Cleaning Business Life
Cleaning Business Life is your must-listen weekly podcast for cleaning business owners who want to scale smarter, not harder.
Hosted by Shannon Miller, founder of Klean Freaks University, and Jamie Runco, CEO of Above All Cleaning Company, this podcast delivers the strategies, systems, and insider knowledge you need to build a thriving, profitable cleaning business.
No matter where you are in your journey—whether you're launching your first cleaning company or scaling to seven figures—Cleaning Business Life gives you the tools to streamline operations, maximize profits, and grow with confidence.
Each episode dives deep into topics like:
✔️ Building scalable systems that create efficiency and long-term success.
✔️ Product reviews & recommendations to equip your team with the best tools.
✔️ Expert interviews with industry leaders sharing real-world insights.
✔️ Q&A sessions tackling your most pressing business challenges.
✔️ Industry trends & strategies to keep you ahead of the competition.
Tune in every week and take your cleaning business to the next level! 🚀
Want to get a hold of us, please email us at cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com
Cleaning Business Life
CBL Episode # 109-Interview-How AI and Networking Revolutionized Ricky Funk’s New Business with Future Strategies
What if you could harness the power of AI to completely transform your business operations? Join us for an exhilarating conversation with Ricky Funk, a trailblazing entrepreneur whose journey from tech enthusiast to cleaning business mogul showcases the magic of adaptability and forward-thinking.
Ricky's experiences underscore the potential of remote work and the essential nature of networking, providing invaluable insights for anyone looking to break geographical barriers in business. His fascinating story, including the pivotal role of events like the ISSA trade show in shaping his career, is an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs eager to merge passion with technology.
Expect a deep dive into the rapidly evolving world of coaching and mentoring, where Ricky and I dissect the current landscape, highlighting the intricacies of finding genuine mentorship.
We uncover the innovative methods businesses are adopting, such as remote walkthroughs, to stay ahead in the cleaning industry. With the ever-changing Google algorithms affecting visibility, particularly in rural areas, we discuss strategies to maintain a strong online presence.
Ricky offers his unique insights into managing geographically distant clients, making a compelling case for understanding local logistics as a cornerstone of business success.
Get ready to explore the future with Ricky’s groundbreaking vision of integrating advanced business data platforms with AI technologies. Imagine a world where you can "talk to your business," receiving tailored advice through a platform connecting ChatGPT to your business data. This episode unravels the potential of virtual reality in remote work, the critical importance of correct worker classification, and the exciting possibilities of niche business strategies focused on AI.
Join us as we navigate the exciting intersection of technology, business operations, and networking, delivering insights that could shape the future of your entrepreneurial journey.
It can be crowed when trying to figure out who you are going to learn from
Erica Paynter is the brains behind My Virtual Bookkeeper, a bookkeeping firm for cleaning companies, and the creator of Clean Co. Cash Flow Academy and the Clean Co. Collective. She’s on a mission to help cleaning business owners make sense of their numbers without boring them to tears! Erica’s all about turning messy books into profit-packed powerhouses.
Up your cleaning game, join over 6000 Cleaning Business Owners most of whom are located here in the United States.
Questions? Feel free to reach out!
Shannon Miller: cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com
Join my FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583362158497744
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIjMz_-9YyiFvNVIgb61iYg
See Shannon's latest courses: www.KleanFreaksUnversity.com
in progress. Oh my gosh, you guys, we have the infamous ricky fun. I'm so excited he's an author, a business owner, an entrepreneur he's all of that and more, and we get to chat with him this morning.
Speaker 3:Welcome thank you. Thank you, it's an honor to be here talking to you guys. Uh, you know, pretty cool outside we were talking just off off camera how cold it is. I'm, you know, I'm in New Jersey right now, so, yeah, pretty excited.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what's new and exciting for you this year, ricky?
Speaker 3:Oh man, so yeah a lot.
Speaker 1:It's a full agenda, I'm sure.
Speaker 3:Yes, so we. So about six months ago, I left my, my, my previous company and decided to put all my energy into my new, my new business. You know, seeing we were shocked we were like what happened?
Speaker 3:you know I didn't, I didn't paint like, for me it was, you know it, just you, it was, you know it, just you know, it was almost like a natural progression. It was just the right move for me, I thought, and even for my previous company, you know, as everyone knows, I used to be co-CEO and co-founder at Route, and it's not easy to have partners, you know. Even myself, right, I know I'm I'm not easy. Yeah, Um, but um, you know, we, we parted ways in, in in an amicable way. I thought it was the right thing for me to do and, yeah, I mean, since, uh, probably six months ago, I've been working on this new platform with AI. Now there's this trend with AI.
Speaker 2:So so, yeah, I wanted to stay you grabbed that train while you could, huh yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I love it because I'm a tech guy my whole background since I was a kid, you know. I probably used my first computer in the late 80s and early 90s. I got my first computer from my dad and that was it.
Speaker 1:I love technology what kind of computer was it?
Speaker 3:so my first computer was a hewlett packard, uh, 486, sx. So for those uh, you know, techies out there wait.
Speaker 2:Mine was a commodore 64.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, I did use a Commodore in the late 80s, but no yeah.
Speaker 2:I love playing Jumpman Jr on there.
Speaker 3:And you know I love technology. But back in 20, I think it was 2016, my wife and I we decided to be entrepreneurs and we opened our cleaning company. We started with residential, not knowing anything about business, but we said you know what, let's do it. I actually it's. So I have a book on Amazon. I published that two years ago, before pre-ChatGPT. It would have been much easier now, and the intro to my book is how we decided to start our cleaning company and basically we were taking a shower and we said let's start a cleaning company. And that was the beginning.
Speaker 1:So you were taking a shower together. Is that in the shower God's delivered? How did that happen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, A shower needs clean.
Speaker 3:It came to us.
Speaker 2:Again, I get it.
Speaker 3:And we did residential cleaning for about two years and a half we got acquired by a beer company. We sold the like, okay, I want to get into this. We sold the residential cleaning company, we started doing the uh, commercial cleaning company. Um, and about a year and a half later, um, I just wanted to get into tech again. I, I started. I started seeing, like the they need the, the possibilities, uh, with the cleaning industry and technology and and I love both. So for me it was almost merging both, uh, both sides.
Speaker 2:yes, you're not, you're not working. If you're, if you're doing what you love, right that's what they say.
Speaker 3:I don't know, I feel like I'm working triple times, but uh, but yeah, we, uh, we develop a software which was acquired by by route, and that's how I actually uh, got into row and became first a cto, then this, the co-ceo. Um, we, and then, you know, six months ago, I decided to part ways and start building my own platform and, yeah, it's been great so far. I have a remote team and I feel like now is the time that anyone can start a business anywhere, it doesn't matter where you're located in the middle of nowhere, and especially now with being able to hire remote workers. One of my partners is actually remote in South America and, yeah, I mean, we love it and yeah, I mean we love it.
