INTRO:
In this episode of the DYB Podcast, Steve gets the chance to chat with Ryan Anderson;
Owner of Alliance Painting in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Disillusioned by his previous career as a Manufacturing Plant Controller,
Ryan moved to the Dallas area to start his painting business.
Since then, Alliance Painting has seen massive success:
Selling $750K in the first year, and growing to $1.2M the next year.
In this conversation, Ryan will unpack the history of the business and the secret to its massive growth:
Proper positioning in the local market to pre-qualify leads.
LISTEN HERE OR READ THE TRANSCRIPTION BELOW:
QUOTES:
“If you do your marketing the right way, people will qualify themselves instead of you qualifying them.”
“The best thing I did for the business was hire a coach. It’s really easy to get lost in the woods by yourself.”
“Sales are for show. Profits are for dough.”
“Appreciation and Encouragement [for employees] go much further than Money and Bonuses.”
HIGHLIGHTS:
[13:00] How did Ryan get the “Entrepreneurial Bug?”[23:31] Learn about Ryan’s biggest source of support and encouragement.
[35:57] What was the biggest paradigm shift Ryan made to get where he is now?
[49:39] How important is culture to Ryan’s company?
LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED:
They Ask, You Answer – Marcus Sheridan
How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
ADDITIONAL FREE RESOURCES
Video Testimonial Checklist PDF
3 Steps To Get Leads From FB PDF
Free DYB Book (Just pay 6.95 S&H)
EP01 9 Steps to Doubling Your Business Part 1
Connect with Ryan Anderson on Facebook
Connect with Steve Burnett on Facebook
Thank you very much for joining us today! If you received value, would you take a quick few seconds and leave us a review on iTunes, please?
FULL TRANSCRIPTION
Steve Burnett: 00:00:00 This is Episode Five with Ryan Anderson. Let’s play ball.
Steve Burnett: 00:00:06 Welcome to the podcast I’m your host Steve Burnett. Each week we interview successful entrepreneurs to hear about their journey to inspire you to double your business. Thanks for spending some time with me today and now today show.
Steve Burnett: 00:00:24 Thank you again for being here we have another inspiring story lined up for you today with Ryan Anderson. But first a special thank you to Ryan Gill for his podcast reviews saying Gray in easy to listen to podcasts. I’ve been a part of the DYB Community for a little less than a year now. It has helped me and my business tremendously. I just recently signed up to do more work closely with them and can’t wait. Again thank you very much Ryan Gill of brush strokes quality painting out of Atlanta predate that
In this week’s episode. I interview Ryan Anderson owner operator of a Alliance Painting from the Fort Worth Dallas area delusion by his previous career as a manufacturing plant controller Ryan moved to the Dallas area to start his painting business. Since then Aline’s painting has seen massive success selling 750000 dollars in the first year and growing to one point two million the next year and get this he’s never painted himself without further ado. Here’s episode 6.
Steve Burnett: 00:01:30 Today’s guest is from the Fort Worth Dallas area owner of Alliance Painting Ryan Anderson. Welcome to the show my friend. Thanks
Ryan Anderson: 00:01:39 Happy by to be here.
Steve Burnett: 00:01:40 It’s a pleasure to have you on. Well for your ruin. How how’d you get started. What is your story.
Ryan Anderson: 00:01:45 My wife and I are from Idaho Boise Idaho Arizona. We both grew up there. We actually met in high school. We never dated never really hung out too much either but we knew each other. My cousin went to school with her after high school after he graduated high school. I went to work at a. My mom has worked at a sugar beet factory for 30 years and she just retired three years ago I think and at a high school I wasn’t really ready to go to college. And so I actually I went to work there because she could give me a job and a paid decent. And I kind of grew up in that plant and I knew the people there so it was a natural transition and so I started working there. I worked there for three years. I did a lot of a lot of cool things and I grew up a lot.
Ryan Anderson: 00:02:25 I credit a lot of my work ethic now to what they taught me at that plant. I mean it was a lot of hard work. I learned how to weld. I worked on industrial boilers. I was a switchman. I was a locomotive operator. I was kind of like a chemist like a chemist. They called it a carbonation operator and like a chemist. Not to the fullest I mean it was very I was just testing samples of of of product and make sure it was with the certain specs but I worked really really hard there and I was on my way up the chain of command and pretty quickly I actually had a lot of people angry at me because at the Union workshop there are no unions are you know they they promote based on seniority for the most part.
Ryan Anderson: 00:03:05 And I was passing people up because I was working hard and I had a desire to move up. And a lot of these people in unions there’s pros and cons everything in life. But a union people can get complacent and they just expect to get promoted based on how long they’ve been with the company. That was the downfall of that place. And one thing I noticed was people that had been working there for 20 years 30 years and they retired specifically the guys that worked in the mill out on the shop floor they would retire and then within like two years they were dead. You know that’s not the healthiest place to work.
Steve Burnett: 00:03:38 There’s a really good point right here that it’s very interesting. There you see the I read an article about insurance companies saying that three years after retirement on average men died three years after retirement. So it’s that’s very unusual. Two years and so so I don’t believe retirement in 40 years. Tired. OK.
Ryan Anderson: 00:03:59 I agree. I agree I don’t know if I’ll ever stop working because I get too bored. Absolutely. I’ve got to be moving forward. So when I started noticing that and I just noticed that people had to work there for 10 plus years to make a decent living. I was making 15 bucks at like 18 years old an hour and I was pretty good I thought and I had benefits and a pension and all this stuff but I just look at these guys that are making you know 20 25 bucks an hour. They’ve been there for 10 15 years and I just and then you retire and you die. I just had had something more planned and vision from my life. And so I made a decision to go to college and after I’d been there for like three years didn’t know what I wanted to do.
Ryan Anderson: 00:04:35 I just knew I wanted to do something different and kind of broaden my horizons. So I went to Boise State University and I started going to school there in 2006. Started off just like a general business major. I didn’t really declare anything that was actually pretty scary to cause. I remember feeling I’d been out of school for 3 4 years. By that point in you know I’m going back to school and I’m going back to school with 18 year olds that are fresh out of high school. You know you kind of stop learning I guess or you stop your study habits and sort of get back into it. I remember feeling like super nervous about going back to school and kind of like having to relearn how to study and do everything again. It was super super vulnerable and scared but it didn’t take.
Ryan Anderson: 00:05:19 I was pretty focused and so my first semester at I think I had like a three point eight GPA because I just worked really really hard. I was scared. And so I wanted to do good. But after about two years and you know I thought about it a lot. I’m a major and been a general business degree these days. To me it kind of seems like a high school diploma of 20 years ago. Like everybody has them. And so I wanted to specialize in something. So I decided to spread to focus on accounting. My god I declared him a major as an accountant or an accounting degree and I ended up you know finishing school in 2011 I graduated and I had an accounting degree but I didn’t want to be like a CPA.
Ryan Anderson: 00:05:59 I was in beta alpha in college the little accounting community there. And you know they would take us to events that you know like the big five or Big Four firms Deloitte and KPMG as you know and trying to get us tailored to meet people to go be a you know an audit type of person. And I just never really I never really fit with that. I just never wanted to be that type of an accountant. I didn’t think it was fun I didn’t want to be a CPA. Every time everyone every time someone I tell someone I have an counting degree they automatically assume I was like a CPA. I never was. Never wanted to be what I ended up doing after I graduated as I got a job with a company there cult their names is Dickinson frozen foods and what they do is they it’s a food plant and they basically have never had the Wendy’s chili.
