Episode 202

How to Stop Guessing and Start Winning in Business with Brad Warren

In this episode of The Business Development Podcast, Brad Warren returns to break down the no-nonsense approach every entrepreneur needs to run a profitable business. Known for his operational expertise and relentless focus on numbers, Brad shares why most business owners unknowingly sabotage themselves by failing to track key financial metrics. From pricing strategies to hiring decisions, he explains how understanding your revenue, costs, and labor efficiency can mean the difference between growth and bankruptcy. With his trademark directness, Brad emphasizes the importance of removing emotion from decision-making and letting the numbers guide every move.

Throughout the conversation, Brad and Kelly dive into real-world business challenges, including why so many companies struggle with pricing, how to track profitability effectively, and when to make tough staffing decisions. Brad also sheds light on the most common mistakes that lead small businesses into financial trouble and provides practical strategies to avoid them. Whether you’re an established entrepreneur or just starting out, this episode delivers actionable insights to help you stop guessing and start winning in business.


Key Takeaways:

1. The market determines pricing, not the business owner, and staying competitive is essential for success.

2. Tracking revenue, costs, and profit margins is crucial—businesses that don’t are operating blindly.

3. Reviewing profit & loss statements monthly and comparing year-over-year data helps spot trends and make informed decisions.

4. Hiring should be slow and deliberate, but underperforming employees should be let go quickly to protect the business.

5. Removing emotion from decisions allows business owners to focus on data-driven strategies rather than gut feelings.

6. Operational excellence comes from strict discipline in processes, not just having a great product or service.

7. Raising prices is necessary to keep up with rising costs and inflation—failure to do so leads to shrinking margins.

8. Employees thrive under different management styles, and strong leaders recognize and adapt to their needs.

9. A business must always come first, as its survival ensures the livelihood of employees and the entrepreneur.

10. Avoiding financial problems doesn’t make them disappear—facing them head-on is the only way to stay in control.


Links referenced in this episode:


Companies mentioned in this episode:

  • Boulevard Auto Glass
  • White Raven Accounting
  • Econo Basements
  • Econo Roofing
  • Spacious Basement Builders
  • Capital Business Development
  • Calgary Bike Swap
  • Planet Builders
  • Rusted Nuts Mechanical
Transcript
Host:

Welcome to episode 202 of the Business Development Podcast.

Host:

And today it is my absolute pleasure to welcome back Brad Warren.

Host:

Brad is like the Dave Ramsey of business operations.

Host:

He is no nonsense, no bullshit and he is all about the numbers.

Host:

And he is going to tell you why knowing the numbers is important and why you have to put your business first.

Host:

Stick with us.

Host:

You are not going to want to miss this episode.

Kelly Kennedy:

The great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.

Kelly Kennedy:

Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

Kelly Kennedy:

And we couldn't agree more.

Kelly Kennedy:

This is the Business Development Podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and broadcasting to the world.

Kelly Kennedy:

You'll get expert business development advice, tips and experiences and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs and business development reps.

Kelly Kennedy:

You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by Capital Business Development, capitalbd ca.

Kelly Kennedy:

Let's do it.

Kelly Kennedy:

Welcome to the Business Development Podcast.

Kelly Kennedy:

And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Brad Warren:

Hello.

Host:

Welcome to episode 202 of the Business Development Podcast.

Host:

I hope you guys all had an absolute rockstar Christmas.

Host:

The funny thing is we're actually recording this show about six months in advance because it's, that's how fortunate we are on the vdp.

Host:

So it's very exciting.

Host:

We're recording in July but you guys are getting this in early January and I hope your Christmas was amazing today.

Host:

I have the absolute pleasure of welcoming back to the show Brad Warren.

Host:

Brad is a powerhouse entrepreneur based in Alberta whose ambition and drive have revolutionized small business development and financial management.

Host:

plans to launch five more in:

Host:

His ventures include Boulevard Auto Glass, White Raven Accounting, Econo Basements, Econo Roofing and Spacious Basement builders.

Host:

Showcasing his remarkable ability to scale and succeed across diverse industries, Brad's innovative approach has rescued numerous small businesses from bankruptcy and formed countless successful partnerships.

Host:

Brad first joined us on episode 130 of the Business Development Podcast where he passionately discussed his commitment to helping small businesses and his unique approach to building his invisible empire.

Host:

Brad's commitment to helping small businesses thrive is evident in his hands on approach and his philosophy of creating opportunities rather than waiting for them.

Host:

He is not your typical CEO.

Host:

He builds his own table instead of waiting for a seat at one.

Host:

Brad's expertise spans communication, operations management, cash flow management, digital marketing, business development and entrepreneurship.

Host:

His relentless energy and transformative ideas inspire and empower entrepreneurs to defy conventions and challenge the status quo, making him a true revolutionary in the world of small business.

Host:

Brad, it's an honor to have you back, dude.

Brad Warren:

I appreciate it, man.

Brad Warren:

That was another good intro.

Host:

I like it, dude.

Host:

I've been.

Host:

I've been excited about doing this show with you again.

Host:

You know, I appreciate you.

Host:

I really.

Host:

We've met a few times now, and I've.

Host:

I've always enjoyed every one of our conversations.

Host:

And I can't say that about everybody.

Brad Warren:

People are going to start thinking we're, like, friends or something prior to this.

Host:

I know, it's weird.

Brad Warren:

It is smooth, though.

Brad Warren:

It's very easy, right?

Brad Warren:

And, you know, not to, like, I don't need to boost your situation that you have going on.

Brad Warren:

I mean, you're filming in July and releasing in January.

Brad Warren:

Case closed.

Brad Warren:

I mean, you're.

Brad Warren:

You're a big deal now, but I can say it's definitely the favorite out of all the podcasts I've done.

Brad Warren:

I look forward to doing yours because it's just easy.

Brad Warren:

You won't let me swear, but.

Brad Warren:

And last time I did really good.

Brad Warren:

Like, I think I did really.

Brad Warren:

I tried really hard.

Host:

No, man, I appreciate that.

Host:

And you know what?

Host:

I.

Host:

So I don't really care.

Host:

Like, in the grand scheme of things, I'm not an anti swear person.

Host:

What it is is this weird world we live in that is very anti swear, right?

Host:

And it's like.

Host:

It's like I don't actually swear a lot in real life, but yeah, of course I do.

Host:

Like, of course I swear occasionally, and of course everybody does on a certain level.

Host:

But there's this, like, weird thing where if you swear on a podcast, especially certain ones, you got to click a box that says there's swears in my show.

Brad Warren:

What?

Host:

And I don't know what happens when we click that box, but I don't know if I really want to find out either.

Brad Warren:

You know what's funny?

Brad Warren:

Like, I don't.

Brad Warren:

I think I don't.

Brad Warren:

I don't swear as much of my personal life since kids for sure.

Brad Warren:

Like, you watch it, right?

Brad Warren:

You just.

Brad Warren:

Out of.

Brad Warren:

I don't know if it's respect, but just out of respect for myself, I'm going to sit there and swear around my kids.

Brad Warren:

But it does get taken overboard.

Brad Warren:

Like, we were just chatting before, you know, you started the green light, but we were just about Gary Vee.

Brad Warren:

And like, a lot of Gary Vee's messages, like, I can relate to.

Brad Warren:

I think he's off in his own little World in certain areas of things.

Brad Warren:

Like I said, I'm not going garage sailing at 8 o'clock at night after I put my kids down.

Brad Warren:

But I mean, good for him.

Brad Warren:

But he swears.

Brad Warren:

I find he swears so much in so many areas, he doesn't need to.

Brad Warren:

It actually makes it a little difficult for me to watch him.

Brad Warren:

Like, I find my swear words are very well placed, very arrogant.

Brad Warren:

They fit well with how smooth I swear.

Brad Warren:

I find it.

Brad Warren:

It plays well.

Brad Warren:

But Gary Vee, I think every 6.4 words is an F bomb.

Brad Warren:

And it almost like.

Brad Warren:

And he's sitting there talking to these kids in grade 11 and even I'm cringing a bit.

Brad Warren:

I'm kind of like, man, like, I get it.

Brad Warren:

But holy moly.

Host:

Oh, boy.

Host:

Yeah, I don't know, dude.

Host:

I don't know.

Host:

Like, I, I definitely swear less.

Host:

There's no question I mind you.

Host:

I feel like in business I've always kept it pretty clean.

Host:

Mind you, I've been in business development, right, where it's like, and I grew up in and new business, an old business, whereas we're very much not appreciated or looked at as appropriate.

Host:

And I would say that it's starting to sway.

Host:

But I still do watch myself.

Host:

I still, like, I'm still pretty careful in like a professional.

Host:

And it's not too hard because I don't swear a lot, but I would say I swear considerably less than I used to.

Host:

But yeah, it's like there are certain points where, why not?

Host:

It makes sense.

Host:

There's certain things that a good old swear is the right.

Host:

Is the right word.

Brad Warren:

Well, and I think you're in a different world than me too.

Brad Warren:

Right?

Brad Warren:

Like, you're.

Brad Warren:

I think it's more important in your world, if anything, in my world, it's almost more important for me to swear.

Brad Warren:

Like, I think the biggest thing that we caught traction with was how authentic everything is.

Brad Warren:

Like, there's just zero smoke.

Brad Warren:

Like, we literally meet with entrepreneurs for a living.

Brad Warren:

That's 80% of my job is sitting, meeting and communicating with entrepreneurs.

Brad Warren:

And they almost.

Brad Warren:

They're at a point in time where they don't.

Brad Warren:

You'd be surprised how a lot of them are so close to their business, but they actually don't really care how much you hurt their feelings.

Brad Warren:

Because once someone gets to a point where they think they're going to have to close their business and they just don't know what they're going to do at that point in time, when you start telling them, hey, you suck at this, and you might have Shit the bed at this.

Brad Warren:

And, like, we're not judging.

Brad Warren:

It's just when it's just straightforward, they're kind of like, okay, that's what I need to hear.

Brad Warren:

Let's get moving.

Brad Warren:

Like, they're almost coming for the hard answers.

Brad Warren:

So they want the tough love.

Brad Warren:

They want the tough love.

Brad Warren:

Like, you can't be a dick about it because then you're judgmental.

Brad Warren:

Like, because I've made more mistakes than any entrepreneur that could come sit in my boardroom.

Brad Warren:

Like, I can go preach this and preach this and preach this, but I'm a do what you say kind of guy.

Brad Warren:

Don't do what I do.

Brad Warren:

Because that might be tough to get out of.

Brad Warren:

But you can't preach to them or be judgmental, because they know I always say to them, like, yeah, you're not doing this.

Brad Warren:

Neither do I.

Brad Warren:

I don't like doing it either, but it's not optional.

Brad Warren:

Your business won't run without this being done.

Brad Warren:

So because I suck at it and I don't want to do it, you know, what I do is I hire this person that is very specifically strong in that area, because there's certain things in business that you can't.

Brad Warren:

You can't make optional because you're uncomfortable or you don't want to do them.

Host:

I would say that probably 99% of the advice that I give on the business development podcast is advice that I learned the hard way because I wasn't doing it.

Brad Warren:

I know.

Brad Warren:

I.

Brad Warren:

And I.

Brad Warren:

I hate preaching at people because you only get the 48 minutes on the podcast that you're like, do this, do this.

Brad Warren:

Be like, mike, read this book.

Brad Warren:

Track this number.

Brad Warren:

Do this.

