Mike Minutes Mastermind 12/19/2024

This is a transcript of a Mike Minutes Mastermind session (Mike Andes, 12/19/2024). The recording opens with announcements about the upcoming Augusta Nation conference (Topgolf event, Thursday programming, hotel discount) and then moves through a Q&A where Mike answers five submitted questions. Key guidance: best upsell windows are immediately after purchase or after you solve a customer problem; use automation so estimate-acceptances notify the owner and follow up via personalized iMessage/video for higher conversion (examples and scripts provided). Service bundles suggested: annual lawn treatments (closely related) and snow removal (strategic, seasonal upsell with early-bird messaging). On business strategy he warns solo operators about the risky 200k–500k revenue "wilderness," emphasizes aggressive selling to escape it, raising prices and stacking cash, and explains why Augusta now prefers higher-capital entrants. He also gives personal advice about turning hobbies into businesses (management often replaces craft if successful), timing marriage while bootstrapping (no universal answer; consider financial stress and emotional bandwidth), and how team members should raise concerns about core-value breaches (lead from within, check your own behavior, avoid flaring ego, present constructive solutions). Transcript contains repetition and spoken hesitations (verbal style).
Chapters
Augusta Nation Welcome. Let's get this party started. Mike Mintz, mastermind December 19 Looks like we got five questions that came in today. Let's go ahead and jump right in. Quick, quick reminder. If you have not yet signed up for conference, I need you to do that bringing a general manager, a spouse, an employee, anybody. We need to get you signed up. This is for the topgolf event. This is for the Thursday lunch for just a gustination. We need to know some numbers so you can't just show up to conference. As much as I would love to say, hey, show up anyone. We need to know the numbers for the food, catering, etc. And for Topgolf. So please, if you are planning on being there, make sure to do that. Know also that the discount code for the hotel is closing soon. So you will want to book your hotel, stay.
Through there. It's, it's about, I think they give you about 60 or $70 off per night. It's still a little bit expensive, but you could split up nights sort of rooms with people if you, if you see so fit, if you can make it, I'd really, really appreciate it. I think it'd be super valuable this year for two reasons. One, the actual workshop on Friday. It's not just a bunch of keynotes that'll be Saturday, but Friday is like an actual workshop you'll like, you will learn a lot. And then secondly, of course you want to see John Taffer on Thursday. Come on now. But also.
On Thursday morning and afternoon during the August Nation event, there'll be a bunch of Augusta Nation owners speaking. But also Thursday morning I will be going over a lot of things that we are releasing this year and there's a lot of stuff so things that are scheduled and ready to roll, some things that are coming up here pretty soon. So we really appreciate being there. We are going to try to get that one out the next week to Augusta Nation, which I talked about with the media team. They have a lot like so much footage when they leave conference, so usually takes them a few weeks. We're going to try to get that one for augustination the next week because there's so much changing. I don't want people that can't make it to feel like they're way behind because you will feel that way like after a week or two. So I just want to make sure everyone gets caught up to speed as quick as possible. But let's go ahead and jump in.
Boom. Feel like I was supposed to say something else, but I'm totally Blanking. So let's just jump right in here.
All right. First question is from Joel from Lafayette, Colorado.
Alex Ramosi says that people are often in a buying mood in a narrow window after making a purchase. That's the best time for an upsell at conference. I'm going to go a little bit over this inside of my workshop. It was like the different periods of time that are like this, like buying windows. Another really good one is right after you solve their problem. So assuming the customer's not happy, unhappy and mad at you, it's also a great time during your walkthrough to an upsell. So just a note there. Extra. I'm thinking about reaching out to new clients after they accept mowing service to ask if they want other services. One I think a text message would work better for this message than an email. Would you agree?
When do you think would be the best time to send this message? When they accept the estimate paired with the thank you and welcome email. Right after the initial MO is complete. A day after the initial mo. Like honestly the answer all of this is like at all of these points honestly. And then the same way we talk about how to send an estimate like the four levels of personalization, I would talk the same way here. I would be personally setting up an automation side of copilot. Every single time an estimate is accepted it bounces back to me and I am saying thank you. We're going to get you on the schedule but I just want to reach out personally as the owner and say thank you and then you pitch them at the very end of that and do an upsell. So you say oh by the way, I was thinking your property would be an ideal candidate for our weed control program. We are running specials on that. I can get an estimate over you tomorrow. If you need that just let me know. But I just want to reach out mostly and just say thanks for joining the mowing program.
