Laser Coaching Show: Letting Go and Trusting Your Team with Caleb Irmler

Owner at Crazy Ant Pest Control Inc – Caleb Irmler

Here?s an amazing testimonial from Caleb:

“I am doing great, we jumped from $20,000 a month to $30,000, gave myself a raise and a $17,000 bonus last week. We have been traveling around the world a little and went from working in the truck 6 days a week to 6hrs a month. Have my nights and weekends back for the first time in almost 10years. I am almost in disbelief have much my life has changed in the last 6 months.”

This is another episode of our Laser Coaching Show, where I’ll be coaching a 6 figure business owner. I’ve been coaching 6- and 7- figure business owners for over 10 years (with over 5,000 hours of 1-on-1 coaching!).

Today, I’ll be peeling back the curtains and showing you what I tell clients and so that you can use the same strategies and tactics in your business.

IF YOU WANT COACHING FROM JAIME – APPLY FOR THE NEWEST MASTERMIND GROUP NOW

Caleb Irmler is the owner and founder of CrazyAntPest.com, a pest control company that offers an eco-friendly and organic pest prevention for homes and businesses.

Four years ago, Caleb decided to be a millionaire and asked himself on how to make that happen. And the answer was that he could no longer work for anyone but himself. He need to own his company.

In this episode, Caleb talks about things he needs to accomplish in his personal and business life.

Here are the things he wanted to get out from this session:

How to have a work-life balance while scaling his business.
How to establish an AMAZING A-Player Team and hire only the best.
How to effectively market his business through networking.

Problems:

Business scaling
Business systems and processes
Current team and hiring process

His Goals this Year:

Move from manager/tech to owner
Scaling to $40,000 per month
Work-Life balance (Have more time for family)

Prep work for this session: [Here’s what I had him do before our session]

Time tracking audit
Send me the MAP of his goals for this year and what she wants his business to look like in 5 years.
Send me the outline MAP of his marketing and sales process
List his team members and rate them base on how good they are in their position
Read Talk Trigger book

Takeaways and Homework for the Next 3 Months:

Setup escalation plane (operator or manager will be responsible)
Setup business pipeline
Market testing for long term contracts

MAY – OCTOBER

Hire 3 people (2 licensed tech and 1 salesperson)
Go to 2 networking events (Block out lunchtime for 10 people)
Ask new hires for referrals
Create company values

Connect with CrazyAntPest:

Facebook
Yelp

Website:

CrazyAntPest.com

Transcript: Download

Video Transcription provided by GMR Transcription Services.

Jaime: Welcome to the Laser Coaching Show. This is our unique way where I am coaching Celeb Irmler, and he?s gonna tell you a little bit more about what he does but he runs CrazyAntPest.com. Thanks so much for coming on today.

Caleb: Aw, super excited to be here.

Jaime: So, tell me what you do, who you sell, all that fun stuff. Your elevator pitch.

Caleb: So, we?re in the basically home service industry. And we?re very focused on basically organic pest prevention. And so, we use a lot of organic and eco products and we?re looking really for those recurring service plans. So, whether it?s a home, a business, and we don?t do a lot of just like one time, somebody gets a racoon in their attic, they call somebody else, or beehive, they call somebody else, but we?re really about maintaining, in an eco-way, people?s homes and businesses.

Jaime: That?s awesome. No racoons in the attic. That?s always fun. My gosh.

Caleb: No.

Jaime: Okay. So, what does that look like? So, do you have somebody sign a 12-month contract or how does that typically work?

Caleb: Most people do sign contracts in our industry but we?re a little bit different. We do a little bit of a start up fee but we don?t do any type of long-term contract whatsoever, kind of separating us from a lot of the other companies out there because they do, they make them sign, and it?s usually you?re dealing with a sales person that promises the person the world and then the technician goes out there and like, ?Oh, we don?t do that.? And then like stuck with a year or two-year contract. And so, that?s one way that we?ve been able to separate ourselves a little bit from the other companies.

Jaime: Yeah, that?s happened to me. I was like, ?Oh wait, I didn?t? Okay, that was my fault I didn?t read.? That?s annoying. You don?t do that. Okay. The interesting thing though is that you said you love recurring so how can you verify that they?re going to be recurring? You just get them in a plan or what does that look like? They can cancel anytime?

Caleb: That focuses very much on the quality of service they?re getting and the ideal customer. So, we look a lot at where they live, how much their house is worth because there?s no dead give-a-ways whether they?re perfect, ideal customer but there?s a lot of clues. And if somebody?s willing to pay $300,000 - $400,000 for their house, they?re usually likely to invest in their yard and the pest. Whereas if somebody?s gonna only pay $125 for their house, they?re probably not willing to invest as much into keeping it and keeping the property value up.

Jaime: Okay, so you?re just saying if you have the right ideal customers, they?ll just stick with you for a long time because you do an amazing job. So, you don?t have guaranteed monthly recurring, you just have what you think is gonna be monthly recurring because you?re so good.

Caleb: Yeah. And right now, our average ? we?ve only been in business for three years ? but our average customer has been with us two of those years. If you average everything out.

Jaime: Congratulations. That?s amazing.

Caleb: So, everything pretty decent so far. And hopefully that grows but?

Jaime: Yeah, well even just looking at your reviews when I was checking everything out because chatted before, just so everyone knows, and I did all my due diligence and I was like, man, no offense, nobody likes pest control companies in general so therefore, usually there?s some negative reviews. You had a ton of amazing things. So, let?s talk about the best way that I can help you because I know, as we just said a second ago, you?re in the weeds of the manager-tech kind of role, so give me a little bit more on that.

Caleb: Okay, so I am still doing everything. So, on an average month I?m hitting at least about 100 houses, sometimes more. I?ll do all the sales calls. So, yesterday, I was probably on 5-6 hours of phone calls on top of running the sales. So, I?m doing it. I?m walking around people?s houses and I have my Bluetooth in and I?m just meeting with people all day long. So, I?m doing the work, I?m driving, I?m talking, and it?s just all simultaneously going on. And so, just moving from one thing to the next, I think I took a first break around 6:15, it was my wife?s birthday party last night and I just said, ?Hey, order for me. I?ll be there late.? And then afterwards ?

Jaime: And it was ? wait a minute, it was your wife?s birthday? Well, we?re gonna have to fix that.

Caleb: Yeah. So, I did show up a little bit ? she?s awesome. She?s very supportive.

Jaime: Thank goodness. Thank goodness.

Caleb: But it is, it is one of those things because today?s actually her birthday and I feel horrible because I?ve done absolutely nothing for it.

