The Business Guide
Just a regular guy that decided to quit his stable job and start a business. After successfully being in business I've learned a thing or two, unfortunately the hard way. I've created this podcast to share my successes & failures and to talk about the "real" ins & outs of business. I'll be personally sharing my stories along with guests.
As Business Owners we wear so many different hats and we have so many different struggles, we will breakdown those struggles together and talk about how we've overcome them and how it's shaped us to be better. If your a business owner currently going through a struggle, I hope this content helps!
The Business Guide
From Obsolete to Cutting-Edge: Embracing Business Innovations
Have you ever wondered why some businesses flourish while others fade into obscurity? In our latest episode of The Business Guide, I, Jonathan Wagoner, unravel the secrets of innovation that keep companies thriving in a fast-paced market. Drawing from my own experiences transitioning from traditional print advertising to digital marketing in my restoration business, I offer real-world insights into the power of technology and adaptation. Listen as we dissect cautionary tales like Blockbuster's missed chance to acquire Netflix, showing that innovation isn’t just an option—it’s a necessity for survival.
Imagine the transformative potential of integrating even the simplest technological tools, like Google Forms for managing time-off requests, into your business operations. In this episode, we talk about the importance of leveraging technology—not just the advanced AI robots, but also the easy-to-implement solutions that can streamline your workflow and enhance productivity. By continually thinking outside the box and taking cues from innovative giants like Tesla, we explore how to foster a culture of constant improvement and employee engagement within your organization.
To wrap up, we delve into the practical steps you can take to embrace new technology, even when it involves an upfront investment of time and resources. Sharing my own journey with implementing a CRM system and a 3D camera in my emergency restoration business, I reveal how these innovations improved our documentation, billing accuracy, and client relations, ultimately leading to greater efficiency and profitability, especially during the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Tune in to gain actionable insights and start thinking about the changes you need to make to keep your business ahead of the competition. Your feedback is crucial, and I can’t wait to hear the strategies that have worked for you. Let's continue to grow and innovate together!
Hey everyone, it's Jonathan Wagner and I want to welcome you back to another episode of the Business Guide. Today we are going to explore a super crucial element of business, and that is innovation. In a rapidly changing world, staying ahead means continuously embracing new ideas and technology. So if you're looking to future-proof your business, or at least start thinking about future-proofing your business, then this episode is for you. Guys, are you finding it challenging to keep up with the fast-paced business world? What if I told you that innovation does not have to be overwhelming, but it can actually be your greatest ally. Stay tuned into this episode as we dive into different innovations that we've had to embrace in my businesses and really get your juices flowing in your brain about some things that maybe you might need to adapt into your business. So stay tuned. That maybe you might need to adapt into your business. So stay tuned.
Speaker 1:You know, when I first started my restoration business, I quickly realized that sticking to the old way of doing business was not gonna cut it in a competitive market. Here's what I mean by that. In my quick amount of time I quickly, or the short amount of time I was in business it was probably about a year into business, I could already tell that there was something I had done in advertising. It was some print advertising and I quickly realized that the digital world was really taking that over by storm. So I had to shift my marketing budgets over to digital. I think that you know that is a small example in you know, obviously, the advertising side, but as I've had my business, I have continually adapted to change and I'll go over that with you. I just I can tell you I know firsthand what it's like to be a small business owner and then having to embrace some new technology. But it's really amazing the doors that it opens up and this episode we'll probably talk a little bit more in depth about the restoration business, because this is where a lot of people are kind of doing the old same thing over and over again and how we as a technology, as a company, embrace technology to grow our business and how actually it completely is awesome and has helped us grow our business. So you know, that's what. That's what you're going to expect.
