00:00:00:00 - 00:00:10:18

Speaker 1

I. Well, I thought I'd just start a business. And, you know, we start making more money and everything, and it's not that easy.

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Speaker 2

For 15 years, Brian Brash let his business.

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Speaker 1

Run his life.

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Speaker 3

But through grit, self-awareness and a relentless drive to improve, he transformed not just his company, but.

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Speaker 1

Himself, becoming a builder of systems, a leader of people, and the kind of owner who now helps others reclaim their businesses to. It took me 15 years to really get the business I wanted. I mean, I let it run my life. I remember in the first 15 years I figured this out. I went on 45 days of the occasion in 15 years.

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Speaker 1

And then about five years ago, I finally started to change in some aspects of my life and and who I'm hiring and things. And once I finally my mindset changed and I started hiring good people. Well, we made, in fact, that we doubled our business in the year 19. Then we 60% growth a year after 35%. This year we're at for you know, we're really picked up.

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Speaker 1

So the big lesson is if you want to own a business, it's not easier. It's not you. It's going to be harder.

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Speaker 2

What led to that mindset shift?

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Speaker 1

You know I don't know what acting coach hours.

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Speaker 2

All right, so today's guest on the hit, and that's all we have. Brian Bresch. Brian started the, bring home solutions exterior remodeling company, over 22 years ago and has since grown this company and has started his own coaching program called.

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Speaker 1

Modern Contractor.

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Speaker 2

Called the Modern Contractor. Run your business. Don't let your business run you. And yeah, so we're going to dive right into it. So, Brian, thank you for coming on the show.

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Speaker 1

Thanks for the invite.

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Speaker 2

Yeah. So what's keeping you busy right now with Bresch and your coaching program there?

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Speaker 1

Everything's keeping us busy. We're growing at a tremendous rate. All of our salespeople are running 5 to 6 appointments a day. I'm doing probably 7 to 8 appointments a day right now. So I'm still very, very active in the marketing and sales aspect of it. We've grown over the last five years from eight employees to 34.

00:02:27:08 - 00:02:52:01

Speaker 1

And so everything's keeping me busy right now. And then I decided to, start helping smaller contractors grow their business, maintain the lifestyle that they want, because a lot of in our industry, as most people know, every industry has it. But we in our industry specifically, if you talk to ten, ten owners of construction companies, they will tell you the same story their business is running.

00:02:52:03 - 00:03:08:20

Speaker 1

They don't know how to hire the right people. They're just they're stuck in kind of a standstill. And it took me about 15 years to get through that. And then about five years ago, I finally started changing some aspects of my life and and who I'm hiring and things and things really started taking off. Yeah.

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Speaker 2

That's awesome. What's a project or a part of the business that you're excited about right now?

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Speaker 1

We expanded into Cedar Rapids, Iowa City market. And it's going extremely well. I expected my our budget, our our goal was to do a 500,000 in sales. In the first year, and we're already halfway there in two months. So it's started off really well. We actually just signed a lease to open a bigger location there with the showroom and warehouse and everything.

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Speaker 1

So that's really exciting because it's kind of starting from scratch again in a new market. So that's been a lot of fun.

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Speaker 2

Yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 2

How do you stay on top of all the different operations and services that you provide?

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Speaker 1

A lot of delegation, but I have a check and balance system in place, so I have, we're set up. We have, I think a team of eight in production now. So we'll kind of have done divisions. So we have our window replacement division, siding Outdoor Living, and there's a production manager in charge of all those. And so they're that team is responsible for the customer's experience.

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Speaker 1

Wants the sales done. And the way that I keep up on it is I have delegated. It's been is it's the hardest thing in the world for me to do is to not be involved. But I have to not be involved because I can't run it anymore. There's just it's too big. So, my check and balance that I do for my own peace of mind is I call every completed project.

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Speaker 1

Now when I go to summits or, you know, meetings with different contractors, they all say they're too busy. They can't do that. And it's it's it's not true. They can do it. I'm doing it, at a scale. But I block out time on my calendar, I batch it and I go in and I do it and I get it done.

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Speaker 1

And so that's my check in. But that's how I keep tabs, I guess, to some degree, on my employees and making sure that we're delivering what we want for the customer.

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Speaker 2

Yeah. What's your approach to that delegation or your hiring process? For all of that delegation.

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Speaker 1

I think the well, if we go to a hiring process, eight years ago, if you asked me what my hiring process was, it was just like, if they looked like they were able to do it, we're going to hire them. And, I was always taught by some people in my life, you know, and with the small budget, always keep your expenses down, which is still true.

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Speaker 1

I mean, you know, if you ever listen to the Founders podcast, which is a really good one, they talk about all these founders. And the biggest thing that's the key to all of them was keeping costs down, which I agree with in some areas of the business. But in hiring, I think you absolutely have to look at it like it's an investment.

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Speaker 1

You cannot look at, hiring a person as an expense, and you need to be willing to hire and pay well to get the right talent, because what the right talent will do that I learned is, oh, wait a minute, our jobs are getting done faster, our customers are happier, our customers are referring more people to us. So spending a little more actually returns more.

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Speaker 1

It's just it because of the value that we provide and then the production value. As far as, delegation, I just have empowered my people to not report into me on everything. So I hear some things, you know, because I'm in the office and stuff, but they're they're not only bring the major issues, which are very few, to be honest, but if they feel like they can't solve it, then they'll bring it.

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Speaker 1

But overall, I've given them the power so if we have to, for example, our deck crews, if they have something they can do and it's under $500, they just do it. They don't have to ask, you know, if a customer asks something, it's going to add a cause. They have the power just to do that, where they don't have to call me and say, hey, I, I'd like, okay, can I do this right.

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Speaker 1

Yeah. So I've given it, I've given I've learned to and again, it took a decade and a half, but I learned to finally let people do their jobs and that I need to if I hire if I'm hiring good people, then I need to trust them to do it right.

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Speaker 2

Yeah. So can you take us back to, you know, founding your business or what were you doing before?

