Mike Minutes Mastermind 11/10/2022

Hey everyone, I hope you're in sleep. Well, let me go ahead and just paste this YouTube link into Facebook real quick for everybody. One second, couple announcements.

And then we'll jump into some questions.

Cool.

There it is.

Okay, a couple announcements. First and foremost, Liz told me to say a couple things. Here we go. Entering payments. When you get a check in the mail, enter the payment into your service Autopilot or Super please. There are multiple people who are sent to collections that proved that they had paid and we had no record of it at command center. So it was sent to collections per the automation. So literally weeks and weeks where checks were sitting on someone's desk or just not being cached and that leads to unhappy customers and the collections agency is going to hate your guts too because then they're questioning and doubting each of your collections invoices when the customer literally is like, oh no, I've paid, I've paid, I've paid. And they're sending like actual screenshots of bank statements and checks and all the rest of it. So please make sure that when you get checks you enter them in, you know, ideally within a day or two because otherwise you it's already been a few days since the person sent it. So now you're talking five, seven, ten days since the time they wrote checkout. And now automations are going into effect in terms of them paying. Now if there's the first several couple of weeks, the automations are pretty nice in that like if you sent your check, don't worry about this email kind of thing, but if you let them sit on your desk for two more weeks, it's getting to 28 days where it's like if you don't pay, we're stopping service and you're going to collection and the whole nine yards. So again, just make sure that when you get checks, they do cash them. I think as we move towards super and other softwares in the future, the main thing is like get a credit card on file and push towards that and require it right now there's not an option to require credit card on service auto part where they cannot click accept without a card. It's just more or less a manual process of you making sure that they do have a credit card on file and setting up something around that. So that'd be a note. First checks in bank asap. Make sure it's recorded inside of the account. Okay, you can't just take it to the bank and cash it either. You got to make sure it's in your account. And ideally have a check number attached to that payment.

Oh, yeah, Keep in mind with Performance Max, because it has the banner ads with display ads as well as videos that. That taps into Google's network advertising platform, which is a really cool product for like app developers, people who run blogs, or any website. You can literally. It's very simple to type to post in an adsense column, right? So, for example, I'm thinking I'm making an ad.

A website about whatever, ATVs and camping, right? And I'm like, okay, great. I'm gonna make a bunch of really good content. And the way I'm gonna pay for this and monetize it is through ads. All you have to do as a web developer is literally create an AdSense account and put blocks where they're allowed to put ads. And then those ads are going to be shown to people who have searched for those certain types of things on Google, right? So, for example, I make it. I make it. I make a website about ATVs and camping. Someone goes and they are searching golf, but then next weekend they are. They're looking for camping stuff and they're on my website. That person will likely have a golf ad in those adsense because they've gone to places about golf, they search golf or whatever, and now they're being targeted through Google on a different website. The reason I'm bringing this up is this also is now a big deal on mobile apps. So, for example, the reason I bring this up is yesterday I'm out in the wild, just in the local community, and someone literally says, oh, I see your videos on Angry Birds. And I was like, what? I couldn't, like, wrap my head around it. And sure enough, the free version of angry birds uses AdSense to display ads. So keep that in mind. And again, this person was in the target market. They're the perfect ideal customer. Over 45, have money, et cetera. So I was like, that's a win. He's like, I see your ads. I saw the one where you jumping up and trying to, like, trim the thing and then you get wrapped around with all the weed whacker lines. So those funny ones work well typically inside those type of platforms. That's why what's cool about Performance Max is when you put all those different videos in there, it displays the most relevant one to the person based upon its performance. So just kind of a side note there, tomorrow Liz and I are headed to. Is it Michigan? I think it's Michigan. For Brian's lawn maintenance and his event. We're doing it for two reasons. One, well, three, I guess. One, obviously just to, you know, help out, and I'm speaking there. Secondly, I want to meet with Corey Ballard, talk to him about a couple things. Three is.

We'Re going to be ironing out all the details of conference as well as the Thursday events with just the franchise. So we're going to be ironing out all those details that when we come back, we're going to start doing all our planning for the events, et cetera. So her and I need to get on the same page.

All right, switch over to questions. I haven't had a chance to look at these. Let's pull this up real quick. Share screen.

Okay, there it is.

All right, first one's from Kyle. Oh, you know what? I was gonna go over this real quick. Give me one second before we jump into questions. Let me jump. Let me. Real quick. Sorry. Let me do some. This stuff. I wanted to show.

I wanted to show this. I know I put already on the Facebook group, but this was from last night that I posted this. If you haven't read this in detail, I would ask that you would. I basically was talking about the current economic kind of climate and really just preparing us mentally for what that's going to look like over the next six months.

