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Back to Business Basics With Theo Etzel · The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson

• 0:36
  Jennifer Johnson: In the world of business, it's easy to get caught up in the latest trends, the hottest marketing strategies, or the newest tech tools.
• 0:43
  Jennifer Johnson: But today we're going back to the basics.
• 0:45
  Jennifer Johnson: We're talking about the fundamental building blocks that every successful business needs, regardless of industry or size.
• 0:51
  Jennifer Johnson: Think of it like constructing a house.
• 0:53
  Jennifer Johnson: You can have the most beautiful design and the fanciest fixtures, but without a strong foundation, that house won't stand the test of time.
• 1:01
  Jennifer Johnson: The same goes for your business.
• 1:03
  Jennifer Johnson: Whether you're just starting out in your business or you're looking to strengthen your existing business, this episode will provide you with invaluable insights to build a business that not only survives, but thrives.
• 1:16
  Jennifer Johnson: So let's roll up our sleeves and start by laying the groundwork for your business success.
• 1:21
  Jennifer Johnson: Today we welcome into the studio Theo Etzel.
• 1:24
  Jennifer Johnson: Theo brings decades of experience as a business executive, as the CEO and owner of Conditioned Air since 1995, and now more recently chairman of the board.
• 1:34
  Jennifer Johnson: Theo has helped turn their passion for customer care and quality products and services into a thriving company serving all of Southwest Florida from Marco Island to Sarasota.
• 1:45
  Jennifer Johnson: Welcome.
• 1:46
  Theo Etzel: Thank you so much.
• 1:47
  Theo Etzel: I appreciate that.
• 1:48
  Jennifer Johnson: Yeah, you have an impressive resume.
• 1:50
  Jennifer Johnson: You have been in business for a long time.
• 1:52
  Theo Etzel: For a long time and a lot of varied things.
• 1:55
  Theo Etzel: So starting out developing hotels around the country.
• 1:58
  Jennifer Johnson: I didn't know that.
• 1:59
  Jennifer Johnson: I did not know that about you.
• 2:01
  Theo Etzel: Yeah.
• 2:01
  Theo Etzel: And uh then uh owned some Ben and Jerry's franchises up in Atlanta.
• 2:06
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh my gosh.
• 2:07
  Theo Etzel: Work for Habitat for Humanity and their land acquisition side.
• 2:11
  Theo Etzel: Um, leaned on my hotel experience to do that.
• 2:15
  Theo Etzel: And then uh got the opportunity to come down to Naples.
• 2:19
  Theo Etzel: I'm a Miami native, so we got the the opportunity to come back to Florida from living in Atlanta.
• 2:25
  Theo Etzel: And in 95, got the opportunity to become a partner in that business in conditioned air.
• 2:31
  Theo Etzel: It's a very small company at that time.
• 2:33
  Theo Etzel: Um, but started and didn't hadn't been in the air conditioning business before, but I'd been in what I call the people business.
• 2:41
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 2:42
  Theo Etzel: And so, you know, if you're looking for foundational and fundamental things, um you can't do it without people.
• 2:51
  Jennifer Johnson: Let's start there.
• 2:52
  Jennifer Johnson: Okay.
• 2:53
  Theo Etzel: Right, yeah.
• 2:54
  Jennifer Johnson: Because it does start with the people.
• 2:55
  Jennifer Johnson: And a lot of business owners don't really, they don't get that right away.
• 3:00
  Jennifer Johnson: They're all worried about their processes or they're all worried about, you know, what widget am I going to sell and everything, but they kind of forget about that people aspect, and that's where it can go wrong.
• 3:10
  Theo Etzel: True.
• 3:11
  Theo Etzel: And so what I what I would tell anybody is if you set out in your business to make money, and money is the goal, you have the wrong goal.
• 3:24
  Theo Etzel: You have to focus on helping people, caring about people, whether they're on your team or your customers or your vendors, partners, professionals that you rely on.
• 3:39
  Theo Etzel: You have to care about them first.
• 3:41
  Theo Etzel: Do very well in your laying out your processes because I will tell you that good people love good processes.
• 3:52
  Jennifer Johnson: That's a very good point.
• 3:54
  Theo Etzel: Good people love good processes because it makes their job easier.
• 3:58
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 3:59
  Theo Etzel: And so you to really delve into it, you need to practice servant leadership, where the leader is serving the people that work for them.
• 4:12
  Theo Etzel: And putting people first, if you have a good product and a solid uh ethics, so your reputation is good, the money will come.
• 4:25
  Theo Etzel: People will want to do business with you.
• 4:28
  Jennifer Johnson: And people will want to work with you.
• 4:30
  Theo Etzel: Yes.
• 4:31
  Theo Etzel: They want to be on your team.
• 4:32
  Theo Etzel: And you'll get you'll get referrals from your own people to other people to say, you need to come work where I work.
• 4:39
  Theo Etzel: And so it snowballs in a good way.
• 4:42
  Theo Etzel: But I have seen time and time again businesses that it was all about the dollar.