Ryan Anderson: 00:06:49 STEVE Yes. That facility makes or they used to I don’t know. You know but they used to make the vegetable blend for the chili for Wendy’s so like that pepper onion celery blend comes from the plant that I used to work at. And so my role was I was a plant controller and so I basically managed the accounting department for for a manufacturing facility and now report into the corporate office. But I loved it because it was it allowed me to do you know accounting work. But I did a lot more analysis than I did. Mike debiting credits which I found to be more fun because I was involved in the process and coming from experience working at that sugar factory.
Ryan Anderson: 00:07:29 That was a good fit for me because I liked being on the shop floor I liked talking to the people and learning the process. You know how how sugars made or how onions are made me blends and I can go out on the shop floor and look at the process and find loopholes or areas where we can improve. I remember one of my big achievements at this onion plant was they also just made frozen onion just straight frozen onions or whatever and that was the main source of revenue for that company or that plant and they had an onion table where the onions would come they’d get they’d come in with the skin on them and then get peeled and then come this table where they would. There was like 10 women sometimes guys too. And there was this table as a bell the Onion would move through and as it moved the people would throw out rotten onions or they would finish taking off the skin of the onion.
Ryan Anderson: 00:08:20 If you get the skin to go to the rest of the process and you have a big mess. But we had a lot of weight. And so I had this I proposed that we put a research collation belt in there and they put a recirculation but they actually ended up going with my proposed arm recirculation belt. I don’t remember the numbers. Five years ago six years ago. But it was a huge savings for the company. It was like it was like a 5 percent increase in yield or recovery like what we’ve put through the system as good finished product by five percent versus what they had been doing before which you know you’re talking you’re talking millions of pounds a year.
Ryan Anderson: 00:08:56 Now they can sell what without buying any additional material. So that’s the kind of stuff that that I loved about the job but I really didn’t like sitting behind the desk too much so I said I was on the shop floor a lot and that helped me understand the financials as well a little bit better and quicker and quicker. But that was a small company. So I worked. I only worked there for like a year and I was kind of honestly I was like the top of the ladder already in this company. There really wasn’t much for me to do. So I wanted to be a plant manager and that would be way down the line. So I kind of started actually one day I was heading home and I had this guy call me and he said he had found me on LinkedIn and he said hey I’m looking for a plant controller in Salt Lake City Utah to fill this position.
Ryan Anderson: 00:09:41 This company just bought this other company out there looking to fill the role to make it a little bit short story I ended up taking that job. It was a pretty significant increase in pay and my wife and I have been in Idaho our whole life. We kind of had a desire to leave and just kind of explore a little bit and see what the what the future would hold for us. So we took that job in in Salt Lake City the same kind of those same kind of work. It was. It was a smaller company but it was bigger with a lot more opportunity. There was an international opening but that company treated their employees like crap treating them like brand and so it didn’t really align with with me and so I didn’t work there very long either.
Ryan Anderson: 00:10:17 We ended up taking the job with Georgia-Pacific who you know who does paper and lumber and I would we ended up taking a job they had offered me in Arkansas in Gordon Arkansas and it was a huge facility. I went from managing a 30 30 mail facility to a 200 million dollar facility. It was huge and it was a really big learning curve that I had no experience had experience in food but no experience in the lumber industry so there was a whole different process. There was a lot of fun to learn but I you know as I got into that role and kind of understood what was going on I know all through those three positions I’ve just laid out. I never really felt fulfilled and I’ve always had a desire to be a business owner and kind of control my own destiny.
Steve Burnett: 00:11:03 So the entrepreneurial I don’t want to say to the entrepreneurial bug. Yes for sure. Nurture your whole life Steve and your son to that came about.
Ryan Anderson: 00:11:15 I remember always looking up to people that I knew that had a business their own business like my grandpa. He was he was a business owner. He was more like a bucket type of guy. But he had a drywall company and he would he would do drywall for Kit I don’t know. No kidding. They do like free menu or manufacturing homes. I remember he would work. He did a lot of work for them but he made you know pretty good money. And I knew some other people that you know had businesses in the community that I just like could see the freedom they had I could see that you know they were happy. I could see that they are independent and they control their own destiny. So yeah I always have from a young age I always had a desire I never knew what I would do or what it would be. I just knew that if when the time was right that I would probably do something on my own and just see if I could make it work.
Steve Burnett: 00:11:59 Quick side question when you read back to her your journey. I have a cousin of mine brilliant guy Grieger like you.
Steve Burnett: 00:12:07 And he says I could you know he says I look up to entrepreneurs and you guys. He says it’s just amazing how you go and do it he says. But it scares me that I could never do that. And I said that’s that’s interesting in a morning if you can relate to here being you. You were employed in your day job. You know you stepped out to be an entrepreneur which we’ll get to. And so I looked at him and I said you know you putting all your eggs in one basket with this employers cares Lee’s debt.
Steve Burnett: 00:12:35 So Billy you’ve experienced both and we’ll get to the expert report. But so you’re an employee. Great job and the new venture out to be an entrepreneur. Which one scares you more to death. Putting all your eggs in one basket with an employer or be an entrepreneur and having a great big client illustrates one of them easier to use for the others.
Ryan Anderson: 00:12:57 Well now that I’ve been on both sides of it has definitely I would be more scared to have all my egg on basket with an employer just because you know I understand my work ethic. I understand that I’m not going to let it fail. I’ll do it or whatever it’s going to take to make it work and you know I’ve been doing this for three years now. So you know I kind of know what it takes and I know what I have to do to make it work.
Ryan Anderson: 00:13:21 And I’m really I’m setting up for the long term. But you never. You don’t have control over your employer. My wife’s brother in law my mother in law her sister’s husband. She was talking to her sister and she said Hey we just had some of my my husband’s colleagues this the place that he works. No notice nothing they just got laid off. Ouch. Yeah. And it’s like that’s a perfect example like you have you actually have no control over what they’re going to do. So you’re always at their mercy. And I’ve heard that time and time again you know especially like when the economy’s turning her it you know like 10 years ago you just have no control over that. And so I want to have control over my destiny and and Gary on the front end of it when you’re when you are employed and you have a good job and you make good money and you have benefits and you worked for a great company.
Ryan Anderson: 00:14:09 Georgia-Pacific was a great company and you leave it at that. And yeah it’s a huge risk. You don’t know any what’s going to happen but if you’re focused and you’re hyper focused on it don’t work out and you can do things the right way it’ll work out you’ll be taken care of.
Steve Burnett: 00:14:22 Some have surrendered 100 percent back to your story. So there you are. So this much bigger place in your learning holding processes.
Ryan Anderson: 00:14:32 What I got the hang of things I was not a plant controller at this company they had put me in a lead analyst role which I was directly under the plan controller of this facility. And the idea was that they were going to. It was a training ground for me to learn the business. And then there were going to you know in a year or two they were going to promote me to apply controller of that facility or another facility. But it didn’t take me long to figure it out it was within like three or four months. I
Ryan Anderson: 00:14:56 kind of had things narrowed down and I was doing all the forecasting thing all the budgeting I was doing.
Ryan Anderson: 00:15:02 Make it couldn’t go to all the records but I just got bored with Evergreen Parmi I needed a rupture for us un educated listeners out there a plant controlled Wilbur isn’t like a manager controller is a financial construct that basically is directly owned you know directly responsible for reporting the financial performance of a facility and that entails you know annual budgets that entails you know at this facility we would do forecasting each month to forecast sales profitability all that kind of stuff and then manage Riccardi colored recoveries or recovery like you know you bring a lot of water in. What percentage of that log of wood is actually being made into a piece of a two by four or a piece of plywood. So you know the more you waste the more money you lose. So they want you. They want you to use as much as you can to make real money without buying more raw materials less the kind of stuff I was doing just directly overseeing financial performance.
