Latest / Epic Entrepreneurs / Honest Same Day Repairs Turn One Call Into Loyalty with Mike Melatti, The Garage Doc

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Honest Same Day Repairs Turn One Call Into Loyalty with Mike Melatti, The Garage Doc · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I am Cliff McCray with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm excited to be joined by Doc Mike Malotti, founder and president of the Garage Dock in Virginia Beach.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, how are you doing today?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: Doing well.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much, Cliff.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: Appreciate the invite.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: Looking forward to speaking with you here.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: And just a little bit about Mike, you know, goes by Mikey too as well.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: But Mikey has spent more than a decade helping Hampton Roads homeowners through garage door sales, installation, and repair while building in a family uh own brand around innovation, trust, and people first customer experience.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, Mike, let's go ahead and jump right into things.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: All right, perfect.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of went over it there a little bit there in my intro, but you know, I want to hear it from you in your own words.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, we you know, what does the garage dock do for the community?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: So the garage dock is a garage door repair, sales, installations company.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: We specialize in installing and providing garage doors, garage door opener sales, and installation as repairs.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: And we also do a little bit of entry doors and lifestyle screens.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, my and who is Mikey as a person?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, who are you who do what do you have going on personally?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: 44.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: I have a 17-year-old daughter who's about to be 18.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that's pretty much my my world right there.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: My I have an awesome mother and stepfather.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: My my dad, it passed last year.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: And sorry to do that.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but you know, really great support system over here.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: Family is big to me.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I've I have sisters.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, just just work and work in family.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, do you have any uh I know you work a lot, I'm sure you you know work a lot of hours in the business, but do you have any hobbies when you're not working?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: So I I joined a bowling team.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's not competitive or anything, but but we do Monday night bowling.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: And then Tuesdays, I'd play shuffleboard.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: So Mondays is bowling, Tuesdays is shuffleboard.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes I like to play poker, but but yeah, that's that's pretty much it for hobbies.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: I like fishing.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Fishing's fun.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: You know, being out on the water, I really like that.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: So just a few things that that I like to do to clear my mind.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, I love it, love it.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you built a very memorable identity around the garage dock and a physically healthy door.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Where did that concept come from and why did you want and what did you want customers to feel?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: So the garage dock, we were bouncing names off of each other.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: When I first started this, my my business partner, who's who's my best friend still, he he he was giving me ideas of what names we should call it.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: And and so I think the garage dock was maybe his idea.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, we we went on the garage dock and then went with a PhD and and kind of played that off of you know a doctor having a PhD and came up with the physically healthy door.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what did your path look like before the garage dock and what pushed you towards business ownership?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I when I was younger, I worked in restaurants, the nightlife was a little wild, stayed in it for a long time, then got into with a company called Facetnol, and Facetnol is an industrial supply company, and I was with them for several years, maybe seven or eight years.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: And and then I was doing really well.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: I was a general manager of one of their locations, and we were growing, doing, doing good numbers, and my mom and my stepdad recognized how we were doing and said, Hey, do you want to come over and work for the family business?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: We're halfway through our contract, and we're gonna need, you know, we're gonna need someone to to take over this thing.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: So uh 2015 is when I decided to do garage doors.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what who is your best fit customer, would you say?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_03: I particularly like working with property managers and custom home builders.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's but it's not our that's not the bulk of our clients.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_03: However, it is those are some of our our well, all of our clients are our best clients.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: But, you know, I'd I'd enjoy working with those because it's a steady, it's it's a steady source of income, right?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: Builders are, you know, they have projects, a few each year.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: Property managers have multiple properties, the doors are going down and breaking, so they're needing to be repaired or replaced on a regular basis, and you know, between the lot of their properties.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: So that's that's why I like those two clients as as for my garage door company, but then just the everyday homeowner, right?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we provide solutions for for our customers when it comes to their garage and their entry door needs.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, that's how I guess that that's our those are those are our type of customers.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: Those are the ones that we work with, but those two in particular are my favorite.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Mike, you advertise same-day service when available.