• 4:49
  Theo Etzel: And people were expendable.
• 4:52
  Theo Etzel: And it does not not work out, never works out, in my experience.
• 4:58
  Theo Etzel: And I've been subject to that in some roles that I had where I felt like, hmm, they really don't.
• 5:06
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 5:06
  Theo Etzel: This isn't this is not a rewarding culture here.
• 5:09
  Theo Etzel: Um, not a caring culture.
• 5:12
  Theo Etzel: And I think if you if you set out to do that, um you you are miles ahead of a lot of people in business.
• 5:21
  Jennifer Johnson: And that's, you know, that's really great advice for a new business owner specifically, because I remember when I started in business over two decades ago, I didn't even know what culture was.
• 5:31
  Jennifer Johnson: And and I don't know, I mean, I didn't hear any talk about it.
• 5:34
  Jennifer Johnson: I didn't, it wasn't on my plate.
• 5:37
  Jennifer Johnson: I've never read a book about it at that point, nothing.
• 5:39
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 5:39
  Jennifer Johnson: And now we hear, I mean, it's such a great service for new business owners that were talking about culture.
• 5:47
  Theo Etzel: Correct.
• 5:48
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 5:48
  Theo Etzel: And culture is key.
• 5:50
  Theo Etzel: Um, Peter Drucker, who's a famous management guru a long time ago, said culture eats strategy for breakfast.
• 5:59
  Theo Etzel: And I would I would tell you that a a business with a great culture and maybe some C processes and B processes will absolutely destroy a business with A processes and no culture and no no structure in their culture.
• 6:19
  Theo Etzel: Uh so it's the it's about building the team.
• 6:22
  Jennifer Johnson: It is.
• 6:23
  Theo Etzel: And that's where culture comes in.
• 6:24
  Theo Etzel: Every business has a culture.
• 6:26
  Theo Etzel: Every business.
• 6:28
  Jennifer Johnson: Whether it's good or bad.
• 6:29
  Theo Etzel: Correct.
• 6:30
  Theo Etzel: What do you want it to be?
• 6:31
  Theo Etzel: Because if you want it to be your culture, right?
• 6:36
  Theo Etzel: John Maxwell says there's no such thing as business ethics.
• 6:39
  Theo Etzel: They're the ethics of the leaders of the business.
• 6:42
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 6:43
  Theo Etzel: And I'm a big ethics person.
• 6:45
  Theo Etzel: Um, do it right, treat people right, be honest, admit mistakes, make it right.
• 6:52
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 6:53
  Theo Etzel: To the best of your ability, make it right.
• 6:55
  Theo Etzel: But people they want to see that and feel that culture, but it starts from the top.
• 7:05
  Theo Etzel: And when I was CEO and getting this started and and sort of taking over and and figuring this out, um, what I wanted it to be.
• 7:15
  Theo Etzel: I wanted the the to be honest, the air conditioning industry as a whole has a bad reputation.
• 7:23
  Jennifer Johnson: Okay.
• 7:23
  Jennifer Johnson: I didn't know that.
• 7:24
  Theo Etzel: Yes.
• 7:25
  Jennifer Johnson: So because I'm not in it, but it does.
• 7:28
  Theo Etzel: And the reason it does is because so many people practice um uh compensation plans that pit the service technician against the consumer.
• 7:41
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, I see.
• 7:42
  Theo Etzel: So if I'm a service technician for, I'm gonna say over 50% of the companies do this.
• 7:49
  Theo Etzel: If I'm a service technician for one of those companies, I'm being paid a commission or a percentage of the repair bill.
• 7:58
  Jennifer Johnson: Sure.
• 7:59
  Theo Etzel: And if you, you know, I have a car payment this Friday.
• 8:02
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, right, yes.
• 8:04
  Theo Etzel: Okay, uh-huh.
• 8:04
  Theo Etzel: So if I'm at your house and it's a simple fix and I'm only, you know, it's really not that much, I I have a lot of pressure on me to bump that bill up, find something else wrong, quote, wrong.
• 8:18
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 8:19
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 8:19
  Theo Etzel: And a lot of people have sales quotas.
• 8:22
  Theo Etzel: Well, I was determined we're not going down that.
• 8:26
  Theo Etzel: We will not go down that road.
• 8:28
  Theo Etzel: And so we didn't.
• 8:30
  Theo Etzel: And um it it allowed us to make the staff very comfortable with telling the truth because there was no pressure on them to um uh lie or bump up the price or anything.
• 8:47
  Theo Etzel: They got no more money for it.
• 8:48
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 8:49
  Theo Etzel: Um so you have to pick what you want the culture to be.
• 8:54
  Theo Etzel: And then you have to repeat that.
• 8:58
  Theo Etzel: You have to hold it high.
• 9:00
  Theo Etzel: And so I people used to I used to call myself, they'd say, Oh, you're the CEO.
• 9:03
  Theo Etzel: I said, Well, actually, I'm the CBR.
• 9:05
  Theo Etzel: I'm the chief broken record.
