Erica Krupin: Kroopin's Poopin Scoopin - Financial Insights & Benefits of Rebranding

keywords

dog waste removal, branding, entrepreneurship, mental health, rebranding, business growth, financial investment, personal development, home service industry, marketing strategies, poverty mindset, sobriety, resilience, business growth, delegation, self-care, entrepreneurship, alcohol impact, mental health, personal growth

summary

In this conversation, Branden Sewell interviews Erica Crouppen, the owner of Crouppen's Poop and Scoopin', a dog waste removal business. Erica shares her journey from working in a hospital to starting her own business, the challenges of branding and rebranding, and the financial considerations involved. She emphasizes the importance of consistent branding and how it has contributed to her business's perceived size and success. The discussion also touches on personal growth, mental health, and the significance of therapy in navigating life's challenges. In this conversation, Branden Sewell and Erica discuss the challenges of overcoming a poverty mindset, the impact of alcohol on life choices, and the journey to sobriety. They explore the importance of resilience in both personal and business contexts, the challenges of navigating business growth, and the significance of investing in hiring to foster success. The discussion emphasizes the importance of delegation and self-care in entrepreneurship, highlighting the need for mental health awareness and personal growth.

takeaways

• Erica transitioned from a hospital job to entrepreneurship.
• Branding is crucial for business identity and growth.
• Investing in branding can significantly impact business perception.
• Consistency in branding helps in building recognition.
• Mental health awareness is important for personal and professional growth.
• Therapy can provide valuable tools for managing stress and trauma.
• Financial planning is essential when considering a rebrand.
• Community support can aid in business development.
• Wearing brand colors can enhance visibility and recognition.
• Personal growth often requires confronting past traumas. Overcoming a poverty mindset is crucial for personal growth.
• Making a conscious decision to quit drinking can change your life.
• Alcohol often leads to poor decision-making and negative consequences.
• Creating a false persona to fit in can hinder personal authenticity.
• Justifying drinking habits can be challenging when seeking sobriety.
• Investing in hiring can lead to significant business gr

Get More Reviews w/ NiceJob 
NiceJob Automates Your Review Requests!

Grow Your Business with Jobber
Sign up for a 14-day free trial or get a special discount when you sign up! 

Grow Your Business with Jobber
Sign up for a 14-day free trial or get a special discount when you sign up!

Get More Reviews w/ NiceJob
NiceJob Automates Your Review Requests!

The Perfect Payroll Solution
Gusto is a powerful and user friendly payroll provider. With Gusto you can integrate with Jobber and

Maximize Marketing Dollars w/ CallRail
Attach call tracking numbers to all your marketing campaigns and track their success!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.007)
Hi everybody, am Brandon Sewell, owner of Seal Pro Painting in Central Florida. I'm also the host of the Off the Ladder podcast. And we exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live life off of the ladder. Today's guest is Erica Crouppen and she is the owner and founder of Crouppen Poopin Scoopin.

It's a pleasure to have you on the show today, Erica. If you could just tell the listeners a little bit more about yourself and how you got started and about your business.

Erica (00:32.312)
you

Well, thank you so much for having me I'm super excited So as you said America Crouppen, I'm the owner of Crouppen's poop and scooping which is a dog waste removal business Yes, that is right. We scoop dog poop. That's what I do for a living We scoop for residential properties and then also commercial properties your residential is going to be your homeowner, right? Your your people that are busy. They have injuries. They just don't want to pick up the poop Whatever the reason is they're calling us and then you have your commercial

Branden Sewell (00:38.721)
Absolutely.

Erica (01:04.203)
That's going to be your apartment complex, your HOA communities, those green dog waste stations that you see at dog parks. We also take care of those. Now, I've been in business for a little over six years and it's kind of weird how it happened. I was just wanting to get out of my hospital job because I had been there. I want to say it was like 12 years at that time. When I eventually quit, I had been there for 14 years and I was just looking for something to get me out of there and my husband

name his last name is actually Crouppen and I've known him ever since I was like seven I've had a crush on him ever since I was a little kid and him and his brothers they would always joke around about this Crouppen's poop and scoop and thing for years I mean it's a couple decades nobody did anything with it and I caught wind of the dog waste removal business because my buddy had started one locally I was standing in the kitchen watching my dog poop out the back window and I looked at my husband I said hey

I want to start that dog poop thing. Can I use the name? And he's like, yeah, sure. So literally the next day I went and filed for a DBA and started researching as much as I could and hit the ground running. And now it's been about six and a half years.

Branden Sewell (02:17.146)
That's awesome. I don't know if you know him, but I actually am pretty positive you do, because I think I've seen you guys interact on social media, but Jamie with Poo Squad, yeah, so he's a really cool guy.

Erica (02:27.531)
Of course.

Erica (02:32.099)
No, Jamie is awesome. When I was actually going, I was having a branding identity crisis because my branding was like all over the place and I didn't like it. Him and I were kind of going back and forth and he was kind of helping me behind the scenes. And I eventually got to a good place with my branding, but Jamie has just been so, so kind and has offered so much valuable information to so many people in the industry. He's a great, great dude.

Branden Sewell (02:58.927)
Yeah, he's amazing and he's you can I mean just from his episode on here was one of the most popular episodes that I've had in the year of doing the podcast and he's very knowledgeable and when you talk about branding the guy is like a branding genius. mean everything is on brand. So I I'd really actually like to get him on here again to to talk more about that. But he does some pretty incredible things with Poo Squad and

It's an amazing like concept. I love what you guys do. I even like I'm I look at it and I get kind of envious. I'm like, man, I want to start a poo removal business. we don't have anything like that in our market here. So I've never heard of another company doing that around here. So I've been like, my goodness, I could be like, you know, a gold mine. So anyway.

For those of you who are maybe only listening to the audio of this, let me just say this. Erica is completely on brand. She's got a pink shirt, she's got pink headphones, she's got pink in her background. So that's all part of her brand. So it's a powerful thing that I've seen many entrepreneurs do is they carry their brand through everything. And so I think it really leaves an impression.

Erica (03:57.724)
you

Branden Sewell (04:25.628)
You know we're going to jump into that today. If you could, for the listeners, kind of talk about your journey of how you got started with your brand. And then you mentioned that you did a rebrand recently and kind of just talk about the ins and outs of that. How did you get to this like realization of, OK, I really need to do this. How did you make the decision to move forward and what you're going to do?

And I think a big question that most listeners are going to have is really the financial piece for it. So I personally have been really mulling over this thought of rebranding my company and, you know, wrapping all of our vehicles and doing this. But when I look at the cost of it, I'm like, my goodness, it's a it's a lot. Right. So I'm just curious, could you talk to listeners about your experience and your journey with that and how you accomplished it?