Brad Warren:

But they don't see all the Tuesdays.

Brad Warren:

I was like, I'm not going to work.

Brad Warren:

I'm eating pizza.

Brad Warren:

I'm gonna sit here and play video games and eat pizza, and I'm not talking to anybody.

Host:

Like, yeah, it's like.

Host:

It's funny because it's like, I talk about my business development process all the time on the show.

Host:

But, like, first off, to everybody listening, do you think I would have a process if I was killing it, not using a process?

Host:

The answer is absolutely not.

Host:

Yeah, I created a process because I was sucking horribly.

Brad Warren:

That's the whole point.

Brad Warren:

I don't know if your wife said, but my wife is always like, sometimes I just want you to listen.

Brad Warren:

And I'm like, yeah, I don't really do that.

Brad Warren:

If there's a problem that needs to be solved, let's solve the problem.

Brad Warren:

If you need someone to talk to about the problem, but you have no interest in solving the problem.

Brad Warren:

Your mother, Beth, these people are phenomenal people to do this with.

Brad Warren:

But if you come to me and like, oh, my God, this client is this, this, and this isn't happening, I'll be like, okay, so we can put it into this process, dump it off on this employee, make sure this follow up happens, and all this will disappear and we won't have to vent about this problem anymore.

Brad Warren:

Well, no, I just want to vent about the problem.

Brad Warren:

I'm like, that makes no sense to me.

Brad Warren:

Why not delete the problem?

Host:

Well, let me let you know that that is a very common conversation.

Host:

And that conversation has happened multiple times in our household as well.

Host:

See, Shelby is just like, why can't you just listen?

Host:

I'm like, because I want to make a solution.

Host:

I don't like not being able to do something about it.

Host:

Like, the whole reason I'm an entrepreneur is because I hate waiting for things to happen.

Brad Warren:

And you, like, you need to have a big enough.

Brad Warren:

We talked about this.

Brad Warren:

Like, we need to have a big enough ego to understand that we have that ego towards success.

Brad Warren:

But you have to be good with failing.

Brad Warren:

Like, when you're like, hey, don't drop any f bombs on the podcast, my ego kicks in.

Brad Warren:

I'm like, okay, I'm going to do this.

Brad Warren:

I can do this.

Brad Warren:

I've done more complicated things.

Brad Warren:

I got this, and I'm just not going to fail at that.

Brad Warren:

But there's just.

Brad Warren:

If you're good with failure, you can speak that way.

Brad Warren:

I love failing.

Brad Warren:

Like, I learned nothing more than when I make either big mistakes, small mistakes, whatever they create, that's the only way you get to figure out how you do it better the next time.

Brad Warren:

But if you're sitting there being like, oh, shucks, I failed, Eeyore, and like, it's like, that's not going to work.

Brad Warren:

Because you'll just keep failing because you're upset that you failed.

Brad Warren:

It's like, no or you won't try.

Host:

Which is.

Host:

Which is equally as damaging.

Brad Warren:

Embrace it like, you're crushing it.

Brad Warren:

You're releasing things two years out.

Brad Warren:

We'll call you.

Brad Warren:

Rogan.

Brad Warren:

Number two, you probably made seven mistakes today.

Brad Warren:

Like, you know, we've got equity in 23 businesses in four years, and I've made more mistakes than anybody that could come in and challenge.

Brad Warren:

Like, they'd be like, I did this and it really screwed me over.

Brad Warren:

Be like, oh, yeah, I've done that three times.

Brad Warren:

Screwed you over in one business.

Brad Warren:

It screwed Me over in six.

Brad Warren:

Let's chat about it.

Host:

Oh, my goodness.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

Well, and dude, like, that's why I wanted you on the show today.

Host:

We've talked multiple times.

Host:

Last time we kind of got the rundown of, you know, who is Brad Warren?

Host:

What is the Invisible Empire?

Host:

What are you doing?

Host:

And that was awesome.

Host:

And actually, I want to spend some time back there because at this point, 72 episodes ago, so there's gonna be some people who have been listening for a long time and still didn't necessarily listen to that episode.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Host:

So we're going to, you know, we're going to go back into it.

Host:

Who is Brad Warren?

Host:

But when we're done that I really do want to lead into operational excellence, because that is your specialty.

Host:

You are an operations rock star.

Host:

And I would say most business owners, that is where we suffer.

Host:

We are not operations rock stars.

Host:

What we are is the job that we were good at, that we started a business around rock stars, running the business.

Host:

Completely different.

Host:

And you, my friend, are a.

Host:

An expert of experts of operational excellence.

Host:

And so I do want to spend some time there with you today because we're talking to a lot of entrepreneurs who struggle with it, who don't even know that they're in trouble, who don't even know what to measure, who don't know what they should be doing on a weekly basis to ensure success, who frankly, probably don't even know what to charge for their service.

Host:

So I think if we can spend some time talking about that today, that'd be great.

Host:

But before we do, take us back, dude, 72 episodes you were here for episode 130.

Host:

It is now episode 202.

Host:

Who is Brad Warren and what's new?

Brad Warren:

Dude, nothing's new.

Brad Warren:

Kids in and out of B.C.

Brad Warren:

as close to water as I can get.

Brad Warren:

I'm a simple guy.

Brad Warren:

Gardening, swimming in lakes and rivers.

Brad Warren:

I'm good.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

My wife tries to convince me to buy new socks and sweatpants and I'm like, ah, time for that.

Brad Warren:

But you can go get those.

Host:

That'd be great.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

With the big intro you wrote, though, I probably should invest in a new pair.

Brad Warren:

Flip flops.

Brad Warren:

Because, like, that described a guy that comes into work ready to go.

Brad Warren:

I come into work in flip flops and pajama pants and just go to work on companies.

Brad Warren:

You know what, man?

Brad Warren:

Like, yeah, Invisible Empire is doing good now.

Brad Warren:

Like, we're at a point where.

Brad Warren:

We're at a point where totally different.

Brad Warren:

The first three years.

Brad Warren:

Like, like anybody else, we were begging people to Work with us.

Brad Warren:

Begging banks to talk to us.

Brad Warren:

Like, I mean it's a grind no matter what you do.

Brad Warren:

And so now we're kind of like, I think we're signed.

Brad Warren:

Like we just.

Brad Warren:

This isn't released until January so we're good.

Brad Warren:

I'll have paperwork signed but we're going to be doing deals with Calgary Bike Swap, which is a big non profit here in Calgary and I love the stuff they're doing with homeless youth.

Brad Warren:

And like, we're starting to get to the point where we can be really picky and choosy about our projects because like we talked about, it starts with the person.

Brad Warren:

You could be as operationally excellent as you want in every area.

Brad Warren:

It always starts with the person.

Brad Warren:

And I think just with my experience I was, I had a mentor that was so relentless with operations and I mean relentless.

Brad Warren:

I think he was the V, and don't quote me on it, but I'm pretty sure he was the vice president of future shop operations for Alberta before he went and started his own business.

Brad Warren:

And then I hooked up with him, grew with that company.

Brad Warren:

So it's not even something where it's like sitting here, it's like, oh, this and this.

Brad Warren:

That's what I know.

Brad Warren:

Like, and everybody starts businesses like decks.

Brad Warren:

Okay, I don't know how to build a deck.

Brad Warren:

I need the people that started that business to know decks or windshields or these things.

Brad Warren:

But believe it or not, every business is the same.

Brad Warren:

It's a product that gets sold regardless of what it is.

Brad Warren:

It's revenue, cost of goods sold.

Brad Warren:

You know, whether you put your labor, your payroll above the line or below the line, gross profit, expenses, net profit.

Brad Warren:

Every business is generally the same.

Brad Warren:

But believe it or not, we're come with the amount of meetings and stuff we have.

Brad Warren:

It's crazy how it starts, and I mean this in a very least disrespectful way, possible.

Brad Warren:

But it starts at a very kindergarten level that even we wouldn't fathom.

Brad Warren:

That some people just don't know the direction that they need to go.

Brad Warren:

And we don't.

Brad Warren:

We're not judging.

Brad Warren:

If anything, we're sitting there being like, wow, it's almost admirable.

Brad Warren:

Like because they're trying so hard and putting so much effort into it when it could be simpler.

Brad Warren:

Like if that makes any sense.

Brad Warren:

Like it, you know.

Host:

Yeah, well you don't know.

Host:

You don't know what you don't know.

Brad Warren:

Exactly.

Host:

And if you're still trying to achieve an outcome, you're gonna do it the way that you understand that doesn't make it the right way.

Host:

It makes it just the way that you can wrap your head around it, right or wrong, to get to achieve the outcome you're trying to get.

Host:

But yeah, it's like if you're, if you're, you know, trying to fish and you don't have a hook on your line, it doesn't matter how hard you work, you're never going to catch a fish.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

And if there's no Google and there's no nothing and you're not, you know what I mean?

Brad Warren:

Like, it takes a little bit of a step back because people could research it, but oh, man, like all that stuff starts with the people.

Brad Warren:

Like, it's so easy for me to preach or this.

Brad Warren:

And I hate preaching to people and I hate giving advice because it's so.

Brad Warren:

There's so much variables to it.

Brad Warren:

It works for these businesses, but it's not going to work over here.

Brad Warren:

And then if you run a Canadian tire, things are much different than if you run a three person sandwich shop or if you and your wife are out aerating lawns for a living.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, you can sit and track all these numbers as much as you want, but it becomes pretty simple.

Brad Warren:

Where's the bank account up or down?

Brad Warren:

Like, there's some areas where you're creating work to get into tracking it, but you just have such respect for these entrepreneurs and these people that.

Brad Warren:

And I, whether they're banging their head against the wall, you just look at it where it's like, say if my wife's trying to learn how to knit a sweater and there's just no resources out there or anything, but she just keeps trying.

Brad Warren:

I look at that as, I, I respect that.

Brad Warren:

So it's very easy to help people.

Brad Warren:

And not like, you don't look down on anybody, because I can't.

Brad Warren:

I don't change the air filter in my car.

Brad Warren:

But we own part of Rusted Nuts Mechanical.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

So we do the business side because I know that in and out.

Brad Warren:

But he's never going to call me being like, hey, can you come fill in and do some tire rotations for the day?

Brad Warren:

I'm gonna be like, okay.

Brad Warren:

Like, what do you mean?

Brad Warren:

Like what?

Brad Warren:

I, I know that there's a 13 mil socket set and like, yeah, that's what undoes the blade to my lawnmower.

Brad Warren:

Like, man, that's not my strong suit.

Host:

Yeah, no, that's fair.

Host:

That's fair.

Host:

And yet so many of us business owners are taking that on.

Host:

They're, we're taking on the things that we may not be great at, but may.

Host:

Maybe it's because we don't think that we can afford to have someone else do it, or maybe it's because, I don't know, maybe we think we can.

Host:

And you know, I think in a lot of cases in my life, I'm not afraid to pull out a 13 mil socket and do it, even if I haven't done it before.

Host:

But that does not make me an expert at doing that thing.

Host:

It makes me someone who's willing to try.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

Which in the end it's really just skipping a step.

Brad Warren:

Like if entrepreneur is like, we're gonna.

Brad Warren:

We're just did a couple startup deals last week that we're gonna be green lighting two startup companies and the amount of headache it saves from them doing it with us, everything is just bing bang boom.

Brad Warren:

From logos to incorporations to bank accounts to insurance to everything from SEO to digital marketing to branding to uniforms to data tracking To QuickBooks to P.

