James Hatfield - LiveSwitch: Grow Your Business with powerful Virtual Estimates

Summary

In this episode, Branden Sewell interviews James Hatfield, who shares his journey from running a home service business to transitioning into technology with LiveSwitch. They discuss the importance of education, mindset shifts for business growth, and how LiveSwitch can enhance customer engagement through virtual estimates and integration with existing systems. James emphasizes the need for self-awareness, continuous learning, and the value of recurring revenue in business.

Takeaways

James transitioned from home services to technology to help others.
Education can open doors to new opportunities.
Self-assessment is crucial for personal and business growth.
Networking and putting yourself out there is essential.
LiveSwitch offers unique features for home service businesses.
Privacy and control are prioritized in LiveSwitch.
Recurring revenue is vital for business sustainability.
Customer engagement can be enhanced through technology.
Mindset shifts are necessary for overcoming challenges.
Continuous learning is key to staying competitive.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Home Services and Technology
02:31 James Hatfield's Journey in Home Services
05:58 Education and Its Impact on Business
11:53 Mindset Shifts for Business Growth
19:58 Building Connections and Networking
24:37 Introduction to Live Switch
28:14 Live Switch vs. Traditional Video Calls
32:19 Integration with Existing Systems
35:47 Leveraging Customer Testimonials for Marketing Success
38:00 Real-Time Video Integration in Business Operations
41:54 The Shift to Virtual Estimates and Customer Engagement
43:57 Ensuring Privacy and Control in Video Interactions
47:54 Overcoming Resistance to New Technology
51:02 Building Recurring Revenue Through Customer Relationships
56:09 Enhancing Communication and Service Delivery

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.195)
Hi everybody, am Brandon Sewell. I am the owner of Seal Pro Painting located in central Florida. 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. I'm here today with James. He's our guest and he is with Live Switch. James, thank you for being here on the show today. If you could, just for the listeners.

Tell them a little bit about yourself, your background, and what you do now.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (00:33.346)
Yeah, Brandon, thanks for having me on. Excited to be here. Being someone who owned and operated a painting and power washing company for many, many years, I know what it is to live life on the ladder. And now I'm not living life on the ladder. And I've transitioned over to technology and I'm helping a lot of our home service businesses continue to live their life off the ladder and do things in a progressive way. Because things have changed in the last couple of decades from when I was running companies until now. And same with technology.

cruise and all that good stuff, but I'm excited to talk about the journey and you know all the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Branden Sewell (01:08.031)
Yeah, so really quick, just to kind of dive into your background a little bit more. Where are you located? I see the Wolfpack helmet in the back. Are you from North Carolina?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (01:20.11)
Yep, I'm a North Carolina guy. grew up in Durham, North Carolina, and now I'm located in Asheville, North Carolina. I've here the last 13 years.

Branden Sewell (01:26.761)
Okay, have you ever been to or heard of Emerald Isle?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (01:30.774)
Yes, I've been there many, many times over my life. Yes.

Branden Sewell (01:33.13)
Okay, that's where I grew up. I think I moved there when I was like eight, something like that, and left there when I was a junior in high school. So I spent most of my life in that area. So I have not been to Durham, but I spent a lot of time out in like Greensboro, Greenville, things like that, because I had friends who would visit from there to the beach.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (01:43.885)
Well...

Branden Sewell (02:02.261)
So met a lot of people over the years from out there. But anyway, with your experience in the home services, if you could go over a little bit more in depth. So you said you had a painting company, pressure washing company. What did that look like for you? When did you get started? How long did you do it? Were you always in business for yourself? Did you do anything before that?

and kind of make maybe help that break that down for the listeners on how you transition and everything.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (02:39.682)
Yeah, so they always say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. So my grandfather was a blue collar guy. His father died when he was young. He was 16 years old and he had to drop out of high school to take care of the family. So he started working at a tire shop. My father, again, a home, you know, came from nothing guy. Both of my grandfather and my father built their own homes, came from nothing. My father wanted me to be a plumber and my grandfather wanted me to be a painter. So when I was able to graduate high school,

Luckily I graduated, I was able to start my company and get that going. Needed to pay bills, And when you come from nothing and you're not handed much, you gotta go get to work. I mean, I literally started my company knocking on doors. I'd get out there and knock on doors and win jobs and start working neighborhoods I knew had money and were the size of home that I knew we could deliver on. And I apprenticed myself to other painters to really learn the trade, to do it well, and to do a good job from.

