Build Demand Before Spending a Dollar on Ads | Logan Sendle

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In this video, you're going to learn the exact tactics to use in your home service industry who completely dominate your market.
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We're going to be talking about how AI is changing the game, what ad platforms are actually working, and I'm going to be interviewing and talking to Logan Sandell, who's kind of the king of school when it comes to the blue collar industry.
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So it's going to be a long conversation.
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We talk about a lot of topics, everything from recruiting, increasing demand, and there's some tactics around Facebook that I've never heard before.
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Without any further delay, let's jump into the interview.
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So like the classic thing is like, well, you're running ads.
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It's like, well, we're B2B national.
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We're not a consumer local.
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Right.
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And we've already built the brand like we we don't ads work.
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Yeah.
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Well, if you're good at what you do.
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Yeah.
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But most of these guys just have no clue.
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And then they don't build the brand first.
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Right.
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Like my favorite comment.
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My favorite comment is like you're running paid ads.
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It's like, well, we're a totally different business than you.
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Yeah.
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That tells me all I need to know.
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So what's kind of like the core fundamentals of what you talked about?
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So like for me, it's like raise prices when you hit capacity, make profit.
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Don't try to be on this growth treadmill.
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What's kind of like the core fundamentals for you?
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Is it like don't spend money on ads or what?
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No.
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Yes, definitely.
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I think anybody like sub a mill, we're trying to teach them like how to build a little bit of social proof first before you drive people inbound.
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You know, it's like me, like you would have never had me here if I didn't have brand.
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Right.
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Like so you're not going to convert anybody if you don't have the social proof backing before you advertise, whether it's paid, whether it's hangers, whether it's whatever.
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You know, people finding out that their brand of landscaping, hardscaping exists.
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You know, you want them to have that social proof first.
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That's like one of the things that we preach.
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You know, I would be very similar.
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You know, I think that's when, you know, we got in the DMs was when I swiped up on the thing about like the stop just buying a whole bunch of stuff you can't afford because you think that's growing.
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You know, that's that's one of the biggest things for us, too, is I think everybody in home service sees some of these like social media landscapers and they think that that's growth.
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Like, you know, getting better equipment or like doing crazy reels.
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You know, we're we're like trying to get guys to do like the core business things instead of like the Internet type things that people might not be making money.
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So we're we're aggressive on the same foundation of like.
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Stop adding people to your team that you can't support.
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Stop buying a bunch of stuff just because you think that that's how you grow, you know, because it's dudes ego.
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You know, they're like, well, if I have three trucks, everybody in my town looks at me like I'm a better business owner than if I have one.
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But like they might, you know, the guy with one truck might be doing 500K and rev, but taking home 200K.
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Yeah.
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You know where the guy with three trucks is doing a mill, but taking home nothing and on credit cards.
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Yeah.
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So we're the same way with that is like, you know, buckle that down first.
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And for me, it's like I think the biggest lever is like obviously demand outpacing supply.
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And that's what we really like.
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That's probably my core thing is like it's a like a Daniel Presley, I believe he's from London.
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Like his oversubscribed principle, like the book that he just released, like that's really like the philosophy that I run under too.
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And I really like him because of that and Alex as well.
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So like we're really hard on that, like trying to get the man to outpace supply.
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And then if we have that, we can raise those prices.
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And it becomes unfair to operate when you have margin to work with.
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You know, it's like us sending all of our guys Christmas gifts, it costs like 15 grand.
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Like I could have bought a watch with that.
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But like, why would you do that when you can continue to build the brand?
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We want them to have the margin to be able to operate unfairly almost is really like what we're trying to get to.
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So define building a brand for a local business, right?
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So for you, you run ads, you're national.
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I understand, we do both do content.
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But for the business owners doing $500,000, a million dollars, when you say build a brand so that you can have the higher prices, et cetera, what does that mean to them?
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So for me, it's like we can't have like five Google reviews.
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Like, I mean, you could go out and clean garages for a month straight, even though you're a lawn care company and get to 100 probably.
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Right.
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And then you at least have something to leverage.
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Right.
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So I think it's it's just looking cohesive and I can go in depth on this, like looking cohesive, like.
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From the outside in right where if I leave a hanger at your house to do something for you like exterior lighting You know when you google me there's a bunch of stuff that's going to come up my face or you know our family our story You know that type of stuff and getting that like that could you know you can do that in 14 days That's not hard and it doesn't take thousands of dollars.
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So just really getting like the
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The outside in presence looking good, like the reviews, the face on the page, introducing yourself, who you are, what you do, where you service.
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You know, there's guys that apply for our stuff and we Google them.
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We can't even find them.
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It's like, well, that's your first problem.
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So we're showing them how to do that correctly because guys, you know, as simple as getting reviews, they don't feel like they like, well, should I ask that person for a review?
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Like you have to kind of tell them yes and how to do it, you know, so they feel confident doing it.
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So we'll do that.
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And then the other thing is, is just like actually being involved in your community is a big thing for us to like, you know, we have guys that do like free Christmas tree pickups.
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You know, we had a guy last year in Minnesota.
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He picked up like 42 trees and it led him to like 140 K worth of like signed design and build install work the next season.
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Well, they're slow in the winter.
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They're not doing anything.
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It took four hours to pick up those trees like.
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20 bucks in fuel, 140, 130 grand worth of signed work.
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And you know, the biggest thing too, is the, the signed work is not what I'm going for.
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It's the customers financing your brand, right?
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Where you get the review, the testimonial video, you know, maybe they take a picture like this with me and they post it in that Facebook group of all the moms.
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You know, we have a guy in upstate New York who just did this the last week, like four different Facebook groups.
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One of them got like 190 likes.
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Like those are all people finding out that you exist that now might pay you because they see you in a nice Facebook group of all the other moms.
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And that allows you to start the snowball, right, of rolling down the hill.
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So we're trying to teach them all that.
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Like go get your reviews, get all your online presence set up.
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Here's how to do it.
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Here's how to do it.
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If you don't have all these big projects to advertise, you know, get testimonials with customers.
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You know, we have them.
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And that's literally why 90 percent of people pay us.
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They go, yeah, those made me feel way more comfortable.
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I'm like, maybe we have them for your business, too.
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You know, like when I'm sure you see it when you go to their social, like you even know who they are at all.
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Like they're let alone speaking with customers or pictures with customers.
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I mean, look at the, you know, the car dealerships and the boat, the power sports dealerships or realtors.
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They're always posting with their customers, with the sold, with the happy sign.
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And it's like home service is no different.
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And then the other thing is there's guys trying to sell, you know, $50,000 projects and like think about.
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something else.
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Like if you're going to spend 50 grand on like a jewelry, like a ring for your, your lady, like how are they going to treat you at that, at that ring place?
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Much different than sending a QuickBooks estimate at, you know, 2am with no contacts, no review or no con context attached, no reviews, no video, no,
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You know, none of that.
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So we're really teaching them like that, like how to operate like with social proof and just doing a lot of little things like, you know, setting up like in person, you know, coffee shop events where, you know, the first 30 people in the coffee shop that has 20,000 followers in your town get a free coffee.
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You know, and all they do is like take a picture and post it on social media of you.
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So now they're 200, 500, a thousand followers now know you exist in the town and can pay you.
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So, you know, that if that makes sense.
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you know and we have one guy you know if people watch this back uh his name is rider res from res outdoor services in wisconsin if you go to his facebook you'll see exactly what i mean like he's partnering with like the local dog rescue uh you know the local like bird sanctuary and doing really cool stuff with them and they got 100 000 followers you know the local bird sanctuary and now people find out he exists and he helps the community it's a win-win for everybody so like that type of stuff if that makes sense
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Very cool.
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So take me back a little bit.
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When you started your business, what was that industry?
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And talk me through the beginning phases of leading up to what you have now.
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Do you mean this business specifically, Blue Collar?
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No, even before that.
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Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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When I was way back?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Way back.
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I was like 14.
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I picked up a bunch of sticks in the neighborhood.
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I'm from rural Minnesota town of 1600 people.
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You know started like anybody does.
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I was like riding my bike to Girl Scout camp to like wash dishes.
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And I was making like eight bucks an hour or something.
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And then I ended up getting like a fifty dollar yard cleanup before I could drive.
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And I was like, well, that's way more money than spending, you know.
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10 hours washing dishes.
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Maybe I do this.
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And a big part of that was my dad.
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He wanted to do like lake weed removal because we grew up on like a nasty lake in southern Minnesota.
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So that's where we started.
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And for him, he had a full time job and we maybe did like five to 10 jobs a summer.
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So maybe like three grand in revenue, you know, not high at all.
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And I was helping him do that when I was like 16, 17.
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And then, you know, he's just older and it's not fun to start a home like lake weed removal when you're, you know, 45, 50.
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Yeah.
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So I was like skimming the top or no that's edges.
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That's like cutting grass in the water Literally, although with the weed to come yes Yeah, and in southern Minnesota if you've been there the lakes are nasty Yeah, so yeah, like it's it's literally like the DNR allows you to do 2500 square feet So it's a 50 by 50 and you mow the dang lawn and you take them out of there So and this is a great service like everybody wants it.
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Everybody that lives on the lake has money every month I
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It depends how much money they have and how much, how clean they want it.
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Right.
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So like you can do one offs for parties.
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Yeah.
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You can do reoccurring.
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Like we sold a package of three for the summer or there's Airbnbs that want it every week.
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Right.
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Because there's going to be like storms, deadweeds are going to blow in.
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So it just depends on how much money you want.
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And what does that cost for say like a, uh, like a 50 by 50 that is like say three times a year.
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Way back, it was like 500 bucks a service.
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Probably now, by now, it's probably between like 700 and 1500, depending on where you're at and how far you travel.
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It's really profitable and there's really not a lot of overhead.
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It's like, you know, two guys and $200 worth of like lakeweed cutters can do it.
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And then you have to gather all the stuff like that.
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Yeah, that's the worst part.
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Okay, cool.
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So he started that business.
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Did you work with him?
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Yeah, yeah, I was working with him.
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And, you know, again, it was more of just like a side thing.
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You know, maybe a couple of clients this summer, you know, we'd go do after work.
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Like, you know, when he got off at five, I'd go help him and we did it.
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And then I got to the point when I went to college when I was like 17, 18, that I just said, like, hey, I want to start like my own thing, like get into like landscaping and maybe do like weed removal, like.
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do you want me to keep that name?
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Because he just wasn't doing, you know, like it was just like for fun, you know?
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And I was like, do you want me to keep that name?
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You want me to start a separate thing?
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Cause I'm going to go all in like, and go hard.
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And he's like, no, you can, you know, you can take that name, you know, not really going anywhere right now.
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So I ran with that, which is like short potential.
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And we, we did liquid removal, landscape, hardscape, and we kind of just ascended as well.
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You know, one of the big things with liquid removal, um,
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is it's like it's a profitable lead magnet.
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You know, like every person on the lake, they're going to say yes to a $500 to $1,000 service.
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You know, it's a super easy service to sell very quickly.
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You know, and then you service them for two years, and then when they need $100,000 worth of, you know.
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Excavation.
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Yeah, anything, you know, landscape, hardscape, you know, full path, you know, down to the lake in Minnesota.
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You know, they already know you.
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They already trust you.
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And you basically, it's like profitable marketing on the front end.
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Yeah, that's cool.
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Yeah.
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So then you took that business over or did you just like, okay, not doing that late.
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I took that business over, but again, it wasn't really, I would say it wasn't a business.
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You know, it's like a hobby.
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Like again, like five clients, 10 clients a year.
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But then the upsells led you to go the path of more design built.
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Yeah, go into that.
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And then I did that until two years ago now.
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I sold that.
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Not fancy.
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Like I always tell people that like one-off service businesses that's not reoccurring, you know, it's not going to sell for millions of dollars.
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It just isn't.
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So I always tell people like I sold it, but it wasn't for lots and lots of money.
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Like that's why I never bring it up because I don't you know, I think it's almost discouraging for some of those guys early to hear that.
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Like they think they're just going to do something for 24 months and sell it for millions, which doesn't doesn't work like that.
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So how long do you do that then?
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Like three, four years growing that business?
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00:11:45.795 --> 00:11:46.316
From 17 to 24.
211
00:11:46.336 --> 00:11:47.136
OK, so seven or so.
212
00:11:50.579 --> 00:11:55.482
And was that all, like, what was the comprise of those services and, like, how many employees you have at that point?
213
00:11:56.003 --> 00:11:58.044
Our biggest year was, like, year five or six.
214
00:11:58.204 --> 00:12:01.206
For employees, we had, like, six, six to eight.
215
00:12:01.446 --> 00:12:02.647
We had, like, two, like, part-time.
216
00:12:03.308 --> 00:12:05.609
But the last two years, we had, like, two to four.
217
00:12:05.709 --> 00:12:08.391
And we were, again, just very profitable.
218
00:12:08.411 --> 00:12:09.492
Like, I remember... Three crews?
219
00:12:09.852 --> 00:12:10.332
No, two.
220
00:12:10.533 --> 00:12:10.993
Okay, got it.
221
00:12:11.013 --> 00:12:13.995
Yeah, two and a mix of one, depending on where we're at in the season.
222
00:12:14.035 --> 00:12:16.837
If everybody worked together, if it was, like, an $80,000 wall or something.
223
00:12:16.857 --> 00:12:17.097
Yeah.
224
00:12:17.457 --> 00:12:19.978
Um, and again, just very profitable.
225
00:12:20.078 --> 00:12:21.058
That's really the big thing.
226
00:12:21.078 --> 00:12:25.240
Like I wasn't like a 30 million a year top line guy We're just running out.
227
00:12:25.260 --> 00:12:44.186
Like I remember one year, uh, like I can't remember There's like maybe three years before we did like four or five hundred K, but we took home like two two fifty So just like, you know, and for most guys in america, that's a pretty good life You know that more than just the stress of you know, a million top line and looking good but taking home nothing So that's really where we were at
228
00:12:44.346 --> 00:12:49.110
Cool, so you sold that, that was a couple years ago, and then there was a bit of a gap there before you started the business accelerator.
229
00:12:49.511 --> 00:12:51.673
So that was like right when Alex kind of took school over.
230
00:12:51.693 --> 00:12:53.654
Is that when you were like, okay, I'm going to do this thing?
231
00:12:53.694 --> 00:12:55.316
Is that what kind of triggered that?
232
00:12:55.376 --> 00:12:55.936
Yeah, so...
233
00:12:57.633 --> 00:13:00.416
my fiance now, uh, she, she's awesome.
234
00:13:00.436 --> 00:13:02.037
She's like the reason I'm able to do what I do.
235
00:13:02.197 --> 00:13:06.662
Like for a hundred percent, she runs all of her backend ads and stuff and makes me all my meals.
236
00:13:06.702 --> 00:13:10.125
And I would not be, I would not be able to do what I do without her.
237
00:13:10.145 --> 00:13:10.646
Two things you needed.
238
00:13:10.666 --> 00:13:10.986
Yeah.
239
00:13:11.026 --> 00:13:13.108
You need food and eat your ads ran.
240
00:13:13.148 --> 00:13:13.909
A hundred percent.
241
00:13:14.029 --> 00:13:16.272
And, uh, you know, what happened is she, it worked.
242
00:13:16.772 --> 00:13:19.494
We had a seven acre property in Minnesota that we owned.
243
00:13:20.174 --> 00:13:21.915
And she's just not from Southern Minnesota.
244
00:13:21.935 --> 00:13:23.816
It's like small town Minnesota.
245
00:13:24.336 --> 00:13:28.759
And we met at college and she just didn't really want to live there anymore, which I get 100%.
246
00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:34.001
So that was obviously a big conversation between us is like, is this the right decision?
247
00:13:34.061 --> 00:13:34.642
Is it not?
248
00:13:35.122 --> 00:13:38.544
And she really pushed me to like, you can just do what you do anywhere.
249
00:13:38.724 --> 00:13:40.065
Like we should just take the risk.
250
00:13:40.085 --> 00:13:40.645
We're still young.
251
00:13:40.665 --> 00:13:41.245
We don't have kids.
252
00:13:41.766 --> 00:13:41.946
Yeah.
253
00:13:42.726 --> 00:13:45.028
So that was really the deciding factor for why I sold.
254
00:13:45.168 --> 00:13:54.395
Like, and why I was kind of rushed, honestly, was like to, to not to keep us together, but it was just a cohesive decision for both of us as like a unit to, to make that move.
255
00:13:54.696 --> 00:14:01.921
So we sold our seven acre property that we ran the business out of, uh, sold the business and then moved to like South Denver, like Castle Rock area.
256
00:14:02.402 --> 00:14:03.783
Um, just try something new.
257
00:14:04.083 --> 00:14:04.723
Is that where you're now?
258
00:14:04.743 --> 00:14:04.904
Yeah.
259
00:14:04.924 --> 00:14:05.084
Yeah.
260
00:14:05.104 --> 00:14:05.404
Currently.
261
00:14:05.444 --> 00:14:05.724
Oh, okay.
262
00:14:05.764 --> 00:14:06.625
I didn't know you were there.
263
00:14:06.665 --> 00:14:06.765
Yeah.
264
00:14:06.785 --> 00:14:08.386
That's where I've been for like two years now.
265
00:14:08.546 --> 00:14:08.787
Okay.
266
00:14:08.807 --> 00:14:08.967
Nice.
267
00:14:09.047 --> 00:14:10.288
Um, and, uh,
268
00:14:12.308 --> 00:14:28.518
That made me sell and I think hormosey started like back in school in like that january and I sold in may But it was never my intention to be genuinely honest like to be in this seat or like an internet type guy Like if you look at my business, like I didn't I didn't record content I wasn't like a youtube dude.
269
00:14:28.538 --> 00:14:30.199
Like I didn't have the audience first.
270
00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:33.801
It just kind of ended up happening Uh because of two reasons.
271
00:14:34.081 --> 00:14:35.943
Uh one was like when I sold my company
272
00:14:36.823 --> 00:14:40.464
Uh, some boys came on facebook marketplace to buy a laser level from me at like 9 p.m.
273
00:14:40.804 --> 00:14:57.167
Uh, and they were they were working for a guy that's been in business like 30 years who is not treating him well Like not paying him over time and they just didn't know what to do and they had like seven years of experience in hardscaping And I was like, well you guys buying this to like start and they're like, well, we're gonna do on the weekend a little bit I'm, like what they they knew my company.
274
00:14:57.187 --> 00:14:57.927
They knew me from high school.
275
00:14:57.947 --> 00:14:59.387
They were like an hour away I played them.
276
00:14:59.587 --> 00:15:04.568
I played a year college basketball Uh, so like they knew me from high school basketball and I was like
277
00:15:05.248 --> 00:15:07.069
Just like quit tomorrow.
278
00:15:07.469 --> 00:15:08.149
I will help you.
279
00:15:08.189 --> 00:15:09.290
Like, I have nothing to do.
280
00:15:09.650 --> 00:15:10.490
Like, I'll just help you.
281
00:15:10.510 --> 00:15:11.731
I think it was like fifteen hundred bucks.
282
00:15:11.751 --> 00:15:13.852
I'm like, I'll tell you everything I know from the last seven years.
283
00:15:14.452 --> 00:15:18.834
So that was like while we moved and that went really well with them.
284
00:15:19.354 --> 00:15:21.375
And then in that same time span, like.
285
00:15:21.975 --> 00:15:23.216
I love Hormozy stuff.
286
00:15:23.456 --> 00:15:26.317
And I was like, you only got to make like 22 grand to like go meet him.
287
00:15:26.337 --> 00:15:29.399
Like I would probably pay 22 grand to spend a whole day in person with him, obviously.
288
00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:42.946
And I was like saying that at that time, my girlfriend and her friend who were both in the online space, they both do like online fitness stuff for like years to like they had been in it for like my girlfriend had been in it for like five years at that point.
289
00:15:42.966 --> 00:15:45.267
So she's like familiar with the Internet stuff where I come from, like.
290
00:15:45.887 --> 00:15:48.809
The industry, a town of six, six, nine people in rural Minnesota.
291
00:15:48.829 --> 00:15:50.110
So I hate the internet stuff too.
292
00:15:50.210 --> 00:15:50.850
Cause I am them.
293
00:15:51.411 --> 00:15:53.412
And she was like, you'd be so good at it.
294
00:15:53.432 --> 00:15:54.553
You actually care about people.