Speaker 2:That's an interesting concept because I've always how would that even work? But technology is so trying to keep up with it. I know I'm always saying it's like you're trying to do a pull-up and you don't. You've never known how to do a pull-up in your entire life and trying to learn how to tweak those muscles, you're trying to get your chin up over the bar, even for me, yeah even for me on the tech side of things, if you don't keep up with it, man, you're left behind, and you know I don't want to feel that way.
Speaker 3:So so, yeah, I mean, and you know I don't want to feel that way. So, yeah, I mean, the cleaning industry actually changed me because I used to be a lot of, I used to be like a super introverted, right, and I learned in business you have to network, you have to get to know people and literally changed my social life. In a way Funny anecdote I think it was 2018, the first time that I went to ISSA, the trade show event. In a way Funny anecdote, I think it was 2018, the first time that I went to ISSA, the trade show event in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2:Yes, the trade show. Yeah, I love it, the trade show of all trade shows.
Speaker 3:Yes, and for the whole event, I was there for four days by myself and I only talked to maybe 10 people. That's how introverted I used to be, and yeah it takes, practice it does.
Speaker 2:I won't say that I was introverted, but with small groups of people, you know, I've always had a knack for talking. I've always had a knack for talking, but it does. It takes practice. Going up in front of, let's say, like my chamber events and getting up and speaking to an audience or receiving some awards, and getting up and speaking in front of a thousand people, I thought my knees were going to buckle and I thought I was going to pass out. I felt so hot.
Speaker 2:It's like thank you, and then now it's like I sometimes I do talks in front of the camera or in front of the mirror. You know, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather yellow.
Speaker 3:You have to practice. So I don't know if you guys heard about BNI, which is kind of similar to a chamber of commerce, and I always tell people you should try it out. It really helped my residential business when we were just starting up and, oh my God, because it's basically like chamber of commerce but you meet once, once a week and you have to get up and talk and that helps you. But the first couple of times, jesus, it was like the temperature, just like you know top to bottom.
Speaker 2:All the blood hit to the bottom of your toes.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Like you're going to pass out the hot flashes, yeah, but BNI is good. Some places are more expensive than others and it is a big commitment because it's all about referring a bunch of businesses, referring other businesses.
Speaker 3:Giver's game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm always told you know we don't have a cleaning company in our BNI chapter here and I, you know, it's just such a big me and I For us it really helped us get our company started.
Speaker 3:And especially with our first company, which was Residential Clean, which we didn't know much about business. So it was difficult to market our business and I feel like a lot of these up and coming new businesses, they have that problem. I feel like the number one question anywhere in every Facebook group is how can I get more clients? How can I acquire more clients? And you have to put yourself out there and BNI was helpful in that regard. I don't know if Shannon, I don't know if you tried BNI.
Speaker 1:I have tested a couple of the waters and, as JB said, it's a time commitment of showing up every week and doing the whole thing and then you're there's like I almost felt that there was this pressure to make sure that I did the enough referrals. I'm like this is too much for me. But it's great for people who are beginners because it really does help you establish your elevator speech. So what do you do? I'm an entrepreneur, I've done this for 15 years and blah, blah, blah. But um, if you're brand new and you're not familiar and you're not good at making those connections, bni is perfect for you and the price does fluctuate.
Speaker 1:I spoke to uh one this last year her bni renewal fees were twelve hundred,200 for the year.
Speaker 3:Oh geez, Well, ours is $1,600 to join $1,600.
Speaker 1:I hope it's a high price right, but yeah, it's a lot. And then other B&Is like $600 or $300. It just depends on the area and the size.
Speaker 3:That's what I paid. So my cleaning companies were in Florida, in central Florida, but it was between two big cities so it was really a small town where I was. So it was between I don't know if you guys are familiar with Florida, but it was between Ocala and Orlando.
Speaker 1:So I was right in the middle.
Speaker 3:And now we're right, no central central Florida.
Speaker 1:OK yeah.
Speaker 3:And my fees were only like six hundred. I think six hundred for a whole year. Yeah See, and that's I, only like 600, I think 600 for a whole year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, See, and that's uh, I think that's a very doable Um and there's also a lot of marketing Um. I know that in the groups I go through and um, cause I want to help as many people to get to where I think I'm in good company. Whenever I say that we want to help as many people as we can, especially starting off in this cleaning industry, and I know that whenever I first started, I really take myself and I'm like, how did I market? And it was literally I was pounding out there, pounding the pavement. Nobody's going to know that you are there unless you say, hey, I'm over here. So how do you do that? You get out there and you've got to be the face of your, your company. And if you are an introvert, this is a good mental strategy to start coming out of your comfort zone. I mean out of your comfort zone, Wouldn't you agree?
Speaker 3:No, I agree, and I feel like that's why. Something that I didn't know is the importance of having a coach or having a mentor in your life. I didn't know that when we started our first business, and a lot of people have their own expectations. They feel like having a coach or a mentor will solve all your problems. Oh, I get a coach, I'm good. No, you still have to do the work. You have to. You know, it's a. It's almost like a guy, a guy that saves you time, because if not, you're going to have to try. You know try. You're going to learn by trial and error.
Speaker 2:Right, I feel like it's a copy and paste and make it your own. That's what I feel like, and if you don't put in the work and the hours, these are only suggestions that this is what we did to get to where we're at. You can do it too. If I've done it, you can do it, but these are the steps that I took to get you know. Yeah, it's so valuable. Yeah, it's so valuable. And you know, I didn't see my very first year of you doing it. I seen a little bit of growth and I was like, well, you know what, let's stick this out.
Speaker 2:My second year I grew something like 40%, 45%, and then the third year I just absolutely exploded over 500% and a very small rural town in. Northern California. Just it blows me away. But I couldn't agree any anymore with you. That it is, and we, you know. While we're on the subject of coaching and mentoring, there there are a lot of um. It seems like everybody's doing it nowadays.
Speaker 3:Oh, I see, Now you opened that, that door. I mean, I mean, it happens, it happens because I see it. I see it also on the software side of things. Um, and you have, you have to be very careful because now, uh, everyone is a mentor, uh, everyone has a community, everyone. Now, I'm pretty sure pretty soon everyone will have a book, and there's nothing wrong with that. The things, the things that tick me like the wrong way a little bit, is when people do it for the wrong reasons and maybe they don't have the right knowledge, because I've seen people pay a mentor and they don't truly help them in the right way. Right, I see it too, you see it too.
Speaker 1:A lot. I've spoken to other people who've taken other people's programs and they come to me for questions. I'm like you just shelled out 10 grand. You need to go back to your coach and ask them, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I know you'll answer it.
