Master These Five Areas to Get Off the Ladder & Grow Your Business

keywords

home service business, leadership, mindset, delegation, systems, personal growth, business strategies, employee management, capacity building, podcast

summary

In this episode of the Off the Ladder podcast, Branden Sewell discusses key strategies for home service business owners to gain freedom from their daily operations. He emphasizes the importance of mindset, effective systems, delegation, leadership development, and expanding personal capacity. Each of these areas is crucial for business owners looking to step back from day-to-day tasks and focus on growth and leadership. Branden encourages listeners to take ownership of their business challenges and invest in their personal and professional development to create a thriving organization.

takeaways

• Mindset is the foundation for getting off the ladder.
• Beliefs about personal importance can hinder business growth.
• Implementing effective systems is crucial for organization.
• A good CRM can streamline business operations.
• Delegating authority empowers employees to make decisions.
• Leadership development is essential for business success.
• Personal growth reflects on organizational health.
• Capacity expansion is linked to mindset and systems.
• Taking ownership of challenges leads to business improvement.
• Engagement with employees fosters a positive work culture.

titles

Chapters

00:00
Introduction to Off the Ladder Podcast

06:11
Implementing Effective Systems

11:21
Mastering Delegation

20:51
Expanding Your Capacity

30:11
Conclusion and Call to Action

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.134)
Hi everybody, I'm Brandon Sewell. I am the owner of Seal Pro Painting located in central Florida, and I am 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. Thank you so much for joining into this episode. Today's episode is going to be a solo episode, so no guests. Today I wanna cover four

main points or main strategies for getting off the ladder. Obviously this podcast is all about trying to teach you the home service business owner, how to get off of the ladder. Many of us start our businesses because we want to have more freedom. We want to have freedom to spend time with the ones that we love. we want to do things that we love and are passionate about.

And unfortunately, we start these businesses, we get busy. And the next thing you know, we're just overtaken with our business and all of the stress and all of the work that comes with it. So I want to cover four areas that we can focus on in order to get off the ladder. So the first one is going to be your mindset. And I would say this is like the foundation.

of getting off the ladder. There's so many deep-rooted lies that we have in our mind and deep-rooted beliefs that we have, and they prevent us from getting off the ladder. And if we can't change our mindset, then we are not going to get off the ladder because those beliefs, those lies that we believe are going to control what we do and

what the outcomes will be for our business and for our lives. So some of the main beliefs that we have to encounter and face are going to be some of the most common ones that I would believe most contractors face. And that is, you know, if I don't do it, it's not going to get done. Or if I don't do it, it's not going to get done right. And

Branden Sewell (02:28.926)
just having this belief system that you are the most important piece to your business running day to day. And as long as you have that belief, if you believe that nobody can do anything as good as you and that nobody will get it done unless you do it, well, then you can't get off the ladder because those lies are going to keep you where you're at.

Now, the truth is, is that other people can do what you do, and there's probably people who can do it better. There's also people out there that want to do what you do, and that's their passion. And your responsibility as the business owner or the leader of your organization should be finding those people that can do the job better than you.

and who want to do it and then creating an opportunity for them. Now that's, you know, easier said than done, but there's things that you can do to create an environment and a culture that will attract amazing people to work for your company. But it starts with you. Now, I think the other thing that we have to address is extreme ownership. Now you can say, well,

I can't find those people because of the work marketplace or the labor shortages that we see. There are so many excuses that you could find as to why you can't find good people. People just don't want to work and there so many lies that you tell yourself. Now, the reality is, is those lies, or I should just say, they're lies. They're not true.

The reality is you can find great people but it starts with you. What are you doing? Ask yourself this question. What am I doing to make my company attractive to the top talent that is out there? Now some people might jump to you know, I can't pay enough, know, I would say that not everybody is motivated just by pay. What kind of culture do you have? How do you take care of your

Branden Sewell (04:49.502)
employees, what kind of organization do you have? What kind of structure? Do you do what you say you're going to do? Do you follow through? You know, those are all things that potential employees are looking for. You know, they want to be a part of a great organization, and they want to feel like they can come and contribute and be a part of something great. And that's up to you to do the work to make the

your company the place that they want to be. Now you can do on board better on boarding. You can do better interviews. You can provide better training. You can do a lot of different things to invest in your employees and attract better or top talent in your area. So

Reality is is if you don't change those mindsets you're never gonna get the right people into your business and you're never gonna get off the ladder and You know again if you're listening to this and you believe that you are the best and there's nobody better than you Well, you're gonna stay on the ladder, you know until you get over yourself and get over that because the truth is is Other people can do things just as great as you can

and your job should be finding them. So this kind of leads me to my second point is, so you got to shift that mindset and what you believe. And then once you do that, you have to implement the right systems to handle these employees that you're going to hire and bring into your company and the growth that it's going to produce and the opportunities that it's going to create for you.