• 9:08
  Jennifer Johnson: I love that.
• 9:09
  Jennifer Johnson: That's great.
• 9:10
  Theo Etzel: I'm the CBR.
• 9:11
  Theo Etzel: You have to keep repeating you have to repeat it like a parrot.
• 9:13
  Theo Etzel: You cannot say, and and I had people on my staff that said, I wish I could tell them just once and be done.
• 9:19
  Theo Etzel: And I said, You you get over that because that's not how human interaction works.
• 9:25
  Jennifer Johnson: And you had a really great, great point where you know, I remember early in my business when I was in wedding and event planning and at a bridal shop, I was pressured by everyone that I hired to be commissioned.
• 9:36
  Jennifer Johnson: And I'm like, no, because then that it just creates the wrong culture that I had envisioned for my company.
• 9:43
  Jennifer Johnson: That's kind of what you spoke on.
• 9:45
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 9:45
  Theo Etzel: Exactly.
• 9:46
  Theo Etzel: You I want the technician to be the partner for the consumer.
• 9:52
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 9:53
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 9:54
  Theo Etzel: And and I want them to be on the same side to say, here's what's best.
• 9:58
  Theo Etzel: And you can trust me because this is what's best to to fix this.
• 10:03
  Theo Etzel: Or hey, you shouldn't put that money in there.
• 10:05
  Theo Etzel: You should buy a new unit at this time because it's too old.
• 10:08
  Theo Etzel: Whatever it is, I want them to feel comfortable with the advice they're getting.
• 10:13
  Jennifer Johnson: Sure.
• 10:13
  Theo Etzel: And so, you know, it's um and and you don't establish that if you pit somebody against somebody.
• 10:20
  Theo Etzel: Because you can preach it.
• 10:21
  Theo Etzel: Yeah.
• 10:22
  Theo Etzel: You can preach it all you want to, but wherever you hang that carrot is the direction that the person's gonna go.
• 10:29
  Jennifer Johnson: Absolutely.
• 10:30
  Theo Etzel: I mean, that's just so you I can talk a good game, but if I hang the carrot over here, they're they're turning, turning towards it.
• 10:37
  Jennifer Johnson: And it it just it sounds like so much of what we're talking about is to is really the core values of the leader, whether they're whether they're the owner of the company, they're the CEO, whatever, that's gonna drive.
• 10:50
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 10:51
  Theo Etzel: And you want and you want you want buy-in from the people.
• 10:54
  Theo Etzel: And you want to attract the people that fit that culture.
• 10:58
  Theo Etzel: So in and it over time, this is not an overnight thing, but over time that happens because people see that you're serious about it.
• 11:08
  Theo Etzel: And when someone violates that culture, there has to be consequences for it.
• 11:13
  Theo Etzel: Like you don't get to work here.
• 11:16
  Theo Etzel: And then if it's really driven in the team, and this is the test, if it's really driven in the team, team members will come and say, Hey, you know what?
• 11:26
  Theo Etzel: They're not doing the right thing here.
• 11:28
  Theo Etzel: This is gonna hurt all of us.
• 11:30
  Theo Etzel: And you need to know that.
• 11:32
  Theo Etzel: Um, so that people have it internalized.
• 11:36
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 11:36
  Theo Etzel: And it matters.
• 11:37
  Jennifer Johnson: And so after a while, I would imagine, you know, like attracts like and it just starts building your team with all of the right people.
• 11:46
  Theo Etzel: The right people is the key.
• 11:48
  Theo Etzel: The right people is the key.
• 11:50
  Theo Etzel: And and I would tell you that that's probably one of the things that I see um entrepreneurs, especially starting out, make a mistake.
• 12:01
  Theo Etzel: Because let's face it, when you're an entrepreneur, if you're if you're a founder and you're really starting out and you're bootstrapping, which a lot of people do.
• 12:09
  Jennifer Johnson: Absolutely.
• 12:10
  Jennifer Johnson: Right?
• 12:10
  Theo Etzel: They do.
• 12:11
  Theo Etzel: You are, you know, as they say, chief cook and bottle washer.
• 12:16
  Jennifer Johnson: Exactly.
• 12:17
  Jennifer Johnson: The cook, the baker, the candlestick maker.
• 12:19
  Theo Etzel: Exactly.
• 12:19
  Theo Etzel: So you wear a lot of hats, right?
• 12:22
  Theo Etzel: You you you chart the course, you you bill for things, you have to buy things, you have to go collect the money, uh, you have to see what what you need to do to market.
• 12:32
  Theo Etzel: You have to do all these things.
• 12:34
  Theo Etzel: And as the company builds, or as that organization builds, it's not an organization if it's just you.
• 12:40
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 12:41
  Theo Etzel: And and so what happens is all these hats you wear, they start to weigh you down.
• 12:46
  Theo Etzel: And you can't focus on and do what you need to do and what you're best at.
• 12:54
  Theo Etzel: And usually founders are best at telling the story.
