WEBVTT
00:00:00.017 -->
00:00:03.157It's really not sales. It's service, not sales.
00:00:03.357 -->
00:00:06.037Once you get so many maintenance agreements, if you don't have a really good
00:00:06.037 -->
00:00:11.497process that is thorough and allows the technician time,
00:00:11.497 -->
00:00:15.577if you don't have that and you just build up a whole bunch of maintenance agreements
00:00:15.577 -->
00:00:19.377and convert those maintenance agreements into sales by educating the customer,
00:00:19.397 -->
00:00:21.457it's not about hardcore pushy sales.
00:00:21.617 -->
00:00:25.197It's just about doing what you said, provide that better service,
00:00:25.417 -->
00:00:30.677provide a better service and the sales will come. Welcome to the Home Service
00:00:30.677 -->
00:00:35.537Hacks podcast, the show for contractors who refuse to settle for average.
00:00:35.897 -->
00:00:41.397Hosted by Bill Brown, licensed HVAC contractor, AI and automation expert,
00:00:41.637 -->
00:00:44.257and founder of Service Titan Hacks Community.
00:00:44.617 -->
00:00:49.577Each episode features real conversations with contractors, tech founders,
00:00:49.837 -->
00:00:52.437and innovators who are reshaping the trades.
00:00:52.597 -->
00:00:56.137From AI and automation to pricing, marketing, and management,
00:00:56.397 -->
00:01:01.037if it's working in the field, You'll hear about it here. Let's get into it.
00:01:02.477 -->
00:01:07.097It's interesting to have, you want to have the abundance mindset, right?
00:01:07.257 -->
00:01:12.817Because you don't want to always show them all of the roadblocks to success.
00:01:13.317 -->
00:01:22.857But then you also want to be grounded in reality so that they see the headwinds coming, right?
00:01:22.917 -->
00:01:28.517It's just, it's such a delicate balance of making money and keeping it.
00:01:28.677 -->
00:01:32.957And it seems to me like it's, you can kind of, for me, it was,
00:01:33.077 -->
00:01:34.437you can kind of do one or the other.
00:01:34.557 -->
00:01:40.297When I was really aggressive on growth and top line growth, I would,
00:01:40.377 -->
00:01:44.237you know, be more aggressive on marketing funds, which was riskier.
00:01:44.977 -->
00:01:52.397And I would have to hire more people ahead of the point where they had output, which was riskier.
00:01:52.537 -->
00:01:57.997So it was just all this cumulative risk that if I didn't execute correctly,
00:01:57.997 -->
00:02:00.197I was not going to make money.
00:02:00.337 -->
00:02:04.957And I thought when we hit about 2 million, I sat back and said, you know what?
00:02:05.117 -->
00:02:11.137If I just decide not to grow and just let the growth be 100% organic,
00:02:11.337 -->
00:02:14.837cut marketing down to the minimum, focus on existing customers,
00:02:14.977 -->
00:02:19.397referrals and everything, I'll be 100% fine with my,
00:02:20.078 -->
00:02:27.018personal income but then what would i tell my people like they when they go
00:02:27.018 -->
00:02:30.458hey i'd like to make more money or everything no i'm the only one in this company
00:02:30.458 -->
00:02:35.518that makes money you don't so then it would be like constantly bullshitting
00:02:35.518 -->
00:02:39.178my team yeah and talking you do that to promise.
00:02:40.298 -->
00:02:45.478Future opportunities that you knew didn't exist or you'd have to go through
00:02:45.478 -->
00:02:50.498a cycle of continuously building people up and letting them leave the company.
00:02:50.718 -->
00:02:55.078So I said, well, I'm not going to put a cap on this growth because I don't want
00:02:55.078 -->
00:02:56.958to put a cap on the success of my people.
00:02:57.298 -->
00:03:00.498But that added a lot of stress doing that, really, man. It did.
00:03:00.778 -->
00:03:05.398But the growth, business owners, we handle it, right? We take care, we handle that stress.
00:03:05.858 -->
00:03:09.858Yeah. And it's kind of been, I mean, for the last decade, since, you know,
00:03:10.078 -->
00:03:13.298I guess a little bit earlier than that, when YouTube became popular
00:03:13.298 -->
00:03:16.738and talking heads became more popular and you've
00:03:16.738 -->
00:03:19.458got people like grant cardone hitting the
00:03:19.458 -->
00:03:23.258scene you know and then and the 10x
00:03:23.258 -->
00:03:26.558rule and it's all go go go hustle and
00:03:26.558 -->
00:03:29.418grind and gary v was like work your face
00:03:29.418 -->
00:03:32.258off and i i i was in that approach because that's what
00:03:32.258 -->
00:03:35.438i was being that's what i was feeding into my mind all the time and
00:03:35.438 -->
00:03:39.878then you'll hear little sections of knowledge
00:03:39.878 -->
00:03:45.498shared by some industry titans and you want to as soon as you hear that it's
00:03:45.498 -->
00:03:50.418like oh well i need to do that and yeah there's no you're ready before you're
00:03:50.418 -->
00:03:55.078ready there's not enough context to what it takes to be ready to be able to
00:03:55.078 -->
00:03:56.818make that move effectively.
00:03:57.418 -->
00:04:02.738So there's a lot of moves being made that are just going to dig people deeper
00:04:02.738 -->
00:04:08.198into a hole and just create a much more stress and chaos that's really not necessary
00:04:08.198 -->
00:04:10.218if you would have just done it in stages.
00:04:10.218 -->
00:04:14.898It's like, if you were going to make macaroni and cheese, you wouldn't just...
00:04:16.342 -->
00:04:24.102You know, put the noodles in and just cook them for one minute and then take
00:04:24.102 -->
00:04:26.622them out. Like there's steps, right.
00:04:26.842 -->
00:04:29.262To just make, it's a recipe for success. Yes.
00:04:29.582 -->
00:04:36.162Yes. There's steps. Nobody has those, the guys that are running these $50 million
00:04:36.162 -->
00:04:41.302businesses already went past that part of the recipe.
00:04:41.582 -->
00:04:45.742And so maybe when they created it, it's not as relevant today,
00:04:45.942 -->
00:04:48.302in my opinion, or maybe they just forget.
00:04:48.762 -->
00:04:53.642Now, I guess some of them could be really knowledgeable of what it took to build
00:04:53.642 -->
00:04:58.362their business from zero to a million, one million to two million and everything.
00:04:58.562 -->
00:05:05.362But the challenge is that I was always very, very aware of those stages and
00:05:05.362 -->
00:05:09.322did a good job documenting them So I could go back and say,
00:05:09.522 -->
00:05:14.702man, the challenges that I had from day one to even the first half a million,
00:05:14.902 -->
00:05:18.822very different than the ones from two and a half to three million.
00:05:19.062 -->
00:05:23.062And like you said, you're right. If you try to attack, you only have so much
00:05:23.062 -->
00:05:25.282capacity, so much time, so much money.
00:05:25.282 -->
00:05:30.542If you try to solve a problem that a $2 million business, $3 million business
00:05:30.542 -->
00:05:35.722has, when you're a half a million, you're not going to see it through and you're
00:05:35.722 -->
00:05:36.922not going to get as much benefit.
00:05:37.122 -->
00:05:41.722So you have to know exactly what do I do in this stage of my business.
00:05:42.102 -->
00:05:46.162And I can work on one or two things and then move to the next.
00:05:46.162 -->
00:05:49.202And yeah that's something too is having some type
00:05:49.202 -->
00:05:52.262of a control plan because what typically happens is
00:05:52.262 -->
00:05:56.542the owner maybe goes to a seminar and they're it's like drinking from a fire
00:05:56.542 -->
00:06:00.502hose they've got all these new ideas and they come back and they they implement
00:06:00.502 -->
00:06:05.702them but they don't see them through it's not it doesn't stick so it's always
00:06:05.702 -->
00:06:09.782just new ideas it's always and it all costs money you know it's just it's.
00:06:10.392 -->
00:06:14.232It's a lot more. I've done it. Yeah, I've done it too. I did it for years.
00:06:14.432 -->
00:06:19.632I was very ambitious and of course, not afraid of hard work.
00:06:19.792 -->
00:06:24.072And, and I was in the truck, you know, I was a technician for over,
00:06:24.232 -->
00:06:32.272over 20 years of my 20, you know, my 20, almost 29 years being associated with this industry.
00:06:32.412 -->
00:06:38.012I, so it's like, I've made all the mistakes. I swear every time something pops
00:06:38.012 -->
00:06:40.292up, it's like, oh yeah, here's what happened.
00:06:40.392 -->
00:06:43.252When I did this, you know, when, when I'm talking with other business owners.
00:06:43.512 -->
00:06:46.672So there, there is a method to the madness.
00:06:46.872 -->
00:06:50.412I've kind of distilled this down into like.
00:06:51.872 -->
00:06:55.512Well, before I say that, it's going back to what you were talking about,
00:06:55.512 -->
00:07:00.092as far as business, some of these titans that are in our industry that are,
00:07:00.212 -->
00:07:02.512everybody looks up to, and I'm no different.
00:07:02.712 -->
00:07:08.172I look up to them too, But some of the stuff they say really is misleading and
00:07:08.172 -->
00:07:10.592it's really hurting the industry.
00:07:10.752 -->
00:07:16.992I know they're just trying to help, but sometimes it hurts the industry worse than it actually helps.
00:07:18.512 -->
00:07:22.912One particular person was saying that you shouldn't even go in.
00:07:22.972 -->
00:07:24.852You shouldn't even start your business without a brand.
00:07:25.072 -->
00:07:27.912Go spend $20,000 on a brand first.
00:07:28.532 -->
00:07:32.232And that is like, did you do that? Did you do that?
00:07:32.632 -->
00:07:35.892Probably not. I know this individual didn't do that.
00:07:36.072 -->
00:07:40.512So why would you tell new people to spend that money doing that?
00:07:40.652 -->
00:07:43.772There's way other more effective ways to spend that money to get your business
00:07:43.772 -->
00:07:44.952rolling and off the ground.
00:07:46.312 -->
00:07:51.252I've coached people who won the national awards for the best brand,
00:07:51.252 -->
00:07:55.252and they're freaking $500,000 in the hole, broke. Yeah.
00:07:55.655 -->
00:08:04.295Yeah. So like you have to be, it really means nothing until you're ready for it, in my opinion.
00:08:04.935 -->
00:08:09.775So. Right. And you don't have to spend $20,000 on it today either.
00:08:10.155 -->
00:08:14.735Yeah. You know, one of the things that, that I, I believe that the brand is
00:08:14.735 -->
00:08:18.615very important to how much you're able to get.
00:08:18.615 -->
00:08:23.475If you're, if you're going to be a high level contractor, offer high level services,
00:08:23.475 -->
00:08:25.535your brand should match that.
00:08:25.655 -->
00:08:29.055But you can't go into massive debt
00:08:29.055 -->
00:08:32.315to get that and then just hope that
00:08:32.315 -->
00:08:35.075you're going to get enough customers quickly enough because that's a
00:08:35.075 -->
00:08:38.255long-term play right and i
00:08:38.255 -->
00:08:41.355just think that if you you could start out with something
00:08:41.355 -->
00:08:45.255smaller and and you
00:08:45.255 -->
00:08:48.095know just as long as it's different than the guy down the street
00:08:48.095 -->
00:08:52.155yeah so really the brand is more about how you communicate you
00:08:52.155 -->
00:08:54.895know the service you provide it has the ability to
00:08:54.895 -->
00:08:57.955do all those things without it you know
00:08:57.955 -->
00:09:00.975costing you three or four thousand dollars to wrap every new
00:09:00.975 -->
00:09:04.195truck and here's the thing too when it comes to truck
00:09:04.195 -->
00:09:12.595wraps in in particular is they're great and but when you're one person or two
00:09:12.595 -->
00:09:16.675people and you've only got two vehicles you're not like making that impact that
00:09:16.675 -->
00:09:21.615you really want because you're just You don't have that volume going out there every day.
00:09:22.055 -->
00:09:26.075So it's like having one billboard and expecting it to kill it.
00:09:26.295 -->
00:09:31.495Whereas your competition has won all over the outer belt of the city.
00:09:31.835 -->
00:09:35.455So the, yeah, the impressions aren't high enough to justify it.
00:09:35.615 -->
00:09:40.395And it's the opportunity cost. What could you have done with that 3000 bucks? Right? Absolutely.
00:09:41.175 -->
00:09:50.135Absolutely. So in that aspect, it's kind of been skewed a little bit,
00:09:50.215 -->
00:09:54.755I think, as far as like, you know, what is the most important things in your business?
00:09:54.775 -->
00:09:57.915And we're in the home service industry.
00:09:58.195 -->
00:10:04.895So in my opinion, that service is the most important thing that you can deliver.
00:10:05.055 -->
00:10:07.235That's going to get happy customers.
00:10:07.595 -->
00:10:09.415Happy customers. Yeah. Happy customers.
00:10:09.995 -->
00:10:17.295Imagine that. Crazy happy customers is the number one thing that drives your
00:10:17.295 -->
00:10:20.755business. Never forget about happy customers.
00:10:21.075 -->
00:10:22.995Never, right? Ever.
00:10:23.653 -->
00:10:27.493And I think that as small companies, we all start out that way.
00:10:27.773 -->
00:10:33.113There's no, there's no, I don't, I find technicians to be really honest to a
00:10:33.113 -->
00:10:39.313fault, also to the point where they would sacrifice the success of their business
00:10:39.313 -->
00:10:42.273to not be priced correctly and stuff like that.
00:10:42.433 -->
00:10:46.693Maybe just not knowing, but ultimately the end of the day, we get our joy as
00:10:46.693 -->
00:10:52.073a technician. Cause that's how I started out was straight technician worked
00:10:52.073 -->
00:10:56.933for a manufacturer of, uh, air conditioning for data centers for years.
00:10:57.113 -->
00:10:59.393So really, really technical nerdy stuff.
00:10:59.753 -->
00:11:05.793And what I, what I found happiness for myself was making customers happy.
00:11:06.393 -->
00:11:12.733And you get that through the business, you know, by, by having a customer be,
00:11:12.933 -->
00:11:14.753Oh my gosh, thank you so much.
00:11:14.853 -->
00:11:18.613You just, you, I can't believe this. Like you just saved the day. You're my hero.
00:11:18.893 -->
00:11:23.193Like, yeah, every technician has heard that at some point in their career and
00:11:23.193 -->
00:11:25.933it feels good. And it's like that instant gratification.