Brad Warren:

L's and the list goes on.

Brad Warren:

The person that we're starting a business with is a very, very, very good journeyman, master plumber that he's very good at.

Brad Warren:

All this other shit would take him three, six months when it takes us three to six days.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

Because it's one email to our contact at the registry, one email to our bankers.

Brad Warren:

We have a full fledged Internet team.

Brad Warren:

Like everything just gets snapped off and greenlit and then in two, three weeks the company's ready to roll.

Brad Warren:

It's not that they couldn't do it, it's that how much money do they have to sink into it, trusting that someone's building a website if they don't know anything about websites, how the hell are you going to manage the fact that the website's being built properly?

Brad Warren:

What if someone's just charging you 10 grand and they put up a site and you know nothing about sites and you're like, okay, that looks good, but what if it doesn't function?

Brad Warren:

So it's a mixture between the trust, the cost and then the amount of headaches it saves.

Brad Warren:

So I mean, I don't know that that's ultimately.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, people, Invisible Empire is just, it's just helping entrepreneurs, man.

Brad Warren:

Keeping small businesses and just trying to take.

Brad Warren:

It takes a village.

Brad Warren:

Like it literally takes a village to raise kids.

Brad Warren:

And if, you know, I have friends that raise them by themselves with parents out in Ontario and stuff.

Brad Warren:

And you see how it weighs on that family not even having a Wednesday night to be able to go out for dinner.

Brad Warren:

Like there's no Grandma's or anything to be found.

Brad Warren:

Business is the exact same.

Brad Warren:

And if you're using a marketing firm and paying them three grand a month, that doesn't mean anything.

Brad Warren:

That's just, it's just a marketing firm.

Brad Warren:

And I'm not saying they're doing anything wrong.

Brad Warren:

But you definitely don't have somebody looking out for your best interest of the business itself.

Brad Warren:

You have somebody looking out for the best interest to prove the best reports that their marketing services are carrying value for what you're paying.

Host:

Well, I mean you could probably talk for a while on, on digital marketing.

Host:

It's a tough one.

Host:

It, you know what, it's.

Host:

I would argue that do we all need a little bit of it?

Host:

Yes.

Host:

But is it a really hard system to navigate?

Brad Warren:

Double yes, it's a hard system to navigate if you're trying to do it at a very, very excellent level.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, yeah.

Brad Warren:

You know, and, and we could kill a whole episode on that.

Brad Warren:

So it's like let's, you know.

Brad Warren:

But yeah, man.

Brad Warren:

Accounting, bookkeeping, digital marketing.

Brad Warren:

Those are the three areas we see entrepreneurs being taken advantage of the most.

Brad Warren:

Hands down, there's so much to it.

Brad Warren:

There's so many layers.

Brad Warren:

There's so many things like you have to be, you know, and like even operational excellence.

Brad Warren:

Like we meet with so many businesses that it start.

Brad Warren:

It starts at a level of kindergarten and then it goes up grades.

Brad Warren:

Like if you're a retail based business, for example, like you're dealing with people like yours is that way.

Brad Warren:

But it's a little different.

Brad Warren:

Like when you live in the corporate world, you have a little bit more room.

Brad Warren:

If you're living in like decks or windshields or stuff like that, it's a little bit more fast paced.

Brad Warren:

Like you're trying to convince a customer to build a deck with you versus 20 other people.

Brad Warren:

So no different than what you're doing.

Brad Warren:

But it's just a different, it's a different mentality.

Host:

I guess it's.

Host:

You're right.

Host:

Like everything moves quicker.

Host:

And I would argue that B2C is very, very different from B2B.

Host:

Like, you know, I mean it's a completely different level of expertise.

Brad Warren:

It really is.

Brad Warren:

It really is.

Brad Warren:

And I couldn't agree more.

Brad Warren:

Like I would have less knowledge in B2B probably, you know.

Brad Warren:

And so.

Brad Warren:

But say for example, if you're do.

Brad Warren:

Let's use Dex for an example.

Brad Warren:

It starts with like do you miss phone calls?

Brad Warren:

What's your process on replying to emails?

Brad Warren:

Because if, do you ever reschedule site visits?

Brad Warren:

If you tell A customer, you're going to have an estimate to them in 24 hours.

Brad Warren:

Does it show up in 24 hours or you so behind the eight ball that it's nine o'clock at night and you're like, I don't want to do this anymore, I'll do it tomorrow and I'll talk my way out of that.

Brad Warren:

When you start with not giving your business an option to these things, when you're in the retail sector, it's just a matter of time before that catches on.

Brad Warren:

That's arguably more important than anything.

Brad Warren:

Like, you have to drive the leads.

Brad Warren:

But if you're driving the leads through the Internet, like we'll use Econodex as an example.

Brad Warren:

Like they it's a Cadillac website.

Brad Warren:

It drives a ton of leads.

Brad Warren:

It's been around for a long time.

Brad Warren:

We have a ton of SEO into it.

Brad Warren:

It does very well.

Brad Warren:

Whether we have AdWords flipped on or AdWords not flipped on.

Brad Warren:

It does well.

Brad Warren:

But if our receptionist is calling customers back in three hours and the estimator is not getting back to customers for two days, and a deck should be $13,000 and you have five other companies in the city quoting it at 12, 12, 13, 13, 14.

Brad Warren:

And our quote is 22.

Brad Warren:

All of this digital marketing and all of these numbers and P and ls, they're all useless because then you're not going to track it.

Brad Warren:

So, I mean, the biggest thing is, what are you charging for your services?

Brad Warren:

Well, you don't decide that.

Brad Warren:

The market decides that.

Brad Warren:

Get it shopped.

Brad Warren:

It's not difficult.

Brad Warren:

say, hey, I need a quote on a:

Brad Warren:

It's called competition shops.

Brad Warren:

So if you don't know what you should be charging, your market will tell you what you should be charging.

Brad Warren:

And as soon as you're like, oh, no, we're better, we're better, we're better.

Brad Warren:

Everybody's charging 14 grand for a deck.

Brad Warren:

But we provide better service, we're going to charge 22 and convince people of that.

Brad Warren:

The chances of that working short term are pretty slim.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, if you have six companies and five of them are 14 grand and one of them is 19, the one that's 19 gets chucked out of there right away.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

And I would say even More so in B2C.

Host:

Like, I feel like that as a consumer, like an end user consumer, obviously, the dollars and cents.

Host:

It's a, it's a serious consideration on literally everything from windshields to decks to whatever to the latest and greatest piece of electronic.

Brad Warren:

100%.

Brad Warren:

That's where it starts.

Brad Warren:

It starts with the kindergarten stuff like how operationally excellent are you with the basics?

Brad Warren:

Do you reply to emails within two hours?

Brad Warren:

Do you do these things?

Brad Warren:

Because going past that and having all your numbers and everything, that makes it much easier to grow and scale a company.

Brad Warren:

But it's not going to pull you out of bankruptcy if you're banging your head against the wall every day.

Brad Warren:

The big thing with that will be hustle.

Brad Warren:

You're much better off not tracking any numbers and never missing a phone call to your business.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, that would probably be a better place to start.

Host:

Totally.

Host:

Totally.

Host:

And you know, like, since we're talking about pricing, obviously we have a lot of people out here who run service companies where maybe it's not so cut and dry.

Host:

Maybe it's not as easy as calling five places and trying to figure out how that works.

Host:

And I know that you also operate services.

Host:

When you're pricing services, what's your strategy?

Brad Warren:

It's a good question, you say, and just to rewind, you say it's not that easy to call other companies and see where their pricing is.

Brad Warren:

Isn't it though?

Host:

I think it just depends on the type of company.

Host:

Right.

Host:

It really does.

Host:

Like, there are a lot of places now that talk about like packages.

Host:

Like they have package pricing, which makes it a lot harder to try to identify what they're actually charging for things.

Host:

So I think that, sure, like you could.

Host:

But not all packages are priced the same.

Host:

So.

Host:

And there's lots of great books on this, obviously.

Host:

I just wanted to know what your opinion was on it.

Brad Warren:

No, I agree.

Brad Warren:

Like, and you could take automotive, for example.

Brad Warren:

Automotive is very wide.

Brad Warren:

Like you can get an air filter changed at a local minute lube mechanic shop.

Brad Warren:

Be those are privately owned at a fraction of the price that you're going to get it done at the dealership because then you're not getting a shuttle car and you're not, you know, dealerships have the brand recognition.

Brad Warren:

The pricing structure is really like, where does the business need to make money?

Brad Warren:

And that's where the numbers come into play.

Brad Warren:

Like, say, for example, if you want, like if you want to take decks, let's stay on decks and let's use.

Brad Warren:

These are all fake numbers.

Brad Warren:

And I'm just.

Brad Warren:

I'll rip through it quick.

Brad Warren:

But it's, it's also where the business needs to make money, but it needs to be within market value.

Brad Warren:

Like, if you have all these expenses every single month, and you're like, okay, I got to charge 20 grand a deck when everyone else is charging 13, there really is no strategy to that.

Brad Warren:

You just have to hope, I guess.

Host:

Someone's going to bite.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, do less work.

Brad Warren:

Have a very good salesperson.

Brad Warren:

Hope that people only get quoted at one spot.

Brad Warren:

But say, for example, you do.

Brad Warren:

I don't know, let's rattle it off.

Brad Warren:

Like, if you do $1,000,000 in decks in the course of a year using completely fake numbers and your revenues, $1 million.

Brad Warren:

Say you do 86 decks, like, and that's your part count.

Brad Warren:

So if you're doing your services, keep track of how many you're doing.

Brad Warren:

Because your average sale is your king.

Brad Warren:

Like, your average sale is our block, pretty much bible to everything.

Brad Warren:

So if you have a million index in revenue, 86 decks done, your average sale is going to be 11 6.

Brad Warren:

Something along those lines.

Brad Warren:

11 6.

Brad Warren:

So if you have a 50% material cost, like you build a deck and all your materials, your boards, your screws, your frames and all that stuff are, say, about 50%.

Brad Warren:

And then the labor for your deck builders to build that deck are, say, about 25%, well, you're left over with 25% gross profit, which on an average sale of 11, 6, your gross profit's going to be 2,900, give or take four, five, six dollars, whatever it may be.

Brad Warren:

Well, if you have monthly expenses to run that company at 10 grand, well, that means you need 3.4 decks a month to break the company.

Brad Warren:

Even if you do six decks, well, then you're going to be 17.

Brad Warren:

4 in gross profit, and you'll end up making 44 grand at the end of the year in net profit.

Brad Warren:

So it's.

Brad Warren:

It's.

Brad Warren:

If you can get your average sale and then you can track what your materials is costing.

Brad Warren:

And that works in every retail business.

Brad Warren:

If you're making a sandwich, would you sell donair subs more than you sell turkey subs more than you sell this?

Brad Warren:

Well, what's the average sale?

Brad Warren:

Okay, you did two grand that day in sandwiches.

Brad Warren:

You sold 200 sandwiches, you know, $10 sandwich, whatever it may be.

Brad Warren:

But what is the material that is making that sandwich?

Brad Warren:

The bread, the meat, like, all the stuff that goes into the actual sandwich?

Brad Warren:

And then what is your staff labor to be producing that sandwich?

Brad Warren:

And if you have these profit losses and you have these, this basic numbers worked out, then it's just a numbers game.

Brad Warren:

Your business has $6,400 in expenses.

