Mike Minutes Mastermind 08/09/2023

Hey everyone, hope you're doing super well. Let's go ahead and get things kicked off.

Quick thing, you're gonna see me post this on the Facebook group as a form and it's basically be a first come first serve basis. Let me just, I'm just getting this set up for Facebook.

And that is I know there are some people that want to switch over to COPA as soon as possible. And so in September, September 1st is when we're going live with all of July group that came for training. But then after they get onboarded we will then be willing to move people over from Zooper or Service Autopilot into Copilot. Essentially everyone at Command center is going to have to learn all three of the software. So we're already starting a whole bunch of training that will continue until the last week of August to make sure everyone at Command center understands how everything is supposed to work inside Copilot as well. The systems are all the same but just buttons are different spots, etc. So I'm going to do later today is put a form inside of the Facebook group and if you are wanting to switch from Zoopor Service Autopilot to Copilot sooner than the cutoff date that has been outlaid before, just fill in your information, do not fill in the information unless you want to switch as soon as possible. Because what we're going to do is we're going to work from top to bottom of that form of people that want to switch over faster.

And so it'll be a first come first serve and we will not open it up probably I'm guessing until mid September in terms of actually taking people from the top of that list. But we will get everyone from the July training in August 1st or sorry September 1st and then I'm guessing within a couple of weeks we would start taking people off the top of that list and we would help you merge everything over and we would have processes in place to ensure like we help you move over, we know how to import and export and we streamline it all for you. Even the current team has done importing exporting a gazillion times now so they have a pretty good streamlined process for it keeps just to make sure that you don't accidentally miss any information. So.

That'S coming up. I will have a form like I said and if you fill it out, please know that if we ask like only fill that form out if you want to switch when we ask, we tell you to. If you're like, well I want to wait till this date. Well, then don't fill out the form because, like, I've already given out what those dates are. But if you're in a rush and you're like, I just want out of whatever you're currently in and you want to get into Copilot as soon as possible, fill out the form and then we're going to work our way from the top to the bottom and assist those people getting onboarded and moved over.

Would we need any experiences before switching? I've used Lawn Pro for it's. It's changed a lot since Lawn Pro. Like, there's certain elements that might seem somewhat similar in terms of the invoicing and estimate process, but the software is totally different. Like the whole layout's different. It's. It's going to be very different than Lawn Pro. So I would definitely recommend watching Copilot University. You can go get a free version of Copilot and then just go to the support tab, go to Copilot University or just not even have to get a free version. Just go to mikeandys.com copilot and it's a free course that you can watch. And if you watch that, you are literally probably 95 of the way there. When we put our, our support reps for Copilot through that course, we expect them to be able to do chat support chats after that. So it's pretty in depth. It'll take you a day to go through, probably maybe two, but you'll have a very clear understanding of what's going on. So.

All right.

Share screen. See what we got today. Seven questions. Very nice. Jeff from Sandwich, Massachusetts. What's your opinion on using Podiums texting platform for collecting Google reviews? The rep told me it's a streamlined process and clients are more likely to follow through with the review. Also, could you integrate with Essay or Copilot? Thank you.

So Podium has some cool features around texting. They cost a lot of money. It's 200, if I remember correctly, $279 a month and that's for only up to a thousand contacts. So if you have a bigger business and the vast majority of us have more than a thousand contacts in our database, you're looking at, I forget the second tier. It's like 400 something 3 or $400. It's extremely expensive. And honestly, inside of Copilot, we, we can do about, I would say 80 to 85% of what they do in terms of like taking payments, setting up an automation for collecting the reviews. The review link from Google, my business page is super easy to be able to integrate and tie to there. So they do some cool stuff especially with like.

Streamlining and automating communication with text messages. It's pretty cool.

I don't know if it's necessarily worth $300 a month for a thousand contacts, to be honest with you. And I think the vast majority of it can be done inside of Copilot. And what's nice now is that now that we'll all be in Copilot, like starting next spring, we will be able to really, really hone in a lot better like templates, automations and things. Build them at command center and then be able to push them out for everybody and have them in the marketplace for you to be able to download. The trouble we have had in the past couple years because we're so split between service autpy and super changes made in one might not be able to reflect in the other. Therefore we can't do a special automation or something that we know we can do in one but not the other, right? So like payment collection in Zooper for example, you can do it in a certain way. It's way easier than Service Autopilot. However, there's parts of Service Autopilot they're like the email design is way better than Zooper, right? So now that we're all in one and like for example the email builder and Copilot gives way more options in terms like gifs, stickers, tabs, like a whole bunch of really cool stuff. We can make some awesome stuff. So I'm really looking forward to getting us all in one and then we can use command centers, asset and resource as a way to really develop templates more, create really cool automations and then have them available for all of you. So I would say that like literally 80% and I think down the road 90% of what podium does we could do inside of Copilot. I am working with another company that does texting automation to potentially integrate with Copilot later this year. And so they are working on the zapier side of things to set things up for like where in a text text a customer could like create an ask for an estimate and some other things and then down the road we'd probably do a direct integration with them.