So the two services that come to mind and offer an upsell and annual lawn treatment package and snow removal. The lawn treatment package has a more direct connection to mowing and I would say something like thanks for signing up for mowing. We can look make your lawn looking better for an annual treatment plan. However, I'd rather push people towards snow removal because our mowing and growing season only 6 months long snow is not top of mind for people in May or June. But I thought I could say thanks for signing up for mowing. We can save you more time and effort in this winter with snow removal service. Would you like A quote for early bird pricing. What do you think? Thank you for your help with the past questions. It's great to have this sounding board for ideas. And I just want to say congrats to Joel. He just, he just started his second location and in two years was able to ramp up his first location into profit mode. So shout out to Joel. He's like, follows the systems religiously. Is like, yeah, huge kudos to him. He joined with no previous experience and actually was white collar beforehand and which served August Nation very well because he helped us with the, the coaching dashboard and all the metrics. But he has done that in the past couple years and now starting a second location. So shout out to Joel. I will say this about this. I genuinely believe the same way we think about how to pitch winter services and how to send and follow up on estimates, the same thing is true when it comes to upselling customers. If you send a video, a personalized video of you saying, hey, thank you so much for accepting fill in the blank and you say their name and you say their address, I think this comes really natural instead of even like as a pitch. So you literally are just thanking them. They will watch this video. If you text them on an imessage of a video of you, they will watch. This.
Is it. Oh, by the way, I just want, it's top of mind because today we were thinking about our, our winter obviously here in Colorado. It so is a lot and I know it was just top of mind because I saw your, your estimate just get accepted now if you do want to get our snow program, maybe just text me back. And I want to put you on our early bird list. Our early bird pricing list. I would actually say this. I would. I want to go ahead and reserve your spot because we were already pretty limited on the number of spots we have with our current, current mowing customers. But I thought you'd be an ideal candidate. I just wanted to see if you would like me to reserve your spot for the upcoming winter. So that's the type of thing I'd be trying to do is like creating that like at the end of the call that little like, hey, I care about you and obviously you do, but it's more a matter of like making that apparent in the, in the, in the upsell. So instead of making it upsell, it's like, hey, there's limited spots available because I am doing this video with you right now. Almost like, oh, by, by the way, like if that's at the very end of the video, it feels Very natural and not like an upsell and doesn't disqualify your thanks that you're sending them for becoming a customer. So I would personally be doing an automation every time an estimate is accepted to my phone. You can carry a separate Gmail account. Make it random, make it like Joel, Joel lafayettemail.com doesn't matter. Or Joel augusta mail.com just make it a Gmail account. It's free. Make it a Gmail app. That's what I do. I make filters. So if people respond, I don't really, it doesn't really get to me. But all of that say you can do email, but you could also just do text. Imessage would be like the best. So I would, I would have a, an automation. Every time an estimate is accepted, it come back to me. Have the customer's name, it would have a link to the estimate accepted and it would have a, their, their phone number. I would then text them and imessage me quickly saying thank you so much. Really looking forward to get you on the schedule. And at the very end, oh, by the way, it's top of mind right now because we were just talking about it with the snow service. We are filling up really quickly and obviously you just joined. But if you do want snow, if you do get snow services, I would love to reserve your spot. So just let me know if that's of interest to you and I'll get your pricing. Like make it kind of like offhand at the very end, they'll text you back. That'd be my kind of recommendation. Like the response rate on imessage video is just crushing. So like I would just recommend that if you make a video like that, they're gonna watch it.
