Why Mike Does It + Apple Vision Pro - Episode 052

On the last pod, there was a comment it said it looked like a father speaking to his five year old.

Yeah, that caused great joy when I saw that comment.

Nice. Wait, was that on ours? Yeah, on, like, the C suite channel.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, nice. Yeah, that's how it is.

All right, well, we're back.

It's kind of true, though. Yeah.

I mean, what can I say?

Look at this little guy. Mean, we're almost, like, seating it, sitting at your feet, just, you know, trying.

We're like, what, nine in difference in height? What are you, 61?

Nine inches would mean I'm 54. Yeah.

Isn't that what you said? Or. Oh, my bad, my bad. Rounding error.

Every inch count.

It was a rounding error. That's true. True. Are you going to get that? What's that? Like, in, like, other. Like, it's not in the US but you can do, like. Like, shin elongated. Have you seen that? Or like, all the bald guys that go to, like, turkey to get their hair redone. It's, like, super cheap, and they do it all the time.

Cool.

Well, yeah. I mean, we're back. You have been traveling like crazy. One thing that some people might not know, you know, in the public, Augusta knows this, but you do your turnaround videos, and then last week, you also did a little trip to a software summit, if you're willing to talk about that, or, like, a. A conference. And you shared a little bit with the Augusta team about really leaning into, like, your vision, your why, and, like, your leadership style. So I really just wanted to ask, like, what were some of the big takeaways from that conference? You don't have to get into specifics about, like, copilot or, like, the people you talk to or name drop. Just, like, it's interesting for, you know, people that come to your conference, we listen to your content, we learn from you. To hear, like, what are you learning from other people? So not asking for name drops or anything like that, but. But what did you learn at this software conference you were at? What are some big takeaways?

Yeah, like, I think overall part of it is just, like, getting reassurance that, like, we will get through the problems we're currently having with, like, the software. Cause, like, every single person had a worse story than me, and they, like, are successful. So, like, all right. It just, you know, in the moment, it's never nice, but it's like, okay, like, I know we'll get through this. I know that we will reach the goals. And, like, I have, you know, 50 other people that have told me that they've gone through. Like, there's other stories that I was like, oh, like, I would have. I would have quit. Like, that was so bad compared to what I'm going through. So.

But aside from that, like, there's a lot of, like, you know, little points here and there. But, like, honestly, the one that probably stuck with me the most is like a tangible thing that, like, is always in my head now. And that is. The speaker was like, hey, who. Who here knows? Gary Vee, Gary Vaynerchuk? And everyone raised their hand. He's like, right, okay, what's like his big, hairy, audacious goal? Like, what's his why for his. His business? And. And like, probably half the people knew and that was to buy the New York Jets. Right. And.

The fact that we don't work for him. Most of us never buy his products. Most of us have never been doing in person event. But somehow we all know why he does business.

Yeah.

And, like, what motivates him. And it's like, people would use it in a parody, probably talking about him. And so basically it was like, make your mission and your why so clear to your team, to your customers and to the public that literally they would dress up in a Halloween costume or make a parody about what you say. And so that was really eye opening to me. The fact, like, a bunch of random people have never met this person, never done business with this person, to know it, work for this person, know their vision and why they do business. And so for me, it was like a good moment. Was like. And like, you know, I know why we have Augusta change the level of professionalism landscaping industry. And I've been struggling with Copilot because, like, really, Copilot was built as a way to support Augusta, but, like, to other people that we need to be able to have joined so we can sustain the thing. It's like, well, why? Why do we do it well? And it finally, like, clicked. Like, it was really fast. And it was like, my whole goal is I don't want any small business owner and home service industries to not know why their business is failing. And so I remember being in this place where, like, you don't make any money. You feel like you're working crazy hours and you're working crazy hard and everything, but there's no money in the bank and you have no idea why. And so I don't. I don't want people to have to have that experience where they don't know why. Like, I want to be able to have the data inside of the CRM to be able to say, hey, here's the areas you need to improve at. And like, here's why you're failing. Like your efficiency score and your labor is like 3, 30% should be like over 70%. Here's what you can do to fix that. Your close ratio is way too low. Your pricing over here is way messed up. Like, I believe all that can be fixed with software. And so, you know, the, the whole. No, what was good for me being there was like, I solidified why Copilot exists and like how that fits in the broader mission of like, that's why I do turnaround shows. Like, I can only be one person going from turnaround to turnaround, from business to business. If I can create software that can basically take the, the infrastructure that I build around, like what, how I diagnose a problem and just use the data points. I'm asking every one of these owners, I ask them their close ratio, I ask them how many employees they have, asked them how many budget hours they have on the schedule. Ask all these things that is inside the software that could literally just.

