How you make $2834 before breakfast | Systems | 115

Quoting $2.8K worth of work before breakfast from a balcony on the Gold Coast. How i do my electrical quotes. All in your business systems. 

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Transcript

Here’s your full cleaned transcript — same words, just tidied up for grammar, spelling, and flow:

Simplified Sparky Podcast — “Systemise Before You Burn Out”

Grab the elk by the ankles, twist them until it makes you some coffee.

Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing.

Just back from a trip on the Gold Coast for a few days, which is my happy place, to be honest. And there's a fantastic café up there called Elk. Check it out. No sponsorship, no nothing. I'm just hoping they're gonna give me some free coffee at some stage.

I was tipped off as well by a listener of the podcast via DM that No Name Café in Broadbeach is fantastic too. So yeah, Elk in Broadbeach — check it out if you're ever up there. Phenomenal breakfast. They do these hash browns that I’ve never had anything like. Unbelievable.

Where today’s podcast title comes from is: truth.

What annoys me is how much fluff and nonsense is online. A lot of people preaching stuff that’s just not true. And it’s not until you’ve been in the game long enough that you realise — some of these people are full of it.

That’s one thing I stand by: I won’t lie to my members. I won’t sell them some dream or some bullshit I haven’t implemented myself or don’t back.

It’s like that old worksite thing: the foreman tells the apprentice to crawl under the floor or climb through the roof. But if he’s not willing to do it himself, that’s not leadership. You’ve got to be willing to show them how it’s done. That’s how I run this — I practice what I preach, and I preach what I practice.

So, I was on holidays this week, and like a weirdo, I love the back end of the business so much that I still check my emails. Had my VA watching them and the autoresponder set up, but a lead came in — and this is what today’s episode is about:

The better your back-end systems are, the faster you make money — and more importantly, the more time you get back.

This was one of those “in between” days — maybe the 27th or 28th — post-Christmas, pre-New Year, where everything feels like limbo. And I noticed a lot of people were sending inquiries then. The rush was over, they were chilling at home, and thinking, “Right, let’s get this electrical stuff sorted.”

An inquiry came in — generic work I do all the time. If you’ve listened for a while, you know ServiceM8 is my go-to job management software. Bang for buck, it’s crazy. Not paid to say this — just rate it highly.

Because I’ve got systems and templates set up, I responded with a couple of clicks. It scraped the client’s name, filled in the blanks, and fired off the right email template.

Client replied quickly.

Then I used templates and pricing bundles — prebuilt quotes for stuff like installing a PowerPoint, replacing a light fitting, doing a weatherproof PowerPoint, whatever. Bundles sit inside proposals now — not just regular quotes. Proposals are what I use for quoting now — diehard fan. And they look slick.

So I sent the client a proposal with those bundles. All up — maybe four minutes of work. Within 20–30 minutes, they accepted the quote.

$2,834 before breakfast.

And that’s the power of systems.

I remember the days before job management software. Forums are full of sparkies recommending paper diaries for 2026 — like we’re living in 1990. If you’re using a paper diary, you can get in the bin. Leave it in the back of your ute, let it rain all weekend, or forget it on site — it’s gone. So are your jobs, your contacts, your notes. Gone.

You need cloud-based job management software. Doesn’t have to be ServiceM8, but it’s gotta be something real. I saw someone recommending Zoho — a CRM — for managing quotes and financials. Just no.

Listen to people who’ve been in the trenches, not old-schoolers bragging about word of mouth from 1970. That’s a different podcast, but quick note: word of mouth takes years to build. If someone’s been in business 10–15 years, yeah, maybe they can rely on referrals. But if they’re still relying on it after 30 years and the phone’s not ringing — something’s wrong.

Back to systems.

These systems don’t just make money — they save your time.

I remember quoting a smoke alarm install — brand new to resi, no confidence, didn’t know what I was doing. Drove to the job, checked the cabling route, scoped it all out, drove home, built the quote, sent it… and made barely any money. Whole process was just wasted time.

That’s why systems matter.

If you’re quoting back-to-back PowerPoints every week — build a bundle. Estimate for worst-case. If it’s easier, great — you win. If it’s harder, you’re covered.

That’s also why hourly rate is useless. Fixed pricing wins. Client knows what they’re paying, you know what you’re making. Get the job done faster — you make more.

Build one system a week — two if you’re keen. That’s 52 to 104 by year-end. Some only take five minutes.

The goals you want are hidden in the work you’re avoiding. Always the boring stuff. Always the backend. That’s why most sparkies don’t hit their targets — they never face into the hard, repetitive stuff that actually makes a difference.

I’m pumped for 2026. Got some big targets. And I’m urging you — set yours, stick with them, and don’t drop the ball.

It’s all compounding. That’s how it works.

And if you want help with building this into your business, links are in the description.

Happy New Year. Catch you next week.