From the Yellow Chair
From the Yellow Chair
The Power of Processes in your Business
The difference between a thriving home service business and one where the owner works endless hours isn't marketing or sales tactics—it's solid operational systems. Terry Nicholson, industry veteran and visionary behind Praxis S10, joins Crystal to reveal the hidden power of processes in creating sustainable growth.
Terry pulls back the curtain on what he calls "the hero trap"—that addictive feeling of being needed for every decision that eventually becomes a prison, preventing both business growth and personal freedom. "You're no longer building a company," Terry explains, "You're building a job that you can't replace yourself from." This resonates deeply with contractors caught in the daily grind of firefighting instead of strategic growth.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Terry's practical approach to implementation. Rather than overwhelming business owners with complex system overhauls, he advocates starting small: "Pick one thing that's going to have a major impact on your business and focus on that." He shares a powerful case study of a company that went from four consecutive months of losses to earning $183,000 in profit through implementing just two targeted processes.
The discussion takes a fascinating turn when exploring how processes intersect with hiring practices. Terry outlines his three-step framework for leadership success—hire the right people, educate them properly, and hold them accountable—while emphasizing the importance of finding team members whose values align with the company. As he puts it, "If you try to hire a duck and attempt to turn that duck into an eagle, what do you think the probability of success is going to be?"
For contractors looking to escape the daily grind while building more profitable businesses, this episode delivers actionable wisdom from someone who's helped countless home service companies make the transition from chaos to freedom through systems. The real question becomes: are you ready to work ON your business rather than IN it?
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We'll see you next time, Lemon Heads!
What's up, lemonheads? Welcome to another episode of From the Yellow Chair. I am Crystal Rodden Solo today in our virtual lemonade stand. It is hot and humid here in Texas today, and probably where my guest lives as well, so cannot wait for you guys to get to listen to today's call. And if you've ever listened to me, you know I say operations are what really grows businesses. Marketing just gets to be a fun part of it. It's definitely important, but operations are where it's at. So we really felt like someone joining our podcast to talk about operations and the importance of those things would really help you guys know how you can grow your business. So grab your lemonade, set your AirPods, let's sip some lemonade, all right? So, terry, this is not your first time on the From the Yellow Chair podcast.
Speaker 2:That is accurate, and it's always fun to come and visit with you and see your smiling, cheery face.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much. We appreciate it. You know I have really come to know and respect what you have really built. Personally Love listening to your stories. This is definitely not your first rodeo in the home service industry. With all of the cool things that you have done. I know you've been a business builder. You're a great speaker, You're actually an in-depth into the home service contracting hall of fame and the visionary behind Praxis S10, which was very impactful for Mick Williams, which a lot of my listeners know. That's my family's home company, as I say. But Praxis S10 is really doing some great things with strategic mentoring and the training platform that's really dedicated to home service companies.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for those kind words and it's an honor to be in this industry. The people are just such good people and they work so hard and they provide such a valuable service to the industry that they serve. It's just, it's a great industry and I love it and still having fun every day.
Speaker 1:Well, good, good that it's not really work when we're having fun. Huh, that is true. But I know that you're really passionate about helping contractors build businesses that don't rely on, like the constant hustle either, but really have clear, repeatable processes, and so today I thought we would kind of dive into that. When I was kind of dreaming up topics, I was like man, I really love to lean into operations, because really a lot of what Lemon Seed does for our contractors is we come up with great offers, but a lot of times it requires your technicians or your plumbers to be able to flip leads. It requires you to understand how much room you have, how much margin do you have to be able to offer this financing offer and things like that. So I just thought we could really dive into how that structure really can help create success. So you know, I just thought I'd start with you know, why do so many business owners overlook, really, the importance of solid processes in their business?
Speaker 2:Well, it's probably the same reason. You and I overlook the processes. When we first started our business I mean, crystal, remember those early days when you first launched Lemon Seed your focus was probably on survival instead of scalability In the initial phases of a business. You're wearing all the hats. You're doing the sales, you're doing the marketing, the operations, the counting, and it's usually faster to just do the work rather than document systems and procedures on. Here's how it should be done. But without those processes in place, you're going to have chaos.