Speaker 1:Today is talking about innovation, just essentials for staying ahead of the competition. Right, if you don't embrace it, somebody else will and they are going to capture your market share. We've talked about adapting to your market in the past. Technology is no different. You need to adapt to your technology, but with these steps, or at least things that I'll go over, hopefully it, you know, again gets your brain thinking about what you need to do in your business. So, jumping right into it, let's talk about innovation. Where to start? Yeah, I think about one of the biggest things I think about no matter how big you are as a company no-transcript Take Blockbuster, for example Blockbuster was everywhere, right?
Speaker 1:I remember going as a kid getting movies High school. My friends would come over, we'd watch TV or movies, we'd rent some movies, eat some popcorn, hang out. Blockbuster was a staple. And to think that Netflix, this huge giant technology company that we know of today, company that we know of today, was once going to be, or had the opportunity to be, purchased by Blockbuster and essentially just completely be wiped out, it's unreal and incredible. I mean, if you looked up the, I'm just curious, I'm going to look this up what was the market share? I'm going to look this up. What was the market share? I'm just curious at what I mean. Video rental market was expected to increase to almost $2 billion at the same period. They had plenty of room to grow. At the time of this Netflix. I mean, they had over 9,000 stores worldwide. So crazy Looks like in 2012,. Maybe a market share of $55 million. I mean, when you think of Netflix in the billions now. So incredible that Blockbuster had this huge opportunity to purchase Netflix when they were nobody right and they didn't. And look who is still around in business and look who is not, and look who's made more money with technology Again Netflix.
Speaker 1:And I'm just going to real quick, look up something, let's see. I'm just confirming this one because I think this is another one that had an opportunity. Yeah, I can't find it, but another one that I think of is Amazon. Amazon is a technology company and they were trying to be direct competitors with Barnes Noble. I think Jeff Bezos took Amazon to Barnes Noble and correct me if I'm wrong in the comments section, but I think that they were kind of know, kind of similar situation with, you know, blockbuster and Netflix. They could have taken that business on very early on. For any of you that don't know, amazon started as a bookstore, an online bookstore.
Speaker 1:So anyways, but going back to the Blockbuster, the Blockbuster one is the one that stays in my mind right, you had over 9,000 stores huge, my mind right, you had over 9,000 stores huge. I mean, this was a huge staple that so many Americans and so many people would go to to get their movies. And how this little tiny company that started sending out the movies via mail, completely dominated, completely adapted right. They didn't stay to that business model, they moved to the streaming model. They really set the industry there with Hulu, disney+, all of these different streaming services, really kind of copying Netflix at that point.
Speaker 1:So this is where innovation comes in and this is where I think us as business owners, while we're not dealing with the billions and billions of dollars that these you know hundreds of millions of dollars that these people are dealing with, we're dealing with everyday struggles that maybe it's as simple as no longer having a pen and paper and maybe having an iPad. These are things that can really help you and help drive productivity to your business, drive new sales to your business, and I'll go over that, how that helped my business. But I think that an opportunity to kind of think about Blockbuster, think about Netflix, do some research on it. It's pretty interesting. I know there's some YouTube videos out there. Search that because it kind of hits home. But I use that in my small business mindset of how I always need to be adapting and always growing and technology is always ever-changing and you really need to move with the times.
Speaker 1:So how do you, as a small business owner, how do you embrace the culture of innovation? Right, and I think you know, like everybody has dealt with change. You could be a restaurant owner that used to take. I mean you know like, right, everybody has dealt with with change. You could be a restaurant owner that used to take. I mean you remember going out and they'd take your credit card and they'd carbon copy the credit card and they write it. You know, write down your total, you'd sign it. Now we have these credit card processing right, technology has hit everybody. We can all agree there, and embracing it in your business is so crucial there and embracing it in your business is so crucial. But how do you in your company create that culture? Right? Not just okay, maybe checks are no longer being accepted, I need to move on to credit card. But you, as a business owner, being ahead of the market, right? You always, I think it. Right, you always, I think.