Ryan Anderson: 00:16:02 Basically as a flight controller you’re the plant manager and right hand man you’re the person. That he that he relies on to make decisions. Basically it’s all financial based. Usually unless it’s safety and this is a safety issue. So yeah I got bored after a few months and I just felt underutilized and I remember just going to work every day and I just hated it. I just felt like I wasn’t doing much you know. And I just got bored. I just wanted else well we’ll enter something interesting happened the plant controller was promoted to a plant manager of a different facility in Korea Virginia. So he was leaving to take his job on and right before he got promoted.
Ryan Anderson: 00:16:43 I had made a decision that we were going to move to Dallas Fort Worth area to start this painting company and it kind of put me in a bad weird spot because you know this guy’s leaving they want me to take over his responsibilities going on only one in the. Somebody that knows how to do it yet. I’m I have other plans. They don’t know about yet but I’m going to be moving in and quitting my job.
Steve Burnett: 00:17:06 How did that play out yes that played out.
Ryan Anderson: 00:17:10 I had to protect myself a little bit. And I also was I had the company in mind too. It took me you know they had a position open and they were wondering why I hadn’t applied for it.
Ryan Anderson: 00:17:21 They posted it they posted it as available and they were expecting me to put my name in the hat in the ring. And then a month goes by and it had done that because I’m ahead of the plans. They had no winning. So finally they the regional controller called me and said hey you know are you going to put your name in this. And I just kind of had to tell her like no are my. This is what I’m doing and this is why I’m put my name in the ring. But I want to give you guys time to find somebody else because I was going to leave and this was all played out in like the early summer of 2014 like June noonish and I had planned to leave in August but given the situation that they were in you know that’s a pretty rough situation if I would left to have been left with nobody understands the operations of that Realty and I ended up giving them like three months notice.
Ryan Anderson: 00:18:10 And I stayed there until October 14. I guess it was longer than three months or four months but I stayed there until he and then he actually didn’t have anyone I don’t remember them having somebody else hired that I could train. I don’t even know what they did but they actually ended up offering me that position without me even applying for it. They called me about the plant manager called me like Lee back up a little bit when the plant control still at this facility right before he left. We had a sit down him him and I and the plant manager and I remember the plant manager telling me you’re not ready for this yet.
Ryan Anderson: 00:18:44 And I was so mad because I knew that I was even doing it.
Ryan Anderson: 00:18:51 And I just remember how angry I was and I’m like I’m a show this guy I’m sure show this guy that I have that I can do it you know my show.
Ryan Anderson: 00:18:59 Well fast forward three months he’s calling me like basically begging me to stay. He’s like you really impressed me. You were ready for this. We want you to stay. And here’s what it will do for you. I think like 110000 years really offered me to become the controller and I turned that down because I just I just felt so confident about this business and what it could what it could do. The ability of a painting company and I just knew that if you could if it ran properly you could make a lot of money in this business. You could also fail though on the other side of it.
Steve Burnett: 00:19:33 So you passed up a promotion placing you at a hundred and ten thousand dollar annual salary plus benefits that would come along with a package to become a painting contractor started painting company crazy right.
Ryan Anderson: 00:19:48 In training and Georgia-Pacific a great company. I
Ryan Anderson: 00:19:52 remember my wife’s family thought I was crazy but I was not so some and we don’t get as we go into it later but obviously you have your wasteful support. I did. Yeah it’s not you most likely wouldn’t be married today.
Ryan Anderson: 00:20:07 Yes it was. Is a special woman. I get emotional thinking about it.
Steve Burnett: 00:20:13 Now I can really understand. Yeah
Ryan Anderson: 00:20:15 . She’s a fall onto the right and she just believes in me.
Steve Burnett: 00:20:20 Noonuccal is consumed with her going too far from my self frame and every point to make with this but would we be where we are to use what we achieved with our wives. Absolutely not. Absolutely. So a quick point I want to make all the guys out there and more so to the wives. Support your husbands believe in them. Tell them they have what it takes and tell them you’re behind them 100 percent tell them they’re Superman Tom they’ve got this. Even the darkest of hours if you support them 100 percent. Watch them watch them succeed watch their just crush it.
Ryan Anderson: 00:20:59 Absolutely yeah. My wife had had her full support and it wasn’t a decision we made lightly but we decided to do it and initially we were with the franchise and we got some training from them and we moved to Dallas Fort Worth area. We live in the fort. We have always lived in the Fort Worth side and that’s kind of where we had our home base. The franchise model. I think it helps you get started you know especially someone that had no experience in the industry helps you get started with the processes and procedures and you know how to pay. I use a sub model so how to pay your subs and then you had a community of guys that was the big thing for me as a community of people that have experience you know in the industry that they use and call and say hey you know I’m you know I had I have this popcorn selling and we have a job that I’ve never done before in the process.
Ryan Anderson: 00:21:51 I mean what I should look for or this cabinet job I’ve never done cabinets. What’s the what do you know. What’s the process. That was where the real value was for me with a franchise. And I was in the franchise for two years and I made a decision to branch off into my own my own name my own company. And that was a year ago. Then here we are with Alliance training. One year later and were head and shoulders above where we were a year ago even that’s pretty crazy to think about it.
Steve Burnett: 00:22:18 That’s awesome. Communities and poor and her brain Tracy says pioneer OK you can be a pioneer go figure all this out on your own and find pioneer your ways because you want to pioneer is pioneers the guy lying face down in the weeds with an arrow on his back by himself.
Ryan Anderson: 00:22:33 When you can get lost out there by yourself in the woods.
Ryan Anderson: 00:22:39 Yeah I was lost for a long time.
Steve Burnett: 00:22:41 In case you started the Lions pay team basically the Rieber NGO you know without getting into details that she had to start over in a sense. As
Steve Burnett: 00:22:51 far as rebranding marketing, networking so yeah. Can you walk us through that.
Ryan Anderson: 00:22:57 Yeah it was a very stressful time for multiple reasons but when you ever Yurie brand and you spent your blood sweat and tears into something then you’re going to change it. You know that’s scary to me but you know I had a great community of guys in the BYB Facebook Community that you know I hold able to lean on and they helped me with some guidance along with yourself Steve.
Ryan Anderson: 00:23:21 But super scary I had you know I just created any website I had invest quite a bit of money to do it two new business cards new website rewrapped my car no new new shirts everything had to be different. And I remember how scared I was and how old I was you know. But a year later we had a pretty decent year even though we had even though it’s our first year underly ending we had a really good year and I am super excited about you know the future and what’s going to happen. I actually have a lot more clarity now on where we’re going than I’ve ever had since I started this whole thing.
Steve Burnett: 00:23:57 That’s great. Sue as we’re going and rebranded a year into intuits would have you decided for three piza your target market.
Ryan Anderson: 00:24:05 We love to do. I mean really good money and really good margins on houses that people have just bought and they want to know they’re going to paint it before before they move in. We love those for many reasons declines. Not in the house. Living in it and so and so it’s a much better experience for everybody involved and we can usually. That also allows us to move through it a little bit faster. Obviously if they’re not moving furniture around could just be more efficient with our time and so we make really good money on those so new home purchases where people are looking to make a long term investment that is like probably the best project for us. We also love doing refinishing cabinets specifically converting cabinets from stained paints like Golden Oak dust and then paint them wider grey or whatever color it is.
