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Sustainable Business Growth Without Burnout with Todd Krause · Profitable Christian Business

• 0:01
  Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Prophet Christian Business.
• 0:04
  Today's conversation is about something a lot of business owners are chasing.
• 0:08
  Growth, but not just growth at any costs.
• 0:11
  We're talking about sustainable growth, healthy growth.
• 0:14
  Growth that does not require you lose yourself, your team, your culture, or your peace in the process.
• 0:19
  My de my guest today is Todd Krause, founder of Silversun Consulting and owner of the Cleaning Authority.
• 0:24
  Where he grew the business from 1.8 million to more than 4 million while building a thriving workplace culture focused on people, performance, and long-term success.
• 0:33
  Todd brings a really unique background to this conversation.
• 0:36
  He has an MBA, he's a certified public accountant, an author, TEDx speaker, keynote presenter, and a business leader with more than three decades of experience growing
• 0:45
  organizations across multiple industries.
• 0:47
  He has founded and scaled funded administration firm managing more than two billion in assets under administration.
• 0:53
  He's helped launch and grow a major bank business unit that reached $14 billion in assets and now helps home service business owners solve the growth challenges that keep them
• 1:00
  stuck.
• 1:01
  But what I love about Todd's message is that it's not just about bigger numbers.
• 1:05
  It's about building businesses where people thrive, leaders lead well, and owners can grow without burning out or losing alignment.
• 1:11
  So today we're going to talk about leadership, culture, raising money, sustainable growth, and what it really takes to build a business that grows without costing you your life in
• 1:20
  the process.
• 1:21
  Todd, welcome to the Prophet Christian Business Podcast.
• 1:24
  Thank you, Doug.
• 1:25
  Thank you so much for inviting me to be here.
• 1:28
  Wow, that was quite a a lot of accomplishments that that you've done.
• 1:33
  I can't wait to dive into um what seems like a vast amount of knowledge that you will have to help business owners grow.
• 1:41
  what the way I'd like to start every Profitable Christian Business podcast is to just kind of ask you some just dive right in, getting to know you questions.
• 1:49
  So uh you've led businesses in finance, banking, franchising, consulting, and now home services.
• 1:56
  If we caught you on a completely non business day, what will we find you doing?
• 2:01
  A non business day?
• 2:04
  I
• 2:04
  your hobbies?
• 2:07
  my gosh.
• 2:08
  I love kayaking.
• 2:10
  And I few years ago took up photography.
• 2:15
  I s made it through the maze of aperture, exposure, all that other stuff to where I can finally get a decent photograph.
• 2:26
  So catching things out and about while kayaking have been really good.
• 2:32
  The water birds, the the fish, just the scenery, they add in cityscapes.
• 2:39
  Nice.
• 2:39
  What what part of the country do you live in?
• 2:41
  I'm in the northeastern corner of Indianapolis.
• 2:45
  Okay, nice.
• 2:46
  Is there a lot of uh good kayaking around where you are?
• 2:48
  You travel quite a bit for that.
• 2:51
  I don't do a lot of traveling for it, but what they have done around the city is they have dammed up some of the rivers and created very, very large reservoirs that are miles and
• 3:03
  miles long.
• 3:06
  So we've got we've got one in both the east side, the west side, and to the north of us that you can spend hours and hours and hours just exploring.
• 3:15
  One of my favorite memories of of travel with me and my wife is we went out to Oregon and uh we rented kayaks and there is a I'm not even gonna I don't even remember the name of
• 3:27
  the river that we were on, but it was crystal clear, mountain mountain water.
• 3:31
  Like you could see to the bottom, um and kayaking down that that was one of my favorite things I've ever done.
• 3:39
  I've been to Oregon a few times and I've always loved the country in the Pacific Northwest.
• 3:45
  And we just go back over and over and over again, especially to the Columbia River Gorge.
• 3:49
  Uh and that whole area with the the falls, Multnomah Falls, is just uh can spend so much time there going from one falls to the next and they're all so different.
• 4:05
  Yeah.
• 4:05
  Uh the the Northwest is one of my favorite areas of the country.
• 4:09
  So really, really cool.
• 4:11
  So let's dive into business a little bit.
• 4:13
  You grew the cleaning authority from one point eight million to over four million.
• 4:18
  What was one unexpected lesson you learned from leading a home service based business that no one would have learned in a porter?
• 4:26
  It is more than most people think, it's about the people.
• 4:33
  Happy cleaners are lead to happy customers.
• 4:40
  Definitely not like leading a large financial organization at all.
• 4:47
  And it's always amazing me how customers can be hypersensitive to a few dollars.
• 4:55
  on their cleaning fee.
• 5:00
  So um with the with the cleaning authority, can you describe that business a little bit, exactly what what you what that business entailed?
• 5:07
  It is a franchise.
• 5:08
  It's part of the franchise brands owned by the authority brands.
• 5:13
  It's their flagship brand.