295
00:15:54.693 --> 00:15:58.815
Like you understand like the business side, which is what most, you know, most operators don't.
296
00:15:59.656 --> 00:16:01.557
So she's like, you should just really do it.
297
00:16:02.158 --> 00:16:03.939
And I was like, Oh, I don't want to do it.
298
00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:05.360
And she basically was like.
299
00:16:06.220 --> 00:16:08.362
called me out and she's like, well, you got to stop just saying it.
300
00:16:08.382 --> 00:16:10.523
Like, if you think it'd be easy, maybe, maybe try.
301
00:16:11.204 --> 00:16:18.709
And then I started on school because again, it was like, we were, she's like, you're already doing the internet guy thing for these two boys, but like not on the internet.
302
00:16:19.109 --> 00:16:23.792
So started, uh, got like six in school games the first month, uh, like the first, uh,
303
00:16:24.993 --> 00:16:31.037
Three months of what we do now is like DMing people in Facebook groups just nonstop and people wouldn't even take my advice for free, you know, like it is.
304
00:16:31.578 --> 00:16:32.798
And just to get over that hump.
305
00:16:32.818 --> 00:16:37.361
And then we got our first couple of clients and, you know, then we got testimonials from them, reviews from them.
306
00:16:37.401 --> 00:16:38.962
And we've just been kind of going since.
307
00:16:39.002 --> 00:16:40.203
That's like how it started.
308
00:16:40.684 --> 00:16:41.084
Very cool.
309
00:16:41.144 --> 00:16:41.384
Yes.
310
00:16:41.464 --> 00:16:45.265
And so what do you kind of see the future as now for Blue Collar Business Accelerator?
311
00:16:45.685 --> 00:16:49.667
Or are you going to use the platform you have?
312
00:16:49.707 --> 00:16:58.069
I was talking with Stefano Narducci, and his original idea was kind of use his platform as a way to roll up other operators and actually build out a big operation.
313
00:16:58.109 --> 00:16:59.530
What's kind of your vision for the future?
314
00:17:00.353 --> 00:17:05.856
So for me currently, and obviously it can change, I think our product is really good.
315
00:17:06.416 --> 00:17:09.158
We have 255 star reviews, not a single bad one.
316
00:17:09.178 --> 00:17:10.899
And not that we probably shouldn't have one.
317
00:17:10.919 --> 00:17:14.641
But again, it's like, you know, it's just guys that don't actually listen or apply anything.
318
00:17:15.281 --> 00:17:16.522
And I really like our product.
319
00:17:16.542 --> 00:17:19.864
And I think it's really making an impact on lots and lots and lots of guys.
320
00:17:20.624 --> 00:17:21.625
And it's more of like a...
321
00:17:22.891 --> 00:17:24.912
not like a we'll run your business for you, right?
322
00:17:24.952 --> 00:17:28.513
Like something like, you know, you guys are doing, which is awesome and obviously needed service.
323
00:17:28.533 --> 00:17:37.636
We're more of like an almost like an entrepreneurship bootcamp of like try to get the operator to fully understand like how they could restart from zero and be able to have all of those skills.
324
00:17:38.056 --> 00:17:39.977
So for me, I think it's a needed thing in the marketplace.
325
00:17:40.037 --> 00:17:42.718
It's kind of a little different from like an agency service, obviously.
326
00:17:43.598 --> 00:17:46.339
So I wanna keep this specifically going.
327
00:17:46.739 --> 00:17:52.001
And you know, we're running the supply and demand issue of like we can't keep up and fulfill all the people that want to join.
328
00:17:52.441 --> 00:18:01.446
So the goal in like probably a three year time span would be like continue to grow this, but make it more accessible to more of the operators that need this type of help.
329
00:18:01.486 --> 00:18:05.368
That's really not like I would say taught in like school or conventional wisdom.
330
00:18:05.408 --> 00:18:09.090
And, you know, these are some of the operators that like, you know, a lot of this information exists.
331
00:18:09.110 --> 00:18:10.151
It's not like I'm a genius.
332
00:18:10.571 --> 00:18:18.136
It's what did I learn it from, from watching 10 years straight of Alex and Gary Vee and all the Internet, you know, dry stuff that all of us love to do that are real operators.
333
00:18:18.796 --> 00:18:20.137
And it's just making it more, I think.
334
00:18:20.857 --> 00:18:28.920
Accessible for them because they like to hear it from somebody from the industry or like somebody that understands to talk to them in their language Not internet person language.
335
00:18:29.280 --> 00:18:45.406
So continuing to push that to more people because I think it is really really helping a lot of people So that's really the goal for now, you know, eventually probably I'd like to get back into like managing like a portfolio of home service companies for sure I think I'd be very good at it with the skills that I have and
336
00:18:45.646 --> 00:18:53.549
But it's just trying not to chase 16 things at once and really dial this in first, make sure it's scalable, deliverable, the product stays as good as it is currently.
337
00:18:53.569 --> 00:18:55.570
So that's what we're trying to do currently.
338
00:18:55.850 --> 00:19:05.113
So for the person that's kind of like maybe running a business of $250,000 to maybe $750,000 in revenue, they have several employees, they're trying to grow the business.
339
00:19:05.693 --> 00:19:10.075
What's the common pitfalls you see them running into, and then how do you tackle those?
340
00:19:10.455 --> 00:19:14.739
I would say just not enough demand, coming back to the first point.
341
00:19:14.899 --> 00:19:18.442
And this is my hard sticking point.
342
00:19:18.582 --> 00:19:24.767
If we have an excess of demand, it makes it a lot easier to funnel the good leads that want to pay you a little bit more.
343
00:19:24.808 --> 00:19:28.891
So you don't have to complain when a truck breaks or things happen that are going to happen in business.
344
00:19:29.351 --> 00:19:30.472
I think they just...
345
00:19:31.253 --> 00:19:33.535
They outpace their growth with overhead.
346
00:19:33.675 --> 00:19:33.875
Right.
347
00:19:33.915 --> 00:19:36.137
And that's obviously something that I think you feel the same way.
348
00:19:36.177 --> 00:19:40.561
We're like the moment they start to see a little bit of success, they just start adding and adding and adding.
349
00:19:40.621 --> 00:19:42.943
And it's a really hard thing to reverse.
350
00:19:42.963 --> 00:19:50.069
So we have a guy that was doing like 800K that looked like a really good business from the outside to me when he came to us.
351
00:19:50.549 --> 00:19:53.312
And I found out, you know, with a wife and kids, he's on credit cards.
352
00:19:53.812 --> 00:19:56.615
And I think that's a more common story, obviously, with your guys' turn around.
353
00:19:56.635 --> 00:19:57.335
It's like everyone.
354
00:19:57.775 --> 00:19:58.596
And it's very common.
355
00:19:59.137 --> 00:20:02.740
And just trying to get them to realize, like, we have to take a step back.
356
00:20:02.780 --> 00:20:03.900
We have to stop spending.
357
00:20:04.061 --> 00:20:05.722
We just we need to make money.
358
00:20:05.762 --> 00:20:10.966
And how do you make money, in my opinion, is building the trust so you can charge more.
359
00:20:11.106 --> 00:20:13.989
So the brand in the front end and then getting more leads.
360
00:20:14.289 --> 00:20:17.732
So then you can funnel through those leads to the people that aren't going to complain.
361
00:20:17.752 --> 00:20:20.034
You know, a big thing that I try to tell guys is like.
362
00:20:20.514 --> 00:20:26.677
I don't think some of the smaller, like under seven figures understand the volume that needs to happen to have a business work.
363
00:20:27.138 --> 00:20:29.619
Like for us, like we're getting like 60 leads a day.
364
00:20:29.639 --> 00:20:32.860
You know, if we listen to the 30 people that are like, you guys are way too expensive.
365
00:20:33.081 --> 00:20:33.961
Like, that's crazy.
366
00:20:34.001 --> 00:20:37.823
Like we wouldn't have a business if we only got five leads a day because all five of them could be those people.
367
00:20:38.123 --> 00:20:42.566
And I think like, you know, some of these guys at 750K, they're probably only getting five, 10 leads a week.
368
00:20:42.926 --> 00:20:49.049
You know, seven of them might be not quality leads where if we got 30 leads a week, you know, we probably have 10 quality leads where we only had three before.
369
00:20:49.469 --> 00:20:58.299
So I really think like the most of the problem that they run into is they try to start to scale before they have Brandon lead flow stable.
370
00:20:58.600 --> 00:20:59.360
If that makes sense.
371
00:20:59.701 --> 00:21:01.603
Like, you know, I always give this example.
372
00:21:01.623 --> 00:21:04.686
Like if you're building a patio, you can't.
373
00:21:05.347 --> 00:21:29.061
do all the parts of the patio at once you know like if you're building a house the guy can't be putting the roof on while you're pouring the foundation like and i think that's what guys try to do in business is like they just kind of try to do everything at once and it all ends up like a disaster and it's really hard you know and i i would i would say it's really hard if there's like seven big issues there's one biggest issue and we can fix that then we can move to the next so it's really trying to get them to slow down
374
00:21:30.142 --> 00:21:58.200
get the get the demand to be stable right and not we don't need a bajillion leads but we need the demand to be stable because it's really hard when it's like this and you know the other thing is this obviously below a million everybody feels very unstable well it's because their their inputs are unstable or however you say that it's like going to the gym you go to the gym for a month you don't go for a month you go you know you go for three weeks you don't go for eight weeks you're never really going to make any real progress and i think the moment under a mill that guys start to get busy because they don't have a team built
375
00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:01.661
They go back into like just the job site 24 seven.
376
00:22:01.701 --> 00:22:07.722
Well, then everything else that they've probably been doing to get the business to start going up lacks and then they hit this nasty trough again.
377
00:22:08.142 --> 00:22:13.364
So I think it's like I would say like roundabout answer is like more demand and stabilizing inputs.
378
00:22:13.704 --> 00:22:18.745
I would say like, you know, just getting people to have stable inputs into the business side of things.
379
00:22:19.285 --> 00:22:20.305
That's like the Hormozy thing.
380
00:22:20.345 --> 00:22:24.346
If you're under $100K a month, it's like spend four hours a day on outreach.
381
00:22:24.746 --> 00:22:31.368
Most of these guys are doing $20K a month and they don't do any outreach or anything to build the lead flow tranche of things.
382
00:22:31.508 --> 00:22:38.750
I feel like it's really hard to add people to a team or add processes if you don't know when your bills are going to be paid because you don't have customers wanting to pay you.
383
00:22:39.210 --> 00:22:42.811
I think it's trying to do everything at once, as I would say, is the biggest problem under a mill.
384
00:22:43.091 --> 00:22:47.394
So assuming the person is trying to build the roof, they're like, I do want to build a bigger business.
385
00:22:47.774 --> 00:22:53.878
What are the key indicators that tell you or allows them to be like, yes, I can take it to the next level.
386
00:22:54.178 --> 00:22:55.199
I can go ahead and buy another truck.
387
00:22:55.219 --> 00:22:55.999
I can add more crews.
388
00:22:56.259 --> 00:22:59.521
What's the indicators they should be looking for where they're like, yes, I get the checkmark.
389
00:22:59.601 --> 00:23:01.963
I can actually do this, do it properly and sustainably.
390
00:23:02.063 --> 00:23:05.866
So for me, it is it is like it almost should become apparent.
391
00:23:05.926 --> 00:23:08.387
And I don't I probably need to get like an X and O for this.
392
00:23:08.467 --> 00:23:08.688
Right.
393
00:23:08.708 --> 00:23:10.589
Like a like a number metric that's trackable.
394
00:23:10.949 --> 00:23:15.372
But I want it to become apparent that we need to add somebody like you are almost drowning.
395
00:23:15.492 --> 00:23:21.536
I like that's how I built blue collar is like when I start to drown, it's like, OK, now it's time to add the next piece to the team.
396
00:23:21.816 --> 00:23:27.760
And I think like if it was like the first week I was busy and I started to add team members, we'd be in a much different spot right now.
397
00:23:28.121 --> 00:23:31.383
So I think it should become apparent, number one, and try to just.
398
00:23:31.723 --> 00:23:36.584
Try to just have the stable inbound of like, we know that we're out three months.
399
00:23:36.924 --> 00:23:39.105
You know, I always tell guys like, we have guys that are out a year.
400
00:23:39.485 --> 00:23:40.705
We've guys that are only out two months.
401
00:23:40.985 --> 00:23:42.046
It really just depends on your goal.
402
00:23:42.066 --> 00:23:47.607
Like if you're trying to scale as fast as possible to 10 million, like you're gonna need to be a lot tighter with how quickly you add people.
403
00:23:47.907 --> 00:23:54.229
But if you're just trying to live a good life, which I think 80, 90% of our clients are, you know, 100 to 500K a year and take home.
404
00:23:54.609 --> 00:23:57.290
You know, I think for me with how long life is,
405
00:23:58.370 --> 00:24:03.112
Get it to be a no brainer, like get three months out with project work before you're adding people.
406
00:24:03.372 --> 00:24:06.854
But then it comes down to like when people are ready to add people, they haven't been recruiting.
407
00:24:07.374 --> 00:24:09.615
You know, that's the biggest thing, too, is people complain about labor.
408
00:24:10.055 --> 00:24:12.717
Well, you should be recruiting over the next six months.
409
00:24:12.897 --> 00:24:15.758
So then when you are ready to add somebody to the team, you're ready to go.
410
00:24:16.058 --> 00:24:20.122
You know, it's not like, oh, now we got to do three months of recruiting and now we're way behind and people hate us.
411
00:24:20.463 --> 00:24:22.004
So just being prepped for that stuff.
412
00:24:22.044 --> 00:24:26.249
And I think I think for me and maybe I should get an X is a no of when.
413
00:24:26.689 --> 00:24:31.034
But I think it's more of like depending on your goal in your business.
414
00:24:31.054 --> 00:24:33.577
You know, we have some guys that don't want more than two crews.
415
00:24:34.017 --> 00:24:39.040
Well, then we let's let's just be out like six months to a year first, because it's just about expectation setting.
416
00:24:39.060 --> 00:24:44.523
People will wait just like people will wait for a Tesla Roadster for 10 plus years because there's so much demand for the product.
417
00:24:44.864 --> 00:24:51.788
So I'm a real stickler on like a supply and demand imbalance personally for me, because I think it just gets a lot easier to operate for the average person.
418
00:24:52.188 --> 00:24:55.130
If you have way too many people that are qualified that want to pay you.
419
00:24:55.330 --> 00:24:56.231
Okay, so I have a secret.
420
00:24:56.251 --> 00:24:58.051
It's just for everyone watching this video.
421
00:24:58.412 --> 00:25:03.974
But on February 17th, we're officially changing the name of Copilot CRM to Homeworks.
422
00:25:04.635 --> 00:25:07.616
So get ready, because something big is about to happen.
423
00:25:08.236 --> 00:25:13.699
So assuming the demand outstrips supply dramatically, and then eventually you have to add supply, i.e.
424
00:25:13.859 --> 00:25:16.000
employees, infrastructure, management, etc.
425
00:25:16.540 --> 00:25:18.821
What are the bottlenecks you see then that happen?
426
00:25:18.841 --> 00:25:19.562
Because...
427
00:25:20.362 --> 00:25:26.683
I think as a smaller business, I think most people with a good marketing or sales experience can get in flood demand.
428
00:25:27.224 --> 00:25:36.346
Once that happens and then I add supply and all the infrastructure and the people, what are the bonds that you're seeing then when it comes to management, operations, dispatch, like those aspects?
429
00:25:36.506 --> 00:25:41.847
I would say like 99% of the companies that come to us, and we have multiple that are like above seven figures too.
430
00:25:42.716 --> 00:25:44.417
They just have no processes in place.
431
00:25:44.457 --> 00:25:47.859
Like they don't have standard operating procedures for like how to install turf.
432
00:25:48.379 --> 00:25:51.661
They don't have scope of works for every single job.
433
00:25:51.961 --> 00:25:57.284
It's really more of like, you know, we always see the excuse of like, you know, our operators are good.
434
00:25:57.344 --> 00:25:59.685
They have experience like they don't need this stuff.
435
00:26:00.065 --> 00:26:01.206
You know, they do.
436
00:26:01.366 --> 00:26:09.010
I would say that's like the biggest bottleneck is guys just getting over that like pride hump of like it's going to take time to like sit down and get this process in order to have that.
437
00:26:09.410 --> 00:26:17.114
So like, you know, one of our guys and, you know, we're not sponsored by CompanyCam, but uses CompanyCam for all their SOPs there, you know, all of that.
438
00:26:17.174 --> 00:26:24.577
Like just adding that, I would say, is like the biggest bottleneck once that happens, because for you to get off a job site, there has to be exact order and direction.
439
00:26:24.937 --> 00:26:30.880
And I would say it's like the biggest excuse is like, you know, oh, that takes time or like our guys don't need that.
440
00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:31.960
But then there's always issues.
441
00:26:32.020 --> 00:26:32.681
Well, they need that.
442
00:26:32.701 --> 00:26:35.082
You know, a good one that I like to bring it back to is like.
443
00:26:36.002 --> 00:26:38.104
We all know how to drive, like, you know how to drive a vehicle.
444
00:26:38.144 --> 00:26:40.265
Well, why is there a stop sign, a stoplight?
445
00:26:40.566 --> 00:26:42.307
Why is there lines in a parking lot?
446
00:26:42.487 --> 00:26:44.949
Well, it's because it's going to mitigate 80 percent of disasters.
447
00:26:44.969 --> 00:26:53.575
There's still going to be accidents and there's still going to be questions that might have to go to, you know, a foreman or a GM or an owner or, you know, somebody in that management position.
448
00:26:53.596 --> 00:27:00.641
But we're going to mitigate all those, you know, inefficiencies and 80 percent of screw ups because there's actually operating procedures for what needs to happen.
449
00:27:00.941 --> 00:27:11.166
So say like that's number one is like even again guys at three mil that come to us that have like none of that They just have pretty good guys that have been with them for a while and understand but there's no Replicatable process.
450
00:27:11.246 --> 00:27:24.851
That would be number one number two I would say is recruiting, you know guys struggle really hard with recruiting, you know They don't understand like where to find labor how to screen what type of questions to ask before they hire somebody you know, I always bring it to the likes of you know
451
00:27:26.512 --> 00:27:32.776
If you if you talk to a hundred women before you find your wife, there's probably the best chance that you find the best lady that fits for both of you.
452
00:27:32.916 --> 00:27:33.136
Right.
453
00:27:33.196 --> 00:27:36.298
If you talk to two, probably a good chance you guys hate each other.
454
00:27:36.318 --> 00:27:38.039
You know, it's the same thing with these guys.
455
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:39.640
Like they'll throw up like a we're hiring.
456
00:27:39.660 --> 00:27:42.882
You know, they hire the first guy that like drives a truck and talks to them.
457
00:27:42.942 --> 00:27:46.343
OK, you know, it's like they don't ask any questions like if if.
458
00:27:47.364 --> 00:27:51.085
like they don't ask, like, you know, are you do you see yourself moving in the next five years?
459
00:27:51.205 --> 00:27:52.485
And the guy goes, yeah, yeah.
460
00:27:52.565 --> 00:27:55.446
My fiance wants to move back to Tennessee, you know, next week.
461
00:27:55.806 --> 00:27:56.887
Like, why are you applying here?
462
00:27:56.927 --> 00:27:59.627
But if they don't ask that, you know, you run into this turnover issue.
463
00:27:59.967 --> 00:28:03.748
So I would say like like recruiting and then like the hiring and the onboarding.
464
00:28:04.469 --> 00:28:10.010
I don't think many guys in home service are very skilled at that, because, again, I don't think many guys in home service come from like.
465
00:28:10.210 --> 00:28:12.672
business or HR or recruiting.
466
00:28:13.052 --> 00:28:15.694
So I just think they, they just say, I need more workers.
467
00:28:15.714 --> 00:28:19.718
They throw their hands up and they go, I can't find them, but they didn't, they've done nothing to try.
468
00:28:19.738 --> 00:28:25.062
You know, like one small tip that we tell our guys to do is like careers page on the website, which nobody has.
469
00:28:25.082 --> 00:28:36.831
Uh, but then there's QR code that goes to that, that like, you know, at least in the Midwest County fairs, FFA for H like future farmers of America, like all of those types of organizations.