Here it is. Cool. So please read this. I would recommend it. It's really just a matter of preparing yourself mentally for what we're going to see over the next six to 12 months. It's not really a matter of the economy. You know, when I post this sort of stuff publicly, people take this as your fear mongering when it's really not the case at all. In terms of my intention, the intention is to prepare yourself for other people who will fear monger because it's good for clicks and it's good for ad revenue, it's good for retention in the news. And that's what they are looking for. So preparing yourself mentally is the most important thing. And realizing that when everyone is doing that is the exact time in history that you should be going all in on whatever you're doing when it comes to making money. And so I'm trying to live this out, as we talked about at training when you were here, is I expect certain things to trickle down from the way that I. I act and behave down to you as owners, down to your employees throughout Augusta Nation. And so when I talk about making these cuts personally and what we're trying to do with selling the real estate is preparing for exactly this. And that is the next opportunity to really dive into something that has massive returns and that isn't your business. And so there's a reason why I'm selling the real estate is because I don't feel like real estate is going to go up 10, 20% a year like it has for the past two years. And I believe the business has way better returns to deploy that capital. And.

Over the over 20, 21, as we've made all these cuts and things like that and really made things in every business profitable and cut out all the fat, there's a reason why in doing so we have literally moved up our number of franchises at all, hardly at all this year. That will change when we go into aggressive mode. But you have to, it's the same thing with growth to capacity. When I talk about your business level mowing lawns, the same thing is true for every business and it includes the franchise level. We have to grow to capacity, make it efficient and profitable at that level and then you can grow and expand. You got to stair step it. And so we are preparing for that next leg up. And in order to do that, these are the type of things I'm doing. And I would highly recommend every dollar right now that you can cut in terms of wasted costs is going to be worth a whole lot more next year. And so that's not a matter of being fearful or fear mongering, that is a matter of just being real and realizing that fear mongering will happen. And if you think right now people are talking a lot about recession, just wait until next March, March, April, when housing prices on a year over year basis have declined, when unemployment goes up for the first time in very long time besides March 2020, it'll be, yeah, it'll be all over the place. Like it'll just be fear all over the place. But typically when, when you hit peak fear, it's already past the worst time of the market, whether it be socks, real estate, and more importantly in your business. The reason we talk about the market, just remember that everything in a market is dependent on each other. So when stocks go down, real estate goes down, fuel prices, when deflation starts to set in, when unemployment goes up, wages go down, when all of that starts to happen, it affects every single aspect of your business. And so going all in.

Any time when it's really, really bad is a good idea. And I'm preparing myself personally for that. I will personally have a net worth of nine to zero within six months because I'm taking every single thing that I personally own and selling it to. We all go all in on the businesses. So it'll make, it'll take my personal net worth to zero.

And.

Some of what I'm making. I'm going to talk about a conference and it'll have a direct impact on the guestination and what our long term goals are. But I'm going like 110% all in and I would hope that you follow in that a vein of mentality. The reason I say this is because every single person that's ever lived through any short term recession has always regretted not going all in afterwards. It's again, it's easy to talk about fearful times. It's hard to live in fearful times. Right. And so as you head into fearful times, just be very cognizant of the fact that every single person that bought anything in March 2020 would be businesses, stocks, real estate, like you'd buy out businesses that were hit like had to close down like gyms for example, for literally 5 to 10% of what they're worth in March of 2020. Yeah, like everyone wishes they would have bought everything out but it wasn't easy when you literally were getting shut down by the government because it's hard to live in fearful times. And so over the next six to 12 months as we live through the fearful times and unemployment goes up and everything's happening, keep this in mind without a fail every single time there's been a recession, everyone afterwards wishes, hopes and says I wish I would have, I wish I would have bought the business. I wish I would have gone in all in. I wish I would have bought out my competitor. I wish I would have doubled down on hiring when it was easy during a recession. Those are the things that people wish. And so I'm just trying to prepare us all for the mentality that, that this is going to happen. Be prepared for it and execute on what your plan is. So I hope that makes sense and some of these things that I'm talking about right here are going to be made clear at conference.

Okay, let's get that, let's jump back to some questions.