Ryan Anderson: 00:24:52 We’ve. Done really well with those and we make really good margins on those as well. So I’d say those are the two types of projects that we really focus on and that I’d target in my networking groups with real estate agents and in all the videos I’ve been doing recently that target those a lot.
Steve Burnett: 00:25:06 You have been leading the pack with the videos would you share some of your strategies thoughts and ideas and what you’re doing with your videos.
Ryan Anderson: 00:25:14 They’re very powerful. And I’ve only been doing it a short time but I’m starting to feel some momentum from those and really what I’m trying to do is answer people’s people’s questions so I’m in front of people all the time. And I get the same questions of law and so I just to remember the questions people ask me so that I can educate people you know that are looking for painting a painting contractor. So whenever they’re searching online they see my videos or see my blogs we’re talking videos here. So they see my videos and they’re educated and then I’m a trusted source for me to come out and paint their house before they even meet me. And so it’s really an opportunity to get to have them get to know me become the preeminent mining contractor in the area because people see my face.
Ryan Anderson: 00:25:54 I’m adding value to them I’m not trying to sell them anything I’m not saying here here’s this hapless you know call us today for 20 percent off or something like that it’s I’m adding value to them I’m educating people and building trust in the community. That’s
Steve Burnett: 00:26:08 awesome so it’s pure value and key here is that you’re listening for the questions they’re asking and then you’re capturing those and that’s where you get your ideas and your content for creating these videos that gives so much value to your community.
Ryan Anderson: 00:26:23 Yes I had a lady at the Chamber of Minerals that on Thursday I’m a new member there I just joined. And so they introduced you as a new member on Thursday in front of everybody. You know I had my hat. I didn’t have to have my shirt with my paintbrush on it. And after the meeting was over I was kind of walking around looking at some pictures on the walls and stuff and this lady comes up to me she’s like hey funny story you got introduced and I was I was looking at you and I said I was thinking to myself What do I know this guy for my. I know this guy somehow. And it dawned on her that she had seen one of my videos on Facebook the day before like I said I’ve been doing this a month but people are recognizing me that I’ve never met before because they see my videos on Facebook and they’re getting shared and people are starting to recognize me in the flesh which is kind of cool to see.
Steve Burnett: 00:27:07 And you’re just getting warmed up. Yeah. You know as far as getting these off the last month the U.S. shared also something else that it’s because of these videos that in regards to other companies other companies are reaching out to you. Why are they reached out to you.
Ryan Anderson: 00:27:20 Yeah I have other contractors are like sales managers working for other companies wanting to come work for me.
Ryan Anderson: 00:27:29 And it’s just I just I’m not in that place right now. Not at that point. But it’s flattering.
Steve Burnett: 00:27:37 We’ll continue with the rest of Ryan’s story in just a moment but first I want to thank Curtis Tankersley of just add pain for his kind review of IB’s saying I think the service is great. Love the support still getting to all of the online info and looking forward to try and a peer group in the near future. As time opens up thank you again Curtis. If you would like to double your business or more importantly your bottom line and do it with out paying for leads joined I.B. today and you’ll get full access to all of our courses like how to hire for character and build an all star team that takes care of your company and customers for you or setting up your DIY Web site conversion Fano that pre-sales qualified prospects and at the same time detours on qualified prospects so that you don’t waste your time driving around too badly.
Steve Burnett: 00:28:23 Also the IB sales process where I walk you through how I closed estimates on the spot and you can too. Like many others in the DIY community plus you’ll also receive access to our members only Facebook group that the IB community with over 200 helpful and encouraging people just like you with a focus and determination for working on your business so that you too can have financial freedom. Spend time with your family and make an impact in your community. Your access for just thirty seven dollars a month by going to join DIY B.Com in that’s joining DIY B.Com do it now and I’ll see you on the inside.
Steve Burnett: 00:29:08 Soon. Here’s the difference I mean this is kind of the rage that the videos but you’re already seeing results. What’s the difference between. Because you you have experience with paying for leaks versus these leads.
Ryan Anderson: 00:29:24 But the key is if you do the marketing the right way. People will qualify themselves instead of qualifying and then it just it’s like a domino effect it’s just you go see better. You know folks that are a better fit for you but they they see that you’re transparent. They they trust you. And a lot of the videos I share pricing too. So that allows them to qualify themselves like OK this guy’s metrology five grand in my budget only only one of the three. They’re not going to call me but they still trust me probably. But it just allows for efficiency when you’re running Legia and people qualify themselves in a much more efficient process of that time.
Steve Burnett: 00:30:06 Awesome you’re generating high value leads your clothes Riccio’s going up and sales are much easier. Correct.
Ryan Anderson: 00:30:14 Yeah. I used to go to houses and you know for lack of a better term bar fall over people with a how great I am and I really don’t have to do that anymore I just I just go to the house and people know me. We’ve had a discussion on the phone usually ahead of time. And you know I prepare them for what to expect with the numbers as well. So when I get there it’s really just like building rapport you know getting to know them funny some similarities to talk about and then put my numbers together and present my proposal on the spot. But I have a pretty detailed proposal package but I don’t. I used to go over the whole thing and just view all over people and this is why you need to hire me. And then they’d be like well we need to think about it but now and they still think about it most of the time.
Ryan Anderson: 00:30:57 But I’m really just going to the proposal and saying here’s here’s the numbers. What do you think. You know they watch my videos they see the pricing on the Web site or whatnot. So they already know what to expect in the gym. It just makes the whole whole process much easier for everybody.
Steve Burnett: 00:31:13 That’s awesome. What’s been the biggest paradigm shift for you to get to this point.
Ryan Anderson: 00:31:18 The biggest and best thing I ever did for myself and my in my company is hire a coach. Like I said it’s really easy to get lost in the woods by yourself. And that’s where I was a year and a half ago one to two years into my business I was just lost. I had no clue what to do next that was I was managing my business on a google calendar and it was just I never slept. I never had any outward from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. every day and I was getting burnt out and I was introduced to you and the DIY community. And when I made the decision to hire a coach are you Steve. You know you. You were able to hold me accountable for what was like an accountability partner. But you were just you know giving me processes and things I can do in my business to improve.
Ryan Anderson: 00:32:06 And I like I said earlier where I am now where I was even a year ago. It’s just like a whole different company. And I work nowhere near the hours I used to and so I think now that is probably the number one thing that I decided to do because it’s hard to see from your own perspective. You’re the boss like you’re the leader you’re the number one guy in the company. It’s hard. It’s hard look in the mirror all the time and see what’s wrong when you have somebody else that’s not emotionally involved in it and has an unbiased opinion and has great experience and they can kind of guide you through all that stuff and it makes a huge difference and that was the best thing I ever did.
Steve Burnett: 00:32:45 Thank you for that. Appreciate it. It’s been an honor working with you in March and you make all these changes and reaping the rewards.
Ryan Anderson: 00:32:52 Thank you. Well can I have one more thing to this. Sure. The paradigm shift. So another thing. And that obviously again is coming from the coaching point of this whole thing but transparency. Most companies and my philosophy being you know coming into this whole thing was you you don’t you don’t share your pricing you don’t share information because you’re afraid your competition is going to take advantage of it for whatever reason. It could be further from the truth. So I think that’s another thing.
Ryan Anderson: 00:33:20 It’s another paradigm shift in my mind I just thinking about think back and when that clicked I was like oh that makes complete sense. To be transparent and have a pricing page on your Web site and then doing these videos again it just helps with efficiency because people qualify themselves and you build trust. That was another another shift in my business that I think was really key in a in my mindset.
Steve Burnett: 00:33:43 That’s awesome. Now what you find here. Do you find that a fear that I had and you know maybe you do too as it. What but my competitors are going to sit there and undercut me as they have been all along.