Branden Sewell (03:14.049)
Alright.

Branden Sewell (03:17.792)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (03:36.334)
You know, the first power wash, cleaning everything off to the final walk around with the customer and ended up turning into two crews. Did it for years. And while I was doing that, I felt like, well, the one area I was weak was around my bookkeeping and my financial side. And so I figured, hey, I probably need to go back to school and while I'm running this, you know, get my education. So state school at that time was affordable. Things have gotten a bit crazy recently, but I was able to go and get my accounting business degree and apply that immediately.

to my business and start working through that. And then things changed when I graduated. And it was just fortuitous. wasn't even, I wasn't even looking for it. It just happened. Where one of my business partners, he was running a landscaping company and he was graduating from school and he created a financial technology where you could take your income statement and balance sheet that you get from your bookkeeper, put it into the system and it would tell you in plain language what's going on. Where I struggled the most, right?

Branden Sewell (04:16.757)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (04:34.434)
And he was like, do you want to come and see if you want to make the jump over to technology? Basically get off the ladder and come on over and see if we can do this. And I was willing at that time to take a risk. And I did. We built that company from nothing. I mean, we worked at an incubator and we grew that company to Inc 500, which means we're one the fastest growing companies in America for three years. And now it's a multi-billion dollar company. it was a good choice.

Branden Sewell (04:34.518)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (04:40.053)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (04:50.955)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (04:58.165)
Awesome, congratulations. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, So you started in the trades right out of high school. How long after you were running your own business and in the trades, you know, on the ladder, how long after that did it take you to decide to go and get your degree? how did, because I think a really popular topic right now, and especially

Around the topic of like student loan debt and all that people are like asking like is our student loans and college is it worth it? And is it necessary or and then like there's this push for like people to go into the trades because there's such a need for the trades right now. So could you just kind of talk a little bit about like what your experience has been obviously being in the trades but then going and getting your degree and how did that change things for you and.

Do you think that these doors only opened for you because you went back to school and got your degree? Or do you think that that was 100 % necessary? And I guess what I'm just trying to get at is what is your opinion on the necessity of that college degree versus just kind of bootstrapping it?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (06:21.238)
Yeah, I think it depends on your talent, right? And where, like you have to, I had to self-assess. Like I just had to be humble. Like where am I strong? I'm good at hiring, customers, selling, really good at that stuff. I didn't need to go to school for that. Like I was born to do that. You know, was born to work hard. I know how to, you know, get up on a ladder and get the thing done and then put my guys to work and find good people. And I wasn't scared to fire guys that couldn't get the job done and hire guys and take care of them. And that's just what I knew how to do and where I came from. I just knew I was weak.

Branden Sewell (06:27.787)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (06:39.233)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (06:51.054)
on the books, you know, on the finances. And I didn't want to walk in—and maybe it was prideful—like, I just didn't want to walk in to my bookkeeper and not know what they're saying to me. You know, I wanted to know my business. I was an owner. Like, I want to take ownership of that. And I think nowadays, too, I mean, there's a lot of help out there. You can outsource and delegate to different people where you're weak. You don't always have to be all things to all parts of your business. But I think for some owners like myself, you really strive to be because you want to lead by example in every area and really own the business.

Branden Sewell (07:00.715)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (07:04.512)
Yeah.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (07:20.766)
And I think if you're strong in every area, then there's no need to, you know, I would say the best thing you could do is be in those mastermind groups, network groups, and, you know, keep learning from, you know, top people around you. But if you find that there's certain areas you're not getting that fed, you know, from other folks, you're just going to have to hit the books. Like, I had to work on the weekends. I had to go to school at night. I had to like, I mean, I was busting it, like, but I was young then I could, I could, I'm older now. I'm not sure I could do what I did when I was younger.