470
00:28:37.211 --> 00:28:39.153
Like, uh, we have one guy who does a lot of like whore,
471
00:28:39.333 --> 00:28:48.295
horse stuff like horse waters, like riding arenas, like grading and stuff, go to all of like the horse shows and hand those out to everybody and offer referral bonuses.
472
00:28:48.315 --> 00:28:51.116
You're gonna get the best type of people in Minnesota.
473
00:28:51.156 --> 00:28:53.276
And just like guys are like, oh, that's a great idea.
474
00:28:53.316 --> 00:28:57.717
Well, if you did that for the last year, you'd probably have a whole list of people you can pull from to recruit.
475
00:28:58.157 --> 00:28:59.438
And that comes back to brand.
476
00:29:00.118 --> 00:29:03.739
Do you wanna work for you or do you wanna work for somebody who has no followers and no reviews?
477
00:29:03.779 --> 00:29:04.699
You wanna work for you.
478
00:29:05.179 --> 00:29:07.960
We have another guy that we just had happen
479
00:29:08.800 --> 00:29:10.901
where he goes, I got this like a level lady.
480
00:29:11.501 --> 00:29:12.322
She's awesome.
481
00:29:12.362 --> 00:29:13.742
She's going to be our new office manager.
482
00:29:14.282 --> 00:29:20.425
And she literally said the only reason why she wanted to work here was she's been following us for the last eight months and seeing like how we're doing.
483
00:29:20.465 --> 00:29:32.150
Like, you know, we teach our guys like to do like free pumpkin pickup, like pick up all of the suburban rotting pumpkins for free, like partnering with like the, you know, like the pet rescues and stuff like that.
484
00:29:32.230 --> 00:29:36.712
And she literally said to him, the reason why I want to work here is because of that.
485
00:29:37.092 --> 00:29:44.294
So that's where if you don't do all these small things that guys think are dumb, you don't end up with A-level talent in your office, and then it's hard to run the business.
486
00:29:44.574 --> 00:29:49.436
So I would say operations, for one, like replicatable processes.
487
00:29:49.456 --> 00:29:51.636
I always bring up IKEA as well.
488
00:29:52.096 --> 00:29:55.357
When they give you a desk to install, they give you A to Z how to install it.
489
00:29:55.938 --> 00:29:57.898
And then number two is the recruiting.
490
00:29:57.918 --> 00:30:00.599
I would say those two are the biggest things that guys struggle with.
491
00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:02.259
Got it, cool.
492
00:30:02.379 --> 00:30:03.320
I would be...
493
00:30:05.320 --> 00:30:17.305
shirking my duty if I didn't ask you one question yeah please so recently Elon said that hey FSD full size driving will no longer be where you can buy it for one time for eight grand you have to be on the subscription as of February 14th
494
00:30:20.186 --> 00:30:23.968
So a lot of your ads are like, hey, for you long guys, stop mowing grass.
495
00:30:24.888 --> 00:30:30.210
Where do you see the balance between like getting the products and things that you love versus also having the recurring revenue?
496
00:30:30.470 --> 00:30:31.451
What do you see as a balance?
497
00:30:31.471 --> 00:30:33.572
I know obviously the ads like you got to get people in.
498
00:30:33.692 --> 00:30:34.412
You got to say things.
499
00:30:34.432 --> 00:30:36.033
You got to say things controversial.
500
00:30:36.133 --> 00:30:37.373
But like where do you stand on that?
501
00:30:37.473 --> 00:30:44.056
Even coming from more of the the one time project side compared to me where like if it's not recurring revenue, I don't want to think about it.
502
00:30:44.856 --> 00:30:46.177
So where's your philosophy on that?
503
00:30:46.277 --> 00:30:47.278
I think it just depends.
504
00:30:47.299 --> 00:30:53.888
I think obviously if you look at like there's lots of guys that are successful in both, you know, that's what I always come back to.
505
00:30:53.908 --> 00:30:58.936
Like if there's somebody doing it successful, like clearly it works at all levels if you understand how to do it.
506
00:30:59.416 --> 00:31:00.798
And I would say like.
507
00:31:01.399 --> 00:31:05.603
Our guys that come to us that do mowing and projects, like they're always like, should I drop mowing?
508
00:31:05.623 --> 00:31:06.083
It's pointless.
509
00:31:06.323 --> 00:31:07.544
Well, no, you shouldn't.
510
00:31:07.564 --> 00:31:08.725
You just should learn how to operate.
511
00:31:08.745 --> 00:31:10.487
Cause it can be very profitable as you know.
512
00:31:10.867 --> 00:31:14.711
And it's just, it's really like an, an entrepreneur and operating like deficiency.
513
00:31:14.971 --> 00:31:17.773
It's not that like mowing isn't good and it's not profitable.
514
00:31:18.013 --> 00:31:19.815
And I actually tell them like, you know,
515
00:31:19.915 --> 00:31:24.639
Hey, the reason that guys want to get rid of it is because they have a deficiency in operating like they're not good at recruiting.
516
00:31:24.659 --> 00:31:25.680
They're not going to process it.
517
00:31:25.720 --> 00:31:26.781
So it turns into a headache.
518
00:31:26.841 --> 00:31:29.263
And then they're selling way cheaper than they should.
519
00:31:29.303 --> 00:31:30.224
And they make no money on it.
520
00:31:30.944 --> 00:31:35.588
I tell guys to keep it because, again, for me, it's a profitable lead magnet.
521
00:31:35.628 --> 00:31:44.156
If you're good at reoccurring, whether it's, you know, maintenance for we have guys that, you know, do fertilizer, pest control, like anything that's reoccurring.
522
00:31:44.896 --> 00:31:48.279
If you're good at it should be the profitable lead magnet into those higher ticket items.
523
00:31:48.619 --> 00:31:48.839
Right.
524
00:31:48.879 --> 00:31:52.561
So like I always tell guys if you're good at operating, you should keep that.
525
00:31:52.582 --> 00:31:55.864
And I think a healthy business, a mix of both isn't a bad thing.
526
00:31:56.484 --> 00:32:03.189
And, you know, I'm sure if you guys do any like bigger design and build, but I'm sure you have referral partners that you hand those off to, you know, and if you're.
527
00:32:03.729 --> 00:32:08.410
if you're good at what you do, you can sell those for five or 10% and that goes straight to your, you know, straight to your company's bottom line.
528
00:32:08.430 --> 00:32:10.471
So you can grow more on the reoccurring side if you want.
529
00:32:10.851 --> 00:32:13.951
So I would say like, I don't look down on it at all.
530
00:32:13.971 --> 00:32:15.232
It's just everybody's ego.
531
00:32:15.252 --> 00:32:18.552
They want to go from $2,000 project to $50,000 project.
532
00:32:18.773 --> 00:32:19.973
And that gets guys in the door.
533
00:32:20.013 --> 00:32:20.393
Right.
534
00:32:20.453 --> 00:32:27.695
And you know, it's, it's like, oh, um, it's, it's like the, you know, you might need like the broccoli, but you got to wrap it in like chocolate.
535
00:32:27.755 --> 00:32:27.975
Right.
536
00:32:27.995 --> 00:32:28.235
You know?
537
00:32:28.315 --> 00:32:30.235
And I, yeah, I don't think that it's a bad thing at all.
538
00:32:30.255 --> 00:32:30.275
I
539
00:32:33.616 --> 00:32:44.058
But sometimes for guys that aren't super good at operating or don't want a big business, maybe the better decision for them is just two crews, a million top line and taking home 300K in projects.
540
00:32:44.118 --> 00:32:44.278
Right.
541
00:32:44.298 --> 00:32:45.398
That's like a simple life.
542
00:32:45.718 --> 00:32:47.379
You know, there's not a whole lot of headache.
543
00:32:47.399 --> 00:32:52.820
There's not a whole lot of invoicing or routing or, you know, it's just I think it depends on your goal as the entrepreneur.
544
00:32:52.840 --> 00:32:55.200
Like we have one guy in Minnesota who I love.
545
00:32:55.981 --> 00:32:57.661
He does 600K roughly.
546
00:32:58.661 --> 00:33:02.802
He employs his dad and one other guy and he takes home like 280 grand on projects.
547
00:33:03.162 --> 00:33:05.444
Like that's a pretty good life for most Americans.
548
00:33:05.484 --> 00:33:05.684
Right.
549
00:33:05.724 --> 00:33:06.845
And again, it depends.
550
00:33:06.885 --> 00:33:13.330
Like if you're trying to go super big and scalable, like reoccurring is obviously a great way to do that because you don't have to continue to sell and sell and sell.
551
00:33:13.350 --> 00:33:14.852
Because that is the hard part about projects.
552
00:33:15.252 --> 00:33:19.716
And that is why landscape and hardscape like install or anything like we have deck builders and stuff.
553
00:33:20.276 --> 00:33:26.381
It is harder because when we sell that customer, that $50,000 project, we got to go find another one to replace them all the time.
554
00:33:26.401 --> 00:33:28.843
We don't get to keep them for the next 10 years and forget what we do.
555
00:33:29.023 --> 00:33:34.285
And that's where the brand part comes into play, because otherwise you don't have that lead that is consistently there after the project.
556
00:33:34.305 --> 00:33:34.605
Yeah.
557
00:33:34.905 --> 00:33:35.886
So I agree.
558
00:33:36.006 --> 00:33:40.528
I don't think that there's any dismerit or however you want to say that.
559
00:33:40.548 --> 00:33:41.328
I'm not.
560
00:33:41.488 --> 00:33:42.588
I spelled my hang on.
561
00:33:43.029 --> 00:33:45.150
I spelled my logo wrong.
562
00:33:45.330 --> 00:33:47.290
OK, this is I want to talk about this.
563
00:33:47.450 --> 00:33:48.271
I wish I would have left it.
564
00:33:48.991 --> 00:33:52.093
I think guys in business care about the wrong things.
565
00:33:52.553 --> 00:33:56.716
We were doing $40,000 a month in business consulting with business spelt wrong in our logo.
566
00:33:57.176 --> 00:33:59.898
And, like, what I'm trying to say is— How do you spell it?
567
00:34:00.298 --> 00:34:00.859
I don't even know.
568
00:34:02.080 --> 00:34:02.480
I don't know.
569
00:34:02.560 --> 00:34:03.460
Dylan did this one.
570
00:34:03.841 --> 00:34:05.382
But, like, I think the I was wrong.
571
00:34:05.622 --> 00:34:06.582
I was going quick.
572
00:34:06.703 --> 00:34:08.804
I logo generated it when we started.
573
00:34:08.864 --> 00:34:13.227
And it's, like, that's, like, the whole philosophy that we run on is, like—
574
00:34:13.667 --> 00:34:15.468
You're worried about the small things that don't matter.
575
00:34:15.528 --> 00:34:19.511
Like guys at 300K are worried about like what one of their service pages on their website says.
576
00:34:19.571 --> 00:34:23.434
Like, oh, I don't know if I would have said it that way, you know, instead of going out and getting customers.
577
00:34:23.754 --> 00:34:26.436
But just to back about I'm not smart with the words.
578
00:34:26.536 --> 00:34:27.437
I spelled business wrong.
579
00:34:27.457 --> 00:34:28.078
You don't have to be smart.
580
00:34:28.098 --> 00:34:30.079
You just have to take the right action and be a good human being.
581
00:34:30.199 --> 00:34:31.280
But yeah, sorry.
582
00:34:31.540 --> 00:34:56.716
about no that's awesome man i think that a lot of the the project the build guys a lot of times get into it for passion and then realize that like the passion is fine but eventually that will end if they don't have the numbers they don't have the actual operations and the chops on the business side so i appreciate really offering to those those individuals because sometimes they won't listen to me yeah like a little mower guy over there doesn't know what he's talking about so i appreciate everything you're doing for the industry i honestly think you know
583
00:34:57.817 --> 00:34:59.458
What you guys do is harder.
584
00:35:00.138 --> 00:35:01.119
You manage more people.
585
00:35:01.759 --> 00:35:04.700
You have to you have to route all the things efficiently.
586
00:35:04.720 --> 00:35:05.381
You have to do all that.
587
00:35:05.441 --> 00:35:08.382
It's not that hard to go do a one off thirty thousand dollar patio.
588
00:35:08.762 --> 00:35:11.564
You know, honestly, like it's just two different skill sets, I would say.
589
00:35:11.604 --> 00:35:11.824
Right.
590
00:35:11.864 --> 00:35:12.824
Like and I agree.
591
00:35:12.864 --> 00:35:14.025
People should listen to this.
592
00:35:14.065 --> 00:35:15.285
Like, look at the operation.
593
00:35:15.646 --> 00:35:16.486
Clearly know what you're doing.
594
00:35:16.506 --> 00:35:17.807
It doesn't matter if you mow lawns.
595
00:35:18.107 --> 00:35:18.327
Right.
596
00:35:18.387 --> 00:35:24.810
And that's where I think it's just a different it's just a different life, you know, and they'll say that because they don't understand how to do it.
597
00:35:26.158 --> 00:35:33.383
I know you told me this in the hallway, but why you decided to go the franchise route was people would listen to you actually and do the things.
598
00:35:33.603 --> 00:35:40.809
What is something that would maybe be helpful for people to hear about getting people to do what you want them to do and communicating?
599
00:35:40.969 --> 00:35:44.191
I would say this would be helpful from an operator standpoint too.
600
00:35:44.211 --> 00:35:46.173
If you're managing your first five people...
601
00:35:46.913 --> 00:35:52.576
What can you do to create like the culture or the you know, the environment to get people to actually listen to what you're asking them to do?
602
00:35:52.736 --> 00:36:02.282
You know, and this comes from like me asking selfishly, but also as like an operator, if you're managing five people, like what are some things that you've learned managing this many people about getting people to actually implement what you're asking?
603
00:36:02.322 --> 00:36:05.544
Like maybe like a company policy for a landscaper or a lawn care guy.
604
00:36:06.264 --> 00:36:07.185
Yeah, like there's a couple things.
605
00:36:07.205 --> 00:36:11.127
So the first is being consistent.
606
00:36:11.647 --> 00:36:12.067
And so.
607
00:36:12.087 --> 00:36:12.188
Yeah.
608
00:36:13.228 --> 00:36:16.793
Everyone has a baked in inherent mistrust for everything.
609
00:36:17.314 --> 00:36:21.519
And it's becoming more so even with AI, because now we have to like, we can't even just assess something.
610
00:36:21.759 --> 00:36:24.843
We have to just like, okay, is that even true?
611
00:36:25.264 --> 00:36:30.170
And so we all have this baked in desire to pick apart whatever we see and find the flaws.
612
00:36:30.991 --> 00:36:35.294
It's human nature, but it's becoming more and more because we can't even trust the things we see now on a screen.
613
00:36:35.895 --> 00:36:48.764
And so I think when people get hired, when you have customers, when you have partners, when you have vendors, whatever, and you have a relationship with someone, there's this heightened level of trust that has to be, you have to bridge that chasm.
614
00:36:49.304 --> 00:36:56.730
And the only way to bridge that chasm is to consistently do the same actions and be consistently exactly what you say you are.
615
00:36:57.310 --> 00:36:59.392
And so that's why I think like employees...
616
00:36:59.852 --> 00:37:04.935
are always the best gauge of whether or not an entrepreneur is actually telling the truth.
617
00:37:05.416 --> 00:37:07.097
It's because they know the back end.
618
00:37:07.357 --> 00:37:17.844
They know what's happening, they know what decisions are being made, they know who is getting, who is the beneficiary of decisions being made, and what the actual North Star of the business is, not just the stated mission on the wall.
619
00:37:18.324 --> 00:37:21.087
And so I think consistency to the mission is the most important.
620
00:37:21.147 --> 00:37:25.991
And then creating frameworks that make it easy for people to conceptualize the roadmap to that mission.
621
00:37:26.432 --> 00:37:29.254
And so if it's like, well, I want to become a $3 million business.
622
00:37:29.274 --> 00:37:29.875
It's like, great.
623
00:37:30.555 --> 00:37:31.937
What are the frameworks that are going to get us there?
624
00:37:32.777 --> 00:37:34.639
What do we need to do consistently in order to get there?
625
00:37:35.160 --> 00:37:38.343
And by having the simple frameworks that we can all follow that...
626
00:37:38.903 --> 00:37:48.109
makes it very simple for me to put from A to B and how we're gonna get to that mission allows me to have confidence and trust in you and that's the part that most people cannot get over.
627
00:37:48.809 --> 00:37:53.112
And it's not a bad thing, like it's good that people have a certain level of mistrust.
628
00:37:53.132 --> 00:38:00.136
So like when I was making videos on YouTube and I did pay for performance and all this stuff, people didn't listen, but it's also in a way it's like they shouldn't listen.
629
00:38:00.416 --> 00:38:02.919
Like they, they, they need to see evidence of success.
630
00:38:02.939 --> 00:38:04.941
They need to see that this person actually cares.
631
00:38:05.362 --> 00:38:09.547
And like the easiest way to make sure that they would trust me is like, just keep doing the same thing over and over and over again.
632
00:38:10.312 --> 00:38:23.999
So that all comes back, in my opinion, is like social proof to like you're backing up what you're doing, like whether it is in an employee like setting, like a management or management slash employee setting or like a customer front facing.
633
00:38:24.039 --> 00:38:24.179
Right.
634
00:38:24.219 --> 00:38:26.640
Like why should the customer trust you as well?
635
00:38:26.900 --> 00:38:32.963
You got to back up what you're doing with actual proof and do it longer than just two days when you start doing the right things.
636
00:38:33.303 --> 00:38:34.424
Yeah, that's super cool.
637
00:38:34.624 --> 00:38:38.726
I think that's that's a good point for people to hear, because I think people struggle constantly.
638
00:38:39.166 --> 00:38:57.875
struggle getting that culture and struggle getting that like culture of hierarchy and like actually understanding um actually understanding that you have to have repeatable process for anything to work yeah and they don't change they don't change what a stop sign means right
639
00:38:58.787 --> 00:38:59.647
Six months from now.
640
00:38:59.848 --> 00:39:00.988
And it means go, actually.
641
00:39:01.068 --> 00:39:01.228
Yeah.
642
00:39:01.348 --> 00:39:02.069
It's the same thing.
643
00:39:02.149 --> 00:39:04.069
Yeah, I think it's one of the important parts of community building.
644
00:39:04.129 --> 00:39:06.931
And like when we talk about culture, like it comes from the word cult, right?
645
00:39:06.971 --> 00:39:10.572
And so a cult is like we all agree to the same rules and we understand.
646
00:39:10.592 --> 00:39:16.995
It's like the stop signs and the lines only mean so much as we all agree that when we get a license, we are going to abide by those laws.
647
00:39:17.315 --> 00:39:21.097
And so I think in any community, whether it be a business, an actual community like your own, like a school group.
648
00:39:21.377 --> 00:39:44.932
or a franchise like ours is like there are certain things that we all just as we ascribe to be like and we will we are willing to cut people out based upon those rules and so like if you stop if you run a red light you will get in trouble if you do if you drive reckless laying away above the speed you will be in cuffs and go to the jail those are because the rules that we have ascribed to in our culture is the things that we will now defend and so that can be very difficult that's firing employees
649
00:39:45.392 --> 00:39:46.892
Yeah, that's what I was going to double back.
650
00:39:46.912 --> 00:39:47.853
You want to talk about that?
651
00:39:47.893 --> 00:39:54.894
Like maybe some of the struggles that you've been through where you had to like not drop the hammer, but actually have like rules and regulations.
652
00:39:54.934 --> 00:40:02.416
And that's what people do is like, maybe they'll put something in, like the stop sign, but then somebody runs it and they just let it go because it's easier that day to not say something about it.
653
00:40:02.436 --> 00:40:03.576
Do you have anything to say about that?
654
00:40:03.596 --> 00:40:06.017
Because I think guys struggle with that, trying to be everybody's friend.
655
00:40:06.237 --> 00:40:14.059
Yeah, like I think if we all knew that we could run any red light, we could go any speed whatsoever, the vast majority or a huge portion of people
656
00:40:15.399 --> 00:40:15.619
Yeah.
657
00:40:16.160 --> 00:40:20.947
And so the enforcement of the laws is the standard that is created.
658
00:40:21.247 --> 00:40:25.874
And so I've always said, like, until you fire someone over something, it is a suggestion, not a standard.
659
00:40:26.274 --> 00:40:27.336
So be on time.
660
00:40:27.596 --> 00:40:27.997
OK, great.