Brad Warren:

You're making a hundred dollars a day in sandwiches.

Brad Warren:

You need to quadruple the amount of sandwiches you make.

Brad Warren:

That's where the numbers, that's where the numbers come into play, where it actually really helps the business.

Brad Warren:

But with pricing strategy, I mean, ultimately the business you want to, you need to keep it in line, but you also can't be out of market.

Brad Warren:

Like, there's sure.

Brad Warren:

You know what I mean?

Brad Warren:

Like, it's different for every single industry.

Host:

Okay.

Host:

Okay.

Host:

I love this and I want to spend some time here because I agree.

Host:

You're right.

Host:

You're absolutely right.

Host:

It's like if you don't have a profit margin on every month, right, you're in trouble.

Host:

But I think, I don't think, I think most companies are okay with this.

Host:

They understand it in the beginning, right?

Host:

They understand it.

Host:

I need to make X amount of dollars.

Host:

I need to pay X amount of bills.

Host:

I think where it starts to get out of control as this companies start to grow and they start to pick up more expenses.

Host:

And they're, they're those little shadow expenses too, right, Brad?

Host:

They're those like those monthly subscriptions of 30 bucks.

Host:

Well, pretty soon you're paying 3,000 bucks a month in these stupid little monthly subscriptions, depending on the size of your organization.

Host:

And maybe you slip, you're.

Host:

You're not paying complete attention.

Host:

You have a couple bad months, but you're not ready to like, to just cut all the things.

Host:

And then next thing you know, you're in some serious trouble.

Host:

Like, what's your advice like?

Host:

Like, let's say that you are a deck company and you were building 10 decks a month, and then suddenly you're down to five.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Host:

How, like, how soon before you need to make a, like an immediate.

Host:

Like, how quickly do you need to make a decision to start to figure out, okay, like, what are all my expenses?

Host:

What can I cut immediately?

Host:

Like, what is the timeline for something like that?

Brad Warren:

Yeah, you know, good question, man.

Brad Warren:

And it's, it's a tough thing for me to touch on in depth too, because it's different for me.

Brad Warren:

Like, I have the resources and all the numbers to back it.

Brad Warren:

So if you track these numbers and you track everything for years on end, then you can extrapolate everything.

Brad Warren:

So if you're, if your website produces 500 leads and decks in a season, say a season, six months, and you produce 100 leads a month.

Brad Warren:

Okay.

Brad Warren:

And if you close 30 out of those hundred leads, your closing percentage is going to be 30%.

Brad Warren:

If you have all of this in your QuickBooks or in your accounting system and you're reviewing these profit and loss numbers, like with 20, I mean, with stuff we've signed now, who knows in January, but right now in July, we're sitting at 26 companies and every single month I review a full profit and loss from every single one.

Brad Warren:

So what was the revenue, what was the cost of goods sold?

Brad Warren:

What was the labor, what was the payroll, what were the expenses?

Brad Warren:

If you're reviewing it as much as you possibly can and you have your finger on the pulse, you can pivot much easier.

Brad Warren:

And the numbers are going to tell you exactly where you need to do.

Brad Warren:

Like if you use Boulevard Auto Glass for a great example, they'll do a.

Brad Warren:

If they have a 40% cost of goods sold one month and then a 43% cost of goods sold the next month, we're into it.

Brad Warren:

Like, where did that go wrong?

Brad Warren:

Did we do a lot of parts?

Brad Warren:

Did we run out of a specific windshield for a dealership that they eat up a lot of?

Brad Warren:

Was it inventory?

Brad Warren:

Was it efficiency?

Brad Warren:

Was it warranties?

Brad Warren:

But if your pulse is on those numbers all the time, if your labor percentage jumps, if you sell 100 sandwiches a month at your sandwich shop and you have two employees, and then the next month you sell 100 sandwiches and you have four employees, something's wrong there.

Brad Warren:

Why do you need four employees to sell the same amount of sandwiches?

Brad Warren:

So, I mean, it's such a complicated thing.

Brad Warren:

Like, if you ever should get into video podcasts so we can like put it up on the whiteboard for people.

Host:

But you should create a master masterclass.

Brad Warren:

Oh, man.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

I mean, that would involve me figuring it out to the fullest first, but it's.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, it's like, it's so hard to touch on at such an in depth level because you don't know where everybody is starting.

Brad Warren:

Right.

Brad Warren:

Like, if you're a husband and wife and you're out there landscaping lawns, you can't just run it out of the bank account.

Brad Warren:

First thing you got to do is divide the business bank account from the personal bank account.

Host:

Yes.

Brad Warren:

At all points in time.

Brad Warren:

Never even have them cross over by a dollar because at least you can track it.

Host:

That's right.

Brad Warren:

And if you do eight lawns a month, invoice those out in your accounting system.

Brad Warren:

If you don't know how to do that, whatever, come see us.

Brad Warren:

We'll set that up for free.

Brad Warren:

That's 45 minutes of work.

Brad Warren:

That's fun stuff, but it's like, if you're doing eight lawns and six of them are aerate and two of them are fertilizer.

Brad Warren:

Well, if your fertilizer bills are 50 bucks and your aerating bills are 120, well, then you're.

Brad Warren:

As your expenses grow and you're like, okay, I'm going to buy a new company vehicle.

Brad Warren:

Okay, we did 800 in revenue.

Brad Warren:

Our profit was 100.

Brad Warren:

If we buy a new company vehicle, that's a $400 a month payment.

Brad Warren:

to:

Brad Warren:

With that truck coming in, it's all in the numbers.

Brad Warren:

Like, you don't.

Brad Warren:

In business, you don't have to make an emotional decision almost ever.

Brad Warren:

Like, even with forecasting, like, you're gonna have your last year, if your business is growing at 20%, forecast that if you're gonna buy two new trucks, put those into the expenses and see where your business lines up, see what happens.

Brad Warren:

And actually Invisible Empire, by January, it'll be live.

Brad Warren:

But we're gonna do a lot of these templates and a lot of these calculators, and we're gonna actually have them right on the website where people can download them for free.

Host:

Amazing.

Host:

Amazing.

Host:

Brad, we're talking to, like, a lot of business owners who.

Host:

You know what, dude, they might not have even come across a profit loss sheet before.

Host:

I know it sounds a little crazy, but I think it happens more often.

Brad Warren:

Than you think it doesn't.

Brad Warren:

Like, sorry to cut you off, man, but like, I couldn't explain the velocity of businesses that we meet with that are doing half a million a year in revenue that have never seen a profit loss sheet.

Host:

It's like, I'm not sure that I would.

Host:

I worked operations for many, many years in organization, and so part of my job was to review the monthly profit loss and try and figure out what's going on here.

Host:

Right.

Host:

So I'm very versed in it.

Host:

I totally understand where you're coming from, but I think there's a lot of people who don't.

Host:

And let's just walk them through it.

Host:

Can you maybe walk them through a business owner who maybe they are going to ask their accountant tomorrow, print me off the profit and loss for my company.

Host:

Show me, send it over.

Host:

Let's walk them through a review.

Host:

Can you walk them through how you review a profit and loss sheet?

Brad Warren:

Yep.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, 100%.

Brad Warren:

I mean, depending on your business.

Brad Warren:

It all depends on every business.

Brad Warren:

Like sub businesses, you can review the monthly and it works because the money's in and out.

Brad Warren:

Like, if it's a retail service business.

Brad Warren:

If you're doing something like construction, that's tough because everything's all over the place for three, four months at a time.

Brad Warren:

But if you're doing it in a simple monthly look and you have a profit and loss, your accountant or your bookkeeper should be setting it up.

Brad Warren:

If they're doing it properly.

Brad Warren:

And it's not so much their job, it is the owner's job to say, hey, I want to get this profit loss streamlined.

Brad Warren:

But if you took a look at like, say, a boulevard auto glass profit loss, it's.

Brad Warren:

We could tell you how many backglasses we did a year and a half ago on a rainy week in June.

Brad Warren:

Like, it's so down to the science of how we have it figured.

Brad Warren:

So at first you have your revenue at all points in time, and then you have your cost of goods sold.

Brad Warren:

So that's your product cost, the actual job.

Brad Warren:

So I mean, if you're, say in your world, you don't have a whole bunch of product costs.

Brad Warren:

You're not actually using a product.

Brad Warren:

So if a plumber is going to install a sink, the product cost would be the faucet.

Brad Warren:

And then some businesses have labor above gross profit, some of it have below.

Brad Warren:

It depends.

Brad Warren:

I mean, I'm a big fan of putting labor above gross profit if it directly relates to getting the job done.

Brad Warren:

So with windshields, we put it.

Brad Warren:

We don't put payroll and expenses, we put it above the line because every person is responsible for doing a windshield.

Brad Warren:

So in a sense, it is a cost of goods sold.

Host:

Sure.

Brad Warren:

So you're going to have your revenue, your cost of goods sold, and then you're going to have your labor, whether you put that down in expenses or not, either way.

Brad Warren:

And your gross profit.

Brad Warren:

And your gross profit is what comes before expenses.

Brad Warren:

And then you're going to have your expenses, and then you're going to have your net profit.

Brad Warren:

So that's a basic P.

Brad Warren:

L.

Brad Warren:

When you're reviewing it, you should always review it month to month in this same month.

Brad Warren:

Like, you know, you're never going to review a boulevard auto glass profit loss.

Brad Warren:

You're never going to review a June profit loss compared to May, because they're completely different months.

Brad Warren:

You want to review June of:

Brad Warren:

And so how did you do year over year?

Brad Warren:

Did the revenue increase 18%?

Brad Warren:

Where was your cost of goods sold at?

Brad Warren:

Did they charge more and buy better?

Brad Warren:

You know what I mean?

Brad Warren:

And as you're going through, go through line by line.

Brad Warren:

Like, I make it so simple.

Brad Warren:

When I'm overlooking 26 companies, it's like, and I learned this from my mentors, like, make it simple.

Brad Warren:

Blockchain it out.

Brad Warren:

Revenue, are you higher or lower Check.

Brad Warren:

X Cost of goods sold, are you higher or lower?

Brad Warren:

Check.

Brad Warren:

X Payroll, are you employing the same amount of people to do more work?

Brad Warren:

Are you employing double the amount of people to do less work?

Brad Warren:

It's a problem.

Brad Warren:

X or check are your expenses in line?

Brad Warren:

X or check.

Brad Warren:

Your business should be doing better, ideally in all categories, year over year.

Brad Warren:

So, I mean, there's.

Brad Warren:

You're right.

Brad Warren:

I almost should record a video on it.

Brad Warren:

But you never.

Host:

You almost should.

Brad Warren:

But that's the problem is, like, I hate.

Brad Warren:

I don't care if I offend people.

Brad Warren:

Hence why I have no Internet presence.

Brad Warren:

Because my staff like, hey, you want to bring a camera?

Brad Warren:

I'm gonna go do this.

Brad Warren:

And every single one of my staff are like, yeah, we don't want.

Brad Warren:

Want that smoke, Brad.

Brad Warren:

And I'm like, oh, come on, it'll be fine.

Brad Warren:

We're just going to get a bill paid.

Brad Warren:

This is the fun stuff.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, but you don't want to offend people.

Brad Warren:

Because if you're talking to someone that's running a environmental services company with 47 employees, he's sitting here listening, being like, yeah, I learned that in, like, grade six.

Brad Warren:

Tell me something I don't know.