Branden Sewell (07:44.833)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (07:48.974)
But I did it. I think just certain ambition and like, you I had to make my own ends meet, you know, and take care of people and take care of, you know, folks that were well older than me that were paying and put food on the table. It's a different kind of pressure when you know you're going out on a weekend, going door to door, knowing you've got to book a job or two to fill the week up or your guys aren't going to have work. It's just a different kind of tenacity. But because sales came naturally. But I think for lot of folks,

You you just, you got to have good self-awareness. And if you can't, if you don't know yourself, you know, ask other people to assess you where you're strong and then ask your team, like, where do I suck? You know, just get humble and then get to work, you know, like, I know, but you, I'm not sitting here just pounding a table saying college is to be all in all, but it did for me open the door for tech, like in getting into financial technology and then where I am now, which is not financial technology, I'm in another technology. So I wouldn't have gotten into technology where I am now if I didn't go back.

to school, think I would still be running my business.

Branden Sewell (08:48.287)
Yeah, you know, and I think overall, like just education in general is important. So like kind of one of the things that I I preach to my listeners is like, hey, it's not a big deal if you don't go to college or if you dropped out, but be a lifelong learner, like never stop learning, continually invest in yourself. If you have an interest in something like do the work to learn it, like read, invest in that and always be investing in your education.

You never stop i've known so many people on peers of mine who have you know gone to college they have degrees and then that's like the end you know they're like i'm done with that like the time in my life of learning is over and then they never pick up a book again they never educate themselves again they're just. They're done with it and so i think that's one of the biggest mistakes you can make is like think i've got what i need from school.

And now I'm done. It's time to like chill and just kind of coast.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (09:49.666)
And then you wonder why you can't break seven figure or eight figure marks. You know, they're like, well, because you're capping yourself by not educating. Even yesterday, I hosted a virtual conference, in this case in the movie industry. I had 500 attendees all paying $100 a ticket and I had seven of the biggest thought leaders in the entire industry on there and people were there to learn. And I don't let people get up there unless they're gonna teach us.

And my business partner actually runs inmates entrepreneurs where we teach thousands and thousands of incarcerated women women how to be entrepreneurs and it even turned into an ABC television show called free enterprise. So education is at our core. It's again what we believe in what we even paid to do. But now we provide it any industry that we're in. We want to give maximum value and get you really thinking about your business in different areas. I know we're going to get into it today. Brandon like I'm going to get everyone's wheels spinning like

It's game time. We've got some stuff to teach and get you thinking.

Branden Sewell (10:45.589)
Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. So before we jump into Live Switch, I want to ask this question because one of the things that I believe, you know, when it comes to growth, when it comes to like going to the next level or starting something new that's challenging, whether that be a business or, you know, a service in your company or a new idea, a new marketing camp, whatever it is.

There's a I think the greatest thing to overcome is your mindset and what you believe. So I'm just curious if you could jump in really quick and talk about like the maybe some mindset mindset shifts that had to take place for you going from being a home service business owner to you know going to school and then transitioning into what you're doing now and.

What had to change for you? What perspectives changed? What paradigm shifts did you have to make? And could you just speak on that for a minute?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (11:53.346)
Yeah, I think in order for your mindset to shift, you need to put yourself around people that have already shifted. You like you can't give what you don't have. You know, like if you don't, sometimes magically you don't change your mindset. Now, some people are able to do that and make the jump, like through a life experience or through hard times. Like I made a jump after a lot of people around me died. You know, it changed my mentality, you know, that life is short, you know, and things like that. But outside of that, when it comes to the business mind shift,

Branden Sewell (12:18.945)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (12:22.424)
put yourself around people that have made that jump, you know, and imitate, and then ask for feedback and have your, you know, board of directors, so to speak, or your, you know, mastermind groups. And these are, this is how you're going to grow, or even bring people into your business that are very strong, are stronger than you in other areas, because then you can learn from them and get a front row seat. So it can come from all different angles and facets, again, back to learning, back to books, back to podcasts, back to anything that you can do.

but it's gaining that wisdom and knowledge that others, nothing is new under the sun. You're not going to create some magical new thing that changed your mindset, if you want that change, you got to put those people around you to help you.