So for example, for me, the systems that I'm going to implement are going to be some type of CRM. For us, we use jobber. So if you're running your business off of Google spreadsheets and Google Calendar and paper invoices and things are just all over the place,

Branden Sewell (07:07.5)
and disorganized or there's just extra work that has to be done that is not efficient. Well, that's going to make it harder to create the time to invest in new employees, train them, onboard them and create better opportunities. So you need a CRM that is going to help you to run your business well, keep it organized and manage your time. So for us, we use jobber. Jobber is that place where

We can put all of our leads in, all of our clients, it holds our database of clients. we, you know, that is our entire book of businesses on Jobber. Then what we're able to do in Jobber is we can schedule our estimates, we can stay on top of those, show up on time, have great communication, and then we can create a quote for our clients.

which then can be approved by the client and they can pay directly through Jobber. And then we can convert that quote to a job once it's approved and the customer has paid their deposit. Then that helps us to manage the schedule. This is great for when you bring employees on board. You wanna be organized. You want your employees to know where they're going every day.

have that security of knowing, okay, I've got work on the schedule. I don't have to worry about whether I have work or not. So having Jobber is key for creating that experience for your employees. And it's great for your customers too, because you're going to be organized, show up when you say you're going to have great customer service and communication, which is going to help you run a better business. And that's what great people want to be a part of. It's a great business.

So then once you get your jobs done, you can close out your jobs and invoice them through Jobber. It's automated, they'll get their invoice, they can pay with a card through the invoice, and it just makes it quick and easy to do that process. So you're not chasing money or wondering how or when you are going to get paid. Jobber makes it simple with Jobber Payments.

Branden Sewell (09:26.158)
Lastly, there's so many different integrations with jobber, so you have different apps on there that you can integrate. So if you're using other things to help with, like for example, we use jobber to help us get us reviews. So we use nice job when the customer gets the invoice and pays, they automatically receive a request to leave us a review. And that's an integration.

on jobber that we use. There's a bunch of different integrations that you use. can use like integrations with QuickBooks online and things like that. But all that to say is those integrations and jobber are gonna help you to run a efficient and smooth operation, which is part of attracting great people, like I said before. you know, it's going to when you have those systems in place, excuse me.

It's going to help you manage the growth that is going to happen. The hardest thing to do is if you have inefficient systems and if things take you a lot of time to do or you have a lot of unnecessary data input that you have to do and administrative tasks that bog you down.

then it's going to make it harder to handle growth because when that growth comes, you're going to feel like, wow, how can I handle all of this? But when you have a really smooth, efficient operation and a lot of automated things going on that save you your time, then you're going to get your time back and you can focus on doing things that help you to grow your business. And that's really the key of having these systems in place. So it's helping you to manage your team.

manage your clients and manage your time and really just create a better experience within your company. So you have to improve your mindset, implement systems. Third, you really need to master delegation. Now, one of my favorite leaders, Craig Groeschel says, you need to learn to delegate authority, not tasks. And what he says about that is when you delegate authority,

Branden Sewell (11:51.182)
then you're giving your people the permission to be leaders and make choices that don't require you. Again, you want to make things efficient. you don't want to take this position of, every single decision has to go through me because nobody can make good decisions except for me. Now that is a complete lie. People can make great decisions.

when you invest in them, when you make them believe in themselves, when you encourage them and you help them to see that they have what it takes to make the difficult decisions that have to be made day by day in a business. Each one of my crew leads that I have, don't micromanage or babysit them. I tell them that I trust you. You have the authority to make decisions.

you have the authority to decide what is the best decision to make for this job. And what you really want to do is help them understand the culture and the reasons why you make certain decisions. So if they understand the why behind the decision, then they can feel free to make that decision knowing that it supports the why of your organization.

where you can really mess up is if you give them authority to make decisions, but they don't understand the why, because then they don't understand how the decisions that they make align with the mission and the values of your organization. But if those things are clear, if your leaders have a clear understanding of who you are as a business, as an organization, then they should be free to make decisions without having every single one of them go through you.

You should only get involved if you absolutely have to. And again, this comes down to your belief system on, you know, thinking you are the most amazing person ever and nobody could ever do anything as good as you. It's a complete lie. People are amazing and people have amazing potential to do great things. And what your responsibility is as the leader of your business is to find that potential.