• 12:59
  Jennifer Johnson: Absolutely.
• 13:00
  Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
• 13:01
  Theo Etzel: Why did you do this?
• 13:02
  Theo Etzel: Why are we in business?
• 13:04
  Theo Etzel: What are we trying to solve?
• 13:07
  Theo Etzel: Right?
• 13:08
  Theo Etzel: What how are we going to do it?
• 13:10
  Theo Etzel: Uh, all that people should figure out how to offload things that one they aren't that good at, that they don't like to do, and recognize they need help in this area.
• 13:30
  Theo Etzel: And then you need to get the right person to help you in that area.
• 13:35
  Theo Etzel: I would tell you that the number one area that I see people should gain help in is the accounting side.
• 13:45
  Jennifer Johnson: Yes.
• 13:46
  Theo Etzel: Know your numbers, have somebody that's good.
• 13:49
  Theo Etzel: Don't need a full-on CFO, typically at the beginning, but you need to think that you're gonna work into needing that position as you grow.
• 13:59
  Theo Etzel: Because you need somebody that has finance background, not just put the numbers in the bucket background, which is more just like pure uh bookkeeper.
• 14:10
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 14:11
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 14:11
  Theo Etzel: So you'll graduate as you go through time to needing different things.
• 14:16
  Theo Etzel: And you have to kind of recognize that.
• 14:18
  Jennifer Johnson: And but how do you do you suggest like someone sit down and do a time audit of these are the things I'm doing?
• 14:25
  Jennifer Johnson: And then they look at it and go, Well, I don't really like this.
• 14:28
  Jennifer Johnson: I don't like this, I'm really good at this, and this lights me up.
• 14:32
  Jennifer Johnson: How would you suggest somebody going about an exercise to figure out what they should and shouldn't be doing?
• 14:38
  Jennifer Johnson: Because that is ultimately you have to get out of your way, your own way.
• 14:41
  Theo Etzel: Correct.
• 14:42
  Jennifer Johnson: To be able to grow your business.
• 14:43
  Jennifer Johnson: But how do you figure that out?
• 14:45
  Theo Etzel: You would look to me, you would look at where do I spend my time that makes the most impact on the company?
• 14:54
  Theo Etzel: And typically that's going to be in sales somewhere.
• 14:57
  Theo Etzel: And andor product development or uh being out and about marketing or whatever it is.
• 15:05
  Theo Etzel: I know people that have, you know, there are a lot of people that have come up through trades, let's say, and they move from working in the field and now they're in the office.
• 17:41
  Theo Etzel: That's a very hard transition.
• 17:44
  Theo Etzel: It's a very different skill, very different skill set in doing that.
• 17:49
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 17:50
  Theo Etzel: I didn't, I didn't come into the business this that way.
• 17:53
  Theo Etzel: I came in from a business background, learned the air conditioning side from the the all the theories of air conditioning and all the the nuts and bolts and parts.
• 18:03
  Theo Etzel: But you don't want me working on your on your unit.
• 18:07
  Theo Etzel: Just gonna say it straight up, right?
• 18:10
  Theo Etzel: I mean, that's not my wheelhouse.
• 18:12
  Theo Etzel: No, it's not my wheelhouse.
• 18:13
  Theo Etzel: I've known people that have been smart enough to say, I now own this company, but I don't want to run the company.
• 18:22
  Theo Etzel: I need help doing that.
• 18:24
  Theo Etzel: So I'm gonna hire somebody to do the administrative and the running of the company, the personnel and all that.
• 18:31
  Theo Etzel: I want to be in the field, I want to be the face, I want to be the marketing side of it.
• 18:36
  Theo Etzel: That's where I make the the most impact that I can do productively.
• 18:40
  Theo Etzel: And so it's really turns out that it in any business, I don't care what it is, um, where do you make the greatest impact to the bottom line of the business and for yourself and and and the the way in which you're going to the market?
• 18:57
  Theo Etzel: And you have to offload and get help in other areas.
• 19:01
  Jennifer Johnson: I think a lot of small business owners that are listening to this podcast, this is this is like the golden nugget because they're in the position like I was a few years back where I was doing everything because I thought, oh, you know, that mentality of, oh, I can do it better, I can do it faster, I don't need to involve anyone.
• 19:19
  Jennifer Johnson: But then I was chained to being there.
• 19:22
  Jennifer Johnson: And I couldn't be out working in on my business because I was always working in it.
• 19:26
  Jennifer Johnson: And I think that's like a number one pain point for a lot of small business owners.
• 19:31
  Theo Etzel: Correct.
• 19:32
  Theo Etzel: So there comes a point, you know, if you're in the very beginning, you really don't have a lot of cash.
• 19:36
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 19:37
  Theo Etzel: Typically.
• 19:37
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 19:38
  Theo Etzel: Uh, and and or it's a scarce resource, and you you might not feel comfortable committing to paying somebody that you know, right?
• 19:49
  Theo Etzel: I'm gonna use this up, maybe I maybe I don't get that back.