Branden Sewell (13:07.489)
Yeah, that's good. You know, and just kind of on that topic of mindset, I would assume that there was probably things that you are not like 100 % sure on or clear on and there were risks and sacrifices that you had to make to make this transition and do what you're doing now. What inspired you or what moved you to do that?

And I know you said you had some, you know, maybe people that were close to your family members that had passed and made you realize like the brevity of life. And so is that what really like fueled you to like make those hard decisions, those sacrifices and go to do this?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (13:57.282)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I definitely think death will change you, you know what mean? And it'll put things in perspective on what is really important and what motivates you and drives you. And I think lots of different things drive us, know, whether you're taking care of a family, whether you're trying to build up a business, whether you're just trying to get yourself to another level, whatever drives you, hold on to that. You know I mean? For me, definitely the hard times in the past, but also nothing like having kids to change your mindset as well.

Branden Sewell (14:02.198)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (14:26.19)
you know, there's a different kind of change. So all those things around me externally, like funneled through business and what I wanted to do business wise. And also I'm a, I can be a dreamer at times and a visionary. And some of the things that I've created now were born out of my background from being running and painting companies and power washing companies. And the technology that was created wasn't even initially built for home services. I was actually in the middle of reinventing the 911.

Branden Sewell (14:37.43)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (14:54.392)
phone call with the chief of police in Washington DC. I had to think of a way to get a citizen connected from their cell phone, their cameras on their phones, instantly connected so you could point those video camera at the situation at the issue and it get streamed right to the police car. So I had to really like as an inventor, as a visionary, how do we do that? And I was able, I woke up at three in the morning, one morning and sketched everything out. Then I worked with our computer scientist and built it and made it real. And then boom.

It sets me off on a new trajectory, but it's just interesting. But I'm definitely a visionary and a forward thinker and a futurist at heart as well.

Branden Sewell (15:34.7)
That's awesome. stuff. You know, maybe there's people who are listening to this and when they hear you speak there, it resonates with them. You know, they're like, you know, yeah, that's me. Here I am now. I'm running this plumbing company, this electrical company, whatever it is. But I have these big dreams, these big visions for my life. they're like, hey, James, yeah, I hear you saying like, get around these people and shift your mindset.

You to get around people who have done that already. How would you encourage or, you know, direct these listeners to find those people to get around? Because I think that's, you know, a question too is, you know, who are they? Where are they? How can I connect with them? What do I need to do to connect with them?

How do I get these people that I need around my life to take me to the next level? How do I get around them and and find them?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (16:35.852)
Yep, there's a couple things you can do, especially at the beginning. And it's not going to feel like if it's not your natural talent, you know, not sorry. Like people aren't going to come and knock on your door. You know, they're not Santa Claus. They're not coming through your chimney because you you deserve something. You've got to go out there and get it and put yourself out there and putting yourself out there. There is a network called LinkedIn, which I know a lot of folks, especially in home services, probably don't even have an account. Right. But if you really want to find the people that are moving and shaking,

Branden Sewell (16:47.691)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (17:05.676)
You need to go make a LinkedIn account. You need to go get professional photos done, or I got AI to help generate my photos, and then put up your background, put up just who you are. And then what you're gonna do next is you're gonna look for starting in your industry. You're gonna go in and start searching, and you can even start in your state and look for people that are in your industry. And you just go and hit the connect button. Literally, you don't send a message, you don't do anything.

and you only do this 20 times a day. If you do it more than 20 times a day, you'll get blacklisted from LinkedIn because they'll think you're spamming, but you're just trying to create a larger network. And in the beginning, for every 20 connects you do, you'll probably get one or two, because people won't know you won't have any connections. But if you do this every day, including weekends, when you start reaching out to people, you'll have 40, 50, 300 mutual connections. And when you reach out to somebody and they have 300 mutual connections, you know what the other person is thinking? Why don't I know this person already? Like, I should know this person and they connect.