Jaime: Okay, so action item No. 1, you?re doing something as soon as this call is over. We?ll cut it short so that you can do that because that is no ? running a business and don?t get me wrong, this is personal but you?re wife loves you, which is amazing, and you cannot do this. You cannot let your business ? seriously ? and this is one of the things I talk about with all my clients and it?s vulnerable and crappy, but you?re putting your business in front of your wife. And I know this is your busiest season so just so you know, and I know this is not where you thought the thing was going, but just so you know, after this, do something for her. Okay? Action item No. 1. Okay. But the goal will be to get you out of that crazy, nutso time because her birthday is gonna be May 1st forever and May is your busiest time ever.

Caleb: Yeah. Forever.

Jaime: So, if we don?t fix it this season, it?s gonna happen again next season. So, my goal with you it to start to batch out what you do and when you do it. Because I know this isn?t just you, you actually have a whole team of people. So, tell me about your team.

Caleb: All right, so we have small team right now. We have a canvasser, two office workers, two techs, and we?re in the process of trying to bring on some more people. And so, everybody we have is awesome. We broke records last month in all the productivity areas so it?s moving in the right direction but we?re probably short-handed for what we?re trying to do right now.

Jaime: So, this is the growth. You?re like, ?Yeah, growth! Oh, crap.? Especially because your in a cyclical kind of business, you try and take it when you get it but then you have a whole bunch of techs, so it makes it difficult. So, how short staffed are you? If I were to say, ?You can?t do any more houses at all right now.? How gap?

Caleb: We would probably be able to fill up a full-time route today. If not more.

Jaime: Wow. Okay. So, how many houses can one full-time tech do per month?

Caleb: Per month? About a 175 roughly a month.

Jaime: Okay. And what you were saying is that because you?ve hit all the productivity stuff there?s no wiggle room in the gaps of how many houses they can do, 175 is a really solid number.

Caleb: Yes and it does go up from there, it?s not like that would be the absolute max out number right there, but with all the new starts and call backs and everything that goes wrong, and then they call in sick, and the so? with all that added in to it, it?s a solid number.

Jaime: Wow. Okay, so I know you said you just hired though. Is that including, that?s the new person with the two techs also that?s starting today?

Caleb: No, we haven?t hired yet. So, everybody I?ve mentioned as been on with us for a long time.

Jaime: Okay.

Caleb: And we?re looking to add to that.

Jaime: Yes. Okay, as you should. So, you said something about doing a ride along. So, I?m wondering when this gap is going to lessen because you?re cycle goes from May to what is it, end of August or September?

Caleb: Yeah, October. It actually does really strong through October and out here in California, nothing ever goes away but it peaks. Like, you have all the stuff that comes out over night and everybody?s getting infested and that?s what triggers the phone call.

Jaime: And everybody?s like, ?Crap! Oh no, there?s bugs! Ahh!?

Caleb: Exactly.

Jaime: Yeah. Which is a wonderful business to be in. Not the panic part but the need for you, the problem is that they feel like they need it right now and you want to be a good service person. So, let?s actually batch out May to October. So, what do you already have planned? How many people are you already planning on hiring?

Caleb: So, there?s two people in the pipeline right now that I?m hoping to get on. Another sales person and another tech, right now. And if everything goes well, I?d be really great to bring on another tech toward the end of the summer, if possible, but that all is ? it?s all connected together, which is nerve wracking. Because you?re like, okay, I have to get these sales to be able to get this person and everything has to be timed right and then that?s, of course, that we can find these people to put in these spots. And then in our industry you have to be trained and so you have to be licensed in California, background checks which can take 60 to 90 days if the persons not already licensed. So, it?s timing everything. And then hopefully they work out or else you just spent $6,000 ? 7,000 on somebody that didn?t.

Jaime: You?re like, ?Yeah, go business!? Okay, so the interesting thing is if we get one other person that?s in and they can take 175, that was ? when I asked you the question, ?How many would you actually have if you did nothing? and you get that 175 person, can you then do sales more because you would actually have a lot less?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Okay. So, we?re gonna hire the tech first and then you?ll probably bulk up the sales and then you?re hoping to give off the sales for afterwards?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: How many hours ? so wait ? I have your hours list here also. How many hours are you actually doing sales? Because it was not many.

Caleb: No, not at all. So, if you see it?s a very, very small part and it?s usually simultaneously. So, as I?m doing services, I?m having the ear, I?m making calls. I?m constantly making calls as I?m doing the work and so, it almost goes in together.

Jaime: Okay, so you?re the best employee ever. Nobody?s gonna do that for you. You need two people to make one of you. How lovely. Okay, so the question through for us is to go, okay, we need to get you out of the tech first because looking at this, you?re doing 20, well, this was in your off-season, you?re doing 20 ? 30, probably 40 hours a week of actual work-work in people?s houses.

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: How soon if you hired this person right now, would they get up to speed?

Caleb: If it?s somebody that?s licensed, like we have the ride-along tomorrow, two weeks we could put them in a truck. If it?s not somebody that?s licensed, it takes three months.

Jaime: Okay, well, we only want to hire licensed people if we?re in our ? So, this is the thing, so, one of the pieces of advice that I give to you and anybody else that?s listening is to always have someone on deck so you continuously, especially for somebody that?s got such a fast-growing type company, you should always have your ads out. So, where did you find this specific person. And they have their license, I?m assuming.

Caleb: Yes. So, this one is kind of one of those friends of a friend of a football coach tech guy that he left the company that ? so, he was a ? this coach, his pest guy, he loved him, but he quit the company and so he called him and said, ?Hey, wherever you go, that?s where I want to sign up for.?

Jaime: Aw.

Caleb: And so, that got back to one of my technicians and so one of my techniques told him to apply for us and then he gave me a call and I interviewed him yesterday. So, it?s like ? but we have signs on our trucks saying, ?Now hire?, Indeed, we just put it everywhere.

Jaime: Okay. Have you gotten a lot of good responses from Indeed or no?

Caleb: Yeah, so that?s probably where I get the most amount and we probably get five, six, seven resumes a day. Out of the 300 applications, probably about 15 ? 20 of them have been licensed.

Jaime: Okay, that?s annoying. Okay, so in your set up process for that, you have your secretary actually going through those resumes, so you don?t have to worry about those, she sorts through all that, right?

Caleb: No.

Jaime: No. Okay. Okay. Writing this down. Okay, so No. 1, what I would do is this person that you?re doing the ride-along with, ask them if they know anybody that is already licensed that is amazing, that you can steal. Okay?

Caleb: Uh-huh.

Jaime: So, that?s No. 1. Before you decide to them because they actually might know people that are really amazing even if they suck, just as a side note. Okay? So, ask the new ride-along guy while you?re riding along, okay? Because if we can ? and not saying that we?re gonna hire two right away or anything like that but I want somebody waiting in the wings that we know is licensed that we might potentially want or maybe do a ride-along even though where it?s not totally open yet and you can swing them in. Does that make sense?

Caleb: Yes. That actually hit a big chord, actually, with me because I take so many guys out and then once I get in the truck about hour four, hour vie, all the stuff starts coming out.

Jaime: Right.

Caleb: Like, there?s no filter.

