SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome, welcome. It's Thursday afternoon here with Mr. Scott.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

He's going to give you the entire one on his journey with Citywide. He's going to tell you who he was before, who he is today, his journey through Citywide. He's also going to tell you, like he told me, why he's making his kids go to trade school before college. He's going to give you all of those little uh details that are fun to hear. So um, Scott, I'll let you just kind of dive right in and give us your background and we'll go from there.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

Okay, cool. Yeah. Hey, nice to meet you guys. Uh so my name is Scott Romero. I own the Memphis, Tennessee market. And uh I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I've got uh have some military background. I was in the so I grew up in California, joined the Air Force, and then uh when I was getting out of there, I met my wife when she was in dental school. And then when she graduated dental school, we uh went and we purchased a dental office. And the goal at the time was, you know, we're just gonna roll up a bunch of dental practices, and uh we quickly realized like there's a big flaw in this business model, and uh so we started our search for other companies that were out there, and we uh we we got with a um got with a guy named Rick Bizio who wrote this book called The Educated Franchisee, and uh he kind of helped me narrow everything down to a few good franchises, and I got down to like the top three, and then when I picked um uh when I came to Kansas, I'd already gone to the other ones, and I came to Kansas and I uh it was it was a done deal. I I figured out that that was the the company for me. So I've had the franchise for about eight years now, getting ready to go in nine years, and uh I've I've enjoyed it. So uh that's a little bit about me.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Okay, also you know, we'll just let you come in and take yourselves off mute. We got a smaller group today, and so no reason to you know even raise your hand, just dive right in and start asking your questions.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

This is the time to do it.

SPEAKER_04 2:33

Yeah, and hey Charles, let me ask you if you could unmute yourself real quick, Charles. Um uh tell me a little bit about yourself. What are you looking at? What are you what are you trying to do, buddy?

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yes, uh trying to get on the get into the citywide family, uh I would say. Um in terms of background, uh I'm I'm a finance professional. Um most of my life I've uh been in finance accounting, business strategy, uh business process improvement. That's what I've done across different industries, from consulting to audit, uh to manufacturing. I did telecoms and then spent most of my career so far in uh upstream oil and gas uh sector. So yeah, that's it uh about me. A Canadian Pandemic resident, uh uh originally from Nigeria.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

Okay, very cool. Very cool. Now, where are you living right now? Where did you say you're living now?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Uh Calgary.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

Calgary, okay, very cool, very good. Yeah, well, do you have any uh any questions? Are you looking at how many franchises have you looked at a lot of models? Have you looked? Do you got any questions for me?

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Yes, I've got some questions for you. First, uh uh, thank you for giving a quick run through of uh your background and uh um uh pivoting from the military, uh becoming a franchisee. Um how would you say your experience in military helped you, or what has been this uh then the second question is what has been the pain point or the struggles that you have to deal with or the challenges that you have to deal with being a franchisee, given your background, yeah?

SPEAKER_04 4:03

Yeah, no, that uh that's a good question. I think that the military helped me a lot. I'm a uh process and systems guy. That's really kind of what I I like. Um, and it's uh you know, it really, I feel like I just transferred over really quickly and understood, you know, it's it's what's really neat about this model. And you guys will find there's a there's a million franchises out there, and uh they're all they're not the same. That is just the that is what it is. You can spend uh the same amount on one franchise and have a completely different experience. Um and you know, uh this one here, what I liked about it the most was it was is laid out so well. The training is really, really good. The roadmap that they lay out for you is is fantastic. And so what's great about it is like, you know, as you're learning, is you when you start out, you know, it's gonna be hard. You know, every everything that you know that you do in something like this is gonna be a little challenging, but you've got a team that's back there in Kansas that's helping you the whole time. So what's so cool is you just have phone call away. You can call somebody the moment that you get stuck on something, man, you've just got a group of people that are here to help you. And uh that's the coolest thing about it is the support uh that you know that they give you in the beginning to get it off the ground. But I think that my personally, I think the military helped me uh go right into it because I knew how to, you know, you gotta know how to lead a team. You've gotta be uh you've got to be able to put in the work. This is not a passive investment. If you want a passive investment, the S ⁇ P 500 is fantastic. You know, this is not it. So this is something you're gonna work. You're gonna, if you're not afraid to work and put in put in the time, you know, uh you can grow your company uh tremendously. I mean, I I'm I'm only eight years in and I'm already at 13 million. And so we're about to do 45 million dollars. We will be 45 million dollars in 2032. And uh and it's but you have to be able to be with you know honest with yourself that hey, I'm gonna put in the work, I'm gonna listen to what they say, and um, and you know, you just gotta put it in. And uh, and it's it's a uh it's a very scalable thing, and what's really cool too is like you know, you get to grow as a person, you know, the guy who grows a company to five million bucks is you got to be a completely different guy and or girl to get it to the $10 million, and then you have to grow personally to say, okay, how do I get it from 10 to 20? And now you're really putting on the CEO hat and you got to really start thinking. You know, I look at other businesses that I drive by, like little franchises that got like um uh brick and mortar or something, and I I would throw up the thought of having to sit in a place and wait for somebody to come, like I that's not my style. I like to get going and you know, and um I like to build teams and hold them accountable. And um, but you have to be honest with yourself that you're able to work hard, put in the work ethic, uh, and go 100% into your market, you know, and take as much capture because it's really hard to get a citywide. I like I'm sure they've told you guys, but like like they don't, I mean, they don't accept anybody, they're very particular on who they accept, and it's for good reason. It takes a very specific person to be able to do it, but it also takes a lot of grit. You've got to be able to just, you know, really see the bigger picture that you know, I'm gonna grow a legacy company here and I'm gonna build something that I can pass down to my kids one day. And, you know, I mean, I will by the time, you know, I will see this thing be a hundred million dollars. Like that's gonna happen, you know, uh hands down. That'll happen. It'll be all be a hundred million dollars. And uh, I already see it in my brain, I've already known what it's gotta be to get there. And um, you know, and it's it's super exciting. Like it's it is fun, and the the business model is awesome. So uh Richard, I didn't get to meet you. I'm Scott. How are you doing, buddy?