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Speaker 1

So my first job out of college was, I worked for Robert half. It was. I had any firm. We worked in there. I worked in their office team division, and, was working with businesses, providing staffing. And then I, I left there and my entrepreneurial spirit started, and I started a recruiting firm, and I think I did that for about a year and a half, and it just just kind of got just a phone work.

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Speaker 1

It was basically sitting in a desk and being on the phone a lot, and I kind of got tired of that. My father was a builder, so he built custom homes my whole life. So I had worked in the industry and I had a friend who owned the siding, a window company, and for six months I went on the road selling for him.

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Speaker 1

And then at that mark I said, I don't need to have I don't need to do this for somebody else. I can do this on my own. And I started it. We actually started out as a window cleaning service first and then quickly transitioned into this. First it was siding and, windows and then added the outdoor living and stuff.

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Speaker 1

But, just I have a very hard time working for other people. And not that we weren't good at it, but I just, I, I wanted to build something. And my goal was always just to build a, home improvement company that really takes care of customers and really focuses on the customer experience, as much as we do.

00:08:33:07 - 00:08:41:08

Speaker 2

Why do you think that is? Why do you think entrepreneurs have a hard time working for other people?

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Speaker 1

Because they have a lot of ideas in their head. They have a lot of ways that they think. I mean, an entrepreneur is usually trying to solve a problem or trying to find a better way to do something. And so that's always in their head. And for me, you can look anywhere, you can look at the Better Business Bureau, you can just look online.

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Speaker 1

Construction companies and contractors were one of the worst industries as far as perceived by customers as far as follow up and all that. So I wanted to come into it. I wanted to start, I wanted to improve upon that. And now if you look at our store, I mean, we're we're doing a really good job of that.

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Speaker 1

I mean, it's all it's every single day we're thinking about the customer experience. I'm not thinking about, are we going to get paid by this customer? I'm not thinking anything like that. I'm thinking about are we improving our customer's experience? And we're always trying to do to do that. And we yeah, I just think entrepreneurs are always trying to fix something or make something better.

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Speaker 1

The main thing that I, I'm trying to do.

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Speaker 2

Yeah, did teach a lot of that in your modern contractor, program.

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Speaker 1

I focus on when I, when I go to summits with other contractors or masterminds and everything, you know, the key topics for them is always leads and then always be closing. They always talk about, you know, you got to be selling. And those are not important to me. I mean, obviously I need leads, but if I'm taking care of if I focus 100%, which my company is, we have a meeting every.

00:10:10:22 - 00:10:30:01

Speaker 1

And what are we doing it now? Every two weeks we have a continuous improvement meeting where we go through mistakes that were made for those two weeks, and we solve them and we make sure that they don't. We try to make sure that they don't happen again. So we're always constantly trying to get better. And when so we focus on the customer experience.

00:10:30:01 - 00:10:50:08

Speaker 1

So I preach that, you know, if you focus on taking care of your customer more then the sales, more than the leads, those leads will come. Like, now, I can't I mean, we're booked up so much. And it's not that we're doing I'm not spending an extra dollars. And I was four years ago on advertising and we're, you know, we're constantly growing.

00:10:50:10 - 00:11:03:20

Speaker 1

So I do preach the customer experience. And I wrote a book, called Differentiating Dominate. And that's 44 chapters of ideas and things to help a service company differentiate their business in their marketplace.

00:11:04:01 - 00:11:18:21

Speaker 2

Right? Yeah. I think I saw on your website 80% of your, work comes from either referrals or repeat work, rather than new business or advertised leads.

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Speaker 1

I that I probably should change that. That's probably a little different now, because we have been doing a lot of TV campaigns that have really brought in a lot. So we probably should look, but it is still amazing how many people come back to us for I mean, come back to us and how many are referred to us.

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Speaker 1

It's still a very, very high number. Yeah. And, it it might not be 80. I we can check it in our CRM, but it might not be 80. But it's, it's not that far off. Yeah. It's probably a little less because the, the TV has done really well for us. Yeah.

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Speaker 2

Yeah. What's the biggest or maybe from your book. Give me a a quick highlight reel of, you know, some of the most important things to create that, that lead flow or that, that brand reputation.

00:12:06:14 - 00:12:26:03

Speaker 1

Different ends like so it's all about my all focuses. When I worked at Robert Half, they did the little things like they required us to write a handwritten note every time we met with a prospect. Okay, so I brought that into this, and it's amazing how that little it's just this big. And we just write a thank you for the opportunity to earn your business.

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Speaker 1

If we succeed, we'll try to. So I don't know exactly what it's but it's just a little note is from me and my wife. And that little thing is it's amazing how many times a week people mention that is being really cool. So it's simple. It's just very simple. But then it can go into, you know, you can get the continuous improvement, meaning, you know, we do that.

00:12:49:01 - 00:13:05:03

Speaker 1

Those are things our brand. We send out a packet before we even meet with them, with who's coming, our insurance, our, license and all that. So we do a lot of things, hands on that, really. Many of our competitors don't do.

00:13:05:20 - 00:13:12:00

Speaker 1

Yeah. There's kind of an answer, I guess. Wasn't the greatest one today, for sure.

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Speaker 2

That's okay. What was the very first job or project that you guys did for. Okay. So, solutions.

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Speaker 1

So the first project was I was driving down Ashworth Road in West Des Moines and on 31st Street, there was a ABC seamless truck in a driveway, and a guy was walking around the house measuring it. I, I wrote down the address and went back to my house because we were in my basement at this time. And, we were just started.

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Speaker 1

And so I, wrote a little note to those homeowners. I looked it up on the assessor page, and I wrote a little note and said, hey, I'm just starting my business. I've been doing siding and windows with another company. I basically said, I'll give you a really good deal if it'd be my first siding job.

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Speaker 1

And they called me and we got it nice. And they actually ended up, we ended up doing windows two. Wow. But that was the first one.

00:14:00:13 - 00:14:04:03

Speaker 2

So how did it go from there?

00:14:04:05 - 00:14:27:07

Speaker 1

Well, the initial growth, like the first year I spent, I think $100,000 on, advertising in the Des Moines Register. And the message was basically, we want to earn your business. No sales gimmicks, you know, kind of a message of not like discounts and gimmicks, but just, hey, just we just want an honest effort. I can't no sales gimmicks.