• 5:16
  It's primarily residential house cleaning.
• 5:20
  We have a rotation system where we clean the entire house, but on a recurring basis, different parts of the house get a deep cleaning each time we're there to maintain the
• 5:32
  house at a level of a deep clean.
• 5:35
  We operate in teams of two.
• 5:38
  There will be three people when they're training.
• 5:40
  So a training team will have a third person along with them for a couple of weeks to train.
• 5:45
  But the normal pattern is a team of two who will arrive at the house and they will work their way through the house systematically.
• 5:53
  They have a whole pattern that they move through the house, and a pattern that they follow in each room.
• 5:59
  That is the system.
• 6:01
  That way we can send any team to any customer, and their experience will be the same.
• 6:07
  So the real key there is how we make sure that we're detailing things and maintaining the extra deep clean.
• 6:16
  That'll distinguish us from the cleaning lady.
• 6:22
  Yeah, I imagine sis systems, the whole franchise model, the reason it's successful is because they've built successful systems, right?
• 6:29
  And so once you are able to replicate those systems, is is it easier to scale when you can replicate systems like that?
• 6:36
  It it absolutely is easier to scale.
• 6:38
  Not all franchises are created equally, though.
• 6:43
  Some franchisers will do so much more for their franchisees, others are just lending their logo, their branding.
• 6:53
  So it can be vastly different from one to the other.
• 6:57
  And that's for somebody looking into franchises, that's something to pay close attention to.
• 7:03
  With with this particular um type of business, the the the residential cleaning model, can we can we dive into referrals and like not just referral, like I want to talk about
• 7:14
  referrals a little bit and um recurring business, right?
• 7:17
  Because I the primary goal is to get the pr get the people having you come back, right?
• 7:23
  So can you talk a little bit about uh how how you structure that?
• 7:28
  Certainly.
• 7:29
  We've got well right up front, our franchise or the authority brands does so much for us.
• 7:37
  They help with them the whole mailing campaigns, the online advertising.
• 7:44
  They have a vast library of resources that we tap into.
• 7:48
  We touch at least 10 to 13 or 14 percent of our customers every month.
• 7:58
  And we break it down because we know which people in a given zip code have enough household income to afford house cleaning.
• 8:10
  So we're able to target the people who can afford us rather than spending our money on people who would love to have their house cleaned, but it's just not in their budget.
• 8:21
  It's the typical marketing process.
• 8:23
  You have to touch them a number of times, and then we do an estimate for them.
• 8:28
  And most of the time we sign them up for a recurring service.
• 8:34
  Well, we never turn down one-time only cleans though, either.
• 8:39
  I wanna touch back on something you said because I feel like a bot a lot of business owners get stuck here and it's some of the reasons that they never succeed.
• 8:47
  You only went after the people you knew could afford your business.
• 8:50
  Knowing who your ideal client is is is key.
• 8:54
  Right?
• 8:54
  Um I talk to people all the time that um have been struggling and then I find out like they're talking to people that don't have the money to buy their services.
• 9:03
  That's a huge problem because there are a lot of people that you could maybe call tire kickers.
• 9:10
  They they can look, but they can't afford.
• 9:14
  Yeah.
• 9:15
  Roll a business with those people.
• 9:19
  Yeah.
• 9:19
  Yep.
• 9:19
  And then if you keep knocking on the same doors and getting the name the same results, uh, you're not gonna go anywhere, right?
• 9:26
  I mean they'll be happy to talk to you when it comes down to price.
• 9:31
  Most of them will simply say, I can't afford that.
• 9:36
  Um, do you have any insights in how to properly find find your demographic, I guess for a better question, lack of a better question.
• 9:46
  How to properly find those people that can't afford your services.
• 9:50
  In the home services world, it's based on income.
• 9:58
  There are marketing companies out there that have dialed in right down to the mail carrier route and can tell you which what the income levels are on a mail carrier route.
• 10:10
  They can tell you which mail carrier routes are residential, which ones are commercial.
• 10:16
  There is a lot of data available.
• 10:19
  Now, if you're B2B, now you have to quickly identify which businesses.
• 10:28
  Are likely to have the income level where they can afford you.
• 10:32
  Somebody who is struggling, somebody who has a very tiny business, is not going to be able to afford a higher-priced service.
• 10:43
  Revenue is one of the first indicators.
• 10:46
  Do they appear to have enough revenue to afford your services?
• 10:52
  You can weed out a lot of people who are unlikely to be able to afford your services.
• 10:58
  with a quick conversation about what is their level of revenue, what is their customer or client base, where are they having pain?
• 11:10
  Just a couple of quick questions like that can immediately put them in uh yes they could use my services or I'm not so sure that they can afford it or will want to pay the price
• 11:21
  category.
• 11:23
  Yeah, sounds like uh you need to qualify quickly, right?
