Mike Minutes Mastermind 08/01/2024

Hey, everyone. Hope you're doing amazing. Let's get started. Happy Thursday.

All right.

Cool. All right. Sorry I'm a little bit earlier than usual. I didn't let the time wait for the text to go out. So sorry. You might join a little bit later. Let's jump into questions because there's just a couple here today.

First one is from Abraham from El Paso. Hey, Mike. Thanks for you for keeping the culture in Augusta strong. My questions are, can we get business cards through Pro shop with our Augusta Lights logo? There's a whole bunch of.

Designs that the media team's working on. Next week they are doing a shoot. We got like boxes and boxes of lights shipped to command center. They're gonna go put them up and actually get a whole bunch of pictures etc, and then work on a whole bunch of flyers, door hangers, yard signs, the whole nine using those. So hold on for a couple more weeks, but a whole bunch of that will be coming to the pro shop with Augusta, like people hanging up the lights. Can we get more marketing material with this logo? Also if me, a team can upload a guest lights logo to the dashboard for our marketing purposes. Yeah, there's on the brand identity. I'll pull it up on the brand identity page. Should be there.

And then also in the Christmas lights folder of the dashboard. Pull this up. Digital market name.

All right, here we go. Brand identity.

Right. Right.

Boom. Let's see if we've added to it already.

Okay. Some of them are added, but not all of them. So on the brand identity page inside the academy, we'll get more of those added. Let me just make a note real quick.

Lights on brand.

Identity.

Okay. When is the truck wrap for August Lights be uploaded? When is the. We don't have one.

We made the modification to the truck on the the.

On the website. I wouldn't probably wrap the vehicle. I'd probably. Will this include a wrap for an enclosed trailer? No.

I don't even think we have the wrap for it, but I can. I can see if we can make one just so you have it. So Lights truck wrap, you basically just take that same.

That same. If they do them for the truck, you can take that same exact Adobe Illustrator file and like put on whatever you want in terms of positioning. So let me talk to them about that. I know we did one for the graphic on the website, but I think very few people actually wrap a vehicle permanently with the lights logo. But we will get that added eventually. So.

When will our Augusta Lights websites start ranking on Google? Mine is hard to find yeah, a new site like they will not allow it to rank. We have no brand authority. It's not going to be anywhere close to what Augusta Lawn Care is. I get training this week. There's a bunch of people that are getting leads before their site. Because our site is like a couple weeks old, that's not usually going to happen. We simply have a lot of brand authority with Augusta Lawn Care and the domain can usually get on the first page within a week or two usually. So that's not normal. And don't expect that same thing with the Lights page because they're all new. I do expect like this time next year for everyone to start getting leads randomly as we get all the sites up and we're starting to rank nationally, et cetera. But right now Google looks at it as like a brand new website so it is going to take a little bit of time for it to rank like on the front of Google etc. We have just no brand authority whatsoever or domain authority. Sorry. All right, Mr. Anonymous.

Two part question. When dealing with your GMs or people in leadership roles, would you be willing to work around their schedule? Like them need to come in late, leave early regularly due to their kids schedule, this particular person is willing to come in on the weekend if needed to catch up. I guess I'm just having troubles because I'm such a rule follower and like people to come in on time and leave at a regular time. Maybe I'm being too rigid and inflexible.

My general managers I typically want there to be when people show up and when they leave. I feel like anytime there's a lot of physical labor being done, there's so much moral morale boost when you have a manager that's in person.

There's actually a big reason why some I know a couple business owners that they've done where people take the trucks home and then they changed it back. Not because it didn't make sense financially, it made a lot of sense financially. You didn't need as much big of a shop space, guys could drive straight to their first job in the morning, etc. But they just consistently saw the morale dip because there was they had no in person connection. After extremely long day they you start to get a little bit.

Disillusioned and so physical labor has a way of making that happen. After a crazy hot being outside all day long, being physically drained, having someone that can like keep you on the path, someone that can just check in with you at the end of the day is valuable. So for my general managers.

I do expect them to be there when everyone shows up and be there when everyone leaves. It's up to them to then make sure that that can be done in an efficient manner. And we don't have people that go out till 7, 8 o' clock at night because the project was misfit or routes were not optimized, et cetera. So that's kind of my general thesis on this. And then if they're not going to be there, it's like let the whole team know, like, hey, I'm leaving. It's 4:30, I gotta leave a little bit earlier for this evening. Check in with me if you have any questions. I'm gonna leave the gate open or you know, just hang up the keys. I appreciate you all. We'll see on Monday. Like they're staying in touch with their team all the time. In terms of. So I would say that's for like labor whenever physical labor is involved. I expect that when there are more creative roles such as like coders, developers, etc.

