Mike Lied, 75 Hard, and Bud Light - Episode 022

Welcome back everyone, to another episode of C Suite Unfiltered, where I'm sitting across the table from the liar himself, Mike Andes. Mike, would you like to make a public statement at this time? Where are the documents? Reveal the documents.

Oh, man. Yeah, so today I sent an email out and a Facebook and put on social, basically retracting what I did with landscape business course back in. Do you want me to give you the whole story?

I mean, yeah, let's just. I can ask questions as needed.

Okay, yeah, you can probe.

Yeah.

So, okay, so summer 2016, wanted to start landscape business course as an online course. I'd been making some videos online and doing some stuff. I probably had like all of a thousand subscribers. But it was mostly cause after my accident I was like, okay, I've started to change the business. I started to really see improvement. Let me go ahead and document all this in a course and know creating systems in the business, right? So hired a, a videographer, a crew, actually a few people. Very expensive actually, by the way. Cause I didn't have a media team. And at the time I wasn't like, you know, I didn't have all these businesses and things. So yeah, had them all come out for three weeks and then several months of, of post production, made a bunch of videos, create landscape business course. And so then I really didn't add much to it in 2018. I added a little bit of training around pay for performance before we had p4psoftware.com and so. But really add a lot to it. And so In January of 2022, last year, a little over a year ago, the media team redesigned the site because I had built it on WordPress myself using a plugin called Course Cats. You can look it up, it's still active today, that plugin. And so I built it myself. And on there, one of the FAQs on unbeknownst to me as until last Saturday.

It said it includes access to all the lectures and future lectures that would come. And so.

And that FAQ video was recorded in.

It wasn't a video, it was like a text question.

And that was put up on the website when you created it like what, 2016?

2016. Yeah. January 2022 comes around, the media team's like, hey, this site looks like garbage. I'm like, yeah, I know. I made it like way back when I didn't know what I was doing. So they redesigned the whole thing.

2022 goes by later in the summer, like July, August. I'm like, hey, you know what? Let's turn into a subscription that will allow me to be able to be forced to make new content for the course members because like it'd been stale, like the videos were now 7 years old. Some of them things I'm like, hey, I would want to read. Say that again. Like it wasn't like now having 125 locations and like years of experience, I think I could do a better job on certain elements of the marketing side and part of parts and lectures. So like I want to redo them all which is going to take a couple months plus I want to add to it on an ongoing basis. Let's turn it into a subscription and then let everyone that doesn't want to buy the subscription, they will have lifetime access to everything that is in there now. I'll keep all the templates, all the documents, all the videos, they'll have access to that. But then anyone going forward, they'll be part of the subscription and I'll give anyone that was in the past six months free in the subscription to see if they like it and just you know, give them more value and they would get all the revised videos in that six months. Mm. So did that. I thought it was great. Whatever. It's been really, really good. Been able to do a lot more content, some more exclusive stuff that is 30, 40, 50 minutes long that doesn't do well on YouTube and has really, you know, burnt my YouTube channel for years and now that I haven't done it the past few months. So you haven't seen the channel take off Because I'm not putting that type of content out. So anyways, Saturday I find out that someone screenshot it and said hey, this is from your site like a couple years back. And so I determined like based upon that it means that in January 2022 when the guys redesigned the site, it looks way better. But the problem is, oh, we move from course cats to teachable. It's an online platform for courses anyways.

That was taken out in January. So in, in, in August, September when we switched everything to the subscription, I never saw that. I never saw that like it include all future. It just said lifetime access. And so that's what I thought I was giving to everybody. And so turns out everyone before January 2022 potentially could have seen that and they could have seen that it was included future lectures. And I do think even if you strip that away, it's still somewhat. It can be cloudy. When I say lifetime access.

Instead of like, you know, yeah, you get lifetime, you get the core, you get the videos forever. That's what I was thinking. But I can see how totally you would think that in perpetuity, anything I add to this, you're gonna have part of. Right. So anyways, just to clean the deck. Gave everyone that had ever signed up until we made it very clear it was a subscription in June. June, July, whatever, of 2022. Just gave them all free access. Now I think that was just the right thing to do. And yeah, kind of messed up. So I had to ask for forgiveness. Cause I did not remember that, did not see that. We did not purposely do that. And the media team knows, like, they know when we were making this whole transition, like why you're doing it and everything. And they would have held me accountable if they would have remembered. But it was again, it was like eight, nine months before that when they redesigned the site.

Now let me play like Business Devil's advocate. Couldn't you just call it like a rebrand? Like, because it's not really even the same product at that point.

But we didn't rebrand it. We. It's still called Landscape Business course.

Right, but if you were to say rebrand it right now.

Yeah.

And I'm not saying this a money grab. Like I said, this is Business Devil's advocate.

Yeah. No, what we should have. What we should have done if we were trying to maximize the dollars was we would have redone like, we would have called it like landscape Business course pro. And then we would made a separate thing.

Right.

And so.