• 11:27
  Um qualify the prospect quickly and then if they can't afford you just move on and f and uh qualify more more people, so
• 11:35
  You could spend all day talking to people who will never be able to afford your services.
• 11:40
  It doesn't do anything to grow your business.
• 11:44
  Yeah.
• 11:45
  One thing we do uh as with my marketing agency is we do a lot of Google advertising.
• 11:50
  And there are certain zip codes kinda like just you like you said, we will market to certain zip codes but not others because we know the people in those zip codes can afford
• 11:57
  the services than people in other zip codes cannot.
• 12:01
  Well, Google is is such a behemoth and has such a vast amount of data.
• 12:08
  They themselves are even looking at people's search patterns and and what they're purchasing or not purchasing to zero in on who likely customers are.
• 12:22
  We've moved into that world a long time ago, where there are
• 12:28
  I'm sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, go ahead.
• 12:30
  No, we're we're identifying who likely customers are by their behaviors and their habits.
• 12:37
  Yeah, I I don't think anybody is quite ready for uh what's happening with AI right now as far as being able to really dial in um through the marketing because the data we do a lot
• 12:50
  of
• 12:52
  Search engine optimization, not search engine optimization, but AI automat automation.
• 12:55
  Meaning when people are using Chat GTP, they're searching for certain things.
• 12:59
  They're searching for answers, right?
• 13:01
  And now ChatGTP is giving them answers.
• 13:03
  So as a company, you want to be one of those answers that that the AI is giving.
• 13:09
  It has definitely changed the world we're living in and we're having to rethink a lot of things.
• 13:16
  SEO, for example, because Google is summarizing answers to our searches, we're not clicking on websites like we used to before.
• 13:28
  So now companies are talking about optimizing for Google summarization.
• 13:35
  Sounds that's a mouthful.
• 13:36
  Mm-hmm.
• 13:37
  It basically means we want our name to somehow pop up when Google sa answers your question and mention that well XYZ Company takes care of those type of things.
• 13:52
  Yep.
• 13:53
  Yep.
• 13:53
  So good.
• 13:55
  We do something called the fill in the blank question on every proper Christian business episode.
• 13:59
  So uh your fill in the blank question I think is really going to help a a lot of people.
• 14:05
  So the biggest mistake business owners make when trying to grow is blank.
• 14:10
  They try to go and do it on their own.
• 14:15
  Folks, there is just too much to know out there.
• 14:17
  We cannot possibly be an expert in everything.
• 14:22
  Ask for help.
• 14:25
  It shortens the learning curve.
• 14:27
  Yes, advice and help comes with a price tag, but making mistakes and grinding away at it for years longer than is necessary costs you.
• 14:39
  A lot more than getting help and paying for some advice.
• 14:44
  And opportunity.
• 14:46
  They they they s struggle to find opportunity because they're afraid I here's what let me really get to what I'm trying to say.
• 14:56
  They
• 14:57
  have an objection.
• 14:58
  They usually objection is they don't want to pay.
• 15:00
  They don't want to pay for mentorship.
• 15:02
  They don't want to pay for employees.
• 15:04
  They don't want to pay for an expert to help them.
• 15:07
  But all that time that they're not spending money, they're they're wasting it they're in opportunity cost.
• 15:12
  They're losing an opportunity cost every time that they're not willing to get help.
• 15:16
  Right?
• 15:17
  Well well said.
• 15:19
  You you're missing out on revenue and revenue part of it at least drops to the bottom line is profit for you.
• 15:28
  Yeah.
• 15:29
  When you try th again, kinda what you said, when you try and do it all yourself, you're you're by yourself.
• 15:34
  Uh the when you have a team, i it and you you especially I mean we could really go down a rabbit hole of of hiring, right?
• 15:42
  Hiring the right people on the bus on your team because you want to fill fill in your weaknesses, right?
• 15:47
  Like there are places where you're strong but you start to add your weaknesses through a team.
• 15:51
  Can you talk about that a little bit?
• 15:54
  Fill in about filling in the weaknesses on the team?
• 15:59
  Think think of it this way.
• 16:02
  Hire people who are strong in areas that you are weak.
• 16:09
  If you hire duplicates of yourself, the whole organization is going to have the same weaknesses that you have and not know the same, have the same knowledge gaps that you
• 16:22
  have.
• 16:25
  So complements, complementary skill sets are more valuable than like skill sets.
• 16:34
  So I I think this is a good segue too from the hiring process then to building culture because that's something that you've done a pretty good job of job at in the past.
• 16:43
  So can you talk about uh what it takes to build a good culture?
• 16:48
  In in today's world, most of our workers feel unseen, unheard, unrecognized, in a word, unappreciated.
• 16:58
  The message coming, filtering down from the top, is you're expensive, we need to automate.
• 17:09
  We we get from them are the workers who are coming and going, uh, I'm living for Friday in my paycheck.
• 17:16
  Who come in and care about the work they do.