00:14:27:07 - 00:14:43:16

Speaker 1

We want to earn your business and some other tagline. And I got a few calls and people were like, well, you asked during our business and we thought, we give you a chance and we grew the business that, well, I grew it. I guess it was just me at that time. But we did, $800,000 in our first year off of that 100,000.

00:14:43:18 - 00:14:52:01

Speaker 1

And that was the only thing we did at that time. And now we don't do anything in the newspaper, but that we it's a pretty good year for a first year. But what do.

00:14:52:01 - 00:14:56:08

Speaker 2

You how did you bankroll that $100,000 off the.

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Speaker 1

That was it wasn't bankroll because it was. But they gave me credit. And so they, I was able to sign up for a advertising program with the Des Moines Register and then they would build me. And so then I go, so job and I bankrolled it. I didn't I didn't have a hundred thousand sitting around. Right.

00:15:12:21 - 00:15:30:08

Speaker 1

So I just took the risk. I mean, that's if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you're going to have those moments where you take a risk. You know, I could have completely failed. I could have got one lead out of that. I think we committed to four months of some decent advertising. And, and I don't know why I picked it and we registered to start with, I think it was a salesperson.

00:15:30:10 - 00:15:37:09

Speaker 1

Just kind of made me feel like it was the way to go. I probably what is on different now, but, but, you know, it's just a risk. I didn't have it, I know.

00:15:37:09 - 00:15:41:17

Speaker 2

Would you have done it differently today? If not for another?

00:15:41:18 - 00:15:58:12

Speaker 1

Well, this is 22 years ago. To the money register back then was probably a little bit more before registered. Yeah. Than it is now. So I might not have changed it back then. Because we didn't have all this other stuff now. You know, 22 years ago we didn't have a lot of the stuff we can do now.

00:15:58:12 - 00:16:10:13

Speaker 1

So I don't know, I might not change it. It worked. I mean, I went from 800,000 to 1.6 to the next one. I mean, the first five years I doubled every the first four years. So I probably wouldn't change that necessarily.

00:16:10:15 - 00:16:12:19

Speaker 2

From back then, but back then. But today.

00:16:12:19 - 00:16:30:08

Speaker 1

If I was going to started today. Yeah. Knowing what I know about what TV does to what is done for our business, I would try to get somebody to do that, but that's expensive, more expensive. And and it's about the message. I it would have to be Google right now if I was going to do the money.

00:16:30:10 - 00:16:47:19

Speaker 1

It probably be. It would go to our Google. We also do, every job we do. Another cheap way to get, every job we do, we do have a radius mailers around them. So the 20 houses get a letter, saying, hey, we're in your neighborhood, blah, blah, blah, and that always, almost every time we mail those out, they get we get a lead.

00:16:47:19 - 00:16:50:21

Speaker 1

So that's a that's a more cost effective way.

00:16:50:23 - 00:16:57:03

Speaker 2

One of the other contractors I had on the show said he always does five to, five to the left, five to the right and ten across the street.

00:16:57:05 - 00:17:22:04

Speaker 1

He's exactly what we're doing, basically. Yeah, that's exactly what we're doing. Google I would probably focus on, like, his TV's. TV works because I've been around a long time and we and our message that we put on TV is very unlike any of our competitors. We don't we don't discount. We give you our best price a first time.

00:17:22:06 - 00:17:30:12

Speaker 1

We, So it's a different message. We make fun of me. We do a lot of, I've blooper commercials.

00:17:30:14 - 00:17:31:16

Speaker 2

I've watched a couple of. Yeah.

00:17:31:17 - 00:17:44:04

Speaker 1

I mean, so that just really is made. It's just worked really well. So if I could get somebody to do it. But, it's just it's a harder. It's a harder hill to climb for most companies because of the investment.

00:17:44:06 - 00:17:49:16

Speaker 2

Yeah. So what's the key to success with Google?

00:17:49:18 - 00:18:05:13

Speaker 1

I don't know if I can answer that because my ad agency does all that for me. I really, honestly wouldn't be able to answer that because I trust them, too. I mean, they're they're bringing it in. So I'd that would be a question. I would have to refer to Jordan and ask him, what do we do that's working?

00:18:05:15 - 00:18:15:04

Speaker 1

I mean, I'm telling you, it's working. Well, I don't we're up a lot from last year. I get a report. But why? It's working. They write all the content and stuff, so I. I wouldn't even be able to tell you.

00:18:15:06 - 00:18:18:05

Speaker 2

They're pushing all the leads to your website.

00:18:18:07 - 00:18:25:20

Speaker 1

And then the Google and I think, the Google local gets emailed. I think we get emailed not directly to our website.

00:18:25:20 - 00:18:38:02

Speaker 2

That's properly tracked, you know. Yeah, yeah. So what about for TV? What are some of the things that are really important about when you're recording a commercial for TV?

00:18:38:04 - 00:19:07:01

Speaker 1

This will go against everything anybody's ever been taught in their history. But, I can't tell you how many people talk about the blooper one or the funny ones we've done. And they. I walk into a house and are like, I saw your commercial and it was just so funny. And the message, the message is so different than what they get from I mean, if you think about any of the other ads you see here, 50% off labor by five windows get for free, you know, those kind of gimmicks are on every commercial and we do none of those.

00:19:07:03 - 00:19:26:12

Speaker 1

And we just try to humanize me and, make fun of me. And, and, and people just really appreciate the straightforwardness, the honesty. I mean, I get stopped all the time. I love your commercials. I love your commercials. I mean, it's it's annoying. It's absolutely annoying. Everywhere I go, I'm in the gym and you're, oh, your commercials are great.

00:19:26:12 - 00:19:53:04

Speaker 1

And, you know, and, but that's what you want. But it's it's this, this what they are. And being just that. I'm very self-deprecating. I, you know, I had a competitor talking about how I'm a salesperson. I don't know how to. I'm not a skill craftsman. So we shot a video and said, made fun of myself and had me put a tool belt on wrong and had me slamming the, hammer on my knee on my hand.