There's just, there's. If you're a management enroll, it's like I will give you more flexibility, but I also expect if I call you on a Saturday that we're going to have a chat. So for me it's like.

For me, like leadership.

For physical laborers, a lot of times it is being the morale support and the consistency of that is really important. And then as they kind of ascend into more like creative roles or roles that are not physical labor, I'm typically, I'm wanting, I requiring flexibility to be able to be answerable whenever. And so I will pay them for that. But it is a matter of if you're going to clock out at five and then I'm not going to hear from you until Monday morning when you punch back in at nine. Like I'm just not going to be able to communicate with you on a higher level because that means for two or three days when things are happening, employees are having problems, et cetera. Like I don't get to communicate with you. So that's just like generally for me, I don't say that's right way to do it. I just say typically for general labor, if you're the people you're reporting to are laborers, I am, I do want much more dependability in showing up before and leaving late. And I cried that of like Liz when she was in the office at the very beginning, all the general managers as I worked with them, that was like the rule. And that's what I was always looking for in a general manager, like who showed up really early and then who made sure all the guys were taken care of at the end of the day. Usually they're a pretty natural born general manager. And then as someone goes into more executive role, for me personally, it is a matter of I will give flexibility but I also require that when the heat, you know, when the fire gets turned up and everyone needs to hop in that you don't look at the clock and it's like, oh, it's five o', clock, I'll just keep working until this is done. And so that's like the number one thing I'm looking for. So even like the executive role you'll hear me talk about in a couple, yeah, a couple weeks in August.

That I've just seen where I can, I can call him on a Sunday and just like, hey, the problems, we need to talk about this X, Y and Z. Like he'll hop on anytime. And he's much more responsive than what I would expect of a team member. So.

How flexible should you be with your GM's team leaders, leadership team needing special requirements? This is just such a case by case basis.

Overall I'm looking at their, like, you know, what is their performance. But then it's like how, how is being flexible with them affecting the culture is also an important factor for me and I think it has more implications when the team is that they are leading is entry level or they are labor positions because those are exhaustive tasks that if I'm going to hold them all accountable to start, show up a certain time and then them leave a certain time, I'm probably going to require their managers to be similar.

So it depends so much on industry in my opinion. Like I'm not going to expect my developers to clock in at a certain time and clock out a certain time. However, if something in the middle night goes off, they're on call.

So I'm not going to like have on call issues with lawn care. Like my guys out in the field, it's like not two in the morning, we're like, oh guys, we got yellow slip. Everyone back on the trucks. So I'm not going to do that. But I'm going to have more rigidity around start times, end times, et cetera. And so there is no right answer on this. There's so many gray areas. There's so many different ways you set up the business to, to accommodate certain things. I would in general say that a great general manager, team leader, leadership, team et Cetera, they, they understand what the position demands and they usually don't even push for it. So like, if they know that being there first and leaving there late is required and it's going to help the team, it's not a con, a topic of conversation. If it is.

Like in general.

I just think that, like, if you have to say too much, like if you have to tell people what to do, they're not great, they're not great. That's the bottom line. Like you have, you have, you have average performers, you have good performers, you have great performers. The difference between good and great is you have to tell good people what to do. Still great people, you do not need to tell them when to show up. You do not need to tell them when to leave. They know it is required to be successful in their role and they will do whatever it takes and I will reward that person.

Handsomely. Those are very few and far between that are willing to basically put.

Their schedule on sacrifice for their team. And that's the person I'm moving up. So whether or not that's right, whether or not that is the correct mode of choosing leaders, that's debatable. People have other, you know, who hits the best metrics, who has the best numbers, etc. Sure. For me it's like who's willing to sacrifice their schedule and their wants and desires for the team? Because that's the person I want leading the team and that's what I'll reward. So I'm willing to over overlook even inadequacies of skill in order to be able to have someone that is willing to not look at a time clock. And when they see what is required, they simply do it. Like showing up at 4am sometimes is required. Showing up at on a weekend sometimes is required. That's not, I'm not going to expect that of anybody, a frontline team member, leader, etc. I don't expect it of anyone. But if they do it, they are certainly going to be the person that is going to move up with the organization.