SPEAKER_05 8:23

Scott, sorry, sorry about that. Had some technical difficulties with my laptop, but glad to be here. My name is Rich. Um, I'm from New Jersey. Uh, where what's your location? I'm sorry, I missed that. Yeah, no, uh, Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis, Tennessee, that's awesome. Uh, congratulations on your success, eight years in at 13 million. That's impressive. Um, just kind of working off Charles's Charles's question, you know, what are the top one or two ways that Citywide has kind of provided support and which you didn't really think you would need? So, what areas specifically around the support that they helped you out in?

SPEAKER_04 8:54

Uh so yeah, okay, so I think that the what I really loved about it the most was that so it's a really unique business. Like, could you imagine if you were if you had a if you were the franchiser and you have to tailor the company to the person who's doing a hundred thousand dollars a year and just starting out, then also supporting one that's doing 45, 50 million dollars. These are two different animals that they're having to do. And what's really awesome about it is even when you start out small, when you're starting out, the the chassis and the framework of the entire company is built to be able to withstand that complete growth. That's what's cool. If you were to start a company and do something like Citywide does, you would get it to a couple million bucks, and then you'd be like, okay, now you're starting to think about I've got to build this system, and now I've got to create this whole new framework to get it from five to 10. And then all of the systems that are in place uh from five to 10 are about to become obsolete when you try to take it to 10 to 20. And what's cool is the chassis and the framework and the engine that you start out with when you're at zero dollars of revenue is the same chassis that you use at 50 million. So you're not having to relearn everything. It's literally rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. Get them, you know, get them, keep them grow, get them, keep them grow. Just like that's uh literally, it's it's so monotonous, and that's how wealth is built. It's through holding people accountable, getting system standard, you know, people into you know, into the system standards, and then really driving a team. You have to be able to work with people and drive a team and uh and inspire them and get them, you know, get them on the same wavelength as you. But I will say is that's been the biggest thing when to answer your question. Is the thing that I didn't realize, you know, I used to ask, like, hey, what kind of support will I get? Will I get this training? And those are good questions to ask, but I didn't realize how important it is and how wild it is that they're able to support the guy who's doing zero dollars in revenue to the guy that's doing 45 million dollars a year, and it's seamless and it's all happening at the same time. That that's what I would say.

unknown 11:22

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

I got this I got this question along those lines uh in a brand review this week, and they said, Well, why can't I just do this myself? How would you respond to that?

SPEAKER_04 11:35

Oh, yeah, you can. You can, and you you're gonna, you know, you're gonna struggle, and um uh you could anybody could do it and get it, you know, you can you can take any company to a couple million bucks. Yeah, that's not hard. I mean, I like that is not a hard thing to do. To take something to a hundred million dollars, you need support, you need team, and you know, uh what other companies were the moat that has been created with our national business, that's the key. Is we've got such national brand awareness in so many national accounts that it really does because a big customer is gonna go to, you know, uh if somebody's doing it by themselves, a big customer is gonna go to them and say, Okay, uh great, you know, you're doing a fantastic job over here. Uh, you know, Richard, you're you know, you started your own company or in New Jersey. Can you uh support us in California and Arizona uh tomorrow? You would be like, No. And there you go. You know what I mean? But here we could say, Yeah, we'll not start it tomorrow, you know, and that's that's the big thing is like you could you can, you know, you could you could do anything and get a cup a company to a couple million, uh, but growing it and scaling and then retaining it, you know, getting getting money is one thing, that's one skill, keeping money is another skill. And um Citywide does a fantastic job of teaching you how to get them, keep them, and grow them. And that is that is what we do. We that's how we bring the value to our customers. I mean, think about it. You know, can you imagine you're a facility manager or you're a manager of any sort? You've got all the staff to deal with, you've got the facility problems that pop up. Okay, you've got all of the the data that you got to take care of, all the meetings you have to do. Now the plumbing went out. Now the landscaper didn't show up, the janitor's not doing a good job. And in the past, it's like you were reaching out to 45 people. Now you have one point of contact to eliminate all your pain and frustration, and that's what we're selling. It's a it's a it's a fantastic value. Uh Charles, you got a question, buddy. Go for it.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

All right, thank you very much, Escott. Um, your your history, uh, your your the past uh your experience is quite impressive. Uh the question I want to ask uh for somebody that's just uh about to come in and so if we were to start all over again, what is it that you would do differently to be able to scale uh faster than you have done over the past eight years?