Erica (05:26.078)
And this is actually Jamie's going to come into this a little bit later because he was inspiration with like the bold colors for me and to stay consistent because he does such a good job with it, you know, so When I when I first started I only had like roughly a thousand dollars I didn't have a lot of money to spend and when I was doing my research at that time There wasn't a bunch of content on the internet. There was Jim King of pool

Kingapoo, he had a couple articles and a couple videos on YouTube and there was this other guy creating content. So I had to like piece things together little by little and I found this like little teeny tiny poober scoober community that you, it was like low key, it was hard to get into but I knew somebody that knew somebody that got me in. My friend, my other friend Jamie that got me into the group. So.

I was just like doing some research and I knew this one guy locally that kind of did some branding. So I had reached out to him and I was like, Hey, can you put something together for me? And I think he put together a little bit of a logo and then I put together something on Canva. ran with that for a little bit. But when, when I was getting my cards designed, I kind of went back and forth because this first woman, she sent me over a design. It was like blue. It was like blue and brown, blue and black.

My favorite color is actually blue. I love blue. Like my, the girls in my wedding, like they were all variations of blue. I've never really worn pink. It's never been my color. Like whatever. So I got, I got the cards back and I was like, man, man, this just doesn't look good. Like it just, doesn't pop. I'm like, it needs to be like, I need it for it to be cute.

Poop is gross. Like I just don't like it, so it needs to be cute. So I went with the pink, and I think it was a different shade of pink at the time. Went with that, the cards were, they were terrible, they weren't very good. But then I got connected with this other guy, and then he's actually the one that kind of created the color pink that I have. And as time went on, I just, got some magnets, I got some business cards. Then I upgraded to some better magnets.

Erica (07:32.741)
that weren't from Vista print. They were like high-vis ones. And then I got some lettering on one of my vehicles and then I went from lettering to a partial wrap and then from a partial wrap I was like, okay, I want to do a full wrap but the way that my logo and the way my design looks right now, it doesn't look good. And in my mind,

I wanted to be like driving down the street and when people see my vehicle immediately they seen the front of my truck or the front of my car that hot pink color and they associated that color with croupons poop and scoopin just like back in the day Mary Kay was associated with a pink Cadillac. That's what I wanted and So I reached out to the guy that would did the rap and I'm like, no, this isn't right So I actually had I reached out to a buddy of mine that did branding

He created an entire brand. And in order to do that, it's a lot of money, like you were saying. I'm probably $15,000, $20,000 deep into the complete rebrand with the new vehicles and the new marketing material and getting a whole new design. And it is a huge financial investment. But the way that my brand looks now, I'm so incredibly proud of it. And people think my business.

is way larger than it actually is because it presents as a super, super large business. And that's what I want, because eventually it is going to be a large business and there's gonna be hot pink vehicles all over town scooping dog poop.

Branden Sewell (09:04.212)
Yeah, it's super inspiring because it's like, you know, you're you're betting on yourself, which is like incredible. And, you know, I love that you're saying like it's going to be this big company because, man, it's like when you put those words out there, it can be scary. You know, as an entrepreneur, I'm sure you can understand, like when you think of growth, it's both exciting and both like terrifying at the same time. But I'm I'm not.

sure if you'd be willing to share the details of this, but I'm just curious when you look at that, that investment of 15 to $20,000, can you give the listeners insight? Like maybe they're going back and forth. They don't have, you know, like 15, $20,000 in the bank, or maybe they have like a little bit of money, but they also have, you know, other expenses. And they're like, man, how do I, you know, conceptually,

look at this from a financial aspect and decide like, okay, this is how I'm going to do this and this is why. And I don't know if any part of that was like finance or did you pay cash or, you know, and then how did you make that decision? How did you go? Okay, I'm going to take this leap and do this and this is why.

Erica (10:24.472)
Well, there's, I mean, there's layers to it. It was, I was just, I was sick of the way that my brand looked and I seen other vehicles on the road that looked way better. And I knew I had like the vision that I wanted these pink vehicles. But in order to do that, like I needed to have a logo or some type of thing that I was like super, super proud of. And so I started doing some research and I really do feel like,

God does what he's going to do and he put people in my life and put them in place to kind of get things moving. Have you ever been to the huge convention by any chance?

Branden Sewell (11:02.465)
I haven't, I almost went this past year and just because it's funny, you know, just to like make a long story short, we were in Tennessee like I think a couple weeks after it and I had to make the decision if I was going to make like two trips back to back and I didn't go but I think it's definitely on my list of things to do.

Erica (11:28.24)
Well, the reason why this is important is because I didn't have anybody in my life or anybody within my network that did really good branding. The one person that I was using, it was OK for what I was able to afford at that time. And to spend big dollars, I was nervous to just use somebody online. I needed to have a connection with somebody. And when I went to the huge convention, I was walking and I seen this woman.

Standing behind a table and I was just like drawn to her. I was like I need to go talk to her right now So my husband and I were we were like chit chatting and I just stopped mid conversation I beelined over to this woman and started chatting with her started talking about The shoes that she was selling. She's like actually I'm just helping a friend out. I'm over here in this other section I was like, I scooped dog poop and I'm looking for some new shoes and she's like we just started a dog poop business and I was like what that's weird cuz

You don't run into people that have dog poop businesses, you know, like it's not it's not like a dime a dozen right now. So I was asking her questions and she's like, hold on a second. Let me let me go grab my husband. So she grabs him. Guy comes around and I'm like looking at him and I'm glitching. I'm like, I know him. I know him from somewhere. I can't. So I introduced myself and Adam goes, Erica, I know who you are. I'm in the pet waste removal group with you. And I was just like, holy smokes. So anyway, long story long, they do branding.

Branden Sewell (12:25.076)
Right.

Branden Sewell (12:48.863)
wow.

Erica (12:51.199)
And I started developing a relationship with them and chatting and through seeing what they were doing with brands and developing the relationship and then trying to figure out what I wanted to do. With Crouppen's Poop and Scoopin', it's my last name, right? So do I want a dog mascot or do I want to double down on Crouppen? Who's Crouppen? Erica is. So we're going to go with a character of me, double down on me. I kind of have a bit of an ego anyways. I've got social media. I'm like...

As Adam calls me, he's like, I'm a guy. I'm like, okay, whatever. So, okay, let's go. Let's go all in. And he told me what the price was and I was like, I don't know if I can afford that. And he was like, well, listen, this is what I have to offer. And he walked me through it and educated me. And that's what made me feel comfortable with doing that. So I was able to do the brand first, right? Pay for that. And then afterwards recoup some more money, get my marketing material, recoup some money.

and then invest in the vehicle wraps, which that really is the most expensive. I've spent over $12,000 on vehicle wraps with a combination of all the vehicles that I've had to wrap.

Branden Sewell (14:02.062)
Yeah. So it's it seem one of my biggest faults that I have as a person. And I don't necessarily know that it's a fault. It's just like I might get things done type of person. Like so it's like when I start something I just want it to be over with. So when I think about rebranding I think of it like OK how do I get all of the money and then just

Erica (14:03.269)
Yeah.

