not until after day 90 that you will step away out of daily operations.
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And that gives you 90 days to just gas it on marketing and...
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and get them hopefully above 100 recurring customers to where now when you step back, you turn off, you reduce the ad spend after spring rush, when your customer action cost is going to go up organically.
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But now they don't have 20 new customers a week being added, and another employee every couple weeks.
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Do that as much as possible while you're hands on, but have a very clear 30, 60, and 90 day of what that's going to look like, so that you guys can compare notes after each of those checkpoints.
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Cool, cool.
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And then for compensation, should I be doing like client number budget hours on the schedule, like bonuses for this guy or some like thresholds that we reach and then bonus him?
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I would personally tie the incentives to 30, 60, 90 benchmarks being hit.
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That could be around number of recurring customers, but really it's out of his control because you're doing instant quotes and over the phone and you're driving the marketing.
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So I'm really just focusing on the benchmarks of eventually you got to take over scheduling.
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eventually you're taking over hiring.
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Those are probably the two things you're gonna do for him in the first 90 days.
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And once he take those things on and you step back, his pay should be higher.
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And by the time it's now leveled off there, now we're getting to where he should be in profit sharing.
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So I would probably do like a, based upon these things happening, i.e.
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you start doing the hiring and you start doing the scheduling, your base pay is gonna go up.
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And then once I'm out of daily operations and you're taking over and we put this thing into profit mode, you will also have a profit sharing incentive as well.
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Okay.
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Awesome.
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Thanks, Mike.
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Appreciate it.
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Hey Mike.
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Um, central exterior cleaning.
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We do window cleaning and pressure washing, um, and some gutter cleaning.
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So what we're working on right now is actually I'm in a house.
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You can't really see cause it's blurred, but that's my right hand right there cleaning some windows.
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Um, and it's pretty much just me and him.
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Um, I suck at admin.
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Um, I'm good at sales, but he has been doing really well on the sales side.
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He's getting us a ton of five star reviews on his own.
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Like customers just love him.
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Um,
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And his close rate is actually, I think, just as good as mine, if not better.
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So I'm starting to wonder what my role should be.
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We've talked about bringing somebody in for admin in the spring because I'm disorganized and I can admit I'm not good at it.
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So we're just kind of like trying to figure out what's our move going forward.
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We do about $230,000 this year in revenue, and we're aiming to double that next year just because our costs went up so much this year that we ate a lot of profit on the fact that we didn't really raise our revenue much.
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Got it.
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Yes.
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Like I think what I would highly recommend is like in the book, you are still the solo operator size, right?
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And you're moving into the working GM size.
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So zero to 250,000.
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That's the solo operator in that size.
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You are trying to do the work as much as possible, be out in the field to produce revenue.
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As you move in the working GM, you're going to want to start start delegating your lowest leverage task, which is admin.
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And I would do that in a fashion of ideally not using him.
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He sounds like he's a great person out in operations, crushes it on reviews, even on sales.
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I don't want someone that is really good at operations and sales to do a lowest leverage task, which is admin.
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And so I think that there are cheaper,
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less qualified people that you'd be able to find to be able to do your admin.
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Whether you do a virtual assistant, whether you do a per minute call service, whether you have a part-time person help you in the office, the likelihood of you finding that person is easier than replacing him in the field, let alone sales.
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Okay.
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So another question for you on that.
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I know you kind of have, I kind of know your stance on debt.
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One of the things that's been big for us is we bought another business in July of 24.
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So we had that business for a year this past July.
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I brought Josh on in June.
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So it was right before the one year mark.
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One of the things that I think hurts our overhead a lot to where
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where I might've been able to make the admin move sooner is we pay about a thousand bucks a month or 1200 bucks a month for that business.
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So we've been looking at going through the SBA to get a loan to pay off the seller finance deal that we're doing there, as well as to use that to get another truck and some equipment, because right now we've been kind of just doing it with whatever setup I throw together that works.
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And that's gotten us pretty far, but we've had a lot of headaches and issues with that in the recent past.
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Yeah, so you're basically trying to consolidate it with the SBA stuff.
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And what's nice about it, even though you might pay a bit more interest right now, is you would get a longer term.
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I'm assuming you're probably in a three-year term for the seller financing?
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Yeah, we did a seven-year loan, but it was a three-year balloon.
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So it was for $70,000, but yeah, we're paying about $1,200 a month in the way it's set up right now.
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What you might want to think about doing is getting a micro SBA loan.
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That's 50,000.
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That will get processed in less than half the time and usually has way less requirements.
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So as long as you can stomach the 20 grand at the three year balloon, you might want to just focus on a micro SBA loan.
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It's called.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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Talk to your local credit unions.
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Like, hey, do you all do micro SBA?
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Because some banks won't.
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They'll just do a 7A or a 504.
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But if you get a micro, they can process it sometimes within 30 to 60 days, which is like way less than half of like a regular 504 or 7A loan.
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Okay.
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All right.
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Thank you.
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Awesome.
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Okay, so I have a secret.
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It's just for everyone watching this video.
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But on February 17th, we're officially changing the name of Copilot CRM to Homeworks.
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So get ready, because something big is about to happen.
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Next up, Seth, go ahead.
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So I do solo landscaping lawn maintenance here in Phoenix area.
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So my main question revolved around like, so I've been doing it due to some social security reasons under the table here for about two years and I'm finally above board this year.
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I'm planning on launching.
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That's why I'm getting CRM and everything.
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So my main question is,
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Right now I have about 20 clients and I did my hourly.
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I'm looking at about $50 hourly rate, which I'm trying to shoot for more this year, around 75 to start and then ideally a hundred from based on what I've heard.
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So I'm wondering like, but since here in Phoenix, it's a lot more, not grass focused.
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It's a lot more bush trimming.
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It seems like almost every service is almost like a mini cleanup.
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So I'm wondering how to price that for monthly, bi-weekly, weekly services and how you suggest doing that.
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I know I noticed you had a few Phoenix locations, so.
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Yeah, so it's still the same concept.
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You're still selling time, right?
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Ultimately, we all get fancy with, you know, the different types of services, but all of us sell time.
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Whether, what kind of tools you use, level of experience required, materials that are added, we're still all selling time.
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And we make the markup on time based upon us training our crew, having equipment, having the materials ordered, et cetera.
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And so I don't care if you're trimming a bush, pulling weeds, spraying, trim, like, or mowing grass, you're still spending time on the property.
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So you still want to use budgeted hours.
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And so it just so happens that your budget hours are going to look very much like our winter services, which is we don't mow the grass.
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We trim the bushes, we pull weeds, we edge the lawn, we check the gutters, we do all these other things.
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And so what we've seen successful in that market, Seth, is offering year-round monthly contracts.
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I say contracts with very loose, just monthly cost, and then a long list of things that you're going to do for them.
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whether it be blowing off the walkways, picking up down branches, raking out the beds, pulling weeds.
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A lot of them will do the fire, like burning out weeds.
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So get really creative with that list is and then do instant quotes once it's inside Copilot and soon to be Homeworks.
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Once it's in there, use instant quotes as a way to sell small, medium and large for those full service, quote unquote, property maintenance.
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That's what I'd be selling is property maintenance.
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Because I got a pretty good average.
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It's usually around two hours on the monthly, what I spend on each job around for the maintenance and the property sizes I'm working on.
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So you could do like a 129, 149, 179 and a small, medium and large and sell those like hotcakes.
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Gotcha.
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And then so for like a monthly contract, are you guys showing up once a month?
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Or like, do you guys have separate ones for like, if you want them to show up weekly or whatever, and then you just bill it monthly?
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Yeah.
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So we show weekly and bi-weekly prices and then always assume weekly.
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So when they accept on like our instant quotes, we assume always weekly.
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In your market, bi-weekly is the most popular because they don't need weekly.
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So again, just take that into court.
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You said two hours monthly.
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I assume that you're spending about an hour per visit every other week.
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Is that correct?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So, so just hinge on that, like down the road, you'll do instant quotes.
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But for now, it's just like, Hey, we come every other week.
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It includes all of these things and you get, make that list good.
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Like really think through all the stuff you can do on someone's property that might take 10 seconds or a minute or two minutes or whatever, but you can make that property maintenance list very long and actually sell just as much as mowing in that market.