Brad Warren:

It's like, Will, does he actually hold his bookkeeper and accountants accountable?

Brad Warren:

Does he hold himself accountable to reviewing it weekly monthly?

Brad Warren:

Does he slip and stop looking at things?

Brad Warren:

A great example of that is Planet Builders.

Brad Warren:

I don't know if you've ever heard of Planet Builders.

Host:

I haven't, no.

Brad Warren:

In Calgary, they ran the show in residential construction, like, when it came to decks.

Brad Warren:

When it came to basement development, maybe not as much decks, but definitely basement development.

Brad Warren:

Planet Builders was king in residential construction.

Brad Warren:

And they're still dealing with court and lawsuits and different things, but this is a 20, 30 million dollars a year company in revenue.

Brad Warren:

That, and I'm not.

Brad Warren:

I get it.

Brad Warren:

Boats Kelowna, you grinded it out.

Brad Warren:

You finally made it.

Brad Warren:

But as soon as the people in charge stopped looking at the nitty gritty, they started pumping out 20 mil a year in revenue.

Brad Warren:

But they were losing money every year.

Brad Warren:

And then it took them three, four years to figure it out, and the whole thing came crashing down.

Brad Warren:

And it was a really big company for a private.

Brad Warren:

For a privately owned business.

Brad Warren:

You have to hold yourself accountable to looking at these Results consistently, even when you don't want to.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

And that's it.

Host:

Right.

Host:

Like, whenever we're worried about money, it's the moment that we're not looking.

Host:

Right.

Host:

Like, it's like, oh, I don't want to know what's going on.

Host:

Like, when we're good, we don't.

Host:

We're not afraid of it.

Brad Warren:

But when we're.

Host:

When we know we're kind of struggling a little bit, we intentionally avoid looking at the numbers.

Host:

And that can be our personal bank accounts, that can be our corporate bank accounts, that can be our income statements, whatever it is.

Host:

What you're saying ultimately is you have to be brave.

Host:

You have to just.

Host:

You can't fix the problem if you don't look at it.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

Or you know what.

Brad Warren:

And telling them a different side of the story.

Brad Warren:

Be in my spot.

Brad Warren:

Have the resources if you want to pawn it off.

Brad Warren:

I do it all the time, man.

Brad Warren:

When things are humans.

Brad Warren:

Are humans.

Brad Warren:

I'm no different.

Brad Warren:

You know what I mean?

Brad Warren:

Everybody's the same.

Brad Warren:

Me and you run businesses, and we do these things.

Brad Warren:

There's still Wednesdays.

Brad Warren:

I mail it in because I don't feel like working.

Brad Warren:

It's.

Brad Warren:

Everybody's the same.

Brad Warren:

But I have the resources in place to make sure that I'm looking at those.

Brad Warren:

And if you don't have those resources, find them.

Brad Warren:

Because these are not options.

Brad Warren:

If you stop looking at the numbers of the business.

Brad Warren:

Every time I've done that, and it's funny, because it's always in good times, I look at the numbers so much more in bad times.

Brad Warren:

But when things are flowing and windshields are pumping and decks are pumping and basements are going, and accounting assigning clients like crazy, the marketing department's on fire, and everything's going good, I'm sitting here being like, I should buy a boat, and then I go boat shopping, and then I go to B.C.

Brad Warren:

for two weeks, and then I go to B.C.

Brad Warren:

for another week, and then I come back and I kind of check back in a month later.

Brad Warren:

And you're not making as much money as you think you are.

Brad Warren:

As soon as you stop looking at it, you can't.

Brad Warren:

And I hate going in the bank accounts.

Brad Warren:

Whether it's especially during bad times, good times, I'm fine.

Brad Warren:

Bad times, I'm terrible with it.

Brad Warren:

I avoid it.

Brad Warren:

But I have a wife who's a CPA accountant, and we own our own accounting firm.

Brad Warren:

I can avoid it.

Brad Warren:

If you don't have the resources, you can't avoid it.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

And that sounds very arrogant, but if anything, I'm admitting to areas of business that I'm not strong in.

Brad Warren:

I'm very strong in reviewing the financials all the time.

Brad Warren:

I'm not a big fan of going to stare an RBC app in the face when I'm broke.

Brad Warren:

It's not something I look forward to.

Host:

Yeah, no, I agree.

Host:

Like, I'm.

Host:

I'll be the first to say that I've avoided my bank accounts more than once.

Brad Warren:

Yep.

Host:

I don't want to know.

Brad Warren:

Nope.

Host:

But you know what?

Host:

The time comes and I get to it and I deal with it, and I'll tell you what, I feel better.

Brad Warren:

Oh.

Host:

I usually feel better once I really know the situation.

Host:

But, yeah, there's those moments where I just don't want to know.

Host:

And, you know, I mean, I'm not alone in that.

Host:

I know that for sure.

Brad Warren:

No, I did that for, like, a year and a half.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

The things were so.

Brad Warren:

And I'm not saying so bad, man.

Brad Warren:

We just took on a lot.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

And it got to the point where, like, I'm like, oh, man, I don't have one more line.

Brad Warren:

I don't have one more credit card.

Brad Warren:

Like, if I make one more mistake, this thing's done.

Brad Warren:

And so for like a year and a half, instead of honing in on it, I did the opposite.

Brad Warren:

I'm just like, yeah, I'm gonna avoid it and find a way to blame the wife because she runs the financial side of it, but it has absolutely nothing to do with her.

Brad Warren:

And I'm joking because I'm very self aware in that area.

Brad Warren:

But 100.

Brad Warren:

I'll be like, hey, how's money situation?

Brad Warren:

She'll be like, not great.

Brad Warren:

And I'll be like.

Brad Warren:

Like, come on.

Brad Warren:

She'd be like, yeah, I don't.

Brad Warren:

Let me know when it's great.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

Why do you never have anything positive to say?

Brad Warren:

And she's like, okay, I'll lie to you.

Brad Warren:

It's awesome.

Brad Warren:

Like, she was like, she'll tell me I'm not in charge of the operations.

Brad Warren:

Like, okay, the operations are what make the money.

Brad Warren:

I just track the money.

Brad Warren:

Go do your job.

Brad Warren:

And I'll be like, I hate that.

Brad Warren:

She's right.

Host:

Damn it, you're right again.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

Such a solid point.

Host:

Okay, Okay.

Host:

I think this has been really great.

Host:

And I think you've convinced a lot of people to look at their profit and loss.

Host:

You've convinced them to compare it against last year's same month.

Host:

Don't compare it against the last month.

Host:

Compare it month, month to month, year over Year.

Host:

And do we do this every single month?

Host:

Brad, how often do we do this?

Brad Warren:

I do it every month.

Brad Warren:

For the businesses that make sense, if retail is in and out, Boulevard Auto Glass retails in and out all the time.

Brad Warren:

It's a very nice business.

Brad Warren:

You can track everything's done that day.

Brad Warren:

If they're doing windshields that day, they're tracked that day.

Brad Warren:

Construction, you might be buying material like 51 North Interiors.

Brad Warren:

Our biggest business partner, Kyle Catling, I mean, he's got 3,4 million running around in revenue.

Brad Warren:

He's buying a quarter million of material that he's not installing into Planet Fitness for six months.

Brad Warren:

More difficult to look at it month to month.

Brad Warren:

But Boulevard we look at every two weeks, we have a mid month P and L.

Brad Warren:

That comes out on the 15th.

Brad Warren:

That shows us how they're doing to last year.

Brad Warren:

So July 15, we will have a mid month P and L that hits extrapolating them, which is predicting the rest of their month.

Brad Warren:

So I don't even let it go a month.

Brad Warren:

I don't.

Brad Warren:

I let it go for two weeks.

Brad Warren:

And if they're not on par to hit the targets and financials and forecasts that we have in place for the end of the month, we're pivoting that ship two weeks in.

Brad Warren:

But I would say monthly minimum.

Brad Warren:

If your business.

Brad Warren:

Most owners of small companies are in their bank accounts all the time.

Brad Warren:

Yes, but if you have a situated mechanic shop with six employees that can be looked at monthly and even quarterly.

Brad Warren:

The only business that I see that makes sense to look at it like, there's lots, but construction is one of them.

Host:

Okay.

Brad Warren:

It's hard to look at construction monthly, but yeah, you should.

Brad Warren:

Dude.

Brad Warren:

The best way I can describe it is even if you're doing $400 a month in lemonade sales out in front of your house, it's not just the numbers.

Brad Warren:

It's a mental thing.

Brad Warren:

Like, do you think Michael Phelps would ever swim a faster lap if there was no clock being timed?

Host:

Sure.

Brad Warren:

If he wasn't timing himself, if he.

Host:

Wasn'T paying attention, how would he even know?

Brad Warren:

How would he even get better?

Brad Warren:

The numbers actually don't become, oh, where am I doing bad?

Brad Warren:

Eventually they become almost like a motivator because you're like, oh, wow, I'm 20% up in all these categories.

Brad Warren:

How do I get 30% up?

Brad Warren:

Yeah, yeah.

Brad Warren:

If you're timing all your swim laps, eventually you will swim faster laps.

Brad Warren:

So it's half a mental thing by just the motivation it creates by seeing something that isn't Fudged.

Host:

Okay.

Brad Warren:

They have to be accurate.

Host:

Okay, so let's make a little assumption here.

Host:

My, my people listening.

Host:

We've started.

Host:

We've started comparing our P.

Host:

L's year over year.

Host:

And unfortunately, Brad, we're starting to see a decline.

Host:

That, that, that net profit percentage month over month compared against last year is going down.

Host:

What would you do in that situation?

Brad Warren:

Check revenue.

Brad Warren:

Where's revenue at?

Brad Warren:

Up.

Brad Warren:

Down revenues up 6%.

Brad Warren:

Then you probably have a bigger problem first.

Brad Warren:

Like the best case situation is your revenue's dropped because that's the easiest way to tell.

Brad Warren:

Next, go to your material.

Brad Warren:

If you have material, are you paying more for your salami?

Brad Warren:

Paying more for your deck boards?

Brad Warren:

Paying more for your windshields?

Brad Warren:

Have your suppliers upped your prices?

Brad Warren:

You haven't caught it.

Brad Warren:

Have you increased your prices to keep up with inflation?

Brad Warren:

One of the biggest things small businesses are scared of is increasing their prices.

Brad Warren:

Biggest fear.

Brad Warren:

But it's like everything else.

Brad Warren:

Stakes are 30 bucks a stake.

Brad Warren:

Now.

Brad Warren:

You have to keep up with it.

Brad Warren:

So if your suppliers are charging you more for your faucets and you're a plumbing company, have you caught that and have you added that to your price?

Brad Warren:

Your cost of goods sold should stay the same percentage.

Brad Warren:

If you're running like, I mean for construction, we'll run 40, 50% cost of goods sold.

Brad Warren:

If it starts running at 61% cost of goods sold every month, something's up.

Brad Warren:

We're either charging much less for a plumbing job or paying a lot more for the material that we're buying to do the same job.

Brad Warren:

So check your material.

Brad Warren:

Check what you're using to do it.

Brad Warren:

How much are your buttons costing you in your sandwich shop?

Brad Warren:

How much your air filters costing you and your mechanic shop?

Brad Warren:

Then go to your labor and go down the line.

Brad Warren:

You just go down the line.

Brad Warren:

Revenue, cost of goods sold, labor and expenses.

Brad Warren:

The problem will be in one of those.