Throw up whatever spew out the numbers and the data that I'm gonna give them one on one.

Right?

And unfortunately, probably 99% of people that are struggling and watch the videos won't apply for me to come because it's intimidating to have the cameras. I get it.

Totally.

And so the, the hope is that we can.

Use the software and that no one will ever not know why their business is failing. Like, hey, if you have a 30% efficiency score in your labor and I tell you that you need to fix it and here's how to do it and you don't do it. Okay, that's on you. But like, so I can't fix your business for you, but I can tell you why so you're not lost. And that's the part, that's the feeling that I remember having and being. And just feeling super despondent and like super low is like, it's not a matter of like.

Not having the will to go out and work hard or put in the hours. Like, I don't know why. That's like really hard.

So what is the one sentence, two sentence why for Copilot now?

It is to ensure that every home service business owner does not know why they are failing. So they don't, they do not have that question mark of why am I failing? I'm working crazy hours. I have tons of leads coming in. But why is there no Money in the bank. And I want to be able to have the software solve that.

Gotcha. And then I just a little teaser. Is that also a book that you might be writing?

Well, yeah, like, so we have, what we've been working on with Dr. Cashy is like, how do we. When you go to a turnaround, like why are you. Because like he's watched them and he knows. And so it's like when you go to these turnarounds, you're asking like 30 questions. Okay, great. Why are you asking those questions and what is it leading to? You in your brain? Yeah, like it's actually really tough for me because it's like I'm usually like, hey, I'll talk to you and like I'll come up with an answer. It's like, well, how did you come with the answer? Well now I got. Okay, well I asked him about the revenue, I asked about when he raised his prices last. I asked about his efficiency ratio. And based on those three, I triangulated the fact that he is a really bad manager or whatever. And so trying to like actually get that all documented has been really tough.

Yeah.

But my hope is that like I actually have a diagnostic tool. So it's like, hey, if your close ratio is under 20% and here's what you do. If it's over 50%, here's what you do. If you're trying to grow, it changes. Well now if you're trying to be as profitable, it changes again. So like is it a branching sort of methodology framework? Exactly. But it's like it's tough because like to diagnose someone, like you need a lot of information. And so that's the part that I think the software can solve. It's not a CRM. It's like we need all those data points to tell you what to do in your business. We just so happen that you send out your invoice and do your estimates and do your scheduling so that we can get all this data and then tell you what you should do in your business.

Yeah, bad analogy. But I feel like having the software is kind of the 2D analysis. Right. So you have the two dimensional of like numbers, facts, figures. But then being a business owner, there's the third dimension, which is like you as a person. Right. But it's like if you can solve the two dimensional problems, then they can focus on the three dimensional problem, which is themselves. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Like having great software will never solve your business problems.

Right.

But it will give you the data required to make Decisions, clearly. And so I feel like, what software? There's other soft CRMs out there that do way better job than us at gathering the data and keeping it, you know, just stable right now, to be honest with you. But I'm just saying in terms of just like the amount of data they collect, et cetera, far better than us, what no one's done. The whole reason why we're doing copilot is to take that data and then actually like make it useful for people.

Right?