How Free from Bloomington, Illinois. How would you advise someone about the idea of working or making a business in your passion or hobby? I hear people trying to make a business or work in the industry their hobby so they can do what they love so they'll never have to work a day in their life. This can also cause people to lessen the passion, even resent that hobby. I lean towards the separation of these personally, but yet always a draw for the idea of if I could do X fill in the blank all the time, that would be the dream. Thanks for your thoughts, Kyle. Yeah. See, if your business is successful and you're doing what you love, you will end up doing what you're currently doing. Because any business, when grown and is successful enough, you eventually just become managing and then eventually as that goes on, you become managing. Managers. And so most times people like, I love baking. Great. You should probably get a job as a baker. Because if you start a business as a baker and now all of a sudden, it's actually doing well, and let's just assume that you do well, now all of a sudden, what do you need to do? You hire employees. So now instead of baking pies and baking cakes, you just manage people. And then if it goes really well, you actually don't even manage the manager, you don't even manage the employees, and you don't even see the cakes. Now you're in an office doing distribution for a manufacturing plant to create them and send them off to people. So doing what you love is. Is fantastic. Some people are really, really motivated by that. I would say it depends on what you're optimizing for. If you're optimizing for doing what you love, then you should stay as a frontline team member. And that's not down. I don't look down on that. Some people really love the craft of what they do, and we need people like that. But if you're trying to make money, you're trying to make things successful, be careful what make it into a business. Because if the business is successful, like, let's just assume that, you know, 15, 20% of businesses actually make it 10 years. Let's assume you're one of those eventually that when. When you do that, you become something that you actually don't love, which is usually what you're trying to run away from. That's why, like, management and leadership is usually the thing that everything kind of eventually bubbles up to. If the business is successful in the. In the short term, though, like, usually during that 0 to 200,000 range, you do the doing like you do the work itself. And that is many times when people get into the industry, like, I just love being outside. We got a lot of that during COVID wanted to join the franchise over. Like, I just wanted to get outside. I've been in an office for 20 years, and I just want to be outside. It's like, okay, well, you know, how did that work out? Because all of a sudden they actually were successful because they're really good at sales and marketing. And then all of a sudden they get employees and they realize, like, oh, I'm going back to. I used to do. Which is managing people and managing expectations and doing customer service, and I'm not actually doing the outdoor work. So I'm not a huge proponent of doing what you love, because doing what you love will eventually Become turn into a job, if successful. And that job will likely not be the thing that you love doing.
So if you can just look at as.
Using whatever money and resources you have to, then go do the things you love, I think that's a great prospect. So, for example, I love boating. Great. Make a ton of money Monday through Friday. So on Saturday, Sunday, you can just boat to Wazoo.
Instead of, like, well, start a boating company. Okay. All of a sudden, yes, the first little bit, you will be on the. On the water a lot. You'll be able to talk to people that love boating, you'll be involved in the industry, etc. As the time goes on, what you actually start doing is if you're like manufacturing boats is. It becomes an advertising game. You start going to trade shows, you're traveling, you're actually on the road. You're not next to a lake or on the boat. And so just be careful. That's why I would say if someone's like, I'm gonna chase what I love, I would chase, like, a lot of different other things. And then I would take whatever money I had in being successful in those endeavors and put them towards the things I'm, quote, more passionate about. But that's debatable. There's a lot of things you could say about that. You mentioned about 50% of solo motors have been able to stay in Augusta. Have you have some insights into the success of those who were able to stay versus those that weren't? Also those that were able to leave, Also those that have or do leave. Can you give some direction in what needs to be done in the few years after leaving to be successful enough to return? That's a good question. So we have had.
Where they left and they were able to come back. And so I don't think any of them have left on bad terms. It is a matter of usually it's just, you know, cash flow management. And so in terms of what insights I saw successful that were stay versus those that weren't, I would say first off, the people that actually were able to pound pavement, because as a solo model, you don't have the capital to go spend a bunch of money marketing. And so the only way for you to actually grow very quickly is to pound pavement. And there are solo operators that have scaled past 100,000amonth in revenue within their first year to year and a half because they just excelled at sales. And that's why in the first three stages of growth, all I talk about is sell. And so if someone already has that skill from another job. They've done that sales position before. They can usually move in and immediately scale it very quickly just by pounding on doors, put up door hangers, talking to people, going in Facebook groups, like that's super second nature to them. So that's the first thing. Then there's other solo operators that have never had that skill and they don't have the capital to go spend money on advertising and drive traffic to instant pricing forms or to the phones. And so therefore they let they kind of languish in 4, 5, 6, 7,000amonth in revenue. And until as a solo operator, you got to be making above 8,000amonth in revenue just to pay your bills usually. And then to actually scale, like get past being a solo operator, you need to give up 20,000 as quickly as possible. And so following the stages of growth like 1, 2 and 3, where at the end of every single one, I say do not care about your.
Your profit, care about your close ratio, because I just need you to get through that as quick as possible. And so there, there's just many of them will die in the wilderness of 200,000 to 500,000. Like so many of them did that. And it's not. There's nothing against them. I learned a lot by watching every single one of what happened and also realizing that one way to actually prevent this from happening to 50% of people over the course of five years is simply require them to have the money so that even if they don't have the skill of sales, they can buy their way in past 500,000. That's really the unlock. Because when you're in the wilderness, you have no money and you're not growing quickly. It's very, very difficult to get out of that death spiral. You usually need to take on debt just to be able to like, okay, I need a cash injection, I need to go market, I need like scale up. And then they're playing with risk. And if someone can't manage people, when they get employees and they get to thr3,400,000, now all of a sudden they got a real problem on their hands. They got an unprofitable business that's growing. And so.