00:11:26.113 -->
00:11:32.173That's one of the struggles from making the transition from getting those,
00:11:32.373 -->
00:11:37.053those, that instant gratification every single day while you're running calls
00:11:37.053 -->
00:11:42.413versus beginning to actually work in the business or on the business.
00:11:42.713 -->
00:11:46.533It's very different, isn't it? It's a very different job. It's a completely different job.
00:11:46.733 -->
00:11:51.933Completely tears out. It is. And it might as well be a different company almost.
00:11:52.133 -->
00:11:56.053It's such a big, that's the biggest transition you can experience.
00:11:56.793 -->
00:12:01.293Yeah. It's an identity shift that has to happen. If you're going to grow this
00:12:01.293 -->
00:12:04.773thing, you know, the, you're not going to grow your business without burnout
00:12:04.773 -->
00:12:08.793or exhaustion, whatever you want to call it, resentment, you know, towards your business.
00:12:09.273 -->
00:12:14.173If you stay in the truck, like you have to get out of the truck and it's really
00:12:14.173 -->
00:12:18.373hard for most people because it's just comfortable for them. That's what they know.
00:12:19.653 -->
00:12:24.113Switching into stuff that the unknown, everything you see online when it comes
00:12:24.113 -->
00:12:30.513to Facebook groups and things of people talking about their numbers and how successful they are.
00:12:31.353 -->
00:12:35.413That is just, for one, like we said earlier, that's highlights.
00:12:35.733 -->
00:12:39.893It's a highlight reel. You don't know what's actually happening in the company,
00:12:40.133 -->
00:12:43.393but that is a very small percentage, believe it or not.
00:12:43.533 -->
00:12:48.093I mean, truly successful HVAC businesses, most of them are struggling.
00:12:48.293 -->
00:12:50.813That's why the statistics say it's like,
00:12:51.353 -->
00:12:56.67370% of businesses, I think it was the ACCA who came out with a study that said
00:12:56.673 -->
00:13:00.313that 70% of all brand new heating and air conditioning businesses fail in the
00:13:00.313 -->
00:13:02.093first year. They just don't make it.
00:13:02.913 -->
00:13:09.193And then 20% every single year. 20% of all HVAC companies go out of business every single year.
00:13:09.333 -->
00:13:14.773And then you look at the regular business statistics, 50% fail by year five
00:13:14.773 -->
00:13:19.613and only like 6% make it past 10 years. It's very low.
00:13:19.813 -->
00:13:26.293You're right. It is a few percentage that make it past that 10-year mark.
00:13:26.513 -->
00:13:30.793And why is it that? I mean, there's obviously a multitude of factors.
00:13:30.793 -->
00:13:34.613I think that probably burnout and the owner just runs out of gas.
00:13:34.813 -->
00:13:40.953For me personally, I ran out of gas near the end of my business. I did too.
00:13:41.513 -->
00:13:45.713And I would say that you have to have your foot on the gas continuously.
00:13:46.113 -->
00:13:50.633Doesn't mean aggressive growth. It just means attacking the biggest problem.
00:13:51.373 -->
00:13:54.673Pareto principle, the biggest problem in the company, work on it,
00:13:54.953 -->
00:13:57.013fix it, grind through it.
00:13:57.093 -->
00:14:03.433But if you decide that you can't do that for whatever reason or you're not going to, that's it.
00:14:03.673 -->
00:14:10.953It will kill you. And I lost my passion for it due to two things.
00:14:11.153 -->
00:14:17.693One was moving away from the company. So I seriously underestimated what it
00:14:17.693 -->
00:14:20.973would be like to run it remotely. And yeah.
00:14:21.610 -->
00:14:25.410Because we grew from, when I left,
00:14:25.490 -->
00:14:33.970the company was around 2 million and we grew it to four in 100% remotely because
00:14:33.970 -->
00:14:37.610I've been very fortunate to be really good with processes,
00:14:37.990 -->
00:14:40.210designing a process from scratch,
00:14:40.610 -->
00:14:44.130step-by-step and refining it and working on it.
00:14:44.230 -->
00:14:45.690So that always allowed me to-
00:14:45.690 -->
00:14:50.350That's a skill set that- That's a skill set that most people don't have.
00:14:50.350 -->
00:14:53.630They and it comes from my computer programming background
00:14:53.630 -->
00:14:56.610so that's where i started and a computer programming is
00:14:56.610 -->
00:15:02.450extremely rigid processes or it just doesn't work and that's what keeps the
00:15:02.450 -->
00:15:07.050guys from getting into the truck and of course all of the the big guys talk
00:15:07.050 -->
00:15:12.670about processes but as far as actually creating them and implementing them and
00:15:12.670 -->
00:15:16.590refining them i don't i haven't seen where they've really gone into that.
00:15:16.830 -->
00:15:22.990But anyway, running it remotely wasn't the same on Zoom. I didn't have the passion for the people.
00:15:23.250 -->
00:15:25.490As we grew, I didn't even know the people.
00:15:26.470 -->
00:15:31.650And so when it was time to grind, I wasn't sure who I was grinding for.
00:15:32.050 -->
00:15:36.050I got a lot of people that would steal from me.
00:15:36.350 -->
00:15:41.690I had went from some high-level managers that, what's the chance you're going
00:15:41.690 -->
00:15:45.430to get that first manager, high-level manager right the first time.
00:15:45.590 -->
00:15:50.690I didn't. I had to go through a couple of those. And then I had some family
00:15:50.690 -->
00:15:52.710issues that just took me offline.
00:15:52.990 -->
00:15:58.770And my business just, it just stayed steady and started to decline a little bit.
00:15:58.870 -->
00:16:01.970And I just lost the passion for it.
00:16:02.070 -->
00:16:07.290And I think it, it wasn't really burnout because I wasn't putting in tons of hours.
00:16:07.390 -->
00:16:15.230I just didn't understand, didn't have a purpose for it as much as I did when I was in Ohio.
00:16:15.490 -->
00:16:18.990So I think that everybody has a reason for.
00:16:19.881 -->
00:16:22.741Wanting to get out. And it could be a good time.
00:16:22.841 -->
00:16:27.261It could be a bad time. I was fortunate to have a lot of success throughout
00:16:27.261 -->
00:16:33.061the majority of it, despite all of the bad choices that I made during that time.
00:16:33.381 -->
00:16:37.621That's where I didn't have a bunch of success through the majority of it.
00:16:37.681 -->
00:16:39.881Majority of it was awful. Yeah.
00:16:40.441 -->
00:16:45.701And I wasn't actively searching to exit my business, but I had already talked
00:16:45.701 -->
00:16:49.521to a lawyer and began like succession planning.
00:16:49.621 -->
00:16:55.701Cause I knew that I wanted to exit at some point two years prior to an opportunity falling in my lap.
00:16:56.041 -->
00:17:03.401So when the opportunity came, I was like, my business was well ran as far as
00:17:03.401 -->
00:17:07.181like the financials, the, our operations.
00:17:09.241 -->
00:17:14.041It was literally one of my sales reps was like one of the, you know,
00:17:14.181 -->
00:17:18.221I have a dealer here. one of his other dealers, another account of his,
00:17:18.361 -->
00:17:19.921who's looking to purchase a business.
00:17:20.061 -->
00:17:23.581And I know that you had mentioned that at some point you would probably exit.
00:17:23.761 -->
00:17:26.861Would you be interested in having a conversation with him? I said, sure.
00:17:27.341 -->
00:17:32.241So next week, go to a meeting. We arranged like another meeting from that meeting.
00:17:33.221 -->
00:17:37.481Wound up going to the actual owner, which was a private equity company,
00:17:38.001 -->
00:17:42.281not, but they're a real estate company, just a local real estate company.
00:17:42.281 -->
00:17:46.681They manage like over 5 million square feet of real estate.
00:17:47.721 -->
00:17:52.921And they happen to own one of the oldest and biggest heating air companies in my region,
00:17:53.685 -->
00:17:58.245as well. So they were trying to like, you know, integrate the two and they did
00:17:58.245 -->
00:18:00.225plumbing, heating air and electrical.
00:18:01.625 -->
00:18:07.165So from that first meeting till the exit of my business, it happened very quickly.
00:18:07.165 -->
00:18:12.205It was like one and a half months and I was out the door and didn't have a job.
00:18:12.505 -->
00:18:17.385And I was like, I walked out with a big check and then I got payments for the next two years.
00:18:18.505 -->
00:18:21.325And, but they're one of
00:18:21.325 -->
00:18:24.405the oldest largest companies and I don't share probably
00:18:24.405 -->
00:18:28.265wouldn't share this but I'll just tell you like I know
00:18:28.265 -->
00:18:31.825what they do in revenue and it's roughly $20 million and
00:18:31.825 -->
00:18:37.605they've been in business since like the 60s so to have a company doing $30 million
00:18:37.605 -->
00:18:42.585that doesn't exist here in my realm like this is a small town middle America
00:18:42.585 -->
00:18:49.665in Kansas here isn't $30 million worth of transactions happening unless maybe 100% of the market,
00:18:50.165 -->
00:18:53.225It's 30 million, but it depends upon the market size.
00:18:53.425 -->
00:18:57.565If you wanted to get bigger, you'd have to expand your market at that point. Absolutely.
00:18:57.985 -->
00:19:01.905My business is located in a, I mean, we did business in Wichita,
00:19:02.105 -->
00:19:07.605which is the big city close to me, which is about, I want to say 400,000 people,
00:19:07.825 -->
00:19:08.805maybe a little over that.
00:19:08.965 -->
00:19:13.985But in the town where my business is located, because my business,
00:19:14.145 -->
00:19:16.825they are still running my business. They're renting my building,
00:19:17.205 -->
00:19:21.365still use my building and everything. But it's less than 10,000 people.
00:19:22.245 -->
00:19:26.905And then, so very small community, just rule America.
00:19:27.265 -->
00:19:32.105That's what we have here. And I think it's hard not to, you know,
00:19:32.165 -->
00:19:33.985they say comparison is the thief of joy.
00:19:34.445 -->
00:19:37.985And when you get online and you look at these other people winning and you're
00:19:37.985 -->
00:19:42.805just going through hell, it's hard not to compare yourself and think,
00:19:42.965 -->
00:19:44.865like, I'm a complete loser over here.
00:19:45.545 -->
00:19:50.665Yeah, right. Right. I'm not doing 4 million or 8 million or whatever it is.
00:19:51.845 -->
00:19:56.345And it really markets market really does matter. It truly does.
00:19:56.845 -->
00:20:01.285But you can always push, push your potential and you can, you can still do very
00:20:01.285 -->
00:20:04.585well in just about any market, you know, right.
00:20:04.585 -->
00:20:09.125If you have the right processes and systems and, you know, you make that transition
00:20:09.125 -->
00:20:11.865to working on your business instead of in your business.
00:20:11.865 -->
00:20:17.745Like it, It's all possible for for the people who are willing to immerse themselves
00:20:17.745 -->
00:20:20.705in education and figure it out. Right.
00:20:21.045 -->
00:20:24.685Without thinking that there's any magic or silver.
00:20:25.085 -->
00:20:30.005No, don't chase the. Tell me about that, Bill. Did you are you guilty of that?
00:20:30.185 -->
00:20:32.805Because you're looking at a guilty man. Right.
00:20:33.465 -->
00:20:36.565You're either guilty of it or you lie about it.
00:20:36.785 -->
00:20:42.305I don't care who you are. Right. So some of those decisions and those commitments to,
00:20:43.117 -->
00:20:48.237you know, spending $6,000 a month on your website and SEO can completely take
00:20:48.237 -->
00:20:49.517your business down. That's it.
00:20:49.777 -->
00:20:54.337Yes. That was the rest of your money. If you didn't grow from that investment.
00:20:55.157 -->
00:20:57.717That's it. Your little fragile business is done.
00:20:57.937 -->
00:21:02.737The people that made it through that made mistakes in other things.
00:21:03.137 -->
00:21:09.097That's just how it is. And you either experience setbacks or you lie about it.
00:21:09.197 -->
00:21:12.297It depends on what you want to do. But I think that when you're on the internet,
00:21:12.297 -->
00:21:16.557that it's just not very inspiring to talk about all the mistakes you made.
00:21:16.737 -->
00:21:22.697But I think that it's also very helpful to be realistic that this is difficult.
00:21:23.197 -->
00:21:27.237There's a reason why so many of these businesses don't make it.
00:21:27.517 -->
00:21:32.517And it's just overextending themselves and then running out of cash, right?
00:21:33.057 -->
00:21:38.677Yeah, because of what I do now, trying to reach those people who are just,
00:21:38.677 -->
00:21:43.437you know, they're really just treading water. The bank account is not growing.
00:21:43.757 -->
00:21:49.717Their quality of life is decreasing because of the extra stress that they're
00:21:49.717 -->
00:21:52.197taking on and the chaos they're trying to manage.
00:21:53.657 -->
00:22:00.597They get so immersed in busy work that a lot of them don't have the time to
00:22:00.597 -->
00:22:05.837even search for the information that we share to help people get out of this,
00:22:05.937 -->
00:22:09.997to stop the- They don't even have the time to sit down and listen to a podcast.
00:22:11.137 -->
00:22:16.817They're putting out fires all day long, every day. And there's lots of reasons for that.
00:22:17.237 -->
00:22:21.057But money is a big driver. A lot of them are struggling financially.
00:22:21.057 -->
00:22:23.277And it's like, well, I've got this call.
00:22:23.397 -->
00:22:27.637I can't listen to Bill and Kelly talk about H5. I got to go make money because I got bills to pay.
00:22:28.637 -->
00:22:31.257Yeah, and I get it. Yeah, I get it too.
00:22:31.927 -->
00:22:35.167So I mean how do you really the message that
00:22:35.167 -->
00:22:38.047firefighting right the message that's what we're
00:22:38.047 -->
00:22:41.107trying to figure out is how do we talk how do we get these people's
00:22:41.107 -->
00:22:49.107attention to like stop the madness and learn let's you can easily learn this
00:22:49.107 -->
00:22:54.787if you have any ambition to do something to do better in your company you can
00:22:54.787 -->
00:22:59.607learn what I have to share and it will help you tremendously so what is the message?
00:22:59.807 -->
00:23:02.287Because I'm guilty probably on my YouTube channel.
00:23:02.527 -->
00:23:08.487I've been on YouTube for over 10 years since I first started this journey of
00:23:08.487 -->
00:23:12.627making changes in my business. I talk about how hard it is a lot.