Like the last thing, the last thing I would ever want to do is be the person who's guilty of fear mongering. It's a matter of being realistic of where we're going and then having a plan mentally to prepare for that. Kyle, would you say you are more introverted or extroverted? I am very introverted and in a lot of time alone don't like loud noises or bright lights. I have learned A lot about myself over the years. I found I get tired very easy with social interactions, talking the phone or meeting people. Some would think this is a handicap with running a business, but I've learned how to deal with it and plan my day accordingly. There are times I'm very extroverted, then I need to recharge the old social batteries. Just fascinated to learn how people work and socialize in life and business. So I'm curious what you are. Yeah, like I would say I can be either or. The thing is, what most people don't realize is not just about me, but a lot of people, whether it be talking on stage or people that are very social or extroverted on camera, is do need a lot of time to get alone. So the main reason I get conference, for example, you'll see me run off stage and go back, go back in another room is this reason once I'm talking and like I literally don't have a single thought besides what I'm saying out of my mouth. Like it takes so much concentration to do that and like talk to people. Like I'm not thinking about anything else besides the person in front of me. That's very exhausting. And so I need to recharge my battery. Like I am completely wiped, drained and exhausted after something like conference or like GI Eclip Expo where I'm just talking to people the whole day because. And I think it's, it's. It's more than you think. Right. So don't think that. It's very rare to have an individual that.

Doesn'T have this. And I don't think it makes you any less of a leader. It's just a matter of the way you're. You're built. And I definitely need time to recharge. It's not like recharge like rest. I need time just away from human beings just to like collect my thoughts. I don't know. So that is your answer number two. Here we go. Couple software questions. You still plan to improve the features and do foreseeable future? Yes, we do. Absolutely. 110%. When is the soonest you think you will have a workable CRM that you own a stake in? Okay, let's read the background that lines at. I was planning on switching from service Autpad to Zooper in the next year because throughout this year Zooper has been presented as the new home for Augusta. That changed approximately a week ago. And I'm wrestling with what to do next. Do you feel confident about having a new software within a year staying with SAA makes sense but if you think it will be three years before having something switching to Zebra probably makes more sense. Gates is a great point. There is stuff that I am working on and I'm going to bring it forward at conference to all of you.

If I was you to ask answer your more direct question is I would not personally change softwares right now if you're doing it unless you are very uncomfortable with service autopilot and it's just completely bogging you down then I would switch to Zooper. I would not recommend switching otherwise and we are not planning on doing that for my locations. The new ones though will probably start in super just because that's where training is going to be and it's easy for them to learn so easier learning curve and a lot of the processes and systems are the same and it's actually pretty easy to switch between the two because the systems and the automations and documents we use are all the same at command center and that makes it very very good for us as a whole because we don't own any of those softwares and so if they ever rug pulled us or did something stupid or they go down we always have a backup. We always have ability to be able to move to different software and that will happen until I own something and there is progress being made towards that and at conference I will talk a lot more about that so probably have a franchise Advisory Council meeting here pretty soon and get them looped into things prior but that conference it'll be ironed out and I'll have a lot more details for everyone but in general like yes we are working on still with super perfecting that and I do believe that by January it will be able to have large companies on there in terms of a dispatch board the features will be ironed out. There's still little bugs like with their a couple like especially their bulk bulk charging of cards for example. There's still things with that there's going to be issues with every single software and even if we own it will be issues. It's just a matter of controlling where resources are being deployed to fix those problems. But I have never worked more hours in my life on a problem and this is what I'm currently working on.

I've gotten a couple complaints this year with a dozen or so customers throughout last year cancel because I'm not as accessible whenever they call or that I sold I sold and were not as good.

Okay while that is true I respond to emails our situation was the solution much Quicker than I had before. I have just far more strict and structured.

People aren't used to that in this field in my opinion. So it is aggravating to them. It really only seems to be an issue with people that I know. I'm the owner. No newer customers that I'm aware of. Yeah, this is, this is a great. Yeah, I'll hear. Let's keep reading. They just complain. They never hear from me. I believe in the systems and I'm aware why I cannot answer the phone. It has been an emotion, has been emotional beneficial not to have that part. However, do you just continue to receive that criticism or is there something I can do about it? Two people at ease that we are making sure that they're getting taken regardless of who. Also, for when we need to call customer or reschedule formats. Is there a way our phones can link with RingCentral so when we call out it can come from the company number? I use Google Voice, but it typically comes through a spam call. Yeah, so let's address this first part. So yeah, you're 100% right. There's always a tearing that usually takes about a year to two years. When you've gone from very hands on in the field to being hands off out of the field and really running on systems. There's always the tearing. There's still. I shouldn't say there is still. As of even last year, I'd still have random customers call me my cell phone number because they still had it. And again, you stick to the system. You do not answer that phone call. And I see the recorded voicemail and I do not even listen to it. It's deleted immediately. It has to follow the system because otherwise you're just being tempted to go jump back in and fix problems. And that's just. You're taking a step backwards. So highly recommend that you don't do that. Give me one second. I gotta delay a meeting.