Speaker 1:I'm like I can't ethically do this for you. You have to go back to your person that you paid and get those answers and it's frustrating and I I can. You know it's the same repeat offenders that I hear over and over again. I'm like I don't, I'm really sorry, I don't know what to tell you. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I seen that and you know the, the networking part helped me to stay open-minded, so I'll now. I'll give you an example for commercial cleaning. I used to. So when people you know ask me a question, I used to tell them hey, you have to go do a walkthrough In commercial cleaning residential, you can get away with remote.
Speaker 3:We used to so almost like a before and after in our residential business was when we did online booking Because I used to waste a lot of time. You know, uh, doing go do a walkthrough. You know, drive for half an hour, spend 40 minutes with a homeowner. Uh, they say, oh, no, it's too expensive drive, so it's two, three hours, uh, almost wasted. So once we put an online booking form it, it it help us grow. Uh, it also got rid of the uh, the people that that couldn't afford our services because they would see the pricing online oh, it's too expensive. So it helped a lot.
Speaker 3:Now, on the commercial side of things, I used to say, hey, you have to go to a walkthrough, you have to develop the relation, blah, blah. But recently, in the last probably two months, I've known of people that are actually doing remote walkthroughs. There's people that will price services remote. You have to have a lot of experience right in order to do that, but I I seen people that are successful doing it, so you know it's also stay open-minded to new ways of doing business right, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you helped me through a walkthrough on on the commercial side of things I did. Yeah, well, remember, you call, we call we. Oh, yes, yes, too many people. Yeah, yeah, we did it. We did a kind of little coaching call yeah, I didn't get the job. But you know that's, that's okay that's okay.
Speaker 3:I tried to help as much as I can, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:No, I, you know I have to. I'm still learning how to because I do both. Again, we're in such a very it's small. I mean it's. We are the largest county in California but the most sparsely densilated, or it didn't you know? It's super popular, unpopulated. It's like a hundred thousand people in all of the county oh, wow so, and the county is probably 200 miles by 200 miles so it's huge.
Speaker 2:Wow, you really have to. And I noticed that I've been getting forms, you know, for services, but they've been coming from California, I'm sorry, southern California down south and I'm like how is my Google?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
Speaker 2:Maybe the SEO is, for some reason, my SEO is something happy because that just started and I'm like wait, what's going on here? I have to give a look at it, or maybe you can, ricky.
Speaker 1:Google did an update and I've heard more chatter, so I would definitely check your profile to make sure your area has been not reframed for you so that you're back in the area you're supposed to be in. But I've heard from several people that Google has done some sort of algorithm update and it shifted some things, so poke around in there and make sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I agree, I read that as well and you know that's. That's something to as a business owner, especially for smaller companies like you don't. You're not actively thinking about that, but that can really change your business. How, when Google does an update?
Speaker 2:I am now because it's you know I had a. You know we get those federal government jobs bid, you know, come in for government jobs, bid, you know, come, bit for. And I'm like, do you know? You know they don't have any idea about the lay of the land out here. And I, they said, can you go out to hay fork? Hay fork is about a four hour drive for me. Oh wow, up and over and round and round and up through the redwoods and through the valleys. And, by the way, they went through my google profile. Whenever I didn't answer their email, like you know, they went to.
Speaker 3:Then they went to my google profile so, and are you using sendai Golf by any chance to to get those like federal contracts or not?
Speaker 2:No, no, they just. I think it's because we are honestly like these are, what are the state parks? Oh, a lot of state parks here there's not a lot of federal government Entities. I mean, we have that, have the, you know, of course, the fbi building, that's what we call it here, the fbi building, you know, I don't know who's got that gig and the veterans, and you know all that stuff, but uh, I just the people that is, you know, they're probably from new jersey or something and just have no clue.
Speaker 3:wow, Wow yeah, they probably remote somewhere. Hey Ford Good luck.
Speaker 2:I mean you'd be better off going to another county, so, but let's talk about your new.
Speaker 3:My new venture.
Speaker 2:Yes, please.
Speaker 3:So, so this idea came from and, by the way, before I get into that, I just wanted to say so, this idea came from and, by the way, before I get into that, I just wanted to say because I used to use samgov for governmental contracts. It's free, it's a website from the government. What is it called? L-a-o, s-a-m. So like Uncle Sam, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Samgov G-O-V. You can find and I'll put it in the chat you can find cleaning contracts there from the government. Now, for some reason in the last three weeks I've seen a lot of people post hey, I can help you with this, but for some reason in the last three weeks I've seen it everywhere in different Facebook groups. So just be careful with that. But yeah, I put it in the chat. So the idea with this new platform came when I started using ChatGPT, right when it came out, probably a year and a half ago I don't know how old it is.
Speaker 3:It feels like forever, maybe a year ago Maybe it just seems so new, I know so new, I know so. When they added the feature that you can upload a document and ask questions about a PDF, I said to myself man, if I can grab all my business data into one document, upload it to ChatGPT, I can literally talk to my business. And that's actually the name of my new venture is talk to your business. And that's actually the name of my new venture is Talk to your Business. So think about ChatGPT, but it connects to your business data. So whatever software you're using, it connects to that, so it knows your business data.
Speaker 3:And we also created our own LLM Training Commercial Cleaning. So it's an expert in commercial cleaning. So now when you ask a question, it's not a generalized answer like chat GPT. It's more tailored to your actual needs. So if you ask, hey, what can I do to get more clients or do more for marketing, he knows that you're already let's say that you're already doing Facebook ads, and he knows your marketing budget. You know if it's a thousand and you spend in 500 bucks in Facebook ads a month, oh, because you're already doing Facebook ads and you're spending this much. I recommend that you do this next and you can spend this much money, so that's what we've been working on.
Speaker 2:It's almost like a KPI, above that a little bit, even more than that. Well, yeah, I mean it's really giving you advice of like here, move this money over. That's why I'm looking at it like you're. It's literally, uh, it could be.
Speaker 3:It's giving you advice on where it is based on your businesses right now I mean wow really so it's been.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's been. You know it's been a lot of work. We're're not out yet, we haven't released. We're probably going to release in the next month, but yeah, it's been a lot of work. We're trying to centralize.
Speaker 3:Ask the right question. You're not going to get the right answer. If you ask just a simple question. You're going to get a simple answer. So we make it easier for someone to. It's called prompt engineering, right, but instead of you having to think of let me see what details I can add to get a better answer, we give you drop downs where you can select what details I can add to get a better answer. We give you a dropdown where you can select. And it's funny because you can select I want the answer to be from a perspective of a CEO or a mentor or a coach. I want the answer to be customer centric, or I want the answer to be motivational or humor. Oh my, I was dying with humor. So I was creating different documents to train employees. Hey, I need to train my, my cleaning employees. I want it to last for three days. I want a humor touch to it and it's just the funniest thing ever tracking you up.