661
00:40:28.337 --> 00:40:30.540
Until you fire someone for being one minute late.
662
00:40:30.921 --> 00:40:31.642
That's a suggestion.
663
00:40:31.722 --> 00:40:31.942
Yeah.
664
00:40:32.563 --> 00:40:37.307
And as soon as you start moving the guidelines, like, well, I can go five miles over, I can go 10 miles over, oh, I can go 15 miles.
665
00:40:37.327 --> 00:40:38.188
People will bend the rule.
666
00:40:38.288 --> 00:40:45.914
They will just keep getting pushed off until finally people are going 80 miles an hour in a 20-mile-an-hour zone, and you can't do anything about it because you just let someone else do it.
667
00:40:46.334 --> 00:40:48.096
And so that's where it gets difficult.
668
00:40:48.156 --> 00:40:53.120
What definition of the standard do you want?
669
00:40:53.160 --> 00:40:54.902
How hard-line do you want to be?
670
00:40:54.922 --> 00:40:55.062
Yeah.
671
00:40:55.682 --> 00:40:55.902
Yeah.
672
00:40:55.922 --> 00:40:57.043
And that's what we teach our guys.
673
00:40:57.083 --> 00:41:03.207
Like, you know, we're not going to tell you how to run your company, like what type of policy you should have, because everybody's a different operator.
674
00:41:03.247 --> 00:41:03.447
Right.
675
00:41:03.487 --> 00:41:07.650
Like they're going to have things that they allow that some guys would never allow.
676
00:41:08.030 --> 00:41:10.392
But it's just having that and actually enforcing it.
677
00:41:10.452 --> 00:41:14.895
And I think guys struggle with that all the time because they feel like, you know, they need to be, you know, have good culture.
678
00:41:14.915 --> 00:41:16.096
They feel like they need to be their friend.
679
00:41:16.576 --> 00:41:30.548
What there's totally different right like it is a totally different mindset between a good operator and a good culture Then like I need to be their friend and let them get away with everything You know, I always say that's about expectation setting whether you're hiring or you know It's a client too.
680
00:41:30.568 --> 00:41:36.112
Like I struggle with that with clients like i'm sure, you know With you guys with like rain and stuff with recurring maintenance.
681
00:41:36.132 --> 00:41:36.373
It's like
682
00:41:36.973 --> 00:41:42.180
making sure that the clients understand, like, what is expected of you guys if it does rain?
683
00:41:42.300 --> 00:41:43.401
How late can you be?
684
00:41:43.502 --> 00:41:44.783
What does it do to your schedule?
685
00:41:45.084 --> 00:41:50.671
And guys just go throughout their whole life without expectations setting and framing, I think, too.
686
00:41:51.031 --> 00:41:54.656
You know, we get guys that start to get out two months in project-based work, and they're like,
687
00:41:55.477 --> 00:41:56.238
I don't know what to do.
688
00:41:56.638 --> 00:41:59.981
Well, tell the client you're four months out if you know you're going to get there in three.
689
00:42:00.341 --> 00:42:03.964
Well, they're never going to be mad at you if you if you tell them a week ahead of time, hey, we're a little early.
690
00:42:04.204 --> 00:42:04.825
Are we good to come?
691
00:42:05.085 --> 00:42:07.947
You know, instead, they'll tell them, hey, it'll be two months and then it rains for two weeks.
692
00:42:07.967 --> 00:42:09.909
And now they're there three months later and the client hates them.
693
00:42:10.169 --> 00:42:11.490
And that's just a framing thing, you know.
694
00:42:11.530 --> 00:42:17.215
And for us, like we always tell people with our support, we'll be back to you nine out of ten times within two hours.
695
00:42:17.755 --> 00:42:19.157
Like and we always beat that.
696
00:42:19.597 --> 00:42:20.378
They're happy with us.
697
00:42:20.438 --> 00:42:23.200
Now, if we told people we'll be back to you in 60 seconds, they would hate us.
698
00:42:23.620 --> 00:42:24.261
And it's just a friend.
699
00:42:24.301 --> 00:42:25.903
And I think I struggle with that massively.
700
00:42:25.923 --> 00:42:36.294
And I think it comes back to the same thing with like the, you know, setting the rules and expectations framing before they come in, you know, so they know that like, you know, Mike's not going to be my friend.
701
00:42:36.735 --> 00:42:40.259
You know, he's going to create a good culture and it will be a friendly workplace.
702
00:42:40.279 --> 00:42:40.379
Yeah.
703
00:42:40.659 --> 00:42:42.941
Like he has to enforce the rules.
704
00:42:42.981 --> 00:42:43.962
It doesn't mean Mike hates me.
705
00:42:43.982 --> 00:42:48.487
It doesn't mean Logan hates me, but you have to set expectations before they come on board.
706
00:42:48.547 --> 00:42:54.874
Like I always, I always tell guys that when they're interviewing people, like they're not setting any expectations for what this company looks like.
707
00:42:54.974 --> 00:42:57.556
And like, that's why it's impossible for you to keep employees.
708
00:42:57.697 --> 00:42:57.877
Yeah.
709
00:42:58.257 --> 00:43:07.779
Just, yeah, like the consistency part, like going back to like the trust aspect, like no one would trust the police officer if they just willy-nilly handed out speed tickets.
710
00:43:07.979 --> 00:43:11.940
Like, I want you to monitor and I want you to prove that I went faster.
711
00:43:12.440 --> 00:43:14.481
And we all agree that red means stop.
712
00:43:14.781 --> 00:43:17.582
And so like the consistency across the culture is what's required.
713
00:43:17.942 --> 00:43:22.763
And when you start doing things like, oh, like we'll let them, you know, let them have it, you know, just let them get it.
714
00:43:22.843 --> 00:43:24.224
Let three out of ten people slide.
715
00:43:24.385 --> 00:43:24.965
Yeah.
716
00:43:25.065 --> 00:43:26.086
It's when you start doing that.
717
00:43:26.146 --> 00:43:28.008
You're what you're doing is you're sufficing.
718
00:43:28.128 --> 00:43:32.452
You're trying to pander to the lowest performing employees and the best ones will leave.
719
00:43:32.992 --> 00:43:40.479
And so if you actually attract the best talent, you have a consistent standard and you consistently do the same thing every single time, regardless of who it is.
720
00:43:41.280 --> 00:43:44.042
Yeah, I think I think that's a good point.
721
00:43:44.342 --> 00:43:45.943
And maybe switching gears.
722
00:43:45.963 --> 00:43:49.264
I'm just curious for like your side of like branding and lead flow.
723
00:43:50.085 --> 00:43:54.387
The way that we look at it, and I'm just curious to get your total actual opinion on this.
724
00:43:55.007 --> 00:44:00.690
The way that we look at it is like, we're going to try to do like we have a thing in phase two of our thing called like the lead pyramid.
725
00:44:01.070 --> 00:44:05.213
And like for us, you know, paid ads is at the bottom for us.
726
00:44:06.113 --> 00:44:10.737
Most guys go like this and paid ads is at the top the moment they don't have demand.
727
00:44:11.158 --> 00:44:20.787
And what we try to instill into our clients is if you can do absolutely everything you can to maximize personal connections in your community, you'll probably have a much lower value.
728
00:44:21.247 --> 00:44:25.873
Cost to acquire a customer, which most guys will not get, but much lower CAC.
729
00:44:26.273 --> 00:44:39.770
And, you know, normally across our businesses, like we're seeing like if it comes from a customer referral or a contractor referral, which we push extremely hard, you know, that the LTV of the client is actually like double what it is from like a cold source of traffic.
730
00:44:40.050 --> 00:44:46.652
So for us, we try to we try to make everybody go super aggressive into like maximizing the chance a customer refers you.
731
00:44:46.692 --> 00:44:46.852
Right.
732
00:44:46.872 --> 00:44:51.853
Like, you know, everybody online, like the buzzwords or reels is like you can't live on referrals.
733
00:44:52.153 --> 00:44:52.813
You can't do this.
734
00:44:52.853 --> 00:44:54.873
Well, you can't live on it if you're sitting in your basement.
735
00:44:54.893 --> 00:44:55.774
You don't talk to people.
736
00:44:56.034 --> 00:45:03.936
But like if if I go and like we give customer gift bags for every single job that we do, because they're three to five dollars, it gets built into overhead.
737
00:45:04.316 --> 00:45:09.037
And we're going to give the the chance for the homeowner to come back and spend more money with us with a different project.
738
00:45:09.957 --> 00:45:29.728
them with another gift card and we're going to give them three gift cards to give out to other people and your friends family neighbors churchgoers whoever uh you know we teach our guys that type of stuff is there anything that you would have that maybe like isn't talked about for like lead generation that you think is like an underrated tactic because i could bring a bunch of them but i'm just curious from your perspective for so many years in the industry
739
00:45:30.287 --> 00:45:36.268
Yeah, like I think every single lead channel or way to get customers works.
740
00:45:36.288 --> 00:45:36.929
100% of them.
741
00:45:37.089 --> 00:45:37.869
All marketing works.
742
00:45:37.909 --> 00:45:44.050
It's just a function of like, have you done enough of the reps to actually split test it, understand which works slightly better than others?
743
00:45:44.270 --> 00:45:46.251
So for example, I always use the example of like our door hangers.
744
00:45:46.271 --> 00:45:49.711
So when we first started doing door hangers, about one out of 500 would convert.
745
00:45:50.392 --> 00:45:52.092
And we now have one out of 100.
746
00:45:52.372 --> 00:45:55.153
But that 5x difference came in the course of 23 variations.
747
00:45:56.473 --> 00:45:58.835
Everything from like, okay, where's the QR code go?
748
00:45:58.895 --> 00:46:01.437
Should it be with a write down or should it be a form?
749
00:46:01.737 --> 00:46:03.019
Should we ask for payment information?
750
00:46:03.039 --> 00:46:04.099
Should we give them a price?
751
00:46:04.300 --> 00:46:06.461
Should we slash that price out and put a lower price?
752
00:46:06.702 --> 00:46:12.927
Like all these little things came as a result of just keep testing and testing and improving it until finally you wake up one day and it's five times better.
753
00:46:13.307 --> 00:46:16.788
Do you think and I would say like that's why I always tell guys like small business is hard.
754
00:46:16.868 --> 00:46:23.810
Like I would say anything under like three mil because there's just not normally for the average operator enough volume to be able to test and get to that.
755
00:46:23.890 --> 00:46:24.070
Right.
756
00:46:24.110 --> 00:46:32.672
Like I think that's why it's so hard when guys are at 200K, 500K, 700K is they've never done any bit of volume and marketing to understand what actually works.
757
00:46:32.692 --> 00:46:34.513
You know, I always tell guys to like the door hangers, they work.
758
00:46:35.033 --> 00:46:36.333
For us, amazingly well as well.
759
00:46:36.674 --> 00:46:40.335
And, you know, guys will do door hangers in year two before they have their brand.
760
00:46:40.355 --> 00:46:43.476
Like maybe they have like a crappy website, maybe like three reviews.
761
00:46:43.756 --> 00:46:45.296
They put the wrong things on the door hanger.
762
00:46:45.496 --> 00:46:46.477
They do 200 of them.
763
00:46:46.497 --> 00:46:48.417
They don't get a job and they go door hangers suck.
764
00:46:48.717 --> 00:46:50.058
And then they never go back to it.
765
00:46:50.298 --> 00:47:03.250
And I think that's why, like, in my opinion, like in the trades, it's extremely hard to get over that hump to get to a bigger like to understand, like acquisition channels and marketing because they just get such negative reinforcements so quick from some of the marketing things.
766
00:47:03.270 --> 00:47:13.500
Like you said, like the way that we explain it to in our group is just like you said, all marketing works every like that's why marketing is marketing and it exists and it's a real thing you can get a degree in.
767
00:47:13.700 --> 00:47:14.080
It works.
768
00:47:14.861 --> 00:47:20.963
The way we like to explain it to guys that normally make sense is like if you have a casino and there's 10 slot machines, right?
769
00:47:22.124 --> 00:47:24.004
One slot machine, you put a dollar and you get three out.
770
00:47:24.284 --> 00:47:25.605
One, you put a dollar and you get 10 out.
771
00:47:25.745 --> 00:47:27.345
One, you put a dollar and you get 33 out.
772
00:47:27.986 --> 00:47:31.427
Well, why would you not jam the one that you put a dollar in and you get 33 out?
773
00:47:31.507 --> 00:47:34.288
And most guys never get there because they only do like one.
774
00:47:34.308 --> 00:47:37.469
They try one thing and it doesn't work right away in the first 10 minutes.
775
00:47:37.569 --> 00:47:40.250
And then they just like are like, oh, my market's bad.
776
00:47:40.690 --> 00:47:42.151
So is there anything you can speak to with that?
777
00:47:42.171 --> 00:47:50.934
With like, I think like the size of business, sometimes like anything under probably three mil is sometimes it's a little harder mentally for guys as like smaller operators to get over that.
778
00:47:50.974 --> 00:47:53.315
Like I might have to spend some money to learn some things.
779
00:47:53.615 --> 00:47:59.718
You know, they'll spend 80 grand on a truck that they can't afford, but if they spent 80 grand to learn marketing, they'd be in a much better position.
780
00:48:00.238 --> 00:48:04.421
Yeah, like I think of every single marketing channel is kind of like a pond.
781
00:48:04.441 --> 00:48:09.685
And if you go fishing in any pond as a newbie, like, yes, you can cast in and might get lucky.
782
00:48:10.466 --> 00:48:12.948
And you might go to five different ponds.
783
00:48:13.288 --> 00:48:16.310
And yes, one of them you like cast in and you're just catching fish.
784
00:48:16.630 --> 00:48:17.291
And so what are you going to do?
785
00:48:17.311 --> 00:48:18.432
You're probably going to focus on that one.
786
00:48:18.452 --> 00:48:19.853
And all the other four ones are bad.
787
00:48:20.453 --> 00:48:23.254
What you didn't realize is that you were casting in the wrong spot.
788
00:48:23.274 --> 00:48:24.135
You didn't know how to do it.
789
00:48:24.155 --> 00:48:24.955
You didn't know what time of day.
790
00:48:24.975 --> 00:48:26.716
You didn't know if you go over the bulrushes.
791
00:48:26.796 --> 00:48:28.356
That's where all the fish are at.
792
00:48:28.597 --> 00:48:32.838
The person that's been there for five years and been fishing every single day understands that.
793
00:48:33.098 --> 00:48:38.981
And so the only thing that really keeps you from making any of those other four channels work is just asking the person that's been doing it for so long.
794
00:48:39.001 --> 00:48:40.962
I'm like, yo, where do I cast?
795
00:48:41.082 --> 00:48:41.822
When do I cast?
796
00:48:41.882 --> 00:48:43.083
What bait's working right now?
797
00:48:43.443 --> 00:48:45.724
And then you'll be able to make all four of those channels work.
798
00:48:45.744 --> 00:48:48.185
And that's why I say all five of those ponds have fished.
799
00:48:48.885 --> 00:48:50.046
The timing might be different.
800
00:48:50.266 --> 00:48:51.266
The bait might be different.
801
00:48:51.886 --> 00:48:54.288
How often I cast, what kind of fly rod I use.
802
00:48:54.408 --> 00:48:59.370
All these things would be just variables to what makes a bad marketing channel really good.
803
00:48:59.810 --> 00:49:02.151
And so when it comes to business, it's just like, oh, this doesn't work.
804
00:49:02.211 --> 00:49:03.172
Or this service doesn't work.
805
00:49:03.192 --> 00:49:11.535
It's like, well, if someone else is doing it at all, if there's someone fishing from that pond making money, if they're pulling fish all the time, they're doing something different than you, and you just got to figure out what it is.
806
00:49:12.076 --> 00:49:17.058
And so it's equivalent of going to the gym and expecting after the first day that you're going to –
807
00:49:17.238 --> 00:49:19.700
Muscles like we all conceptually just know like that will not work.
808
00:49:19.740 --> 00:49:19.880
Yeah.
809
00:49:20.141 --> 00:49:22.323
And so you're not going to run your Facebook out and be good at it.
810
00:49:22.663 --> 00:49:29.449
And the problem is sometimes when you do run something for the first time, like you do your hands for the first time and you like one of 20 and then like that becomes the bar.
811
00:49:29.469 --> 00:49:31.090
It's like, you know, like you lucked out.
812
00:49:31.110 --> 00:49:31.311
Yeah.
813
00:49:31.831 --> 00:49:39.098
And you will need to now generate skills, which is far greater propensity towards success in having the skill versus luck.
814
00:49:39.558 --> 00:49:40.879
That's a great analogy.
815
00:49:41.200 --> 00:49:41.881
That was awesome.
816
00:49:42.001 --> 00:49:43.302
I've never heard the pond one before.
817
00:49:43.322 --> 00:49:47.687
I always say it like to like, you know, if you're fishing, this is similar.
818
00:49:47.707 --> 00:49:51.511
You know, when you drop 500 lines in a water, you're probably going to get lucky.
819
00:49:51.771 --> 00:49:54.995
If you drop one in the water and you quit, you probably don't learn anything.
820
00:49:55.095 --> 00:50:00.721
You don't learn where to fish, what lure to use is the same type of thing, but in a different way of there's five different ponds.
821
00:50:00.761 --> 00:50:01.201
I like that.
822
00:50:01.221 --> 00:50:01.842
That's awesome.
823
00:50:02.162 --> 00:50:15.685
But, yeah, just is there is there anything that you have like creative at all that, you know, that's where we come from, like just to give a couple of quick things like, you know, we'll have guys do like the free Christmas tree pickup, the free, you know, rotting pumpkin pickup.
824
00:50:15.945 --> 00:50:18.246
You know, we'll give out like pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving.
825
00:50:18.986 --> 00:50:23.567
You know, we'll do some creative things to give back to the community to try to just get involved and get, you know.
826
00:50:23.887 --> 00:50:29.329
in front of more homeowners, the way that I look at that, too, is like, OK, if I go to, you know, there's a supply yard like right down there.
827
00:50:29.469 --> 00:50:33.290
And I was like, man, we should just go stand there like before we go to dinner and talk to people.
828
00:50:33.950 --> 00:50:37.431
And like if I go sit at a supply yard, you know, and this obviously isn't scalable.
829
00:50:37.471 --> 00:50:41.932
But if you're having trouble with like getting North Star, whichever way I'm all out of.
830
00:50:42.132 --> 00:50:43.714
It's right by the gas station.
831
00:50:43.734 --> 00:50:49.721
I was like, you know, if we go stand there and we talk to five people that come through in an hour, I can almost guarantee I get one of them to pay us.
832
00:50:50.001 --> 00:50:54.987
And that's where I feel like, you know, people should think about marketing, you know, even for, you know, lawn maintenance.
833
00:50:55.027 --> 00:50:58.931
It's like, well, homeowners that can't afford to pay you need to know you exist.
834
00:50:59.011 --> 00:50:59.212
Right.
835
00:50:59.472 --> 00:51:06.914
And I think a lot of guys just spend a lot of time behind the computer, not doing anything to make people know they exist and just staying to themselves.
836
00:51:06.954 --> 00:51:11.496
And we always teach guys like anything you can do to get in front of those people, you have to do.
837
00:51:11.796 --> 00:51:14.016
You never know what connection is going to come from.
838
00:51:14.036 --> 00:51:20.718
Like when I'm at the gas station, there was a guy in bibs and I was about to start talking to him, you know, because you never know like who that guy knows.
839
00:51:20.818 --> 00:51:22.459
You never know who he'll connect you to.
840
00:51:22.779 --> 00:51:25.600
Is there anything like creative wise that you've seen work that you could give away?
841
00:51:26.060 --> 00:51:32.330
The biggest thing we're focusing on right now is before I even spend a dollar on marketing, there's so many boxes that need to be checked.
842
00:51:32.791 --> 00:51:40.823
And so I see people go to marketing, whether it be – I look at marketing as like if you're going to go out and give free pies, if you're going to do something for free, I still see it as a marketing concept.
843
00:51:40.943 --> 00:51:41.923
It's definitely still a cost.
844
00:51:41.943 --> 00:51:42.043
Yeah.
845
00:51:42.143 --> 00:51:50.426
And so before that even gets crossed, I think that 90% of people are not doing all the other basics because like those tactics is what everyone's looking for.