I just didn't do that. And so if I would have done that. Yes, you're right. It would have made way people would have disassociated. Like, oh, I. I get lifetime access to this. And then. But if I want lifetime access, like the new stuff, I gotta get more. But we just didn't do that. And that. There's definitely no way I'm going back on that now. So I just figured, hey, let's just. Let's put everyone in.

Do you want to say how many people that it is?

How many people are in the course?

How many people now get that access?

800, some 790 something.

It's not an easy decision.

Yeah, well, it.

I just. I feel. I guess I want people to. Listening to like feel that it's not like a. Oh, Mike just made another business decision. Like, this is pretty weighted decision.

Not really. I made it about five seconds. I saw the screenshot and I was like, I could immediately know that I made that years and years ago. It looks like garbage. It Looks so bad. But as soon as I saw I was like, oh, like this is very obvious of what we need to do. What took me a day to figure out was because I was like, okay, well then everyone up until January, they should get a refund. Or like they should, they should get in for free. And then I was like, okay, but if I do that immediately, everyone that from there till June of 2022, they're gonna feel jilted. So like just, just clean it. So yeah, like you probably, if you take $600 times that by two. So it's 1200 bucks. Multiply that by. Let's just call it 350. Like half the people. It's like 350. 400 grand.

Yeah, dude, let's go.

I didn't even do that math before.

That's why I did have some weight to it. Yeah, your decision making process, I mean you're, you're deliberate and you' efficient with your decision making, but it is a heavily weighted amount of money.

Yeah, but this, this was not a business decision. This was a matter of like, this is your brand. And I, I've genuinely made the mistake. So there was no question. I never even ran the math because like it was like, obviously anyone prior to that date could have seen that. And you know, maybe they didn't. It was like the bottom of the page in an faq. But it's not worth the long term brand reputation either. If, if someone like today, they, they feel jilted by that and they saw that and they're like, what in the world? Well, who's to say that they now don't become a franchisee and then that's 10 years of franchise fees. Like if you really tripping down the numbers, right? They don't come to conference cause they feel guilty. There's a bunch of things they tell five other people. So in talking about like brand and like where we're at now and what we want to do, it's like whatever I do now compounds whether it be good or bad. So if I do something stupid with my brand. You see plenty of brands that make stupid decisions. Like if you do something wrong, it can compound with time. So I just immediately. So Saturday, I got it Sunday, I wrote out what I wanted to say and then first thing Monday morning, meeting, like, this is what's going on. I need a picture. This is the text, this is the email. This is how it needs to roll out. And we did it right away because I just, it looks, it looks so bad. Like as much as I'M trying to explain it right now. It's, it's just a dumb move like it looks, the optics are pathetic. So I don't want that because that, that I couldn't sleep very well Saturday night. So, like, things like that, I just, like, I have to deal with it right away and get it over with and I can move on. Yeah.

I want this to be very clear. I think you did the right thing, but I just want to play business devil's advocate. I don't know, why didn't you just take the McDonald's method? Be like, yeah, the coffee stays fresh if it's at a hotter temperature and a few people are going to burn themselves every year and we'll just, we'll just, we'll just pay them off. Let's pay the legal fees. Yeah, like, you could have just. I'm once again just business devil's advocate. You did the right thing.

But, yeah, but let's call it 350. Let's go down a bit, right? Just because there's always people that like went out of business, whatever. So let's call it 300 grand a year. That's basically what I walked away from.

If I really have the ambition of building like a billion dollar business, you know. 300 grand, yeah, like, it hurts in the short term. That's a Lambo every year in cash, baby. But like, yeah, it's not worth it. Whatever keeps me up at night has to be dealt with within 24 to 48 hours. And like, I would have done it within five minutes if it would have been on a weekday and I had the media team. So, yeah, first thing, we just clean it up.

I think you do the right thing.

I don't know.

I also think too, from a consumer's perspective, it's, I, I wouldn't be that upset. Now, obviously, as an employee of yours, I get all your content for free. So thank you for that. But, but I feel like I wouldn't be that upset because even like the fact that I get to work with you and all of your free content has taught me so much. I'd be like, I get it. Like you, you have to make money. Like, you've given me so much free content over the years and that's how.

I would say 99.9% of the people in the court, 99% of the people in the course feel that way and that's what they held their role. But there's always something in the back of your head.

Yeah.

Right. And so the next time when I say lifetime for and the reason, like if someone like has a doubt and I'm sure I don't know if this person. I haven't looked at my phone since I posted all this. So like if someone does blow it up and they're mad about it, it's like, look, look at MBA for Entrepreneurs everyone that when we did switch the subscription they did all get lifetime and it's because I knew it was on the site and I gave. And there's more money in land in MBA for entrepreneurs because outside of lawn care and landscaping, I gave all of them lifetime access because it said it on the site. I didn't give it to landscape business course because it had been eight or nine months since the site had been redesigned and it wasn't in there. So. Yeah, anyways, yeah, I like it.

Like I said, I think you did the right thing. I was going to pull up the comments, but we don't have to see.

