Tommy Mello
Appearances
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Who are you asking these questions to?
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
So so was your transition into like finding coaches? Was there an experience or was there like a.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
What were you before? Like how much of a change was there? What? Like margins. Your margin.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Another truth you spoke was problems. I remember thinking, I'm not good at business because I can't get rid of these problems. And then I went to a Tony Robbins business mastery event. And one of the biggest takeaways was you always have a new set of problems as you grow. New set of opportunities, new set of problems. And those are always changing.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
So let me ask you, Chris, obviously I know your story, but like what were those, what was that paradigm shift? What was the transition or how did you level up?
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
I think what you saw in Todd is like, dude, this guy's a visionary and this is how visionaries operate. And so you started to realize like I needed to operate.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Dude, you said prompted. I've actually never thought of that as a concept before. But like if you think of all relationships, like the quality of your relationship with people is based off your prompting.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Once I understood that, it changed everything for me.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And it's just like Chad GBT. If you ask a bad question, you get a bad answer.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
I would say I think a big piece, too, is we we always were thinking ahead. We always had a vision. We're always sharing the vision. So anybody who came into our business wasn't there for that opportunity. They were always there for what was coming. Something greater. And I think that was what built our culture. I think that's what brought in the right partners.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
I think that's what also gave us buy-in from employees because there was so much craziness. I mean, when we were in the garage and we had, what, 50? 53 employees. 53 employees.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
you had to buy in to what we were doing because it was just smashed in there. And obviously we were building a building at the time. And so people understood what was going on, but chasing that dream was always, everyone was bought into that. And if they weren't, they didn't last long.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Here's something interesting, though. When I grew up, it was common to say, be a man of your word. Yeah. But realize like as a visionary, you can't be a man of your word. You got to be a man of your vision, right? Because if you're a man of your word, like you've got to know how to fulfill on what you're saying. And as a visionary, you don't. You're just like, we're going into this darkness.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And at the end of it, I'll tell you what's there.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And I think part of that foundation was we always protected the margin. Yeah. Because I don't know how many businesses they start growing and they realize they have no money. Yeah. So they're not scalable.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And so I think being able to scale with margin allowed us to continue to grow. You know, we had 300% growth year over year, two years in a row. If we didn't have the margins we had, there'd be no way.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Yeah, well, I was just going to say, and it was really important for us to make sure our employees understood that. Because they'd be up competing with people that were charging a lot less. To give it away.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
So I appreciate your view on your employees, but I guarantee it didn't start that way. Yeah. So how did that transition happen, or how did you?
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Here's something interesting though. When I, when I grew up, it was common to say, you know, be a man of your word. Yeah. I realized like as a visionary, you can't be a man of your word. You got to be a man of your vision. Right. Because if you're a man of your word, like you got to know how to fulfill on what you're saying.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
I'll go to work.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
One of the things you brought up, and I think this was also contributed to our success, was the homegrown salespeople. And technicians. And technicians. And I think, Chris, you should talk about this because we decided like we didn't want industry people in our business. We wanted to create them.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Yeah. Right? You just got to understand, though, Tri-Cities is a small town.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
So it's like there's no sales force. There's not a big sales force out there to pull from. We had to create.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
I think to echo some of the sentiment, like one of the things you got to realize is like you do lose control when you have a partner like a PE. I mean, they come in with a completely different set of motives. And so like the idea that things are going to operate, continue how they are. I mean, they will until they need to change things.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And I'm
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Quite a while later.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Well, I think that initially, for me, what attracted me to Chris was I was super ambitious, and I would talk about things. And then all of a sudden, Chris was talking about things in a bigger way. And I'm like, wait, I'm going to talk about it even bigger. And it was like this flow of- You push each other up.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Yeah.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
One of the things, so firing is hard. I remember when we first had to fire people, like I hated it because I feel like I was doing this.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Well, I feel like I was doing something wrong to these people. I was putting them in a bad situation. And then the paradigm shift was like I'm not firing them for me. I'm firing them for everyone else who's there working for me, right? And so that helped a little bit. It helped a lot actually.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
I think that's a big paradox. One of the traps though, and we had to learn this when we had to cut some people was if you're overpaying someone, they're the hardest people to cut. Because you're basically putting them in a bad situation because they'll never be able to replace the pay because you overpaid them.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
The people that you're paying them what they're worth, you should never worry about laying them off or firing them because they'll go get a job for the same or more.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
From MySpace.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Instagram, Daryl C. Kelly. Kind of. If you find me there.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Yeah, it was about two years. And I think – and looking back, it was just a maturity thing. We didn't know how to communicate our differences. We didn't know how to, like, work through it. So we just – that's what we did. Yeah.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
It's interesting you say that. So my recommendation is, I'm going to just throw something out there that probably business community hasn't. It could be. But Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza. So this is, yeah, so Joe Dispenza, he teaches meditation. And when I first got involved in his work, it was kind of woo-woo type stuff. He helps break it down so you can understand it.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
But one of the powerful things is understanding how your body thinks and how your mind thinks. And what that means is like, there's times where we react, we create an emotion to a situation And it's just purely a memorized reaction that our body gives us. A good example would be like you could come home and your wife says something and your reaction is like. Triggered.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Triggered for whatever reason. Right. And, you know, what meditation is, is it's removing that programming in your body so that you can actually think and use your mind to actually.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Yeah.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
It's really fascinating. It's a very different way to look at what's going on in the world.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
So I'm looking at myself 10 years ago, 20 years ago, what I would tell myself.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And I think the one thing that I'm learning today that I wish I would have understood better then is we experience this world in our body. And our body is impacted by food and exercise. Also, many other things. But just don't wait to take care of your health. Make your health part of who you are. I was in the camp where I was skinny, even be considered skinny fat. I wouldn't eat really much food.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Didn't work out a lot. Didn't work out a lot. And so then this year, you know, I feel like I've gone through this big transformation from a lot of different aspects from business, spiritually, financially, and The physical aspect just wasn't a priority. So, you know, I've gained 25 pounds this year. And I've been eating a lot better. I've been very diligent in what I eat, what I don't eat.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And it just seems foolish that we don't take that serious. And I know you've recently, you just mentioned you've been focusing on that as well.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
I think the challenge, too, is we're taught don't be vain, right? Yeah. But I think that's taken out of context. I think being able to be in love with your image is important.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
I think, I think what's good is, is like work with people like you. It's like, you guys are very extreme. And like that, it's like an edge that you get from someone like you guys. Right.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And I think on the other side too, I think you'll manage stress better, right? We go through a lot of stressful things as business owners. And I mean, stress is just an emotion your body's producing. It's chemical, right? And your body can go through quite a bit, but you have so much opportunity to control that in a better way.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And I think it starts with diet and exercise and being consistent on those two things. Because I know if I wake up and I work out, I'm going to eat right. My mind's going to be right. Like so many other things start to line up for me.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And so for me, like, I feel like I have a lot of ambition, a lot of drive, a lot of vision, but I feel like with Chris, it gives me like that edge, that little bit more craziness that you just don't get from anyone else. And I think that's what I've been able to benefit from is like keeping Chris in a position where he's always like a little crazy in his thoughts and his ideas.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
I think what's also funny is just the, the kind of damage control, right? Chris comes in with a ton of energy and it, it throws people off. And sometimes people can misinterpret things so quickly.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
And so I feel like a lot of times I'm like, no, no, no, no. Or the other part of it is I'll institute or I'll put in a place a new policy. And because Chris is such a loud voice, everyone thinks Chris is the one behind everything. And so he always gets like the blame.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Yeah. It's a great position for me to be in. I'm never wrong.
Next Level Pros
#131: 3 9-Figure Businesses in One Room? How Tommy Mello, Chris Lee, And Daryl Kelly Grew Their Businesses to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
The question I have for you, what were some of the paradigm shifts that transformed you from where you started to who you are today in your business?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
I just started to see some commonalities when we talked about fiat and money. It was interesting because he's a big Bitcoin advocate. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
know what i was in 2015 i was hanging out with a actually a competitor of mine but really a mentor and he said tommy my best thing i could ever tell you is buy your buildings he goes throughout the years as i buy a building grow into it grow past it sell it grow into the next one he said i think he had done four buildings he's like that made me millions and millions and millions of dollars
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
And so, you know, I tell people, make sure you got great credit, make sure to get ahold of Don's and Bradstreet, build your business credit, make sure you really understand what the SBA does and get a building as soon as possible. As long as you know, you're going to be able to make rent and you're not buying something way too big.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
But if you buy something way too big, hopefully you can put a second suite there and, you know, rent it out until you're ready to fit into it. That's an easy way to make money. Those that are listening, I wish I would have known to buy a building right away. Everything turned out really great, but I know I could have bought one a lot before I did.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Well, the, you know, my, my stepdad used to tell everybody that he'd meet, they go, why did, why is Tommy so successful? And let me see. I always want to say this on the podcast. He said, he's got the biggest balls I've ever seen. He goes, his ability to take risks, you know, educator risks, but, but not like, I always was like, I knew there was a path to do what I wanted.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
So I think a lot, what stops a lot of people is they're just, they're waiting for this perfect time. Like they're waiting for this perfect building or these perfect things to perfect is the enemy of just getting started, you know?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Yeah, my sister, I was telling her how much I might roll into this next deal with the company that drives your business. And she goes, why would you gamble with that much? And I said, this is the farthest thing from gambling you've ever seen. But I learned that, you know, through my Goldman account, I could actually, this is interesting for the listeners out there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
If you do it right, it's easy to borrow against a public traded stock. That's how Elon Musk bought Twitter. But you could also borrow through Goldman or through Morgan Stanley against your private stock. It's not as easy. It's a little bit higher interest rate, still below 6%, 5.9%.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
But if I could borrow against there, not only does the PE company borrow a ton of money, but I could borrow against my own shares. and leverage it into, you know, 20, 25% IRR. So, or go buy, here's what's crazy. I can go buy all the leases of A1 garage door service, strap a 10 year lease on it. It's worth 60% more.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
So let's say I put $200 million in buying all the buildings in every market, you know, 40 markets, the good, nice buildings for A1, put a 10 year lease on them. They're worth the a hundred million is now worth 160 million. because it's got that 10 year lease. So I don't think people, I don't know if people, I don't think they're going out looking for the answers that sometimes I am.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Like trying to figure this stuff out. There's a guy named Brandon Turner, used to have the podcast, Bigger Pockets. And he and I became good friends. I went out to Hawaii, visited him and he had me speak at his last event he had in Phoenix. And it's just fun learning.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
I'll tell you this, for me, for sure, the most people I know that have done very, very well as far as wealth, it's been through real estate. I mean, that's just me. But now I would say home service is catching up because I'm in a different box with these guys. And I'm with every big plumber and HVAC and roofer across the United States.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
But real estate just seems to be one that there's enough for everybody to do well.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
yeah you know people always ask me like what's your superpower i say i get in the right rooms and i don't like one of my buddies he's like i want you to meet he goes i want you to listen to this guy he's like his name's jeremy minor he's a sales coach and his stuff really works i listened to one little podcast the guy had and i said i like this guy so i just got a hold of him It wasn't easy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
There was a couple of gatekeepers. But he took my call. We went to dinner. And now he and I are together twice a month hanging out. BS. I might even be investing in his business here shortly. You know, we have these things like YPO. I don't know if you've ever heard of YPO. But everybody's begging me to get in these. And I'm never too busy to network. But I've already... I'm pretty...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
I want to show up in a big way. If I become part of those things, I don't want to like miss it all the time. So I said, it's just, I'm kind of in the grind right now. So, but there's all kinds of them. There's tiger 21. There's, you know, there's, you name it. Like there's, there's a lot of these things and I want to make sure I go into the right ones already.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Um, I thought, you know, for a guy like me, and I'm sure you understand this is I don't need any more ideas right now. Nope.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
So your wife is a performance coach, um, Let's talk about that for a little bit. I think Kobe Bryant, there's no major athlete, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Brett Favre. They all have this idea of the mindset, mental toughness performance coach. Let's find out. Everyone should have somebody that helps them with this, but nobody really. A lot of people don't.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Makes sense? Yeah. Well, it reminds me of the show. I didn't watch a lot of it, but it's called Billions. And they got this the guy's name is Axel and his shrink or whatever is called. Her name's Wendy, but she's got to help everybody out mentally be ready to do their best. You know, they're stock trading and doing big deals every day.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
You think, the question I have to think about is, I was with Nick Saban recently and we were talking about, is it the talent or is it the drive, the mental drive? And he said both. I can't take five-foot-two guys and turn them into an amazing Alabama player. But I've seen great, decent players become great players from the coaching.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Yeah, talk to me about what that means, everyday millionaire. How does that – I talk about this a lot. Yeah. But I want to hear your explanation and definition of it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
I've also seen great players become lousy players because of the coaching. How important is the coach?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
You know, I think coaches could be mentors, but I want to talk a little bit about mentorship. How did your mentors, how did you find them? How did you know they were right? How did they guide you through business and investing?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
So, by the way, I think that's the right way to look at it. I mean, I guess the way that I look at mentors, and it's not always been this way, but whoever I pay each year, usually there's a series of people, whether that's a couple different speaking coaches. I figure, well, I'm paying this person to coach me. So I guess I consider them a mentor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Hey guys, quick thought for you before we get back to today's episode. What would you do if the phones at your business just stopped ringing? No leads, no calls, nothing coming in. Most people would panic, but I've got a system that ensures this won't happen. It keeps your phones ringing even when marketing slows down. Here's what my top guys do on every job.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
They get good reviews on Google, Yelp, Nextdoor, and Facebook. They put up yard signs. They talk to the neighbors. They even figure out who runs the HOA. Basically, they turn one job into 20 new leads before they back out of the driveway. That's what happens when you hire A-plus players and put the right systems in place.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
If you want to learn how to build a team like this, sign up for the live webinar I'm hosting with my managing director, Jim Leslie. We're breaking down three moves you can make to keep the phones ringing and double your growth in 2025. No BS, just the real stuff that works. It's happening May 21st, no replays.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
So join our Facebook group, The Home Service Expert, if you haven't already, and keep an eye out for our announcement about the webinar. All right, back to the episode. You know, I was with two of my buddies I grew up with from Michigan this past week. Actually, yesterday we were chatting. I said, you know what the difference was between us, you know, when I turned 20 and you guys did?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
And I didn't say it exactly like this, but I'm going to be a little bit more. I said, you know, I sacrificed everything and I lived below my means for that next decade. I lived so low, such like a scavenger, like I could have afforded so much more, but I started to earn interest and compound and compound.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
And that's what everyday millionaire really means to me is without even my business doing what it needed to do, I was making investments that no matter what, I was going to become a millionaire. And I just, my buddy goes, yeah, that's not me, dude. I don't want to live like that. And I'm like, well, you know, I can see. And I was trying just not to be mean, but I'm like, what? Who cares?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
I think we care too much about what people think sometimes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
It's funny. That's a really smart question. If nobody knew you were going to own it, would you still buy it? I, I, um, I got these rocks, they're called amethysts. They were my cousin sources rocks, like it's his life. He's a geologist, and he knows how to get rock. So I said, Find me the largest amethyst you could find. And he goes, it's gonna take a year to get here. I said, Fine.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
How much he does is 85 grand, it comes with two rocks in the base. And I said, what's it worth? He said, well, after I get it from Uruguay and get it shipped out, he goes, I can easily sell it for a hundred grand per rock. And I said, okay. And I said, well, the sever and you're,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
opinion well let's go down in value he goes no these are rare very rare this size in fact you can put these we sell these to the museum so you know it's something that i think is important now yes there's one other thing i think about when i think about purchases and this is you know i'm in the midst of buying a stancraft boat and i think about experience
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
about building stories and adventures and life. And like my father's 70th birthday party, my mom's 70th birthday party, just recently my birthday party at the house. And like everyone stays under one roof and we like have the time of our lives and we had a Super Bowl party. And so some of mine says, because I lived in a thousand square foot apartment for four years and I had a lot of other things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
But, and I didn't care. People used to come over all the time and they'd spend the night and I'd pull out the couch and I never was like, because they were like, why do you do this? I'm like, just stacking cash right now. But, you know, it wasn't really necessarily like, I never was embarrassed. I wasn't like, oh, like people were like, really, this is where you live?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
I'm like, yeah, I own the apartment complex. So relax. But this is the one I choose to stay at. So, you know, that's the only caveat I'd say is like, is this going to bring,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Yeah. I kind of got to explain that to people as I'm like, you know, how many experiences that this, you know, how many people that I'll grow closer to and that I'll just, and it's not necessarily because they like nice things, but it's like, I'm here in Cabo. My whole team's coming out here. There's pools everywhere. There's probably lazy rivers. We're going to go have a big volleyball game.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
This is an experience that we're doing with my team. So it's the same thing as you do. It's just going to be around the houses that we're doing. I look at this as a... First and foremost, they don't ever go down in value, the houses that I buy. Because I think mostly about this for houses. And then the Stancraft is an all-wood boat that only goes up in value.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
As we know, boats go down in value right away. Not this boat. This boat I could drive for 10 years, put all the miles on it, and it'll go way up. I don't know what's shifted, but it had to be in my 20s when I'm like, is this going to be going up in value or down?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
So you coach a lot of people. Yeah, 100%. And that's where my mind goes. What's one piece of advice you find yourself giving over and over again to newer investors?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
So when you started the Everyday Millionaire podcast, what was the, I know you talked about, I think it was 2014, you thought about writing a book. What's your goal now behind it? And what do you hope listeners take away from it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
if somebody listening to that can go oh gosh well gosh if he can do it i can do it you know that's ultimately what i hope to be able to share with others yeah this idea of why not me is has been a big thing that's kind of pushed me is like i get into the right room and i'm like wait a minute they got the same 24 hours in a day 168 hours in a week and all of a sudden light bulbs go off and this but
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
It's fun to be around those type of people because they think differently. When you watch the way they think and the way they act and the way they represent themselves, it rubs off on you. That's the thing. When I watch somebody... not growing is because they're in the same circle the whole time. Nothing's changed. Nothing changed. That's the same employees.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
They work around the same C-suite, the same events. They go to the same events for the next ten years. It's all the same. And I'm like, But you haven't changed since 10 years ago.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
No. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
So, Patrick, if you had to go back to your 25 year old self, which quite a few years ago, what would you be telling them?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Love it. Is there any books? I've got a million. Is there any books that are not ordinary, like Dale Carnegie or Napoleon Hill or the Bible, the E-Myth and all these ones that we know of?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Extreme Ownership, yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
yeah yeah it's a great book and then there's there's a book kind of like it by david goggins called can't hurt me that was another good book but different different thing and then i think you'll really dig this book it came out just a few months ago it's called the courage to be disliked oh love the title already yeah i think you would dig that book um
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
So, Patrick, what's the best way to reach out to you? If someone wants to go learn more about you, learn more about, obviously, the podcast. You've got a couple of them. You've got The Everyday Millionaire and The Mindset Matters.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
And we talked about quite a few things here, so I'm just going to give you the stage here or the podium, I guess the microphone, to close us out on any topics that you feel like we may have not discussed.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
our life is a reflection of who we are and how we're being if you don't look you're like you don't like your life take responsibility for it look in the mirror see what you need to do differently i love that yeah there's this there's this song if you don't like your life then you should go and change it and it says you're on vacation because every single day i love my occupation it's one of my favorite songs i used to walk out of for that song for the last six or seven years but uh
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Patrick, fabulous job. I really appreciate you doing this. It was fun. Well, I appreciate you, my brother. And anything you need, you get in touch. I'm going to have Ashley make sure we set some time to talk again here soon. But thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
We'll see you soon. Have a good time. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets to help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
If you put money away early enough, I looked this up the other day on ChatGPT. I think it was 9% of change are millionaires in the United States. And I don't know if that number is accurate, but it makes sense because just to buy a piece of real estate now in Phoenix or California or Denver, I mean, you're looking at half a million to a million bucks for something decent.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
You know, this is my memory might be off, but I used to work on this program called it was it was by Dave Ramsey. And it was I got I entered into this for my whole company, not really for myself. And he sent me a book and I think it was called Everyday Millionaire.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
That's okay. Yeah. I wasn't sure. So when you guys, so tell me a lot of, tell me what this program was. Cause it sounds like you've been 3000 members, 60% of them own a business. What, what did you, what's the purpose? I mean, what do you guys coach on?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
And is there a formula for, you know, I used to work with this couple. I used to provide their garage doors and their plan was to buy one house a year for the first 10 years. and then sell the first house to number year 11. They'd flow up to 10 years and flow down through 20. Do you guys have any type of formula like that or not really?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
all right guys welcome back to the home service expert podcast i am doing this podcast from cabo super excited i got patrick francie here uh he's an expert in real estate finance podcasting his podcast the real the real estate investment network and he's the host of the everyday millionaire podcast uh he's near vancouver uh but spends a lot of time all over the place yeah why don't you just tell us a little bit about you and uh how the audience gets to know you a little more
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
What's it like here when you got to live in it for two years or something?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
I met a guy recently and what he does is he looks for expired properties. large real estate, RV type stuff, just big park type stuff. And he says if they own, he's got a tool, Skip Trace, that he looks at and says if they got it paid off. But what he'll do is he'll get them to do a land contract on it because that way they don't have to pay capital gains.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
And I don't know exactly all the intricacies, but he's like, I got to get my CPA on the phone with their CPA. to be able to, their tax advisor, to be able to explain why this makes more sense via tax to do a 10 year or a seven year land contract with some type of balloon. I don't know the exact strategy, but he's a really smart guy. And I was like, there's a lot of money to be made in real estate.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate Success with Patrick Francey
You know, I got a couple of commercial buildings and about seven.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
So let me ask you, this idea of commoditization, right? As things become cheaper to make, you look at a company like mine, Stuff does get commoditized over time, and it's a bad thing because if the person can get the product, same caliber apples to apples, and it's cheaper, they're going to go with the price.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Now we've got the technician training, the CSRs, nights, weekends, holidays, we're open to background checks, all these other differentiators that we've got better training so you don't get warranty calls. We've trademarked our parts. We've done all these things. But I think the future, especially with robotics, it's not coming yet for home service, but it will be coming in home improvement.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Like literally like one day the pest control company is going to send out an AI bot, find out where all the scorpions and spiders and mice mate, and they're going to eliminate them because they're going to know, oh, this is the spot of the house that's got the humidity. It's perfect for that. We get rid of that. We get rid of the bugs. I mean it's not far from now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I don't think it's going to happen overnight. In fact, people are saying – Do not, if you've got kids, do not send them to college. Send them to trade school. I mean, right now we're a dignified industry.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Yeah, that's fantastic.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Well, I'm a new student.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
He also wrote the visual sale. He's got a new one coming out, Endless Customers. His claim for fame was River Pools. He saved the company from an economic crash. He's one of the best at content. I'm working with him. He's actually out here to work directly with A1 on a new content strategy, and I think it's going to blow our minds. We're meeting all day tomorrow.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Yeah, they got into it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
You know, I think about that. The old Maytag, I'm putting out a commercial. You know Roy Williams, Wizard of Oz. Yeah, yeah. He's one of the best writers. I don't work directly with him, but I know a lot of people that work directly with him. He's getting older. He's retired kind of, but he still works for certain clients. But I'm always thinking of what's going to tell a story?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
And you've got a lot of good things going on. You do a lot of keynote topics on sales, marketing, AI, leadership, communication, multiple companies, Impact River Pools, Marcus Sheridan International, Question First Group, PriceGod.ai. Just a plethora of great information. I'm going to bring the heat today, and I know he's going to bring the heat.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
What do people want to do business with? What's going to affect the market? Because when you know I can trust somebody before you go there, like my buddy with Gettle. He creates commercials where people are calling him up going, first of all, I'm mad at you because what you did for Wendy, your wife, on Valentine's Day outdoes me. But it's very rarely – he doesn't make it transactional at all.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
He tells stories. And people are like – I started crying when I heard your commercial. Your dad passed a torch when you used to hold the flashlight for him. And so this whole idea, but I'm thinking about all these ideas. And people used to call up Gettle when Ken was always on the air and say, we don't have an issue yet, but the day we do, we're calling you. And Price was irrelevant.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
And this idea, though, of Maytag back in the day. My grandma had Maytags. Like, those things would have run forever. Anybody with an old yellow Maytag, they're still going.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Oh, yeah, yeah, the really nice, beautiful ones. And the old Maytag commercials were similar to what you said. It was the Maytag guy standing around the truck like this going, no service work. You know, it just keeps going. So a long time ago, what I built, because there's nothing like this in the garage industry. It's all the springs. are on cycle life.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
The cables, you want stainless steel if you've got any type of snow. You've got rollers from a different manufacturer. See, the garage door manufacturers, they manufacture the panels. So all the different accessories, I had to build a Frankenstein. And I call that my worry-free door. It's got the best of everything. And then you've got openers.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
And openers, 10 years ago, everything now has got sensors in it. It's not built to last like it used to be, but it's got all this technology in it. So my stuff, if you want an opener that'll never break, good luck. You're not going to have internet that you could open and close it from your cell phone. You're not going to have a camera system to invite Amazon or Walmart to deliver your groceries.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
because they used to put this massive motor in them, and now it's all direct current motors and different things, and now there's these force airs in them. But now all the guys complain, these things always have units, they're finicky, because you got the safety eyes, you got this, you got the camera, you got the app, you got these different things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
So I try to think of how to think outside of the box, because doors, who's the spring manufacturer, what cycle springs do they put on? If the cables went bad, if this went bad, if this went bad, if this went bad. Panels, every manufacturer I know creates a polyurethane two-inch panel. Then they got polystyrene. Then they got hollow back. Then they got vinyl back.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
They got all these different things. And so what are you comparing? A lot of it's like for like. You know what I mean? It's really hard to differentiate, but certain manufacturers have these amazing doors that are like super contemporary. All the designers love them. They're using them on all the higher-end houses.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
And they got these wood faux doors that they guarantee for 10 years that look better than wood. You don't have to treat them every single year. Just clear coat them. So I'm just trying to apply this to my business. I'm sure a lot of people out there are like, okay, I service gutters. And there's different things like leaf fitter and all these different ideas and things that work well.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
But which ones last the longest? And some of them... You know, what's the install qualities where I go back to? The install quality is how it's done of a gutter, right? If you're not putting as much nails every foot and the quality of the nails and the quality of the tools you're using and the craftsmanship and how much the guy knows. So, you know what I'm saying?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
So, Marcus, talk to us a little bit about what you've been up to lately and what's new and exciting for you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Our own parts are called MaxLives.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
So an install process, you know, we put a scale under every single door to make sure it weighs zero. It's installed correctly. There's certain things you could almost say, if it's not done this way, it's not the right way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
This install process, and you go through that, and you educate the customers on it. And you do that through articles. You could do that through... Videos, you could do that on TV, radio, billboards, all kinds of stuff. What's still economical? Because billboards, I was with Gary Vee about five years ago, and he goes, forget billboards.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
He's like, if I do 500 tests on Facebook, I'll find one that will outperform any billboard. better ROI. And now he's talking about a lot about LinkedIn and these different channels. And I think that's the hard part for most business owners. They're like, oh, you're talking about X. You're talking about TikTok. You're talking about Instagram. You're talking about Facebook.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
You're talking about all these different things. And then you got, now you got Marcus Sheridan talking about AI. Then we still got to get found in the, get reviews, still get found in the map section, the three pack. And what about, they say the newspaper still works and the yellow book still works in Albuquerque and you get inundated. And they're going, well, I need to know my KPIs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I need to mission, vision, core values. I need to make sure I get those trucks, the perfect trucks, because otherwise can I depreciate them? And there's all this information.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
It's way more overwhelming than it used to be.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Like OTT and all these things, but yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I love it. Look, it's all great and dandy. There's a buck coming. Well, I'm just going to say most people just aren't going to be able to hire you to come out for a day. I wouldn't say you're more than worth it, but most people don't have the resources nor the time. If they do, if they don't get you and they buy the book, what's the best way to get started?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Hey guys, quick thought before we get back to the episode. There's something that Donald Trump Jr. said recently that stuck with me. He said, in construction, it doesn't matter how smart your architect is. If you don't have the best guys laying the bricks, people with grit, people who get their hands dirty, you've got nothing. And you know what? It's the truth.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
You can have a slick logo, a killer strategy, and the best tools, but if your team isn't competitive, if they don't work hard, you won't have what it takes. That's why I'm excited that Donald Trump Jr. is coming to Freedom 2025. Because he gets it. He's been on job sites. He's operated heavy equipment. He's worked alongside tradesmen.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
And he's seen how real money is made while serving as executive vice president of the Trump Organization. If you want to meet me, Donald Trump Jr., Kevin O'Leary, Al Levi, and a host of other successful home service owners, go to freedomevent.com now. And if you grab your early bird ticket, you'll get over $5,246 in bonuses too. That's freedomevent.com. All right, let's get back to it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Well, let's dive into that because that's an exciting topic.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
So a few things. Number one is if you're buying a roof, if you're buying a pool, that's a really large ticket. I'm going to do my research. Number one, here's the deal. A pool is where I'm going to spend a lot of my summers. I'm going to spend with my family. I want to make sure I get the right pool. If I'm looking at a broken spring, I can't get out of my garage, right? I'm stuck.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I got to go to my daughter's ballet practice. I need to make a phone call. I'm going to look at reviews very quickly. I'm not going to go to a configurator or I'm not going to go, let me really do a lot of research. I got a broken pipe. Let me do a lot of research of who's the best pipe fixer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I just got to go really quickly and say, who's the best company I could find right now because I need somebody out here. But there is one day I could ask AI. And I can say, who's the best company to get out here? And what I think is going to go after is proximity. How quick can they get out here? Because that's an emergency. So who has the most trucks with all the parts on the trucks? Eventually.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
But here's the problem. Are they drug tested? Are they bankrupt? Can I trust them around my two daughters and my wife, four and six years old? You know what I mean? These are some of the questions. Price doesn't always win. When you make it about price, price will always win.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I thought it was just going to be a lead conversion tool. No, because if you use the price guide, just like with HubSpot, what you figured out, was this person's going to wood overlay garage doors. They want the best. You know where they spent their time, so therefore you're giving it to the guy with all the right samples, the guy with the most. So you're sending the right guy to the right job.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
You're putting Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. When they do the price guide... They're saying, I don't want an HOA hollow back door. I want something nicer. And now you're dispatching for dollars, not sending the greatest salesman, but the greatest knowledge source. And some people say, like, there are, unfortunately, every person's created different. And my best guys, they're very personable.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
They smile all the time. They have great conversations. We go play with the dog. We talk about their Harley. Most of the time, we're not even talking about the garage. We're educating them. Any questions they have, but we're letting them know we're a good person. This is a great company. And we like you as a client.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Like a surgeon practicing on doesn't make any sense. You know, I used to think marketing was about getting new clients. 50% of my sales marketing brain goes, how do I get the right person? Because I'll tell you what, the right person, I interview one of my techs every single week that's top in the country. We're in 40 markets. This individual is excelling in Phoenix.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
And he said, I'm riding with this guy tomorrow, my day off. I'm riding with this guy Sunday. I'm going out to this other market this day. And he's obsessed. He's obsessed. And he's got massive goals. So 50% of my brain goes, how do I recognize those individuals? They smile a lot. They have great conversation. They believe that they're worth it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
A lot of people don't believe they're worth it to even come here. They think it's a pyramid scheme. When they come here, they're like, dude, it's all real. Like they're drinking the Kool-Aid now. And then I say, look, I don't need you guys here to sell a bunch of garage doors, do a bunch of service work. I need you to better your best. Every single day, I want you to get a little bit better.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
You're the best you've ever been, but the worst you'll ever be because tomorrow you're going to be a little bit better. And all I need you to do is believe in yourself because you've got to believe you're worth it. But I do believe this world we're living, AI is going to help pick the person too. I mean, there's certain quality traits in a conversation you can pull out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
like wrestlers, athletes, competition, farmers. Guys and gals do a lot. They work out better. But I think some of the conversation is you could have all the clients in the world if you don't have the right people running those calls and smiling and enjoying them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
So with our bios, I'm like, first of all, guys, be in front of your truck. Make sure it's clean. Make sure you're smiling. Don't make it a mug shot. Next thing is people want to know about you, your kids, your dog. They want to know family, occupation, recreation, material things. If you love Harleys, if you love a soccer team, talk a little bit about it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Next thing is we're always going to call the client on the way. And we're always going to say, listen, I know about your problem. Listen to the call. Know exactly what you're going through. I'm here to tell you I'm a certified technician that's going to make it all better. I'm stopping off at 7-Eleven. What do you like to drink, hot or cold? That's great, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I want to bring you – and you're going to say, listen, I'm fine. I don't need anything. Listen, if you come to my house, my wife's going to feed you. I've got to bring you something. If you just want a red cup, tell me red cup. But I want to show there the law of reciprocity. No one's ever offered me something on the way to do anything for my house. And it's not a trap.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
It just is like, wow, they're very considerate. I'm going to steal that one, Tommy. That's good stuff. It's the smallest things. And we actually built a tool to make sure guys are doing it. Because all the calls, if you hit the client number, it actually rings their cell phone and connects to the client. So now I have figured out a way to make sure this is getting done. Because one day, 2018.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
We place stickers on the garage. That's like the future of our business, at least today, is like the stickers there. It says warranty void if removed, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We put one on the door, one on the opener, and we put this little nice thing above the wall button.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I go into Service Titan, and I see every picture looks the same from one of my technicians, and I realize he could upload it. He could just upload the old picture. He's lazy. And so I called Service Center and said, no longer could we upload. Can you make it? You can't upload from your gallery. You've got to now take a new picture. These small things. And he's not a bad guy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
He just was a little lazy. And so all my things need checks and balances. As long as I take to come up with a system, I take a lot longer to make sure I've got data integrity to make sure it's the right things happening. And I think a lot of people are like, Tommy, I sit down, I do everything. I follow Marcus's advice. I told the guys what to do. I listened to you, Tommy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
And like, it's just not getting followed. Cause I'm like, what's the system to ensure that you're getting data integrity, that it's being followed. And that's where a lot of people fail. It's like, and then I realized even with videos, I've been doing it so long. I'm a natural. Like I've been asking customers, I'm like, listen, let's just do this real quick.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Some people are like, I need to do my makeup. All these things need to be perfect. But my techs hate being on camera. So I've got to get them comfortable being in front of camera. What's the best time to do that? In training, have them video, video, video. And it's almost like role playing. Get them on video a lot to where they feel comfortable doing it. And then what's in it for them?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Why would I make a video every time? I'm working on an AI tool that says if this hits all this criteria, same thing with reviews. I'm making it dynamic. You'll get $10 for a review, but if you get this, this, this, and this, plus you know how many clients call up and say, I've gone through your reviews. I want Michael out here. He looks like the best.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I say you're building a future for your family. Demand, baby.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I've got a tool we just created. We're beta testing it in-house. birthdays, anniversary dates, and because we've got Power BI, I can see the best day. You can actually ask the AI, this is what's coming, is tell me the guys and gals that had their best day, and it'll just give you the list. And now I just make a quick, simple video, and it talks to my HR software.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
So if somebody doesn't work here anymore, like I know their birthdays and anniversaries, and it asks your kids' names, their birthdays, and your wife or husband's. And so now I get to recognize that. I can send a handwritten card through this. I can do all these things, but it's just, you know how many people have cried? Hey, listen, I just want to tell you how much I care about you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I don't get to see you as much as I used to because I don't come to Milwaukee as much, but I really appreciate everything you do. I love you very much. I know it's your birthday. Happy birthday.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Yeah, well, those things, it was very hard for me to keep track. And then I sent a message to somebody that no longer works here, and I'm like, we've got to forward develop this because he wasn't very happy. He got let go. And he's like, the guy doesn't even know I don't work here anymore? How am I supposed to keep track? There was hundreds of employees. Now there's a lot more.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
So like these little systems and the way we do it, and then it's – there's so many – What's that quote that you have like all over the office?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
It's like three – Oh, yeah, there's three systems. There's three reasons the system doesn't work. There's no system. It's the wrong system. And most importantly, the current system is not being followed.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
It's such a good book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I agree. I agree. Let's just go into a couple more subjects here. I believe AI is a scary thing but a necessary thing, and I embrace it, but I also know rule number one, don't hurt humans.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
They don't know where to start.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I love AI, what it's doing. You know, and here's the deal. You're out here for a reason because you think differently. And I've always just been a student. I get myself in the right rooms. That's what I told these guys earlier. They're like, what's the superpower? I'm like, being the dumbest guy in the room, asking a lot of questions, writing them down, and doing the work.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Like, right now you're thinking, well, Tommy's talking a good game. We'll see if he does it. Look, I do have a bigger ship than most. I need to make sure that the team understands. But, you know, eventually – sometimes I have to call the trump card. But I think you're very, very persuasive to understand the reason why. So I don't even think there's going to be a debate, but –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
We've got to wrap up, so there's a few things. Number one, Marcus, how do people reach out to you if they want to get a hold of you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
No, it's been great, man. And thank you for flying out here. I know it's a big journey out here. We're going to have a blast tomorrow. And I'm just looking forward to getting these things going because when's the best time to plant a tree? Ten years ago. When's the next best time? Today. So that's what we're going to do. Thank you to all the listeners. And by the way, Marcus just said it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Leave a review for his book. And you know what really helps other people listen to this podcast? Either sharing it with them or leaving a review on your favorite place to listen. It means the world to me. It's the best compliment I could ever receive. And as you guys know, we talked about this stuff. take a quick video, leave a video. It means the world.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I mean, literally people ask, what could I do for you? It's just simply let me know if I'm doing okay. And if I'm not, tell me what I could do better. Give an honest feedback. So hope you guys are out there to make an impact in your community and for your people. You guys have a great one. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Can you think of anything that's just like... Well, the number one thing I can tell you is a builder puts on the cheapest door possible. Yes. If you're building like... 1,000 homes. Yep. All the money goes into the kitchen, bathrooms, the change orders. Yeah. They get the money for the garage. They're like, let's just go the cheapest.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
And they have super high domain authority.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building Trust in a Digital Age with Marcus Sheridan
I am feeling a little under the weather, just a little cold, nothing bad. It's day five, so I'm very excited about today's podcast. This is actually our second round. It was a long time ago, probably five years since we did it the first time. I got Marcus Sheridan in the house. He wrote one of the best books of all time on getting clients. He's got a new one coming out, but they ask, you answer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And did you, did you, did you just kind of come to terms with it or did you fight or did you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
and you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Yeah. Well, how did the first company do?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
If you're a bad person, you're going to be a worse person.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Do you ever get the question, and I doubt you get this because you're not a workaholic anymore. You're obsessed when you need to work. You're where your feet are. If you're at home, you're at home. If you're at work, you're at work. But do you ever get the question, I was talking to Gary Vaynerchuk, and I said, you know what my mom asks me? And she said this several times.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And a lot of people say, when's enough enough? When do you stop? And it's not really, they know I relax. I go watch movies. I'll go bowling, you know.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
All right. I do. All right. And I am. But at the end of the day, you know, business, I don't talk about football. I enjoy football. I don't talk about a whole lot but business because I love it. This is like my passion. But do you have like this? I don't think a guy like you and me are just going to be like, okay, we've hit the top. We're good.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Now it's just time to kind of roll off into the sunset and mow the lawn and retire. So what do you tell people when they say, you know, what are you building? Because, like, first you say, I want to get to a million a week. Then you say, you know, I want to get to a million a day, whatever that looks like. Typically, we want a goal. We want a KPI. Yeah. Usually that's a money driver is a good one.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And profit is a good one. Yeah. I mean, it's okay to make a healthy profit. You should. Yeah. So how do you set your goals?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today is gonna be amazing because I have a guy that I wanted to interview for a long time. I'm a big fan of yours. And I always tell people, his name is Dan Martell, and he wrote Back by Back Your Time, and he's done a lot of other cool stuff. But I tell people, Why do you do everything?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Tiger was one of a lot of majors. Did everybody go, well, are you done yet? You've already won a lot.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
That is exactly how I show up. You know, you said something interesting that I really loved. And I don't think people need to really listen to this. How you show up as a buyer is how people show up for you. Yeah. And I'll tell you this. I have two speaking coaches. I have four sales coaches. I have a trainer. I have a chef. I mean, we have... I am the epitome of buying back my time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
If I could pay somebody to go to sleep and go to the bathroom for me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Bree's got a bidet in her bathroom. I love to pay people. I'm like, I don't want, I'm not trying to search for the discount. I'm not trying to say, how could I get, I used to be that guy. How do I make a deal? How do I negotiate? And now I'm like, my buddy owns a bar. I'm paying full price for everything. That's the way to, like, tell them I appreciate what you're doing. Totally.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
But why is it that people, these people, they want to create these classes. They want to build this business. They want to do all these things. But they don't buy. They don't invest in themselves.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
I find it almost impossible to teach people how to like hire a personal assistant, get away from email. You know, what you said, listen, I got this thing called the camcorder trick that I record myself. I'm like, every time I book a flight and I'm training somebody, I just record it and I talk out loud of what I'm doing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And it's amazing that you're here because I bring up your book, but it's almost like a phrase now. Buy Back Your Time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
What does that mean that nobody can make money with?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And I think a lot of people do it, but they don't have the experience. They don't really know that. A lot of people were raised negotiating. Like, not in the United States, not in Canada. But if you go to another country. Professionals. That's what they have to do. And I love those type of people because I love learning about the art of negotiation. But the art of the deal, Donald Trump.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
You know what's interesting is I got my number one tech in the company. And he's pretty high up. Like, number one tech out of almost 400 techs. Mm-hmm. And he was in my office yesterday. And I said, Brandon, how did you double your sales in the last six weeks? You were already number one. How did you double? And I knew the answer. He started selling more doors.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Every time somebody uses it, I get five cents. People are like, how obsessed are you with Dan Martella? I'm like, I've always said Buy Back Your Time. So I'm going to do a little bit of an intro here. Dan Martell is an expert of sales coaching, B2B commerce, SaaS.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And I said, but why didn't you sell doors? We've been talking about this for two years. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And he said, well, I bought a house six months ago and I installed my own doors. And he says, I couldn't believe the difference. I believed. I believed in doors like I couldn't believe the difference, the difference of the noise or the street, the difference of the way it felt in the garage and just the insulation value and just the ease of use to open your garage from the app.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And he was a customer now. And he said everything changed. So believing is half the battle. And I talked to each and every one. I wrote the book Elevate. And the whole mindset is everybody gets to win. The employees get to win, which are my coworkers. The customer wins. My vendors win. My partnerships win. So when I sit down with somebody, I get their one, three, five-year plan.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
I want to get your dreams. I want to understand what your dreams are, what your bucket list is, what your goals are. I want to do that with every vendor. Every partnership I have when we partner with another company, I'm getting that stuff because I need to make sure I'm helping you win. And if we can do that... You want to buy a house in two years? Let's just look at these KPIs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
If you get a higher conversion rate, higher average ticket, and you can sell a little bit more, here's what we can do. And it's not, sales is not a bad word, by the way. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to help you if you want to be helped. There's one thing I know. And there's one thing you should know is you trust me, right? Yeah. You know I'll bleed for you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
You know we got your back. We know the dispatcher CSR has got your back. You got the best parts in the industry, trademarked. You got the best tools. Management cares. One thing I can't do for you, Dan, I can't get you to believe in yourself. I can't get you to look in the mirror. So here's what we're going to do. First, I want you to believe in yourself. We're going to get into shape.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
We're going to get your teeth all perfect so you feel comfortable smiling. Because when you look in the mirror, I need you to walk into that garage like you're the doctor, like you're the baddest ass thing that ever lived. Because you are the doctor for that garage. And if we can get you to believe in you and help you accomplish these dreams. Now, there's never a pip.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
A pip is like, hey, we need to get better at this. You told me you wanted to take your wife on a 10-year renewal of your vows. What if I could get you to Hawaii six months quicker? but they got to want it. If they got the will, I'm going to find a way. But it's a whole different mindset change. And I think very few people that I've met are like, most people say, I took all the chances.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
He told me earlier at Joe Polish's event, as we were having a bit of a private lunch, that he is the number one guy in software in the world. He understands it more than anybody. So kind of a jack of all trades. He understands to buy back your time, spend time with family. One of the things that really stood out to me
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
I took all the risks. I'm the entrepreneur. You work for me. And they hire people dumber than them because they live out of fear. What if I hire Dan and he steals my employees? What if I hire Dan and he comes in and he's just, he's talking over my head and then I look like an idiot. So they hire these people and they hire people just like them. I literally examine my weaknesses.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
I'm not a good organizer. I'm not good at time management. The first thing I do, people are like, well, who do I hire first? I'm like, build an organizational chart and put every job on there. And then you're going to hate payroll or whatever it is. You're going to effing hate it. I want you to circle that and hire for that because that's, if you hate going in, I love Mondays. I really do.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
I love Saturdays more, but I love Mondays. And if it always feels like, oh my gosh, I'm going to work, why not make it a place that you love? So hire for your weaknesses, people that are smarter than you, that are specialists. And then I tell people, hire a personal assistant or executive assistant. You know, it's the first hire in my book. It's the most important thing. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And actually, I wanted to talk to you about this later because everybody's asking me, and I've had all my executives try to hire somebody. And they have this phrase, if I don't do it myself, it won't get done right. And you know what I told everybody before I heard you at Joe's? I want you to Zoom everything you do in your email, everything you do when you book a flight, when you book your hotel.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Every single thing you do, I want you to just record a Zoom and talk out loud.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
The camcorder method is what you talk about. Why is it so hard for people... Because I don't look at my own email. To let go? Why is it so hard? Because they don't trust. I feel like they've been burned. I've had an assistant steal 10 grand from me. I gave her my debit card. I've been burned. I've been burned a lot. But 1% of the time, the 99% has been great.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
as I'm doing this intro, which I normally don't do this, but we just got done listening to you, is look at your calendar. I'm going to go through and look at everything you do, and I'm going to tell you what your priorities are. Is it your family? Is it your work? What is it? Is it going out and partying? Quick bio. He's at a... Kelowna.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Kelowna, Canada. He's the founder of SaaS Academy from 2016 to present. He's the managing partner of High Speed Ventures. Started that in May 2021. He's the founder and CEO of Clarity.fm, acquired by Startups.co. Co-founder and CMO of Flowtown, acquired by DemandForce.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Dan Martell is the founder and CEO of SaaS Academy, a serial entrepreneur, investor, and coach who has helped thousands of entrepreneurs around the world build successful businesses. He's also started and sold over several companies, including Clarity.fm, a platform that connects entrepreneurs with expert mentors, and Flowtown, a social media marketing platform.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
. . . . . ., en P. P. P. P. P. P. P. P. P. P,實 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , a in
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Dan is passionate about helping entrepreneurs achieve their goals. and developed a range of resources to support them, including a podcast, The Growth Stacking Show, and his coaching program, Stats Academy, and his great book, Buy Back Your Time. Very excited. I got a lot of notes. I'm ready to kick some ass.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
You know, I do a Q&A when there's hundreds of people. It's probably the best thing I do once a month.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And I think if I had more Q&As for a month, once a week, all the questions roll in and people that respond.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
You know, one of the things that the only thing I tend to do is I would say my network is my net worth. My Rolodex is super powerful. Yeah. Because I've got tried and true and I've got a bunch of people that have failed that I've worked with that just didn't, they weren't effective. Yeah. So people come into my office and I'm like, they're like, I've got a person for everything.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Like, who do I use for this? I'm like, this is who you got to call. How do I get a good COO? This is the person you got to call. Sometimes you're not ready for this. And I'm like, they didn't work for me. I'm like, they didn't work for me because you weren't ready. Like, you're not ready to hire a COO. You're not ready. How are you going to pay them? Let me ask you this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
What do you consider success? Show me, if Dan were to come in and work today with a COO, show me their job, how they get paid, what their bonus looks like so they can describe it to their wife. What does your day-to-day look like? Have you even thought about that? And what are the actions you're trying to get them to do?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And so many people, I look at that and I'm like, where did you spend your time today? Literally, what productivity do you have, if anything, at all? It's like working out. So many people are doing the stupidest workout. They're not eating right. They're not taking any protein. They're literally drinking three drinks that night. The workouts are useless.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
You ever see a fat chick at the gym that can freaking outrun everybody? She's sprinting on the freaking thing. But she's not doing any of the other stuff right. It's crazy to me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
When did this all hit? I mean, I want you to tell me your story. I want to hear when you, I know you had issues as a teenager and I just want to hear your story. You know, I want to hear the different phases of your life and where you're at today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
What do you guys do? So what I started doing is I started having people come to seminars with me, like my C-suite director level. I started to hand... I put a book on their desk. Yeah. We have book clubs. Like, literally, we start... Like, I got them infatuated with learning because they're like, dude, how did this guy go from here to here? Yeah. Like, it wasn't because I was born with it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
They're like, what's going on?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Yeah. So what do you do to really help your people grow?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Very, very smart. That's exactly, you know, I was thinking about doing that with Ann over here is getting her, I obviously want to have her for a few minutes too, but
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
I mean, really, that's what it is. And, I mean, people are like, how do you do this? Like, they know the intimate, like, they know what time to wake up.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like... Literally, like, I'm hiring... I've tried to hire two assistants for my EAs. They don't work out, but it's not easy. I want to finish up with a couple of things. Real quick, go over the four things that you could do for leverage.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
That's actually the easiest one. They don't create a process at home. Like, literally, I've got a spot for my boxers. Here's how my dry cleaning's done. Like, everything... Dude, I don't pack for my travel.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Yeah. I'm designing that. Yeah. Because, like, I'm actually... Dude, it's literally camcorder matters. Yeah. Yeah, well, I call one of my mentors and I go... I got all this stuff at business that's just on autopilot. I'm getting ready to design the same thing. I mean, shoot, I got a lot of stuff that goes on. Lots. So this is fun. This is like killer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
This is one of the best podcasts I've ever been on because everybody needs to buy back their time. Everybody needs to look at where they're spending their time right now. And stays at the best use of their time. There's no way you're going to go to 100% efficiency. But the fact is, you go on TikTok a lot. You watch reality TV. You goof off.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Let's have some fun. Somebody wants to find out more, buy your book, buy back your time. It's on Audible. That's where I listen to it. What's another, if someone wants to podcast, is there someplace?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
That's awesome. Last thing I finish up with, and this will be the very last thing. We talked a lot about a lot of things. And the audience, they're blue collar. You know, a lot of business owners, a lot of management, a lot of COOs, different things within the home service business. The podcast is growing outside of home service, but it's business related.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
There's probably something we didn't talk about, something important, something we didn't discuss, something that maybe a call to action, maybe something the audience needs to know about. And I like it when I give my guests an opportunity to finish us out with something they think is important.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
You're like 17 talking about being in the penthouse.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Dan, it's a pleasure, my man. Thank you very much.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
It's been great. Thank you. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Man, I didn't know they got those kind of drugs in Canada.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Back then, I mean, when I hit elementary school, we were playing Oregon Trail on the beginning of the first Apple Macintosh. So I would have been about 13.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
I would have been about 13 years old.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
So if I was 13, I was in eighth grade. I mean, we were typing on computers, not typewriters. I mean, it was... Yeah, yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
So there was Windows 95. There still was...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Oh, so you were using a really old, like, MS-DOS?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
So, you weren't even on an operating system.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
So how many kids do you have? Two. Two boys. Two boys. Where do you think something that I don't have any kids. I'm 40. I want to have kids when I grow up. But. Where do you think mom and dad went wrong to make you feel that way? What, what happened? Was it, was it your adolescence? Was it your siblings or was it your friends?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Yeah, we're in the same boat.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Yeah. No, every single entrepreneur has a touch of ADHD.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
No, you know, what do they say? Easy times make lazy men. Yeah. And hard times make strong men.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
No, I love your I love the message of buy back your time. So you were not buying back your time. You went through just working all night. I had one gear. You were obsessed. Yeah. And it's not a bad thing to be obsessed about success. There's a lot of I think you're off balance on purpose. Dan Thurman wrote about a book about that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES, N-O-T-E-S, to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
And I think it's OK to be obsessed, but you got to get your priorities straight. So what happened when you were twenty seven?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Re-Air: Buying Back Your Time with Dan Martell
Yeah, Michael Gerber.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
But when I watched the precision and the process, and he's like, you've got to have an interior designer after you pick the architect but before you pick the builder. And the order of operations, I mean, I'm blown away. And I'm like, man, a lot of me feels stupid for not finding this guy sooner. We're already halfway done with my – my process here in Idaho. And the guy's doing great.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
It's my buddy Mitch. But ultimately, I still did not have a price on the final project, which is an issue. And he promised me $800 a square foot. We think we're going to be at $1,000 now. So there's got to be some type of You told me this, so we're redoing the contract. It's complicated, but that's a good example. It's a hard process, but once you've done thousands of them, it becomes easy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And garage doors, we service 20,000 homes a month because we built these processes. We've got manuals, standard operating procedures, checklists. A checklist on everything with a CRM that captures the proof with a data integrity team to make sure everything was right. Some clients say, I don't think you replaced my mom's springs. I think it's the old springs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