SPEAKER_04 14:12

Oh dude, I know exactly my answer. I would have hired way better people from the beginning. I would I I fiddled around, you know. I really will say I did exactly what the franchise told me, and we did really good. Like we historically we did really good, but I realize now that I had B and C players that I actually thought were A players, and you have to be able to know, like you have to be able to get good at knowing talent, you know what I mean? Like, there's people that like you know, we'd say it in the military. It's like, you know, who do you want in your foxhole? There's people in life that you can look at and say, dude, if it was getting bad, I would want Charles in my foxhole because I know he can perform, right? Those are the people you want. I had a bunch of B and C players, which that you know, that's okay, whatever. But like um, I would have spent the money earlier and got way better talent on all of my team. And you know, and it's hard in the beginning because it's like, oh man, you know, you're trying to make, you know, you're trying to cash flow this thing, and um, and I get it, but it's like, you know, and uh Mr. Jeff Odo says it all the time. It's like you, you know, you can't not do it, it's something you have to do, but it's one of those things that's like where the guy is seeing the whole forest and you're just stuck in the trees. Um, you've got to spend that extra money and get actual talent. Now, uh, just paying more is not gonna get you talent. You have to be able to be good at assessing talent. Take the interview processes. Uh, there's fantastic books on interviewing. I would suggest that to everybody. Like, you know, if like right now, if I were to start over, dude, I'd have grown this thing 10 times faster because I've gotten good at it now. I can do interviews and I can know real quick if somebody's good or not. And um, and you know, and then you know, also you in the first 90 days with working with somebody, uh, you know, there's a saying that I love it's Chris Rock says a saying is when you meet somebody, you don't meet that person, you meet their representative, and you don't actually meet that person for 45, 60 days. That is so true, and that's with employees. You gotta get an employee in, and you've gotta put in the time and nurture this person and find out, you know, you can like nowadays. Like I had somebody last week or two weeks ago that we started within the first week. I was like, nope, they're not gonna cut it. And it's it's it's easy now, you know, and that just takes time though. Um, uh, but in the beginning, that's what I would have done differently. I would have gotten, I would have put, you know, you guys in your professional careers, you know, who's out there who are like assassins, who are the people that are like fantastic, and um, it would be really beneficial for you to uh reach out to those people. Dude, I would I would not be against if I was doing it differently, I wouldn't be against giving up a little equity to somebody that I knew was um was gonna change the game. You know, if I go in with somebody and give them a little equity and let's go in there, but you you know, you got to make sure that they're able to perform.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

So Scott, on that note, look thinking back about your Z call from last year, you did kind of mention that within that call. I remember you mentioning about how you invest heavily in your people. And I'm wondering if you can kind of dive into a little bit more about that. Is that your hiring earlier? Is that um how are you reinvesting in the business when it comes to the your people?

SPEAKER_04 18:05

All right, so I would say with all right, so I I heard this at a like a seminar a long time ago, and this is the uh this is what I heard. Okay. So Richard, let me ask you, who is your neighbor next door? Do you have a neighbor next door to you?

SPEAKER_05 18:25

Mike, yeah. Okay, you said is Mike? Yeah, talk to everybody, man. Okay, I know everybody on the block. Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

So hey, how old is Mike?

SPEAKER_05 18:34

He is probably a couple years older than me, so like 43, 44.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

Okay, perfect. So, what I want you to do, Richard, is I want you to go to the next door and go find Mike and get with him and ask Mike what are all his goals for the year? Okay. And when you do that, I want you to go for the next year and go try to accomplish all of his goals. That is not going to fire you up. Doing someone else's goals is not going to fire you up. But if I sit down and say, okay, well, what are your goals, Richard? And I tailor everything to you, you're gonna want to do it, right? So I think investing into people is getting on a personal level and saying, all right, hey man, you made $200,000 this last year. What do you want to make this year? And if it's $300,000, let's reverse engineer how to do that. And I, you know, I luckily am, you know, my wife is a dentist, and so uh, you know, we live off of her salary. So we don't, you know, citywide to me is like a sport. And I don't use citywide's money to, you know, I just ever every time we're, you know, the profits coming in, dude. I'm like, hire two more people, hire another person. Let's, you know, like that's how I keep investing in them. But I also would rather have people that are making two to three hundred thousand because they're not gonna, they can handle themselves. That's a whole different breed of person that can go out there and not bother me. You know, if like if they can go handle their work and do a great job, I'm investing in them. And then also, like uh, I I ask each individual person because every single person that if you ask 40-year-old Scott Romero, what is my incentives, they're gonna be completely different than to when I'm 50. When I'm 50, I'm gonna have different things that will incentivize me. So you got to do that with each employee. So, like sometimes some employees are gonna be uh really money driven, and um and that's awesome. Then that then, you know, some want time off, and that's the big incentive for them. They want time off. Well, fantastic. Then let's align our our values here and let's come up with something that makes me money and makes you money or makes you time off. And um, but yeah, I uh we do a lot of training. We do we we send people to the trips that we can, um, you know, but we put a lot into our people uh to hopefully get, you know, uh, you know, to get a long run with some with great people.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you. I think that that really aligns with, you know, when we talk about our most successful franchisees, they're the people that know how to lead a team, and that includes inspiring and growing them personally and professionally. And I think you really just touched on all of that. So I'm I'm happy to hear you say that. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 21:20

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Thank you, Although. Just a question closely related to what um uh Savannah asked on that, which you took time to to explain. Um, sometimes you hear people say as a business owner, you you hire slow and you fire fast. Um, how do you do do you um does that resonate with you, or is that something that uh you see differently if you have an employee or if you have employees that are not doing so well, do you uh spend time to kind of develop them and then bring them to speed, or do you think do you go by the philosophy of uh hiring slowly and then firing fast?