• 17:21
  Flipping that around and recognizing that we hire the entire person when we hire them.
• 17:29
  They come with family, they come with parents, they come with cars that break down.
• 17:34
  Believe it or not, they want these things called vacations and holidays.
• 17:38
  And they have problems.
• 17:41
  But when we show them some dignity and some respect and we give them some space to solve their problems, what they bring to work is appreciation, they care, and they perform their
• 17:55
  work at a significantly higher level.
• 18:00
  They invest their heart in the business.
• 18:02
  They bring you their ideas, they bring you their suggestions.
• 18:05
  All of this stuff is incredibly valuable.
• 18:10
  Yeah.
• 18:11
  what you said there, bringing their heart to the business, like when you treat people well, they are investing back in your business.
• 18:18
  When you don't treat them well, they're not.
• 18:20
  Right?
• 18:20
  They're they're just clocking in and clocking out, doing some of them the bare minimum if they don't like their job, right?
• 18:26
  It's a difference between just getting the job done and performing the job well.
• 18:33
  That gap in between is the difference between keeping your clients for long term or having clients that are minimally satisfied and will jump to your competitors as soon as your
• 18:47
  competitor has an a comp
• 18:49
  Something that looks more attractive, an offer that may be cheaper, it has a couple more advantages than what you have.
• 19:00
  There's no loyalty when you're just getting the job done.
• 19:04
  Yeah, relationships across the board, whether it be with your vendors, your clients, your employees, the more that you can cultivate those relationships, the stronger the business,
• 19:12
  right?
• 19:13
  It's all about relationships.
• 19:16
  Employees will stay at businesses that don't have the highest pay or don't have the most robust benefits if they're feeling appreciated, if they're feeling like they're seen and
• 19:28
  they're heard and they're making a contribution.
• 19:31
  Customers will be loyal to businesses that invest in the relationship with them.
• 19:37
  We're in this world where we don't talk to each other anymore.
• 19:41
  Businesses don't talk to their customers.
• 19:43
  We're making we're having chatbots do that.
• 19:48
  We're s in a race to the bottom on price.
• 19:54
  Yeah, I uh I used to there's a tagline I used to use that was relationships plus results equals growth.
• 20:00
  Right?
• 20:01
  If you if you can show the client results and and you have a build a great relationship, there's no reason that that your business won't grow.
• 20:10
  It it really is that way.
• 20:13
  When you build the people you they build the business.
• 20:17
  Yeah.
• 20:17
  Uh what
• 20:21
  Sure.
• 20:22
  in um real quick to uh something else that you do really well and that is uh raising money.
• 20:28
  Through your your background as a CPA and all the other things that you've done, what is the secret to raising money in a economy crazy like ours is?
• 20:39
  We have to recognize, first of all, where the money comes from and what the mindset is.
• 20:46
  For small businesses and entrepreneurs, a huge source of our funding is SBA backed.
• 20:56
  And there are a variety of banks that will offer SBA-backed lending.
• 21:02
  If you're not going
• 21:05
  A route like that.
• 21:06
  Then you start to look at as you're starting out friends and family and close associates.
• 21:14
  Getting out the next ring out, especially for young businesses, are usually your angel type investors.
• 21:24
  They are going to be attracted to somebody with the right skill set, the right background, and an idea that.
• 21:33
  they believe can be executed.
• 21:35
  There's a group of investors wondering out that will invest in young growth businesses.
• 21:44
  It tends to become a numbers game for them.
• 21:46
  They know if they are careful about investing in these businesses, that they that a certain percentage of them will fail, but a certain percentage will succeed very well, and
• 21:57
  the overall return is is very good.
• 22:01
  But as you move further out and you get toward your traditional banks and
• 22:07
  finance companies, they tend to be very conservative.
• 22:11
  Then it's about having assets that have value, a demonstrated history of revenue and profitability.
• 22:22
  Based on those factors they will then lend.
• 22:26
  So um let's talk about let's scale back those uh rings a little bit.
• 22:31
  to the when early on I think we mentioned angel investors and and then another ring after that.
• 22:36
  What do you feel like yes, banks you needed to have a lot more, you have to have a almost a proven model already by the time you get to the bank level.
• 22:44
  But what would you need to have uh to appear investable from these angel investors uh and and those type of people?
• 22:55
  It it's going to be a background in the area that you are launching your business in.
• 23:04
  You can't come from a history or literature background and suddenly say, I'm going to dive into a tech business.
• 23:14
  An angel investor will say, You don't have the credentials, you don't have the background.
• 23:20
  You're not somebody we would invest with.
• 23:24
  Now, somebody moving from a history in a tech company saying, I have an idea, I'm going to take it out and launch it on my own, and can demonstrate what that idea is and how it is
• 23:42
  going to work.
• 23:43
  And they have a prototype, they've tested some models.
• 23:52
  Even if it's a service business, you there's a prototype to the there's a model out there.