Steve Burnett: 00:33:57 But being that you’re putting this out there being that you’re being transparent you’re providing so much more value even if you’re 10 20 percent more than the other guy.
Steve Burnett: 00:34:07 You’re still winning the jobs to finance a case.
Ryan Anderson: 00:34:11 Yeah I do. I can give an example yesterday I was at a house. I gave this I had a Cryptome called this lady. She wants the whole house painted and I came over there she kind of already knew what to expect and she is like look you know the numbers you gave me were a little bit higher than what we’re willing to spend. And I said I’m not trying to you know gain an advantage here but what is what is your budget. You know let’s work backwards. Well we wouldn’t want to spend more than like 65 dollars. And so I basically we took some some items out of the scope and we got the number and then she was like after I gave her the numbers and we talked through it she said well I need to get one more estimate just to just to be sure. And it was another company that I’m familiar with here the reputable company they’re a good company but I’m pretty sure they’re going to be cheaper than I am.
Ryan Anderson: 00:34:58 And I said well her husband wasn’t there and she’s like I really want to I want to hire you. I want your work you’re going. We’re going to we’re going to go with you. I mean just to appease my husband who has an accounting background who the CPA I’m going to get another bid. And I said well if are a thousand dollars cheaper than me are you going to have a hard time selling this to him. Oh no you don’t worry about that.
Ryan Anderson: 00:35:19 I’ll take care of it. I’ll let you know on Monday. And so we’ll see what happens. But most often that’s the cases I’ve built trust and they know who I am they know what to expect. And people are willing to pay more money for someone like that.
Steve Burnett: 00:35:35 Absolutely. That’s great. And I’m looking forward to hearing on Monday that she didn’t issue a soldier to her husband the CPA he’s looking at historically numbers you know deliveries typically are the decision maker. Once it’s done for the most part. Yeah that’s a few you even they come in a thousand dollars cheaper. No
Ryan Anderson: 00:35:58 doubt the Sherman to get that but also close a lot more jobs on the spot as well. It also allows you to not have to compete as much because you’re now trust that you’re the trusted source. You can use so that to be competitive. You can’t you know just price gouge. But I mean it allows you to charge a higher price and then still be able to land that work because you’re not competing against these other guys as much because you’re looking for a specific type of client specific type of client that is doing research for one. If someone’s not doing any research that’s a red flag to me they’re not going to my Web site before they call me. Mean they just found me and some random place they don’t care typically who they’re working with. And so when someone calls me and they looked at my Web site they’ve seen my videos are typically more qualified right and they don’t think surprising stuff and they know what to expect.
Ryan Anderson: 00:36:50 It just is just so much more efficient and you don’t have to compete as much and you can close more jobs on the spot which saves you follow up time and all that kind of thing is just yeah how big of a relief is it to close them on the spot and not have to carry that lead follow up their project with the initial moving forward. I recently saw that says that a contractor will spend four hours of their time on a on a lead and that accounts for travel time to the job. The estimate time at the estimate and then all the follow up so I can’t even count you know how many hours it’s saving because 1 A lot don’t get as many phone calls because people are prequalified themselves and they know they’re not a good fit for me which is awesome.
Ryan Anderson: 00:37:31 And so it’s really hard. It’s really hard to measure that you know but I’d probably say it saves me 10 hours a week. Absolutely
Steve Burnett: 00:37:38 . Absolutely. I would agree with all of this. The implementation of what would you say is actually the most success. Every other day you weren’t one of the biggest things things processes ideas. You know maybe my shift that truly brought you the most success to this point.
Ryan Anderson: 00:37:57 I have a long way to go there’s a lot more I want to do. So I don’t know if I’ve been successful yet but I think on the right track that something that you know one thing I think one implementation or thing that we’ve implemented that has really changed my life. In a moment I implemented it was base camp. You know we used to it just was so organized compared to where it is now. And I rarely take phone calls from clients working on projects. Everything is in base camp checklists for the client to get ready for us and then I think that the biggest job of a contractor and one of the most important jobs of a contractor is preparing plans for what to expect. Not surprised because surprises are not fun and people get angry and then when they’re mad at you and you’ve got to make phone calls and you know you got to listen to it or you know you’ve got to solve their issues and make them feel better.
Ryan Anderson: 00:38:44 And I’ve dealt I’ve had that personally and you know with contractors and my house we don’t really know what’s going to happen now. Want to be different. I want to redefine the contracting industry. That’s my kind of purpose. That’s kind of what I’ve honed in on and why we’re doing things the way we’re doing. But I think the most important thing is giving clients an idea of what to expect in base camp. Does that you set it up properly. They submit their colors in there. They have a checklist in there they ask me questions in there. It’s all right there. So that was from an organizational standpoint Basecamp was was huge for us. That’s
Ryan Anderson: 00:39:21 great. Just to clarify base camp to correct base camp to yes yes that’s awesome. Another
Ryan Anderson: 00:39:29 thing that I would add to that is when I got into this business I was really hungry and really eager to make money. And when you don’t know what you don’t know the first thing you hone in on his top line revenue and having the huge business. And so when I first started I want I mean the sky is the limit for me. I’m like man 50 million a year I want to do you know how much I can do when my first year I get 750000 which is pretty good.
Steve Burnett: 00:39:57 What part of your I was. That’s incredible. Your first year you’ve never painted before you did. 750000
Ryan Anderson: 00:40:06 . That is correct. Yes sir. OK been going continue. You’re about to share the second your second here. At one point two million pregnant and so one point two million and still have never been to that point and still have never paid and never picked up a brush really. This
Steve Burnett: 00:40:25 is after relocating across the country I mean only crazy people do that from you know crazy.
Steve Burnett: 00:40:34 I did it too. That’s
Steve Burnett: 00:40:35 why I went.
Steve Burnett: 00:40:37 So after relocating first year 750 second year one point two million top line top line.
Ryan Anderson: 00:40:45 Yes and the first year it was decent. I mean as far as you know I could I was kind of doing everything myself. Miss 4 is not the painting but you know selling and managing and all that kind of stuff.
Ryan Anderson: 00:40:58 Well then when I got to one point two million it was a completely different game ballgame at that point. It was and it was a lot. Is really up to my eyes.
Ryan Anderson: 00:41:07 Yeah it was just I just I never could keep it straight and somehow we managed to get through it. And man I feel sorry for folks that still they just continue to do that. Another out there they don’t know any better. They just continue to manage the business that way where it’s just fighting fires all the time. I mean you’re never sleep and you’re always stressed. It’s unorganized. You’re painters or your work or you know your labor is not happy because whenever things a mess you know they’re not happy either. And it just helped me realize that no I don’t want to have a million dollar company. No I don’t want to have a million dollar company because I wanted to be organized efficient and. You know provide a good living for us but I don’t need to do 10 million to do that.
Ryan Anderson: 00:41:52 You can make a really good living in this business with a 2 million or under a company one or two million you can make really good money if you set it up right and have a really good lifestyle. And so that second year doing over a million open my eyes to the fact that Hey Pop wine isn’t everything.
Ryan Anderson: 00:42:11 It’s more about the profit and what you’re pouring out of it and how much you have to put into it to get that out of it. It
Ryan Anderson: 00:42:18 was a big shift for me.
Steve Burnett: 00:42:20 So you certainly personally realize this classic quote sales are for show profits are for but super dough.