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what has to happen behind the scenes for a fast response not to become ruster inconsistent service?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I like to say that we do every job as though it was for our mom, right?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, if if our if our if we're working for our mom, you know, we're doing a job for her on her house, you know, we're gonna make sure we do it the best way.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: So regardless of if we're busy or not, you know, too busy to get out to you the same day, we're still gonna, you know, take care of every job as though it was going on to our mom's house, you know.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: And that goes for all all of us who are in the field or not in the field, we're gonna treat every customer the same.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: So if if we can't get to you that day, then hopefully we can get to you the very next.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: If we can't provide same-day service, we try to provide it within 24 hours.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Love that.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Love that.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what would you say is the biggest challenge your business is facing right now?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: I would say that the biggest challenge would be the the pricing on on goods.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's probably it it's in it keeps increasing.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: So that makes it a little more difficult.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of competition out here in this area as far as garage door companies go.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: I guess there's probably like 30 different garage door companies in the Hampton Roads area, not more.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: So those those two things there, pricing and and competition, those are some sh some hurdles that that we encounter.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what would you say what is that challenge costing you in time, money, missed opportunity, or stress?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: I honest I can't answer that for you.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_03: I don't really have a good answer for you on that.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: I I think like I think it's just part of doing business, right?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: There's always gonna be a an obstacle, there's always gonna be a hurdle that we got to get over, and we just face it head on and you know go with the flow.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now you mean like, yeah, so you so g going back to what you mean by the challenge, you know, basically it's like the cost of goods, right?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Everything is so expensive nowadays, kind of sort of, right?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: So as far as like cost of goods goes, you know, the material prices keep going up, gas prices are up there.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: For instance, I'm having a workman's comp audit the beginning of August.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's gonna be up there.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know, those are some stressors that I think that I encounter, but everything keeps going up in price.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: The insurance is higher, fuels higher.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: It costs more to provide work and you know, cover the labor, the material, everything, just the cost of living is going up in general.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, to I guess to counter that, we we have to be in line with pricing.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_03: However, because there's so much competition in our area, we have to be competitive as well.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, we're not gouging people.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're providing a service and we're staying within the boundaries of you know, providing a fair and and respectable price, I believe.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: You know.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: What do you believe is preventing the business from reaching its next level or its full potential?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I I I think honestly, I think maybe a little bit of fear to grow, personal fear, letting go, trust, I suppose.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: I I I've brought on employees in the past, and sometimes it just didn't work out too well.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: One time I brought a guy on, he passed away after we got done working.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: That was that was a blow.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: I I tried to bring a friend on one time, that that didn't work out too well.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: And and then it just trusting that my the person I'm gonna find is gonna provide the the same care and the same quality of work that that the people we have with us now are providing.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, in regards to what you were saying, you know, I I hear that a lot with from entrepreneurs speaking to entrepreneurs all the time, that it's it's not hard to find workers.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to find workers that actually do a good job and care and show up and, you know, give a damn.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely right.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, you know, like you said, and you're you're saying it too, that, you know, yeah, you can find people to do a job for you, but it's hard to find people that actually care and put the kind of work in that you're looking for, the kind of quality that you're looking for.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: And and I don't necessarily know how much, you know, I I'm I'm comfortable with the sizes that we are now and our customer base.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know how much more I would like to grow.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: So it's growing isn't necessarily on the top of my list for for goals as far as the business goes.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: I just think that, you know, keeping our client base that we have now and providing the same amount of exceptional service, that's what's important to me.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you're pretty comfortable with the revenue the business is bringing in everything?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's good.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what is something people assume is easy about running this type of business that is actually very difficult?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: I think any type of business, I think any type of business that you have to run is is isn't there's no there's nothing easy about it, right?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot that goes on with that as far as answering the phone, you know, providing some sort of marketing to get your information out there, keeping up with the social medias, you know, keeping up with your Google reviews, responding to your Google reviews, managing your funds, uh, all of that is is difficult.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: I feel that there's there's nothing really easy about it, but you know, just you just gotta show up.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: If you show up and you answer your phone and you and you care about what you do, I think you're gonna be okay.