Oh yeah, no, I don't think they're going to be that bad. Like if someone's really flying off the handle. I already gave them media team, like instructions on what to do. But also it does show me a certain level of like, okay, like keep an eye on that person too because like I gen. It's a genuine mistake. I asked for forgiveness. I'm gonna refund people if I have to. I'm walking away from a significant amount of money. So.

Yeah, yeah, just some lawn boy money.

I appreciate the apology. Yeah, yeah, I think, I think it was fine.

I don't know.

But I, yeah, I do. I guess I just appreciate your honesty and that like, yeah, it kept you up at night and you felt like you had to do the right thing and you made the right call for you and, and ultimately a moral call for you is, is a good and moral call for your brand and your long term growth.

So. Yeah, but like if you look from businesses into like, there's plenty of things that go against it. Right. So it makes it good. Right. So for example, there is probably 25 to 30% of the audience that of that 800 that haven't not interacted with me for a few years either because they're out of business until it's a way to reengage them. So I was like, okay, that's not a bad thing. Get them back in the course, hopefully help them if they've kind of fallen off the bandwagon. And then secondly, it does create goodwill for people to know that I am going to follow up on if I do something If I say something and if I do make a mistake, which I'm going to, I will correct it regardless of the monetary implications. And that's important as I do like whether it be Augusta and that really being the scale or copilot or any of these things. Like if I say something, I will do it even if it means a bit of like short term loss financially. So I think it's just important. I think like long term, like, you know, it is just so important. Like your brand is so important. And I'm not trying to like sell in anything. So it's just like why, why burn the long term for like a short term dollar?

Yeah, that's fair. We'll check it out. MBA for an entrepreneurs landscape business course. Check them out. Mikeandys.com yeah, cool.

So I wanted to ask you a question.

Please, I would love.

So we had. This is a. I know it's a touchy topic, you know, so you don't have to say everything or anything.

No, we're unfiltered, man.

So we had an executive meeting without with more than just the executive team. So typically we just have the executive team which is myself, you, Lee and Liz.

No, Chuck.

What did I say?

You said myself, you, Lee and Liz. I was there twice.

Chuck, Liz, Lee, Mike. There you go, the four of us. That's our executive team. And this time we just determined that at least at this one executive meeting we would have representatives that were outside the executive team. Inside the meeting.

Outside of the C suite.

Yeah, if you will.

So it really became filtered then this week.

Filtered ever.

So what were your thoughts on that?

Pro, con, et cetera.

Pro. It is great to get more team members to see long term vision, discussion, goals and deeper thinking than a team meeting.

Right.

Big pro like you. It is hard for frontline employees to grasp what the vision of a company is going to be long term when they work for someone like you. Just speaking from experience as a frontline employee, sometimes, you know, I did not understand your decisions when I was in the field and didn't have a relationship with you. I was like, why are we doing that? Why is he saying that? Like why are we not doing this anymore? Like why are we cutting that out? It didn't make sense. But then when you have for me at the time, off sites and now because we have more of a corporate structure and you have, you know, 50 employees at your command center, you have, I mean your corporate, you know, individual locations, probably another what, 30, 40 employees there. So you have almost 100 employees. You know corporately, and then you have a manager team or an executive team of four. The biggest pro is getting other representatives at. In. Not in a technical definition, at a lower level of the company to catch that vision, to see you explain it, to ask questions, to poke holes, and to see what the goal is. So that's the biggest pro. I would say con is sometimes. And it felt like this, that we go a little bit backwards. And I wouldn't say that in a negative way, but it's like rehashing things that have already been hashed out. And I think that's where, you know, I. I didn't want to seem like I was. Had any disdain towards anyone, but I realized I was fiddling with my water bottle cap for like a good 30 minutes. Like, I was just sitting there in silence, just, like spinning my cap. And then I was like, man, that probably looked really rude. Like, after the meeting, I was like, shoot, that probably looked really rude because people were talking, but I was listening. I mean, you knew I was, but it felt like we would rehash things that didn't need to be rehashed or had already been gone over. It comes to a point where it's like, you are the CEO, you make a decision and we roll with it. And like, you could not like it. But when a decision has been made, like, we with it until it fails. And when it fails, then we get to say, I was right, you were wrong. Yeah. Which I have said once or twice, and it's a fantastic feeling. But when you make a decision, I say, okay, great. Like, we're rolling with it.

Which ones were wrong? I know there has been, but, like, do you remember? I'm sure you.

I can't remember.

I know we've disagreed on stuff before and you were right. I just forget which one.

I don't relish in that stuff, though. It's more like. It's just fun to poke. It's fun to poke the bear.

Usually it's collaborative.

Yeah, I can't remember any, but there was one where, like, you And I were 100 in disagreement and I was 110.

Right.

I don't. I honestly don't even recall what it was. And I'm sure I made, like, one funny comment to you and then that was it, and then we moved on.

If we're so polar opposite, we end up coming somewhere in between there. Like, for example, the management of the local shop.

Yeah.

You oppose that one diametrically at the beginning. I was probably wrong. And. And on some angles and like, in between there. It was like a happy medium.

Yeah. So that's how we do it. So, yeah, I think the executive meeting, like I said, good to get other people's input on.