Speaker 2:And now the owner of the company or leaders how big, depending on how big the company is obviously now you're a professional firefighter and, uh, you, you know, as a firefighter, you know it's kind of flattering actually, because it's kind of heroic and I mean you see all these benefits of being a fireman today and there should be, because these people risk their lives. But we kind of, as business owners, take on that and it feels good to be the problem solver, and then all of a sudden it becomes a trap and it's a to be the problem solver and then all of a sudden it becomes a trap. And it's a trap because the business starts growing. But as the business grows, the fires start getting bigger and the fires become more frequent, and now you're jumping from fire to fire and you're no longer building a company. You're building a job that you can't really replace yourself from, and everything revolves around you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You know my dad told me this when I first went over to work at McWilliams. You know he's like, hey, you know Trey's working in the business right now so I can work on the business, and then when Trey takes over, he'll move to working on the business instead of in the business. And even right now, as Lemon Seed grows, emily and I my partner and I we've been trying to figure out like how do we get more out of the doing? And I'm not going to lie, it does feel good to be the one that can solve things. I have contractors right now that they kind of enjoy being needed, but they also want some freedom and I'll tell them, like what is your process? So what is your turnover process? What is your process?
Speaker 1:When a person gets denied financing or whatever, the process that relates to marketing kind of pops up, and a lot of times it's that well, kind of a woe is me story, like well, everybody needs me and I'm still working 15 hours a day and stuff like that. So you're right, I think sometimes you kind of want to be the hero, but the important part here is like literally working yourself out of a daily job. So the next little step that I have here is why do businesses still like hit great growth? So I get this about marketing all the time too. Man, I'm a six million dollar company, crystal, and never paid a penny in Google advertising, so I know I hear that you probably hear the same thing. Well, I've hit this far, I've made it this far, with not really documenting my processes. Why should I really implement a processes and procedure plan in my company?
Speaker 2:Well, I think that as a business grows, you've got to understand that every business owner has a different level of capability, and it doesn't make a right or wrong but one individual. They may be able to grow to $3 million just purely on their own initiative and talent. Another company may be $6 million, another company may be $9 million, but at some point in time every business owner reaches a ceiling where they can't go anymore just from their own pure effort, if you will and so everything is going to revolve around them. So when you hit that ceiling, you're stuck, and the only way out of getting unstuck and out of that rut is by having other individuals step in, and so you're actually. Your whole objective should be how can I work my way out of being, I guess, dependent upon this business? In fact, one of the sayings we have in this organization is we're trying to help individuals become independent and we're not necessary. We're just a. You know.
Speaker 1:We're there to help, we're there to assist if that's what they need yes, yes, and I I like the the idea of just coming to terms with the fact that some people now you're probably not going to agree with this, this might be a little, this might be a little cringy to you. Some people make everything overly processed right so they overcomplicate the issues. What I like to see is people when they you know, out of pain comes progress right A lot of times. So to me, a lot of times I like to see when contractors are experiencing things and then they create a solution and then they start implementing that solution. So, like, this whole idea of like sitting down and creating all of these processes at one time may not be ideal for everyone, but you know, the other thing that really stuck out that you said to me was you know, knowing what your strengths are as an owner and when you need to bring different people in was also a big thing.
Speaker 1:I know, like Trey, when at first, when he really Trey my brother from McWilliams when he really started you know, making waves and things I remember thinking does he know how to negotiate pricing on equipment? Like he's in there sounding like he knows what to talk about, and one day Trey was like I just had to start learning it, Like if I was going to be responsible for it. I just had to start learning it, and so you're very right, responsible for it, I just had to start learning it, and so you're very right. Like some people come to you with better knowledge and understanding of different aspects of the business, that definitely you know it requires them to kind of get assistance at different levels. Three million, six million, 20 million requires different support, I assume.