SPEAKER_04 22:01

Yeah, that's great. That's great. So uh yeah, I do believe in hiring slow and firing fast. Yeah. And here's why what I mean. All right. You know, remember the OJ Simpson cut case. If the gloves glove don't fit, you must have quit, right? All right. I say that to this. Here's why. Citywide has specific things that's like, hey, we've they've been here for 60 years. Okay. They know what's fantastic, what people perform well with. Okay. What you want to do is you want to follow their systems of hiring. They have all of these assessments and all of these tests. And what you need to do is you send all of your people that you're candidates through these assessments. If they do not pass the assessment, don't waste your time. Okay. And that's why I'm saying if it doesn't fit, must have quit. If they don't make, we don't have the time or the resources to train all of these people. We need to hire people that are already very good salespeople and they are ready to plug and play. I don't, I even at my small company, I don't have the time. You know, I'm going to train them and be with them 100%, but I need somebody that's competent when I tell them one time I don't have to tell them again. You know what I mean? And now there's companies out there that are fantastic to train people. Um, you know, let them go train them. You know what I mean? Let them go get all like, you know, we don't have time for that, is my opinion. You know, when you start out, we got to get that money. We got to get going because we're burning money. And so you need to get competent people that have already been through the sales process. So Citywide's got really amazing assessments that will lay out, like, you know, hey, this is a good candidate. He hits all of the marks. You know, now does that mean the person's gonna be perfect? No, it's still just like I said, you're still meeting the representative. You don't know actually if they're gonna put it in. But I'm telling you, the the probability that they're gonna work out it is your the delta is increased dramatically. It's it's incredible. So you've got to follow those systems, and uh, if you know, and that's another cool thing about the franchise system is like, man, you've got all these people that want to help you, and you'll have all of these franchisees that will uh you can just man, you can just reach out to just hundreds of people and get have them help you. Hey, interview this guy for me, give me your opinion, you know, and um uh but but full following the system, not trying to recreate it. And I think that that's why we did so well in Memphis is because I never bucked anything. I I just said, yes, sir. If they said jump 10 feet, I'm gonna jump 10 feet, you know. And uh and we didn't try to recreate the wheel. We just you know, uh, we just did exactly what we were told, and we grew by $1.5 million every our first year. We opened, we did 1.5 and then 1.5 added on top of that every single year. And um, and then like recently, as we start getting bigger, you know, we're we're you're you learn more, and um, you know, and it's just amazing to see the machine just start really just cranking, you know, it is it's super exciting. So now I haven't got to talk to uh let me see if I say this right. Bashar.

SPEAKER_03 25:32

I feel like uh you've got Bashar and Kunal on as well. Um I'm not sure if if either of them are in a place with work that they can come off and introduce themselves. Um, but if you guys can, I know that you both are there and potentially have some questions, so feel free to jump off. Mike, I mean.

SPEAKER_06 25:54

Hi Scott, um this can you guys hear me? Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 25:58

Yes, we can.

SPEAKER_06 26:00

Excellent. Uh this is Bashar, and uh I am uh um I am uh exploring the uh a territory in Southern California. Um I'm picking up my son from school, that's why I'm in the car and that's why my camera is off. But uh uh lovely uh uh hearing from you and you know listening to uh listening to your story.

SPEAKER_04 26:23

Nice to meet you, Bashar. I'm from Big Bear Lake, California. You know where that's at?

SPEAKER_06 26:28

Yes, okay.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Yes, very good. Very cool. Well yeah, well thank you. If you have any questions, let me know.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

So um, Rich, I know I thought I saw your mic off if you wanted to go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

Yeah, so Scott, this has been all been great. How is your just a quick question, two quick questions? How does your role change throughout your tenure at at Citywide? So, what did the first you know 12 to 18 months look like? And then growing, obviously, you had some pretty rapid growth. What did that look like then and thereafter with respect to your role specifically, going from maybe in the weeds to a little bit more ownership, or what what how did that look what did that look like?

SPEAKER_04 27:20

So, which this is what I thought was really fantastic. So they have a uh a roadmap that you get when you start out. So it's like uh, and it's all based off of revenue. So, like when you hit X amount of, you know, in the very beginning, you and two other sales executives are out there, you guys are hitting the streets, you know, crushing it. And the moment you get a certain amount of monthly revenue, then it's like, okay, now you're going to hire this person, and then you hire that role, and then um, and then as you keep on chugging along, you grow, grow, grow, and then all of a sudden you hire another one. And at that point, you know, you're you're you're just totally in the weeds, you're doing all of the work, you're doing all the sales, you're doing all the operations, you're doing accounting, you're doing everything. You literally, so I don't know if Jeff Otto still does this, but when I got started, he handed us like 14 hats. Adrian, does he still do this? Dude, it was hilarious. No, but he handed us great.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

I wish we did. I don't know. I I if there's one thing I'd love to bring back, I wish it was the hats.

