111 | From HVAC Tech to Multi-Business Leader: Josh Crouch’s Growth Secrets

Welcome back to another episode of Freedom Blueprint podcast. I'm your host, Justin Deese. And today we are hanging out with Josh Crouch and you've got a laundry list of things that you're involved with right now. And it's it's impressive. And I can't wait to learn a little bit more about it. But you're the founder of Relentless Digital. You are the co-host of Service Business Mastery podcast and

Okay.

You and Tersh have now started trade automation pros. Have I left anything out?

We have a few other entities, but we'll stop there. That's good. Three is good.

We'll stick with three. So I don't I don't know.

Yeah. Three is good. And yeah, I mean, what in one of the top podcasts in our space? So ⁓ being a fellow podcaster, I know that that's a whole lot of work. So congrats to all the accolades and awards.

It's underappreciated how

much work it is to put, to not only find quality guests to get quality content out, but then all the production, because it's a company within itself, even if you don't, it's not revenue producing, you gotta do email marketing, social media, you gotta put it on the podcast catchers, you gotta put video out there, you gotta clip everything, like it is a full-time production. It's a lot of work.

And all we ask people to do when they listen is to share it and review it.

Yep, that's a, you know, it's crazy. I've seen some stats on podcasting, because it's still a very under, I think Neil Patel, he puts a lot of data out on that stuff. ⁓ And he said that there's still, even though podcasting has kind of exploded within our space, it feels like there's a podcast on every corner, right? But ⁓ there's still, it's so underutilized to this point. honestly, Turch and I, we'll get in the background and stuff a little bit, but Turch and I have been.

Right ⁓

podcasting together for four years. He podcasted for four or five years before that. He's coming up on almost 10 years doing this. And I don't think he ever thought that this would be like a business. And it has turned into one. ⁓ It wasn't the point, but by putting out good content and getting a following, just like anything in life, there's a lot of talk about micro influencers or kind of like influencers within a certain space. It's becoming very popular for brands to.

Yeah. ⁓

to market through those influencers.

When you can you can't blame them right if if people are tuning in they they want to know what you got going on they want to know what you're using products and services so for sure.

Well, think of all the tech companies that come into the space. There's been an

explosion of tech companies, and I'm sure we'll get into this more with AI stuff, but they don't have the audience. They don't know where to go, they don't know who to talk to, they don't know how to get their foot in certain doors. And people like yourself who've been in the space a long time with your wife, people like us, Tersh and I have been in the space, we have a lot of connections, so there's a lot to offer somebody when it comes to that. It wasn't the point why we started and why we continued.

Yeah. ⁓

It wasn't the point why we started and why we continued.

When I asked, how it all started with the podcast is I was just, the first year I started Relentless Digital, I worked full-time at professional services. I was still in the HVAC industry, so everything that I brought over to the marketing side, I was implementing for an HVAC company. We were doing really well, so I started giving back. literally posted it. There was a business group we were a part of, a coaching group.

how it all started with the podcast is I was just, the first year I started Relentless Digital, I worked full time at professional services. I was still in the HVAC industry, so everything that I brought over to the marketing side, I was implementing for an HVAC company. And we were doing really well, so I started giving back. literally posted it. There was a business group we were a part of, a coaching group, CEO

CEO Warrior and there's like 300 different business owners in that group. But I just started sharing things that were working

Warrior, and there was like 300 different business owners in that group, but I just started sharing things that were working.

with the Google business profile. At that point it was Google My Business. And I just started having people reach out to ask for help. didn't have a grand design. Everyone says, you gotta put together a business plan. You gotta do all this stuff. I had to figure it all out on the fly, because I'm like, I had somebody from Canada that wanted to work with

with Google Business Profile. that point, was Google My Business. I started having people reach out to ask for help. I didn't have a grand design. Everyone says, we've got to put together a business plan. You've to do all this stuff. I had to figure it all on the fly because I'm like, I had somebody from Canada that wanted to work

me, and I'm like, let's try it. Let's see what happens. And so I did that for about a year. We got to the point, I had like 25 or 30 clients, and I just.

Yeah. ⁓

I couldn't do both anymore because I literally had an hour drive to and from work every day. I was taking literally the entire time there, the entire time back and on my lunch I was taking sales calls, client calls, sending reports. It was a lot. And then of course I get home and continue that. So after about a year of doing that,

I started, I went on on my own and then I, about two months after that I started asking Turch, because he's the only one I knew at that point that really had like a decent podcast. like,

I started, I went on on my own and then I, about two months after that, I started asking Turch, because he's the only one I knew at that point that really had like a decent podcast.

like, I started asking about gear and what platforms and how to get on all these different streaming things. And he was getting burnt out because like I said, he had been doing this for four or five years already. Made zero income and he was doing all the audio editing, the video editing, posting it, the social clip. He was doing all of it himself that entire time. Plus he still had his two HVACs.