00:19:53:06 - 00:20:13:10

Speaker 1

And we made a video and I said at the end, I said, I never pretended to be a skilled craftsmen. I my job is to hire good people that do good work. And so we, we just kind of come up with some unique ideas. And if you're going to do TV, I don't know. I know there's people that believe that you're getting for free windows when you buy five.

00:20:13:10 - 00:20:28:12

Speaker 1

I know there's people that believe you go to the state fair and you get a huge discount, you know? But it's a lot of salesmanship and I just I don't want to come across that way. I just want to give them the best price. And I want them to know that we're not going to be the cheapest, we're not the most expensive.

00:20:28:12 - 00:20:36:10

Speaker 1

But the message is really just helped a lot. And I'm trying to help some other companies around the country learn that.

00:20:36:12 - 00:20:49:23

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah. Do you know some of the analytics of of TV and what what what kind of, engagement are you getting or, and what kind of reports do they provide with TV advertising?

00:20:50:04 - 00:21:09:13

Speaker 1

That's again, all the reports go to the ad agency. I do know this. I have a YouTube video, has 500 and some thousand views, and this is one is the one funny commercial stuff. So I know that because I saw that the other day when we got a couple that are 100. But as far as, actual what is it?

00:21:09:14 - 00:21:25:19

Speaker 1

Because TV, you can't get a lot of that necessarily. They can tell us when we call, we ask every, every person that calls and we're asking, where did you hear about us? So we can we can provide that. But as far as, I don't know. I don't know what we get as far from them as far as analytics on TV.

00:21:25:19 - 00:21:34:17

Speaker 1

I don't think there would be a lot because like, you can get views on like, YouTube. We can tell the views. I don't know. I don't I don't.

00:21:34:17 - 00:21:37:10

Speaker 2

Know what channels are you on we TV.

00:21:37:12 - 00:22:00:07

Speaker 1

KCCI and channel 13. Gotcha. Yeah. So I, this is kind of when you asked about delegation, the results that we're getting from everything, I've kind of let the ad agency in my marketing, kind of do it, and I kind of am. Hands off. I just get called in to do videos. Yeah. And stuff, but I get involved with.

00:22:00:09 - 00:22:06:14

Speaker 1

We're doing a lot of direct mail this year to be in some areas that a lot of contractors don't want to go to, and try to see what we can do.

00:22:06:16 - 00:22:13:05

Speaker 2

Yeah. Here. Have you guys ever tried social media advertising? Be a Facebook? Instagram?

00:22:13:05 - 00:22:31:16

Speaker 1

Yeah. You do what you do a little bit. I wish we were doing a little more. And I think they're in the process of getting a little bit more going. I shot a bunch of 15 second videos and I shot a bunch of, shorts. So we're going to do a little bit more, but we do a lot of YouTube, YouTube TV and YouTube, a lot of YouTube TV.

00:22:31:16 - 00:22:40:22

Speaker 1

And then I think we now are doing Hulu and some others of streaming. But social media would be our, our weakest point, right now. But that's, that's being addressed.

00:22:41:01 - 00:22:49:15

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah. How did you meet your advertising agency? How did you get involved?

00:22:49:16 - 00:23:14:13

Speaker 1

So I used to have a sales rep at our on media. So the, the owner of the ad agency, Jordan used to work at on media, and then my sales rep in Des Moines, Naveed, he, introduced us basically. And he, he said to me, he goes, let him do what he's got planned for you, and I promise it'll work out.

00:23:14:15 - 00:23:32:00

Speaker 1

And his whole pitch was TV, and it's worked out really well. Yeah, but that's how we met. Just a referral. And he's out of Cedar Rapids and so he's helping us over there you know getting it launched out and everything. But he's done a real good job. And he's actually the success he's had with me.

00:23:32:02 - 00:23:46:15

Speaker 1

We're, he's probably going to be a portion of the model contractor too, because that's something we can bring to the table. And he's already working with, 2 or 3. Other Pella certified contractors that were kind of referred to us.

00:23:46:17 - 00:24:09:15

Speaker 2

Yeah. Very cool. I don't know if you knew this about me, but, I also run a advertising agency, specifically meta ads. So Facebook and Instagram and. Yeah, I think one of the biggest things that I see is, on meta is your offer. And, adding that humorous effect is because you want to be able to provide that value.

00:24:09:20 - 00:24:40:21

Speaker 2

You know, people are on their it's unsolicited on their feed. Right? And so not being so salesy with the offer in your in your creative but still having an offer to make it. But having that value proposition to the viewer, making it, you know, making them want to click on it and then having the systems behind that with automations to, you know, create that relationship and, and having call connects and having text messages, emails, that kind of thing.

00:24:40:21 - 00:24:58:15

Speaker 1

But I think you know and everybody talks. So for 20 very well whatever 17 years 18 years. You know every time I brought up what I wanted to do with my message, I wanted to be they just laughed at me. Let's say, you know, you got to do discounts. You got to do this, you gotta do this. I said, I don't have to.

00:24:58:17 - 00:25:20:16

Speaker 1

I can create a persona, you know? It's not a fake. It's me. It's it's genuinely me that you see. But as far as an offer, I think I can phrases that can be an offer that it's not like I'm sick of you, but it can be. It can be no B.S., you know, no sales gimmicks, no high pressure sales.

00:25:20:18 - 00:25:36:18

Speaker 1

Our best price the first time, and then a funny video. Or just, I think on Facebook, we could kill it. I honestly do, and it's just it hasn't been a focused for them. But I think if we do some of the bloopers, some of the, you know, don't, we don't take ourselves too seriously. But we're really good at this.

00:25:36:19 - 00:26:03:04

Speaker 1

I mean, our reputation has gotten pretty strong in this market. And I think that our offer would be, you know, we're not like everybody else. We're we're we're and we're not, and I can't, I, I just hire somebody from a competitor, about a month ago and we had a sales meeting and he specifically stopped it basically and said, I just want you guys to know this is not like anything I've experienced in this industry.