SPEAKER_04 28:30

Dude, bring back the hats because I'll tell you this, it's a great visual representation. You've got so what I did was the hats correlated with the growth. Okay. So on one side of my office, I had all my hats, okay? And my goal in my brain was I'm gonna get every one of those hats to the left side of this room. And I would go and I'd make my hire and I'd pull that hat off. And each hat had like bookkeeper, one hat would say sales executive, uh, director of operations, general manager, dude. And I was growing, growing, growing, and I was snagging hats and throwing them off. And it's fantastic because you start, you know, delegating and elevating, you start handing off those things, and you know, you start getting to a point where it's like, okay, you're really now the you know, uh you're you've you you're at a spot where you're able to, you know, now just use your brain and start directing traffic. And that's you know, and that's uh some people I've found is kind of funny, some people struggle with delegating, and you know, everybody's got to be honest with themselves. If if you know, I I look at people that are control freaks and I don't get it, man. I don't understand why people would want to, you know, do all this extra, you know, like uh you know, I want to have other people get in there and help me get it done. And um, so you have to be able to delegate and and you know, train people properly, take the time. Because here's the thing, what you learn is I would the first couple of times I did it, I got somebody in, I moved that hat over and I didn't train them properly. And I was like, oh, I messed up. And so now when I would before I'd move that hat over, I would put so much time into like really training them well, and then like when I know that they're good, then I'd move that hat over and I'd be moving on to my next thing. And that was my goal, you know. And uh I used to have a lot of fun, is like we would put in our office, we had a bunch of empty offices because in the beginning it's like you and two other people. So uh we had a bunch of empty offices, and I would put the revenue number, monthly revenue on the door, so like it, you know, and then it would be like FSM, you know, and so like we would, you know, we'd we'd like get all excited to get that higher and stick somebody there, and so um, but yeah, that's kind of how it is. It's in the beginning, you're just in the weeds, you know. For the first two years, man, you're just trying to get to break even. You just gotta push hard, get to break even. Then once you get that baby going, then it's like you start bringing in more staff, and then you know, but once you hit that, you know, my my time was the eight to ten million, is when it was like I finally really got relief. It's like, you know, I got relief, and I can, you know, really then just start kind of guiding it.

SPEAKER_07 31:20

Okay, a quick question, that's Scott.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Uh I I know uh this kind of franchise you have to work with uh uh um service providers, right? Vendors or contractors as you may want to call them, right? Or subcontractors as you want to call them. So what's uh what has been your experience like dealing with them? Where have you seen challenges? What is what has been the biggest challenge uh dealing with these vendors or service providers that you have to uh work with from time to time?

SPEAKER_04 31:47

So the same thing I was telling you about with hiring people in the beginning and hiring talent, I would have done that same, I would I would have put in that same scrutiny into contractors. Man, a bad contractor will cause you so much pain, it's brutal, you know. And um, if you follow the citywide system, they they you know, and weed out the the ones that aren't gonna do well, uh, it really does save you a lot. And so I would say, you know, man, like when you get great contractors, they are you know little gems. I mean, they're they're so happy because here's the thing the contractor gets the same benefit. There's not a lot of companies that like everyone wins, and what I mean by that is this if you go to McDonald's or I don't know, so I'll make up some other company, but like um somebody's not winning in that equation. Either the customer's not winning because they're maybe not getting a great product, or maybe the employees not winning because they're not getting paid well, or the contractor's not getting paid well, um, or we wouldn't be getting paid well. In this scenario, what's fantastic is it really is a win-win-win. The customer wins because they're getting fantastic service. They have no, they have all of their facility needs are met with one point of contact. Their pain and frustration is over with. They're able to now finally do their job. So the customer wins, they're paying good market price, they're not paying some crazy inflated price. They have somebody that's there to manage it for them. The contractor wins because they get to do what they do best is whatever that job is. A plumber wants to do plumbing, he doesn't want to talk to customers, he doesn't want to deal with invoicing, he does, he just wants to get paid each month and he wants to go on to the next job. And so we're able to do what we're best at, sales and management. And so it's a it's a win-win-win, and that's the coolest part. But yes, I would say putting the scrutiny on the contractors in the beginning, finding really good contractors and taking your time uh is is key, you know, and holding them accountable. The beauty of it is this, you know, they're a business owner, so I'm not gonna, I'm not, they're not my employee, I'm not gonna sit here and and baby them, oh sweetums, let me help you. No, it's like, dude, you're a business owner, take care of your work, uh, do your job, and we're all gonna be great. And uh, and that's the beauty of it, is like you're not you don't have employees. You're like, they're not your employees, so like you can just tell them what needs to get done, and there is no fluff, you know, it's very easy. And uh, if they don't do a good job, we'll replace them, you know. And uh, and and they and my relationship with our contractors is fantastic, you know. Over time, when you start out, you're gonna have the ones that you know, things are gonna happen. That's just life. But like, um, you know, our our culture with our contractors is awesome. Like, they when they see a citywide phone number call, dude, they're picking it up quick. They know money's on the line, you know, and like and uh not to like toot our own horn, but like we've got uh uh I had a guy yesterday that picked up because we had all this like snow and ice. Um, I don't know if you guys know this, uh, but uh really bad weather. And uh, but like um, you know, we're gonna do probably six to seven hundred thousand dollars worth of snow removal in three days. That's crazy. And so our contractors, dude. When I call them, dude, they'll be talking to their mom, they're gonna hang up on their mom, they're gonna answer my phone, you know, and uh so that's the cool thing is when they see that number popping on from anyone at Citywide, they know, dude, we are going to get at it. And that's the cool thing is like, you know, our customers who could not find anybody to do this snow insulting, they call us and dude, it's done quick, you know. And so, you know, if you're the contractor, Richard, and let's say you're working with Citywide and you're doing 80 grand a month with me, and then you got this little uh clinic over here that is you've never done business with, and they uh they're calling you, and you got to choose Citywide, who's gonna pay you fantastic, and it's gonna be quick, and you got a relationship and you're doing so much monthly with them, uh, or this little clinic, you know who's gonna go first. You know what I mean? And that's what's cool. It gives us it gives us leverage, it gives us relationships, it gives us really quick response times that we're able to uh to take care of our customers. So when our customers say, you know, hey, the plumber will be there at three, yeah, he will be there at three. You know, uh, I'm doing so much work with him, he, you know, uh he better. And so that's kind of a cool thing. It's a great relationship deal.