We got pictures of the before and after. We've had that happen a dozen times. We don't think you did the work. We were out at grandma's house. Oh, no, here it is, time stamped and everything. So, like, there's a process for everything, including how do you do PTO? Are you allowed to have tattoos on your face? What happens... if there's an issue with your payroll. So you had all the answers before.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Now someone else has the answers. When you're not there, they could run the playbook.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Yeah. I love that. What other pivotal things did you learn just that third year in business when you were in the hospital for two years or two months, two weeks?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
But once you really master it, it's something a lot of people could get into. And you had a lot of successful people at the event. But you're a busy man. You've got your own CRM. You've got Augusta Lawn Care. You've got Anytime Fitness, and you're the host of your own podcast called the Home Service Millionaire Podcast. Very similar to mine. Yeah. But mine's a home service expert.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Well, there's a lot of people that think it's how Jim Collins built to last where – Certain CEOs, founders, owners, whatever you want to call them, they want the business to crumble without them there. They want to show that they're the most important person. I think most business owners want people to be like, without me, you guys can't function. And I think that's a weakness.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Why do you think a lot of people are like that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
How do you maintain that the systems are being followed?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Technology was the next thing, yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Well, it's fragmented, and the fact is during COVID we were deemed essential when hotels, nail salons, movie theaters, everything was closing down. And they looked at us. And they said, maybe these guys have a business. And Service Titan just went public last week. I mean, literally looking at this, we're looking at like, wait a minute. They show up. They have key performance indicators.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
They have outcomes and key results. They have training. And if you look at my Service Titan. It goes like this every year. It's never gone down. It's never had a bad year, never had a bad month. I mean, 31 days is better than 28, I figured out. And I look at working days versus weekends, even though we work seven days a week. Yeah, you're right. Technology is going to be a changer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I was talking to my C-suite today, and I go, I'm kind of worried about AI. Not in a bad, dark way. But I'm like, I think it's going to be like whoever wins. And there's a strong, strong possibility A1 will continue to be the largest because people come to me because of what we've done online and our Facebook groups and the way we've spoken at events. They come to me when they've got something.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And I'm the first one to research and implement. And I do think there's not going to be a whole lot of winners. There's going to be a couple winners and a whole hell of a lot of losers. And you better join the winners quickly. That way you can participate.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Or just the way war is fought. Bow and arrow and then cannons.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Well, yeah, that's what's so nice is like when you win at the capital game and you've got access, it's so easy. Like right now our database is probably one of the largest in home service. Not to mention like I'm already looking at electric vehicles. There's so many opportunities, but I'm jumping on all of them right away with A.I.,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Man, there's so much, the call centers and now the way we dispatch and like the marketing, like the Power BI thing we built, it cost millions of dollars, but we've got more data to make decisions. Now we're applying the same things towards recruiting. And it's like we're playing a different game. More people are like worrying like how they're going to buy their parts better.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I'm like, how are we going to do regression testing of all the data? Right. That's why I'm like, listen, I don't really worry about private equity because private equity sucks at blue-collar industries because they don't know how to treat people. And I think they need us more than we need them because there's a lot of PE out there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
There's a lot of money, but there's not a whole lot of people that know how to treat people that didn't have a mom. Some of my coworkers, some of them didn't have the greatest upbringing. And I don't think white-collar people are going to get into home service anytime soon to go do the work.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And that's why, you know, a lot of my guys make six figures. And I think that's okay because no one else wants the jobs. Before they were a dime a dozen. Now very few people are getting into the industry. So now you've got to pay them more because there's not a lot of them out there. I mean, don't get me wrong. I was a landscaper. I know it's hard to pay some landscapers six figures.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
But why put a cap on what they can make if they can outproduce anybody? You know, the pay-per-performance side of it is don't limit it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Hey, I hope you're enjoying today's podcast. Quick update. Last week, we put out a surprise bonus for Freedom 2025, the $10 million exit case study. Some of you grabbed it, and now you have the full breakdown of how a home service business can be sold for millions and millions of dollars in cash. Just think about how that can change your family's future.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
If you miss the bonus, it's gone forever, unfortunately, but you can still get our $5,000 bonus bundle when you lock in your Freedom 2025 tickets now. Here's what's inside. Freedom 2023 sessions, proven strategies from guys like Dan Antonelli from Kick Charge, who will show you how to charge more and keep your customers happy so you're not stuck competing on price.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
My marketing playbook, the exact strategies that I use to scale my $240 million company and keep my phones ringing off the hook. My e-book plus audio book of Elevate. My book on becoming the greatest leader, hiring A players, and building a business that runs without you. And here's the big one, surprise, time-sensitive bonuses that we'll be rolling out leading up to the event.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
When you sign up now, you lock in every single bonus we release from here on out. By the time you show up to Freedom 2025, you'll already have the tools to keep your phones ringing and dominate your market. Go to freedomevent.com and grab your tickets now. That's freedomevent.com. Now let's get back to today's episode. What did you find out when you started paid for performance?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
What were your takeaways?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
To get started and be as passionate as you were, when did you get into the business? So I was 11 years old when I first started pushing the lawnmower around. 11 when you started pushing it, and then you started Augusta in 2014. Is that right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Well, there's another problem, I will say this, with data. Like when you're doing pay for performance, if you screw up the data at all, then they don't trust you, and they're gonna quit because they're gonna think you're disingenuous. I think people have a hard time tracking.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I think it has a lot to do with incompetence. Like I don't think people have the brain. They don't even know how to use an Excel sheet. I mean no offense. They just weren't schooled to do this stuff. Like literally like if I look at a pivot table, I'm not the guy to go create this complex pivot table. I'm not going to go redevelop and code something.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
i would but look at the end of the day i can't say that about everybody i mean i'm the biggest fan of paper performance but i made a lot of mistakes here's the deal yeah I've made really, really big mistakes. So here's what I've learned. When you do pay for performance, start out with one guy, the most important person that will get the rest of the people to follow.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And say, this is not permanent. We're going to test this stuff. I went over the last three months of your work, and I got an idea we're going to try out, and I'm going to pay whichever wants more each week.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And then once he's making more money, but you know you're making more money, and you knew this, it's got tried and true. We tried it for 90 days. Everything's working out great. You have him deliver it to the team. And they're going to figure out a way to break it, and that's okay. I used to call two guys in my company every time I wanted to break the way we pay.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And they'd figure out a way to break it. Like, I'd pay them to figure out how to break it. And now I watch pay-per-performance, and they're like, well, what if a guy makes more than you? I'm like, there's a lot of people that make more than my salary. Like, they make more than me. And in sales, you're allowed to. But I get the enterprise value of the company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And by the way, I don't care what – I've never logged into payroll to see how much I make. In fact, I've never looked at my W-2 or 9 or whatever. I don't know how to look at how much I make. I just trust that it's coming through payroll. I don't make any draws anymore either. I literally am building the enterprise value of this company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
That's what I think a lot of business owners screw up is they live off the business. They take these draws. They join these clubs. They got the cars. They got their wife and their kids on payroll. And then they go to sell and they're like, why isn't my business worth anything? Well, you should have built the sell, like John Rorlo says. So what would you say about that? Instead of...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Okay. And so you've been in the franchise industry about five or six years?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
divesting out of the business and picking up that nice house and having the nice vacation house and having two Mercedes and having a Harley and going to Sturges and everything else. What if you just said, I'm going to build this business as fast as possible for five years, sell 70% of it, roll the 30, work there for another three or four years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I'm going to walk away with millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars. And then I learned so much during the process I could go start buying with these businesses because now I've got money to work with. Everybody that I know says, oh, no, I'm going to do this for at least 10 more years. I'm like, okay, so you're going to miss your kids growing up. Cool.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
There's a lot of people that want to do franchises. Everybody and their brother's like, I think I should franchise. I'm like, why? Yeah. Like you better be the best of the best in like five markets, take market share. What would you tell somebody knowing what you know now?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
No, and the deal is with them is they feel bad about it. But if you were to add up, this is a simple thing that someone taught me, the guy from Australia. He called it the break-even analysis, and he sent me this stuff. This was 2017, and it had pagers and yellow pages. This is from the 90s. And he said, add up every bill you have.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And when you add it all up, back then, he used to have to charge $400 an hour. For what service? This is for HVAC, plumbing, electrical. Got it. Okay. Because literally, you got to think, for us to show up to a job. Sales. Just to ring the doorbell. Yeah. Tom Howard did a great job of this. I've done a pretty good job of this. It cost about $270 to ring the doorbell. Yep.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Because you've got overhead. Yeah. You've got air conditioning. You've got service titan. You've got your trucks. You've got your fuel. You've got – we run about 15 softwares here. Insurance. We run intact. We've got insurance. We've got workers' comp. We've got recruiters. We've got trainers. We've got dispatchers. We've got warehouse guys. We've got – like the overhead, there's a lot of money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Yeah. And people think – here's something that's funny. If you said an HVAC unit costs $2,500 and you guys sell it for five and you said I make $2,500 profit –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
If you're working out of your house, your wife's working for free, and that you didn't have a truck, like someone gave you the truck and you had a free gas card, and you had no insurance, you didn't have to pay any EIN update, any licenses, it still wouldn't be that. I don't think people understand $45 an hour if you're paying $20. Yeah, that's what it was. You're really burning.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
If you look at your complete, there's costs that you don't even realize.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
How much do your blades cost to sharpen? How much do your equipment breaks down, your gas, your oil, your truck use?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I worked at a couple of my buddies. I helped them start a Christmas late business. After the first year, I said, guys, I'm looking at this. We've got to double prices. They're like, you're kidding. I go, no, they're like, we can't do that. Did I tell you this story? No. We doubled the prices. Guess how many people canceled? Less than 10%. It was 40%. Oh, really? Hey, you doubled prices.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
120% collected. So if you were collecting a million dollars, now you're collecting 1.2 million. Yeah. And you were only doing a little more than half the work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I said, guys, this is amazing. Yeah. I say, you got rid of the worst 40%. Yeah, yeah. And most of the people I tell to raise their price, I don't tell them to double it. I say, just add 20%. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Doubling is pretty sharp. If you're paying $1,500 for lights, now you're paying $3,000. Right. Clients are like, dude, but 60% said you guys did a great job. It's Christmas. Yeah, we'll do that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I thought you guys were giving a smoking deal anyway.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And that's the deal. So what do you do with somebody? How do you fix their... You said they've been doing this 40 years. Yeah. They're charging $40, $45 an hour. They're... How do you... That's a mindset. They're broken.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And... I had a buddy I told this to. He's like, I've already tripled my prices. I like to keep going because guess what? You're booked out three months. Yeah, exactly. There's no limit. Yeah. Like, and guess what he got to? 49% net.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
But his service was that good.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Well, the deal is I tell people if you're into growth, don't ever fall below 10% profit. Don't ever fall. If you fall below 10% – and by the way, I've been at 10%. I've been at 20%. I've been at 30%. I think there's a happy medium when you're trying to take market share. It's kind of like I tell the best story is when you're trying to gain muscle, it's very hard to get cut.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Arnold will tell you, listen, during the off season, I used to gain a lot of weight. And right before three months out, I'd cut. And I think cutting means becoming extremely profitable. So planning on selling means I'm cutting 18 months in advance, going into that 12-month spurt because that's what I get valued on is a multiple of EBITDA.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Yeah, you've got to grow EBITDA and you've got to grow growth.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I love that. Software is how sticky is it? What's their change cost? Service site is really hard to change. Yeah. I mean, we've been using that since the last seven, eight years. It's going to be very hard to change.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
But I told them straight up, because I talked to their investment committee, I said, if you guys doubled my prices, I'd seriously start looking at another opportunity, because what's stopping you from doing it again? Right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I mean, look, they got 12,000 companies on them. Yeah. I'm going to see what the market does. I did pretty well with the stock already, but— Now that I think about it, it's going to continue to go up. It's going to have a little bubble. It's going to fall. I don't know. Don't ask me about stock. Well, listen, let's go through a couple more here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
What has been the largest challenge you've faced as being a young entrepreneur in business?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I think you should break away. I told – so I just did my orientation the last three and a half hours. I told the whole group. I said, you know what people tell me is that they feel like I'm in a time machine because I'm able to pivot to different circles and I stay humble. I never look at an entrepreneur that's ahead of me and say, I'm going to beat you. Just wait. Just wait until I get started.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I'm like, look, teach me. Yes, I've had some successes in my life. I'm very fortunate. I've got great parents. I love my family. I just respect you so much. I want to learn more. I've read all your books. I'll buy you lunch. I'll buy you dinner. I'll always pay it forward. Any stage I talk on, I'm going to tell them what you taught me. And I take notes, meticulous notes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I have a lot of consultants. Yeah. And I ask them questions. I never speak up. I never tell them what to do. I hired them to teach me something.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
So I do go into student mode all the time. I mean, when I'm around my parents, I still like to listen to them and learn from them. But do you got any few books that you'd recommend that people are starting to try to kill at a business other than the E-Myth and some of these books on the wall?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text notes, N-O-T-E-S to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
I like that book a lot.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
That's great. Made in America. And listen, if someone wants to get a hold of you, Mike, what's the best way to reach out to you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
YouTube's your favorite way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And if somebody wants to call you and get, like, coached or just reach out to you or ask a question.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Okay. Yeah, you're a busy man. And finally, we talked about a lot of things, Mike. Is there something we missed? I just want you to take the time to close us out with whatever we might have missed or not talked about.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And by the way, you'll see somebody else in hopefully another year. And you keep it up, man. You're doing great. Congratulations on everything. Thank you very much. Appreciate you, brother. Yes, sir. Absolutely. All right. Thanks for listening, guys. Leave a review and like this channel. Hey there. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets to help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
100%. You're no longer in the landscaping business. You're in the turnkey business. And by the way, what I've noticed, and I've spoken to probably 20 different keynotes for franchises, and when I talk to the franchisor, they're like, those four companies, they're our bread and butter. The other 60 or whatever it is, they're barely getting by. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Because they're not bought in, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But here's the thing. It would be very hard to get into my franchise. I would not sell you a franchise. You know what McDonald's does? They make sure you're a millionaire.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
You've got to go to their McDonald's school for a long time. Like, you can't just say, hey, I'm worth a billion. I want to buy a bunch of stores. They're like, no. You've got to learn everything from A to Z. What would you say about how – How many franchises do you have?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
How many of those would you consider just murdering it? Like just out of the park? They're emulating what you build.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
But marketing requires that. Are they outbounding? What do you do as far as marketing to get them to sell? Because you can't have a sale without marketing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
See, you know what is hard for me is you just said, we're going to handle the payroll. We're going to do the call center. Now we're going to handle the marketing. It's like, we're going to do the purchasing. You're going to buy my stuff. You're going to buy my best soil, my best fertilizer. You're going to buy it from our vendors. At what point are you like, man, if I did this on my own,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Number one, you got all these CC&Rs, like there's covenants and restrictions, and you got all these things where there's like someone does something wrong, runs over a dog or a cat, and like you're in the news. Your whole franchise gets screwed. Your franchise org gets busted. Is that really like going back?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And I know what you mean by changing the client's perspective of what to expect from a really good landscaper. But I think what you're going to realize is, wait a minute. Now I'm doing their hiring. Yep. Now I'm training them on a corporate level from the franchisor. We're flying them out to the franchisor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And I think every year that goes by, you're going to be saying, well, now we're doing all the purchasing of the vehicles. And now we're actually offering financing through the SBA and handling that for them. And now we're actually doing... After all this is said and done, it's still going to be the 80-20 rule, by the way. It's the way it is. Is it worth it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And I'm not saying if it is or not, and I don't think you know that yet because I think it's going to take you a decade, and I think you're going to be successful no matter what you do. But I think you're always going to wonder in hindsight, man, was the juice worth the squeeze? But either way, you're going to do very, very well.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And yet, what percentage do you take of their revenue?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
So it's not a percentage of revenue?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
So the way I picture franchising – and by the way, this podcast is not all about franchising. I think it's a good starter point. So I think about franchising and I go, okay, if I charge just 6% of revenue, that's fair. It's less than most.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And then what I would charge them is a bunch of shared services. Like, you're going to pay me for my call center, but it's better than yours. You can have your own, but ours is better. Right. You're going to pay me for the CRM. You're going to pay me for this. You're going to pay me for the vendors. You're going to pay me for this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And, you know, what I'd probably do, too, is you're going to use my real estate. I'm going to buy the real estate. You're going to put it like McDonald's does. Yeah. But that's next level. That's expensive to do. Yeah. But, yeah, I thought a lot about this because people are like, would you do a franchise? I'm like, yes, I would, but I was too far down owning A1 to want to do that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
But if I did a franchise, I would go, I need to own payroll. I need to own recruiting. I need to own merchant service. Every aspect. I just tap into the money because I can scale. The people that do franchising well, like I happen to know very well the new CEO of Neighborly. His name is Mike Davis. And we were on the phone the other day, and he was asking me about a few tools we use.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
He used to be the CEO of LPAC. That's how I knew him. He had me always come speak at his events.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Yeah. He just onboarded like two or three months ago.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Dude is sharp as a tack, and he's like – You realize, Tommy, out of all my franchises, we only control less than 1%. He goes, if we get to 2%, we're worth $24 billion. And he was explaining to me all these things, and I'm like, yeah. You know that the home service is well over a trillion-dollar industry. Just HVAC, plumbing, electrical is $200 billion. That's crazy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
When you include home improvement and home service, it's nutty. And it's the golden years for us. So we talked a little bit about franchising. Landscaping is a tough industry. What do you think was the key? And landscaping is really open. If you're talking about just cutting lawns versus, I know guys that charge $90,000 for landscaping. They deck it out. They're arborists.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
All right, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. I got a special one for you guys today. Mike Andes is here. I've known Mike for a long time now. Spoke at your event, I don't know, six years ago now?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
They set up the trees and they do the bushes and the rocks. And sometimes they even interact with the pool and whatnot. It's the curb and pillow of the home. But what was that stepping point that you were like, this is more than just a career. This is actually going to be a massive, massive company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
Has it been that long? I think it's been three or four. Three or four. Time flies. The funny thing is, is Mike's a badass when it comes to landscaping. And I had a landscaping company in Michigan and Arizona. And I love landscaping because... There's a lot of money to be made in landscaping. It's kind of hard if you're just mowing lawns with a 22-inch Honda.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
100%. That's when I met Al Levy, the seven-part contractor. You know, I'm building a house right now. I'm building two houses, one in Idaho, which is Sandpoint on Ponderay Lake, and then one just on the north side of Paradise Valley Mountain. I'm sorry, Camelback Mountain. And my brother-in-law came into town, and he goes, listen, I think we need help. He goes, there's this company I heard about.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
They're called Advocates. The company's called Advocate. And they're lawyers, but they also – I met this guy several months ago, and he's like, there's a process in how you build a house. He goes, you're going to have every single price in advance. There's going to be a contractual agreement. We're going to get five bids for every sub.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
He goes, I'm going to save you millions and millions and millions of dollars. There's going to be – A lot of money they have to pay if they don't start on time. We're not going to get held up. We're going to use people with an ROC that have been around 20 years with a proven track record to make your house more valuable because they're sought after. And I'm watching this process come together.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Mike Andes
And I should have known this, but I thought building a house, man, you know, you just one brick at a time. You start, you get the next. And I'm not a subcontractor by any means or a contractor that subs out. I wasn't going to be the guy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
You know, I was listening to my buddy Lance Bachman the other day and he said, believe it or not, we make a lot of money on Angie's List and HomeAdvisor and Yelp and all these other lead aggregators.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And that's one thing about home improvement too, is if you answer the phone right away and you get back to customers when the forms come in and you can be out there the same day, you're going to make more money. I mean, but so many people go, oh, those leads are so bad. The reason they're bad, just like they say, ValPak's not good. And oh, I never made money on TV.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
You know, I work with a guy named Joe Polish and he says there's the perfect sales letter could fix anything. But the facts are, you gotta be quick. You gotta have speed to lead. You gotta be able to show up right away. You gotta be able to give, you know, not charge 200 bucks to show up and ring the doorbell. And I think this is where a lot of people lose.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I think it's so easy to say, I just need a call from Google when their door is broken. No, I want tune-ups. I don't care if you're going against three other companies on Angie's list. I think we're the best. And I think this is where a lot of people lose.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
If your company desires leads to come in between nine and five Monday through Friday, and they need to be perfect broken leads, you're never going to be able to beat a company like us. Period. Absolutely.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today, I got a buddy of mine that I actually met at the Home Service Freedom event. His name is Boris V, V-A-L-K-O-V. Vakov. Vakov, based out of San Francisco, co-founder and CEO of Lace.ai. He's been doing that since January of 2022. Engineering Leadership AI at Facebook. He did that for a couple of years. Senior Manager R&D at VMware.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Yeah, prescription, yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Hey, I hope you're loving today's episode. Quick question. What's your biggest challenge in business right now? Is it lead gen? Is it hiring A players? Is it breaking through your revenue plateau? Whatever it is, I'll promise you this. You're not the only one facing that challenge.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And that's exactly why I'm giving the Freedom 2025 Early Bird ticket holders an exclusive bonus bundle worth over 5Gs. so that you can start solving these problems right now. Plus, the earlier you lock it in, the more surprise bonuses you'll get over the next few weeks. If you're serious about owning your market in 2025, you need to act now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Go to freedomevent.com and sign up and grab these bonuses now. That's freedomevent.com. Now back to today's episode. You know, I remember when I first got on a service site in 2017, it wasn't, you know, you look at the cost of job or people still call me all the time. They're like, Housecall Pro is a better price. And look, I don't have anything bad to say about other CRMs. I just don't.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
They're different businesses, different things. But when you look at what The software does now. But what I don't like is when people like to say, you know, serve whatever software you choose. I don't care if you're on intact or QuickBooks, what your payroll software is, whoever you're using for financing, it's not going to do the work for you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
But the fact is, there's a lot of lazy companies out there that just expect, hey, I got the software. Now, what am I going to do? Like Al Levy, his book right there. That was one of my first mentors that made the biggest difference. They buy the manuals from LEV. And they say, I bought the manuals. But they didn't coach on them. They didn't do anything. They just said, well, I spent the money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Well, that doesn't do anything. So, you know, as you're talking to me, I'm writing all these things down about what can I do to make sure we're rehashing these better. You know what I like is I'll call you up and I'll say, This is something I really want to understand.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And you're able to compute these things in hours versus months, which other companies like you hear about all these promises from all these companies. What do you think is keeping you guys? Why do you think you're going to win? Because there's a lot of people talking about AI and call centers in the world. I mean, why are you guys set up to win bigger?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Let's go on and on here. Boris is a highly accomplished technology leader with over 20 years of expertise and experience in software engineering management and leadership. He's an expert in artificial intelligence and machine learning with a proven track record of developing and deploying large-scale AI solutions.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And I do believe, like, I've always had this, I learned this about a decade ago, is he who could pay more per lead will always win. Because no matter what, even if you rank better in the algorithm, paying per lead, paying Google, paying Facebook, paying, if you could pay more than the next guy, you could get more leads. So when you could do more with the leads, you could pay more. Yes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
So this is what gives us the edge is like, we're understanding capacity planning. Like if we're, we're not paying for pay per click. when we're already booked out in the market. We're adjusting that in real time. Yes. You know how many people I see, they're spending a fortune on leads and they're already booked out? Just to say we can't come out there today or tomorrow?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And then they say, oh, but Boris, you know, this is the first question is like, how much am I going to spend on this software? And really what I would do is do an analysis and I would have them call you up and say, how much am I losing compared to some of my competition? And maybe it's garage doors, maybe it's HVAC, maybe it's plumbing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
But, you know, I don't know, relatively, I guess the pricing question always comes out, but I think, but I don't know. What does that look like if someone wants to know? How do you even do that? Do you just do a consultation?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Boris' diverse experience and expertise position him as a leader in the tech industry, particularly in leveraging AI to solve real-world business challenges. His commitment to open source and rapid innovation underscores his approach to creating impactful technology solutions. So, Boris, I had met you... I don't know, about four or five months ago.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Yeah. You know, there's, there's a few people that I confide in that we talk about everything. I mean, look, I'm not the first one to just, when I found out about you, I wanted to work with you for a while before I wanted to do a podcast. But once I saw what you guys did, the turnaround time, you did a couple of things for us that were really big.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I called a couple of these guys up and I was like, you got to talk to Boris because, you know, they've been very kind to me and we work together. So this is tried and true. I can tell you guys, if you walk in, if you, if you've done a shop tour, Tommy mellow.com forward slash shop, you'll see, I've got service tight and open. I usually got the S and B 500 open.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And, you know, for the first time ever in the last few months, I've had Lace.ai open. I like to keep an eye on it. I like to see the reasons. I like to see how many calls we took versus opportunities. I like to know that these are the facts. One of the things that I love R&V and service type, but that piece was never clear because the CSRs are making the decisions.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
They're just building their own calls.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Well, that's what I want. You know, you talked about innovations. I want to see what's next. You talked about rehash. You talked about clearing out the call center to where only opportunities are coming in. You know, the quality of leads matter as well.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Like if we're attracting affluent clients, you know, if you are not branded correctly in a market and you're just doing lead aggregators, it's always going to be about price until you get a message out there that says we're... A lot of people say we're the best, but what does that mean? We 24-7, you know, we've got a great brand at your neighbor's house. We're going to treat you like family.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
You know, we're going to treat you like mom. And that's what I've noticed in all of our newer markets that aren't quite as sophisticated or large without as many trucks. It's always about price. And Lace.ai has showed that. The smaller markets are about price. As you start to get big and you spend the TV, radio billboards and your trucks are around everywhere. There's this trust factor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And we see it. It's very vivid. And there's so much opportunity here. I do mean this. If anybody's ever listened to my podcast now, it's eight years. I've always talked about call center. It's one of the most important things. Of course, your cost per lead, which makes the phone ring or makes the form fill come in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And then you got to book that, convert it after you knock on the door, then your opportunity job average. Those four KPIs. And can people get better at sales? Yes. They want to find the most money, the fastest it's in the contact center.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And, you know, I've got a couple guys on my team that just, everybody brings us technology. I mean, there's some months we look at 12 different technology pieces. And Lace AI, I was excited about. And I don't dive in until my team does. And everybody on my team was super pumped about it. And I'll tell you what... I've got a list here of some of the things that we've done. We've increased.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
What innovations do you see coming down the line here? I mean, look, we heard about this Chinese deep seek. And, you know, I know that NVIDIA is really the king of when it comes to chips. They say we're in the first phase of AI and there's six phases on the horizon, I think, something along the lines of that. And it's going to start being perpetually faster. Where do you see as far as LACE?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I'm just curious for selfish reasons of what I need to be thinking about coming out here soon.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I'm curious, is there like a prompting service that if I say what are the top three, you know, I'm not into it on a daily basis like my team, but like certain people, you know, if you were able to clean up these two things, you might take them from 70% to 90%. Is there like, yeah, I know with Chet GBT4, it's all about your ability to give prompts.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
This is just the tip of the iceberg. We've increased our booking rate by 2%, which is about $5.5 million of additional revenue per year. We've identified cancellation reasons to uncover the lost revenue, which we believe is another 5%, which should be another $13 to $15 million. And
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Let me ask you kind of a tough question. I look at all the software we've deployed and we've got cameras in the vehicles. We've got Monday for project management. There's just software after software after software. I think the winners are going to be who chooses the right software the quickest. Obviously, speed of implementation, innovation.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I think it's like, if I had to look at this, I mean, I've been doing this two decades. I got a lot of people on my team, over 800 smart people. And my leadership is smarter than me. What does someone do that looks at all this stuff and says, what does the future look like? I mean, it just seems like, man, if I had to start over again and I only had a few people
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I mean, of course, there's the David and Goliath that I could be more agile and whatnot. But how do I win if I'm smaller against the company that has we got all this data? We've got Power BI. We've got all these different factors that we're computing data and looking at marketing. And we've got CallRail looking at this and using things. You know, we're not using static numbers anymore.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
We're actually able to look all the way down to the keyword.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Pretend like you're the biggest company you could be. I agree because a lot of people, they literally get, they say, we're not big enough for that yet. And I'm like, but how can you afford not to use this? Like it hurts you more than it hurts us. Like I can make different CRMs work if we had to.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Like I talked to Anmo at ServiceTite and he told me what payroll software to get that's going to have the best technology long-term, which is incorporated. Like there's just certain things that you just know, like eventually you're going to grow out of QuickBooks. I mean, it's just inevitable.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
We're one of the biggest things that your software does is make sure that the conversations dialed in for the CSRs and their scorecard, because, you know, with service 10, you got to grade your own call with your software. You kind of solve that problem for us. And we find a lot of people, they're not intentionally lying. Some of them are.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I'm hungry. I'm still super hungry. I look at it and I'm like, I look at our numbers. It was a really, really, really amazing January. And my team's like, are you happy? And I'm like, it was a great month. What are we going to do in February? And how do we get more momentum? And how do we get more momentum? And there's this interdepartment conflict.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Operations is mad at finance and finance is mad at marketing. And I'm like, this is a good thing. I like it because not finger pointing. We're still one team. But there's a lot of accountability that's coming out of this is like, no, what about you? And you needed to make sure we do this and we need to get this. And I'm loving every bit of it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
It's not like we're calling each other's names and we still know we love each other, but I'm enjoying it because we're setting records And the team is winning. And we're going to Mexico. There's people, 49 people that got equity last year, technicians and installers. I get to watch the team winning big. And this is what's killing it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And I'm happy with, you know, the core tech is part of our team, the private equity guys, and they couldn't have gone better. But listen, I'm a big fan. I don't do this lightly. Like I was like, when I met you, I'm like, there's a lot of people that want my attention. We're a big company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
We probably take, I mean, you work with bigger companies revenue, but as far as phone calls, we take a lot because we've got a much smaller ticket average. Oh, wow.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
If we learned how to sell other stuff, we'd make a lot of money. But I'm very proud of where we're at. I'm really proud of our partnership. And you guys have done a lot for us. And I'm glad that you were able to come out here and be on here today. I'm looking forward. I will say this about Boris. He answers his phone calls. His team follows up.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
When you give them a task, they want to exceed your expectations. As far as our ROI, it's been absolutely phenomenal. And all I'd ask is that you guys jump on a call. What's the best way to reach out and get an appointment with Lace?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
This is here to stay, guys. I can tell you this. AI is real. This is happening. I think a lot of people are really looking for this magic pill of just the calls are going to book themselves. It just doesn't exist. It doesn't. So I think this is the thing that you got to coach. You got to give a lot of tender, loving care to your CSRs and know what prescription they need today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I guarantee there's some companies out there where their CSRs are lying and they're saying it's a parts call where it's not. But your software makes it easy for us. We understand so much more about the call center. Dustin's obsessed with it. Manny's obsessed with it. There's a lot of money we're unlocking. And we were good. We were good before we found you. Now we're getting excellent.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And once you work with them and you work with them and you work with them, you're going to be deadly because you can pay more per lead. And I just know what's happening to our company. I'm really, really excited. I'm going to have you close us out, Boris. Anything you want to leave the listeners with?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Thank you. Appreciate it. Let's go.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Hey there. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
So let's talk about it, man. But just tell me a little bit about why you got into call centers and where the future is going to be in call centers.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
to kind of shortcut this whole process of getting sophisticated is technology because technology very often shocks the world and comes with something so much better so much more advanced welcome to the home service expert where each week tommy chats with world-class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields like marketing sales hiring and leadership to find out what's really behind their success in business now your host the home service millionaire tommy mello
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Yeah. And you know, you also work with home improvement. So yes, home improvement is going to be a big face too. And by the way, that's my thing this year is studying home improvement because garage doors, I think fall into both. Yeah. I'm still impressed by home improvement companies because they could go to a home show and generate millions of dollars.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
They could do outbound calls and they go knock on doors. You know, we just sit there and say, Hello? Oh, your garage door is broken. We can come out there. It's a lot easier. But that's why we get a bigger multiple for home service is because I'm not going to replace my windows if we're going through the Great Depression. So your garage door is broke. You're going to replace it to get out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
You guys are doing it. I mean, look, I can't go into the businesses that you mentioned, but the who's who are getting into this because I look at the call center service type, put out a study that Tom Howard told me about. And they said it was, this is crazy to me that the average home service company books, 45% of the calls.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I cannot believe that because we're hovering right there at the 90 plus. There is so much money. You know, I always tell the story. My mom used to answer phones for us and she was just so friendly and smiling. And it was almost like she was like their mom or, you know, their girlfriend or their wife or like, oh, my gosh, honey. And the crazy thing was, is the clients got so excited to meet me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
They're like, who is that lady? Like, this is the most best experience. It's not just about booking the call. It's about letting them know that you care. And so the people might be listening and say, I've got a great call center. When you get the right call center with the right empathy and the AI is learning correctly and you could train them correctly.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
See what I like about your software, Boris, is you're not like taking the phone call. What's like, Hello. You know, they got the weird ass voice. And then they try to like know everything about your business. And then they like pause for eight seconds because there's a lot. Don't get me wrong. I think it's going to be there eventually, but it's not a substitute. I have a choice. I'm not calling.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Look, if I got to call the bank, if I got to call Verizon, if I got to call the alarm company, it's different than calling a home service company that I need to come out to my house right now. Me and you have talked about this extensively. I believe your software is going to make some moves that will help build that. But right now, it's too important to lose 1% of the calls.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
It'll make or break me from my competition. And people are like, oh, well, while Tommy's doing that, we're going to have this AI doing it 24-7. And a lot of people say, I'm just going to do it nights and weekends. You know how much money we make nights and weekends? Well, you're turning on the automation stuff. We actually have a real person. You tell me. I don't know where the future is going.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I think, you know, the one thing that I've learned about a tool like this is you still need great managers. You know, we still have Brigham and Barry over at Power Selling Pros. I don't think you still want good coaches. You need to still talk to your people. I think a lot of people are like, if I got service time, I'd make a lot more money. No, you got to set it up right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
You got to look at your KPIs. You still got to coach on sales. Like service time is not going to go out there, knock on the door and make the sale for you. It's easier to present options with service time. So there are some cool things that technology will do, but you can't expect to just, hey, I'm going to call ASAP once I get Boris on the phone and this goes live.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
But you will see holes in your company that are massive. And it shows you where the objections are coming and where the cancellations are coming. And you get to know what to train on.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
So the hard part for me is that I know that a lot of my calls are getting wasted. I've got 70 CSRs now, and I'm getting inundated with calls that are like, where's my door? What's happening with this? Where is this? What's this? And if I know those reasons, I could use technology so that when I'm with you, I could have service tightened.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
You know, there's certain things on the invoice that I could put, hey, Mr. Jones, make sure you call this phone number so you're not hitting our main call center. And then I could start to do a round robin where my top people are getting the majority of the calls. And then I could use these other CSRs that are still great at customer service, but not as great at booking, which means more money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
And I don't think people understand. Like, I remember taking the calls a decade ago. If I'm in the movie theater, if I'm at lunch, I don't care if I'm on a ladder. I need to book that phone call. It's everything. If I was to invest in any company, the number one thing, and I mean this, is I'd have to get laced.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Staying Competitive by Adopting AI to Optimize Efficiency
I mean, look, the reason why is the contact center is the majority of where the money's made. And everybody says I'm at 90%, I'm at 89%. But you just gave me so many reasons why. Number one is the dispositions, right? Number two, cancellations. And number three, all these calls that aren't opportunities, what can we do to create opportunities with them?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Well, you know, I – He said, look, I tried to make it, but I broke.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And he started laughing. And tell him the line you said.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Usually it's 1.30. I try to stop after 1, but it usually lasts until 1.30. That's so good.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
That's great. You know, you were saying about gyms. I know this company called TSG, and they invested in Planet Fitness. And the model there is like, let's give it away for nothing, but no one's going to come.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I mean, what is it, $15?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Nobody. That's the cool thing. What do you think my service agreement costs a month?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
It's not a gym if you're really serious about working out. I hate to say this because it's not like a bad gym. I know they've got nice equipment, but it's not something that I'd want to be involved in because there's not enough free weights. It's not made for a bodybuilder. But that's okay, and it's affordable, and it's a decent gym.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
What's cool is we worked out a special deal with them through our HR department. We even get a better price for our employees. Healthy employees that are working out, they think better, they produce more, they're happier in general. Let me ask you a question. I was thinking about this because my mom asked me this question years ago, and she said, when's enough enough for you? What?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
is the more I learn about it, a lot of people start a franchise, but the same amount of franchises exist every year. So that means people are failing just as quick as people are coming in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
What's the goal here? And I said, Mom, don't you understand? She says, understand what? I said, Mike, Tiger Woods won four majors in a row. Did his mom tell him to stop golfing? I go, I'm Tiger Woods, but I'm in business. I'm not Tiger Woods. That's kind of cocky. I said, Mom, this is what I love to do.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah, we had that written down, Goggins.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
You do it. By the time you get a thought, I try to delegate almost everything unless I can do it quicker than I can delegate it. You know what I mean? Does that make sense? Like if I will call my assistant to do an email – And I could have done the email in the same way. And by the way, I don't do email anymore. I'm email-less.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And by the way, this cell phone, I'm keeping this cell phone, but the phone number is going to online.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Well, I'm giving up control, which is hard for a lot of people. And it means a lot of trust.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
That's a good way to frame it. But most people will go, number one, privacy. Number two, what if they screw up? Number three, what if somebody important texts me and they don't get back in time? Here's what I figured out. When I go on vacation, this is what I figured out about 15 years ago. You think the company's going to fall apart.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But if you hire the right people, they actually do better when you're not there. It's like all these problems, they're forced to solve them themselves.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And they don't call me anymore. They say, Tommy's not even going to have the answer. I can't even log into payroll. I've never logged into the payroll software. I don't even know how to get into it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
The thing is there's a lot of people that still say I'm the smartest guy in the building. I like to walk into my building and say I'm not the smartest guy. There's a lot of smarter people that are focused on one thing, and I'm trying to make myself useless in the company. I'm struggling every day to hire amazing people to say –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
There's no way I could have a better idea than this person focused on the CFO or the controller or the COO or whatever. Like, the whole goal is to make myself obsolete. And I don't think people understand that because they want to have a meaningful... Like, they want to be part of the business and meaningful. And so it's almost like...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And it's contrary to what most people think is like you want to feel important in your business and feel like the main person. I'm like, listen, if I just had made TV ads and radio ads and kissed babies and accepted trophies, my life would be amazing. That's a business that like built to last by Jim Collins. He wrote a whole book about it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah. Well, that's that's what I do is like. So Dan Martell, I had to meet with my team to explain who I was because my team doesn't really understand this entrepreneurial itch. And he goes, I'll tell you one thing about Tommy, and Tommy doesn't even know this about himself. But, Tommy, anything you ever tell them to do, you never forget.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Some days you wake up in the middle of the night and remember it, and did it get done? And how often do you remember? I go, every freaking time. He goes, now, guys, listen, he needs to feel heard, and he needs to get documented, and he needs a plan. It might not even be important. You might have to tell him it's going to start in six months, but you've got to document it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Now, here's the deal, Tommy. Your team is going to help you buy back time. Your job is not to fill the void every single time like I know you do today. You fill the void every single time. And you make yourself busier every time they buy back your time. So this is something I've been working on.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But I'll tell you, Dan Martell taught me to – I'm very good at business, but he said, why not get a driver? And I said, because I'm humble. He goes, Tommy, how often do you drive? We did some math. It was 10 to 12 hours a week. He goes, what could you be doing in that 10 to 12 hours? Do you love driving? No, I don't. Okay. Okay. Then I got a chef.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And so everything I've done in business, he said, why don't you apply this to your personal life? And I'll always have coaches around me. And by the way, I'm always going to be curious and I'm always going to ask questions. I'm always going to have mentors. The day I stop is the day that I want you to be like, okay, Tommy, he's lost his purpose. I want to be the dumbest guy in the room.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And there's a different mountain to climb every time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I got to $17 million by brute force. And then I met Al Levy, number two on the podcast, Home Service Expert, which we're on right now. And Al did a tour of my shop. Then he said, you remind me. He goes, you're one of the best firefighters I've ever met. He goes, your mind is incredible. The fact that you could solve these problems, you know how to handle every single thing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
He goes, is it documented? And I go, you're looking at the document right now. And he goes, and he just pointed all this stuff out. He goes, you know, Tommy, would you mind if I worked with you? And he just reminded me of this two weeks ago. He goes, you remember how much money you were paying me? I go, Al, I paid you hundreds of thousands of dollars. He goes, you remember where that account was?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
He goes, that was your personal account. He goes, you didn't have enough money in your account when you were making $17 million to pay me out of the business. Wow. He goes, the reason you did everything I said is is because you were paying for it personally. You had to implement it to save your business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
You had to put systems and SOPs, and we call it the triangle of communication, and the checklist together, and the safe way to do things. And are you allowed to have facial hair? Are you allowed to get tattoos on your face? How do you get PTO? All these things needed to become documented, and my team continued to develop. And here's what I needed to do is take my pride out of it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I'll tell you this, pride... is probably the one reason is I started hiring people that I couldn't control. They were smarter than me and they'd say no to me. And they'd give me reasonable explanations why I were not doing that. And now if you walk into the next door building, I've got a lot of no people. They say no to me. But they give me, they don't say no because I said so.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
They give me empirical evidence of why we're not doing something. They show me the data. Right. And I say, great, because I can't handle no. I can handle no and here's why. Right. So most people don't have a no person in their life. And they read a new book or listen to a new podcast or they go to a seminar like Rhino X and they come back and they get all these ideas.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
No one in that company has ideas because you're literally going to RhinoX by yourself. I didn't bring anybody to this event, but normally at every event I go to, there's seven to 10 of my coworkers. And they're at Pantheon. There's 25 of them at Pantheon. Wow. And not only that, they're listening to the podcast. They're reading the same books. They're coming up with the ideas now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
So it's not the Tommy show anymore. Right. So I can't take the credit. I try to give them as much credit as I can. But also, I love what I do. I love podcasting. I love going to visit markets. I love going to visit shops. So I started bringing them with me. And now they're curious. Yeah. And now they want to learn. And now it's like I leave. We're taking 40 guys made pinnacle.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
We're going to Cabo next week. I'm taking my top producers and all my managers and every single person that makes decisions in the company is going to be gone for a week. We're not going to skip a beat. Revenue is not going to be impacted because all the technicians say, I get the good leads because the good guys are gone.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And it's crazy because you think all of the business is leaving into Cabo, but we're not going to skip a beat. And that's what I'm the most proud of. Nice. That's like, it's a feeling of like, and here's one thing that no one has that I have, is I have the ability to imagine the craziest numbers possible. They're like, where did you come up with a billion?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And I'm like, well, we just need this many leads based on our conversion rate if we change our average ticket. So my job is to make them dream again and believe that we could do it. Because if they got the belief, it changes everything. And they're like, dude, you're nuts. But when I explain to them the math... They're like, we're really going to do this, aren't we?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And I go, yeah, but how do we do it quicker? Like the company will grow without me, but I don't think it'll grow at the same pace.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah, well, that's the deal. Dan asked me two months ago, he said, Tommy, if you wanted a 20X next year, this is right before the new year. He said, if you wanted the 20X, what would need to happen? And he goes, don't answer. Think about it before you answer. And he basically made me build a guide to 20X. Yeah. And now it's possible, but it had to be really deep thinking.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
It was about the question. But here's the deal. You got to think outside of the box to do 20X. Anybody could double. Right. But to 20X? Now you got to start thinking way different. You got to start doing stuff like not normal. Yeah. I love, you can tell how passionate I get. I just, this is like, and here's the deal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I talked to Gino Wickman a while back and he wrote EOS, the whole idea of how to systematically change your life and business. And he said, when I sold EOS, he still owns 12.5%. He goes, I feel like I lost a piece of me. He goes, I was, like, super depressing. Like, I was depressed. And he goes, I lost purpose. I had a pot of gold. They gave me a lot of money. Right. But I lost purpose.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And a lot of people, when they sell their business, I don't know, did you feel this way initially? Because you said, I don't want to disappear to the golf course.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Hey guys, hope you're loving today's episode. Listen, I have a couple of quick things, some good news and some bad news. The bad news first, if you missed your chance last week to sign up for our performance pay workshop bonus with Jim Leslie, it's gone. We've pulled it down, and it won't be coming back. But here's the good news.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
You can still grab your Freedom 2025 ticket and lock in our early bird bonus bundle worth over $5,246. I'll be straight with you. These bonuses aren't just random freebies. They're the exact strategies and systems that helped me grow A1 into a $220 million company. My marketing playbook that keeps the phones ringing. Our Freedom 2023 sessions on premium branding from guys like Dan Antonelli.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
My Elevate book that teaches you to build a business where everybody wins. These were all designed to help you start implementing what works today, not six months from now. And when September rolls around, you can be in the same room with Kevin O'Leary and Al Levi and my entire billion-dollar network of business owners who've built everything from $10 million to $500 million businesses.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
The early bird offer won't be around forever, and when it's gone, both the discount and bonuses disappear. Go to freedom event.com today. That's freedom event.com and grab your ticket while you still can. Now back to the episode. What would you tell yourself if you could go back 15 years? What would be the advice for younger, uh,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Here it is. The 103%.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Everyone knows how to get a six-pack, but they don't do it. They're waiting for the magic watermelon diet.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But what's nice is, dude, people like me and trust me because I don't hold back. And I'm like, dude, I'll give you guys everything I know.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah, and the deal is, is like in the future, I promise you, what Joe Paul has taught us is easy little could have been fun. Yeah. I'm going to be business partners with a hell of a lot of people. Yeah. And I won't do it unless I think I could improve their lives more than it is today. People say, what do you want? And I say, when I die, I want people to say when I shook Tommy's hand, he meant it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And if ever I screw somebody over, I'm just going to give them the money back. Let's separate. We're going to have a prenup in every deal I do. And if it's not fun and it feels like something's not working, I'm out. I don't want your money. I want to have fun, and I want to be a blessing in your life. The rule I always give, Jeff, is when you look at your phone,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
when you see somebody calling the caller ID, you get excited. Are you like excited and going, what's up? How's your day going? Like, what happened today? Or are you like, ah. Like, I understand family, you can't get rid of them. But, you know, but when you got businesses, when you get that feeling.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
then you need to make a change because your life's going to end prematurely with that stress, anxiety and depression of just dealing with people like that in your life.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
You said you gave up a lot on this new deal. You said you were almost too nice about the way you gave money out on this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
So you almost went in the opposite direction.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah, that's one thing is, like, I think I'll end up doing a franchise, and I'll definitely – if I do it, it'll be most likely alongside of you. I mean, I don't want to do it. I like Kevin Wilson. I like the guys I know that have been in the business. But I'm not going to go learn it. But I'll tell you one thing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
one out of 100 people that actually have the money to get in will actually make it in because I will be very, very selective. My goal, I will not rate my success on franchises sold. It'll be franchises that do over budget every year as a percentage of the whole. And yes, it might take longer, but people underestimate what they could do in five years and overestimate what they could do in one year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And I just keep reminding people, like, dude, I'm going to be 42. Yesterday I was 21. Tomorrow I'm going to be 70. So, you know, we want things like we're the type of country and people that we tap our foot at the microwave for 30 seconds.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
There's no patience. And the one thing that China does very well is the art of war says they don't want to use any weapons. They do it over time. Right. And that's one thing is like so many people are like, man, I want to do 100 million. I think I could be there in three years. I'm like, the one question I ask them is why? They say, because you proved it could be done. And I go, yeah, but why?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
What are you going to do? And the problem is people say, well, I want to do this with the money. And I'm like, see, I don't even view money that way. I got to make money. I plan on spending the money off the compound interest, not the principal. And people don't understand that concept at all.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
People write down when they're going to make, and they write down their cars, their houses, what they want to do, where they want to travel. And they blow it all. Like, I know half the people you saw in that room yesterday with an exit don't have any money. They've got a lot of assets. But they don't have, like... They're not liquid? It's crazy to me. Like, I'm super, super, super liquid.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Oh, no. Well, here's the biggest thing, Jeff, that I think about is it's not uncommon that I'm at an event or I'm at a meetup or just around a company. And they say we're thinking about franchising and like it should be a passion project. Here's what I know is going on in their mind. I can't make it in the real world. I haven't taken market share.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And, you know, I know I can make more IRR if I put some of the money in a PE, but after I did my deal, and it wasn't too far after your deal, it was 2022, the tail end of 2022, I... I'm addicted to deals now. Everything I'm going to do is run towards the next deal. Yeah. Everything. Yeah. They got a hold for three years, private equity.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But here's the deal. Everyone else gets paid. All the P units, all the equity incentive programs. Yeah. Everyone else gets paid too. Yeah. So I think it's selfish of people not to want to sell because they're like, I make enough. I do a draw every year. I take 500 grand out. I'm like, yeah, but what about your team? How are you going to change their life? Yes, they make $120,000.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But how are you going to really impact their life? It's through a close, through a change of control. And people are afraid because a lot of people make the wrong deals with the wrong people. Well, that's true too. And you hear the nightmares, but there's also really good stories.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
This is important. I want you to chat about this for a minute. Like what did you learn about rolling?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
They want to get to know you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Much longer. So what they talk about is long-term greed.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
You've got to build liquidity events. They'll explain to you how to build within there. Because your COO, people don't want to wait 12, 15 years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But here's the deal. If I could 10X my money and have three liquidity events alongside of there, which I'll build into, I'm glad to do a 15-year fund long-term. You're probably talking about Blackstone.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
This guy came up to me yesterday. He goes, I'm about to get this much money next week. We're closing. I go, why in the F did you not call me? And I go, I want nothing to do with this deal. But I'm like, how much are you rolling? He goes, 25%. I go, did you read the private equity playbook? 35% minimum you roll if it's the right company and you're in love with them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I'm going to franchise because people will pay me for my business idea. And then I'll get to take 7% off the top. And they don't have a website that works correctly. They've never taken market share. They only got one location. You should have at least a few franchised or owned to prove it's possible. Right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And I go, what is it going to, the extra 10%, will that change your life if you rolled that? I go, that's the bare minimum. Yeah. And I'm telling them all this stuff. I asked to roll 60%. Now, they were still going to have control no matter what, so people think it's a control thing. They said, the size of our fund, we need to make it equitable for our limited partners that have invested.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
So we'll give you 49%. Mm-hmm. And people thought I was nuts. They're like, dude, a lot of your net worth is still wrapped into one thing. You're not diversified.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
That's the deal. You might as well go big. I mean, here's the deal. Now it's like my buddy Dale went to California to visit a friend of his. And he goes, you know what everybody says about you, Tommy? He goes, this guy, you don't even know who he is. But your hope...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
your hope that somebody in a blue-collar industry, you're a garage door guy, could potentially become a billionaire, is you are walking hope. And everybody's cheering you on. And you got to hold yourself and make the right decisions to prove it's possible. So I'm freaking, I'm sprinting, man. And I'm making all the decisions and I'm pulling in help. And I'm the first one to ask.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Listen, my dad and my grandpa, they're manly men, man. They don't ask for directions. They take stuff apart and fix it. I'm the first one to beg for help. And if I get a no. If I get a no, okay. I'm okay with it. Some people don't say yes to me, some people. They're too busy. They literally say, sorry, kid, I can't help you. That's okay. I don't take it personal. It doesn't mean they hate me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
They don't even know me, so I don't take offense to it. But so many people, they're so afraid to ask because they don't want to get let down.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Well, what they always tell me is we didn't buy A1. We invested in you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
We wouldn't have done this deal without Tommy Mello, not a chance.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And they said you were a – they said, to be honest, you were an educated gamble because nobody knew if they were going to be able to tame Tommy Mello. Yeah. And they – you know what they told me is 10 PE companies called them afterwards after six months and said, what it's like to work with that dude. Were you able to even, does he listen at all?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And one of the guys goes, dude, he not only listens, but he calls and asks for help every day. And he takes our advice and he runs with it. And I don't know if I should say this, but a lot of these other companies flew back out and they said, we're sorry. We should have bid more. Yeah. You would have been a great partner. And here's the other thing is. In hindsight.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I just, if it's for the right reason, you know, I'm good buddies with a guy named Kevin Wilson, Mosquito Joe's.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Well, the fact is the results speak for themselves. After two years in, now they're like, they trust me. Right. But if you had a bad first year, they're going to come in and, you know, look, I'm fireable. It's very hard to fire me. But my contract, it's very, very hard. But if I'm getting a bad results. there's no other choice than to get rid of the leader.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But believe it or not, it all rises or falls on me. I'm not going to take the credit for doing great, but I would have to take the credit for failing. Right. I mean, it was a team that brought us here. And it's a team that fails too, but literally, like, if there's anything bad that happens in the company, all rolls up to me. And I got to face that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Sold to Neighborly. Yeah. And I'm friends with, really good friends with Mike Davis. And he just took over as the CEO of Neighborly. And I just think you've got to start a franchise, but you need to know you're no longer in the garage door business or the roofing business or the gutter business. You're now in the people turnkey business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
So it's hard because certain times it sounds like I might take the credit, but I try to pay it forward to my team. And guys like Al Levy, guys like Joe Polish, and Yano that helps me out and introduces me to people and the network. And I think it's important, and I hope you open your doors. I know you're teaching the next generation, and you should be teaching out of franchise too.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I think that's 90 percent of them. But the 10 percent that do it for the right reasons are incredible.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