Speaker 2:yeah, so so this can integrate um Sam Pillar just saw, so this could integrate with somebody such as Jobber.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's going to be easier for us to integrate. So we already have an integration with Google, with Google Drive, because we let you so whenever you have an answer that you want to save instead of I don't know, do you guys use ChatGPT?
Speaker 2:I do a lot, I mean.
Speaker 3:Okay, I mean OK. So whenever you have an answer that you want to save, you know usually what I used to do is I have to copy the answer, open a new document, paste the results and you know you have a document. So we added things to make it simpler, so you can just click a button and download a PDF, or click a button and save it to your Google Drive so you can change it. Now integrations with with Jobber, salesforce, hotspot, quickbooks are going to be easier because they already have open APIs that we can use. The tricky ones are going to be with smaller softwares, especially in the cleaning world, where they don't have APIs available.
Speaker 2:So it's just developing relationships, which I've been doing for the last couple of months, so so yeah, if you use your great networking comes in right, cause you have, you know, the cleaning software networking groups. I'm sure you guys have right, yeah, yeah, something like with a made central or something like that.
Speaker 3:Yes, I had a great conversation with Tom, the CEO of Mate Central, a couple months ago Awesome guy. I had an amazing conversation with the CEO of Clean Guru, so I don't know if you know the software.
Speaker 2:Clean Guru.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Clean Guru A lot of people use it. He was amazing, really down-to-earth person.
Speaker 2:You know, you really. What is it, summer and Holly, of the cleaning software 2.0. I don't know, I haven't I haven't, Actually I don't rate people to talk to yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm going to take. Are you writing?
Speaker 2:I am too, I'm writing Taking notes over here? Yeah, I'm going to take notes. Are you writing?
Speaker 3:I am too. I'm writing, I'm taking notes over here.
Speaker 3:Yes, but yeah, it's, it's now I get to use those, those network skills. But yeah, we've been working on it. It's a lot of work. You know something people don't realize and I seen I don't know if you've seen this as well, but a lot of cleaning business owners and now they actually develop software and it's a lot of work. It's the, I would say, probably the hardest part about developing software is building the right thing, make it intuitive, make it easy to use, cause at the end of the day. I remember when I got started in cleaning and you know, my wife and I, we, we used to clean ourselves at the beginning and even after that, when we used to do inspections. Right, you go do an inspection, it takes two hours and when you're done you just want to go home Like you don't want to. Okay, now I have to open this software and log all everything you know, write down the details blah blah.
Speaker 2:That would be great. So yeah you know, write down the details, blah blah. That would be great. So yeah, take the wheel. Yeah, so that's, that's the hardest part make it easy to use, you know yeah, you don't want to make it over complicated, over complicated, over giving it too much. Uh, we're talking, we. We did an interview with chris schwab not too long ago and he said yeah, he said he was delegating so much that he over delegated his, so he scaled back on his, his. You know delegations.
Speaker 3:I love to delegate, but yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2:Yeah Right, you don't want to make. It might be look good in your head, but as somebody like me, the consumer, if it's too complicated for me, it's a hard pass. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I remember I used Chris for VAs. Oh, Innovative.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yes, innovative Local. Is that really when I had my cleaning company? Yep, oh, I love it when I had my cleaning company.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, I love it. The cleaning industry in general. We're still as fast as we're growing and I can see the growth we're still very low tech, like a lot of the things I offer is still very low tech because not everybody is up to speed on how to work, chat, gpt, or how to even get a Word document into a PDF or how to even get a word document into a PDF. I mean it has to be very simple and very basic because I would say like 80% of them still don't know how to do like the normal stuff that we all know how to do and I have to constantly remind myself that they're not going to be able to do those things. That's why I try to keep it as low tech as possible when they're working with me and getting my things.
Speaker 3:So funny thing about low tech possible, um, when they're working with me and getting my things. So Funny thing about funny thing about low tech. Uh, we met, uh, this couple in in ISSA and they were doing 1.3 million revenue and they were not using any software. And I was like, oh, okay, so so you're using Google calendar and no, we're not using any software. So wait, so I'm like okay, so how do you have people clock in and clock out? And they literally showed us they get a text message from the cleaning technician that says, written in a piece of paper clocked in at 9 am, clocked out at I don't know 12 pm.
Speaker 2:A selfie at the client's home. It gave me so much anxiety I'm like no, please and I got burnt out really quick and I but I, I knew, I knew the second that I did this. I wanted to be big, big for my area. I'm I'm medium for my area right now, but, uh, I remember carrying around I have it somewhere here a purple and I'll save it forever. I had a purple, uh, with a calendar in it.
Speaker 2:You know those that you took to school, those uh, yeah and I carry it around and I remember whenever I would do invoices, I would literally I got one of those, those ones that you write on, and I would write out their invoices for them. We've come a long way since then and it was a lot of work. Totally. It was very hard to learn how to go digital. I'm completely, I'm pretty much all automated. I mean my appointment, right, you know, but it's taken. I mean, here we are third year in business. It's taken that long to finally get this machine oiled. You know is basically what I'm doing putting uploading all your clients all their information, uploading all your clients all their information, making sure that they're getting on board, having them sign their contracts online. Now, I was taking hard copies and it was probably about I don't know.
Speaker 3:I used to do the same at the beginning. Yeah, and even though that I'm a tech person, I used to do the same at the beginning, and I do believe that tech has to work for you and you don't have to you shouldn't have to work for the tech. I believe we're not fully there yet. I do think AI is going to help a lot with that, but we're just at the beginning. We're only seeing the tip of the iceberg with AI.
Speaker 2:I know I'm just sitting back like, okay, what's going to be next? Because something's coming, something big is coming. I don't know what it is, but it's just how fast AI has taken off. I remember when, just in our industry, I started seeing just in our industry it started, I started seeing the ai for cleaning and it I mean just what.
Speaker 2:Seven, eight months now we're in for you know, for the cleaning, at least my recollection it has. Well, look, you're making a software. Uh, you know, we Dan Young. He's another person that we talk with. He does Clean Pixel.
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, I looked at their website. Yeah, it's pretty cool. They centralize more in like content and social media.
Speaker 2:Right, and they can do a little. They touch on a little bit of website now. I mean he does have something up and coming too. I am not going to spill the beans, I'll let him do that, but it's just. It's, my mouth is about open.
Speaker 3:I know the things that are coming. I think they're great. And I almost feel, on the software side of things, we are responsible to make it easy and intuitive, like, for example and we actually done about 25 interviews to business owners just to truly understand the pain points Because when you develop software, you think at the beginning I used to think, oh, I know what people need, I I know, I I've been a cleaning business or I know what they need and yeah, it doesn't it doesn't work like that.