Jaime: Yes, use that wisely.

Caleb: [Inaudible] [00:11:27].

Jaime: And that?s the piece, right? And don?t get me wrong the wonderful thing, and just to give you a couple hiring tips, if they complain about the last company so much in a not good way, that is a bad sign, just as a warning, right? Yes, sometimes it can be the bad people but imagine it being the human, the negative human that?s talking about it also. So, but again, pull out the other, the good stuff. Pull out, who was their best tech? Ooh, right? Not saying that we always want to steal, but come on, we need really good people and we can woo them with our culture and how much our customer service is amazing. Okay, so ask the new potential hire for referrals. Okay, great. I just want to cut your time lines down because that?s the thing because in general, if you have all these timelines, even if we batched them all out, you?re gonna be like, ?Okay, we?re gonna be all set in October.? I?ll die this summer, but you know, we?ll be good. Right? Okay.

So then, the other piece though is give your secretary the work. She should be doing almost the entire beginning of the hiring process until they get to you, right?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Yes. I?m gonna give you the hiring kit that we have.

Caleb: Yes, we?re 100% correct.

Jaime: Yay! Okay. So, and this is the other thing just to mention because we?re gonna block this out but because you?re the owner and you feel absolutely responsible for everything, that?s the biggest problem. You actually have and looking at your sheet I know you have somebody that could be a potential manager, but you have nobody else in the company that has responsibility. Normally we don?t and we feel like that anyway because we?re an owner, but if you have a right hand or a manager or someone you can go, I could go away for a day or five days and I know they have it. Like, for real. And I know we talked about this before but you actually giving them that responsibility and handing it over will be the weight or at least partially the weight off of your shoulders that you really need because that?s the thing, you?re getting weighed, weighed down from everything so you assume you have to do it all. Even like the hiring stuff, the beginning, and you don?t have to do that. But you?re like, ?Okay, I?ll take that too. Okay, that?s mine.? Right? Because it?s the whole weight. Does that make sense?

Caleb: Yes, very much so.

Jaime: Yeah, and it?s not bad it?s just ?

Caleb: [Inaudible 00:13:40] it?s just like, oh man, I can?t give this, and I can?t give that and so getting past that is?

Jaime: I know. I know. But what you?re doing, and this is gonna strike a chord, and I don?t mean to be mean, I?m just honest, what you?re doing is you?re putting all that stuff more important than your wife.

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Damn, right? Nobody would choose that logically. That?s dumb, right?

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

Jaime: You know that. Of course, you wouldn?t be like, yeah, I?m gonna go through the hiring stuff?

Caleb: [Inaudible] [00:14:05].

Jaime: Yeah. And admitting that is the thing that?s actually gonna be the catalyst for change. Because then, I want to get you in the mindset of going, ?I can?t do this. I can?t do this. I can?t do this. I can?t do this because my priorities are correct.? Does that make sense? And so, and your secretary, who I know you said beforehand we?re gonna have to find a new one also, but she can totally get good at the hiring process and hire her replacement as a side note. Just so you know. So, we?re gonna send her the hiring kit which goes through job descriptions and stuff like that also. How quickly do you think she?d be able to get up to speed on the beginning processes of hiring if we gave you sort of the workflow?

Caleb: Oh, I think she could probably get going pretty fast. The person that I have right now that?s leaving. She?s the one ?

Jaime: Isn?t that funny? You?re like, she could do it the whole time and how many hours I saw on your little sheet.

Caleb: Yeah.

Jaime: That was a lot of hours of hiring but we?re gonna start from now and we?re gonna go from there. Okay. So, I want her to always be on the hiring. Especially, like you said, I love that you?re getting that many resumes in a day. I think that?s great but the fact that only a small portion are actually even close to licensed and right now, we?re looking for licensed ones, at least for the short-term because you can?t wait three months right now. Later maybe we can as a backup. But short-term she should prioritize those. Does that make sense?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: So, for May, does she have enough hours to be able to work on that herself in May?

Caleb: That?s the problem. She probably doesn?t because I think right now the whole staff is overloaded.

Jaime: Yeah.

Caleb: And that?s where I fall back on, okay, I?ll just do it, I?ll just do it, kind of thing.

Jaime: Right. Okay, so is both ? because you have two office workers ? what are they doing in the office?

Caleb: So, the main priority is scheduling everybody out, which is the top priority. Making sure that everybody gets in and is scheduled properly and dealing with complaints, getting call backs, is the top priority. After that, it?s billing, collections, kind of going down the line and we?re still actually very much developing that role. And about six months ago we actually, everybody was working independently actually up to six months ago and then we got an office, which has really helped that setting.

Jaime: Yeah.

Caleb: I don?t work in the office but having an office setting for the office workers creates structure, you know, it just helps in a lot of different areas and we?re trying to create that but we?re still very new in the process.

Jaime: It?s like, okay, wait, it?s our busiest season ever, oh wait, now we have a new office and now we have no procedures and processes. Yeah! Right? Okay, so one thing at a time, of course. So, I?m gonna put it on her list. What?s the name of your secretary?

Caleb: So, we have Tina and Stephanie. Stephanie is the one that?s been there from the very beginning that?s leaving and she?s awesome.

Jaime: Okay. Okay, great. So, longer term we can definitely get her up to speed. The other piece that I really wanted to talk to you about though was, do you have an escalation plan? So, when you ? the problem with this is it?s urgent, everything is urgent, right? And like, ?Ah!? running around like a chicken with your head cut off. So, if that?s the case, do you have a very solid escalation plan where they know exactly what Priority 1?s are that actually go to you verses don?t?

Caleb: So, we have this horrible looking structure that we?re trying to put together the last few months where it just kind of, okay, Priority 1, Priority 2, Priority 3, and you try to always try and be like, okay, what needs to be worked on first? And so, when you get in the office make sure every phone call, every person?s gotten back to at 8:00. Top priority is getting back with people all the time because that is ? and then it goes down from there. And so, it?s not perfect and we?re just trying to work on those top four things, but past those top four areas, then it gets really wobbly on what everybody thinks is the next priority.

Jaime: So, whatever Priority 5 is?

Caleb: Yeah, exactly. You?re like, okay, I need to make sure that the routes are full. I need to make sure that the customers are taken care of. I need to make sure the phones are answered right away. But once you get past those main, big rocks, it gets really blurry on what I should be doing after that as priorities.

Jaime: Yeah and then you?re like, ?I have barely any time anyways so who cares right now.? Okay. So, when we look at the amount of time that they have, what?s difficult is usually when it?s not busy, they?ll have extra time and so, it would be easier for me to have done this on a time when we chatted up first, right, when it was your slow time because it makes it a little bit easier, but on the short-term what we?ll trying and do is we?ll bulk it out for small bits, I guess. What priority 5?s would be for May, June, July, August, September, like that so that way at least you know, oh okay, so Tina can?t work on this right now but it?s her Priority 5 now. Right? Does that make sense?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: So, that way you know you have those things. Do you have those top four solid though? Do you feel like you have good systems for handling those top four?