So I've been doing a lot of thought on this. Like, my team came to me, my whole C-suite, and they sat me down and they said, why do you feel like we need a president? Or why would we need a chief of staff? And I looked at them and I said, you know, potentially. You know, I'm not married. I'm about to be married. Yeah. Congratulations, by the way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Thank you. I want to be a great dad. I said, you guys don't need me to run this company, but I'm not going to be able to give you what I give today. But I need to make sure the vision stays because it's a growth mindset. And so there's a few choices I have. I could be the head of the board. I can switch to a chief growth officer. Mm-hmm.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Or my preference would be to be a co-CEO, where I'm the glue. I'm the orientation guy. I'm still handling the marketing side and going to look at deals and still inputting. But I'm not flying out to New York, to Manhattan, to go to all these quarterly and monthly PE where they're talking about the financials. That's not fun for me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
So, you know, the deal is, as the way I see it today, you know, I've got a family office that A1 pays. Tens of thousands of dollars to a month. That team does a lot for A1. I've been able to use this instrument to make A1 grow faster and excel way quicker. So the question is, can this entity live alongside of it as a sister and continue to scale it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And I think that's just— I don't think people are starting. Some people do. I think you started it. You knew what you were getting into. You started it for the right reasons. You knew. You got with the right lawyers. You built the right systems. You have the right meetups. You have the right prizes and gamification.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Because look, I'm still going to roll $400 million to $500 million into the next deal. I got to stay relevant in the business. It's my face on the side of the truck on purpose.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah, Empire Today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
No, the cartoon. Because they don't age. Yeah, no, that's the whole theory of it. But, you know, I'm passionate about what I do. I'm going to build a fund for my employees that I'll actually... I'm going to insure the money, and I'm going to be putting it into really, really high return. And I'm going to employ them, and I'm going to give them bonuses through this structure that sits there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And my main goal... I did this math. I posted it the other day on Facebook. 18 to 65, you put $300 a month away at 12% IRR. I saw that. You got $8.4 million. That's right. So my plan is just if I could get them a million bucks over time, I'd give them. But it's going to take some discipline and some consistency and some delayed gratification. But my plan is to teach people this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And I'm not their provider. Everyone that's got equity in the business, they've earned it. I can't take credit for that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But most people, they just say, I can't make it in the real world, so I'm going to franchise and I'm going to sell a bunch of them. And also, they sell to the wrong people. Like, if I started a franchise, it would be almost possible. You'd have to have all these prerequisites to even buy a franchise. Right. Because it's like one franchisee could screw it for everybody.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
What year was she born?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
So her parents lived through the Great Depression. This is when people used to... Like, they looked bad at money. They're like, look at the rich folks, because, you know, there was very little rich. I mean, you would, like, you were one of 100 that would wait to see if you got a job that day. That's right. You know, and the deal is, and that's if your family's going to have bread that week.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And so, like, at Thanksgiving, the old saying would be, like, look at us, we're eating like rich folks. Because being rich was bad. It was evil. And so people have this really bad conception of money. And it's not a bad thing. Like now, luckily, we're phasing out of this Great Depression mode. But I'm like, I have an obligation.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
You know what? I got a pretty big tax bill waiting in heaven because I haven't given the 10%. And I made a deal. And, you know, this is a bad deal. If I died, I got to put this in my will. But I just said, God, let me reinvest this money for you. And I'll give it to you at a much bigger value. I mean, I remember praying and saying this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I'll make it up. But I guess you can't buy your seats in heaven. You know, this idea of more money, more problems. Like, dude, my houses, they always have issues. My cars, they have issues. Like, people don't understand the reason rich people get depressed and get on drugs and become alcoholics and don't have great relationships is... is I'm fine, I'm ready for it, and I'm prepared.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But a lot of people, it's miserable. All of a sudden, people don't treat them the same. They use them. They look at them as a piece of money. And I go, people are like, what do you think when people look at you as having all this money and they use you? I'm like, this is just, it's okay. I'm like, this is what happens.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
The Rockefellers. It's called the Rockefeller method. And basically what they've built is a family trust that you can borrow against a life insurance policy. So it refunds itself when you die. You can borrow against it a certain amount and you want to pay it back over your lifetime. But if you die... it refunds that, and it's all a mechanism that has to be done this way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Oh, that's a great – I like that quote.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah, that's – I struggle with this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I got some stuff, man. I'm buying a helicopter, buying a private plane. I'm taking people with me. Here's the deal. I want to teach a man to fish. That's the goal. But I'm never going to go through economy again. I want first class in life, and I want my entire – I want to go to the 16th Chapel and have breakfast. I want to do things, like, not VIP, but – 10 times better than VIP.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I agree with that. Quality of life. Look, I also – but the problem is I want to take everybody with me. And that takes time, energy, money, focus.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I agree. By me. They have the ability to probably get paid by someone else. I mean, there's a couple companies out there that are getting in the game that could probably pay more. I think we pay – I want to intentionally pay the most by far. But just say somebody just decided to take a risk and pay more. I don't think they leave.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I have had about five people leave, and guess what? Every one of them are back. Mm-hmm. And they came back preaching the grass is not greener, the promises weren't kept, a lot of chitter-chatter, but nothing got done. Right. And everything I say, I got to live by example, lead from up front, leaders eat last, the whole thing. But I'm a work in progress. I always tell people. I'm not arrived.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I'm not perfect. I can say these things, but I want to walk the walk, too. But being on here saying these things also holds me accountable. It does. You know, this is the nice thing. When you commit yourself publicly, and I talked about this yesterday, and you write it down and you tell your team you're going to do something, you kind of have to do it. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I love this, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
You're the franchise king. You teach people. I know how much you care, too, about your franchisees. I do. If someone wants to just reach out to you, get a hold of you, ask you for advice, what's the best way to do that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
You know what? Do you got somebody screening it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Okay, then you're good.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
So if you're hanging out and you're at home and you got an hour a day, are you on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube? What what's your choice?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
OK, Instagram and LinkedIn.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I say majority is Facebook for me. Is it? And the problem is I got to get Facebook up because I still handle my own messages. People are always like, this can't be really Tommy. I'm like, it's really pathetic.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
What other question I always ask is, is there any books other than like Rich Dad, Poor Dad and E-Myth and, you know, the famous, famous Dale Carnegie and Point Hill, books that really shaped you and you really think that the listeners should get a hold of? Oh.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Well, I know the David Goggins, Can't Hurt Me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Listen, we talked about a lot of stuff, though. What I'd like to do is give you a few minutes to just finish this up on anything you want to talk about.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Break the generational curse.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
They're from another country, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
What's your goal of a retail ROI? Five years to get your money back?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I love it, man. Well, this was fantastic. I appreciate you sticking around to do this. Yeah. Honored. Yeah, man. You're an amazing guy. I'm going to come visit you soon to East Coast, Charlotte, Charlotte area. Right. Yes, sir. All right, man. Well, listen, I'll let you get out of here. I appreciate it. Thank you guys for listening, and we'll catch you on the next episode. Thank you, sir.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Hey there. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets to help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
That's retail or that's everything?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text Note, N-O-T-E-S to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah, I think the multiple is even higher than – I've heard of it going into the 20s. Oh, yes. Yeah, absolutely. Because think about it. 20x on EBITDA, 25x on EBITDA, crazy numbers.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
I'm taking a large exit after this is post exit.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
So you got lots of millions.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Is it about 350 right now?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
They need to playbook. They don't know. It's not easy, by the way. A lot of these PE guys, they're very smart. They're systematic. They understand financial engineering. But they don't understand what it's like to manage a blue-collar worker. That's right. And it's so funny because they're so smart. They got their master's degrees and they come in and they just – but they talk down to people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
And a lot of them are – they have this inferior – what's the word I'm looking for? Like this complex that they're just – I know a lot of my guys didn't have a good mom growing up. A lot of my guys didn't pass 10th grade. A lot of my guys aren't happy with their smile or teeth that are screwed up. And that's different for most people. But I like it because I can talk to the white-collar guys.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But I love the blue-collar because I'm part of it. It's my DNA.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
It is great. And it's great, like – I get a lot out of this, and a lot of it for me is just reminders. Like sometimes you forget the simple things about business. When you said no retail store, one of the things I talked about when I briefly was on with Tom Howard was the way you pick your Google My Business location matters. Right. People, when they lease...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
a building, they're looking for something that's gonna suit their needs rather than thinking about it as a marketing play. And I just feel like if you knew, you don't wanna be close to big competitors with 10,000 reviews. You wanna be in an affluent area where you can get a lot of clients. And that's the gift that keeps giving.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
You can get 15 to 20 leads a day if you pick the right location for your Google My Business page to get enough reviews and citation sites to make it rank.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today I got a good buddy in town. You're always in town. He's Jeff Duden, the CEO of Homefront Brands. He's an author, podcast speaker, expert at franchises. He leads one of the largest franchises I know of. And here's what's crazy about franchising, Jeff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah, and it's just – but here's the one thing too is I give it all away. A lot of people go into a situation of how do I win? Yeah. And I think about like how can I help them win? And I think that that's like the hostage or not the hostage negotiator. That's Chris Voss.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Yeah, Francini. Yeah. So I said, hey, listen, I got a really good podcast. It's number seven in the country for business. I'd love to have you on. And if you like me, maybe you'd have me on yours.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
But I said, we'll see how that goes. I go, what's your email? And he gave it to me. Worst case scenario, he says no. Right. I don't care. I don't care if you say no. Yeah. Because I'm not afraid to ask. He's cool. I know you're doing what I'm doing on health. And we sometimes, you know, I'm a social drinker. You're a social drinker.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering the Art of Franchising with Jeff Dudan
Tell the audience here the line you told me because this is hilarious. Oh, yeah. So you broke after 37 minutes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If I put a dollar in to get a buck 25 out, I'm winning. And as I can start to scale that up and I make the few right hires, I'd be very careful on who I recruit to start my business. I'd make sure they're 10 out of 10. They're people I die for that I go to war for. I make sure I'm in love with these people. I can communicate well with these people. I can lead from up front.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And how did he divide the sales team's territory? So I don't have outbound and mine's all inbound. So they get dispatched. And I think what you're doing is you're more B2B. So there's conflicting on, you know, you're doing it in territories and that's okay. I mean, outbound sales is completely different than inbound and how it's dispatched.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I don't really understand exactly what you're trying to do. But yes, I think dividing them into certain areas is the best way to do it. I'd have to look at this scenario to figure this out, Clyde. Brian said, how do you compensate structure pay base plus commission for CSRs who answer inbound and follow up on leads so that it fits within your budget?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Well, what I do is I look at the previous history of the booking rate. And if it's 80% and I get them, it's just, all it is is simple math. I just told you if I could increase my booking rate and I'm a $10 million company by 1%, that's $100,000 for the company, right? So ask myself, if I give these people more money based on history, Is it costing me more than giving them this bonus?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Now, typically, you're going to split the profit. So if you're making an extra $100,000, you might want to bonus $10,000. What does that do to your call center? Now, that's 1%. What if you could find 20%? What if you could find 30% there? Not to mention, every time you get a cancellation percent, it's another $100,000 if you're a $10 million company. So fixing those things is important.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Damien said, do you have a good software system to manage devices like iPads, iPhones? Yeah, so there's a company, if you want to email me, it's called eSquared. They do a fantastic job. eSquared, I've been using them for the last decade. I don't sign a contract for Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, none of it. My devices, they get found by the nearest cell tower.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And they give me all refurbished equipment, almost new, but refurbished. They save me a fortune because they get these buy rates of like ridiculously better rates than I could ever get. So it's called E squared. I think they're located in Phoenix. Great company. You know, they come to the freedom events and other things. They do a fantastic job.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Welcome back to December's Q&A podcast. One of my favorite podcasts of the month. Had a very good conversation yesterday. Just have I have a full time person. This girl's absolutely phenomenal. She's going to be working on the podcast tomorrow. And we're going to be coming out with a second podcast called The Mellow Millionaire. I think that's what it's going to be called.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
They're a big part of our network, but I haven't found anybody that even comes close to their service. And they'll manage all that stuff for you. Also, what do you find the best, Apple or Samsung? I'm looking for a better device management system. I appreciate it. So Damian, I personally, I like Samsung way better because the devices are way cheaper and you're upgrading them all the time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Technicians break them. So anybody that knows how to use an Apple could use a Samsung. And you're opening up just a couple of things on there. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with iPads, but they're way more expensive. And they come out with new ones way faster. So it's like, you know, Apple got in big trouble for making their batteries die quicker.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
When they come out with a new unit, there's something in their old software that makes the battery. I've never met an Apple user that said, I'm so happy about the battery life with technicians that matters a lot. So just some stuff to think about. I mean, listen, I know the Apple users out there. I get it. They're simpler. There's some good things about them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
There might be something better about them. But as far as when they break, it's more expensive. The screens cost more money. I've never really seen a technician say, oh, it's an Apple. I'll take care of it extra special. It's not how that works. They are breaking quite a bit. The screens break. I pay a lot less to get the screens replaced.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Robert, what top three books do you recommend for someone scaling and growing their business from a million to 10 million? Other than yours, which I have read multiple times. You know, I really like the five dysfunctions of a team for that size. I think businesses tend to, you care more about your own department than you care about the whole company. Obviously, Al Levy, the seven-power contractor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I like for sales, I like Joe Crisara's What Should We Do? I think it's one of the better sales books ever written for home service. How to Win Friends and Influence People is a great book. Any book by Gina Wickman about EOS, getting your management style dialed in is important. Napoleon Hill wrote a book, Think and Grow Rich. It's not necessarily about business, but it's about yourself.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Here's the deal. I'm going to tell all of you guys, you don't deserve to make as much money as you want to. Until you get educated, until you think you're worth it, Until you're ready, it's not going to happen to you. The world's not gonna give it to you. Jesus is not gonna give it to you. You're not ready yet. You need to educate yourself. You need to walk into work and know what to do every day.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You need to come in there with a plan. You need to be ready to manifest what's coming next in your life. Some of you just, you don't spend any time. You don't think about yourself. You don't know what you want. You're not really sure you're living someone else's dream. Maybe it's mom or dad's. Maybe it's your big brother's. A lot of you say, I want to do what you did.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I want to do a hundred million. Why? You give me 20 reasons why. Oh, so I can help out the church and I can help out my mom. Help them out now. You have enough money to help them all out now. You don't need to live my dream. You don't need to live my dream. Maybe some of you might want the same things that I've wanted, but don't. You shouldn't do this because of me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
No, you showed us it's possible. You wouldn't know what to do with the money game. You would not know when that money hits your account that it's going to change everything. And here's the facts. You might not change, but everybody around you is going to change. Just be prepared. The kind of money you're talking about, if you really want that, Be prepared. Be prepared. You're not going to like it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I don't think a lot of you are ready for it. You're not going to like what it makes you. You're not going to like the way that people treat you. It's good and dandy when it first happens, and then you'll see. So make sure you're living your own dream. Blue said, are the days of starting a garage door business or any home service business with $20,000 over?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So we're going to be bringing home service expert, all home service, 100% home service. I've got a lineup that takes me all the way through May. So it's going to be great. And then the mellow millionaire is going to be all about how people have made lots and lots of money in life and more business strategies, not just home service and home improvement.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Yeah, Blue, I'll tell you, $20,000 is a fart in the wind. You can start with $5,000, but the first five to 10 years is going to be sweat equity. So first thing is have perfect credit. Fix your credit starting now. Any of you guys thinking about starting a business, make sure you've got perfect credit. The SBA loan's a great vehicle. I personally would work two jobs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I started my business and I'd have a full-time job where I'm doing my business. I would just work more hours. I would need a steady income. I've had three jobs. When I started the garage door business, you don't think I was still painting garage doors, bartending. I was still selling flipping cars. Like for the first four or five years, I had to do both. I didn't have enough money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I still had my landscaping business. that I was getting 30 grand a month from, I needed seed capital to grow. If you don't have money saved, you're going to have to work two jobs. Are you going to grow really slow and you're going to go, man, I had a great month last month and the next month is going to be, it's feast or famine. And it's going to be famine. You're going to go, there's no leads.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I don't have enough money to buy more leads. It's a shady position to be in, Blue. Drew said, best marketing book recommendations for HVAC or home service. Best marketing. Marketing, marketing. All of Roy Williams' books are great about TV radio. Dan Antonelli's book, Branded Not Blanded, getting the right. Your wraps look like your trucks.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I mean, your trucks look like your billboards, look like your yard signs, look like your valve pack, look like your business cards, look like your catalogs, look like your building. That needs to fit. The Story Brand is a great book by Donald Miller. And, you know, here's the deal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I've not read a book that was very comprehensive that had how to build copy, how to do PR, how to build a website, how to belt master LSA, GMB, PPC, SEO, social media, how to build in a competitive place like Val pack and Clipper, how to do well lead aggregators like Angie or home advisor, which are the same thing. And the hundreds of other lead aggregators, how to dominate those.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Everything's different word of mouth. affiliate deals, influencer marketing. I've never read a book that had it all. And if I did read a book that had it all, I think they're a jack of all trades, a master of none. And there was everything in this book. And what it would be, unfortunately, is a lot of definitions of what the differences are.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
See, I know how... I study how to dominate each and every one of these. And if there's a new marketing source that comes on, I'll figure it out. If there's a way to dominate on Pinterest and Houzz, I'm in the process of dominating there too. So where does the majority of your leads come in? And then how do you 10x that? I think there's a lot of people that want to get leads.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
They're like, I'm going to try everything. And you should only go after one marketing source at a time and master it. Make sure you got it working right and then go on to the next one. And what happens though, listen to this, when you get good at one marketing and then you add another one, one plus one equals three. Then you get good at another two, so three plus two equals 10.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Then you get good at another five, five plus 10 equals 30. Because the people see you more, there's more impressions. It's crazy how that works. Okay, now I've got these questions. It looks like we might've had a few comments here. Do you like commercial or residential asphalt? Colin, I think there's a lot of money in asphalt. I really do. I think there's money in residential and commercial.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I love that business. I love it because it's big tickets. I think the problem is you submit two or three bids. A lot of people are getting bids and sometimes it's hard to differentiate yourself. There's not a whole lot of craftsmanship. Now, I know there's things that go wrong with the cheap people that come in and they're not bidding properly. You got to be able to differentiate yourself.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Home service, home improvement will continue to be home service expert. Man, what a hell of a last month and just the hell of a year. It's already December. We've been with Cortec partner now for two years. And as you guys probably know, with private equity, they have to hold you for three years minimum for tax purposes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So as long as you're differentiating yourself and it's not all about price, I like the industry. I guess to have a 90% call booking rate, you need the right leads coming to the call center. Yeah. I mean, you do need the right leads. Not everybody with a garage door is my client. I like affluent neighborhoods. I want people that want their shit fixed right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I don't want people looking for a bargain and deal. 4% of the population buys off price. 96 just wants something to be done right. That's going to last because I don't care if you paid the best price. If every week you're calling it, it's breaking. It wasn't the best price, was it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
if it breaks in a year and you got to spend another $300, wouldn't you rather pay 600 the first time in the last 10 years? So there's a lot of confusion out there. Who's going to show up when I actually need you to show up? Is it on my timeline or is it on the company's? Cause if it's on mine, I know I'm going to pay a little bit more. I bought the original Adam West Batmobile, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
It's a replica. And they said, if you want it done in one year, it's $54,000 or whatever. It might have been $65,000 or let's just say $65,000. If you want it done in a year and a half, it gets cheaper. Well, lucky for me, I don't really have a place to put it right now. I got a lot of stuff in the works we're building. I don't really have a spot for it. I would have went into storage.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So I'm like, take a year and a half. I save money. So I sacrifice time for money. And that's how business works. If I'm calling and my pipe's broken, I want somebody to get out here now and I'm willing to pay more for it because there's an opportunity cost. So do you coach? Home service freedom is our coaching program. And yes, we coach in this program.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I personally am involved, but it's not only me. So George said, give us a call. We'll book the call no matter what. I just want to know how big the guns are now. Yeah, I don't know. These guns got to be, I don't know. I got to measure. I'm definitely saving your number for late night fun. Perfect. Hey there, I hope you're enjoying today's episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If you've been tuning in, you've probably heard me mention the Freedom 2025 pre-sale. Well, we're just seven days away from it ending. This is your last chance to lock in the best price before it's gone. Why should you care? Here's the deal. The game is changing fast, costs are rising, customers expect more for less, and the competition.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Thanks to private equity and tech, they're getting tougher, and they're coming for your market share. That's why at Freedom 2025, it's a must-attend event. It's happening September 3rd through the 5th at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, where you're going to learn from top business owners and experts.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I'll be there, and so will Kevin O'Leary, yes, Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank, plus other powerhouse speakers. Seats are limited, and the pre-sale ends January 31st, just one week from now. Don't wait. Head to freedomevent.com and lock in your spot before prices go up. That's freedomevent.com. Hope to see you in Vegas. Now let's get back to the episode. Hey, Tommy, huge fan.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Sometimes a PE group will sell under three years, but it doesn't make a ton of tax sense to do that. So I've got a lot of questions here. If I don't get to all of them, you guys go to homeserviceexpert.com forward slash questions. I know that wasn't working before. It's fixed now. I'm going to read the questions out loud and go through them slowly. I want to talk about a few things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
During the growth of your business, did you ever get home from work and relax, or did you jump straight into working on the business until you fall asleep? So look, I want you guys to do me a favor real quick. How much money are you going to make next year? Write that number down. Write down the number of what you're going to make next year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And then I want you to say, what would need to be true for me to 10X that number? 10X. It's going to start changing the way you think. Well, the first thing is, You probably have to delegate more. You'd have to work less because if there's 20 of me or right now there's 800 of me, right? There's 800 people that work at A1. I don't care who you are. How are you going to outwork 800?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Now you can say easy. I got a thousand. You could outwork us with a thousand. So the question is, how do I get the top performance out of the 800? How do I get them working and enjoying what they do and seeing what's in it for them? You see, what would need to be true for me to 10X?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Well, number one, I would have to read and continue to read every freaking book and every single podcast on recruiting I possibly can. I'd have to become the number one recruiter in the world. What would be true? I would need to be the best interviewer in the world, right? I would need to interview the best. I'd have to continue to hone those skills.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I would have to trust 10 times more, which most of you here, unfortunately, that's your problem. You don't trust anybody to do it as good as you, because you've only hired people dumber than you. And those are the facts. You either can't afford to pay people better, or you're afraid to because they're smarter than you, which is a problem within itself.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
The next thing, I would have to be 10 times more appreciative. I would need to give way more compliments. So I went through this task the other day. I came up with 12 things that would need to happen. And What I'm working on is I've got accountability between my executive assistants and Bree. And I'm really focused now on how do I make these things into reality? I know what I need to do.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
What would need to happen for you to have a six pack? Write it down. You know what you need to do. Most of you won't do it. In fact, everybody on here right now, I don't, I don't know, there's 70 or 80 people. Maybe 100. Just have me said, look, you guys know what you need to do. Write down what you need to do and figure out a way to want it so bad that you're actually going to do it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
But here's the problem. You know, one of my things I put down is trust. Once I have billions of dollars, which I will, you really can't trust anybody anymore. And it's sad because I didn't change. I made more money. They changed. And now you become, and by the way, if a girl starts working out and gets prettier and gets sexy and gets hot, nobody gets mad at her and says, you took care of yourself.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You're pretty now. You know, people start liking her more. You know, the guys are more attracted to her. And as a guy makes more money and a woman, you know, people are more attracted to them. You know, they're more successful. This is not something that's bad, but they change. You know, this ugly girl that became really beautiful to start taking care of herself and started getting in shape.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
It's a lot more smiles now. She's got to be a little more protective because now she's getting hit on more. So just understand that that's going to happen. So I need to be able to, you know, I've got a family office. We formed a committee that I just can't say yes to everything. People want me to get involved with way more things now. And that's actually a thief of my time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And I know that they're willing to put in as much sacrifice as I'm willing to put in to grow something together. And I'll make sure they win at the end. I would need to make sure to hire perfectly. Your first few hires are going to make or break the company. Well, that's kind of how I'd start. Then I'd go knocking on every neighbor's door. I'd find out the HOA president.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So I no longer am taking those calls for the most part. And I just can't say yes as much as I used to. Let me get back into this. Moral of the story there, stir fry. I work a lot, but I whiteboard a lot. And I'm more trying to get my mindset, my brain, my thoughts. And I look at them and I say, can I delegate this? Who have I not hired yet? What would these person's KPIs be?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Actually, quite a bit of things in advance. I'm just going to talk about some of the epiphanies I had, what I'm going to be working on in 2025. So 2025, I got four major things. Call center. I want you guys to write down your booking rate. If you're listening right now, think about your booking rate. Now, let's just say you're doing $10 million a year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
How do I get them involved? Is there a way for them to earn equity? What would need to happen? But I used to say, how could I do this work? What is the project? I still outline the project. But no longer am I the guy that I feel like I've got to do everything. And it's hard for me because I still think I'm competent. I still think my brain works well.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
But this is the next level of leadership that most people will fail at. Because they feel like they're inept. They feel insecure. They feel like they're not good enough anymore to run the project. But that's not true. They're the one running every project, ultimately. It all falls on them. But they're better at getting other people to do the work.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Like, some of the best people I know, they don't wash their own cars. They have their kids do it. It's smart. They got their kids to insurers. They pay them some type of allowance, but like, how do you get other people motivated to do the things that help you make more money, but they've got to make money too. That's the secret. Thanks, Brandon.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I'm looking to make a change in my marketing, specifically Google marketing. Any suggestions where to look? It's a service business in Scottsdale, Arizona. Listen, there's a lot of great companies out there. Cristiano, great. Listen, here's my best advice, Mike. Find the biggest home service company you could find. And it's not A1, by the way. It's probably an HVAC company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And find out, type in Acheck Repair where you live and in Scottsdale where your business is. And find out who's number one organically. And find out who they use. Find out who's number one on the LSAs and who's number one on the GMBs. And find out what they're doing for that. Like, start asking a lot of questions.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
One thing I don't like to do is really recommend any marketing companies because here's a little dirty secret. It's just like you have your best employees. Every marketing company has their best. You might be with the best marketing company, but the shittiest person on their team.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So the ability to get the top people on people's teams is an ability in itself to find out who's their Tom Brady on their team. Almost every company has a Tom Brady. You just got to figure out who they are. And it's very important when you're working with marketing companies. 3.5 million on acquisition and enter on a cash flowing business that can maintain 15 to 20% cashflow. Okay.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Brandon said that, you know, here's the deal, by the way, let's go acquisitions versus greenfield. Let's say you want to build a $1 million EBITDA company. you might pay 6 million for it, right? Now you've got to integrate it. It takes about a year to do a complete integration. Now we talked about, we just spent 6 million.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Now, if I wanted to do a million dollars of EBITDA and I was running at 20%, that means I got to get to $5 million of revenue. Now I gave you guys a rule. Let's just use 30%. That's 1.5 million versus 6 million for the acquisition.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Green fielding is far more valuable than waiting to get lucky and find a company to buy and have to integrate it and have everybody going, well, you got the old owner there. That's kind of an asshole. He thinks it's his way or the highway. That's why you bought them. You got their general manager who doesn't like sales. He doesn't believe it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You got a few of their people, their call center that they've never had to answer this many calls in their life. Now they're asked on day one to answer way more calls. Integrations are tough. They are. So you want to hear if I'm a buyer? Yes, I will say you could acquire a lot of companies. If you do it well, there's a time and a spot. It is faster.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
But if you become a master of Greenfield and your bottom line is high enough and you've got tens of millions of dollars to play with, There's nothing better than Greenfield. Don't ever let anybody try to convince you otherwise.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I don't care what private equity, if they say I've got a company growing just as fast, everything else being equal, one's Greenfielding, one's buying companies, the one Greenfielding is worth way more money, in my opinion. What kind of a mindset, skills, and habits do I need to develop to grow my business from a million to 5 million in revenue? You know, at a million dollars,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
For every percentage point you get an extra booking rate, that's $100,000 if you're a $10 million business. So call center. I want to be able to call my call center and feel like the person treated me like gold, like literally like a family member. Like I want to be blown away. I just don't want a call center that books the calls. I'm beyond that. That's what I wanted for 2024.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You need to be able to walk away. First thing you got to master is time management. You need to get an executive assistant. You need to master not doing the tasks yourself. You need to find smart people. And you need to learn to delegate and trust. If you just get that, five million is easy. Five million is not a hard number to hit.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
The main thing is that you start to do a time analysis of where you're spending all your time. And I bet you you're wasting a lot of it. And I'd read as much as I could on marketing. Read marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, and sales. Because between those two things, I don't care how good you are at payroll.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If you got the best CFO in the world, CFOs are all a lagging indicator. Yes, they'll make great insurance deals. They'll help you buy right. They'll help you get co-op. but you still need to sell and you still need to make the phone ring. So don't let anybody fool you. I think the CFO for me was the most important role. It really was.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
But that's after I made the phone ring off the hook and we were answering form fills and we had scheduling and going crazy. And we knew how to convert service into sales. And we know how to knock on the door and close deals. You know, by the way, I don't really care what any of my competition's doing. Unfortunately, that's what makes people do worse in life is comparison is the thief of all joy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If I continue to push and hire consultants and continue to hire great people and continue to maintain a vision that's been growing faster than anybody ever in my industry, you know, and apparently, according to some people, I'm the big bad wolf. But when you get to know me, I open up my heart and my building and my home for you. But I don't really care what other people are doing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I care more about what HVAC Plumbing Electrical is doing because it's a $200 billion market cap. So I pay attention to the number one industry, which Rogers will never be. It just won't. As long as I'm keeping an eye on that and I'm buddies with the buddies I'm buddies with, it's not going to matter because losers focus on winners and winners focus on winning. Remember that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I'm too busy trying to win. I don't care. I don't need to look at every one of my competitors every day. It's important to know what's going on in the marketplace. And yes, there are people on my team that look at the competition. If we're in the same money mailer as someone else, we want to make sure we've got a competitive price compared to theirs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So there is some competitive analysis, but just remember that. Tommy, you are looking good. What have you been doing? You are slimmer and healthier. We need systems. What do you recommend? Miguel, number one, just walk. Just walk more. Just get up every morning, walk one mile, and before you go to bed, walk one mile. But stay consistent. Watch what you eat.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Because that one minute of joy as you eat that candy bar or that ice cream. But I know myself. So I had to get the Ninja Creamy. And now all my ice cream is all protein. It's a way for me to kind of stack the deck in my own favor. But I stayed consistent. That's probably the most important thing is I just, I stayed relentlessly committed to what I was going to do. And the results are still coming.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
But one of the things I did is I got a blood test. I checked out my hormone levels. I've been paying attention to my sleep and water intake and saliva tests, blood tests, urine tests, making sure everything's working. First, you got to make sure your body's working. So make sure everything's working. Naturopath is what I'd recommend, some peptides, possibly testosterone therapy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Let's get up to 90% booking rate. Now I want it to feel like these people are like the best thing I've ever met in my life. It's like talking to mom. So that's number one. Number two is marketing. There's always, that's where I live is marketing. People say, how did A1 grow so quick? I have an obsession with marketing. Obsessed. I'm obsessed with it. And you should be too.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I'm not saying you take a ton of it. You just get your normal levels to where they should be as if you were 25 years old. Once you got all that working, you're eating right, you're sleeping right, you're going to want to work out. You're going to feel more energy. You're going to enjoy going out in the sun and doing stuff. So that's the best advice.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
As far as systems go, you guys have heard me say this, but Not a lot of you guys have actually done it. This is Al's book, The 7-Power Contractor. He also wrote a section in the Home Service Millionaire. I have ADHD. I needed Al Levy to sit me down and say, this is what we're going to finish today. This is the agenda. People are going to know if they can grow a beard.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
They're going to know if they can have tattoos. They're going to understand how to do PTO. They're going to understand what happens if they need to buy a tool. They're going to understand what needs to happen if their truck breaks down. They're going to need to know exactly what happens of how to move up in the company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
They're going to be able to explain to their significant other how they get paid. And it's all going to come from the manual. They're going to understand the morning mojo calls. What does tardy mean? What does late mean? What are the ramifications if you're late? All these things we went and did. We did that in 2017 and we still continue to perfect those systems.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Those are standard operating procedures. There's checklists. We built out a very badass CRM, which is service tight that have checks and balances built in. We know how long it takes. We know that if you walk in a job and you gave a door quote and you left within 30 minutes, you didn't do your job. Those are KPIs we're tracking. So I just thought of another KPI I want to track.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Hey, Tommy, I own a roofing business and I'm trying to implement more of an HVAC model. How would you go about doing that if you were to be in roofing and having a hard time making the logistics work? You know, I've never been a roofer or an HVAC guy. I think my business is very similar to HVAC that was intended to be. I think roofing is a big ticket.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You know, usually the problem is with roofing is you use a bunch of subcontractors. And if you don't have amazing subcontractors, it's very difficult. The whole roofing business was kind of built off of cheap labor. It's cheaper labor than HVAC than specialized labor. That's for sure. So the majority of it is the presentation. What makes you different? How do you build?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I want you to think about what we learned how to sell from the automotive world is packages. So you got to have the best package and you got to give options. I would read the book. What should we do by Joe Crisara? Because he talks about packages. If you're not giving, you know, different options, you're giving ultimatums. And the fulfillment takes longer than HVAC.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I mean, a big roof takes a long time to install. Even if you've got three HVAC units, most teams I know across the country could do that in a day. And they've got automated systems. See, what the difference is with HVAC is they started really pushing each other in the early 90s. So now they've got these people that will fulfill the stuff. They're in their shop.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
They'll actually build a store within your own shop. They'll handle all the logistical things. I don't have that in a garage door. You know, my garage door manufacturers just came back to me and can't guarantee any one of the things that I've asked them to guarantee. Like you're going to have it on time or this, and you're going to be able to get my guys in and out of there with this time or this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
HVAC, plumbing, they guarantee all these things or they give money off or whatever it is. My vendors aren't willing to do any of that. So it's not really apples to apples. I don't think it's fair, but I would continue to push for that. I keep asking, I keep proving that what we're capable of doing and they keep offering me more.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I really admire how you've transformed your growth, both in business and personally. You've elevated the standards in the way you think, communicate, and approach everything. Thank you. Al Levy said, what are you willing to sacrifice like Tommy did to go to 10X you speak to? So, you know, I was on a meeting earlier and JD reminded me and a bunch of people in Garage Door Freedom.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
He reminded me that I stayed in the apartment far after I could have moved out. He reminded me that we stayed in our office building when we could have afforded something more. He reminded me that we stayed purposely. We didn't try to pretend to be somebody we weren't. I tried to prove to people we're in a big facility and warehouse. We're a big business. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I'll leave you time to be obsessed with your financials, obsessed with marketing. So marketing is super important. And as I chat GPT, the best garage door company in a bunch of my markets, I wasn't at the top. It's using user generated content, which are reviews. So I just got off the phone. We're going after every one, two and three star review that we've ever had in the company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And we'd walk into rooms and talk about revenue. And now we're growing. No, me and my buddies, we get on the phone, we talk about profit only. Profit is the name of the game. That's all we talk about is profit. No longer do we care. I do not give two shits about your revenue. I talk about profit. Now, listen, I can talk about market share. That's another important thing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And revenue is kind of, it would sit under market share is revenue. But I really care about profit. And I was willing to have a lot of discipline and delayed gratification. If there was two words, That's three words, delayed gratification and discipline. You nail those couple of things. You live below your means for a few years. You start stacking the deck.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You're going to make so much freaking money. Here's something else that wealthy people think about. I think about compound interest. I've got a lot of money. Okay. Let's just be very, I say this as humbly as possible. I try to like, try not to sound like a douche bag, but there's compound interest coming in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And I think, okay, if I was able to put this money over here, how much more compound interest? See, I don't mind spending, as long as there's more compound interest going towards the principal, I don't mind spending compound interest. And it's a good way of being disciplined. If you start stacking the deck. And so I don't think about money in the bank. I think about compound interest.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And I think about what that means to me daily, weekly, and monthly of how much money am I going to make next year? I don't think about a one. I don't think about draws out from the company. I don't think about anything else, but the money I have, which obviously I've had one exit. I think about what, and I've made a lot of other investments and the other things that are going to be exiting and
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I think about, okay, when that money goes into this account, how much compound interest does it mean? And is it well diversified? And I've got some money that's not very liquid. Some is going to take five or seven years to pull out. And I think about the IRR, internal rate of return. Write that down. Internal rate of return. How much money am I getting on my internal rate of return?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
What's the cash flow? When you start asking yourself that, see, poor people say, when I win the lottery, here's what I want to spend it all on. Wealthy people say, if I won the lottery, here's what I'd be investing in, diversifying it, and making sure here's the cash flow. And that cash flow is something I could probably spend. So different way of thinking. What can we do to set up systems?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
We need to run our company on systems. Miguel, if I were you, I would just look at some sample manuals. What are the checks and balances for a system that you have? Because systems only work when you have checks and balances. Like you could say, greet your clients like this, but how do you check that? Well, you might need real voice or a zero or your own software that records calls in the field.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If you wanted to make sure that every part that needed to be replaced was replaced, you'd build a checklist and make sure there's someone probably in data integrity is what you'd call it. And you'd have them checking all these things to make sure there's pictures of everything. And make sure it's very easy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And that's important. It's a big, big task. But also, what else is important? To stop the negative reviews from coming in. Now, they're few and far between. But at some point, the client either thought they paid too much for the service because they looked at the parts online and they don't understand how business works. They think it's all profit because they've never been in business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You know, I remember when in 2017, I started looking at all my technicians' jobs and I kept seeing the same sticker pop up, same drywall, same little mark on the drywall. And I realized that they were just uploading the same pictures because they're lazy. So I called ServiceTag and I got a hold of one of their developers and I said, can you make sure you can't upload pictures?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
It's got to come right from your camera. There's no way to upload old ones. Well, that put an end to them faking. So lazy. You wouldn't put a new sticker up. Like, why? But they will. They'll find a way unless you create a system and have checks and balances to make sure that system is being followed. Okay, 2024 was our first really good year in the exterior cleaning mobile fleet wash industry.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Once you have your first year of massive improvements, how do you determine what areas to focus on and prioritize to have the best impact in 2025? So, Kristen, there's one of two things I'm always trying to do. Grow revenue fast or grow profit fast. Very rarely am I trying to do both.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
That's like saying, hey, I want you to gain as much muscle as possible in 2025 and get as ripped as possible in 2025. I want you to be shredded at 5% body fat, but you need to gain 40 pounds of muscle. You'd be like, wait, I can't do both. Do you want me to gain a ton of muscle this year or do you want me to get shredded? And I say, you get shredded when you're going to sell a year in advance.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So don't get shredded yet. Focus on growth, but always to stay healthy, make sure your profit's above 10%. So when I say I put money back into my business for growth, where do you think I'd put that money? You think I'd put it into fleet and trainers and different management and recruiters? Yeah, probably some of that. But I'll tell you the number one thing I'd be putting it in is marketing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Because certain things take time. Look, SEO takes time. The best things take time. Word of mouth takes time. Going to B&I meetings every single week or maybe three different B&I meetings take time to actually get the referrals coming in. These things all take time. So, I tend to say if I'm going to reinvest in the company, I'm going to raise the amount I'm putting into marketing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I think people spend way too little on marketing. But I don't think they have good attribution either. Some people are spraying and praying. They're wasting a lot of time, energy, and money on marketing that's not delivering a return on investment. So when I say I'm putting money in, my creative's got to be perfect for TV, radio, billboards.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If my creative's great and I'm putting a lot of money into it, I know I'm building a little, I'm borrowing a little bit of space in your brain for when your garage door breaks. That's the secret. Running great creative. Read all of Roy Williams' books, The Wizard of Ads, before you come up with a TV, radio, or billboard, any type of commercial whatsoever. You got to make sure it's converting.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And then read, there's a book called No BS About Direct Marketing by Dan Kennedy. I highly recommend that book as well. But yeah, these things, what I can tell you is, if you want, I would highly recommend you focus on growth next year if you're happy with your profit. Now, there's a caveat to that. I don't want you to run out of money. So there's a lot of questions I'd have.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
They might be a school teacher. It's your job to educate people. Or just maybe you didn't show up on time. Whatever it is, you got to make it right. So marketing, lots of time, effort, and energy. This is where I'm going to win. The other thing is rehash. You guys know I work with Chirp. I've been really confiding in Chirp a lot to find out what is the easiest, best way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If I was in business with you, I'd say, how much money do we have in the bank? Do we have any lines of credit available if a good company comes along that we could buy? What are some low hanging fruit that costs us the least amount that we could grow the fastest to make the phones ring off the hook?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And I'd look for opportunities to be, you know, I think with the window or car washing type business, you waste money in the drive time. So I'd want to be more route based. So I talked to pest control companies. I would be talking to pools, cleaning companies. I'd be talking to landscape companies. Understand how you optimize routes. Routing is everything when you're cleaning cars.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And try to get on the same schedule. You know, I'd probably talk to a guy like me and say, hey, listen, is there a way to leave their cars at home in their garage and give you a one-time access code to get in the garage? And maybe they'll pull it out of the garage. I don't know. But I'd want to be as efficient as possible. Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Another thing that I do in your industry in particular is I would start selling agreements. Like I'd start selling them in 20 packs. And even if you're allowed to make me four payments, but I'd want some type of contract that they can't just end one day. Because if too many people end because something happens in the economy, something stupid, you're kind of left holding the bag.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So I'd want to have certain agreements to put me into a situation where you can't cancel on this day. You owe me 50 bucks for canceling because you drove out there, you were ready to go. They canceled when you were three minutes away. Like that's not fair to you. So you got to make sure to put these contracts in place. That's where a good lawyer comes in place.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
We're about to launch an HVAC company in January. Completely agree with your discount tune-up for reviews, but what are the one or two other campaigns, specials you would run right away when starting to establish a reputation or build a customer base right out of the gate? Daniel, first thing I would do is build the best website on the planet. And I'd invest a lot in a new blog post once a day.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I'd put pictures. I'd get testimonials. I would focus a lot of time, energy, and money on getting the right backlinks, the right campaigns. Here's the deal. I want you to do this, Daniel. Open up your mail every single day. Open up the newspaper, the largest newspaper. I want you to have neighbors in other areas, your friends, family. I want you to start asking them to give you all the mail.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I want you to record on the main channels, NBC. I want you to talk to someone that does media buys and find out where the biggest guys are buying. What if I told you success leaves clues? Find out what everybody else is offering. What's working in that market? I can't give you one thing that's just boom, it blankets.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If you run an HVAC company in North America, these are the three ads you're going to put. It depends on how long is the summer? How long is the winter? What are the variations of degrees? Are you working on, here's what I would do. I would focus all my time, energy, and focus into 3,500 square foot or more.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I would make sure those are the neighborhoods I'm marketing the most because, you know, they have more than one unit. So if I could get in front of people with two units that were installed at the same time, you know, there's these different tools you could use called Domo or Power BI or grow.com.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Is it sending the client a video? Is it sending them a text message? Is it sending them a Calendly link? What's the best way to get ahold of the client in real time? And what they told me was the people that respond to the clients within one minute, 24 seven are the ones that are winning. So rehash campaigns, I've got millions and millions of dollars sitting there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And you can start one of the things Lance did a long time ago with his HVAC companies took into consideration the temperatures for the week. And the humidity of the week. And he'd learn what days the phone was going to ring off the hook and he'd make sure they were set up for it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And these tools, they take together all this data, these data streams, and they have a way of systematizing it to look at it a certain way to understand capacity planning. Those are some things I'd be thinking about. And you'll find some revelations there. Business...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
It's not easy until it is like for me right now, if I had to start over again and I had five grand in the bank and I'm, I'm 41 right now, it'd be hard, man. First thing I do is go get a job. First thing I would do is go get a great job somewhere, bring it in a couple hundred grand a year, maybe even a hundred grand a year. And I try to be somebody's mentor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I mean, literally like if it's me, Tommy Mello today, I'm, And I know what I know. I would still go get a job. I need more money. I would need to figure out a way to make way, way, way, way, way more money. I'd literally tell Bree, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to be working double shifts six days a week and I'm working a single shift on Sunday.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I would need to get my hands on as much money as possible. And I'd be making sure my credit is dialed in perfect. And I made sure if I put a dollar in, I get a buck 25 out. If I put a dollar in to get a buck 25 out, I'm winning. And as I can start to scale that up and I make the few right hires that I'd be very careful on who I recruit to start my business. I'd make sure they're 10 out of 10.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
They're people I'd die for, that I'd go to war for. I'd make sure I'm in love with these people. I could communicate well with these people. I could lead from up front. And I know that they're willing to put in as much sacrifice as I'm willing to put in to grow something together. And I'll make sure they win at the end. I would need to make sure to hire perfectly.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Your first few hires are going to make or break the company. Well, that's kind of how I'd start. And then I'd go knocking on every neighbor's door. I'd find out the HOA president. I'd say, let me just look at your system. I'm not even going to charge you. I'm already here. If there's something I see, great. Let me put a sticker up. If you need to get a hold of me, I'm honest. I've got integrity.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I will come in. I won't charge you a service call when you need me. I want to put a sticker up there. And hey, listen, I got this Deco hardware kit. if you want me to put this on here, I'll do two of them for a hundred bucks. I'm probably making 80 bucks on that. At least I didn't waste my time. I figured out a way to figure out how to make door to door work.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Cause I don't have enough money to spend in marketing. So listen guys, I know there was a lot more questions and they're fantastic questions. Al said, Alan O'Rourke said to give them a great game to play or they'll play their own game and you won't like it. If the game is to put stickers up, they need accountability and what's in it for them. Heading into a call. Great live show, Tommy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
All right. So that was Al. You guys get a hold of Al. Go to the7powercontractor.com. He still works a little bit of time. Most of his stuff is all automated. He won't do what he did for me, you know, seven or eight years ago and come work with you personally. But then again, you probably don't have the few hundred grand to pay him. So I'd highly recommend a lot of you guys have already done it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You just haven't done the work yet. So do the work. Every day, Adam was such a genius. He'd say, turn to page 40 in your manual. Your answer is right there. He started coaching people on what page in the manual when they'd ask a question. And if it wasn't in the manual, he'd create it right then and there. And then he'd update everybody. We always left it in our payroll system.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So the manual was constantly being updated. And if there was a question he got asked more than once, he'd put it in the manual. If you guys want to order Elevate, the website's elevateandwin.com.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Million-dollar tax is the performance pay, homeserviceexpert.com, and then it's P4P, P, the number four, and then P. I'm going to have Giuseppe put this in the notes because a lot of you guys are still trying to figure out how to pay for performance, PFP, pay for performance. And if you guys want to come to the Freedom Event next year, I highly recommend you guys do that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
The goal is to recoup that money. And the final thing is recruiting. And I can't explain how important recruiting is, but recruiting, then onboarding correctly, and then orientation, and then training, and then retaining. I mean, once again, I stole it from Al Levy, but these things are easier said than done. So how do you make sure? But think about this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
We lined it up for Vegas. We were supposed to have it in Nashville. Vegas ended up working out way better. Some people wanted it in Florida, but it's hurricane season, and it's just not a good thing. So Vegas, it's not going to be a big drunken fester party. I promise you. We just got one guy signed up today that's going to be there. I think you guys are going to love it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I'm going to stack the deck at this one. It's going to be the best of the best. But anyways, if you guys got any questions and I didn't get to it, I'm sorry. Go to homeserviceexpert.com forward slash questions and make today a fantastic day. I appreciate you guys. Go work out, get some good sleep, drink some water, and just go for a long walk tonight. Just start today. Start small.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
See you guys soon. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I'd say, let me just look at your system. I'm not even going to charge you. I'm already here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
There's a lot of financial coaching that needs to take place. They've never made this kind of money before, right? So getting into their mental psyche, I was with a guy named Mark Devine. And this guy was all about just his breathing techniques and meditation and nose breathing and taking less breaths per minute to stay focused and to handle your tough moments. And it's something I'm starting.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Welcome to the Home Service Expert, where each week, Tommy chats with world-class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields like marketing, sales, hiring, and leadership. to find out what's really behind their success in business. Now, your host, the home service millionaire, Tommy Mello.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Like I was talking to my EA Ashley and I'm like, Look, first thing I'm doing this month, major, is I'm making sure my sleep is right. We're going to test a bunch of different sheets, a bunch of different pillows. We're going to test a bunch of different temperatures in the room. I'm going to get the lip tape. And I'm going to try to breathe through my nose when I sleep.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And I'm going to make sure not to look at the phone over an hour. And I've got a little light coming in to read before bed. And I take this thing called Dreamwater and I'm just going to make sure I'm in bed by the right time. I think that that alone. And then I got a couple other problems. Fox News. I'm only going to watch Fox News on the treadmill. That's the new deal for myself.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If I want to watch TV, you're going to do it on the treadmill. And number three, I used to say I'm on social media because of business and I communicate with people, but I find myself screwing off. So I'm going to have certain minutes in the day for social media, and that's it. Because everything comes back to discipline. This is what I don't think people understand.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If it's not physically disciplined and working out and walking and getting your sleep, it's financial discipline and living below your means for a certain amount of time. And it's agreeing with your significant other that you're going to do this for your future selves.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And you'd be surprised if you get with somebody and you make a deal with them and they understand what's in it for them long term, what will happen. So this is all very, very important things, guys, that I hope you're paying attention to. Because at the end of the day, if you don't have discipline in your life, It's going to be a very, very tough life.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So I asked Jocko yesterday, I said, how do you build this muscle of discipline? And he goes, you think I want to get up every morning at 4.30 a.m.? And it's one of those things where once you do it, it gets stronger. It gets better. It's amazing what happens when you continue to flex this muscle called discipline. And you flex it as much as possible, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You want to have a better life, you got to flex this muscle. Better things will happen in your life. But think about this. You know what was easy for me to do? A cold plunge in front of four people. When I go by myself, it's so easy to get out after one minute or make an excuse or not do the sauna. So what's a cheat code? Start inviting a couple of people over to do the cold plunge every morning.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You know, there's, I say this as humbly as possible when my driver gets up super early. I got to have him bring me a cup of coffee at 5 a.m. I mean, what's a cheat code to make things easier for you to perform the discipline you're trying to do? Now, when you start enjoying the cold plunge, it's no longer discipline. When I had this gal, I had her on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
If you guys want to hear a pretty cool podcast, it was the lady that wrote Dopamine Nation. And she explained that when there's true discipline being done, like you run long distances, you work out hard, you get up early. What ends up happening? Dopamine is what happens. So Dopamine Nation, trying to think here, Anna Lemke. L-E-M-B-K-E. She's an MD. And it's absolutely phenomenal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
But dopamine is made to be created through doing very difficult things. As human beings throughout the last millennial, we did hard things. We'd have to go hunt. Before we figured out how to farm, we'd have to hunt to get a meal. Our bodies were used to not eating for very long periods of time. And our digestive systems were for developed to handle that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So I just want you guys to understand that start doing hard things, start accepting change, start going a different way to work, start making change part of your everyday process, get into really good morning routines and habits, but also make enough changes, tweak things here and there. I'm telling you guys.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I can't explain how easy it is to get out of rhythm, to drink one night, to get a bad night's sleep, to do something, to start lying to yourself. And it's the biggest mistakes you could ever make. A life of discipline is the best life. Now, listen, just like you could have a cheat meal, you could have a cheat day where you're going to sleep in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
You could have certain things that you might not work out that day. That's okay. But don't lie to yourself. Do not lie to yourself anymore. Start fulfilling the promises you make. Write them down, think about them, reflect on them, journal about them, and understand why. What does my life look like if I maintain this discipline? What's in it for my future self?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And really write down the real reality of what will happen to you. You'll get stronger. You'll walk in a room and you'll have more self-respect for yourself. You'll think clearer. You'll have more money in the bank. Your relationships will deepen. Your kids will admire you more. It just doesn't stop. Keep writing all those things down.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
So when you're confronted with falling out of this cycle, you've got enough ammunition to convince yourself not to screw off. I'm going to read this quote. I could just keep talking. I'm going to read this question by Ari. When you open a new location, how long does it typically take to reach a point of where you're doing solid numbers like $5 million plus per year? So here's the question, Ari.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
How much money do you have to put into marketing? So if I'm spending 35% and my goal is $10 million, that means I'm going to spend $3.5 million in marketing. which I will hit the goal of getting into the black on my financials quicker the more money I spend. Now, if I only want to spend 15% in marketing, it might take me two years. See, I'm willing to pay to play. I'll pay more into the marketing
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
to get into the black quicker, to take more market share. So a lot of people don't have $3.5 million to put into a market straight into marketing and get no ROI that first year. You're still in the red. You're still losing money. So what I would say is a good number is nothing less than 25% of your target goal. So at 5 million, if you want to hit 5 million, it's 250,000 per million.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
25%.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Does your system and process allow you to get there within the first year? Does it usually take a bit more time? So like I said, we will get there the first year, but that comes through really great recruiting. There's a few other things you'd want to do, like...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
get great reviews very, very quickly, meaning that you might do tune-ups for $9 for the first three months and not even try to sell on those jobs. You're trying to get as many reviews as possible. People need to know who you are. And that happens through reviews. That's one of the ways. And then conventional SEO is really, really important as well.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
We had a salesperson who previously worked for one of our suppliers and was fired due to attitude issues, particularly when things went wrong. They would argue, shift blame, and be difficult to manage. We believed in their potential, so we recommended them to another supplier, but they were let go for the same reasons. Then decided to hire them ourselves, hoping they could turn things around.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Why we don't want to see them go through another job loss. We're facing the same challenges now. We believe change is possible, but when we don't want to be unrealistic, what would you suggest? He is excellent salesperson and easy to deal with for the majority of the time. I think this is where you got to take them out to dinner and you need to invite their significant other.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And this is where you need to have fierce conversations, extreme honesty, right? Because right now what's happening is a lack of communication. So I think what needs to happen is you need to sit him down and you just say, here's where we're at. This is why you lost your job on the first one. We got you a job here. What would you like me to do when you're acting this way?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. All right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
And if you guys have these honest conversations and you might even say, listen, when you're acting this way, I'm going to give you a code word. I'm going to say the Lions, you know, the Lions are playing in Detroit or figure out a code word and say, this is what you're doing. You're making it very hard for us. And when you're good, you're great. But when it's bad, it's really bad.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