Erica (14:26.217)
.

Branden Sewell (14:31.13)
get everything done now. Like I want the brand done. I want all my vehicles wrapped all at the same time. I want all the new print marketing material. And so what I hear you saying is like, it's been kind of a progression for you, not an all at once thing. maybe that's, you know, I'm sure there are companies out there that maybe can, can do that. You know, maybe they do have the resources to just be like, all right, yeah, here's, you know, 20, 30 grand and

Erica (14:46.313)
No.

Branden Sewell (15:00.909)
Let's go ahead and rebrand but I know for myself and probably some of the listeners that's not going to be their situation. Now I don't know if you know Dan Antonelli or have you heard of him.

Erica (15:13.066)
Yeah, and that's the other thing is I, because I was researching, was it Kickstart or Kickcharge? Okay, so I would, yeah, so I had reached out to them just to get the branding done. I was looking at like probably $15,000 just for the brand. was like, I can't afford that. So was like, okay. And Adam's style is like similar to that and they're friends. Like they all communicate and they're all in the same wheelhouse. And so I felt like I was getting the vibe and getting everything that I wanted, but

Branden Sewell (15:17.793)
Yeah, kick charge.

Branden Sewell (15:27.405)
Right.

Branden Sewell (15:35.501)
Yeah, for sure.

Erica (15:43.223)
not having to pay those super crazy prices and then not having to wait six months either because you know it's like it's a whole process because you can buy like the wrap and buy everything from them but like you said like I just I couldn't afford I couldn't afford it so

Branden Sewell (15:49.114)
share.

Branden Sewell (15:55.428)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (15:59.631)
Yeah, I mean, they're pretty well known. Obviously they did. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Tommy Mello, the home service expert. But I mean, man, his business, I didn't even realize all of this kind of until now when I think some of these behind the scenes details are coming out since Tommy sold the business and everything.

Around 2000, I think it was like 2018, maybe 2019 was when Tommy contacted Dan to do his rebrand. And then that's when Tommy's, you know, his business just started exploding and to where like now he's got to like, what is it a 250 million plus dollar garage door business. It's just insane.

But I know that Tommy really attributes that to doing the rebrand. Like I saw a post recently where like Tommy and Dan were talking, talking about that, you know, and Tommy was like thanking Dan, like, thank you so much for, you know, doing the rebrand. That's like where it all started. And, you know, so it's, it's something where I'm like, okay, the, the return on investment is obviously there. It's like just,

making that decision, okay, this is what I need to do and then going for it. And I also, think the reason why I brought Dan up is because Dan, he was kind of giving me perspective on it too. He's like, you know, it's much easier to do a rebrand when you're smaller, even though it like feels like it's harder, because you're a small business, it's actually easier because

He's like, think about it. If you're like this huge company and maybe you go from like, you know, three to four vehicles to now you have like 15 to 20 or more, and now you're this bigger operation, like think about the cost of wrapping three to four vehicles versus 15 to 20. And then he's like, if you do it now when you're small, and you have everything set up, then as you get those new vehicles, you have everything.

Branden Sewell (18:13.5)
kind of already in place to just OK, wrap this one when we get it and wrap the next one when we get it. And then it makes it easier to like, you know, grow with that brand if that makes sense. I think.

Erica (18:24.99)
It does it does even though that I had like i've changed my logo like i've kept the pink like that's been very consistent through and then even the vehicles that I purchased like I purchased the honda hrv So every time it needs to be wrapped they already have the template for us. There's no having to do another template i'm able to get it in and get it out very quickly and then I actually seen at a1 garage driving around town and when I seen the character that's kind of what adam and I were talking about and that's where

Branden Sewell (18:45.468)
Mm-hmm.

Erica (18:54.761)
my character came from because I seen like how eye catching that was. So that's kind of the vibe I was going for.

Branden Sewell (19:02.844)
Yeah, you know that it's when I look around like in our market, obviously there's a ton of painting companies, but there's no painting companies that are branded really well. You know, so like I know that if I do it, I can't say that I know, but I have a lot of confidence that if we do it, it's going to be a game changer for us. So.

But I like the point that you made up. It kind of got my mind running on this idea is you brought up Mary Kay and how their brand was tied to this color pink and it was tied to a specific vehicle. I've heard other people talk about this, how they've picked this kind of unique vehicle to represent their brand.

Painting company where they chose to use those Chevy I think they're called HR's They look kind of like PT Cruisers, but they're like the Chevy version I forget exactly what I think they're called Chevy HR's but anyway The the concept that they had was like, okay we want This car is kind of rare. It's not very common and we're gonna have just a ton of these

Erica (20:12.255)
yeah.

Branden Sewell (20:29.19)
on the road. And so it's like when people see this car, they associate it with our company. So it kind of has me thinking like, wow, what kind of like, random SUV or truck could I, you know, could we be driving around in like, Jeep gladiators or, you know, like, sorry, just kicked my table.

Erica (20:44.592)
.

Branden Sewell (20:55.621)
Or maybe like Jeep Wagoneers. I feel like that would be like super random for a painting company, but probably stand out.

Erica (21:03.558)
I would just say pick whatever is going to be the most useful and easy to replicate like each one of my HRVs that I build out it's built out the same exact way in the back so it doesn't matter if the technician has to go to another car. The flow is different like everything set up the same in the back of the vehicle. So I'm down to only one car now because we had several crashes. We had two totals this year.

Branden Sewell (21:28.177)
wow.

Erica (21:29.5)
So the business is like, if you wanna talk about that, the expense of the wraps and the devastation when it's just totaled and it's gone, it hurts, it's painful.

Branden Sewell (21:35.154)
Yeah, yeah.

Branden Sewell (21:41.82)
Yeah, and I would assume like there's no real like if you total a car, there's not really a way to like recoup that brand, you know, the rap and everything. So that's kind of unfortunate.

Erica (21:52.444)
You have to sue, you have to sue the person if they're at fault and then you get $20 at a time, which I'm gonna be getting $20 at a time for probably the next two years.

Branden Sewell (21:56.466)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (22:03.013)
wow. Yeah, that's a bummer. I had one of my guys got hit by somebody. think it was either earlier. I think it was earlier this year. And yeah, it's no fun. It's like just it's a pain. But, well, I think we've kind of covered like the branding brought a lot of value there. Is there anything else that you would add? Kind of jump into like what you were saying about

You know, I think you had received some advice from somebody about, you know, like carrying your brand through everything you do. If you could talk a little bit about that and like how you and you have a podcast too. So I think it's like, you know, I think you have this ability to like put your brand out even more, you know, online and things like that.