846
00:51:50.446 --> 00:51:52.906
It's like, okay, can I do the free Christmas thing?
847
00:51:52.926 --> 00:51:55.867
Can I go to the pet, what was it?
848
00:51:55.887 --> 00:51:56.567
The rescue place.
849
00:51:56.587 --> 00:51:57.788
Rescue place.
850
00:51:57.888 --> 00:51:58.468
Those are all great.
851
00:51:58.628 --> 00:51:59.028
I agree.
852
00:51:59.448 --> 00:52:01.129
Same thing with running Facebook ads, running Google ads.
853
00:52:01.149 --> 00:52:02.529
Like they're all great tactics.
854
00:52:02.949 --> 00:52:06.370
I think 90% of people don't do all the basics before that without spending a dollar.
855
00:52:06.630 --> 00:52:09.731
Like is every estimate that you send out followed up on.
856
00:52:10.211 --> 00:52:11.912
Like they've already asked you for an estimate.
857
00:52:12.252 --> 00:52:14.692
Like the fact that you don't get a yes or no is crazy.
858
00:52:14.892 --> 00:52:17.973
Or like speed to lead or like the way you're presenting estimates.
859
00:52:18.033 --> 00:52:20.594
Like are you attaching anything in there for context?
860
00:52:20.614 --> 00:52:27.036
Like one thing that we tell our guys to do is like, especially for bigger ticket projects, like we send Loom videos.
861
00:52:27.076 --> 00:52:30.737
Like if they're not presenting in person, we're sending a Loom video like with that estimate.
862
00:52:31.037 --> 00:52:38.260
To explain like, hey, Kathy, you know, even if you don't go with us, we want to take five minutes out of our day just quickly to give you a rundown about things to look out for.
863
00:52:38.280 --> 00:52:46.583
If you are hiring for this service, why we would maybe be the best contractor for you or help you understand why we might not be the best contractor for you to disarm them a little bit and going through that.
864
00:52:46.623 --> 00:52:47.924
So doing all those three things, too.
865
00:52:47.964 --> 00:52:48.284
Right.
866
00:52:48.624 --> 00:52:50.965
And, you know, even some of those things that were like it costs money.
867
00:52:51.025 --> 00:52:51.185
Right.
868
00:52:51.205 --> 00:52:55.787
And like it's maybe a tactic, you know, still like when guys don't know what to do in the winter, like.
869
00:52:56.947 --> 00:53:02.170
go to the coffee shop, go to the bakery, go to the ice cream place in the summer.
870
00:53:02.210 --> 00:53:03.251
Just talk to humans.
871
00:53:03.271 --> 00:53:07.973
Like that doesn't cost you anything either to just get in front of more people to give you more shots on goal.
872
00:53:08.293 --> 00:53:12.276
Because if I take, you know, a hundred shots from half court, I'm going to make a couple of them.
873
00:53:12.516 --> 00:53:16.138
If I only have three to take, I might get bent out of shape that they don't want to go with me.
874
00:53:16.418 --> 00:53:23.842
You know, that's another big thing is like, especially for project-based work is like when they don't have enough lead, like they get three and that's, you know, I'm going
875
00:53:23.942 --> 00:53:25.363
The three they're really excited about.
876
00:53:25.423 --> 00:53:27.044
It's like their first $30,000 patios.
877
00:53:27.384 --> 00:53:30.146
And then the customer goes, man, I just think you're really too expensive.
878
00:53:30.186 --> 00:53:32.307
And then those all three say the same thing.
879
00:53:32.327 --> 00:53:35.068
And the operator gets so discouraged because it is.
880
00:53:35.108 --> 00:53:40.231
It's like your heart's ripped out of you when you're really excited to finally have a lead for that or more leads.
881
00:53:40.611 --> 00:53:41.712
And your heart gets ripped out.
882
00:53:41.732 --> 00:53:51.958
So we don't ask people to spend, spend, spend until they have the budget and we're profitable and we can do that with some of those unique or more unique ways to get in front of and personal connection with people.
883
00:53:52.338 --> 00:53:54.479
But yeah, you're is there anything else you would say to that?
884
00:53:54.539 --> 00:53:56.160
Like, you know, following up on the estimate for sure.
885
00:53:56.180 --> 00:54:13.549
Like we're always telling people like, you know, go through those quarterly and you might say even more, you know, if we hit them seven times previous and they hadn't said no, you know, follow with the testimonial of two customers that look like them are the same type of project, you know, with the same objection to like we're going that level of personalization of like, you know, if the lady was talking about.
886
00:54:14.309 --> 00:54:17.752
you know, the reason she's objecting is because, you know, it's price.
887
00:54:17.792 --> 00:54:21.776
Like we're going to send her two ladies for the same type of project that say it in the video.
888
00:54:21.796 --> 00:54:24.838
Like we weren't going to, you know, we weren't sure if we were going to go with Logan.
889
00:54:24.878 --> 00:54:27.581
It was really expensive, but think, you know, thank God we did.
890
00:54:28.021 --> 00:54:28.882
He was amazing.
891
00:54:28.922 --> 00:54:29.783
His team was great.
892
00:54:30.143 --> 00:54:31.604
We were very happy with the project.
893
00:54:31.825 --> 00:54:36.889
Like we're going to send that exact objection that should be written down in your notes so you can funnel that person.
894
00:54:36.929 --> 00:54:40.192
Is there anything else that you would say like to do free before you go to anything like that?
895
00:54:40.312 --> 00:54:41.792
Yeah, so I kind of look at like three different levels.
896
00:54:41.812 --> 00:54:48.114
You have essentially cold traffic, and that's where a lot of people go to do community outreach, ads, et cetera.
897
00:54:48.134 --> 00:54:50.574
Like that's the person who's never heard about you, and you're trying to get in front of them.
898
00:54:50.994 --> 00:54:55.675
And then we talked about the person that basically has an estimate in their inbox, and you're not following up.
899
00:54:55.715 --> 00:54:57.676
That's probably the warmest lead you can go after.
900
00:54:58.036 --> 00:55:03.137
But there's that middle gap, and there's your entire contact database that you've ever done service for, done an estimate for.
901
00:55:03.397 --> 00:55:06.898
They're sitting inside there, and for the vast majority of home service, we never talk to them.
902
00:55:07.398 --> 00:55:11.100
We either go after cold traffic or we follow up with the customers that have an estimate.
903
00:55:11.200 --> 00:55:11.640
And that's it.
904
00:55:12.020 --> 00:55:15.322
But the people that, like, your contact database is your goldmine.
905
00:55:15.662 --> 00:55:21.725
It's the thing that allows you to be able to eventually get off the drip of running money, having spending any money on ads.
906
00:55:22.006 --> 00:55:27.709
So, like, my first location, like, we got to the point now where it's like we have 12, 13,000 people in the database.
907
00:55:28.309 --> 00:55:29.910
A text message gets us 50 new jobs.
908
00:55:30.270 --> 00:55:33.672
There's never a time that we're like, oh, we go spend money on ads.
909
00:55:33.912 --> 00:55:34.992
Or, like, we're out of work.
910
00:55:35.012 --> 00:55:36.173
It's like, no, you just send a text message.
911
00:55:36.193 --> 00:55:36.333
Right.
912
00:55:36.453 --> 00:56:01.428
better leads too yeah because they already i have a card on file for them like they already done business with me i've done an estimate from they know like and trust me and i have a their credit card information and so like yet we we we abandoned those people like oh no run like a couple thousand dollars a month on ads so whoa well can we spend a few hundred dollars and just like spend on text and emails to get to in front of these people and just give them a season specific offer with a season specific service how often are you running those offers once a month
913
00:56:01.688 --> 00:56:02.129
Once a month.
914
00:56:02.149 --> 00:56:04.511
So once a month email, once a month text.
915
00:56:04.551 --> 00:56:10.658
Anything more than that, you start to run the risk of getting marked as spam, and then you get blocked by carriers and filtered by spam stuff.
916
00:56:10.678 --> 00:56:12.720
So that's kind of like our one-month thing.
917
00:56:13.081 --> 00:56:18.687
And as you build, as you grow the business, you need more leads just to replace churn, especially if you're recurring revenue.
918
00:56:18.887 --> 00:56:21.890
As you grow the business in project, you need more leads to fill your backlog.
919
00:56:22.631 --> 00:56:29.835
But you should also be getting enough leads that even if 70% say no, they came to you for the service saying, I need this.
920
00:56:30.155 --> 00:56:32.917
So you have this database of people that have actually come to you.
921
00:56:32.977 --> 00:56:37.019
They already know who you are and have at least said, I need services and I don't want to do it myself.
922
00:56:37.599 --> 00:56:40.561
These are like the ripest customers to talk to.
923
00:56:40.641 --> 00:56:43.063
And yet we don't even send them emails and texts.
924
00:56:43.463 --> 00:56:43.963
It's crazy to me.
925
00:56:43.983 --> 00:56:45.104
Well, some people don't even keep that.
926
00:56:45.344 --> 00:56:46.004
Yeah, it's nuts.
927
00:56:46.084 --> 00:56:47.325
And it's like before –
928
00:56:47.545 --> 00:57:00.256
Anyone who spends a dollar, if you're not following up on an estimate, if you're not sending a text and email every month to your customers, and if you're not making sure your website's optimized so that when you drive traffic to your website, it's not converting at a high rate, what are we doing spending a dollar on ads?
929
00:57:00.276 --> 00:57:00.516
Yep, 100%.
930
00:57:00.536 --> 00:57:02.678
I don't care if it's door hangers or anything else.
931
00:57:02.858 --> 00:57:04.280
So that's kind of like my shtick.
932
00:57:04.340 --> 00:57:05.040
Yeah, I like that.
933
00:57:05.361 --> 00:57:13.388
Anything else that you would say on top of the following up and that is maybe like a pre to spending any money that is like a gamble?
934
00:57:13.808 --> 00:57:14.348
Yeah, I think...
935
00:57:15.892 --> 00:57:20.778
To the point of having different pawns, if you do have money and you're like, I am gonna spend money on ads.
936
00:57:20.798 --> 00:57:25.784
I've done all this follow up, I don't have much of a contact base, I'm just trying to grow, I don't have a lot of people to follow up and upsell.
937
00:57:25.924 --> 00:57:26.284
Okay, great.
938
00:57:26.985 --> 00:57:35.074
If you're gonna spend money on ads, whether it be online or digital or door hangers, is like, go to different pawns and start with one,
939
00:57:35.895 --> 00:57:36.435
That works well.
940
00:57:36.515 --> 00:57:39.016
Or that you feel like, okay, this one's the best of the four.
941
00:57:39.156 --> 00:57:39.336
Yep.
942
00:57:39.636 --> 00:57:41.337
Okay, then just double down on it.
943
00:57:41.357 --> 00:57:43.317
Just keep doing it, getting better at it, refining it.
944
00:57:43.357 --> 00:57:54.040
It's like, for example, with Facebook ads, there's so much new stuff coming out in terms of with the Andromeda update, in terms of how to use AI, calling people out, retargeting.
945
00:57:54.100 --> 00:57:59.962
If you're not running a $5 or $10 a day retargeting on Facebook that just basically retargets everyone that's come to your page already.
946
00:58:00.162 --> 00:58:29.297
anything like that's your highest return like you can make so much money on just like a five to ten dollar a day ad especially in a local market because you're going to have to small small area and so uh little little things like tactics like that it's like just comes a matter of doing it a lot like we run up to five thousand bucks a day on facebook ads so like that's when you figure out oh like okay so if i segment these differently if i retarget these people if i say this hook then that works but that comes after a long time and so a lot of volume a lot of volume and it's different in every market
947
00:58:29.797 --> 00:58:37.318
So for what works for me, and this is why I'm careful on tactics, what works for me probably will not work for you in your different market.
948
00:58:37.338 --> 00:58:37.899
Yeah, for sure.
949
00:58:38.019 --> 00:58:41.499
Especially when it comes to home services and seasonality and weather.
950
00:58:42.099 --> 00:58:44.080
No one does mulch in certain areas of the country.
951
00:58:44.360 --> 00:58:46.380
So when I say mulch, you're like, oh, that's the word.
952
00:58:46.400 --> 00:58:47.400
No, you do pine straw.
953
00:58:47.420 --> 00:58:47.600
Yeah.
954
00:58:47.700 --> 00:58:48.861
You've got to figure that out.
955
00:58:49.161 --> 00:58:56.122
So you've got to realize that what works for someone is not going to work for you and that you will probably have to do the same amount of reps or more than they did.
956
00:58:57.260 --> 00:59:05.128
Yeah, I think for us, too, it's about just doing anything that you can, like, to help the snowball roll down the hill.
957
00:59:05.148 --> 00:59:13.536
You know, that's a big thing for me is I think a lot of, like, even just with what we've been able to do, I think the compounding benefit most people don't ever reach.
958
00:59:13.977 --> 00:59:18.181
And I think that's, like, again, just like if you invest in a Roth IRA, like, the biggest gain is at the end, right?
959
00:59:18.601 --> 00:59:19.682
I think it's the same in business.
960
00:59:19.702 --> 00:59:21.462
Like people like to switch, switch, switch.
961
00:59:21.482 --> 00:59:23.503
Like you said, focus on one, get really good at it.
962
00:59:23.543 --> 00:59:26.645
Like they just go back and forth and don't do anything consistently.
963
00:59:26.885 --> 00:59:32.507
And we just try to get people to take a lot of the small actions consistently to have stuff start to roll for them.
964
00:59:32.527 --> 00:59:34.828
And things just happen like as simple as like.
965
00:59:35.129 --> 00:59:39.611
And again, you know, I'm I hate the one tactic gets you rich, too.
966
00:59:39.971 --> 00:59:44.553
I'm just always curious to learn if there's anything like anything that like isn't brought up publicly.
967
00:59:44.913 --> 00:59:49.057
You know, we we try to hammer into our guys heads that like to get everything to work.
968
00:59:49.397 --> 00:59:52.419
You like one thing that we tell you to do is not going to save your business.
969
00:59:52.439 --> 00:59:54.401
Like you have to do all these things, do them repetitively.
970
00:59:54.641 --> 00:59:56.783
And it'll still take like three to six months for the market to catch up.
971
00:59:57.083 --> 01:00:01.767
You know, just like if you're in a gym, like you do the right things for a month, it's going to take a little bit for the body to catch up.
972
01:00:01.807 --> 01:00:02.928
Like it's the same thing in business.
973
01:00:03.268 --> 01:00:10.434
And for us, like simple things is just like, you know, Facebook's a great tool for like, you know, it allows you to search by town.
974
01:00:10.514 --> 01:00:11.515
Like who lives in that town?
975
01:00:11.555 --> 01:00:12.276
Like, you know.
976
01:00:12.636 --> 01:00:20.000
When you're sitting in bed scrolling reels at night, which most guys under a million are doing, you know, maybe just pop over to Facebook and add five to 10 new people in your town.
977
01:00:20.361 --> 01:00:23.102
You know, we had a guy that's a cabinet painter in Pennsylvania.
978
01:00:23.743 --> 01:00:24.963
He had been doing that for like a week.
979
01:00:25.404 --> 01:00:30.967
And somebody messaged him and goes, hey, you know, by the off chance, I don't know if we actually know each other, but you friend request me.
980
01:00:30.987 --> 01:00:32.228
I see you own a cabinet painting company.
981
01:00:32.248 --> 01:00:33.869
My wife wants our cabinets painted.
982
01:00:34.289 --> 01:00:34.549
Boom.
983
01:00:34.609 --> 01:00:35.590
There's a there's a job.
984
01:00:35.630 --> 01:00:38.952
And then what the big thing for me is it snowballs down the hill.
985
01:00:39.332 --> 01:00:40.313
It's not just the job.
986
01:00:40.353 --> 01:00:43.356
And that's what I think people don't realize, at least in my opinion.
987
01:00:43.396 --> 01:00:47.921
It's like it's also building of your brand because you have a personal connection with another human.
988
01:00:48.281 --> 01:00:51.485
You can resend them offers every month to reactivate them.
989
01:00:51.805 --> 01:00:53.727
But you also get the review on both platforms.
990
01:00:53.967 --> 01:01:00.494
You maybe are able to get them to do a video with you or, you know, at least take a picture of you in front of the project that they post maybe to social media.
991
01:01:00.714 --> 01:01:07.098
And it's just doing all those free things or like, you know, basically free things to not have to spend the marketing dollars.
992
01:01:07.118 --> 01:01:12.762
And I think that's what a lot of guys miss, at least like with what I'm seeing in like our 270 companies across the United States.
993
01:01:12.802 --> 01:01:18.266
Like they want the check, but they don't understand how important the actual like back end of that is.
994
01:01:18.606 --> 01:01:24.730
We're like that is like the arbitrage, in my opinion, in the marketplace currently with home service is that people just take the check.
995
01:01:25.050 --> 01:01:26.872
They don't do they don't do the follow up.
996
01:01:26.892 --> 01:01:27.692
They don't get the review.
997
01:01:27.752 --> 01:01:28.853
They don't get the testimonial.
998
01:01:29.073 --> 01:01:30.935
They don't get them to recommend everybody.
999
01:01:30.955 --> 01:01:42.464
You know, a good example that I say is for me, when we acquire a customer, if we send them a welcome package with a, you know, a Carhartt hoodie with our stuff on it and we send three little gift cards that have a QR code that says.
1000
01:01:42.764 --> 01:01:57.665
hand this to a buddy that you know that owns a home service business or you know send it to a buddy even if they're in a different state and they can grab a free hoodie on you well now we get their information now they're in our list that you said is gold and we can retarget them and give them offers you know where if we don't send that for example
1001
01:01:58.786 --> 01:02:01.007
They're probably not going to tell anybody for the first three months.
1002
01:02:01.027 --> 01:02:05.808
They want to see, you know, how we're doing, but they'll automatically tell people if we're giving them something free of value.
1003
01:02:05.888 --> 01:02:12.009
And I think when you get into paid, that's an arbitrage, like compared to like straight to a cold audience because it's a warm referral.
1004
01:02:12.369 --> 01:02:17.530
You know, like if you're just a random business owner in Pennsylvania, you probably have two, three buddies and some people don't.
1005
01:02:17.610 --> 01:02:18.310
And that's fine.
1006
01:02:18.610 --> 01:02:24.412
But a lot of people do have two to three buddies that own different types of businesses or maybe a different lawn care company that's a state over.
1007
01:02:25.712 --> 01:02:34.255
I'm giving that to my friends, and now you're buying those people's eyeballs to go into your list without having to spend the thousands on cold, cold traffic.
1008
01:02:34.275 --> 01:02:40.617
So for me, after you get over the hump of, again, doing all the things, right, because before we get into any lead things,
1009
01:02:41.197 --> 01:02:42.438
make sure they do all that stuff first.
1010
01:02:42.458 --> 01:02:52.341
Like before they ever see any of our lead stuff, like they have to fix all that, like fixing like the sales process, the followup, the way you're presenting estimates, like and guys get mad at us because in month one, we don't show them any lead stuff.
1011
01:02:52.401 --> 01:02:53.902
We make sure that they fix that first.
1012
01:02:53.922 --> 01:02:58.564
But I think that's like the arbitrage in the marketplace, in my opinion, that people aren't taking advantage of.
1013
01:02:58.584 --> 01:03:02.585
You know, another good one is like and again, I'm not trying to say tactics.
1014
01:03:02.605 --> 01:03:03.626
That's not what we're about.
1015
01:03:03.666 --> 01:03:04.726
We fix all that first.
1016
01:03:04.766 --> 01:03:09.368
But like just I really think there's arbitrages in home service that will not be around for long.
1017
01:03:09.788 --> 01:03:14.051
Like the dumb little button on Facebook that has three dots where you can invite your friends to like page.
1018
01:03:14.551 --> 01:03:18.714
Well, that's an arbitrage in a marketplace that would be very easy to see if it was a real estate deal.
1019
01:03:18.994 --> 01:03:25.938
You know, for twenty dollars of a Starbucks gift card, for example, you can get a mom to invite all of her thousand friends to your page.
1020
01:03:25.998 --> 01:03:27.459
And that's a personal referral.
1021
01:03:27.779 --> 01:03:27.979
Right.
1022
01:03:28.139 --> 01:03:31.962
So when Kathy invites her thousand friends that all live here.
1023
01:03:33.146 --> 01:03:34.006
Kathy's inviting them.
1024
01:03:34.086 --> 01:03:35.987
That's not a cold reach out that you're doing.