SPEAKER_05 36:28

Scott, the snowman Romero, I love it. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

Uh ice in my veins.

SPEAKER_05 36:34

Ice in the veins. Uh another, another quick question uh related to revenue growth. So, I mean, what is the typical, what is the typical time frame from meeting to contract to close? And then on top of that, I mean, what, you know, what metrics are you are there in place for your current sales executives? Are you are you hitting, you know, weekly goals? I know it's a lot of it's activity driven, but do you have um kind of specifics you're looking for to drive that growth in tandem with the deal size and all that stuff?

SPEAKER_04 37:02

Yep, yeah. So yeah. So they and that's kind of a neat thing too, is they've got the, you know, every company has a formula for success. So like uh, and it has a sales formula. Every it doesn't matter. Every company is the same, they all have it if they've figured it out. You know, my dental office is uh very simple. It's you know, uh we've gotta we've gotta take about $400,000 of proposed treatment. And I know that we're gonna probably close about $200,000 each month. So we have to have a pipeline, and that's what we manage that, and that's how we do it. Well, citywide's no different. It's uh they they've said they've figured it out, they've figured out the sales process, and you know, the there's two different types. You know, some sales cycles are a little bit slower, you know. Um, the more like janitorial building maintenance side is a little bit slower. Um, and then there's things that are quicker, you know, window washing or carpet cleaning or whatever like that. Those are quick, quick sales cycles, but you know, it's um roughly sales cycles like uh 90 days or so. We keep that 90-day pipeline. But I mean, you know, I get customers all the time from two years ago that will hit us up and want to move forward, you know, and so uh, but it's it they do they provide you with these metrics, they provide you with the sales formula, and it's like it's it's very simple. It's like if you put in the work and you do X amount of activity, and then you get X amount of appointments and get those, and then you close X per you know, percentage, you're gonna hit this number, and if you hit that number, then we're gonna continue the growth, and then that's how you can kind of reverse engineer it to know what your growth is gonna be like. And um, and you know, and Citywide's got a lot of great data that that we get that we just and that that's really where where I'm at now is I just sit there and look at data of seeing, you know, how to interpret it of what you know what is our next three to six months gonna be. And that's a cool, that's a cool deal.

SPEAKER_03 39:07

Scott, I'm gonna read some questions from Kunal. He's having hard a hard time with his microphone. One of them was related to, you know, any uh key roles that you would like to improve to or adjust to achieve better results. And I think you kind of touched on that with going back and hiring your A players versus your B and C. Um, but he's wondering if you could share what process or strategies have played the biggest role in your business's success. What would you attribute those things to?

SPEAKER_04 39:38

Um I would say, you know, I read this book. Uh I'm not a football guy, but uh Nick Sabin from Alabama, I think everybody knows him, right? Um, he was talking about always recruiting. And in his book, he was just like, you can't like every day he put in multiple hours of recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. And uh I started that a while back ago, and that really did help me is consistently recruiting and like like I've already got a bench of people that I already, you know, that are perfectly happy with their jobs. I am constantly going after them. I mean constantly. So I would say that, you know, uh making sure that you are getting out in the community, finding out these people that are doing a great job, and then following those citywide assessments. You know, that's that's the key. I I can man, there's so many cut employees that I've brought on that were like, oh, they failed horribly in all the assessments, but man, they're good. I mean, they were great, oh, they're fantastic, and then I bring them on and there's a big old flop. And I'm like, oh man, you know, I should have just listened. So um, you just following the citywide systems and uh and that's that's it, is uh, but yeah, constantly recruiting is has been a big deal. I've been doing that, you know, a lot lately.

SPEAKER_03 41:09

Awesome. Thank you. You know, in case um I think Boshar, you might have been the only one that didn't hear this. So I want to call it back out because I think there's some incredible goals that Scott mentioned. But eight years in doing 13 million, and I believe you said in the next six years your goal is to get to 45. And that's just phenomenal. And I love that mindset and I love that growth trajectory and want to continue to cheer you on. But I'm curious to know like, what do you have to achieve this year to stay on track? What are your key success factors this year to make that goal happen for you and you get a little closer to that by the end of the year?