Branden Sewell (14:12.224)
and to bring it out of people and let them go be great. You don't have to control everything. You know, if I felt like I had to control everything, then I would be wasting my time dealing with matters that I don't have to. I wouldn't be able to focus on things that I need to in my business. But because I let go of my own pride, my own ego, and I allow others to be great,

then that makes things easier for me so you as a leader of organization you need to learn to delegate authority don't just delegate tasks to your people don't make them task followers because then what they're gonna do is they're just gonna come back to you and say hey i need to know what the next task is hey i need to know what to do next i can't make any decisions on my own i need to ask you what to do and you don't want that you want your leaders.

to be able to make decisions without you. So again, delegate authority, not tasks. That's how you're gonna create amazing leaders in your organization. So change your mindset, implement systems, delegate authority, and then fourth, leadership. You need to develop yourself as a leader. Now, I feel like as a leader, there are a few main areas that you need to focus on.

You need to focus on your spiritual life. You need to grow in that area and be a leader spiritually. You need to be a leader and a great representation in your marriage. What does marriage look like as a leader? Because the people that work for you, your employees, need to be able to look to you as a leader.

in these different areas of their lives so that they can get better, so that they have someone to look to and see a standard. And if you're not holding a standard in those areas of your life, then it's hard to hold them to a certain standard or attract people that want to get better and improve and be the best that they can be. So you need to be a great husband or wife. You should also be

Branden Sewell (16:33.258)
a great role model for what being a great father or mother looks like. being involved, being present in your kids' lives, leading them, guiding them, and just being a good parent figure that they can look up to. Next would be your finances. So if your finances are an absolute mess and if you're struggling financially,

That's going to reflect on your organization. So I know that even for myself, I've had struggles in the past, so I'm not perfect, but I'm always improving. I'm always getting better in the area of my personal finances. And so where I was, you know, three years ago in my business is not where I am today. I've made mistakes, learn, get better. I'll make more mistakes. I'll learn. I'll get better. But I'm always improving in that area of my life of personal finances.

And also in the business and how we handle the business finances. That's a big thing too. And you want to be a good role model to your employees on what it looks like to be a good steward of your personal finances and your business finances. The other area would be your health. As a leader, you should be leading in the area of your health. What are you doing to invest in yourself?

and take care of yourself spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically, what are you doing? And you want to be a good representation of what health looks like to your employees. And really, I think this can come down to respect too. When people look at you, you want them to respect you.

You know, there's many things that I do to try and invest in my health, know, spiritually, you know, I did one really cool thing this week. have a an app that we use called Basecamp for just internal communication and managing jobs and project management and things like that. But we have a a chat in there and it's

Branden Sewell (18:55.564)
dedicated to devotions. So, you know, I'll wake up in the morning around 4 a.m. And the very first thing I do before I do anything else is I'll read my Bible. so and then I'll take whatever I read and I'll share some of what I've read that morning in the devotions chat. And, you know, I just kind of create like something for my guys.

or my employees to go in and read if they would like to. And so I think it was earlier this week or later last week, I had one of my employees reach out and they just said, hey, just really want to thank you for posting these, to let you know I read them every day. And it's the only way that I get the word in my life. And I was just, that made me so happy to know that that was making a difference. But, you know, so we can lead spiritually.

you know, and then working out, I will admit that it's been a little bit more challenging for me lately, but I still am always doing something to stay active. going to the gym, running, you know, doing physical activity, to try and stay fit and keep my health a priority. eating better, trying to focus on that. and just having those examples, you know,

Anyway, just going every area of your life, be an example to your employees so they have something to look up to. And as you get better as a leader, as you develop as a leader, it's going to help you to run your business better. And I found that as I, the more discipline that I get with my life, the better my company is, the better off my employees are because as I get better, my organization gets better. So mindset.

systems delegating authority your personal investment in your own leadership and then the last thing I want to talk about kind of takes all of this and it makes this one point is your capacity so when you expand your capacity you can get off the ladder easier and you know really your

Branden Sewell (21:19.31)
Capacity is going to be determined by those four areas that we just talked about you can only grow you can only Do so much in your organization? based on your capacity so if your Mindset is limited then your organization is going to be limited if your systems are not developed improved and constantly getting better to take on the growth of your organization

then your organization is going to be limited by your systems. If your delegation of authority and delegation of what has to get done in your business is suffering because you won't let go of things or you won't hire somebody to do something, then your organization is going to be limited by your ability to delegate. And then your leadership.

Your organization will be limited by your leadership. Again, it comes down to you. You're the leader. You are the visionary for your organization. So if you want to get off the ladder, if you want to grow your business, then you have to focus on your leadership. Everything rises and falls on your leadership. If you're not investing in yourself, if you're not trying to get better, if you're not improving, if you're not taking ownership of

every area of your business, then your organization is going to be limited by you. Now, what I will say is, you know, what everybody wants is going to be different. So maybe you don't want to be a, you know, let's say a million dollar company. Maybe you don't want to be a five million dollar company. Maybe you don't care to be a ten million dollar company or more. But if you do,

then you have to realize that, okay, my capacity, where I wanna go is going to be determined by what I do. So if I say that I wanna be a million dollar company, a five million dollar company, but I'm not willing to make the changes that are required for me to experience that growth and to grow to that capacity, well, then you're not going to, and it's your fault. It's not anybody else's.