Like, I don't care that I have all these sent estimates and a whole bunch of accepted and a whole bunch of them, like lost. I want to know, like, am I on a bad trajectory of my close ratio and what can I do to make sure that like, more people respond back to my quotes and what percentage of my revenue was lost last year simply because people didn't give me a yes or no on their quote? Like, I want to. Like, I think people will be boggled, like their mind will be boggled by the amount of revenue that they just never heard back from. It's like you just didn't get a yes or no on like a million dollars. Oh, you got a $700,000 boost. Fantastic. It would have been 2 million, 1.7 or 1.3 was left on the table of just people that didn't respond back to your quote.

Totally.

Like, that's probably where you should spend your time, not going out and spending your money on marketing. And so it's just so amazing that like I've been talking with Augusta is like, do you have a lead problem or do you have a follow up problem? I think most of the time we just look at leads as their issue. But like, if you go to these turnarounds, very few of the times it's like, oh, you need more leads. It's usually, I'd say 80% of the time something else in the business that will have a disproportionately more impact than just getting more leads. Right. And so unfortunately, getting more leads has become marketed to all of us because it's easy to track. It's easy to track cost per click, easy to track cost per lead, easy to track conversions. You have pixels and it's made very convenient you. It's a lot more difficult to track all these other factors in the business. But if you have a CRM that's doing it, you can get all that data. And so copilot exists to get that data and then make it meaningful to an owner so they never have the question, like why am I working hard and I'm not? I have no money in the bank. Mm.

Yeah. I think it's interesting too when you talk about, like, supplementary services to a business owner. Right. So like a marketing agency.

Right.

They can help them out or like coaching. Right. For them as a person or as a leader. Right. To get better. And I think a lot of times we get distracted by that. And I'm once again, not a business owner, but what I see is people get distracted by like, the new cool, like, sexy idea, which is like, oh, I can get coaching so I can be a better leader. That's great. I'm not discounting that. But do you know your numbers? Right. Or like, oh, this marketing agency can guarantee me X leads per month for X dollars. And like, their, their social media platform's cool and I want to be a part of that. So, like, I'll pay them. It's like, but are you tracking your numbers? Right. And so I think what you're trying to do is just almost bring people back to the basics of running a business and not get attracted to all the cool, new sexy ideas that are out there that they might be wasting their money on.

Yeah.

In some cases, coaching is great. Marketing agencies are great at times, but sometimes I think they're also a detractor from business owners.

Yeah. Like, it's like the math I ran with Augusta the other day at 38 close ratio if they just sent the estimate and they went up to 65% if they simply did three follow up calls. And so it's like, well, do I, you know, if I went, I had a magic solution right now to double the amount of customers you got and leads coming in. I could make a gazillion dollars. What's not cool? And like, no one will watch the video I made the other day about follow up calls is because it's not, it's not cool or fun to be like, oh, what do I need to do? Like, fix that. How do I double my business? Call your estimates, like, within a few days of you sending it. Just call them a few times and you use these four tactics to be able to get the job on the schedule.

Yeah. One thing I say to a lot of owners when I do coaching is like, your hottest lead is the one that reached out to you yesterday. It's not the next one. It's not the new one. It's the one that you already have their email, you already have their phone number. You've already been to the property. Like, that is your hottest lead. Close that.

Yeah. Right.

And a lot of people think, like, I just got to get another one. Like, my close ratio is fine. Well, you sure your close ratio is fine? But what if you doubled it from fine to great? Right. And I think people don't want to do the mundane tasks at times. Right. So I don't know how we got on that, but we went from your why to your. Your from the seminar.

So.

Anything else from the seminar? The summit, the conference you attended.

It was good. It was really good. Honestly, like, I learned a lot about how to run event too.

Oh, cool.

And so, you know, you're dealing with an event that has a lot of money because the cost per attendee is like way. Like it's like 20 times than what we charge for conference.

Yeah.

So.

Well, they're also probably. I'm just gonna assume they're trying to make money off of it.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They make money there events. So it's just interesting because, like, I. I can kind of. What I see is like, okay, could we use any of these elements without having to charge thousands of dollars for tickets at our event? Like, they do really cool stuff, like every time we were out for dinner and they. It was. It was all scheduled. It was like a small group event, though.