Brad Warren:

They're going to be in your revenue, your cost of goods sold, your labor and or payroll, however you track it, or your expenses.

Brad Warren:

If Your revenue is 100 grand a month and your expenses are traditionally 10 grand a month and your expenses have jumped to 16 grand a month because you brought on three new vehicles or whatever you did, there's your problem.

Brad Warren:

Like, take a look at it.

Brad Warren:

You either have to increase revenue to get your expenses back down to the percentage that makes sense or you need to cut percentage.

Brad Warren:

If you take a look at labor and you're running a 28% labor rate to do the same amount of work when the year before you were running a 24% labor rate.

Brad Warren:

It generally means your staff are not as efficient as they were, because how are they doing less work with the same revenue a year later?

Brad Warren:

It's gonna.

Brad Warren:

Your problems.

Brad Warren:

If your business is not making money, it will be in one of those four items.

Brad Warren:

Revenue, cost of goods sold, labor, payroll, or expenses.

Brad Warren:

And just go down the line.

Brad Warren:

It's like the four horsemen.

Brad Warren:

You will find where that problem is.

Host:

You will figure it out.

Brad Warren:

But if the numbers aren't accurate, then you're on a wild goose chase.

Host:

Sure.

Brad Warren:

That's how it works.

Host:

It's equally important to be handing your receipts to your accountant.

Brad Warren:

Dude, it's.

Brad Warren:

It.

Brad Warren:

You know, we.

Brad Warren:

Do you know how many biz we've pulled?

Brad Warren:

Numerous businesses out of bankruptcy, and they had accountants and bookkeepers, but no.

Brad Warren:

Profit and loss.

Brad Warren:

Like, I'm not even going to get into it.

Brad Warren:

Accountants and bookkeepers, profit and loss should be such an important part of their job, but it's just not something they're gonna do unless you put pressure on them and they might charge you for it.

Brad Warren:

But it's.

Brad Warren:

Oh, God, it's.

Brad Warren:

It'll.

Brad Warren:

We'll do six more episodes.

Brad Warren:

I'll just keep rambling on with this.

Brad Warren:

Just anybody that's like, oh, my God, this is slightly intriguing, come down and have a coffee and I'll just show you on the whiteboard.

Brad Warren:

That's easier.

Host:

That's why I want to have this conversation with you.

Host:

Right.

Host:

Because I know how diligent you are with numbers.

Host:

And that is very useful, unique.

Host:

Because I think a lot of business owners, as much as we like to think we like numbers, we don't really like numbers.

Brad Warren:

No.

Host:

And it sucks, because if we don't.

Host:

If we don't get good at following them, eventually they're going to bite us in the butt.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

And I don't have some grave passion for numbers.

Brad Warren:

I have a passion for helping small businesses succeed.

Brad Warren:

And without the numbers, I'm almost dead in the water.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

It's hard to tell what you need to fix 100%.

Brad Warren:

Like, rust nuts Mechanical came to a meeting with us just this last week.

Brad Warren:

Love working with these guys.

Brad Warren:

And he's like, hey, I got this one employee quitting.

Brad Warren:

He makes this amount.

Brad Warren:

He's a third year.

Brad Warren:

I want to hire a journeyman.

Brad Warren:

I've got this loan coming off my books.

Brad Warren:

Can I afford to do this?

Brad Warren:

What do you guys think I should do?

Brad Warren:

Should I put more money into marketing here?

Brad Warren:

I don't even.

Brad Warren:

Like, he doesn't know if he can substitute a $28 an employee.

Brad Warren:

Employee for a $43 employee.

Brad Warren:

He doesn't know the answer to that question.

Brad Warren:

Never has.

Brad Warren:

Throughout running his business for six, seven years.

Brad Warren:

Is the bank account growing or lowering?

Brad Warren:

And I look at my accounting team and I'm like, hey, how many months of accurate, and I'm Talking Dead Accurate P.

Brad Warren:

Ls do we have for rusted nuts?

Brad Warren:

And we just started working with them, so they're up to about two months of really accurate.

Brad Warren:

And I'm like, okay, when you get me three, I need three.

Brad Warren:

And then Myron, I'll be able to guide you in this area.

Brad Warren:

And they'll have the, they'll have the third month to me in a week.

Brad Warren:

And we will be able to answer every question he's asking purely based off numbers.

Brad Warren:

No emotion or no anything to it.

Brad Warren:

But unless they're dead accurate and they're being done at a very high velocity, then it enters too much of a guess and check.

Host:

Okay, I want to spend some time with you on employees.

Host:

And the reason being is I know you deal with quite a few of your own and I know that when you're working with companies, employees come up because they tend to be a variable that you have to take a look at.

Host:

Talk to me.

Host:

How do you, how do you hold your employees accountable?

Host:

Right, Because I think, I think obviously if sales are down, you gotta have a conversation, right?

Host:

Typically there's somebody responsible for sales or that isn't doing it that, that we need to figure out why.

Host:

Talk to me a little bit about how you, how you hold employees to task and, and how you found managing them in the most successful way to provide benefit to your organization.

Brad Warren:

Oh, man, it's going to be such a, like, it's going to be like a broken record eventually.

Brad Warren:

But again, it really does honestly fall into the numbers.

Brad Warren:

Employee reviews are something that's super undervalued.

Brad Warren:

I'm not great at it, I'll admit that, but I have staff that are employees should have a review once a year at a minimum.

Brad Warren:

Employees don't wake up in the morning, man.

Brad Warren:

I think we talked about this in the last podcast.

Brad Warren:

Nobody wakes up at 7am and their alarm goes off and they're going to go and say, install a windshield.

Brad Warren:

Let's keep using the same thing.

Brad Warren:

No one wakes up saying, I'm gonna go to work and do the worst job I can today.

Brad Warren:

If you like your job or hate your job, that's never anybody's mentality.

Brad Warren:

So they like the biggest.

Brad Warren:

It's funny because when we were In Auto Glass before, like, the biggest complaint we got is like, hey, we messed that up.

Brad Warren:

Why didn't you talk to us about it?

Brad Warren:

Because then we don't know and then we can't learn.

Brad Warren:

So Auto Glass will run a labor percentage of, say, 26% on the month.

Brad Warren:

But every employee is tracked to every windshield they do.

Brad Warren:

So if you have service employees, and I can only give one example, because if you have sales employees, it's totally different.

Brad Warren:

But it's accountability on the numbers and the forecasts that I let them choose a lot of them.

Brad Warren:

So with Boulevard, it's like, we have this labor percentage.

Brad Warren:

Well, every employee should do $35,000 in windshield installations in a month.

Brad Warren:

How much time are they on the clock?

Brad Warren:

Okay, this employee worked 160 hours this month.

Brad Warren:

We expect one windshield every hour and six minutes because that's the time it takes to do a windshield properly across average of all the different cars.

Brad Warren:

And if his employee referral source or his income source comes in at 31,001 month and he worked 170 hours, and then the next month it comes in at 37,000 and he worked 150 hours, well, that's a completely different performance from the month before.

Brad Warren:

So if you're reviewing the performance with them and you show them the swing in it, believe it or not, they're much more receptive to it than people think.

Brad Warren:

It's usually the leadership that's more scared to confront the employee base on performance than the employee actually takes it overly personally.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, there are some that do.

Brad Warren:

But if they sit there and being like, well, I'm allowed to have a bad month and you don't do it, it's like, okay, fire that person.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

And it sounds cold, but no, hire slow and fire fast.

Host:

I'm drilling in on.

Host:

Actually, what I wanted to drill in on with you was what is your threshold for saying, you know what?

Host:

I don't think I can work with this person.

Host:

I think it's time to let them go and replace them.

Host:

Like, because I think that's a really hard decision for 99 of business.

Brad Warren:

Oh, yeah.

Brad Warren:

You know it.

Brad Warren:

Oh, if I ever wake up in the middle of the night, because I always.

Brad Warren:

I think everybody wakes up in the middle of the night.

Brad Warren:

Like, we're old.

Host:

I think so.

Brad Warren:

We're old now.

Brad Warren:

So, like, if I wake up once, it's a good night, but yeah, exactly.

Brad Warren:

If I wake up at 1am and an employee pops into my head and I have the slightest issue getting back to sleep, that person doesn't Work for me the next week.

Brad Warren:

And oh, man, I hate coming off like super cold or callous, but most of the time when you know an employee isn't performing, you can track all the numbers and have all the fancy shit that I do, but you can generally get a pretty good gut instinct on it.

Brad Warren:

It, yeah, that person's not happy either.

Brad Warren:

It's usually a little bit of a relationship thing.

Brad Warren:

9 out of 10 times you're going to let that person go and they're probably going to go find something better anyways.

Brad Warren:

Sure, you have to look out for your business first.

Brad Warren:

It sounds so cold, but.

Brad Warren:

And I was meeting with the girls at Smith Cosmetics a couple weeks ago that we're doing work with now, and it was just like she was a little nervous to email out some of her packages to all these vendors and different things because she's worried about, like, what, what the employee might think on the back end or what the vendor might think on the back end.

Brad Warren:

Ask yourself, if your spouse dies or if your kid gets in a car accident, is that employee going to be at your front door with a lasagna?

Brad Warren:

Probably not.

Brad Warren:

And it sounds so cold.

Brad Warren:

And you can edit it out if you want, but your business has to come before the employees because that's what's feeding the kids.

Brad Warren:

That's what's creating room for more employees.

Brad Warren:

And it's not saying, oh, employees aren't appreciated.

Brad Warren:

I've had very little turnover in Invisible Empire.

Brad Warren:

Like, my executive assistant's been with me since day one.

Brad Warren:

We have numerous employees that have been with us since day one.

Brad Warren:

But we're remarkably not shy at letting go the ones that aren't fitting in.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

And you can take the feedback from usually your other employees.

Brad Warren:

You're running a kitchen at Moxie's.

Brad Warren:

If a guy keeps calling in sick and someone's got to come pick up his shifts and you're like, oh, I'm not going to let this guy go.

Brad Warren:

I'm going to be short staffed.

Brad Warren:

Chances are everybody in the back of the kitchen is going to be happier that you let them go anyways because you're setting a terrible example for the rest of the staff.

Host:

Sure.

Brad Warren:

So my.

Brad Warren:

I hire very slow and I fire very fast.

Brad Warren:

Dishonesty in any way, shape or form across any company.

Brad Warren:

That's it.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

You catch someone in a lie, it'll happen again.

Host:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Host:

So.

Host:

So you don't, you don't wait.

Host:

You don't necessarily give them too many opportunities because at the end of the day your thought is you Know, if they're going to burn you once, they'll probably burn you twice.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

And I mean, it depends on what?

Brad Warren:

Like if my graphic designer missed a deadline on a video edit.

Brad Warren:

Pick your battles.

Host:

Sure.

Host:

She's.

Brad Warren:

She's human.

Brad Warren:

She's going to miss a deadline on a video edit.

Brad Warren:

How does she respond to it?

Brad Warren:

Hey, Kat.

Brad Warren:

We had this deadline in place.

Brad Warren:

We had to have the business development podcast cut down to 30 and 60 second reels.

Brad Warren:

We wanted our intros, we wanted our music.

Brad Warren:

We needed to get them over to Kelly Kennedy to get them approved.

Brad Warren:

And we had a deadline of this.

Brad Warren:

Of July 1st.

Brad Warren:

You were the.

Brad Warren:

We sat in the meeting, we asked you what is a fair deadline to complete this.