I started asking about gear and what platforms and how to get on all these different streaming things. And he was getting burnt out because like I said, he had been doing this for four or five years already, made zero income and he was doing all the audio editing, the video editing, posting it, the social clip. He was doing all of it himself that entire time. Plus he still had his two HVAC

plumbing electric companies. And so he was looking for some help on the marketing side. He was kind of burnt out. He didn't want to always have to be the one to...

and so he was looking for some help on the marketing side. He was kind of burnt out. He didn't want to always have to be the one

to ask all the questions and on all these interviews. so it worked out really well, but it kind of a roundabout way. He asked me to join him because he was burnt out. So I just happened to be the right place at the right time. And Tersh and I have become essentially brothers. Like we talk every day.

ask all the questions and be engaging on all these interviews. so it worked out really well, but it kind of a roundabout way he asked me to join him because he was burnt out. So I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. And Tersh and I have become essentially like brothers. Like we talk every day. ⁓

We banter extremely well. And a lot of people really like that because it's also, they get good information, but they also get the banter. It kind of feels like they're part of like a

We're just in the shop and we're just shooting the breeze versus just trying to get information, information, information.

So,

we dive in, I want to say congrats, man. Big milestone.

for and the well, I just got married. Well, that was the one I was talking about, but you knew, but you knew that though. You knew that.

I've had a few of those this year. I had a few of those this year. I just got married.

Okay, well, you

know the good thing is if Brittany ever listens to this, that's the first thing I mentioned, so that's a win in my book. But Brittany and I have been together for 13 years and we finally tied the knot. We've been engaged for 11, which you think you're the only one and then you start sharing that story and people are like, oh yeah, we were together for seven years, we were together for 15, we're on year 20 and we're still not married. So a lot of those stories are coming out of the woodwork.

Yeah. So a lot of the stories that come out of

world, but, ⁓ we finally got married. moved across the country. We started a business. her kids live with us full time. got four animals. Like we're, we were as married as you can be without being married. Very cool. That's, that's pretty awesome. So

We finally got married. We've moved across the country. We started a business. ⁓ Her kids live with us full time. We got four animals. Like we're as we were as married as you can be without being married.

Let's see. You talked a little bit about the podcast. Tell us about relentless, man. That's really been a, a big growing company. mean, you guys have been listed on, you guys have won some pretty big accolades on that as well.

starting this business never really intended all that stuff to happen. once we started growing and once I started realizing that we were doing some kind of special, I started to keep my eyes out for things that we could apply for. Things that were not popularity contest but were actually based on real applications and people actually analyzing those. So last year we won.

Every year they put together the 5,000 largest privately held companies and they base them based on percentage growth. ⁓ So typically when you are a little bit smaller, the percentage growth, you can get a little higher on the list, but we were 217th out of the entire country ⁓ for fastest growing. So that was, it's one of those things like they don't tell you where you are. They tell you you're on the list and then they wait till like the day of.

It's one of those things, like they don't tell you where you are. They tell you you're on the list, and then they wait till like the day of,

and you sit on the screen. You have no idea what number you are. So, you know, of course we're speculating, like maybe we're like 1,500. I was looking at last year's list. Maybe we're like 1,500, maybe 2,000 on the list. And then the number pops up on the screen. It's one of those moments you're like.

you can't really believe it, that something you were able to create and grow has been recognized and you actually are doing something extraordinary that very few people can do or have done. So it was a really rewarding moment. And then,

You can't really believe it that something you're able to create and grow has been recognized and you actually are doing something extraordinary that very few people can do or have done. So it was a really rewarding moment. And then

The one I really wanted to win last year was Inc. Best Workplaces. We didn't quite win it last year, so I applied again this year and we put some of the feedback that we got from not only our team, but some of the surveys and stuff that we got. We took action and implemented

the one I really wanted to win last year was Inc. Best Workplaces. We didn't quite win it last year. So I applied again this year and we put some of the feedback that we got from not only our team, but some of the surveys and stuff that we got. We took action and

some different benefits and some things to help us, not only our culture, but make sure the team was taken care of and just enhance what we have. We ended up winning that one. I just announced that a couple days ago, actually. ⁓

So super excited about that and everything that comes along with it. It just means a lot. means that not only are we taking care of customers because they're staying, new prospects trust us because of the branding that we have out in the space. And then our team doesn't churn. We don't lose team members, at least the ones that we don't want to lose. And we're able to keep that continuity. That continuity helps us retain clients. It helps our sales team feel really good about.

We don't lose team members, at least we don't want to lose. And we're able to keep that continuity. That continuity helps us retain clients. our sales team feel really good

about the client success managers and the internal team that we're handled off to. It just creates this ecosystem where everything is fostering growth.

the client success managers and the internal team that they're being handed off to. It just creates this ecosystem where everything is fostering growth.

Well, and it's, we, talk a lot about this in the home service space as far as, know, take care of your, your team members and they'll take care of your clients. That's not just the home service space. That's the same in any business. Like take care of your people. They are the number one asset, even though they don't show up on the balance sheet, uh, you know, and the, and the profit loss in a positive way, they don't show up in the revenue side. They really are.

It's.