00:23:13.127 -->
00:23:17.427And sometimes maybe that's off-putting to people because I'm not, but I'm just being real.
00:23:17.687 -->
00:23:22.567I'm not trying to sugarcoat shit. I'm not trying to pretend that it's going
00:23:22.567 -->
00:23:25.567to be all rainbows, unicorns, and butterflies because it's not.
00:23:26.507 -->
00:23:30.047But maybe I'm going about it wrong. I don't know.
00:23:31.067 -->
00:23:35.587Well, you're going to take some losses on it, on things. And it's really about
00:23:35.587 -->
00:23:38.547winning more battles than you lose, right?
00:23:38.867 -->
00:23:42.227And when you're talking about firefighting, one of the things,
00:23:42.467 -->
00:23:47.747one of the books that I read early on as I was educating myself was The Seven
00:23:47.747 -->
00:23:49.187Habits of Highly effective people.
00:23:49.407 -->
00:23:56.367And I had the Stephen Covey, who's the author of the book, his four quadrants on my wall.
00:23:56.647 -->
00:23:58.987And the quadrant one was,
00:23:59.537 -->
00:24:04.037things that are urgent and important, which are your fires.
00:24:04.497 -->
00:24:10.797Yeah. So a technician is out on a job and, or a salesperson's out on a job and
00:24:10.797 -->
00:24:14.657they call you and you answering the phone is the difference between them selling
00:24:14.657 -->
00:24:16.537the job or not. You have to answer the phone.
00:24:17.057 -->
00:24:20.897Quadrant two are the things that are important, but not urgent.
00:24:21.557 -->
00:24:25.717Yo, moving from quadrant one to quadrant two is that getting out of the truck.
00:24:25.817 -->
00:24:29.357And I, I absolutely hated firefighting.
00:24:29.537 -->
00:24:32.297I was like, I have to be in fire prevention.
00:24:32.637 -->
00:24:37.637I have to find out the root cause of why this happened, solve that,
00:24:37.857 -->
00:24:40.457because it's just going to come up again and again.
00:24:40.677 -->
00:24:46.837And so I was fortunate about a year and a half into my business to get out of
00:24:46.837 -->
00:24:48.837the truck almost completely.
00:24:48.917 -->
00:24:52.397I would go to jobs sometimes. I would do some sales sometimes,
00:24:52.397 -->
00:24:57.657but mostly I was in the office and training and recruiting and things like that.
00:24:57.657 -->
00:25:04.977But it was because I had such a strong desire to just work on non-urgent but important things.
00:25:05.237 -->
00:25:11.337So how does a technician founder get to that point?
00:25:11.557 -->
00:25:13.957One step at a time, man. Right?
00:25:14.697 -->
00:25:20.437Yeah. The right steps. Because your time is just, oh, you're putting out so many fires.
00:25:20.697 -->
00:25:25.597And oftentimes people grow without the processes in place. So everybody's just
00:25:25.597 -->
00:25:29.917out there doing their own thing. And it just kind of compounds the chaos.
00:25:30.957 -->
00:25:34.697And then we're dumping money into marketing because we think that's what we need.
00:25:34.837 -->
00:25:40.497And, okay, well, great. Now we get more calls and we just compound it even more. Right.
00:25:41.425 -->
00:25:45.725We're not maximizing anything, whether it's the phone call coming in or the
00:25:45.725 -->
00:25:50.245service call process or the sales process or the follow it. Like there's nothing there.
00:25:51.185 -->
00:25:56.165So it's it's very easy to just get caught up in the whirlwind of like more,
00:25:56.245 -->
00:25:57.805more, more and growth, growth, growth.
00:25:57.965 -->
00:26:01.705And let's do this and get ambitious. and without
00:26:01.705 -->
00:26:05.405like the specific very specific
00:26:05.405 -->
00:26:10.865measurable time-based actions that you need to take in order to have that and
00:26:10.865 -->
00:26:18.005experience that growth growth in top line and in bottom line together and yes
00:26:18.005 -->
00:26:23.605yeah it takes i mean when i'm talking to people about processes that we're like
00:26:23.605 -->
00:26:24.665we were talking about earlier.
00:26:24.945 -->
00:26:29.545It is a recipe. You're baking a cake over and over again.
00:26:29.905 -->
00:26:34.605Anytime you're going to be doing something multiple times, you better have a
00:26:34.605 -->
00:26:38.125very easy to follow, rigid process for it.
00:26:38.285 -->
00:26:44.965If you're going to answer the phone more than once, you need a very specific,
00:26:44.965 -->
00:26:47.985repeatable way that you
00:26:47.985 -->
00:26:51.245exactly answer the phone or that
00:26:51.245 -->
00:26:54.465skill set lies within your csr who
00:26:54.465 -->
00:26:58.745can and will quit at any time and so
00:26:58.745 -->
00:27:01.765these technician founders man how do
00:27:01.765 -->
00:27:04.705they really get to that point to be
00:27:04.705 -->
00:27:07.725able to sit back and and you know
00:27:07.725 -->
00:27:12.005they they get up against this wall where they're pulled so thin they do everything
00:27:12.005 -->
00:27:16.165but nothing great or nothing fully all the way through that needs to be done
00:27:16.165 -->
00:27:24.825what's the what's the first step that somebody has to take when it's time to
00:27:24.825 -->
00:27:27.625get out of the truck what do you think the first step is,
00:27:28.471 -->
00:27:34.331The very first step is, you know, everybody always talks about mindset and the
00:27:34.331 -->
00:27:38.031mindset is not, it's not something that ever goes away.
00:27:38.211 -->
00:27:43.311When I say mindset, what I'm really talking about is you have to become aware.
00:27:44.211 -->
00:27:48.891Instead of continuing to just put out fires, continuing to do the same thing
00:27:48.891 -->
00:27:52.911that you've always done that gets you the same results that's making your life
00:27:52.911 -->
00:27:56.091miserable, we have to stop doing that.
00:27:57.111 -->
00:28:01.771And we have to, you know, if you want something different in your business,
00:28:01.951 -->
00:28:05.691you have to do something different in your business. So we have to do something different.
00:28:05.731 -->
00:28:10.451It's really hard in the beginning if you're, for me, I was good, fast, and cheap.
00:28:10.691 -->
00:28:14.051If you're good, fast, and cheap, You can be as busy as you want.
00:28:14.171 -->
00:28:16.651You can have as many calls as you want.
00:28:17.391 -->
00:28:21.191But there are consequences to being good, fast, and cheap.
00:28:21.711 -->
00:28:25.291It's all on the shoulders of you at that point. It is.
00:28:25.311 -->
00:28:29.731Where is that revenue dollar where it just stops?
00:28:29.751 -->
00:28:34.711It can't get any bigger than that if it's you in the truck.
00:28:34.891 -->
00:28:38.851I think it's different for everybody. But I believe for me.
00:28:39.491 -->
00:28:45.451Last time I checked, it was about 300,000 that I could never do more than that
00:28:45.451 -->
00:28:52.651with the time that I had, no matter what, if I wasn't sitting back observing the cakes being made.
00:28:53.031 -->
00:28:59.791I could never create or watch another cake being made from another person,
00:28:59.991 -->
00:29:02.271right? Or a different process in the business.
00:29:02.491 -->
00:29:09.511So that's where that was at. So you're saying that what got you to where you're
00:29:09.511 -->
00:29:13.311at was certain things that you do on a daily basis.
00:29:13.631 -->
00:29:16.751And if you're not willing to change that, you're just going to stay there.
00:29:17.131 -->
00:29:20.691Sometimes it takes a lot of, especially because, you know, heating,
00:29:20.831 -->
00:29:25.071air conditioning, contractors, technicians, like it's a tough job,
00:29:25.251 -->
00:29:27.991you know, and they can take a beating.
00:29:27.991 -->
00:29:32.831They can just take a beating for a long period of time, which is admirable,
00:29:33.111 -->
00:29:35.391but you can work smarter, not harder.
00:29:35.951 -->
00:29:40.831And so there's only time is finite as far as what you're capable of producing
00:29:40.831 -->
00:29:42.811in a day. You can only run so many calls.
00:29:42.971 -->
00:29:51.191There's only so many hours in a day. After multiple times of me finishing my last call,
00:29:51.511 -->
00:29:57.131and I had a couple of team members at that time, I'd probably fielded 30 or
00:29:57.131 -->
00:30:04.05140 calls that day, along with customers calling and trying to schedule and book that.
00:30:04.571 -->
00:30:07.711God, it was so stressful, wasn't it? So stressful.
00:30:07.991 -->
00:30:13.751A nightmare. A couple of really late nights, getting home at 11 o'clock at night,
00:30:14.171 -->
00:30:17.691I'm driving home in the dark and I get home.
00:30:18.749 -->
00:30:23.589And I'm sitting in the driveway and I realized that I just drove the entire
00:30:23.589 -->
00:30:26.509way home without any radio or anything on.
00:30:26.669 -->
00:30:29.209No decompression. I am just spent.
00:30:29.469 -->
00:30:32.589Like my mind was running through the day while I'm driving home.
00:30:32.589 -->
00:30:38.129I'm in a, I'm a zombie because I've been doing this for the last six days and
00:30:38.129 -->
00:30:40.849I'm on day seven and I'm exhausted and tired.
00:30:41.089 -->
00:30:45.749And for me, I, I, there was a lot of other, we talked a little bit about it,
00:30:45.949 -->
00:30:50.189a lot of other pain. because your life doesn't stop just because you get busy running a business.
00:30:51.169 -->
00:30:56.889So I was raised an only child. My dad later remarried and I've got two stepsisters
00:30:56.889 -->
00:31:03.069and a stepmom, but my dad died, my mom died, and my wife almost died in the
00:31:03.069 -->
00:31:04.169first five years of business.
00:31:04.269 -->
00:31:10.229So I've got this stuff happening while I'm trying to juggle customers and team.
00:31:10.609 -->
00:31:14.449And at some point I just had, I was searching.
00:31:14.569 -->
00:31:17.989So you've got to get to the point where you actually start searching for the
00:31:17.989 -->
00:31:20.329answers because you know that this is not sustainable.
00:31:20.769 -->
00:31:25.689Right, or you're gonna break down completely and just quit. Just quit.
00:31:26.349 -->
00:31:32.229So I started searching, I read a couple of books, I started to get into personal development.
00:31:32.449 -->
00:31:38.049It's my belief that personal development is the foundation to every successful business owner.
00:31:38.169 -->
00:31:41.489That's why the mindset always comes up in conversation.
00:31:41.489 -->
00:31:48.809That's why you learn about setting some goals and measuring those goals and
00:31:48.809 -->
00:31:55.749changing the way you think about your life and what's possible for you, having a bigger vision,
00:31:56.329 -->
00:31:59.329developing consistency, right? And grit.
00:31:59.629 -->
00:32:03.989That was all part of that foundation that I got into personal development as
00:32:03.989 -->
00:32:07.949I started to learn how I was gonna fix this. It wasn't even business.
00:32:08.489 -->
00:32:11.509Up to that point, I'm 36 years old,
00:32:11.609 -->
00:32:18.84937 years old, and I've read one book that my wife asked me to read and she likes
00:32:18.849 -->
00:32:24.429fiction and one book she wanted me to read and I read it and I did not like it.
00:32:25.769 -->
00:32:28.709And so I always thought just reading wasn't for me.
00:32:28.829 -->
00:32:33.329But then when I started reading personal development and then I really dug into
00:32:33.329 -->
00:32:39.269like business and learning about business, those are two subjects that I just can't get enough of.
00:32:39.409 -->
00:32:44.729So I actually enjoy reading and started reading those books And from that, it went to seminars.
00:32:45.109 -->
00:32:49.369But in the beginning, to kind of go back to the question, to circle back,
00:32:49.589 -->
00:32:52.569in the beginning, it might just be like,
00:32:53.417 -->
00:32:57.757at the beginning, like there's an AM, think of like your day as having bookends,
00:32:58.357 -->
00:33:00.957right? You got an AM and a PM bookend.
00:33:01.497 -->
00:33:05.717Well, those are typically times of the day that you truly have control over.
00:33:05.917 -->
00:33:09.357I mean, let's be honest, you have control over every hour of your day.
00:33:09.517 -->
00:33:13.737Honestly, you can choose to do something or not do it, but we don't feel that
00:33:13.737 -->
00:33:17.697way when we're trapped in the cycle of a busy business.
00:33:18.317 -->
00:33:22.697So I could control the AM and I kept reading like in these personal development
00:33:22.697 -->
00:33:24.817the books, like get up earlier, get up earlier.
00:33:25.077 -->
00:33:28.857Right. Well, I did. I worked myself up because I was never a morning person.
00:33:29.057 -->
00:33:31.457And I started getting up at six, 6am.
00:33:31.737 -->
00:33:36.017That's not even early for some people, but it's even to this day, it's still early for me.
00:33:36.557 -->
00:33:41.577So, but I got used to getting up at 6am and then from six to seven o'clock in
00:33:41.577 -->
00:33:46.417the morning, I would grab my coffee first thing and I'm learning.
00:33:46.797 -->
00:33:53.737I'm either listening to something. I turned my van also into a rolling library.
00:33:54.137 -->
00:33:58.117So I started back then, there wasn't, podcast wasn't even a thing.
00:33:58.317 -->
00:34:02.497So I bought audio books and I started listening to them nonstop.
00:34:02.697 -->
00:34:03.917That's all that was on my radio.
00:34:04.317 -->
00:34:08.477That was all that was playing through my speakers in my truck for 10 years.
00:34:08.537 -->
00:34:11.257Which is a great way to do it. If you're trying to leave the truck,
00:34:11.557 -->
00:34:13.917that's where you're going to be a lot of the day. Yes.
00:34:14.077 -->
00:34:18.357So what are you listening to while you're spending a half hour driving between
00:34:18.357 -->
00:34:21.497one job and another? That's where you can do your education.
00:34:22.037 -->
00:34:28.977Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's like Tony Robbins has this net time, like no extra time.
00:34:29.337 -->
00:34:35.597Right. So I think it was him that came up with that. And I started really using that. I took that.
00:34:35.917 -->
00:34:42.897I also learned some other things like poison in, poison out. So it's like I shut off.
00:34:43.157 -->
00:34:48.097I have not watched the news. I mean, I'm on social media, so I see headlines and stuff.
00:34:48.257 -->
00:34:54.677But watching the actual news, I haven't done that for, I mean, it's been 20 years.