• 23:57
  They have a background in it.
• 24:00
  Somebody launching in home services has a home services background.
• 24:04
  Now I'm launching my own company.
• 24:10
  Yeah.
• 24:10
  Knowing some of the initial customers, saying I have I have a list of customers who are ready to go with us.
• 24:22
  Does a lot to incent somebody who's an angel type investor to want to invest alongside.
• 24:30
  And then lastly, you have to put your own money into it.
• 24:34
  You can't ask everybody else to fund you a hundred percent.
• 24:40
  They're going to expect you to put your money at risk with their money.
• 24:48
  Yeah, I could definitely see that that mindset.
• 24:50
  Like if you're not willing to invest in your own company, why should I be willing to invest in it?
• 24:54
  Right?
• 24:55
  I here's an expression I haven't heard in many years, but the older uh finance types who invested in other businesses talked about people being willing to eat their own cooking.
• 25:08
  Well, if you're gonna serve it to me, you you better be willing to eat it too.
• 25:15
  Yeah.
• 25:16
  Yeah.
• 25:16
  Um so let's talk about like there are a lot of especially new business owners that go into it, they have a lot of passion, right?
• 25:25
  And and when they start to grow, they start to feel overwhelmed.
• 25:28
  Right.
• 25:29
  So what are some signs that a leader has outgrown the way that they've been running the organization?
• 25:37
  Emails that take forever to get responded to, phone calls that that take days and days or even weeks to get back to work piling up on the corner of the desk, the estimates that
• 25:54
  aren't completed, orders that aren't placed.
• 25:57
  What is the owners reaching this point where they can't get their arms around the business anymore, things are falling through the cracks.
• 26:06
  And and do you believe that's because they wanted to wear the hats for too long, all the hats, and they were not willing to discard them fast enough?
• 26:17
  That's that's one way to look at it.
• 26:20
  But let's look at what the psychology is of being a business owner.
• 26:23
  It's my business, my name is on the door, I'm responsible for delivering the results.
• 26:29
  I promised everybody this.
• 26:32
  Plus, we live in a society that rewards people for being the fixer, the one who has a solution to everything.
• 26:41
  Growing a business beyond what you can do personally, what you can get your arms around, requires letting go of some things.
• 26:49
  That means hiring people who will do these things for you.
• 26:54
  There's also this mentality that if we want it done right, and they fill in the blank with, well, then do it yourself.
• 27:03
  But it doesn't work that way when you hire people.
• 27:05
  They will do it their way.
• 27:07
  The real measure is to use this objective measuring stick and say, was that a good answer?
• 27:14
  Was that a good result for the business?
• 27:17
  Not was it my way?
• 27:20
  That's that's powerful right there because I feel like there's there's a lot of that type of mindset out there where uh there's only one way to do it and and that's my way and that
• 27:29
  keeps people exactly like you said from growing because um they're not willing to hand it off because they think their way is the only way.
• 27:37
  And when someone else is willing to do it and they get the the results the same or better, right?
• 27:43
  you gotta be able to let go of that.
• 27:45
  Very well put.
• 27:46
  Well, that's exactly what happens.
• 27:49
  When you give people the space to come up with solutions and ideas, oftentimes they amaze us and they do it better than we can do it.
• 28:00
  But but too many of us are stuck in this, it's my way or the highway type of thinking.
• 28:06
  And the byproduct of that is let's go back to what you said earlier, is now they feel invested in the business because their their ideas and their ingenuity is being used to
• 28:17
  grow the business.
• 28:19
  It absolutely is and that that was key to growing the cleaning company.
• 28:26
  Can can you dive into that a little bit?
• 28:29
  My managers were cleaners at one time, scrubbing toilets, cleaning showers.
• 28:36
  They had potential, so they became managers.
• 28:39
  At first their mentality was, Todd, we have a problem, what do we do?
• 28:44
  So I said, well we can do A or we can do B.
• 28:48
  And we talk about the pros and cons and pick one.
• 28:51
  The next one, then they did some growing and they would come and say, Todd, we we have a problem.
• 28:56
  We think we can do A or we think we could do B.
• 28:59
  So we would talk about it and the pros and cons and pick one.
• 29:03
  Eventually we got to level three.
• 29:06
  They say, Todd, we have a pro we had a problem, we solved it.
• 29:10
  This is what we did.
• 29:13
  Now we're at level four.
• 29:17
  I don't hear about most of the problems.
• 29:19
  What happens now is, Todd, something happened, we took care of it.
• 29:23
  We but we think it's something that you would want to know about.
• 29:27
  So here's what happened, this is what we did, and it's it's all it's solved.
• 29:33
  That is exactly the type of internal growth that you want.
• 29:37
  They're problem solvers.
• 29:38
  Those things are not living on my desk anymore.
• 29:41
  I'm not spending portions of my day fixing those things.
• 29:47
  They've got it.
• 29:51
  Can we transition now uh to to questions about faith?