Erica (22:57.543)
Yeah, so with like showing up on social media, obviously it's a it's very visual and I wear my pink when I'm working but then sometimes I'd be like, Erica incognito likes to wear green. I like to wear black like that's Erica behind the scenes like in everyday life mainly because my husband likes me in green. So that's the reason why I like it because I used to have red hair. So I went to the LCR media summit.

and everybody's hanging out and I'm wearing pink because that's my brand color. But then there was an after hours event and I walked into the event and I was in green and not one, not two, but three people were like, where's your pink at? Where's your color? Like they were very thrown off that I wasn't in character, you know, like, so it got me thinking. And then also I was at the VIP dinner and I had the pleasure of having a great conversation with Stanley Genetic.

Branden Sewell (23:41.119)
Right.

Erica (23:52.285)
the dirt monkey and we were talking about branding and he was just talking about it. He's like, listen, you just you have to be in pink. You have to wear your pink because that's what people know you and you stand out, especially like in the industry, especially with being in the outdoor space. There's a lot of blue. There's a lot of green. There's a lot of orange, not a lot of pink. And I was like, OK. And so if I'm wearing leggings and I'm going to work out, I'm going to have hot pink leggings on. If I'm going to be, I don't know, wearing something else or doing whatever, I'm going to try to have it pink.

Branden Sewell (23:53.696)
Yeah.

Erica (24:23.434)
Do I think it's like too much? Part of me is like, yeah, but the fact that people, they didn't call me out, but they noticed, they're like, where's your pink? Where's it at? It really is important to keep that moving forward and stay on brand.

Branden Sewell (24:33.398)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (24:40.853)
Yeah, you know, it's I had another guy on here. His name's A.C. Lockyer and he's like the he's a big leader in the like pressure washing, soft washing, paver sealing industry. And he's like he's on brand from like head to toe, like a shirt to his shoes. Like he has like a specific.

pair of shoes he wears that are like branded and yeah, so it's just like head to toe, just always on brand and he's talked about that. And I think that it sounds ridiculous like to an extent, but it's like what lengths are you willing to go to to produce that success for your business and your brand? And I think there's other aspects to that.

that are beneficial for like entrepreneurs. think it takes the guesswork and the time out of trying to think about like, okay, what am I gonna wear or, you know, getting ready. I know that might sound ridiculous, but when you're busy and you have a lot of responsibilities, you know, trying to cut out as much like just wasted time as possible.

It is great. So if you can wake up in the morning and you can hit the ground running and you just know every day like I'm gonna put my pink shirt on with like whatever, you know slacks and shoes like makes it's one less thing to think about. Right. So

Erica (26:19.544)
Yeah, a couple, I want say maybe like two years ago, I went through my closet. I have less clothes than my husband. I purged out all of the nonsense. I only own like three pairs of jeans, so I don't have to worry about what am I going to wear? I know I'm going to wear some type of blue jean or some type of legging because now I have hot pink leggings, which I never thought I would ever wear in my life. And then my shirts. I have black shirts. I have pink shirts and I have green shirts. That's it. There's no branding on them other than my brand. They're plain. So that way I don't

Branden Sewell (26:30.818)
Mm-hmm.

Erica (26:49.527)
have to I don't have to worry about it it's like you said it's so simple and everything that's in my closet it fits it looks good I feel good if I don't feel good in it and if it's weird if I like take it off before I leave the house it's gone I was down to 12 shirts I had 12 shirts at one point I was like well 12 shirts is a little bit minimal but it helps too because then you don't have all this laundry you do laundry once a week and you're not having to think about that

Branden Sewell (27:02.197)
Right.

Branden Sewell (27:07.49)
Man.

Erica (27:14.657)
Same thing, I meal prep every week. I know exactly what I'm gonna eat every single day. Is it boring? Yes, but it's efficient. So then I can focus on other things. I don't have to worry about where I'm gonna eat or what I'm gonna eat. My husband already knows what I'm gonna eat. That's it.

Branden Sewell (27:28.161)
Right, yeah. Success, I think, leaves clues and I think the things that we're talking about, so many successful people do. So when you talk about meal prepping and then having this minimalistic approach to what you're gonna wear, it just makes everything easier. And to be honest with you, I should probably do that as well.

I should like go into my closet and just get, I'm like the opposite, well, no, I'm the same. I have way more clothes and shoes than my wife. Like my wife is like very, yeah, like she just doesn't care about that stuff. I'm like, she wears like, she wears the same shoes like every day. She could eat the same thing every single day.

every meal and it wouldn't bother her me I'm like I have to eat that again or you know like yeah shoes my goodness I but it's funny like I that's an area of my life where I could really like cut out a lot of just wasted time you know

Erica (28:43.712)
So that's funny because my husband's always like, I can't have chicken again. I'm like, but we made it different this time. And he's like, it doesn't matter. But this is also something I learned. I used to buy stuff all the time. Like I got myself in a debt, out of debt, in a debt, back and forth because I would just buy things to fill holes. I would eat food to fill a void, fill a hole. Sometimes you really got to dig deep and like work on yourself and figure out what the issue is. And I always would buy clothes to make me look not fat, to make me look good. This is what I realized.

Branden Sewell (28:48.131)
Right

Erica (29:13.909)
If you eat right, you get your body right, it doesn't matter what you put on your body. You're gonna look good, you're gonna, cause you're fit. So even if I am wearing a plain shirt, it looks nice because I take care of my body. And this is like a mind shift change that I've had. I mean, it's probably been over the past like five years of so, and it's finally now at 37, it's finally starting to click for me.

Branden Sewell (29:21.57)
Right.

Branden Sewell (29:38.178)
Yeah, it's amazing. Like you can really trace back a lot of the like behaviors that you have to like something like I think about like for me, like I love like buying new clothes and you know, wearing different shoes. And when I was a kid, I just remember I couldn't really do that because we were financially strained. So I think part of that for me is it's like almost trying to like heal something from when I was a kid.

you know, like, well now I can go out and like spend this money and buy, you know, the nice clothes that I wish I could have had back then. And then, but then you realize you're like, wow, this is like completely pointless, you know? So, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I talk about it all the time on here. yeah.

Erica (30:22.949)
Can we talk about mental health for a minute? Do you wanna talk about that a little bit?

Erica (30:30.534)
That's perfect. Yeah. I mean, however you want to do it. But like you said about like trauma from the past and I've recently next March, I'll be a two year sober, like clean, no alcohol. I decided I need to quit drinking alcohol because I turned into a completely different person. But prior to that, I was at the lowest of low. I'm like on social media. I'm making all these videos. I'm showing up. I got my makeup on. I look happy. But like deep down inside, I'm miserable, right?

Branden Sewell (30:43.663)
Mm-hmm.

Erica (30:59.952)
I reach out to a friend, was like, dude, don't wanna be here anymore, like ever. I just wanna go to sleep and legit not wake up. And so she was like, listen, you need to get into therapy. Here's a number, please contact them. And I did, I started going to therapy and started working through so much trauma. And I'm like, this sucks.