How would you like me to respond? What's the best way to do this? Talk to his wife. Figure out a way to break through this. Because if he's a great performer and he's great at sales and he's great to get along with most of the time, how do you just handle that a little bit? And have him help come up with a solution or he'll self-eliminate.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
Clyde said, how much operating capital should you have in your account before moving into a new city? Roughly, bare minimum, four months. Four months of payroll and everything else that could go wrong. I'm just not a big fan of fast expansion. Not like I used to be. Because I got a lot of popsicle stands. I got a lot of places where we haven't taken market share. I looked at my Power BI.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Doubling Down on Core Markets and Rethinking Expansion Strategies
I looked deep at them this weekend. And man, my top five markets... If my second five market, like out of the 43 markets we're in, we're slowly creeping up. But if I had less markets and I could focus more on the ones we're in, it was just, I would suggest being very careful. You better have a lot of market share before you expand. What is the best way to pay salespeople?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, well, that's what they say in a 12-step process is – well, first of all, maybe admitting you might be the problem.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Sales grows it really, really fast. And if I had to argue what's more important, it would be hard, but I think marketing, making the phone ring off the hook, but marketing. I've seen companies like Tom Howard with two good guys sell for $80 million. So what do you think? Sales are very, very important. You're based in Colorado, the CEO of Weldon Log Organization, founder.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You know how many clients call us? Like I said, we run 22,000 jobs a month. That's insane. And I used to be on the phones a lot. I mean, this has been a decade. But they used to say, I've had this company out. the last three years, 2021, 2022, 2023, came out in January 2024. I mean, this is obviously years and years, so it was like 2014. They said, can you just come fix it right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You've got a pretty big resume, peak home performance, author of The Upside of Fear and The Power of Consistency, Consistency Selling. You've got a pretty crazy story. Yeah. And I'm excited you're doing this. I'll let you kick us off and just tell us. A little bit about you've knocked doors. You've inspired people. You just got done with a keynote at a financial institution, LPL Financial. Yep.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
We don't really care what it costs. Yeah. We just want to be able to hit the button and it opened. Yeah. And so many people, they're like, how could you charge for that? It was so funny. I was upstairs with 40 other garage door companies. This was like my Frank Blau, George Brazil, early days moment. And I said, you guys are more than welcome to come into my business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I'm going to show you exactly what I do. And I wrote down HVAC. I said, $2,500. They sell it for $15. That's about a 6X. I said, hot water. He did the same thing. I go through like 10 different industries. I said, how much do we pay? And this is five years ago. I said, how much do we pay for a garage door and an opener? Like a good one. Someone says $1,500 combined.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I said, let's just take the 7X. I said, who here is charging $10,500? Out of, you know, 40 companies I'm looking around. And no hands. And I said, okay, who's here's, you know, let's just say $7,500. And one guy goes, how do you sleep at night?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I said, interesting question. Who here hires guys and does drug test background checks, could be on every billboard, gives their guys $5,000 worth of brand new tools, trains them for 10 weeks, gives dental, insurance, PTO, allows their guys to make six figures, doesn't hold them down on the projects, buys brand new vans every year. Once your van's over three years old, it's getting replaced.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Who here can afford to give insurance and pay six? How many people here pay their guys six figures? Not one. Wait a minute. How do you sleep at night knowing you're screwing your employees over to give your customer a good deal?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
It's insane. It bothers me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I don't know if they don't mind doing the work because a lot of them were installers. They wanted to try this out. And I think it's just they have a hard time with confrontation. They see they don't have the money to even own a house. Right. And they're selling out of their own pocket.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And they go, well, so I just say the simple phrase of, did you want me to Band-Aid fix this, kick it down the road?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Or did you ever think about replacing it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You spent some time in prison. Yep. Everything. So why don't you tell us where you've been, where you're at today, and where you're going.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Because based on what I see.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And then I give options. Yeah. Because if you're not giving options, you're giving ultimatums. Right. Anybody that says to me, this is it, you take this quote or leave it, I'm like, don't we have something else?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I don't need you. So someone asked me yesterday, there was about 40 garage door companies, randomly again, and this is garage door freedom, and they said, what do you do when your technicians, this was the exact question. They said, what do you do when your technicians feel like they're ripping people off when they sell them stuff? And this is this whole mindset that you've been talking about.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I said, well, the first thing I do is something a buddy of mine years and years and years, probably 10 years ago, Alan Ferguson, gave me this cost break-even analysis. And this was really old. It had yellow book pagers, everything. But back then it was $400 an hour to break even.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I said, they need to understand, a lot of people pride themselves on never showing their technicians or anybody the books. I'm like open book management. Hey, guys, here you go. Like, here's the deal. I used to, when I was 13 through 16, I used to make pizzas at Rookie's Clubhouse.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I could tell you, man, the cheese, the massive cans of tomato sauce, we couldn't have spent much more than 40 cents on a pizza. But back then, we were still charging around 20 bucks. It was custom pizza. It was a wood-burning oven. And I'm like, wait a minute. Think about that. That's 50X markup. They 50X'd it. This place, this sports club should have been out of business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
50X they marked it up. That's highway robbery. But the pizza was ready. We delivered it. It was ready when you want it. It was still hot when it showed up. And it was delicious, I'm sure. But why is it that in home service and home improvement, people are like, why? Why would I pay for that much?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
That's just the reality, man. And Leland was like, hey, listen, if you want to go start your own business, you go, make sure you take that guy. Yeah. He does all the payroll. But if you want to start your own business, make sure – because your fleet needs to be run perfectly in the gas cars, and that needs to get paid.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And make sure – how do you think the phones – we need to have the marketing department. Make sure – you know what it is to – service design does some of this, but we've got to have the matching principle and have the automated reconciliation. So you've got to make sure you know how to reconcile the books. And make sure – but here's the thing. You've got to have a call center that books 24-7.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And who's going to be doing the recruiting and hiring? Right. And you start thinking about it, and you're like, just because it's the e-myth revisited, born again. You're a great technician, but you think you deserve more. And listen, it's kind of true. If you work out of your house, you drive a used truck, you know how to make a few leads happen.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
usually it's feast for a while and then it turns into famine within a year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Are the ROC or are they booked out? Listen, this has happened to me a few times where the client will go, listen, I've got a garage for a guy. But I called you out because he's slammed. He can't get out of here for a week. Huh. So did you want to, what happens when it breaks? He comes out here, band-aids it. That's what they do is they band-aid these things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I decided a long time ago, you want us to be trustworthy, premium products on your timeline, same day service, usually within an hour. I don't want to be the most affordable person. But I want to be the highest quality. I want to be the best value. I want to be the best investment for you and the safety of your family. So if you're looking for a deal...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You know, I will listen at the end of the day. It's a licensed company and it's apples to apples, which we don't really sell apples. We sell oranges and it's a service. I will. I'll talk to him because I'm not going to leave with a zero if I've already showed up.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
But I know how to build a ticket because once I get you to make a buying decision. Right. All I always tell the guys when I do my orientation, I do an orientation every month with a new guy. My job is just to get you to want to use me. Once you're using me, that's just the beginning of our relationship.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, the finance guys are the best. Right. And my goal is when you make this buying decision is, listen, I need, and I tell this to all my technicians. I just need you to make sure the customer understands that you're going to give them a fair shake. Yeah. That's all they want. Yeah. And first of all, they need to love you. Secondly, they need to know you love the company. Right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Because they're buying from the company. And the third thing is, which is hard for everybody, is they need to feel loved.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
They need to feel listened to, respected. That is so good. And I'm like, very few times do we hit all three of those. Yeah. And we're laughing at their jokes. And if they love Bernie Sanders, I'll say, yeah, tell me about Bernie.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Oh, yeah, yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, he's right here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
So give me an example. Who do you use for your landscaping? This is freaking phenomenal. I mean, is that like an example for advice?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
All your passions and pastimes are in your garage.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You know? Yeah, I love this stuff. I could do this. I'm going to rapid-fire a bunch of questions. Five books that you recommend for people searching for a radical mindset transformation.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I think after the first one it's easy. It gets easier. It gets easier. The first one is like it'll never be done because, oh, my gosh, what happened today? I've got to make sure. It's like you feel like you're going to miss out. FOMO.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I already moved to California, but he's amazing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I know Mark Victor Hanson really well.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I read it for fun because all of my haters are undercover fans. Yeah, they are.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
They're watching your stuff. Look, at the end of the day, I'm like, you know, I used to get under my skin. I'm like, you don't even know me. You don't know what I do. You don't know why. You don't know how big of a heart I have. But now I'm like, well, why would I want to prove this to you? And if you don't have haters, it probably means you're not making it. I read this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I just had this guy come shoot this like 40 minute video with me and I was reading. It was such great comments. So many great comments, like 160 amazing, except for one. It said the minute this guy says he puts everything on his schedule and he makes his office hard to get to, because I'm the CEO of the company. My office is the hardest to get to. Sure, it should be. That's what L.A.V. taught me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Make sure you've got important work to do. You've got people counting on you. And I'm like, this person doesn't even understand at all even what a business is. You know what? I have nothing to prove, but it's interesting because it used to bother me. We've got 10 minutes, and I really want to hear just your methodology. You're known for your sales process. Could you break that down for me? Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I don't know if that's long enough.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, Waste No Day.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I heard that podcast. You talked about some type of authority, the authority of – Yeah, it's kind of the social – Well, it's social proof, but I'm talking about what's the authority. You mentioned like, hey, this was written about –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Consumer Reports Department of Energy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Right? Yes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And do the same thing for garage doors.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, the IDA, International Door Association.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I just bought them out about two years ago.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
What did you say the three most important words were?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Earlier you said, earlier you said was the – okay.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You preferred my company over – And you don't think they come off – so you – Oh, you got to be careful.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, yeah. The murder she wrote at the same time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And you probably, I think you mentioned this, but you still like an old school write stuff down.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, but then they say if you don't give me $5, will you give me $2? Yeah, you become twice. You could always come down.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I had Chris Voss. Yeah, we had a few minutes here. I had Chris Voss in here, and I said, listen, let's go talk to the guys next door real quick. And he said, okay. And I said, listen, a lot of these guys are single, probably going to go to the bar, shoot some pool tonight. What would you say to a girl to get her to say no, get her to get excited? And he goes, it's very easy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Have you given up on meeting the man of your dreams yet? And, you know, no. You know, is there any reason you want me to look at your garage door and make sure it's safe? Right. So he's like, unlike the old Tom Hopkins, how many times have we been screwed when we say yes? You want to make more money, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You want to make sure that everything's safe in your life and everything's very fantastic because we've been fooled before.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, you automatically... You know, one of the things I was just with Ciaudini about, I don't know, a month ago, and he goes, try this. Some people are watching this, most people aren't, but put your hand up for me. Put it up higher. Put it up like you mean it. Okay. A little bit... So why is it we have to tell people to try? Like, why is it... Everyone does this in the audience.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
He says, no... So... we got to push people a little bit to go to that next level, to push all the way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
So I just – I literally had a marketing meetup, and I said, hey, Robert, I'd really – I call him Bob. And I said, Bob, was there any way – and Bobette's his wife. I said, can you make it to this event? He goes, yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And Bobette usually works out of speaking fees, and she's like, we're not going to charge you, Tommy, but would you donate some money to Joe Polish's – because Joe Polish introduced us. And I'm like, yeah, I'll give $10,000 to Joe Polish's – you know, he's really into helping addiction. And I said, and he came out and put it on a three-hour clinic.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And I'm telling you, like the shit I'm about to incorporate, and I got his best student that he trained on the Child Eating Institute, Chris Phelps coaching. And I don't even know where to start because there's so many things that we want to implement of each and everything. Some of it's recruiting, a lot of it's sales, a lot of it's marketing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Those are the three things that really, none of it's going to be on the finance side or anything.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
But, no, I definitely am interested in talking to you and working with you on a bunch of stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I do these podcasts, and selfishly, I probably hire one out of 40 people. And the storytelling that you did, I wrote down storytelling because you're such a good storyteller. That's what it's all about. Storytelling is how do you teach people how to storytell? That'll be my last question.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And then I've got to ask people how to get a hold of you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah. That's a comedian. That's one thing I find that they do is every single person in the audience can relate to them. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. So, Weldon, if somebody wants to reach out once again, go over your few books that you've written.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
So the sales process and then the third one, consistency selling.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, I've got them all. They're all at my house. I just haven't gotten through them yet. It's like I've got too many books in the backlog.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
You're a well-read guy. Yeah. If someone reaches out to you, Weldon, what's the best way to do that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Cool.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I love it, man. Anytime you're in Phoenix, I'm down to do a round two, round three. Yeah, me too. This is very valuable stuff, and it's an honor to have you here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Well, listen, there's no finish line for me. It's all about... Say this, and I mean it, though. It's about really falling in love with the process. Falling in love with the journey. The destination. Everybody goes, man, what would I do if I had a couple hundred million if I sold for that much in my bank account? I'm like, you'd buy a lot of stuff and you'd have a lot of problems.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
And trust me, you need a house manager, you would need a bunch of shit. And it's a good thing. I love my life. Don't get me wrong, but most people aren't ready for it yet.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Thank you, Tommy. Hey there. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
39.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text notes, N-O-T-E-S to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I love what you're doing. I've been chatting a lot with Kevin Cumberford, and he sent me his book. I talked to Leland quite a bit. I talked to Ken Haynes quite a bit. Ken Goodrich all the time. I talked to not really an old come up, but did a lot. Keegan Hodges. You know, there's really not a lot of people. I went out recently to go see Morris Jenkins.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I went out recently and spent a lot of time with the whole team up in Utah at the... In the hour.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah. Great guys. And, you know, I've made... HVAC plumbing electrical is about a $190 billion market cap. A garage is about a $14. Wow. So... And it's not going to all of a sudden, like, garage doors just dump up $10 billion. It's not going to happen. So for what I need to do, I need to continue to expand in garage doors.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
But Parker & Sons still does, you know, Parker & Sons is part of Rents Group. And if they do $300 million at 20%, they're kind of equivalent to what I'm at in 40 markets. One market. Yeah. So this idea of owning your client and going and doing all these other things for them, or do you want to own an industry across the board?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I just decided I wanted to get Crossroads at the best price of anybody, so I needed to go. I told Ara and Vahe with Service Titan, I'll be more licenses than the whole Crossroads industry combined. Yeah. Which I'm not, but I'm still working on that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Everything is mindset.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
and you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Sometimes when I ignore it, in the Bible it says if you ignore your conscience, it goes away. And I believe that's true. You start doing a creative justification. But you take technicians, especially HVAC, what do you find that their mindset is missing?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Because I always talk about Daniel Pink to sell as human. I talk about if you want to meet your wife, you sold during that process, and you continue to sell every day to your children. And the best salesman I know at church is the preacher. He's collecting 10% of you forever if he's really good. So the first thing I do is pan out a tray, tithing tray, and say, everything you guys got.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
I'm like, this is when I figured out sales was okay. So talk to me about how you get that. People are either selling out of their own pocket or they feel bad. Why are we charging these prices? Why are we charging this price to this beautiful mother that's divorced?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today, I've got someone that's I've been supposed to have been on this podcast for the last – since I started it. Weldon Long, he is – he's a guy I've been following for a long time. He's a sales expert. I'm really into sales. As you guys know, I'm really into marketing. I think marketing builds the business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
From Convict to CEO - A Journey of Transformation with Weldon Long
Yeah, they vilify it. So once you're able to get them to... So you got 70% of them. You're asking them how they feel. What you said was... What's the first word that comes to mind? You're identifying the problem and you're telling them... Basically, where did the beliefs come from? You're explaining this to them. You're helping them understand where those negative beliefs came from.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You got to start thinking bigger. I was talking, we were talking about Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg. Here's why they win. They think bigger than us. And I'm not thinking small anymore. And that takes bold changes. It takes people that are willing to take very controversial decision-making, extreme risks. And most of you guys don't even, you would never move. You're in your comfort zone.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Listen, we were at your house recently to give you a garage door estimate, and I wanted to let you know I'm here to do whatever it takes to earn your business. We've got a lot of different options for you. Give me an opportunity. Text me back on this number. I'm going to get my right-hand guy on it. I look forward to
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Look, it's just these messages that goes out when we don't close the door, get them on the phone, text them back. It's all chirp. It's pretty simple stuff. And then you A-B test that, run a different message. And then if they're shopping, you say, look, before you buy a door, I want you to go with the best possible company to satisfy your needs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Here's 10 things you need to know about before you buy a garage door. Because some people say we got to get three prices. You know, that's just the way we do business. You should have the guy putting in there in the checklist and that fires the campaign on chirp. I mean, this stuff is so easy, but nobody does it. Like I say until I'm blue in the face, get pictures in your reviews.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Make sure there's a way to get every single job with a review. It's just very few, like you get the idea, it gets written down and then it goes somewhere to die. Does that sound familiar? Like, yeah, but there's so many things. What should I, like, what do I do right away?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Well, I would focus on the things that take zero effort from me, except a few videos and a little bit of copywriting, which is true. I mean, when you hire Al Levy, it's a lot of work. I mean, I'm looking at his book. Like, you got to put the manuals together. You got to read them out loud. That stuff takes your time, effort, and energy. And it'll have the most incredible impact on the business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But when I give you guys things very simply to do, and you wonder why things don't change, why things don't get better. It's crazy to me, but I would like our CSRs to call back every missed call. Yeah, see, I just implement chirp on that one, Gabe. Ronnie said, you mentioned developing relationships with HOAs. Can you explain that? Are they marketing your business or referrals?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
All right, we are live. Welcome to January's Q&A. 2025, it's going to be a good one today. I got a lot of energy worked out this morning, feeling good. Started up my diet again, going hard in the paint. I weighed 246.2 this morning, looking to get to below 8% body fat here, going hard in the paint. And I started thinking a lot about this, like,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And what do they get out of it? Well, an HOA, think about it. An HOA is usually the people that are like the president and the controller, you know, everybody within an HOA. They just want to uphold their property value. They want to make sure there's no cars parked in the street. There's no overgrown landscaping. The roofs aren't leaking. The landscaping looks good.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Some of them pay for Christmas lights. There's certain things. They want everything to kind of stay there. looking good. And that means someone can't have a completely different garage door than everybody else. So it's just crazy like the outlier. It means there's color codes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So if they find a vendor like me and I could go talk to them about safety, neighborhood watch, you know, you can take a hanger and actually manually release the garage door and break in. HOAs are very careful about safety, safety in the community. They want to make sure there's nobody breaking in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So we talk a lot about safety, making sure your garage doors work and make sure if there's a fire or any type of natural disaster you could get out or emergency, how the manual release works. So we go in teaching them safety, teaching them Amazon could deliver into the garage and that way there's no people stealing off your porch. We talk about that stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Then we say also, you know, we have, we can install an opener that's super quiet. that you can actually get in through MyQ. And we talk about, we get the color codes for the garage doors. So we find out what's acceptable. What would you guys allow? The HOA votes on all the doors they allow. So then we want a client and then they send out mailers every month.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And they say, this is our vendor of choice. You could call them up and they'll give you every single thing we voted on because otherwise you got to wait for HOA approval. Sometimes that takes 90 days. When I get to say these have already been approved and advertised to the clients that your HOA picked us as the preferred vendor for the entire HOA, there's preferred pricing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
We got the color codes and we got the different examples of what you're allowed to carry. Especially if there's a storm. We had a bad windstorm. There was like every other door at this time. This was 2012. And I just door knocked and said, hey, we can fix this door for you. And it's HOA approved. So there's a lot of advantages of working with HOAs because... You're trusted and true.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I've worked with apartment complexes. Now, listen, we're growing so big that I don't focus as much because they're smaller tickets. HOAs are still decent size. But when I was hustling, man, I was stopping off at every apartment. I give them, I talk about, because most departments don't have a side exit door. They just have the one that goes in the house.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So there's this thing you could drill into the door and it's a key that you can pull the manual release. And I installed those on every door. Like I was just hustling, man. I figured out a way to earn everybody's business. And that's what you got to do early in business. A lot of people are like, what do I got to do to get leads? Get your ass up and go get the business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I'm going to a BNI meeting on Thursday in Atlanta. Tommy Mello, you know, is going to a BNI meeting. How many of you guys have said, oh, we outgrew BNI? It's crazy to me. You're too good to go to a B&I meeting or a chamber of commerce. Crazy. Matt said, I own a junk removal business. We do cleanouts, junk removal, and light demolition based in Philadelphia.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Any tips for growth in a competitive landscape on a tight budget? I mean, listen, look, where can you market? It's marketing, right? I mean, look, end of the day, junk removal. I study everything I could by like waste management and how they grew. But tight budgets, you know, you got to go out and meet the people. simply like little things, dude.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Like, you know what I noticed is the guys that flip houses have the biggest mouths. They're the best networkers on the planet. You go give them a deal. I say, listen, if you keep getting me clients, they've got a whole network of people. Everyone calls them because they're like, you're the one that specializes in houses. Who do I use for this? Who do I use for this? Like think outside of the box.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Where does my clients, the gift that keeps giving, where do they need me? I go build relationships with these people. There's this thing called construction monitor. It tells you everybody that's pulled a permit for anything in most counties. And if they pull the permit to remodel the house, there's going to be some junk removal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Like think outside of the box, find tools like this, ask more people. If you gave me a day just to work on things, I can give you so much. You wouldn't even know where to start, but you got to test different things and see that was easy. That works well. Let's continue to do that. Let's put more resources over here. You know, I try a lot of things. A lot of them don't work, but some of them do.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You know, some of you guys, I've been getting a lot of messages, lots of social media messages of how do you work so much and still motivate yourself to do these things, work out and go on vacations with your family and do these things. And I know this word gets overused and the word is accountability. It's kind of you versus you. David Goggins talks about this is it's you versus you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
If one out of 10 work well, and I can test a thousand things, I just got a hundred things that work well in a year. And that's the difference is a lot of people are like, oh man, I wish we had leads today. Looks like we're not going to work much. I'm like, dude, I got to go out and meet some realtors and some brokers and some insurance agents and some people that deal with escrow accounts.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And like, I never sat at home waiting for leads. Even when the phone was slow, I'd go talk to the Yellow Pages. I'd talk to Valpak. I'd go study other people's Valpak because I could look at last month and say, is my offer the best? You said, what are your thoughts on junk removal, clean out, light demolition industry? Any insights or ideas on performing roll ups?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I mean, listen, I think you could roll up any industry. I think it's yesterday Trump got in. I think it's going to be I text my guy from Goldman Sachs. You know how much money is on the sidelines, according to them? Eight trillion dollars sitting in part of that's because interest rates are up.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
If just a part of that gets deployed, plus you got the repaid, you know, this money comes back in from other countries for free. I'm not saying Trump's the, you know, perfect for everything. I'm not saying that at all. What I am saying, I think it's going to be good to stimulate the economy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I'm saying now is going to be like, you better start growing and get an idea on how to scale your business. A lot of people just want a lifestyle business that never made sense to me. Most people that have a lifestyle business are coaches and they like to brag about their small business that barely makes any money while they're trying to make money in coaching.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Maybe it's an ego thing, but they, they, they brag. I know hundreds of people that they have this lifestyle business, but then they like, I want to be a coach. I want to be on stage. By the way, everybody and their brothers are asking me how to start a podcast. And I'm like, you start a podcast to meet your clients. Now, I started a podcast to learn more about home service.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Completely, probably not the right thing to do. Now, I got an education in home service because I was able to get the right people on. But I started eight years ago. So, you know, everybody thinks, man, I want to do what Tommy does. There's no money in podcasting. There's no money in events. There's really not a lot of money in coaching.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And plus you'll, you know, but you can help a lot of people out. There's future opportunities. I do events because I love them and I'm friends with all the vendors and I win big at A1. Every single thing I negotiate for these events and everything I do, I'm like, just give A1 a better price. Help A1 grow more.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Give us what's going on next month on the, what are you guys developing to make us better? You should see everything I negotiate to just help A1. Everything I do with the back of my mind going, how does A1 win? How does my family at A1 win? Like every stage I get on, I talk about A1. People reach out to me, 10 people a day. Hey, I use A1 because I saw you. You're a great company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You guys lived up to the expectations. When you do this stuff, I'm still focused on the main thing, A1. I run a small pool service and construction business with my father. All of our service technicians are 1099, drive their own trucks, and our accounting is very poor. Wondering In what order should I focus on fixing these issues?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But accountability is when you get an accountability partner. You can be accountable to yourself, but why not find somebody, you know, if you got a really good person in your life, they don't allow you to kind of miss. You know, when they say, hey, dude, let's just miss the gym today. Hopefully the other person's like, no, we said we were going to do this. Let's leave early.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Yeah, well, the first thing is you need someone that understands accounting and finance. You need to understand when you start switching from a 1099 to a W-2, it's going to cost you way more money, but you get so much more control. I would focus on making sure your books are closed out by the 5th, not the 10th.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And make sure you get onto accrual accounting and make sure your shit is accurate as can be. You got to have a known financial position every day and every week. Understand how much is in the account, what's going out. Are you guys making money? Are you priced right? I get the really good, my books dialed in, like next level dialed in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I didn't know what that even meant till four or five years ago. Like I had good books. Now I have excellent audited, great books. They're like down to the decimal. When you have that, you have ultimate control, especially if you're paying attention. Get your books right and then figure out how much this person is going to help you figure out what it's going to cost to transition.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And then what's going to have to happen to increase some KPIs? You're going to have to have either a higher conversion rate, higher opportunity, job average, booking rate, something to give you the money to make that okay. But I've never, look, in roofing, sometimes painting and sometimes other industries, sometimes construction, you get away with having 1099s, but you lose all control.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
People are like, oh yeah, but there's a fine line. Very rarely do people live up, like you could get sued for the last 10 years. You could owe money back all the taxes you haven't been paying, the payroll taxes. I've seen people literally get a $5 million they got to pay on. Now, the government won't shut you down, but they'll say you got to make payments.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
They'll keep you in business just enough to make enough money that you still want to run the business, but not enough money. And guess what? You get sued for payroll taxes, you can't go bankrupt. You can't get rid of that. There's no way to get out of that. Mason said, our ranking's on Google Maps. as well as SEO, has been game-changing for us over the past couple of years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
We live in a small or semi-large metro. We rank incredible on one side and non-existent on the other side. Would you recommend creating a new GBP for the other side? I know sometimes messing with this is risky as anything can get your listing shut down. We currently have over 400 reviews
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Well, listen, I think opening up another showroom on the other side of town and actually have people working out of there. Now, listen, you want it to be more than 30 miles away. You want to make sure you're getting a lot of reviews for it. You want to make sure the BBB, you've got to be BBB accredited for every location. That's a trust signal for Google.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Get the citation sites done, get reviews with. I told you guys about Pinparent with Callan. Have Callan running his little algorithm in the background? Yes. If I'm not existing on the other side of town, it's because I don't have a location there. And there's obviously SEO and LSA ads that you can run PPC. You know, when I was small, I'd run Angie's list ads.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I'd run deal of the day ads, you know, living social, like, you know, all these things matter. Like when you're small, you got to do it all. And a lot of people, they don't remember the grassroots. They don't remember putting yard signs. They're like, You got to door knock. You got to go socialize with people. It's hard. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
No, no, we're not going to leave early. Hey, dude, you might be having a bad day. Take some pre-workout. Let's get through this. We go to the gym. We're going to work hard. We're going to work. We're going to work hard. You know, it's such a big deal. Another big thing is I had my buddy Barry over from Power of Selling Pros and his son came with him.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Why can't I just get more business? Because you're lazy. You're not social. You don't know how to ask questions. You don't know how to genuinely look people in the eyes and say, I want to take care of you. I want all your business. And a lot of people sell on price. They don't sell on quality. That's another big mistake. So yeah, absolutely, I would get another location.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I'd make it a real location that you're paying rent at. that you've got signs up that you're actually running people out of there to make it completely Google compliant white hat. Hey there, I hope you're really enjoying today's episode. I wanted to share something with you that's been on my mind lately. People always say, Tommy, you're so lucky to have mentors like Al Levy and Ken Goodrich.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But come on, you think it was luck? Not a chance. Before they ever shared their secrets with me and before I knew them on a first name basis, I had zero connections. So how did I go from nobody knowing my name to learning from the best in the business? I put in the work. I found the real players, the guys who built, scaled, and sold their businesses for a massive payday. And I gave before I asked.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
A handwritten note, a thoughtful gift, a quick video thanking them. But guess what? You don't have to grind for years to build a network like I did. You just got to get into the right room. That's exactly what Freedom 2025 is for. You'll be surrounded by people that are $10 million to $500 million home service legends. The real deal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Sign up now and get the early bird bonus bundle worth more than $5,000. It includes some of my best resources to help you face every single challenge in business. Go to freedom event.com. Again, that's freedom event.com. All right, let's get back to today's episode. Jose said, what are your two biggest pieces of advice for myself and my cousin who started a home service company at the age of 23?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Well, I started when I was 23. Don't be afraid of mistakes. Just don't make big mistakes. Start small. You know, when you're smaller and you don't have a lot of money, the mistakes don't cost as much. Still, they can put you out of business. But just don't keep doing the same things if it's not working. Don't be afraid of change.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I say always put it back into the business, but make sure you're breaking up a little piece. When you're 23 years old and you could save just $7,000 a year, you're going to be a millionaire no matter what. Start a Roth IRA, put the money away. Do not use that money. You might say seven grand is not going to change your business a year, but it'll change your life when you turn 50.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
25 years at 10% is $7,000 a year is $2 million. So do yourself a favor. I guess you'd be 58. But give yourself some money. Another thing is don't be afraid to ask for help. Go in as humbly as possible. Be curious all the time. And just don't get comfortable always doing the work. Get comfortable finding the people to do the work. And it might not be perfect every time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
It might not have been what you've done. But then ask yourself, did I give clear direction? Did I explain how this needs to be done? Is it detailed that a fifth grader could understand it? Because if you didn't give the right instruction and you didn't get them to show you how to do it in front of you, and then it doesn't get done correctly,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You need to look at yourself in the mirror and say, I didn't give the right instruction. I think people miss this fact all the time. They go, people always make mistakes. That's why I got to do it myself. Well, you didn't provide the instruction.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And his son's 16 and we talked about a lot of things. And he said, what's a few tips? You know, if you were 16, I said, number one, go open a Roth IRA. And I kind of explained to him compound interest. And I said, rich people, very wealthy people, they focus on the principle. They leave that there and they focus, like a lot of people, when they make money, they can't wait to spend it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
It's like if you got a little kid and you're teaching him how to play baseball and he runs to second base instead of first base, is it his fault or did he know to run to first base? They got to be taught the rules of the game and how to win and how to keep score. They got to understand is there two strikes and then the third strike you're out. And is there two outs third out the switch?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Like how do you play the game and how do you ensure it's getting played correctly? That's your job. You're the coach. Can't wait for the shop tour next month. Me either. I love the shop tours. It's Tommy mellow.com forward slash shop. If you guys ever want to do a shop tour, love doing them. Want to get really serious about delivering more value. Hi, Tommy. You look good. Proud of you, brother.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Question. We have a networking meeting with different business owners once a month, and we share ideas, mostly plumbing owners. We have some that do HVAC. What is your advice for us? Any ideas? Shout out from Houston, Santana Bros Plumbing. You know, here's the deal, Miguel.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I've got a few buddies that really got together with an HVAC and plumbing and they found big companies that they worked with and they share like they had a rule. If you're not PE backed and you're big enough and you're never going to be competition, we'll share the financials and we'll do a shop tour once a quarter. And they went to other shops and they critique each shop.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And they built this little alliance. And the problem with these groups is there's a lot of people that don't tell the truth. There's a lot of people that just come there to extract knowledge. And you can tell who they are. They're the guys always writing stuff down, listening, never contributing, never talking about what's working for them. You know, I've got a group.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And our group, I know whether it's Aaron Gaynor, Chad Peterman, or whoever, we're always giving each other great advice. We're telling each other what we found. We're trying to like, hey, I got something new to share with you guys. And... You know, I feel like if you get the group of givers, everybody wins.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But when it's just local competition, you're going to find that you're not getting much out of that. I mean, if I were you guys, I'd rather do a Zoom call with competitors from other markets that aren't going to infringe upon your territory. They get a lot more honesty. That's what I would be doing. I'd also have other companies like other industries.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I'd probably have roofers and flooring, other big ticket items come in and talk about what's working. From Instagram, Storm Spence, what's your thoughts on college and what's the best degree to study for someone that wants a business? I think professors have tenure. They don't know what it's like to make it in the real world for the most part. I don't think I've ever looked for a degree.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I think if you look at home service and home improvement, that's what everybody's saying going into now. They used to say you get a coding degree in Python or Ruby on Rails or figure out different type of coding. Now they're like, oh, AI is going to replace that. And then you go for graphic design. Oh, AI is going to replace that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I think if I were to go back, I would spend as much time learning sales. And they have sales degrees. Marketing. Sales and marketing is where I'd want to live. And I'd take some finance classes. Learning how to build relationships, I'd be reading all the time. Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People. I don't think I'd go to a formal institution. I got a master's degree in business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
The coolest thing about that was I met some really cool people. There was a couple of cool instructors. I learned some basic stuff, but I can't look back at anything I was learning and like, man, I really applied that to my life. Advanced calculus, organic chemistry, economy, economics. accounting, advanced accounting.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Like, yeah, there's, I used to take apart annual reports, figure out if we want to invest in it. Like there were classes where they'd give us like these fake, we could invest in companies, fake money. There wasn't anything brain shit that kept my mind busy. I learned how to study and get ready for tests and learn knowledge, but I didn't apply much of it to business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Like if I told you I'm going to give you $100 million, you'd be like, oh my gosh, let's make a list of everything we're going to buy. Wealthy people don't do that. They say, what are we going to invest that in? We can spend the compound interest. So $100 million at 10% is $10 million a year. I'd say we could spend five of it. We want that principle to grow. Therefore, the compound interest grows.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So I would go through more like go to seminars and like invest in mentors and figure out ways to like generate leads and create a culture. I just don't think there's a whole lot like... There is some things that college is useful for. I hate to say this because I went to my master's degree and I'm doing pretty good. But hindsight, Tommy Mello, 18, no.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I would take classes, but I wouldn't go for the degree. A lot of people say get a degree because people look at that just to say you can finish something. I don't know how important that is this day and age. Learning from a bunch of people that never made it in the real world with tenure. Losers, actually, that teach equity and diversity and all that shit. They brainwash you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I know a lot of instructors have tried to brainwash me. I just didn't buy into it. Patrick said, hey, Tommy. Man, commercial HVAC did 200K last year. Looking into marketing. Would like to grow, add a truck, and mostly find residential marketing. Patrick, here's the deal with marketing, dude. You know, what are we doing to grow a new market? Well, you got to get a lot of reviews.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You got to offer tune-ups, go in, meet people, get pictures with them. You got to be willing to lose a little bit of money. I mean, if you want to take market share, you got to put 15, 20% of the marketing. In fact, in our new markets, we're willing to put 35%. So if we want to make, you know, $5 million, we got to put 1.75 million into marketing. At 35%, you're not gonna be profitable.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But no one's ever heard of you. So if you wanna go from 200,000 to 225,000 next year to 250,000, yes, I understand you gotta make a living. But there's another way to do it other than money. It's out there getting your ass out there, doing free tune-ups, talking to your neighbors, getting the HOAs, meeting realtors, doing whatever it takes. You got to start out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Unfortunately, you can't start out as the highest price. You got to get good at sales. I always talk about price, right? But when you're nothing and nobody knows who you are and you're sub a million dollars, It doesn't work. You got to go out there and meet the people. And it's constant, dude. I'd work 40 hours in the business and 40 hours on the business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You know, you don't want to change too much. You know, look, I'm going to change everything. Be comfortable with change, get an accountability partner, get comfortable with discipline, set yourself up for success, find somebody to hold you accountable.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I'd be working 80 hour weeks because I used to do that. And people were like, dude, I can't do that. I got a family. Well, then why did you start a business? If you got no money and you got no time, good luck. The business will not grow. We are currently number one organically on Google for lawn care. Would you still do Google sponsor GLS so I can appear multiple times?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Yes, I would absolutely do it. In fact, if you do organic, you show up in the maps, you show up on LSA and you show up on PBC, you show up four times. And then you might even show up on the top of Yelp. You're going to get picked. People are going to be like, this must be a sign. There's been studies. You can look them up.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But the more times you're in the top first page, the more likelihood it goes up exponentially every time. What percentage of revenue should go to labor related costs? You know, I think anywhere with 28 to 32%, depending on your company and how you guys track that, but it's different for every business. Like drains don't cost anything in parts. It's much more labor intensive.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So that's going to be a higher labor cost because there's no really cost of materials, cost of goods. Can you share more about how you safeguard A1 being misclassified as a franchise and why you stayed away from that business model? I like the franchise model, but you lose control. You're no longer in the garage door business when you start a franchise. Everybody's looking for a turnkey business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I said, always bring a notebook with you when you're talking to mentors. Take notes, smile a lot, ask great questions and always be curious. I said this idea of delayed gratification. You know, one of the things that I found out, you know, when I was young, when I was his age, is I thought I was making money, but I didn't put an hourly rate on what I was doing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
In fact, I've talked to some of the largest franchises in the country. Neighborly, my buddy Mike is the CEO now. He used to be a CEO at Valpak. We talked the other day on the phone for about an hour. You know, a lot of franchises, you try to get these businesses to a million or two million. You lose control. You start having to deal with, it's the 80-20 rule.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
20% of the companies are going to grow. The other 80%, they never conform. Like you can't fire them because they bought into a franchise. There's all kinds of politics that go into franchising. Could it be great? Absolutely phenomenal. There's so many good franchises out there. But it's a struggle. Everybody thinks, man, I'm going to do a franchise. I got a good business concept.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But they don't think about really what it takes. Not only do you got to sell the franchises, but you got to be able to get them leads. You got to be able to train their people. You got to be able to get them ranked on Google. You got to be able to get the call center dialed in, get them to submit their financials on time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Got to make sure they're not out of town too much and taking too many vacations. Most people that want to buy a franchise are looking for a turnkey lifestyle business. And there's no such thing. I'm sorry. Every once in a while, you hear about a company and just everything went right. They made a bunch of money. It's just few and far between. They're not common. So I love the franchise model.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
One of the interesting things are there's the same amount of franchises 20 years ago as there are today, meaning that there's a lot that fail. The vast majority of franchises fail because somebody goes, oh, I'm just going to franchise my business. It's not very profitable. My website doesn't rank. I don't have a national call center. I've only approved it in one market.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I barely got market share, but everyone's going to want to buy this business. And nobody wants it. Oh, we're going to come up with our own CRM so we can even make more money. See, the easy way to do this for weak people is to say, I've got a business that's okay, but maybe I can sell it for $50,000 a piece and take 8% and everybody else can do the hard work. That's why people go into consulting.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Hey, I've got a lot of stuff I've learned. Business is hard. I'm not going to run a business anymore. I'm just going to go consult and talk on stage and become an influencer. And I'm going to start a podcast. And that sounds fun. And I'm just going to show people how to do it, even though I'm not very good at it. And I'm going to become a teacher. And I'm going to be a franchisor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And everyone's going to buy my shit. I'll tell you how I really feel later. But there are some really good franchises. If I was to do a franchise... one out of 500 would actually be picked to be allowed in my franchise. You'd have to have so many credentials, pass so many tests. You'd have to commit. You'd have to like, I'd have certain things to be able to rip you out of the franchise so quickly.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
If you screw up our name, like I don't look as a franchise, like, Oh, I want to sell as many as possible. No. Protect the franchise. Make sure there are people that are winning. Every single buyer is a soldier out to make a lot of money, but they're going to work their butts off. McDonald's makes you make sure you got $2 million in the bank before you can start a McDonald's franchise.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You got to be well-funded. See, most franchisors are willing to take people's last $50,000 and wonder why they don't make it. Because they're greedy. Yeah. And these franchise salespeople that like sell franchises, they're very good at what they do. They'll just say, but give me, give me the pooper scooper franchise. I'll sell the hell out of it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I think a lot of us, we go around and we talk about money, money, money, but right now he's rebuilding trailers. He'll buy dirt bikes and rebuild them. The problem with that is, do you measure your time? How much did it take you to find that dirt bike? How long did it take you to clean it up, sell it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
They'll sell, but they don't care what happens after they got their money. Do you have someone on your team who is in charge of upselling to current customers? I don't really understand that question. Like to our database, our technicians, we don't really upsell. I don't like the word upsell. We offer them different options. Or the client can pick one they like.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You know, like Joe Corsera says, what should we do? It's that simple. It's like, we're not putting things down their throat. Yeah, we've got product specialists that are good at closing the deal, finding out what the customer needs based on how long they're going to live at the home and what's important to them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But I would have called like someone specific in the company that's responsible for upsells. How would you structure performance pay for mobile detailing? Average ticket, 280. Jobs per month, 42. Well, what do I care about? What are the things that really matter to me? In this case, mobile detailing is all about routing, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I don't want to drive an hour to this job to clean the car, an hour to this car, an hour to this car. So it's kind of like pull service. You want to be able to get as many clients as possible. So what I would do with mobile detailing is
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I'd have my guys put out signs and I'd have them knock on a couple of neighbors' house, especially in affluent neighborhoods, and pay them a lot of freaking money to close. Say, listen, we get this client on, we sell them a 10-pack of mobile cleanings. I'm going to give you half the money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I'd make sure that every single person doing the cleaning becomes, they're posting on their social media, they're putting out yard signs, they're talking to their friends about it. You know, their girlfriend is posting about it. They're out there hustling for you, getting more clients because it's all about keeping close. It's all about dispatching.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So you want to be in the vicinity of the next jobs. Next thing I do is just, I'd have a checklist to mark off and have the customer walk through it. And if they didn't want to walk through it, I'd send the whole checklist with pictures to them. I actually have an app that we've created. It's a checklist app if you want to know more about it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But I said every little detail, make sure the client's happy and we exceeded their expectations. I'd also pay them a little bit for reviews. A video testimonial or a review on Google, a review on Nextdoor is a big one. Nextdoor is in the community. The BBB is a big one. The Yelp is a big one. So you might say, well, they can only get one review. How do I keep paying them?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
When you went online, posted it on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, how long did you spend cleaning it? See, if the hourly rate is not 100 bucks or more, why are you doing it? Most people don't, they don't figure out their time into the equation. You know, I've been thinking a lot what life looks like in the future. And one of the goals is to start refining my calendar over and over and over.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Every time, hey, you let me review on Google. Can you do one on Yelp for me? And every three times they clean it, ask for a different review or a video testimonial. Get their wife in it. See if there's another car you could do. Hey, listen, we have the two nice cars and we've got our son's car. Listen, can we do your son's car? Figure out if there's still profit. You're at the same job.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Figure out how to get to that other car. Like I said, the neighbor's like, I would look at a few things that your people can control and pay them on that as long as you could track it well. It's important that you got very good attribution that you can track it. And it's going to help you grow the business. It's going to make you more money. Therefore, they get to make more money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
But I don't have the perfect, like I would have to sit down and whiteboard it for a minute, but those are just some ideas. What are the best frameworks to get to a million starting out? I do landscaping. You know, it's all reverse engineering. Like how much do you make a billable hour? How much time do you put in? How many clients would you need? What's your gross profit?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
What's your bottom line net? Okay, so what you start to figure out is I would need this many leads, this much on repeat business. I lose this much. It's just a math equation. It would take one hour to put together a pivot table with somebody even remotely smart that looks at your financials. You could just go on Upwork, find somebody that builds pivot tables.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I say, look, in a financing that understands P&Ls, I say, I want you to show me how many leads, how many clients I need to close at what dollar amount based on my financials. And what do I need to get to? And then say, okay, how much do I need to spend on marketing? How many can I close? How long does it take to get to a million? It's just, it's an accounting exercise.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And there's mathematical certainty with it if you're priced right. Now, what you got to be careful is in landscaping, you don't want a lot of churn. It means you got to put out, you got to get the right clientele. Churn will kill you. So just make sure you're not losing clients.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Because a lot of times when you get to try to get to a million or 5 million or 10 million, you're so focused on marketing, you're not keeping your current clients. And that'll kill you. If you got a client going out the back door, every time you got a new one coming in the front door, your churn is way too high and that'll destroy a company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So make sure you're focused on keeping your customers excited and happy with the service you're already doing. How would you structure a membership program for a mobile auto repair business focused on brake repair customers? Given that brake repairs have a high margin and AOV below frequency. Additionally, how can I effectively capture the LTV of customers for such low frequency service?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
If using a membership model, what resources would you recommend to learn about developing a compelling membership program? So look up this guy. His name's Aaron Stokes. And I could probably think about this and work through it, but this guy's the master of how to get break jobs and how to do automotive repairs. He's already got, he's the largest mastermind in the country of anything.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And he already has got all this stuff figured out. Aaron Stokes is a great guy. I spoke at his event. He's just a genius. I think you'll really dig him. Really love the guy. So look him up and he'll probably have a better answer. Greg Mitchell said, would you view my website and give me your honest feedback? Yeah, leave it in here. Just say if you'll take it, we'll send it out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
We'll look at the website. There's a lot of things that I look for. How fast does it load? Is the phone number easily clickable? Does it have a schedule engine link to be able to schedule online? Is there good information that I want to learn about? Is everything there? Is it organized? Is there testimonials? I'll look at it. Have you done Colby testing before? And if yes, what were your scores?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
My team's done Colby testing. I haven't done them. We're looking into some tests, but that's one that I don't think is one we're going to be focused on. Tommy with $7,000 in my window cleaning business, one employee and an unwrapped truck, 75% of the leads from organic Facebook posts. What's your first move to scale? Would you prioritize ads, branding, et cetera?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Like once a week, go through everything I did. And like, I'm going to take a sheet of paper, old school. I'm going to say, listen, I'm going to put a check mark everywhere. I feel like I could be delegate more. The plan is to only get to three hours of really extreme work a day. Look, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk runs, what, four companies as a CEO?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Yeah, so me personally, I focus on Google. I build a really fast website that's mobile friendly. I make sure I'm getting more leads. And then the first thing I do after I get a really good amount coming in each month and I'm getting reviews with pictures in them with great reviews. my Google's ranking my business page and the hours of operation.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Once that's done, you know, I might hire a guy named Lenny gray to do some door to door stuff as well. But I want to be a brand that people are like, man, this brand looks legit. This isn't just a guy that went to home Depot and picked up a bucket. Like these guys are good. They're safe. When you're explaining what you do to build value.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I'm just going through all this stuff through the book influence with a, with a coach. It's like, don't just say we're a garage door technician. We're a certified technician. What does a certification mean? It's like, otherwise you're just chucking a truck coming out there to scrub my windows. Like, show me the tools you're using. Show me the, why should I hire you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And why should I pay you more than just getting a handyman to do it? Those are important questions. So yeah, the brand is important to getting more leads and focusing on Google. What book would you recommend? For the leadership team to read. You know, one of the books I first started out with was Five Dysfunctions of a Team. I think that's a great book to start out with.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Anything from Patrick Licioni. The Ideal Team Player is a great book. Beating Suck by Cameron Herald is a great book. The One Minute Manager is a great book. Those are great books to start out with to read as a team. I mean, look, I can look around here. There's just, I've got so many freaking books. It's hard to pick which is the most important, but those are some good ones.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
My office has a lot more. My house even has more than the office. Guys, do me a favor because I got my team out here saying to finish up. Giuseppe, I'd love to get all the questions where I ended. So I finished with Instagram with Jake. So the next one was Keith Massal. We just got to submit those questions into homeserviceexpert.com forward slash questions, plural.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I want to end with just this idea of this accountability again. Enjoying discipline. You know, a lot of you guys don't have energy. You don't have the burn you used to have. And it might not be anything that's wrong. It might not be you. What it is is your body's not working. You're not metabolizing correctly.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I got to tell you guys, if you don't call Dr. J, find a doctor that specializes in naturopaths. Figure out what's wrong with you. Figure out why you go home and you're just depleted of energy. Why you don't wake up and you're energetic. Why you don't want to go for that long walk. Maybe you're in the wrong surroundings. Maybe because it's 20 degrees below, you need to get up and move your family.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You need to be bold. And this is not your life anymore. I'm just telling you guys, dude, you got to start thinking bigger. I was talking, we were talking about Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg. Here's why they win. They think bigger than us. And I'm not thinking small anymore. And that takes bold changes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
It takes people that are willing to take very controversial decision-making, extreme risks. And most of you guys don't even, you would never move. You're in your comfort zone. You know, you don't want to change too much. You know, look, I'm going to change everything. Be comfortable with change. Get an accountability partner. Get comfortable with discipline. Set yourself up for success.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
He's working out on helping the government here in the United States with Doge or Dodge or whatever it is. Like, trust me, he delegates most of his stuff and he hires great. So understanding what money is. And then I had this revelation this morning that I wanted to share of just... I don't pay myself a ton of money at A1 Garage or a service.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Find somebody to hold you accountable. Another thing, listen, we got a huge webinar. Go on Home Service Expert. It's going to be amazing. Last thing is, oh, here it is. It's the free webinar, Double Your Growth in 2025, Three Critical Moves. It's me and Jim Leslie. I'm going to put the link in here. We've already got a thousand people coming to this. This isn't just a sales pitch, guys.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Dude, A1 did north of 63 million of EBITDA. This company is going to be worth two and a half billion dollars. I don't care about your money. In fact, I'm setting this thing up so I can invest in lots and lots of businesses. Like I want to get to know you guys.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Truthfully, it's probably a little bit vain of me or just conceited or like maybe I'm just selfish, but I want to find businesses I like that are easy, lucrative and fun to work with. I want to make a lot of investments. Down the line, I'm gonna be investing in hundreds of businesses and I'm gonna be taking my whole team and I've got 30 people on the team, the family office.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
This is the way I do it. I find out businesses that, look, you get to a million dollars of EBIT at HVAC and still get 10 million if you do it right with my connections. It's not hard. I had a guy in last night that's doing it right now. He's got a million of EBIT at 10 and a half million he's getting. It's crazy. So that's what I wanna do. I mean, look, I want everybody to make out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I want your whole team to make out too. Freedom event is going to blow your freaking minds. I got Mr. Wonderful. I got a couple names I can't even say yet, but they're already signed up. It's going to be September 3rd through the 5th. It's going to be in Las Vegas. It's going to be at Mandalay Bay. I promise you there's not another event that even comes close to this. Not even close.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Not even in the same hemisphere. You better be ripped up too. If I see you, you better be getting ready to get in shape because that's what we're gonna talk about is getting in your best shape, getting close to your family, getting closer to God if you're religious, making sure you're trying to become the best self. You don't need to be magic overnight. It takes time to do these things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You gotta stay consistent. You gotta say no to certain things, but the results, you're just so happy. You just look at life differently. And if you're not feeling it right now, if you're not excited, if you don't feel great about this year, There's something wrong with you. You need to go to counseling. You need to see a psychologist. You got to get your shit together, dude.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Because if you don't feel amazing and pumped after listening to this, something's going on. And maybe you got to get checked out. But listen, guys, I hope you have a great month. Finish out strong. Hopefully it's a record. We got the Trump pump going on after yesterday. So hopefully the economy starts sparking off. I hope you guys are doing excellent.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I hope you continue to push yourself to the next level. I'm Tommy Mello. This is the Home Service Expert. I'm signing out, guys. Thank you. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
It's enough that the government could sniff test me as a W2 employee, say this CEO makes about right. You know, I actually am one of the only people here that don't have a bonus because I didn't care about the bonus. I have so much equity in the company. It wasn't important for me to negotiate that. What's important to me is I don't care about my W2. I care about the company's growth.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I mean, that's everything. How do you build a company that's worth a ton of money? That's all you guys should be thinking about. Not how do I make more money this year? It should be, how do I make the company worth more money? Learning how to sell a business is the most important thing you should be thinking about.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And when people tell me they want to get $100 million, it still baffles me at times. If you're in the right industry and you're growing fast enough, I just got off the phone with one of my marketing guys. I said, look, we got to double the leads by the end of the year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
The only thing I care about, hire great people and train them, make sure the culture is where I need it to be, and increase the lead flow of quality leads. That's it. That's my job. More leads, more great leads, more great guys and gals running the business, especially technicians and installers.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
that are trained, trained, trained, trained, trained, and people know that I appreciate them and it's a great culture. Those are the three things. That's the only three things I want to deal with. In fact, I'm not going to be involved in anything else. I'm going to make sure I exit myself from this business. I don't want to be the micromanager.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I don't want to be everything's got to run through me. I don't want to be the guy that's got to look at every decision and say yes or no. In fact, I don't know how to log into payroll. I don't know how to get certain things out of Service Titan. I don't know. I never logged into Intact, ever. I don't want to know how to do inventory. I don't want to know how the gas works on the trucks.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I don't even want, like, look, I know the numbers. I get these reports. But some of you guys got to let go, man. And some of you guys have been betrayed. Some of you guys have been used. Some of you guys can't trust anymore. And you got to have checks and balances. But if you are the everything for your business, the first thing you need to do is hire an EA and a good one.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And your life will change forever. But that involves a lot of trust. Other than the business, I got engaged, which I'm very excited about. Me and Bree, she's on cloud nine. I'm on cloud nine. That happened about two weeks ago in Bora Bora. It's a big step. I've never been engaged, never been married, no kids. So it's the next step. But this chapter I'm going in, I'm ready.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I feel like I'm going to be an amazing dad. I feel like I've been put on this earth to be a dad. Yeah, I want to change people's lives. I want to continue to be the best home service expert I can. But the next trial, no one's ever prepared to be a mother or a father, but I'm getting ready for that. That's going to be a big chapter of my life. Also, I want to travel more.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I'm coming to this sense that I don't want to stop working, but I don't want to work all the time. So what really makes me happy? I'll tell you what makes me happy is... I've got several cousins that I just love being around. I just love it. I've got a lot of family that I just love to be around. I got a lot of friends that I just can't get enough of.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So how can I travel the world, play a lot of golf, do a lot of fishing, do some hunting, play some golden tee, do some bowling, watch some fun movies, go on the lake, do some snow sports, hot chocolate on a cold day, enjoy my life, but still do a lot of business to keep me sharp, but not a ton, just a few hours a day, take Mondays off. So I've got to refine, refine, refine.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You know, JD, one of my managers wrote this book, Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes. So for me, it's literally like you keep doing the same thing. You're going into 2025 doing what you did in 2024. Oh, it was a great year. Keep going. Well, work on your calendar the most. Delegate a lot if you can. I can't explain that enough. Like the delegation and getting the calendar.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I'm making a note for Ashley, one of my EAs. Headed to Atlanta tomorrow. We just opened that market. Going to be opening up other markets this year. And what we're working on is documenting everything. That's, you know, making sure there's a checklist. And I don't think people have documented. They don't have enough information when they're just going through just to make sure everything's right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Some new technology we're bringing on. You know, I feel like I was talking to a buddy of mine and he was talking to a buddy of his in California. And he said, do you know how many thousands of contractors? are praying that you pull this off and get two to $3 billion valuation.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I was like, no, I don't really know anybody that's really hoping that that happens other than me and the team of people that have equity in the business. And he's like, no, he's like, if you pull that off, it changes the whole industry for everyone. And I'm like, yeah, I never really thought about that. He's like, you got to do this, dude. You got the world on your shoulders.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