• 29:56
  So tell me a little bit about your your your faith journey up up until um up until now.
• 30:04
  Um born and raised Christian, originally in fairly conservative branch of Lutheran Wisconsin Senate.
• 30:12
  Um along the way had some disagreements with uh religious leaders and for a time was not actively practicing, but have come back um and been back practicing for many years now.
• 30:29
  Currently in a sister synod, the Missouri Synod.
• 30:34
  Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Synod were aligned at one time.
• 30:38
  They had a falling out years ago, but they're contemplating becoming affiliated with each other again as we speak.
• 30:46
  Basically the same teachings.
• 30:49
  So it's all Christ-based.
• 30:51
  It's all about fellowship.
• 30:52
  It's about the I mean, the Good Samaritan is a good example.
• 30:59
  Taking care of your fellow human being when they have a need and when you have an ability to help them.
• 31:07
  So that has always been a driver, and that has always been part of doing a little extra than is expected and doing it well.
• 31:18
  It matters, it's important.
• 31:21
  Do your work as unto the Lord.
• 31:23
  Right?
• 31:26
  Yes.
• 31:28
  Because i in the Bible there it says that when you do these things for these people around you in need, it's as if you did them for me.
• 31:38
  And that's what Jesus was saying to his disciples.
• 31:42
  Amen.
• 31:42
  Um so through through your business journey, how is your faith shaped the way you define success?
• 31:49
  It has definitely shaped how we care for our employees, how we talk to them, how we treat them.
• 31:56
  So a couple of quick examples.
• 32:00
  In winter when they slide off the road and they're in a ditch, we go out and we'll push their cars out of the ditch, we'll change tires for them.
• 32:09
  We've had cleaners whose cars well I have to back up so that it makes sense.
• 32:15
  We don't have a fleet of cars.
• 32:17
  We pay them to drive their cars.
• 32:21
  We've had cleaners whose cars broke down.
• 32:23
  We've driven them around from house to house to house so they could get their paycheck.
• 32:28
  We've taken their cars to the mechanics for them.
• 32:33
  We've had cleaners who've had deaths in the families and we've collected money for them.
• 32:38
  We've gone to the funerals, we've been there for them.
• 32:41
  We've been at their graduations, their weddings.
• 32:47
  That's really th it's creating like a family like atmosphere, right?
• 32:50
  And really taking care of people like like their family.
• 32:54
  It is, even though we we don't we don't use that language, but yes, it is.
• 33:00
  There w there was a time not long after I took over when my managers reached this point where they felt like they finally knew who I was and and how I was going to run the
• 33:10
  business, that they they said to me privately in a conversation, we're family.
• 33:16
  And I thought, my God, what an amazing, what amazing thing.
• 33:22
  Yeah.
• 33:23
  Um you develop so many things by growing a great culture like you have.
• 33:27
  Um it's easy to grow a business when people are bought in and helping you grow it.
• 33:33
  Well, it produces five very distinct things.
• 33:36
  Your your people stay longer, your turnover drops.
• 33:41
  That's an expense to the business's turnover.
• 33:44
  Your hiring costs drop.
• 33:47
  They start telling friends and family what a great place.
• 33:49
  These friends and family asked to work there.
• 33:52
  So you don't even have to spend money advertising for people.
• 33:56
  They care.
• 33:57
  So they take that heart and caring with them out when they do the work and do the cleaning.
• 34:03
  The customers rave about the results.
• 34:07
  They customers stay longer.
• 34:10
  That means that every time we add customers, it increases the revenue faster because we're not replacing lost customers.
• 34:19
  We're getting referrals from customers.
• 34:21
  And then number five is free advertising.
• 34:25
  You cannot beat when they go out to Google number five and post a picture and tell the world what a great job you did, and then hit the five-star button.
• 34:37
  Yeah, and hiring becomes easier when you have people saying, uh when they know people are looking for a job and they work there and they're like, I know a great place to work,
• 34:46
  right?
• 34:48
  We have a wait list.
• 34:50
  Peop we have five to ten people who walk in a week asking to apply.
• 34:56
  But other cleaning authority officers are saying, well, where are all the good people?
• 35:01
  Why can't they find anybody?
• 35:03
  I'm saying you you you're not doing it right.
• 35:07
  Yeah, I I think about it often like you can tell it in a restaurant environment.
• 35:11
  Like if you go into a restaurant and you always get good service and you know it's because you see the same employees because they're staying around because they they love working
• 35:19
  there um and doing a good job.
• 35:22
  But where you go in another restaurant and it seems like you're seeing new people every time and you can tell it's probably a culture problem.
• 35:29
  It it is a culture problem and you've gotta love going to those restaurants where you see the same people because they recognize you and then they make you feel at home w when
• 35:39
  you're there.
• 35:42
  They start to remember the things you like and and the things you don't like.
• 35:48
  Yep.