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It's just a matter of getting creative with all the other things you can do that they're not even thinking of.
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Yeah, and then one extra point on that.
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So then upsells then beyond that.
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00:12:58.518 --> 00:12:59.138
So that's the thing.
209
00:12:59.438 --> 00:13:04.963
Since I'm doing so much of the cleaning, it's harder to sell a cleanup, a seasonal cleanup, when I'm doing the cleanup basically once a month.
210
00:13:05.023 --> 00:13:11.848
So would you just upsell it in a different way and just not use that or just... Yeah, upsells in that market work well usually when you're removing landscaping.
211
00:13:12.068 --> 00:13:15.509
So like if they have a bunch of bushes, it's like, hey, we notice these keep getting overgrown.
212
00:13:15.549 --> 00:13:16.489
Some of them are dying.
213
00:13:16.589 --> 00:13:17.789
You don't have them irrigated.
214
00:13:18.069 --> 00:13:19.570
Would you like us to A, remove them?
215
00:13:19.890 --> 00:13:22.470
That's going to cost you $380 we can get next week.
216
00:13:22.810 --> 00:13:24.551
Or would you like to put some drip irrigation on it?
217
00:13:24.591 --> 00:13:27.351
It's going to cost you $600 and we guarantee they'll come back to life.
218
00:13:27.391 --> 00:13:34.553
Like you can get creative with those upsells, but usually it has to do with removal or saving the foliage.
219
00:13:34.893 --> 00:13:35.133
Gotcha.
220
00:13:35.173 --> 00:13:35.733
Thank you so much.
221
00:13:35.893 --> 00:13:39.536
All right, next one is Dan Irving from Irving Landscapes.
222
00:13:39.776 --> 00:13:40.117
Welcome.
223
00:13:40.377 --> 00:13:44.841
What is your ratio when you hand out like 10,000, 20,000 flyer door hangers?
224
00:13:45.121 --> 00:13:46.042
What are you getting back?
225
00:13:46.082 --> 00:13:47.163
What should you be getting back?
226
00:13:47.483 --> 00:13:50.045
And do you always hit the same area year after year?
227
00:13:50.365 --> 00:13:53.168
Or should you be moving a little bit out of those areas or what?
228
00:13:53.248 --> 00:13:53.448
Yeah.
229
00:13:53.668 --> 00:13:58.414
Yeah, so we have seen as low as one out of 400, and we've seen it as good as one out of 50.
230
00:13:58.834 --> 00:14:01.477
And what's crazy is many times those will be the same areas.
231
00:14:02.479 --> 00:14:09.166
Really, the door hanger, especially if you're doing instant pricing on it, it mostly hinges on the timing and the weather.
232
00:14:09.447 --> 00:14:13.331
And so if you do door hangers in one area and they get one out of 400,
233
00:14:13.932 --> 00:14:18.214
You can very well go the next week, but now that the sun's out and there's not snow on the ground, it's 1 out of 50.
234
00:14:18.494 --> 00:14:22.716
And so timing is probably the biggest thing about door hangers we have noticed.
235
00:14:23.056 --> 00:14:25.197
And then it's about conversion of the door hanger.
236
00:14:25.437 --> 00:14:30.339
So that's why it's so hard to test door hangers specifically and know what's working and what's not working.
237
00:14:30.659 --> 00:14:34.321
You can't compare last week versus this week if the weather is different than this week.
238
00:14:34.601 --> 00:14:36.582
That's why we compare it on an annual basis.
239
00:14:36.942 --> 00:14:44.830
So like March, the first week of March, we compare to last week's first week of March, once we made a tweak or a change in the variable of the of the door hanger.
240
00:14:45.150 --> 00:14:50.716
So I think with 20,000, you can definitely take a approach where it's like, hey, let's do a scattered approach.
241
00:14:51.056 --> 00:14:55.461
And then the ones that are winners, let's just zero in on those and do a second or third round there.
242
00:14:55.861 --> 00:15:04.228
Um, because most of the time when you do your second and third round, it's not that they've seen you two or three times because the door hanger is, it jumps through all of that and gives them a price.
243
00:15:04.588 --> 00:15:10.093
Assuming you're doing instant pricing on there, it jumps through all of the like warmup and goes straight to like, will you marry me?
244
00:15:10.133 --> 00:15:11.033
It's like, here's the ring.
245
00:15:11.274 --> 00:15:11.694
Do you want it?
246
00:15:12.054 --> 00:15:14.736
And so, um, that's the nice thing on instant quotes in general.
247
00:15:15.097 --> 00:15:18.780
Uh, so that's why warming up for instant quotes is, is less valuable in my opinion.
248
00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:20.301
It's, it's just a matter of timing.
249
00:15:20.481 --> 00:15:20.781
Perfect.
250
00:15:20.982 --> 00:15:21.763
Yeah, no, thank you very much.
251
00:15:21.783 --> 00:15:23.805
That's what I've been looking at doing.
252
00:15:24.125 --> 00:15:27.309
And, you know, building a 20,000 flyers is not a cheap thing.
253
00:15:27.349 --> 00:15:36.460
And so we're really looking at probably as soon as the warm weather starts coming in April, beginning of April, is when we're going to try to hand out these 20,000 in one week.
254
00:15:36.500 --> 00:15:37.622
And so thank you very much for your time.
255
00:15:37.862 --> 00:15:38.242
You got it.
256
00:15:38.703 --> 00:15:41.245
One thing I'll say on that too is like one week is pretty narrow.
257
00:15:41.345 --> 00:15:42.286
Just keep that in mind.
258
00:15:42.426 --> 00:15:44.687
I would probably do 10,000 in one week.
259
00:15:45.028 --> 00:15:48.270
And then that way, if it doesn't do well, I'd probably wait two weeks and go again.
260
00:15:48.310 --> 00:15:50.792
Cause sometimes that first week after snow is gone.
261
00:15:50.812 --> 00:15:50.972
Yes.
262
00:15:51.012 --> 00:15:53.534
Everyone's thinking about it, but their lawn hasn't started growing yet.
263
00:15:53.875 --> 00:15:59.419
And so sometimes door hangers work the best when there's actual pain, which is my lawn is too tall and I'm getting a letter from the HOA.
264
00:15:59.579 --> 00:16:00.240
Just keep that in mind.
265
00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:00.760
All right.
266
00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:02.001
Next one is Josie.
267
00:16:02.081 --> 00:16:02.682
I think that's what it is.
268
00:16:02.702 --> 00:16:03.002
Go ahead.
269
00:16:03.222 --> 00:16:03.502
Hello.
270
00:16:03.703 --> 00:16:04.403
Yeah, it's Dennis.
271
00:16:04.564 --> 00:16:07.748
You kind of touched on it for a moment about GMs and stuff.
272
00:16:07.888 --> 00:16:12.533
So my question is, how do you pay those guys?
273
00:16:12.573 --> 00:16:14.195
And I know you talked about profit sharing.
274
00:16:14.456 --> 00:16:18.581
And so I guess more specifically to like what percentage of profit sharing for GMs?
275
00:16:19.161 --> 00:16:22.385
And then as well as like kind of their roles and why I should expect this.
276
00:16:22.465 --> 00:16:25.267
And I do have the book just, just got into it.
277
00:16:25.608 --> 00:16:25.988
Just got it.
278
00:16:26.028 --> 00:16:26.769
Oh, you got to read it.
279
00:16:27.009 --> 00:16:30.833
There's a chapter on compensation and like their role and forming them up.
280
00:16:31.093 --> 00:16:36.839
I think the big thing is if it's in a new, you'll see that we call, I call it a sales GM and then an operations GM.
281
00:16:36.859 --> 00:16:36.999
Yeah.
282
00:16:37.599 --> 00:16:41.022
Like if they're more sales oriented, they can grow a location from zero.
283
00:16:41.082 --> 00:16:44.904
If you're handing one off, that's already kind of like locked and loaded in profit mode.
284
00:16:45.164 --> 00:16:48.887
Then you can have an operational GM and then you can immediately start with profit sharing.
285
00:16:49.127 --> 00:16:55.912
And so this location, Dennis, is this a location that's already like in motion, profitable, et cetera, or is it brand new?
286
00:16:57.512 --> 00:17:01.574
So we started right next to, so we have, so we're in Traverse City area.