00:34:55.457 -->
00:34:59.397Right. I just don't watch the news. There's no benefit. It's all negative.
00:35:00.217 -->
00:35:03.577And I don't miss anything. If there's a major thing happening,
00:35:03.617 -->
00:35:05.897I still hear about it through my coworker.
00:35:06.797 -->
00:35:11.217Or I'll see a headline on social media somewhere. but I'm not missing anything
00:35:11.217 -->
00:35:13.257by cutting that stuff out.
00:35:13.377 -->
00:35:19.617So I started that diet of, I really paid attention to what's going into my brain.
00:35:20.057 -->
00:35:22.537And I tried to keep it positive and keep it,
00:35:23.259 -->
00:35:28.379Towards the things that I have control over. But in the beginning,
00:35:28.639 -->
00:35:32.739control your bookends and then eventually work your way into being able to book,
00:35:32.899 -->
00:35:35.159even if it's just an hour during the day.
00:35:35.339 -->
00:35:39.399Just like you would schedule a service call, schedule that hour.
00:35:39.619 -->
00:35:44.859Schedule a one o'clock appointment with yourself to work on the business instead
00:35:44.859 -->
00:35:50.399of in it. And don't let have, you know, you've got to be committed enough to
00:35:50.399 -->
00:35:53.959say yes to yourself and no to customers sometimes.
00:35:54.379 -->
00:35:56.779Like, yeah, anytime you say yes
00:35:56.779 -->
00:35:59.839to anything, you're saying no to something else that you could be doing.
00:36:00.419 -->
00:36:03.359Get used to that. Like there's going to be tradeoffs.
00:36:04.039 -->
00:36:07.859But the most important tradeoff is your education and learning how to run this
00:36:07.859 -->
00:36:13.879business so that you can actually get out of the truck. Because the last thing
00:36:13.879 -->
00:36:18.159you want is to be 65 years old, still running service calls.
00:36:19.399 -->
00:36:22.699Yeah, that's not even a sellable business either, right? So you talk about,
00:36:22.879 -->
00:36:29.639or we talk about a lot of these guys who I think the typical path to business
00:36:29.639 -->
00:36:33.639ownership is they start out as a technician working for a company.
00:36:33.639 -->
00:36:40.719And they run out of opportunities for growth within that company or they don't
00:36:40.719 -->
00:36:45.279really like the owner or their particular management,
00:36:45.699 -->
00:36:50.459they start thinking about my option is either I go work for another company
00:36:50.459 -->
00:36:55.799where I'm going to probably experience the same thing or I start my own.
00:36:56.179 -->
00:37:04.999My company charges $15,000 for a system replacement. If I charge $10,000, I'm good. That's it.
00:37:05.219 -->
00:37:08.739That's how much they put into it.
00:37:08.899 -->
00:37:14.139Yeah. Because my equipment only costs $25,000, so they think that they're making $5,000.
00:37:14.639 -->
00:37:19.139They don't really know their costs because that takes a lot of planning to really
00:37:19.139 -->
00:37:23.459understand granulately all the costs that happens.
00:37:23.659 -->
00:37:25.479And those are below the surface.
00:37:25.819 -->
00:37:28.919And you don't see that as a technician.
00:37:29.699 -->
00:37:34.379Typically, where these people are in their career, they don't have that knowledge.
00:37:34.679 -->
00:37:39.979They could get it maybe if they asked the owner or if they did some internet searching.
00:37:41.084 -->
00:37:46.364But they don't really know it. So they see the parts that they buy and then
00:37:46.364 -->
00:37:50.344they take the total price minus the parts is everything I get to keep.
00:37:51.244 -->
00:37:54.904And that is so far from the truth. It is. Yeah.
00:37:55.644 -->
00:37:59.824That'll crush you from day one. So these guys end up having a lifestyle business,
00:37:59.824 -->
00:38:04.364but they don't even get to the point where their lifestyle is as good as it
00:38:04.364 -->
00:38:07.284was when they were working for the previous company.
00:38:08.244 -->
00:38:12.304So it could be actually a lot better working for the previous company if they
00:38:12.304 -->
00:38:17.724applied themselves and just learned a little bit and became more comfortable
00:38:17.724 -->
00:38:21.644with having conversations with customers. They could go into sales.
00:38:21.884 -->
00:38:27.864They could make so much more money for so many more years that,
00:38:27.864 -->
00:38:35.044you know, building the business up to where you can pay yourself a decent salary and have literally,
00:38:35.864 -->
00:38:40.264you know, a fraction of the stress that comes with everything else that you're,
00:38:40.364 -->
00:38:45.764you know, it's usually pretty, pretty jarring when somebody goes out on their
00:38:45.764 -->
00:38:46.844own and they realize, well,
00:38:47.104 -->
00:38:51.684every day, you know, they just handed me calls. to go run or sit.
00:38:52.064 -->
00:38:57.004Filled appointments. Well, now I have to produce those. Where do I get those from?
00:38:58.084 -->
00:39:04.564I didn't even think about that when I started. But we still want people to start businesses.
00:39:04.804 -->
00:39:08.284There's a lot of success stories from technicians who do it.
00:39:08.564 -->
00:39:14.604But you never start out and go down the path and find out things were easier than you thought.
00:39:15.404 -->
00:39:20.984Ever. If you have... Yeah, I think Alex Ramosi says it's going to be harder
00:39:20.984 -->
00:39:23.244than you thought. It's going to take a lot longer than you thought.
00:39:24.384 -->
00:39:27.664And that's almost with anything. Like try to go get in shape.
00:39:28.244 -->
00:39:31.344I promise you, it'll be a lot harder than you thought, and it's going to take
00:39:31.344 -->
00:39:35.484a lot longer than you thought. So it's easy to get fat too, right? Yeah.
00:39:35.984 -->
00:39:37.944Easy. Pick your hard, you know.
00:39:38.864 -->
00:39:45.104It's hard working for somebody else. It can be. But it's also hard running your own business.
00:39:46.004 -->
00:39:52.624I feel like if you have ambitions and maybe even a seed was planted in your
00:39:52.624 -->
00:39:54.164head that maybe you could do this,
00:39:54.384 -->
00:40:02.024that that was given to you from the universe or a higher power that says, hey,
00:40:02.564 -->
00:40:04.344you're capable of this.
00:40:04.424 -->
00:40:09.124Go ahead and try it. So I think if you have that inclination to want to do this,
00:40:09.304 -->
00:40:13.184but if you're if you're just trying to go make because you're looking at those
00:40:13.184 -->
00:40:16.344invoices and you're saying, well, you paid fifty dollars for this part and we're
00:40:16.344 -->
00:40:17.584charging the customer six hundred.
00:40:17.984 -->
00:40:21.524If you're looking, if you think that it's just about money and you're going
00:40:21.524 -->
00:40:26.224to go into business for that reason, then you're in for a rude awakening.
00:40:27.113 -->
00:40:33.133You're going to make $15 an hour after everything's said and done. Yes. If you do that.
00:40:33.393 -->
00:40:38.613You are going to make – I've never seen somebody who's been good,
00:40:38.733 -->
00:40:45.793fast, and cheap and was making more money doing it themselves than working for a legit company.
00:40:45.793 -->
00:40:49.453I just don't believe that that's possible. It's not.
00:40:49.873 -->
00:40:54.493It's not. And if you're really good – I share this all the time.
00:40:54.493 -->
00:40:58.033And if you're really good at what you do and you have great customer skills
00:40:58.033 -->
00:41:02.013and people like you and they're going to tell their friends and family about
00:41:02.013 -->
00:41:06.573you, no matter like you don't have a choice, your business will grow.
00:41:06.973 -->
00:41:13.333You can't at least to a certain extent, and it's bigger than just one person in a truck can handle.
00:41:14.233 -->
00:41:19.393So usually by year two or three, for somebody who's not incredibly ambitious
00:41:19.393 -->
00:41:25.033and really pushing the limits, still, by year two or three, your customer list,
00:41:25.573 -->
00:41:28.713how do you get customers? It's like one customer at a time.
00:41:28.953 -->
00:41:33.673And if you take really good care of them and they tell their friends and family
00:41:33.673 -->
00:41:36.733about you, you will naturally grow.
00:41:37.013 -->
00:41:42.973It's inevitable. You will get to a point where there are not enough hours in
00:41:42.973 -->
00:41:46.713the day and you're telling customers, you know, you're literally having customers
00:41:46.713 -->
00:41:50.013on a system that you installed a year ago calling you.
00:41:50.233 -->
00:41:52.893Now your schedule is full, but you still want to take care of that customer
00:41:52.893 -->
00:41:56.093who gave you $12,000 a year ago.
00:41:56.633 -->
00:41:59.633It just becomes unmanageable.
00:42:00.173 -->
00:42:04.073There's just a certain amount of capacity that you have.
00:42:04.073 -->
00:42:09.733I mean, so let's say that your average HVAC service and maintenance call is
00:42:09.733 -->
00:42:15.373$250, which is, in my opinion, pretty low, but it is what it is, right?
00:42:15.533 -->
00:42:24.013And you run four of those calls per day, 52 weeks a year, six days a week, right?
00:42:24.573 -->
00:42:29.053What is that dollar amount that you're going to get top line?
00:42:29.053 -->
00:42:37.333And then just be reasonable and say, all right, 50% is my direct costs.
00:42:37.413 -->
00:42:45.433And then 30% are my indirect costs, overhead, insurance, things like that.
00:42:45.953 -->
00:42:52.093At 20% left with you working full time, it's a terrible salary.
00:42:52.393 -->
00:42:58.713And guess what? You're not going to make 20% either because that's,
00:42:58.853 -->
00:43:02.453you might, if you keep it really cheap at the very beginning, right?
00:43:02.593 -->
00:43:05.013Because you haven't hired people and you're doing all the work,
00:43:05.033 -->
00:43:09.913but what you're probably going to see is that's $40,000 maybe.
00:43:10.720 -->
00:43:13.880And then you also have to risk that 40 to grow in the future.
00:43:14.440 -->
00:43:20.820So you just have, like you said, you have to have a mindset shift if you want
00:43:20.820 -->
00:43:25.980to go from a job to a business. I think every business starts out as a job unless
00:43:25.980 -->
00:43:27.620it's extremely well-funded.
00:43:28.080 -->
00:43:34.840But to move from a job to a business requires you to become a different person
00:43:34.840 -->
00:43:38.060with a different mindset completely. Yeah.
00:43:38.340 -->
00:43:41.880Which I'll get through education. After those expenses are taken care of,
00:43:42.020 -->
00:43:47.560there's another thing that's just, there's going to be unexpected and variable
00:43:47.560 -->
00:43:49.960expenses that just happen out of nowhere.
00:43:50.200 -->
00:43:53.320Things you didn't account for, you didn't plan on.
00:43:53.520 -->
00:44:01.260So operating on such thin margins is just, it's just a recipe to create far
00:44:01.260 -->
00:44:04.620more stress in your life than what's necessary.
00:44:04.620 -->
00:44:08.340You really need to build up some type of a cash reserve because,
00:44:08.640 -->
00:44:13.460man, people, you could do nothing wrong. You can still get sued.
00:44:13.840 -->
00:44:20.000Your brand new tires on your van, two of them could get shredded today while
00:44:20.000 -->
00:44:23.020driving to your next call. There's always unexpected expenses.
00:44:23.440 -->
00:44:31.520An unexpected IRS bill pops up. So to just stay lean and only have enough to squeeze by,
00:44:31.920 -->
00:44:35.880you're just setting yourself up for more failure,
00:44:36.040 -->
00:44:39.760like the possibility and the risk of truly failing where you just,
00:44:39.880 -->
00:44:47.660you know, they say that you only run out of money once in business.
00:44:47.660 -->
00:44:49.820Because if you run out of money, you don't have a business.
00:44:50.260 -->
00:44:54.200Right. There are a few people, because I've met them and I coached some of them,
00:44:54.360 -->
00:45:00.120who have good credit and have managed to maintain their good credit.
00:45:00.300 -->
00:45:03.920And so they've been capable of running out of money two or three times.
00:45:08.420 -->
00:45:15.960It's either cash or access to it, right? Yes. It's either your cash or someone else's.
00:45:16.280 -->
00:45:22.620But it is cash, right? It is cash. And so you have to figure out that's another
00:45:22.620 -->
00:45:24.960thing with business is a lot of people just overcomplicated.
00:45:25.720 -->
00:45:26.940I mean, think, think about.
00:45:27.960 -->
00:45:32.960Balancing a checkbook. It's simple. You've money in, money out, what's left over.
00:45:33.100 -->
00:45:36.420If you just keep it simple in your mind when you're, when you're looking,
00:45:36.660 -->
00:45:39.020but you really have to look at it. That's the thing.
00:45:39.200 -->
00:45:42.040You have to pay attention to where the money is going. Every single day.
00:45:42.660 -->
00:45:48.500Where is the money going? Yes. I think that when I was giving my brother advice
00:45:48.500 -->
00:45:53.200on starting up, I said, there's one thing that you never, ever,
00:45:53.460 -->
00:45:56.400ever can get behind on and it's easy to get behind on it.
00:45:56.560 -->
00:45:59.660And I said, that is the money, the bookkeeping.
00:46:00.180 -->
00:46:05.200And I thought, here's another mistake I made, that bookkeeping was relatively easy.
00:46:05.320 -->
00:46:09.000So I thought that it would be, it was easy for me to do it.
00:46:09.240 -->
00:46:15.500But when I hired someone else to do it, as far as I outsourced it, they did a bad job.
00:46:15.500 -->
00:46:19.500And that was something that you have to go back and fix completely.
00:46:19.500 -->
00:46:23.920So you're making decisions based upon inaccurate or incomplete numbers,
00:46:23.920 -->
00:46:28.360then you have to spend the time to fix it or pay someone else to fix it.
00:46:28.580 -->
00:46:34.960And so I said, never, ever, ever let a day go by without knowing the numbers
00:46:34.960 -->
00:46:37.160of it, ever. Don't ever let that happen.
00:46:37.920 -->
00:46:46.360And never outsource it without that continuing to make sure that you know the numbers every day.
00:46:46.860 -->
00:46:51.120And at least calculating them and having the right accurate information.
00:46:51.300 -->
00:46:56.380What you do with it, well, that varies, right? But you have to know that always.
00:46:56.600 -->
00:47:00.080And what's the chances that if you're out,
00:47:00.791 -->
00:47:05.831in the truck, just running calls like we all have done, that you're going to
00:47:05.831 -->
00:47:09.131do that bookkeeping when you get home at 11 o'clock at night.