You got to pull it off. I'm like, well, You know, if you do a SWOT analysis, there's only a few things that can stop us from doing it. You know, if Google completely shut down or changed their algorithm, I mean, we do everything by the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
We were investing a lot of money in SEO, lots and lots of money, lots in a nonprofit and 5013Cs and getting backlinks from those, like investing, you know, putting money into churches, high schools, colleges, lots of stuff this year. In fact, my goal is to donate at least $5 million over the next two years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And not to mention the time effort, you know, get involved, donate doors, use the company for Wounded Warriors and all those other things. Not just money, but time and the whole company. But let's dive into it. You know, we've got a you guys go to HS Home Service Expert and keep a lookout. We've got a pretty big webinar coming live. Me and Jim are going to do it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I'm going to be talking about a lot of cool things we're working on.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
If you guys know and you guys really follow what I say and you understand how important marketing and hiring right and training your guys and culture are, and you can live in those seats and really just get rid of all the obstacles and stay focused and go to seminars and have accountability partners and understand how important having discipline is, you're going to be successful this year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I mean, I get hundreds of people reaching out a month saying thank you. And I really appreciate the feedback, but they're the people that actually do the work. It's very rare I get a thank you for somebody that listens to these, but they don't do the work. And then there's other people that they'll just kind of bounce into these and listen to the Q&A here and there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And then they'll ask stupid questions like, how do you rank on Google? That's like saying, you know, how do you become a billionaire? How do you rank? I go like, everybody wants these simple answers. Like, oh, you just do this. It's not that simple. It takes like focus. How do I hire a good? Well, what kind of question is, how do I hire a good?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Like, you gotta be specific and you gotta like watch all my content. Like go on Instagram, go on TikTok, go on LinkedIn, like follow me on X, like watch all the content I put out on YouTube. And then, then ask really good questions. But the questions I get are rinse and repeat sometimes. And it's like, the questions don't have any, like, they're just, how do I run my business?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And I'm like, well, like, I can't even fit. One guy asked me to be the CEO of his company for three months. I'm like, dude, what? Like, I'm the CEO of A1. Anyways, you guys got to join. If you're not in the home service expert group, just join right now. Go on to Facebook and join. Hopefully you are. There's 15,000 people in there. We're going to 10X that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
If you know anybody, invite them to the home service expert group. We're really trying to put a lot of effort into that. So let's go ahead and get some questions going. James said, I know you hired your mom to answer phones. Yes, 2010 I did that. I just put my mom on the phone for me part-time. How did you set up her pay in the very beginning? What was fair to her and you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
How did you transition over time? So, you know, you got to think that was 2010. So that's 15 years ago. I paid her 15 bucks an hour. I mean, if I were you, I'd pay her Like everybody else, I'd be more of a performance pay. I'd say, look, I'll give you $12 an hour plus $10 per booked call. Or, you know, call it $6 per booked call. So you can book three calls an hour. You know, that's $18.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Like I would still pay performance pay. I didn't know about that in 2010. Staking the outcome and like, look, I had my stepdad working for me, too. So my mom was good. My mom just was like, how do I help you, honey? I want to get involved. She wasn't looking. They had enough money that they could live on. They sold their house for a lot of money in Michigan.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
They weren't like trying to make a living working for me. They were just like, let's assist you. And in the end, it worked out for them. You know, they made you know, they got a big chunk of money. And they deserve more than that. I do think they helped me out at a big time of my life. And I'm one of those guys that no debt goes unpaid. So there's more.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I tried to do as much as I could for my mom and Bill. We picked up a trip for them and my uncle to go. this cruise and they went for Bora Bora. Well, you know, they're not going to make taxes for the next 10 years. I'm covering that, but it's still not enough. It's not even close to enough.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So for what they've done, they sacrificed a lot, all their friends, all the family we have, they just picked up and moved to help me run the business. So I don't have the best advice. It worked out well for me, but you hear it. like nightmares about family working for you. Animosities. We helped grow this thing that, you know, my family, they were great.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
They didn't make me feel bad for making money. They didn't get mad at me that I was always at work. They understood what it was like to build a business and they're my biggest fans. So I'm probably not the best because I, Working with mom and dad, working with your sister, your brother, it's hard. And you got to document everything.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I just, Al Levy always taught me, you got to be able to have Thanksgiving dinner and not talk about work together and make sure that it's productive and that it's healthy and that the relationship is still strong. If not, you got to separate very quickly. Gabe said, what's your SOP for abandoned calls and service titans? So very interesting you say this, Gabe.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
I had Ryan and Taylor from Chirp out here last week. We did 700 something thousand dollars from abandoned calls from Chirp. And interestingly enough, there's what's called Bitly. It's a short code. It's a way to kind of like tiny URL. One third of the messages weren't getting through because the Sprint and Verizon AT&T were blocking it because it looked like spam. So we fixed that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
So we're expecting over a million dollars From Chirp. This month. That's one campaign. from abandoned calls. So very easy thing to set up, very easy thing to do for an extra million dollars a month for a company my size, which it might be 20,000, 30,000 for you. I don't know what size company you are, but it's set and forget it. It's literally that easy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
And we've got four or five other campaigns should have been live already. See, like I just get things done very, very quickly. My team, sometimes I feel like they just, they wanted to go. Perfection is the enemy of just getting started. Like everybody wants to do things perfectly. I'm like, let me just make a video. So like, I'll just play something for you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Q&A With Tommy - Stop Trading Time for Money: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Business
Like on an abandoned, because I remember we have different brands. We have, you know, Don's and garage door doctor and different things like that. So here's just a quick video of like, this one might not be perfect, but Hey, there's Tommy Mello, owner and a garage door doctor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Over the years, he has worked to develop customer relationships on large commercial HVAC and plumbing projects. Josh also specializes in several industries, industrial projects, hospitals, municipalities, schools, and hotels. What's up, dude? What's happening? Thanks, Tommy, for having me. That's exciting. I love home service, man. I love business in general.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Pulling out chunks. Tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of money each time. So my life, I had money. I had $12 million in my account before we did the deal. But now I'm like, I will say this. I'm taking my niece and nephews next month to Disney World. We're not waiting in any lines. We're getting VIP. And the money's a fart in the wind. I don't worry anymore. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I pay for dinner every single time, and I don't ask anything in return because I worked very hard to be able to do this for my friends, family, and people that are important to me. And I will say, like, it's not that I didn't have money, but now, I mean, look, my house is the most expensive house in Arizona that I'm building. And I'm not cocky, but here's the deal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Right now, there's five people staying at my house. My employees come to my house. My mom's birthday party was at my house. My dad's birthday party. My niece, three years old. We have... Like, I'm doing this. I could live in a 1,000-square-foot apartment. But I'm doing stuff because I want to take people with me. I want to live the best life. I want them to enjoy this stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So, for me, that was good. I'm helping. Like, I'm going to give a ton of money to the church.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Well, I'll tell you this. We went from $27 million. This year, we'll do about $80 million net of EBITDA. I learned way more going through the process. Ken Goodrich with Kettle called me up. He goes, you're a badass home service dude.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
He goes, when you learn what these guys know, how to raise capital, how private equity works, how the money game works, the financial engineering, you're going to be an effing ninja. And he was right. And so everything they tell me, I listen. I have two ears and I write it down and I implement quickly.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And now I'm like, I'll never invest in a business again that's not going to have an exit within the next five years. And I'm not trying to change your mind. Look, I want you to have the full knowledge of what I've been through. I think a lot of people... They don't understand. They're like, oh, I'm going to lose a piece of my soul.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
There's a book called Shine by Gino Wickman that when you sell your business, it's a piece of your soul. It's like part of your DNA. For me, I'm like, am I facing on the side of the trail? Trust me, I'll have plenty to do. And like you said, I want to start going golfing again more often. I've never been married. I'm 41. I'll be 42 in March. Yeah, congratulations. No marriage, no kids. I'm engaged.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
But I've had to sacrifice two decades and break the family curse of having nothing. My mom worked three jobs when I was a kid. My mom lives a really effing good life now. But the generational curse had to get broken. And nobody should live the life I had to live. And nobody should not be able to.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Like, I sacrificed not getting married and walking out of movie theaters and broken up with girl after girl after girl. If a girl wanted to hang out with me that I was dating, we were going to fix garage doors together. That was our time. So people say, I want what you got. I'm like, okay, don't get married, don't have kids. Yeah, careful what you wish for, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I'm an overnight success of two decades. I think, and here's the deal. Like when you get, like this company that's guiding me, they don't tell me what to do. They just ask really smart questions and make me think through a different lens. And that's why it's good to have consultants. Dan Martell got me to look through a different lens about things. That's why I hired a driver and a chef.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And I love hearing businesses that are growing. You guys went from, what is it, $8 to $16 million in a year? Yeah, yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Yeah, Vistage is amazing. YPO, I've heard, is really good. Tiger 21, I don't know if you've ever heard of that. Tiger 21 is like, they're very, very wealthy. I'll have an exit. Did you go to Waste Management Open? Who's the guys that wear the medallion and they run the whole tournament? Oh, jeez. What the heck are they called? I forget the name, but it's something like that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Yeah, they're like bluish. I don't remember what it's called. Um, if you could go back from the day you became the president, what would you have done differently? What would I have done differently? Obviously listen to your coworkers a little bit more, get their insight.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
You know, I'm going to give you a bunch of books to read, but there's this new book called the courage to be disliked. And if your mind is set on the mission, you're going to break some glass getting to that. But the deal is, if everyone's focused on the mission, it changes everything. And it's what true leaders are. There's very few real leaders in this world.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
They're not willing to do what it takes. I'll say this. I like to be liked. It's a flaw of mine. I don't fire anybody. I haven't fired in over 10 years. I like to be liked. I like to be the... my Glassdoor rating is 93% as a CEO. I don't need it to be. It's just a pride thing. And I kind of get bullied sometimes. And I got a lot of no people around me. I'll tell you this. Most of the...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
team will tell me to go f off and they respectfully but they say no um and i need that yeah because i'm a dreamer yeah and you know they're very they're very focused on the goal i mean look we hit last month 27 to the bottom line 27 that's awesome that's nutty yeah and i'm like i think we could hit 30 yeah But you can only bleed so much. You can squeeze so much blood out of a turnip.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Like the idea is you got to go revenue growth too. So we missed our revenue goal last year. We exceeded our EBITDA number. And so this year is going to be a heavy revenue growth year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So that's a lot of fluctuations. Yeah. What happened? What's the good, bad, and the skinny on it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
but I love this, man. I could talk about business all day. Like this is like people are like, how do you work so much? I'm like, I never go to work. This is what I do. Yeah. I don't know if you, do you love what you do just as much as I do?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Welcome to the home service expert where each week Tommy chats with world class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields like marketing, sales, hiring and leadership to find out what's really behind their success in business. Now your host The home service millionaire, Tommy Mello.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I was going to ask you about that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I mean, I wasn't afraid to- Pay the most possible you could ever pay, which means you got to raise your prices. But what means you start on time and you finish on time and you collect on time. Right. Everybody's happy. Yeah, and the clients are happier. The clients that call us up, they're like, we've had a garage door company out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
We've had three garage door companies out here in the last two years. We don't care what it costs, just fix it right. Because I'll tell you what, how much is your time worth? I don't always call the best deal. I want the best investment. And there's a big difference between paying the best value or paying the best price. Hey guys, hope you're enjoying today's episode. You know what's crazy?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I've noticed a lot of home service owners work their tails off while their team just... Here's the reality. If your people don't know what's in it for them, then they'll never work as hard as you. So what if I told you there's a way to get your techs, installers, and everyone else to work harder and to care more about your company? It's the power of performance pay.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And I just convinced my managing director, Jim Leslie, to share his complete performance pay system as a special bonus for Freedom 2025 attendees who sign up early. Jim was my CMO at A1, and he was involved in setting up the performance pay system that took us from $50 million to $220 million. Now he is giving away his blueprint.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
In this workshop, Jim will break down how to structure plans that attract and keep A players without breaking the bank. how to design scorecards that actually drive the right behaviors, and how to implement these systems without creating an admin nightmare. When we rolled this out at A1, our techs made more money, our profits increased, and our customers got better service. A true win for all.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
This bonus alone is worth thousands, but you'll get it free when you lock in your Freedom 2025 ticket today. And remember, you'll also get our entire early bird bonus bundle worth over $5,246. Go to freedomevent.com to secure your spot in this workshop on Jim's performance pay system. That's freedomevent.com. Now back to the episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Well, we train a lot on that. But the biggest thing that we train on is like, Be a great human. Here's my number one rule. When I go have a beer with this person, I want to go on a camping trip. Like, dude, I want to, like, get to know you. Like, do you make great eye contact? Do you smile when you work? Do you ask great questions? Do you tell a great story?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Because that's, like, my litmus test if you're going to make it here. It's not if you're a great technician. I can teach anybody to fix a garage door. And I need to be able to trust you if I've got a wife and two young daughters at home to be there with them alone. So that's a big deal to me. And here's the thing is my mom works three jobs. I love my mom. And I tell this story to my clients.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I say I love my mom more than anything in the world. here's what I'd be doing for mom, if this were mom. And I just smile, and I look at them genuinely, the blackest part of their pupils, and I just smile, and they say, All right, then let's do that. But if mom's moving in two weeks, I just got to get it past inspection. Do the right thing for mom. I'm not trying to take advantage of you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And here's another thing that I'll tell you. Always give options. Because if you're not giving options to your clients, you're giving them ultimatums. They can only say yes or no. So if they say, wow, that's more than I was expecting to spend, let's just do a more economical option then. It's up to you. But you'll have 100% conversion rate if you give options.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Get them pregnant. Yeah, this is what we want, right? You get them to say yes. I've learned this about commercial, and I'm not even doing commercial. You get them to say yes, and then you say, by the way. And then what are those called? Adjust, not adjustment, add-ons or what? Yeah, we call them. Change orders?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
One of the things I've learned about myself over the last couple of years is I'm a seeker of knowledge. I'm curious and I bring it back to the company and I got a team that helps implement it. What is Vistage? So it's taught you, number one, to get a good team around you. What other things have you taken from being around the best practices group like that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
You know, Bree hates it when I'm around somebody like you because I enjoy talking about business and I don't get a chance to talk to all my friends, family, cousins and stuff. So she's like, oh my God, all you do is talk about business. And I'm like, No, I don't. I don't get a chance to talk to anybody about this stuff. And you as sure as hell don't want to talk about it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So I enjoy the discussions. Like, my buddy Aaron Gaynor has a massive plumbing company, and he added HVAC and electrical. Then he's in Columbus, but he's out here. His son's going to ASU. So he comes out here, and we just, dude, he tells me something, and I take notes, and I'm implementing. And he's like, we text each other all the time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And, like, it's nice because he's going to do $100 million this year. Man, it's nice because I talk to people that, like, here's the deal. You hang out. Right now you're at Vistage. The best advice I can give you is you've got to be able to adapt and change your circle quickly because as you're scaling, it needs to be, I want to be the dumbest guy in my circle.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And that means I can't be in the circle because my goal is to win in my circle. I'm a competitive SOB. And then I've got to look over at this next mountain and say, huh, I got to go back to base camp to start climbing this mountain. Who's the best, smartest person that's going to get me up this mountain the quickest? And it doesn't mean I don't have friends. I have a lot of friends.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
It's just, I still... Dan Martell taught me this. He said, you can't pick your friends when you're in middle school and elementary school and high school. It's like neighbors. But you can pick your friends as you get older. And... You know, it's not only about money either. It's about fitness and faith and fun and future self and the success, I call it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And so, you know, if you want to be a better father or a better husband, you need to, like, hang around with guys that don't go to the strip club.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So really picking really great friends. Yeah. And that's the time machine. That'll put you 20... In six months, you can go 20 years faster. But just being around... You want to become a better golfer? Hang around with better... Three people that are better golfers when you go on your foursome. That's true.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
If you don't, you're not going to play good and you're going to drink the whole time and just get wasted.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I hang out with guys now. At the Waste Management Open, I invited a lot of home improvement people there, not home service. Everybody there did over a billion. A lot of them were doing $2 billion. So I'm like, guys, I'm only going to do $320 million.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Well, I can't do it at 30%.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
There is a lot of money. My buddy is already doing $15 million in commercial. It's like I said, but you got Doc's Lever, Storefront, Rolling Steel. You got all these different things. And if it was just garage doors, I might do it. For example, if I just did firehouses in Phoenix, I can make a small fortune. I just... It's something where I'm not going to dip a toe in and dabble.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
If I'm going to go in, I'm going all in. I'm hiring a whole team. I don't just go, oh, we'll just try it out and see how it goes. No, I'm going all in and I'm hiring a badass team to go. But here's the thing. Do we go into commercial? Do we go into water treatment? Do we do front doors? So I'm working on some cool stuff because my average ticket is about a grand. But I run 22,000 jobs a month.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
What if I get it to five grand? Yeah. Do you know what the company is doing now?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Oh, I know. The tickets are, you know, the project. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Well, as long as the profits there, because if it's not bid correctly and you got the blue book that you guys go to bid it on.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And then you get to charge by the hour and so you can't lose money?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
For us, probably around a million bucks. One million. So you need 100 jobs to hit 100 million. So I like to reverse engineer my numbers. That's how you build a budget. Sure. And what I look at is here's my revenue goal. here's how many leads I need, here's my booking rate, here's my conversion rate, here's my opportunity job average or average ticket.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So then I just look at the marketing side, and as long as those are good equations, like good booking rate, good conversion rate, good average ticket, then you just pour gas in and get more leads, which means you need to hire right. But that's the deal for me, 100 million, what I'd start to do if I were you, 100 million is the goal. Here's how many leads I need. Here's how I'm going to bid it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Here's how I'm going to be an acquirer of great people to help run the business. And that way it becomes a reality. And you share that vision with everybody in the company and say, here's the plan to get there. And it's based on lead gen and conversions and collecting on time. And that way, you know, what's nice about 100 million too is you start buying better.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So you got to like negotiate with your vendors. Right. And that's a big part of HVAC plumbing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Well, I always say, look, right now, I'm spending $60 million this year, my manufacturer. Like, here's the old saying that I say, when you owe the bank 100 million bucks, you got a problem. When you owe them a couple billion, they got a problem. You get to start calling your own shots.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And that's what's nice about being in the garage door business in 20 states is I'm able to buy better than most companies. And my competitors aren't very happy about it, but I'm like, just get bigger and buy more. It's not my fault we grew faster than you. And by the way,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I tell them exactly what to do.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I had 40 garage door companies come here about four years ago and I said, how many of you guys charge this for a garage door and an opener? And they were shaking their head angry and they were like, how do you sleep at night? And I go, how many of you guys make sure your people can make six figures a year? You train them for three months. You give them the best PTO and insurance possible.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
They drive new trucks. You're allowed to be on billboards, TV, radio, like the HVAC plumbing guys. How many of you guys do all those stuff? Give your guys $6,000 worth of tools. Any of you guys give your guys $6,000 worth of tools? Every one of them shook my hand that day and said, I'm going to raise my prices. Yeah, it's a way of thinking, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Alex Ramosi says most people go into business, they find what's the average cost of this part? How do I offer it for a little cheaper and to give a little bit more? Not knowing that the people you're following are bankrupt, barely making ends meet. You're not in business to make a living as a W-2. You're in business to make profit. And I think people forget that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
The number one goal of business is profit or else you don't stay in business. Your clients lose and your vendors lose and your employees lose.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
How do you get leads? I mean, when you're going to meeting these people, these soft sales, is it just past clients or is it like, do you guys go to B and I groups or how do you get these soft touch points?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
The Arizona Business Alliance?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Okay.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
There's 168 hours in a week. 168 hours. How do you make the most out of those 168 hours? If you work 50, you sleep 50, you work out for 10, you still got 60 hours left. You can go on a date with your kids every night. You can take your wife on a date, watch your favorite Netflix show, read a book and still got 20 hours left. So people say, how do you find the time?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And it's all HVAC-related?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I'm like, you get a good EA and you get your calendar budgeted correctly. Yeah, plan it correctly. And that's the equalizer. I don't care how rich you are. We still got the same hours. It's how could I compound mine more? I don't even – I don't know the password to my email. I don't look at – like I've got a whole team now. I've got processes for this. Here's what I think everybody should do.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Get an old-fashioned journal, you know, a calendar journal like the old ones that you write in. And literally every 15 minutes write down what they're doing. And then if they could hire somebody for less than they make per hour, which is an easy calculation to figure out, you highlight all that stuff, and then that's the first hire you make.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Okay.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
You got all this time back, and you start making high-level decisions. And do you think Jeff Bezos is working 80 hours a week? You think he's working 40 hours a week? He doesn't start his day until 10 a.m. He makes his important meetings between 10 and 1 p.m. He takes off weeks at a time. This idea of butts in seats, more hours equal more productivity is crap.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And it's all commercial?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I like Ed Milet, but he says I work three days to a year, one day. I don't want to outwork anybody. I want to out-delegate their ass.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
He hated his wife.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I will say, unfair, I used to say, why aren't you here today? Like, everyone takes Fridays now from home after COVID. And it bothered me. I'm like, why am I here and no one else? And I'm like, you got to show face. And I still think it's important to see people in public and get to know them, personal relationships. But now I'm like, I don't care if you work 10 hours a week. I really don't.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
But I don't care if you work 80 either. Like if you're more productive and you're smart and you figured out a way to do things, like the biggest thing, we're taking a class, me and I've got two EAs and Bree helps a lot. So we're taking these AI classes because if you could input artificial intelligence, by the way, 50% of the top 10, they call it the
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
the fantastic seven or something about the largest seven, Apple, Nvidia, the biggest companies, 50% of all their money is going into AI. Like if you don't start to learn it right now and start to get smart with it, that's another thing I'd fear just, you know, being a family business. Is PE, is it the cutting edge looking to all the technology? Yeah. And the bidding systems, the CRMs?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So one of the things you feed in is you can feed in your income statement, balance sheet, P&L. And it'll literally tell you, like, it could compare markets. It could compare, like, it takes all the online data. And it says, like, my buddy that I told you the plumber put his in, and it said renegotiate with your vendors because of the cost analysis of the supplies, which is the cost of goods. Wow.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So, like, that's one way. Another way is, like, I started using ChecheBT just in emails. So I actually seem like I know what I'm doing. Yeah, yeah. And, like, I'll take books now and get the summaries. And just if I love the summary, I'll read the book. But if it's something that I, like, but the deal is, is I don't even know what I don't know. Like, once...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Once you start using these tools, like AI right now, we built a software that listens to every call in the field. It's recording the call. This is a one-person consent state. And it actually matches to our script. And then it tells you what they didn't do correctly. Those are voice inflections wrong. It literally tells us in a snippet how to train them. Like this is the crazy thing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
It's like my call center right now. If I showed you Lace AI, it listens to every CSRS call. If they don't book the call and it automatically handles the disposition. I'm at 89% booking rate. There's some people at 75%. It tells me the objection. It goes right to the call where the objection was. And then it's got five trainings of people that overcame that objection for them to train on.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
This is happening whether you like it or not. And there's this exponential effect of technology will be compounding faster than human beings can keep up with it. But just get ready.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Well, look, it's going to change a lot because... you know, Lyft and Uber will be out of business. It's really big here, obviously. You see them everywhere, the Waymo. And whether you like it or not, you better, either you're going to embrace it or you're going to get ran over.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Interesting. Now, one of the things I hate about commercial is the way they pay. How'd you guys figure that out?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Why do you think Google's investing so much? Not crashing. Google's investing more money than anybody. You want to know why? Because they're losing an hour a day of your ad spend. You could be clicking on ads. Yeah. And TikTok's losing money on ad spend and Instagram and Facebook. So, all these companies are saying, if we could get you in your car...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
to be on social media and on Google, we get to make more money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Well, here's the problem. Listen, there's a lot of books about this, but what do you do? How do you think the police get funded? Through tickets, through DUIs, through parking tickets. What do you think happens to all the parking lots? All that becomes usable. All the parking literally becomes usable real estate because the problem that I have with autonomous cars is why do you need a garage?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
That's the scary part. There you go. There we go. Is there any books that you've read that are, like, crazy, badass, like, taught you a lot?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Sinek?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Start with Y?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the infinite game.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So it's kind of interesting. Yeah. So his whole deal is like it is infinite. It's never ending. Yeah. So you got to look at things. People make decisions based on tomorrow, but you should make the long-term decision. You know, Jeff Bezos says, I don't care about the stock in the next five years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
We're too focused on what this company is going to become and the client experience. So they'll spend money and – Even not make profits. But that's that's all tax plan.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Yeah, well, I know this company will be around for a long, long time, at least A1. And I had a PE company come visit me. They said, what would you do with an extra $100 million? I said, I'd probably hire a few more traveling trainers, and it would all go into marketing because they need to take more market share. And I would start greenfielding in a lot of new markets. Like, here's what's crazy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
At HVAC Plumbing Electrical, the market cap is $200 billion. The market cap at Garage Roads is about $14. So, like, the opportunity in HVAC and plumbing. The problem is the sophistication of people is much higher in HVAC Plumbing Electrical because of that market cap. So, you're competing against. Right now, we take all of our data. We feed it into this. It's a data analytics model called Power BI.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And I can load any outlier I want. I can load humidity. I can load in as data comes, credit card scores. I can load in social media preferences. I can load in all these things to understand my avatar, which means I can create lookalike audiences and pixel people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And when you're dealing with this sophistication, like I say this sincerely and I feel bad for my competitors because how are you going to be able to beat me? Like, you won't. Like, I'm making better decisions. I'm paying for more expensive software. And I say this, they ask me if I'm long-term greedy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I said, if that means my family gets to win, my team gets to win, and my competitors got to join me if they want to survive, then yes, I'm long-term greedy. How do people get a hold of you, Josh? Um, like on a regular basis. Yeah. Well, if somebody wants to reach out, chat with you about commercial or this, you know, Ben, you're here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Is there an email or find you on LinkedIn or what's the best way?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Lovely. And we talked about a lot of stuff here, brother. I'm going to have you just anything you want that we didn't touch upon. I didn't even use any of these questions. I know it's a great podcast when I don't use the questions.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
That's my... I love that, man. I think, you know, teaching this younger generation, well, here's what we've learned is... A.I. is going to change. Unfortunately, Giuseppe might not have a job or videographer because A.I. is going to change that. It's going to change the way we develop code. A.I. is not going to be taking over Grosvenor's plumbing or HVAC or gutters anytime soon.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So everybody's saying get into a good trade. And, you know, I did get an MBA, but I know a lot more. You know why I got my MBA? I knew I wasn't going to use it to go into a profession. I just knew I was going to have kids one day, and I wanted to tell them dad didn't skip out on school. That was my only purpose, and I don't know if I'd do it again.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
But, no, Josh, you're going to be very successful. You've got to keep in touch with me, and I appreciate you jumping on the podcast, brother. Yeah, I appreciate you. Thanks, Tommy. Thank you. Pleasure. That's a wrap. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Net? Net net, yeah, bottom, bottom, bottom line.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. 1 2 9 9.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Yeah. We're lucky to hit 30. Damn, I'm shooting for 70. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Well, you know, B2C is a lot more complex, but I wouldn't do it any other way. You know, people always say, why don't you get into commercial to me? And I'm like, well, it's a different pay structure, different talent. Different trucks, different OSHA guidelines, different accounts receivable, different finance. It's not even in the same hemisphere.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And people are like, why aren't you doing more acquisitions? I'm like, because they do box stores. They do new construction. They do fireplaces. They do front doors. They do commercial. And when you're small, unfortunately, you take on everything you can. I remember I did a commercial job, and it still haunts me. I not only lost money, but I lost time, effort, energy, and a fortune.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
It was a custom gate with solar power. It was just stupid. And it was a buddy of mine, and I felt so bad. I lost my ass. I had to pay a company to go fix it. Like, that's how bad it was.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
The bureaucracy and the red tape is ridiculous. And, you know, I'm building a place in Idaho, and I think there's three inspections required. You're allowed to build 47 stories tall on residential. I think that's almost—it's under— Like, there should be a little bit more guidelines for safety. But I will say I like this city a lot.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I don't think I'd... I have an opportunity where I can live wherever I want. I'm from Michigan. I really like Michigan, but I don't miss the winters.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Yeah, that's where I just went on my golf trip last year. Yeah, so it's just east of there. So, just east of... So... this may or July we do a golf trip called the MacGruber open.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
My teams, I picked the team. My cousin picks the team. I'm undefeated. I just have to throw that out there. I'm also undefeated in my volleyball for my pinnacle trip to Mexico next week. But, um, uh, we're going just East of Traverse city. And I don't know, it might be the same city. Is it a golf area?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Okay, so it's probably near there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
That's awesome, man. Yeah, the Midwest is the best. I like this city because it's easy to get around. It's not hard if you want to go to Flagstaff or Sedona, you can get there. Not far from Vegas, not far from Kelly. It's a planned city. It's a grid. And there's just a lot of stuff to do. I'm not a big fan of the west side, Glendale. Yesterday we were at an event in downtown Phoenix.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I hate downtown Phoenix. But I like Scottsdale, Paradise Valley. I like Chandler. I like Gilbert. I like the east side of Phoenix.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I lived in, you know, actually, I will say North Phoenix. My mom lives off Cave Creek. It's okay up there. And then I used to live off of 7th Street and Bethany Home. And there's an area over there that's all old trees and it feels like the Midwest. That's where my pastor lives. We go to Impact Church.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Paradise Valley. I'm moving to the north side of Camelback, northeast corner of the land. It's called Billionaire's Row. My neighbors are going to be the Waltons and the Disney family. There you go. I'm building my dream. It's a passion of love, but You know, we were going over the game room and I'm like this. I don't have any feedback on the whole house except for the game room. There you go.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 States. Just go to elevate and win.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
This is where I need to be perfect. So it's going to be sick. But anyways, tell me. So you've kind of got to learn the business. What were some of the biggest mistakes you've made? Obviously, fast growth, you know, chasing revenue versus profit is probably one of the big ones.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
There's this saying that a mistake made more than once is a choice. So you got to learn from your lessons. And theoretically, I always say, like, hypothetically, I've got scars and bruises all over from all the mistakes I've made. And this experience, I believe, there's a lot of smart people that get master's degrees. I've got an MBA.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
And a lot of people... They've got this authority complex. Like, I've got the knowledge. I've learned. But they lose the humility and humbleness. And they think because they went to a stupid school with a tenured professor that never made it in the real world that they're ready to make big boy decisions. And it's just not the case. And it's funny because private equity is getting into it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
But without great founders and leadership, private equity fails. If they could do it, then they would.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Are you in a CEO group? I'm in Joe Polish's 100K Genius Network. I'm in a couple other things. I pay... Dan Martell, Cameron Harreld. I've got a lot of coaches. Okay. But I'm not in like YPO or EO or any of this stuff. It's a commitment, and I don't like to tell people I'm going to do something and not show up because I'm busy. Sure.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today, Josh Young is in the house. He's out of Chandler, Arizona, so he's my neighbor. He's an expert in contract management, value engineering, construction. He's the president of New Construction at Tempe Mechanical, where he's worked for more than 16 years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I'm sprinting at the next turn of the company, the next equity deal. You know, that's a great question I had for you is I think every business should be built to sell. Yeah. What's your goals with this business? How do you look at it? What's your timelines? How are you manifesting the outcome? Where do you see the business in three to five years?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Yeah, you know, I'll tell you this. There's great stories, and then there's the nightmares of private equity. I happen to – mine's a dream of mine. And I'll tell you this. People underestimate what you do with the money they give you. But that money – I had a guy come up to me yesterday. I was at an event, and he's like, I'm doing a deal next week. I go – You idiot.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I go, you should have called me. I've got so much advice about this. But anyway, he found a great company. I'm really excited for the guy. But I really – I didn't know my life was going to be –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Yeah, by Adam Coffey.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Yep.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Well, you roll equity. So I rolled 50%, 49%. So the deal is, is this next deal, I'll be a billionaire on the next turn. But the fact is... Jeff Bezos owns 8.3% of Amazon. Mark Zuckerberg owns 14% of Meta. The way you build an empire is by getting cash infusions. Otherwise, you're reinvesting your living off of it. Now, here's the deal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
I'm going to write a... I'll give you my book when it comes out in September. It's called Pay Them What They're Worth. And it's about equity incentive programs, phantom equity, profit units. There's a lot of ways to skin this cat. But you want to give key players in the business, number one, it helps you recruit the A-plus best players in the world like Elon Musk does.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Understanding the Complexities of the Commercial Landscape with Josh Young
Number two, it keeps people from leaving. Number three, it has them run and sprint towards the same goal you are, which is build an equitable company. So the deal is they do not get the money until a change of control. So your second turn, you can make more money than the first turn. Parkinson's, good buddies of mine, Paul Kelly. Five turns. Sold the business five different times.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
The next best time, same time to plant a tree was today. A lot of people, they hesitate. And I just don't understand. They're betting the future of their family. And they're so hard to pull the trigger. And I understand they don't have money. But there's a reason they don't have money is because their brand does not stand out. So they're paying. And everybody calls me. I'm not getting leads.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I'm not getting leads. We are – we've got more leads than we can handle. I mean, we've got – and here's what's cool. When they call up A1, they're like, it's okay if you guys can't get out for a couple days because we're going to use you no matter what. We see you guys everywhere. We love you guys. They got to know me. But I spend money in marketing. I'm not afraid of that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
But give me the process. Just sum it up, soup to nuts, real quick.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
brand agency that specializes in helping home service businesses refine themselves and stand out with disruptive brands. Dan is a nationally recognized speaker and an expert on home service branding with several books on branding to his credit, including Building a Bigger Small Business Brand and his new amazing Amazon bestselling book, Branded, not blanded. Then I got Ryan Redding here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I think it's so important. You know, a lot of people don't bring the brand. Like, they go branded by you, and then they get the wrap company that changes the colors that doesn't fit right exactly. They didn't get the right vector files. And then they didn't do the interior of their building and warehouse and showroom, and they don't bring the brand inside. And that's a big mistake.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I always ask how many people – I'm on stage quite a bit, and I see how many people got branded by Deanna Antonelli. A lot of people do. I'm like, how many of you guys have the brand living within the building all over the walls that Deanna actually created? It's like very little. And I don't understand that. And it's so simple to do it. And I think it's a big deal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I mean, I just had yesterday, just yesterday, I had two clients sitting in my showroom and the brands inside of the showroom. Branding has become a buzzword these days. And I want, Ryan, maybe you could answer this and then Dan could give some context. What do you think the biggest misconception people have about what branding really means?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Here's the thing. When I rebranded initially six years ago, I didn't change my email signature to the brand. Different colors. The ValPak didn't match. You got mad at me. You said your billboards don't even... They're not in the same color palette. Your yard signs are off. So it took me a few years of you just... You're like, dude, the spacing's wrong. Like, you must have...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
He's an expert in SEO, PPC, LSA, web design, and digital strategy. Ryan has built a reputation for delivering real, measurable results in an industry where marketing is often misunderstood. He's been an instrumental driver of multi-millions of dollars for businesses across U.S. and Canada and is a trusted voice on marketing leadership and operations of the home service industry.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
probably three messages a month for the next three years, and it still comes here and there. And now it's just like everything has to follow these brand guidelines. Everywhere somebody sees you, reminder, reminder, reminder, reminder. And, you know, we've got the whole caricature of, like, the A1 guy on the side of the truck, which is me, but it's a caricature.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And then we've got a jingle, and it all goes together into the brand. And if you reinforce this brand all the time in your trucks, one of the things you recommend is – Your trucks are driving around all the time. Put them somewhere on your website near the top because that's what people recognize. That's another great tip.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
That's interesting. I think a lot of people need to listen to this and do this. I'm going to go back and forth here. So, Dan, you authored several books on branding. What motivated you to write Branded Not Blanded, which I'm in the book twice. Thank you. What do you hope readers take away from it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
That's a great book. I really enjoyed the book and it's really high quality. It's got the colors really, really the right, you know, paid stock and just, it's just well done. Ryan, given your extensive experience in the trades, what are some of the most common challenges you see contractors facing when trying to grow their businesses?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
It's a pleasure to have you guys in the studio today. Thanks for being here, brother.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Yeah, I'm excited. There's nothing better on the planet than talking about marketing and branding. For me, that's the favorite thing. And you guys got a pretty big announcement here. Why don't you tell the listeners what's going on with Kick Charge and some of the new updates?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I was just in a meeting right before this, and we were going over our deck that we present with our partners, our sponsors. And there's just so many opportunities. The bigger I get, you might – and it does get easier. But the more opportunities I find, like I find a million dollars there, a million dollars there, two million dollars there. Yeah, we all have that problem.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And it's like, look, it falls between mostly really great recruiting, really good training, and making people feel loved. You do those well. Look, marketing has always come easy to me. But marketing is really easy when you've got a high conversion rate, high booking rate, high average ticket. Yeah. It's easier to spend money. Plus, we've got the brand and the jingle and the caricature.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I try to stand out as much as possible. Like, we're going to get really creative. But the fact is, A1 is able to hit 25% of the bottom line. And as we continue to grow, I think it's possible to hit 30 just because economies of scale. So a lot of people want to stay small. They don't want the stress. Well, why did you get into business?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Like, if you don't want a brand, right, you don't want to answer your phone. You don't want to get financials that make sense. You don't want to buy new vehicles to make your people feel welcome. Some people say they have a business, but really they have an LLC and an EIN number. They own a job. They have a job. And that's 100% the case.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
All right, Dan, can you elaborate on your mantra, design as if life's were at stake? That's a good one.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And you're going to get results. I mean, what I like about what Ryan does is... He shows you the work and it's not, there's so many ways to look at something and disguise it. Like I can show you, you rank for a keyword. That's a long tail keyword very quickly that no one's searching, but you know, it's results oriented, reverse engineering, how to get huge results.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Hey guys, quick thought for you before we get back to today's episode. What would you do if the phones at your business just stopped ringing? No leads, no calls, nothing coming in. Most people would panic, but I've got a system that ensures this won't happen. It keeps your phones ringing even when marketing slows down. Here's what my top guys do on every job.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
They get good reviews on Google, Yelp, Nextdoor, and Facebook. They put up yard signs. They talk to the neighbors. They even figure out who runs the HOA. Basically, they turn one job into 20 new leads before they back out of the driveway. That's what happens when you hire A-plus players and put the right systems in place.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
If you want to learn how to build a team like this, sign up for the live webinar I'm hosting with my managing director, Jim Leslie. We're breaking down three moves you can make to keep the phones ringing and double your growth in 2025. No BS, just the real stuff that works. It's happening May 21st, no replays.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
So join our Facebook group, The Home Service Expert, if you haven't already, and keep an eye out for our announcement about the webinar. All right, back to the episode. All right, Ryan, as a marketing consultant, what are some of the most impactful decisions you've helped contractors make? that have significantly improved their bottom line.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Well, I'm all about, look, I'm all about marketing. I mean, there's nobody a bigger advocate, but if you're not answering your phone, if you're not open nights, GMB doesn't stay open 24 hours. Like there's so many simple little things like you're booked out three days, but you're spending a fortune in PPC. You got to lower yours.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Like, and I'm not saying turn it off, but understand capacity planning.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I could give a clinic on this stuff because I see, like, it's so common sense for me, but I've been doing this 20 years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Absolutely. You've got to have a rehash team and you need to be closing. You know, this is a common thing I see. You know, I know a lot of the clients that come to you, they just don't have the money. they're underfunded. I mean, when you think about the first five years in business, I didn't have the money. I couldn't get an SBA loan. I just had to go out there and work.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
In fact, I was bartending and bussing tables for four of the year. I still have my landscape business. I did them simultaneously because I needed to make money while investing in this garage door business. And some people are like, they go all in, they quit their job, but they don't have any savings. You know, I would say this, they're underfunded 100%. And when you're underfunded 100%,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
it's like you're going to have to put in 10 years of sweat equity. And I'm sorry. Like, look, if it were me, the first thing I would do is get branded correctly and start my digital journey. And that's SEO. That's getting a lot of reviews with pictures. And I'd have the client write a really sincere review. And I've got enough time to like...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
you know, squeak the wheels with them to like just say, please, like I'm early in this business. It means a lot. That's where it's like David and Goliath, the big companies don't have the time. They can't do a yard sign. They can't knock on the doors around there. They can't make it to the chamber meetings. They can't go to B&I meetings. Like there's still an advantage from being small.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And sometimes people tell me like, what would you do if you were me? I'm like, if you're not working, you need to go be meeting people. You need to be talking to realtors. You need to be talking to designers. You need to be talking to builders. They just say, well, I want what you have. Everybody wants the views, but no one wants to make the hike. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I'm totally doing that. You know my big showroom truck? I'm totally doing that. I'm still in it. You know, my buddy Travis Ringy sold for north of $30 million in six zip codes. That's all he worked.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
In that north part of Phoenix. And so many people – that's another big mistake is like, yeah, you're right. They buy a billboard for two months. They do a radio commercial for two weeks. Like, I – You got to run radio solid for like 18 months before you really see a big effect.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I love it. Ryan, what are your thoughts?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
A lot of people are like, I'm going to try everything. I call it spray and pray. They're just trying to see what will work. Just do PPC. Do anything paid because that does work, but it's the most expensive form of marketing you're ever going to do by far, paid ads versus organic and getting reviews. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
As an expert logo design for small businesses, what are the essential elements that you believe every effective logo should possess to resonate with its target audience?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
So with Kick Charge, you guys do the logo, the brand, the color palette. Talk to me a little bit about the trademark and the copyrights because this is something that my lawyers – I spend a lot of money defending, but I'm winning every time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I see all these wannabes that have tried... Look, I love the people that come for shop tours, and at least they did something. I just don't think there's a substitute for... And I say this because, like, dude, I've been talking you guys up since the day I got rebranded. The employees have pride. and I call them my coworkers, but they show up, they walk in differently.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
They show up to my client's house differently. They ask for reviews differently. People apply differently. Like, for what I paid, and it's just, I just don't think people really understand until they do it. And you've got, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to do a second podcast, Jason Buehler, some of the people, Amanda, Ken Goodrich.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Ken was really one of the first people that I saw because I'm local here. He's local here. But I want to hear, you know, maybe you have some of your clients give testimonials of what the difference was because Jason's story was amazing. I think it's just, transformational what it does to the business. And it's nerve wracking and it's tough.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Welcome to the Home Service Expert, where each week, Tommy chats with world-class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields, like marketing, sales, hiring, and leadership, to find out what's really behind their success in business. Now, your host, the home service millionaire, Tommy Mello.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And I know that probably people almost go through divorce trying to get this done because it's like, no, I don't want to do it. We don't want to spend the money. But my question is, how can you afford not to? Like, I really think that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And if you don't, like, if you had asked me what's more important, the right CRM or the right brand, I'd say you need the right brand to make the phone ring enough to even use a CRM. You know what I mean? It's like everybody asks me, like, what's the – I did have a guy that used you guys that said, okay, what now? I got the brand. I got my one truck. I'm out of money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I'm like, what do you mean you're out of money? Like, that doesn't even make sense to me. Because, look, I think everybody should have $250,000 to go into business. That's enough for marketing. That's enough to get into a good lease. That's enough to buy your first couple trucks. That's enough to get a good brand. That's enough to weather the storm for a few months.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
That's enough to put some want ads out. Like, if people don't have access to a couple hundred grand, and I understand because I was there, and I'm not talking down to you guys. But you get a job and you work your butt off and you save. And you might have to do both at once. You might have to work at night and do two things at once. I'm sorry. Like, that's just the way it is.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
If it was easy, everybody says, I want that job because I want freedom. The problem is it takes 15 years to get the freedom. And then everybody says, oh, yeah, these businesses are making all this money. You think they were just – like there's always – you know, Ryan, this brings me to my next question. That's a segue. You emphasize the importance of grit and strategy in business growth.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Can you share your personal story that highlights how perseverance played a role in your journey?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Hey guys, real quick, I want to take a minute to talk to you all about branding. Kickchar's branded A1 for me, and that was a game changer. Now, I've teamed up with them to bring you the exclusive buddy branding package built to help you dominate the market.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
With this package, you'll get a custom logo, a killer truck wrap, polished collateral, a tagline, a high-performing website, and all the tools you'll need to launch your brand the right way. Even better, you'll get 10% off. plus a free brand launch package to help you hit the ground running. This offer is limited to the first 50 contractors who sign the proposal, so don't sleep on it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Head over to kickcharge.com and fill out the request info form today. Last thing, guys, be sure to drop the word buddy in the comments section so they know your buddy Tommy sent you. That's kickcharge.com. Sign up today. All right, now back to the episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
You know, I want to say something that's really important that I've had an epiphany on, and some people have heard me say this, but I haven't been overly outward. I used to think, and in the beginning it's still true, I used to think every one of the people that worked for me, their butts in seats meant success. If Luke was not here 70 hours a week, he was taking advantage of me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Whether it was Adam, Luke, my CFO, anybody. Because that's what I relate to myself. I was here weekends. I'm here nights. I work the time. And now I go, you know what? Let me tell you guys a little secret. If your kids are getting a 4.0, they don't need to do homework for eight hours and study a day. If they're getting a 4.0, they could do whatever they keep doing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
They're getting the result as long as they're keeping the information and they're staying sharp and they're taking tests right if you wanted to get into college. But I'm going after results now because I had to change my identity because I want to have kids. I want to get married soon.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And that means that I can't work 80 hours a week, but I could be way more efficient with my time and my 168 hours a week. I've got to have meetings that matter. Less scrolling behind the desk because just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm productive.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Because I could probably do more 30 hours of focused, well-slept time when I'm exercising and I'm making decisions because I'm getting the right nutrients than being here 70 hours trying to drink coffee, stay awake and staying focused and barely able to type or retain information. So I stopped that idea. By the way, hard work is important. I'm not trying to belittle that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
But now I'm like at my position where I'm at today, where my C-suite is, is hours don't equate to results. When anybody tells me on my teams, dude, I put in 60 hours, I go, I don't care if you work 20 hours. I don't care if you work 80. I'm results oriented. I stopped thinking about how, don't tell me how hard you're working.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Give me the results that we sat down and we discussed that you were going to get me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
We just got back from our pinnacle trip. And Ashley, one of my EAs, was with us. And she's like, hey, we've got a lot of stuff to do today. I said, I'm really sorry. I said, I think I'm just going to take the next four days off. If something's important, I'm like, I'm going to tequila. I'm going to play volleyball and just F off a little bit.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And I got to tell you guys, I felt a rebirth when I got back. And now I'm going to make vacation time to turn off mandatory for everybody. Like, your PTO must be used. And I want you to shut off and get a reset. Because when I came back, I mean, I started that fast. I'm like, man, I'm going to go 150. Like, all of a sudden, it was clarity. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Yeah. I mean, you guys did A1Garage.com's website and, you know, it's killer. And I know that you kind of used other companies to help with that. And now it's all in-house, which is huge. What I like about what Ryan does is, is you measure everything. You've got all in-house people. You don't... Most... I'd say 90% of people are subbing out to India. They're subbing out to the Philippines.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And I think I just got out of the bubble for a little bit.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Yeah. They really do. Yeah. I love it, man. Dan, I got another question here. In your opinion, how can small businesses leverage branding to foster customer loyalty and create lasting relationships with their clients? And what role does storytelling play in this process?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
24 hours, background checks, work nights, weekends, holidays is not a competitive advantage. In fact, the competitive advantage, Janie Smith talks about historical data. Out of our last 24,000 jobs, 23,998 started on time. The other two were rectified within 48 hours. No one else could claim that. Historical data is a great way to do it. And then also the brand story. I talk about my mom a lot.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
She moved in 2010. She was born in 1954, the same day I was in 1983. She decided to leave her whole existence to come help me run this business with my stepdad in 2010. And I'm listening to Ken, and Ken's like, here's the deal, dude. I'm sitting down with you in the next two weeks, and I'm going to teach you relationship marketing. And we're going to tell the best stories ever.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And I'm going to tell the story about my grandma's Maytags, how they never broke down, and they're still around today at my uncle's. Like, they just keep going and going and going. They're 50 years old, the yellow ones. Yeah, yeah. And, like, so I thought about when I came up with Max Life, Like a part that'll never break. Because I'm so sick of replacing my phone every six months.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I'm so sick of this stuff that's built to break. Even your appliances. So I'm like, listen, we're going to create parts that no one else has. And we're going to put a trademark on it called Max Life. Listen, let's do a couple final questions here. I do think that you throw the brand with the right digital marketing and some conventional things. I do Valpec. I think Clipper works.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I think what I do very well is I look at last month's issues and I make sure that I'm not apples to apples. If they're selling springs for this, I'll sell springs, rollers, quiet special with this. It's completely different. Or I got to beat them on price because they're discount shoppers. They're looking at the coupons. But I want to get different.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
You've got an in-house team. You care. You understand not only organic, which is important, and what people view your brand at, but you understand all the other elements. PPC, LSA, Google My Business. And you guys are a one-stop shop. And, you know, you put your name on the line. And you're willing to deliver. And you show the results. And...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And, by the way, Joe Gosara's book's around here, and I do think you've got to give options in sales. I think it's always good to give options because if you're not giving more than one option, you're giving them an ultimatum to say yes or no. I think every business should have two or three options. But listen, I think you guys are going to be amazing together.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I don't think people understand this about you, Dan, by the way. They think it's the Dan Antonelli show. You've got so many good people at that company. I mean, you're on the stages. You do a lot of the podcasts. But those people are at home working right now. They're grinding. There are so many good people behind what Kick Charge does. It's not one or two or ten people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And it's more of a family than anything. And you want to take care of everybody. And you do too, Ryan. And, Ryan, you've got, what, 25 people hustling? Yeah. So listen, both of you guys have been super successful. I'll give you guys a chance to close us out. But first and foremost, Dan, if they want to get a hold of you, what's the best way to do it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And any books – for marketing that stand out for you, Ryan, that are like must-reads?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
R-E-D-D-I-N-G.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Yeah. All right, guys. So look, I can't emphasize this enough. I was $30 million. I don't know. Have you ever rebranded a company bigger than me at the time?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Now you've got probably some PE-type companies.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Oh, yeah, Aaron was massive. Eco Plumber.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Healthy bottom line, too. That's what's important. Remember, revenues for vanity, profits for sanity. Exactly. Listen, Ryan, give us – we talked about a lot of stuff here, man. Give us anything you want. Close us out, and then I'll have Dan close us out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Guys, if you want to, we're going to give you a link in here to go look at all the different companies that have worked with Dan over the years. And really, you add Ryan to it, and these numbers will double. Not only does the conversion rate help Dan, but the average ticket goes up, and the cancellation rates go down, and people will apply to you that you didn't think would ever come.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
We have a whole team involved around data integrity.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
All right, Dan, what do you got, brother?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
You know, I don't think I've – maybe two or three events out of the 50 I've done that I haven't had this exact A1 shirt on – And it's just because I'm proud of my brand. It's like people are always like, you're a garage door guy. I'm like, no, I'm the garage door guy. Well, listen, I really appreciate the listeners out there and you two for coming out here. It's amazing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And I think everybody should at least give you a phone call and see what it looks like and hear your ideas. It's never pressure. In fact, I think you guys are the worst closers of all time. Because you've got so much business. You're so booked out. You guys are high, high, high in demand. You don't need anybody's business. You get it because you're referral only. I mean, you don't market.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Your door will be knocked down. But here's where Ryan comes in. Your cost per lead will go down exponentially, and that's where you win. A lot of people, if you got one van, no one's ever going to really see it. You can't be everywhere with one van, so you got to be digital marketing. Ryan, what do you think separates...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
You don't do any marketing. You're on a couple of stages in podcasts, but you don't need – your product stands alone, so – Listeners out there, listen, I totally appreciate you guys. If you like this episode, share it, please, with somebody that needs to hear this message. Don't be afraid to leave me a review. That's the biggest and best compliment I could ever receive.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And look out for a part two where we're going to hear some people that got affected, where their lives changed because of a kick charge of what those guys do over there. I'm Tommy Mello, and thank you for listening to the Home Service Expert. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
So if you want to learn the secrets to help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
The marketing you guys do from, you know, there's a lot of big companies out there. I'm not even going to name them, but I never, there's not a lot of happy clients from them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
You know, I've made it a habit to call smarter people than me on a regular basis. And I've been talking to a lot of CMOs lately for multi-billion dollar companies. And there's one common theme. I'm like, your ROAS, return on ad spend, is 20%, 20%, 20%. I'm talking to these guys, and I said, how do you get overall down to 10%? They said SEO and ranking our Google My Business pages. Every time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
That pulls it down so much. So they're on Angie. They're doing PPC. They're doing mailers. They're doing all this stuff, radio, TV, billboards. And then it pulls it down from the SEO and GMB. And I think that's the one thing that no one's talking about. It's like, what are you guys spending on your SEO? Yeah. Well, $500 a month. Or it's combined with PPC. And they got no leaks. I go to AHRFs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I look them up. They're not even found anywhere. Not on the first, second, or third page. What are your thoughts on that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
At least, sometimes it's a year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I got a lot of questions for Dan here too. I was looking at my numbers last – Q4 of last year. And I was spending $800K a month minimum on PPC. And I looked at my SEO, which you guys are going to be helping with dramatically. And I'm sitting there going, I'm only spending $10,000 a month. Now I'm spending $25,000 a month. I'm going to start spending a lot of money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