Caleb: I think we?re just getting there. I don?t want to say they?re solid because it?s so new that those are a priority that I still have to check them on a regular basis, but they?re getting there very much.

Jaime: Perfect. Okay. And so, we have somebody new that?s a ride along in May and then I highly recommend you still doing sales. You finding somebody else that?s gonna be as good as you are in sales, I would rather you have another tech, right?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: If you were actually in the office and did sales and not like in somebody?s house spraying stuff, hey, you could be cleaning the trucks, you can do two things at once, that?s fine. I saw a lot of cleaning and a lot of maintenance in here also, right? But you actually taking the sales calls and being able to have that gap. I?m assuming is it easier to find a tech or is it easier to find a sales person?

Caleb: I?d actually say it?s easier to find a technician.

Jaime: Yeah, a good one.

Caleb: You know, sales people are very hard and if they?re good, they?re gonna get poached by somebody that pays more.

Jaime: Well, and your customers love you and being able to talk to ? Again, just for the season, potentially not for next season but you trying to hiring somebody that?s a sales person when you?re at your highest, I would much rather have you be taking of the actually spraying ants work, right? And have zero of that and you?ll have many more hours to do sales and then you could be like, upselling. And because the other piece that we really wanted to talk about was you actually doing a lot more business pipeline work, right?

Caleb: Yeah. Which is kind of almost non-existent, but we?ve gotten some great contracts and some of them ? like our normal contract is $480 for a house and that we?ve been able to close a few $5,000 contracts for businesses.

Jaime: Don?t give that work to a sales guy. You?re good at it. You?re the owner. You should be the one actually trying to cultivate and getting those relationships and we can talk about that in just a second, but getting more techs for you ? if I challenged you to fill your schedule, if you had nothing on your schedule as far as work goes and I just say, you?re the sales guy and that?s it for this entire two weeks, you could probably close the crap out of tons and tons of people, right?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: You?re giddy. You?re like, ?That?s sounds great.? But you don?t have any techs to fill it yet so we gotta get techs, right?

Caleb: Well, the more time you have on a sale, the higher the close rate is but when you?re like, ?I have three minutes to close this sale.? It really hurts the closing rate.

Jaime: Yes, you?re like, ?And I don?t care about you?click.? Right? But you?re good at sales. I mean, looking at your numbers and stuff like that, you?re the only sales guy, and when I was looking at your stuff, you?re like, that should be the last to go. Yes, to me, at least for now, that should be the last to go until you formalize your process also. Because the other thing is there are all sorts of skews of different types of sales people, in general. Right? And you?re like, okay. I want them to teach your process. In reading all of your testimonials, you?re so kind, you?re so caring. Everybody was gushing about how awesome you and your team was. It?ll take a little while to find somebody who aligns with that in your company values and it badass at sales that?s better than you.

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Just saying. Now don?t get me wrong, we can start to look for them, but I wouldn?t bank on that because that?ll just cause you more frustration.

Caleb: Okay.

Jaime: I would much rather hire two techs and then give you the time and space to be able to start actually doing stuff and then moving that Brian into the management role. If we moved Brian ? if you got two techs and we moved Brian up into the management role, how many, and I know it?s a cash flow thing, we?ll talk about that in a second, but we?re just daydreaming on how amazing this could be, right? What would that look like for how many hours you would have to work?

Caleb: What?s rough with that is Brian is amazing, he?s one of the top commercial and residential guys, I don?t know if he has the ability to organize like other guys and do that.

Jaime: Okay.

Caleb: So, that?s what?s really rough about moving him. The other guy would make a great manager but he?s not even full-time.

Jaime: Well, it doesn?t matter.

Caleb: Okay. Really?

Jaime: He was 32 hours, right?

Caleb: He?s 24 right now.

Jaime: Okay. Okay.

Caleb: Occasionally he does 32 but yeah, between 24 and 32.

Jaime: Okay. So, you?re just saying ?

Caleb: Manage on the days he?s here.

Jaime: What was that?

Caleb: So, have him manage on the days that he?s here?

Jaime: Well, even if we could just get him to ? does he have a specific reason why he?s only doing part-time?

Caleb: Yes, he actually opened up a non-profit food pantry.

Jaime: Wow, that?s amazing. Okay.

Caleb: It?s hard to say, ?No? to that, you know.

Jaime: No, non-profit for you. You should work for me.

Caleb: Right.

Jaime: Okay, but if he?s doing 24 to 30 hours and if he does, again, we can change around his schedule, but if he actually had a day where he?s going and just doing a small chunk in the morning, organizing all the guys and then making sure that you have somebody that?s sort of a senior tech that sort of sees over, I don?t think it would be that bad. I think I?d be good. Don?t get me wrong, you?re doing it all right now so even if you did 10 hours of managing, right? On the days that he?s not there. It?s hard to find somebody that you trust as much as you trust him that could be in a management role regardless of that. So, even if he can only take 20 hours of your management time. I mean, you had a huge chunk of management time in here also. You know?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: And they you can mange the techs a little bit easier. Okay. So, I?m talking this out because it really matters on how quickly we need to hire and how many people we hire, and what it looks like. Because it doesn?t sound like you?re having a lead problem right now.

Caleb: Not at this moment.

Jaime: Well, because before ? right?

Caleb: Five minutes before I was on this phone call, somebody just saw the truck in my driveway, knocked on my door and asked for service.

Jaime: Everybody listening is like, ?I want that. I want somebody to randomly knock on my door and say you had a sign.? That never happens. Okay. I went over your SEO. I went over all your stuff. You have opportunity in everywhere, which his amazing. Right? There?s so many things.

Caleb: The website SEO side is embarrassing, but yeah, it?s?

Jaime: But what?s so great about that is there?s so much opportunity. Again, we can?t even focus on that if we can?t fill demand. I had to do the customer service surveys, because your customer service is the core reason why people are with you, if you let that piece go downhill, that creates a reputation problem. And that?s what we want to make sure we don?t do. So, going after a whole bunch of new leads, now bigger contracts, I?m totally cool with you learning how to do that side of things, but I just want to make sure that your customers are really, well taken care of to the level without you burning out your techs.

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: That can happen also I?m assuming. Okay, so ?

Caleb: It?s the No. 1 reason that licensed people I?ve interviewed for us is because they felt burnt out at the last place.

Jaime: Okay. You?re like, ?Oh, we?re not gonna do that to you. Wait a minute, take 200. Thanks.? Okay, so I want you to project farther into the future because this makes it less urgent. So, right now because you?re in your most urgent times, it?s like, ?Da!? But five years out from now you?re gonna have a ton of techs, right? You?re only been three years in, can you imagine five years from now with all the systems that you?ll have in place?

Caleb: Yes. I dream about that every day.