Well, I think there's a misconception, and I'm sure you see this too, like, you know, we see the tech companies and they got like ping pong tables in their office and like all these cool hangout hippie, not just called hippie, but like, ⁓ it's a word like hip, hipster type things. I'm like, we would never do that in HVAC or plumbing company, right? That's just not who the personality types are. But it really is as simple as doing like listening to your team. I would say one of the things that we implement, two things that we implemented that have really helped.

see the tech companies and they got like ping pong tables in their office.

nap pods.

hipster type things and like we would never do that in HVAC.

Yeah. ⁓

One, about two and a half years ago, we implemented EOS, which a lot of people know of EOS. I didn't know about it when I was in the trades. I'm starting to see more trades companies start implementing it, but the book Traction by Geno Wickman was a great starting point. We did not self-implement. We self-implemented a couple things from the book and then realized that we needed to hire a coach. And

so it took us about, don't know, nine or 12 months before, just to get the leadership meeting where it needed to be.

And then we started rolling this out to all the various departments. So our ops department, our sales and marketing, ⁓ our client success team. So I think we have like five or six weekly meetings now. I'm only a part of like two of them. ⁓ The leadership one and the sales and marketing. All the other meetings, they talk about their issues, their highest priority issues every single week. Imagine if in your business you were able to

They talk about their issues, their highest priority issues every single week. Imagine if in your business you were able

to identify those issues and have the team come up with the solutions and talk through these things every single week. So that way things didn't sit there for weeks or months or even years and people are still pissed off about something that hasn't been fixed. Because I used to be a part of, we used to have a Monday leadership meeting at the last HVAC company that I was at.

Identify those issues and have the team come up with the solutions and talk through these things every single week so that way things didn't sit there for weeks or months or even years and people are still pissed off about something that hasn't been fixed Because I used to be a part of we used to have a Monday leadership meeting at the last HVAC company that I was at

and we had like meeting minutes and notes that we would always add to. And it just became this long run on dock of like stuff we talked about, but nothing was ever implemented with action steps. And I think that's the biggest problem that most, not just trades companies, but all companies have is we have meetings, but the meetings don't actually accomplish anything. We're just talking. And the whole purpose of EOS is to identify the problem, the root problem.

And we had like meeting minutes and notes that we would always add to. And it just became this long run on doc of stuff we talked about. nothing was ever implemented with action steps. And I think that's the biggest problem that most, not just trades companies, but all companies have is we have meetings, but the meetings don't actually accomplish anything. We're just talking. And the whole purpose of EOS is to identify the problem, the root.

Discuss it in length until we have solutions solve it with tasks like actual to-dos that we assign somebody and then we come back the next week and You go through all those things. Did you do it? Did you do it? Did you do it? Why not? How come you didn't get it done? And then of course we we follow the rock system as well So all of the biggest priorities we have every quarter where people are held accountable to create milestones and make sure that those rocks are accomplished and it just creates an infrastructure where all of our problems like if we ever like perfect example

Our lead PPC strategist is out. He is having some issues with his kidney. I don't know how long he's going to be out for. So we quickly identified that we need a backup plan. The backup plan was, hey, we need to hire another strategist. Literally right after that meeting, I put together a post, got it on, we use who hire for hiring, which I think I mentioned at your guys' event, and put it live. I already have ad spend literally the day after we discussed it. It's already live. We already have 30 applicants today.

Yep ⁓

It

allows us to move at such a speed that we can't lose because we're always proactively fixing whatever problem is coming next.

It allows us to move at such a speed that we can't lose because we're proactively fixing whatever problem is coming next.

Isn't that interesting that so many businesses don't do that? Because it is so important of identifying. And then once you identify, do something about it.

Well, think that I'm sure you can relate to this, Justin, because you've ran trades companies and you're still part of some. Because when technicians and staff in those businesses are not doing anything, they're not on calls, we know they're not making any money. And it's a different business. We have monthly recurring revenue. So for us, I know that money's coming in every month. Trades businesses don't have that luxury. So if we put together meetings,

Yeah. ⁓

It's kind of like the opposite thought. like, well, we're not making money. And business owners sometimes get so worried about the revenue and what's coming, and we don't take care of the problems

that we have in our business. And that's what drives people away. That's what drives our best producers away, because they want to be at a company that they feel heard, that there's growth opportunities, that the other thing I was going to share is something we did after we implemented all these department EOS meetings.

is we went to monthly one-on-ones with every single person on the team. And it's a 30 minute meeting with their direct report where they can bring up issues if they want certain training, they wanna learn something else, they wanna potentially move into a different department. We know that stuff before their annual review comes up. Because I don't think it's fair to go all year, not meet with your direct report one time.

Yes. About to find ⁓

And then everybody's nervous, or least the person that's getting reviewed is nervous because they're like, I don't know if I did a good job or a bad job. Am I going to get a raise? Am I not going to get a raise?

out.

It's like, let's find out. And I've had that, and God bless his heart. I love my old boss. So the stories I tell from professional or just from experience, but he was a great guy, but he hated talking about money on the review. So we would do this review. I would get a glowing review and then the meeting would end and we never talk compensation. And then of course I'm like,

going home, I'm telling Brittany, yeah, I got a great review, I'm super happy, da da da da. And she's like, how much more are you gonna get paid? And I'm like, let me get back to you. And then of course now you have to figure out how to ask for that, which nobody's ever comfortable asking for more money. And so you have to have another discussion which is uncomfortable. it's just, people should know how they're performing at all times.