00:26:03:04 - 00:26:23:06

Speaker 1

This company is completely different. The quality of the Lee's, the people were meeting with, and it is, is and so that's what I would do on Facebook is I would bring the funny or, you know, I might do the bloopers to start off and just say, I can't remember what that commercial was. It was 15 seconds and it I can't remember what the message was.

00:26:23:06 - 00:26:28:06

Speaker 1

Basically, I don't take my whole self so seriously, but I work really hard to make and I can't remember.

00:26:28:06 - 00:26:34:15

Speaker 2

Bloopers are a great hook to start a video that first three second super important catch that attention. But but yeah.

00:26:34:21 - 00:27:02:04

Speaker 1

But then I don't remember. It's on there yet but that's a I mean the next video, the next commercial we're shooting, I'm completely going at the discounts of 50%. No company can exist if they're actually giving you 50% off labor. You can't you can't run a company. When somebody buys five windows, they get two free. It's just it's it's not it's not it's not feasible.

00:27:02:04 - 00:27:19:03

Speaker 1

But I could be completely wrong. And they're figuring out a way to do it. But when they when you have a company that you know, the sorry next, when you have a company, it does five discounts and there's still more new. Is it really discounts. Are we marking up the price so we can give you discounts. Right.

00:27:19:05 - 00:27:26:02

Speaker 1

So I, I just want to give the straight streaming. So that's the next commercials is what we're doing. Yeah. Something along those messages.

00:27:26:03 - 00:27:32:15

Speaker 2

Something I saw that was interesting on your website is the the ask the owner tab. Tell me more about that.

00:27:32:17 - 00:27:47:07

Speaker 1

I just want my customers to have the ability. I have a self they have my cell phone number. I have two cell phones. So I have one more personal stuff and coaching stuff, and then I have one that's more business. And, and I use that when I'm, in Florida, if I'm calling customers phone up with jobs and stuff.

00:27:47:09 - 00:28:06:16

Speaker 1

But, they ask the owners just to have access to me. I always tell them when they're in the showroom or meeting with them, that if they really need me, you know, I'm here. I will always be readily available. The funny thing is, is my phone never rings and the the owner sometimes is just, scam stuff on there.

00:28:06:18 - 00:28:24:05

Speaker 1

But every once in a while, I mean, I would guess 3 to 4 times a month, I get a genuine question about something we do or if we do it or, the interesting thing is I do a blog and, I get a couple of times a month, people go in there and say, I like your blog and and blah, blah, blah, so that it's just access.

00:28:24:06 - 00:28:40:01

Speaker 1

I'm readily in our industry. There's a lot of absentee owners, you know, just where they let it run. And but and I'm not I'm very involved. But again, I've delegated the day to day a lot. But I'm here if they need me. Yeah.

00:28:40:03 - 00:28:44:09

Speaker 2

What have been some of the toughest lessons that you've learned building your business.

00:28:44:11 - 00:29:14:20

Speaker 1

Hiring friends and family is not always the best route to go that that learned some lessons with that and some relationships. I'm just I've been pretty lucky. I haven't had any, any real big. I think in, in hiring one lesson is to have a really a standard operating procedure for your hiring practices. We used to I used to do it just by gut, you know, I mean somebody and know they sound good in the noise.

00:29:14:20 - 00:29:32:13

Speaker 1

Work out. So really putting in place a process. I really like the idea of, having them do something that you're hiring them to do. You know, I pay them. So if I had a little prior, if I was hiring a marketing person, I might have them do a little project and pay them to do it.

00:29:32:13 - 00:29:36:09

Speaker 1

But, like, you can then see what they do.

00:29:36:11 - 00:29:37:13

Speaker 2

Like a trial kind of thing.

00:29:37:13 - 00:30:01:20

Speaker 1

Yeah. Just a just a little project, you know? Nothing. Nothing huge. It's an idea from, Isn't it? But buy back your time. The book. I think that was one of the principles in there. Lessons. Hard lessons. I don't know, I might not I might not have a real good one to tell you. They were. I've had a big difficulties.

00:30:01:20 - 00:30:04:01

Speaker 2

I mean, hiring people are just. People are.

00:30:04:01 - 00:30:26:18

Speaker 1

Difficulties. It's not I think a lot of entrepreneurs go into it and you hear this all the time, but, well, I can do this and I can, I can, I can make it. I'll make more money. It's not that easy. I, I thought I'd just start a business, and, you know, we start making more money and everything.

00:30:26:18 - 00:30:57:23

Speaker 1

And it took me 15 years to really get the business I wanted. I mean, I let it run my life. I remember in the first 15 years I figured this out. I went on 45 days of application in 15 years, and then. This last winter I went, I had 60 days down in Florida. But when I started five years ago, actually taking some time off, listening to podcasts, that's become a big part of my life is listening to different podcasts.

00:30:57:23 - 00:31:15:20

Speaker 1

I read a lot more than I ever did. I go to the gym every morning, so that's all started about five years ago. When that started. The weird thing is, for the ten years prior to that. So the big lesson was we've already talked about it when I started building the business and not letting it just completely ruin my life.

00:31:15:22 - 00:31:37:09

Speaker 1

So I work out, I do all those things, and then all of a sudden, you know, we are stuck at a revenue number for ten years within 400, 500,000. We just fluctuate down and up, you know, for that. And that was because I was still almost everything was going through me. I had some staff, but not enough. Once I finally my mindset changed and I started hiring good people.

00:31:37:11 - 00:32:04:09

Speaker 1

All the things, you know, that we talked about, then we well, we made effort that we doubled our business in the year 19, then we 60% growth the year after 35%. This year. We're at for you know, we're really it picked up. So the big lesson is if you want to own a business, it's not easier.

00:32:04:11 - 00:32:21:18

Speaker 1

It's not it's going to be harder. It's I work more than any of my employees, but I still do to this day. But that's me. That's my personality. Now, I have a lot of coaching clients who are trying to not work as much, you know? So then we help them do that and put systems in place and get people in place.