And people are like, I know I'm not going to get instant results, but do you understand even 25,000 is what one to 32 times? Because if you go to 800,000, like people understand, and I know AI is changing, but you got to be everywhere. Like if you're going to build a big business, if you just want to get your business to $500,000 profit, just do paid.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Like if you just want to be ordinary and never build anything worth anything, um, Because I guarantee when I look at your business and I find out you're not paying yourself and you're underpaying your managers, your business is worth nothing even at $500,000. Like when I walk through it. But, Dan, tell me a little bit about why branding is so crucial. I believe this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
I was $30 million when I found you. Now we're $300 million, 10X since I rebranded. And that wasn't – it feels like it was six years ago.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
But talk to me about why branding is so crucial for the home service industry and home improvement.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Yeah, you know, I wrote down here, like, some brands that I think of. Now, they're national brands, but they're easy. They're color. Like, I've never really saw a brand that I appreciated that wasn't simple. You know, so many people, they put everything they do on the side of the truck. Yeah. Like, you told me, like, we're not putting Angeles. We're not putting the BBB. We're not putting anything.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. All right, here we go, guys. Welcome back to the Home Service Expert Podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
You got to have a little ROC. That's it. There's a lot of companies out there, like I'm a garage door guy, so Chamberlain, Clopay, Amar, they'll pay for my wraps, but they want to own half of the wrap. Look at Neighborly. We talked about this. Why would I let them pay for my brand and then own half my real estate on my vehicle?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
How big of a mistake is that when you put all these accolades and no one even knows what your brand is?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
The best thing you do, the only thing I've ever done is snap a picture real quick. And either way, I'm going to look up the company and see if they got good reviews regardless.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
It just takes up the real estate. So you've worked with a few thousand companies to brand them or rebrand them. How do you identify and implement the key branding elements that align with each client's specific audience and values?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Today, I got a couple of buddies in town that I owe a lot to. I got Dan Antonelli and Ryan Redding here. They're experts in branding, marketing, SEO, graphic design. Ryan is a CMO at Kick Charge Creative. Dan is the founder CEO of Kick Charge Creative as well. Dan is the president and chief operating officer of Kick Charge Creative, an award-winning New Jersey-based...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Navigating the Digital Marketing Landscape with Kick Charge Creative
Yeah, no, I agree. I think a lot of people, they think having black with big muscles on the side and like this really disruptive – it's cool. I mean if you like heavy metal and like Led Zeppelin and like – Walk us through the process. So someone calls you and decides, look, I think I'm going to pull the trigger. It makes sense. And by the way, the best time to rebrand was 10 years ago.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Well, you know, I've got a couple of guys that are going to go on Pinnacle this year that they're in certain markets and they call me up. They're like, these guys don't think Pinnacle's possible. But yet we have more guys going than ever before. There's like 50. So, like, what is it that these guys walk in and say that's not possible?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Like, what do you think this defeat, before they even get started, they've already given up? And by the way, Pinnacle is a trip where they get some access to equity and they get – it's a fun trip to Mexico. It's like it's going to be a game changer for a lot of people. It's like a very prestigious thing for the listeners. But go ahead.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You know, preconceived notions.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
There could be great ones and there could be really, really bad ones.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
At what point do you decide, what's the straw that breaks the camel's back that you're like, Because I always say if there's a will, I'll find a way. If they want to meet me 50-50, even 60-40, I'll do the 60. I'd even meet 70-30. But when a relationship becomes they don't care about the relationship, there's no respect, self-respect and mutual respect.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
That's when you start to wonder, even if you are a producer, like – You're not part of the team. You're not pulling your weight. You don't show up to meetings. You're actually bringing everybody else down. Dave, I always say this about a lot of the people. Me and you don't talk a ton.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I never call you up and bitch, but I don't call you up and say, man, when I call you, we smile, we catch up, and we laugh. But what point do you decide, no bueno, I got to make some moves here?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Yeah. I mean, we've learned a lot from some of those guys. You know, they've got some good owners, but that's like any other franchise. So you just wrote a book. I wrote the foreword to it. Nothing changes when nothing changes. And this book came out last month. It's a bigger book. How long did it take you to put this together?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You feel like they self-eliminate? Because I was talking to Dan in Michigan and he goes, most of my guys self-eliminate. He's like, I don't really have to do much there. I know. Because when he's talking to Luke, who's our COO, or even Brian Davenport, they'll be like... when are you going to let this guy go?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
He's like, I don't spend any time with the bottom 20% because they kind of fall off anyway.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And, and that, and do you think that's the right mentality? Do you think just let that, do you think that they should be there long enough to quit? Or do you think you should get in front of it before? And I guess it's circumstance circumstantial.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I will say this when I, when I parted, when I talked to Cortec about this, You know, our legal team was a lot more – I said, I think it's bullshit. And I called Doug with Cortec. I think it's really crappy that we've got to do, like, six performance improvement plans. We'll fire a top guy like this. If they don't show up to a meeting, we're, like, gone.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
But we're, like, we're going to hold on to people that are actually losing us money, that don't allow us to pay our bills, that will close our doors if they were – you know, unfortunately, like, we've got obligations and bills we need to meet. Rents and service time and, you know, all kinds of stuff. And he says, no. He goes, we'll deal with the lawsuits. You fire them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You get rid of anybody not pulling their weight. Meaning, in effect, it should not be hard. I'm glad we work in right to will. Like, look, my job is never, I don't enjoy firing people. Unless you lie to each other still, then it's easy. But why, if we know this person's got to go, what advantage, like I'm telling you right now, get rid of them. I mean, just after this meeting.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You cut them... As long as you wholeheartedly in your heart believe they're not right, don't wait.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I don't think anybody should get let go that doesn't see it coming. So, yeah, there should be something. But I don't think you just wake up one day and be like, this person's got to go. I think it's probably been a couple of months. So hopefully you... If you're thinking correctly, I know you just don't wake up and be like, man, this guy's gone.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You knew if you were in the bottom percent. Yeah. And you just said, hey, you pack up your stuff and say, look, this was fair. Like I had a chance to work harder to get above the bottom 20% because new people coming in is a good thing. Fresh blood. Anyways, I know we're going off here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
A lot of them don't even give the numbers.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Well, you know what's interesting is back in the day, and you remember these days back over on University. I used to have people write down, we'd make a smiley face, and in black, you'd go write your numbers and your KPIs. And then in red, I'd write an unhappy face. And I'd give the markers to each person because I knew it was only like, in Phoenix, there was only like 20 guys.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And it was kind of shaming, and I said all the losers come up and write their numbers. But by the way, I didn't mean you're a loser as your character. It just meant you lost this week. You didn't hit the goal. So Steve Siraci, you know really well. He always tells me, when you said that, and I took the red marker, and he was walking really slow.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I remember this day, and he just kind of fills it out real quick, sits back down, and he goes, never again was I going to be on that side. Something to be said about just accountability and pushing people and saying, look, how does it feel to be in the bottom five of this company?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Either they're going to quit or they're going to get better.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And I want to get that out of them quicker.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Listen, if this is not working, let me know. But if you want help, tell me. I'll get you the right ride-alongs. We can send you back to Phoenix. We've got so many opportunities. You stick with me for 30 minutes before Thursday meeting. We'll work through this together. But let's figure this out today. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Because I'll tell you this, I wouldn't be able to go home and look at my wife, look at my kids if I was in your position. Because I know you're better than this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
It's, you know, I think who does this the best? Eric Parks says, once Leslie started caring... He did over a million dollars in doors this year. I mean, he's the number one guy that we have in door sales. And he said, without my wife talking to me about my day and going through it with me. And I'm telling you, the more successful people I talk to, they bring their wife and kids into it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Like their kids ask them at the dinner table, how did today go? And of course, dad asks, how did your day go? You know, there's like, but they actually care about each other's day. They're pushing each other. Like Leslie's like, we're going to pinnacle. Like when you have somebody like, what's it going to take? Do you got to pick up a six day? Do you got to go do the ride along with this person?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
What is it going to take for you to win? When you have that person supporting you, a lot of people don't have that. But a lot of people do have it, but they just never asked them or brought them into it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I think they live above their means. When they start making six figures, it's like, you know, I've always said this, J.D., if you can't save money at $40,000, you can't save money at $100,000. You can't save money at $200,000. Everybody thinks it's a production problem. I need to make more money. It's not. It's a spending problem. Exactly. It's a spending problem.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I had a technician, I'm not going to say his name, but he was paying $1,200 a month for rent. Between him and his wife, they were bringing in over $250,000. And he had no money. Nothing. Nothing. I said, wait a minute, $1,200 a month. That's a 15 grand a year. So that leaves you with $235,000. I know there's some taxes and you got a kid and you got some stuff. But what's going on?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You don't even own a house. Like, where's the money? You know, here's the problem is they don't want to write it down. They don't want to keep track. It's almost like it's embarrassing to them. But if they just would get started. We have a guy, Jad, you know, that works for us. He went and got his body fat last week. 27% that's considered obese. He's skinny.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And you managed Tucson. You managed to go over kind of the last eight, nine years here at A1, like where you came in, what you started managing, some of the problems with some of the technicians. How many guys have you hired? How many people have you – whether you've terminated them or they've quit? I'm just curious about all the numbers. I mean it's been a while here. Tucson, by the way, was –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
He's ready to change because he knows the facts. The body fat, Dex, is the best, most accurate thing. When you do this, you've got to look at yourself and deal with the facts. When you go to the doctor, my dad hates going to the doctor because you might have something, but you could fix it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And it's like the truth kills, but then you can make change. But you've got to know exactly where you're at. We call it the known financial position. That's what Alan Rohrer taught me, the known financial position. And when you've got that, it's like you could work miracles. You've got to have a plan, and you've got to be realistic. And it might take a year. It might take two years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
But it took a decade to get you in that position.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Hey, hope you're loving today's episode. There's someone you need to know. Someone who played a huge role in how I built my $220 million home service business. His name is Al Levy, and he's the mastermind behind 7Power Contractor. He's helped hundreds of home service owners, including me, scale with more profit and less stress. Now he's retired, no consulting, no events, except for Freedom 2025.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Al's planning to make a rare appearance to hang out and, if time allows, host a meet and greet with attendees. This might be your only chance to meet the legend in person and pick his brain for a few minutes. Grab your ticket now and lock in our early bird bonus package worth over $5,000. Plus, VIP tickets are 20% off. Don't miss this rare opportunity. Go to freedomevent.com now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
That's freedomevent.com. All right, back to the episode. I agree, man. And, you know, it's so crazy that you see guys, you know, randomly Brandon Colby and Mike Price stopped at my house just randomly the other day. Mike Price, his fob, stopped working to start the car. So they had to pick it up and take it to the dealer to get reprogrammed. So they were riding together.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
They had a job by my house. So they stopped by. And, you know, Colby did darn near $2 million. Yeah. Pretty good year for him. And a little shy of $2 million. Wow. I mean, that's a large amount. These guys are performance pay, so the more they sell. And obviously there's a scorecard. There's other things that weigh into that. But, I mean, it's a crazy amount of money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
But, you know, he's got, what, four cars? He's got a house. He's got a Can-Am. And these guys act like, man, things are tight. He's paying for his mom's car, his mom's rent. Yeah, when you're doing that, and he parties a little bit, so, you know, he'll pick up the bar tab. So, yeah. I mean, look. That's what's interesting. You know, I lived in the apartment for four years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I don't really need these material possessions to feel like it's nice to go out on a can-am. But, dude, I know how much you could get. You could rent them for how much I go out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I started Phoenix in 2007, added Tucson by 2010. It was our second market. It's one of our bigger markets.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Like, there's nothing important to me about, like, I need to have these material possessions. Like, they're great in the beginning. You love it. You love your new car. You love this. But I've never been like, man, this is what makes my life better. Because you get into this debt, and what's worse is when you just can't sleep because you can't make ends meet.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I wonder if there's anything I could set up where certain people would give me, I'd insure it. I'd put it in an account that I got to sign off and I died, but they'd have to come to me to get it out. And just something to like, because look, look, I could afford to cover everybody's in a way of like an insurance, but put it into some type of trust or some type of tax shelter. Like,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Yeah, 401K, Roth IRA. There's a lot of different things that do it. But it's like, yeah, $30,000 is great. But think about this. And I'm not sitting here saying, look at me. I care less. But when I was 16, my cousin, red Corvette, it was an 87. Nothing special. We got in his car at Gilbert at my uncle's house. He was listening to Don't Speak, No Doubt on the CD player. I was 16, so this was 1999.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And he said, how much money do you make a month? And at that time, I was a lifeguard and I was bussing tables. And I don't remember what I said, but he goes, how much have you put away into your Roth? I said, what's a Roth? He goes, an IRA account. He goes, you don't have one? I go, no, I'm 16. He goes, I don't care how old you are. Let's go start you one right now. So we drove over.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And I haven't been able to put into that since I was 29. So think about that. When I was 29, I was seven years into the business. That was 2014 right before you started. I couldn't put any more money in. So that's compound interest each year. It's crazy that last decade.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
So the more you get in there, obviously, you know, the idea is pay off your house. That's probably going to be your number one asset because that thing will keep going up. Like as inflation happens, real estate keeps up with it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You wrote the last check?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Oh, dude. I think you told me that. That's incredible. A lot of people are paying off their houses. Dan Farr. I love that because I like people that are in charge that actually take good financial decisions. They make good financial decisions that people could look up to you to say, listen, that guy had enough discipline and perseverance to pay off his house.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And the next thing is buy another rental. But that's the thing is don't buy something for yourself, a vacation house. Buy a rental.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I got lucky that he told me to do that. Right. And I respected him.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
If anybody that you didn't respect told you that, you probably... And my parents or my sister or anybody else, I respect the shit out of this guy. So I said, all right, I'm going to do it. Yeah. And I look at this annuity. It was a... I took this class when I was 19 called Finite. Finite Math. And in the back, there was all these tables. And they had these annuity compound interest. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
So it was like... I go, and I go, 40 years. I'm only going to be 56. At the time, I would have been 59. 59 and a half, you can start pulling. 40 years of compound interest. That last five years is like, bang, bang, boom. Every year you left it in. Now, if I leave it in until I'm 80, because I won't need it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I mean, look, at the end of the day, I don't want to start, like, enjoying my life at 80, but there's good things that have happened since then. But, like, that's tax-free. And that's what I want everybody to understand that's listening. Like, our jobs, if you take one thing by the book, Nothing changes if nothing changes. But your technicians, they need financial literacy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
They need to learn a little bit about discipline. I don't care about leadership. I don't care about motivation. I care about personal discipline. And what I've learned is I cannot discipline you. I cannot tell you to wake up. You've got to actually. Exactly. build that strength, that muscle up yourself. Exactly.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
It's a story about you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Have you done the Audible yet?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Have you read the Audible?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Yeah, for Audible, yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
AI is, we're training my, that's one other thing I've got to make a note of. We're training my AI skills. literally it's my face. It talks to you. It's loaded up all the podcasts and, um, I've got a way to train it actually to the next level. Um, which I think is important one day, you know, one day I'm going to die. Um, all of us are, I'm pretty sure of that. And, uh,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I think it's cool to have a legacy that if I load it up and I record enough stuff over the next 20 years, it kind of, it's not me, but it's a remnants of me. And it's kind of nice to leave that around for the next, you know, hopefully I have kids and, you know, there's something left for them to kind of, it's not the same at all.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
But at least it's like, hey, dad, what would you do in this situation? I don't know. I don't know if it will help them or not. It's a weird thing. But I thought about when my dad passes or my mom passes. It's going to be the worst day of my life, but also to just, I still know they're gone.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
What do you use AI for? Give me a run through.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
So when we started Tucson, I went to Goodwill. I remember going to Goodwill and buying, like, $20 desks in the most ridiculous chairs. I mean, back then it was like bootstrap, man. Right. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
That's the only one you use.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
There is so many great tools out there. It's like, look, you know, I've taken a lot of school. University, I've done a lot. I got an MBA. I took 60 credits of prerequisites for dental, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, organic chemistry. It's been a long time, but I wish it was more practical, just no fluff, bullshit. Like, this is an AI course you're going to take.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
It's for advanced learners to go from zero to hero. And I wish, like, even not, like, all the apps on your phone. Like, I just wish there was, like. Maybe if somebody is listening to this and you listen to this podcast, DM me if you know of a place that offers really well put together courses that are not 20 hours. I don't need an accreditation. I want to do it for myself.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
If I took a course a week and I actually used it, I don't want to take courses to something I don't want to use.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Maybe there's a YouTube channel that does that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Ooh, I'd love to see that. Yeah, no, it's great. So when my buddy Aaron Gaynor loaded up his... It said renegotiate with your vendors because this is, like, it literally said all this stuff. And mine's starting to get to know me. Mine is, like, if you want to talk to Blackstone and KKR and, like, this is some of the things they'd be interested in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
It's, like, it's personalized, which is incredible. Yeah. What do you, you know, you talk a lot about accountability. You say that's the first thing. And that's been a big buzzword today once for the last couple of years. And I know Luke gets really frustrated when he hears managers say, you got to be more accountable. Because what does that exactly mean to you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Because it's just been a really big word for us. Accountability, accountability, you've got to stay accountable. But what does that even mean?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I don't know. Yeah, probably. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
But, yeah, we said, listen, we're going to have certain color jeans and shorts.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
People were wearing, like, really, really crappy cowboy boots and ripped up pants and, like, stains everywhere. Yeah. We're not doing a normal. We're not doing, like, you've got to wear a long sleeve with patches all over and booties on your feet.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You know, that's not hard for me. I mean, I understand how that could be tough, but it's like, dude, like literally, like sometimes either you smell like clone too much, you're covering something up, or look, you just, you don't smell. You're not pleasant.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And I'm going to get into this for myself, zero profanity, as far as the SRF.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You know, it's not that hard because when I talk to my niece and nephews, I don't ever – I'm not a big customer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
But when I'm sometimes on the – not the stage, but when I'm talking to – you know, bring the fire meetings. I'll slip in an F word here and there, but there's nothing that, like, there was nothing great about that. It was not like it made the meeting better, but someone might have got offended.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Not usually our guys, but overall, I was doing this to, I was talking to like 40 companies at one point, and there was a couple women, and the guy that was having it, he goes, that was the best meeting I've ever attended except for the two F words. He's like.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
So accountability, personal accountability, I believe there's this thing called the law of the lid. I know that there is, John Maxwell. And you'll only grow as your lid grows. So the more you learn, the more you start growing this lid. So now I've told the guys like Luke and Brian and our whole team over here, Adrian, is like, look, you guys are going to need consultants.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You guys are going to need to learn more. You're going to read the books I tell you to read. We're going to have a book club. Because what's important to me is that they continue to grow. Or otherwise, I'm going to outgrow them. Because I'm reading. I'm podcasting. I'm going to visit shops. And I've never been like, I don't want that for you guys. I never said that. I've always invited them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
So now I'm starting to get way more into like, let's do more group activities. Let's get more involved. Because that's the evolution. And this is the way to make it's good for the community. It's good for the people. It's good. Everyone needs a helping hand. A lot of people try to do this on their own.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
That's interesting. So... You... You've been through a lot. I mean, you've been through some drug addictions, some alcoholism. You got caught in a country that you almost got in big trouble for something that didn't happen, but it was almost like a rape case that you could have got in prison for a long, long time. Probably a decade you would have been in jail or something.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Oh, God, I would still be there, I'm sure. So all that's in the book. So you've been through the rigor.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Yes, I have. It doesn't kill you. It makes you stronger, I guess. So, yeah, there's a lot of good information. First half of the book, Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes, is about you, and then the next one's practical things that you could do or your technicians or your people that you work with That makes sense. Can you go through a few of those? So time management.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Yeah. But that's what's going on right now in certain markets. There's no leadership. And we're working on that. You know, it's hard to run. You do it. You run Albuquerque. It's hard when there's no boots on the ground. You can't have real one-on-ones face-to-face.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
What does this book sell for on Amazon?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You know, if you got it published, yeah, so you didn't self-publish.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I don't know if you can get a bunch of them. You should – yeah, my assistant did that. So you guys should check out the book, Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes, J.D. Plotz, P-L-O-E-T-Z. Closing thoughts here. I asked the same few questions here. So if somebody wants to get a hold of you, J.D., what's the best way?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And, um, Is there any books that you've ever read that really changed the way you think about life and maybe business?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Patrick Licioni is his name that wrote that book. And he also wrote The Ideal Team Player. He also wrote Meeting Suck.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You know how many times I've told you, J.D., And I've told the company that don't get comfortable. Things are going to look different in a month. I've learned to love change. It's not fun to change payroll systems or go from QuickBooks to Intact. But I was looking forward to it. I'm like, dude, it's time to get on the most elite of the elite softwares. It's time to do – Service Titan was tough.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Shit, that was – That was darn near a year when you were working because we were on.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Yeah, we were on a bunch of them, but that one was called Abtora.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Yeah, there was a couple before that. So, yeah, listen, I think you're right, though, man. I think that you've got to be comfortable with the idea of making quick and effective change. And a lot of people just think it's so hard because their habits need to change. That's a great book, Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, is your habits need to start to change if you want to change.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And you've got to realize you're Achilles' heels. Some people, it's social media. Some people, it's TV. Some people, it's Netflix. Some people, it could be alcohol. But whatever those are, you've got to figure out how to change that portion and solve a different habit.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
How do you get people comfortable? What do you got to do to make that happen?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
How do you make yourself available? What does that even mean?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I mean, do you tell them these are going to be my hours? Do you text them and say, let's have a chat? What's the first thing you're going to do to start that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
But getting started is half the battle. I mean, I will say, like, I always say getting to the gym is the hardest part. Once you're there, you've got to do the work. So any final thoughts, brother?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I hate to tell you, but books don't make money. Get your name out there. It'll help in the long run. It's your calling card. You've got to figure out after this year how to buy books for a few bucks. Instead of giving away business cards, you're going to give away your book. You're going to send them out to people. Start doing some podcasts here and there. This is a good start.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Yeah. I appreciate you, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
That's my job, is the vision of this company is, look, we're going to make history. It's going to be, it's still, I always say this, but it's still so small. Compared, you would think at this size, like, man, this is like, things are changing, though. Like, my position is changing. Like, I'm no longer involved in the projects. Like, now I got to really have this trust.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And I wrote down, become the best interviewer on the planet. hire the best people. It's got to happen. For my vision to maintain the way it's going is you've noticed the people that have come in are just the elite of the elite. Luke's been growing dramatically from a few years ago. There's a lot of people that have decided, I'm going to grow alongside of this company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And if now we're going to continue, it doesn't mean they're not on the bus. It means they might have to get on a different seat.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
But you're the man, brother. You're doing great. And by the way, Tucson is a massive market. When I say markets, I go Phoenix, Tucson, Vegas, Denver, Houston, Milwaukee, and Detroit. Those are our mammoth markets.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
It just doesn't have the population.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
No, no, no. Well, look it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Yeah, no, no, no. Forget about it. I'm switching 2025. 2024 was like, how much profit can we do? So we really, really got the bottom line down. renegotiated with a couple of vendors, massive opportunity. 2025, I just wrote a long email that I'm 100%. Let's get the revenue growth back to where it needs to be because 2026, I'm prepping for 2026.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And then I just think like people are, I'll close with this. People overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in five. We are the type of Americans, we tap our feet when we go to the microwave. We make popcorn, we're just very impatient. And whereas you look at other cultures, they're so patient. So we've got to slow down. And enjoy the process.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Enjoy playing the game. Because, dude, otherwise you wake up and it's like... You're always waiting for this destination. And when it comes, it's like not what you thought it was going to be. It's like this isn't... You kind of... It's a few weeks of fun. And then you're like, I'm losing purpose. That's why a lot of people, when they sell their business... They're very depressed.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
They lost their baby. They have no meaning. They go in and they're like, what do I do now? And I never want that to happen. I will never be like, what do I do with my life today? But thank you, my brother. I'm very fortunate to have you on the team. All the guys look up to you. You run a great market, several markets. So keep up the great work.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Everybody buy this book, Nothing Changes When Nothing Changes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
It's the universal blueprint for meaningful change and long-term success.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Thank you, Tom. All right, thanks, everybody. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And how many guys are in Albuquerque now?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You got to start as you get the right things going.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast is when a growing company hiring 30 to 40 techs a month, some guys get in the truck and they realize, This isn't for me because we don't get a lot of people with garage door experience.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I mean, very rarely. If they came from the right company and they got a good attitude, especially if they moved, those are good guys. But when they jump around from job to job to job, they think it's a problem with every company they work for. They never look in the mirror.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
If you knew that one skill, that one skill, billionaire. If you could identify the people that will get stuff done that will actually enjoy their work. I read this thing, JD, and I want you to finish your story, but it said – You work eight hours to have fun for two hours. You work 10 hours to enjoy one hour. It was this Instagram post that had all this stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text notes, N-O-T-E-S to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And my comment, you know what I wrote? It was a Facebook, actually. I wrote, then enjoy your work. If you don't hate work, if you actually have a good time at work, then it's like you're acting like you're washing dishes the whole time. By the way, I didn't mind washing dishes. It wasn't like this hard, ridiculous job. But what if you enjoyed your work?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Then it wouldn't feel like you're always hating life. So you came in, you became a manager, you took over Albuquerque, you had Tucson, and you had a lot of guys that came to you. Like the guys that come to me still. I had a guy come to me recently going through a nasty divorce here in Phoenix. You got custody battles. You got alimony.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Then you got guys that just can't seem to save a penny that are bringing in $150,000. And they buy new trucks. They buy their Harley. They'll go buy a Can-Am. They have no retirement account. They're in their 30s. And you're wondering – Where's the money? Where did the money go?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
You know, they say happy wife, happy life, but it's really happy home. Right. Happy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
So cool. So you, it sounds like, you know, we have a morning mojo call. We have a Thursday meeting every week. You're interviewing a lot of people. What would you say, you know, this is a real question of mine. You got guys like Dave Parks that have been there a long time. Solid producer. I know you've had to tame him a little bit, but he kind of just does his own thing. Yeah, he does.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
But he just, you depend on him. He's been here, what, 10 years?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
So you got those guys that are just, they're going to do their thing. They're going to be pretty good. He's a pretty good producer. I don't know, has he got goals to hit pinnacle?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. All right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
I don't know why he just pushes a little harder. He's just not bought into the goal setting, writing things down. And that's another thing. So you got guys. What makes you know? So we train guys in the market for a month. They come to Phoenix for a month. They get back. We do a little bit of...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
And where is it that, when do you find out? Because obviously you don't hire them unless you think they'll succeed. I mean, there was a time where we all hired people that we thought we could save. We were going to like fix people and we were going to, like we were doing like a good deed by God by hiring this person that was an ex-drug addict and like homeless or whatever.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
We're like, we're going to save their lives. And every one of us have done it that I'm like, okay, we're stopping playing savior. So when is it that you know someone's going to be an excellent fit?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz
Welcome back to the Home Service Sex for today. I got a good buddy of mine, JD Plotz. He's been with me at A1 since 2016. Yep. And started out as a technician. Used to work for the bad guys. Yeah. The green team. I'm not going to even name them, but a great competitor, actually. They weren't great in Phoenix. That's why the guy got kicked out of the franchise. But it's weird in a franchise.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I don't do second place. I don't get excited. My dad taught us that, too. Like, dude, what do you mean?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Like, it's... I hate losing, man. I hate losing at anything. And it doesn't mean I want my competitors to fail because I think we can all drive each other up. We all get to win.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Let me give you a good example. It's been so many years. This was eight years ago. I met with the biggest competitor in town, who, by the way, two, three years ago, I bought him. But six years ago, eight years ago, whatever, we met up. We're at Topgolf. And by the way, there's 500 garage door companies in Phoenix. So this isn't like collusion, but he's like, look, me and you are in the Val pack.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
There's another competitor. Why don't we both raise our prices? And I'm like, where, where do you want to start? And he's like, let's raise our cost of openers. I'll raise it a hundred. You raise it a hundred. I'm like done next month. It comes out. You'll see. I raised it. I trust you. He raised his, I raised mine. I said, let's go back to top call. Let's raise everything another $100,000.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And we did. We didn't skip a beat. We just raised our price. And by the way, yes, there was other companies still charging less. We were really, really known. And yes, there was hundreds of other guys, but we were the ones doing most of the marketing. He was the king of yellow book back in the day. He was against yellow book, of course. And so that's what we did.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And he goes, dude, I'll always make mine more expensive than you, just so you know. He goes, I'm always going to add a trip charge. We'll be almost the same price, but I'm adding a trip charge. Great. It's better for me. And that's how long it's taken to change. Like we just did another price increase. We're sitting in the room next door and we're going over next year's budgets.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
What's the easiest way to exceed budget? What do you think the easiest way would be? The easiest thing is that more leads is a better text, is a better performance, higher conversion rate, higher booking rate. Raise your prices. Raise your prices. Simply raise your prices. But there's always that point of like diminishing returns where it's like you can't raise certain things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Like Tom Howard and I talk a lot. He was raising his price once 1% every month. And he goes, there's just certain things that Home Depot sells that I couldn't. At some point, my disposal were like three grand for a garbage disposal. You know they cost 200 bucks. So there's certain things that are more skilled that you could charge more for.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
So you're an expert in advertising, marketing, entrepreneurship, CEO of Carol Media. He's an expert in sales psychology and advertising strategy, focused on helping others achieve their business goals. As an author, a speaker, and travels the country motivating and training entrepreneurs in social media strategies and how to make the most of their advertising budget.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And I think a lot of people, if you're going to raise your prices, raise your value. Show up the same day. Have nice trucks. I think a lot of people miss that they still pay the least. You pay more. You coach more. You buy flowers for your people more. You cook for them more. When you raise your prices, now you got to give more to your people. That's the thing people miss.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Like everybody's like, oh, I'm going to leave here and raise my price. I'm like, don't raise your price unless you raise the way you treat everybody. Yeah. Especially your clients and your internal clients. It's not just putting more in the owner's pocket. No, a lot of people think, hey, that'll be great.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I'm like, no, now you need to have a better recruiting, better training or one-on-ones, like actually build out your depth chart and build out your org chart in a new way. And now you got more money to bring more specialists in and then more money will come in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And you got to put it back into the business. A lot of people, the minute you start making money, they start extracting. You know, they call it a draw. They take a lot of owner draws.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, you went out and bought a second house. And I'm okay with a second house if you make it an Airbnb and use it a couple times a month or a year. I'm okay with one nice thing. If you're going to take the kids out on the boat, great. But you got two Harleys that never get. You got two snowmobiles. You guys are keeping up with the Joneses. Like a little delayed gratification.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
A little bit for five years. Let the business compound a little bit. It's your number one asset. And build the sell. Build a business to sell. We were talking about that before we came on.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
No one ever taught us how to keep money. And a lot of people want to make money to spend it. So luckily, I got a really good tax guy. I got really good lawyers. I got really good financial management. And there's this book called Die With Nothing. Because I'm building a really big house now in Paradiseville. And people are like, why are you building such a big house?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I'm like, because that's my special time. That's where I live. That's where I'm going to have my family. That's where people come in and visit. And we can do anything. That's my fun time. That's like buying fun. I'm like, I'm buying experiences. I'm buying time. We don't have to leave. There's a bowling alley. There's a shooting range. There's everything I want.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And I'm like, you work hard for these special moments. And now I'm going to have a lot more special moments. But I had to learn. And plus, the more money I spend, the harder I work. It's crazy how that works.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I'm like, let's go spend more money. Let's do some nice things. I'm sending my mom... my stepdad and my uncle to Italy. That was an expensive ass trip, but I'm like, sweet. Let me go make some more money so we can keep doing stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, 25 millionaires came out of the deal. I've got a lot of big plans.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
On my first turn. And, you know, I do a lot of little things. Like one guy wanted to do the water drive. He's like, dude, I've walked up to a homeless guy. A woman. She was missing prosthetic leg. He helped her get on the bus. Bought her water. Bought her Gatorade. One of those small coolers. It's like, it's not a real cooler. It's a... It's like you buy it for a few bucks. It's like a throwaway.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Styrofoam? Styrofoam, yeah. So he like took care of her and he's like, so we decided... We, I don't know how much, tons, like literally like the weight was tons of water. We're adding a garage to their center. We got them so much food, so much water. And today we were gambling for charity and golf. And me and Chase and my marketing team went out and won $7,500.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
We're going to donate to the Justice Center. We do a lot of stuff, man. Like I went to the Masters on like a Tuesday. I didn't get the best tickets, but my lawyers bought them for me. So the masters, I got two shirts and I'm giving them to the top two guys that golf in the company. Like I just always thinking of little things. Yeah, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
But there will be a time where I'm doing like... I started this thing called TommyCares.org. Yeah, I think it's .org. And I was giving 20 people a month just anything under $1,000. Help them pay their rent. Help them buy something for the kids. And then my CFO had a shit fit because they're supposed to pay taxes on that. And by the way, I never use it to get my top guys.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
My top guys make great money. It was always somebody in need. Like a single mom that needs tires. It was always something. I did a lot of the little things. And I was just like, look, I'm going to do 20 grand. I think it was $22,500 a month is what I wanted to spend. And he kind of nixed it. So I'm trying to come up with a way to do it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Like I was like, can they do like a GoFundMe that I like sponsor? I'm just trying to figure out for taxes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, it's like, look, here's the deal. When the rich get really, really wealthy, they become philanthropists. Yeah. And it doesn't have to go through bureaucracy where the governor and the mayor, they're all getting rich.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Yeah, we go right to the source. And by the way, I employ 800 some odd people and I'll be 2,000 here very soon. They're all kicking into the system. The day you start taxing me enough where there's no benefit, I love what I do. But if there's no economic gain, I can move to Singapore. I can move to Brazil. I can move anywhere. I can do something else where they don't.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Who would want to work harder? Right. And pay less if there's another option.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, capital gains is decent, but now they want to do, you know, bump it up to around 30%. And that's okay. I mean, it's better than ordinary income. But you look at it and I'm like, the government wastes a lot. Like it's not true capitalism a lot of the times because they'll have like, the military will have contracts where they can only buy from one.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And what they buy band-aids for like six bucks, they'll pay 50 for.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
They could have their wife just screen it and say, this is a great video. It's not hard. I mean, you go on Upwork or Fiverr.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
You're allowed to email them?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
It was my biggest mistake, just being A1 Garage Door. What would have you called it? Anything that's different. I could have called it Mellow's Garage Door. Anything but A1. Anything that's common or quality or AAA or whatever. Anything that I could have got an irrevocable trademark and no one would have had it. Like that would have been, and I would have probably rather done
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
hindsight like i just bought a1 home services just because i want to go in other industries down the road yeah but a1 is just a common name yeah i thought i was a genius when i did it yeah that's i my phone number in high school was 3279 which spelled out easy so that's where i came up with easy pro and it's make life easy call a pro i like it so yeah my original number was 898-3667 which is door see that's beautiful man it's beautiful i almost bought garage.com
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
recently what would that cost a little over a mil surprise that wasn't like a done deal for you yeah but i mean i have a1 garage.com and it's got the domain authority so i was like there's not that much of a difference a1 garage.com i don't know i would have had to like 301 redirect i had to do all this stuff so it just wasn't the value yeah but it would have been cool i still might talk to the guy he sold it but i know the guy that bought
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
You're lucky. You know the rule of 40?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
The rule of 40 is your growth. of EBITDA. So they look at your growth of EBITDA plus your growth that year. So if you're at 15% EBITDA and you grew your MRR, ARR over 25%. So you had an EBITDA percentage.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
So if you had both those up and it's over 40, you're at a higher multiple. The other one is you got to break through the $10 million mark. Yeah. And then I'm going to look at your churn. I'm going to look at how often are you losing clients? It's one of the big things that service time looks at is the churn. And then I'm looking at, are all your clients from one source?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Because if they're only from, like, let's just say you got everything from ServiceTank, you didn't have a lot of clients on Housecall Pro or Sarah or ServiceFusion or Jobber. Yeah. That kind of limits you because ServiceTank could change something.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, I don't like that model. I think you got to do one of your contracts eventually.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
You hear some people talking about 40. It's kind of like the dot-com era. I think it's going to keep going though. Yeah. I mean, next year they say AI is what's going to cause the market to go over 65, 7,000.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Hey there, I hope you're loving today's episode. I wanna share something with you real quick. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to win and what it means to keep winning in 2025. Then my team sent me this quote from Kevin O'Leary, Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank. Here's what Kevin said. You need leaders who can pivot because the world changes so quickly.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
No matter what your business plan is, things are never gonna happen exactly how you expect. I love that. because here's what I know, there's gonna be some massive changes in 2025. Just look at all the PE money pouring into some home services and other industries. So my question for you is, are you ready to pivot, adapt, and win this year? If you are, come to this year's Freedom Event.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Kevin's hitting the stage to share some real stories behind his success. You will be in the same room with people like Mr. Wonderful and myself, plus other home service owners and other industry leaders worth hundreds of millions of dollars. They're gonna be talking about exactly what's working right now to dominate your market.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
To learn more about the event and grab an early bird offer, check out freedomevent.com. It's freedomevent.com. Now back to the episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
You know, when you're building a company, the main reason you want a partner is not for the government. It's for the relationships, the resources. It's who you know, not what you know. So you bring on somebody that's got a proven track record. That's done it. That literally like anything they invest in, they're an incubator. They got the relationships. They understand how to bring in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Really what it is about is It's about who you bring on. So they'll help you with your leadership team. As the company grows, unfortunately, the leaders don't grow as fast. So you got to pull in talent. So your org chart, they're going to help with, and then who they know and how to forward develop the code if you're doing software. So they got to be, it's strategic.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I would never get a partner on that wasn't able to grow the business exponentially faster. And so, you know, finding the right partner. Remember when you bring out a partner, unless you're doing a big deal, like if you're selling 70%, 80%, probably the highest bidder, but they're going to bid a lot. They probably have a plan.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And I would spend as much time with the people that they've had success with and get the good, bad, and ugly and fly out and actually see those people and spend time with them. And say, are these people like me? Because you've got to understand, is this PE group going to be successful with us? They'll all tell you the right story. They'll tell you the right things. You're going to stay in control.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
You're going to do this. But there's nightmare stories, too.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
That's the problem too, is you got to be very careful. The guys that know how to like, get these seed rounds. When it's other people's money, it's just not treated the same way. The burn rates really are.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
So yeah, it's great to see you. Yeah. Well, what do you think is going on this next year in marketing? Because there's a pendulum. I need more people. I need more leads. And this year has swung to more leads. Yeah. And Goldman Sachs, pretty darn good. They've been spot on with me for the last couple of years. And they think next year is going to be gangbusters. Gangbusters. In a good way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Maybe it's not everything does well. I mean, when you look at even Goldman Sachs and some of Morgan Stanley, some of the best investments in the world, you look at these deals flow, especially with software, you only need one out of 20 to go well. Right. You get a hundred X on it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
So capital ventures, that kind of money, they know they're not going to hit everyone. My portfolio, the stuff I've invested in, I'm kind of pretty damn good track record. 90% are growing. I made some mistakes. I still think I'll get more than my money back. Some of the things were out of my wheelhouse, like restaurants, but I invested in a really good club bar. That one will probably 4X.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
You do anything with Ish? I put a little bit of money in Nuve.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
and then just they pay, too, for the monitoring. He listens to me a lot, and Ishmael's got a very... Strong personality. Not a lot of people. He doesn't take a lot of advice from people. He's a bull. He's a bull. And he'll do well. I mean, he's got the taste of money. Another guy, though, and a lot of my buddies that have made a lot of money, they go out and they just buy a lot of stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Stuff being liabilities, not assets. Well, the three Fs, I wrote it down. Anything that flies or floats.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And it's true, man, that look, you can spend a lot of money on boats and planes. Yeah. I see. I don't see a lot of people, but when you buy real estate, you typically do well.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
It does. It goes up. Real estate's great. I mean, I'm having a hell of a streak in the S&P 500. And I think it's going to stay alive next year. Like it's up since I put the, all the money in, in the end of 2022, beginning of 2023, it's up like 45%. Isn't that a beautiful thing? It's crazy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Cause I keep buying businesses and investing in businesses and I don't really, I'm not active in those businesses. There's a team. I have the TMV team, but you know, I always like a couple million dollars to go out or $3 million or $5 million. And my account comes right back up. Yeah. I'm like, I was just, this is crazy. I love it. Yeah, man. So, well, we're having a lot of fun, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I'll tell you, A1, I just believe is going to be, there's just, I have a clear path and a clear vision of what comes next. And I'm still trying to figure out what my life's going to look like. Cause I like to golf. I like to fish, but I still like to work. So there's a happy medium and I haven't figured it all out yet, but next year is going to be super hard work. Very little vacations.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Interest rates are going to come down. It's going to be really, really good in the market. S&P 500. As well as people are buying. I think houses are going to be selling more rapidly. I think the economy is going to be turning leads over. I think people are going to be investing in their homes, their garage doors.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Very little stages I'm going to speak. I'm not writing any books. I'm just going to be focused. Seasons, dude. Seasons. It says stay focused and run ruthlessly prioritized. That's what this other one says.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And then I got my goal here of where I want to get A1 to. And then I got a goal. I'm setting up what the next five years look like after the next turn. very few people i'm building the org chart of what it will need to look like for the scale i want and i'm the only one working on this there's nobody else
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Yeah. Well, that's the problem, too. And if I tell other people, they won't get to the next goal. I don't think it's a problem, Tommy. I think it's a gift, bro. Well, there's a lot of work that goes into the fostering of the relationships, like the people I'm flying out and the massive funds I'm hanging out with, the people I'm around. Like I said, home improvement.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I'm hanging out with a lot of billion-dollar home improvement companies, over a billion of revenue. And there's some of them at 2 to 3 billion. So what I had to do, and I've been saying this a lot, is I hike to the top of this mountain. I enjoy the hike. I look around. I see the next mountain. I go back down to the base camp. These guys have been to the top of that one.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
They know how to get there quickly. So I'm hanging out with these people, and the next mountain's big. What's the next mountain? 10 billion? 20 billion? And I don't dislike it. It doesn't feel like work. That's why I'm very fortunate, too. It's like, if this is work, I mean, we sit down at a lot of meetings, but they're not hard meetings.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And, you know, there's a lot of people in a pressure cooker because my timelines are pretty aggressive. I think that's the hard part for people. What happens when you don't hit those timelines? How do you handle that? Well, we always have a budget we'll hit. We've never missed a budget. But the Tommy goals are way bigger. Right. The Tommy goals. The Tommy goals.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
There's like your B-Hag, then you got Tommy way above that. So my goals are so crazy. I let myself down. They don't let me down. We hit our budget. We have a realistic budget that the bank and the private equity can say, you guys are consistent. You always hit your budget. You beat your budget. But it's like, now I'm just refining processes. I'm like, let's do this. Let's study this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
How can we scale this? And it's always reverse engineering. how big can we get? And so this next goal is pretty easy. 110 million of EBITDA. The next goal after that is how do we get, you know, between 500 and a billion, which is a pretty big spread, but I got to get a little, I don't want to plan five years from now. I'm just planning the next year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
But the vision, do you even think, I don't even think it's realistic to plan five years from now anymore. It's not, but you still got to know what would the company look like? That's doing a billion dollars of EBITDA. What would we be selling?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, I know it's not going to happen in two years, but there's got to be greater acquisitions, greater greenfield growth, greater organic growth, and going into multi-trades. All those things need to happen, Michael.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
See, I don't think robotics will be, I think the trades have another decade. I think there's other things out there, but that's why.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, we'll see. I mean, look, end of the day, we're the first ones to adopt technology and everyone knows here we're changing rapidly and they don't get comfortable here because they know I'm looking at software on top of software on top of software. The main thing is it's got to all come off. So we built our DNA project, data and analysis, all on Power BI.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
A lot of AI is sophisticated, but these data fields don't make a difference in the company unless you can make decisions based on data.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Yeah. You got to be able to look at data and what is the, this is what we're actually going through this big thing Q4. What does this data mean and what key initiatives are we going to take from the data? Strategic planning. Strategic planning and like budget. And I enjoy this, man. It's a different level of business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I'm just like, I've kind of, you think after the first turn, I would have already had everything I want, but I want one more big turn.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Yeah, grab the nuts. I had to grab these nuts. One more big turn. And there will be plenty of other ones. But for me, I'm trying to design the life. That I want that I can help the most amount of people. So I've got a whole list of people like I need to help him. I need to help her. I need to do this with this person. A lot of them are people that work here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
But it's like you start going really, really fast. And you wake up and you're like, you're still hungry. I mean, a lot of people are like, man, if I had that, I'd be good. And it's like, yeah, the goalpost seems to always move. Post moves. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
No, it's cool, man. I'm glad you made it. We were going to go to dinner tonight.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Talking a lot about AI call center. There's a fella in town that I'm talking to and it's just legit, man. We get about 10 different Software is a week that we look at. We've got a whole technology team. And this one, I think, will make a big, big difference in the outcome of where we go.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
It's very hard. I'm going to tell you guys that are listening, the ability of me to handle stress and anxiety and pressure. I wouldn't want this for anybody, but I'm very good at it. And I've got a calling to do this stuff. Yeah, it's a gift. And you think you hired all these great people. They only take you so far. Then you got to start rebuilding the whole team. There's peaks and valleys.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And every time, After you hit a peak, you're going down into a valley again and repositioning the whole company. And you got to do that over and over and over. And it kind of consumes you. How many times do you think you've had to do that? Oh, a dozen times. I mean, literally. And it's hard. It's hard because you got to make really hard decisions. And you got to fire people. You got to top grade.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
You didn't earn for a string.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And that's tough, man. And sometimes you got to kick them off the team and you got to do what's right for the company. Unfortunately, because there's 800 other people that are feeding three people. That's 3,200 people. They're taken care of. So you've got to make those hard decisions. I've had to refocus my lens into a different lens to be able to make those hard decisions.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And it's very hard to do. And there's people making even bigger, harder decisions. But I'm not money-oriented. Most of Blackstone and Apollo and KKR, they're just saying, how do I get my shareholders the richest? They're not asking the questions of how do I help out the most. And there's a happy medium because you got to stay profitable.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
You got to write a contract and everything. You know everything going in. We spent three weeks just on my contract, my personal contract. No kidding. You got to get the right people when you do. I'm going to call you, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Yeah. They've never, you know, the e-myth, they've never gone from an employee to, to an owner.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I wouldn't do a PE deal until I get past $5 million. of ARR. I wouldn't even consider it. And I would probably do a more than 10%, not more than 30. I'd probably do 30%. It's a meaningful amount of money that they'll be behind you. but they're still going to have rights to sell you unless you're raising a different type of money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
If it's private equity, they're not going to say, sure, I'll give you this money. You can sell whenever you want. When do we get our investment back? Our LPs are waiting. Typically after the fifth year, they start selling their companies in each fund. They'll raise a fund. They'll buy 10 to 12 deals. And then they need that money back pouring back to the LPs, limited partners. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
So you can't just say, sure. Now there's other investment strategies you could use that raise capital. But I still, if I'm putting 10% and let's just say I threw a million dollars in, when do I get the money back? And what's the profit sharing look like? There's all these questions. Nobody wants to blindly invest in something they can't get an ROI on. There's a million investments out there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
It's real estate. Throw a million dollars into real estate. You don't need to kill it. Get your money back in eight years. It's all paid off. And the value went way up. And people pay the debt down.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
It's beautiful. People want to rent. A lot of people like to rent. What's a new book you've read that you love?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And this owner mentality, this, this futuristic thinking is working on the business and they want to do the work still because they say, if I don't do it, it won't get done. Right. I'm well beyond that, but I still have a lot of issues. Like I look at a one and I'm like, this is so many opportunities, so many holes in the business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
CoachCarroll.com. Is there one final thought to close us out with that the listeners can take? It's my mantra, baby.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I did say this and it's not it's kind of controversial for your saying, but the hustler had to die for the leader to be bored for me. Yeah, because I was doing too much of everything. Yeah. Write a book to a pocket and I still do the stuff. I love it. Talk on stage. And that's feeding me knowledge, energy, relationships. But I had to really get focused.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I know everybody's like, man, it doesn't get easier, but the problems are more fun. It's not like, are you going to come to work sober today? We know I had to lose a thumb today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And you got to pay.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
So I work with Dan Antonelli. He built our brand. I work with Dan Martell. I'm one of his five. He works one-on-one with Joe Polish. I'm in his 100K group. Joe Cristiano came out here and paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars. Howard Partridge worked with him. He comes out here. I'll leave you my best mentor I've ever had. Yeah. I mean, sales boss, Jonathan Wissman hired him.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
He worked with me for years. So, and I didn't know, this is crazy. I didn't even look at these books, but I paid them all a lot of money. Every single, it just happens to be the books on the wall that I didn't even think about. But they've all been paid. People say, what happens if you can't pay? And I'm like, I came up with the money because I needed it that bad.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
When I didn't have the money is when it meant the most is when I received it the best. Yeah. I received the lessons the best when it was like my last time. It hurts way more if you're like, yeah, I got a hundred grand here. Here's a hundred grand.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
literally broke my heart today today lost a thumb business ain't easy i don't like he was off in the ambulance they're probably going to reattach it but i'm literally walking with with ashley and i'm like i don't know if i'm gonna be able to sleep tonight like i don't care about workers comp and that i'm more worried about this guy like thumbs a big deal so yeah it's just messed up
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, that's what Dan Martell said. He said that when I started to buy, like I want to be bought from, everything changed. Everything changed. No more negotiations. Here's the money. You're worth it. I'm worth it. You pay. Now all of a sudden people come to you with whatever it might be you sell. Sure. When you're always negotiating with everybody, you're surprised when they negotiate back to you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
That's what you're putting on. That's your aura. That's your demeanor. No, man. DJ, I really appreciate you showing up today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Hey, I love these. Just have a normal conversation. Hopefully the listeners listen. Couple of big takeaways. Private equity is not for everybody. Business is not for everybody. Build something you can sell. Get your guys out there posting on social media regularly. If they got an iPhone or a Droid, just find the most spontaneous, fun person and just give them some training.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
It doesn't take a whole lot, but
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Yeah, monetize it. Gamify it. Yeah. Awesome. No, you did great. A lot of great takeaways, brother. Thank you. Dude, I'm like, I'm on a E. I went golfing today for the first time in a long time. And it's still that sun just bakes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I had a late night, early morning.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
But there's things that go wrong. The point of what I'm saying is a lot of people listen to this podcast and they're like, man, I wish I... Nobody wants my life. It's a great life. And I enjoy my life. And I worked hard to get to this point. It doesn't just go from here to here. It was little notches.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
The law of the lid. You can only go as far as your lid goes. So I've had to really pour into me. My goal for my company is that I work harder on me than I do at the company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
because i'm growing very very fast and i'm the best i've ever been but the worst i'll ever be yeah jim rohn used to say that you got to work on yourself more than jim rohn i play that video almost in every speech i do that's cool man it's like let me love me to love you you know you got to put your own oxygen mask on first yeah
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, that's what I asked. I'm like, I was talking to a young guy the other day. He's like 27. And he goes, I'm going to do what you did. I'm just, my goal is a hundred million. And then I'll make a big exit. I'm like, why, why, why? He's like, well, you proved it's possible. I'm like, sure. As long as you're not married and don't have kids, you can make it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
So I told him, he goes, I have three young kids under five. I go, why would you ever want to do that to your family? So they could get to know you in 15 years when they're moving out. Ooh. And he goes, you're right. No, he, I've talked, I talked to him for about an hour. He goes, you're absolutely right. Like, dude, it makes a lot of sense. I'm like, let's just see what you want.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Start with the end in mind. You want this vacation house on the lake. You want a beautiful house. You want to help out your parents. You want to be able to go to Europe twice a year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And plus when you learn how to sell a business, it's like, it's the greatest thing on earth because now you're learning like this financial IQ that very few people know. and understand. That's what Kent Goodrich did. He called me, he's like, what you're gonna learn? You're a badass, dude. He's like, you know so much about home service. And now I'm getting into home improvement.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
See, home improvement is way different than home service. They go out and they get the leads. Home service, they come to me. I'm spoiled. Our phone rings off the hook. We run 20,000 jobs a month. When we get good at home improvement by creating demand where it didn't exist, like Anderson Renewal and roofing companies and windows, doors, front doors.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I love the idea of a non-demand, although demand gets the bigger multiples. So if I got a demand-driven business that can make it through a recession, I'm still going to fix my garage if I'm trapped. I'm still going to get my AC fixed no matter what. If my roof is leaking, if a pipe bursts. But when you learn home improvement, it's not as sexy. Bath remodelers and stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
There's so much fricking money and it's fun.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And they're bigger tickets.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Yeah. So that's what we're doing. That's how we're going to morph into doing a lot more on the home.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
So that was smart. Yeah. I was going to tell you, my plan is, and I was just telling Blake this, when I walk into a room with my C-suite, I hope they punk me. I hope they're way smarter than me. I hope I just can't even keep up. And I'm the dumbest guy because if that's the case, then I can truly take a vacation and know that I'm in better hands.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
There's like, I say the majority of the people in this company are far better than me in their that's CFO or operations or warehouse or the fleet, but they don't know how to dream like I do. And that's my one asset is my vision. Yeah, absolutely. That's it. And I got to live the vision and I got to make sure they're following the vision, but there's a vision for them within my vision.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And just like I always say in the book, elevate, my dreams have to be big enough. So all their dreams fit in inside.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
So what do you see going on with marketing? Where do you see most people putting their budgets? What do you think? By the way, let me just make one caveat. I think marketing should include recruiting and you should have a big budget for great people. I think that it should be 50% of your brain should be, how am I going to top grade? And what consultants am I going to get?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
How am I going to train better? Yeah. It's not just, how do I get this A plus talent? Because then you don't need as many leads. Then you get more five-star reviews. Then your customers turn into raving fans and you grow organically.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
And that's what the TV radio bill.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