And then you're gonna share content, what you're learning, pictures on the job, like videos, customers, like start putting yourself out there. Again, if you're not willing to put yourself out there and you think you wanna be a dreamer, it's not gonna magically happen for you. There are no participation awards. Just because you do this, nobody owes you a dang thing. So then you start reaching out. The next thing you can do is start going to conferences. I know it costs money, it costs time. You have to pick the right ones. And then you're gonna have to be assertive.

Branden Sewell (18:22.74)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (18:32.11)
You're have to walk up to somebody and put your hand out and say hi and shake hands and let them know who you are. All right, then you start making friends. How do you make friends? You try to give back a little bit through your knowledge, back to hitting the books, hitting the podcast, learning, being progressive, being on the money, like knowing your company, being somebody of value. That's gonna be the next piece. Like, do you really have something to offer? And if you don't, all you have to do is hit the books and hit the hard work. You'll learn.

through the way of pain, you know, and that is okay. Like that is how you're gonna be tough. You you get tough by working hard. Then you're gonna start creating that network and reaching out to people, connecting with them, getting on first name basis, start texting with them, asking what groups they're part of, join those groups. It's gonna cost you time and money again, you know. Why? But again, if you want to put yourself, I hosted a virtual conference yesterday. I made the dang thing up a year and a half ago. And now I've got all the biggest thought leaders in the space on the virtual stage with me.

They didn't know me from nothing. I was a flea on a dog and I just I put myself out there. So it doesn't it doesn't take 10 years, but it does take daily work daily grind and then you can you'll magically you'll start having people around you and you're gonna be able to really understand and separate the meat from the bones and you just start giving and giving and giving and you watch what happens. But again, if you don't want to don't sit there complaining on the couch. Woe is me if you ain't willing to get off the couch and get to work.

Branden Sewell (19:33.877)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (19:58.826)
Yeah, that's so good. I you know, so two things I take away from there is like one you have to be willing to put in the hard work like, you know, even if you're listening to this now and you hear what James is saying, the reality is, is that the next thing is to take action, right? And you can listen to 1000s of podcasts, read hundreds of books, like, you know, learn but if you don't ever actually take action, then it's gonna be hard to

you really do anything of significance and then have the boldness and the tenacity to to connect with people. Right. I we just we're doing a job right now for this lady and she's a multimillionaire, you know, just very wealthy. And, you know, I was like, I'm going to this is it was really uncomfortable for me. But I called her up and I said,

Hey miss Cindy I said I really hope this is okay for me to ask this but I would really love for my wife and I to meet with you we I really respect you and one of the things that I really appreciated was that she was very wealthy but she was extremely kind and I was like. don't know for me that's sometimes that's a rarity you you meet some people who they have a lot of wealth and it's just.

Sometimes it's a turnoff, but she has a lot of wealth and she's one of the most kind people I've met. And I said, I really would like to just get to understand like who you are as a person, how you've been able to create your wealth and learn from you. And, you know, I just, I was like, I don't, I was like, I'd like to just be able for my wife and I to take you to dinner and just, you know, have a conversation.

And so we were able to have a conversation. I was able to learn a lot from her, but I never would have had that opportunity if I wasn't willing to like, you know, have the audacity to just ask a question like that. And it was uncomfortable. And I even told her, I was like, being kind of selfish. Like I have to tell you, like, I want to be able to ask you questions and understand how did you accomplish what you accomplish.

Branden Sewell (22:18.621)
And so I don't know if you would take the same approach or if that would be something to recommend, but I was like, I just like how else do I learn from a person that's accomplished what I would love to accomplish in life, you know? And so I just put myself out there and asked.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (22:35.403)
That's exactly how you do it. You were humble, you were honest, you were open, you were transparent, and the worst thing she could say was no. And that's okay. But what if they say yes? That's the thing. If you aren't willing to ask, you're not willing to get, right? Again, nobody's, that lady ain't gonna walk up to you and say, brain, I'd love it if you take me out to dinner with your wife, and I'd love to just teach you everything I know about business and how I've been successful. That doesn't happen.