I hate this, but over like a year or a year and a half I was able to kind of like get through a lot of things and I was like, okay, well alcohol takes me back. It takes me back to that version of Erica that I don't like so I'm gonna quit drinking alcohol. And for a series of time, I've been good since the summer, well my parents are getting older now and things are starting to change and I'm having to go back to the neighborhood where a lot of my trauma happened.

I'm going go back to therapy because I'm going through a new season of life and I need a new set of resources and tools to get me through that. And I think it's really important to, if you don't recognize it, have people around you that know you that are willing to have honest conversations with you and be like, hey, I see a change. Maybe go back to therapy or are you doing okay? And then not get defensive. Cause I could have been like, no, I'm fine. I don't need to go back to therapy. I worked through that, but I was like, no, you're right. You're right. I do need a message. My therapist.

So I'm going back to therapy on Friday and I'm really excited.

Branden Sewell (32:20.251)
That's awesome. That's something that I've thought about doing for a long time. I haven't gone to a therapist, but I'm very like introspective. I'm, you know, I have like this, I mean, I'm not going to say that it's the best way to go about it, but I have a very good way of like just being very self aware of myself, you know, like asking myself questions, working through like things that I'm going through and processing.

processing it and I think in a healthy way. But I've definitely had some things where I'm like, just don't know how to get through some of these things that, know, whether it's, you know, as an entrepreneur, I think one of the biggest things that I struggle with is like, sometimes I'll have anxiety or like, you know, crazy crippling like panic attacks.

Because I like create these scenarios in my mind of like, this is how this is going to play out and it's going to be so bad. And then I think I like when I stop and I think about it, I'm like this kind of the reason why I'm coming up with this story in my head is connected to my childhood and like how I grew up and, you know, lack and.

kind of a poverty mindset or you know, everything always going wrong and you know, thinking like, nothing can go right, you know, kind of just creating this, you know, narrative in my head of and then that's how like everything else is going to be. And it's not true. Like I can't tell you how many times I've like played these scenarios been like super anxious or depressed. And then I get to like the end of the road, I'm like, what the

world was I doing? Like it didn't even play out that way. It's a great everything's amazing. But you know, and another thing I wanted to hit on to that you mentioned was like drinking I like this kind of ties back to my childhood. My sister is like, I mean, unfortunately, I don't have any relationship with her. I don't. I haven't talked to her in years. I don't know where she is. Like if she if she wasn't here, I wouldn't know it meaning like she I mean,

Branden Sewell (34:38.61)
kind of morbid, if she was dead, I wouldn't know. She's like a really, really bad drug addict, alcoholic. She's been that way ever since like I was a little kid. There's like an eight year gap between us, eight or nine years. so like my whole childhood growing up, I watched my sister just completely destroy her life. And, you know, like I...

I partied in high school and started to like get into stuff, but I made a like a decision when I was 18. I was like, I'm never drinking again. And so I haven't drank since I was 18 and not a drop. And you know, that was just like a decision that I made for my life. But I think that it's, I get super inspired when people talk about quitting drinking and choosing to live sober because it's been.

I'll be honest with you, if I drank on top of some of the anxious thoughts that I have or feeling depressed sometimes because of just the weight of being a business owner, goodness, I can't imagine what that would turn into. Probably be pretty scary. And I think I recognize an addictive pattern in my family too. So I think that scared me to be like, I don't want any part of that.

so anyway, I just kudos to you for making that decision. And, I think that that's inspiring.

Erica (36:11.297)
I appreciate it. I am

Yeah, with alcohol for me, it seems like every bad decision, every aggressive conversation always had alcohol. And I've always, I mean, I've been drinking alcohol since I can remember. Like I was maybe 11, maybe 12 years old, sneaking it, drinking a beer, talking to my friends. I'd be like, yeah, I'm hanging out on AOL, hanging out in chat rooms drinking beer. And my friends are like, you're so cool. Your parents don't care. I'm like, my parents.

Branden Sewell (36:39.754)
They're right.

Erica (36:43.396)
I own a business. They're not even home. They're not paying attention to me. They're hot dog stand. And I've always felt awkward. And I quite never felt like I fit in where I grew up, because I grew up in a very poverty neighborhood, a lot of drugs, just a lot of nonsense. And even the social circle that I got into, I didn't necessarily want to be in that circle. But.

I wanted to actually be in band and I remember like signing the paperwork because I wanted to be in band and these girls made fun of me. They called me. I'm not going to say it on here, but back in the early 2000s, it was something that was pretty aggressive and I remember crinkling up that paper and throwing it into the trash and I very vividly remember that that was like a moment that kind of changed the trajectory of who I hung out with through middle school and high school.

Things happen for the reasons that they happen. I'm not really too sure why, but then I started going to raves. I started going to parties. And it got to a point where there was so much drugs and alcohol, but I knew that I didn't like, I would drink, but the other stuff, it kind of messed with me too much. So I would fake it. I would pretend like I took the thing, right? I'm like.

yeah, we're all messed up. And I'm like, I can't, like, I can't do this. But I had to fake, I had to like put on this persona to fit in. And this actually, this carried on until when I was dating my husband, because I had this story that I told myself, I told everybody else, and I told him, he was the first man that was like, or he was a man, anybody else that I ever dated, they were boys. He was like, I don't find that attractive. I don't find that impressive. And I was like, no.

Branden Sewell (38:28.287)
Mm.

Erica (38:33.714)
So I had to sit with that for a little bit I was like I just made him not like me by this fake story that I've like created because I created this persona and I owned up to it one day I was like I need to talk to you and talk to you he's like what he was not talking to me he was not happy I was like dude I'm a liar like he's like what and so I told him he was like you're blowing my mind right now he's like I don't know what to believe I was like listen

Branden Sewell (38:42.613)
Yeah.

Erica (38:56.921)
I had to create it. I feel like I had to to like fit in to like survive, but I never did any of that stuff. And he was like, I don't know what to believe. I was like, I'm being so sincere right now. And the moment that happened, we reached like a new level in our relationship. And at the time we were still dating. And then as time goes on, we got married and then just the drinking habit was a little bit here, a little bit there. And then next thing I know, I'm like, whoa, I'm turning into like a whole different person. The person

Branden Sewell (39:01.354)
Yeah.

Erica (39:25.104)
I was pretending to be, that's who I was turning into. And after a wedding, he was not impressed with me. We went to a Chick-fil-A to eat and I was eating the Lord's nuggets. And I was like, I'm like, I can't do this anymore, I'm done. So I told Josh, I was like, I think I'm done drinking. He's like, okay. And then that was it. Like I just, I didn't drink that day. I didn't drink the next day. And I think, I think it, a lot of people think,

Branden Sewell (39:29.601)
Right.

Branden Sewell (39:36.97)
Yeah.