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, from what I saw online, uh kind of through your social media, that uh the company evolved from a Sears Garage Solutions operation, is that right?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Into the garage stock?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, and it morphed into the garage stock.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what was hardest about carrying trust forward while creating a new independent identity?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's something that we're still encountering.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, as long as you know, we we have the same faces, we have the same, everything is the same, right?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing's changed.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: The phone number, work address, uh, the people behind the behind the phone, you know, everything's still the same.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean, as long as as we you know, we continue to do the the things that we were doing previously, I think, you know, that's what's important.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: The the hardest part of the transition, I believe, has been the the software part of it, internal field management software to manage the the crews and the jobs.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's the that's probably the trickiest thing on this whole transition.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now, and let's get into the you know, kind of the per you a little bit more personally, kind of the person behind the business.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what is something about you personally or about your personality type that had to change for the business to grow?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have to change anything about the way you process information or the way you handle employees that had to change for the business to grow?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm sure.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure there are.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure there were things that I had to change.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: However, I I feel that when I stepped up into this ownership role, you know, I I kind of I've had the had the relationships with the with the team.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: I I had the relationships with our customers, and and so that was something that was already kind of established before.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, I just feel I feel that you just be true to who you are and and everything will work out just fine.
• 15:11
  unknown: Okay.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, about how many hours a week are you working in and on the business right now, would you say?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, between probably 50 to 60 hours a week.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit a little bit more than the usual work life.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: So how much of that time is spent doing work someone else could eventually own?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: You mean like w what do you mean someone else could own?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: Like if if we wanted to sell the business?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean like basically like if you were able to hire somebody, like let's say if if you're working on a lot of operational stuff that you could hire an operations manager to take over eventually, or something of that nature.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: How much yeah, how much work could you how much work are you doing now in the business that you could eventually hire somebody to kind of take on?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: I I probably uh half of it, you know.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: I have uh that's probably one of my downfalls right there is is just the control, the control aspect of it.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I like to have my hands in everything.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: But but maybe like there's there's definitely a lot of things that I could pass pass the torch and you know, delegate some of these responsibilities to to someone else that you know would free me up with time for for other things to help the business.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you're thinking about a 50-50, kind of 50% of what you're doing, probably could be delegated.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that sounds right.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what would you say, Mike, is your greatest strength as a business owner that you're aware of right now?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna have to say my personality.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: I feel that I'm able to get along with anyone that that that I face.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I can I'm open, I'm I'm I don't judge.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a likable person, and I I I tend to like everybody.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: I have, you know, I think that that quality is something that that's important to have.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's similar to like raising a child.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: There are some difficulties, you know, as far as that goes as well.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: And that, you know, separating yourself from, you know, the parent role and the friend role.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: Same goes with the business, separating yourself from the the ownership management role and the friend role as well.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes that can be difficult.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: No, I get it.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: I get it.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're right, you're right.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I'm the same way.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: I I kind of judge people based on, you know, how they are, right?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have pre pre pre, you know, oh, I'm gonna judge you right off the bat.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even know you, you haven't even spoken to me yet.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be based off character and how they are as a person, not based off how they look or whatever, you know?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Same way.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, now now going into that, you know, kind of talking about your strength, let's get into the uh other side of it.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what is one leadership or business skill you know you still need to improve on?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: Make your business organization.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_03: Organization.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: Organization is definitely at the top of my list.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: If you look at uh well, I'd prefer you not take a look at my desk.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: But if you were to look at my desk, you would see what I'm talking about.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's just a mess.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: However, I I seem to know where everything's at.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: As soon as I start to go through it, you know, I'll have a better idea, have it more organized, but you know, when someone touches it, it it then it throws everything off.