Brad Warren:

You said, this should probably take me about four weeks.

Brad Warren:

We gave you five.

Brad Warren:

Always give them more rope to hang themselves.

Brad Warren:

Let them choose their own deadlines.

Brad Warren:

Half the time I let my staff choose their own because it's a more cordial response.

Brad Warren:

But when the deadline's missed.

Brad Warren:

Hey, Kat, why did we miss the deadline?

Brad Warren:

You know what, Brad, to be honest, my Focus release last week, things were getting thrown at me.

Brad Warren:

It was my bad.

Brad Warren:

I should have stayed on task.

Brad Warren:

I kind of got really excited about this animation we were doing and I fell off from the deadline.

Brad Warren:

Perfect.

Brad Warren:

I'll work with that person for the next 30 years.

Brad Warren:

I'll never.

Brad Warren:

Because that person's self aware and they're just like, hey, my focus went off.

Brad Warren:

My focus goes off every week.

Brad Warren:

Who cares?

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

Okay.

Host:

I love that.

Host:

I love that because we live in a weird.

Host:

We live in a time where we're asked to be, you know, more supportive of people.

Host:

And I think I am an incredibly supportive boss.

Host:

I do.

Host:

I do my best to make sure that if people need time, if they got some personal stuff they need to deal with, that's fine.

Host:

Like, I.

Host:

As long as the work gets done, I'm good.

Host:

But what happens when the.

Host:

When the excuse seems to be consistently personal issues.

Host:

I struggle with what to do in that situation because it's like, at the end of the day, I care about my employee, I care about their personal challenge, but I also care about my business and I care about what we're here to do, which is help other business.

Host:

What do you do?

Host:

Like, it's a tough.

Host:

It's a tough scenario.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, it's.

Brad Warren:

There's so much to that.

Brad Warren:

Man, that's such a cool thought process.

Brad Warren:

Because.

Brad Warren:

Are you enabling them?

Brad Warren:

Is a good question.

Brad Warren:

You know what I mean?

Brad Warren:

Like, if the employee says, hey, I'm going to be on time, and if the employee is pulling no shows every Monday, are you providing the alcoholic with booze by just allowing them to keep doing it?

Brad Warren:

You know what I mean?

Brad Warren:

Like, for all you know, you might be hurting them.

Brad Warren:

Like, how many times do you hear in a relationship where it's like the husband and the wife and one person's not happy, but it's like the whole point of that is to move on from the relationship so that both people can be happy?

Brad Warren:

That employee, it, it, who knows, it might be the wake up call they needed.

Brad Warren:

I got numerous of those wake up calls.

Brad Warren:

What if I'm not sitting here because someone was too protective of my feelings?

Brad Warren:

When I was calling in sick Every Monday for six months when I was 20 years old, I got, I think I got fired from every job I had before the age of 25.

Brad Warren:

And eventually I was like, okay, I think this is a me.

Host:

This might be me.

Brad Warren:

This might be me.

Brad Warren:

Because this is six companies can't make it a year with all of them.

Brad Warren:

Maybe they're not as good with me walking out at 1 o'clock on a Friday because I got a pub crawl to go to.

Brad Warren:

They might not like that, but it's a good, it's.

Brad Warren:

You know what, man?

Brad Warren:

Everybody deserves the chances, like miss deadlines and this type of stuff.

Brad Warren:

I have rules, rules in this organization.

Brad Warren:

Honesty.

Brad Warren:

If, if you say you're going to do something, do it.

Brad Warren:

And if you're not going to do it, be honest about it.

Brad Warren:

If you can't do something in two weeks, tell us it's four and we'll give you five.

Brad Warren:

But then we will hold your feet to the fire to that five every time.

Brad Warren:

Because if an employee, I can tell you, our, our digital designer, Kat is so amazing.

Brad Warren:

I love working for her.

Brad Warren:

Shout out, shout out to Kat.

Brad Warren:

She's so phenomenal.

Brad Warren:

If she misses a deadline, she won't miss another deadline for six months.

Brad Warren:

And it's because it's just that type of person.

Brad Warren:

But if you miss a deadline and you're in that type of business and you miss a deadline every two weeks.

Host:

Then it's a problem.

Brad Warren:

Chances are they're, you know what I mean?

Brad Warren:

Like if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's usually a duck.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, it just, yeah, it's a really.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, it's super basic to say, but that's what I've learned from hundreds of employees coming in and out from decks to windshields to accounting to marketing, to all the different industries we're involved in.

Brad Warren:

If it's consistent.

Brad Warren:

It will happen consistently to keep going.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

So basically what you're kind of suggesting here is be patient, but hire slow, fire fast.

Host:

If.

Host:

If you're consistently seeing a challenge, it's probably not going to go away on its own.

Brad Warren:

No, cut the bullshit.

Brad Warren:

Eventually cut the bullshit and trust your gut.

Brad Warren:

And if it's a you problem, own that.

Brad Warren:

Do you know how many times I can tell you that I have let go numerous employees?

Brad Warren:

Kelly, in the first two years of running this business, that was a hundred % my fault.

Brad Warren:

100%.

Brad Warren:

I should have managed them better.

Brad Warren:

They needed more supervision.

Brad Warren:

They needed more deadlines.

Brad Warren:

Everybody's different.

Brad Warren:

Some people work very well without supervision.

Brad Warren:

Some people thrive on supervision.

Brad Warren:

I can name a couple really big names that were big weights in our company in the first couple years that I let go.

Brad Warren:

But it took me a while to realize that that was a me problem.

Brad Warren:

And if I was a better leader, there's an overwhelming chance they probably would have performed better.

Brad Warren:

When you give people that can't operate with freedom too much freedom, then you're trying to expect a fish to climb a tree.

Brad Warren:

You have to, you know, you have to manage everybody to their area.

Brad Warren:

Like, again, I keep bringing up Kat.

Brad Warren:

She works phenomenally better with freedom.

Brad Warren:

She's very creative.

Brad Warren:

She has her headphones on.

Brad Warren:

I talk, I bug cat, want as little as humanly possible.

Brad Warren:

But I have other employees that if I don't, it's almost like they want that collaboration, you know what I mean?

Brad Warren:

Like, our manager, who's a rock star down at Boulevard Auto Glass, he loves the collaboration.

Brad Warren:

He doesn't like being left alone to his own accord for two months at a time.

Brad Warren:

He loves being part of the team.

Host:

I love that because actually, I worked in an office for 10 years, right?

Host:

And then Covid hit, and suddenly I was working from home.

Host:

And, dude, I struggled for months to get my shit together, and now I work from home all the time.

Host:

I absolutely killer at.

Host:

I'm great.

Host:

But I did recognize that I had to change as a person.

Host:

I had to change as, like, my mental attitude towards working at home had to change.

Host:

And I'm not confident that had I not started my own organization and had to figure it out and frankly, lock myself in a room, which is what I did for months when I was learning, I'm not sure I would have been able to work from home effectively.

Brad Warren:

It's great that you say that, man, because I'll take me and my wife, like, and we did this all together.

Brad Warren:

Like, she does all this side.

Brad Warren:

I do all this side, and we're very church and state.

Brad Warren:

Like, we really don't speak as much as people think we do.

Brad Warren:

If anything, our assistants have to get us in the same room together most of the time.

Brad Warren:

But my wife's the opposite of me.

Brad Warren:

She's.

Brad Warren:

She's a workhorse.

Brad Warren:

Like, she could just pick up her laptop at 8 o'clock at night on the couch and just start smashing stuff out.

Brad Warren:

I'm not like that.

Brad Warren:

I need to be in my comfort zone.

Brad Warren:

I'm not going to work from home.

Brad Warren:

Like, if I'm not at the office, I'm probably not working.

Brad Warren:

But I know that about myself now.

Brad Warren:

And we're just very different.

Brad Warren:

I'm very emotional.

Brad Warren:

So, like, the one thing that helped me the most in business of managing employees was to remove the emotion.

Brad Warren:

Remove it.

Brad Warren:

Don't have a reaction to anything.

Brad Warren:

Just base it off the numbers.

Brad Warren:

Oh, I didn't hit my financial target this month.

Brad Warren:

Okay, how come?

Brad Warren:

Oh, I had a tummy ache.

Brad Warren:

Oh, that's too bad.

Brad Warren:

What are we going to do next month to hit it?

Brad Warren:

Take the emotion out of it.

Brad Warren:

Like, whoa, you got to be trying harder.

Brad Warren:

And like, as soon as you start reacting, you're giving them the ability to react back.

Brad Warren:

And then it becomes about emotion and not about the performance.

Brad Warren:

But where I was going with that is like, my wife's completely different.

Brad Warren:

She'll work from home.

Brad Warren:

She likes working by herself.

Brad Warren:

She just will sit there for 12 hours and crush out on her laptop.

Brad Warren:

I'm a collaborative creature.

Brad Warren:

I like working in the boardroom with a team.

Brad Warren:

I like working with the entrepreneurs.

Brad Warren:

I like working plugged into the projector with my assistant.

Brad Warren:

I don't like working by myself.

Brad Warren:

And that's.

Brad Warren:

It just will never be something that I enjoy.

Brad Warren:

So I just don't try and fit a square peg into a round hole.

Brad Warren:

Learn who you are.

Brad Warren:

If you hate doing sales calls, don't do them.

Brad Warren:

Don't pretend that you're going to do them.

Brad Warren:

Don't say that you're going to do them.

Brad Warren:

I know how to go to the gym.

Brad Warren:

I don't go.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, I agree.

Brad Warren:

I've had the experience in life to know that you shouldn't eat pizza four meals a week.

Brad Warren:

I still do.

Brad Warren:

It's great.

Host:

Pizza is amazing.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

If you're not.

Brad Warren:

If you're not gonna do it, don't do it.

Brad Warren:

If you're like, oh, I'll handle the social media because it'll save me 300amonth.

Brad Warren:

Well, if two months go by and you didn't do social Media, it's not gonna magically become an interest of yours.

Brad Warren:

Find someone to do it.

Host:

Yeah, that's right.

Host:

That's right.

Host:

I think we're all intrinsically great at things and the more that we can do the things we're great at and outsource the things that we suck at, the better we're going to do, period.

Host:

Because who wants to do shit they don't like anyway?

Brad Warren:

That's the whole point.

Brad Warren:

Like, I think I posted that on my LinkedIn like six months ago.

Brad Warren:

And the whole point, and this is not an old saying, the whole point of every good leader, every good entrepreneur, every good CEO is to continuously be working at replacing themselves in the role they're in.

Brad Warren:

I'm the marketing manager for the first two years.

Brad Warren:

Will you bring in a marketing manager?

Brad Warren:

Yeah, he might not know everything like I do for all, but.

Brad Warren:

But he's doing a better job because I'm watering it down.

Brad Warren:

I'm doing 30% of the marketing, 30% of the operations, 20% of the financials.

Brad Warren:

As soon as you hire a marketing manager, even if he's not as good as you, he's still doing a better job because that's his focus.

Host:

That's where he's putting a hundred percent of his time.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

Who cares if you suck at shit if you're not going to do it?

Brad Warren:

Be honest with yourself.

Brad Warren:

You and your wife are going to go start a landscaping company.

Brad Warren:

Are you going to go door to door?

Brad Warren:

I'm not.

Brad Warren:

You couldn't pay me enough money to go door to door.

Brad Warren:

It's like my biggest fear in the world.