And they're cheaper. Mercy, they're cheaper. They're a tenth of the price. Kyle Tarvin Moore, Oklahoma do you suggest still maxing out our Google Local services budget this time of year? Yeah, I would because your, your cost per lead is still going to be between 12 and 25 bucks typically. So I would still be maxing out. Unless you're not taking leads. Unless you're maxed out. If you're like max out of your mind with with leads and work, then obviously any marketing should be cut.

Devin Sheridan, Red Deer hey Mike, at your Bellingham shop, do you guys keep the ramp racks on the trucks all year round and do you keep the backpack floors in the ramp attachment even in negative 30? Thanks. I find the backpack blower ramp attachment so helpful, but it might hurt the blower in negative 30. What do you think? Yeah, so we take the equipment off during the winter and strip it down to like our core few trucks that we put out for winter services because all the other trucks are like property cleanup stuff.

And then in terms of the ramp racks, yeah, we just keep them on year round. So we have separate trucks for the ones that pull the dump trailers. So basically every day you got, you know, four trucks going out with dump trailers and then you got everything else with ramp racks. That's kind of where we're moving towards too. Dustin from Bloomington looking to hire a GM for the Champaign location. I know in years past you've had a list of prospective GMs and I wasn't sure if you were planning on doing that again this year or not. Second, I know you talked about it when you started south park location, but how did you word the hire? How did you word the hiring ad differently? For a working gym, they'll need to be part of a building what the location as well as working the field and managing the crew. So the second part that is on the dashboard, go to the templates and downloads and search just gm. It's a whole folder and one of those folders is the hiring ad.

I'm probably not going to do this prospective GM list until the spring. So going into like January, February, I'll probably make a public post and say if people want to be general managers to apply and then we'll get a list for everyone to be able to use. If you're looking for a prospective gm and typically if you are, if you have a good enough compensation package and give them some money for moving, they are willing to move for a position.

That's how Chuck came about originally. He's moved from Ohio to North Carolina. From the one of those posts I made publicly forest from Modesto question about raising prices. Modesto Vacation have been profitably growing since day one. Prices have never changed. If we need a truck, I buy it. If we need equipment, I Buy it. If we need employees, we find them. July gets tight in cash, but that seems to be normal over the past two years. By the end of the year. Last year we put 80k back in the bank clear and this year is looking even better. I pay myself between myself salary W to $6,000 a month before taxes. Should we ever raise prices or continue to profitably grow forever? End goal for this location is to have a cash cow like Bellam that can continue to fund one new location per year for the next 200 years. LOL.

The thing is this, you're growing. You can't profitably grow forever, right? Because if you Keep growing say 20, 30%, eventually you start hitting magnitudes of numbers where you'd have to like go about buy real estate or you have to like really take it to the next level. The question is, are you going to be involved in it forever? If you're going to be involved in this location forever and all your other locations are smaller, maybe that makes a little more sense. But what I would recommend is finding a GM that can run this location and then really honing in what size of business is going to be it the best for them and then making it profitable at that stage. And that's okay. Once we hit X amount a million, maybe it's 800,000, it's 1.2. Whatever it is, when we get there, we're gonna just keep racking up prices. Because the alternative is you keep growing. When in reality if you just stay at 1.2, you can make as much, just as much profit as if you're at 3 million. If you just over the course next few years raised prices on the 1.2 for example. That number though needs to be determined by that general manager. Because unless you're going to be there, if you're going to be there, like that's fine. Like you can do, you can grow it to whatever you think your capacity is. But just realize that the vast majority of your profits are found when you hit capacity and start raising prices because you can double and triple your profits by doing so. So it's like well do you want a million dollar business that produces 25% profits or do you want a two and a half million dollar business that produces 10% profits? Well, the bottom line is they both make the same amount of profit, $250,000. The quarter question is do you want to 2 1/2 x your employees, head count, liability, etc, that's up to you. If you want to, that's fine. But just realize it's going to take a couple extra years to get to there that size and then, you know, it's just more. More of a management thing. So if you want to manage yourself, you're going to be fine. Finding a manager at 2.5 is going to be more difficult than say 800,000 or a million or 1.2. So there's no right or wrong answer on that. It's a matter of how big do you want to grow and then keeping in mind that all of your profits sit at a point when you stop growing and you raise prices. Like it's almost immediate. It is immediate. Connor from Evansville, I feel like this was asked but will. Will we be doing an instant corridor hanger for aeration overseeding? I think Kyle Freeze asked this question. I'm curious what that timeline looks like as the season is almost upon us. Yeah, I don't know if we have it done or if it's already in there. I know they've been working on it. I just don't know if it's already in there. They've been delaying us. One second. Gusta Pro Shop.

See here. I don't think it's in here, but let me just triple check. I would stay within a week or two though because I know that like they basically have this finished. I'm pretty sure it just we have to submit to Vistaprint and then they have to put it on the Canadian and the U.S. pro Shop. One second, one second, one second.

Sorry. This is loading forever on Pro Shop.

Okay, it's loading. Share this tab. Let's see here. I don't think it's gonna be live yet.

See what we got.

Door hangers.