Speaker 2:It don't work like that. Yeah, I, I, I, yeah. I have a lot of people that ask me to do the beta. Yeah, I understand.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you what we're trying to achieve and we're pretty close. So when you're using our platform, let's say that you because this is the number one question right, the pricing, and especially in commercial and I don't know if you guys seen it, but people that come from residential, sometimes it's hard to explain why the commercial pricing is so much lower right. And so in our software, if you ask hey, I have a new client, they want cleaning three times a week. I charge I don't know, 30 bucks an hour, it will break it down for you and explain to you the pricing, give you the actual pricing of the contract and then you can say great, can you do a contract for me based on that pricing? And it will do the contract for you.
Speaker 2:I just got asked to put in a proposal for a place of worship, so that would be interesting. Yeah, maybe we'll talk after this.
Speaker 3:We're trying to bridge that gap right. I feel like there's a knowledge gap and I can tell you I know for a fact that the bigger you know, the huge he used to be my boss about maybe six, seven years ago in technology. He reached out to me he's like, hey, you used to have a cleaning company, right? I'm like yeah, well, I'm working for ABM now doing AI. I'm like wow, so if the big cleaning companies are doing it?
Speaker 1:we want to be able to bridge that gap.
Speaker 3:We want to be able to bridge that gap.
Speaker 1:Yep, so ABM is so for the audience that doesn't know, can you give a little bit of background about ABM and where they sit in the industry, if they're commercial or residential?
Speaker 3:Oh, so, yeah, they do commercial and they probably I want to say they're probably the biggest commercial cleaning company. I don't, yeah, I don't know the exact number, but they're, they're, uh what do you call it? And that's nationwide.
Speaker 2:Nationwide, that's nationwide and that's whenever you I mean you did it, you did it. When you're nationwide, like that, you're, you're, you're the person you know, yeah, it's, it's somebody to be looked at.
Speaker 3:Um, and and this is all for those commercial and I you know those commercial cleaners out there yeah and um, you know, at the end of the day I would love for for more people to embrace technology, uh, but uh, you know it takes time. It takes time. Um, I would love for everyone to first do it, like, like the way that we did it, we did it manually first. We used to have the invoices too. If you don't have a system, technology is not going to solve all your problems. You have to understand the business side of things. It's not about cleaning. Cleaning is just the byproduct. You have to understand the business side of things, the numbers. That was difficult for me because I'm not a numbers guy. You have to understand, you know, overhead labor, profit as a business owner, um, the, the cleaning. There's a point that becomes a byproduct. Okay, yeah, we do cleaning, but here's the business side of things, and technology is not going to solve that if you don't understand all that first right, that's how I feel.
Speaker 2:Some basic I I still feel like it is uh, uh, people, some people just genuinely need to know there's a connection and then I'm not talking also to a robot, you know. I do feel like there are some connection there's, there's got to be, um, some sort of connection, don't? Don't you agree a little bit?
Speaker 3:Between tech and the person using the product.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right no between the client. Oh yeah, yeah actually. It has to have a little human touch, a hundred percent A hundred percent.
Speaker 3:We actually, when we used to have our commercial cleaning business, the software that we were using they actually developed like a client portal and we never used it. We always were face-to-face with our clients, tried to develop that relationship. So, yeah, no, I agree with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and something help you in the back end with, like what you just said, numbers where to put my how? Yeah, I like how it kind of almost helps you, steers you in the right direction. If that's I don't know, yeah, no, no know, yeah.
Speaker 3:I see that and you know, always try to get help from the right person. I see people asking taxes and accounting questions in a Facebook group and I would recommend you should go, probably to an accountant or a CPA, you know I think it is gospel and I'm like you know, don't, and I always have to disclose.
Speaker 1:I'm like I'm not legally authorized to give you this advice. This is just my experience and my opinion. But there are some people out there who are just giving information and they take it as gospel. And then they, you know, you come back and like I blew one hundred fifty grand. I'm like I don't know, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:It's an unfortunate thing, but yeah, it's. There's a lot of that right now. I I know companies that they uh they had to pay back taxes. Uh, I know one of them, a hundred thousand in back taxes because they were hiring employees as 1099s, because they had no idea that 1099s are not actual employees right so uncle sam came, you know, I say this all the time.
Speaker 2:There are three people that I'm scared to death of, or three agencies, and that's OSHA, the Labor Board and the IRS. I'm not messing with it. You gotta make sure that you classify those, your employees and you have to. You know it's having skin in the game. You got to pay for that work comp.
Speaker 3:And if not?
Speaker 2:then you know you got to make sure that you're you're doing a 1099, right. You know, Yep.
Speaker 1:I think that misclassification right now is huge. Um, you'll see me on bucking koala getting arguments with people over misclassification of 1099s. We actually have spoken to people who are training their 1099s. I'm like we're going to be editing this out. Yeah, we can't, we can't publish this part right here. We're just gonna take that out and and it's. It's not because they intentionally, they just didn't know. And I'm like you can't publish this part right here, we're just going to take that out and and it's. It's not because they intentionally, they just didn't know. And I'm like you can't, that's not legal, but it's. Misclassification is huge. Having a definitive, not a gray area, but a definitive line for your helpers we're seeing a lot of remote model people, experts, coming out who are treating 1099s like W2s.
Speaker 1:I'm like oh, I mean, who are treating 1099s like W-2s?
Speaker 3:I'm like, oh, and I see a lot of on the commercial side of things and it works. They truly, they do 1099 the right way. Right, they sub out the work and that's another business model that blew me away because I had no idea about this. But a lot of companies they don't have cleaning technicians. They sub out the work to other cleaning companies and they do it the right way. There's people that do it their own way. There's people that do it the right way and, yeah, it works, but you have to make sure that you follow the law.
Speaker 1:Right, because nobody wants to pay $100,000 in back taxes plus penalties and interest.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I would, because nobody wants to pay a hundred thousand dollars in back taxes plus penalties. Oh my god, I would have died. And they don't really. I can only imagine just like they don't wait for their that whenever it's the labor board they don't really wait around like the irs and you can put in all those nice little extensions you know they I know put out or get out of the game.
Speaker 2:I don't know that's unfortunate. That's unfortunate, but there are truly some people that genuinely don't know. I was one of those people whenever I first started hiring friends and telling them let's go and paying them cash me as well cash and just you want to go clean with me and you know, and that's whenever, uh, whenever we started growing, um, I switched everything. I got introduced. I don't even know how, I don't know. I got introduced to Shannon and took it from there and learned so much.
Speaker 3:Okay, and I did the work though I did the work. Right and I feel like there has to be a willingness to wanting to learn. Right that you want to learn, that you have to accept that you don't know and you have to learn. There has to be that willingness on, on, on the uh, on the person right, right, I agree, I agree.
Speaker 2:So when can we look for your uh?