Well, I'll tell you, there's this gal named Mary Tracy. She follows me pretty religiously. Okay. And it's impossible not to know her because she leaves a comment on everything that I do. And I really like her a lot. Shout out, Mary. I was trying to help me and introduce me to people. So this idea of commenting is a really good approach. I mean, we're in the midst right now of getting VAs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
BAs just to do outreach. Yeah. I mean, listen to people building, you just moved. I mean, there's a million ways to do this. Yeah. And go on to where they're, they check their social media. It's better. I like mail still, especially handwritten mail. I like social media because you're hitting them. Like I'm usually on Facebook. I've never checked an Instagram. I haven't been on LinkedIn in years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
I've got a team that does Instagram. Yeah. I'm going to get rid of my Facebook because unfortunately I say yes too much. Somebody said, can I just borrow 20 minutes? Well, that 20 minutes is borrowing from my mom's time. It's borrowing from these time. It's borrowing from something I could be doing a day once. So, you know, I bought back a lot of my time and I fill it in to help people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Hustle vs. Leadership: The Right Moves that Change Everything for Your Business
But I should be helping that same 20 minutes I spent. I could have probably answered thousand people have the same question. So I need to do it on this forum. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
You're pre-programming almost.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
I'm curious. Let's just real quick. If I wanted to do pre-suasion in a home service, whether I'm a plumber, HVAC, plumbing, garage doors, could be gutters, landscaping, pest control, pool service. I don't really control the four walls I'm going into. That's their home and their space. Is there any advice you'd give just off the cuff?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
He's the dental practice coach of Sunrise Dental Solutions, the founder and president of Golden Goose Scheduling, certified trainer at Choudini Method of Influence. And he was also the president of Dental Membership Direct. Chris, it's a pleasure to have you here. Amazing book. Thank you, Tommy. Just tell us a little bit about you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Adventurous.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
So I like when he was in here, I used to be a server. And I used to have a lot of ways I didn't realize I was influencing. But when he tried... when he'd say, listen, here's one peppermint, and the tip went up a little bit, then here's two peppermints. But when you walk away and you say, for my two special guests, I'm really excited you came to visit me. Remember, my name's Tommy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
I left you a couple extra mints each here that the tip actually doubled. It was more than double, I believe.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Reciprocity.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Exactly.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
So there's so many things I want to ask, and I'm just going to probably be ADHD as the listeners are used to doing. Number one, I've always so I was on a podcast with Grant Cardone. And he asked me, what's more important, sales or marketing? And I think marketing is. I think you're marketing right now when we meet each other, when you meet a significant other.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Talk to me about what your thoughts are on each of them in order of importance.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Even if they come to you and it's a demand? I mean, dental's a demand. I book the appointment. There's spring breaks on your garage door. Your hot water heater is leaking.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
How are you going to sell? You can't. My mom used to answer phones in 2010. Nice. And to 2012. And she'd go, thank you for calling me on garage door service. How I'll make your day better today. And she used to be so empathetic. And she'd go, thank you, honey. I can't even imagine what you're going through today. And I used to run these calls back then.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
She started working for me a few years into the business. And they were lay down customers. They'd come give me a hug. They didn't know she was my mom. But the way we took the call. And now the software will actually send out a text message of the technician. And I say, post a picture of your family. Tell them what you like to do. Family occupation, recreation, material things. If you love Harleys.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
If you've got a dog, post your dog. If you've got babies, post the babies. And put it on there because they want to get to know you a little bit. And then always offer something on the way. So we call them up. I'm stopping off at 7-Eleven. I'm stopping off at Starbucks. Can I grab you something? Yeah. And then we walk up with a smile. And we don't ring the doorbell.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
We knock the door because friends knock the door. There's all these little things, but I'm like – I've had a lot of thought about you coming into here. I don't work with everybody on the podcast, but probably one out of 25. When you get involved with the Cialdini Institute, how does that even work?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And you started working, when did you meet Robert Cialdini?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
They just go right to the top.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
So, yeah, you're just cutting straight to the top, the implementation. That's it. And if you just want to go through a course, where does one sign up?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And as CEO of the, I guess, U.S.-based, in how many countries?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And what is your day-to-day?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
One of the questions I have is you were able to add $1.4 million of revenue to the practice by implementing a membership plan. We sell memberships as well. Nice. My conversion rate's 17%. It's not what I want it to be. Some of the guys call it a protection plan. We're going to save you money by getting this done today. We come out each year. We lubricate, adjust, tighten everything.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
We protect everything. We own the system after this. I got one guy converting at 70%, and now we got tools to record the technician out in the field and actually examine their calls with a scorecard so we could see who has the most reviews, who has the most this, who has the most that. Study was working, but talk to me a little bit about membership plans and how you were able to convert those.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And the next thing you know, momentum builds. This is the one thing Robert really specifies is you've got to use these influences for good. Correct. And I think a lot of people, they need to read that part. Yeah. Because it's easy to go down this rabbit hole of taking advantage of it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
That makes a lot of sense. I mean, I think what I'd be asking, and I've got a really good FP&A, financial planning and analysis team, that actually could build out pivot tables and understand the ROI of what, because I think a lot of people They talk to me about service agreements and maintenance agreements and protection plans.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
They don't know how to price it in a way that they're sure that they're not going to lose. Yes. And there's some science behind it. It's really math equations.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
There's a burden cost.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
all while his teams consistently make him money. How the heck does he manage to do it all and lead multiple companies while you're stuck running one business and answering work calls at night and on weekends? It's not luck, and it's not because Kevin works harder than you. When an interviewer asked him how he builds teams, he shared this simple formula.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Set goals, let the team go after them, and then most importantly, get out of their way. No secrets, no billionaires-only playbooks, just a simple approach that most business owners refuse to follow. Get out of your employee's way. Listen, I get it. It's hard to let go. I used to do everything in my business too, but here's what I've realized over the years. You can't delegate your family time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
You can't delegate your faith. But you can delegate all those day-to-day tasks that steal your time. That way you can focus on scaling your business and enjoying your life. If you want to remove yourself from the machine so that it runs without you, come to Freedom 2025 to learn how.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Kevin O'Leary himself will break down his framework for building A-teams that teaches you to scale your business without being buried in the day-to-day. Plus, the early bird offer is still live, which means you can get 20% off VIP tickets and exclusive bonuses worth over $5,246. Go to freedom event dot com and lock in your ticket now. That's freedom event dot com. Now back to the episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Talk to me a little bit about the seven principles. I know we don't have enough time in this podcast to hit all of them in depth. But let's just go through liking, scarcity, reciprocity.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
I'm curious, what is the – have you guys done any studies on the people that actually apply these principles? And they do it well, and they're committed. Yes. What's the ROI? Okay. Well, I mean... It depends. There's a lot of different things. It's all over the place, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
This is why it's so exciting. One of the things I walked in, and unfortunately I had another obligation, but I sent three of my guys to your event with Robert. And I'm never going to miss another one. I noticed you were talking a lot about website and reviews. What's important on a website? What helps conversion rate? What helps people buy now?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Or at least the conversion rate when they do the click-through and now they're actually... taking the offer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Picture the team.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
I love this. There's so much I have to learn. I'm a good student though. Home service companies. Give me a few ways that you would use the different steps of influence.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
The gift card is actually really interesting. And you think the conversion rate, are you big into A-B testing things? And you study a lot of this stuff. You study case studies and different things. You have to. You know, there's a book by Chet Holmes. He passed away. Where he would do these massive case studies. And one of the companies he worked with was a carpet company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And he said, you know, what's your average carpet sell? They told him it was a lot industrial. And so they did this massive case study, and they figured out that actually carpets actually make your workplace a lot healthier. They actually absorb the germs. But after six months, they spread germs like crazy. You get sicker.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
They proved this, and the average time you'd go to get your carpet clean, they said, was like 1.8 years. After this study came out and they educated their client, they switched to six months, which was three times the frequency, which was amazing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And I love using this type of thing. You've got a million other things. Is there anything else real quick for the home service people listening? There's a lot of business people listening just in general.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
The only apprehension I have about that, and this is a big commitment issue I have, is when I do an affiliate deal with somebody at all, like they're your client. Imagine if those cleaning people came in, they did a horrible job, they tried to gouge them. So I make them sign this document saying, if at any time you make my client, you can't really give a refund on $0.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
So a $10 gift card, a $5 to $10 gift card.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
This is genius. This is genius stuff. If somebody wants to get a hold of you, Chris, what's the best way to do that? Easiest way is just Chris at Cialdini.com. Chris at Cialdini.com. One other question, and then I got a couple closing questions. This is it. This is it. So what have you found the best way to get reviews from your clients?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And it did. It changed big time. Let's talk about that real quick. I want to take a deep dive into that. So let's talk about your team and then let's talk about the clients, how to get commitment.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Help them do it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Yeah, there's software that automates that. One of the things I always ask is, I just want to make sure, Chris, did we give you 505 services I promised earlier? We started with that, we end with that. And if there's anything I can do right now to make sure. And then we got a QR code with a picture of our family. Nice. And I say, I want to show you as I'm cleaning up here, Chris, a little bit.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
This is my daughter. This is my wife. This is my son. This is my dog. Tell you why I do this, Chris. Give them a life I never had. Thanksgiving comes around, we're going to have a great Thanksgiving turkey. Going to give them a Christmas I never had when I was a kid. When you leave a review, if I did a great job, people call and they ask me by name if they see a picture.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Basically, this is me away to giving my family the best life that I never had. Would you be willing to do that for me? And if you say that correctly, they do it right then and there. Totally. And you've got to leave a review for the person, not the company. That's what people don't understand. Oh, yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Chris, if you had a book or two to recommend, obviously Cialdini's your book, The Complete Book on Dental Marketing. Is there any other books that really you think the listeners should be aware of?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And we talked about a lot of things. I got a hell of a lot of notes to implement. Maybe we didn't talk about something. I'm going to let you close this out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
I love it. Well, Chris, this has been one of the best podcasts because – I should have spent three hours. Like, this could have been a three-hour podcast. But looking forward to tonight.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And thanks for doing this, brother. Thanks, man. Appreciate you. Yeah. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets to help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
They don't prioritize. They don't calendar it. That's it. Eisenhower's matrix, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Okay, so commitment. Now let's talk about the client side.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
And a lot of that is just getting the view through a different lens.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Mastering Client Mindsets for Better Engagement with Dr. Chris Phelps
Today is a very special guest. I got him in the studio. Chris Phelps is here. He wrote the complete book on dental marketing, which you might be thinking, why would I have a... dental marketing company, but it's so much more than that. He's the CEO of the Choudini Institute.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Why do you – so let's go over this real quick. You call somebody up. I'm just curious because I haven't heard this idea yet. By the way, I would be asking Chet GBT and using Google and using all the other AI systems out there to find jobs that aren't going away in the next four to five years with AI. We know home services and home improvement are one of the best places.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
We started a book club. They get $400 each if they could quiz out of the book. But today we're not going to do a really fancy quiz. We're just going to talk about a book. And the first book they read was Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And if you guys don't mind, tell me what you learned from the first book. We've already done the quizzes. You guys already got your money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Everybody and their brother is talking about it. Everybody I know in software is talking about starting an HVAC company. Everybody I know in real estate is saying there's drastic changes coming. I mean, now you look at the buyer's agent, the commissions are cut. So I would say be very careful. But let's hear, when you call somebody up, how are you going to convince them I mean, you're 16.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
What are you going to say you specialize in? What is going to be the sales pitch?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Monthly reoccurring revenue.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So here, let's role play, and I'll be you, and you're the company. Okay. Okay. So, hey, Mr. Jones, how are you today? My name's Nate. Just calling you real quick. I know you know my father. Because first you use everybody you know, every connection. If you ever learn how to do inside sales, they say call your family first. Call your friends. Call the people you know from church.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So you say, I know you know my dad. I know you know my mom. I noticed you didn't have a website. So I say, I noticed you didn't have a website. Can I ask you a few questions? Mm-hmm.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So, Mr. Jones, is there a reason? Have you ever tried a website in the past? No, I've not. Is there a reason that you feel like a website wouldn't be beneficial?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Do you think that your product would be better marketed on a website, or do you just feel like it wouldn't make a difference in sales for you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
We're going to talk about the new book, but tell me your first lesson that you learned. We'll start with you, Ty. What did you learn about the book by Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
If you were to build a website, what would be some critical things that you would need on this website?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Product details, a way to order them. Do you want it to be more e-commerce where they can order it online, or do you want them to just make the phone call to your website?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So how about this, Mr. Jones? What if I built you a website for free? And once it hits a certain amount of sales per week, you buy it from me on one condition. If I'm going to put in all this work up front, I want you to pay me a reoccurring fee for the first two years. And I'd rather do it the way the harder I work, the more I make.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So if I put in the time, energy, focus, and money into this site and get you selling more, would you be willing to share a little piece of those sales with me to where you're still making a lot more money than I am, but at least my hard work gets me something for that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
I mean, as long as we use your template, your website, your logos, the right colors, and you approve the artwork on there, obviously we want to make you look like an affluent company. But other than that, there's really no way to lose here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Okay. Well, listen, I look forward to working with you. I'll get started with it. And we appreciate doing business with you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So that would be the way I do it, especially if you learn how to turn these things out, because right now AI can build a website fairly quickly. Yeah. The difference is what I would do, if you listen to anybody good, they'll tell you, like, if I were to start over again, you know what I would do? And I heard this from a buddy of mine, so this isn't
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
This isn't my own content, but you go and there's a few cars that sell the most every single year that are super affordable. So you go through OfferUp, you go through Craigslist, you go online, and you find these cars and you make 40 offers, lowball offers. Out of 40, one might say yes. You go in, you detail the car, you clean it up, you change the oil. I mean, I bought and sold over 1,000 cars.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And you sell that car for a lot more money because it's the highest selling car. You know you're going to sell it. It looks like it's taken care of. You make a good amount of money. So what I would do is I'd look for people that need websites that don't have websites. I'd go into a niche. I'd specialize. And I'd say none of these people have websites. It'd be easy to take domain authority.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Good answer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And it would be very, very simple to get a lot of sales on this rather than being a one-size-fits-all. Sure, I'll build you an air conditioning website. Oh, you sell bubblegum. Sure, I'll sell you bubblegum websites. Oh, you do video creation. No, you just specialize in one thing. That way it's cookie cutter. You could build it for 1,000 people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
You build the first one, then you just throw a different skin on the site.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
See, I don't like the – you know what I like for you is you guys are on TikTok and Instagram a lot, like basically everybody your age is. What if you just went out with The Landscaper and took videos with them and threw them on the website and that got virality? Because you guys know what you guys watch. I watch The Landscapers take a really ugly –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
mess of a house and then they clean it up and make it beautiful. I think there's something there because most people, old timers, baby boomers, first of all, they don't know how to edit videos. They don't even know how to get client testimonials. They don't know how to ask for reviews. So I think it can be very discouraging to go into a business and not get any yeses.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So you want to have an offer that everybody says yes to. It's a no brainer. So just think about that. If you don't have the best guys laying the bricks, people with grit, people who get their hands dirty, you've got nothing. And you know what? It's the truth.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
You can have a slick logo, a killer strategy, and the best tools, but if your team isn't competitive, if they don't work hard, you won't have what it takes. That's why I'm excited that Donald Trump Jr. is coming to Freedom 2025. Because he gets it. He's been on job sites. He's operated heavy equipment.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
He's worked alongside tradesmen, and he's seen how real money is made while serving as executive vice president of the Trump Organization. If you want to meet me, Donald Trump Jr., Kevin O'Leary, Al Levi, and a host of other successful home service owners, go to freedomevent.com now. And if you grab your early bird ticket, you'll get over $5,246 in bonuses too. That's freedomevent.com.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
All right, let's get back to it. Emma. So tell me a little bit. You don't really like to go party very much from what I understand. You study a lot. I think you've got a perfect grade point average. What is it?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And, you know, Madison's known for, you know, like every school, you could go out and you could find the partiers or you could find the people that study hard. What is your goal over the next four years once you get into school?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And save your money. What else, Emma?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
You know, one of the things you could practice without anybody is eye contact, tonality, being positive in the words you use. One of the things when I meet somebody, I look at how much they believe in themselves. And that's simply by looking at someone in the darkest part of their pupils and
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
smiling and if you practice smiling more and you sit still and not this is tough this is the first time you guys have done this so it's not today but as you practice your tone and your authority and the way you believe in yourself people actually if I went on stage and I said hey uh like guys um thank you for being here today um well uh like you know um that doesn't go well.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So being very transparent in the way you speak, the words we use, don't say the cheapest, say the most affordable or the builder grade. Don't say the most expensive, say this is top tier. The simple words, don't say the cost, say the investment. So remember that, you know, my dad and a lot of people that have retired always told me when I was a kid, if I knew kid, what I know now at your age,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
I would have been invincible. And you know what they were talking about? Is they wouldn't have feared no. They would have asked the girl to the prom. They would have not been afraid of rejection. They wouldn't have cared what their friends would have said if a girl said no because the next girl is going to say yes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So I want to just tell you guys my superpower is that I'm the most curious guy on the planet and I'm always asking for help. I don't care. I'm never going to be arrived. I don't care how successful I might be. I'm always the most curious person in the room and I implement quickly. My favorite three letters are ASK. My grandfather and my dad, they were men's men.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
They'd go in the wrong direction 40 miles and they wouldn't ask for directions because it was stupid to ask for directions. That meant they failed. So just always keep this idea of asking for somebody and be very careful who you ask. Because if you ask a The wrong person can take you down the wrong place fast. So the idea of recognizing people, success leaves clues. And I don't care.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Welcome to the home service expert where each week Tommy chats with world class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields like marketing, sales, hiring and leadership to find out what's really behind their success in business. Now your host. The home service millionaire, Tommy Mello.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
It's not only about finances. It's about faith. It's about family. It's about having fun. It's about fitness, taking care of yourselves. And it's really about your future self, which is are you reading? Are you doing the right stuff? So the next book that we are going to go over, let me think for a second. I've got a couple. How about we do Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich? It's a longer book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
We'll do Think and Grow Rich. And we'll do the same thing we did. Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill. I don't care if you guys listen to it. I think there's a movie on it now. And there's the Napoleon Hill Institute. I've been on the podcast. But... I'm going to let you guys close us out on anything you want to talk about. Maybe it's your future. Maybe it's ideas.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Maybe it has something to do with Go4No, but I'm going to let you start. We'll finish with Ty.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And how are you going to apply this in the next week in your life?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Do you guys think my DeLorean will go up or down in value? down it should go up in value yeah so ty is 15 nate 16 emma's 18 she's getting ready to go to college uh these guys really want to earn 400 today so let's listen we are uh we're gonna go over the book it's a quick easy book it's called go for no what is it what is the main title here what is it about
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Yeah, no, I like that. Like talking on stage for my first time was nerve wracking. And now it's like I don't even worry about it. It's like if you don't like me, shame on you, not shame on me. I don't really care. I'm comfortable now. But it's like a muscle you got to flex over and over. Once you flex them, it doesn't really bother you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And they say stage, Frank, getting on stage is a bigger fear than dying. And dying is the biggest fear most people have other than speaking on stage. Nate, what about you? What are your final thoughts? Final thoughts?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Yeah, it's a great book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Yeah. You know, I'll tell you guys is I love everybody I grew up with. There's still some of my great friends, but you don't get a choice when you're young. It's your neighbors. It's the people you go to school with. As you grow, you got college and then you move maybe to a new city and then you start to develop your own personality that you kind of attract what you put out there. And, uh,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
What's so important to you right now is showing off in front of your buddies or maybe that girl. And like these things don't matter at all. And when you realize that, you're like, man, I'm going to go out there. When I moved when I was 16 to Arizona, I wanted to get residency to go to ASU. And I love everybody back home. They're still great, great friends.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
But it's crazy what I was able to develop by just being very intentional with who I hung out with. And it's something I've never perfected. It's something that I try to work on every day because the closest people to me are who I become more like. And the books that I'm reading are who I become more like.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So just know, if I hung out with people that just every night drank themselves to sleep, there was a good chance that I would be doing that. And if I was to potentially cheat on Bri and I was not loyal to her, there's a good chance that everybody around me wouldn't be loyal to their girlfriend or boyfriend. So that's just – it's a trait that you tend to just condone it when you're around it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So be careful who you let in because it's important now who your friends are. You grow up with them, your best friends. Some of them are going to stay there. But as you start to grow, be intentional who you choose. Ty, what are your final thoughts?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Well, I got a deal for all three of you guys. Are you ready for my deal? Yeah. Now, we got to work out the details.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
But if you're willing to do a summer program, and it's not just one or two days, it would be a full season, and you can still do it in college, and you do a door-to-door job, I'll give you five grand when you... Well, look, you got to make it a week, and then I'll give you five grand at the end. So you each make 10 grand. So you got to do door-to-door sales, meaning you got to knock on doors...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And you talk about the ultimate rejection is knocking on doors and have people peek out and go, who are you and why are you here? So if you guys get in the door-to-door program, we're working out with mom and dad, and I'll pay you guys generously, but I think that'll make you guys look way different at the world, and it'll skip you ahead a decade in your lives because that is the ultimate.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
I went one day in my Scottsdale house. You guys have been there, the house that dad's at. Yeah. And I just wanted to invite 20 neighbors to the party, my moving in party in 2012. And that was like, I was like, hello. And they were like, we don't want anything. What do you hear? And I'm like, I'm just your neighbor. And it was like, I was like.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
But if you get good at that, you can almost handle anything. So you go to the top tier of rejection, and then it's easy. Then everything becomes easy. So I really appreciate you guys doing this. I know this is awkward and odd for you, but the more you practice, the more we're on here, the better it will be. I love you guys. Thanks for coming on. Thank you guys for hanging out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
This is something you should be thinking about if you've got a niece or nephews, kids, grandkids, whatever it is. Get them involved. Have them read Rich Dad Poor Dad and go for no. It'll be a game changer. Thanks for paying attention today. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So if you want to learn the secrets to help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Yeah, that's really good. And the subtitle says, do you want to achieve success? If the answer is yes, then you need to get more no's. This book is how to show you why and how. And it's by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz. What I'll tell you guys is I buy this book for every single new technician and installer that starts at the company. So I've bought a thousand of these books.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And by the way, to the listeners out there that I love, it's a very easy book to read. Even Tyler could read it. No, I'm kidding. So this idea, go for no, what does it mean to you, Nate?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
I like that. So basically what you're saying is, and he emphasizes this in the book, is instead of going, if your quota in sales is to get five sales, instead of going for five sales, go for 10 no's. for each sale you get. And if you go for more no's, you'll be way more productive. A lot of people get lazy, and they say, once I hit my goal.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
But if you go for no, you get more comfortable with rejection. I'm just gonna give a little highlight before I ask you, Ty. So the book is about this guy. He bumps his head, he goes unconscious, and he meets a different version of himself. And you guys know I sold women's shoes at Dillard's when I was younger, so I could talk about this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
He talks to his other self, and the other self is wealthy, very wealthy. His wife's wealthy. Their whole life is different. And he says, what changed? Where was the big thing in our lives that caused this space continuum difference in our lives? And he goes, well, you remember when we set a record that day at the department store?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. 1 2 9 9.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
This guy walks in, and he buys the nicest belt, the nicest shoes, buys a few shirts, a jacket, and he spent a couple grand. And... He goes, yeah, I remember that day. He goes, you remember what the manager said to us? And he goes, yeah, we set a record that day. But he said, why didn't you sell more? The guy would have bought more. He only spent two grand. The guy would have spent 20 grand.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And he goes, what do you mean? We set a record. Two grand was the most anybody ever spent in the store. But he goes, did you go for no? He goes, you could have offered him. There's nothing he wouldn't have bought. So a lot of people, one of the things I tell people, do you think it's okay to sell things people don't need? Ty, what do you think?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Do you think it's okay to sell things people don't need? It's a trick question.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So on all these little Facebook groups, other than the one that we're on right now, a lot of losers say, we only sell things people need. And I say, I sell things people want. No one needs a cell phone app to open their garage door or a new bottom rubber or an opener that's whisper quiet or a beautiful garage door like you guys have on your house. But you guys wanted it. So you bought it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
No one needs a new cell phone if your old iPhone's working. So this idea of only selling things people need. So you go for no, you keep going till the client decides when they've had enough. And too many people sell out of their own pocket. Too many people say, I would never buy that. So they never offer it. Let me ask you a true or false question, Emma.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
This book teaches that hearing the word no is a sign of failure.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
like i mean the only way that you can be successful really is to put yourself out there and to desensitize yourself to the word no and yeah i guess i love it what do you uh what do you want to go to college you're getting ready to go to madison uh school out there in madison not far from where you live in milwaukee i think it's a great school what are your plans in the future
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Nate, if you – what would be a great number for you if you just had to throw a number out where you were like, man, that would be kind of – I'd be done working. Done working? You'd be like, man, I'm on cloud nine. I'm done. I'm good. Like – If you had to pick a number where you just – you're like the – the internal rate of return is so strong that you're just like, I could just –
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Fade into the sunset.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
I mean, look, a number that's realistic that you think if you hit, you'd feel that way, that it would be like, I'm done. I'm good. I'm going to relax now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
So everybody asks me, I do these shop tours. If you go to tommymellow.com forward slash shop, you can come here on a shop tour. It doesn't cost any money. Got a little promo in there, even though I do it for free and do it because I love to help people. They come here and they're like, why do you still come here every day? Like, you don't really have to.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 States. Just go to elevate and win.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
We know a lot of smaller companies that they're out traveling, going to Europe, living their best lives. And I say, when I set up my org chart, I circled all the things I hated. I hate payroll. I hate accounts receivable. I don't really like a lot of things in the business. So I hired the greatest people for those roles. And I decided it felt like going to work when I had to do that stuff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
I really don't like firing people unless they lie, cheat, or steal. Then it's easy to make that decision. So I just – when I come to work, I have the best time ever because I get to do the stuff I love. So that's what I'd help you – If you guys ever find yourselves, but guess what? It takes hard work to get to that point. It took 15 years.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Your mom and I were walking this morning and she said she's been listening to a lot of podcasts about how to make kids into more entrepreneurial. And she said, you know, the biggest thing is when they fail, don't swoop in and help them. Let them get through, make these decisions and get through it on their own. That really enables them. What do you think, Ty?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
You think mom has the capability to let you fail?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
What if I told you a mistake made more than once is a choice? So a lot of people make the same mistake over and over again. That's called insanity. Describe a situation, Emma, where seeking no could actually help you grow.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
I like it. I like it. Nate, have you ever been to Mexico? No. Have you ever been to a third world country? Yeah. So have you ever noticed that the kids will come up to you and they're fearless? They got blankets. They'll come up and they'll sell you almost anything. And do you think they ever go back to their parents and cry when you say no? Not at all.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Do you think they say they look down at themselves in the mirror and say, I'm such a loser? No. Do you think they care at all? Not at all. There's a reason why so many different ethnicities that come to the United States succeed is because the rejection does not make them feel like they're a bad person. It doesn't make them look down on themselves, doesn't make them cry to mom and dad.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
All right, here we are. We are live on the Home Service Expert podcast. Today, I got Emma, Nate, and Ty with me. They are my nieces, niece, and two nephews. And what we started to do is a book club. I wanted these guys to start learning at a decent age. They started out with probably one of the hardest books ever called Green Eggs and Green Ham. No, I'm kidding. But We started out with a book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
They literally, when you're at the mall and the girl that comes from Uruguay, you want to put lotion on your hands, she'll follow you from that little booth. for 100 yards to put lotion on your hands and get the sale. And if you say no, she does not take it personal. And I think the problem with Americans is we take things so personally. You know, what do you think?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
You live in a pretty good neighborhood. Do you think a lot of your buddies would be in sales and be afraid of no? I think most people would be.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
Yeah, that's a good point. People are afraid of what people think of them. And I notice that a lot of people try to keep up with the Joneses. You guys watch Shark Tank, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
You know, Robert Durkovich, he sits on the right side up there on the panel. He said, when I had a G6 and I started making it the plane, a G4, he said, all I wanted was a G6. He goes, and when I got a Bentley, all I wanted was something nicer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And he goes, my whole life was built off of comparison, comparing to people that were more wealthy or maybe had a better relationship with their wife or maybe had a better relationship with their parents or maybe was closer to God. And he goes, now I've realized that it was really just it's a competition with myself.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
And I just when I go when I pass away, when I'm on my deathbed, I just want to say that everything I could because comparison is the thief of all joy. I've done pretty well, and if I compare myself to Mark Zuckerberg or Mark Cuban, I'm a fart in the wind. I'm nothing. So, you know, you're best you are today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Special Family Q&A with Tommy Mello’s Niece and Nephews!
I always say I'm the best I've ever been but the worst I'll ever be because tomorrow I'm going to be a little bit better. Ty, what are your goals here? Right now you're 16, 15, I'm sorry, and you've got a couple more years of school. What are your plans going into the future?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah. I think, you know, someone asked me this morning, like how many consultants it took me to be successful. And I'm like, I met the right one pretty early on, but yeah, you know, my good gut feeling wasn't always the right feeling because when I was younger, a business, I was like, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. I was more worried about revenue than profit and profit really.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
What's the machine that allows you to reinvest into the company? No question.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
So in your book, the duct tape marketing, you emphasize the importance of making small business simple, effective, and affordable. I'm just curious, you kind of went through the milestones a little bit, but when you're starting and you've got attribution, you've got the right setup,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
the first 90 days, I guess is if you're first if you're really small, just going through this checklist, you claim this page, your advanced verified for Google, your your load speed, your your website, but what's some simple strategies to make the phone to start to ring? Or is it just a combination of everything kind of an omni approach?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
He's built, he's been a trusted advisor to small and medium-sized businesses for more than 30 years, specialized in marketing strategy, consulting, and advertising. He's also the author of seven books, including Duct Tape Marketing, The Referral Engine, and the host of Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. His blog is recognized by Forbes as one of the top five for small business marketing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
I love that. I love that. I've tried doing some stuff, but never to leave behind. The question always is, are you guys really going to leave it behind?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And there's got to be checks and balances for that. We can see what they're calling afterwards, checking to see if they got the brochure.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah, no, that's the hardest part is attribution. I've got 7,000 call tracking numbers now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
But, you know, technology has changed a lot over the last 10 years. It makes it easier to track where people are calling from.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And squeezing out smaller businesses. Good news, some home service owners are about to make more money than ever if they know how to compete. That's why I'm bringing together the most successful home service owners at Freedom 2025, people who've built $10 million to 500 million-plus companies to break down exactly what's working right now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
You'll be in the same room as me, my billion-dollar network, and Kevin O'Leary. Grab your early bird ticket now and get over $5,246 in exclusive bonuses, plus 20% off VIP. Go to freedomevent.com now. That's freedomevent.com. All right, back to the episode. So let's see here. The concept of getting to know, like, and trust you is central to your system.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah, here he is. John, how are you, brother?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
What are some actionable steps small business owners can do to get this trust with their audience?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah, no, absolutely. You know, there's in business. One of my mentors, Al Levy, taught me there's two things that the owner should never stop doing and paying attention to. And that's know the financials like the back of their hand and marketing and marketing by far, by far more than sales, more than anything for me. Marketing is everything. I love marketing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah, 100%. And I'll tell you. I used to be very price sensitive as a consumer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And now I'm definitely looking for someone that can get out there the same day. And what are the reasons why they compete? And I started to realize it more from a consumer. And I'll tell you, without owning a house with stuff going wrong all the time, it's a bigger house. Now I'm starting to learn how to make ourselves like, man, I saw the plumber just in the last six weeks, seven times.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And I'm like, dude, some of this stuff, I'm like, come on. Like everything, I feel so nickel and dime that I'm like, I wish you just charged me for everything. Give me all the options up front, check everything. Tell me everything you think is gonna go wrong. Because now I feel like, you know, it's 1200 bucks here, five grand there, two grand there. It's like, what the heck? I don't know.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
I like to buy the best now. I will say that. And I'm like, give me an option for everything instead of just telling me what's wrong today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Tell me everything I can possibly get.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah. So let's dive into that a little bit. Marketing a little bit versus sales, because I would argue people need to know who you are and you need to book the phone call first. But then as a technician gets out there, I mean, you work with so many companies in the past. How much do you talk to them about sales training and the art of the sale and all that stuff?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
When you're asking for a referral, what's the best way that you've found to do that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Love it. You know, there's this everywhere you look. I mean, I just had my guys out in town, the private equity guys. Private equity, basically deep pockets are getting in and they don't play it around, man. The one thing I think they have that most people don't is they got the bucks and they got the analytics. They've got a proven, tried, tested methodology.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
They got the best relationships with Google. They're willing to put buku bucks in this stuff. They're willing to pay for team endorsements and the best wraps and the newest trucks and the latest technology. What's the best way to compete if you're smaller and you're worried about that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah, you're giving me all kinds of good ideas here. I love this stuff. Yeah. So that's that's the funny thing is we leave reviews for people that are not companies necessarily. And I think it's important for the technician to ask.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And and ask for that review.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah, no, it's interesting because I was talking about greenfield growth versus everybody and their brother right now is talking about greenfield growth. And I'm kind of skeptical for most companies talking about it because I asked them, how big are you in your own market? How much market penetration do you have?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Taking more notes. You know, there's a couple of ways to do it. I had Jeremy Miner in here and he's like, you know, he kind of laughs and he goes, you know, I want to be back and going to the office and I'm going to be talking to my boss. And if I don't have a review, I might be fired. If I don't have a review with my name in it from your call, would you mind helping me so I don't get fired?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And it's kind of like a playful little joke, but it works. What are all the mistakes? When you talk to somebody and you're like, oh, my gosh.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
What do you think? Social media, have you found, does it compete? Like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, do those compete with traditional TV, radio billboards, do you feel?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And if they're not above like 20, 30, 40 million, depending on the industry, what's the point of expansion? But let's just start out a little bit, John, by you started this company in 1986, right? Tell us a little bit about your history, why you got into business, what you're excited about in the future.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
You know, a lot of people, I feel like there's a pendulum swing and it goes. I've got great leads coming in. I'm not booking the phone calls. I don't have the right technicians. I got a top grade. And then sometimes it's like I got all the great technicians. I need more leads.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
When I do need more great people, I feel like the biggest mistake is people just, they go, let me run an ad, one ad on Craigslist or Indeed or Glassdoor or ZipRecruiter or Monster or CareerBuilder. You know, is there a way to figure out a way to market for consumers as well as market for great people to come in? Like, I don't know if it's radio or social media or what, but do you know what I mean?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
It's like, we're trying to hit both.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Do you like endorsements? Is that something that you've seen any of the people you've worked with successful? It's almost like you're borrowing their credibility.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah, my buddy, I was just at his house last week. He's got this snow whitening, and he had Rob Gronkowski as his first kind of – he got him to invest in his company. Then he had the Kardashians, and now he said he's got 26,000 TikTok influencers that post every day about his product. And they're doing – I think he's doing like $150 million a year with the teeth whitening stuff. But you're right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Is it authentic or are they just getting paid to be an influencer? And look, I'll listen to influencers if I can see the products real. I mean, it's not necessarily buying it because this guy's got it. But if I'm going to buy like fitness, like products, hopefully the people are in shape. You know what I mean? Like it's got to fit the brand. Yep, yep, yep. No question.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
How do you usually like to, because the question, I get this question probably 10 times a week is how do I pick an agency? You know, there's a lot of different agencies out there. What's the best way they bill me the more I spend? So they're kind of incentivized to bill me on pay-per-click. They're going to take 15% of whatever I spend.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
So like, when you think about it, how do you, how do you qualify an agency? And then what's the right way to be, to expect them to bill me?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
So there needs to be a little bit of transparency as well on the company side.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
It feels like everywhere I look, there's like white hat labeled SEO companies that the white head out to India or the Philippines or Ukraine or somewhere. How do you spot those guys?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
You know, I talked to some of the largest companies in North America, and we talk about return on ad spend in ROAS. Some of them, it's so high, but SEO pulls their numbers down dramatically. And SEO is one of those things where it's earned media. It takes time, effort, and energy. It's like my domain authority right now is a 64 on Ahrefs. That's A-H-R-E-F-S. It's website ranker.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
You type that in, it's free. You can see what your website is. And You know what? My major goal is that I hit the number one spot for the search words that matter. And it's hard to believe that I can get pulled down to below 10% with how much money we spend. And some of it's going after general search terms.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And some of it, what we found was, is our trucks and our billboards and our yard signs and our TV and our radio. And those things start to multiply. People start searching us by name, which isn't much of a search. But when they are searching a generic search term, I mean, for example, the private equity company I work with works with this company called Little Sleepies.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And they're just kids sleeping in pajamas. And they generate an ungodly amount of money. But they're so good at ranking number one. And some people say SEO is dying. What is your take on that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah, that's another question. I'm just drilling you here with tons of questions. One is, I get this a lot from on the stage is, will ChatGBT and some of these AI, will they become a major platform for search engines? Like I use ChatGBT all the time to make tables and do all kinds of like, what I mean by tables, like I'll say, I want to see $200 million at,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
20% IRR over the course of 10 years and we'll spit it all out real quick. Right. But I never used it to find a local brand or a local restaurant or say maybe a local recipe, maybe like a recipe. But, you know, people are always what is AI going to do and is it going to destroy SEO? Is it going to destroy pay-per-click? Is it going to destroy what Google is today?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Where do you see AI going right now?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
That's what I believe. What are your thoughts on Quora? You've ever heard of Quora?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
What do you think about Upwork and Fiverr and just finding a pro at a source?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
You know, there's just, I've done some stuff on Upwork and you get everybody from $3 an hour from Bangladesh up to like $280 per hour. I guess it depends on the project. Is it a one-time project? What are you trying to do? And I don't know if there's a right answer here. But is there any specific guidelines you have to kind of figure it out?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Because I say, look, sometimes depending on the result, they tell you, people will rate them. And they'll tell you how much they spent with them. And I think it's verified. I don't know if there's a way to get around that. It seems like they do a good job of keeping it into a closed loop. But, you know, if I need a project that's going to take 20 hours and it's $200 an hour,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
I might just spend the four grand and just get it done right away instead of having a nightmare. I don't know.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
I love it. Well, we're coming here near the end here. Is there a couple books that really changed your life in home in the home service or the marketing or, you know, a lot of us talk about Michael Gerber, or, you know, even Rich Dad, Poor Dad, or even books like Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, or, you know, the
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
There's a lot of great books out there, but is there any of them that really stood out to you over time?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
I love that. Peter Drucker. Yeah. And then what, if someone wants to reach out to you, John, obviously you'll buy your book, Duct Tape Marketing, but what's the best way to get ahold of you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Awesome. And last but not least, we talked about a lot of stuff here. Lots and lots of stuff. We were all over the place. And that's a good thing because this was really I think marketing is the lifeblood of any company. Go ahead and just anything we didn't talk about, anything that just you feel compelled to close us out with and let the audience know about. I'll give you the closing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
I got one follow-up question. Do you think the people that leaned in the best and dominated AI, do you think there's going to be very few winners and a lot of losers? I mean, is that where we're looking?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Awesome, John. Well, I've got pages and pages and pages of notes here. So I know this was a great podcast. I really appreciate your time today and look forward to connecting in the future. Awesome. Appreciate it, Tommy. Thanks. All right, my brother. Thank you. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
I love that. You know, a lot of people can't afford a CMO or even a VP of marketing and they come to me all the time. They're like, what would you do if you were going to start over again? I'm like, man, that's a loaded question. I got your book. I don't know. I think four years ago and it's full of like gold. Let's start here. You've been recognized as
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text notes, N-O-T-E-S to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
the world's most practical small business expert. So what do you believe sets your approach apart from others? I mean, what's the secret sauce in the formation of the plan for these small companies?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
So when you sit down with a client, you know, let's say it's a plumber or HVAC or electrical or garage doors, we're all pretty similar. Well, there's demand versus non-demand, you know, like windows and gutters and stuff like that usually is non-demand. But let's say you've got a demand type industry. Do they fill out a questionnaire? Like, you know, SEO is important. Do they have a good website?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Does it load at the right speed? Do they claim it on my business page, TV, radio, billboards, mailers? It's just, it goes on and on.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Is there a software that you guys, obviously there's a CRM. Sure. But is there any type of software that you guys throw into the mix or just whatever CRM they're on?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
What are some uncommon milestones? Obviously, claiming your Google My Business page is an easy GVP. Is there any other ones that are kind of odd that you guys recommend? I always tell people, make sure you invest in the BBB, even though the BBB might not make a lot of sense, but it makes your profile, makes Google know that you're a real person, like a real company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Love it. You got brand versus marketing. Yeah. And I see a lot of people on the side of their trucks. It's got everything they do. There's no real message that pops.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
You know, it's like... They're the worst raps you've ever seen. They're lettering, if you're lucky. And then, of course, your manufacturer will pay for them if you put their brand on the side of them. You're literally marketing their brand. They're driving around their billboards, basically. How important is the brand being correct?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Yeah, I agree. I see this all the time. Yeah. Many small business owners are looking for the ways they can scale without overextending themselves, and I see this all the time, and they ask me if radio works. I say, yeah, Yellow Book still works. I go, but you got to be consistent. You know, I've worked with the Wizard of Ads before.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today, I got John Jantz with me. He's an expert in small business marketing, business consulting, and search engine optimization. He is the founder and president of Duct Tape Marketing. He's done a lot of stuff, Spark Lab Consulting, Tradeful, Podcast Bookers, a lot of great stuff on here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
I went and visited him and Roy Williams, and his whole notion is you got to – do you know who that is, Roy Williams?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
So you got to spend a – It's a small fortune to hit. His belief system is if you hit the radio with 50% of the population, men and women, boys and girls, doesn't matter your race or gender or age, they got to hear you four times a week. And if they do, over the course of six to nine months, your brand will be the number one in your category. What is your thought on TV, radio, billboards?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Those are more of a branding play. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Art of Building Trust in Marketing with John Jantsch
Love it. You mentioned that being a self-reliant entrepreneur isn't about isolating yourself, but about trusting your own judgment. So the question is, how can entrepreneurs balance self-reliance with seeking advice or inspiration from others without losing their own sense of direction?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
All right, guys, special podcast day today. I got Tony Hoffman in the house. This guy is a little bit different than we normally talk about. He's been through a lot of life challenges. He's a pro at public speaking, mental health, and addiction recovery. And I know you're asking yourself, what does this have to do with home service?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
So deadly.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I'm trying to. So, no. So, you were using crack cocaine, heroin, crystal meth, oxy. Yes. And it switched drugs depending on how much money you had?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Well, first and foremost, all of us are addicted to something, whether it's health, whether it's Netflix. It's just what are we going to be addicted to? Especially a lot of us have alcohol problems. A lot of us overdo it. We don't even realize we have a problem. And, you know, this isn't for everybody, but I'll tell you this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
But there's so many questions here. I don't even know. Let me just start here. So when you meet these homeless people that literally, if you go to California, it's literally like people shooting up in front of kids on a corner and pooping in the streets. Is it better to just say, give them as much as they want? Because one of the guys that works here, It's a great friend of mine, Josh.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
He's like, dude, it's almost like you're trapped because now they're giving it to you. Now they're giving you clean needles. Now they're like, do it anywhere you want. Now they'll give you tents. It's almost like, go here, do it safe, right in public. What's the right, based on your experience, you've been involved in this a long time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
What is the answer to these vets and these young kids on the streets?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
We're going to talk a lot about business, public speaking, marketing yourself, becoming a marketer yourself, and a personal brand. But, Tony, it's a pleasure to have you here. I'm glad you made it into the place here. From prison to the Olympics, let's hear your story.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
No. No, it's a bureaucracy that they just get rich. You know, I had RFK Jr. in my house. I'm kind of a Trump guy. I mean, I don't care who you vote. people understand once you make money, you don't want to pay taxes. Not ridiculous taxes because they just spend the money in the ways that you... Most people that are wise believe in philanthropy. But he was on...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
big addiction like i don't know if you know rfk was like understands everything you're talking about he was on heroin for a long long time yeah one of his brothers is a big speaker yeah on addiction as well yeah i mean he's massive i mean the guy works out every day so you now when was the last time you you did a drug 17 years ago 17 and uh it's may 17 2007 i just celebrated 17 years
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
What is the feeling? I've never talked to somebody like about this because a lot of times people just, it's not the first thing you talk about at dinner. Like, do you ever feel like, like this itch?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Yeah. Thank God. I mean, so a lot of people fall off the saddle and sometimes it's a long time. Sometimes it's a decade. Yeah. What do you think goes on? They know where they were. Yeah. They know how bad it was. Your story, it sucked. Five days up thinking about all the worst shit, trying to like beg and try to just do the cheapest thing possible. You've had success.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
What do you think causes the relapse or falling off the wagon or just somebody to go back to that? Was it just one time, one day, one bad decision?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I don't think so. In my first book, I wrote about this thing that I call creative justification. Where you say, this guy's rich. He's not going to miss it. No one's going to care about this. Hey, listen, this guy buys all these openers. He's not going to miss a remote if I give one away. Sure. I really think people justify things really easily. Now watch.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
But I feel like people, they bend the rules all the time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
exactly like I did with my father. You said, hey, he was kind of born into this family curse. Like he had to do this and he did the best he could.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Hey, I hope you're loving today's episode. I'm pausing us here because I have an important message that you're not going to want to miss. The Freedom 2025 presale discount is all gone. General attendance tickets now cost $200 more and VIP tickets are up $400. But there's good news. The early bird offer is here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
That means that you can still get 20% off VIP tickets to my event, the Home Service Freedom 2025. This is the event where my billion-dollar network is going to break down exactly how to accelerate your business and dominate your market. And get this, if you sign up right now, you're going to get access to the early bird bonus bundle that's worth more than $5,000.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Check out freedomevent.com to learn more. It's freedomevent.com. Now let's get back to the episode. Man, you know, the more I sit here... Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Yeah. You know, that's... It's baby steps, man. I deal with a lot of business owners and I get the same questions every time. And when you make a mistake, it's a mistake. The second time it's a choice. That's right. And I don't think people understand that. And some people, the definition of insanity, we all know this. Yep. And I'll tell you this, no one's failed more.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
nobody that I know has jumped in hardcore and failed and lost.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
No, I, I literally did like sitting down is, is like, And I went, I stayed up late for the first time in a while and just literally had a protein shake because I was talking to a buddy. But now I need seven hours. Like, and if I don't get it, like I do move around a lot. I'm pretty anxious. But at the same time, I know how to deal. I know exactly what I need to do. Yeah. And that's your EQ, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
But I'm a hunter, dude. Like the deal is I am not meant to sit down. and be a spiritual like leader. I am meant to go do things and talk on stage and like I coach people, but I don't want to do the same thing 10 hours in a row. Like when I make content, other than stuff like this, like I don't want to sit here and make content for five hours. Give me 30 minutes, four times a day.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
You know what I mean?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Or get it live. My schedule wouldn't allow me to do it, but yeah. Well, your schedule would when you realize the content you should be putting out is real stuff. You think the Kardashians were practicing putting out content or you think they just took reality? Yeah. What about if you go out with kids on the street where you grew up? And you went back there and you actually recorded it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
You think people would like that? True. Say, hey, listen, I'm going to talk to this guy. He's strung out. He's probably on five days because he was on meth the last five days. Exactly why I was 18 years ago. And people would want to understand that. You think that would be interesting content? Sure. I think people would want to watch that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
They want to watch you say, these are the five principles of discipline. I mean, don't get me wrong. I get that that's the solution, but it's got to be in some ways educational content. And it's got to be entertaining. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Well, there's people I love. There's people I love to watch, but it's so... And Xavier and I talk about this like... It's very great information. But it's the same guy, same chair, same freaking thing. Like, dude, Mr. Beast is cool because he's doing crazy shit. You never know what's going to happen. Like, you got to change it up and live your life. And people want to know about you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
They just want to know. Like, you need to talk about what you do. But they want to know what goes on behind the scenes. They want to hear about this kid that's calling you, what he's going through. Then a 22-year-old guy is going to hear that and say, dude, this is me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I'm going to go find, I need to be part of this thing. That's going to blow it up. Yeah. And go places and do things people aren't willing to do. Like this kid that just came in here, the School of Hard Knocks. All he does is walk up to people and say, what do you do for a living?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Yeah, he came to my house. That's cool. And like the dude's blowing up. He's in his early 20s. And like, it's not really even a skill. You just got to learn how to do it. Yeah. I got this poem that I read to my technicians and I read this probably every two months to my graduation classes. And they graduate and he'll edit this out when I'm searching for it, but it's graduation. And check this out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I'm your constant companion. I'm your greatest helper, your heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I'm completely at your command. Have the things you might as well turn over to me and I'll do them quickly and correctly. I'm easily managed, but you must be firm with me. Show me exactly what you want done and after a few lessons, I'll do it automatically.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I'm the servant of the greatest people on the planet and the Alice of all the failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I'm not a machine though. I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a person. You may run me for profit or run me for ruin. It makes no difference to me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am Habit. And really, these little habits make such a big freaking difference, man. Like it's a big deal. I'm just thinking about just everyday alcohol. Like, dude, here's the deal. I never craved alcohol. But I was always around a volleyball tournament, a golf course.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Like we go bowling. I'm like, why not have a 12-pack? And it never seemed like a problem. I'm like, dude, everyone's drinking. Everyone's here. I didn't realize that they were everybody I was hanging out with.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Or go out. You go out to a bar, but here's the thing that's so funny about it is... not only did I not think it's a problem because I created my own environment, but it's like, you, you literally look at people and you're like, what? You're not going to drink. You're not even going to come out and have a beer. And it's almost like you're antagonizing people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Like I don't, and I always say I don't crave alcohol. Yeah. But like I, I'd go weeks, sometimes months without drinking. But if I put myself in the environment, it's like, sure. And, and, I think that there's a lot of people that literally they have an eating disorder. They look at their bodies and they don't think it's what that is. And they literally, but I don't know.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Like I look at my team and I said this last week, I said, if you do not want to give me 110%, I want to write you a letter of recommendation and it's going to be a brilliant one. And I want to pay you to leave because when you shake my hand and you get to know me, you will become the best version of yourself because I won't have it any other way, but I can't force you to make that decision.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
No, yeah, that's you. And you got to want it bad and you got to wake up and you got to want more and you got to write down your goals. We're going to reverse engineer them. I'm not putting you on a performance improvement plan. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to remind you. Remember your dad was sick and you said you were going to take him on that fishing trip for three weeks?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I'm going to help you make that trip come faster. You said you wanted to buy a house for your kids. You said you wanted to take him to Disney World. You told me that you wanted to do this. This apparently was your why, the big reason you're on this earth. I always say, show me your credit cards. Show me your calendar. I'll show you where your priorities are. You know? Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Where do you, so where do you live now?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
We lost a thousand pounds last two months at A1.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
18 clients, one month program, two month program.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Yes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
And so it's a government funded for 30 days?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Now, plus the success rate probably isn't as high than this, more of a...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
100%.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
It's really screwed up, Gavin Newsom. So how do you guys acquire clients? I mean, is it word of mouth? Is it Google? What do you guys do?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
ABC sucks, dude. You got to rank organically. What about your Google My Business page?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
We got to talk later.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Yeah, no, I agree. It's probably not local SEO, but the deal is, I got to introduce you to Joe Polish. I got some intros, dude. This is something he'd get behind. This is something he's very passionate about. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
How long are you in town for? Till the night. Oh. I got a flight at midnight. I'm going to text you. I'm going to make an intro to Joe. At least you guys could chat on the phone for five minutes because anything addiction related, he's going to get behind. That's his book right there. What's in it for them? That's one of his books. That one top middle. Uh-huh. So listen, I'm going to do this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I love this story, man. I'm sorry. I'm literally like, I feel like I hadn't slept in two days, dude, because that worked out so hard the last like just today. And I'm like, man, I just sleep is if anybody ever asked you, what's the most important thing? Sleep is the most important. You make bad decisions. You'll eat better. You'll drink more water. You'll get the vitamins.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
You'll remember to take your pills, whatever it is.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I run on like three and he has to have seven or eight. Oh dude. Every doctor I've worked with, they're like, this is how you make natural growth hormone. Like I don't ever brag about not sleeping. Like I love the guys that are like, dude, I don't need to sleep. And I'm like,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I don't know, man, I'm not getting enough sleep, but like you'll live so much longer, but yet you're sleeping a lot of the time. So maybe, maybe you don't live longer. Maybe you just spent more on awareness, but how do people get ahold of you, Tony? I think what's going to happen is someone's going to reach out and say, dude, I just need advice. I got a guy, I got a kid.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
I got somebody that's really, Or I'm that guy, dude. I'm having a really big problem. What's the best way to reach out?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