She's like, great. How much does that hit the bank? Yeah.

I got a high five.

I think that's the fairest way to treat them because people want to know they're doing a good job. Or if they're off and we've had some team members we've had to kind of course correct because they get a little, just the way they comment that they're having a bad week or something's going on. ⁓ We deal with it, we hash it out and we deal with that conversation immediately before it, know, because people are interesting, right? They won't necessarily say what's on their mind, but they'll it bottle up and bottle up and then they explode. And it's not always, the...

or if they're off and we've had some team members.

Yeah.

Yep.

in that, sometimes in a case when the employees, don't wanna say something. And so they just let it bottle up and eat at them. And it's just better to

get it out, talk about it, ask the program questions and meet with your team. I know it's not a revenue producing activity for the trades, but I promise you your team will be happier, they will perform at a higher level.

Yeah.

I was going to say, would

say it's a revenue. Yes. Maybe not in the, the right then and there, but yeah. When with happy employees and, I, man, I'm such a big, such a big advocate of one-to-ones because you've got to give your team the space and the permission to let you know what's going on. And yeah, when you meet once a year and they're like, well, here's the boxes you checked. That doesn't really tell them anything.

Not direct, it's an indirect, right?

And the truth is, is when people use their imagination, it's usually not the best, right? So if they're thinking about, right, they're like, review. ⁓ babe, pack my bags, stash cash. I don't know what's happening. So yeah, I like that.

No, they think of the worst thing first, right?

Well, and we

even do that with, so we have about 50 % of our team is in the US and 50 % is offshore. They're technically contractors. We even do that with them. We always have one-on-ones with them as well. We want the whole, like even some of the stuff that since we won the Best Places at the Work Award, like you start seeing like people start kind of sharing their stories or their things that it's really meant to them. Like it's pretty impactful when you get to see how it's impacted their life.

Yeah.

sharing their stories or their things that's really meant to them. It's pretty impactful when you get to see how it's impacted their life.

Because all of your team members have worked at bad companies. We've all worked at bad companies. We know what a bad company looks like. So when they get a company that they...

because all of your team members have worked at bad companies. We've all worked at bad companies. We know what a bad company looks like. So when they get a company that they really

love and the people they really love, they will fight for it. They will treat it differently. And then they'll go tell other great people that they know about it. mean, Tommy Mello talks about this all the time is you want a team member or a team members want to work with a team members or a level team members. And, and

Eagles hang out with Eagles. They don't hang out with ducks.

It's a hundred percent

true telling you from a much smaller company than Tommy's. ⁓ but it, it works. And if you just implement a couple, just implement the one-on-ones, if you don't want to get it on EOS, cause that's a much longer trajectory, just start one-on-ones. Just start meeting with team members for 30 minutes a month. I'm sure you can find 30 minutes from seven to seven 30 in the morning, every month throughout the month to just ask them some questions. What do they want to learn? What do they need more training on?

much smaller company than Tommy's. But it works. Just implement the one-on-ones. If you don't want to get it on EOS because that's a much longer trajectory, just start one-on-ones. Just start meeting with team members for 30 minutes a month. I'm sure you can find 30 minutes from 7 7.30 in the morning every month throughout the month to just ask them some questions. What do they want to learn? What do they need more training

on? Where do they want to go with their career?

Where do they want to go with their career?

These things are really insightful and then you can also find their why so you can push them to go get that, whatever that why is.

And match it. And I think that's the other advantage that comes from doing one to ones is when you understand their why as a leader, you can now tie it to your why. So now you're getting everybody rolling in the same direction. And rarely have I ever seen somebody's why in the company not be able to align no matter what it I mean, if they want to buy a house, great, they've got to make more money. How much more money?

One.

Okay, well, now give them a path to where they make more money, because if they make more money, you should make more money. It should be how all that works.

Absolutely, absolutely. So those are literally like the structure of those two things. if you want to find a different, there's other operating systems, but EOS is the one we use and I highly recommend anyone ⁓ gets with. But then once you implement that and get it on page, definitely have one-on-ones. is the information you learn from those conversations is really rewarding to see.

Yeah.

and it also helps you determine what benefits you might need. Maybe there's issues like people are talking about behind the scenes, but they don't want to bring up. But then they'll talk to their director port, because it's not the owner of the company. And then that person can be the buffer to send the information to the leadership team. So the leadership team can actually make an impact on that person and their time at the company.

Right.

Well, I gotta be honest with you. We were going to talk about all kinds of stuff and we've rolled right into leadership, which I love. It's my, it's one of my favorite topics, ⁓ to talk about. this is, this is great. So I wanted to loop back real quick. You were talking about, not being a revenue or not being a revenue generating thing with meetings. lot of HVAC companies kind of fall in that same category where

When it's slow, they're freaking out and they don't meet and they send everybody home. And then when they're busy and they're making money, they're too busy to stop for a minute and have meetings. So it's like this whole evolution that ends up happening a lot of times with busy entrepreneurs. ⁓

Well, and that doesn't even get into training, right? Like for trades businesses, you also need to train every week. You know, especially, especially your staff that answer, especially your customer service staff, the staff that answers the phone and the staff that is in the home because they need to be trained regularly. I mean, we used to, that's one thing that really was hammered into me at professional services. had, ⁓ Monday we always had a huddle just to get everyone on the same page for the week.