• 35:48
  They know what table you like to sit at, what you like to drink right off the bat.
• 35:52
  You almost have to tell them, No, I'm getting something different today.
• 35:56
  Yeah, they'll they'll often fly by and say, Would you like the usual?
• 36:01
  No, this time I think I'll try s something else.
• 36:05
  Yeah, it it means a lot when somebody can remember your name and remember the the the things that you like.
• 36:10
  It's it's it's really, really cool.
• 36:15
  Well there was that whole T V sitcom series with the theme song about going to a place where they know your name.
• 36:25
  And I love that idea.
• 36:35
  So um let's transition uh again, talk a little bit more about the home service business, but um I want to try and help as many people with this podcast as possible.
• 36:44
  So there are people that have lots of demand for their home service business, but they still feel like they're stuck, like they're not growing.
• 36:51
  What do you feel like the the common denominator is often there or um how can how can you kind of help them get out of that, I guess?
• 37:01
  As as you put it, they have demand, but they're still feeling stuck.
• 37:06
  That suggests to me that they probably are experiencing turnover at levels that are preventing them from growing.
• 37:20
  So think about it this way: if you're losing two or three customers a week.
• 37:30
  That are due to things you can control quality, service levels, just plain old customer service, responding to emails and phone calls, but you're only signing up two or three
• 37:43
  customers a week.
• 37:46
  You've hit this numerical ceiling where you're not going any higher because you're losing them as fast as you are bringing them on board.
• 37:58
  Getting that retention number up, meaning losing the fewest number of customers to things you can control is critical.
• 38:09
  Quality is critical.
• 38:11
  It goes back to the service levels and it goes back to how the staff is taking care of the customers.
• 38:20
  This whole service and customer is like two sides of a coin.
• 38:25
  On one side, the customer says, I want.
• 38:28
  Quality service and products, and I want it consistently every time I do business with you.
• 38:35
  And I want one more thing.
• 38:37
  I want good customer service.
• 38:39
  When I need help, I want to be able to pick up the phone and talk to somebody who will help me.
• 38:46
  Flip that coin over.
• 38:47
  What does the business owner want?
• 38:48
  We want to deliver our goods and services efficiently, meaning we want to use the fewest possible resources.
• 38:58
  Because resources cost us money, but we want to deliver it effectively.
• 39:04
  And that means that we want to do it in a way that we meet the expectations, and I would argue exceed the expectations of our customers.
• 39:18
  Yep.
• 39:18
  I I I think about the Chick-fil-A model a lot when you say that.
• 39:21
  Um, because I think the one the reason they s they succeeded is because they saw a market where it was kind of the McDonalds, the Burger Kings, etcetera, of the world were just
• 39:33
  automated.
• 39:33
  The same thing.
• 39:34
  The employees w weren't even that happy it seemed like they weren't that happy to be there.
• 39:38
  And they just flipped it on his head and you you got employees that are happy to to be there that
• 39:44
  And just a plu they they the customer they've revolutionized the customer experience in in the fast food world.
• 39:50
  And uh it it sounds a lot like what you're talking about.
• 39:54
  It's the one thing that's just important to remember here is if you can generate some loyalty, there there's a certain stickiness that goes with that.
• 40:05
  The customers will keep coming back to you over and over again.
• 40:08
  They'll keep dialing the same number every time they want that that service.
• 40:14
  Yeah, and I th I think about this too.
• 40:16
  If there there may better there may be a better chicken sandwich out there than Chick fil A's, but they're gonna win because the experience and the customer service is so much
• 40:26
  better.
• 40:27
  Okay, absolutely.
• 40:29
  They'll it is the s poor service is that pebble in the shoe.
• 40:36
  You just want to get rid of it as quickly as you can.
• 40:41
  Let's let's transition one more question about raising money.
• 40:45
  And a lot of business owners are like, Yeah, I wanna raise money right now, but what things can they fix in the should they fix in their business before they even go asking
• 40:53
  for money?
• 40:57
  Your service model is one of the biggest things to fix.
• 41:02
  Most businesses we help do not have their service model dialed in.
• 41:09
  Case in point, I had a client down in Winter Garden, Florida.
• 41:14
  Just by standardizing a service model, we found an extra $40,000 to $50,000 a year in profit right there.
• 41:24
  With a po with a poor service model, you're gonna have retention problems, primarily with your customers.
• 41:33
  That's keeping people from growing.
• 41:35
  So you're losing revenue right there.
• 41:40
  Businesses need to make sure that they're priced effectively.
• 41:44
  That means
• 41:45
  Choose your place in the market.
• 41:48
  Are you going to be a premium service?
• 41:51
  Are you going to compete in the middle market?
• 41:54
  Are you going to be more of a a discount service?
• 41:58
  And then price and deliver accordingly.
• 42:04
  Yeah, that that's so good.
• 42:09
  sorry, I I lost my train of thought there for a minute.
• 42:11
  Well edit this part out.