287
00:17:01.834 --> 00:17:04.614
So right next to Benzie County, which we're also in.
288
00:17:04.634 --> 00:17:05.715
So we're in Traverse City.
289
00:17:05.735 --> 00:17:10.836
So Bear Lake has just been kind of a natural growth area, kind of what you recall with that one guy, where we're just getting a lot of leads.
290
00:17:10.876 --> 00:17:14.517
And so hence, you guys do our website as well.
291
00:17:14.897 --> 00:17:17.738
So we threw Bear Lake in there and it's just kind of
292
00:17:18.078 --> 00:17:19.541
we rank super well there.
293
00:17:19.902 --> 00:17:23.809
So we figured coming into this upcoming year, we'll get the employees to do it.
294
00:17:23.829 --> 00:17:29.901
So nothing really, no marketing besides just ranking really well in the area and get called based off of the ranking well.
295
00:17:30.546 --> 00:17:30.706
Yep.
296
00:17:30.786 --> 00:17:37.052
So then what I would probably do, if you're going to put a GM in the new area that says, let's say it has 30 to 50 customers, I'm just making numbers up.
297
00:17:37.372 --> 00:17:39.855
And you're like, hey, we know break evens at 80 or 100.
298
00:17:40.135 --> 00:17:40.856
I'm making numbers up.
299
00:17:41.256 --> 00:17:48.963
Then I would give comp to that person based upon the revenue or number of recurring customers and give them incentives to get to that level.
300
00:17:49.203 --> 00:17:53.948
But you know that at that level, you start going to profit mode and making profit and then they would switch over to profit sharing.
301
00:17:53.968 --> 00:17:54.068
Yeah.
302
00:17:54.208 --> 00:18:00.850
So when they're like when growth is the goal, because you're trying to get above capacity, that's when I'm going to send them on things besides profit sharing.
303
00:18:00.870 --> 00:18:04.490
But once I'm there, I don't want them to think about anything besides distributable cash.
304
00:18:04.891 --> 00:18:05.551
OK. Yep.
305
00:18:05.811 --> 00:18:06.011
Cool.
306
00:18:06.231 --> 00:18:06.591
Good stuff.
307
00:18:06.771 --> 00:18:07.891
Best of luck on that.
308
00:18:07.931 --> 00:18:08.671
We got Osborne.
309
00:18:08.831 --> 00:18:10.912
Yeah, my name is Pete Osborne.
310
00:18:11.292 --> 00:18:13.032
I'm upstate South Carolina.
311
00:18:13.172 --> 00:18:19.154
My wife is 19 weeks pregnant and our baby has hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
312
00:18:19.214 --> 00:18:23.955
So we have to deliver at MUSC in Charleston, which is three and a half hours away.
313
00:18:24.215 --> 00:18:28.576
And so we're looking at being in Charleston, probably until August.
314
00:18:28.816 --> 00:18:30.277
It's three and a half hours away.
315
00:18:30.377 --> 00:18:35.958
So I can jump back up here and go back down there when I need to, to put fires out.
316
00:18:36.078 --> 00:18:36.258
Yeah.
317
00:18:36.298 --> 00:18:41.679
Well, I would do, I would do Dennis is first off, I would lean very heavy into estimate videos.
318
00:18:41.699 --> 00:18:43.540
Do you know, do you know what I say when I, when I say that?
319
00:18:44.101 --> 00:18:44.942
Uh, what I mean?
320
00:18:45.342 --> 00:18:46.003
Not really.
321
00:18:46.263 --> 00:18:46.424
Okay.
322
00:18:46.444 --> 00:18:46.704
That's fine.
323
00:18:46.724 --> 00:18:47.004
That's fine.
324
00:18:47.225 --> 00:18:57.539
So I talk about in the book and there's videos on it inside Copilot Academy, but basically that's when you make the estimate, you're going to take a video of the project before you leave the property.
325
00:18:57.779 --> 00:18:59.081
That way, if it gets accepted...
326
00:18:59.161 --> 00:18:59.721
Okay, cool.
327
00:19:00.001 --> 00:19:07.165
So first off, I would say definitely use that new feature in Fieldforce so that way it can be inside the app and that will help the crew be able to do the work without you there.
328
00:19:07.586 --> 00:19:13.869
Asterix, I would make a list of all the services you know that if it's being sold while you're away is going to have problems.
329
00:19:14.249 --> 00:19:16.230
So like there's levels of projects, right?
330
00:19:16.250 --> 00:19:21.233
So like, you know, which ones are definitely going to require you on site or there's gonna be big issues.
331
00:19:21.613 --> 00:19:25.896
I would just say if it's on the estimate that has to be scheduled after, let's just call it August 1st.
332
00:19:26.476 --> 00:19:32.220
The nice thing is when it comes to project work is people sometimes will wait three, four, five, six months to get you to do the work.
333
00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:39.544
But then your admin staff, when someone calls in and say, hey, I want concrete work, just making something up, they'll be like, hey, just so you know, there is a six month backlog.
334
00:19:39.905 --> 00:19:41.806
And as long as you're okay with that, we'll set up the estimate.
335
00:19:42.066 --> 00:19:43.367
And then you're going to go do the estimate.
336
00:19:43.387 --> 00:19:44.608
You're going to make the estimate video.
337
00:19:44.868 --> 00:19:51.412
But now when that job is accepted, let's just say in February, you're putting it on the schedule in August.
338
00:19:51.732 --> 00:19:55.353
So that way it would reduce the amount of like huge changes you need to make in the business.
339
00:19:55.373 --> 00:19:56.213
I don't think you need to do that.
340
00:19:56.453 --> 00:20:00.174
I think it's a matter of like, what are the services that I think the crew can get done with just a video?
341
00:20:00.454 --> 00:20:03.274
Here's all the other services that I know I have to be on site.
342
00:20:03.334 --> 00:20:04.675
And if I'm not, it's going to go bad.
343
00:20:04.975 --> 00:20:09.776
Just do not schedule any of those jobs from May 15th to August 1st or whatever it is.
344
00:20:10.196 --> 00:20:10.496
Okay.
345
00:20:10.696 --> 00:20:11.196
Thanks, Mike.
346
00:20:11.276 --> 00:20:11.656
You got it.
347
00:20:11.836 --> 00:20:13.076
And best of luck to you and your wife.
348
00:20:13.237 --> 00:20:14.237
Tony, you're up.
349
00:20:14.677 --> 00:20:14.997
Hey, Mike.
350
00:20:15.017 --> 00:20:15.397
How you doing?
351
00:20:16.120 --> 00:20:16.581
Good, brother.
352
00:20:16.741 --> 00:20:24.532
First question, what and or how do you stay disciplined and not get distracted on working on the business rather than in the business?
353
00:20:24.792 --> 00:20:32.843
And then the second part is, when does it make sense to build your own software for the business to maximize it, maximize the business valuation to sell?
354
00:20:33.073 --> 00:20:35.054
Okay, so let's attack the first one.
355
00:20:35.194 --> 00:20:36.976
And that is staying disciplined.
356
00:20:37.796 --> 00:20:42.359
Because logically, I know that it's the right thing to do once I'm over a certain size.
357
00:20:42.739 --> 00:20:44.441
Everyone jumps into it too soon, in my opinion.
358
00:20:44.761 --> 00:20:52.386
And so people that should be out in the field doing operations, creating systems or on sales, helping their admin person do SOPs, they're like, I'm working on the business.
359
00:20:52.446 --> 00:20:53.387
I'm going to do acquisitions.
360
00:20:53.407 --> 00:20:55.248
It's like, no, no, no, like you still need to be in the business.
361
00:20:55.568 --> 00:21:04.555
But once the business gets over a million, million five, that's where it's like working on the business has a higher leverage because I can create systems that can then 10 other people can do.
362
00:21:04.816 --> 00:21:09.520
And if I can say 5% of time, multiply 10% of the time, I just create half an employee overnight.
363
00:21:09.760 --> 00:21:21.970
And so the discipline honestly just comes from knowing that that's the case and then convincing myself using math that my time, like you can't, once you grow the business to a certain size, you cannot outwork problems.
364
00:21:22.310 --> 00:21:26.312
And when you're a solo operator, when you have one, two, three employees, if there's a problem, you just work harder.