Yes.

hammered into me at professional services. Monday we always had a huddle just to get everyone on the same page for

the week, especially with weather forecasts and what's expected from the schedule and marketing. But then we had Tuesday was our customer service day. So our techs would literally.

especially with like weather forecast and what's expected from the schedule and marketing. But then we had Tuesday was ⁓ our customer service day. our techs would literally every

single day, we broke down the actual process from them from the time they called the customer to being on the way to the parking, the driveway, how to walk up to the door, how to knock on the, like every detail was broken down into, okay, this week we're gonna practice the pre-report phone call.

So somebody would call and we put it on speaker so everyone could listen and everyone would practice. And that person would actually physically go outside of our warehouse and act like they were on the way. Everything all the way to the kitchen table and how to present yourself and how to put booties on, where to put them on, where to set your tools. ⁓ Because just like professional sports teams, and I know everyone's heard this analogy, but the reason that running play for your favorite sports team works so well is because it's been practiced a thousand times.

Just like professional sports teams, and know everyone's heard this analogy, but the reason that running play for your favorite sports team works so well is because it's been practiced a thousand times

to get that good. Everybody knows who they're supposed to block, where they're supposed to be, what level, like the offensive line knows they have to get to the second level so they can spring the running back free. Like the wide receivers have to do their part.

to get that good. Everybody knows who they're supposed to block, they're supposed to be, what level, like the offensive line knows they have to get to the second level so they can spring the running back three, like the wide receivers have to their part.

And that's the only way you get those big plays because everyone's so good at that level. So you have to train. And so we did that. And then Friday we did technical training. So we would always have a lesson that people had to review, whether it was YouTube videos or interplay learning, which we used at the time.

come back and then we would draw straws have someone teach it back. And I had just a quick story on this because I thought I always think it's really funny. We had a duck cleaning technician, which was essentially like our lowest entry level position. It was an 18 year old kid because they didn't have to sell the duck cleaning. He just had to show up and do it. And if they showed up for work, they did a good job and they got some reviews and customers are happy with them. Maybe now they're going to be a maintenance tech. Then we move them into a service tech, then maybe an installer or whatever. But

Right. ⁓

It was an entry level position for us to see what their work ethic looked like. And

That's awesome. ⁓

they didn't know much, but they were, this 18 year old kid was so worried about being like in front of the room and looking foolish. Like he didn't know the lesson. He would watch these videos six to 10 times a week. told me this and because he didn't want to draw the straw and look dumb. people will do that to protect themselves, but then think about how reinforced that lesson is.

in their head because they watched it so many times because they didn't want to look foolish. And then the flip side of that,

that we also, it allows your technicians, because let's be fair, guys are not always the best communicators, and in the trades, and I love having ladies in the trades, so don't get me wrong, say it's because our team was all guys. We just didn't have any technicians that were females that wanted to get in the trades in our area.

also, it allows your technicians because let's be fair, guys are not always the best communicators and in the trades, and I love having ladies in the trades, so don't get me wrong when I say this, our team was all guys. We just didn't have any technicians that were females that wanted to get in the trades in our area. They don't communicate very well. So what that did is it fostered this

open communication of the senior tech sharing with the junior techs and feeling comfortable having those conversations so that way the junior tech could always call up and feel like they were going to get an answer and someone wasn't going to ridicule them because they didn't know or they didn't pay attention to the lesson. So it opened up a line of communication where the team worked better together.

Yeah, it's always a good doing practicing, doing role playing is something that I think that most business owners know that's important and most of them don't do. And most of them don't do it because their technicians hate it.

Well, and so what teams like that, what do they do now? Well, we go by Rilla. We go by, I'm gonna call them Band-Aids, but they are Band-Aids if you don't have a good process. They want the tech, yeah, and if you're not familiar with Rilla, Rilla's an AI ride along software. so, oh, it's amazing. The companies that have a great process and their techs are well trained, they're blowing up because this allowed them to escalate.

You still got, yeah, still, somebody still has to run that. Yep.

Which is fantastic by the way.

They're blown up because this allowed them to escalate

and gamify the system, but you can't band it, you can't use technology to bandage terrible

and gamify the system. But you can't band-aid, you can't use technology to band-aid.

processes. You have to fix the training and fix the processes before you can take technology and amplify your results. And I think the problem is, especially with how much technology and money has been spent on technology in our space, everyone's just throwing money at stuff. And then they don't really use it, they don't really integrate it.

and they don't get the value and then they cut their losses and they try something else. And it just doesn't work.