Ryan Anderson: 00:42:28 Yes sir. It was a big eye opener for me. So this year we’re smaller than we were last year by you know 30 percent probably not part of that because of the name change. I just expected it but it’s allowed me to refine our process. And what we’re doing to maximize that bottom line. And I really don’t I do you have to hit a certain number to make a decent living. You have to hit those but it doesn’t have to be a crazy number.
Steve Burnett: 00:42:56 What I’m trying to say let’s let’s shift over to culture. How important is it going to cause this. This isn’t a strength typically especially in the trades right. And I remember the first time somebody just suits me Peter Scholtz front of your breakfast. Steve you’re the curator your culture and I had you know I had the wrong self talk that’s all my thinking at the time with our culture.
Steve Burnett: 00:43:19 When Penny contracter oldness culture we’re in some sense you Szymanski corporation. But I was wrong. I was dead wrong. Right. So to succeed and to have a profitable company. How does culture play into that and what do you do to elevate the culture of your team. It’s
Ryan Anderson: 00:43:39 really important. We have a small team but my philosophy is I take if I take care of my painters their subs are not employees but if I take care of them they’re going to take care of my clients. No. I mean our clients and the guys are really the guys that really bought into customer service email their subs. This particular crew has been at me since like two and a half years now. But never there’s been tough times with these guys but I asked them weeks ago why you know why are you staying here. What makes you stay with working with us. And they said it just feels like a family. And they’ve already for other painting companies before in the past before they worked for me. And they just say it’s just different over here. That’s more like a family feel.
Ryan Anderson: 00:44:21 You know it’s the smaller is smaller than some of the companies around but really really what I believe in is giving the guys I make everything their decision. So that’s kind of how I’ve done it is I make everything their decision like they have a say in what we’re doing. And so I ask them you know when are you going to be finished. What do you want to do in this situation. It’s always about them and that that alleviates a lot of disagreements. We know that their decision at this point and if it’s not something that if I give them a leash and I and I say What do you want to do in this situation. And they don’t give me the right answer all coach him and kind of lead them to the right answer. But over the time we’ve been together with these guys they make good decisions. Most of the time. And it’s not very often that I have to say anything. I think that’s important for people to feel like what they say matters.
Steve Burnett: 00:45:15 So that’s been huge for us.
Steve Burnett: 00:45:17 Her sounds like it takes as a leader takes humility to coach and ask how they would handle it instead of the old school dictator. You
Steve Burnett: 00:45:27 work for me do it this way and get it done right.
Ryan Anderson: 00:45:30 Yeah exactly that’s a better sort of way to put it. Yes exactly what exactly how I operate.
Steve Burnett: 00:45:35 Awesome.
Ryan Anderson: 00:45:37 I think the reason why I did that is I found that if I told them what to do they were less likely to do it but if I’d asked them what they would do and then coached them to that same end goal or that answer that I’m looking for. It’s a much easier process to get there.
Ryan Anderson: 00:45:52 And there’s a decision now and they have to own it.
Steve Burnett: 00:45:55 And that’s a great point. Once they’ve suggested that it was their idea and they own it. So you don’t have any children or boy I mean at the end.
Ryan Anderson: 00:46:06 Yes. Yes sir. That’s
Steve Burnett: 00:46:08 great. So anything else because of the team. Because you know family and ownership. So you’re coaching him or anything else. So
Ryan Anderson: 00:46:17 I will I’ll allow I did the video testimonials and all have the painters do it sometimes with the client and that makes them feel like they’re part of the team. I’ll give them you know birthday it’s their birthday I’ll give them the gift card or take them out to launch or buy and lunch sometimes we joke around we just have fun. We have a lot of fun on the job site. Yeah. Try to keep it light with these guys. I mean they’re are tradesmen they’re technicians they just want a little bit of recognition sometimes. And I think what the video testimonials having them involved with that putting them in you know my newsletter and letting them know that they’re important and that I value that what they do in their in their work and their customer service. And I specifically will tell them when I’m proud of them and these guys these guys that I’m working with have been with me two and a half years where they were two and a half years ago to where they are now specifically in my lead guy.
Ryan Anderson: 00:47:10 No he said guys come a long way and he was they’re still there young guys. But he was really really brash and really he would lose his temper really easily and just fly off the handle for no reason really. Now he’s just like he’s super calm cool collected. You know he handles situations very well and he’s very flexible and I think that’s just you know the trust and the relationship we’ve built. He knows it I’m take care of him. He knows that I appreciate him. But I always tell them when I’m proud of them and I think that’s important for people more than in more than money more than Oake paws those positive effects. This
Steve Burnett: 00:47:47 is so good. So appreciation and encouragement go much further than money in bonuses.
Steve Burnett: 00:47:54 I hear you correctly.
Ryan Anderson: 00:47:56 Yeah. In fact I don’t really I don’t give them like money rewards. I’ve never done that. And I just don’t think that that’s what people need or want. I mean it’s nice but I just think that you know they want to be paid fairly and treated well.
Steve Burnett: 00:48:12 Absolutely. That’s fantastic. So this is really good point to make because a lot of guys really reach out to me as relevant to what’s the best bonus program out there.
Steve Burnett: 00:48:21 So kind of for you to really encourage them to tell them you present prison in front of a team present in front of your client and most importantly present in front of their family. That’s your response program that I found.
Ryan Anderson: 00:48:36 Yeah I know that you asked. You mean you can talk. I think part of it too is you know the proofs in the pudding or you know actions speak louder than words. So I think if you went at one and when something happens you know like maybe they have a family member that passes away or they have a kid like a baby you know we just had a person who missed his first baby. About a month ago and I went to the hospital and saw and met the baby. I’ve met has gropers wife before but you know those kind of things I think really make a difference because when it when it’s important something important like that and you show up and you let them know that hey I’m here for you. I’m proud of you that that builds the relationship to another level even though I think and the loyalty that they have is with me is I wouldn’t say it’s you know they’re never going to leave or nothing like that. I can’t say that but I know they’re very loyal. That’s
Steve Burnett: 00:49:35 awesome. Shifting over to books. Leaders are readers. Books audio books programs seminars. What have been some few that made the biggest empower story that you’d recommend to others.
Ryan Anderson: 00:49:49 The one that comes to mind off the cuff here is a book by Marcus Sheridan called they ask you answer him.
Ryan Anderson: 00:49:57 I just I just listened to that and holy cow.
Ryan Anderson: 00:50:01 There’s a lot of good information there. Highly recommend. Oh and jump in and get a read. OK.
Steve Burnett: 00:50:09 Give Marcus also credit. He’s the one who finally convinced me over the phone to tell me about six years really six months scuse me after his whole story. The Kōga placing your pricing in November April and I were sitting in our car were both going to lunch and we were on a conference call with Marcus and use the one he finally because he took time out of his day to convince me and help me to understand the value of posting my pricing which you were speaking about earlier and when all came from Marcus thankfully. So yes so his new book would you couldn’t get the name of that again please.
Ryan Anderson: 00:50:42 They asked you answer some do you want a millionaire in ten years. Watch
Ryan Anderson: 00:50:48 read that book. Boom. That’s it. Yes. Yeah. Awesome. Okay.
Ryan Anderson: 00:50:58 Any others. I’m listening to How to Win Friends and Influence People. You know one thing I haven’t been the best that. And you know this Steve is networking. It’s been something that I’ve never and there’s never really been good at. And I’m trying to I’ve I’ve committed myself to do a better job of networking because I can see the value in it. And again you’re getting hired qualified and better quality leads from those types of sources because referrals are valued very valuable and so I’m listening to that and I’m also listening to influence. Robert Jundi yeah. Cialdini yeah listen to that one as well. So right now those are the three that I’d recommend. But they ask you answer was like mind blowing for me.