00:47:09.991 -->
00:47:15.591Probably not. Because it has to be accurate. It's a mental thing.
00:47:15.851 -->
00:47:21.431You have to be fresh to do it. So you have to parse out time to know your numbers at all times.
00:47:22.491 -->
00:47:27.271Or you do like me and you just don't do any of it until you get in trouble and
00:47:27.271 -->
00:47:34.331you start getting letters from the IRS. And because I was so busy in the field, there was no time.
00:47:34.371 -->
00:47:38.751When I got home, I had to get bids out to people that I had different jobs I
00:47:38.751 -->
00:47:41.871had been to that I had to work up an estimate on.
00:47:42.791 -->
00:47:46.751So, yeah, I don't a basic knowledge, I believe, is just necessary,
00:47:46.991 -->
00:47:48.971but don't overcomplicate it.
00:47:49.191 -->
00:47:53.511And one of the reasons why we have to charge what we have to charge is so that
00:47:53.511 -->
00:47:58.631we can pay other people to help us with this type of thing. Because you're going
00:47:58.631 -->
00:47:59.971to be busy serving customers.
00:48:00.171 -->
00:48:03.331You're going to be busy running calls or managing your team.
00:48:03.731 -->
00:48:06.631Doesn't mean you're not going to look at the financials. You're going to.
00:48:06.871 -->
00:48:13.051But there's other things that require a ton of attention from you as a business
00:48:13.051 -->
00:48:15.931owner. and things you can't outsource.
00:48:16.791 -->
00:48:21.771Yes, exactly. So you're either outsourcing it, you're using technology or you're
00:48:21.771 -->
00:48:24.671hiring for it because you're at your capacity.
00:48:25.011 -->
00:48:28.991Right away, day one, you're pretty much at your capacity. You have to say no
00:48:28.991 -->
00:48:34.451to things and you're going to have to say no to that service call that comes
00:48:34.451 -->
00:48:37.991in late because you have to do this specific thing.
00:48:38.231 -->
00:48:44.631So you're going to have to maybe, you're going to have to risk that $250 in
00:48:44.631 -->
00:48:50.431revenue or that potential turnover into a replacement system for the bigger picture.
00:48:50.611 -->
00:48:53.831And if you're not going to do that, you'll never be able to get there.
00:48:54.571 -->
00:49:00.171Yeah, you're going to have to start saying no. You got to do what's, just put it this way.
00:49:00.371 -->
00:49:04.411We're constantly trying to do what's best for our customers, right?
00:49:04.531 -->
00:49:08.311I mean, that's what I believe that the home service industry,
00:49:08.631 -->
00:49:12.871especially heating air, just because that's what I've been involved in for so many years.
00:49:13.171 -->
00:49:19.111Like, these people are the salt of the earth. Like, we love to take care of our customers.
00:49:19.511 -->
00:49:24.991We want to make them happy. We it's almost like people pleasing to some degree.
00:49:24.991 -->
00:49:30.551Like we want people to to love our company and to give us raving reviews and
00:49:30.551 -->
00:49:31.791tell their friends and family about us.
00:49:31.951 -->
00:49:37.771But we do that too many times at the expense of our own financial health,
00:49:38.051 -->
00:49:44.591at the expense of our own physical health and our relationship health.
00:49:46.191 -->
00:49:51.311Like if you tackle this the right way and you use the recipe,
00:49:51.311 -->
00:49:54.631you can you can do it all. It's always going to be balanced.
00:49:54.831 -->
00:49:59.111There's going to be bursts in your company where you do focus primarily on your
00:49:59.111 -->
00:50:02.011company and you kind of maybe neglect your family for a little bit.
00:50:02.151 -->
00:50:06.031But the thing is, you would have that conversation prior to going into that burst.
00:50:06.151 -->
00:50:09.731So everybody understands what to expect and just know that. so
00:50:09.731 -->
00:50:13.491if you do it strategically you can
00:50:13.491 -->
00:50:16.151do these bursts where you just totally immerse in your
00:50:16.151 -->
00:50:22.471business and you can make major moves and during that time you're i always say
00:50:22.471 -->
00:50:28.271teach train and ingrain your team to on the process constantly training on the
00:50:28.271 -->
00:50:32.011process of course we can throw in some technical training here and there because
00:50:32.011 -->
00:50:35.031we that's important too but the process has to be ran.
00:50:35.691 -->
00:50:40.011And when we're talking about processes, I look at the definition of a process.
00:50:40.011 -->
00:50:47.391It's a series of tasks taken in a particular order to achieve a particular result.
00:50:48.278 -->
00:50:51.998Which ultimately is a happy customer, right? Which is a happy customer,
00:50:52.198 -->
00:50:58.438which is profit, you know, from that $250 call, there better be some profit attached to that.
00:50:58.538 -->
00:51:04.158And it needs to be enough to fuel whatever my desires are and what I want in my business.
00:51:05.058 -->
00:51:08.778And if you're not paying attention to that on a regular basis because you're
00:51:08.778 -->
00:51:13.118just too busy putting out fires, it just becomes. I was on another podcast years
00:51:13.118 -->
00:51:19.218ago, and the guy I was doing the podcast with was telling me about a sales trainer that he had went to.
00:51:19.818 -->
00:51:24.738And the guy was talking about how every time you discount your services or give
00:51:24.738 -->
00:51:28.878something away for free or don't charge like what you normally would charge
00:51:28.878 -->
00:51:30.838because you just feel bad for those people,
00:51:31.018 -->
00:51:36.298you need to put a picture of that family on your visor in your van.
00:51:36.298 -->
00:51:41.878Because every time you're putting that family and those people above your own
00:51:41.878 -->
00:51:48.258family and your own well-being, let that sink in, you know, for anyone listening.
00:51:48.538 -->
00:51:51.858Like, you have to put your oxygen mask on first.
00:51:52.038 -->
00:51:56.218The business has to be taken care of. That includes you because you are the
00:51:56.218 -->
00:52:00.078fuel, the fire, the determination, the passion that you have.
00:52:00.638 -->
00:52:06.038If that goes away, then your business goes away.
00:52:06.558 -->
00:52:11.378You always have to have a more positive approach to things than everyone else,
00:52:11.418 -->
00:52:14.078because you're going to set the tone for everyone, you know,
00:52:14.961 -->
00:52:22.981Full transparency, in 2020, this is the fun stuff that I went through like a
00:52:22.981 -->
00:52:24.021lot of business owners do.
00:52:24.981 -->
00:52:29.701In 2020, I was involved in a lawsuit for unpaid overtime.
00:52:30.781 -->
00:52:37.641And this was one of the first employees I had. And she didn't have a time clock.
00:52:37.861 -->
00:52:43.781My guys in the field had a time clock. But I just told her, hey, work 40 hours a week.
00:52:43.781 -->
00:52:51.441Come in at this time. I just did this flex time thing because I didn't understand
00:52:51.441 -->
00:52:56.301how the law worked and exactly how everything had to be documented.
00:52:56.641 -->
00:53:04.221Well, when she quit, she sued me for $60,000 and, and which was unpaid overtime
00:53:04.221 -->
00:53:08.941plus like punitive damages and everything was really upset about it. So I fought it.
00:53:09.061 -->
00:53:15.281And in the early 2020, I lost because I didn't realized that if you didn't have
00:53:15.281 -->
00:53:23.301it documented and that the jury believed that she worked just one hour of overtime, you would lose.
00:53:23.521 -->
00:53:27.581And so all in that costs me $300,000.
00:53:28.021 -->
00:53:29.881Yeah. $300,000 loss.
00:53:30.381 -->
00:53:33.921And that's what I tell people who have businesses, just because you make the
00:53:33.921 -->
00:53:36.541money doesn't mean you don't have to give it back. Right.
00:53:36.801 -->
00:53:43.081You, there's a, there's no chance that there's very little chance that a surprise
00:53:43.081 -->
00:53:44.881check is going to come in the mail.
00:53:45.041 -->
00:53:47.821There's a lot higher chance than a surprise bill will.
00:53:48.061 -->
00:53:53.621Now, if I look back, I would have settled it if that would have been a better business decision.
00:53:53.881 -->
00:53:59.601But the day that I lost that 300 grand after being in court and being told how
00:53:59.601 -->
00:54:07.561bad of a person I was by the opposing counsel and basically the jury agreeing with them to an extent.
00:54:08.121 -->
00:54:12.581I had to go back into the company that later that day with a smile on my face.
00:54:12.801 -->
00:54:19.841I couldn't let any of the, at the time, 25 employees know that that's what happened.
00:54:20.221 -->
00:54:26.981And I had to, had to keep grinding despite all that. And so I.
00:54:27.475 -->
00:54:31.375It was, it was tough, man. It was really tough to do. Yeah. But that's the thing.
00:54:31.495 -->
00:54:35.295If you're not the guy, you are the guy, you are the leader in the company.
00:54:35.695 -->
00:54:42.655And if you, you have to have a positive attitude in front of your people at
00:54:42.655 -->
00:54:46.215all times, or it just starts to go down from there.
00:54:46.215 -->
00:54:49.495So that was a that was a tough lesson that
00:54:49.495 -->
00:54:53.415took me back a couple years probably but if
00:54:53.415 -->
00:54:56.215i have it if i have anything to write at the end of the day
00:54:56.215 -->
00:54:59.055it's it's about resilience i would
00:54:59.055 -->
00:55:02.055say because that's that's what a business owner does
00:55:02.055 -->
00:55:05.695he gets punched in the face and
00:55:05.695 -->
00:55:08.355turns around and says all right i'm gonna
00:55:08.355 -->
00:55:11.935keep going i and hopefully next time i dodge that punch right
00:55:11.935 -->
00:55:15.075you know yeah it was fun
00:55:15.075 -->
00:55:17.755i say that too i'm like you you're gonna get
00:55:17.755 -->
00:55:20.575punched in the face and it's it's like you gotta
00:55:20.575 -->
00:55:23.715be just like is that all you got that's it
00:55:23.715 -->
00:55:29.755just that's it keep standing and but you're right it's not just your words you
00:55:29.755 -->
00:55:34.495know it's your body language your tonality people and you're you're setting
00:55:34.495 -->
00:55:42.035the tone for what's for the mood the feelings that are happening in in and around your business.
00:55:42.555 -->
00:55:48.895So if you're just completely out of it and you've, or you've fallen into a deep
00:55:48.895 -->
00:55:52.495depression or, you know, or you're spiraling down,
00:55:52.775 -->
00:55:59.595I recommend that even if it's just like, you better get yourself together as quickly as you can.
00:55:59.595 -->
00:56:03.895But if, if it, if it's that bad, then call in that day.
00:56:04.055 -->
00:56:09.815Don't go to work that day because you're, you going to work trying to, you know.
00:56:10.613 -->
00:56:18.553Hustle your way through it and grind, quote unquote, grind, it can have a lasting negative effect.
00:56:18.833 -->
00:56:21.113You know, there's always a conversation happening at your business,
00:56:21.213 -->
00:56:24.853whether you know about it or not. It's behind the scenes.
00:56:25.013 -->
00:56:28.513It's in the hallway. It's out in the parking. After the meeting meeting. Yes.
00:56:29.313 -->
00:56:32.993Yeah. Yes. So we want to set. What the fuck is going on with Bill,
00:56:33.133 -->
00:56:34.513man? He seems really cranky.
00:56:34.913 -->
00:56:40.913Maybe I should go find another job. Yeah. Even my own man specifically has since running out of money.
00:56:41.253 -->
00:56:42.933Oh, did you hear that? Oh, yeah.
00:56:43.073 -->
00:56:46.633Well, you know, one of our supply houses said that we owed them money.
00:56:46.773 -->
00:56:49.553And so the rumor mill begins.
00:56:49.933 -->
00:56:54.733So, yeah. So, yeah. It's a huge calling to be a business owner,
00:56:54.733 -->
00:56:58.493but it is possible to make that transition. A lot of people have done it.
00:56:58.693 -->
00:57:04.133I just think that a lot of guys get into it without knowing what it takes,
00:57:04.373 -->
00:57:10.213just like I didn't know what it takes. I didn't know all of that, but I was fortunate.
00:57:10.733 -->
00:57:14.253Let's see. So two years into my business, I got really sick.
00:57:14.413 -->
00:57:20.573I had autoimmune disease, ulcerative colitis, and needed to have emergency surgery.
00:57:20.813 -->
00:57:24.013Well, a lot of things went wrong and I had complications with it.
00:57:24.093 -->
00:57:29.133And I was in the hospital for two months, two years into my business.
00:57:29.333 -->
00:57:34.553And I remember during that two months, I did like $15,000 in sales totally.
00:57:34.853 -->
00:57:43.353But at that time I never, I wasn't healthy enough to get back into that grind of all day, all night.
00:57:43.433 -->
00:57:49.593So I was forced to become a pro a process oriented person.
00:57:49.813 -->
00:57:53.113Yes. By the fact that I physically could not go in the field.
00:57:53.233 -->
00:57:58.673And so if I didn't have that, I might not have got to that point, but I.
00:57:59.829 -->
00:58:06.809These business owners have to make that choice to to make that transition or you're right.
00:58:06.989 -->
00:58:11.669They're just going to seem like the most unhappy person because they are probably
00:58:11.669 -->
00:58:14.169unhappy. And who the hell wants to work for that guy?
00:58:14.609 -->
00:58:20.549Right. And you end up working by yourself because nobody wants to work with you and for you.
00:58:21.069 -->
00:58:28.309Yeah. So one of my clients told me a story about an incident that he had physically
00:58:28.309 -->
00:58:30.549with his health, a health challenge.
00:58:31.469 -->
00:58:36.449And he wound up in the hospital, same thing. And his dad, he kind of grew up
00:58:36.449 -->
00:58:37.869in the heating and air conditioning industry.
00:58:38.109 -->
00:58:41.409And his dad was there visiting him in the hospital.
00:58:42.429 -->
00:58:48.029And he said, son, do you see any customers here in your waiting room and you're,
00:58:48.049 -->
00:58:50.249you know, waiting to come see you, talk to you?
00:58:51.249 -->
00:58:54.409And he said from that point on, he realized that, like, look,
00:58:54.529 -->
00:58:58.609I'm killing myself, literally killing myself for my customers.
00:58:59.169 -->
00:59:05.269And your customers don't, they really don't care. I mean, you're just their service provider.