Speaker 2:Now, you made that comment that a lot of people go overboard on processes, and I think that's a fair statement, because it doesn't always take a whole bunch of processes to change a person's position. I mean, I'll share with you a little situation that took place over the last couple of months is we have a client that was, you know, had very rapid growth, and that had very rapid growth, and they're very rapid growth. Sometimes growth does not equal success, and so they had tremendous growth and they're a bigger company than the average company out here, but they're not making any money. And they came seeking some assistance and help and so for four months in a row they had lost money. We started working with them and I identified that there were two major challenges inside their business. One was in the contact center, one was in the selling service technician side of their business. And you know, sometimes it takes someone from the outside to just look at it and go what are you guys thinking here? And you know, just help me understand what you're thinking and it's so obvious to someone on the outside. But they're caught in the minutiae every day. And we said you know what? This isn't a big issue here. And he said, it's a big issue to me because I've lost, you know, x thousands of dollars, which was a six figure number X thousands of dollars, which was a six figure number. So when you're losing that amount of money, it is a big issue, obviously. And I said, well, let's put this one process in place right here for the contact center manager, and that's the only thing I want to focus on. Just focus on this with your client care specialist, put this in place for the service manager and have him do this with the selling technicians and just do this and just do this right now.
Speaker 2:And the exciting thing is in month number. Now they started, I said, four months ago. So in month one they still lost some money, all right, but in the next month they at least got right back to neutral and in April they made over $92,000. In May they made over $183 million, or not million $183,000. I got my own self excited here, all right. And so back to your point. That's measurable progress in reasonable time. And they didn could say. One advice is and Crystal basically said it, I'm just elaborating on it is pick one thing that's going to have a major impact on your business and focus on that. You don't have to be working on 10 processes at once. Just work on the ones that will drive the huge profitability to your organization, or the improved customer service, or whatever the issue is you're striving to solve.
Speaker 1:I you know I use this analogy too all the time. I'm a big analogy girl. But, like you know, you eat an elephant and a cookie the same way, one bite at a time. And so you know you can make good moves just by being intentional about making moves consistently and strategically, without overwhelming yourself with it. And that does lead us right into, like, topic number two, which is building with intention, not with reaction. So like basically talking about the shift from reactive to proactive building of your business, and I think that's where processes really shine. One way that I've really seen that grow is with companies that are opening other locations, like other branches, if you will. So you know they have their core, then they're going to move up, you know, an hour away, and open a location, and so, because they have things kind of rocking and rolling at their home location, they're able to really implement things, at least on a foundational level, right into that new location. So what do you think are some signs that maybe a business might be operating in reaction mode all the time?
Speaker 2:Well, I think, if you look at the owner or the leadership team, if they're always tired, if they're always worn out, if they're always weary, you know, and maybe if they're even making statements like I'm getting burned out, or maybe the service is inconsistent and the management team feels overwhelmed, or they're even making statements like I'm getting burned out, or maybe the service is inconsistent and the management team feels overwhelmed or they're missing deadlines, it's almost a sure, guaranteed, fired sign that they're not operating with systems and procedures. I mean, it's always an end result on why the emotions, why the feelings, why the actions are where they're at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, you know, I think about this sometimes, of emotional intelligence, has been something that we've been discussing in my group for women at HVACR. I run some discussion groups sometimes with them and, you know, trying to decipher if people are just emotional people in general, where everything is on fire every day all the time, or is that a true reaction that you need to focus on. But yeah, I think you can look at contractors sometimes and see that I had a contractor from Florida and he had just onboarded with a new CRM. Many of you will know what CRM that probably was and was. Literally, I mean having a meltdown, like I can't do it, it's going to tank my business and this was the biggest mistake I've ever made. It took all my money. I mean just very much in a reactionary emotional state and I just had to kind of bring him back around and say, listen, we just need to start one piece at a time, like let's fix the accounting side with the CRM, then we can fix the you know back history pieces being integrated correctly. And then, but moving forward, like from today forward, make your CSRs do it right. So we know from today forward the information is put in correctly.
Speaker 1:But again it was so overwhelming to them that I'm like every everything was a problem. Then you know they couldn't. They were having trouble getting some equipment on a truck that day. So I mean he was just in full panic mode. So I 100% understand when you've got some emotional um things going on in a business, and not just from girls. Um, a lot of times men can be just as emotional. It just might come out more, as you know, anger, or you know, toughness, tough love type modes, but you know so. Do you think processes? Of course I know you think processes help make leaders make faster and better decisions. Have you seen where? Well, you gave a good example already where you saw people that just started implementing little things and it helped them make faster decisions? Do you notice a lot of indecisiveness with contractors when they are in this reaction mode or lack processes?