Speaker 1:For me at least, I'm always looking at different technologies and how it can help my business. No matter what it is right If it's. You know AI is a huge thing right now. I know a lot of large companies are using it in you know their algorithms and different language models. You know there's talks later, that's talks later, that it can make videos and things like that. I think what's going to happen is the movie industry, the TV industry, is going to have to embrace somewhat of an AI change. It's not necessarily going to take your job away, but I think when people put up a guard right from the start and say, look, we're not going to embrace that, that leaves for a lot of competitors to step in in that field. And so, no matter what it is, if it's you know, if it's just I mean I'm sure everybody is familiar with chat GPT.
Speaker 1:If you're not, as a business owner, you should definitely familiarize yourself. I know plenty of business owners that don't use it. It's a great tool to use. It's not replacing anybody, but it definitely helps out. Think about maybe you wanting to create a content schedule for your Instagram channel or your Facebook. Chatgpt can help you with that. It can help create some of the content ideas for you. Ultimately, you can go in and customize things and make it your own voice. But these are where we really need to embrace the technology as business owners.
Speaker 1:I think, on a bigger scale, there's going to be some AI things that come into the industry. I am, you know, primarily in the construction industry, so I've seen that. You know, maybe at some point there will be, you know, these robots that come around and they're able to scan walls and maybe do some painting for you or hang drywall. We'll see how practical that is. You know, let's check back in 15 years on this episode.
Speaker 1:But I think that us business owners being willing to adopt the technology and how we use it, I don't think that it's really an opportunity of look, it's not replacing people. I think if you use let's just use this AI robot as an example that can paint a room, well, if my business can handle five times more your business because I've invested in that technology, then who's winning there? Now, ultimately, at the end of the day, we do want to employ humans, right? They're ultimately going to be people that have to take and maintain these things. They're going to break down or whatever it is and this is a super hypothetical, but creating your mindset to think like I did okay, this could be an opportunity where maybe someday there's some sort of painting robot. I don't know what that looks like. Who knows? We're so far away from it.
Speaker 1:But with the technology and the way that it's come up in 20 years, what's going to happen in an additional 20 years? And I think that, as business owners right now, especially that are relatively young I'm 35, I don't plan on retiring anytime soon there are going to be some really big changes in the market at some point and I'm going to need to be able to embrace that if I want my business to survive and I don't want to become a blockbuster. So I would say that's the difference between me and my competitors. Let that be a difference between you and your competitors. You don't necessarily need to advertise it and flaunt it, but you need to know that there's technology out there to help you and be productive. So I think it's just consistently thinking out of the box. That's what's gonna help you create that culture.
Speaker 1:If you've got employees consistently ask them like, hey, what would make this easier for you, I know something that was super. You know we deal with this often, right, as we have employees, we need people to take time off, and we knew that our process was. They would come in, they'd talk to our office manager, our office manager would wrap that up in an email to my operations guy and then they would get their time either approved or denied or whatever it is, and sometimes there was a three or four-day delay on it, just because maybe they didn't catch him and they wanted to talk about it or whatever. It was sitting in the emails nothing super crazy. It actually wasn't even emails. It the emails nothing super crazy. It actually wasn't even emails. It was sitting on the desk, so let's just say he wasn't in there. I know that there was that delay, so I saw that as an opportunity. Right, that's.
Speaker 1:That goes back to the, the, the last episode that we did of, you know, cultivating a mindset for for growth. I saw a small problem and I know that there's technology out there, so I went to Google Forms. I created a quick Google Forms, grabbed that link, made that a QR code and put it right up on our essentially our break room post-it board or little board that we've got there and said, hey, if you need time off, request it here. Well, that immediately sends out an email to the office manager and the operations and they're able to approve that same day and the office manager then schedules that downtime. So one is, it's better productive for your employees and your overall operation. Right, my employees are happier that they can have their time off requested approved sooner. So you as a business owner need to be embracing that.