In terms of what I would say for them to come return, I would probably say.
They'Ve got to probably jack up prices. They've got to go like no marketing. They got it right back in the field, work long hours and try to get to that 90-100-ch marker and then stack cash so that when they join, if they Ever come back, they would have the capital to actually use the systems to scale. Right? Like I've said it more and more, and this is like why we've raised the capital thresholds of getting into Augusta is like, you really don't need a guest if you're gonna do 150,000 in annual revenue. Like, you can just knock on doors, watch the content, have a decent looking website. You don't even have to rank well on Google, just get government Google reviews. But if you're, but if you're trying to scale, that's when you want to have commands to scale it past 500,000 to pour money on marketing, to be able to have the coaching, to be able to figure out general managers. You know, there's some stuff coming out next year, like to really facilitate this aspect of like copy and paste, that people don't get into a bunch of random services, they don't start doing other businesses. And they said they can just focus on copying and pasting.
Because that's, that's really the reason you join a franchise. And that's why, like, I was talking to an owner yesterday and like, he sent the portfolio of like what Shaquille O' Neal has for franchises. Isn't he like five or six different brands? And some of them are like 10 or 20 locations, some of them are like 40 locations. I think one of them is a lot more. But he just owns a bunch of franchises. And franchises are great method to be able to do an exit because private equity likes to buy chains of franchises. So they'll be like, hey, if you have 40, 50 locations, we will just purchase that and we will hold those, especially once you get past the $10 million marker. So if you had, you know, just call it 15, 20 locations and then you know you want to exit or you want to take chips off the table. Typically it'd be difficult to like sell that in the private market as part of a franchise. Private equity will get involved because they know there's a franchise system behind it and a brand behind it that they can send managers to that they can just, they can pour gasoline on it. And so, you know, I'm a big proponent of this model of get to $500,000 and increase prices. And if it takes you too long, this is the big kicker for the solo models I've seen. If it takes you too long to get past 500,000, you just run out of cash because you're in that. You're stuck in that 200,000 to 500,000 level. And it's you die in the wilderness. The 200,000 to 500,000 is a real thing. And so I've seen some owners that will get to 200,000 and they just optimize for profit like crazy. And I've seen location that they're doing like 300, 350 and they're really profitable because they're staying in profit Mode for like 3, 4 years. As soon as you go into profit mode, you can usually make it work. But that 200,000, 500,000 level is usually tough if you're trying to grow. And so as a solo model with low cash, the faster you get past it and then switch on the profit mode, you can then recover.
Anyways, that being said, we don't do solo models anymore in part because they just.
The amount of energy required to get someone has no cash and.
Usually lacks the skills to sell well is so much resources from us at corporate versus helping people like how do you actually train general managers and like marketing methods and tracking etc. And then when I look at like system adoption inside of Augusta, the solo operators usually are the lowest because they don't have full access to command center. And that's what we, we did. So again, solar models are no longer coming in, but there are quite a few that are going to over the next couple of years be moving into growth. So I'm saying this for the fact like please use the systems because it's the ability to be able to use those systems that get you past the 500,000. And so like when I talk about like the three stages, the first three stages of growth and like don't care about your, your.
Profitability, care about your close ratio is because I know if I get you past 500,000, like you immediately can throw the profit switch on and immediately start taking 50, 60, $70,000 of extra profits if you just get there. So yeah, I would just say in general people die in the wilderness that is the killer.
So one way to prevent it too is just like go into profit mode, be okay with a 200, 250, maybe $300,000 business for a couple years and then stack up cash to be able to really accelerate if you're not great at sales. So that's also some of the strategies some of the operators have used. And it's worked out well. They stayed in that 200,000, they optimized for two years in straight profit mode. Now they're doing 300,000 with very, very profitable margins. And so they now have the capital to really jump to 5 600,000 in one year. So it's also a good strategy. Mr. Anonymous, if you are already if you were already dating your fans fiance when you were first starting Augusta, 18 when do you think you would have gotten married? Assuming she was 18 at the time. That's tough. Okay, I'm okay. Let me keep reading. I am young and on a similar trajectory on as you were the first years you ran Augusta. This of course means I am personally broke because every dollar I make goes back into the business currently paying myself nothing. I have been in a relationship for a few years and I would really like to get married. I however do not want to make the decision too young and not have the money to sustain that and have that effective growth of the business. Would you wait until a certain business side size until you can pay yourself a certain amount of money? Something else. This is something I have on my mind often and I figured I would ask after hearing about your recent engagement, curious your thoughts on this and any advice on the topic. Thanks. Okay, here we go.