Speaker 2:Well, I think where the challenge becomes is when you lack processes. It actually reduces your ability to deal with the high payoff activities inside your business and you face this decision fatigue as a business owner. I'm sure you know it. I mean, I know it Probably every owner that's tuned in today. You know if you're in the home service business, you're going to face dozens, sometimes you know hundreds, of decisions that need to be made every single day and without having these systems in place, that means you've got to make a decision and you're starting from zero on every single decision that needs to take place. And you know that's why great leaders you know they've got to be able to make fast decisions. I mean one of the things that I think all owners of companies need to understand if you're going to be a great leader and drive a great, successful business, the number one thing you got to be able to do is establish priorities. What's the number one, most important thing that's going to have the greatest impact on the success of my business? The second thing is you're going to have to be able to execute with urgency around those priorities and if you have these little decisions that just keep popping up, where you've got to go make a decision for your team. You can't focus on working on the things that are going to drive the huge success.
Speaker 2:You know and I'll give you an example for this you know you're in the business, you know your brother's in the business, we're all in the business here. We know that we're going to feel hundreds, maybe thousands of phone calls a day, depending on the size of your business, and after we fill those calls we got to dispatch them to service technicians, Right, yes? And we also know there are going to be days when we have more calls than we could possibly dispatch. Know there are going to be days when we have more calls than we could possibly dispatch. And so you know as simple as it is. You know, in our company we've developed a priority dispatching. So when a client care specialist books a call, it is a signed one of seven numbers and it's pretty sophisticated One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and I'm being facetious when I say sophisticated numbers.
Speaker 2:When we book that call, it's either a priority one, a priority two or priority three. Now all the dispatcher needs to do is they need to look at the call board and if you don't establish that priority, they're always going to be running to the leaders and say how should I dispatch this? This client over here is screaming this. This client's screaming this. We got to go here first. We've got to go there first. Well, what happens if a client that is the squeaking the loudest is a priority five? Should we be seeing them over a priority one? Absolutely not so. If you set this priority up, just dispatch priority ones first. When they're done, dispatch priority two. When they're done, dispatch priority three. That dispatcher doesn't have to come and ask us how to dispatch these 100 calls for the day that decision's already been made. All you got to do follow the system system and it takes away the guesswork too.
Speaker 1:So, you know, and it's a simplistic approach to it, but it takes away the guesswork of them feeling like, oh, do I prioritize this one or this one? Like they're already labeled and it's everybody speaking the same language, right? So definitely a great way to like add in a process to help accomplish a common goal. Like, I just think that we can really complicate things.
Speaker 1:Again, another organization that I'm a part of, like man, it seems like lately we've really complicated every single step and I can be guilty of that, even at Lemonsy like overthinking it to the point of no return. And you're like man, this really, this really can not even not empower the team, but almost cripple the team when it gets that much deeper, you know, too deep for sure. So one thing that I love about what you're saying here is that processes are really for the whole team, right. Not just for the owner, not just for a manager, but for the whole entire team. And so you know, what do you think are some top tips for creating buy-in from your employees on, you know, implementation of some new processes or strategies to getting things done? Is there a secret?
Speaker 2:Well, I think we could talk about that topic for probably the next couple of days, but we probably don't have days there. So let me start with a simple analogy, all right, because you said you like analogies. You know, if you hire a duck and attempt to turn that duck into an eagle, what do you think the probability of success is going to be? Crystal? Oh I'm gonna say probably not very good. Okay, that's the right answer.
Speaker 2:All right, since you hesitated I thought I'd jump in and give you a little trick. No, it's not a trick. You know, if you tell a duck fly down there and pick that rabbit up and eat it, the duck's gonna go. I like that little fuzzy rabbit. You tell an eagle to fly down there and eat that rabbit, he's got no problem doing that whatsoever. So what's my point?
Speaker 2:My point is at Praxis S10, for example, we have a core principle called care, and care is one of our core principles. So when we're in the interview process, we've actually identified questions that can find out whether people meet our care core principles. And for us, care means we're interviewing people that are going to be competent, they're going to be committed and they're going to be coachable. And then we have a description and could go much deeper on what competent means, on what committed means, what being coachable means. But then we design these questions to bring that out.