So I think that's like a meritocracy. It's like, look, who's willing to sacrifice the most is probably the one that's going to win the most. And that's going to usually correlate to a relatively entrepreneurial culture because that's how business works. If you're willing to sacrifice, you will gain the rewards. And so instead of doing it based upon who's been the longest, who knows, the boss, et cetera, it's like if you're willing to sacrifice, you will gain more, you will have the responsibility, you'll be giving more privileges in terms of flexibility. But again, I'm not going to give that flexibility to someone that I know is going to misuse it because I know if they have the best intention of their team and the business at heart, they're going to do what is required. They're not going to do what is said in their job description. And for someone that looks at their job description instead of what is required, they will not move up in my organization.

And so the difference between average and good is the person that does a good job, they are able to excel at all aspects of their position and they take it personally. A person that separates good from great, in my opinion, is the person that sacrifices their own ambitions and what they want in order for the team to succeed. And that person I'm going to pull into leadership as quickly as possible because they are rare to find.

I would then say you cannot expect anything more of your team than what you also give. So if you're not willing to work hard, if you're not willing to jump in any, any hour of the day, if you're not willing to show up first and leave late, then don't expect it out of anyone else.

So we talk about the very first day of training is like, I don't expect any of you to do work any harder than myself, and you can't expect any of your team to work any harder than you. And so if you're like, oh, you gotta be rigid with time schedules, you got to be at least capable and able and have shown that you have that skill. And if you're, if you're expecting all of your team to jump in on the weekends, in the middle of the night like I do for my developers, you better be willing to hop on those calls, too. So when bad stuff happens, I'll just literally be on the call listening to developers talk about the craziest stuff that I have no idea what they're talking about. I'm simply showing them, especially the newer ones, that, like, I am here, and I expect this because I'm willing to do it. And I'm not going to ask you of any. I'm not going to ask anything of you that I will not do myself.

And that that sort of standard is just how I've operated. And it doesn't mean that you'll be able to do that forever. So, for example, I can't be at the Bellingham shop or the Mount Vernon shop when everyone shows up, when everyone leaves. I haven't been to those shops for weeks now. I haven't been. I don't. I've never even been to the Mount Vernon location in terms of their new one that they've been there for I think like a year or so. No, eight months, nine months. I never even been there. So, you know, Nick is the regional manager. He's been there, obviously. Tim's the general manager, the Bellingham shop. I no longer go there on a weekly basis on Thursdays. Hence I'm here right now.

And so I expect those general managers to know what is required and then be able to do it. And that for me is you need to be there for your team and whatever that is required, that's what you execute on and that will be rewarded. So yeah, whoever this is, you can ask a question in the chat. I put in the little scroller there, post question in the comments or use the form link in the description. Either one will work. So I will pen. Hold it, hold on for you for a second. If you want to go ahead and type that up. I am. I'll wait here for a second.

Just in case. Corey Augusta Bellingham. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Corey. I will stick around.

I would say this in general, when it comes to general managers and leadership, etc. Just realize if someone's great, they also have a lot of options. So I would treat them well, not just with compensation because a lot of times you can't actually afford, if you're growing quickly, you can't actually afford a whole ton of compensation. But what you do want to give them is autonomy and you want to give them respect. There's not one person that watches this video that has ever heard me say anything negative on direct reports. I know that for a fact because I never have said anything negative. The reason is because I will take that directly to them. And their ears are the only ones that will hear negative feedback to them. And it's not that they are void of lapses or misjudgments or skill deficiencies, it's that no one else will ever hear that. And so it is my firm belief that when you all have mid level managers and you have more than two rungs on the ladder, so if you have two rungs on the ladder, it's like you and a whole bunch of helpers. You have to have direct communication with all of them. And there is no middle management. Middle management comes in the form of you have team members, let's call it general managers. Maybe you have regional managers down the road and yourself like that'd be four rungs as soon as you have more than two. It is my firm belief that you do not allow someone two layers below you to ever hear a negative thing about their direct report. It'll never be said. I have people that will text me horrible things about my general managers, regional managers, etc. And even when I have taken action on that and actually fired those individuals, the people that have reported that know my very first action is like not against my direct report. I do not assume negative things about my direct reports and if I have negative feedback, I will go straight to them. So that's just my two cents. Maybe I'm wrong.