Unfortunately a lot of business owners are looking for that silver bullet and and the truth is the silver bullet is this

Hard work and consistency. You know, like real is such an amazing product and I've, I've watched, I've watched companies implement it and it'd be wildly successful. And I've watched companies that have rolled it out and it has been a drain on the company. And the difference was there, the companies that did really well, they had a plan, they implemented and they rolled it out and then they kept rolling it out and they kept checking in on it and they used it as a tool. None of these, none of these are going to be.

⁓ substitutes for leadership or processes, none of them.

Absolutely, that's so in in Tersh and I to kind of get back to ⁓ the third business we mentioned and just to fill people in and like what's possible is the the problem with Having so much in your tech stack or technology stack is these systems don't talk to each other natively typically ⁓ So like you'll have one system do something

Yeah. ⁓

but then you gotta take that same data and you gotta move it over to another system so that way you can do estimate file. Let's say a web form comes in. I'll just give you guys like a basic example. Web form comes in, it goes to somebody's email. It

sits there, somebody replies, tries to book the appointment. Once somebody is ready to book an appointment, now we can take that same data, now we gotta put it into our field service management software like Service Tightener, Housecall Pro or Sarah, and now we gotta put that in there, put the appointment booking time, send reminders.

Yeah. ⁓

send alerts, and then when the estimate or the job is done and asking for review, that's a separate platform. Sometimes it's integrated, sometimes it's not, or we just manually ask. All these things are typically disconnected, and we can connect all of these things, and that's where Tersh and I really bonded even

before the podcast. We were a part of some smaller business Facebook groups for the trades, and we started bonding over a tool called Zapier.

And Zapier, the easier way to remember how to say it, because a lot of people call it Zapier, Zapier makes you happier. And why it makes you happier is because you're taking redundant monotonous tasks that humans really don't love to do, and you're automating them. You're taking data from one place, moving it to another automatically without having to manually put it in. So that way the human can focus on the creative work, or the customer service work, or the things that actually bring them joy and happiness versus work that's

monotonous and they don't like doing.

and they don't like

you. Well, and the other thing is too that that becomes you don't have that human error anymore. Like you're not going to fat finger the information from here to here as well. That's another benefit of course. Yeah. One, you don't have to try putting something into it three different times. But it just allows you to start thinking creatively about how to solve other problems in your business. Like Turch just did an automation on site. So this is part of trade automation.

Right.

That's another benefit, of course, is that one, you don't have to try putting something in two or three different times, but it just allows you to start thinking creatively about how to solve other problems in your business. Like, Turch just did an automation onsite, and this is part of Trade Automation Pros,

⁓ but he did an automation onsite for two days to like sit down with this business in Florida. They're in the Vero Beach area. I don't know how far that is from you. That's on the other side though. I know you're on the...

Pretty good little haul. ⁓

You're on the golf side, that's on the ocean side. Just to understand their processes, and it is insane. These businesses that we think are doing, they're doing really well. They're profitable, they're growing, they have a great brand and presence. But inside the company, the

amount of admin staff to handle really basic tasks that they're paying 20 or $25 an hour to is mind blowing. And if...

The amount of admin staff to handle really basic tasks that are paying $20 $25 an hour to is mind blowing. as

As technology changes here, look, these AI, large language model, AI companies, whatever you want to call them, they're talking about artificial general intelligence by next year. This is coming soon.

technology changes here, these AI, large language model AI companies, whatever you want to call them, they're talking about artificial general intelligence by next year. Don't they say it doubles like every 90 days or six months? doubles and...

It's insane.

Like at some point you have to start leaning in and one don't go for something like artificial general intelligence right now. Your systems need to be dialed in and Tersh and I talk about this a lot. There's a three step process we use when it comes to deciding what can be automated, what can be delegated. And you have to optimize the process. Number one, we talked about this at your event. We have to optimize the process first, make sure the process is good. If the process is good,

then we decide can, based on the tools that use this process, can we automate that? Now some things can be automated, but there's a lot that can't. And Turch and I have a lot of virtual assistants that we use. ⁓ All of our social media content, our podcast production. ⁓ I have an executive assistant that answers my emails, organizes my click up for tasks.

goes through Slack, goes through, because I have three different email addresses, goes through all of that and organizes all of it for me, so I only have to focus on the most important information. So a lot of things you can do with delegation, and you can hire those people. Some people will tell you like five, six bucks, honestly we pay them well in their country, 10, 12 bucks an hour, and they perform exceptionally well, like they literally love you because that changes their life. And for us, it changed, yeah, we've had.

Right and their families ⁓

team members in the Philippines buy their parents' houses because

because it changed their life. We've had one team member move out of the Philippines, which is a third world country, to Australia, which is a first world country because he wanted a better life for himself. We another one move to Spain. You're able to impact their life. And those people are literally, they're never going to forget you and they're going to work their butts off for you because their culture's a little different too. So there's a lot of things you can do there to

it changed their life. We've had one team member move out of the Philippines, which is a third world, still third world country, to Australia, which is a first world country because he wanted a better life for himself. We had another one move to Spain. Like, you're able to impact their life and those people are literally, they're never going to forget you and they're gonna work their butts off for you because their culture's a little different too. So there's a lot of things you can do there to...

enhance the efficiency of your company, but I feel like the trades just doesn't,

enhance the efficiency of your company, but I feel like the trades just doesn't.

we just haven't pushed far enough into that ecosystem. And that's why Turch and I started Trade Automation Pros is one, help people understand what they can automate and then also teach them how to delegate things. So that way they actually become better communicators and then they don't have to worry about their email all day or they don't have to worry about Facebook messages all day because you can get lost in that stuff for hours a day.