yeah that's great tony i'm impressed man look i'm glad you got saved i'm glad you're a man of faith 17 years is a big deal i think you're gonna help a lot of people thanks and if i could open up any doors like i know there's people listening with problems if nothing else this idea of maybe just look in the mirror and ask yourself has it become a problem have i avoided i heard this the other day and i played this to every one of the my co-workers
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
If the people you're hanging out with, let's pretend you're a circle of friends. Look at all those friends, and if they were your kid, would you want those to be your children? Would you want them to be hanging out with that person too? And if not, you got to do something. And if you're the person that's literally a bad influence, That's tough, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
But I'll tell you what, I took a lot out of this. I love your story. We met with Tony... What's the skateboarder? He was in Tony Hawkins or whatever. Tony Hawk? Hawk, yeah. I met him at a party about a year ago. Great guy. They say he's super cool. He's super laid back. Awesome guy. Yeah. Yeah, and RFK was at the house twice. RFK Jr., I don't know if he's going to win, but he's got...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
But yeah, I think I can put you in with the right people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Stay consistent. Yeah. Like, dude, you're not going to hit, like people always ask me, how does radio and TV work? I'm like, it doesn't for a year. Yeah. And you don't want to hit everything. Right. Very specific.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
And the right audiences too.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
That's a great audience.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Tony, you're amazing. I thank you for coming out here. Thank you. I'd love to have you back out, man, and show you what we do here and introduce you. Cool. I would love that, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Appreciate you doing this. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
No, dude.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Building a Winning Culture: Lessons from a Former Addict and Elite Athlete
And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
That's true. It's true. You're still stuck where you were, not growing. You know, that's the problem is misery loves misery. Like, why do you got to work out every day? Come on, just go out tonight. Why aren't you drinking? Come on, just one. Why do you want me just to have one? Like, they don't know they're even trying to do it. They don't. It's like, why are you passing on dessert?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Come on, just have a little bit. Why? Why do you want me to have dessert so bad? Like, what's the point? Because you feel like me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
He's the co-founder of The Wealthy Contractor and the host of The Wealthy Contractor podcast. the co-founder of 4Marketing Group. He's also an entrepreneur speaker, best-selling author of The 7th Secrets in Becoming a Wealthy Contractor. For years, he's been helping home service improvement companies achieve more success, wealth, and freedom. Brian, it's so good to see you, my man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Because you ate three desserts and you look like shit and you're wondering why I'm not having it. Because there's no self-control, no discipline, and no consistency. Yeah. I'm really about this idea of the four Fs. I've been really on this kick. I love this conversation, by the way. What's so good about you, you are such a professional. Your podcast is one of the top podcasts out there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And home service, I think this podcast has been for founders, owners, CEOs, and leadership of home service. My next big goal is to break in and not, like, you know, be your – your opponent, but I want to break into home improvement because I think garage doors, I focused on home service with garage doors, but I think it's good swing right over to home improvement.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And if I could master garage doors for home improvement and what they've learned, and you know, you know, Sean McGraw, I've heard the name for energy, smart dude. He's coming to work with me. And he's like, dude, you got to learn home improvement for nothing else that they've learned to sell when there's no demand. Yeah. Like bath refitter and windows.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
So, like, dude, there's a whole new – I feel like I'm okay. I like where I'm in at home service. And, you know, here's what I've learned how to do. I let the demand come to me. I've never made an outbound phone call. I don't need to. I don't need to knock on doors. Like, that's what's crazy. If I learn what they know and what you know – And I got both?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
It's like the crazy, because here's what I've learned is the financial engineering that the PE companies, Ken Goodrich with Kettle called me up and he said, dude, when you learn what they know, they understand the corporate structure. They understand how to raise debt. They understand arbitrage. And I started learning that piece and I'm like, oh my gosh, dude.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I used to think I was pretty cool understanding KPIs within a home service CRM. Now I understand the bigger picture and I'm like, Oh, man, the world's on my feet, dude. 10,000 baby boomers a day retiring, 12% of them own a business. It's the next five years are going to be generational wealth transfer. They're transferring it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And it's going to all these, the baby boomers are sending it to all these, the kids that are not interested in the business. And they're sending it to Gen Z, Gen X, and a little bit of millennials. And I'm like, this is great because I'm just going to take it all because they don't know what they're doing. And they have no idea how to run a company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
That's why very rarely, Brian, does the money go to the third generation. Almost every time they lose it right there in the second generation, that's where I come in and take it from them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And I have more than enough energy. I just, what I'm trying to do is I got two, I basically got two and a half EAs. And one thing I've learned is I've allowed too many meetings to happen. And everybody's in meetings all day, but you can't work on the business in a meeting. So we're starting to get super efficient with meetings. And we got to be reborn every three months at this company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
They know, everybody that works by my side, my coworkers, they know this company is getting reborn all the time. And they're like, dude, you change all the time. And I'm like, yeah, it doesn't feel like the same company that it was in the summer, does it? And they're like, the evolution of AI and machine learning and the CRMs and the way we gather data,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And it's like, look, guys, I'm never going to get comfortable. I'm just not. And they're like, when is good enough for you? And I'm like, my dad was very tough on me. He didn't like me to lose. Like, this core value says aspire to be number one. And we wear these. And I'm a guy that needs to be first. And I won't, I'm relentless.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Like the reason I wrestled and played golf, I played a lot of sports and I got sick of blaming other people for losing. So I said, in wrestling and golf, I can only blame myself. And man, that even hurts more. And I'm tough on my, if I'm tough on someone, they don't know how tough I am on myself.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
It's tough at times, but nothing ever came easy that was worthwhile. That's right. Of course not.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
You know, I'm dying to spend time in Miami. I'd love to come visit next year.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
You're 100%. The people that are listening right now that are feeling stress and anxiety, that is 100% formed from indecision.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I will. I'd love to hang out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I was with Ken Goodrich in a board meeting, and he was with my entire staff, and he goes, Tommy's growing exponentially. This dude's listening to 10 podcasts, reading two books a week. He's going on stages. He's talking to people on stages. He's going out to visit shops. He's literally self-reflecting, identifying things, and correcting it faster than I've seen anybody.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And he goes, Tommy, if these people aren't willing to put 15 hours into themselves beyond working, I need you to fire them. He goes, because they're going to be your anchor. And everybody in that room all of a sudden came in and started asking me for books. They started listening to podcasts. They started working on themselves.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And I said, one thing as I left this meeting, I said, promise me you'll work harder on yourself than A1. Because if you do not understand time management and you don't get more efficient and you don't learn how to get the right habits, you're not doing us any favors. Whatever you need, you want consulting, I'll get you consulting. You want to go do a training, I'll get you the training.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
You let me know what you guys need. That simple.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
So talk to me a little bit. What's been going on this year? Where's the future headed? What's been going on in your life?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I meet people, Brian, and they go, I'm happy if there's a roof over my head. I'm happy if I'm able to put food on my family's plate. When I meet somebody, one of the characteristics I look for is they say, we're out to dinner. They look at the menu and they go, yep, filet mignon. Give me the big one. I want all the sides. They want more, but they're willing to work for it too.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
There's a happy medium of people that pray and hope and dream. But then I ask people, dream bigger, but understand, how do we reverse engineer that dream? What are you going to buy and why are you going to buy it? What trips are you going to go on?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
If you tell me your dad is at an age where he could go anytime, and you say, I want to take my dad on this camping trip, it's two weeks long, I know that's a really big why. That's going to push you every day.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I know when you really want, and sometimes you've got to peel back the onion, but like you said, is why, if we can build a strong enough why, we'll show you what you've got to do to get there. And instead of giving you a performance improvement plan, I'm just going to remind you. Remember, you wanted this. I don't want you to get better for me. I'm doing great.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And by the way, the better you do, the better I'm doing. So the more you accomplish, I mean, we've spent years structuring the performance pay in a way that I could celebrate. There are certain people in my company, specifically management, that goes, how does this guy make it 300 grand? And I don't make that much.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And I'm like, well, the top sales guys in any company should make more than the CEO. You know, there's equity in other things. But I'm like, you're more than welcome to take that job. They got to go earn their freaking future every day. They don't get salary. And it's not all commission. There's a couple of things we look at. It's customer satisfaction. There's recall rates and other things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
But you're kind of screwed if you do. You're screwed if you don't. Everybody's like, I want to get out of the field. I'm like, well, there's an opportunity for equity. And there's still an opportunity for equity. Like, I've got a... 48 guys right now with equity that are still in the field. And that next year it'll be 100. And, you know, it's life-changing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And, you know, now it's easier to recruit these guys. They see the vivid vision of where we're running and they're running at it with me. They can tell clients that they've earned their way to an ownership. Clients love that. And it's not an ESOP because I don't believe that everybody should just get a piece. I don't like that mentality. The winners should. And I think it's great.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
They're not going anywhere.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Yeah. So we ended up taking 10%. And the first, before I did the first deal, it was called an equity incentive program. The next one that we do, and every private equity company does this, they do 10% or 15%. We do 10%, but I broke them into smaller units. And right now there's about 60%. And we kind of looked at who do we need in the org chart? Who could we need?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Because these guys that have done a lot of this PE stuff, they understand who we're missing possibly in the future. They kind of know you're going to need a couple FP&A people. You're going to need another guy on your acquisition team and your integrations team. So there's still quite a bit there. And they go, Tommy, why would we do this for technicians?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And we kind of got into a little bit of an argument. And I said, well, you guys know I have a good portion of these profit units. So if you're worried about it, just take mine. And they're like, well, what about you? And I'm like, I own half the company. I'll do fine. They're like, well, we don't want to do that. We want to keep you. And I go. There's one or two things going to happen.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Either you're going to figure this out or just take mine. And they looked at each other. And they never seen anybody say that, I don't think they were like kind of like what the F like he really is ready to give away his and I'm like. I need these guys rowing as hard as they can in my direction.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Well, this isn't real. It gets vested. Phantom Equity, equity incentive program, profit units, there's a lot of conditions. They don't have voting rights. Unless there's a change of control, there's vesting periods that could be based on time or certain KPIs. And it's very complicated. And my problem with unsophisticated smaller companies is not that they're dumb.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
If you've got a really high-level CFO, but the problem is you could give too much or too little to the wrong people. And I luckily got the right person involved with the company. I already had built the program in like 2019. He started in 2021, but I didn't. And there's people I probably paid out too much that I probably shouldn't have because on this next turn, they won't get as much.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
But how many millionaires could I make? And what's super cool about it is. Like, dude, it sucks when you're winning big and you got to celebrate on your own. It's so good to be there with a team. Like, you got a magnum bottle of champagne and you're just toasting yourself? That's no fun.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Never Enough. No, I haven't.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Read it out. Never Enough from Barista Billionaire. From Barista to Billionaire.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I was going to tell you that There's a lot of people, Morgan Friedman, the KFC guy. There's a lot of people that were very late in their careers that just decided they wanted to go be an entrepreneur. So I want people to understand that you don't need to be in your 20s. I was fortunate enough to start out in my really early 20s. I had a landscaping company. Then I switched to garage doors.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
The cool thing about being young is it didn't take a lot for me to live on. I didn't mind eating Campbell's soup. I always joke around when I was a kid, I had a chef. His name was Chef Boyardee. But I can make these mistakes at an age where there wasn't a whole lot of repercussions. So it's hard to gamble.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
But as you grow older and you got family and people needing you, but I'd say there's no really too late of age to start. And another thing is your business, you made a great point. You build a company to sell the company. It's your best asset, and you should treat it like an asset. You should treat it like it's for sale every three months, and you should cut the people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
A lot of people are like, yeah, if I was going to sell, I'd completely change things. I'd get rid of this guy and this guy, and my uncle still works here. And they're afraid to make decisions and have those fierce conversations. And they know, like literally everybody listening should pretend you have to sell in three months. Write down everything that you would do right now, and then do it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Well, I'd probably change CRMs because I know this one's going to get me less valuation. I'd probably do this. If I was really going to sell, I'd probably maximize this the next year and focus on profit more. What the hell are you focusing on? Well, I'm reinvesting everything back in the company. No, you're not. That's what losers say. I'm reinvesting everything back in the company.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
If I look at your financials, you're just losing your ass.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
The scary thing about being my competition is I'm willing to go into a market and lose money for the first year because I'm taking brand awareness. And I can point to exactly on the balance sheet income statement in P&L that it went into marketing. It went to live in people's brains. And I could show that our marketing spend went from 10% to 30%. That's 20% I'm doing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I'm willing to lose the first year, especially on a greenfield, because the opportunity cost is I go buy a company and I pay six or seven X. And if it's at a million, I'm putting seven million. If I put three into marketing, I can build the same thing and now I get to call my own shots and don't have to reintegrate this whole different culture.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And being able to call your own shots in Greenfield, everybody now, because of private equity, is like, I want to go buy companies. I'm like, well, how much market share do you own? If anything, do an add-on to the, like, get good in your own market at doing it. Buy phone numbers, buy people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
But I think what happens with this podcast sometimes, Brian, is people listen and they're not ready for the information because of where I'm at. And what the best thing people do is they tell me I started at one, which I was really bad at the first one. I've listened to the first one, but it was when I was 15 million. And by the way, I wasn't making much money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And they kind of seen, and they're like the one through 40, I learned how to get to 25 million, 40 through 80, I learned how to get to 40 million. And they're like, dude, when we start now, It's very tough because you've got equity incentive programs and the scorecards and the way you buy vehicles.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And I realize how I could confuse people, but just know I'm not trying to confuse you and I'm never trying to discourage you. And I think some of you, unfortunately, should be an entrepreneur and go work for other companies. And just I'm very to the point on this podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And if I, I mean, if I ask you, you know, what was it? You did ask me, you asked me before we got on the podcast, did you hear me talk about revenue at all?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Yeah, you know, I feel really good about 2025. Goldman Sachs, I'm really, really tied up with them right now. And interest rates are coming down. You know, whoever's president is not going to determine the outcome of my business or the people I work with. There's nothing external. That's going to determine my luck. I determined within our four walls, what this company is going to be.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And I can't blame a lot of people. They point their two fingers outward. I use my two thumbs to point inward.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Thank you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
You know, I came up with an analogy that I'm quick to fail. You heard ready, aim, fire. I'm fire, ready, aim.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I literally, by the time you are trying to load the gun, I've taken 10 shots, missed the target twice, hit the target six times, and then hit the bullseye. And I just feel like everybody's just on the fence. What should I do? Not really sure. Should I hire? I'm wondering if I should put more money into marketing and try to take market share. It's time for me.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
for access. And what I started doing this year is paying for access. Someone says a ridiculous number. I just pay it. I don't try to negotiate. And I'm like, I just pay for access. And the best people don't give access unless you pay. You know why? Let me explain something.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I think it's very good to be a philanthropist and give, and I do that in speeches and podcasts and everything else, but I've got to have a team. And why would I rob from a one and what I've done to pay Have all these people that I've got to hire to support this. Like, the more money I get for HSF, Home Service Freedom, the more times I can bring on fractional CFOs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I'm not going to just, I funded it a long way and didn't ask for a paycheck. I don't make any money from this. But I need to hire great people. People are like, why is this guy, if he made so much money, still doing Instagram and Facebook ads? Because if this thing grows, I get to help you more because all the money goes back in and I still got to pay people. We still got to do nice things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
We still got to get you more help and continue to build this. And I'm not going to just self-fund and rob Peter to pay Paul. I will get this thing to a master. We're changing millions of lives, but it still takes people coming in and paying. And what I've noticed, Brian, is the people that don't want to pay never make changes. Like, they want the free advice, and I don't mind giving free advice.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I really don't. But they're not willing to spend the money because they don't think they're worth it. And if they don't think they're worth it, they'll never grow. Does that make sense?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And I'm like, dude, what do you think you should do? Why are you sitting on the fence your whole life? Take a decision, own it, and run. And if you fall down, get back up and keep running. I can't stand that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And if people pay a lot, Brian, when people spend six figures, If they gave you a $100,000 check today, Brian, someone, wouldn't you feel a little bit of commitment to, like, now you're like, I have to make them successful or give them everything I got or whatever the number is. The more it is, in a way, you feel more committed because you're like, I got to make a difference.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
If they're like, here's $500, you're like, I'll give you a piece of advice. I got five minutes. You know what I mean? Right. So in a way – and listen – $500 is still a lot of money. I don't forget where I came from. I don't forget that people are still trying to make rent. I don't forget these things. And I know somebody needs a helping hand.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I've helped people in a way that helped them become a good soccer coach and show up for their family in different ways and save divorces. I didn't do the work. I'll never say I did, but I had an open mind. And that's what this podcast is for. It's free of charge.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
But I've realized, you know, I don't know if you've ever figured out how much you make an hour, but I know exactly going into this next transaction, it's over 500,000 an hour on a 50-hour work week. So everything, I got to be very careful because you know who needs me the most is the people here at this company. My mom called me recently and said, how do I get on your calendar? I'm embarrassed.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And that's effed up. And I'm going to be a better son. Because that was the whole goal of working this whole time these last two decades is to be a better son. And so this morning I called mom and I do this walk every morning. I'm going to check in with mom every day. And that's embarrassing. And I want everybody to just hear Tommy out here. I'm doing like the Donald Trump.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I really want to be close to my mom. And I don't want, as much as I want to help you, my mom is one of the most important women, people in my life. And my people need me a lot. And I just want to make sure that I'm not robbing from them to help you because I want to be the best leader I could be.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
They got short memories. They really hold us in the highest regard. My mom's the type of lady that if I said I'm in trouble, she'd go get a shovel and say, let's take care of it. She would give her life for mine. If I went to prison and did something wrong, she would be there every day. She would move to wherever I got sent and be there every day. There's no doubt in my mind.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
She's unconditional, and it's really rare that I have a mother that cares like that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I have a six-year-older sister that lives in Wisconsin. But I felt like an only child because my mom and dad did a great job. They really made us feel, at least I could say that. I don't know if my sister would say that because I was the youngest and I was the boy, so they were pretty loose with me compared to her. Profit Masters. So tell me a little bit about Profit Masters.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
How does the process work? Why did you start the business?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Oh, you're absolutely a hundred percent.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
How many clients do you guys have?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Wow, it's beautiful. One piece of advice that I always give on this podcast is don't extract money out of the business your first five years. And there is a real idea of reinvesting in the right way because... The first thing people say when couples get together that have been married, they do the hard work. They finally start making money. And they go, we deserve a Harley.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
We deserve that second vacation house. Let's move to this nice house. And if you can't save money at $70,000, you're never going to save money at $150,000. And you start buying depreciating assets. If you're going to extract money, put it into a money multiplier. And don't start, because people say, man, my buddy's flipping house. My buddy bought a bar. My buddy's doing this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Yeah, and the other thing about it is I used to do – we're in 43 markets. I used to do these global decisions. And I'm like, let's just take this little market, this little piggy, and let's try something. And once we nail it, we can scale it. I don't need to do global decisions. We've got opportunities that I could try big metros, small metros. I could do a lot of different things now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And you start extracting out of the one thing, giving you the money back. So if you, the next, not only take this money, but make sure it goes to the right places for a rainy day. No, I want to talk to you about that offline. We, you know, in 2017, I got coached from Ellen Rohrer on your known financial position. And we started open book management.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And people are so afraid to say, what if everybody knows I make a lot of money? Well, I don't really care anymore. I've never cared since we started this. By the way, you work for a great company that's going to be growing with new opportunities. We're going to be bringing in better things for you guys, like 401Ks and dental and all these things. So, no, Brian, I love this, man.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I'm going to buy that book. I'm going to start talking to you a lot more because I definitely want to come out to Florida anyway. And I'll reach out to you later this week, but – You know, is there any other books that you'd recommend, top of mind?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I love it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
What is it called? Killing?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
No, I have.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, yeah, that's a great book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Well, the thing is, I was literally... I was at a restaurant with a pretty wealthy guy. And I'm building another house on top of the house in Idaho. And it's pretty extravagant. And he says, you know, Tommy, I have a son. And he's not getting any of the money. He goes, if he wants me to invest in something to get him started. He goes, I meet a lot of very wealthy, wealthy, wealthy people.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And they never live. They never live. They just don't live. And they're so in this conservation mode. And I'm like, dude, I find the more I spend, the more I work. But I enjoy the shit out of it. And I'm literally like, I'm enjoying every aspect of everything I have to the fullest extent. It's so much fun. And that's that concept. Brian, how do people get a hold of you, brother?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Need to get a copy of that book. Need to get a copy of Brian's book for sure. Yeah. Finally, I'll just close out with this, Brian, you we've talked, dude, like I've got a million questions I could have asked, but this conversation was so good. Like I loved it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I'd love that. Let's do that. We'll set that up. We talked about a lot, and maybe there's something we didn't get to talk about, and maybe there's something hot on your mind, but you could close us out, whatever thought, whatever you want the audience to hear right now.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And I like to try things, and I'm at a point where we can. Do you ever heard of Robert Chudini, the book Influence?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
$300,000.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And pre-suasion and getting the yes. What's very interesting is 20 years ago, he just celebrated 40 years of influence of his book when it came out. And I learned about it in my master's program at U of A from 2010 to 2012. At University of Arizona, they taught an ASU professor's curriculum. And, you know, it's world-renowned.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I think that's the best advice I've ever heard. It's so perfect. Brian, when you understand without being crazy selfish, what you just need to consider yourself successful and have some pride in what you do. And it's not shoot for the fricking next galaxy. It's like, look, you got a nice house. You got a nice vacation house. You got a couple of cars.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
You got some money put away and you're helping the people that helped you. Like, it's not that big of a number. People forget how much – if you make 8% on $10 million, that's $800,000 a year. And people forget about what this money is doing for you on the sidelines. And when everybody takes chips off the table, they forget about the money on the sidelines. But – You're so right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Listen, when I talk to you, I feel like I'm talking in the mirror because just this whole accrual accounting, I'm like, guys, this has been absolutely phenomenal. We'll set one up on yours. I'm going to get a hold of you. I got some ideas, and I'm going to read these. I'm definitely going to read Never Enough from the barista to billionaire.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Hey, fantastic, brother. I appreciate your time today and all the listeners out there. Thank you. This is something you guys know I ask, and I haven't asked this for months and months on the podcast. It means the world to me. It's the best compliment I could ever receive.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
If you share this podcast, if you leave a review, if you star it, whatever you guys do, if you subscribe, all I'm trying to do is get this out to the masses. And if it helps you, it'll help other people. So if you get a chance, you'd be giving me a compliment and telling me I'm doing okay. Like, share, and do that stuff. And I appreciate it. And Brian, once again, you're the man, brother.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Appreciate you. You too, Tommy. Appreciate you. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And 20 years ago, Charlie Munger, who was a partner with Warren Buffett, he passed away recently. But he got a letter from Charlie Munger, and it was a certificate for one stock at Bursar Hathaway. And it was worth $75,000. This is 20 years ago. Right now it's worth $692,000. And Ciarini said every year he reads the shareholder's letter from them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And right on the front, you know, there's a welcoming kind of how the company's doing and the money they're making. But the next page is every single year where they failed. And it's like a statement, we tried this, but we learned from it. And this idea, and when I'm talking to these marketing companies, I'm like, and everybody that works around me, is embrace your failure.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
But I want to know what you learned about it. Listen, I fail all the time. And the reason I wanted to say this is because, listen, I do fall. And it's okay if the people around me are falling. Get back up. Let's keep going. We're allowed to fail. God knows. I've made a lot of really big mistakes. You're allowed to make mistakes. This is a mistake. This is not a mistake-free zone here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Feel free to make mistakes, but let's not bet the farm on every mistake and make sure I'm involved in really critical decisions because I might have already had a mistake that applied to that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
It is. You know, it's a compilation of mistakes that really kind of – I say metaphorically I got a lot of bruises and scars all over because, oops, I remember when I tried that. I remember when I hired that guy. I remember when I hired when I needed to instead of when I should have. And you start lowering the standard when you need people. There's all these things that I've been through.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. Welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today, I got a good friend of mine.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And I can reflect back at the last – people always ask me, man, I wish I had your life. I wish I built a business like you. I go, well, listen – I lived at, we owned the apartment complex, but I lived there for four years. Thousand square foot place. I drove the oldest truck in the fleet, 280,000 miles salvage title before everybody had a new truck. Countless relationships were destroyed.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Girls did not want to date me. I walked out of a movie theater to go work. You know, bowling, everything. I'm like, I'm an overnight success of two decades. And if you're willing to give it two decades, the first thing I say is, are you married and do you have kids? And they say yes. And I'm like, you couldn't do this then. Because you wouldn't be able to see your kids grow up.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
This takes full commitment. And unfortunately, my mom and dad got a divorce when I was a kid. And I vowed at seven years old, I'm never going to let this happen to my family. Not until money's out of the way.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
I haven't talked to you in a while, Brian, but Brian K. It's Cascafa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. He's going to pronounce his last name, but he's an expert in marketing strategy, lead generation advertising. He's based out of Miami, Florida, co-founder of the Profit Masters. And he just started that in 2024 in the beginning.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
What I could tell people out there listening is, listen, I started at a bunny hill. That was about 5 million. I went to the next small mountain. Every time I get to the top of the mountain and make the hike, there's always another mountain, like you said. And unfortunately, just like Tiger Woods hit a grand slam four majors in a row, he didn't stop golfing. My golf is business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
But the money is just a scorecard. I mean, I'm living the best life. But ultimately, I think if you could, you should. And I enjoy what I do. I really love what I do. But the difference that I have between every single person I know, and this is true. is when I get down to base camp of the next mountain, I find the people that have already been at the top of that mountain.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
And I immediately make friends, and I get them in a circle. And I don't get rid of my old circles, but I'm able to kind of pop into a new one. And for some reason, if you're humble, if you're honest, if you really treat them with respect and say, what's in it for them to help me get to the top of this mountain? You pay them the credit. You talk about them on podcasts. You write books about them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
You introduce them to who they want to be introduced to. They'll give you the shortcut. It takes five days to get to the top. They'll teach you how to get there in six hours. And I look over, and the views are great. Man, there's another mountain right there. And I don't think I'll ever find Mount Everest, but I'm starting to realize that there's a mountain for family.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Unlocking the Millionaire Mindset with Brian Kaskavalciyan
There's a mountain for fitness, and there's a mountain for faith. So I got baptized. I'm going to church all the time. I'm trying to be a better Christian. I'm trying to be a better son and a better brother. and a better boyfriend, hopefully soon husband. There's more than just money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Getting turning over to new equipment.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You do, yeah. You got to give a discount up front and then get them in for the reoccurring. But almost every best practice group. You're going to sell your other industry, like electric or, you know.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Turned Aaron on to me, and little did you know that Aaron's son, Chase, moved out here to go to ASU. So Aaron's out here a lot. We share a lot of business advice on what's going on, good, bad, and ugly. Mike's an expert in finance, strategic planning, performance management. He's located in Columbus, Ohio. He's worked quite a few places. I know Victoria's Secret is my favorite one.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Well, here's the deal. Every PE company, including our partner, You got to be able to prove, and a guy like you could prove this pretty simply, but he goes, very rarely have I seen throughout the last decade of looking at HVAC companies. This is coming from the PE companies. Have I seen them build HVAC? a profitable model for service agreements.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I have so many, and we collect this monthly fee, $13 a month per membership, but we have a really hard time. Here's our biggest problem. Two things. Number one, you never, and Keegan taught me this, never pay commission to a maintenance tech. You do not want the client feeling like you're out there just to sell them shit when they just signed up because you'll burn them, you get bad reviews.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Number two, and your goal is just to build a fence around the client. And number two, We've taken technicians that can't make it in the real world and made them maintenance techs. I think that's a mistake. You've got to teach them how to be lead setters. Just say, look, I'm just a maintenance tech. I'm going to take care of you. Learning this from Leland, I had a 29-point tune-up.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Now it's a 151-point tune-up. Make sure it's long and you take stuff apart and you send pictures to the client. And this takes time to learn this stuff because you guys are newer at this, I believe. So don't send commission. Take a long time to do it. Just have them be good at setting leads, but do not – Do not take your guys who don't make it in the real world and make a maintenance tax. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Because the maintenance tax can make the most money out of anybody in the company because this client already likes and trusts you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Ryan from Chirp always brags about how he turned on a couple of campaigns along with you and Aaron and just murdered it on, you know, calls that – abandonment calls. And as much as you guys get – Aaron's like, look, we can't book out. Sometimes we're too busy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And that's a good problem. And then I just got done showing Aaron Lace AI and – I do believe, like, I really don't think AI is in the call center. Like, I don't want to talk to AI. Not when I have something broken. I just don't.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
So I do what I would want to do as a client. But Lace has built it just to train our call center to get to 90 plus percent and reduce our cancellations. And, you know, we're going to do 300 million plus. So every percent we book and every percent we reduce cancellations is $3 million. Yeah. And that's the way I look at it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
So what are your favorite KPIs? From your perspective, gross profit, obviously, bottom line EBITDA. But what do you really, year over year, comparing the same month, what are some of the things you look at that are your favorite KPIs?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Those do get removed.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
He met Eco's owner, Aaron Gaynor, in 2013 and officially joined the company in January 2015, helping Eco Plumbers grow from $1.9 million to a projected $73 million. Mike is known for his strategic initiatives, financial acumen, and emphasis on data-driven decision-making. What's up, brother?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
But let me ask you, so we go through this budget, and I got to tell you, budgeting for a guy like me used to be useless. I used to think it put me in a box. And, you know, back in the day, we were on a cash versus accrual. We didn't know what, like, look, I've learned a lot. I think budget, like, first of all, I think everyone should have a budget.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I think every single human being should have a personal budget. I think every single technician, installer, warehouse guy should have a budget, a personal budget. And I kind of talk about budgeting by just understanding how many calls do I need? What's my booking rate? What's my conversion rate? What's my average ticket?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And when I understand that, I can really build a really good budget of things to target. And I think Adrian thought I was nuts. He's like, that's not that simple. And then CoreTech, without my guidance, said this is how we build our budget through these KPIs, the exact same thing. So when you're thinking about a budget, what do you think about to put it together?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Is it through lead gen and hiring and capacity planning? What are the things you're thinking about?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Well, it's interesting. I'll tell you, the behaviors are definitely true. But this idea of top grading, we've really, really taken this idea up of, look, I'm going to have a conversation with you. And Mike, here's the fork in the road. Either you're going to train really hard for the next 90 days and I'm pulling you off the schedule. A lot of ride-alongs. Go back to Phoenix.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
We're going to have to enhance your efficiency dramatically. Or I'm going to write you a letter of recommendation. And I'm going to volunteer you to go work at our competition. My CFO, Adrian, amazing guy, started to top grade his team. And he goes, oh, my gosh. He came to me like a few months ago and goes, I cannot believe how much easier my life has gotten. Because he was micromanaging.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
One of the things Chad Peterman has said, if you find yourself micromanaging your direct reports, you got the wrong person. You shouldn't have to micromanage your direct reports. They should be able to report to you and get their tasks done and their projects done on time and on budget. What are your thoughts on top grading?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
So what's a healthy bottom line on 91? Usually people say 15%. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I love this. Explain to me, by the way, I think technology is one of the most important things that's underutilized. I always say we're a technology company that does garage doors. I mean, we're running like 2,500. If you include, like, your project management tools, your payroll software, the cameras in your vehicle. Like, I'm running 25 softwares. Yeah. I mean, all day long. Lace.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Things like Rilla. It goes on and on and on. Revenue for employee. Now, I heard Brandon Dawson talk about this with Grant Cardone, you know, the Cardone team. He's like, if you're under $275, whatever it was, $1,000 per employee, per employee. I've never looked at it like that. Maybe it doesn't work because I'll never be at that. What are your thoughts on revenue per employee?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Is that something that you really like that metric?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
That's true. What do you consider failing? Failing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I'll tell you something that might throw a wrench in this equation is we work with a lot of agencies from the media buys to SEO to PPC. Like we've got the best of the best. And then we've got people in-house that coordinate stuff between them. You know, when I look at, for example, I was out at one hour and they had about 40 people working on their marketing team.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Under 10. In growth years, one of the things I've realized that I was used to tell myself before I got a great CFO is I keep putting, I was used to say, I put the money back in. Hey, I put the money back in. I put the money back in, but I didn't realize unless it's going into marketing or strategic hiring or some type of like power BI analytics, I wasn't putting the money back in.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And then I saw a lot of them working on videos and a lot of stuff. I don't want to bring all that in-house. I want specialists that have the best software to do what they do. I really, like when you look at the marketing team, the question is, do you bring inventory in-house or do you have like your vendor? managed inventory, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
So there's all these different things that, you know, I've been to shops where they don't own any of their inventory that's all sold to them and they handle that. Then they don't do any of their marketing. They might have three people on their marketing team. So how do you equate for that? Yeah, so I mean... Or maybe even a third-party call center for half the calls. Sure.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You said labor 15 to 20. Fully burdened labor across the board?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Everything, office, staff, call center. Then office wages. So those are COGS? Yeah. Okay, so how much all in should labor be as a percentage of total revenue? If you include CSRs, technicians, installers, warehouse staff, the CFO, the salaries, the commissions, everything.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
That's what I was thinking.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Hey, guys. Hope you're loving today's episode. I've got some big news. Donald Trump Jr. is coming to Freedom 2025. And here's the thing. The opportunity to meet him isn't just about shaking hands or getting a selfie. The guy is the real deal. People don't know this, but he grew up working at job sites. He spent summers in high school swinging a hammer.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
He said himself that he can drive a D10 Caterpillar better than a golf cart. And part of why I invited him is this. He's in the know. When the media is screaming about inflation and collapse, I don't panic. I find people who actually know what's going on. Lock in your Freedom Event ticket now. And this September, you can meet him and the rest of my billion-dollar network of owners and experts.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And don't forget, early bird tickets come with over $5,246 worth of bonuses. Go to freedomevent.com to lock into the savings. That's freedomevent.com. All right, back to the episode. The problem I have with CFOs typically is they're always looking at lagging indicators. Sure. You know, I look at what can we do to generate more calls?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You know, I think the good balance between me and my guys, he's like, he sees behind corners and he's looking around the corner all the time. He's not just a, you know, maybe that's, maybe that's a controller more, but he's looking at the future as well. And he understands growth. We got so good that there's months we're hitting 27%, the bottom line. And I think we could hit 30.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I was actually wasting the money and I just lied to myself.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I think if we really push, we could hit 33. But then we'd be kind of screwing ourselves on the marketing side because we'd have to start borrowing from marketing. And that's great. We've learned from other companies that's great for about a year. And then you begin to see the decline.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Welcome to the Home Service Expert, where each week Tommy chats with world-class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields like marketing, sales, hiring, and leadership to find out what's really behind their success in business. Now, your host. The home service millionaire, Tommy Mello.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Well, what would be, you know, because I've always said, if you listen to podcasts three years ago, I was like, if you're making more than 25%, either you're paying your people too less, you're charging your clients too much more. But I didn't take into effect efficiency. I never planned on booking over 90% calls. I never planned on the conversion rates being what they are.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I never planned on, like, plus a great CFO, like the way that he's able to do stuff. Like, he's like, you know what a great, you want to know the best question of the world is? When you ask a CFO, what's one plus one? You know what they say? The best answer? Two. No, they say whatever you want it to be. That's a good accountant.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Two would be a good answer. So what do you feel about profitability when everything – and, you know, this is really – There's different industries and there's different competition and there's different private equity involved. So I don't think it's a fair question because if you look at like Zoom drains, they don't have really a whole lot of material costs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
They've got these expensive $200,000 trucks, but they're just going and doing drains only. So I don't know. What are your thoughts, though, as far as profitability per home service companies?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You know, I would debate you on that because you put my top guy in any market, and I've proven this over and over again. He's going to continue. Good job, bad job. You put my best CSR, best dispatcher, best technician, best installer. It's incredible. So it goes back to better recruiting, better training. To optimize the price, it's just so hard for me to get behind.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
But to optimize purchasing is completely different.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
In my opinion, you're treating this like e-commerce instead of the presentation, the timeliness, the idea of influence. Robert Chetty wrote the book. I'd love to see what you come up with. And maybe I'm dead wrong. But I feel like, look, you know what's weird at A1? Is whatever gets focused on gets kind of a resolution. Like, we want to make this happen. We got to talk about it every day.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
We got to practice it and role play. We got to gamify it. And it'll work. But you're kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Because if you focus on this... So we got to make sure we don't focus on too many things. We got to say, okay... Like, what's the best thing that we make money on? Number one, selling high-end parts. Yeah. Because we give options. We have the high cycle.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Number two is taking a service call, turning it into a sale, a turnover. Those two things, if we just get those two. But what's more important than both of those? Reviews and conversion rate. Because if I'm not even converting, I'm not going to talk about selling better parts. Like, why are you even earning the client's business?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And if we're getting bad reviews all the time, we won't be in business very long. So those are, it's like this pyramid of like this hierarchy of needs for home service companies.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Oh, I love this stuff, man. You know, I was talking to Aaron about that, the way you guys do the presentations and the way the pricing works and the way it makes, it kind of pulls into effect the, it includes the finance fees, which is genius because why should I eat that cost? It's like, if you choose to do this, here's what it costs.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You know, Joe Crisara, does that ring a bell? I know Joe. It's booked behind there. What should we do? He's always said to me, you know, you pick six options and then say, you know, pick one you like. But you start at the best one, is what I've always learned. You say, look, based on what you told me, I'm going to go over six options.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
This would be something that I would say is going to be the best fit for you and your family. And then if that doesn't work, hey, if that doesn't work, pick one more economical. Pick one you like. But this way, you're at least earning their business. And by the way, each one of these... You've probably heard, but the best profitable one for the company is probably option number four.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I've got a business right now, and I'm obviously under NDA, but it would cost us about $30 million to buy. And Cortec, our sponsor, said, would you rather put that money into marketing or buying this business? And I'm like, ah-ha! I'm like, I'd rather put it into marketing, so you're going to give me that over and above what we spent today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And that's where most people fall into. Another thing is putting, like if you want option five to sell the most, price it right. price it a little more than option five but far less than option six, and then put the people's choice. Most people choose this.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I know him well. He's presented to us.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I like that. I like that a lot. I want to go, you know, you talked about revenue per employee. We talked about that for a minute. I want to go back. You know, Al Levy always taught me about ratios. He's like most people run at a two-to-one ratio, meaning you've got two people turning a wrench compared to the one support staff.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Really bad companies operate at one-to-one where you've got all these support staff, CSRs, dispatchers, warehouse guys. You've got all these C-suite VP director levels supporting like one-to-one. It's really hard to make money. There's no efficiency. He goes, when you get to three-to-one, you're printing money.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I like that ratio stuff, except that still, what happens when you're doing all this, hiring all these marketing companies and doing the outbound call, you know, you might have a third-party inbound call center for nights and weekends. those ratios kind of get masked. Sure. What are your thoughts about different ratios like that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Yeah, I know Carl. This hostile takeover is a great mastermind.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Me and Tom Howard are having a debate, actually, at Rhino about Greenfield versus buy and build or buy and build or M&A. And he likes M&A way better. I feel like you've got to find the right company, and then there's a lot to be done on integrations, changing the culture. You lose a lot of the employees, but you're buying the lead source. I don't know.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
That's interesting. Yeah. I mean, we do. You know, Alan Rohrer taught us what a financial quick check is. And we don't do it like we used to. But every week, Adrian sends me just a quick text of here's what's going in and out of the bank. Here's where we sit. It's just for me. And he just decided everyone doesn't need to know what's in our bank account. I really didn't care.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
We don't report that a lot of places.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I mean, look, it is none of their business when it comes to it. I agree with Adrian now. Now that we talk man-to-man, eye-to-eye on a lot of things, he and I see the same thing in a lot. Well, let me ask you, I know a lot of businesses, the way they solve their problem for next year, and a lot of times the problem as it works is they raise prices. But there comes a point of diminishing returns.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Obviously, when we get our price raised from a manufacturer like the distribution center, we raise our prices the same day. And Tom Howard said the best is instead of doing two price increases a year, do 1% a month. across the board. That way, no one really feels it. What are your thoughts? Because we're still doing two a year. I couldn't sell my team on doing 1% a month.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I would tell them they get a raise. You got a raise. But I guess there doesn't really need to be transparency. They don't need to know why.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I like that. And you know, what I get excited about is playing these podcasts, very few and far between one out of maybe 30 to my internal team. And this is one I'm definitely going to have them listen to.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Um, so I'm going to ask some questions that I think when I ask questions, my team can get a lot out of, I think I'm actually doing a lot of justice for the listeners, depending on the size of their company. Obviously, you know, if you're, you're pre 10 million, some of this stuff is you're probably not ready for it yet. And that's okay. Um,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
When you said you leverage this technology that helps build the different pricing models and it's a better demonstration of the client and it takes into effect these things like financing, what was the biggest thing that caused that software? Is it just the presentation? Was it the easiness to adopt for the technicians?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
What caused the growth and how much did you grow in conversion rate and average ticket?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You guys haven't done much acquisitions, but if you had to pick and choose, I think Greenfield allows you to take your own shot, call your shot, grow whenever you want, once you build that playbook. And I think it's worth more. If I'm going to buy your company, I'm going to say, man, these guys figured out Greenfield. They could scale to any market at any time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
If you're not, what was the first one?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
That's what people forget.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You know, when me and Aaron were at the golf tournament, Adrian walked up to me and he goes, we got an extra $600,000 coming back for our insurance something. And he's like, I didn't even know about it. And he knows about everything. But I was like, cool. I love this stuff, dude, because I love negotiations too. I think I pushed my vendors a little bit too hard, but I'll give you an example.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I was out of town, but Luke did a great job. They came in to give us a 10% increase, but our volume has gone through the roof dramatically. And they ended up, when they left, they lowered our price by 10%. He goes, do you know how much business you guys are losing? By the way, look at how much business we've given to this other company. He showed them. When they left, this is what's nice.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Some people go all in on vendors, and then they got all the keys to the city, and you have no. One of the things we've learned from private equity is always have two vendors. And don't give anybody everything.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You know, I want to jump into this idea of hiring because I've always said hire slow, fire fast. L was a big seven-power contractor, taught us manual, standard operating procedures, steps of delegation. But the big thing that I don't talk a lot about is he taught me how to build technicians from the ground up. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Now, I realize certain industries, you need to be a journeyman, you need to be an apprentice, you need to work your way up. And I do think even if that was the case for garage doors, I would still do it because it's worth them to be homegrown, to learn our ways. And it's a longer investment into people, but it's the best investment.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
What are your thoughts as far as getting the best technicians and installers now that you guys are in multiple trades, multiple markets?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Yeah. Plus, you know, the fact is people say, if you've got a best friend at work, best friends don't happen They happen outside of work. They happen when you meet with your family, you break bread, you go to the bowling league. When you build a best friend at work, 85% of people say, I'm not leaving because I have a best friend here. Yeah. Yeah. And that's the key. I think that's true.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You know, I was, I was at this group. I pay a hundred grand to go to these three meetings a year in this big event. And I really enjoy it. You should, you should negotiate that. I should. I probably could. It's Joe Polish's genius network. And yeah,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You know, there's this guy that was training us the other day, because this was just last week, and he goes, I think core values and mission and vision are way overrated. He goes, because I've trained some of the largest companies on the planet, whether it's Google, LinkedIn. He goes on and on. He goes, I went to small companies.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
He goes, I'll go up to 10 of your employees randomly and say, what's your mission, vision, and core values? Yeah. And he goes, 9 out of 10 of them don't know. Yeah. And he goes, so if it was that important, they would at least know them off the top of their head.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
We just made ours, you know. It used to be to be the largest, most trusted graduate company in North America. Now it's to make our people dream bigger than they ever thought possible and achieve more than they ever thought. It's pretty simple. You know, you started to... Jack Tester used to be the CEO of Nextar. Yeah. And I think he's a brilliant guy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I learned from him the one-on-one form where he basically said, if you're a leader, your team should report to you. You shouldn't have to ask questions and lead the presentation on the one-on-ones. They'll present to you. Right. But I know you guys are working pretty closely with Jack. He's part of the business in certain aspects.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
What's it been like to work with Jack as a leader, and what have you learned from him?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I love that. You know, you came in here pretty prepared. You've got two pages of notes. Those of you not watching, Mike, as a CFO, I think CFOs are just DNA is where to prepare. There's probably some stuff we didn't hit. So what do you got there in your notes, the things that you wanted to discuss?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Oh my gosh, everything. I couldn't agree more. It's your network is your net worth. Who, not how. Meet the right people. Relationships are everything. But that's my plan. Literally like, you probably know I'm building a nice house in Idaho and I'm building even a nicer house in PV.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And the plan is to be able to break bread and have people in there and build deep, deep, deep, to deepen relationships. Because I live fine in a thousand square foot apartment. I can do fine. And it's not necessarily to impress them. It's a place because I can't fit very many people in a 1,200,000-square-foot apartment. I can't really have a party or have a social engagement.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
So, like, I might be overdoing it a bit, but my plan is, like... You know, people want to come stay the weekend. We never need to bump into each other. Bring your family, go on the lazy river. We'll go shoot some guns in the shooting range, play a game of bowling, and to build, deepen, and strengthen relationships. And I think this concept is so strong.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I think the problem that most people have, though, is they'll go to a meeting and they'll give everybody a card. I think what you should do when you go to a gathering is try to build one or two relationships and deepen those rather than try to get to know everybody. I agree with that for sure. I think that's a lot of people, man. And it's so hard to even keep up.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I get people because this podcast is almost 400 episodes and they come give me a hug. And sometimes, like a guy rolled his window down yesterday. Got a roofing. He's got a Tesla Cybertruck. And I was with Raul, my driver. But I was like, dude, I'm going to drive. We're going to go to a restaurant. We're going to go to a movie. He's like, never drove with me. He's a passenger.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And a guy rolls down his window and he's like, do you know what's going on? I'm like, I look over. It's a wrap truck, roofing truck. And I'm like, no. And he's like, Tommy, what's up? He's like, I knew that was you because of TRX. I'm like, what's up, man? And he goes, how have you been? I'm like, great. How have you been? He's like, great. I was like, hey, it's great seeing you, brother.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I'll see you later. And he's like, how do you know? I'm like, I don't. I don't know. I feel bad, but, like, dude, I didn't recognize the guy. And it's like it's a bad quality, you know, but if I – Had a dime for everybody that gave me a hug or said what's up or saw him at the airport or I'm in Boston or I could be anywhere. Bumped into a guy I was telling Aaron. I bumped into a guy in Bora Bora.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Yeah, you know, that's the thing. People overestimate what they could do in one year, underestimate what they could do in five. Everybody wants it tomorrow. They're like, I look at people's budgets, and I'm like, wait, you're going to 3X this year? But you never 3X'd. Like, why this year? And they're like, well, you know, I'm focused now, and you've proven it's possible.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Really? Yeah. That's crazy. He's actually out of – he lives in Ohio.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
That's awesome. Yeah. You know, you guys took us to an Ohio State game, and we had the time of our lives. We're going to do that more often. That's one thing is trying to get back. I never heard anybody say, man, I wish I worked more. We've always heard that saying of, like, I've never really heard anybody say, I wish I worked more. But I also never met anybody.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
that looked at somebody successful and say they must have not worked for it. You know what I mean? So there's this happy medium of like, if today was your last day, well, it's not my last day, I don't think. So I got to work hard today. And I'm going to take a little sacrifice, put a little bit more in today so that my future self has a better life. What are your thoughts on that?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Yeah, I know you do. We've had a lot of fun. How do people get a hold of you, Mike? They want to reach out, they want to learn more about CFOing a $91 million company, or just got some observations or questions.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
How do you spell your last name again?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And if you had a couple books, not the Bible, not the E-Myth, Uh, not the most common ones. Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, maybe some, some books just that aren't so common. What would they be? All right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And I think some people, unfortunately, that listen to this podcast are trying to live my dream. and do what I did. But they don't know the sacrifice it took. I don't have kids. I'm not married. I didn't spend enough time with my nieces and nephews.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
All right. And we talked about a lot of stuff here. I mean, a lot of stuff. And I bounced around a lot. But I wanted to do this this way because I only had you here for a little over an hour. So I just wanted to hit a lot of topics. And we've been meaning to do this. We'll have to do a part two. But maybe something we didn't hit. Maybe there's something that the audience needs to hear.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You know, you've seen this company grow in the last 12 years from a little over a million to almost 100 million. It doesn't need to be about work. It doesn't need to be about business. It can be about whatever you want, but I'll have you close this out. Just my thoughts on it? Yeah, just anything. We talked about a lot, but anything you want.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I don't know what your thoughts are, but, you know, your goal should be to get to an exit that provides for you, your family, and takes care of you, and hopefully get to roll equity and continue to... We like to grow things. I mean, as a COO and part owner of EcoPlumber, I'm sure you're You're like, dude, you're enjoying the growth more than probably maybe trying to hit the finish line.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Well, that was a great closing, but I'm not going to close now because what a private equity changes that. I mean, I know I don't know when that moment is going to come. It could be a year. It could be 10 years. But eventually, like, built to sell means that's real. You hear the horror stories, and you also hear my story, which I love our relationship with the PE guys. Like, I really like Mike.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I really, really like Doug. I really like the whole team over there. They still give me control. They ask us the right questions, but... Do you still – are you worried about potentially when that day happens down the road? Or it could be strategic. It could be anybody for all I know. But when that does happen, what do you think life is going to be like? What are your kind of SWOT analysis?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Right, yeah. That's what builds a sell at any moment of any time, yes.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I disagree a little bit with a couple of things. The only thing I'll tell you is, like, if you're going into the 12 months of the rolling 12, you better have a conversation and talk to the team and get them, especially if they have equity or they have any type of P units or whatever it is, have them push a little harder that year. Yeah. Because that year counts the most. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
But don't cut things. I agree with you. Don't cut things. Set yourself up for failure the year after it sells because that's a bad deal for anybody.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Well, I've heard the HVAC plumbing electrical is about a little shy of $200 billion market cap. So that's why there's a lot of people getting into it. It's just a huge market cap.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Mentally, how do you look at the growth of eco?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Well, Mike, this was brilliant. I'm sure you're going to get a lot of follow-up questions, but thank you for being here and doing that. Sorry you had to come to 76 Degrees today. Appreciate you being here, brother. Thank you. Great job. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I wanna let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high-performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700-plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
You know, Aaron was telling me you guys are playing around with AI, ChatGPT, and you loaded stuff in, and it said something like renegotiate with your vendors or something crazy. What exactly – how are you, as from a CFO slash COO perspective, using AI?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
It goes online and you log in, but what's the easiest way to upload a document like a balance sheet, income statement, or P&L?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
So do you have your favorite? This is supposed to be a very helpful podcast to people out there. So maybe you'll share. Maybe you won't. But do you have like certain prompts you use other than comparing year over year?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Um, you know, I remember it wasn't that long ago. It feels like yesterday where Aaron came and he's like, we finally hired a kick charge. And it really was built out of the fact that you guys were going into so many other industries. It couldn't be eco plumbers, ECO, the plumbers, you know? Yeah. So what was that like, you know, redoing your brand at how big were you guys? What was the revenue?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
That's about when I did it with A1.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today is a special day.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
That's interesting. You know, I did want to bring up Roy Williams, the Wizard of Az, based out of Austin, Texas. I went and visited him for a day. Drank quite a bit of wine. Learned a lot about Don Quixote. And, you know, a lot of people don't know this, but if you want to go visit him, it's not easy to get the invitation, but it's $10,000.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
He'll take you out to the nicest dinner, educate you on his whole process of how he comes up with his ads. He was the original guy that really made... Rolex takeoff in a lot of the jewelry stores. And then companies started using them for home service and home improvement. 1-800-GOT-JUNK, I believe, was one of the first ones. And they're a monster. And, you know, you guys started using them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And it's one of those things where you got to trust the process because you might spend a fortune for the first 6, 9, 12 months But you're trying to be able to build this thing, and they're hypothalamus. They're memory bank. When something happens with HVAC, plumbing, electrical, they think of you. They remember your jingle. They like you. They trust you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And they'll wait a bit longer to book the call. They'll spend more money with you. They're going to smile more because they like your story. Aaron's been telling me about the hate email you guys have been getting. You sound like a smoker. Tell me about working with Roy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Yeah, we were out to visit Morris Jenkins about six months ago. And the crazy thing about Roy Williams is, he doesn't like working with anybody but the owner, maybe like a CFO, COO, because he hates PE.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Yeah. Well, the problem with that is eventually, you know, if you're working on getting to a deal, which I think everybody should be, If you're in business, I could say this because I've been through it and I've got, well, I was missing a lot of hair because I got like, what is that called when you lose your hair? Alopecia. Alopecia. I got that through the process. It was like.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
I've been trying to get Mike Barnhart here for three years. Three years. And we've been talking about just how to get him on the podcast. He's a busy guy. He is acting as the COO, the CFO, shared services within Eco Plumbers. You guys know I hang out with Aaron Gaynor quite a bit, but Mike started listening to the podcast originally.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And it was super high stress. And now going into the next deal, I'm so excited. Like everything's running towards the next deal, like built to sell, grow your EBITDA, like find the not next best partner, but a partner that could take you to the next level. And I'm super excited because for some reason I still feel like anything could happen. You know, anything could happen in the economy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Anything could happen within an industry. I know it was really hard for HVAC. You hear HVAC plumbing electrical companies. 2024 was a hard year. 2023 was a hard year. I don't know, are you hearing that within the, just the echo chamber of like, I know you guys work with Nexstar.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Yeah, so I've got a theory that we're going to be experimenting with that we're going to pour. Whatever our marketing budget is now, it'll be 250% of what it is today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
So if 100% is called 12%, we're going to be spending close to 30%.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
And the way that our CFO is structuring that is more in a way that it's considered greenfield. It's considered an ad back because that's what you spent to grow.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Harnessing AI for Financial Insights with Mike Barnhart
Yeah. And I don't know exactly. I don't. But he does.