• 19:52
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 19:53
  Theo Etzel: You know.
• 19:53
  Theo Etzel: Um but after a time that becomes to where you have to make that investment.
• 20:01
  Theo Etzel: And and the um, you know, the long and short of it is that as you invest in the business, it becomes more efficient.
• 20:17
  Jennifer Johnson: Sure.
• 20:18
  Theo Etzel: With the right people, it becomes more efficient.
• 20:21
  Theo Etzel: And you have extra sets of eyeballs looking at why are we doing this this questioning.
• 20:27
  Jennifer Johnson: Kind of questioning?
• 20:29
  Theo Etzel: Yeah, auditing the process or auditing, you know, what what is the purpose of this?
• 20:33
  Theo Etzel: I know we did this two years ago and we had to, but do we still have to do that?
• 20:39
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 20:39
  Theo Etzel: Um, and and so ferreting out inefficiencies is a is a big thing.
• 20:44
  Theo Etzel: Um, but it takes an investment.
• 20:47
  Theo Etzel: Uh, and and a lot of people are hesitant to hire somebody because then they actually have to manage them.
• 20:55
  Jennifer Johnson: That is the other end of it.
• 20:57
  Theo Etzel: No, that's that's probably even a bigger holdback.
• 21:01
  Theo Etzel: That now I have to find, I gotta get this guy a list of stuff he should do.
• 21:07
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 21:07
  Theo Etzel: And and what if I I mean, I know what to do because I've been doing it.
• 21:12
  Theo Etzel: But how do I how do I transfer the knowledge?
• 21:16
  Jennifer Johnson: Yes.
• 21:16
  Theo Etzel: How do I transfer that?
• 21:17
  Theo Etzel: And that becomes a hindrance to people because they're a little scared and hesitant to say, well, you know, now now I gotta come up with something.
• 21:27
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 21:28
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 21:28
  Theo Etzel: But you really have to work to get over that.
• 21:31
  Theo Etzel: And and it's a flywheel effect because once somebody gets into it and really starts digging, and if they're good, they're gonna come to you and say, What else can I take off your plate?
• 21:41
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 21:41
  Jennifer Johnson: If you give that autonomy to them to be able to do it.
• 21:45
  Theo Etzel: Yes, and if you're going to give responsibility to them, then you have to give them a measure of authority.
• 21:52
  Jennifer Johnson: Of course.
• 21:53
  Jennifer Johnson: Which is also scary.
• 21:55
  Theo Etzel: Very, because entrepreneurs tend to be control freaks.
• 22:00
  Jennifer Johnson: No.
• 22:00
  Jennifer Johnson: Wait a minute.
• 22:02
  Jennifer Johnson: I know, right?
• 22:03
  Jennifer Johnson: It's not just me.
• 22:05
  Theo Etzel: Not just you.
• 22:06
  Theo Etzel: But you know, business is a team sport.
• 22:08
  Theo Etzel: And and quite frankly, when you get a good team together, it it takes off.
• 22:19
  Theo Etzel: And this is why this is why you see I I I I do sports analogies sometimes, and this is why you see, you know, a regular NBA game, let's say, uh, of two teams that are really good and gelled and cohesive teams.
• 22:35
  Theo Etzel: That's a really exciting game.
• 22:37
  Theo Etzel: Most people are disappointed with the all-star games because it's it's the it's the key solo person that's the star on the other team, but now they're having to be a team player on all the stars.
• 22:54
  Theo Etzel: And they don't have the camaraderie teamwork portion of that.
• 22:59
  Theo Etzel: And I would submit, I would submit to you that a top-rated NBA team could beat an all-star team any day just because of the teamwork and the culture of that team.
• 23:10
  Theo Etzel: Where egos are set aside to make the team better?
• 23:14
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 23:14
  Jennifer Johnson: Great analogy.
• 23:16
  Jennifer Johnson: You you touched on something.
• 23:18
  Jennifer Johnson: Uh we were talking a little bit about processes and how you said, you know, it's knowledge, it's transfer of knowledge, essentially.
• 23:26
  Jennifer Johnson: How important is it for a company at some point to create that stand the SOP, the standard operating procedures and operations manual?
• 23:35
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 23:36
  Jennifer Johnson: Whatever you want to call it, playbook, whatever you want to call it in your company, how important is that to growth within a company?
• 23:42
  Jennifer Johnson: Because again, a lot of small businesses, whether they're just starting out or they're a few years in, they're probably not going to have that.
• 23:49
  Jennifer Johnson: Because again, they're doing it all.
• 23:51
  Jennifer Johnson: But how important is that key aspect into taking their business to the next level?
• 23:57
  Theo Etzel: Well, I would tell you it's extremely key after a while, because people don't last in your organization forever.
• 24:07
  Theo Etzel: And I would prefer not to have the position depended on a personality.
• 24:15
  Theo Etzel: I would like the position based on when you sit down and you're going to go to work, this is how you do it.
• 24:24
  Theo Etzel: So it's laid out, and that is transferable to the next person that comes in because you can't predict the future.