And for most people like me, I can't even log into fake. Cause if I do two hours goes by and I'm like, I forget what I was even, what was I even doing in here?

You know, many times, my

God, Justin, this happens to me probably at least once a day. I intentionally keep Facebook closed on my desktop. I open it because I'm gonna go either create a post, go find something, or I was gonna go message somebody. And I get in there, I opened up, of course, the first post is always extremely relevant to something I like talking about or engaging with. And then I start engaging, now I'm scrolling.

It's almost like they know it's

And

I'm five minutes in and I'm like, what was I going to do again? So I close it. And then of course I remember five or 10 minutes later, I reopen it and the cycle continues. You have to be extremely ⁓ intentional when you get on social media platforms to do the thing that you you meant to do first before you start scrolling, because otherwise you, it is such a time stop.

when you get on social media platforms to do the thing that you meant to do first.

Yeah, I mean, it's designed on purpose. I mean, it's designed for the human attention span, ⁓ and they've done a fantastic job, unfortunately.

They sure have. They sure

have.

So, um, all right, so let's do this. Since we're talking about, uh, the trade automations business, um, what is, what is a challenge that you can throw out to anybody listening? Well, I'm going to give it two, two different questions and you can give two answers or one. So what is a challenge you can give to anybody listening to either one do from the marketing perspective of their business or, and, or two from an automation standpoint. So

What are some things, what is one thing they could do in either of those?

I think one of the biggest things, ⁓ it's not necessarily about an automation thing initially, but do a time audit on yourself and have your team do this as well. Don't just, what a time audit is, if you're not familiar with it is literally have a piece of paper. You can buy these on Amazon for like 10 bucks, a little pad of paper with like all these different time audits and it'll break your day into like 15 to 30 minute increments. Set a little timer and then write down what you did after that 15 to 30 minutes. I've done this a couple of times.

I've only done it for about a week. I can't quite get to two weeks. get kind of bored and I don't want to do it anymore. But what it does is it shows you all the things you're actually working on. Because the worst thing that happens, especially right now, we're in the middle of summer. And in HVAC specifically, everyone's busy. Like you're running around with a chicken with your head cut off. You probably at the end of the day cannot remember what you did today. Because you didn't write it down. And you have no way to go back and be like.

Yeah. ⁓

Yeah, it to

be strategic. ⁓

how can I find time in my day to take care of the important things? Because even when it's busy and your techs need you and there's fires, you still need to move the business forward. You still need to be having meetings with your accounting team, your marketing team. You still need to be pushing the envelope that way. And if you get busy just being busy, you can't do that. a time audit is ⁓ a great first

way to just understand what you're spending your time on. But then the other thing is tools like Zapier have an

But then the other thing is tools like Zapier have

an awesome search function. It literally is just a little magnifying glass at the top. You don't have to have an account to do this. Go start typing in the tools that you use on a regular basis. Slack. ⁓

awesome search function. It literally is just a little magnifying glass at the top. You don't have to have an account to do this. Go start typing in the tools that you use on a regular basis. Slack, ⁓ Teams,

Gmail, Facebook, whatever tools you use on a regular basis, just go start typing them in because what Zapier is really great about on their website is it will give you the most common automations that other people are using. So you don't have to think about this yourself.

you can use what other people are using and be like, ⁓ that would be great. And that one doesn't really apply. That one would be great. And you can start making a list of things that you want to implement that are actually gonna save you time. And so that would be my first thing. And that's more of a generic statement for automation. If I was gonna say something specifically to marketing, I would say anything that has to do with making your responses to customers faster.

is what you should focus on. Web form submissions, chats, have something that helps you with, like Service Titan has a lot of abandoned calls, something that automatically texts those people back, missed call text backs, if you still have voicemails, voicemail text backs, clean up that stuff, like the most simple stuff to clean up, because I've seen this stat multiple times, 78 % of homeowners

hire the first company that replies to them. The first company. And as we get all these chat GBT for search and perplexing all that stuff, that's not gonna change. That is a human psychological fundamental foundation of who we are. We wanna work with people that want our business. So those things are the things that we typically, and this is stuff that we do.

I mean, speed to lead is a real thing and it is really, really important.

and all this stuff, that's not gonna change. That is a human psychological fundamental foundation of who we are. We wanna work with people that want our business. So those things are the things that we typically, and this is stuff that we

do not to confuse everyone on what each.

not to confuse everyone on what each company does,

but Trade Automation Pros teaches you how to do that yourself. Relentless Digital, we have systems where our marketing clients will actually implement that for you with a messaging platform that does ringless voicemail, text messaging, email, stuff like that. So a little different there where some people have a marketing company that happens, they just want to learn how to do it themselves, we can do

but Trade Automation Pros teaches you how to do that yourself. Relentless Digital, we have systems where our marketing clients will actually implement that for you with a messaging platform that does ringless voicemail, text message, email, stuff like that. So a little different there where some people have a marketing company they're happy with, they just want to learn how to do it themselves. We can do that.

that. And then if you want it done for you and you want us to do the marketing, we can do that for Relentless Digital as well.