365
00:21:26.793 --> 00:21:28.774
You get to the point where that no longer is the case.
366
00:21:28.794 --> 00:21:30.194
You have so many budget hours on schedule.
367
00:21:30.214 --> 00:21:35.197
If something goes wrong and there's system failure, you can't step in and just solve the problem by working more hours.
368
00:21:35.557 --> 00:21:38.479
It's then that you are forced to work on the business.
369
00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:40.480
So I think this is a function of pain.
370
00:21:40.660 --> 00:21:47.424
It gets so painful of you tired of not being able to outwork the problem that you just realize I have to create systems that will solve this when I'm not there.
371
00:21:48.244 --> 00:21:50.845
To answer the second question, what specifically are you talking about?
372
00:21:50.905 --> 00:21:53.386
Because you're talking about valuation and software.
373
00:21:53.626 --> 00:21:56.127
Are you thinking like a specific widget?
374
00:21:56.247 --> 00:21:58.448
Or are you thinking like, what software specifically?
375
00:21:58.608 --> 00:22:01.609
And what are you trying to maximize for enterprise value?
376
00:22:02.170 --> 00:22:03.170
We consulted with.
377
00:22:03.550 --> 00:22:04.630
Patrick Bet David before.
378
00:22:04.650 --> 00:22:14.593
And one of the things he said was when he was building his business and he sold it for 250 million was that when they became tech enabled, their valuation went up substantially.
379
00:22:14.793 --> 00:22:14.953
Right.
380
00:22:14.993 --> 00:22:17.613
And so that's just something that just knocks around the back of my mind.
381
00:22:17.633 --> 00:22:20.274
You know, the goal at some point into the future will be to sell.
382
00:22:20.894 --> 00:22:30.296
And as we're working on the business, just making sure that that's something that's in our mind and that we're focusing on just to make
383
00:22:33.317 --> 00:22:36.659
Yeah, so tech enabled is very different than being a tech company.
384
00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:43.202
And I say that because everyone thinks they can become a software company and then immediately increase their valuation.
385
00:22:43.802 --> 00:22:49.265
When in reality, if you went to the market, they would look to you and value as a landscaping company that so happens to have technology.
386
00:22:49.825 --> 00:22:54.828
But the landscaping and the metrics and the profitability of that is what you'd be actually measured on.
387
00:22:54.888 --> 00:22:55.788
Because you're a landscaping company.
388
00:22:56.048 --> 00:23:00.310
Being tech enabled should allow your landscaping users to be more profitable and be more efficient.
389
00:23:00.650 --> 00:23:03.652
And so I have learned this the hard way the past three years.
390
00:23:03.852 --> 00:23:06.413
Building software is extremely expensive and very difficult.
391
00:23:06.473 --> 00:23:09.294
And there's a reason why people get paid very well to do it.
392
00:23:10.374 --> 00:23:11.355
And the top 1%...
393
00:23:11.995 --> 00:23:15.539
are the billionaires that we all know on Forbes, like top 100.
394
00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:16.720
It's extremely hard.
395
00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:18.582
And it's a different business than landscaping.
396
00:23:18.862 --> 00:23:26.750
And so in my opinion, if you're really good at landscaping, use technology to plug things in to be able to make your landscaping business 10 times more profitable.
397
00:23:27.030 --> 00:23:41.361
And so whether that be automations, AI, transcripts on phone calls, like using RingCentral, using RingSense, which plugs into RingCentral to be able to have transcripts on every phone call, ranking every single phone, giving coaching to every single person on the phone.
398
00:23:41.641 --> 00:23:44.263
Like these are the things that I think tech enablement allows.
399
00:23:44.883 --> 00:23:49.927
But if you look at Patrick's business model, he was valued based on the insurance premiums that he was getting.
400
00:23:50.247 --> 00:23:50.427
Right.
401
00:23:50.467 --> 00:23:53.430
The tech enablement allowed him to scale the insurance company.
402
00:23:53.630 --> 00:23:53.750
Right.
403
00:23:53.770 --> 00:23:53.890
Right.
404
00:23:54.070 --> 00:23:55.652
He did not build the software.
405
00:23:55.792 --> 00:23:59.256
He enabled the insurance company using technology.
406
00:23:59.457 --> 00:24:02.901
And so I would really focus on that because building software is like a completely different business.
407
00:24:03.261 --> 00:24:05.864
And I like learned that the very, very hard way a few years ago.
408
00:24:06.105 --> 00:24:08.027
How do you identify high leverage activities?
409
00:24:08.528 --> 00:24:11.611
Like what's the best time where you're spending your time?
410
00:24:11.631 --> 00:24:12.052
Is that...
411
00:24:12.283 --> 00:24:15.286
Yeah, you'll find an amount of time, resources, and money.
412
00:24:15.486 --> 00:24:23.114
And so as a CEO, your only skill becomes, is decision-making as to where those are allocated.
413
00:24:23.435 --> 00:24:27.038
And so it is the highest leverage thing you can do is make decisions.
414
00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:31.904
This is why like you hear Bezos talk about like, if he makes two or three good decisions a day, that was a good day.
415
00:24:32.124 --> 00:24:34.967
So ultimately, as you chunk up the amount of people you're managing,
416
00:24:35.387 --> 00:24:37.290
Doing work actually has very little value.
417
00:24:37.651 --> 00:24:39.474
Making good decisions is the only thing that matters.
418
00:24:39.794 --> 00:24:42.759
The thing that is, what are the inputs that go into making those good decisions?
419
00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:47.426
Usually great people, great data, great technology to be able to make sure that things are accurate.
420
00:24:47.666 --> 00:24:53.355
And so usually as you're building up 1 million to 5 million and even up to 10 million, you're actually just trying to gather people.
421
00:24:53.615 --> 00:24:58.463
You're trying to gather the data and be creating accurate data layer to be able to then make good decisions.
422
00:24:58.823 --> 00:25:01.507
Then 10 million plus is usually decision making.
423
00:25:01.768 --> 00:25:02.729
I appreciate it very much, Mike.
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Thank you.
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If you're trying to scale up your home service business, this video is for you.
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I'm talking to a group of entrepreneurs that are trying to scale past seven figures in their home service business.
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We're going to be talking about moving into a new market and expansion, how to handle multiple locations and a general manager's compensation.
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We're also going to be talking about how to delegate sales, operations and admin, and in what sequence should we be delegating and handing those roles off to our employees.
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Lots of questions, lots of answers.
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Let's get started.
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Hey, Mike, how you doing?
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Good, brother.
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How you doing?
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Congrats on location two, brother.
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Yeah, thank you.
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Appreciate it.
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So, yeah, I'm going to ask you about that location.
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So we've kind of done a soft launch.
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We've done some door hangers, ball cleanup stuff, and got a few customers, a few one-time cleanups, some winter services, but we're really going hard in the spring next year.
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And I'm wondering, for our service area, should we expand that to the entire territory while planning it to focus on just a small kind of third of it with our door hangers and our marketing?
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Yeah.
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Or should we reduce the service area to that third that we're planning to focus on?
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Yeah.
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So whenever I've gone to a new market, I always will say, okay, this is the area I think I'm going into.
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Here's what I know I want to go after.
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The reason is because I don't want to say no to customers.
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And then all of a sudden, like we've had a couple of times where all of a sudden we start getting a bunch of calls from a certain area of town where no one else is ranking.
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We just immediately crushed it on Google.
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And I don't want me saying no to them.
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So if I was you, Matt, I would take the whole territory in your service area, but then where you market, just be more focused in terms of where you want customers.
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And then if down the road, like a year from now, you're like, okay, 80% of them are where we're marketing.
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Let's just leave the other part.
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You could do that, especially in your market where from one side or the other could be traffic.
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It gets crazy.
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And so...
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So I'm more of the opinion, like leaving it open at the beginning just to test and see, because a lot of times those areas that are harder to get to or people kind of disqualify and you don't market to are also places where you rank first on Google.
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And all of a sudden you're just getting leads for for nothing, essentially.
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So I would do that service area, full territory.
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But then like where are we focused in terms of marketing on that more smaller radius?
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Okay, that makes sense.
