The Owner LEFT and this Happens.... (CHAOS?!)

Okay. I've always seen the salary. If we go south, like, I hate salary.

We are going to Disney World today. Alex is going to be running shop.

I don't want these guys getting sick.

I appreciate it. They'll get through it. They'll be fine.

That's what we're dealing with right now. Okay.

It was a mess.

It is stressful. I feel guilty.

Your best judgment, we're all watching it.

And there was nothing to it but to do it. The situations.

60% of businesses will fail in their first three years. I'm Mike Andes, and I'm on a mission to fix this. I know the fear, and I felt their pain. For the next 30 days, these owners will be sweating it out while trying to avoid becoming another statistic on this season of business boot camp.

One of the most stressful things about being a business owner is when you one day have to leave the business for a few days or a week.

We are going to be gone all next week. Alex is going to be running shop.

Will and Larissa are going to Disney for an entire week and leaving the whole business for the very first time to Alex, their general manager.

We're gonna be running our full operations while we are on vacation.

Let's see if Alex is able to keep the business afloat or if things fall apart, because this is when things fall apart, when the business owner is away.

Just woke up, just got done packing up the vehicle with our bags this morning, and we are headed off to the airport because we are going to Disney World.

Alrighty, guys. We made it to Tampa, Florida. If there was a second state that we lived in, it would more than likely be the state of Florida.

I was thinking a lot about this on the flight over here, but I think as business owners, sometimes, you know, we struggle. I do a lot with taking vacation and, you know, leaving operations and stuff like that. It is stressful. I feel. I feel guilty, like, leaving because it's like our little baby, it's our little business. And, you know, so I do feel somewhat guilty anytime that we do take a vacation. I mean, we have a great team. They're phenomenal. I have full faith and confidence in them. However, it's just. I still feel guilty about leaving and just not being there.

Right.

To put any fires out that come up and things like that. So it gets better, I think. I think as the. As the trip goes on, I try to think about it less just because you're in the routine of always kind of working hard and running forward and everything. But it's A struggle sometimes, but I know they'll get through it. They'll be fine.

Last thing, actually, I want to tell you before we head out and get the rental car, I am actually going to get to see one of my great, great friends that I served with. He was a sergeant and NCO in the United States army paratrooper. Jumps out of airplanes just like I did. And his name is Tyler Hart, AKA Sergeant Hart. He had a huge impact on my life. Just a super positive, great person. We were in Iraq together, down in Baghdad. We served out there for 10 months in a. In a combat zone together. So obviously, we share that connection as well. So we're going to be able to. I'm going to be able to see him. It's going to be a great time, and I'm looking forward to it. Everybody say what's up? What's up?

What's up?

Guys have already been dispatched. We did the Monday morning meeting. Things were a little bit crazy this morning. I was out of town until about 1am this morning. Had to go pick up a new vehicle. We're expecting rain. It's really cold outside. The cold weather came in over the weekend. We're expecting rain today. I am keeping a close eye on it. That's really the only concern for the day. I'm watching it. They're watching it. And if the rain really starts coming in, I don't want these guys getting like. I don't want to risk a chance of hypothermia. I told them, use your best judgment. We're all watching it. Want them staying, you know, safe. As if we have to push these mows back again to tomorrow, Wednesday. I'm optimistic. These guys are going to be great. I look like a disaster. But, hey, it's only Monday. So one of the very many hats I wear here is maintenance, repair and.

Make sure everything stays right. Spray rig failed on me. On Friday, the push button decided it didn't want to be a button anymore. But I need to see if it's the button that failed or if it was something else. So I have a button. I'm going to do a trusty volt meter. I put it on. Continuity testing right there. Probes one on one end, on the.

Other, and if I hear a beep, button's good.

So we're good to go. So that's it up.

So.

That'S what we're dealing with right now. We got weather moving through periods of rain. No rain. It's not too bad yet. TJ only has six houses left. On his route, Levi has his next two houses he has to get done. I am preparing for when this starts getting heavier, probably in the next hour or two, but that's. That's what we're looking at. Got rain coming. It's Texas in the fall. Wait five minutes, it'll change, hopefully for the better.

Getting a few updates from Alex back in Texas. Rumor has it that he's doing.

He's.