Okay. It's not on here yet?

No, not yet. So.

I would assume within a week or two. But I will specifically screenshot this.

And make sure that we are putting pressure on just to print.

All right, next one up.

Garrett from Glendale. I'm going to let go of a team member that that Cole has been training for the last two weeks. He's been mediocre performance, attitude and professionalism wise thus far. We've been working with him to better himself in the way he talks, his mindset and help him build his work ethic. This morning he looked high but he told Cole he had CBD this morning but not thc. Not sure whether or not I believe that. Not that it matters. I don't know that much about marijuana. Is it. It is legal here and he is of legal age. But I feel confident that we can, we can find a Team member with a more positive attitude to fill his spot. When I fire him, I am obviously just going to be very kind and thank him for his time. Is it wise to mention anything about potential marijuana use before work before I let him go? Short answer to that, no. You say it's based on the performance. And honestly, though, that sort of thing, if you believe it's affecting his performance, you just say, based on your performance, we're going to let you go. I feel like people have been. Have. Shouldn't be blindsided when they let go. While we have had a few conversations with him, he. We haven't put an ultimatum in place. The ultimatum should really revolve around his performance, though. It really shouldn't be about whether or not he does whatever. It's like, look, is that putting other team members in danger? Then that's a problem. Is he working slower? That's a problem. If he. Is he not showing up on time, is that a problem? That's a problem. If his attitude, performance, and professionalism is off, then that's what you fire him for. Has nothing. No reason as. No, I don't like, ultimately, you fire people for that reason. It doesn't really matter if they have family or health or, you know, drug issues or whatever it's like. Or drama at home. It's like you fire them for these reasons. Performance, attitude, and. And professionalism. I also understand that I have an obligation to my team and the rest of Augusta Nation to raise a level of professionalism. And for that reason, I know it's best to part ways with him. Yeah. So, like, you made that decision. Just make it very clear that it has. Like, you're firing based on performance, and if he's been there for the last two weeks, you can say, look, you have not done these, you know, met these standards, and we're letting you go and just move on. Because it doesn't sound like you have a problem finding someone else. You said, I feel confident we can find another team member. So if that's a problem for you, finally the team member and then let him go. But I'd probably. Sounds like he's probably slowing down Cole.

In training, so I'd probably let him go and then find someone else. It sounds like you're pretty confident you can do that. It'd be different if you were like, I can't find anybody. Well, then you need to go find your replacement, probably before letting him go. But if someone's doing that the first couple weeks, they aren't going to randomly change.

All right? Next up, let's see. We got. So I'm. So if I'm paying 450 an essay, how much would I will I save each month by switching to copilot ASAP? You'll probably save like 10. That's kind of what I'm seeing across the board.

What you'll save a little bit more on is if you do. Ach. Oh, you know what you probably have, you probably have Maps Pro and texting and all the rest of it too. So you'll, you'll save a little more than 10, probably.

Six employees. Yeah, you. You probably save like 120, $130, I'm guessing. But I would not make that decision based upon that. I think I just saw who this was. Nick. This is Nick. Yeah. Nick Daniels. Beck. Nick, you know Service off very, very well yourself and some of the other users that have like used, you know, Ryan Payne, Kevin Fairburn, have used Service Off a lot and are really, really good at it. I would probably wait, if I was you, I would just wait until January 1st because as we get closer that we're just going to have more and more features that are going to make it the switch easier for you. Now if you're just like fed up and you know, you're like, hey, service output is causing me to spend four or five hours of my day and I'm getting wrapped up in all the weeds of it. Yes, I think you should switch to Copilot as soon as possible. But if you're good at Service Autopilot and you like it and you've really mastered it, and I know Nick for a fact, you, you know a lot about the features of Service Autopilot that even I don't know, you might want to wait because we're going to have better and better features like every single month as we get close to January. So we're already, I'm already pushing the devs really hard on a few things to get done this month. So by September 1st, they're done.

But like, we got September, October, November, December. That's four months of development. And if you're really, really deep in essay and you understand it and you like, love their dispatch board and you have like crazy amounts of features and tagging and like, I know you do that in Nick specifically, you might want to just wait till January 1st. That being said, I've had discussion with you directly, Nick, and like, I know and you know that you get sometimes wrapped up too much into the weeds of it and spend more time you know, figuring out the software than you do, you know, implement, implementating, implementing what you're trying to get done. And you know, Copilot will restrict that because we're making like one way to do things instead of 5,000 different ways of doing things. And if you, if you have paralysis by analysis, it might be a good move for you. But I would not rush it because, you know, servers off that so well and are using it to its full extent because you've used it for many years. So I am not concerned about everyone in Super. I personally would be moving over from Zooper as soon as possible. I'm not concerned about anyone doing it. Less than 5, 600,000 in annual revenue moving over to Copilot. It's the people that are doing above that and have used it for many, many years, have tons of tags, custom automations, custom email templates. Those are the ones where I would say, you know, don't rush, just wait. And January 1st will probably mean just like more features that are going to make it easier to assimilate. So. All right, everyone, have a fantastic day. We'll see you tomor.