00:59:05.769 -->
00:59:10.769So, right. The contractor cares way more for the customer than your customers
00:59:10.769 -->
00:59:15.409care for the contractor. Trust me, because if something happens and you just
00:59:15.409 -->
00:59:18.369cannot service them for two months and they. Right.
00:59:18.769 -->
00:59:23.629And it's 98 degrees out with 50 percent humidity and they need service.
00:59:23.929 -->
00:59:27.909They will gladly call somebody else and they'll purchase a maintenance contract
00:59:27.909 -->
00:59:31.849from that other person, too. Yeah. I mean, wouldn't you as a customer? Absolutely.
00:59:32.149 -->
00:59:34.849You do the same thing. Absolutely. Customers are just people.
00:59:35.169 -->
00:59:39.829Right. Yeah. And as you were talking about, as you get to this level of busyness,
00:59:39.989 -->
00:59:42.429you actually provide worse customer service.
00:59:42.609 -->
00:59:48.289In fact, when I got to the point where I was the most expensive and had more
00:59:48.289 -->
00:59:53.129people, I was able to serve customers way better than I was.
00:59:53.749 -->
00:59:58.149Just because I was working hard doesn't mean I was really serving customers.
00:59:58.529 -->
01:00:02.309I had to take phone calls while I was at their house.
01:00:02.489 -->
01:00:06.829I had to follow up on sales while I was at their house. I was doing.
01:00:07.706 -->
01:00:13.066Lot worse of a job. It just felt like I was doing a good job because I was working so hard.
01:00:13.406 -->
01:00:16.926The reality of the heating, air conditioning business is that it is seasonal.
01:00:17.266 -->
01:00:21.146That's a lot of things. Sometimes that's, that's a big thing that,
01:00:21.746 -->
01:00:26.846like you said, there were things that you just didn't think of going into business.
01:00:27.046 -->
01:00:31.786That's one of the things you don't really consider because you were still given
01:00:31.786 -->
01:00:34.926hours maybe during those slow times, even if they were cut down,
01:00:34.926 -->
01:00:36.026You're still given hours.
01:00:36.226 -->
01:00:40.826You still make some living. Well, now it's slow time. You don't have the customer
01:00:40.826 -->
01:00:43.886list that your business that you used to work for had.
01:00:44.066 -->
01:00:48.306Back to charging and making sure that we're making enough money on every call
01:00:48.306 -->
01:00:53.686that happens and converting the calls when it makes sense to equipment sales
01:00:53.686 -->
01:00:58.946so that we can collect more money. When that slow season hits, it's an eye opener.
01:00:59.226 -->
01:01:03.106And if you're not sitting on some money to get through that,
01:01:03.246 -->
01:01:03.986it's going to be difficult.
01:01:04.286 -->
01:01:09.706So you have to give back all of the money that you made in the summer,
01:01:09.906 -->
01:01:14.246in the busy season, because you don't have that customer list.
01:01:14.246 -->
01:01:18.686You're either giving it back in labor or you're giving it back in marketing
01:01:18.686 -->
01:01:20.446or just general overhead.
01:01:20.926 -->
01:01:28.566And the off-peak seasons were brutal until I built up a list of maintenance agreements.
01:01:28.566 -->
01:01:34.326Maintenance agreements, even though it's old school, has been talked about since
01:01:34.326 -->
01:01:40.066the dawn of, since Ron Smith started talking about it in HVAC Spells Wealth.
01:01:40.206 -->
01:01:46.566But it really did continue the growth of my company all the way through it.
01:01:46.566 -->
01:01:52.266Because when I had a maintenance agreement customer, I knew it was just a matter
01:01:52.266 -->
01:01:54.126of time before that was a system replacement.
01:01:54.126 -->
01:02:00.646It was planting a bunch of seeds that all bared fruit at times that I wanted
01:02:00.646 -->
01:02:05.766to harvest it, not when it was just an urgent situation.
01:02:06.046 -->
01:02:10.546I don't see where an HVAC company.
01:02:11.523 -->
01:02:17.343Could grow without focusing on longer-term relationships with customers.
01:02:17.343 -->
01:02:22.043I don't think you could just buy your way into a market with short-term transactions.
01:02:22.383 -->
01:02:27.463I agree. I agree. It's about one thing that I will share when it comes to maintenance
01:02:27.463 -->
01:02:29.843agreements is once you get so many maintenance agreements,
01:02:29.843 -->
01:02:30.983if you don't have a really good
01:02:30.983 -->
01:02:41.323process that is thorough and it allows the technician time to be thorough,
01:02:41.523 -->
01:02:44.363And to have those conversations with the customer,
01:02:44.783 -->
01:02:50.223showing everything, their analysis of everything that they found and how to
01:02:50.223 -->
01:02:54.883communicate that to the customer, that creates some type of urgency to let's
01:02:54.883 -->
01:02:58.623get this done, whatever they found. Let's get it done today versus tomorrow.
01:02:59.003 -->
01:03:03.083If you don't have that and you just build up a whole bunch of maintenance agreements,
01:03:03.423 -->
01:03:07.083now you're sending, you know, four technicians or 10 technicians,
01:03:07.243 -->
01:03:09.583however many you have, you're still burning overhead.
01:03:09.583 -->
01:03:13.923Like you're, you're burning fuel, you're paying them and all their benefits
01:03:13.923 -->
01:03:20.603and their insurance and, and everybody lose money on every single maintenance agreement.
01:03:20.963 -->
01:03:25.043Every single man. Yeah. Yeah. If you don't know how to do that and convert those
01:03:25.043 -->
01:03:27.663maintenance agreements into sales by educating the customer,
01:03:27.663 -->
01:03:29.723it's not about hardcore pushy sales.
01:03:29.883 -->
01:03:33.403It's just about doing what you said. You provide that better service.
01:03:34.263 -->
01:03:39.083Provide a better service and the sales will come. And that's a process in itself.
01:03:39.283 -->
01:03:43.643I don't think it's very natural for a technician turned business owner to just
01:03:43.643 -->
01:03:48.803all of a sudden flip the switch and go, okay, now I'm going to be good at sales.
01:03:49.303 -->
01:03:55.443It's a very different thing than fixing an air conditioner and making customers happy.
01:03:55.623 -->
01:04:01.523I had to spend a lot of time getting training on how to learn or on how to do
01:04:01.523 -->
01:04:05.303that. But that will stop your company dead in its tracks.
01:04:05.483 -->
01:04:10.583If you're not good at sales and you think sales is a dirty word, don't start a business.
01:04:10.983 -->
01:04:18.903Don't. No. Or if you think sales is a dirty word, change that mindset or quit. You're dead.
01:04:19.143 -->
01:04:23.903There's never been a company that hasn't been, that's made it really successfully
01:04:23.903 -->
01:04:28.203that hasn't been proficient at selling their products and services.
01:04:28.883 -->
01:04:32.363Yeah, it's really not sales. It's service, not sales.
01:04:32.623 -->
01:04:39.543Like the sales come, you know, the way I explain it to people is imagine if
01:04:39.543 -->
01:04:43.903you wanted to go to a movie and you had a choice of six different movies and
01:04:43.903 -->
01:04:45.923you walk up to the ticket counter and they say,
01:04:46.063 -->
01:04:48.263oh, you can only have this one movie.
01:04:48.363 -->
01:04:51.483This is the only one you can see. How would you feel as a customer?
01:04:51.643 -->
01:04:53.683Maybe that's not the movie you wanted to see.
01:04:54.223 -->
01:04:57.463Maybe you had a different movie in mind. that's going
01:04:57.463 -->
01:05:00.603to upset you if you go to change your
01:05:00.603 -->
01:05:03.403flooring and you go to a flooring store and you know all the
01:05:03.403 -->
01:05:09.363different materials and the colors and styles and designs to pick from but they
01:05:09.363 -->
01:05:15.663said oh these 900 styles you can only choose from this one this is your option
01:05:15.663 -->
01:05:22.803imagine how would you feel as a customer being able to see all these options the problem is that.
01:05:23.560 -->
01:05:27.580Your customers don't know what their options are because they're not educated.
01:05:28.180 -->
01:05:32.940Right. And they're not going to educate themselves ahead of time because this
01:05:32.940 -->
01:05:35.380isn't something that they plan for.
01:05:35.580 -->
01:05:38.700It's not sexy. There's nothing sexy about heating and air conditioning.
01:05:39.080 -->
01:05:44.440So they just want to be able to turn the thermostat down and be cool or turn it up and stay warm.
01:05:45.120 -->
01:05:47.780And it's out of sight, out of mind. It's not something they're ever thinking
01:05:47.780 -->
01:05:49.320about until it breaks, typically.
01:05:49.320 -->
01:05:52.360But it's our job as a
01:05:52.360 -->
01:05:55.600professional to go in to evaluate the
01:05:55.600 -->
01:05:58.460system the system it's not just that
01:05:58.460 -->
01:06:01.240broken hot surface igniter that failed run
01:06:01.240 -->
01:06:07.140capacitor no it's a system that's working together and we want this system to
01:06:07.140 -->
01:06:14.600be safe reliable efficient to keep the customer comfortable we want all of those
01:06:14.600 -->
01:06:18.700things so if we keep that in mind and we look at it as a system and we and we
01:06:18.700 -->
01:06:20.440do a thorough evaluation,
01:06:20.440 -->
01:06:23.880you're going to find things that the customer could benefit from.
01:06:24.400 -->
01:06:30.340And you're going to find parts that are going to be on their way out the door.
01:06:30.500 -->
01:06:34.720Like, you know, because of your professionalism, it's your job to know that
01:06:34.720 -->
01:06:37.700this part is going to fail in the future.
01:06:39.100 -->
01:06:44.180Now, after we've compiled a list of this stuff, we have to have a conversation
01:06:44.180 -->
01:06:46.500with the customer to show them their options.
01:06:46.500 -->
01:06:49.520Just like going to the movie theater hey you
01:06:49.520 -->
01:06:52.560can see all of these here's four movies you
01:06:52.560 -->
01:06:55.220could go watch here's eight types of
01:06:55.220 -->
01:06:59.980flooring you could pick from to fix this this problem to overcome this problem
01:06:59.980 -->
01:07:05.480and then communicating that in a way that creates urgency it's really it's not
01:07:05.480 -->
01:07:10.740the hardcore you know overcoming objections style uncomfortable conversations
01:07:10.740 -->
01:07:12.880if you just educate the customer,
01:07:13.440 -->
01:07:21.380they're typically going to go with your recommendations if you communicate that with confidence.
01:07:22.354 -->
01:07:25.314Which takes a while, right? It's a process in itself.
01:07:25.534 -->
01:07:32.834It's not for when I learned technician sales and I'm okay to say sales and,
01:07:32.854 -->
01:07:34.934you know, I can be used interchangeably.
01:07:35.034 -->
01:07:38.994It is sales. When I learned it, I was so bad at it at the beginning.
01:07:39.154 -->
01:07:46.554So I had to get a sales coach to teach me the process and I had to believe in
01:07:46.554 -->
01:07:51.774it because then it becomes about your employees being able to do it as well.
01:07:51.774 -->
01:07:56.814And that's going to, there's going to be, it's going to be met with a lot of resistance.
01:07:56.814 -->
01:08:02.094You're going to spend a good amount of time going through getting buy-in from
01:08:02.094 -->
01:08:06.914your employees to do that level of process because they're going to think.
01:08:07.254 -->
01:08:09.634Oh, all we're trying to do is charge more.
01:08:09.814 -->
01:08:13.974And that's going to be recurring with employee over and over again.
01:08:13.974 -->
01:08:19.114And so you have to understand the process, believe in it.
01:08:19.274 -->
01:08:23.954It has to fit in with your own personal core values and beliefs.
01:08:24.014 -->
01:08:28.494Then you have to ingrain that as part of your culture.
01:08:28.694 -->
01:08:36.434But I think that it's very rare that that is already taken care of in that way
01:08:36.434 -->
01:08:41.314from day one. I think that's a big transition that people have to make.
01:08:41.454 -->
01:08:44.294And if not made, you're done.
01:08:44.534 -->
01:08:47.914There's no way you're going to make it because what you're going to do is ask
01:08:47.914 -->
01:08:51.134technicians to run eight calls a day.
01:08:51.234 -->
01:08:56.374And we were talking about that before. if you're going to give options and you're
01:08:56.374 -->
01:09:00.034going to do a great job and spend time educating the customer,
01:09:00.394 -->
01:09:02.854you're not going to run more than three calls a day.
01:09:03.994 -->
01:09:08.654I may before if you're lucky, or not if you're lucky, but if you're just going
01:09:08.654 -->
01:09:13.874in and knocking out the minimum repair over and over and over again,
01:09:14.174 -->
01:09:16.774that's business suicide.
01:09:17.174 -->
01:09:22.374Think of that as the old business model, And it worked for, what, 50 years?
01:09:22.674 -->
01:09:29.454It worked for people where it was just about bad contact or bad blower motor,
01:09:29.634 -->
01:09:31.554bad condenser fan motor, bad capacitor.
01:09:31.674 -->
01:09:34.954And then you just fixed it as quickly as you could to get on to the next call
01:09:34.954 -->
01:09:37.014and collect as much money as you can at the end of the day.
01:09:39.094 -->
01:09:43.554That business model is a sure way to...
01:09:44.806 -->
01:09:47.846Because if you're here, because here's the thing, too, a lot of people think
01:09:47.846 -->
01:09:51.966that they just stick with that business model, but they charge outrageous prices for it.
01:09:52.066 -->
01:09:56.026And they don't create any value with the customer, which gives them a bad reputation,
01:09:56.026 -->
01:09:57.926which stifles the growth of their business.
01:09:58.346 -->
01:10:04.706So part of building a good reputation and that business model just doesn't work.
01:10:04.706 -->
01:10:09.426And it's not that it's not that we're wrong. It's what we were taught.
01:10:10.046 -->
01:10:12.086And it's what the people who taught you.
01:10:12.926 -->
01:10:17.146That's what they did before. So it's just been passed down from generation to generation.
01:10:17.646 -->
01:10:22.426That's why we call what we do. We build, there's a new class of contractor.
01:10:23.246 -->
01:10:28.466And the new class of contractor does exactly what you're talking about.
01:10:28.586 -->
01:10:29.626And that's what we teach.
01:10:29.826 -->
01:10:34.766And we go through these transition periods because we do have people who have
01:10:34.766 -->
01:10:37.306a team of, you know, 10 or 12 people on their team.
01:10:38.406 -->
01:10:42.726And at that point, at least the owner already knows, because in order to get
01:10:42.726 -->
01:10:44.246that big, they've had to make changes.