Speaker 2:And at any point in the process when we're asking an applicant, if it becomes awareness that we feel, wait, this individual is not going to like feedback, this individual is not going to like when we sit down and say, hey, you're doing good, but here's where you can improve, then they're weeded out immediately. So we actually have a criteria to figure out whether people meet our core principle on day one. So what's the point I'm trying to get at? I think so many people try to hire the wrong individual and convert them after you've hired them. And an individual is not going to be any better than the first two weeks that they're your company. In fact, if you can't stand them in the first two weeks, then you probably ought to just admit the fact that you made a hiring mistake because they're not going to get any better.
Speaker 2:All right, yeah, and so the point is, if you want people to have buy-in, you got to hire the right people in the process, and I understand that may not help you as you go along, but you've got to start the process of recruiting and building the type of company you want. And the best way to do it is before they start, because the reality is, is every owner of a company or leader and I know you've got a lot of leaders that are tuned in today you only have three responsibilities. If you want to make your business really simple as a leader of your organization, first thing you got to do is hire the right people, and that's where our identifying their core principles right up front. Are they going to meet our core principle? So we've got to make sure we hire the right individual to meet our core principle. So we've got to make sure we hire the right individual. Once you hire that right individual, you've got these performance expectations or standards or what you want them to follow, and that's the procedures in the systems that you're recommending, meaning you probably have a uniform.
Speaker 2:Don't just criticize people when they come in looking bad. Have a poster right there on the wall this is the way our boots look. This is the way our belt looks, this is the way our pants are, this is the way our uniform works. And that's a process, as simple as that may be. And in the interview process, are you willing to wear our uniform? Are you willing to wear it every single day? And once that individual has made that commitment, now you can hold them accountable because you can say remember day one in the interview process we ask you are you willing to do this? You said you would. So there's now hold the people accountable. And then the third step is the accountability factor. All right. So step one hire the right people. Step two educate them to do what you want them to right? So, step one hire the right people. Step two educate them to do what you want them to do. And step three hold them accountable.
Speaker 2:And there's not one single problem If you're listening to this podcast today, or what do you call it, if you're listening to the Chief Lemonhead if you're tuned in today, listen to the Chief Lemonhead today, if you've got a problem in your business, there's not one problem that's not related to either. It's the wrong person. You didn't educate them to do what you wanted to do, or three. You're not holding them accountable and I challenge you to put yourself through that process and find out where the challenge lies well, I'm telling you that is very true.
Speaker 1:We are. We're on this kick right now of hiring um off of our core values. We've had core values but for some reason I had never thought to hire and fire based off of those. And that, just like I mean that I felt freedom with that because I was like that is exactly true. I always try to look inward like, did I set this person up for success or did this person set themselves up for success? So you know, there's lots of good feedback there about. You know, buy-in comes because people are active and want to be a part of your organization. Therefore they tend to adopt what's there.
Speaker 1:You always have like those old school people in my mind that really can rock the boat. But Trey told me this when we went to performance pay and we bought another company and all these things were going on and I was very I fretted my East Texas word. I fretted over what people thought and how they were going to respond and he told me he said listen, the ones that are not in our culture, that won't fit our culture, they're going to stick out like a sore thumb and they will eventually fall off or they will see that they stick out and shift their thinking to fall right in line. And it really did happen, like two or three guys that were negative from the get go, that we were looking for a reason sometimes to help them get out the door basically, um self-selected out of um of the organization because they realized that their negativity and their inability to adapt and their inability to um embrace some of the new cool things that we were doing, um was not just them being um not not being excited about it, they were being negative about it and it really um, it kind of took care of itself, right, but you're exactly right.
Speaker 1:Well, here's the next little step that I thought about, and this takes us from processes into profitability. So, no one's in, I don't know anyone I mean, I'm not actually, if I would think about it real hard but I don't know a lot of people who are in business just to be busy. Right, we're here to make money. Everybody started a heating or conditioning or plumbing company to make money, to get some freedom, to be able to make the big decisions. But you know, these processes really can impact their actual bottom line, and so have you seen some processes and systems and things that really can cause costly errors, or maybe how do they even measure the impact that these things are having?