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_03: That person's not me.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: I love no, I love your honesty.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love your honesty.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, garage doors can involve urgent repairs, you know, major replacements, and ongoing maintenance.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: How do you balance emergency demand with building predictable repeat revenue?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: So emergence, you know, what we're gonna take our our customers' word on on a lot of this, right?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: If the customer calls, we can kind of get a sense of urgency from from the tone in their voice.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: You know, or or they'll tell us, hey, look, my car's trapped in the garage.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: I need I need to get out.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we might swing by to just get their car out, right?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: And then come back and address the problem the next day if if we have a full load.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_03: But, you know, I think that that that's how how we are able to to determine whether or not now the maintenance, we have customers who they call every year for maintenance.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: We currently don't have a maintenance plan, but it's something that we've been kicking back and forth for for repeat business.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: I suppose like, right, I have a customer tomorrow morning.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm going to, who he he said he would like to have a tune-up done annually and to set us up, set him up with, you know, uh some kind of maintenance plan.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_03: Well, at this point, I'll put it in the calendar to call this gentleman at the beginning of August, but you know, that's kind of that's kind of where I'm at now.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you know, and this can typically be tough, but I know you said you would you've been talking a lot about your competitors out there, so I know you're definitely aware of them.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: What what do you think?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you think your your customers choose you?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what are you doing versus your competitors that make that makes you stand out a little bit over your over the other people out there?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh one is we're we're very honest, right?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of shady people out there who will tell you that you need something that you might not need.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: For instance, there was like a I watched a like a 2020 on it, and it was like a 2020 or 60 minutes or something like that, where they had these different garage companies go out there and and and they they rigged the garage door and had a camera on it, and they showed these other companies going out and and they had, you know, the people the homeowner would go inside and then the camera was catching these guys, adjust the sensors and or or do things that weren't, you know, weren't supposed to, you know, that wasn't broken already.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_03: And then when the customer came back out, they would tell the the homeowner that, you know, this is this is what's wrong with it when that wasn't really ever the thing that was wrong with it.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that we're not one of those companies, so right.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: So if you come out and it's just something silly like a safety sensor that is pointed at the ground or something, we'll we'll just charge you our service call fee for that and then take care of it, right?
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're our goal isn't to get rich off of off of one job.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: It it's to earn your trust and and turn you into a loyal customer so that anytime you have an issue with your garage, you know that you can count on us to to repair it properly.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: The first person you think of, hey man, let me call the garage stock, right?
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: Let me call Mike.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_03: Let me let me get Mike out here.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, and I want you to be kind of be as kind of be as specific as you can, but when it qualified league comes in, what percentage of of confidence are you that it becomes an actual customer?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: I would say probably like 30%.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_03: Honestly, like those the the leads.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_03: Now, all right.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: If we can get, if we get you on the phone, then that's the first thing.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: If we can get you on the phone, there's a good chance that we'll be able to get in front of you.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: If we can get in front of you, then I would say that we then this is from our previous studies, I we're about 80 to 90 percent when we'll we will close the deal, right?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know, some experts will say if you're at 80 or 90 percent, then your prices are too low.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_03: You know, if you you should I forget if I want to say it was like around 60 percent or something, but that that you should be at.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: Don't quote me on that.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_03: That I take that back.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: But that's where we're at.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_03: We're between 80 and 90.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: If we can get you on the phone and get and then get in front of you, then there's a good chance we're gonna we're gonna close the deal with you.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: For us, it's just important that whoever's answering the phone gets the appointment for us to get in front of you, right?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: If a customer wants to get a quote and they try they're trying to get it over the phone, we are we we won't typically give you a price for something over the phone because we're we want to get to your house.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: We want to make sure that what we're quoting is is what you need and uh and what you want versus you know, quoting something.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, a lot of homeowners they don't know exactly what's wrong with it.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: They'll tell you that my my garage door opener is broken, and that's because it's not lifting the door.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: But when you get there, it can't lift the door because the springs are broken.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, they're they want to quote on a new garage door opener when that's not the problem, it's your broken spring problem, right?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, if we can get in front of you, then there's a good chance that we're gonna close the job.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: So 80-90% if you can get in front of them.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, gotcha.