Good Neighbor Podcast: South of the River
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of South of the River
Good Neighbor Podcast: South of the River
EP#110 Fix It Right: The Professional Approach to Home Repairs
Jason Olson of Mr. Handyman shares his journey from corporate America to franchise ownership, bringing professionalism and customer experience expertise to transform the handyman industry. His mission centers on providing reliable, high-quality home repair services with transparency while helping homeowners feel pride in their spaces.
• National franchise with local ownership bringing structure and reliability to handyman services
• Background-checked technicians arrive in branded vehicles with clear communication throughout
• Digital documentation with before-and-after photos ensures quality and customer satisfaction
• Transparent pricing model eliminates common anxieties about handyman costs
• Specializes in tackling entire to-do lists in one visit rather than individual projects
• The "Done Right Promise" guarantees customer satisfaction with completed work
• Corporate customer experience background informs every aspect of service delivery
To connect with Mr. Handyman Shakopee-Lakeville, call 952-641-0072, visit mrhandyman.com/shakopee-lakeville, or email shakopee@mrhandyman.com.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mark Bratton.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbors Podcast South of the River, number 110. Today I hope to give you a very special gift before the end of the year that makes life a little less chaotic. My guest today is Jason Olson. Mr Handyman, how are you doing today, jason?
Speaker 3:I'm doing great, Mark. Pleasure to be here today.
Speaker 2:Well, we're going to have some fun getting to know what a handyman really is and why Jason got into it. So let's start right there and give us a little background and maybe what drove you to being the guy you are to fix everybody's ales at their houses.
Speaker 3:Fantastic, we're Mr Handyman, shakopeeta, lakeville. If you're looking for us online, we are a national franchise brand, locally owned and operated. So I am the franchise owner. We started this year, early 2024. And our goal is to really bring awareness and professionalize the handyman trade. It's often one of those super helpful and much needed service to homeowners and local businesses that, hey, I just need somebody that can help repair this door lock or man, I've got this sheetrock that's been damaged for years and it's bugging me. Who can I call to help fix this? And so we are your local residential and small business handyman service, helping the maintenance and repair needs.
Speaker 2:So you mentioned your national franchise, yet you're the local handyman. How does that help you being a national entity in the handyman world?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great question and, frankly, it's one of the processes I looked at when I decided to leave corporate America and strike out on my own to take what I've learned and the skills that I've learned in sales for large customer engagement, customer experience companies and with AI and conversational analytics and selling to big banks, healthcare manufacturers, anybody that's a B2C type of business. We help sell and grow their insights so they can make better decisions faster, and so what I learned in that arena is how to really engage with people and really try to find out what it is that they're really trying to solve for. And just you know, having that knack for sales, I'm like you know what I really enjoy working with people. I really enjoy having conversations and networking, and it doesn't matter if you're the CEO of a healthcare institution, educational institution as well.
Speaker 3:What I really cared about was getting to know people, and there was an experience years ago where my wife and I had a house in Napa Valley and we loved the house. It was just the outside. It wasn't. You know, it wasn't quite conducive to what we wanted, and so I was searching around and I'm trying to find somebody and it's like, well, who do I call? How do I go about doing this? And it's a large investment and it's your home and it's really important and it's it's it's something that you save for, that you're you know you want to make sure it's done right, that you enjoy it, and so I was pretty fortunate enough to hire a really good exterior contractor Free, just by the way, for those that are, that are local. I have a really great experience with them and they had come in and consulted with me and they basically redid our entire backyard. We added a we we added a fireplace, we added a sport court, we put in an area that we could have our rainbow play system and it totally transformed our backyard. And we we expanded the size of our deck and you know it was.