1025
01:03:36.267 --> 01:03:36.647
Right?
1026
01:03:36.667 --> 01:03:38.668
So there's already a different level of personalization.
1027
01:03:39.248 --> 01:03:48.011
And to get in front of a thousand people that live here, you know, with hand address mailers or something would cost you lots of money where you can do that for $20, $30.
1028
01:03:48.191 --> 01:03:50.111
And people will happily do that and be very happy.
1029
01:03:50.131 --> 01:03:51.072
And it's a win-win for both.
1030
01:03:51.452 --> 01:03:54.413
And I looked at it as like, you know, people should pay 500 to a thousand for that.
1031
01:03:55.893 --> 01:04:00.974
But homeowners are willing to gladly do it for $20, or maybe a free, a half-price mow or something, right?
1032
01:04:01.355 --> 01:04:05.436
And I look for, in my opinion, like the arbitrages in marketplaces.
1033
01:04:05.696 --> 01:04:09.597
And I think that one, for me, is a big one that who knows how long it'll last.
1034
01:04:10.017 --> 01:04:16.459
But if you looked at it like a real estate deal, that's like you're getting a million-dollar building for $150,000, probably less.
1035
01:04:16.619 --> 01:04:19.760
Like, that would be an obvious thing to do if it was real estate.
1036
01:04:20.120 --> 01:04:22.921
But if there's not a dollar amount assigned to it, I think people...
1037
01:04:23.541 --> 01:04:26.224
people almost don't comprehend it as much, if that makes sense.
1038
01:04:26.244 --> 01:04:27.885
Like, it's just not looked at as positive.
1039
01:04:27.905 --> 01:04:34.112
But that's really, like, how we're trying to differentiate ourself to get better quality as well of leads is a big thing for us.
1040
01:04:34.472 --> 01:04:38.056
Like, we want them to have that personal connection because it makes business run smoother.
1041
01:04:38.336 --> 01:04:41.799
You don't have to convince them over four different, you know, phone calls to get them to sign an estimate.
1042
01:04:42.080 --> 01:04:42.720
They're ready to go.
1043
01:04:42.740 --> 01:04:43.821
They have a personal connection to you.
1044
01:04:43.841 --> 01:04:45.343
You can charge a little bit higher of a margin.
1045
01:04:45.523 --> 01:04:50.504
When you have a higher margin, you can hire a better level of talent, a better GM, a better, you know, foreman and this type of thing.
1046
01:04:50.524 --> 01:04:54.965
And I think that's something that's not talked about enough is like the arbitrages in marketplaces.
1047
01:04:54.985 --> 01:04:57.166
And I think there's so many in home service right now.
1048
01:04:57.546 --> 01:05:05.548
And I always tell our guys, like, I don't think that will be around forever because it's just like like you said, it's standard business practice to follow up with leads in any other business.
1049
01:05:06.228 --> 01:05:09.129
That's an arbitrage in the marketplace because people aren't willing to do it.
1050
01:05:09.309 --> 01:05:14.550
But I think there's other things that are arbitrages, too, that people just don't take advantage of because there's not a dollar amount assigned to them.
1051
01:05:14.770 --> 01:05:26.399
Yeah, a couple other things right now we see in trends is, obviously, people are using AI a lot more for chats, as well as when you go to Google and search, you're actually looking at AI recommendations at the top, not necessarily seeing blue links.
1052
01:05:26.899 --> 01:05:31.363
And so everyone can become more familiar with SEO, search engine optimization.
1053
01:05:31.403 --> 01:05:34.425
But SEO is not AEO, which is answer engine optimization.
1054
01:05:34.465 --> 01:05:39.068
And so answer engine optimization is the actual language which we use when we talk to AI.
1055
01:05:39.329 --> 01:05:42.091
So when you go to ChatDBT, you don't put long care near me.
1056
01:05:42.631 --> 01:05:44.432
hey, what's a good lawn care service near me?
1057
01:05:44.632 --> 01:05:46.192
What's a good contractor near me?
1058
01:05:46.653 --> 01:05:50.714
And so these are now questions that need to be answered on your webpage.
1059
01:05:51.054 --> 01:06:06.981
And so in the past, you might have focused on keywords, which is like, okay, I wanna have my city names, I wanna have what services I'm doing, but now having an FAQ section might actually be the highest leverage thing in terms of AEO, which is, how much does it cost to get a lawn care, my lawn mode in XYZ County?
1060
01:06:07.021 --> 01:06:07.761
XYZ, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1061
01:06:07.941 --> 01:06:09.302
Right, those are the type of things that
1062
01:06:09.482 --> 01:06:13.368
now are going to be indexed from an AI engine.
1063
01:06:13.989 --> 01:06:14.990
So that's one another one.
1064
01:06:15.010 --> 01:06:15.992
First to market arbitrage.
1065
01:06:16.312 --> 01:06:24.064
Yeah, and right now, across the board, we only have about 2% to 4% of traffic is coming from AI, like ChatTPT.
1066
01:06:24.865 --> 01:06:28.609
But that is like 10x more than it was last year and like 100x before.
1067
01:06:28.810 --> 01:06:31.893
So like it's definitely growing and that would be like an arbitrage.
1068
01:06:31.913 --> 01:06:36.878
The other thing would be like giving instant quotes and gathering card information before you have to give a quote.
1069
01:06:37.219 --> 01:06:40.703
Especially like the lower your close rate and the higher, more premium service you are.
1070
01:06:41.203 --> 01:06:48.689
Typically, you can reduce all your tire kickers and all the extra overhead that goes into providing quotes to tire kickers by simply just, here's our prices.
1071
01:06:49.369 --> 01:06:54.813
And if you're doing simple recurring services, you can just say, hey, our prices can change after the first service.
1072
01:06:55.174 --> 01:06:56.695
On big projects, just giving a range.
1073
01:06:57.055 --> 01:07:01.238
So we do larger projects where we're like, hey, it's going to cost you somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000.
1074
01:07:01.959 --> 01:07:03.380
And for some people, it's like, oh, great.
1075
01:07:03.540 --> 01:07:04.581
I was expecting three or five.
1076
01:07:04.641 --> 01:07:05.241
Great, yes.
1077
01:07:05.681 --> 01:07:08.163
And then for other people, it's like, oh, this was going to be a $200 thing.
1078
01:07:08.263 --> 01:07:09.825
And so I don't have to deal with that person.
1079
01:07:10.505 --> 01:07:11.485
I get their contact information.
1080
01:07:11.786 --> 01:07:16.247
They can get them to my contact database, but I'm not going to spend the time or the overhead required to give them a quote.
1081
01:07:16.508 --> 01:07:22.250
So basically like funneling and asking correct questions, right, which is I agree arbitrage in the marketplace.
1082
01:07:22.750 --> 01:07:29.033
Most people don't understand that in home service where like we have guys that like will put, you know, and this is where I always come back to like.
1083
01:07:29.413 --> 01:07:57.523
demand uh if demand outpaces supply we can funnel really hard and we can add those questions i think i think guys under a mill get like super hesitant because like i want to talk to everybody i want the chance to be able to sign them and that's why we always try to get demand out pay supply but like we have guys that ask like you know the budget ranges on the projects you know how what is the timeline for this to get done for bigger you know design and build what is the timeline you know we're marking you know one to two weeks a month plus three months flexible you know and
1084
01:07:59.024 --> 01:08:03.768
If you have too much, you can add like on a scale of one to 10, how important is quality versus price?
1085
01:08:04.068 --> 01:08:07.571
You know, 10 being quality is the most important price, zero being price is the most important.
1086
01:08:07.631 --> 01:08:17.638
That's gonna tell you a lot before you ever even spend time with that customer, especially if you are trying to niche into who is actually the ideal customer for this business to be able to run smoothly.
1087
01:08:17.939 --> 01:08:19.020
So I think, yeah, for sure.
1088
01:08:19.060 --> 01:08:27.266
Like, you know, it's my favorite thing when guys just have like the contact form that has like none of that, or like it does, you know, the biggest thing is like it doesn't even go into their CRM.
1089
01:08:27.406 --> 01:08:29.547
Like they have to like manually input back forth.
1090
01:08:29.567 --> 01:08:31.649
They spend three hours at a computer every night doing that.
1091
01:08:31.669 --> 01:08:32.810
I'm sure that grinds your gears.
1092
01:08:32.830 --> 01:08:34.271
I would have to guess.
1093
01:08:34.371 --> 01:08:35.692
But yeah, is anything else?
1094
01:08:35.732 --> 01:08:40.635
I just think there's a lot of arbitrages in home service that, you know, people don't exploit or see.
1095
01:08:41.015 --> 01:08:41.275
Yeah.
1096
01:08:41.295 --> 01:08:43.937
I think everyone forgets that with home services, we don't have a storefront.
1097
01:08:44.317 --> 01:08:47.539
Like we don't have a place where like a restaurant, it's very clear, like make it clean.
1098
01:08:47.760 --> 01:08:52.042
You know, have a gym and it's like we clean the thing like it's because it's the only thing people care about.
1099
01:08:52.223 --> 01:08:55.645
You get decent equipment, friendly people smile and you clean the gym.
1100
01:08:56.045 --> 01:09:01.949
So like when you have retail or you have physical spaces, it's very clear usually in terms of like make the storefront presentable.
1101
01:09:02.029 --> 01:09:02.169
Yep.
1102
01:09:02.409 --> 01:09:05.871
For home services, we don't usually have a storefront or even an office that people come into.
1103
01:09:06.272 --> 01:09:08.333
And so our storefront is our website.
1104
01:09:08.973 --> 01:09:15.597
And so the arbitrage is just making sure that when people show up there, that one out of 50 actually convert into a lead and not one out of 400.
1105
01:09:15.617 --> 01:09:15.838
Yep.
1106
01:09:15.938 --> 01:09:22.402
Like the fastest way to double the size of your business is just make sure that the percentage of people that get to your website is higher than...
1107
01:09:23.082 --> 01:09:24.563
when they convert into a lead.
1108
01:09:24.843 --> 01:09:28.625
So when we have home service web design, we've done over 1,000 sites now.
1109
01:09:28.985 --> 01:09:37.930
And so the number one thing that we do every single time, like does it load fast, is it look good on a mobile device, and is the estimate request form above the fold?
1110
01:09:38.370 --> 01:09:41.612
Like if you just do those three things, you will double your conversion rate.
1111
01:09:41.712 --> 01:09:43.353
Therefore, double the number of leads you get.
1112
01:09:43.733 --> 01:09:48.676
And you can drive traffic all day long to a sub shop that has the best sandwiches in the world.
1113
01:09:49.196 --> 01:09:54.859
But if you drive traffic to it and the sign is falling off, there's no light, it's dirty from the outside, no one's going to go inside.
1114
01:09:55.339 --> 01:09:57.460
And so you might have the best services in the world, the best work.
1115
01:09:57.480 --> 01:09:58.801
You're like, I have the best quality.
1116
01:09:59.161 --> 01:10:03.383
No one even comes inside your service because they go into your website and they can't even figure out how to submit a form.
1117
01:10:03.723 --> 01:10:05.044
They go to a good – like if you just have –
1118
01:10:05.284 --> 01:10:20.030
If you're asking a request form being on a different page, like where you click like get free estimate and it goes to a different URL, if you have that versus just a form that actually looks like a form above the fold on the front of your website, 30% drop in conversion rate if you have it where they have to go to a different page.
1119
01:10:20.550 --> 01:10:23.151
Little things like that is like where, it's like the basic stuff.
1120
01:10:23.211 --> 01:10:26.012
It's not really like a brand new AI thing, but it's,
1121
01:10:26.652 --> 01:10:27.653
It doesn't have to be, though.
1122
01:10:27.693 --> 01:10:28.593
It's just the simple things.
1123
01:10:28.613 --> 01:10:30.414
And that's what people that's what people miss.
1124
01:10:30.514 --> 01:10:38.498
I do think the same thing, you know, and like I would say like, you know, that's our like phase one of like our three phase system is like fixing all of that.
1125
01:10:38.799 --> 01:10:44.782
Like, you know, we go as far as like, you know, the Facebook, like, you know, when you get to the Facebook again, like.
1126
01:10:45.762 --> 01:10:48.122
Sometimes I'll go to our guys' stuff before we start working with them.
1127
01:10:48.142 --> 01:10:50.303
I'm like, I can't even tell what you do or where you do it.
1128
01:10:50.923 --> 01:10:54.424
How do you think that anybody's converting off this if you look at that like a landing page too?
1129
01:10:54.524 --> 01:10:56.124
It's just another place that traffic goes.
1130
01:10:56.804 --> 01:11:01.065
We're getting all of that fixed as well because that is where you have to start before you go anywhere else.
1131
01:11:01.165 --> 01:11:03.385
Because it's all the simple things.
1132
01:11:04.045 --> 01:11:09.326
It's all the free things that can just completely change the lead flow and how the business looks.
1133
01:11:09.346 --> 01:11:11.006
Because I think that was a great point to bring up.
1134
01:11:11.327 --> 01:11:13.807
We don't have the sub shop where we can present ourselves good.
1135
01:11:14.127 --> 01:11:17.230
So like you have to present yourself good anywhere that you show up online.
1136
01:11:17.470 --> 01:11:24.996
But also like when you go do an estimate for a bigger project, like we got guys that are like, you know, they're in nasty, you know, ripped up shirts.
1137
01:11:25.076 --> 01:11:25.516
And it's like.
1138
01:11:26.608 --> 01:11:27.048
Come on.
1139
01:11:27.288 --> 01:11:28.429
Like, come on.
1140
01:11:28.769 --> 01:11:32.031
You got like, it costs you 60 bucks to get an embroidered collared shirt.
1141
01:11:32.151 --> 01:11:32.291
Yeah.
1142
01:11:32.452 --> 01:11:33.192
Maybe we do that.
1143
01:11:33.312 --> 01:11:36.394
Maybe that's like the cheapest go clean a garage for 60 bucks.
1144
01:11:36.414 --> 01:11:37.715
You got 60 bucks to buy the shirt.
1145
01:11:38.055 --> 01:11:47.861
And I think like that also just like is, is the storefront, like the, the communication in between the time the lead comes in and you try to sell them as well for the bigger projects.
1146
01:11:48.221 --> 01:11:50.783
Like, I think that is also like your storefront.
1147
01:11:50.843 --> 01:11:56.106
And that's where like, when you get into like the, one of our guys brought this up, like Cormozy's offering differentiating things is,
1148
01:11:56.446 --> 01:12:20.155
You know, there's not a whole ton you can differentiate in a patio like obviously like the way you do design the materials you use Yes, yes, yes But I think again like the arbitrage there is like how many touch points you have with the client before you go to sell them How confident are they that you're the guy before you ask for a check or before you present the bid and that I think doubles up with the storefront of like do you you know how confident do they feel that this is the sub shop for them and
1149
01:12:20.515 --> 01:12:23.157
And that all goes into before you ask for that check.
1150
01:12:23.437 --> 01:12:26.740
Since we don't have the place, most guys to come, like there's not a showroom.
1151
01:12:27.280 --> 01:12:31.023
And making like what your unique selling proposition is fairly clear.
1152
01:12:31.363 --> 01:12:36.888
And so even like we're redoing our site for Augustine, it's like how can we make sure we stand out for everyone else on the website?
1153
01:12:36.948 --> 01:12:40.150
It's like what's the one or two things that you can do that is different than everyone else?
1154
01:12:40.550 --> 01:12:43.613
And like I don't care if you're 15 years old, tell everyone you're 15.
1155
01:12:43.653 --> 01:12:43.893
Right.
1156
01:12:43.993 --> 01:12:45.093
That's your competitive advantage.
1157
01:12:45.113 --> 01:12:46.794
That is your unique selling proposition.
1158
01:12:47.114 --> 01:12:54.136
And it's like I still remember when I was young, first starting Augusta, I would have a blue – because I had heard, you know, white shirt, red tie, blue suit.
1159
01:12:54.276 --> 01:12:55.716
I'm like, that's highest level of trust.
1160
01:12:55.776 --> 01:12:56.016
Great.
1161
01:12:56.336 --> 01:13:02.398
So I would put that in behind my truck cab, and I would do estimates at the end of the day, and I would get changed into the suit.
1162
01:13:02.818 --> 01:13:04.659
And I would be, like, wiping down with the suit.
1163
01:13:04.719 --> 01:13:05.039
For real?
1164
01:13:05.179 --> 01:13:05.539
Oh, yeah.
1165
01:13:05.699 --> 01:13:06.339
Heck, yeah.
1166
01:13:06.419 --> 01:13:09.000
I would show up doing a lawn care estimate with a suit.
1167
01:13:09.180 --> 01:13:11.161
I only did this for about three months, just to be clear.
1168
01:13:11.481 --> 01:13:14.944
But that was my unique selling proposition, and I realized that I'm just going to lean into this.
1169
01:13:14.984 --> 01:13:15.184
Yeah.
1170
01:13:15.504 --> 01:13:17.365
And yeah, I had a higher close rate.
1171
01:13:17.405 --> 01:13:23.949
Now, eventually, I had to get rid of it because it's very difficult to have a suit, tie, and a white shirt look half decent at the end of a day of working.
1172
01:13:24.409 --> 01:13:25.470
However... That is savage.
1173
01:13:25.490 --> 01:13:26.391
But leaning into it.
1174
01:13:26.411 --> 01:13:28.632
So, for example, with Augusta, it's like, what makes us different?
1175
01:13:28.652 --> 01:13:36.437
It's like, okay, we have 200 locations, and for some people, they would rather pay a little higher to make sure that there is a brand behind the operator.
1176
01:13:36.497 --> 01:13:36.637
Yep.
1177
01:13:36.657 --> 01:13:37.918
So if they do something wrong, they can go...
1178
01:13:38.578 --> 01:14:03.715
rat them out yeah and so now it's like okay we're locally owned trusted nationally with 200 plus locations we're gonna say we answer every single phone call 24 7 guaranteed those are the things like no is that a change you're making right now yeah yeah it's coming out next month so like the site will really lean into these things that no one else can compete on so i'd ask any operator you don't have to answer your phone 24 7 you don't have to have 200 locations you have to ask of what do you do different than everyone else and what makes you different than every other contractor and then just lean it
1179
01:14:04.035 --> 01:14:04.936
everything into it.
1180
01:14:05.036 --> 01:14:08.521
Like I've seen some really good lawn care companies where they just say, we close your gate.
1181
01:14:08.801 --> 01:14:09.382
We close gates.
1182
01:14:10.183 --> 01:14:10.484
Guaranteed.
1183
01:14:10.504 --> 01:14:10.804
Tagline.
1184
01:14:10.884 --> 01:14:13.347
Or like your money is giving you back.
1185
01:14:13.428 --> 01:14:14.529
That gives them a lot of customers.
1186
01:14:14.549 --> 01:14:14.709
Like...
1187
01:14:15.422 --> 01:14:16.723
Their pets getting out one time.
1188
01:14:17.083 --> 01:14:17.563
What are you doing?
1189
01:14:17.583 --> 01:14:20.845
You're looking for the lawn care companies and someone says, I guarantee you, I will close your gate.
1190
01:14:21.186 --> 01:14:21.726
I'm calling them.
1191
01:14:21.766 --> 01:14:22.006
Yep.
1192
01:14:22.286 --> 01:14:23.387
And so like, what can you do?
1193
01:14:23.427 --> 01:14:26.969
I don't care how small or different or quote unquote insignificant it is.
1194
01:14:26.989 --> 01:14:27.189
Yeah.
1195
01:14:27.550 --> 01:14:29.671
What can you do that makes you stand up from everyone else?
1196
01:14:29.791 --> 01:14:30.531
And lean into it.
1197
01:14:30.651 --> 01:14:30.812
Yeah.
1198
01:14:30.972 --> 01:14:31.472
Make it known.
1199
01:14:31.732 --> 01:14:32.313
A hundred percent.
1200
01:14:32.353 --> 01:14:39.237
We have a, we have a guy who one of our clients, uh, was at home Depot last year and a guy was trying to sell him a home Depot credit card.
1201
01:14:39.357 --> 01:14:39.517
Yeah.
1202
01:14:39.877 --> 01:14:41.299
And he's like, dude, this dude's talented.
1203
01:14:41.379 --> 01:14:43.661
Like the dude telling the Home Depot credit card to our client.