01:10:44.646 -->
01:10:47.966But they know every time you make a change, there's going to be like,
01:10:48.086 -->
01:10:50.366you're going to make waves. There's going to be a ripple effect.
01:10:50.886 -->
01:10:53.806There's going to be a percentage of people that don't make it through that.
01:10:54.046 -->
01:10:59.266100% are not, you're not going to get buy-in from that you're going to have to replace.
01:10:59.266 -->
01:11:05.326But the thing is that if you go down to seven technicians, you most likely,
01:11:05.586 -->
01:11:10.106not most likely, but you will make more money with seven technicians than you
01:11:10.106 -->
01:11:12.226would with 10 running endless calls.
01:11:12.326 -->
01:11:16.686And I think it's just a simple Excel form, like spreadsheet.
01:11:17.306 -->
01:11:21.686How much do I have to, what amount of revenue do I have to make on each call
01:11:21.686 -->
01:11:24.526to justify this truck on the road?
01:11:25.326 -->
01:11:31.386And you're right. You can't just go in and say, well, I need to make $600 on each call.
01:11:31.406 -->
01:11:34.626So I'm just going to charge $600 for a capacitor replacement.
01:11:34.886 -->
01:11:38.726Yeah, you're not going to get that. You're going to have a lot of bad reviews.
01:11:39.306 -->
01:11:45.826So it's really just a very unnatural transition to make.
01:11:46.006 -->
01:11:51.406And one of the first ones that has to be done. understand how to give options,
01:11:51.686 -->
01:11:55.846run less calls, and actually make money on calls. Yeah.
01:11:56.106 -->
01:12:03.226And what you'll find is that you'll attract a higher caliber of customers because
01:12:03.226 -->
01:12:07.926that's a lot of times we start off like being the provider for all the cheap customers out there.
01:12:08.346 -->
01:12:15.546And so there's a trade-off as far as when you start to understand your value
01:12:15.546 -->
01:12:24.646and what you do and and you start to increase the amount of service that you deliver on every call,
01:12:24.906 -->
01:12:27.026you start to attract better and better clients.
01:12:28.446 -->
01:12:31.786And you won't work for those customers anymore. You have to let them go.
01:12:31.866 -->
01:12:34.746Some of them will not stay with you, yes. Yeah.
01:12:35.461 -->
01:12:39.301Customer may have been with you for the last six years. They may go on.
01:12:39.621 -->
01:12:43.441I had lots of them, but it doesn't mean you can't still be friends with them.
01:12:43.581 -->
01:12:48.781I'm still friends with some of my customers that literally just we got because
01:12:48.781 -->
01:12:51.441we communicate, you know, it's all about communication.
01:12:51.941 -->
01:12:56.781And they're not afraid to tell me, hey, Kelly, you know, I got to use somebody else.
01:12:56.881 -->
01:13:01.541I can't afford your prices. I'm like, no worries. You know, no worries. Yeah.
01:13:02.301 -->
01:13:09.281We decided that we're going to be Nordstrom. and you prefer shopping at Walmart,
01:13:09.601 -->
01:13:10.881and there's nothing wrong with that.
01:13:11.141 -->
01:13:16.001Walmart has its crowd. Nordstrom has its crowd. Who do you want to be in this
01:13:16.001 -->
01:13:18.221space? Do you want to be Walmart?
01:13:18.501 -->
01:13:22.381Well, Walmart does very low prices and high volume.
01:13:22.561 -->
01:13:28.061If that's what you want to do, then you can do that.
01:13:28.181 -->
01:13:32.581It just, I haven't really seen that work successfully.
01:13:32.781 -->
01:13:34.681I don't have a...
01:13:35.461 -->
01:13:40.881Any experience with a high volume, low cost, successful home service company.
01:13:41.821 -->
01:13:45.921It's a lower volume, higher service level.
01:13:46.841 -->
01:13:52.481And the thing about it is that homeowners don't consume a lot of heating and
01:13:52.481 -->
01:13:53.481air conditioning services.
01:13:53.701 -->
01:13:55.961It's a very infrequent purchase.
01:13:56.201 -->
01:14:00.401If they had to replace a capacitor every three months, they probably would be
01:14:00.401 -->
01:14:03.021looking for the cheapest price capacitor.
01:14:03.021 -->
01:14:06.621But when you only have to do it a couple of times in your life,
01:14:06.861 -->
01:14:11.941your air conditioner goes out and needs major service or replacement,
01:14:12.381 -->
01:14:19.681then you will take a little bit more time with that home service provider to do it right.
01:14:20.527 -->
01:14:26.267And you're right, you will attract better customers. I, the more I charge,
01:14:26.407 -->
01:14:30.047the more service I offered, the better the customers became,
01:14:30.287 -->
01:14:31.867the happier they became.
01:14:32.127 -->
01:14:36.447And they vote with their wallet, right? So if you give them an option that's
01:14:36.447 -->
01:14:42.667$2,500 worth of service, they're going to tell you whether or not they want it by saying yes or no.
01:14:43.187 -->
01:14:46.367And they're going to go buy the less expensive one.
01:14:46.547 -->
01:14:52.407So again, really hammering that into the, the business owner that that transition
01:14:52.407 -->
01:14:53.967is something that you're going to have to make.
01:14:54.207 -->
01:15:00.027You can think of it like this when it comes to delivering a better value to
01:15:00.027 -->
01:15:06.207your client is you go to the doctor and you have this little scratch on your
01:15:06.207 -->
01:15:07.547arm that may need stitches.
01:15:09.307 -->
01:15:14.827And the doctor could just stitch you up and put a bandaid over it and send you on your way.
01:15:14.987 -->
01:15:19.367But the doctor checks you out and he says, okay, Kelly, do you have any more problems?
01:15:19.507 -->
01:15:26.307And I'm like, well, I actually can't lift my, my arm above, above this high, right?
01:15:26.467 -->
01:15:29.347Cause my shoulder locks up and he says, well, let me look at that.
01:15:29.467 -->
01:15:34.427And so he takes a deeper look and he finds that he could fix it with surgery.
01:15:35.467 -->
01:15:38.487So that surgery is going to cost more than my stitches.
01:15:39.047 -->
01:15:42.347It's going to, like, I may have to schedule it for a future,
01:15:42.567 -->
01:15:45.427future time to get this surgery done.
01:15:45.427 -->
01:15:51.487But now once I do the surgery That surgery could change my life And he's in
01:15:51.487 -->
01:15:53.387charge He's just giving you the
01:15:53.387 -->
01:15:56.667information Absolutely I could still say He's like here's what I can do.
01:15:58.100 -->
01:16:04.560I, as a patient, can fully say, no thank you, I'll just deal with my frozen shoulder.
01:16:04.820 -->
01:16:07.720But you appreciate that information as a patient.
01:16:08.080 -->
01:16:12.400Absolutely. You ever had a doctor that has one foot out the door to see the next patient?
01:16:12.880 -->
01:16:17.880How frustrating that is? That's what you're doing when you have eight service calls a day.
01:16:18.060 -->
01:16:22.860You have one foot out the door continuously not serving that customer on a high level.
01:16:23.860 -->
01:16:29.160And to experience that sucks as a patient. sucks. It does.
01:16:29.480 -->
01:16:34.900And it does. And the reason why you get better customers and you get better
01:16:34.900 -->
01:16:39.740glowing reviews and they become raving fans is because the things that you offered
01:16:39.740 -->
01:16:44.020actually really impact the way that system operates in their home,
01:16:44.040 -->
01:16:47.280which is where they spend 90% of their time.
01:16:47.600 -->
01:16:53.180So just by offering it and educating them that, Hey, I could do surgery on your
01:16:53.180 -->
01:16:54.700system. Does it cost more?
01:16:55.380 -->
01:17:02.060Yes, because it's surgery. We're doing something above and beyond just the bare
01:17:02.060 -->
01:17:06.640minimum, put stitches in it and put a bandaid on it and go down the road.
01:17:06.800 -->
01:17:10.100So yes, it costs more, but you've got to educate the customer,
01:17:10.220 -->
01:17:15.140allow them to make the decision on whether they would like to go forward with
01:17:15.140 -->
01:17:16.300this so that can really change.
01:17:16.500 -->
01:17:19.500It can really impact their environment where they spend so much time.
01:17:19.860 -->
01:17:24.360So think of it the same way. It's no different. And you're absolutely right.
01:17:24.360 -->
01:17:28.300That was a great acknowledgement there.
01:17:28.620 -->
01:17:32.120Yeah, it's not good bedside manner, right?
01:17:32.580 -->
01:17:39.380Just be not focused on the patient because you got 18 other patients waiting on your schedule.
01:17:40.100 -->
01:17:45.380Yeah. I've got so many of them. I'm telling you you're not important. Yes.
01:17:45.980 -->
01:17:49.520Without telling you that. I'll tell you what, when it comes to options,
01:17:49.920 -->
01:17:55.380when I've, I think that most businesses start out doing the minimum repairs.
01:17:56.221 -->
01:18:03.041And then replacing heating and air conditioning systems when they are completely shot,
01:18:03.321 -->
01:18:09.461when a compressor is bad and when you can't physically get another one or when
01:18:09.461 -->
01:18:11.981a heat exchanger has a gigantic hole in it.
01:18:12.321 -->
01:18:15.481I think that's the natural way to do it.
01:18:15.601 -->
01:18:21.361And maybe even doing that if you went to a company that didn't do it that way
01:18:21.361 -->
01:18:25.761and they provided options, I think you can regress back to doing the minimum.
01:18:26.241 -->
01:18:31.661For me, when I started my HVAC company, I had not worked for another residential company.
01:18:31.901 -->
01:18:34.441I started out doing the minimum and I was doing tune-ups.
01:18:34.721 -->
01:18:39.521And I'll never forget, I went on this tune-up for a furnace and I went through,
01:18:39.641 -->
01:18:44.701I had a very long detailed checklist, which I hated the fact that I had such
01:18:44.701 -->
01:18:47.801a long checklist because I didn't make any money on the damn things.
01:18:48.141 -->
01:18:51.501So that was always something that was like, oh man, I'm going through all this
01:18:51.501 -->
01:18:55.821stuff and I'm going to get no money again because I don't know what the hell
01:18:55.821 -->
01:18:58.601I'm doing when it comes to offering things.
01:18:58.801 -->
01:19:04.041I know everything about this damn furnace, but I'll be damned if I know anything about this customer.
01:19:04.621 -->
01:19:09.501And so I went through the whole thing. And this furnace, I looked at it.
01:19:09.561 -->
01:19:16.541It was like, I never figured it was a Bryant 80%. And it was from 97. It was 15 years old.
01:19:16.821 -->
01:19:18.941Check the heat exchanger. Heat exchanger was good.
01:19:19.361 -->
01:19:23.981Look through all the components. They were all original and looked at the,
01:19:23.981 -->
01:19:29.141at the flame sensor and the flame sensor was really old, original,
01:19:29.461 -->
01:19:35.281had a bunch of corrosion on it, was, had a lot of, man, I'm missing something.
01:19:35.501 -->
01:19:39.601I'm too much of an office guy. Had a lot of carbon buildup on it or had a lot
01:19:39.601 -->
01:19:44.281of white, the white, the white cheese that grows on the end of it, the white growth.
01:19:44.841 -->
01:19:49.621And so I said, well, that thing's going to fail, but it is, it hasn't failed,
01:19:49.621 -->
01:19:56.061but it probably will by the next time I come back to this guy's house for another tune-up.
01:19:56.708 -->
01:20:00.688And so I said, all right, everything's working because it technically was.
01:20:00.948 -->
01:20:03.148Fire was coming out and I left.
01:20:03.568 -->
01:20:09.768And a couple of days later, it failed and I was the villain. You were just out here.
01:20:10.388 -->
01:20:13.708Everything was working. Yeah. And now it's broke.
01:20:14.128 -->
01:20:19.408Yeah. And I said, I'll be damned if I don't need to figure out a way to give
01:20:19.408 -->
01:20:26.108these customers all the options that I can just to cover my ass.
01:20:26.108 -->
01:20:29.268Because if i would have told him hey this flame
01:20:29.268 -->
01:20:31.988sensor is original and we have a script that
01:20:31.988 -->
01:20:34.668we go through yeah here's the here's the
01:20:34.668 -->
01:20:40.628option for it and he says no then it is what it is he says no but two days later
01:20:40.628 -->
01:20:47.628when it fails i'm the hero not the villain and so i never wanted to be the villain
01:20:47.628 -->
01:20:53.288again and i felt like it wasn't fair for me to have to be in that position,
01:20:53.928 -->
01:20:57.268just because I didn't give an option, but that's reality.
01:20:57.688 -->
01:21:02.308Got to give the options to cover your ass. You do. Minimum.
01:21:02.848 -->
01:21:08.628And, you know, looking at checklist, I know nobody likes to use checklist typically.
01:21:09.088 -->
01:21:12.968You know, service tech kitchens, they're used to running and gunning and just
01:21:12.968 -->
01:21:16.588burning through calls and doing the bare minimum and getting to the next one
01:21:16.588 -->
01:21:18.008because they don't have any time.
01:21:18.548 -->
01:21:21.408I hate them too, by the way, as the owner. Yeah.
01:21:22.648 -->
01:21:27.928But what I share with people is that pilots, astronauts,
01:21:28.868 -->
01:21:37.308doctors, surgeons, they all use checklists because they have high stakes jobs.
01:21:37.748 -->
01:21:38.948Like there's a lot on the line.
01:21:39.608 -->
01:21:46.028And the life that my business can provide for not only me, but my team.
01:21:46.768 -->
01:21:52.328And the responsibility that you're taking on when you decide to open a business, that is high stakes.
01:21:54.928 -->
01:21:59.688Missing something on the checklist can, at worst, kill somebody.
01:22:00.228 -->
01:22:05.528But the purpose for it, sorry to cut you off, is really consistency, right?
01:22:05.908 -->
01:22:11.108It's to be able to provide that same high level of service regardless of what's
01:22:11.108 -->
01:22:14.088going on in your mind and external factors that day.
01:22:14.088 -->
01:22:20.168There's no way that you can consistently do the exact same service from one
01:22:20.168 -->
01:22:25.448tune up to the next without a checklist because you're just going to be distracted.
01:22:25.448 -->
01:22:28.748You're going to think about where you have to go or the customer is going to
01:22:28.748 -->
01:22:30.988come down and start talking to you.