SPEAKER_04 41:46

Yeah. So we did so we, and I think everybody does it. Um, but you know, we do quarterly off-site meetings every quarter, and then we do yearly planning meetings. And so uh in 2025 in December, we sat down and said, like, all right, you know, what is 26 look like? Uh, we factored in all of our, you know, what do we think we're gonna lose? And we factored in uh everything that we believe was going to get us to getting to 2026's win. And uh, and what's really great is I've got it, you know, really spelled out. I mean, we've got uh we just hired a really good sales manager, we we hope. Uh so I he I think he's gonna turn out great. And um, having a sales manager and really driving that sales engine is gonna be key. Uh, but I think, you know, I think we set our goals low this year, and I think that we'll, you know, the amount of people we have on our team, I think we will blow past it. You know, 45 million by 2032 is uh it's going to happen. And it's uh and it's uh it's not from it's not like a pie in the sky, like I've already got it all laid out. We know exactly what it's gonna be like. I know that you know how big the company's gotta be. I know what you know what you know, we will man, 45 million dollars. I'm gonna have 2% market share. Wow. 2%. That's crazy. You know, there's so much out here. Like this is this is ridiculous. How dude, it's I mean, I have opportunity on every corner. I drive down the street, I'm like, oh my goodness, like there's just so much, I can't get all of it, you know. And so, like, you know, to think like when I say it's gonna be a hundred million dollars, and that's that's with also knowing that like you know, I'm gonna lose stuff, you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna keep these customers forever. And um, you know, so you just gotta grow past it, you know, and and um uh but you know, I I like it, you know, it is exciting to see what this thing will be. And man, we're we're still babies, we're babies, you know. We're just you know, uh, and that that excites me, man. It's just so fun to see, you know, citywide, citywide's a baby frame. Franchise. You know, we're we're young. We're young franchise, you know, and uh this thing's gonna be, you know, we're gonna be a five, six million dollar company very quickly, very quickly. And uh, and that that's something fun to be with. And I'll tell you this, man, uh kind of jumping off subject, you know, I was in the Air Force, I was in, I went to Afghanistan, I did my my time, you know, I've got more brotherhood in citywide than I did in the military, which is crazy to say. Like, uh, you know, after the um now during when I was in the air force, yeah, there was a it was great brotherhood, but when you got out, people just kind of went their own ways. And what I think about citywide, what's really cool is the culture's awesome. I mean, you you know, that's something that they nailed, man. They're they scrutinize really well of who they pick, and they, you know, um, they if one of you guys get lucky enough to make it all the way to Jeff Odo, good for you. You've done something right. Um, but you know, the selective process is very uh very hard, and there's a reason for it. And you know, it's because you you want to have great people, but man, like when I travel to different cities, and I'll look up who who owns that that market and and and reach out to them, you know. And it's like, you know, in convention every year is fantastic. You get to meet just really great like-minded people, and uh that's that's fun right there.

SPEAKER_03 45:25

Thanks, Scott, and congratulations!

SPEAKER_04 45:27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Uh Scott, thank you so much. Uh so a quick question. Um, looking at your growth ambition uh vis-a-vis uh the uh the competition, would you want to say something about competition and how you deal with competition and how uh what gives you that kind of advantage uh over competitors in the market?

SPEAKER_04 45:47

So, yeah, this goes to that um uh I think it's called the blue water theory, right? Is uh, you know, you've got all these sectors where in you know, in this that book, I guess it says like basically there's uh you know a feeding frenzy of these markets. Let's just say uh janitorial or uh HVAC or whatever, and they're all sitting there, these sharks are all eating the same spot, right? And there's just blood in the water. And on this other side, I'm probably saying the story completely wrong, but you want to be in a spot where you're an island on your own, right? You got to be away from everything, and that's what we've created is a moat. You know, it's a it's a completely different business model. We're not a janitor company, we're not an HVAC company, we're not a parking lot company, we're a sales and management company in the building maintenance industry. And we're here to provide one thing, okay? Provide peace in mind, one point of contact for all of your building maintenance needs. And so that is something that other people can't do. You know, uh, everybody else is either uh an HVAC company or a plumbing company, or you know what I mean? And or if you're a CBRE that can manage their facility, well now you gotta pay $100,000 a year just to have them on your property, where well we come in and you're not even having to do that, you know. And so uh I don't want to say there's no competition, you know, that would be incorrect. Uh, but man, you know, my market, they're just angry in competition, man. I mean, I'll blow them out of the water. I just our our professionalism, when we go up and we see these people that are bidding up against us, um, it's just night and day, and we're we're able to provide is just a it's a totally different thing, you know. And um, you know, and the client gets to make a choice. It's like, okay, uh, yeah, do I want to deal with 25 vendors uh or just deal with one and they've got a fantastic reputation and you know it's pretty easy, you know? And so uh, so like, you know, and when citywide comes in, people, people, it's awesome. Like, people be like, oh man, you know, they know they got competition because we're able to be in, we have great market rates, we're right in there with everybody else. Um, we're not the cheapest, we're not the highest, we're perfectly right in the middle, and um, and the customer will have, you know, they're building on autopilot at that point.

SPEAKER_05 48:13

Scott, what percentage of what percentage of your business is compromised of like janitorial services versus OS versus even the small uh supplies? Like what percent what breakdown do you have?

SPEAKER_04 48:25

Yeah, so I'm at 70. My supplies, I'm not good at it. That's actually a big initiative that we're doing this year. Uh, we we've been we we have stunk on supplies. I'm at like 2%, one to two percent on supplies. So that's a huge opportunity. I mean, it's huge. Um, but uh about 70 JS, 30, 40 OS, it depends on the month. Um, and uh, but it's roughly around 40 OS. And um, you know, and and that's uh that's the you know, the fun part is the OS is fun, it's easy, you know. But that the you know, and really it's recurring services too. So like any, you know, it's not just JS, it's like you know, not janitorial stuff. It's like you know, we do HVAC PMs that are monthly recurring. We put dude, I try and put everything on monthly recurring, everything. So like Tesla, yeah, monthly landscaping, uh pest control services are monthly recurring, monthly HVAC PMs. Uh I mean, we shove it all on there on on monthly as much as we can. Uh, because I want to just sell it once. I don't want to keep coming back to them be like, hey, you want to get your windows washed? Like, I want to sell it one time, get it knocked out, and then come to them and be like, Hey, we're doing your windows this month on this day. Thank you. And we move on, you know, and um, because I I I just want to sell it one time, and uh, and and the customers love that too, man, because their their PL doesn't go all crazy, you know? There's a flat line PL, they got their landscaping, their janitorial, their HVAC, their window washing, they're you know, I mean, uh, they've got it all. And then when they got it all with us, we're married. Why would you, you know, they're not gonna get rid of me.