Speaker 3:my new platform. Yes, yes, um, I would say next month next month? I don't have the exact date yet, but next month, sometime next month, uh, it's going to be out in public. Yeah, so far there's a few people in the industry that we've, like I said, we've been doing interviews and having people test it and use it and we've been getting a lot of feedback to tweak it and fix it. They were happy with what they saw, so we'll see. We'll see what happens next month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 3:I.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at this calendar real quick for you. Okay, so are you? How are you? It's actually better than March. Astrologically speaking, it's a little woo woo, but yes, if you like, the 28th is a better day. The 27th, 28th, let me write that down.
Speaker 2:What are you looking at?
Speaker 1:Sorry this is a bit woo woo, but anytime you're making a major business decision, you should obviously have a timing done. But this is just me throwing it out there. So, according to this calendar, the 27th or the 28th of February is going to be a better day than any of the other days that you might choose. February is going to be a better day than any of the other days that you might change there.
Speaker 3:Interesting, by the way, something that you learn in software development. Whenever you have a date, you usually add a couple more weeks because something breaks last minute and you have to fix.
Speaker 1:I had no idea.
Speaker 3:Oh yes, like I said, it's not easy. You can have an idea, you can have even someone build it for you, and this happened. I'll tell you a little anecdote. So my wife and I we actually developed a remote, so we were using a lot of remote workers. So we said you know what, let's, let's, let's develop, why do we have to go through an agency? Let's develop a platform that you can go and directly hire people in in South America. So we, we concentrate because we're Latinos and we saw the advantage of having the same time zone with people working remote, with VAs, you know, virtual assistants and all that. So we said you know what? Let's develop an agency, I'm sorry, a platform where you can directly hire and escape that middle person and blah blah.
Speaker 3:So we developed the software, we onboarded 8,000 Latinos and when I say that it's, they uploaded their information, they give us their driver's license IDs and blah blah, because we wanted to verify their names. And we did that in two months and a half we were like super fast, developed the software, uh, on board 8 000 latinos and right there. And then now we had to look for uh, companies in the us to hire those latinos, right and right there. And then we realized what do we, what do we know about recruitment? We don't know nothing about recruitment Minor detail, minor detail. So we thought we were developing a tech platform and in reality it was a recruitment company. So the smart move that we did is we looked for a company that was already doing it, which is called TeamFission, and we sold them the company, so they acquired that software from us.
Speaker 1:It's called 10 Vision.
Speaker 3:So the company that acquired the software it's called Team Vision, but the software you can actually look at it in HireALatinocom.
Speaker 1:HireALatinocom. Okay yeah, HireALatinocom. Hirealatinocom. Okay yeah, HireALatinocom.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:I'm glad that was very fortuitous for you and your wife so does your wife do developing too, or she just helps you with the content.
Speaker 3:So, no, I don't do. By the way, I don't do development anymore. I used to be a software engineer in my past life. I don't do development anymore. We actually have a CTO in South America that handles the development team. My wife, she's the product person. So basically, I give her the idea hey, I have an idea for this. And she's the one that puts a stop and she says okay, let me first validate the idea, because you can build something. If you're going to build something, you have to make sure that people are going to pay for it. Are you going to use it? So, yeah, minor detail. So so she's the one that puts a stop to my crazy ideas, and she's she's the one that validates the idea first, and then she's the one that handles, uh, basically the the.
Speaker 3:It's the product person that she's the glue yeah, she, and she's the glue between the designer, the UX, the developers. She's the one that almost like a, like a project management.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, she is a power duo.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it so, and she puts up with all your crazy ideas. Nope Next.
Speaker 3:No, exactly.
Speaker 2:That might work. Okay, talk to me later about this.
Speaker 3:Let me research it because if it was up to me, I will build everything, and that's a problem. You build everything, you got nothing.
Speaker 3:So it's just on fire, that's and that's something that I learned right through the process of developing the software. Um, you want stay. And it's so difficult because coaches in the cleaning industry tells you they tell you this as well pick a niche, you know, don't do commercial and residential, just do one, even inside commercial cleaning. Just find a niche in commercial cleaning maybe I don't know healthcare and stick to that niche. And it's difficult, right Even when I was, when I had my cleaning company, right Even when I had my cleaning company, when I had my first company the residential, if a client commercial cleaning wanted my services, why would I say no, right? So it's difficult to say no.
Speaker 2:You got to smack your hand. No, no shiny objects. No shiny objects, exactly.
Speaker 3:But now in software, we pick our lane, which is AI, and we want to stick to that lane. And I'll give you a brief example. So we had the idea to hey, whenever you get the answer that you want, you can create a document. Whatever you know, you should be able to create a document. And then I said, great, so we can give them a place in our software to save those documents, so we can manage those documents. But then we were like no, we're not a management document software, we're an AI platform that helps you grow your business. So those are the things that take time to learn and it's difficult to stay in that lane.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that's what we've been trying to do yeah, it is, it is, yeah. So let me ask I'm pretty sure you'll be at the issa show this year. Yes, you go every year now.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah yeah, talk to more than 10 people yes well yeah, no, I actually I became friends with, uh, with everyone at ASSA, great people. I was at the white house last year. Um is speaking in regards of um, what was it? Um, uh, immigration was one of them, and how it affects the cleaning industry and all that, and it was great. I mean, for me, it was an amazing experience to be in the white house and you know, I think I used to say for that, uh, they're the ones that they'd have the cleaning week, which I believe is in.
Speaker 2:No, it's in cleaning week, that's right.
Speaker 3:April, I think it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, uh yeah. You'll start seeing a bunch of stuff all about it. Chatter yeah.
Speaker 3:It looks like what typically goes down on cleaning week at the ISSA. For those who don't know, so a lot of us, it's about 100 people, I think, or even more. We get together in Washington DC and it's advocacy for the cleaning industry in DC. We try to help, we advocate for the industry. Any laws that are coming up, we try to help with that. We talk to governors. We talk to the people in the White House, at the Capitol. We went to Capitol Hill. We advocate for the cleaning industry and everyone is welcome to go. Actually, the person I'm going to, he has a difficult last name to pronounce. Hold on, it's John. Oh man, I'm going to write it in the chat and you guys are going to pronounce it so.
Speaker 3:I recommend that you become friends in LinkedIn with this person. I want to see how you guys pronounce that last name. Nordoft there you go. I'm not going to repeat that, but yeah, john Nordoft, he's in ISSA and he's the one that pushes all the advocacy in Washington DC for the cleaning industry. So yeah, I will. I will recommend.
Speaker 1:I'm just making myself a note so I can mentally remember to go do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and add's another thing I need to get on on my LinkedIn and so it's March in my profile.