Erica (39:54.331)
Just because you're like a social drinker or you drink a little bit at night, like it's not a problem. Like I was never like peeing all over myself, getting like wild and crazy. It was just stressed out. Let's have a drink. Happy, let's have a drink. I'm bored, let's have a drink. And I think that is really difficult when you try to justify that to people, because they're like, you don't have a problem, just drink it. And you have to be like, no, listen, internally, internally and spiritually, there's a problem.

Branden Sewell (40:02.956)
Sure.

Branden Sewell (40:07.243)
Yeah.

Erica (40:21.135)
and feel confident with that decision and push through. And unfortunately, I had to get rid of my entire circle. I just purged everybody except for my husband. And I've been essentially rebuilding my life over the past two years.

Branden Sewell (40:21.782)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (40:38.06)
Yeah, well that's super inspiring and you know, hopefully somebody that's listening, you know, maybe they're going through the same challenge and they get inspired by that. I know, you know, for me, I think everybody, you know, could choose to drink for different reasons. And, you know, maybe they choose to, you know, quit for different reasons. But, you know, I think that it can be a

scary decision to make just because I think the way that I mean it kind of blows my mind how society like has made it well for a long time I think it's starting to change but for a long time it was just like if you didn't drink it was just like something was wrong with you and so I think that like scares people to like not do it I love this I heard this comedian I can't remember which one it was or exactly where I heard it but he's talking about like

He's like, you know, it's so weird. Like if you tell somebody that you you don't drink, they're like, my goodness, like, that's so crazy. What's wrong with you? But he's like, but if you told somebody that you didn't drink water, they'd be like, cool. You know, like it's like, like they're blown away that you don't want to put like this, you know, chemical into your body for lack of better terms, like water. It's healthy for you. And it's like, you know, they'd be like.

yeah, you don't want drink water, okay. You know, but it's just crazy like how society has made it, or you know, for a long time just frowned upon to not drink, which I get like super, super excited when I meet people who don't drink because I don't. And so we, my wife and I, we find ourselves in situations a lot of times where we feel kind of awkward because everybody around us is drinking and we're like, we don't drink. And they're like,

Weirdos. It's definitely, you know, I think it's a brave decision to make. that's really cool. Do you think that your, you know, when you think back and you process like, you know, your childhood, you know, those things that you went through with choosing not to drink anymore, how has all of that shaped you into like the entrepreneur and business owner that you are?

Branden Sewell (43:01.879)
I know for me, like I think back to my childhood, you know, struggles that I went through, decisions that I made, and I feel like all of it prepared me to be a business owner because I truly feel like if I didn't go through like the challenging times I did when I was younger and as a kid, that I probably would be crippled by, you know, some of the weight of being a business owner. But I think it's just like knowing that I

Went through so much as a kid that it helps me to like kind of processing get through the challenging times as a business owner. Would you say you relate to that?

Erica (43:43.126)
Yeah, I think just the resilience, right? And being able to push through tough times and even if the emotions get really intense, not allowing yourself to collapse. I think with the trauma, I was able to build up that barrier and that protection. Like, I think they call it like I would disassociate. So I think that's helped me with business when things are getting really crazy. I am able to disassociate and

Not let it like cripple me. It has sometimes I broke down, I've cried, I've done all the things, you know, been there, done that. But there's times where I get so focused on the work that sometimes I get tunnel vision and my husband is there to be like, hey, listen, you're zoning everybody out. You're not paying attention to anybody. So it has its good and it's bad because I could literally work all the time, like.

Work, work, work, not talk to anybody, probably spend the night at this office. If I had a shower and a couch here, I'd probably live here, which isn't the healthiest. So yeah, I think that it has its pros and its cons. I think the healthier I get and the more mentally sound I get, and knowing that I can rely on myself in my decision making, because I had a real lack of confidence. You wouldn't know it by how bold I am.

but I've been really good at being able to put up a front, right? And so, what I'm really working on is being confident with my decision-making and not having to reach out to somebody else to give me the approval. Be like, yeah, that's a good idea. I'm like, I know it's a good idea, and if it's not a good idea, I'll just figure it out on the back end. So that's honestly what I'm really working towards moving forward.

Branden Sewell (45:34.884)
Yeah, that's good. know, kind of to bring all of this full circle as we kind of bring this to a landing. You know, this podcast, it's like I said, it's really about trying to help home service business owners get to the point where they've built a business where it doesn't require them. And I know for every industry, we call that something else and painting, could be like off the ladder or, you know, off the bucket or out of the bucket. I don't know if there's one.

in the poop scooping world if you guys have any like maybe it's just getting off the truck but anyway it's off the rake there we go off the rake but there's you know obviously the the challenge is no matter what industry you're in you know growth is is hard and you know you have to make those hard decisions and you know to

Erica (46:12.1)
Off the rake. Off the rake.

Branden Sewell (46:34.64)
to build these businesses that we dream of and to get to a place where, like my dream is that I have a business that 100 % does not need me to run day to day, like 100%. Like everything is covered and the only time that I'm contacted is like, there's a problem that requires my attention or like, just for casting vision and things like that.

but just the day-to-day just being completely covered by everybody else. like we talked about, that requires us to make decisions that put us into vulnerable situations where maybe potentially the decision that we make is the wrong one and maybe we end up doing something the wrong way or failing or falling down. And something that I've...

you know, learn and I think this is kind of cliche is like failures not final. And, you know, it's it's so true, like you as a entrepreneur can decide like, okay, when I fall down, I make a mistake. What am I going to do? Am I going to like is at the end of me or do I adapt? You know, like you mentioned, be resilient and just keep moving forward. I can't tell you how many times.

I've been in situations where I've just had to get super creative as a business owner just to survive. And I'll share this one story and then I'll kind of get your thoughts on this as we bring it to a close. like today, this is just a situation like as a business owner where I was like almost in like panic mode. So I've got four crews out working today and

You know, this morning I went surfing. And I got back from surfing and I was like, or I came in from like one session. I was like, OK, I need to go check my phone and my phone's like blowing up like one guy is like at the store and he's like, hey, I'm trying to buy paint and the cards not working. And then I've got another order in and the, you know, the cards not going through for this order. And then I've got another guy who's going to be

Branden Sewell (48:59.844)
heading to the store to pick up more paint and I'm like, my gosh, what's going on? I'm like, and it took me a few minutes. I was like, my card expired. And so my card that was on file for my vendor had expired. My new card, cause you know how like, I don't know how your bank is, but like my bank, your card expires, they'll like close the other one and they'll mail you your new one. So I haven't received my new one yet.