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: Now, tell us a little bit about that is that 30% is like the the the paid leads, is I guess what I'm referring to, right?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: 30% of those those paid leads that we we were doing, for instance, like Angie's and Home Advisor and Thumbtack and Porch and Yelp, right?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: It becomes it becomes a lot of those are if you respond first to the customer, right?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: So there's a lot of times where I had to scale these back because you have leads coming in from all over the place.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_03: And if you're not the first to respond to these folks, then there's a good chance that you're not gonna get the business, right?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what that's the 30% is is from these paid leads.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: Those are those are those are kind of difficult sometimes, especially if you're overwhelmed and you have a lot going on already.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: The paid leads kind of become less of a priority than what's going on.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Love that answer.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, as far as you know, can you tell us a little bit?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you've kind of talked about some of the people that you got working to you, but tell us a little bit about the team supporting the business today.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so we are a family-owned business, right?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: I I own the company.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: However, I have my mom and my stepdad that are involved with the business.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: Carol is my mom.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_03: She answers the phones and and she takes a load off of me when she's able to do that.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: So Dave is my stepdad.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: Dave is he's out in the field, he does quotes.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: He'll help pick a door up and deliver that to the job and help you get set up and install, you know, help you install it, take away some of the old debris that's there.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: We got Mike to bias, and Mike is uh 1099 that is is loyal to us and and our customers.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: And Mike is out there installing and repairing and uh taking care of our customers.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: He's yeah, he's he's uh he's a part of the family.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now, which role would you say is hardest to replace or hire for?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: I I would say field technician.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, someone that we're gonna be putting in front of the customer, you know, and that also falls back to what I was saying before, you know, with you know, you can find a find a person, it's just finding the right person.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that would that's the hardest right now.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_03: Finding the right person.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Mike, you know, you know, this is hypothetical, but let's say if your business doubled or even tripled overnight.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say you come in tomorrow and you got triple the the amount of work to do, right?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: Suddenly, all of a sudden, every all the leads converted, and man, we've got triple the work to do for the rest of the week.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: What is the very first thing that would break and need to be fixed?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_03: We would need to pull on another technician, for sure.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: If it were to double or triple overnight, we would definitely need to bring on someone else.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: Now we have we do have other another another 1099 that that we use sometimes, but we stick with the core group here, you know.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, another another group of guys that are just great people.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: They're just good humans and they do great work.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: So we uh we we will use them if we get too busy or backed up.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: All right, perfect.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: Enough of the uh, well, some of these are business business oriented, but yeah, we're gonna get into this or that.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna give you two two things to select.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to give me, you know, select one of them and it kind of give me a little reason why you chose that, kind of getting into your a little bit of your personality, a little bit outside of work a little bit.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: So liftmaster or genie?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Liftmaster.
• 28:58
  unknown: Okay.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: And why'd you choose liftmaster?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_03: I chose liftmaster because liftmaster is is made by Chamberlain, the Chamberlain group.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: Chamberlain makes liftmaster, chamberlain, and craftsman.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: And if something goes on a liftmaster, the parts are much easier to obtain than if they are on a genie, right?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: Locally here, there's not a door distributor or parts distributor that provides genie repair parts, you know, or replacement parts.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_03: So if a logic board were to go out in a genie, it's something that we would have to source from an online vendor.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_03: Versus if it's a lift master, we can go to the door center here and get the parts from them.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_03: Truck or sports car?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_03: I like truck.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: Just m, you know, I I love sports cars too, though.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: But truck, because I I'm able to tow things.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: Ford or Chevy.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: I have to go with Ford.
• 30:02
  unknown: Okay.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: Why Ford over Chevy?
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: I drive a Ford.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I have two of them.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: I have a transit, the, the, the transit band, and then I have a F-250 super duty.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I I have to I have to go with our Ford.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: I I know that there, you know, that's a big thing with people, you know, Ford or Chevy.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: But we we also have we ask we have a couple Rams, Dodge Rams, and you know, those are good trucks as well.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: Chevy's are great trucks too.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's just what I currently have, right?