Branden Sewell (23:42.282)
It's not the economy. It's not your leaders. It's not the labor market. It's not economy all this. It's not any of that. It's you. It's what you decide to do what you want and it rises and falls on you. And the quicker you can realize that the better off you'll be. And one of my favorite leadership books of all times is Extreme Ownership. Now, I don't claim to have mastered this.

but it inspires me and it really helps me to reflect and get on the right path when maybe I'm not on the right path or I'm not making the right I'm not seeing things right. Now this book Extreme Ownership it's a really simple con concept and the main concept that it goes over is that there's no such thing as bad organizations just bad leaders and Jaco

He is one of the authors of this book and they share a story in the first chapter of the book and they're talking about how weak for Navy SEALs and There's they're doing like these boat crew races so they have these different teams and there's a leader of each boat crew and then they have a team

And they're doing these races and I might get the exact details wrong, but basically they have like one, let's say team one is winning every single time and team six is losing every time. And, they go to team six and they say, Hey, why are you losing? And the leader of that boat crew says, well, you know, my team, it's my team. And, I can't.

We can't win because of my team. And maybe there's like this weak link that they're blaming it on. And so what they do is they take the leader from team one that keeps winning and they put that leader with team six and they take the leader from team six and put them on team one. They do the race and team six wins because the leader changed. And so the direction of a team

Branden Sewell (26:03.558)
is really determined by the leadership. So I think it's a really amazing principle for us to learn as business owners that everything rises and falls on our leadership. And the more that we can take ownership, the more that we can realize that everything in our organization is affected by our own decisions that we make. Well, then.

that's going to be what determines whether you're going to be successful or not. remember early on when I started my business, I was frustrated because I would constantly have these fires that I was having to put out. And I knew the reason why. And I knew that nothing was going to change until I took ownership of that. It wasn't anyone else's fault. wasn't. There was nothing that could be changed until

I made the change that had to take place. And once I did, once I took action and I made the change that needed to take place, my business changed and things got better. The area that I was having problems with was fixed and things were on the up and up. And so really, it's looking at your business, look at every single area, wherever those pain points are, wherever you're facing challenges.

Stop slow down and ask yourself. What is the issue and what can I do to fix it? So in the past I was having struggles Finding the right people or hiring the right people getting the right people in my organization now Like I said, you could blame that on the labor market. You could blame it and say

well people just don't wanna work or there's nobody no skilled labor out there there's you know and you can make all of these excuses or what i did is i said okay what am i doing what am i not doing to attract the right people to work for my organization so i ended up getting an employee policy manual i started

Branden Sewell (28:18.99)
I'm working on all of my KPIs for every position in my company key performance indicators every position in my company as a KPI that says this is what set success looks like in this position and when and then I have an onboarding process where when I bring an employee on there's a organized onboarding process where we go over we read through the entire employee policy manual we

look at the KPIs and say, this is what you're going to be responsible for, and this is what success looks like in your position, creating that expectation. And then having a training where we actually go over everything that we do as a business and what that person is going to do in their position. so when I improved those areas of my business, then

things got better. You know, instead of meeting somebody at a random, you know, Starbucks or random place to do an interview, I have a designated office, a professional space where people come to do an interview for my company. That may sound silly, but it makes a big difference because it's giving that person that feeling of like, okay, this is a legitimate business. And so

Really, comes down to you. That's the real big picture here is it's gonna come down to you on the direction of your organization. So with all of that said, I'm gonna bring this episode to a close and I hope that the points that I covered today help you to grow in your business and help you take that next step to get off the ladder.

Now, if you have more questions, if you want to dive into any of these areas, any of these topics, if you need additional help on getting off the ladder, please message me, reach out to me, send me an email. You can email me at Brandon, B-R-E-N-D-E-N at sealpropainting.com or info at brandonsoul.com. You can also reach out to me on Facebook, Instagram,

Branden Sewell (30:38.958)
Any of those areas linkedin? Reach out shoot me a message. Let me know what you need help with I'd be more than glad to help you Maybe figure out what you can do next to get off the ladder Please feel free to ask anything. I'd love to help and Lastly if you're watching this on YouTube or if you are

listening on Apple or Spotify. I would really appreciate it if you would just engage on any of those platforms. Like, comment, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel, rate and review the podcast on Apple or Spotify and share it with somebody. And another thing that you can do is just engage. Let me know, reach out to me personally. Let's talk. What do you want to hear more about on

the off the ladder podcast what's going to help you and your business grow. I'd love to bring that content to you to help you out. And anyway I'm going to wrap this up. Thank you so much for joining into this episode and I'll see you next time on the next episode of the off the ladder podcast.