Speaker 1:Go to your employees. Think, hey, what could make this easier? And hey, we've got something. These really cool things right here. I've got one of them right here. It's called a computer. Hey, if you're dealing with a challenge, go in and type that in. Go on a Reddit form or a site, look it up. Listen to a podcast. Hey, I'm having issues with employees clocking in and out. There's a ton of different things you can do for that. So take your challenges.
Speaker 1:Start thinking how you can adapt your business to technology. It's not, hey, I've got to completely be all digital and I can't even think about it. I'll make-believe stuff overnight. No, you know, I can't even think about it. I'll make believe stuff overnight. No, you slowly adapt into this.
Speaker 1:Here's an example. It's it's one of my favorites, but it's Tesla. I mean, tesla was a failing business, right? You look at where, go back and look at where Elon Musk spent some money on this, like failing automotive business, and was able to completely reinvent the wheel, if you would, with these electrical vehicles. And now look at their market share Nobody thought that they could do what they did and they did it. Share Nobody thought that they could do what they did and they did it. So you, as a small business, I remember I'm using these large businesses Blockbuster, netflix, all of these businesses. I can tell you right now, though, if, if, let's, let's go to the Blockbuster example you think of a huge business right now. Huge business, that was well, guess what? You're making more money than Blockbuster's making right now. So think about that. You are in business right now making more money than Blockbuster is making and, hey, they made millions and millions of dollars, right, but they are no longer in existence because they did not embrace certain things.
Speaker 1:I think, as you, you know you jump into it and you want to start looking into technology in your business. It really starts by talking to if you have friendly competition. Hey, what are? What are some struggles you're dealing with? What have you done to to embrace that? I know it's funny because in in in my industry.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I wanted so bad when I was first in business, starting my carpet cleaning business, is I wanted my clients to be able to go online and book my availability online. At the time, for me to find a website company at a reasonable cost to link the calendar that I had to my booking system to my online website, like ridiculous right. Well, now it's all in one app that I use and it's second nature. It's not even anything that we think about now. So this is where slow technology starts to come up and you've just got to be willing to embrace it. And, of course, there's a learning curve. Once they dropped, hey, we can book you online. And I was, oh cool, this is what I've been looking for. And they finally dropped it. Well, there was a couple of days of inputting everything, kind of coming up to speed, and I mean, that's been up for years now and I maybe barely go in and ever tweak it. I can't even remember the last time I tweaked it.
Speaker 1:So this is where, yes, there is a little bit of a hurdle up front, because you've got to put some time into it. Right, we're busy. We're all of a sudden. Now we need to be right. We're the business owner, we're the CFO, we're the IT guy and all of a sudden now we're the technology guy we have. We're the IT guy and all of a sudden now we're the technology guy that we have to embrace the new technology. But being able to set down that time is really going to help you grow your business right.
Speaker 1:Leads come in from our website. We don't have to schedule. We don't have to have the labor to schedule it, although we still have the labor but it does free up. It runs 24 hours. I don't have an employee running 24 hours for that. As you know, I'm in the emergency restoration field, so getting those are super crucial if somebody has something at two in the morning. So this is where this embraces the technology. So I think a practical step to start your thinking is what would you like to see in your business better? What could better optimize your business? And I'll tell you right now in the technology world that we live in nine times out of 10, they already have it. There's already an app, there's already software, there is already something out there to help you with your problem.