Speaker 3:It was a large investment, but what I felt as a homeowner and a dad and you know husband is I really love our house, I really love the outside, I really love the experience that we can all provide hosting and everything, and so that joy and pride that I took from that experience, that feeling when I was done, is what I bring forward into this handyman business, is I want to really help those people when we leave, even if it's hanging a bookshelf, if it's, installing a grab bar, if it's, you know, refacing a deck something that people like I just don't know how to do it. I don't know where to turn, but I really have this vision for what it could look like. At the end, when we leave, we offer the done right promise, which is a guarantee of our quality, craftsmanship and the service we provide, to make sure that you're 125% happy with the service that we've completed. And, frankly, that's why I went to the franchise, because if I were to do something like this on my own and try to build a brand from scratch, not having the skill, the labor, the skilled labor to swing a hammer or make those proper cuts, measure twice, cut once, but the brand, just like buying a McDonald's or a Subway or those brands that have been out, and they've really created a process, a proven success.
Speaker 3:That's what Mr Handyman has provided for me here. They've given me the framework, they've given me the processes, the support and, with my customer experience background, I understand from every single touch point, from brand awareness all the way to moving into a client, into a repeat customer. Every step of that journey is vitally important, and so, from a handyman service perspective. I felt like that may have been lacking in the industry, and so what we do is we bring that experience to the forefront, so you're always going to get a friendly voice when you answer. You're always going to get prompt, courteous response. We're going to show up in a branded van wearing our branded polos and shirts, and it's just. I think everybody is expecting that with the automations that you know, lyft or Uber or DoorDash provides when your food is picked up, when it's about to be delivered, we provide all of that and I think it really helps, and that's it's been validated with customers that we've served so far. So that kind of explains why I chose Mr Handyman.
Speaker 2:Well, there was three things that came out of there that I hope you take very well.
Speaker 2:One is going with a brand like that.
Speaker 2:I'm fortunate enough as well to be with a company that has a tremendous brand, shows up, does their thing, goes beyond the shadow of a doubt, to make the consumer, your prospect, happy, and obviously I know that. But then also you collaborate with other people that maybe your skillset doesn't fit quite right, but then I also caught in there that you learn from them so that the next time that your customer needs that service even though you subbed it out or worked with some other great company like freeges, I know them a little bit of them you now can do it yourself and the customer gets that great smile and the community involvement that you're in. I know for sure. With all that, though, in your business and I know of a couple of myths and misconceptions that, oh my gosh, I'm going to call this guy I don't know him and, man, I got to do a background check, I got to do this, I got to do that. What is your biggest problem, misconception or myth that you end up having to answer to your client or prospect?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's a really great question and I think you bring up a couple of key points. There is who is coming to my house? Are they going to show up when they say they're going to show up, and are they going to do what they say they're going to do for the project or the job that I'm looking to get done, and how much is it going to cost me? And the biggest misconception there is handyman come in. They show up in a truck or a van that's unmarked, or they may say they are an expert at drywall, tape and mud or paint and even caulking a shower or your kitchen sink, like those things are. You look at those every single day in your house, so you want to make sure it's done right to your satisfaction. And so when we show up, I've already taken care in doing all of the screening, just like you would if you were going to go see a dentist. Like, hey, your goal isn't to go find the cheapest dentist or you know, the guy that you know may or may not have experience or maybe went to a school or university that you're not too sure about, but I'll give them a shot. You kind of want to make sure that you're doing your diligence, and so what I've done is I've embraced that, I've taken that on and shouldered that already. So when we send a tech out, they've already been background screened so we're not sending anybody in a felony or convictions or anything like that that you need to be worried about. When you get a notice of who's coming out let's say it's Daryl or Troy you're going to get a little blurb of like you know, hey, daryl's a master barbecue pit master. You know he loves these things. So you already get a little bit of a okay, I guess I know who's coming to service us and everything is done through the iPad app. So we take photos of the work that's done before we take photos of the work that's done after. We get your acknowledgement to start the work. We get your sign off that you're completely satisfied at the end and then we give you an invoice to show the work that was completed and how much we charged.
Speaker 3:Usually what we do is because you know we can take a phone call and talk about certain things. We have a long list of projects and common projects in homes that we know how much it should cost or how much effort is involved, and one example of that would be like let's swap out a ceiling fan. Okay, ceiling fan is something that's rather simple. You know you take down the old one, but you got to unbox the new one right, you got to put it together and you got to make sure you get it hooked right so it's not wobbly. And then you test it, make sure it's not making noise Right. And so usually that can take about two, two and a half hours, because the largest process is really just unboxing the thing, assembling it, putting it up. But we know generally we can tell you over the phone yeah, it's going to cost you $350. Do you want us to pick the fan up? Or do you want to pick the fan up? Beautiful? You know we offer that option to customers to help reduce the costs.