Jaime: You take deep breath. I know, and that?s the thing so what I want to do, is I create a tether for that five-year plan so we can start pulling it in, right? Because these are values that you need to be paying attention to when you?re hiring. So, if you know that on the service side you have stellar, stellar customer service and on the employee culture side you don?t burn out your guys on purpose, you?re gonna have techs come to you like nothing. They?re gonna be like, ?Oh, everybody else left for them and he doesn?t kill them. He actually cares about them as humans and if they see their wife on their birthday.? Right?

Caleb: Yes. Yes.

Jaime: So, what does that look like? If you ? and again, it?s a cashflow things so we can go over some of those numbers for after too. I?m not saying front load too much, but you have such opportunity for growth that that waiting on the hiring for some of the stuff is gonna cost you burnout potential people leaving, and that?s not cool either. Right? So, if we had all the techs that we wanted that were all trained-out, how many total techs would you have for the amount of work that you?re gonna have in the next six months?

Caleb: So, I?m hoping that if we can hit our goals, which are aggressive, that we could fill up four routes and without me doing anything.

Jaime: Great. Okay. So, if we actually moved Brian into a different role, would that be four other techs, or would it be Brian doing some managing and some routes and you doing some managing also.

Caleb: So, I probably do A.J., like the part-time with A.J. because I really like the idea about maybe talking about doing these three days a week where he manages ?

Jaime: Oh yeah. Oh, his names A.J., okay. Yes.

Caleb: ? and I don?t have to worry about it every day, three times a week.

Jaime: Yeah. Imagine how much work you could get done. Three days. Ahh. Okay.

Caleb: Again, Brian, he?s amazing. He?s is probably one of the best commercial and we have not even tackled that and that?s probably where his strength is is in those situations.

Jaime: Yay. I love it. Okay. Perfect. So, then if this new tech comes on and he?s full-time, right, that?s one other route?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Okay, perfect. So, you would need another tech anyway? You need to be looking for another tech even if this ride-along goes well.

Caleb: Yeah. Even if it goes well. Exactly. So, we did 438 appointments last month with three of us, two of us being part-time.

Jaime: Wow.

Caleb: And a full-time is 175. And so, that?s where we?re at today. And we?re planning on adding ? my goal is to add 100 contracts this month.

Jaime: Of course, it is because we love growth to the bane of our existence even though we die a little. Okay, great. No, I mean ? don?t get me wrong, I love growth, but I love consistent, steady, regulated growth as best as possible. So, when you get those calls that don?t seem like they are your avatar and the house, I would rather have you not sell that. I want somebody that?s not gonna be like a Groupon kind of person going, ?Oh, and they were cheap and they?re okay and now I never see them again.? Right?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: You?re in this for the long game so make sure when you are doing your sales, you?re really pre-qualifying them a little bit better and when you have the time to do it it?ll be easier for you to actually do that. Okay. This month, yay. Okay. So, in May we?re doing the ride-along at least. Does Tina ? I want her to work on this tech hiring. This other tech hiring. So, I?m gonna ? we can put it as a P5 for her, that?s okay. But her getting that skill set so that if it takes ? right now you can?t do it. You?re not gonna put it as Priority 1 because you?ve got people calling you while you?re peeing, I?m sure, right? There?s no other spots for you to do anything. So, the hiring is just gonna slip down to the bottom anyway.

Caleb: Yes, exactly. So, most of the time it?s like when resumes come in I?m looking at them maybe 10 seconds. Are they licensed? That?s the first thing I looked at and if they?re not I pretty much just close them off.

Jaime: Have Tina get all the resumes and she just puts the licensed ones in a folder for you. That?s the only thing she would have to do. You don?t have to train her on anything. Just it goes to her. Is it licensed or is it not? And then you can actually look at them if you want. That would take two seconds. Deal?

Caleb: I like it.

Jaime: It makes ? I would love for her to do a 15-minute call too and teach her how to do that but again, that?s just gonna ? it?d probably take two hours at the most from her time. Just so you know.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

Jaime: Okay. Because this is the other piece, right? It?s not that much time, it?s just because you have too many cross-priorities, that?s what makes it feel really overwhelming. Okay, so in May we?ll have the ride-along, hopefully they?re good. We will all cross our fingers for them.

Caleb: Thank you.

Jaime: Okay. And then we talk to A.J. about the managing. Ask him if he?s willing to do one extra day for a short period of time for like a month or two months if he is. Just to help you get through the wiggle room of what this looks like. So, you can go to your wife?s birthday. Do you know what I mean? Like, one extra day or even if it?s just four extra hours or doing 32 hours or something and then really show him the management side so he can start pulling the pieces away from you. What you really want to do is protect the owner, right? And what had a tendency to happen is the owner?s like, ?Never mind. Move out of the way. I got it. It?s fine.? Right?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Don?t do that. Stop it. If he?s technically made the manager, even for before you talk about salaries or anything, even if you?re just like, ?Okay, can you just be responsible for these three things.? Right? That?s gonna give you protection so you have time and space to actually think about things, right? To actually go, ?Oh, there was a contract over there with business guy that I just ran into and he was ? I should reach back out to him ? oh, wait $5,000, right?.

Caleb: Yeah.

Jaime: So, even just having a little bit more wiggle room space. So, I?d ask A.J. about a few more hours but put a deadline on it because he?s not gonna want to do that forever, like a month or two if he?s willing.

Caleb: Okay.

Jaime: Just check in because we don?t want to burn him out either. Okay. Then we have the techs. You?re still doing the sales. One of the other pieces that we had on this list ? where did it go ? was really going over the business pipeline and what that looks like. Do you already know what you would do? If you actually had time to work on the business pipeline, what would you do?

Caleb: This is the part that baffles me a little bit because I think there?s so many opportunities. I get into this decision deer in the headlights.

Jaime: Perfect.

Caleb: There?s so many paths right now ?

Jaime: Yep.

Caleb: ? which one is worth investing in? Because it?s like gambling.

Jaime: Yes.

Caleb: So, I have like four or five ideas, but I don?t know what?s the most potential is in those different areas.

Jaime: Okay.

Caleb: One area that you mentioned was the fact that our website, our SEO, all that stuff is horrible. I hired a guy last year, I really liked him, but I didn?t see any improvement and it was $4,000 and just gone like that.

Jaime: And like, whoo! What a good test. Yep, I?ve heard that before. Yeah. Okay.

Caleb: And so, I feel like there?s ? it builds anxiety because you know if you choose wrong you just wasted a month of your time and $4,000 or $5,000 and you?re better off not even going down that path right there. So, basically what I see in front of me, I know is a clear path. The next step, I?m not really sure what that is.

Jaime: Okay. So, let?s go over it. So, just business for now because in marketing in general, technically everything?s a test. Right? Whether it?s the guy you hired, you?re testing him and you?re like, ?Nope, that one didn?t work.? But you?re also testing what works for your avatar specifically, right? And yours isn?t a part of a franchise so you don?t have other people that ask on their stuff.