Steve Burnett: 00:51:39 Awesome. There you go. Market share it again for that one. Influence was good. Another child Deanie. And if you picked that up I think he has a third or fourth ribeyes edition if you want the latest one he talks about the six most powerful influencers and how can you write you know how to use them ethically and honestly to help people to make decisions faster. Awesome thank you. Text Eric what is so. You’ve mentioned you’ve already left the base camp two out of the bag. What what’s what is your textbook lookalike to help you to streamline your business and in fact you just back up just a little bit and even share how you replaced your eminence system. And that.
Ryan Anderson: 00:52:24 Yeah a good one. So you know last year my second year I did over a million Tsoi you know hired a production production manager hired an admin to do answer my phones and do all that kind of stuff in the admin that I had last year was moved. She was here living here locally and she was actually our nanny as well to watch our kids but she was moving to Oklahoma moving to Oklahoma with her husband. And so we had to find somebody else to replace her right. And this is all at the same time frame that I’ve just rebranded myself to Minett and I was already nervous and stressed and so I put an ad out for a minute you know administrative assistant interviewed a few people and I hired this girl. And the first day I told her and meet me at a Barnes and Noble and I said be there at 10:00 a.m. You know not 6:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m..
Ryan Anderson: 00:53:11 And you know she called me like I show up 10 minutes early and I’m in there waiting for her to show up and she called me and says hey I’m running 20 minutes late. I overslept. I think that’s what she said the first day oversoul I said OK. And I’m just thinking to myself well that’s not a good sign. The very first day you’re trying to make a really good impression on your first day of work and you’re 20 minutes late.
Ryan Anderson: 00:53:32 It doesn’t get in my letter Hajaj impression right. Yeah yeah.
Ryan Anderson: 00:53:37 And it was just like OK. So she shows up and I spent five hours from there that day just showing her all the all the stuff we’ve been doing and what I need from her. And we agreed to meet the next day. Same time same place. She calls me you know and I show up 10 minutes early. She called me ten minutes ahead of time and said hey. Traffic is terrible I’m going around. I get to be 20 minutes late again.
Steve Burnett: 00:53:59 And how is just like that point at that point I’m just like this isn’t going to work at that. I just said OK well we’ll see here.
Ryan Anderson: 00:54:08 And she knows of like 30 minutes 30 minutes away and I thought about it for a minute and I called her back and I said you know what why don’t you just go home and I’ll call you later today and tell you what we’re going to be next to to think about it. And at that point or after I got the phone and I just decided I’m just going to let her go because you know I don’t have time to be messing with stuff like this and if she can’t show up on time the first two days of work and you know I can’t really trust her so let her go. Well I have this huge open void in my business with an administrative staff.
Ryan Anderson: 00:54:41 Most painting contractors can relate to the fact that there’s not really one system out there that takes care of everything when it when you’re talking about scheduling CRM estimating production management is not one solution but you can use for all of that so you typically most of us have four or five different softwares we’re using to manage our business. And so I had heard about this Zannier program months prior and had looked at it briefly but I didn’t really spend a lot of time trying to figure it out it looked kind of confusing but I knew that what it does was that communicated between different softwares and it pushes information to each other. And so you know when I didn’t have someone help me. I just thought that it was a good time to look at this and see what I see what it can do and and see if I can get to the point where I don’t even need an admin because the admin was what she was doing was answering phones.
Ryan Anderson: 00:55:33 But aside from that she was just doing data entry entering client information in all these different softwares but it’s all there. And then that comes at a cost obviously. So I just got hyperfocus. That’s the way that I am if I see something that’s going to add value like the videos that we were talking about earlier. I just like going on it and I started doing it. Yeah. All in once I buy into it’s all over. They’re all just get it done. And so I just spent you know one day trying to figure out how I can get Xabier to communicate all these softwares. And I figured it out. I was able to get it to work properly.
Ryan Anderson: 00:56:10 And you know it worked every time. And so I ended up not having to hire an admin again because there’s nothing for them to do because all the data is being pushed automatically when he was huge something like 20 grand a year.
Steve Burnett: 00:56:26 So you was here doing the admin and you sat down with all your tech with your text stack which will impact your account and linked it always after your removing the need for the admin saving you one thousand dollars to your bottom line right. That’s like profit in your pocket.
Ryan Anderson: 00:56:45 If it was a big deal I really didn’t understand how big of a deal it was at the time. It’s just you know doing my thing but yeah I really don’t need an admin at this point in time. So it’s because of that software.
Steve Burnett: 00:56:57 That’s awesome. And then Brian just a little bit. He also work for our listeners. He also took the time to record individual videos of how he did this and we have that course available in the cafe.
Steve Burnett: 00:57:09 We get to that later. We’ll leave a note in the link in the show notes for anybody would be interested. So again this is awesome groundbreaking. We love terakhir and you took all that know whole text back and when get together and removed your admin saved twenty thousand dollars profiteer bottom line. What does your text look like what programs do you use.
Ryan Anderson: 00:57:32 Streamline your company. OK it has a lot of them.
Ryan Anderson: 00:57:37 So just take the whole funnel. It will go that direction. So on my Web site there’s a scheduling calendar and I use acuity scheduling Lemery robust system where people can upload pictures and all that kind of stuff in there.
Ryan Anderson: 00:57:52 From there I use my estimate software is Peppe and then I use pipelined deals for my CRM space camp too for production management and quick books is my accounting software and then I also attach to quick books as hub. And that is where I manage and keep all my receipts when everything that’s all on a cloud off to keep all the paperwork and a file or a simple folder and give it to my accountant at the end of the year. It’s all just in the cloud and it’s all there. So once if I buy something at a store I just take a picture of the receipt and I sold the receipt away and it’s stored in the cloud and my accountant takes care of it which is really awesome for the phone. I use grasshopper and Kresse operatively code because if if they were out there listening that has their company phone like directly or their cell phone you know that they carry every day like their personal phone and you’re getting calls at like 10:00 at night with people angry at you or you know what have you been getting or five calls a day from people soliciting you for marketing they want to you market with them your money with them.
Ryan Anderson: 00:59:03 Press shoppers who are really nice. It allows for extensions as many expenses as you want but this is really the gatekeeper to keep those calls at bay. You can set rules and boundaries for when a call is actually passed through you.
Ryan Anderson: 00:59:18 What time of day. So I only take calls from like 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. After that it’ll just set Regli to voicemail and I don’t have a deal until later or the next day. And then you get a lot of the calls from like robots and robotic robots hidden extension number. And so it just it just filters that garbage out and allows you to focus on what’s important you know get distracted. So it’s really good.
Ryan Anderson: 00:59:41 Cloud based you know phone application. That’s a really good solution for companies like ours. Yeah and then I use a software program called Post planner for all my Facebook stuff on the social media and so that really helps with engagement on social media. You know you don’t post it manually every time you just kind of set up a plan and it does it for you. It’s kind of nice but small business awesome. That
Steve Burnett: 01:00:07 is awesome. What’s how much this post planner. It’s what seven dollars a month.
Ryan Anderson: 01:00:12 I think so. I think they have different plans. I think it depends on I want to say it was like 20 bucks a month. But I can confirm that for sure but it depends on how many profiles you use. But the good thing is is I already has the IP are set up to only post to my business page and zap your set up to post it everywhere else for me automatically. So I only had a link to one profile on that.
Steve Burnett: 01:00:36 That’s cool and then also goes after all that you know some of the most popular posts that are given the most engagement out there if you want to grab those and drop them into your fees as well correct.