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Then if something comes in and, you know, outside of that area I'm focusing on, then maybe we start doing door hangers around there and kind of try to build up a day or whatever it is, a route.
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Yeah, this happened to my location out in North Carolina.
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I was like, oh, my, oh, it would definitely be as close as possible as Charlotte.
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And then because we could not rank the first two spots on Charlotte in the first year, we all everything was like on the north side.
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And I was like, oh, okay, we're just going to make.
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start focusing on that area.
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And now I'd say probably 70% of the clients are in that top north area because it wasn't being overshadowed by huge companies in Charlotte.
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Cool, cool.
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Okay, just maybe another question.
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So I've got a really solid kind of technician that's going to be leading the fieldwork in White Rock.
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He's also really good at talking to customers and, you know,
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You know, he really cares about doing good work.
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He's one of my good buddies, too.
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So I trust him.
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I'm wondering, you know, I'm hoping he kind of develops and earns a GM working GM role.
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So what should my role be in year one?
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And then what should I kind of plan to be in the next couple of years?
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Like, should I be doing sales?
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Let him handle it.
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Should I, you know, and if he's doing a lot of that, what am I focusing on?
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You know, I feel like that's not a 100% full time job if I'm not actually out there doing that work.
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Yes, there's first off a little bit of color coming to this next month for you, Matt.
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I would say in general, when you're growing a location quickly, I know you guys that's your intention, because your first location is already kind of busting at the seams.
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Like I would take on scheduling off of his plate for the first 90 days.
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Scheduling when you're getting 510 15 new customers every week is very hard on a working GM.
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And so what I would really encourage is you to actually be the person that kind of just like blocks for the GM while they, cause while the same time you're getting a bunch of new customers, you also have to be hiring a bunch of new people.
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And this is why putting a GM into an area that is a new location is so stressful for them because they might be great at operations, like running the location.
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But when you start adding new customers every single day and new employees every single week, that's when they, a great GM can still fall apart because they're not, they're not a growth minded GM.
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Yeah.
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And so if I was you, Matt, I'd have a very clear 30, 60 and 90 day window of, okay, the first 30 days, you just get out and do the work and we will give you employees that you train up.
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Day 30 to 60, you will start doing some of the scheduling.
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It's not until after day 90 that you will step away out of daily operations.
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And that gives you 90 days to just gas it on marketing and...
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and get them hopefully above 100 recurring customers to where now when you step back, you turn off, you reduce the ad spend after spring rush, when your customer action cost is going to go up organically.
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But now they don't have 20 new customers a week being added, and another employee every couple weeks.
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Do that as much as possible while you're hands on, but have a very clear 30, 60, and 90 day of what that's going to look like, so that you guys can compare notes after each of those checkpoints.
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Cool, cool.
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And then for compensation, should I be doing like client number budget hours on the schedule, like bonuses for this guy or some like thresholds that we reach and then bonus him?
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I would personally tie the incentives to 30, 60, 90 benchmarks being hit.
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That could be around number of recurring customers, but really it's out of his control because you're doing instant quotes and over the phone and you're driving the marketing.
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So I'm really just focusing on the benchmarks of eventually you got to take over scheduling.
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eventually you're taking over hiring.
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Those are probably the two things you're gonna do for him in the first 90 days.
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And once he take those things on and you step back, his pay should be higher.
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And by the time it's now leveled off there, now we're getting to where he should be in profit sharing.
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So I would probably do like a, based upon these things happening, i.e.
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you start doing the hiring and you start doing the scheduling, your base pay is gonna go up.
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And then once I'm out of daily operations and you're taking over and we put this thing into profit mode, you will also have a profit sharing incentive as well.
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Okay.
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Awesome.
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Thanks, Mike.
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Appreciate it.
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Hey Mike.
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Um, central exterior cleaning.
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We do window cleaning and pressure washing, um, and some gutter cleaning.
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So what we're working on right now is actually I'm in a house.
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You can't really see cause it's blurred, but that's my right hand right there cleaning some windows.
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Um, and it's pretty much just me and him.
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Um, I suck at admin.
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Um, I'm good at sales, but he has been doing really well on the sales side.
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He's getting us a ton of five star reviews on his own.
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Like customers just love him.
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Um,
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And his close rate is actually, I think, just as good as mine, if not better.
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So I'm starting to wonder what my role should be.
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We've talked about bringing somebody in for admin in the spring because I'm disorganized and I can admit I'm not good at it.
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So we're just kind of like trying to figure out what's our move going forward.
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We do about $230,000 this year in revenue, and we're aiming to double that next year just because our costs went up so much this year that we ate a lot of profit on the fact that we didn't really raise our revenue much.
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Got it.
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Yes.
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Like I think what I would highly recommend is like in the book, you are still the solo operator size, right?
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And you're moving into the working GM size.
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So zero to 250,000.
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That's the solo operator in that size.
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You are trying to do the work as much as possible, be out in the field to produce revenue.
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As you move in the working GM, you're going to want to start start delegating your lowest leverage task, which is admin.
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And I would do that in a fashion of ideally not using him.
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He sounds like he's a great person out in operations, crushes it on reviews, even on sales.
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I don't want someone that is really good at operations and sales to do a lowest leverage task, which is admin.
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And so I think that there are cheaper,
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less qualified people that you'd be able to find to be able to do your admin.
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Whether you do a virtual assistant, whether you do a per minute call service, whether you have a part-time person help you in the office, the likelihood of you finding that person is easier than replacing him in the field, let alone sales.
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Okay.
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So another question for you on that.
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I know you kind of have, I kind of know your stance on debt.
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One of the things that's been big for us is we bought another business in July of 24.
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So we had that business for a year this past July.
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I brought Josh on in June.
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So it was right before the one year mark.
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One of the things that I think hurts our overhead a lot to where
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where I might've been able to make the admin move sooner is we pay about a thousand bucks a month or 1200 bucks a month for that business.
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So we've been looking at going through the SBA to get a loan to pay off the seller finance deal that we're doing there, as well as to use that to get another truck and some equipment, because right now we've been kind of just doing it with whatever setup I throw together that works.
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And that's gotten us pretty far, but we've had a lot of headaches and issues with that in the recent past.
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Yeah, so you're basically trying to consolidate it with the SBA stuff.
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And what's nice about it, even though you might pay a bit more interest right now, is you would get a longer term.
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I'm assuming you're probably in a three-year term for the seller financing?
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Yeah, we did a seven-year loan, but it was a three-year balloon.
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So it was for $70,000, but yeah, we're paying about $1,200 a month in the way it's set up right now.
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What you might want to think about doing is getting a micro SBA loan.
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That's 50,000.
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That will get processed in less than half the time and usually has way less requirements.
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So as long as you can stomach the 20 grand at the three year balloon, you might want to just focus on a micro SBA loan.
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It's called.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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Talk to your local credit unions.
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Like, hey, do you all do micro SBA?
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Because some banks won't.
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They'll just do a 7A or a 504.
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But if you get a micro, they can process it sometimes within 30 to 60 days, which is like way less than half of like a regular 504 or 7A loan.
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Okay.
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All right.
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Thank you.
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Awesome.
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Okay, so I have a secret.
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It's just for everyone watching this video.
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But on February 17th, we're officially changing the name of Copilot CRM to Homeworks.
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So get ready, because something big is about to happen.
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Next up, Seth, go ahead.
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So I do solo landscaping lawn maintenance here in Phoenix area.
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So my main question revolved around like, so I've been doing it due to some social security reasons under the table here for about two years and I'm finally above board this year.
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I'm planning on launching.
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That's why I'm getting CRM and everything.
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So my main question is,
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Right now I have about 20 clients and I did my hourly.
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I'm looking at about $50 hourly rate, which I'm trying to shoot for more this year, around 75 to start and then ideally a hundred from based on what I've heard.
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So I'm wondering like, but since here in Phoenix, it's a lot more, not grass focused.
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It's a lot more bush trimming.
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It seems like almost every service is almost like a mini cleanup.
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So I'm wondering how to price that for monthly, bi-weekly, weekly services and how you suggest doing that.
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I know I noticed you had a few Phoenix locations, so.
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Yeah, so it's still the same concept.
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You're still selling time, right?
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Ultimately, we all get fancy with, you know, the different types of services, but all of us sell time.