Caleb: [Inaudible] [00:34:04].

Jaime: Okay. Long-term I would think about getting a mastermind group of a bunch ? because you?re so location-based, you could have a mastermind group that?s five members that are all pest control companies in different areas of the country. And that way, when you do one test like, oh, I tested this SEO guy, don?t use that. But I tested this SEO guy, he?s amazing and everybody uses him. So, that way you can sort of bulk out your tests and go, ?Ooh, you know what we did? For business we did these five things and that worked really, really well and then you guys do that too.? Does that make sense?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: It?s so much ? you?re stacking marketing tests without you having to have the risk, which is wonderful. Does that make sense? So, we?ll send you that. Again, you don?t have time to do this right now. You will be doing this during the off-season when everybody else has more time, so it won?t be until October. I?m gonna write it in November. We?ll send you the ? we have a mastermind thing that we can send you on how to set one up. It takes like two weeks. It?s really not that big of a deal. Most of your people will be like, ?Yes, please. We need help on this too.? Set up with other ? Okay. So, on the business pipeline though going back to that, what do you think would work? Like, just those four or five ideas that you actually had, just list them off for me so I can let you know.

Caleb: Okay, so one of the ideas that I?m trying put into is getting just more video content out on the web. Trying to create a presence in a local environment. Some of it on the sales side is just, I haven?t done anything with networking locally. I haven?t done anything with being at events. We have a lot of farmer markets where 20,000 people come out every Friday. But just getting set up at things like that. So, if you?re talking about like just me taking over sales and some of the opportunities to get in front of people in that area, that?s kind of what?s going through my head right there is connecting with more business owners in the community and then connecting with people one-on-one at large events on the [inaudible] [00:36:00].

Jaime: How did you get the other ? so you said that $5,000 contract, how did you get them?

Caleb: Okay, so that was bizarre. I was trying to go and I was treating a condo and I couldn?t get into the condo and so a guy drove up and he was the president of the condo association and so we talked for like three minutes and next thing I know he?s like, ?Hey, we?re gonna put it for a vote. Can you send in a bid?? I sent him a bid. He approved it and we were good to go.

Jaime: See, yes. So, people love you. So, this is ? right? So, you getting in front of other people and having that time is really awesome. Are you part of the local chamber or anything like that either?

Caleb: Nothing. Nothing with networking.

Jaime: Okay, so, because you don?t have time. I totally understand.

Caleb: There?s enough ? we have about a million people in our area so if I had time, I could seriously probably go to a lunch everyday with another group.

Jaime: That?s awesome. Okay. So, let?s talk about not May. Right? If we were to have A.J. do a little bit more management and this tech work out, hire the other tech, even without that you should be able to squeeze in some form ? the problem that we have is that marketing in general goes to the bottom because you?re like, ?I have so much going on!? Which makes perfect sense. But you?re losing opportunity cost. The gap of testing something and going, hey did joining the chamber actually work? Did going to this event actually work? You don?t have that hence the reason why I said create the mastermind group but if we can?t even do that until November, then you?re gonna have some issues on trying to squeeze out what we can do in the time that we have, right? So, if I were you, I would just try and do one marketing test, even if it?s something very, very simple, per month. So, it?s not overwhelming. So, you could be like, I?m gonna join the chamber and I?m gonna go to one big event and try and meet 10 higher-end businesses that might need me, and that?s it. One event, 10 people. Right? But then it?s something. Does that make sense?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Does that feel overwhelmingly crazy?

Caleb: No, not at all.

Jaime: Okay. So, what I want you to do and I?m gonna put you on the spot right now but we can change these later, what I want you to do is list the things that are small as far test goes, but actionable, then I?m gonna put in each month. And that way you go, in June, I do this. Yay! In July, I do this and that?s it. Okay?

Caleb: I think for the probably coming is just going to some networking groups. They have the luncheons. They?re crazy in this area and just actually showing up and blocking out my lunch times to show up on some of them this month.

Jaime: Great. How many do you want to do?

Caleb: Let?s start with two this month.

Jaime: Great. Okay, how many people do you want to talk ? so, the other thing is that going to a networking event and just going and being like, ?I made a presence! Yeah!? Right? Is not totally what we?re looking for either.

Caleb: [Inaudible] [00:39:02] people I think is a solid goal at each of these.

Jaime: Okay, great. Perfect. And you?re the type of guy that apparently people are knocking at your door, right, but you?ve got a really good sales structure anyway. So, you can just start asking them about what they do for their? right? So, you know about the prospecting and actually asking for the sale in person and all that fun stuff, right?

Caleb: Yes. My sales technique is very lean back, so they lean forward kind of thing, but?

Jaime: But it?s working well for you so I?m not gonna give you advice on that so good. But come back to me if you talk to 10 people and you need some tweaking. Okay?

Caleb: Okay. [Inaudible] [00:39:39].

Jaime: Okay. Great. Perfect. Okay, so what would you do in June?

Caleb: So, this is I?ve wanted to do for ever is just the people that I?ve connected with over the years that own businesses that have the connections and just taking them out to lunch. It?s always been in the back of my mind probably since the day I started the business. I?m like, I need to be going to lunch with theses people. I need to be connecting with them. We passed at this thing and we connected at that thing and we haven?t talked since.

Jaime: Okay. So, this is another tip that we?re gonna stack things. I have the same thing with you, right? We only have so time and doing 101 lunches or whatever takes up a lot of time even though it?s super awesome. I invite those people to one of the networking events that I go to every single month. So, for you, you could reconnect with them and go, ?Hey, I?m going to this luncheon. I?m going to this networking event. Do you want to meet me there? We can hang out?? And then you usually have two or three other ? I usually have three-ish people. I come, I introduce them to a whole of bunch of people, so I look cool, right? Like, oh, we? right? But you get to get snippets of what?s going on and get up to date and you?re helping them because you?re introducing them to other people also.

Caleb: Okay.

Jaime: And that way it stacks together.

Caleb: And what about ? do you think that still applies if it?s a high-end person? So, I know if somebody?s in the same league you do it but, like my wife?s uncle, he owns a yacht company and everything like that. So, when you?re dealing with these higher-end people would you use that same structure, or would you use a different structure.

Jaime: Only if you can introduce them to people that they would really, really want to know.

Caleb: Okay.

Jaime: Does that make sense?

Caleb: Which might be rough on my part.

Jaime: So, well, so for example, what I?ve done in the past just saying, again, because it?s a timing thing of how much time I have and how much ROI I want to get from it. So, one of my previous clients owned part of a yacht company also, funny enough ?

Caleb: Oh, sweet.

Jaime: ? and does sailboats. And so, I invited five or six of the millionaires that I knew, they didn?t know him, but I was like, ?Hey, do you want to take us out on a boat? I?m gonna invite a whole bunch of business owner millionaires.? Right? And I did all the people like it was Pat Flynn and a bunch of cool people, so he was super excited, right?