He's still alive. He's hanging in there. They got some cold weather out there, some cold rain, some freeze, and we're out here in Florida, Palm trees behind me, sun shining.

I wanted to touch up on something that I've read recently in a book that I'm reading, and it talks about the stress test for your business. So when you're in a pivotal moment where you're growing your business and it can almost sustain without you, once you get your standard operating procedures and everything in place, there's something called a stress test that you can do to the business, which is kind of what we're doing right now with us being in Orlando. What the stress test is, is you want to see if it can operate without you. That's when you'll really start to see a lot of, like, the cracks in the business and to make sure, you know, everything is kind of running smoothly without you and stuff like that. So the way that it's kind of designed is you basically leave your business and kind of not answer any calls or texts for a whole day. Any kind of fires that come up, issues, situations, things like. Like that, you kind of just let them happen, and then you kind of come back the next day, figure out what was, what went well, what didn't go well, and then kind of fix those cracks, issues areas, any questions that people may have, you kind of fill in the blanks there. Once you kind of smooth that out for a day, where you could leave for an entire day and the business kind of still runs without you, then you go for a week and similar things. So, like yesterday we. I was getting a little bit of updates from our crew. I'm almost like, I'm not trying to respond. Respond immediately right away, because I want them to be able to figure things out without us and be that decision maker. So that way we don't always have to be there to make that decision for them. And at times, they're going to have to use their own discretion to make a good judgment call. And so that's kind of what we're doing. This is a really good stress test for Our business through this business boot camp to see really how will that location and the personnel that we have there kind of react when issues and things come up. So. But they're doing fantastic. There hasn't been any like major things that have come came down the pipeline. I think they had some weather on.

Monday 449 and it's been cold for the day. Back at 1:30, temperature started tanking even though the rain had cleared and there was a hole. It was very, very, very short lived. And we are in rain. It's been raining for last hour now and it's dropped about 5, 6 degrees and it's just, it's not worth the guys getting sick and being out in the weather. However, they did kill it. There was only 12 mows that did not get done, so they will be easily finished.

Jim from New again, Homewash is struggling to stay busy during the slow period of the year and like many seasonal businesses is doing scrappy work. Just trying to stay busy. He's doing Christmas lights. He's going checking out a clogged drain in his church. He's just trying to stay busy.

I don't even do that as a.

Service, but I'd be glad to do that for you.

I'm concerned because of his lack of execution when it comes to the things that we talked about last week. We talked about making a Facebook page, posting on Facebook groups, making a nextdoor account. But I can almost guarantee if you get in 5 to 10 local Facebook groups on the nextdoor, I really think that we'll get a job a day. Really, just in that I'm just not seeing the follow through that I'd like to see. This early in the bootcamp.

We've got.

About half a dozen things to do today and none of it involves normal jobs.

I think this is probably out of my league.

Yep.

I think it's one of those where it's worse than we think.

Okay.

I could be wrong, but I think Roto Rooter would do a fantastic job.

Okay.

Sure.

That we could just spray that high pressure and free the line. I mean, since they're both the same service, I would, you know, I would say, see what Roto Rooter gives you as a quote from there. Because I think this is one of those things where it's like, oh yeah, I can try that or do it and then it's worse than it is. I have no idea what to do next.

Okay.

I appreciate you thinking of us though.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'll check the schedule and get back to you.

Okay.

We're going to walk around the front here.

Thank you. All right. Have a good day.

Tragedy narrowly averted.

He doesn't want the whole church wash, does he?

Good.

That's probably good.

Last year my son and I hung Christmas lights on our kids. Piano teacher, real simple house, just a one story rancher. And that went really well and it was a good, decent paying job and everything. And she's ready for us to do that again tomorrow, actually. Her daughter evidently is interested in getting lights put on their house too, in Spartanburg. So that's where we're at midday. Things are going well and just really thankful for the opportunities Claire and I are having to get out and do what we're doing. I love where God has us this week.

Were we able to get on any of the local boards or anything like that?

Not in depth like we wanted to with Nextdoor. I did get my own verification card in the mail. Now I can interact and make posts. Facebook not too much on that end either. My wife and I, you know, have two accounts and there's the connection issue with the business thing. But we are working, working towards a resolution with that because Facebook won't get.