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Whether, what kind of tools you use, level of experience required, materials that are added, we're still all selling time.
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And we make the markup on time based upon us training our crew, having equipment, having the materials ordered, et cetera.
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And so I don't care if you're trimming a bush, pulling weeds, spraying, trim, like, or mowing grass, you're still spending time on the property.
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So you still want to use budgeted hours.
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And so it just so happens that your budget hours are going to look very much like our winter services, which is we don't mow the grass.
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We trim the bushes, we pull weeds, we edge the lawn, we check the gutters, we do all these other things.
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And so what we've seen successful in that market, Seth, is offering year-round monthly contracts.
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I say contracts with very loose, just monthly cost, and then a long list of things that you're going to do for them.
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whether it be blowing off the walkways, picking up down branches, raking out the beds, pulling weeds.
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A lot of them will do the fire, like burning out weeds.
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So get really creative with that list is and then do instant quotes once it's inside Copilot and soon to be Homeworks.
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Once it's in there, use instant quotes as a way to sell small, medium and large for those full service, quote unquote, property maintenance.
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That's what I'd be selling is property maintenance.
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Because I got a pretty good average.
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It's usually around two hours on the monthly, what I spend on each job around for the maintenance and the property sizes I'm working on.
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So you could do like a 129, 149, 179 and a small, medium and large and sell those like hotcakes.
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Gotcha.
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And then so for like a monthly contract, are you guys showing up once a month?
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Or like, do you guys have separate ones for like, if you want them to show up weekly or whatever, and then you just bill it monthly?
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Yeah.
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So we show weekly and bi-weekly prices and then always assume weekly.
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So when they accept on like our instant quotes, we assume always weekly.
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In your market, bi-weekly is the most popular because they don't need weekly.
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So again, just take that into court.
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You said two hours monthly.
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I assume that you're spending about an hour per visit every other week.
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Is that correct?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So, so just hinge on that, like down the road, you'll do instant quotes.
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But for now, it's just like, Hey, we come every other week.
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It includes all of these things and you get, make that list good.
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Like really think through all the stuff you can do on someone's property that might take 10 seconds or a minute or two minutes or whatever, but you can make that property maintenance list very long and actually sell just as much as mowing in that market.
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It's just a matter of getting creative with all the other things you can do that they're not even thinking of.
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Yeah, and then one extra point on that.
207
00:12:56.816 --> 00:12:58.498
So then upsells then beyond that.
208
00:12:58.518 --> 00:12:59.138
So that's the thing.
209
00:12:59.438 --> 00:13:04.963
Since I'm doing so much of the cleaning, it's harder to sell a cleanup, a seasonal cleanup, when I'm doing the cleanup basically once a month.
210
00:13:05.023 --> 00:13:11.848
So would you just upsell it in a different way and just not use that or just... Yeah, upsells in that market work well usually when you're removing landscaping.
211
00:13:12.068 --> 00:13:15.509
So like if they have a bunch of bushes, it's like, hey, we notice these keep getting overgrown.
212
00:13:15.549 --> 00:13:16.489
Some of them are dying.
213
00:13:16.589 --> 00:13:17.789
You don't have them irrigated.
214
00:13:18.069 --> 00:13:19.570
Would you like us to A, remove them?
215
00:13:19.890 --> 00:13:22.470
That's going to cost you $380 we can get next week.
216
00:13:22.810 --> 00:13:24.551
Or would you like to put some drip irrigation on it?
217
00:13:24.591 --> 00:13:27.351
It's going to cost you $600 and we guarantee they'll come back to life.
218
00:13:27.391 --> 00:13:34.553
Like you can get creative with those upsells, but usually it has to do with removal or saving the foliage.
219
00:13:34.893 --> 00:13:35.133
Gotcha.
220
00:13:35.173 --> 00:13:35.733
Thank you so much.
221
00:13:35.893 --> 00:13:39.536
All right, next one is Dan Irving from Irving Landscapes.
222
00:13:39.776 --> 00:13:40.117
Welcome.
223
00:13:40.377 --> 00:13:44.841
What is your ratio when you hand out like 10,000, 20,000 flyer door hangers?
224
00:13:45.121 --> 00:13:46.042
What are you getting back?
225
00:13:46.082 --> 00:13:47.163
What should you be getting back?
226
00:13:47.483 --> 00:13:50.045
And do you always hit the same area year after year?
227
00:13:50.365 --> 00:13:53.168
Or should you be moving a little bit out of those areas or what?
228
00:13:53.248 --> 00:13:53.448
Yeah.
229
00:13:53.668 --> 00:13:58.414
Yeah, so we have seen as low as one out of 400, and we've seen it as good as one out of 50.
230
00:13:58.834 --> 00:14:01.477
And what's crazy is many times those will be the same areas.
231
00:14:02.479 --> 00:14:09.166
Really, the door hanger, especially if you're doing instant pricing on it, it mostly hinges on the timing and the weather.
232
00:14:09.447 --> 00:14:13.331
And so if you do door hangers in one area and they get one out of 400,
233
00:14:13.932 --> 00:14:18.214
You can very well go the next week, but now that the sun's out and there's not snow on the ground, it's 1 out of 50.
234
00:14:18.494 --> 00:14:22.716
And so timing is probably the biggest thing about door hangers we have noticed.
235
00:14:23.056 --> 00:14:25.197
And then it's about conversion of the door hanger.
236
00:14:25.437 --> 00:14:30.339
So that's why it's so hard to test door hangers specifically and know what's working and what's not working.
237
00:14:30.659 --> 00:14:34.321
You can't compare last week versus this week if the weather is different than this week.
238
00:14:34.601 --> 00:14:36.582
That's why we compare it on an annual basis.
239
00:14:36.942 --> 00:14:44.830
So like March, the first week of March, we compare to last week's first week of March, once we made a tweak or a change in the variable of the of the door hanger.
240
00:14:45.150 --> 00:14:50.716
So I think with 20,000, you can definitely take a approach where it's like, hey, let's do a scattered approach.
241
00:14:51.056 --> 00:14:55.461
And then the ones that are winners, let's just zero in on those and do a second or third round there.
242
00:14:55.861 --> 00:15:04.228
Um, because most of the time when you do your second and third round, it's not that they've seen you two or three times because the door hanger is, it jumps through all of that and gives them a price.
243
00:15:04.588 --> 00:15:10.093
Assuming you're doing instant pricing on there, it jumps through all of the like warmup and goes straight to like, will you marry me?
244
00:15:10.133 --> 00:15:11.033
It's like, here's the ring.
245
00:15:11.274 --> 00:15:11.694
Do you want it?
246
00:15:12.054 --> 00:15:14.736
And so, um, that's the nice thing on instant quotes in general.
247
00:15:15.097 --> 00:15:18.780
Uh, so that's why warming up for instant quotes is, is less valuable in my opinion.
248
00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:20.301
It's, it's just a matter of timing.
249
00:15:20.481 --> 00:15:20.781
Perfect.
250
00:15:20.982 --> 00:15:21.763
Yeah, no, thank you very much.
251
00:15:21.783 --> 00:15:23.805
That's what I've been looking at doing.
252
00:15:24.125 --> 00:15:27.309
And, you know, building a 20,000 flyers is not a cheap thing.
253
00:15:27.349 --> 00:15:36.460
And so we're really looking at probably as soon as the warm weather starts coming in April, beginning of April, is when we're going to try to hand out these 20,000 in one week.
254
00:15:36.500 --> 00:15:37.622
And so thank you very much for your time.
255
00:15:37.862 --> 00:15:38.242
You got it.
256
00:15:38.703 --> 00:15:41.245
One thing I'll say on that too is like one week is pretty narrow.
257
00:15:41.345 --> 00:15:42.286
Just keep that in mind.
258
00:15:42.426 --> 00:15:44.687
I would probably do 10,000 in one week.
259
00:15:45.028 --> 00:15:48.270
And then that way, if it doesn't do well, I'd probably wait two weeks and go again.
260
00:15:48.310 --> 00:15:50.792
Cause sometimes that first week after snow is gone.
261
00:15:50.812 --> 00:15:50.972
Yes.
262
00:15:51.012 --> 00:15:53.534
Everyone's thinking about it, but their lawn hasn't started growing yet.