Caleb: Yeah. Absolutely.

Jaime: So, if you?re doing that with the level side, they?re not gonna go to a random local chamber networking event. I?m not saying that. But be very specific about what you?re inviting them to and inviting people together, and that helps them too, just is a one up for you and you get to be the connector.

Caleb: Okay.

Jaime: Does that make sense?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Plus, it?s way more fun to do something on yacht for lunch instead of a random lunch. Just saying.

Caleb: Yeah, I agree.

Jaime: You?re like, ?Man, I like these. These sounds awesome.? But the goal is it?s actually really beneficial because when you go, oh, an hour to two hours of your time for a lunch verses doing five people and them actually having more value from meeting each other, they actually get more ROI. You probably only need to talk to each one for 10 or 15 minutes to catch back up again unless you really, really, want to get deep but save those for your one-on-one lunches, but other than that it?s really about the connecting side. Make sense?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: So, I?m actually gonna move that one up. So, I?ve gonna make that list of people in May.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

Jaime: Okay? And then not that we?re rating them, but rate them, right? How many people do you think will be on that list?

Caleb: Probably not even ? well, it depends if you put them in different categories. From the high-end, probably two or three.

Jaime: Okay.

Caleb: With just general people that I think they own businesses and things around town, probably a couple dozen.

Jaime: Great. Well, a that will make so much more sense if you can find a couple networking events that actually work where you?re like, ?These are stellar networking events. You should go to this one with me.? Right? Does that make sense?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Okay, cool. Yeah, and if there?s only two people, we need to work on getting you in the higher-end, right, networking side. I love it. But when you have more time, we can totally go over that then too. So, but like you said, getting one or two ? is now the time that they?re actually doing those, as far as the cycle goes, now is the time that they?re doing bids or is it usually earlier in the season?

Caleb: So, with commercial, a lot of times with everything it almost starts on the beginning of the year.

Jaime: Okay.

Caleb: On that side of things. So, but everything is different. It really is, there?s no ?

Jaime: I have a landscaping company that I worked with for many, many years and it was. It was like, ?Ooh, the other company just screwed up really bad. Let?s go over there now.? Right? Like, we know they got screwed, right? So, I get it that they?re ? who knows. But the goal would be really to go through and start that now because we can?t get that time back from the networking when they are ready. Because what we want to do is because you?re so good at the consumer side, that seems pretty easy to level out, right? If anybody meets you, they?re gonna be like, ?Yeah.? I mean, they knocked on your door. Right? Especially, because you got the organic niche.

But some of the other ones are gonna take a lot longer as far as networking goes and touching base and touching base and touching base. So, I would definitely start with the small hanging fruit, which is the people that you already know. Like you said, you could probably clean up a lot and hit your goals probably a lot easier that way on the short term. But the long term we actually need to create a pipeline plan where you?re actually going out and meeting people but knowing what they?re cycle is because what we want to do is, we want to be there at the right timing instead of having to follow-up like 100 times, right? Now, don?t get me wrong, we?ll have a follow-up sequence too but being able to go, ?Oh, everybody pretty much does it then.? Then we ? we used to send a fruit basket for the high-end accounts, like send a fruit basket for Christmas because we know in January, they?re making their decisions, right? Simple things like that that can be automated once we know what their cycle of decision making is also. Does that make sense?

Caleb: It makes a ton of sense.

Jaime: Yeah, but you need the techs first, so we?ll do the fancy stuff later. We?ll do the techs now. Okay. So, May you?re surviving and you?re buying your wife a present like as soon as we get off this call. So, that?s No. 1. But I?m gonna bulk out what May looks like so far. Do you have questions on any of this stuff so far?

Caleb: No. I think this is critical what we?re going over. Freeing up the time, moving more into sales, connecting.

Jaime: Okay. So, I?m gonna write all these notes and stuff like that down. What would be the thing that you would do in July? So, we?ve got May for a marketing tactic. We?ve got June. What?s one more thing in July that you can do on the business side, so we can start to know?

Caleb: I almost want to do this before kinda so it works simultaneously but ?

Jaime: Who you want to do something simultaneously? Who knew?

Caleb: I know. I know. I know. I need to stop but getting into some of the larger events.

Jaime: Okay. Like what?

Caleb: So, there?s a farmer?s market around here that has 10?20,000 people that come out to it. It?s not like you?re ? it?s kind of people just do it for Friday night, it?s not like they?re looking for fruit, they?re just looking for something to walk around and do so everybody comes out and just looks around.

Jaime: Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Caleb: And being at those events, there was another event, I didn?t get into it. My friend did and it was just trucks, food trucks. And 20,000 people came out to the food trucks and he set up a table there.

Jaime: So, don?t you have a canvasser?

Caleb: I do.

Jaime: Can he do it?

Caleb: Work the events? Probably not.

Jaime: Okay.

Caleb: But he?s really good at canvassing.

Jaime: I like how much you love your people. But he?s really good at this. Everybody?s got strengths. Okay. So, I would make a ? short-term you could make a list of the timelines and the events and when you can actually do them. And then I would just put it in a certain month. So, if it is July and you want to do a month of a test and you go, ?Hey, we?re gonna bring out the whole family. They?re all gonna wear pest control t-shirts and we?re gonna try and make it a fun little thing.? Right? You have kids, right, send them out.

Caleb: I love it. We?ll invite my whole staff, I?m like, ?Dinner?s on me. We?re gonna go out to the farmer?s market.? Oh, look we have a tech there too.

Jaime: Oh, who knew. We?re all good. Make the children hand out flyers, it?ll be perfect. Child labor. Perfect. No. But the goal is go, ?Okay, when can I do it?? Not, ?Oh my gosh, I have five ideas and I want to do them all right now.? It?s like, ?Okay, first I?m gonna do this one because I think that?s gonna give me the most low-hanging fruit with the amount with techs that I have. This one?s gonna be the second one. We?re gonna test that.? Right? Makes sure, and you?re pretty good with recordings, make sure you record what we?re actually getting from it. Whether you talk to those 10 people, how many actually converted, right? So, that way we can actually level, especially for next year, start leveling up what that looks like because one you have that data, when we do next year?s plan for you you?ll be able to go, ?Oh, you know what worked really well. Let?s do this.? Now we times that by three or four or five and then that creates a lot more marketing and sales for you in general.

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: As long as we somebody always on deck for the tech side. Does that make sense?

Caleb: That makes a ton of sense.

Jaime: One other quick thing, do you have company values or no?

Caleb: We don?t. What I actually will say all the time is most people in our industry are like truckers.

Jaime: Yes.

Caleb: And I said we have a Disney environment. So, that?s how I cap it but it?s not something that?s on a wall. It?s not something but that?s kind of what I use to give an analogy.