SPEAKER_07 50:06

You know, we're we're best buds, you know.

SPEAKER_03 50:19

Right, y'all. I don't want to keep you too long if you have any other questions, otherwise give you a few minutes back, but we want to make sure you get everything answered.

SPEAKER_07 50:34

Can you mind if I have one more? I'll just I'll just let it run.

SPEAKER_05 50:36

So sorry to take up the full hour, but so 2032, 45 million. I mean, what is the in your mind, what is the what is the end goal for you? Like, what does that look like as far as your business for yourself?

SPEAKER_04 50:51

I don't I do not want to sell, I want to keep this thing and I want to pass it down to my kids. That's it, you know. I want I want them to have the opportunity, if they earn it, to be able to take it over. And uh that is huge for me. So I would love to pass it down to my kids and uh and just create some big legacy, you know. And that's awesome, that's my goal. I like uh I and honestly, like if I was offered a ridiculous amount of money for my company, I wouldn't do it. I what would like what would I do? You know what I mean? Like, I don't know what I would do with my time. I don't know what I would do with my time. That would, you know, this really does engage me a lot. You know, I'm very engaged. I I feel uh that you know I'm able to uh I really do feel like I'm in my element with it, you know, and I I really enjoy it. You know, like you know, I enjoy business. I like business and I like um I like working with people and I feel like we're making a difference. And I I think it's it's fantastic. But uh yeah, my end goal is to, you know, uh I think anybody that says that you know, we do this in my, you know, we want to be wealthy, like that's I mean, nobody's gonna argue that. Like, want to be wealthy, but we also want to have purpose, you know. And um, in the beginning, you're gonna think like, okay, I want to just make good money, you know, and but like, you know, I could have done that with my wife's dental office, and we could have just that would have been easier, you know. Um, but we uh we wanted to build something bigger that we could, you know, really scale and then hand down to the kids one day if they deserve it, you know, um, and teach them how to fish. You know, it's cool to own an actual system that you're able to teach your kids, you know, and and um you know, and that's that's really that's really it, man. It's like I want to build something that's bigger than me that I can, you know, you know, be at when I'm old, you know, and you know, and uh and see that will when I pass away that that thing's just still cranking, you know.

unknown 52:55

Love it.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

Okay, we got one more question. Um, I think you've kind of answered this a little bit, so I'm gonna just give you what try to direct you in what I think that um Canal's asking. So, you know, you've you're at 13 million. What do you think the biggest challenge was to get to let's say 2 million and then to four? Like when you think about the journey, do you remember, okay, this was the biggest, if I could change one thing, this is what it would be. Um, and then you know, he asked as well, like, what do you think the next the biggest challenges will be from taking it to 13 to let's say 20?

SPEAKER_04 53:36

So uh the the beginnings of grind. I mean, anyone that's gonna tell you that it's easy is incorrect. It's very, it was very difficult for me. Um, you know, it's I was you know, I was putting in 60 hour weeks, 70 hour weeks. I I had a cot that was in my office and I slept in my office for the first two years, uh, multiple days. And um, I worked, uh, you know, I was out prospecting working all Monday through Friday, Saturday and Sunday uh were admin days. I would not waste a Monday through Friday doing admin anything. So, like all my, you know, because I was like, man, I don't want to build, I don't want to take 12 45 years to build something to 10 million bucks. I want to get it done. I want to, I'd rather work hard really quick for a couple of years and get this thing cash flow positive. So the first to get, you know, first couple million bucks is uh, you know, you're not making anything, you know, you're just you're you're you're breaking even, you're getting getting the bills and you know, getting everything paid. Um, so that's and it's a lot to juggle when you're growing it, you know. It's uh it's a lot to juggle like all of the different hats. And um so that was a challenge, you know, which but that's with everything. If you open up a pizza shop, you're gonna struggle for the first couple years. I don't, you know, it's so you can pick your you can pick your pain, right? And so um, you know, that was a struggle, and then you know, uh, and then transitioning from we were at a you know, around like the five to like getting to the 10 million, you're kind of like individuals that are um on a team, yeah. Like you'll see like you'll have little silos of people, is what I felt like it was, and then you're transitioning that from when you're going to that five to ten, you're transitioning it to uh uh individuals on a team, not or a team of individuals, you know what I mean? And you are really trying to build now a team, a cohesive team that's working together, where in the past they kind of were probably working separately, you know, and so now you're to scale it, you need people to really build a team. And um, and that's kind of a transition phase, is like, and then now you've got enough money at that point to really actually get some good talent, get good talent on the team. Um, you know, and you start really trying to look at like who's your director of operations, your GMs, and all that. And um, and then you know, and I'm talking to me in five years, I'll I'll let you know how 30 million is. You know, that's gonna be a whole nother set of challenges, but we'll figure it out, you know.

SPEAKER_02 56:20

Love it. Thank you so much, Scott. Thank you for your time. Thank you for um, you know, it's just giving everybody. I feel like it's always an inspirational hour. I always get fired up listening from you. And so I know that everyone else on the call enjoyed it. If you guys have any questions um for Scott later on, just please reach out to me or Savannah and we can connect you with Scott on a one on one basis. So thank you guys for spending some time with us this afternoon. Thank you guys.

SPEAKER_07 56:50

Thank you all. Bye, everyone.

SPEAKER_02 56:53

Bye guys, thank you all.