Speaker 2:Well, I haven't seen processes that cost companies money. If they're the right processes, I mean processes are all designed to not only make the life of the leaders and owners much freer, but it's also designed to improve the profitability. I mean, for example, you know we have a checklist that we endorse. Then, depending on what type of equipment, you know, if it's a package unit, there's a checklist on a complete install. If it's a split system, there's a checklist on that. And what it's designed to do is really, it's really for the homeowner. And you know, if a homeowner buys a new system and they put out a lot of money and probably the majority of your clients are premium companies that believe in, you know, doing all the things that are above and beyond, which costs more money, and they probably believe in having high paid employees and nice trucks, nice uniforms and nice benefits and all these things that ultimately you have to pass those costs on to the homeowner. Well, when a homeowner pays a premium price and they come home excited to, you know, see their brand new system and they go to the thermostat and it doesn't work, well, you know they want to shoot you. Yeah, they're mad, yeah, they're really mad. So we've developed checklists that are really put in place to ensure that the installer doesn't miss one single detail. That is going to lead to an upset homeowner. Now, the advantage to that is we did it for the homeowner, but then we saw the residual effect of it, and the residual effect is we started seeing how installers stopped missing little details. They started doing more quality installs, because you can't say I did this and check it off if you didn't really do it.
Speaker 2:Now what we have is especially like in a training situation where most people probably tune in the day. If they're in the heating and air conditioning business, they have helpers as well working with the lead. Is that a fair assessment, crystal? Yes, okay, so we actually can use the checklist to actually help the helper start learning the business to actually become a lead as well.
Speaker 2:And then what can take place is, before that installer leaves the home, they could call the install manager and, especially if they're on one of these software programs where everybody has access to it, the installation manager can say hey, team, don't leave until I review this list, let me see your readings again. And they can review the readings before they even the install team leaves the home and if something doesn't look right, they can address the issue right there on the spot. And now we've headed off a callback, we've headed off an upset customer, we've improved the productivity of that company as well, and the installation team, and all that leads to making more money. So, checklist, you know it's. It's not about a. What's the word? I'm seeking a gotcha.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not about that. It's about a money making opportunity that makes everyone's life busy or easier. So we're not just being busy, we're busy making money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love that and I try to teach this to you on, like, even the CSR side, like I'm going to tie in a little marketing here in true crystal fashion but even things that help you make more money, like getting good email addresses, getting good cell phone numbers, so that when we need to drum up business as contractors, we have an actual treasure chest of valid emails, that we have good data in our CRM. So you're right, like these little checklists like did you get a cell phone number? Did you get an email? Did you verify the email? Those are not meant to catch a CSR slipping up one time. It's really meant to ensure that we have opportunities on the marketing side, as when we hit into a slow little rough patch or, you know, or a shoulder season for sure. So you know, I want to come back to one thing that you said as we kind of start wrapping up a little bit here is you know, I know one of your things that you've shared with me before is you know you've watched owners literally work themselves through processes and things to not being so owned by the business, right, like, take a real vacation, actually enjoy their weekend. So I just love your philosophy on that freedom through system, and so you know, I just think it's important, like implementing processes slowly but surely that's one thing that's come out of today's talk Slowly but surely implementing systems that second point, third point of that are beneficial to the whole team, not just to the managers or not just to the owners, but that also help you make more money and reduce costly errors.
Speaker 1:And you know what are you think? Maybe, how does that level of freedom being able to watch your business work without you there, how does that change the game for contractors? How have you seen that change the game for them?
Speaker 2:Well, are you talking specifically about the vacations?
Speaker 1:Are you talking about I mean, because you brought that up- yes, more like vacations, yes, but I think it's more about the mental ability to escape right or to actually enjoy vacation. I'm sure you've seen some contractors actually get to do that right.
Speaker 2:Well, since you brought up mental, then let's go down the mental road there. If you go there because I think there's a big transition that an individual has to take in their business mentally if they want to move into this freedom that we referenced there and see as a business owner and and let's face it, the majority of business owners that are tuned in today they probably got there because you worked for some other company. You became the best technician or the best installer, the best you know, call taker or whatever it is, and then you had this entrepreneurial seizure and you said I'm going to go out and I'm going to open my own business and I'm going apply my great skills and that's going to lead me to be a great business owner. And the first thing that, mentally, you're going to have to get over if you're going to build this great business is you got to forget that you're the best, because the reality is you don't want to be the best.