Jaime: Okay, so I?m gonna ? it?s gonna be annoying but it does not take that long. I have my clients do this all the time. I?m having my mastermind do this right now too. When you start hiring a lot of people, you have to hire a new secretary, you have hire potentially quite a few techs, getting really clear on those company values so that you vet them based on values. One of ? I interviewed, her name is escaping me, one of the hugest home service people, right? Mr. Rooter and all those companies, they are so company values based. They?re like, ?It has to be like this.? This is what she actually talks about for speeches. All about the company value because it makes a huge difference in an industry where there turnover like crazy, right?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: And it?s already a part of you guys. I mean the fact that your clients say it and your employees say it, is huge. But we really want to get clear on what those are because it will be way easier for you to make decisions that align with the values when you actually know what the values are. Right now, you?re kind of just doing it intuitively, but when you go to hire somebody, you?re gonna be like, ?Oh, he does not align with whatever that value is. Let?s keep looking.? Because I know that might cause some issues in the future. Does that make sense?

Caleb: Oh, big time.

Jaime: So, the worksheet that I have for you, it?s EventualMillionaire.com/companyvalues and everybody can go there and get it for free. It?s a 10-minute video, seriously. There?s a list of values that you can actually choose from and you create your personal values first and then you create it into your company values. And what?s interesting is that I want them to be very unique and very you. Like, don?t steal from Disney. ?We?re like Disney.?

Caleb: Right.

Jaime: Which, don?t get me wrong, that can have the essence of what that is, right? One of my clients that I just had do this said, ?Comfortable, elegance.? I was like, ?Wow.? She?s an interior designer, so that makes a lot of sense, right?

Caleb: Okay.

Jaime: But everybody on her staff is like that. They?re just so like ? you know? And so, being able to have that value and call it up, huge. But again, it doesn?t take that long because when you go through your values and you really start to refine, you ask a couple of your key employees, then you test them, because they?re never gonna be perfect. Right?

Caleb: So, you would suggest going through and actually asking each one of my employees what they think our values are?

Jaime: You definitively can.

Caleb: Okay.

Jaime: Especially if you think that you already have them. Do you know what I mean? You already live embodied by them. You can totally do that without giving them the list. I would most likely do just key employees though, unless you think they?re all key employees and such a part of your business too and that might rise to the top. When you have a bigger organization usually the C-suite will come together and start working on values together. You?re a small company so you can totally do that. I just don?t want you to get them distracted with all the work that they have right now.

Caleb: Gotcha.

Jaime: So, for you get going through the exercise will take you an hour.

Caleb: Okay.

Jaime: You come up with something that is close, and they can help you refine it when they have the time to. Does that make sense?

Caleb: Perfect.

Jaime: That way for your new hires and everything, at least you have that. When you?re onboarding, you?re like, ?This is how we feel.? And again, they can change. It doesn?t have to be set in so much stone that you can never touch them again. Does that make sense?

Caleb: Yes.

Jaime: Okay. And I know that?s extra work but again, we?re only talking about a couple extra hours of work on the upfront and you?re gonna have so much more information and more aligned values and data by the time July, August, September rolls around and you?ll take a deep breath. Okay? I just about promise, but you gotta go hang out with your wife first and then you can take a deep breath. Do you have any final questions?

Caleb: I?m actually kind of just like looking at everything that needs to be done in the next 30 days so I?m like, ?phew?. No, I don?t want anymore stuff. I?m good. I?ll just tackle what?s here and move form there. But you didn?t mention like the five-year plan, which we didn?t go into and I don?t want to take too much time on that. But as I?m looking over the next 18 months, I really want to like you said, be able to completely exit the tech side of things and take it from there. Is there any final things that I should be looking for in the next 18 months? I know 90 days is the key goal right there but is there anything in the far 18 months side of things that I should also keep in the back of my mind?

Jaime: So, one of the hardest things that people don?t talk about very much is your ability to let go and trust your team and let them do things. That?s gonna pop up probably in the next 6 to 12 months and you?re gonna have ? I?ve had clients come to me and go, ?I don?t know what to do. I feel like I have to jump back in.? Right? So, there?s gonna be an internal process with some of that stuff potentially. Being like, ?Oh but now? ugh? Because you?re not in, you feel actually separated from your business a little bit, which this is one of the reason why you like being in it so much because you can see all the things, right? So, that?s gonna be something that will come up, just so you know what to expect. But there?s not much that you can do about it except for be very cognizant of it and be like, ?Okay, I have to trust my team and let go and keep going.? Having that five-year plan on if you want to exit or sell the business or franchise it or whatever, is also really, really important but that would take a much longer conversation to sort of lead you that way.

Caleb: Mm-hmm. Yes.

Jaime: Yeah, because you have such short-term needs right now because you can?t at this level do anything else. I wouldn?t worry about too too much but we?re gonna check in with you in like three months anyway. Hopefully, you can be like, ?Ah, it?s working!? And otherwise, we can talk about visioning and actually setting goals for two ? three years out and then backtracking it and that way you can actually make your marketing tests align with what the goals are that are gonna be out there. But again, you?re juggling too many balls right now. So, let?s just work on the ones we got, okay?

Caleb: I love it. So, yeah, I would love in the future to franchise, open another branch, but you?re right, unless this is a branch that you can actually use as an example of how everything runs, everything?s in place, nothing else matters.

Jaime: Yes, but that can totally be the next goal because I think that?s amazing. You?ll need all the systems and processes in order to start another one anyway. Then we?ll be good. Okay? So, we?ll work on it, but we?ll check back in for sure and let me know if you need anything in the meantime, if you have any questions. Leilani?s gonna send you all of the notes in a much better detail than what I wrote on this sheet. Okay?

Caleb: That sounds awesome.

Jaime: But that way at least you can check things off your list so that way when you get them done. And again, it doesn?t have to be the next 30 days. It can last 60 days. Don?t feel bad about that but I would create a deadline date on when you actually do it because what has a tendency to go is, ?I just spend this much time with Jaime on my wife?s birthday. Ah, things are busy I just totally sort of shove everything under the rug for the next 60 days and I ? ooh, what did she say again? I can?t even remember. Where did those action items go?? Okay, don?t do that. Okay?

Caleb: Make it happen. Put deadlines on it.

Jaime: Put a deadline. Yes. And we?re gonna follow-up so ha-ha, you got implied deadlines from us anyway. Lucky you for saying ?yes? for this. Awesome.

Caleb: Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate everything.

Jaime: Definitely. Check out Caleb?s site especially ? where in California are you so in case people are listening to this there?

Caleb: Fresno, California. We?re right in the center of California. We?re within three hours of everything but we?re in the middle of nowhere, so.

Jaime: But if you have ants or other pests, crazyantpest.com, right?

Caleb: You?ve got it. Perfect.

Jaime: I got it. Crazy ants. Thank you so much, Caleb. I hope you and your wife have an amazing birthday today.

Caleb: Ah, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

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