And so I was like, my goodness, like, how am I gonna pay for this paint? I and so anyway, I was just like panicking. I'm like arguing with the managers on this on the phone because they have this policy where they're like, we can't take cards over the phone. I was like, I've got to pay for this paint, like, you know, because I had another card. And I was like,

Anyway, I'm just going through that all this morning trying to figure out how I'm going to keep all my crews rolling and those are like the little things that like happen. And anyway, and sometimes it's like even worse, you know, but you have those situations where you're just like, okay, I've got to get creative and make this I'm like shifting money around putting it money into other accounts and just finding a way to make it work. But yeah, it's like, you know, you just adapt and overcome and

So anyway, all the material got paid for and all my guys got to the jobs, but it was stressful this morning. anyway, bringing all of that full circle, you know, from your perspective, what could you just share? Like what's next for you in your business? What do you feel like are like hard decisions that you have in front of you? And what do you feel like you have to overcome to kind of go to the next level?

Erica (50:54.759)
Yeah, I need to quit being so cheap and I'm actually gonna like hire somebody to do my Google ads. So I'm gonna invest into that because I don't know nothing about Google. I'm wasting a bunch of money and getting no return. So that's something I have to overcome. I need to hire, but in order to hire, I need more customers. In order to get more customers, I need to hire. So I'm dancing around that. Man, I'm not really the, I'm not like, I'm.

Branden Sewell (51:08.4)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (51:17.072)
No.

Erica (51:22.509)
I can do my thing like I'm doing a business. I'm a good business owner But there's things that I'm just not really good at like Excel spreadsheets to find details. No, I'm gonna forget so I after talking with Jonathan Potoschek I had a really really good conversation with him when I was at LCR summit I'm gonna hire an operations manager. That's already worked for somebody that's already built out teams. I'm not doing it I'm gonna dig deep. I'm gonna dig real deep into my pocket and I'm gonna find a gem. I'm gonna hire them

Branden Sewell (51:26.416)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (51:48.078)
Yeah.

Erica (51:51.731)
And they're going to be my person that's going to help me build out this company and really make it explode because I'm not doing it the slow way where I'm like going to train people, put them in the place. So that is honestly, that's what my vision is. And my husband and I have talked about it. We're trying to figure out like what that salary is going to look like. Even if I need to take a bit of a hit in my financial book to be able to hire this person to get where we need to go. We're going to do that. And we've already kind of been thinking that's the reason why we've been paying down our debt. Like our house is almost paid off.

Branden Sewell (52:01.092)
Yeah.

Erica (52:21.772)
So we can maybe forego the vacations, the whatever, to get the business to the point to where, yeah, we don't surf. My husband would love to surf. I would watch him surf, you know, like hang out, read a book, because that's ultimately what we want. He does tree work. He's the guy that goes up in the trees. He makes good money, but we're getting older. I mean, our bodies are only going to last for so long. So long story long.

Branden Sewell (52:32.556)
Yeah, right.

Branden Sewell (52:42.021)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (52:47.876)
Yeah, for sure.

Erica (52:51.426)
Get an operations manager in here to help me just boom, explode this.

Branden Sewell (52:56.208)
Yeah, you know, I think that I was kind of talk about AC Locke here again. I think he said on my podcast, he's like, you know, one of the decisions I made early on, he's like, I took a modest salary. And he's like, I lived off of that. And I reinvested, you know, that money into hiring other people and growing. And it was kind of like having like this longer term perspective on growth. And

You know that's honestly that's what I've done in my business I've been like okay like. If I wanted to do more work and have like a ton on my plate I could make probably double what I make now you know or more but I'm like you know I'm gonna take less I'm gonna delegate to other people and grow.

in like, I consider it to be a healthy way, right? Because I, I feel like I am saving my body, you know, I'm not doing like crazy hard labor all the time. I'm also not I mean, being a business owner is already stressful as it as it is. So I feel like getting as much off my plate as I can helps with that. And like, to your point, I think

Erica (53:57.364)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (54:24.904)
Anyone that I have on this podcast that is more successful than I have been so many of them talk about, you know, how important delegation is. And one thing that I've like has always inspired me in that aspect of like delegating and hiring and all that is thinking about like these I think of like huge companies like I live on the space coast of Florida.

Erica (54:38.199)
.

Branden Sewell (54:50.04)
So like literally today there were two rocket launches like right out front of my house. So like when you think of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, like all of these guys, my house is literally right across the river from the Kennedy Space Center. So you walk out on my front porch and there's rockets, you know, just going off all the time.

Erica (55:12.557)
That's cool.

Branden Sewell (55:14.368)
Yeah, it really is. It's really a blessing to live here and to be where we are. But it's inspiring too. You think about these guys like Elon and Jeff Bezos. They are brilliant. They're intelligent people. And one of the things that I think of though is they can't do everything. They're the visionary for their companies.

Jeff Bezos has Blue Origin that he's starting over here. It's a massive property that he just built on and he's like, now he's building rockets on top of having Amazon. And, you know, it's like, well, he's not the one who's there, like staying at night and designing the rocket or even probably telling somebody how to do their job. He has these brilliant, amazing people around him that are

Erica (55:53.377)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (56:12.193)
great at what they do and he's just giving them the space to be great at what they do, right? So I think like even us in the home service business, even though we're not launching rockets to like Mars or anything, we can still learn from that in the sense that, you know, somebody else can do this, like be the operations manager, right? I think that's very smart of you to be like, Hey, I'm

That's not my thing, that's not what I wanna do. So I'm gonna let, find somebody who's an absolute gem at it and let them go just be great, right? And inspire them.

Erica (56:51.24)
Yeah, getting around people that are more successful like you were saying like my buddy William He's got a pooper scooper company him and Levi do like 2.2 million We were talking one day and he's like, are you doing?

I was like, I'm cleaning. And he was like, why are you cleaning? I'm like, I gotta clean my house. And he was like, well, did you make some videos today? I'm like, no, I gotta clean. He was like, why don't you pay somebody to clean your house and you go make more videos? I was like, what? So I ran outside of the garage. I was like, hey, Josh, guess what William told me? And he was like, Erica, I've told you that before. I'm like, I know, but maybe I just need a second opinion. Now I got my aunt that comes over on Fridays and cleans up the house.

Branden Sewell (57:18.123)
Yeah

Erica (57:32.285)
I mean, I still pick up here and there, but I don't have to clean the baseboards. I don't have to do any of that stuff that I loathe to do. So now I outsource that so I can just do like a little daily stuff. And so seeing that, I'm like, okay, things are running really good. Now I can hopefully figure out the operations manager and they can teach me stuff. Cause there's stuff that I'm tired. Like I want to focus on some other stuff right now. don't have the energy that I once had like six years ago when I was desperately trying to get out of the hospital.

Branden Sewell (57:39.117)
Yeah.