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but the truck, the Ford is, you know, it's done me right.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I haven't had any issues issues with it.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_03: Knock on wood, but you know, that's why I'm going with that.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_03: My stepdad he drives a Chevy, just got a brand new one, and it is bad.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: But but yeah, Ford is mine.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: Milwaukee or DeWalt?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: DeWalt.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_03: I I say DeWalt because I think the Milwaukee batteries are trash.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm with you on that.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: I swear by DeWalt.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm with you on that.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: I love them.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I that's all the tools that I have.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Everything's a DeWalt.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I got.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: I I I converted.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_03: I was at Milwaukee.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_03: I had in Milwaukee everything, but like my batteries just kept dying and dying and dying.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, they they were just turning, you know, flashing green and red on the charger.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: So I was like, man, this thing is this is junk.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: And DeWalt not going back.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm not, I'm not going back.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: But I'll tell you what, those have some really cool tools, man.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_03: Their whole 12-volt, they got more 12-volt tools than anyone, and their whole 12-volt line is really cool.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, DeWalt for me, man.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: Coffee or energy drink?
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: Coffee.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't do energy drinks.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, uh sometimes I'll have a like a Red Bull and Baco or something, but but I'll have coffee every morning.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: Pizza or tacos?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_03: Hmm.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_03: I I like tacos and I like pizza last night, but but it's Tuesday today, so I'm gonna have tacos because Taco Tuesday.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_03: Tuesday, you know?
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: We got the Mexican restaurant in front of our place, so we'll you know, we're pretty loyal to them on Tuesdays.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: Steak or barbecue?
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_03: I like steak.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, nice prime rib.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Can't beat it.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: How do you like your steak done?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_03: I like it medium rare.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I like a little blood.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I got a uh I got a my my uh sister-in-law actually, she likes her her stuff well done.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, she's like, oh, I only like filet mignon.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: I like it well done.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, man, that's you're just ruining that baby that poor steak.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: She needs to just try it, a little salt and pepper on the grill, undercooked.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, uh it'll be so juicy.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's good.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you you know, you're just like, oh, filet mignon, and it's like you're spending all this money on this filet mignon, but then you're ruining it by cooking it all the way.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't make any sense.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I like I like the I do like filets.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think what is it, the porter house?
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_03: If you go with the porter house, you can get uh a ribeye and a filet, right?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 33:31
  unknown: Yeah.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_03: Or is that a yeah, or is that a T button?
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe the I'm not sure.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_03: One of them, you get two steaks.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_03: You can get two different steaks out of it.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: Beach or mountains?
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh beach.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: I like, I mean, I'm uh I live in Virginia Beach, so you know, we have the the oceanfront and resort area that is uh, you know, you know, that's key to our city.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: But you also got the mountains, you know, a couple hours away.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, we do.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm actually going very soon and we're gonna we're gonna go to LaRay and stay stay there for graduation.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm sorry, starting starting college for my daughter for uh as a little graduation birthday starting college gift.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_03: Pretty cool.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, but you prefer the beach over the mountains if you had to choose one.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_03: 100%.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: Sunrise or sunset?
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: Sunset.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_03: Sunset, yeah.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_03: Mornings the that early in the morning when the sun's coming up, it's too early.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's too early for me.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not uh yeah, I prefer, I prefer the sunset.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah it's pretty.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm with you.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm with you.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not I'm not the hugest morning person either.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I get you.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, morning person or or night owl?