One second.

Give me five.

Okay.

Yeah, this is gonna happen. This will happen at every single level. Right. So just remember like this happens in every business as a company grows. And it's always painful, but it's the right thing for the business and ultimately it's the right thing for the customer. Because if you, if you're going to continue to scale, it's not right for the customer that you're the bottleneck for everything. You need to delegate. Right. And so it's never easy for your customer. Right. Like let's take a step back and make it a little more closer to home. No One liked the fact when I said, like, I'm not doing anyone's coaching calls anymore. No one likes that. But there's no way Augusta Nation gets to the goals that we have without that happening. The same thing goes for your business, right? If everything is locked up in your head, it's not best for the customer that they only can contact you and they get that personalized service in the short term. They will not like it there will be painful, you know, lose customers over it. Yes, 100%. And yes, you can do a better job than people answering the phone or your employees out in the field dealing with customers. You can do a better job, but ultimately you're only. There's only one of you. So they can do half a good job with you, but you can have ten times as many employees. You ultimately get there five times faster. Right? So you gotta rely on that. It's not easy. Yes, it is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster in those year, year and a half, two years as you're splitting apart. But there's no way to have multiple locations. There's no way to scale up a big business. And this is why most companies will stall out around three to five employees, because the owner fails to let go of things, follow systems, delegate, and trust other people to take control. In terms of this part, no, this is not happening. Mostly due to the fact that we cannot track those calls and we don't have them recorded. And we can't ensure that someone's going to leave notes inside their CRM. What that leads to is customers calling and we don't have complete information. Customers saying that they talked to the owner, and now we're handicapped, we don't know what to say. And furthermore, those calls can't be recorded. And so again, if you're doing a collections call, if you. We can't have proof of that and click. And we pay thousands of dollars at command center just to have everyone's phone calls recorded. And we do that simply because it has saved a lot of the franchisees tens of thousands of dollars when it comes to collections. So there's multiple reasons why we don't do that. The biggest ones is CRM, not putting people don't put notes in. We have incomplete data. We now have the issue of the person thinking that the owner is next to our staff and that they can just ask for you. And the last, most important thing is the calls are not recorded. And therefore we have incomplete data to be able to go after invoices for people or have the confidence in what we're looking at on your software. What is the CARES Act? Are we eligible to get money from the government for payroll during COVID Note, I did not receive any BP money or any assistance during COVID Yeah, so the CARES act is basically what was started in 2020 for PPP loans, Eidl loans, etc. If you were not in business in 2019, it's unlikely that you are going to be able to get anything you need to be as basically be in business prior to Covid. So 2019, if you have an entity that's still in operation today, there's stuff on the table for you. The CARES act is now over. You cannot enroll in Eidl or PPP loans. However, the ERC employee retention credit is something that you should be looking into if you were in business with the same entity in 2019 and if that is of interest to you, I can put a link up for someone I would recommend to do that process for you if you Again, only if you had employees in 2019 in the same entity that you currently have today. If that was the case and you did not lay people off during COVID they're giving retention credits right now and those are sizable.

To piggyback on your announcement, it seems like you're expecting us to be able to find great deals on businesses going into the spring. We should be able to purchase competitors for cheap, right? I'm actually not really. It's not really about purchasing them. It's a matter of a lot of them will just leave and go out of business. There's going to be opportunity to purchase them. Absolutely. I believe that everyone's going to be everyone on this call will probably be. They'll have the opportunity in your local market to buy some out this this year. Whether or not you do it or not is irrelevant because a lot of times if you let them just go out of business, you'll get half their customers anyways. If you're doing a good job marketing and you're ranked at the top of Google, being at the top of Google is going to be like the most important thing this winter because when people go out of business, you need to be at the top when people are searching for next spring. So yes, consumer demand is going to wane. Yes, people. There's going to be less people wanting to look for services and they're going to be more price conscious next spring. But you're also going to have, I believe 20 to 30% of landscapers are going to go out of business this winter and we've already seen even in Gust Nation we literally had no cancel. Like people drop out hardly until this year and we've had like five this year. And so, you know, it's 5% so bad of our system but you know, it's just a matter of people just giving up and quitting obviously. Guess nation only only really one I would say failed. The other ones were like health, things like that. But regardless, when everything's going well in the economy, people are going to do a better job of managing those things. And so as the nuts get, you know, as things get tighter over the next six months, you're going to see people bail out and yes, potentially you buy someone out. But I don't think that's actually my that's not really what I'm trying to say here. I'm saying just defaulting to aggressive mode of advertising, hiring and picking up those customers once they leave those places or when those places go out of business. That is the important part. So all right.