Speaker 3:An ideal situation for us is to have a to-do list your honey-do list or your chore list and just a punch list of items.
Speaker 3:We can come out there for half a day, a full day, and just knock out whatever is the most highest priority for you. Then, if we need to come back another day, we'll call Sarah, our office manager. We'll get you on the calendar, for maybe you got to save up some more money in the budget. And oh, by the way, hey, you're thinking about maybe getting your kitchen cabinets repainted. Let me put together a quick estimate for you, just so you know, kind of the scope and the cost. And if you want to do that, you know, in the spring here you already have an idea of what it's going to cost you and we'll give you an estimate right there. So we, we really do take pride in the, in the work, in the craftsmanship, but only that is setting the expectations up front. I think sometimes that has been a task that we've or a challenge or a myth that we've heard over and over is you know?
Speaker 2:hey, you know I hired, he started the job but he hasn't been back in two weeks. Well, I've got a different one for you, so I can see I'm gonna do this to someone. I'm gonna find the littlest, tiniest job that you have, probably for 50 bucks, and I'm gonna have your handyman come over, but I'm gonna have him there for like two or three hours as he barbecues for my friends and family yeah what I'm gonna do. You said you got a guy that's a barbecue yeah, right, yeah, I'm gonna get that guy coming over.
Speaker 2:I just had the guy 300 bucks to barbecue that steak for us everyone. So knock on because I know I'll burn it. But uh, so you, you obviously mentioned uh, some things barbecue pit, backyard fun zone with freezes and everything else. What do you do in your spare time when you're not working and you've got to spend it with friends and family?
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly. Well, here, it's early, almost approaching mid-November, and hockey season is in full swing. So I've been skating since kindergarten playing hockey, and now that my kids are 14, 13, and 10, the last 12 plus years I've been. If I'm at the rink, I'm usually on the ice or on the bench coaching. So I do volunteer a lot of time coaching the Youth Hockey Association here down in New Prague. I'm a member of the board, so I do spend a lot of time volunteering there and if I can take in a wild game or if they're on TV, that's where you'll find me most of the time, but just really spending time with the kids. You know, we actually just sold our cabin. We had a cabin up in Cross Lake and so we just loved a boat and tube and, you know, water ski and wakeboard and so if we're not on the rink and it's the summertime, you'll pretty much find us out on the water.
Speaker 2:I love it, love it. I unlike you with hockey, I'm a baseball fanatic, so I was on the baseball field coaching my kids and I'm an umpire of 50 years, so that's my getaway. We all got to have getaways. So with that, you know, you got into handyman. Was there anything in your life that really I know? You were in the corporate world and were you trying to find what do I want to do? But something that direct you say, hmm, handyman, yeah Well. I mean what? What got you really to say?
Speaker 3:I want to be a handyman versus something else? Yeah, yeah, you know some. Yeah, that's a great question and and the reality is like I said when the in the enterprise software sales world the industry is is it's kind of shrinking and I had a good fortune to work for some really good companies, but they were smaller companies and so working with you know the owners and the founders and some of these folks that were employee number two or three, you get to kind of feel the warm embrace of like a good company culture. But when you have a lot of success in software, a lot of times the big players start to look at you and say, hey, that's that's an area that maybe we need to bolster in our book of business.
Speaker 3:And so that's. That's what really happened to me is we had some success, um, as an, as an account executive, as a leader, as a manager in the sales world. Um, we grew to a point where we were acquired, um by a, um, uh, by venture capitalist firm. They went in, they bought us and they were going to try to go public, and so what they did was they combined a couple of companies and during that time, I was like you know what? This is a little bit different. Uh, they were offering some, some, some packages, and so I was like you know what, I think I'm going to take some time, cause I was starting to get a the quarterly pressure. And you know, I had great success. I had the opportunity to make a lot of money, you know.