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: That kind of gets into that a little bit.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm a night owl.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely a night owl.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do you get more of a like a do you just get like this surge of energy once again once the sun goes down, which is tough when you know in the summertime, especially because it gets dark at like 10 o'clock at night.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so when it's late, you know, I'll get wrapped up in a in a series or a show, or you know, sometimes catch myself staying up too late.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: No, I do that too.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: I do that too.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I get this surge of I get this like surge of like the second wind once the sun goes down.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why when you say in sunset and all that stuff, I get you on that.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_01: I totally I'm the same way.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: I get this second wind, and I'm like, oh man, I want to stay up too late.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's late, and then I look at my clock, it's midnight.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, oh be man, I need to get to bed soon.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely deal with that.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: Dogs or cats?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: Dogs.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: Dogs.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: No cats.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: No cats.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I never had cats growing up.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: I never had dogs growing up either, I suppose.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_03: But I guess cats were probably more in my childhood than anything, but I'm a dog person.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_03: I like dogs.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: I, you know, I don't like cats because I have to, you know, I end up stepping on cat litter.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just, I just can't do it.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_03: I've done it, but I'm not doing it again.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: Be stuck in traffic or have slow wi-fi?
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_03: Neither.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_03: But if I if I would say uh hmm.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: Because, you know, if I need it, I need to get on my phone or I need to get on the internet and I have slow wi-fi, that's really frustrating.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: But tra so is traffic.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna have to say, I'd rather be, I'd rather have slow wi-fi.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 36:55
  unknown: Yeah.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: At least you can do something, right?
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: It just will take you a while.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh yep.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: Being stuck in traffic just sucks, yeah.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: I guess.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's terrible.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_03: We deal with that a lot.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, this city's crazy, right?
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we we got the largest military base in the in the in the country.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, or military population, right?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: Between all of the different bases here.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_03: The traffic is horrendous sometimes.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: So it's something that we don't not I don't think anyone of us likes that.
• 37:28
  unknown: Yeah.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: Especially during this time of year, right?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: Where everybody's trying to get to the beach.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's summertime, everybody's trying to cool off.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_03: Get across the bridge.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: Get home.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: Batman or Superman?
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Batman.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_03: I like Batman.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_03: I I I was never really into like the comics, but I do like Bat I do like Batman.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_03: I like the Batman movies.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm I'm gonna go with Batman.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Netflix or YouTube?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_03: Netflix.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_03: Netflix for me.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I do I do watch some watch them both, but but I would prefer Netflix.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_03: Summer or winter?
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_03: Winter.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna go with winter.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_03: You can you can always add more clothes.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: You can't take enough clothes off, you know.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can only do so much before you get a before a cop is arresting you for indecent exposure, right?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: Just too too hot.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, that's funny.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's funny.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: And work smarter or work harder?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_03: I I I would say work smarter, although I sometimes catch myself working harder.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's something that we just learn as we as we progress with the business.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the last one is dream home or dream vacation.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_03: Dream home.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: All right, you know, having a place to go home to that you love.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's way better, you know, than a vacation.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_03: Because a vacation's temporary.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: The your dream home is is forever.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: Totally agree, totally agree.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, appreciate you getting through that there there.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that was great.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: So a couple last things.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, what's next for your business?
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: What's next for the garage stock?
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, what should be people uh be excited about in the near future?
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I think uh possibly looking at, you know, for we have a class A, so I think that is going to, I think that's gonna be utilizing that for for more than just garage doors and entry doors, you know.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_03: I I think home improvement is is where it's at.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_03: Outdoor living is something that that that we focus on, you know, that we'll we'll be focusing on.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I think something something along those lines, outdoor living, home improvement stuff that's to come, maybe windows, siding, patios.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, with this talk, all this talk of AI and self-automation and everything that's going on nowadays, where do you see your industry in the next 10, even 15 years from now?
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Would you see AI doing anything to the business?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't think so.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, like, I don't think there's gonna be robots putting doors in or anything.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: I might be, you know, maybe, I don't know, but I doubt it.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_03: Not in the next 10 years.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_03: I think AI is is is pretty cool and it and it is it's gonna help and take it can do it can do a lot, but I don't think garage doors is one of them.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what about you?
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: What do you where do you see where do you see your particular company, the garage stock, by let's say 2030, right?