Speaker 1:Again, it takes time. I remember we had to for my media company, we needed to onboard with a CRM Really challenging. I had never used a CRM before. I never used it to. A lot of my clients were all service-based clients before, where it was in a local area. This is now follow-up leads, things like that just online. Like that, just online. Getting on board with that CRM took probably about three weeks for us to really familiarize and for me to familiarize myself, right, I like to know everything, be able to interact and do things. So now getting that up, getting it online, is one of the best tools I have in my arsenal. But it took me three weeks. Right, there's my complaint. So you have to be willing to go through the steps and the motions to bring your business up to speed.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna give you a couple examples. You know, four years ago we dealt with this. This thing called ooh, let me get a drink of water before I start with this thing. This thing called ooh, let me get a drink of water before I start with this thing. Four years ago we had this little thing called COVID come and shut down practically every business and you know, I think that in COVID it really opened up a lot of business owners' eyes on. Look, I have to survive, my business needs to survive and I need to thrive. And if that was a restaurant that had indoor seating, they quickly got outdoor seating If it was embracing DoorDash and Uber Eats, and now, hey, that is embraced, and now they still use it to this day. These are things that help you with your business, and we were really forced in with COVID, right, but my business is still no exception to that. So we were one of the first in my area and even to this day, it's still like the only ones that use it practically on every single project.
Speaker 1:But we have a 3D camera that we send in to every project. We're working on multiple steps of the way, so from the first time we get the project to maybe us working on the project or the project's about to be done, and then one when the project's done, we get these different renderings and we have essentially a 3D model of our job. And so how we were able to do that is or, excuse me, how we were able to use that in our business is one is it helped with documentation? So now, things that my guys were missing because they were writing it down on their phone or a pen and paper, and then they were submitting it to us. They were missing a ton of stuff. Well, now we're no longer missing those items, therefore allowing us to bill for those items I mentioned. We do insurance, so now we can send it to these insurance adjusters. That also see it as a benefit, because now they don't have to do all of these measurements. Right? So documentation is so key.
Speaker 1:But getting this little camera shooting it, you know, and you'll see them as you look, maybe through houses. Go do a 3D tour, you can see them. But how can this work for my business? That's what I asked myself. So now we have a tool. It makes us more money and helps justify our money. So now we have it as a tool. It makes us more money and helps justify our money. It makes us look good, because if we have there's a couple adjusters in particular that really like when we use the technology, so it really helps us out and makes getting paid from those adjusters just a little easier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then, on an employee standpoint, we have been able to hire employees that not only work locally but can also work, and that do work remotely. Specifically, we have two employees that one shares the state that we're in, which is California, with another state. And then we have another employee that's just completely in another state and is able to do the work like he is at the job because we have this technology. So that's where you know, I didn't think at the time like, hey, grabbing this 3D camera for a couple thousand dollars is going to help me in so many different areas. This camera cost me like I don't know, maybe it was like three or four grand, and I remember writing a post-it note down for one of our claims managers and I said, hey, let me know when you exceed this amount in the differences you'll be able to pick up on the lack of documentation. We made that back in two jobs, so one I'm more profitable as a company, I look better, customers absolutely love it, so it does wonders for my business image. And this is just. And now I have employees that can literally work remote and you know we get a jumpstart because they're ahead, so we could have an estimate that comes in at, you know, four or five o'clock the night before. They start earlier than we do, and we have that out by eight o'clock or nine o'clock our time. So it makes us look great for our clients and our close rate is huge because we can have numbers back to people before our competitors can. So I know I'm like practically the only one. I know there's a couple of people that use them, but maybe not as religiously as we do, so that gives me a competitive advantage.
Speaker 1:Like I mentioned, I try to automize. I'm saying that wrong, but I try to make a lot of things auto in my business, right Automation. So I know before when we were documenting the jobs, we had everything done on these little SD cards. We would save those SD cards. That was costly. We slowly started putting those into a Google Drive, slowly keeping all of our documents in a Google Drive, and then I found some technology about two years ago. It was a new app that holds everything all together and everybody can use it at once and that is primarily what they use to do all of their documentation now and I can pull it open like an Instagram feed Shouts out again to CompanyCam. I've mentioned I mentioned them before on this podcast, but these are the things as business owners that it's.
Speaker 1:It's not huge right there there's a small learning curve that we need to learn as as we run the business. Right, our employees aren't going to learn it for us. We have to learn it, or our managers have to learn it, and then it gets implemented. But how much productivity our people can get out of it. Right, I'm not dealing with a lost SD card. I'm not dealing with somebody taking their time uploading it from their phone into Google Drive. Now, I've got it all in one app that goes out the moment they take the picture. Everybody can access it. So this is the progression of technology, I'll tell you with that 3D camera.