Speaker 3:But you, you sacrifice things right when you're, when you're burning one one of the candle for the other, and so I, I really, when I was looking to get back into the space, interviewing with a number of other software companies, I just thought to myself I'm like you know, I'm just getting back into the grind of what, what I kind of didn't really like doing much anymore. Yeah, I can do it and it pays well. But, like, I'm going to take the opportunity to really explore. And, uh, a fan, a franchise, um broker, had reached out to me on LinkedIn and said, hey, have you ever thought about starting your own business? And I'm like I don't know, I really don't know. But I'm open, let's have a conversation. And so I explored six or seven different franchises, really did some diligence. There was another Handyman franchise that Ace Handyman had started and I really kind of nailed it, no pun intended, boiled it down to like two different Handyman franchises Because, like I said earlier, it was like for me it was really about I love homes and I loved everything about real estate and like kind of the construction and seeing your work when you're done, actually like physical labor producing a result.
Speaker 3:And so I decided to go this route and I said I invested in it and I, you know, I I didn't know much about the actual industry in terms of the labor force, but I'm learning about the actual industry in terms of the labor force, but I'm learning, uh, I'm learning about that. And so, you know, I think, from from that perspective, it was a learning, it was a pivot point in my, my life, my family's life, and, good thing is, my wife has been extremely supportive. The kids are just super happy I've. I'm a completely different person, because now it's like I wake up and I'm excited for the day to get going.
Speaker 3:And who can we talk to today? What kind of job is going to come across our desk that we haven't seen yet? And being able to just share in the networking and learning about the community and being involved in the chambers, and it's a different perspective in really learning about everybody else in the community and that's what I really truly enjoy. And so, being a member of the community, I hope that people can learn more about Mr Handyman and I hope I get a chance to meet more people. And you know that, I think, is really kind of leaning into a difficult situation and coming out stronger on the back.
Speaker 2:Love it, love it and yeah, for sure we want you in the community, and you mentioned New Craig. Is that where you live then?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, just, it's Webster, but we're on like the Northwest corner of Webster, closer to Prior Lake, cedar Lake actually. But yeah, it's been great. We've been here four years. We got we just after COVID with the kids, we decided to strike out and get a little bit of land so we can, you know, ride the snowmobiles and four-wheelers and you know. So, yeah, it's been great so far.
Speaker 2:we love it here I can't wait to check it out sometime because I got a feeling we're going to go down the same path here. Um, I work in those areas exclusively, in many cases through being the Rotary and, like you, volunteering on all the sports. I appreciate that so much and you with that. We're going to get close to the end here and I want to obviously say thank you, but make sure you tell everybody how to get a hold of your phone number, email address, website, facebook. You tell us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, you know absolutely. We're available on all the channels. So you can look us up on Facebook, instagram, twitter. Our website, mrhandymancom slash Shakopee, hyphen, lakeville, is where we're online. Google search us. We've got the Google business profile. We're on Angie's list, pretty much anywhere. If you want to connect with us, you can call the office 952-641-0072. We have a chat option or you can email us at Shakopee, at MrHandymancom. We're always available. You call us on evenings or weekends If we miss you. We'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it. I really, really appreciate your time today, jason. Um man, I I I'm excited to share you with everybody that I come around because, uh, as I I'm not sure if you knew, but I think you did, but I'm a proud prior lake rotarian and we have a whole strong group of people that love uh doing business with each other and come out to the Lakefront Music Fest and have some fun there too. Don't forget about us over here in Briar Lake.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, absolutely. That's a great place. I've been there many times.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, well, I run the information booth in the Austin Fountain, so try to lose something and I'll find it for you. With that, everybody, we are going to wrap it up today. Jason Olson, with that, everybody, we are going to wrap it up today. Uh, jason olson, mr handyman, uh, it's been a true pleasure and, uh, we look forward to everybody giving him some business and shout outs. Maybe see him on the hockey rink. Thanks, jason, appreciate you very, very much.
Speaker 1:Thank you thanks for listening to the good neighbor podcast south of the river. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnp south of the rivercom, that's gnp south of the rivercom, or call 952-592-3737.