But I think it is.

When I look at the greatest leaders, they they've always held in esteem. The people that they a.

Are romantically involved with and two, their direct reports in business and their partners. You'll never hear me say anything I good about Patrick. You'll never hear me say anything about my direct reports down the road. When I get in a relationship, you will not hear negative things said about that person. Because if I have negative feedback, I go straight to them and them only.

Okay, the crew is doing well with 106% efficiency. Do you have any advice on how to accurately measure the risk when it comes to maxing out capacity? If we can theoretically handle 120% capacity, yeah, this is important. Especially when all of a sudden you go from spring rush to summer. It can dramatically swing. I would say, like I know you're moving your, your hourly rate up to $100 now. So that alone will be bring the 106 probably down to like 90. So I'd probably go for that.

That would be my move first. I would also say when you're at 106% efficiency, I'd be dialing in all the non revenue producing tasks. So like I'd probably start adding in things like washing the trucks out daily, you know, putting rags at the front of the gate with a soapy bucket and it's expected every week.

These are the little things that customers look for. I'd be starting to institute those things when the guys are just crushing it. Shop work, blade sharpening, I'd start making that more of a daily tasks to get everything just really, really. And that's the standard. And then when you switch to where things aren't as efficient now, you have really good habits in place that carry over into a much better morale. So the trucks don't go super dirty, you don't have to be telling people off for like trash in the trucks anymore. The blades stay sharp, the shop stays looking good. These are all things that lead to better morale, better leads from customers when they see the trucks cleaned, et cetera. So I would take the advantage of the super high efficiency to do that and then realize you have a massive amount of leverage when it comes to low performers, yellow slips, damage cases. I'd be like dialing all of this in because this is your opportunity because guys are making a lot of money. So it'd be like customers lost. We're starting to cut 150, $200 off of people's paychecks because you can't go super fast and expect no downside when a customer's lost. You know your customer acquisition cost or at least lead acquisition cost. So you can multiply by say what your close ratio is and okay, $150. If you lose a customer, it's, it's coming off your paycheck. And then explain that one on one to those people when they are continual perpetrators.

I will. But with one call out, it all collapses. Do you have any recommendations or general guidelines you would personally could personally follow? I, I will, I will. What? One second. If you.

If we can handle 100 capacity, I will. But with one call out, it all collapses.

I see you're saying so basically if you put a whole bunch of. Got it. So then just don't put so much on the schedule. I don't, like, don't hold yourself to the fact that everyone wants to work 40 hours. Like if they hit 30, if everyone, if you have 10, 15 people working and you schedule them all for 35 budget hours, or sorry, 30, 35 clocked hours, which in this case is probably like 35 budgeted hours. Because they're so efficient, you know, that basically budget hour equals clocked hour. Right. And so you could be putting people on for 35 budget hours, and they're only working 35 hours, which means if someone drops out, you can easily cover them. And people work less than 40. I'd probably stream from like 32, especially when it's hot. People don't complain because they're making so much money. They're making more than they were a few months ago in the spring working 45 hours. They're making more now working 30, 32. So all of us, including myself, have always been like, we gotta give them 40 hours. You gotta get. You do not have to give them 40 hours. They need a certain amount of money to work. And most people do not complain if they make more money in less time and they go home early. It used to be very different. I remember when people would finish early, they all wanted. Expected more work because they wanted to make more money. I just see consistently now people would rather just make more money in a short amount of time and then leave. So, yeah, that'd be my 2 cents. But this is when you have that high of efficiency, this is your time to hone in the yellow slips, callbacks, training, cleaning trucks, sharpening blades, like dialing every little thing in. Because those habits, if you can nail those for the next two, three, four months, when efficiency is crazy, when you go into less efficient times, everyone will have that skill and it'll serve the morale and the customers much better. You have less yellow slips, you'll have less callbacks, the trucks will be cleaned out. Locking the trucks will happen at night, like all of those things will be dialing. You take advantage during the time when the efficiency is crazy high. And I know you're already raising the rate per hour to bring budget hours back in alignment, which is smart.

Could you do it from 80 to 100 budget hours? You essentially reduce 80 to $100 per budget hour in terms of rate. If you just move the dollar amount, you essentially bring down your budgeted hours, making it more accurate, which you do want.

All right. That, ladies and gentlemen, is all she wrote. I hope you have a fantastic Thursday. We'll see you tomorrow.