01:22:31.148 -->
01:22:36.628And so what you do when you don't have a checklist in a process is you give
01:22:36.628 -->
01:22:38.968some customers better service than others.
01:22:40.072 -->
01:22:43.672It's just kind of how it goes. Sorry to cut you off. I'm very passionate about
01:22:43.672 -->
01:22:46.172checklists, but I hate them. They're really annoying.
01:22:46.832 -->
01:22:50.012You know, it's another thing that I share with people because this is such a,
01:22:50.192 -->
01:22:54.932I come up with my own little analogies and my, because it helps people.
01:22:55.092 -->
01:22:57.992It's the way I framed it in my mind to make sense.
01:22:58.212 -->
01:23:04.192So it's what I share. So in hopes that it would, you know, rewire their brain
01:23:04.192 -->
01:23:09.012to think the same way, because that's part of the psychology that it takes to
01:23:09.012 -->
01:23:10.992like exit the truck and start to work on it,
01:23:11.132 -->
01:23:15.272you know, and to implement these processes and systems so that your business
01:23:15.272 -->
01:23:20.092can start producing better results and you can earn better rewards as an owner.
01:23:20.092 -->
01:23:25.232First off, you know, to be the Walmart, you said I would go I would even say
01:23:25.232 -->
01:23:29.552like the Amazon, the Aldi's like these these companies, these giant companies
01:23:29.552 -->
01:23:32.912who do share volume in very, very low margins.
01:23:32.912 -->
01:23:37.032They have investors pouring millions and millions of dollars into that company
01:23:37.032 -->
01:23:41.372for the for the first many, many years of operation. They make no money.
01:23:42.652 -->
01:23:47.172It's completely different than what you're doing as a as a small service provider.
01:23:47.172 -->
01:23:51.552So for us, as a little technician...
01:23:51.928 -->
01:23:55.768In their little truck trying to go out and make money and grow a business to
01:23:55.768 -->
01:24:03.308try to to to repeat what amazon's done and be the lowest cost the lowest cost provider in your market,
01:24:03.888 -->
01:24:08.148it's just it's a recipe for disaster so don't even try to do it you know as
01:24:08.148 -->
01:24:12.348far as some of these guys do they want to be the low cost provider or they just
01:24:12.348 -->
01:24:17.628don't have the skills to communicate the values that they believe they have
01:24:17.628 -->
01:24:21.048i did the same thing as you did as far as going to,
01:24:21.368 -->
01:24:27.628you know, I hired, I went to a seminar for a sales trainer and I got his CDs
01:24:27.628 -->
01:24:32.528and stuff and I listened to those nonstop and I learned that process and we
01:24:32.528 -->
01:24:36.428adjusted it multiple times to work for our company.
01:24:36.808 -->
01:24:40.688And that's the same process that I share with other people because I know it works.
01:24:40.868 -->
01:24:46.628But the service call process as well, when it comes to making sure that we do our.
01:24:47.268 -->
01:24:50.248Thorough analysis and then having that
01:24:50.248 -->
01:24:52.908conversation a doctor you said it
01:24:52.908 -->
01:24:56.048it's like you had this carbon buildup on this flame
01:24:56.048 -->
01:24:59.628sensor and you're like everything's working right now seems to be working great
01:24:59.628 -->
01:25:04.028also okay anything at all i've said it a million times to customers i've been
01:25:04.028 -->
01:25:09.328on i've been on a million calls you know probably in 20 years and i was working
01:25:09.328 -->
01:25:13.028till 11 o'clock at night i was the person doing eight nine ten calls a day and
01:25:13.028 -->
01:25:14.528when i was very common too.
01:25:14.728 -->
01:25:19.208I don't want to shit on the small business owner that's doing it.
01:25:19.328 -->
01:25:21.588I don't know very many that hadn't started that way.
01:25:21.928 -->
01:25:26.408Yeah, I don't either. These different analogies that I've come up with and I
01:25:26.408 -->
01:25:31.168share is strictly just to help people make that mental shift that has to be made.
01:25:31.308 -->
01:25:36.328If you can't make it, I just know from experience, it just creates more and more pain.
01:25:36.488 -->
01:25:38.708So hire the coach, become coachable.
01:25:39.128 -->
01:25:41.608Stop thinking that you have everything figured out.
01:25:42.108 -->
01:25:45.628The sales process, because I went to,
01:25:46.464 -->
01:25:49.364the kitchen table sales process, it's kind of a complicated,
01:25:49.584 -->
01:25:54.544drawn out, long, long deal that if you want to close more sales and when your
01:25:54.544 -->
01:25:56.824company, when you do compete against,
01:25:57.384 -->
01:26:02.824you know, I don't believe that we don't have nearly the competition that we
01:26:02.824 -->
01:26:07.964think we have because most heating air business owners, most of them are exactly
01:26:07.964 -->
01:26:09.624kind of who we've been talking about.
01:26:09.784 -->
01:26:14.784They're just technicians and they have not shifted into a business owner mentality yet.
01:26:16.104 -->
01:26:21.744So when you're trying to compete against somebody who actually has begun to
01:26:21.744 -->
01:26:27.184implement processes and understands that there's a method to this madness so
01:26:27.184 -->
01:26:28.324you can get better results,
01:26:28.604 -->
01:26:32.424all of a sudden, all these people who are just racing to the bottom,
01:26:32.984 -->
01:26:37.604trying to be the lowest option, those people aren't even your competition anymore.
01:26:37.804 -->
01:26:42.384You really only have a very small percentage in your market that are true competitors.
01:26:43.344 -->
01:26:46.964That's a mindset shift too, right? Yeah.
01:26:47.464 -->
01:26:53.604To go, all of these providers are not my competition, just these guys are.
01:26:53.964 -->
01:26:56.864That's a different thought too that you have to have.
01:26:56.984 -->
01:27:00.364The level of service that you provide versus the level of service that they
01:27:00.364 -->
01:27:02.484provide are two completely different things.
01:27:02.644 -->
01:27:07.564Even though you're probably providing that level of service right now because you're so busy.
01:27:08.044 -->
01:27:12.044That's where you're reinventing yourself. And I tell people,
01:27:12.244 -->
01:27:13.964people like, why are you changing all the time?
01:27:14.064 -->
01:27:16.584I said, look, I've never ran a half a million dollar business before,
01:27:16.584 -->
01:27:22.124but now I want to run a $750,000 business. I'm probably going to have to do some things different.
01:27:22.624 -->
01:27:27.144Well, every year I was running a new business. Yeah. So I had to learn new skills.
01:27:27.384 -->
01:27:32.384And that's one of them that has to be done, that you and I have got burned into
01:27:32.384 -->
01:27:33.724our brain over the years.
01:27:34.144 -->
01:27:38.424And when we talk to people that haven't got past that hump, it's kind of like,
01:27:38.544 -->
01:27:43.444have you make that connection that we had and it just takes time but if the
01:27:43.444 -->
01:27:44.824owner is willing to learn.
01:27:45.510 -->
01:27:49.470Then eventually something will resonate there, I believe.
01:27:49.890 -->
01:27:55.930Yeah, that's my wish is because I just don't, I know the pain doesn't get any better.
01:27:56.130 -->
01:28:01.390It just gets worse and worse until you just feel like you're ground into a pulp
01:28:01.390 -->
01:28:03.890and you just have nothing left to give.
01:28:03.890 -->
01:28:08.430Because of the grind culture that was so popular, has been so popular for so
01:28:08.430 -->
01:28:12.170many years, we have people like Alex Hormosey, Grant Cardone,
01:28:12.610 -->
01:28:16.970Patrick Bet-David, Ed Milet, Gary Vee, they're all telling you,
01:28:17.070 -->
01:28:18.150like, work your face off.
01:28:18.310 -->
01:28:22.510I look up to these people, like, they're business icons, and they seem to be,
01:28:22.630 -->
01:28:26.150I mean, that's the persona that they put off, and I listen to what they have to say.
01:28:26.430 -->
01:28:33.290But at the same time, their grind, Andy Frisella's grind, trying to grow his supplement business,
01:28:33.970 -->
01:28:39.490like, he's not on a roof for six of those hours in the day, carrying,
01:28:39.490 -->
01:28:45.150you know, 600 pounds of shit up and down the roof on a 25 foot ladder.
01:28:45.390 -->
01:28:50.230And then it's very different getting stuck on the west side of the house at
01:28:50.230 -->
01:28:53.490four o'clock in the afternoon with the sun beating down on you,
01:28:53.890 -->
01:28:58.450literally coming close to having a heat stroke like that, that,
01:28:58.570 -->
01:29:02.210that grind and then trying to also grow your business at the same time.
01:29:03.010 -->
01:29:07.490That grind with the physical aspect of being in a truck still,
01:29:07.750 -->
01:29:12.730that's a completely different grind from all of those people I just listed that they've gone through.
01:29:13.210 -->
01:29:17.770Like, tell me your sad story about how you got burnt on a real estate deal.
01:29:18.050 -->
01:29:26.390I mean, come on. That's nothing compared to like literally having a heat stroke in an attic on 2 p.m.
01:29:26.490 -->
01:29:30.610In a 120-degree attic and then having five more calls to go run.
01:29:30.750 -->
01:29:36.390That's a different kind of grind. And so my main message is if you do want to
01:29:36.390 -->
01:29:38.970grow your business, you've got to get out of the truck.
01:29:39.290 -->
01:29:43.110You cannot stay in the truck. Even the guys who have made it out of the truck
01:29:43.110 -->
01:29:47.410and they're doing three or four million dollars, but then they always jump in
01:29:47.410 -->
01:29:48.670the truck at the end of the day.
01:29:48.770 -->
01:29:52.710Because I have one client that was still, he would come and he made his way
01:29:52.710 -->
01:29:54.750into the office, made that transition.
01:29:55.450 -->
01:29:58.990And as a result, his business had grown. But still, at the end of the day,
01:29:59.170 -->
01:30:04.270he's working from 5 o'clock till 10 o'clock because he's picking up all the overflow calls.
01:30:04.390 -->
01:30:09.230He's saving the day of customers that needed help that didn't get solved that day.
01:30:09.410 -->
01:30:14.810Like, that's all admirable and everything, but it's still not a business. It's not a business.
01:30:15.410 -->
01:30:22.070So that particular owner, after working with us, he's like drawn the line in the sand.
01:30:22.230 -->
01:30:29.070He's out of the truck. Like 0% calls, trying to grow this and scale your business,
01:30:29.370 -->
01:30:31.370that's where your attention has to be.
01:30:31.590 -->
01:30:38.130I was told by a trainer years ago that 30% of your time should be focused on
01:30:38.130 -->
01:30:41.430hiring people and finding talent.
01:30:42.510 -->
01:30:46.830And a growing business needs people. So there's no question.
01:30:46.830 -->
01:30:52.070You do have to put some focus on it. It's like you're, you're,
01:30:52.130 -->
01:30:55.170you're the one who chooses how much,
01:30:56.115 -->
01:31:00.075intensity, the intensity you're going to tackle something, the frequency that
01:31:00.075 -->
01:31:03.215you tackle it and the duration. How long are you going to do this?
01:31:03.655 -->
01:31:09.055And oftentimes we think that we'll scramble and we'll hire somebody and then
01:31:09.055 -->
01:31:11.515we just don't even think about hiring for the next year.
01:31:12.135 -->
01:31:17.735And so you've got to either increase that intensity, increase the frequency
01:31:17.735 -->
01:31:22.035or increase the duration of lots of things in your business if you really want
01:31:22.035 -->
01:31:24.015it to grow quickly. It's not linear.
01:31:24.395 -->
01:31:28.795It's not just a straight shot. It's always disappointing for new business owners
01:31:28.795 -->
01:31:34.395who the first three or four or five years of their business were nothing but the climb.
01:31:34.655 -->
01:31:38.355And then they finally get to that point where you have a point where it's like,
01:31:38.695 -->
01:31:41.675yeah, we're not going to make last year's revenue.
01:31:41.915 -->
01:31:46.975It's usually, that's another typical wake-up call for people to say that either
01:31:46.975 -->
01:31:50.435you're comfortable there and you want to just stick in this realm,
01:31:50.655 -->
01:31:54.595but if you're still incredibly passionate about it, you still got the ambition
01:31:54.595 -->
01:31:58.115and the drive and you want to go farther and you want that $10 million business
01:31:58.115 -->
01:32:01.215or $20 million business, what got you here will not get you there.
01:32:01.775 -->
01:32:05.115Yeah, 100% man. So yeah, awesome.
01:32:06.135 -->
01:32:13.855So before we wrap it up, how can listeners find you? What's the best place to get your content?
01:32:15.255 -->
01:32:18.235So we have a masterclass that's happening.
01:32:18.535 -->
01:32:22.155It happens about every two weeks. That's called book more calls,
01:32:22.355 -->
01:32:25.755close more deals, where I teach some of the framework.
01:32:25.935 -->
01:32:29.555I teach a framework that's very easy to repeat. I know we had talked about how
01:32:29.555 -->
01:32:31.675you went and visited a sales trainer. So did I.
01:32:32.855 -->
01:32:36.495Some of them have really long drawn out scripts that nobody,
01:32:36.695 -->
01:32:40.895you're never going to transfer all this information, even if you learn it to
01:32:40.895 -->
01:32:42.915your team, right? We need something simple.
01:32:43.075 -->
01:32:48.695Well, I've reduced it down to the ridiculous to make it easy for people to have those conversations.
01:32:48.995 -->
01:32:52.355So I'm going to teach you how to do that on that class.
01:32:52.495 -->
01:32:58.035But the easiest way probably is just follow me on YouTube. It's HVAC Millionaire on YouTube.
01:32:58.675 -->
01:33:01.775You can find the link to join the class. It's free.
01:33:02.755 -->
01:33:05.635And thanks for your time today, being a guest on the podcast.
01:33:05.795 -->
01:33:09.775Really appreciate it. It's been fun. I could talk this stuff all day.
01:33:10.655 -->
01:33:13.435Oh yeah, all the time. Thanks a lot, man. All right, thank you.
01:33:14.975 -->
01:33:19.195Thanks for listening to the Home Service Hacks podcast. Be sure to subscribe
01:33:19.195 -->
01:33:23.095on your favorite podcasting platform so you never miss a future episode.
01:33:23.295 -->
01:33:27.815For more information or to connect with Bill, you can check us out on Facebook
01:33:27.815 -->
01:33:33.175at Service Titan Hacks or visit our website at servicetitanhacks.com.
01:33:33.355 -->
01:33:34.795We'll see you next time.