00:32:21:20 - 00:32:37:14

Speaker 1

So I'm just a worker. But my lesson that I learned is when I started taking care of myself, when I started getting some free time, when I started to spend more time at the family on vacation, when I started taking care of me, my business just grew and grew and grew.

00:32:37:16 - 00:32:40:06

Speaker 2

What led to that mindset shift?

00:32:40:08 - 00:32:46:08

Speaker 1

You know, I don't know what coach hours.

00:32:46:10 - 00:33:01:18

Speaker 1

Honestly, it was, when I started doing cold showers. Now I have a cold plunge that I get into it 40 degrees every morning. That made a big difference. And I think, I'm trying to think. What podcast?

00:33:02:00 - 00:33:04:19

Speaker 2

How did you get on the cold plunge?

00:33:04:21 - 00:33:08:01

Speaker 1

I was, Wim Hof, you know him?

00:33:08:02 - 00:33:09:07

Speaker 2

Sounds really familiar. He's called.

00:33:09:07 - 00:33:30:04

Speaker 1

The Iceman. He's. He's crazy. He's. You look him up, he's done all you hear. You hear Guinness Book of World Records for the most time in cold. He climbed Mount Everest barefoot. And then swimsuit. She's called Iceman. And he does some breathing techniques too, that I use, but, I just I got introduced to it, and then I started doing cold showers and.

00:33:30:06 - 00:33:50:20

Speaker 1

And then the cold plunge. My days always better when I started with a cold plunge. It's. I'm much more resolute. I feel better. I have more energy, but it really the exposure to cold that in my thing, it just makes me make decisions quicker. It makes me not afraid of risk. I don't know, I just does something in, in my mindset.

00:33:50:22 - 00:34:10:01

Speaker 1

And once I started doing that and then going to the gym every day made a big difference. And oh, and then I completely changed my eating habits. I mean, I try to be as healthy as I possibly can. All those things combined gave me the energy and the resolution to really finally create the company. I always wanted.

00:34:10:03 - 00:34:25:17

Speaker 2

What are some of those resources people that you listen to, whether podcast books you read, those authors who are those, that you would suggest for someone that, you know, maybe was stuck in the same position you were before you got into this?

00:34:25:19 - 00:34:54:10

Speaker 1

I'm going to forget the author's name. Dan? It's my back. Your time is one book that I really found a lot that would that the idea basic principle of that book is if you can pay somebody less than it costs you to do it, do that. And that has been hugely beneficial to me professionally. So what I really want to be doing is I want to be in front of my customers.

00:34:54:12 - 00:35:11:19

Speaker 1

So I have two assistants that do all the backend work. So I don't have to do any of that. And that was it took a long time for me to want to do that. So Buy Back Your time's a book. Dan Martel, I think the author I don't know why I'm blanking on his name, the podcast that I would listen to, there's two that I listen to them on.

00:35:11:20 - 00:35:35:21

Speaker 1

There's, there's a lot, but the two I listen to the most and the most consistently. One is the Founders Podcast. That is a great podcast just to learn, you know, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs Rockefeller, they just do. He basically reads autobiographies and kind of summarizes all the points, The Knowledge Project, shame perish. He also wrote a book, Clear Thinking.

00:35:35:21 - 00:35:46:10

Speaker 1

I think it was what it was called. That's a good one too, is just talking to business leaders and stuff. And, I listen to Tim Ferriss, I listen to Andrew Huberman, listen to a lot, in the Huberman again.

00:35:46:10 - 00:35:48:18

Speaker 2

Yeah. That's how I got into ice baths is to.

00:35:48:23 - 00:36:08:21

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, I got into I got into a lot of stuff because of Andrew Huberman. And then, more books would rework. I'm not going to be able to tell you the author's name. Rework was a really, interesting take on it. And then I just. I just read a lot.

00:36:08:22 - 00:36:23:15

Speaker 2

What about on the, the personal development side? So a lot of that is business development, professional development. But for someone that's thinks, you know, I'll just work on my business harder, why do I need to go to work, go work out? Why do I need to?

00:36:23:16 - 00:36:39:07

Speaker 1

There's a lot of people. There's a lot of entrepreneurs that do not see the gym because they do that. I'm going to tell you from a personal perspective, I don't go in there. I've lost a lot of weight. And, you know, I've had good benefits. I'm not going in there for any of that. I'm going in there for my mind.

00:36:39:09 - 00:36:55:00

Speaker 1

It just it just starts my day off, right? I, I don't know what happened, but there's this one day I woke up and I'm like, I don't have to be at the office at 8:00. I always thought I had to be the first one there, the first, last one, you know, that kind of mentality. And I woke up one day and I just remembering why.

00:36:55:02 - 00:37:09:16

Speaker 1

Why do I have to? I mean, I have a team now that it wasn't a huge team at that time, but I had I didn't have to I didn't have to open the store. I didn't have to answer the phone. And I finally said, I don't have to be there. Really. I know that's old school young leader Zoe.

00:37:09:18 - 00:37:34:01

Speaker 1

It's a little different world now. So I finally just said, I'm going to go to the gym and I'm going to be at the office. My start my day at 930. So I go to the gym and do hot tubs on a cold. I, you know, I do all that. So, that was. And then it just my, my staff knows if I went to the gym, they know if I did a cold punch by your mood.

00:37:34:06 - 00:37:55:06

Speaker 1

Yep. When I come into the office, they can tell you if I did a cold punch. Normally they'll say, how much caffeine have you had this morning? And I have only had one. One, 100mg is what I've had at that point. So one, one energy drink and they, it's constant. They'll say how much caffeine that I don't know.

00:37:55:06 - 00:38:00:12

Speaker 1

I just did the cold plunge. You went to the gym. Yeah. So they know. They all know exactly when I walk in.

00:38:00:15 - 00:38:11:03

Speaker 2

Yeah. Yeah. How do you approach leadership across your team? Of installers, staff, customer service reps, that kind of thing.

00:38:11:05 - 00:38:39:22

Speaker 1

Well, they, I'm trying to get better at that. I'm I'm I'm kind of a guy that if I hear something, I just say something, you know? And I'm trying to be more mindful of people's time and stuff and not interrupting. But from my main job, in my mind, for my business as a leader is to make sure that we're they understand what we're trying to do for our customers.