And then if you want it done for you and you want us to do the marketing, we can do that for Relentless Digital as well. But those

Yeah ⁓

are the core things. Start there and then your world will start opening up because you'll start realizing that there are other things you can do. And that's before we even get into talking about how to layer in ChatGPT or Claude to make these processes even better and make some of this stuff more customizable. We shared one at your event in Pensacola about how to reply to Google reviews with AI.

and that takes a new Google review, it runs it through a chat GBT prompt, it

gives a really great reply, which is probably most likely it's better than your human replies, and it sends the reply automatically to Google, and then it can create a social media post on all the different platforms that you can put together and share. It makes your job easier, so you're constantly marketing.

It gives a really great reply, is probably, most likely it's better than your human replies. And it sends the reply automatically to Google. And then it can create a social media post on all the different platforms that you can put together and share. It makes your job easier, so you're constantly marketing.

That's fantastic. So if somebody wants to find out more on how to work with you, how would they go about doing that?

Well, ⁓ so Relentless Digital, you can reach out to me personally. ⁓ Trade Automation Pros, we can essentially just go to that website. We have a couple things. We have a course where we teach this stuff. We are also starting to do automation on sites. They're two day visits. Those are limited. Tertian Eye only have so much time to do those, but they're limited to like two a month. ⁓ we can talk costs and all that stuff. we go on site, we review what your team is doing.

We review what your team is

doing and then we come up with the automation ideas for you and we implement them and we build them. So some people that's a much easier thing than trying to dive into something they're not familiar with. But other people want to learn, they want to roll up their sleeves and they want to learn a new skill and we have a course for that. It's called Automation Foundation.

and then we come up with the automation ideas for you and we implement them, we actually build them. So some people that's a much easier thing than trying to dive into something they're not familiar with. But other people want to learn, they want to roll up their sleeves and they want to learn a new skill and we have a course for that. It's called Automation Foundation, which

is on a platform called School. So either way, if you reach out to myself or Terz for the automation stuff, either one of us will get you directed in the right place. If you want someone to completely do the

automated marketing automation stuff for you and generate leads through Google ads, Google business profile, your website. That would be something that we'd reach out to just relentless digital about.

Fantastic and all that stuff. I'll put every bit of that information into the show notes so it'll be broken down so you'll know kind of where to go because there's a whole lot Absolutely Do it

Yeah. I have one more plug for you. ⁓ So I'm put my hat on now.

Because it's a fun hat. ⁓ TAP stands for Trade Automation Pros. But this October, ⁓ Tersh, Julie, Brittany, and myself, so our wives and ourself are hosting our first ever in-person event. It's called TAP Into the Future, AI and Automation Unleashed. We're gonna have some...

I can't quite announce the speakers and stuff yet, but we're gonna have content that you really haven't had a chance to see anywhere else. And we're gonna have a little bit of workshopping of actually building these automations and teaching you how to look for automation opportunities and also how to delegate tasks. And we're gonna have some really great speakers. And the really fun part of this event is it's in Savannah, Georgia. And most people at this point have heard of the Savannah Bananas. They have like 9 million followers online.

and they're selling out football stadiums for baseball games right now, capacity of 80,000 people, they're selling them out. ⁓ We have VIP seats to the night game on that Saturday night. ⁓ So you get to be very entertained and network in an extremely fun, family-oriented environment, and you also get to learn, and it's not gonna take away from your daily activities because it's on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so we're not gonna impede on your ⁓

your work schedule or anything like that, where you got to take out like a whole week to learn this stuff.

Very cool. And again, we'll have all that info in the show notes as well. Josh, appreciate it, man. So what's interesting is we had a plan when we jumped on here and we went deep into leadership and I love it. That's literally my favorite topic. So, ⁓

You know,

marketing strategy, there's a lot of that content out there and a lot of stuff can be implemented, but the thing people need to really learn, especially with AI can help with certain things now and it can write a blog post for you or write a video script. Leadership skills don't, those are not gonna, you're not gonna be able to replace those. You're always gonna need a leadership team. You're always gonna need those skills and you need to learn those skills. You need to start, I mean, every single business and most of these.

Right. Right. ⁓

Most of these people in the trades, they were a technician or a salesperson or installer. They thought they could do it better or they didn't like working for their boss, but they never learned the leadership skills. And those leadership skills are what's going to carry you to actually have a company that's worth selling at some point or even a company that you keep as a

lifestyle business that performs extremely well for you. You have to build these skills. The sooner you do it, the happier you will become.

Agreed. Josh, thank you so much, man. Appreciate you hanging out. Again, all this info will be in the show notes. And yeah, thanks for coming and hanging out,

Thanks Justin, I really appreciate

the opportunity.