263
00:15:53.875 --> 00:15:59.419
And so sometimes door hangers work the best when there's actual pain, which is my lawn is too tall and I'm getting a letter from the HOA.
264
00:15:59.579 --> 00:16:00.240
Just keep that in mind.
265
00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:00.760
All right.
266
00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:02.001
Next one is Josie.
267
00:16:02.081 --> 00:16:02.682
I think that's what it is.
268
00:16:02.702 --> 00:16:03.002
Go ahead.
269
00:16:03.222 --> 00:16:03.502
Hello.
270
00:16:03.703 --> 00:16:04.403
Yeah, it's Dennis.
271
00:16:04.564 --> 00:16:07.748
You kind of touched on it for a moment about GMs and stuff.
272
00:16:07.888 --> 00:16:12.533
So my question is, how do you pay those guys?
273
00:16:12.573 --> 00:16:14.195
And I know you talked about profit sharing.
274
00:16:14.456 --> 00:16:18.581
And so I guess more specifically to like what percentage of profit sharing for GMs?
275
00:16:19.161 --> 00:16:22.385
And then as well as like kind of their roles and why I should expect this.
276
00:16:22.465 --> 00:16:25.267
And I do have the book just, just got into it.
277
00:16:25.608 --> 00:16:25.988
Just got it.
278
00:16:26.028 --> 00:16:26.769
Oh, you got to read it.
279
00:16:27.009 --> 00:16:30.833
There's a chapter on compensation and like their role and forming them up.
280
00:16:31.093 --> 00:16:36.839
I think the big thing is if it's in a new, you'll see that we call, I call it a sales GM and then an operations GM.
281
00:16:36.859 --> 00:16:36.999
Yeah.
282
00:16:37.599 --> 00:16:41.022
Like if they're more sales oriented, they can grow a location from zero.
283
00:16:41.082 --> 00:16:44.904
If you're handing one off, that's already kind of like locked and loaded in profit mode.
284
00:16:45.164 --> 00:16:48.887
Then you can have an operational GM and then you can immediately start with profit sharing.
285
00:16:49.127 --> 00:16:55.912
And so this location, Dennis, is this a location that's already like in motion, profitable, et cetera, or is it brand new?
286
00:16:57.512 --> 00:17:01.574
So we started right next to, so we have, so we're in Traverse City area.
287
00:17:01.834 --> 00:17:04.614
So right next to Benzie County, which we're also in.
288
00:17:04.634 --> 00:17:05.715
So we're in Traverse City.
289
00:17:05.735 --> 00:17:10.836
So Bear Lake has just been kind of a natural growth area, kind of what you recall with that one guy, where we're just getting a lot of leads.
290
00:17:10.876 --> 00:17:14.517
And so hence, you guys do our website as well.
291
00:17:14.897 --> 00:17:17.738
So we threw Bear Lake in there and it's just kind of
292
00:17:18.078 --> 00:17:19.541
we rank super well there.
293
00:17:19.902 --> 00:17:23.809
So we figured coming into this upcoming year, we'll get the employees to do it.
294
00:17:23.829 --> 00:17:29.901
So nothing really, no marketing besides just ranking really well in the area and get called based off of the ranking well.
295
00:17:30.546 --> 00:17:30.706
Yep.
296
00:17:30.786 --> 00:17:37.052
So then what I would probably do, if you're going to put a GM in the new area that says, let's say it has 30 to 50 customers, I'm just making numbers up.
297
00:17:37.372 --> 00:17:39.855
And you're like, hey, we know break evens at 80 or 100.
298
00:17:40.135 --> 00:17:40.856
I'm making numbers up.
299
00:17:41.256 --> 00:17:48.963
Then I would give comp to that person based upon the revenue or number of recurring customers and give them incentives to get to that level.
300
00:17:49.203 --> 00:17:53.948
But you know that at that level, you start going to profit mode and making profit and then they would switch over to profit sharing.
301
00:17:53.968 --> 00:17:54.068
Yeah.
302
00:17:54.208 --> 00:18:00.850
So when they're like when growth is the goal, because you're trying to get above capacity, that's when I'm going to send them on things besides profit sharing.
303
00:18:00.870 --> 00:18:04.490
But once I'm there, I don't want them to think about anything besides distributable cash.
304
00:18:04.891 --> 00:18:05.551
OK. Yep.
305
00:18:05.811 --> 00:18:06.011
Cool.
306
00:18:06.231 --> 00:18:06.591
Good stuff.
307
00:18:06.771 --> 00:18:07.891
Best of luck on that.
308
00:18:07.931 --> 00:18:08.671
We got Osborne.
309
00:18:08.831 --> 00:18:10.912
Yeah, my name is Pete Osborne.
310
00:18:11.292 --> 00:18:13.032
I'm upstate South Carolina.
311
00:18:13.172 --> 00:18:19.154
My wife is 19 weeks pregnant and our baby has hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
312
00:18:19.214 --> 00:18:23.955
So we have to deliver at MUSC in Charleston, which is three and a half hours away.
313
00:18:24.215 --> 00:18:28.576
And so we're looking at being in Charleston, probably until August.
314
00:18:28.816 --> 00:18:30.277
It's three and a half hours away.
315
00:18:30.377 --> 00:18:35.958
So I can jump back up here and go back down there when I need to, to put fires out.
316
00:18:36.078 --> 00:18:36.258
Yeah.
317
00:18:36.298 --> 00:18:41.679
Well, I would do, I would do Dennis is first off, I would lean very heavy into estimate videos.
318
00:18:41.699 --> 00:18:43.540
Do you know, do you know what I say when I, when I say that?
319
00:18:44.101 --> 00:18:44.942
Uh, what I mean?
320
00:18:45.342 --> 00:18:46.003
Not really.
321
00:18:46.263 --> 00:18:46.424
Okay.
322
00:18:46.444 --> 00:18:46.704
That's fine.
323
00:18:46.724 --> 00:18:47.004
That's fine.
324
00:18:47.225 --> 00:18:57.539
So I talk about in the book and there's videos on it inside Copilot Academy, but basically that's when you make the estimate, you're going to take a video of the project before you leave the property.
325
00:18:57.779 --> 00:18:59.081
That way, if it gets accepted...
326
00:18:59.161 --> 00:18:59.721
Okay, cool.
327
00:19:00.001 --> 00:19:07.165
So first off, I would say definitely use that new feature in Fieldforce so that way it can be inside the app and that will help the crew be able to do the work without you there.
328
00:19:07.586 --> 00:19:13.869
Asterix, I would make a list of all the services you know that if it's being sold while you're away is going to have problems.
329
00:19:14.249 --> 00:19:16.230
So like there's levels of projects, right?
330
00:19:16.250 --> 00:19:21.233
So like, you know, which ones are definitely going to require you on site or there's gonna be big issues.
331
00:19:21.613 --> 00:19:25.896
I would just say if it's on the estimate that has to be scheduled after, let's just call it August 1st.
332
00:19:26.476 --> 00:19:32.220
The nice thing is when it comes to project work is people sometimes will wait three, four, five, six months to get you to do the work.
333
00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:39.544
But then your admin staff, when someone calls in and say, hey, I want concrete work, just making something up, they'll be like, hey, just so you know, there is a six month backlog.
334
00:19:39.905 --> 00:19:41.806
And as long as you're okay with that, we'll set up the estimate.
335
00:19:42.066 --> 00:19:43.367
And then you're going to go do the estimate.
336
00:19:43.387 --> 00:19:44.608
You're going to make the estimate video.
337
00:19:44.868 --> 00:19:51.412
But now when that job is accepted, let's just say in February, you're putting it on the schedule in August.
338
00:19:51.732 --> 00:19:55.353
So that way it would reduce the amount of like huge changes you need to make in the business.
339
00:19:55.373 --> 00:19:56.213
I don't think you need to do that.
340
00:19:56.453 --> 00:20:00.174
I think it's a matter of like, what are the services that I think the crew can get done with just a video?
341
00:20:00.454 --> 00:20:03.274
Here's all the other services that I know I have to be on site.
342
00:20:03.334 --> 00:20:04.675
And if I'm not, it's going to go bad.
343
00:20:04.975 --> 00:20:09.776
Just do not schedule any of those jobs from May 15th to August 1st or whatever it is.