• 24:31
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 24:32
  Theo Etzel: You don't know when you'll have a new person or when something will happen to the person that you have there.
• 24:36
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 24:36
  Theo Etzel: And so it's so much easier if you have somebody that's on the way out, say they somebody got moved and they have to move with them.
• 24:46
  Theo Etzel: Um, you know, here's two weeks, three weeks.
• 24:49
  Theo Etzel: Now we have to hire somebody, get them in, and now you have to sit down and show them everything that you just did.
• 24:57
  Theo Etzel: But you know, over time, you we kept adding things to your plate.
• 25:02
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 25:03
  Theo Etzel: So your your original sort of job description is not that position anymore.
• 25:11
  Theo Etzel: And I've been in situations before where all of a sudden to replace the one person, we needed two.
• 25:19
  Theo Etzel: Because when we really delved in and figured out what that person was really responsible for that had sort of landed on their desk, like, okay, as we're growing, this is becoming overwhelming.
• 25:32
  Theo Etzel: No one's gonna come in here and say, I can do that, because they didn't grow up with it.
• 25:38
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 25:38
  Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
• 25:39
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 25:39
  Theo Etzel: So people grow into positions.
• 25:41
  Theo Etzel: So be very careful about having somebody too top heavy on function, where to replace that, it's multiple people.
• 25:52
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 25:52
  Jennifer Johnson: Because you're over number one, you're overworking that person, probably.
• 25:56
  Theo Etzel: Yes.
• 25:57
  Jennifer Johnson: And, you know, then you realize later that, oh gosh, made a mistake here.
• 26:02
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 26:02
  Theo Etzel: And and and that person's not likely to, in most cases, speak up and say, I can't handle this anymore.
• 26:09
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 26:09
  Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
• 26:09
  Theo Etzel: Because that's a sign of weakness.
• 26:11
  Theo Etzel: And they don't want to disappoint.
• 26:12
  Theo Etzel: Of course.
• 26:13
  Theo Etzel: Of course.
• 26:13
  Theo Etzel: So so they're gonna be hesitant to say, no, no, no, no, no more.
• 26:18
  Theo Etzel: Um, so yeah.
• 26:20
  Jennifer Johnson: And and and these processes, these the standard operating, whatever you want to call it, is a living, breathing thing.
• 26:26
  Jennifer Johnson: It needs to be updated.
• 26:28
  Theo Etzel: Yes, all the time.
• 26:30
  Theo Etzel: And I don't say all the time, meaning weekly.
• 26:32
  Theo Etzel: I just mean all the time.
• 26:33
  Theo Etzel: Like, it's great to do an efficiency audit at least once a year and to walk around and kind of look and say, what do you spend your time on?
• 26:43
  Jennifer Johnson: See, that's the other thing that I think as small businesses we get wrong too, because we don't do that.
• 26:49
  Theo Etzel: It's I mean, we found we found people that that were doing spreadsheets entering all this information on a spreadsheet.
• 26:59
  Theo Etzel: And we asked, what what do you do with that spreadsheet?
• 27:04
  Theo Etzel: I don't know.
• 27:06
  Theo Etzel: It just lives in the lives on the it lives on the H drive, you know?
• 27:10
  Theo Etzel: And and I suppose someone looks at it.
• 27:13
  Theo Etzel: Nobody's looked at that in five years.
• 27:16
  Theo Etzel: Why, why are we doing this?
• 27:17
  Theo Etzel: Who told you to do that?
• 27:18
  Theo Etzel: Oh, the last person that sat here told me that's this is how you handle it.
• 27:23
  Theo Etzel: So, I mean, they're glaring mistakes, but they're right in front of you and you don't see it on a daily basis.
• 27:29
  Jennifer Johnson: So it's a process audit, essentially.
• 27:32
  Theo Etzel: Yes.
• 27:32
  Theo Etzel: So you have to ask, why do you do that?
• 27:35
  Jennifer Johnson: That's really, really important.
• 27:36
  Theo Etzel: Is there a better way to do this?
• 27:38
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 27:39
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 27:39
  Theo Etzel: Is there a better way to do this?
• 27:40
  Theo Etzel: Can you be more efficient?
• 27:42
  Jennifer Johnson: Mm-hmm.
• 27:43
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 27:43
  Jennifer Johnson: Because how many times do, you know, you start like you said, you start in a position and somebody makes something up, doesn't tell anybody, doesn't ask, and then all of a sudden that gets transferred to somebody else.
• 27:53
  Jennifer Johnson: And then, like you said, you came in and you're like, why are you doing that?
• 27:56
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 27:57
  Jennifer Johnson: And they're like, I don't know, because I was told that my manager didn't know that.
• 28:01
  Theo Etzel: Right, right.
• 28:01
  Theo Etzel: So so it happens to everybody.
• 28:05
  Theo Etzel: It happens all over everybody.
• 28:08
  Theo Etzel: And technology changes, and as technology changes, certain functions don't have to exist as far as a process is concerned.