Brad Warren:

So either find someone to go door to door for you or realize that that is not how you're going to gain your clientele.

Host:

Find.

Host:

It's been amazing.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

So much of this conversation has really come down to that one thing, hasn't it?

Host:

Be honest with yourself.

Host:

Whether it be your finances, whether it be your people, whether it be the job you're doing, whether it be the job you're not doing.

Host:

Be honest with yourself.

Brad Warren:

Be honest with yourself and trust your gut.

Brad Warren:

It plays into everything.

Brad Warren:

If your accountant, bookkeeper, saying, oh, it's going to cost you a thousand dollars a month for me to start tracking your P.

Brad Warren:

Ls, trust your gut.

Brad Warren:

That seems strange.

Brad Warren:

Why would it cost that?

Brad Warren:

If they're doing their job properly, it should just print, like, come see us, we'll tune them in.

Brad Warren:

You know, if you have thoughts on employees that aren't doing a good job and they're keeping you up at night, know there's someone better out there but you don't want to fire them because you'll be short staffed.

Brad Warren:

If you're going through the proper hiring processes, there's always staff.

Brad Warren:

Trust your gut, be honest.

Brad Warren:

The person isn't doing what they need to be doing.

Brad Warren:

Move on.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, you know, and there's just, yeah, there's so much to it and I just love working with people that you know, like rusted nuts.

Brad Warren:

Mechanical man.

Brad Warren:

He came in and I'm like, well the easiest way to build your revenue quickly is going to be sales calls.

Brad Warren:

Let's make you up some beautiful marketing material.

Brad Warren:

Let's go door to door.

Brad Warren:

Let's go to every business that has trailer repair welding that might need your services.

Brad Warren:

Hi, my name's Tim Smith from this and I'm in the area.

Brad Warren:

Just want to drop this off.

Brad Warren:

If you ever need anything from me, give me a call.

Brad Warren:

No pressure.

Brad Warren:

And he looks at me and he's like, yeah, I would do that if I wasn't utterly terrified of it.

Brad Warren:

Like that's a perfect answer.

Host:

That's right.

Host:

That's a good answer.

Brad Warren:

I like that because I'm not terrified of it.

Brad Warren:

So how about we go do it together and then afterwards if you don't like it, let's get a salesman to do it.

Brad Warren:

You bet.

Brad Warren:

You know, so anyways, we could ramble on for 400 Kelly but.

Host:

But we are closing in on the end of our show I would say and I want to spend some time because I know we've talked a lot today about operational excellence and I know there's a lot of companies both in Alberta and around the world who are thinking, oh my gosh man, like I, yeah, this isn't my world.

Host:

I'm really great at welding, I'm really great at fixing cars, I'm really great at, I don't know, accounting but I'm really not great at running my day to day business operations.

Host:

And that is where our invisible empire can come in and help.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, it's kind of where we sunk in and found our niche is we let plumbers plumb.

Brad Warren:

Like we let deck builders build decks and do 9.99out of a hundred entrepreneurs that we talk to.

Brad Warren:

If you're a plumber you are terrified and want nothing to do with marketing.

Brad Warren:

The banks fundraises like scaling, looking at real estate, writing, hiring, ads.

Brad Warren:

Like it's just crazy how there's like and because I'm scared of plumbing.

Brad Warren:

So I get it, you know.

Brad Warren:

And so yeah, it's just taking everything off the business's Plate that either A, they're struggling with, B, they don't have the time to do C, they're scared of D, they're unknowledgeable.

Brad Warren:

And then all this is not imag.

Brad Warren:

Like, it's great that we created it, and I don't like, really think it's maybe that big of a deal.

Brad Warren:

But when you keep doing the same thing over and over again on the back end, the only variable is how well does the plumber plumb.

Brad Warren:

All the rest is the same.

Brad Warren:

The SEO, the business, the bank accounts, the line of credits, the cash flow, the forecast, the sales, the marketing, the data tracking, the lead generation, all that's the same.

Brad Warren:

The only difference is how good are you at building a deck?

Brad Warren:

And if you're very good at building a deck and you're terrified of all that other stuff, great, come see us.

Brad Warren:

We'll partner up and build a whole ton of decks.

Host:

Amazing.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, amazing.

Host:

our second guest interview of:

Host:

And with that being what it is, we have a lot of entrepreneurs who maybe are taking the jump.

Host:

Maybe:

Host:

And, dude, you've started, you've started a few businesses, you've got a couple under your belt.

Host:

What piece of great advice might you give a new entrepreneur just looking to get his feet wet?

Brad Warren:

Cover all your angles.

Brad Warren:

It's easier to do something, you know, for sure.

Brad Warren:

Not saying you can't do something you don't know.

Brad Warren:

I do it every day, but I'm weird.

Brad Warren:

Do something, you know, make sure it's for you.

Brad Warren:

I, I think there's a lot of thought that needs to be put into it, man, because it's hard.

Brad Warren:

No matter how easy you think it'll be, it will be hard right off the first three years for sure.

Brad Warren:

And if you think, oh, no, I'll pull it off in one, you won't.

Brad Warren:

I've said that 26 times over.

Brad Warren:

It won't happen.

Brad Warren:

It's tough for three years.

Brad Warren:

And you know what?

Brad Warren:

We're going to be putting some startup stuff on our website when it launches, when the new one, like, it's not new, it's just a revamp.

Brad Warren:

But we're going to have one of the templates that's going to be downloadable for free to entrepreneurs is going to be a startup checklist of everything that.

Brad Warren:

And it's what we use every time we greenlight a new business.

Brad Warren:

I sit in the boardroom and I check boxes and the team goes to work.

Brad Warren:

And in two weeks, the business is Greenlit.

Brad Warren:

So we partner on startups because we save people that six month of hassle and all the money it costs to do all that.

Brad Warren:

But there is things you should consider and not all of them are on there.

Brad Warren:

But yeah, you could also, once we have that up, go check out that startup checklist.

Brad Warren:

There needs to be more of that on the Internet.

Brad Warren:

Like when you search entrepreneurship on the Internet, you get atv, you get bdc.

Brad Warren:

You don't get, you don't get as much help as you actually should.

Host:

No.

Host:

And there's, there's not a lot of guideline.

Host:

And I'll be honest, like, I went to business school.

Host:

They're like, you know, they teach you the basics, but running a business is completely different than school.

Brad Warren:

Oh man.

Brad Warren:

Like, and like, all I'll say is I, I think I have grade 10 science and I think I have grade 11 social studies and that's it.

Brad Warren:

Like, I was done school at the end of grade 10, beginning of grade 11, and I went for like half a semester and I have a calculator on my phone, I have Google, I have my team.

Brad Warren:

I think school's very important, but I think business school is a smidge pointless at times because I think they can't teach you how hard it is.

Host:

Yeah, no, they can't.

Host:

And they can't teach you the mental resilience that is required.

Host:

And there's no two ways about it.

Host:

You're going to have sleepless nights.

Host:

There's going to be nights you wake up at two in the morning and look at the roof and be like, why did I choose this?

Host:

But you're going to have just as many days where you wake up and you're excited to go to work and you're excited that it's your business and not somebody else's that will change your world.

Brad Warren:

And again, it comes down to being honest with yourself.

Brad Warren:

If you're going to go start a plumbing company because you've been plumbing for 20 years, if you hate plumbing, you'll hate it equally.

Brad Warren:

Working for yourself, it won't change.

Host:

You might even hate it more.

Brad Warren:

You might even hate it more.

Brad Warren:

Like, if your passion in life is to get into, I don't know, aerobics and you're a journeyman plumber, you'd be much better off starting an aerobics business because at least you don't know that.

Brad Warren:

And you might fail at that.

Brad Warren:

But your passion towards it, you'll be silly enough to bang your head against the wall for years and then one day you'll wake up and it just works.

Brad Warren:

Entrepreneurship is pretty much how much risk can you stomach?

Host:

How much risk can you stomach?

Host:

And what is your passion?

Host:

And try to make sure that even if the risk is high, that at least the passion is equally high.

Brad Warren:

100%.

Brad Warren:

Because then it makes it easier to power through the bad times.

Brad Warren:

Right.

Brad Warren:

When you're ignoring the bank account for a year, you better damn well love aerobics.

Host:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

You know, so I mean, new entrepreneurs, biggest piece I advice I would have is get into it.

Brad Warren:

It's awesome.

Brad Warren:

The freedom's awesome.

Brad Warren:

And it's nice that it all falls back on you.

Host:

And I would argue that people say that they don't want to take the risk because it's not safe, but I would argue that your employment is equally not safe.

Brad Warren:

And you can always go back.

Host:

That's right.

Brad Warren:

That's the biggest thing, man, is like if you're working at Subway and you want to go start your own sandwich shop, well, you can go back to work at Subway.

Brad Warren:

It's not like your job's gone.

Brad Warren:

Like, you can always go back and do it.

Brad Warren:

Why not try?

Brad Warren:

But be planned, Know your numbers.

Brad Warren:

If you're walking into.

Brad Warren:

I'll close the show out like this.

Brad Warren:

Just, you know, I take up a lot of air in the room.

Brad Warren:

But if you're getting a startup business going and you're going to start your business January 1st and you don't know how much money that business will win or will make you or lose in a calendar year from then, do not start it.

Brad Warren:

You have to know that.

Brad Warren:

And if you don't know how to do that, come see us, Go see somebody.

Brad Warren:

But you have to be able to forecast if in your first year you're going to lose $46,000.

Brad Warren:

It is dramatically easier to plan for that than think you're going to make 13 and lose 46.

Brad Warren:

Because you're guessing.

Brad Warren:

There is a way to research it, there's a way to forecast it, and there's a way to know exactly how much money you're going to make within a somewhat guess.

Brad Warren:

Don't get into it.

Brad Warren:

If you don't know where you're going to be in a year.

Host:

Amazing.

Host:

Then you just follow the numbers.

Brad Warren:

Follow the numbers.

Brad Warren:

Yeah.

Brad Warren:

At all points in time.

Brad Warren:

Follow the numbers.

Brad Warren:

It's so much easier to lose 50 grand in a year, man.

Brad Warren:

When you know it's gonna happen.

Host:

Sure.

Brad Warren:

Versus being blindsided by it, right?

Host:

Pretty.

Host:

Pretty.

Host:

It hurts when you're not expecting it.

Host:

100.

Brad Warren:

Yeah, absolutely.

Host:

So until next time, dude, this has been amazing.

Host:

Thank you for coming on again.

Host:

I'm 70 episodes later.

Host:

That's pretty grand.

Brad Warren:

Oh dude, congratulations man.

Brad Warren:

I'm super happy for you.

Brad Warren:

You guys are killing.

Host:

Thanks dude.

Host:

I really appreciate it.

Host:

I appreciate you and like I said, if there's anything we can ever do to help you, let me know.

Host:

I will have obviously all the links to your website and if you give me a heads up there's anything else you went on here, we'll get it on there.

Host:

But until next time, this has been episode 202 of the Business Development Podcast and we will catch you on the.

Kelly Kennedy:

This has Been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy:

business development firm in:

Kelly Kennedy:

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.

Kelly Kennedy:

The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.

Kelly Kennedy:

For more we invite you you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca.

Kelly Kennedy:

see you next time on the Business Development Podcast.

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The Business Development Podcast
The Business Development Podcast is an award-winning show dedicated to entrepreneurs, executives, sales, and business development specialists.

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Kelly Kennedy