344
00:20:10.196 --> 00:20:10.496
Okay.
345
00:20:10.696 --> 00:20:11.196
Thanks, Mike.
346
00:20:11.276 --> 00:20:11.656
You got it.
347
00:20:11.836 --> 00:20:13.076
And best of luck to you and your wife.
348
00:20:13.237 --> 00:20:14.237
Tony, you're up.
349
00:20:14.677 --> 00:20:14.997
Hey, Mike.
350
00:20:15.017 --> 00:20:15.397
How you doing?
351
00:20:16.120 --> 00:20:16.581
Good, brother.
352
00:20:16.741 --> 00:20:24.532
First question, what and or how do you stay disciplined and not get distracted on working on the business rather than in the business?
353
00:20:24.792 --> 00:20:32.843
And then the second part is, when does it make sense to build your own software for the business to maximize it, maximize the business valuation to sell?
354
00:20:33.073 --> 00:20:35.054
Okay, so let's attack the first one.
355
00:20:35.194 --> 00:20:36.976
And that is staying disciplined.
356
00:20:37.796 --> 00:20:42.359
Because logically, I know that it's the right thing to do once I'm over a certain size.
357
00:20:42.739 --> 00:20:44.441
Everyone jumps into it too soon, in my opinion.
358
00:20:44.761 --> 00:20:52.386
And so people that should be out in the field doing operations, creating systems or on sales, helping their admin person do SOPs, they're like, I'm working on the business.
359
00:20:52.446 --> 00:20:53.387
I'm going to do acquisitions.
360
00:20:53.407 --> 00:20:55.248
It's like, no, no, no, like you still need to be in the business.
361
00:20:55.568 --> 00:21:04.555
But once the business gets over a million, million five, that's where it's like working on the business has a higher leverage because I can create systems that can then 10 other people can do.
362
00:21:04.816 --> 00:21:09.520
And if I can say 5% of time, multiply 10% of the time, I just create half an employee overnight.
363
00:21:09.760 --> 00:21:21.970
And so the discipline honestly just comes from knowing that that's the case and then convincing myself using math that my time, like you can't, once you grow the business to a certain size, you cannot outwork problems.
364
00:21:22.310 --> 00:21:26.312
And when you're a solo operator, when you have one, two, three employees, if there's a problem, you just work harder.
365
00:21:26.793 --> 00:21:28.774
You get to the point where that no longer is the case.
366
00:21:28.794 --> 00:21:30.194
You have so many budget hours on schedule.
367
00:21:30.214 --> 00:21:35.197
If something goes wrong and there's system failure, you can't step in and just solve the problem by working more hours.
368
00:21:35.557 --> 00:21:38.479
It's then that you are forced to work on the business.
369
00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:40.480
So I think this is a function of pain.
370
00:21:40.660 --> 00:21:47.424
It gets so painful of you tired of not being able to outwork the problem that you just realize I have to create systems that will solve this when I'm not there.
371
00:21:48.244 --> 00:21:50.845
To answer the second question, what specifically are you talking about?
372
00:21:50.905 --> 00:21:53.386
Because you're talking about valuation and software.
373
00:21:53.626 --> 00:21:56.127
Are you thinking like a specific widget?
374
00:21:56.247 --> 00:21:58.448
Or are you thinking like, what software specifically?
375
00:21:58.608 --> 00:22:01.609
And what are you trying to maximize for enterprise value?
376
00:22:02.170 --> 00:22:03.170
We consulted with.
377
00:22:03.550 --> 00:22:04.630
Patrick Bet David before.
378
00:22:04.650 --> 00:22:14.593
And one of the things he said was when he was building his business and he sold it for 250 million was that when they became tech enabled, their valuation went up substantially.
379
00:22:14.793 --> 00:22:14.953
Right.
380
00:22:14.993 --> 00:22:17.613
And so that's just something that just knocks around the back of my mind.
381
00:22:17.633 --> 00:22:20.274
You know, the goal at some point into the future will be to sell.
382
00:22:20.894 --> 00:22:30.296
And as we're working on the business, just making sure that that's something that's in our mind and that we're focusing on just to make
383
00:22:33.317 --> 00:22:36.659
Yeah, so tech enabled is very different than being a tech company.
384
00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:43.202
And I say that because everyone thinks they can become a software company and then immediately increase their valuation.
385
00:22:43.802 --> 00:22:49.265
When in reality, if you went to the market, they would look to you and value as a landscaping company that so happens to have technology.
386
00:22:49.825 --> 00:22:54.828
But the landscaping and the metrics and the profitability of that is what you'd be actually measured on.
387
00:22:54.888 --> 00:22:55.788
Because you're a landscaping company.
388
00:22:56.048 --> 00:23:00.310
Being tech enabled should allow your landscaping users to be more profitable and be more efficient.
389
00:23:00.650 --> 00:23:03.652
And so I have learned this the hard way the past three years.
390
00:23:03.852 --> 00:23:06.413
Building software is extremely expensive and very difficult.
391
00:23:06.473 --> 00:23:09.294
And there's a reason why people get paid very well to do it.
392
00:23:10.374 --> 00:23:11.355
And the top 1%...
393
00:23:11.995 --> 00:23:15.539
are the billionaires that we all know on Forbes, like top 100.
394
00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:16.720
It's extremely hard.
395
00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:18.582
And it's a different business than landscaping.
396
00:23:18.862 --> 00:23:26.750
And so in my opinion, if you're really good at landscaping, use technology to plug things in to be able to make your landscaping business 10 times more profitable.
397
00:23:27.030 --> 00:23:41.361
And so whether that be automations, AI, transcripts on phone calls, like using RingCentral, using RingSense, which plugs into RingCentral to be able to have transcripts on every phone call, ranking every single phone, giving coaching to every single person on the phone.
398
00:23:41.641 --> 00:23:44.263
Like these are the things that I think tech enablement allows.
399
00:23:44.883 --> 00:23:49.927
But if you look at Patrick's business model, he was valued based on the insurance premiums that he was getting.
400
00:23:50.247 --> 00:23:50.427
Right.
401
00:23:50.467 --> 00:23:53.430
The tech enablement allowed him to scale the insurance company.
402
00:23:53.630 --> 00:23:53.750
Right.
403
00:23:53.770 --> 00:23:53.890
Right.
404
00:23:54.070 --> 00:23:55.652
He did not build the software.
405
00:23:55.792 --> 00:23:59.256
He enabled the insurance company using technology.
406
00:23:59.457 --> 00:24:02.901
And so I would really focus on that because building software is like a completely different business.
407
00:24:03.261 --> 00:24:05.864
And I like learned that the very, very hard way a few years ago.
408
00:24:06.105 --> 00:24:08.027
How do you identify high leverage activities?
409
00:24:08.528 --> 00:24:11.611
Like what's the best time where you're spending your time?
410
00:24:11.631 --> 00:24:12.052
Is that...
411
00:24:12.283 --> 00:24:15.286
Yeah, you'll find an amount of time, resources, and money.
412
00:24:15.486 --> 00:24:23.114
And so as a CEO, your only skill becomes, is decision-making as to where those are allocated.
413
00:24:23.435 --> 00:24:27.038
And so it is the highest leverage thing you can do is make decisions.
414
00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:31.904
This is why like you hear Bezos talk about like, if he makes two or three good decisions a day, that was a good day.
415
00:24:32.124 --> 00:24:34.967
So ultimately, as you chunk up the amount of people you're managing,
416
00:24:35.387 --> 00:24:37.290
Doing work actually has very little value.
417
00:24:37.651 --> 00:24:39.474
Making good decisions is the only thing that matters.
418
00:24:39.794 --> 00:24:42.759
The thing that is, what are the inputs that go into making those good decisions?
419
00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:47.426
Usually great people, great data, great technology to be able to make sure that things are accurate.
420
00:24:47.666 --> 00:24:53.355
And so usually as you're building up 1 million to 5 million and even up to 10 million, you're actually just trying to gather people.
421
00:24:53.615 --> 00:24:58.463
You're trying to gather the data and be creating accurate data layer to be able to then make good decisions.
422
00:24:58.823 --> 00:25:01.507
Then 10 million plus is usually decision making.
423
00:25:01.768 --> 00:25:02.729
I appreciate it very much, Mike.
424
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Thank you.