Speaker 3:Oh, definitely, march 31st to April 1st.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay, so, and he he's displaying. So if you go to his LinkedIn, you'll see there are different reasons. You can obviously network with everyone in the cleaning industry. You can be a voice for a change. You can be with. You're going to meet with congressional offices and, yeah, try to advocate for the industry with the government yeah absolutely I love that.
Speaker 2:I love how you just and it's all cleaning related and that's what I absolutely I just it's a great, it's a great area to be in. I just I love it. It's needed, it's a necessity. It's no longer bougie, it's not you know. It's needed and it's uh, we're helping people. We're out here literally helping helping people. It's so much and it really is so much more than just cleaning. It's uh, I don't know. I just really love this group of of people, this.
Speaker 3:I love industry and the people that are in it and yeah, and you get to great, you get to meet like great people, great leaders, you learn from them, you share with them and then you, you, actually you know, you become friends with them and yeah. I know Highly recommend.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're just like I was. Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1:So do you have another book on the agenda for this year, or are you just working on this one project?
Speaker 3:So I have like three of them, but I kind of like put everything in the backlog, cause I've been, I've been focused, you know, I I also learned to focus on one thing at a time and, uh, I've been focused on, on this new platform. So, uh, so, yeah, uh, eventually, eventually, it's much easier now that you can write something and tell Chachapiti to make it pretty, you know, um, but uh, you don't have to like think about why, why this doesn't match up, just rewrite this for me exactly and and for me you know I'm esl, I I came to the us when I was 15 years old.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm 42 now uh, wow so, and you're from argentina argent yep. It's a great country. I love Malbec. It's my favorite wine, all the volcanoes and the grapes.
Speaker 3:I love it and actually I became a citizen two, three years ago.
Speaker 2:I remember that. I remember that, I remember I commented, I remember I was just so I was like yeah, it was such an emotional, emotional time, that was so gosh, that was, that was that long ago. See what I mean. I just like.
Speaker 3:I know your eyes.
Speaker 2:And it's here. We are three years man.
Speaker 3:I know, I know, but yeah, I know's been, it's been great. I never, honestly, I never thought, let's say, 10 years ago, I never thought I would be involved in the cleaning industry. And now it's all I can think of and it's all I do, and I don't think I'll ever leave the industry.
Speaker 2:Right, I love it too. I do too, I same, and I, I, I'm. It's almost like you're hungry for it and I want to help as many people that was one time, just like I was as many people as I can and paying it forward as much as I can without you know, passing off like, okay, you, you need to coach them into it yourself yeah, right right, um, but yeah, uh, it's a great industry to be in and I'm, I, I don't think I'll leave it and I, whenever we, before we started this show, it's like, don't talk over each other because I get so excited.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm a geek over it. I geek out constantly in the industry. I know, I love it, I know.
Speaker 3:You have to get used to also right. But now we all did Like, for example, we have our remote meetings and, funny fact, we actually do our remote meetings our daily. So in software we have something that's called your daily stand-up. So every morning you meet and you talk about what you're going to work on and what you accomplish, and blah blah. We do it in virtual reality oh, wow look, I have my yes, yes Is that an Apple vision You're meta. Yeah, this is the meta question, that's why.
Speaker 2:I got a request from you, oh wait.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, you spend a lot of time on VR.
Speaker 2:That's Bodhi. That's my son under my name.
Speaker 3:He's not legal enough to be on that by himself's only 10 oh, okay okay, oh, does he dal so so we, we uh, yeah, we do all of our meetings because, uh, so my, my wife and I were here locally, but everyone else, and it's uh about six of us on the team right now and they're all in South America, so we do all of our meetings in VR. So we kind of share the same office in a way.
Speaker 1:I love that. So how many time zones ahead is that, since it seems to be a topic and a theme with all of the guests. So Argentina is how many time zones away from New Jersey? Zero.
Speaker 3:Zero. It's the same time zone from New Jersey Zero.
Speaker 1:Zero, it's the same time zone.
Speaker 3:So throughout the year it changes. So I know there are some countries like Ecuador. They have the same time zone, but then if we change and they don't change and it becomes one hour, it goes from zero to two hours throughout the year. Interesting. And that's why I love when we had our cleaning business, we used VAs from Philippines, which was great, but once we switched to Latin America, it was great because of the time zone, because they're almost in the same one, or just one or two hours.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that Nice. So there's like 17 time zones ahead. You're like okay.
Speaker 3:Exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a whole day ahead.
Speaker 3:Because sometimes it does become a problem. So when I started doing software development, probably 10, 12 years ago, I used to work with people in India and it was a problem because they're almost like a day ahead or before you, so you have to leave the work for them to do, or they have to work all night when you're working through the day, so you can work together, right? So yeah, that's one of the advantages and that's one of the reasons that we built Hire a Latino. But then obviously we solved it, and now you know why.
Speaker 1:I love that, though. That that's great. It is awesome. So do you have any questions for us?
Speaker 3:I'm happy to answer jamie's happy to answer any questions. Uh, no, no, not really I. I love the podcast that you guys are doing. I'm gonna go listen to, to the one with chris and and was it?
Speaker 1:uh, pixel, clean, pixel yes, he's actually going to be on again in um I believe end of march, um beginning of april we broke up the year for production for so it's easier on both of our schedules rather than slamming it through um because you know it's, having a podcast is a lot of um, a lot of cogs in the wheel have to get going so it can get produced. So, um, yeah, he, dan and um chris, rob and angela brown's there last year, um, there's a couple of oh my god angela, it's pretty funny she's the first one.
Speaker 2:When we started our residential business, she was the first one that we started watching and she's I love her, yes, and she's so calm and knowledgeable and just she talks well you know, and she's spot on, like she's spot on and the the way she does. I love her. Same yeah on the Chris swap. You'll understand what we mean whenever. Okay, no, talking over each other, okay.
Speaker 1:Maybe got a little excited.
Speaker 2:Super.
Speaker 3:Yes, but the one so I love about Angela that she's spot on and she gets to the point. There are some of them I'm not going to name names, but there are some of them that they speak for 30 minutes just to give you that little bit of information. I'm like dude, just say it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just tell me what you mean, I know.
Speaker 3:But then I understood it was part of because they sell services and that's part of how they get people into their services, or you know whatever.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I get it too. Yeah, no, it's been fine. I intentionally have kept it this style, because there are several options of podcasts out there, because I genuinely and I know I'm on my soapbox here I genuinely want to help the majority of the industry move where it needs to go so that they can make the most money, so that they can either gift it to family or sell in the future, creating a legacy. I want every the industry, as you know, is going to change, especially when AI really does kick in. I see the next 18 months being a lot of like pivoting, pivoting, pivoting. So it's going to really affect our industry and I really want I don't want people to work by the hour for 15 or 20 bucks an hour. I want everyone to make way over six figures. If they're buying, they have a business. I want them to get to the milestone that everybody is searching for, and sometimes that milestone is to buy two or three homes.