00:38:40:00 - 00:39:05:12

Speaker 1

I don't have to the guys building the decks and stuff. I got a production major leads. I mean, I, I set the culture, you know, we buy tickets to all the sporting teams. We can we we have a golf outing. We do a lot of things for him. We, you know, on Fridays we have lunches. So I think as a leader, my job is to have the right people in place, but also to make sure that all those people know that the customers are number one and the customer is not always right.

00:39:05:12 - 00:39:27:00

Speaker 1

I understand that, but we are striving to make them happy every day and then culture. I think that's how I what the leadership I try to provide is and with, with my operations manager, Christie, I think that's our job is to make sure that we have the culture and, the right people and that the team always knows what our focus is.

00:39:27:02 - 00:39:27:17

Speaker 2

I think.

00:39:27:19 - 00:39:54:14

Speaker 1

This is this is I mean, I'm a I'm not a good manager. I'm getting better. I've for the reason we didn't grow for a long time is it was just we were a rudderless sail ship or, sailboat. I mean, we were just just reacting. That's what most contractors are. I mean, you've talked to enough. You can talk to ten owners who might competing companies, and they're running around getting materials or they're they're doing everything.

00:39:54:15 - 00:40:11:05

Speaker 1

And so, back then I was terrible. I mean, people could get away with anything they could make the biggest mistake, and there's no accountability because I didn't even have time to hold them accountable. I had to go to the next thing and the next thing. But that's why we stayed for a decade. We didn't grow. We were just stagnant.

00:40:11:05 - 00:40:31:05

Speaker 1

And that's why my clients or I can, I could say 20 names of companies in a seat in Des Moines that are at that point, they're just right there. And they they either take the next step or they're just going to live that life for the whole time. And I finally jumped out and took the step. But, not a good manager, not a good manager all the time.

00:40:31:07 - 00:40:49:22

Speaker 1

I think I'm a leader. I think people will follow me. But I need people to be managers and hold people accountable and systems, and that's a big thing for us. We've, we've we've systemized everything. That's the only way you can grow a business. If back in the day when I was running around with my head cut off in those systems, we're just reacting every single day.

00:40:49:22 - 00:41:09:01

Speaker 1

Now. If you call in, you have a repair boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. You know, it happens, it get solved and it gets taken care of. That's all the things. Are we perfect? No. Hell no. We're not perfect. But I'll put this up against anybody in our market or anybody across the nation as far as how hard we try to do it right.

00:41:09:03 - 00:41:15:09

Speaker 2

What gets systematized and what do you think still needs the personal touch?

00:41:15:11 - 00:41:35:15

Speaker 1

Our systems are about personal touch. Our personal touch is in our systems, so we don't. I'm not talking, for example, you know, you get the websites that have the chat with us. I'm never going to have that on my website. Never going to happen. Or you have, you hire some other company to answer your phones?

00:41:35:17 - 00:41:53:19

Speaker 1

Never going to happen. So our systems are about, most of the things we have are about our customer feeling the personal touch that's incorporated into our system. Yeah, that's why we do the systems, honestly. So the the customer's getting the same. You know, we have a after we, meet with somebody, we have a drip campaign.

00:41:53:19 - 00:41:59:17

Speaker 1

You know, they get it. You will think, you know, you know, all those things are designed to personalize it for that customer.

00:41:59:18 - 00:42:06:20

Speaker 2

Right. You know, a personal mantra or philosophy that you live by.

00:42:06:22 - 00:42:18:05

Speaker 1

I don't have a necessarily, phrase or identified specifically, but I know that,

00:42:18:07 - 00:42:42:02

Speaker 1

My major focus from a business perspective is to take care of a customer. That's all I'm focused on is that we're we're doing right by our customer. That's in that can be good or bad for my employees because, you know, when they make a mistake, I'm sometimes a little bit a little matter. And I should be, you know, real overreact sometimes.

00:42:42:04 - 00:43:04:04

Speaker 1

Personally. I think if you ask somebody with my own, I don't know what my mantra is, but I know that I'm always willing to help other people out. I probably to to a degree with employees, maybe a little too much sometimes, but, but I'm always I'm not the person who says no too often.

00:43:04:06 - 00:43:14:19

Speaker 2

What's next for bristle brush Home Solutions or the modern contractor? What's your your vision for next 510 year goals?

00:43:14:21 - 00:43:35:15

Speaker 1

So and I'm also not a good goal setter but where where bearish is going to be in the end. My I want to be recognized as the best exterior remodeling contractor in Iowa and the largest. So that's going to be multiple locations, satellite offices throughout the state. I don't I'm not looking to go outside of the state at this point.

00:43:35:15 - 00:43:53:15

Speaker 1

Well, that's not true. We're probably going to open in Florida. But so that's the goal for I want to be recognizes that that that my team and us be recognized. As you know, when, when, when our name said, people know they're getting which we've done a really good job. So try doing that. But that's what we want.

00:43:53:17 - 00:44:18:01

Speaker 1

And the personally or a matter contractor, for the coaching business, you know, I don't I, I'd like to we're going to do some masterminds. We're going to do some we're, we're kind of focused on a group program. Group group training. We're trying to develop that more. I have a couple individuals I work with now, but we're trying to do more of a develop a group program.

00:44:18:03 - 00:44:33:15

Speaker 1

I don't have any real goals. I just I just want to try to help some people because I go to Pella Corporation has a huge summit, you know, and I get around to hundreds of contractors and I get it usually get a chance to be on a panel or speak and stuff. And, and then I get a chance to talk to some of them.

00:44:33:15 - 00:44:50:07

Speaker 1

And they ask the questions there, and they're just where I was five, six years ago. And I found a way through it. And I have to change my mentality, but I'd like to help other contractors to do that. I like it, it's just fun to help. I would do it for free, which I did for a while.

00:44:50:09 - 00:44:51:18

Speaker 2

Yeah.

00:44:51:18 - 00:45:03:03

Speaker 2

What advice would you give to someone that's thinking about starting off into their own? Home services or construction services? Business?