Speaker 1:One thing that I am completely surprised is I'm not surprised, but I'd like to see is one day, I think it's going to be able to integrate into our estimating software, because, with the AI technology that we have, it is able to recognize things like cabinets, floors, things like that. So I do think there is a world where it's scanning and putting it in together as an estimate. And again, remember, there are going to be some job losses, right, I would think that maybe some adjusters might lose some jobs, but at the end of the day, we still need a human behind approving things, working through real human issues the day. We still need a human behind approving things, working through real human issues. So it's going to be the people that are innovative, and creating that culture in your business is so crucial because if you don't do it, you're going to be the blockbuster, you're going to be the Barnes and Noble. I mean I would think Barnes and Noble is still in business, still successful. I mean I would think Barnes Noble is still in business, still successful Would have probably taken a different spin if it wasn't Amazon. Right, I don't think they would have gone the business model of Amazon.
Speaker 1:But this is where you have an opportunity to really excel and grow your business through small, tiny improvements and stand out from your competition. I know that some of my competitors will they get a new job and they text it hey, got a new job, go here. We have a scheduling software Like these are little easy things that you can do and adapt into your business. That makes you stand out and oh, by the way, your employees enjoy it. Right, it makes them more productive. Therefore, they feel more rewarded, not like the business owner is too busy to hear my concerns and deal with this and I've got all this paperwork right. We're working smarter, not harder, and that's what technology and embracing it is all about. So I know you know, I know we unpacked a lot on this episode, but again, this is to get your you know, your brain flowing, no matter what you're in.
Speaker 1:Small changes, small changes. Figure out a small issue that you have in your business and see if technology can help you with it. If it does, move on to another item and slowly adapt that and, fair warning, it's going to take you time. Like I've said, I've invested significant time in a CRM. I've invested so much time in my dispatching system, my scheduling system, all of this stuff, right. But these are things that are so crucial to my business operation that I don't know how I would be in business without them now, even though we did it before. Therefore, making me more money, making me productive, making my employees more productive.
Speaker 1:So figure out something you need to work on and get it implemented and create a timeline for you, right? If you say, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to work through this this time clock issue and you put it on your desk, you're probably going to look at that, post a note for six months, thinking about it every other month. But if you put a post it note right on your computer and you say, hey, I need to start looking into this by the end of the week. You get some free time. You start looking into it. You find a problem. You jot that down. Update your Post-it note. Hey, found four companies that can help me with this. Need to schedule appointments. Give yourself three weeks trial, something right.
Speaker 1:This doesn't need to be overnight, but right now you need to embrace it, because if you don't, there is going to be a competitor that is going to embrace it, or somebody that is not a competitor right now that someday will be your competitor, that is going to come in with a different outlook on your business and they're going to take your market share. So take the time to invest yourself in the proper technology and the proper innovation, and it all starts with just working through simple problems. Now Curious to see what happens with AI. I think the cool thing about these podcasts you get me on a 2024, and maybe this is something that I can look back at 2034 and say, hey, this is interesting. What's changed? It's exciting, I look forward to it. And I think that if you're a business owner and you don't look forward to it, you're probably going to be into some trouble here if you don't keep moving, keep moving, keep generating that money, keep adapting your business.
Speaker 1:That's all I have for today on the business guide. You know, thanks for joining in. I really appreciate it. If you found this episode helpful, drop me a comment, drop me a like. I wanna know what you're doing in your business. You know, what are things that you've done to improve your overall operation and productivity. I'd love to hear the feedback that you have on what you've been able to do for your business. As always, guys, I'm Jonathan Wagner. This is the Business Guide. Really appreciate the time you've taken to listen to this episode and I'll catch you on the next one.