• 28:17
  Theo Etzel: It's being now handled by the software package you have.
• 28:20
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 28:21
  Theo Etzel: It's automated, it's automatic.
• 28:23
  Theo Etzel: Um, and that's a that's a critical thing.
• 28:26
  Theo Etzel: And if you want to, I mean, today, in today's world, if you want to stay up with competition, um you better be up with technology.
• 28:39
  Jennifer Johnson: I'm glad you brought that up.
• 28:40
  Jennifer Johnson: That was my next question.
• 28:42
  Theo Etzel: Okay.
• 28:42
  Theo Etzel: So, yeah, I mean, that's just the productivity that you can gain with the right implementation of technological tools uh is remarkable.
• 28:56
  Theo Etzel: And the insights that you can find.
• 28:58
  Theo Etzel: Now, I I have to tell you, I my my business experience did not include the sort of the last five years of big data analytics.
• 29:11
  Jennifer Johnson: And AI and RPG.
• 29:12
  Theo Etzel: Right, all that, right?
• 29:13
  Theo Etzel: That wasn't what what I had at my disposal.
• 29:16
  Theo Etzel: So the idea that you can delve into things and parse things and look at them and say, oh, well, I see, you know, we can analyze when are our heaviest call volumes?
• 29:29
  Theo Etzel: When are the, you know, when when is the most likely time, what day of the week are we the busiest, or anything.
• 29:37
  Theo Etzel: But people can delve into key metrics in their business to say, we can improve this.
• 29:43
  Theo Etzel: Right?
• 29:45
  Theo Etzel: Hold time or anything on the phone or how fast we get back to somebody on a message board or whatever that is.
• 29:52
  Theo Etzel: We can analyze it, look at it, and then correct for it.
• 29:58
  Jennifer Johnson: And it's much quicker now because things, some things are like at the flip of a button.
• 30:03
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, I can figure this out right now.
• 30:05
  Theo Etzel: And so, you know, our our, I would tell you, one of the initiatives in in the company, and I'm not in it on the day-to-day business anymore, right?
• 30:14
  Theo Etzel: Director and a partner, but not day-to-day.
• 30:17
  Theo Etzel: Um, but I know they're looking at ways to not have to do anything in Excel.
• 30:23
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, sure.
• 30:24
  Theo Etzel: So that the enterprise software that has the reporting ability automatically populates into the format that people want to see and need to see it.
• 30:34
  Theo Etzel: So you don't have to manually enter things in.
• 30:38
  Theo Etzel: Well, that's a huge huge time saver and productivity saver uh and increase.
• 30:44
  Theo Etzel: And so um, you know, if you think about it, the United States as a as a nation, it's the the most productive per employee nation in the world.
• 30:58
  Jennifer Johnson: Today.
• 30:59
  Theo Etzel: Today.
• 30:59
  Theo Etzel: And the reason is because we've been early adopters of technology to improve productivity.
• 31:08
  Theo Etzel: And that's critical.
• 31:10
  Theo Etzel: It is if you want to stay up.
• 31:12
  Theo Etzel: And so I would encourage anybody.
• 31:16
  Theo Etzel: Now you can go broke chasing technology.
• 31:19
  Jennifer Johnson: You sure can.
• 31:19
  Theo Etzel: Okay, so I'm not saying that every year you buy everybody a new computer because you could.
• 31:25
  Theo Etzel: It's always changing.
• 31:26
  Theo Etzel: I mean, every six months something changes.
• 31:27
  Theo Etzel: Or cell phones, right?
• 31:29
  Theo Etzel: Cell phones, all that.
• 31:30
  Theo Etzel: So you have to you have to really look at, okay, is this good enough?
• 31:34
  Theo Etzel: And can we put on it what we need to?
• 31:36
  Theo Etzel: I'm a big believer, is you get as much life out of that as you can.
• 31:42
  Theo Etzel: And then when you have to make a change, you make a large platform change.
• 31:48
  Theo Etzel: Okay.
• 31:48
  Theo Etzel: So in other words, don't go up one model.
• 31:50
  Theo Etzel: If there's five models newer, then you land on the best that you can afford and and run that out.
• 32:01
  Jennifer Johnson: Because it'll last you longer because you've already upped so far.
• 32:05
  Theo Etzel: Yeah.
• 32:05
  Theo Etzel: So that I do that personally, and I and I and that's what we've done in the business.
• 32:09
  Theo Etzel: And it's try to get as much lifespan out as as you can until you rick recognize that okay, we're falling behind here.
• 32:18
  Theo Etzel: We can't do these certain things.
• 32:20
  Theo Etzel: We need to be able to do it, make them make the move.
• 32:24
  Jennifer Johnson: And and one last question I have is education.
• 32:28
  Jennifer Johnson: I have a saying, ABL, always be learning.
• 32:32
  Jennifer Johnson: Yes.
• 32:32
  Jennifer Johnson: How important is that for an entrepreneur?
• 32:36
  Theo Etzel: I think it's critical.