00:45:04:14 - 00:45:23:23

Speaker 1

Upfront, spend a lot of time and understand exactly what you're getting into. Start to talk to more than one business owner. Find out what they're experiencing. A lot of people are given their perspective. When you start your own business, it gets easier and I think you will have a hard time finding one owner of a company. Who cares?

00:45:24:05 - 00:45:43:12

Speaker 1

There are owners who don't care. They don't show up. They let their employees run ragged. Hopefully they get a check each week or whatever. But if you really care and you're building a business a long term, you're going to work your ass off. Yeah, there's no question about it. And it's if you go into it with the idea, well, my life's going to get easier.

00:45:43:12 - 00:46:09:01

Speaker 1

I'm going to do what I want. I got 22 years to show you. That's not necessarily the case. I'm doing more of what I want now, but that's when my mentality changed. But I you really there's a lot of guys that in the home service industry who are technicians and then they're like, well, I can go do this and they're not business people and they fail every day.

00:46:09:01 - 00:46:26:16

Speaker 1

You can hear a story on it. So you got to understand what you're getting into because you know, you've got to have if you want to be successful, you got to have a will to work. You, you, you have to be a worker for a while. You know, I might get to the point where, you know, I decide to retire.

00:46:26:16 - 00:46:42:12

Speaker 1

I don't know if that's possible, honestly, but I might get there. But building a business is. It's your life for a while. It just is. And if you go into it thinking you're going to be. You know, I don't know what you do. You don't play golf, and you be playing golf all the time because you own a business.

00:46:42:12 - 00:46:56:07

Speaker 1

That's not how it works. I played golf eight, eight times in 15 years. Now I've now over the last two years, I'm playing twice a week so I can. It does get better if you work hard.

00:46:56:09 - 00:46:59:02

Speaker 2

What's something you wish you knew when you first started?

00:46:59:04 - 00:47:06:00

Speaker 1

When I first started, I wish I knew that it is a fact that you can't make everybody happy.

00:47:06:02 - 00:47:08:16

Speaker 2

It's not your job to make everybody happy.

00:47:08:18 - 00:47:33:09

Speaker 1

I you can't, and I did, and I let some very. I have always done everything I can to make a customer happy. Whatever is humanly possible. But I would really I, I actually went to the hospital one day after a customer experience because it just hit me so hard that I just didn't understand back then that I just don't understand.

00:47:33:09 - 00:47:53:04

Speaker 1

I've done everything I possibly could do for you and you're still going and I it just I the mind boggling to me because there's nothing else I could do and there really was nothing wrong. But some people just never accept what there is. I wish I knew that because it really did add a lot of stress to my life, because I was always striving.

00:47:53:04 - 00:48:05:03

Speaker 1

I had my suppliers, my dad. I had a lot of people telling me, you can't do that. You can't keep doing that as a business. But I also think some of it may have got me where I am now to.

00:48:05:05 - 00:48:22:23

Speaker 1

But yeah, then, now that we've been doing this for almost 23 years, the good thing, the same thing along that tone, is I have less than ten customers that I would put in that category. So we're doing something right. Yeah.

00:48:23:01 - 00:48:26:22

Speaker 2

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

00:48:27:00 - 00:48:54:11

Speaker 1

You know, I'm just going to go to my parents. They, they did something right. They just instilled a work ethic in me and my brothers that, we're just workers and we expect to work. And, I think just seeing my dad work and my mom and stuff, I just, I think just they just instilled a work ethic in us, and that I appreciate that a lot.

00:48:54:13 - 00:48:58:15

Speaker 2

What were some of the things that, you know, contributed to that?

00:48:58:17 - 00:49:18:06

Speaker 1

Well, he was an entrepreneur, right? I mean, he started he framed his for I, I don't remember all of this, but I'm assuming this is how it happened. I was only 1 to 9 years old, but, we had, he was a builder, and he would frame his house and he'd build it, and then we'd move into it, and then he sell it, and we did that, I think 8 or 9 times before I was nine years old.

00:49:18:08 - 00:49:44:01

Speaker 1

So I don't remember all that, but that's. But I saw him. I just he worked hard and we just we grew up in an environment where it was working hard. You just worked hard. I mean, in college I had three jobs and I still went to school and did decent. Nowhere near where my son's doing the school, but I, I, I got out, but it's just always I and I will say this, it's a weakness too.

00:49:44:03 - 00:50:01:12

Speaker 1

It's it's not it's the strength in a lot of ways, but it's not a strength in some ways. So when I go out to the lake and I want to relax, everybody on the dock will make fun of me because I have a very hard time doing that. I constantly need to be. So we're working on that part that needs to be worked on because I, I should take a little break every once in a while.

00:50:01:12 - 00:50:13:15

Speaker 1

But it is, but it's it's always been there. I just it's always been there. And now I'm trying to put that work ethic, just learn how to play golf. Well, and that's not working.

00:50:13:17 - 00:50:16:09

Speaker 1

A game so crazy.

00:50:16:11 - 00:50:19:21

Speaker 2

What's the best place people can check you out?

00:50:19:23 - 00:50:41:19

Speaker 1

Well, I so you were asking about social media. I'm just getting back in it. I've. No, I haven't done Facebook or Instagram for 15 years. But with the coaching business I'm getting back into it. So, the modern contractor is the coaching side of it. And I do have a personal website, brain gibberish.com. That's kind of where I have my blog.

00:50:41:21 - 00:50:51:00

Speaker 1

In the book and some different things on there. And then, that's really and I'm not, but real active. We're getting better, though. We're starting to get better. Yeah.

00:50:51:03 - 00:50:55:20

Speaker 2

Any final words of encouragement for listeners?

00:50:55:22 - 00:51:06:21

Speaker 1

I, I think if if you own a business and if your primary focus is to solve a customer's problem and do it right, you're going to be just fine the longer. Yeah.

00:51:06:23 - 00:51:21:17

Speaker 2

Awesome. Well, thanks for coming on the show. Thank you everybody. This is, Brian brush with Brush Home Solutions and keep us on.