Ryan Anderson: 01:00:47 Yeah yeah. I mean does that I believe can zap your post violent crime and just yet. And then as a side note with the administrative side I save 20 grand and zap your coffee 20 bucks a month.
Ryan Anderson: 01:01:02 That’s cost them how much time is saved you as well. Your and your tech. And you know I’m all for streamlining your home and your processes. You know a lot of gay men 70 80 hours a week.
Ryan Anderson: 01:01:16 If I was gonna go I used to work. Like I said 10 6am to 10pm every day. That’s 16 hours a day. And I I literally work I think I would say that I’m always working but it’s mostly like in my mind. And this is certainly out in the field they’re doing anything but I’m I mean I think about work a lot. So from that perspective I’m always working but actually working I’m a bit like working working I’m probably working 30 to 35 hours a week. So you know you’re talking like 40 hours a week is what this is all save me.
Steve Burnett: 01:01:46 That’s awesome down 30 35 hours a week.
Steve Burnett: 01:01:49 Way to go. So all the guys out there ladies too who have hesitations for tech and think that it’s you know I can’t work tag. We can always learn right.
Steve Burnett: 01:01:59 And it’s worth it. It’s for that just start with the one you know implement the first one and go on to the next one. And you get your wife back. You get your family back right. You get your time and your right. Entrepreneurs were always thinking about business that’s what keeps us going. But with the tech and embrace it and like Ryan to be down to 35 30 hour weeks you know one thing that helped me deal with all this is exercise.
Ryan Anderson: 01:02:27 So I was just thinking when you were saying that Steve that the other day I went for a six mile run. No I didn’t have any headphones and I wasn’t listening to anything I was just on my own thoughts and running and I really thought of some great ideas because I was just you just naturally start thinking about your life or about your business or whatever.
Ryan Anderson: 01:02:47 And I think if people can I think exercise is really critical to its success because it allows you to clear your mind if you’re stressed you get the stress off and it allows you to think clearly. But it also allows you to come up with like really cool ideas on how you can even get better you know. And so I think that’s really important for people to at least consider if you’re not doing it already. I
Steve Burnett: 01:03:10 agree 100 percent. It removes the stress clears your mind and then the creativity just flows. That’s awesome.
Ryan Anderson: 01:03:19 I mean that’s tomorrow and I can live with like three or four awesome ideas. Stuff I can do to make make our business better.
Steve Burnett: 01:03:28 That’s creepy. That’s great. I remember when I first started running April run were run rampant where people were the to convince me to start. And I had a hard time breaking myself away from from wanting to build the business and learn how to grow and sell Russ’s want us in a park as a runaway. Oh yes. OK that’s great.
Steve Burnett: 01:03:45 And then April said Well here’s the thing things called Couch to five k. So here’s a free hour touts to five k runner that paced me from never running to getting up to 5 K and I think two or three months. So those worked for me to help you to get running because I wasn’t a runner before then. Absolutely right. It
Ryan Anderson: 01:04:05 removes the stress your mind clears up and then the creativity just flows and along with that I think a healthy diet is important as well and that’s hard for painting contractors to do because we’re in the car all the time run around and just natural that you know fast food or you know going out to eat all the time. I’m guilty of it sometimes still. I got to go out and eat Thai food type things like my favorite. I think a healthy diet is important to keep your mind in the right place as well. I think your diet impact you know your life in more ways than you might realize.
Steve Burnett: 01:04:39 Absolutely. Absolutely. This is great.
Ryan Anderson: 01:04:42 You deserve a question I should have asked her point that you like to make I think the point that I’d like to make is in a lot of I know a lot of painting contractors I’ve met a lot of people through your community. And there’s other communities out there that I know some people from. And a lot of people there they don’t change and they they get stuck in this rut of where I was two years ago working 80 hours a week and having no time and they’re getting burnout. And I think the key to all of this is you have to be willing to change. You’ve got to be willing to change what you’re doing if you want different results. And so I think that that’s what’s made. Like us I have a long way to go but I think that’s what made us successful to this point in our business is I’m never not changing.
Ryan Anderson: 01:05:28 And I think it’s important because you know people always change. The markets are always changing and to stay up with the times and to keep yourself relevant. You’ve got to constantly change. And I think that’s important for people to understand and if you’re working 80 hours a week if you just commit and change and commit yourself to improving and finding ways to do that and leaning on the people that have experience like a business coach or like other painting contractors you know whether they’re in the white community or a PTA community whatever it is you know lean on people that have that experience ask them what they do and then don’t be afraid to try things out. And
Ryan Anderson: 01:06:07 there’s never going to be a perfect time to change it’s never going to be perfect.
Ryan Anderson: 01:06:13 So there’s always going to be some kind of roadblock in your way. You just got to be willing to just say screw it I don’t really care. I’m just going to do this because you know I can see the end result. And I have a vision and that’s what I would tell people is just the weave or I’ve been really committed to remaining on the cutting edge of technology and the cutting edge of running a business properly and doing things different. And I think if people can do that as well that you know you’re going to be successful in the long run and you’re you’re going to find that if you utilize tech when you’re on the cutting edge that it might just save you so much time you don’t need the people to work for you. You don’t work 80 hours a week and you have your time back. It’s pretty cool to see it happen.
Steve Burnett: 01:06:59 Personally that’s awesome. So
Steve Burnett: 01:07:00 if I heard you just sung that up or just say everything else is changing economies change and everything’s changed so embrace a growth mindset and get involved in a community learn from others so that you can improve and implement and grow faster. Perfect
Ryan Anderson: 01:07:16 . I couldn’t said it better myself.
Steve Burnett: 01:07:18 OK. Thank you. That’s great advice. I don’t if there’s anything to add to that. Do
Ryan Anderson: 01:07:25 you have any final words of encouragement. Advice you’ve got this you’ve got this. That’s
Steve Burnett: 01:07:32 right. That’s for us. Thank you Ryan. Appreciate your time so much. If somebody has some follow up questions they like to reach out to you. What’s
Steve Burnett: 01:07:40 the best way can they can do that. She’d be Facebook e-mail you will reach for you. Facebook
Ryan Anderson: 01:07:45 I’m on Facebook quite a bit. So you can e-mail me on Facebook. You can also e-mail me directly to my my my company e-mail address which is my first name Ryan are why I am at AlliancePaintingDFW.com .
Steve Burnett: 01:08:00 Fantastic. Ryan thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to know you to have alongside your journey and to hear more about your story here today. Thank you for taking time out from your family on a Saturday morning to do this to share to help to insRyanpire others. I appreciate you. You just continue to come your way every step of the way. So thank you very much.
Ryan Anderson: 01:08:24 Thanks for having me. I hope it’s over some people out there.
Steve Burnett: 01:08:27 Absolutely no doubt about it. Have a wonderful day.
Steve Burnett: 01:08:31 I hope you enjoy this episode if it was helpful please share with a friend to help inspire them to double their business if you want all the free downloads and links mentioned in the show. Go to DYBCoach.com/06. Again that’sDYBCoach.com/06. Also if you would like full access to all of our courses to help you to double your business. Just go to JoinDYB.com.
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Steve Burnett: 01:09:18 Any questions feel free to shoot me a direct message on Facebook or drop me an email steve@DYBCoach.com. In next week’s episode we interview Mark Peloso Mark Polus painting from the Chicago area as he shares his entrepreneurial journey and all the mind shifts that led to his success once again. Install the show notes go toDYBCoach.com/06.
Thank you very much for listening. Our mission is to inspire you to double your business so that you can have financial freedom. Spend time with your family make an impact in your community. Appreciate you. I’ll see you next week and remember you’ve got this.