• 42:15
  so I I'll just I'll just proceed to um the last question I have for you, Todd.
• 42:20
  Todd, if a business owner or nonprofit leader listening right now is growing, but they feel overwhelmed, disconnected, or stretched too thin, what is the first step they should
• 42:28
  take to get clarity?
• 42:32
  This that's a good time to take one step back from your desk and really look at what is on your desk and say to yourself, Are these tasks that I need to do?
• 42:46
  Overwhelm comes from I'm trying to do too much, there aren't enough hours in the day.
• 42:52
  There are many, many ways to get very good help at affordable prices.
• 42:59
  For small businesses, even a virtual assistant that can be located in another time zone or even another country can be a very, very affordable way to get repetitive but important
• 43:17
  tasks off of your desk.
• 43:21
  Get some help with the email, watching the calendar, making appointments, completing documents and forums, anything that's repetitive can be documented and handed to somebody
• 43:34
  else.
• 43:36
  Yeah, I have to say that uh virtual assistants has helped my business grow uh quite a bit.
• 43:41
  And anytime I start to feel that overwhelm, that's when I know it might be time for uh to bring someone else on because um they have helped me immensely.
• 43:50
  And I love that you mentioned clarity earlier, and I think that word just in it in and of itself is so key.
• 43:56
  Like the more clarity you have as a business owner, the whether it's around your your processes,
• 44:04
  your pricing, your offer, y who your ideal client is.
• 44:08
  We talked about that earlier on.
• 44:09
  Like the more clarity that you can get around all those things, the easier it is to grow.
• 44:13
  Wouldn't you agree?
• 44:16
  It is.
• 44:17
  And and we we apply that every day.
• 44:19
  So let me give you a quick concrete example here.
• 44:23
  We excel at cleaning three and four bedroom houses, which are anywhere from a bath and a half to two, two and a half baths.
• 44:32
  Your s your basic suburban type house where you have mom and dad working, a couple of kids off to school involved in every extra curricular you can imagine, a puppy dog and a kitty
• 44:42
  cat.
• 44:43
  And we can just not
• 44:45
  Those things out one after another.
• 44:47
  Now, can we do the huge mansions that sit on the reservoirs, overlooking the reservoirs around us, the things that are 10,000, 12,000, 13,000 square feet?
• 44:58
  Yeah.
• 44:59
  It's not our sweet spot.
• 45:02
  Just like on the small end, taking care of that 750 or 800 square foot apartment oh is not our sweet spot either.
• 45:13
  So we know our target market and we know what our customers look like and what they behave like and we know where geographically they live.
• 45:23
  That clarity is what every business owner needs.
• 45:28
  Don't chase what doesn't fit.
• 45:32
  So speaking of that, I I imagine you can really help business owners get that clarity.
• 45:36
  So I know you offer a complimentary business clarity and growth conversation around leadership gaps, hidden efficiencies, ways that they can scale and not be burnt out.
• 45:47
  I'm sure there's a lot of people listening right now or watching that have have felt some burnout or are feeling it right now.
• 45:53
  So where do people go to schedule a conversation with you?
• 45:58
  Go to www.silversunconsulting.com.
• 46:03
  By the way, Sun is S-U-N.
• 46:06
  On the about page, you'll find a bio, you'll find my email, you'll find a phone number that rings right here.
• 46:15
  Give me a call.
• 46:16
  I will be happy to talk to you.
• 46:19
  While you're there, feel free to cuse the media page and any other things about the speaking and events that I've done.
• 46:28
  You may find that helpful and informative too.
• 46:32
  That is awesome.
• 46:33
  I encourage everyone listening or watching um because getting clarity around your business and how to move forward.
• 46:41
  I mean what are you doing if you're not doing if you're not getting that?
• 46:44
  If you don't have that right now, you need to get it.
• 46:46
  And and Todd can can certainly help you get there.
• 46:49
  So um Todd, I loved having you on the show today.
• 46:52
  Uh I loved how you talked about sustainable growth starts with a leader and how uh I'm
• 47:00
  I'm gonna have to edit this part out too.
• 47:01
  I kind of got lost in my thoughts.
• 47:03
  Sorry about that.
• 47:04
  Um but thank you again, Todd, for for being here.
• 47:09
  And uh remember, uh if you really want that clarity, go to silversunconsulting.com and you said it's on the about page, Todd.
• 47:16
  The about page has all of my contact information, including my cell phone number.
• 47:22
  So you're not just that's what I wanted to mention is you're not just calling and getting an assistant that's going to connect you with Todd.
• 47:27
  You're getting a connection to Todd himself.
• 47:28
  You've his his cell phone number is right there.
• 47:31
  So um r go to silversignconsulting.com and reach out to Todd.
• 47:38
  Well thank you, Doug.
• 47:39
  It's been a real honor to be on your show.
• 47:42
  Thanks everyone and until next time, keep moving forward.