Speaker 2:If you want to be the best, then you probably need to keep working for someone else as a technician or as an installer. If you want to be the best business owner, then you're going to have to stand up and say I want to be the best business owner and as a business owner, you're not going to be rewarded by your ability to pick up the tools and read the gauges. If you're going to build a great big business, that's going to give you the freedom of time, so everything has to be now about helping the other people achieve the level of success that you had as a technician, as a call taker, as an accountant, as an installer, and now you get to demonstrate. Are you really good at taking your skills and imparting those into someone else who now works for you, and can you inspire them to do what they need to do every day, not because they have to, but because they want to?
Speaker 2:Oh, I love it and that comes right back to that hiring the right individual again. So you've got to get over that mental mindset that you know I'm Superman, I'm Wonder Woman, I can accomplish it all, because if you don't, you're always going to be stuck in that trap. And so there's the first shift that you've got to take place, because you've got to understand it's not about working harder, it's about working smarter. And you know, we've got another saying here inside our organization that a smart contractor makes mistakes but they learn from those mistakes and then they don't ever duplicate them, ever again. But there's actually a better way than being a smart contractor, and it's not by being a stupid contractor, but it's by being a wise contractor.
Speaker 2:Wise contractor, and a wise contractor goes out and finds someone who's already made all those mistakes and then they learn from them and they avoid making that mistake altogether. And effectively, that's what LemonSeed does. You say we'll help you avoid these mistakes, we'll help you avoid these valleys that you go into. Hire us and we're going to help you get a greater return without losing, because you're not going to make the same mistakes. Well, that's effectively what Praxis S10 does as well, and so we help individuals become wise contractors so they don't have to make all these mistakes and, you know, bang their knuckles up and get bumps and headaches along the road there.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I'm telling you with LemonSea, when I look at contractors that are wanting to partner with Lemonsy, you know, basically we're interviewing each other. When I know they're a part of a group like Praxis S10 that really has structure and is giving good advice, those contractors naturally are miles ahead of other unmentored contractors. It is evident. It's written all over their plans, it's written all over their pricing. I mean, I can normally, like I will normally, say so you're not a part of a best practice group. You have a mentor or a coach because you know, I can just tell by a lot of times it's even the confidence in their own numbers and processes and things like that. So you're definitely right, you really don't have to figure this all out alone. With the right systems, the right mentors, like you mentioned, you're still definitely ahead of the game there. So, speaking of Praxis S10, terry, any new cool stuff coming up or anything you want our listeners to know about Praxis S10? Cool stuff coming up or anything you?
Speaker 2:want our listeners to know about Praxis. Well, there's always cool, exciting things that are coming up. I mean, next week we have a new member launch and so I'm excited to have a room full of people coming in profit minded, successful businesses that are looking to grow and leapfrog their business forward even greater. So that's coming up. I've got some really cool things in the works that you know I'm not ready to disclose today because, as you know, we're industry leaders and you know it's a very what's the word I'm looking for.
Speaker 2:People are paying really close attention to what we do, what Jimmy Hiller does, what Praxis S10 members do, because we have a way of being on the forefront, of leading the charge on new inventions and ways to improve a business. So I'm not prepared to talk about those. Perhaps in another year or two we can roll those out after we've already put them in the field and evidence that they work and already gained a competitive advantage. Because that's our mission, that's our objective. It's to raise the level of success for the members who are part of our organization.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that and you're right, if you're not getting kicked in the booty, you're not in the front, so you know if you're getting all kinds of people, the best form of flattery kind of stuff you know. So definitely appreciate that. Well, terry, thank you so much. You've absolutely delivered some great content today. This was just a little blip on all of the history and stuff that you can talk. So if you love to talk business, you're looking for a mentor group. A Praxis S10 is definitely a great place to start and engage with and really help your business. In the words of Terry, leapfrog forward, one of our favorite contractors a lot of times come from Praxis S10 models. So we really appreciate the partnership and your insights that you shared today.
Speaker 2:Any last words for our listeners today Well, I think I should always remind people that are especially in our industry that this is the land of opportunity and this is America, and there's a lot of negative publicity that takes place, but my personal opinion is this is still the greatest country in the world. You've got this great opportunity. You're in a wonderful industry. Focus on the good, look for the opportunity and ignore the negative, and you, too, can achieve all it is that you want to achieve in your business. So stay cool, america.
Speaker 1:Well, I can't even add a lot to that. So, guys, thank you so much for listening to another episode of From the Yellow Chair, In the words of Terry stay cool, America, and we'll get back with you next time.