Speaker 1:Sometimes that milestone is to hit the zone that milestone is to hit the zone. Everyone has a different place of where they want to be and I think it's important to have that push Like. I still offer a scholarship for my signature program I think I'm the only person that does that, because not everybody. When you know when you're bootstrapping it, there's no extra funds for.
Speaker 3:Tell me about it.
Speaker 2:Tell me about it. I've heard a thing that somebody said that you watch out for the coach, you get what you pay for, and that just kind of rubbed me the wrong way, because not everybody can afford $10,000, $15,000, especially starting out.
Speaker 3:So you just lost a good. You don't know if there's that diamond in the rough that's going to come to you and it's finding the right coach. So I'll tell you another anecdote from from a business owner. Again, I'm not going to name any names. They spent a 12,000 on a on a coach and it truly didn't work for them, because you have to find the right coach for you. And here's the funny and sad part. They went back to the coach and they said Coach, it didn't really work for us. We did everything you told us and I could see, because I was looking at their social media and you could see the things that they were doing. I'm like, wow, that's interesting. It didn't work for them. And when they went back to the coach, you know what their answer was.
Speaker 1:What.
Speaker 3:It didn't work out for you because now you're ready for the next level, so now you have to pay $25,000.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I'm laughing. It's not funny, but it's just because.
Speaker 3:A shock.
Speaker 1:That's just. It's really unfortunate, and I hope that they were able to find someone who could help them with their situation.
Speaker 3:Um, yeah, I later on that they were doing better but, uh, you know those things. Those are the things that people have to be careful with Um and and lately, like I said, careful with and and lately, like I said, everyone, everyone, everyone is coach, everyone has a book, everyone will do your website, everyone has a community. So nothing wrong with that, just I would just for people out there just be careful and do your research right.
Speaker 2:Do your research and, if not, reach out. I can definitely help you get to the right people. We got lots of connections and I may be biased here. I hit it obviously off really well with Shannon and you know she coached me into where I'm at now purchased my first home, all with business, while the bills are still coming in calmly, collectively. Oh, you got this. You know what you're doing. I'm like, are you sure?
Speaker 3:Shannon doesn't know this, but she's in our platform, in our new platform that hasn't come out. So one of the things that we have is if someone asks for are there any mentors, coaches, available, we're going to give you a list and she's in that list.
Speaker 1:That's why I say you can have my autograph.
Speaker 3:So something that we're building, along with the answer that we give you, is related products and services. So if you ask how can I be more efficient to clean 10,000 square feet at a warehouse, we're going to give you the related product, which might be a carter floor machine that you can go and buy or something from Sunbelt that you can rent. So we're trying to go the extra mile. It's still in development, but we'll be ready.
Speaker 2:Oh, you just get, I can tell.
Speaker 3:I'm so excited, I know you get a fire.
Speaker 2:I just I love that spark. I love like I said, you'll hear it on the Chris Schwab show.
Speaker 3:I'm going to go listen to it. Today I got to keep.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't want to keep you forever, so if you don't have any other questions, I'm good.
Speaker 2:One of you. We should do this again, yeah definitely. Especially whenever the product comes out, We'll want to talk and maybe like after an ISSA show or something like that, or I don't know somewhere's down the line.
Speaker 3:Are you guys going to go to the Trey show back? I know it's in November, but are you planning to go or?
Speaker 2:We are, yes, we're, we're, we're. Last year Didn't work out for me. Some came up, yeah, and we've been talking about it, yeah.
Speaker 3:Shannon, are you planning to have a booth?
Speaker 1:You know I I've looked into it. I don't know what the rules are for sharing a booth space with somebody. I don't know what the criteria is, but it's we were thinking about it, but we're not 100% sure.
Speaker 3:You can share. I think it was two years ago with Rao. We shared the booth with Swept and the janitorial store, so it was three of us in one booth.
Speaker 1:Okay, I would definitely be open to that option. It's just shelling out all of it. I'm not saying it's not worth it, it's just a lot.
Speaker 3:No of it's, I'm not saying it's not worth it, it's just a lot.
Speaker 2:No, it's a big investment, it's a it's a big investment it is um and you have to see the roi yeah, yeah no, I agree uh it does, it would probably take it to the next level, um, especially if we could do a live podcast. Oh, oh, that would be awesome I mean these, these are just ideas that I'm just that we haven't even discussed that part. Yeah, I just threw that out there.
Speaker 1:So if you need to, we are planning on going as far as having a booth. I'd be open to the opportunity of sharing with somebody, just to break down the cost and rely out of it. And then there's, you know, logistically, I have an eight and a nine year old. So there's, you know, babysitting and stuff that, all the coordination.
Speaker 3:We have a five year old and, yeah, your life literally changes. So my wife and I we've been together for 22, 22 years, and but we, yeah, we waited you guys are young yeah. So we waited, waited and waited to have a kid. And then you know, we decided to have a kid and she's five years old. But yeah, it literally changes your life. And now you have to plan right. It's not easy to just oh yeah, let's just go.
Speaker 2:I have one too. I have plan right. It's not easy to just, oh yeah, let's just go. I have one too. I have a 10 year. Oh yeah, yeah, but it's also um, you know, they're part of the entrepreneurial gene oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah yes so, uh, we could, we'll figure something out.
Speaker 2:Definitely last year was a. You know, to even speak something of this to my husband last year was just absolutely. But he knows now that I am, I gotta go, and it's not for I'm going to vegas, it's, I literally want to meet you. I mean everybody that I talk to all the time in the industry, you know.
Speaker 3:But it's completely, completely understandable. We went through the same with my wife and I, because at the beginning, it was just me that I was going to events, and it takes time to understand. Yeah, we're not there to have fun and have a crazy life. Yeah, you're going to go out, drink and network and meet people and become friends with some of them, but it's part of the business.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love it.
Speaker 1:So, ricky, if people want to get ahold of you, why don't you tell them? I guess you're well, you can't. The website is not launched?
Speaker 3:No, I haven't. So the website is launched. They can go to TTYB, that's Talk to your Business. So TTYBai, that's my business website. But if they want to reach out to me, just look me up on social media. Ricky Funk I don't think there are many Ricky Funks, so look me up on social media. And yeah, like I said, I help as much as I can. I always try to pay it forward and, yeah, let's do this again in a couple of months, once we launch our product, and hopefully it'll be with good news.
Speaker 1:Definitely. Thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it and hopefully we don't have to talk.
Speaker 3:No, this was a lot of fun. Thank you, it was an honor to be here and, yeah, looking forward to doing it again. Yes, thank you, it was an honor to be here and yeah, looking forward to doing it again. Yes, thank you, bye, thanks Bye, bye-bye.