• 32:38
  Theo Etzel: Um, mentorship is uh a good way to find somebody that can mentor you uh to share knowledge and wisdom and experience.
• 32:51
  Theo Etzel: There's no teacher like your own experience.
• 32:54
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 32:55
  Theo Etzel: Okay.
• 32:55
  Theo Etzel: I have bumps on my forehead still from from from things I thought was a door and it was actually.
• 33:02
  Theo Etzel: Actually, a wall.
• 33:03
  Theo Etzel: So that's great.
• 33:04
  Theo Etzel: I know this.
• 33:05
  Theo Etzel: Right.
• 33:06
  Theo Etzel: So your own experience is always going to be the most lasting experience and teacher.
• 33:13
  Theo Etzel: But you should pay attention to people that say, you know, watch out for that curve in the road.
• 33:20
  Theo Etzel: It's coming up.
• 33:22
  Theo Etzel: When you get this big, you're going to find that you're dealing with these problems, not the ones you're dealing with today.
• 33:29
  Theo Etzel: And those kinds of things.
• 33:32
  Theo Etzel: I was in an organization for 18 years called, uh first started out as called the Executive Committee, TEC, and now it's called Vistage.
• 33:40
  Theo Etzel: And I was in that for 18 years.
• 33:44
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, wow.
• 33:45
  Theo Etzel: And it's a great group.
• 33:46
  Theo Etzel: Great group.
• 33:47
  Theo Etzel: CEOs, non-competing CEOs in local market.
• 33:50
  Theo Etzel: Um time takes time, takes money.
• 33:56
  Theo Etzel: Right?
• 33:57
  Theo Etzel: It's an investment in you.
• 33:59
  Theo Etzel: And I treated that as continuous grad school.
• 34:03
  Jennifer Johnson: Sure.
• 34:03
  Theo Etzel: Um, so the speakers we would have teaching and and then implementing those thoughts and and ideas, um, and then being able to talk to CEOs and other people, other owners, when you'd say, you know, I'm facing this problem.
• 34:19
  Theo Etzel: Let me describe it for you.
• 34:22
  Theo Etzel: Has anybody had a problem like that?
• 34:24
  Theo Etzel: And can you tell me how you dealt with it?
• 34:26
  Theo Etzel: And we would kick it all around and and dice and slice and and do everything and peel back that onion.
• 34:33
  Theo Etzel: And often what we would find is what I described was a symptom.
• 34:39
  Theo Etzel: And really, when you peeled it all back and got down to it, that wasn't my core problem.
• 34:44
  Theo Etzel: That was a symptom of the problem.
• 34:45
  Theo Etzel: Here's your core problem.
• 34:47
  Theo Etzel: You need to address that.
• 34:48
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 34:49
  Theo Etzel: And it would point me in a different direction.
• 34:51
  Theo Etzel: And so you have to be to be learning, you also have to be humble.
• 34:58
  Theo Etzel: Yes.
• 34:59
  Theo Etzel: Okay.
• 34:59
  Theo Etzel: So a lot of people think humble is being a doormat.
• 35:04
  Theo Etzel: But I'm going to tell you, it takes a lot more courage to show that you're humble than it does weakness.
• 35:12
  Theo Etzel: Because you need to be able to say, I don't know, but I want to know.
• 35:20
  Theo Etzel: And you have to have that yet mentality.
• 35:25
  Theo Etzel: I'm not there yet.
• 35:27
  Theo Etzel: We don't do that yet, but we want to.
• 35:31
  Theo Etzel: And we need to learn how to do it.
• 35:33
  Jennifer Johnson: That's amazing advice.
• 35:35
  Jennifer Johnson: Amazing.
• 35:37
  Theo Etzel: So that's where I'd say.
• 35:38
  Jennifer Johnson: You have given our listeners so many good tidbits today.
• 35:43
  Jennifer Johnson: I can't thank you enough.
• 35:44
  Theo Etzel: Thank you.
• 35:44
  Theo Etzel: Oh, I appreciate that.
• 35:45
  Theo Etzel: Appreciate being on it.
• 35:46
  Jennifer Johnson: I mean, it's amazing.
• 35:47
  Jennifer Johnson: If our listeners want to get in touch with you, how can they do so?
• 35:50
  Theo Etzel: Sure.
• 35:50
  Theo Etzel: Easiest way is through my email.
• 35:52
  Theo Etzel: And that's theo at theoetzel.com.
• 35:57
  Jennifer Johnson: And you have a fabulous book.
• 35:58
  Jennifer Johnson: Love your book.
• 35:59
  Theo Etzel: Thank you.
• 36:00
  Jennifer Johnson: Um, I will also try to share that on uh the podcast notes.
• 36:04
  Jennifer Johnson: It's a wonderful book.
• 36:05
  Jennifer Johnson: So thank you again so much for being on.
• 36:07
  Theo Etzel: Absolutely.
• 36:08
  Theo Etzel: Thank you so much, Jennifer.
• 36:09
  Theo Etzel: I appreciate being here.