So first off, let me say you can find events on both sides of this story. People have gotten married really really young and they just, it's a great for them. Other people that got really married really really young and then they get divorced in 10 years because they realize they were so young that they didn't quote, you know, know each other, they didn't know themselves or whatever. And the same is true for people that wait longer and you could take so both sides of the coin. So I don't think there's a right answer on this because it's personal for every single person. I will say in general, you will never feel ready to do big decisions in life, whether it be get married, have kids.
Like start a business. Like think about that, like when did you start your business? Like you kind of probably second guess yourself, etc. Now if you're really really young, I would probably say.
Like I will probably know a better answer this in five or ten years. Right? Personally, I have never felt ready until like the past year and a half year maybe. And so.
Yes it has something to do with the business but also more a matter of just being introspective enough to like I cannot be what I need to be to be in a healthy relationship because the businesses are demanding so much and so one thing has got to die. Either the amount of hours I work for the business with the business or two.
The the time that I would spend developing a relationship and it wouldn't be fair to that other individual and so once you get past a certain point in terms of the business, you. Your time is better spent. More hours in the business doesn't actually equate to better business. It's better decision making. It's more knowing the data, it's hiring great people. And so that stability is higher, rewarded higher as the business grows. Because at the beginning it is just brute force. You have to just plow. Like we talked about a couple weeks ago, like, effort is what is required at the first stage. And so.
You will probably never feel ready. Like, if you're me, for example, this year, I was already like, nervous about it. I'm like, okay, I'm about to start plowing hundreds of thousand dollars a month in losses. Is this really the right time to start? You know, you know, having a dependent? And I take that pretty seriously, so.
Or someone responsible, I should say. So I don't think you'll ever feel ready. I think if you talk to enough people, some would say that you should go for it and you will grow together. And then you'll talk to other people that would say, hey, like, be a little more stable. I will say if you're like me, that kind of operates a little bit on a scarcity side of things. Haven't had a lot in the past. And you get a little nervous. Like, I get nervous, can't sleep. If there's financial pressure.
I would try to get past that a little bit because it could actually affect the relationship. So your question kind of relates to how will this affect the business? I would actually think of the opposite way, because if the relationship starts going poorly, it will affect the business. Like, you know.
I'm relatively young, but like, I have known that like anytime I'm attempting getting into a relationship, etc. It is a matter of it takes energy. And if that's not going well, it affects me in the business. You know, whether it be time and attention, whether to be focus. And so, um, the stability of that is. Is what is, from what I have heard and talked to a lot of people about this is like, that's the thing I'm. That is. Is. Is appealing. Cause you have like, security and like, okay, this isn't going anywhere. And I don't have to be worried about this. Kind of more transient, like, oh, I've got to work so much and like, this has got a loss and there's back and forth. So it's a little more stable potentially. But okay, if I had to like boil this down, I would say I do not have an answer for you. You will get both sides of the coin on this. I would say if you get very stressed out by financial pressure, you might want to wait a little bit just so that you can have a more secure foundation and you can. You can invest more of your emotional energy into the relationship. Because if that goes poor because you're working crazy hours and you're completely checked out, you can't sleep, et cetera, you might run into some problems with the relationship side. But who am I to know this things? Goodness.
All right. This is Mr. Anonymous.
I'm a team member that watches your masterminds. I've had an issue, a number of issues at my location that I feel don't follow our location's core values. I brought this to several people's attention and don't feel like anything truly gets resolved. My question is, should I just keep my head down and stop saying anything, or do you think I should try. Should keep trying to push for some type of resolution?
Let me give you a book to listen to. Give me a second. That might take me a second.
One second. Oh, what's the name of it? Give me a second. Give me a second. Like, give me 30 seconds and I will answer your question. But there's a book that popped in my head.
Man.
Man.
Okay. There's a really good book on this. I just am blanking on. Give me one second.
Oh, man. Anyways, I'll try to find it. I'll try to post it in the Facebook group on the comments. Basically, it's like leading from within. Like, you're not always gonna be at the top of the work, but you can still lead. I would not be abrasive about this. I would not, like, contest this. You can lead from within the organization. You can also bring this up to the team, up to your leadership in a way that isn't negative. If you just abruptly go after your leader and like, hey, I don't think you're doing what's right. Like, the core values. Right. We have the core values up there on the board. You're not doing this and this and this and this. So, first off, I would make sure I would check myself. Am I living by these core values? Because who am I to judge if I'm not? Secondly, how do I bring this up in a way that's actually positive for the business?