1204
01:14:44.162 --> 01:14:45.563
And his name is Abdi.
1205
01:14:45.744 --> 01:14:49.968
And he ended up joining our program like brand new as like a landscaper.
1206
01:14:50.689 --> 01:14:54.993
And he's doing like I want to say he did like a couple of 75 grand months, like 12 months in.
1207
01:14:55.014 --> 01:14:56.215
He bought his mom a car and stuff.
1208
01:14:56.255 --> 01:15:00.439
And the funny story about that is his first landscaping bid he showed up to in a suit as well.
1209
01:15:00.479 --> 01:15:01.100
Just satisying.
1210
01:15:01.100 --> 01:15:24.568
savage like just a level talent like just take not care you know the other thing is like not caring about what other people think of you yeah like having the balls to do that honestly like you know so many guys get caught up in like well you know i don't want to ask her for a review you know i don't want to go present in person i'm worried about what they're going to think of me you know all that stuff that i think keeps guys from doing the right things in business where like if you don't have that ego you can you can get rid of it you just
1211
01:15:25.108 --> 01:15:50.620
don't care and you do the right things and you'll you'll actually win and i i just i love that story too it's hilarious that you that's so sick that's it's such a that should be in your ads dude that should be in your ads i have a couple photos of it when uh because at the time too we were i started augusta cleaning and so i was like okay i i can use this when i go inside and then eventually like i closed the gust of the clean down with like three months because i'm like forget this i just got focused on one thing but i kept the suit and i just kept doing it
1212
01:15:51.720 --> 01:15:54.742
Our best performing ad, you've got to run that as an ad.
1213
01:15:54.842 --> 01:16:00.084
Our best performing ad is me with mud on my face and a Mason pencil, and it's just still of that.
1214
01:16:00.284 --> 01:16:01.305
You've got to run that.
1215
01:16:01.385 --> 01:16:02.786
That would be so sick.
1216
01:16:03.186 --> 01:16:03.966
I would click on that.
1217
01:16:04.146 --> 01:16:05.047
That's so awesome.
1218
01:16:05.247 --> 01:16:05.787
Anything else?
1219
01:16:06.107 --> 01:16:07.108
No, man.
1220
01:16:07.128 --> 01:16:10.790
There's so many opportunities for every little aspect of the business to differentiate yourself.
1221
01:16:11.170 --> 01:16:15.894
And so like most arbitrages are just made in either a doing what other people are not willing to do.
1222
01:16:16.315 --> 01:16:21.019
And then secondly, doing it more often and at a higher frequency than anyone else is willing to do it.
1223
01:16:21.459 --> 01:16:27.585
And so like I've always said, like the moat for your business is simply doing what other people are not willing to do.
1224
01:16:27.725 --> 01:16:30.088
And that could either A, be like the level of effort.
1225
01:16:30.328 --> 01:16:35.434
So like showing up on time, waking up early, working more hours, grinding and hustling harder.
1226
01:16:35.934 --> 01:16:41.781
Or it could simply be they're just not willing to even offer the guarantees to the customer because they're not confident enough in their service.
1227
01:16:42.221 --> 01:16:42.942
And so like...
1228
01:16:43.202 --> 01:16:45.123
Everyone always asks, what makes Augusta different?
1229
01:16:45.143 --> 01:16:46.543
And how did you get to 200 locations?
1230
01:16:46.583 --> 01:16:54.806
The bottom line is I just basically did what everyone told me not to do in terms of guaranteeing results, saying you can leave at any time without any penalty.
1231
01:16:55.046 --> 01:16:59.847
These are things that are unheard of, but if you actually believe in your service, you'll give guarantees to your customers.
1232
01:17:00.148 --> 01:17:05.789
You will say, hey, if we install your irrigation, we promise those trees will not die, and if they do, we will replace them.
1233
01:17:06.129 --> 01:17:07.390
It shows confidence in what you're doing.
1234
01:17:07.910 --> 01:17:13.114
And like and just giving an offer that is not just so good they can't refuse it, but so good that no one else can compete with it.
1235
01:17:13.475 --> 01:17:14.195
And that's what I mean.
1236
01:17:14.215 --> 01:17:14.756
That's the moat.
1237
01:17:14.876 --> 01:17:19.640
The moat is the offer that's so good that no one else can even even offer it, even if they wanted to.
1238
01:17:21.307 --> 01:17:22.888
And that's how you win forever.
1239
01:17:23.648 --> 01:17:30.732
You do all the consistent stuff that nobody else is willing to do on a long time horizon, and it just becomes unfair for you to operate.
1240
01:17:31.292 --> 01:17:33.914
I believe that wholeheartedly as well, 100%.
1241
01:17:33.994 --> 01:17:35.494
Is there anything I can help you with?
1242
01:17:35.514 --> 01:17:41.878
I know you've got crazy awesome stuff going on with school stuff and everything you're growing, but anything that I can help you with at all?
1243
01:17:42.578 --> 01:17:51.403
I mean, for us, really our biggest bottleneck, like right now, we I mean, I build so like our guys will know this that have went through our three phase system.
1244
01:17:51.423 --> 01:17:55.966
Like I'm using like exactly what I teach, even though it's an Internet business.
1245
01:17:55.986 --> 01:17:56.146
Right.
1246
01:17:56.326 --> 01:17:59.308
Like I'm I'm doing the same things that I tell them to do in the same order.
1247
01:17:59.448 --> 01:17:59.628
Yeah.
1248
01:18:00.148 --> 01:18:04.712
And for us right now, we have brand, and obviously we're never stopped.
1249
01:18:04.732 --> 01:18:06.554
Like, good businesses never stop that.
1250
01:18:06.614 --> 01:18:08.195
Like, you're never at enough reviews.
1251
01:18:08.235 --> 01:18:09.496
I don't care if you're at 20,000.
1252
01:18:09.596 --> 01:18:10.457
You're never at enough.
1253
01:18:10.477 --> 01:18:11.658
You're never at enough testimonials.
1254
01:18:11.678 --> 01:18:13.319
You're never at enough people knowing you exist.
1255
01:18:13.339 --> 01:18:16.142
Like, we've started to build that, you know, even just like...
1256
01:18:16.622 --> 01:18:18.183
Diamond C, you know, backing us.
1257
01:18:18.603 --> 01:18:19.444
That was big for us.
1258
01:18:19.484 --> 01:18:22.666
Like we ran their trailers and they're one of the biggest trailer brands in America.
1259
01:18:22.686 --> 01:18:25.788
You know, I don't think they back any other education creators, I would have to say.
1260
01:18:26.108 --> 01:18:29.370
And just building those partnerships to build brand stronger trust.
1261
01:18:29.710 --> 01:18:33.252
So we kind of have right now at the level we're at brand.
1262
01:18:33.712 --> 01:18:35.814
We have we have a good path forward with that.
1263
01:18:36.534 --> 01:18:39.615
Acquisition doesn't seem to be a problem at the level we're at right now.
1264
01:18:39.675 --> 01:18:44.977
We're now getting to that breaking point of like, you know, we're at like, I think like almost 300 K a month.
1265
01:18:45.217 --> 01:18:46.538
Obviously, like it's education.
1266
01:18:46.558 --> 01:18:47.458
It's very profitable.
1267
01:18:48.119 --> 01:18:49.519
So like we don't have a cash issue.
1268
01:18:49.839 --> 01:18:54.561
It's really just like I need to become better, I would say, as a leader and recruiting better levels of talent.
1269
01:18:54.661 --> 01:18:59.383
And the one thing that's capping is like, you know, we have good people that have applied to be reps for us.
1270
01:18:59.763 --> 01:19:02.387
But we don't want to take more people on because we have to fix the offer right now.
1271
01:19:02.407 --> 01:19:05.450
The offer is now the issue because we've done the unscalable for so long.
1272
01:19:05.831 --> 01:19:07.313
And now we need to restructure that.
1273
01:19:07.673 --> 01:19:14.402
And like right now, the biggest thing internally for us is just getting clear on that and how the operations will work with like Ascension and.
1274
01:19:14.782 --> 01:19:16.583
Like, you know, what does that offer look like?
1275
01:19:16.603 --> 01:19:18.444
Like, am I gated on the first 90 days?
1276
01:19:18.884 --> 01:19:21.445
You know, but we offer, you know, a higher ticket program on the back.
1277
01:19:21.745 --> 01:19:24.186
You know, do we keep it more accessible?
1278
01:19:24.506 --> 01:19:26.747
You know, what do we add as features versus takeaway?
1279
01:19:27.007 --> 01:19:28.648
What is the price point that we need to be at?
1280
01:19:28.848 --> 01:19:36.211
How much were, you know, how many people will we get rid of that would have closed at like, you know, that we're $9.97 a month or $2,000 a month currently.
1281
01:19:36.751 --> 01:19:37.792
But that obviously changes.
1282
01:19:38.192 --> 01:19:41.214
And we're thinking of dropping it to, you know, one offer, not two.
1283
01:19:41.434 --> 01:19:50.079
And it's fifteen hundred ninety seven a month for three months as our intro offer with a dedicated CSM 24 seven on top of all of our other things that we talked about.
1284
01:19:50.099 --> 01:19:53.861
You know, the group calls, the community, the phases, the trainings, all that stuff.
1285
01:19:53.921 --> 01:19:59.804
So for us, it's just really, you know, getting dialed in on that before we turn turn the fuel on.
1286
01:20:00.065 --> 01:20:02.126
So like right now we're spending five hundred dollars a day in ads.
1287
01:20:02.846 --> 01:20:07.309
We're like 17 like row as on that, like on the front end.
1288
01:20:07.329 --> 01:20:07.589
Mm hmm.
1289
01:20:09.064 --> 01:20:12.725
So we could probably 4x ad spend, but we need to figure out the deliverables.
1290
01:20:12.745 --> 01:20:16.327
So maybe like anything that you have on like, you know, just how impressive your operation is, right?
1291
01:20:16.347 --> 01:20:25.890
Like you've obviously learned how to like build a team and like get through those types of issues would be like the one thing like you're clearly at a much different level, you know, like in just coming to this.
1292
01:20:25.950 --> 01:20:28.591
Like we have six guys remote, you know, we don't have an office of 80 people.
1293
01:20:28.952 --> 01:20:32.333
So like anything on that, because I feel like that's what's going to cap me from going from three to ten.
1294
01:20:32.801 --> 01:20:35.062
Yeah, I think in the cash position, I'd just hire this.
1295
01:20:35.563 --> 01:20:41.126
Like there's people that have ran coaching programs and operationally, and they can never promote or get any sort of audience.
1296
01:20:41.426 --> 01:20:43.147
But they know how to create curriculums.
1297
01:20:43.247 --> 01:20:46.769
They know how to create like an LMS, learning management system.
1298
01:20:48.670 --> 01:20:50.051
And then you focus on your strengths.
1299
01:20:50.091 --> 01:20:55.513
Like if you have a 17 row ads and you can run ads and you know how to promote and create content, that should be all you do.
1300
01:20:56.033 --> 01:20:57.474
You shouldn't be thinking about any delivery.
1301
01:20:57.494 --> 01:21:05.198
You shouldn't be thinking about any sort of operations, hiring, firing, payroll, taxes, bookkeeping.
1302
01:21:05.298 --> 01:21:06.318
All of that should be off your plate.
1303
01:21:06.938 --> 01:21:12.061
And so you have the cash position to go out and hire an absolute savage that allows you to 5X the business.
1304
01:21:12.921 --> 01:21:21.069
And so I think that person would take so much off your plate right now in terms of like you shouldn't have to think about the videos being uploaded.
1305
01:21:21.089 --> 01:21:27.415
You shouldn't have to think about you shouldn't have to think about like taxes and paying these people and finding and recruiting them like someone else should be doing that stuff.
1306
01:21:27.815 --> 01:21:33.961
And like every minute you spend anything besides promotion is probably a poor use of your time now.
1307
01:21:35.540 --> 01:21:35.880
100%.
1308
01:21:36.120 --> 01:21:39.042
And so that's like the hard part is like doing all those things.
1309
01:21:39.122 --> 01:21:41.203
But you're trying to figure out that skill.
1310
01:21:41.243 --> 01:21:41.763
And you could.
1311
01:21:41.983 --> 01:21:42.583
I know you will.
1312
01:21:43.104 --> 01:21:44.805
But you could also just hire someone.
1313
01:21:44.825 --> 01:21:45.365
It would be like.
1314
01:21:45.765 --> 01:21:46.805
So we've always.
1315
01:21:46.846 --> 01:21:47.746
It's always been a balance.
1316
01:21:47.766 --> 01:21:52.028
Like there's this balance of like do you take entry level people and you train them up and they follow you for a long time.
1317
01:21:52.048 --> 01:21:52.828
They're super loyal.
1318
01:21:52.868 --> 01:21:53.769
They know the whole culture.
1319
01:21:53.789 --> 01:21:55.770
They know all aspects and levels of the business.
1320
01:21:55.870 --> 01:21:57.050
Or do you just hire right at the top?
1321
01:21:57.411 --> 01:21:58.011
And I've done both.
1322
01:21:58.451 --> 01:22:01.414
So, like, for example, Liz, who runs the command center, she's worked with me for, like, 10 years.
1323
01:22:01.915 --> 01:22:03.877
She started with, like, she was my first assistant.
1324
01:22:03.897 --> 01:22:05.679
We were doing, like, $400,000 in annual revenue.
1325
01:22:05.980 --> 01:22:07.942
And she's grown to now having all the agents.
1326
01:22:08.202 --> 01:22:10.525
We have people across the world, like, 24-7.
1327
01:22:10.545 --> 01:22:11.826
Like, that's her now.
1328
01:22:11.946 --> 01:22:12.127
Yep.
1329
01:22:12.527 --> 01:22:12.687
But...
1330
01:22:13.517 --> 01:22:21.402
The alternative to that is what I do with Copilot, which is from a software perspective, I will go out and I pay gobs of money for people that have done it before.
1331
01:22:21.762 --> 01:22:23.103
They've worked for public companies.
1332
01:22:23.323 --> 01:22:24.424
They've ran engineering teams.
1333
01:22:24.624 --> 01:22:26.946
And then when I hired them, they hired everyone else.
1334
01:22:27.786 --> 01:22:28.727
They built a team below.
1335
01:22:28.887 --> 01:22:30.549
Yeah, I didn't have to figure out the systems with them.
1336
01:22:30.609 --> 01:22:42.502
It came pre-installed, and so the scale of which, and how fast Copot will grow, will probably hinge based on that, versus just, I have to figure it out with them, I have to train with them, I have to, hey, let's do this.
1337
01:22:42.522 --> 01:22:44.164
What you don't know in that, yeah.
1338
01:22:44.184 --> 01:22:44.284
Yeah.
1339
01:22:44.604 --> 01:22:45.465
And there's pros and cons.
1340
01:22:45.645 --> 01:22:51.090
Like, I would say that Liz, for example, knows every single layer of the company with all aspects of how everything works.
1341
01:22:51.450 --> 01:22:53.192
And so there's definitely inherent advantages there.
1342
01:22:53.412 --> 01:22:59.818
But when you have the cash position that you have, that's when it's like, okay, let's just assume that you paid someone $250,000 a year.
1343
01:23:00.178 --> 01:23:06.684
You get the best operator that will take every single admin and operational task off your plate so you can just focus on promoting.
1344
01:23:07.359 --> 01:23:11.803
And like, I genuinely believe if you spent one day locked in a room without anyone talking to you, you'd figure out your offer.
1345
01:23:12.063 --> 01:23:13.965
You would figure out what the Ascension program should be.
1346
01:23:14.245 --> 01:23:16.327
You would create, you'd be the architect of the business.
1347
01:23:16.347 --> 01:23:16.547
Yeah.
1348
01:23:16.728 --> 01:23:20.071
Figure out the blocking, tackling, the blueprint, and then you hand it to an operator and say, go do it.
1349
01:23:21.335 --> 01:23:26.119
That person you don't have right now, and you are the one going back in and be like, okay, so you do this and make this video.
1350
01:23:26.139 --> 01:23:29.601
And that's the part, like, if you just hired someone for a lot of money.
1351
01:23:30.482 --> 01:23:34.485
Who do you just genuinely curious, like, because I've never had to look for that.
1352
01:23:34.625 --> 01:23:38.508
Like, where do you, one, look for that, but, like, what are you looking for in that?
1353
01:23:38.608 --> 01:23:39.349
Like, they have, like...
1354
01:23:40.049 --> 01:23:50.915
you know, three different programs they've operated like, you know, similar, you know, obviously not in our space maybe, but like the similar offer scale of like education and that type of stuff, like with that track record, like where, where are you going for that?
1355
01:23:50.976 --> 01:23:54.878
Cause I've only had to hire, like, you know, I've never had to hire a $300,000 a year employee.
1356
01:23:54.918 --> 01:23:55.098
Yeah.
1357
01:23:55.258 --> 01:23:57.179
You don't even, you don't even know what to ask them.
1358
01:23:57.279 --> 01:24:01.222
So what you say is you give them what you're going through in the business now and say, what would you do?
1359
01:24:01.922 --> 01:24:07.830
And if they don't know every metric, if they don't know exactly what they would change about your business, they're not the caliber you're looking for.
1360
01:24:08.591 --> 01:24:10.553
And this was me a couple years ago.
1361
01:24:10.794 --> 01:24:13.597
I had only hired people to take tasks off my plate.
1362
01:24:14.278 --> 01:24:17.022
And then it came to the point where I'm like, oh, I need them to do something I don't even know how to do.
1363
01:24:17.182 --> 01:24:17.402
Yeah.
1364
01:24:17.742 --> 01:24:18.443
I don't even know.
1365
01:24:18.463 --> 01:24:20.084
Bring up things that you don't know.
1366
01:24:20.144 --> 01:24:20.284
Yeah.
1367
01:24:20.304 --> 01:24:24.267
It's like with at school, for example, with Sam.
1368
01:24:24.367 --> 01:24:24.628
Sam.
1369
01:24:24.668 --> 01:24:26.869
He interviewed like 400 people before he got a CTO.
1370
01:24:26.929 --> 01:24:27.129
Yeah.
1371
01:24:27.390 --> 01:24:35.356
And so like Dr. Cash, who knows Sam well, it was like when I was going through bug hell with Copa, it was like, yeah, you can interview every single person, but you're not interviewing them for a job.
1372
01:24:35.376 --> 01:24:36.897
You're interviewing them to fix your business.
1373
01:24:37.477 --> 01:24:40.179
And then if they're so good, you can't refuse them, then you offer them a job.
1374
01:24:40.780 --> 01:24:42.381
And so I would look at his interviews.
1375
01:24:42.701 --> 01:24:46.604
I would try to find people that have ran huge companies operationally.
1376
01:24:46.625 --> 01:24:48.046
Most of them are in coaching and operations.
1377
01:24:48.066 --> 01:24:49.667
They can take every single admin thing off your plate.
1378
01:24:49.987 --> 01:24:51.268
Like, you just give them a blueprint.
1379
01:24:51.288 --> 01:24:51.949
Here's the offer.
1380
01:24:52.149 --> 01:24:52.990
Here's how I want you to charge.
1381
01:24:53.010 --> 01:24:54.811
You don't have to tell them, like, here's how you go into Stripe.
1382
01:24:55.111 --> 01:24:56.132
Here's how you set up the products.
1383
01:24:56.352 --> 01:24:57.553
Here's how the lead page should look.
1384
01:24:57.753 --> 01:24:58.754
Here's what the offer should be.
1385
01:24:58.994 --> 01:25:00.255
Here's what the headline.
1386
01:25:00.396 --> 01:25:01.396
They should know all of that.
1387
01:25:01.436 --> 01:25:01.617
Yeah.
1388
01:25:01.717 --> 01:25:02.918
That's why you're paying so much.
1389
01:25:03.018 --> 01:25:03.178
Yeah.
1390
01:25:03.258 --> 01:25:05.139
Because that's otherwise 10 years of training someone.
1391
01:25:05.280 --> 01:25:05.480
Yeah.
1392
01:25:06.280 --> 01:25:07.821
And you can do that.
1393
01:25:07.921 --> 01:25:08.301
You can.
1394
01:25:09.342 --> 01:25:13.944
And it's very fulfilling to see someone grow up inside the organization and learn those skills and grow in how much they're making.
1395
01:25:13.984 --> 01:25:15.245
And they make their six figures.