Erica (58:02.702)
And I'm a little older so Yeah, we'll see how that goes. I would love to talk to you in like a year from now and See how that process is going

Branden Sewell (58:13.471)
Yeah, well, you know, it's probably a lot like you're doing the wraps, you know, it's like something you just decide you're going to do it and do it. I was just going to say to that point, like it takes, you know, such a level of self-awareness and like humility and letting go of your ego to do those things, like to delegate and to like, especially when like a business, it's such an intimate thing to us as entrepreneurs, like

Erica (58:14.609)
haha

Erica (58:22.267)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (58:43.663)
You know, we find so much, you know, identity and passion and, you know, we have so much zeal for this thing that we're creating and to think like, okay, I'm going to take this thing that I cherish so much I've worked so hard for and like entrust it to somebody else. It's challenging, but you know, like I just realized like for me to get where I want to get to for me to like accomplish those dreams, I have to be willing to let go and

Erica (58:54.172)
.

Branden Sewell (59:13.327)
And then also like see like, man, there are people out there who are incredible, who are talented, who are amazing, who want to fulfill that role. know, they're like, there's probably a guy or a girl sitting somewhere who are like dreaming of, man, I wish Erica would just call me and ask me to run her company for her. And she doesn't even have to pay me that much. I would just do it because I just, I wanna do this and I love it.

You know, like seriously, one of my first jobs I got, I was so passionate about it. I remember when the person came to me and said, hey, we would like to hire you for this job. Will you take it? And I was like, yeah, sure. Tell me when to show up. I'll be there. And so I literally took the job, showed up for work, didn't even know how much I was going to get paid.

And then they told me they're like, hey, by the way, this is how much you're getting paid. was like in a meeting afterwards. And I was like, OK, yeah, show me where to sign. And I mean, it was garbage money. Like, seriously, it was terrible. But it's what I was passionate about. And I didn't care about the money. I was like, this is what I want to do. This is what I'm passionate about. So I think sometimes I think we can psych ourselves out.

think that maybe that person isn't out there or maybe we're not good enough and worthy of them.

Erica (01:00:39.604)
Exactly those self-limiting beliefs you just got to like you got to get rid of those and it's like you started a business like You started a business you can handle stuff lean into yourself have the confidence and I don't know about you, but I'm newly like a believer in walking with my faith so

Whenever I'm feeling weak, lean into God and I pray about it and I think about it and I'm like, all right, let's do this, man. You got me, you got me, let's do this.

Branden Sewell (01:01:04.891)
Yeah, no, that's so good. Yeah, I mean, I'm a big person of faith. And I don't know how much you know about me or if you've listened to my podcast or anything like that. But, you know, that's what I used to be in full time ministry. So when I talk about the position that I was talking about, it was coming on staff at a church. And, yeah, I didn't care like what I was going to make or, you know, I was like, this is what I want to do.

but anyway, yeah, I think that, you know, for all of us and for those who are listening, like, you know, we all want to get to that next level in our business. And yeah, like I said, we got to, you know, be humble and let go of our pride and our ego. And that's the way to get there. So, yeah, I think it's, it's, it's easier said than done sometimes, but I've definitely found, that.

You know, over time, you kind of like build your confidence in your ability to make those decisions and those hard decisions, the ones that you're like, I just hired a new salesperson. And the last time I hired a salesperson, my business almost failed. So in 2022, I hired a salesperson and yeah, my business almost failed. And so I've been absolutely terrified to hire a salesperson again.

But I was like, you know what, like, the only way I can grow is to try again, you know, and maybe this time, maybe it doesn't work again, maybe I make mistakes. But I will say I made decisions this time that I know for a fact put me ahead of where I was before. And who knows, maybe I'm going to make other mistakes and then I'll learn from those. And then I'll be like, okay, well, next time I hire a salesperson, I won't do that. And then

Erica (01:02:39.522)
Exactly

Branden Sewell (01:03:01.477)
You just kind of learn as you go. I think we have to, we have to be willing to fail and we have to be willing to try. you know, that's what, that's what we do as entrepreneurs, right? We like have this crazy idea and we're like, Hey, I'm to go out here and start a poop scooping business. And, you know, but we make it happen.

Erica (01:03:22.194)
I truly believe, I truly believe people that start businesses, we're a little off. We're a little off in our heads. But that's okay, that's what makes us do what we do, you know?

Branden Sewell (01:03:28.025)
Yeah.

Yeah, no, but it's, I think that you know, reminding yourself, you know, of that. What did you say? There's limiting self limiting beliefs, you know, that we have can can hold us back and things sometimes we do we need to like give ourselves some credit and not beat ourselves up and take, take time to look at the

things that we've been able to accomplish and let that inspire us to keep moving forward. So anyway, I will talk to you for another like hour if I could, but I'm gonna bring this to a close and I thank you so much for your time and just the value that you've brought to the listeners. And one thing that I usually do as I end the podcast, I just open up for you to share like maybe something.

It could be something inspiring or just a key point that you want to share with the listeners to really drive this episode home and some key advice or something that you could give as like some final value.

Erica (01:04:42.168)
I think what I really want to focus on is, I mean, we could talk about numbers, we could talk about advertising or whatever, but at the end of the day, we have to take care of ourselves.

And we have the ebbs and flows of when our minds are good and they're strong and we're clear. But then we have those moments where we have the self-doubt seeps in, the devil is trying to attack us. If it's jealousy, if it's we're not good enough, all the things. What I personally have is I have a note, I have a list that I wrote to myself that I read that when I'm not thinking clearly to remind myself that I am enough. I am succeeding.

Even if it feels like I'm not, we're still pushing forward. My stepkids don't hate me. You know, like I have like a whole list of things that Healthy Erica wrote to Unhealthy Erica. And I just work, like I work the plan and I try not to go so much off of my emotions because the emotions will just take me all over the place. So if you're somebody that suffers with kind of ups and downs,

Branden Sewell (01:05:28.636)
Yeah.

Erica (01:05:46.288)
Maybe do something like that. That has truly helped me over the past decade as a reminder that like today sucks, tomorrow might suck, this week might suck, but eventually it's going to get better if you keep pushing forward and you don't give up on yourself.

Branden Sewell (01:06:03.496)
Yeah, that's so good. That's something I've had to tell myself over and over again, especially after 2022 and almost failing. I had to make sure that that didn't become like my story, you know, and I had to push through it and remind myself of like who I am and, you know, I am capable. I can recover from this. can move forward and all those things. So think that's really valuable advice and I think it's really healthy to have that.

that practice of just reflecting and reminding ourselves who we are. So anyway, thank you so much again for all of the amazing value that you brought to the show today. If you're listening to the Off the Ladder podcast on YouTube and you've enjoyed this content, I would really appreciate it if you would like it, comment down below, share your feedback, subscribe to the channel and share it with somebody else so that they can

glean from all of this amazing wisdom as well. And if you're listening on Apple or Spotify or any other major podcast platform, really appreciate it if you would rate and review the show. That'll help us reach more people and help others who are trying to succeed in growing their home service business. And as always, thank you so much for listening to this episode and we'll see you next time.

on the Off the Ladder podcast.

Erica (01:07:33.557)
Bye.