And you can get a lot of credibility from your employer, your boss, if you are abiding by the core values, you hold everyone else to the core values, and you're doing what's right. For the interest of the business. And so it also would depend here what other core values that they are going against, right? Like, are they not constantly improving? You know, do they, are they not being honest? Like, what is those core values that are going against? And then I would try to address that in a way that would elevate my leader. The first thing, if you're trying to get, if you're trying to get someone that is above you to listen is usually like, make sure that their ego is tamed. And so if you come guns a blazing and like, you're doing this wrong and you're doing this, like, their ego will flare up and whatever message you're delivering will not be absorbed. And so I would first off be trying to make sure that that doesn't happen. Like, do not flare up their ego because whatever you say next will be disqualified. And so I would, I would really, really work on how this is delivered. If you do address it directly, I think that you could probably address it indirectly in a lot of ways. But if you have to go direct, just be very careful about flaring up. There you go. If they, if they start getting abrasive during that conversation, I would back up, retreat. Do not address, like, do not confront, because you will first off jeopardize your job. Secondly, you won't get anything done. Like, if your mission here is, I want to see things accomplished, you address this differently. Most time people, when they have these sort of problems in the workplace, their objective is to be right, look good, prove people wrong, instead of like actually see the needle move, actually improve the business. And so if that's your core, be very careful about flaring up their ego. And it's not that like they're a bad person, because if you go, everyone has an ego, every single person. And to think otherwise is asinine. So I would just be careful about that. If you want to give more clarity, feel free to. In this community, if your owners listen to these type of things, he might be more willing to talk to you about this. Now, assuming that they listen, he or she. And so this is why it's important for the owners to listen to these sort of things. Because, like, I would just check everyone that's listening to this that maybe is listening and does, doesn't think they are going against the core values. Maybe bring this up on a team. Me like, hey guys, if you guys think I'm not bringing the core values, just talk to me at the end of the day like, I want you all, I hold you guys accountable to These standards and these standards, core values is what we have agreed to. And so if you ever feel like I don't, please let me know, I want to improve, that would then immediately lower the bar of ego for everyone to be able to address you. And then if you're the owner and this happens to you and someone comes up to you and says these sort of things, shut up and take notes and then realize that they might be wrong. Like also like back to whoever asked the question, you might be wrong, you might not see all the information and you might not have all the data. Right. And you should say, well, that's the owner's fault, they're not sharing open book management or whatever. Maybe true, but if you go in with that, that mentality, you might not get what you want accomplished. If you're an owner and this happens, I would usually try to be quiet, listen, and then realize that they might not have all the information. If you're an employee, you might not know something that the owner does or that the owner's going through or that the owner is trying to make certain adjustments to accommodate a team member because of their personal circumstances. So always I would start with that as my mentality before I go into a conversation, guns a blazing, you know, trying to say people doing things wrong.
Are there any ways you recommend to offer customers financing for projects you could use something like wisetack? There's other third party stuff you can do. Even through Zapier and Copilot, we used to have wisetack integrated into a different CRM that we used. For a while, hardly anyone used it and there was almost all the bills that went way overdue or big came from Wisetack because people that can't pay for the $5,000 install, they usually can't afford to pay 20% interest either. And so then it just becomes a matter of, well, why it's wise tax problem. Well, eventually it kind of becomes your problem because the customer, usually the ones who can't pay are the ones that come problems. And trust me, it's really weird when the customer's unhappy. They're not. They don't owe you money, they owe wise tax money. Wise tax contacting them to collect the debt and you did the job. So guess what they're gonna do? They're gonna go online and blast you. So I'm not a huge fan of customer financing for projects, especially given our industry. Like, I don't really promote doing huge projects where financing is more normalized. It was a big deal in 2020, 2021, because there was so much money sloshing around and so much, so many home equity lines of credit were opened. Like, you had a massive heloc. Then you just go get the financing, like, and interest rates are really low. But now interest rates are 18, 20, 25% on something like Wisetac or Buy now, pay Later. Like, it gets very expensive for them to pay it off. And so I just haven't seen it work. Super well. Honestly, not a huge fan. All right, everyone, hope you have a fantastic Thursday. We'll see you tomorrow. Take care.