1396
01:25:15.265 --> 01:25:17.466
Then you can make them and they get compensated really well.
1397
01:25:17.666 --> 01:25:17.887
Cool.
1398
01:25:18.867 --> 01:25:23.390
Or you just take out the time of the equation and you go interview people that are extremely high level.
1399
01:25:24.150 --> 01:25:27.012
And you learn all the fixes to your business even if you don't hire them.
1400
01:25:27.732 --> 01:25:28.874
You'd be like, hey, what would you do?
1401
01:25:28.894 --> 01:25:32.918
They're like, well, what I would do is I'd create this coaching program and here's how I would set up the curriculum.
1402
01:25:33.159 --> 01:25:35.702
Here's how I would vet my coaches and here's how I would set up the community.
1403
01:25:35.742 --> 01:25:37.003
And you're like, oh, snap, that's awesome.
1404
01:25:37.244 --> 01:25:37.905
Thank you for your interview.
1405
01:25:37.925 --> 01:25:38.565
I'm not hiring you.
1406
01:25:38.625 --> 01:25:40.828
But like you just got really valuable consulting.
1407
01:25:40.968 --> 01:25:41.089
Yeah.
1408
01:25:41.109 --> 01:25:41.209
Yeah.
1409
01:25:41.880 --> 01:25:42.420
That makes sense.
1410
01:25:42.920 --> 01:25:47.102
Is there is there a place specifically like would you pay somebody to go recruit that for you?
1411
01:25:47.522 --> 01:25:50.663
Would you know, would you do that just through job posts on LinkedIn?
1412
01:25:50.703 --> 01:25:57.345
Indeed, like or, you know, cold outreach like on LinkedIn to people like what would you recommend there?
1413
01:25:58.706 --> 01:26:03.131
When you've identified something as the constraint of the business, it's the highest levered use of your time to figure that out.
1414
01:26:03.672 --> 01:26:08.417
So, for example, like Alex, the past six months after the book launch, he was like, the only thing I'm doing is hiring executives.
1415
01:26:08.437 --> 01:26:13.463
I'm interviewing four or five a day, going through and doing notes like he could absolutely outsource that.
1416
01:26:14.084 --> 01:26:16.006
But it's the highest leverage for his time.
1417
01:26:16.467 --> 01:26:18.990
And so identifying that, okay, this is the biggest thing.
1418
01:26:19.070 --> 01:26:20.612
If I tackle this, I 5X the business.
1419
01:26:20.632 --> 01:26:22.273
Everything's fixed, yeah, right now.
1420
01:26:22.434 --> 01:26:22.654
Right.
1421
01:26:22.774 --> 01:26:25.517
And so then when you 5X it, you'll find another problem.
1422
01:26:25.597 --> 01:26:26.238
It'll be legal.
1423
01:26:26.398 --> 01:26:27.219
It'll be whatever.
1424
01:26:27.379 --> 01:26:28.721
It'll be international, whatever.
1425
01:26:28.741 --> 01:26:29.281
But like...
1426
01:26:29.982 --> 01:26:53.469
Identifying what the constraint the business and then all your resources just get zeroed in on it knowing the other things will fall through the cracks Yeah, and so like 2024 is very clear in terms like I had one focus It was one problem and I had a bunch of fires have to burn and then after that I was like okay now 2025 I can focus on these other things But during that period of time you just have to like laser like focus because you know if you can if you can solve that one Constraint it just allows everything else to go flow.
1427
01:26:53.689 --> 01:26:55.390
Yeah, that's probably what we need 100%
1428
01:26:56.330 --> 01:27:16.177
and you don't even know what you don't know like honestly because the software side when you get in this a realm where like okay i haven't done this before i am figuring out things live awesome i bring up all the new like if you're bringing up all the ideas to the team that's a big problem then you are capped by your skill set and you have the cash to unlock other people's skills yep that have been there done that have a proven track record yes for sure
1429
01:27:16.457 --> 01:27:18.018
Yeah, and they know how to run a remote team.
1430
01:27:18.038 --> 01:27:18.959
They know how to add to the team.
1431
01:27:18.979 --> 01:27:20.420
They know how to build an office.
1432
01:27:20.440 --> 01:27:24.223
Like, you don't want to be doing an office, and that takes 50% of your 2026.
1433
01:27:24.283 --> 01:27:24.544
Yeah.
1434
01:27:24.684 --> 01:27:26.826
That doesn't add any leverage to the business.
1435
01:27:26.866 --> 01:27:27.266
It's pointless.
1436
01:27:27.306 --> 01:27:27.967
It's pointless, yeah, yeah.
1437
01:27:27.987 --> 01:27:28.567
It just slows things down.
1438
01:27:28.587 --> 01:27:29.167
It's great for the culture.
1439
01:27:29.368 --> 01:27:32.070
Down the road, yes, you can have a studio, and you can create content faster, yes.
1440
01:27:32.530 --> 01:27:35.353
But someone else could build out that thing better than you can.
1441
01:27:35.373 --> 01:27:37.534
Well, we're doing the stuff that I do, 100%.
1442
01:27:38.435 --> 01:27:38.635
Yeah.
1443
01:27:39.497 --> 01:27:39.937
Leverage.
1444
01:27:40.578 --> 01:27:42.841
Yeah.
1445
01:27:43.001 --> 01:27:43.962
Anything else I can help with?
1446
01:27:44.163 --> 01:27:44.924
Anything whatsoever?
1447
01:27:45.384 --> 01:27:46.526
How do you guys recruit for...
1448
01:27:48.378 --> 01:28:16.585
your franchisees like is there anything there that you can help with like with like recruiting a level talent that you add to their teams because i know when we were downstairs they were saying like you guys are going to be doing that for people like if they need people you will place them like is there anything that you have that's competitive there that would help you know that's that's the one thing like i don't have experience with i'll be fine saying that like i never have ran a team of 40 people yeah i've always just been small and profitable so like i don't have any experience with like recruiting at a really high level for multiple multiple people
1449
01:28:18.705 --> 01:28:22.686
Yeah, so if I was in your business, if I was in your shoes, this is exactly what I'd be doing.
1450
01:28:22.766 --> 01:28:26.907
I'd be creating sticky things that people can't live without, that they have to rely on me to do.
1451
01:28:27.427 --> 01:28:31.788
And by me doing it for them, they get like a 5x leverage compared to them trying to figure out themselves.
1452
01:28:32.048 --> 01:28:38.029
So everything I just said to you is what allows you to take average retention from six months to six years.
1453
01:28:38.049 --> 01:28:42.910
It's like you make things that they rely on every single day, they can't live without, and they do not want to figure it out.
1454
01:28:42.950 --> 01:28:45.651
And by them not figuring it out, they're able to double or triple the business.
1455
01:28:46.111 --> 01:28:48.892
And so, for example, recruiting, for most people, they aren't good at it.
1456
01:28:49.033 --> 01:28:49.553
No.
1457
01:28:49.633 --> 01:28:55.776
And so it's a big bond for us because when demand is so much higher than supply, well, now supply becomes a problem.
1458
01:28:55.796 --> 01:28:57.517
I can't find people, train them up, et cetera.
1459
01:28:58.037 --> 01:29:08.082
So one of the things you could do for your community, but this is what we do as far as we will get basically to the point where you're like, this is the person.
1460
01:29:08.803 --> 01:29:10.784
And so we will run the ad.
1461
01:29:11.024 --> 01:29:12.625
We will screen the candidate.
1462
01:29:13.698 --> 01:29:18.082
We will grade them, and then we'll put them on a silver platter of the top four people, and we know you need to hire, too.
1463
01:29:18.502 --> 01:29:19.283
And we've interviewed them.
1464
01:29:19.343 --> 01:29:19.903
Here's the videos.
1465
01:29:19.923 --> 01:29:20.464
Here's what they look like.
1466
01:29:20.484 --> 01:29:21.344
Here's their resume.
1467
01:29:21.384 --> 01:29:22.505
Here's everything you need to see.
1468
01:29:22.866 --> 01:29:24.007
And from that, you can hire.
1469
01:29:24.027 --> 01:29:26.028
So we have a lot of people right now hiring based on just the videos.
1470
01:29:26.729 --> 01:29:30.072
So you can use platforms like ATS, Applicant Tracking Software.
1471
01:29:30.332 --> 01:29:31.173
We use SparkHire.
1472
01:29:31.313 --> 01:29:33.635
They're really expensive, but we really get a pretty good deal.
1473
01:29:33.975 --> 01:29:40.539
I think also the buying power of your community allows you to unlock things that they would otherwise be paying gobs of money for.
1474
01:29:40.859 --> 01:29:43.641
So right now, if you say, okay, you have to pay $1,600 a month.
1475
01:29:43.821 --> 01:29:45.743
Some people are like, that's crazy.
1476
01:29:45.883 --> 01:29:46.343
Okay, cool.
1477
01:29:46.623 --> 01:29:49.865
But the day one that you push this button, you're getting $300 off of this.
1478
01:29:49.885 --> 01:29:51.146
You're getting $500 off of this.
1479
01:29:51.166 --> 01:29:52.327
You get this preferred vendor.
1480
01:29:52.627 --> 01:29:54.448
And then, by the way, we're going to hire your people.
1481
01:29:54.668 --> 01:29:57.790
There's all these levels that you can only do with economies of scale.
1482
01:29:57.830 --> 01:29:58.691
So they can never do it.
1483
01:29:59.111 --> 01:30:28.651
So for example For Sparkhire They would all have to be Paying 500 bucks a month For the software that we're using But because we At the corporate level Say hey We're going to buy it for everyone We can get a deal That we can make sense of it For the entire corporation And so The video Like I would From a recruiting perspective For technicians It would be much more Lean heavily into video tracking And video interviews Because I can take I can run tons of ads We do it for the whole country And we've got like 1,700 applicants 200 of them submitted videos And then 50 of them Like I would
1484
01:30:28.751 --> 01:30:29.752
and hire them tomorrow.
1485
01:30:29.872 --> 01:30:34.097
Like some people like doing like full out suits, putting Augusta on a banner behind them.
1486
01:30:34.137 --> 01:30:34.418
Like Savage.
1487
01:30:34.438 --> 01:30:34.638
Yeah.
1488
01:30:34.678 --> 01:30:34.838
A level.
1489
01:30:34.858 --> 01:30:36.140
We will ship you across the other side of the country.
1490
01:30:36.160 --> 01:30:36.280
Right.
1491
01:30:36.300 --> 01:30:38.442
And so there's so much you can tell on a video and save your operators time or you time as an operator.
1492
01:30:38.462 --> 01:30:46.772
And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and
1493
01:30:46.932 --> 01:30:49.333
And not waste time with interviews and then people not showing up.
1494
01:30:49.394 --> 01:30:52.635
And then you get disappointed because three out of four aren't really that great.
1495
01:30:52.675 --> 01:30:54.436
And then you end up hiring someone with a pulse.
1496
01:30:54.817 --> 01:31:03.242
And so one of the things I think will be very interesting, if you are able to get people to have no demand issues because you fixed that problem, the next problem is supply.
1497
01:31:04.196 --> 01:31:12.323
And if you can figure out how to fix that for them, that's stickier because once they figured out how to talk to people and make reviews, they kind of got the demand side down.
1498
01:31:12.723 --> 01:31:17.307
The supply side will forever and always be a problem in any service business.
1499
01:31:17.588 --> 01:31:20.590
Supply becomes always the issue once demand's fixed.
1500
01:31:21.031 --> 01:31:23.773
And so those are the things, like if I was in your shoes, that's what I'd be trying to evolve.
1501
01:31:23.793 --> 01:31:24.934
Solid for that on the Ascension.
1502
01:31:24.954 --> 01:31:25.094
Yeah.
1503
01:31:25.114 --> 01:31:25.254
Yeah.
1504
01:31:25.314 --> 01:31:25.535
Yeah.
1505
01:31:26.255 --> 01:31:26.915
Yeah, that's killer.
1506
01:31:27.155 --> 01:31:27.335
Yeah.
1507
01:31:27.355 --> 01:31:29.816
Can you imagine just be like, hey, entry level, you access the course.
1508
01:31:30.157 --> 01:31:31.637
And then like, here's a little higher, you get coaching.
1509
01:31:31.857 --> 01:31:35.919
And then there's this S tier situation where we are going to recruit for you.
1510
01:31:36.159 --> 01:31:36.359
Yeah.
1511
01:31:36.719 --> 01:31:36.939
Right.
1512
01:31:36.959 --> 01:31:37.880
Recruit and run.
1513
01:31:38.020 --> 01:31:41.021
Honestly, eventually we want to run their paid because they could do it so well, too.
1514
01:31:41.661 --> 01:31:43.602
But we'd have to solve supply first, for sure.
1515
01:31:43.862 --> 01:31:45.283
Yeah, well, I agree with you.
1516
01:31:45.323 --> 01:31:49.527
Even on the agency side for ads, we're just rolling out with Augusta where we're running their ads for them.
1517
01:31:49.887 --> 01:31:54.571
Because you have economies of scale, you can operate at such a cheaper price than any other agency.
1518
01:31:54.591 --> 01:31:55.392
Ridiculous, yeah.
1519
01:31:56.012 --> 01:32:02.518
And as long as you're really good at it and you drive leads to them, you just make it so stupidly obvious compared to any other agency.
1520
01:32:02.538 --> 01:32:02.698
Yeah.
1521
01:32:03.238 --> 01:32:06.141
And you can do it because you're running the same ad, same playing book.
1522
01:32:06.641 --> 01:32:07.242
It's way easier.
1523
01:32:07.322 --> 01:32:07.922
Hundreds of people.
1524
01:32:07.982 --> 01:32:08.143
Yeah.
1525
01:32:08.163 --> 01:32:08.363
Yeah.
1526
01:32:09.027 --> 01:32:09.227
So.
1527
01:32:09.748 --> 01:32:10.449
All right.
1528
01:32:10.749 --> 01:32:14.514
And agency is a higher enterprise value than content, right?
1529
01:32:14.534 --> 01:32:15.214
Yeah, for sure.
1530
01:32:15.274 --> 01:32:19.760
I think if I was you, it'd be like, OK, I want to increase the retention, et cetera.
1531
01:32:20.000 --> 01:32:27.369
But then I want to move up the value chain from content creation to probably agency and then moving to something like licensing.
1532
01:32:27.689 --> 01:32:32.071
Like that licensing is going to offer a 10x valuation difference compared to what you're at now.
1533
01:32:32.431 --> 01:32:33.572
And eventually that's what you want.
1534
01:32:33.612 --> 01:32:38.674
So you can like have a real valuation that you can take loans against and not pay taxes on it.
1535
01:32:39.415 --> 01:32:42.376
You can go get real estate for just loans against your equity.
1536
01:32:43.357 --> 01:32:44.477
That would be the ultimate play.
1537
01:32:44.937 --> 01:32:51.240
And that's challenging even if you scale the learning information side because like it's just hard to get a valuation.
1538
01:32:51.441 --> 01:32:51.701
Yeah.
1539
01:32:52.121 --> 01:32:54.322
So I think you can move out that value stack though pretty quick.
1540
01:32:55.534 --> 01:32:57.235
Yeah, and we get cooked on taxes right now.
1541
01:32:57.495 --> 01:32:58.956
Yeah, because it's all cash flow, right?
1542
01:32:59.056 --> 01:33:11.222
So if you can generate push more into the enterprise value, and say down the road you have an organization that's doing licensing, or you have something that's super sticky, you have a brand behind it, then you can say, okay, it's worth $50 million.
1543
01:33:11.643 --> 01:33:14.264
I am going to go take a $2 million loan against my equity.
1544
01:33:14.384 --> 01:33:16.865
That money coming out is not taxable because it's a loan.
1545
01:33:18.026 --> 01:33:19.827
That's where you can make a lot of money tax-free.
1546
01:33:20.387 --> 01:33:21.548
I'll have more than paying the government.
1547
01:33:21.588 --> 01:33:25.732
Yeah, because right now 30 to 50% of your income is going to the government.
1548
01:33:25.832 --> 01:33:26.272
Yeah.
1549
01:33:26.312 --> 01:33:27.673
Because it's a cash business.
1550
01:33:27.954 --> 01:33:28.614
And it's not bad.
1551
01:33:28.794 --> 01:33:31.036
I just use that to build the thing.
1552
01:33:31.076 --> 01:33:35.220
So when we started the media side doing home service web design, it was so cash heavy.
1553
01:33:35.660 --> 01:33:36.841
And I was like, oh my goodness, this is great.
1554
01:33:37.041 --> 01:33:39.644
And that's what I used to go into the franchise.
1555
01:33:39.664 --> 01:33:41.425
Because the franchise lost money for the first three years.
1556
01:33:41.765 --> 01:33:42.426
And then the same thing.
1557
01:33:42.446 --> 01:33:43.907
The franchise has become very profitable.
1558
01:33:44.207 --> 01:33:44.668
OK, great.
1559
01:33:45.128 --> 01:33:48.191
That's why I fund the software side, which still is losing money.
1560
01:33:48.911 --> 01:33:49.432
Keep stack.
1561
01:33:49.612 --> 01:33:50.193
Yeah.
1562
01:33:50.213 --> 01:33:51.694
And so you're trying to go up the value chain.
1563
01:33:51.734 --> 01:33:52.074
Yeah.
1564
01:33:52.094 --> 01:34:00.542
So you go from like service provider, like you were in a content, and then it would be like, okay, can I do some sort of a licensing deal?
1565
01:34:00.842 --> 01:34:02.964
And then there's all levels above that.
1566
01:34:03.628 --> 01:34:07.110
Are you getting into funding, too, for people?
1567
01:34:08.071 --> 01:34:08.551
I can say that.
1568
01:34:08.671 --> 01:34:09.052
Can I say that?
1569
01:34:09.072 --> 01:34:09.572
Yeah, I can say that.
1570
01:34:09.612 --> 01:34:09.852
Sorry.
1571
01:34:09.872 --> 01:34:10.813
I just don't know when this is coming out.
1572
01:34:10.893 --> 01:34:12.194
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1573
01:34:12.254 --> 01:34:13.675
Yeah, so we're announcing on Saturday.
1574
01:34:14.155 --> 01:34:22.461
We're planning to, for the Augusta Nation only, basically allow them to get terms from us in terms of financing if they follow their systems.
1575
01:34:22.841 --> 01:34:25.724
Because a regular... You can see everything, yes.
1576
01:34:25.764 --> 01:34:29.388
I can see everything, as well as I can judge them based on their business model.
1577
01:34:29.548 --> 01:34:29.808
Everything.
1578
01:34:29.828 --> 01:34:33.232
Instead of, hey, you need two solid years of tax returns that are really high profit.
1579
01:34:33.352 --> 01:34:33.532
Yeah.
1580
01:34:33.612 --> 01:34:36.455
Well, if you want an SBA loan, that means, okay, I get profitable.
1581
01:34:36.756 --> 01:34:37.556
I finish this year out.
1582
01:34:38.157 --> 01:34:41.079
decent profit, but I need two full years where I don't touch the business.
1583
01:34:41.400 --> 01:34:44.642
And I'm in profit mode and I'm not growing in order to have really too good.
1584
01:34:45.003 --> 01:34:51.468
And I'm going to pay a bunch of taxes in doing that just to get two solid tax returns that I can go to the SBA and be like, okay, now I'm ready to go get a $300,000 loan.
1585
01:34:51.608 --> 01:34:55.331
And so our hope is that we can say, okay, we're not going to look at that.
1586
01:34:55.371 --> 01:34:56.672
You have no collateral.
1587
01:34:56.732 --> 01:34:57.913
You have no personal guarantee.
1588
01:34:58.113 --> 01:35:02.457
We'll look at your financials of your current location and judge you on that and then give you money.
1589
01:35:02.737 --> 01:35:03.497
So we're looking at that.
1590
01:35:03.878 --> 01:35:04.418
That's sweet.
1591
01:35:04.638 --> 01:35:04.818
Yeah.
1592
01:35:05.199 --> 01:35:05.599
So we'll see.
1593
01:35:05.879 --> 01:35:06.220
Heck yeah.
1594
01:35:06.821 --> 01:35:07.265
Good stuff, man.
1595
01:35:07.285 --> 01:35:07.890
Well, thanks for coming by.
1596
01:35:07.910 --> 01:35:08.354
Yeah, appreciate it.
1597
01:35:08.394 --> 01:35:09.020
Absolutely, dude.