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: You hear 2030, we think that's so long away, but that's only three and a half years away now at this point, uh, which isn't very long at all.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, we're closer to we're closer to 2030 than we are to 2020 and COVID.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, where do you see your business by 2030?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, hopefully, hopefully by 2030, you know, maybe yeah, I was gonna say sold, but you know, I don't know.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: I I still, you know, strong, strong like we are.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I think that by 2030, yeah, it's it goes by so fast.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_03: It really does, like you said, COVID and just feels like COVID was just around the corner and just yesterday.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, you know, six years ago.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: We'll still we'll we're gonna still we'll definitely be here, but yeah.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think the goal is to build something though that one day we can sell and and then start start on for a new a new path.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, that's the end goal.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: And and if there was one thing, Mike, that you could change about your business in the next 90 days, what would it be and why?
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and 90 days from when we're we're filming this today or when we're recording this today, would be around Halloween.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: So if there was one thing you could change about your business by Halloween of this year coming up, what would it be and why?
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I would I say the one thing that we if we could change one thing, let's see.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: Well, the one thing that I would change, I would have maybe in 90 days we will geez, I don't know, man.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to give you something that isn't true.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm not trying to just not make not trying to make something up here.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, that's why, and and the thing is, is that the thing is is that my follow-up question, because this is a two-parter, so there's going to be, because so there's going to be, you know, there's a difference between what you want, what you would in an ideal world want to be to you know, bit your business to look like in the next 90 days.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then my follow-up, the two-parter, is, you know, I'm gonna follow up with you with where do you actually realistically see it in 90 days, you know?
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, your first part can be kind of in a perfect world, where would you like it to be?
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then the second part is going to be realistically where it's going to be by all.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_03: I I think realistically it's going to be where it is now, right?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_03: 90 days is just around the corner.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_03: I think we'll be, you know, doing the the same things that we're doing now in 90 days.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, we'll be, you know, operating the same way.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe maybe a little more support in the in the back of the house support, you know, maybe something like that.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's something that that I'm gonna be looking for here soon.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: I need to I need to bring someone into the office and have someone in there and and give Carol a little bit of a break.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_03: So I think maybe that's where we'll be in 90 days.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you Okay, and and you also talked about you were kicking around the plan too.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: You talked about this earlier and I made note of it.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you you did say that the maintenance plan that you kind of were kicking that around.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think maybe you'd have that, you'd have that maybe drilled down by by then or that maintenance plan that you're looking for?
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's a great that's a great idea as far as like having a goal set up for that, getting that set up.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, let's shoot.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: For 90 days, we'll have a maintenance plan set up for our customers to to to to agree to.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's fair.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's I think that's really fair.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like you said, you know, you you get people that are interested in it.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I yeah, I think definitely, you know, and let's say even by the end of the year, right?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because even in 90 days Halloween, right?
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty close to the end of the year.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think even by the holidays, then would be fair to even have to be.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, I and and this new software that we're on, you know, that is I'm I bet that there's something in that software that we can utilize for the for the subscriptions, you know.
• 44:55
  unknown: Mm-hmm.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and just keep track of them and everything.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: All right, perfect, perfect.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Mikey, yeah, thank you again for coming on and joining me here and sharing your story about building, you know, the the garage dock.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: Really appreciate you coming on.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: What's the best ways for for people to get in contact with you or listeners to connect with you if they're interested?
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_03: Call my office at 757-721-2524.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: Or you can email me at mike at thegaragedoc.com.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect, perfect.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: Any social media if people want to see what you do, you guys do.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we have a Facebook, the Garage Doc Facebook account, and not very, very good with social media as far as that goes, you know.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, we do.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_03: We have a Facebook for the Garage Doc.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect, perfect.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so yeah, everyone listening.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you again, Mikey, for coming on and you know, thank you for sharing your behind the scenes on your on building your business.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: Any last words for the audience before we go ahead and sign off?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_03: No, thank you.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh thank I want to thank you, Cliff.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for the time.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I went back and I listened to the other podcasts that you that you've done.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_03: I think I think you got something really cool going here.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, to everyone listening, be sure to connect with our guests using their information shared today.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: We'll make sure to put that in in the description for their episode link and follow Epic Entrepreneurs for more conversation with people building businesses and communities every day.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you next time.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Mike.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.