Branden Sewell (22:44.373)
Right.

Branden Sewell (22:48.502)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (22:51.915)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (23:01.669)
Mm hmm. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (23:03.512)
Come on. That's not how it happens. But what happens is someone having enough courage to go up there. Have some courage. Take courage. And no one's going to... You get rejected. Okay. That doesn't matter. I'm constantly on the move. I don't remember the times I miss. I remember the times I make it. I was listening to Jack Nicholas, one of the best golfers ever, and he was getting interviewed after he'd won like six...

know, huge championships and they're like, Jack, you're the best golfer ever. He's like, not really. And I go, what? You're like, you've went out of everything. He's like, look, here's the difference between me and the next guy on a Sunday. When I'm walking down the course and I'm walking on the top group and I hit it in the woods, I just pop it back out and get back to golf. Now, the other guys I play with, they'll pop it in the woods and they'll be thinking about that stupid shot for the next three holes. And it gets them off their game. Like, just let it roll off your back and move on. It's golf.

Like, what's going to happen? It's sales. It's, you know, filling the blank. It's putting yourself out there to ask to, like, have a conversation. Like, who cares? But if you, you know, at least he's out there, you know, playing. So hopefully that'll help with some of the mentality. And Brandon, I think your example is about the best as it can get when it comes to making new connections.

Branden Sewell (24:00.927)
Right.

Branden Sewell (24:18.881)
Well, thank you for taking the time to just kind of dive into more of that your background and answering some of those questions. Let's dive into Live Switch. you've got this company, what exactly is Live Switch? And what can it do for home service business owners?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (24:37.74)
Yeah, like I said, we never intended to actually be back in home services, but we find a way. So we bought this company. It's a 16 year old company. We bought it four years ago and I was running our product team with engineers and these guys, man, they would speak English to me, but I honestly couldn't understand a word they were saying at first. So they had to break it down to me like I was five. I got to learning everything. And then I, like I said, I got the opportunity to reinvent the 911 phone call with the chief of police in Washington, DC.

to help start using the cameras on the back of our phones to help with what's called situational awareness and next-gen policing. We created that and then I started thinking who else could use it and I ended up meeting a guy who takes care of the Nashville-Tennessee Titans NFL football team. 20 years in the FBI and I'm showing him, he's like, James, this is all well and good, I love this stuff, but he's like, I got the stupidest question. Can I just text my guy across the arena and he can show me when the trash cans fall over so I don't have to hop my little golf cart? And I'm like,

Branden Sewell (25:04.897)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (25:32.446)
Yeah, definitely like it reminded me of the next tell walkie talkie from back in the days that was next tells you know And we communicate with a team and I was like, this totally Makes sense to me. And so I had a buddy and I was telling him like I'm telling you the story now and He was in self storage of all industries. I'm like self storage. He's like, why don't you come and disrupt self storage? We're trying to manage all these facilities with less people and you know that way it'd save us trips in the truck and I was like, alright, so I started learning that and in my ignorance

I called a company that said moving and storage on it, because I said storage. And I was like, hey, maybe they can help me out. Well, I end up meeting a guy and he's super bright, super talented. he's like, James, it's not the same. You we do warehousing, but he's like, you have no idea what you've got. And I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, we're going to use that to do virtual estimates. Because the most expensive thing I do is I take an hourly wage worker, I throw them in one of my trucks, I'm burning up gas just in the hopes of getting the deal done.

So now I'm just gonna send them a text and they can show me the house and most of the time I'll be able to close it. If not, I'll hop in the truck and at least I'll know if they don't have the money or if their tire kicking and then we can use it here. And he was so right. And that was like about two years ago and now we have hundreds and hundreds of home service companies using electricians, plumbers, power washers, holiday lights guys, painters, all types using this video within their entire business, not just on the front end, but also in operations, customer testimonials, before and afters.

you claims, everything. It's been an incredible ride and we are disrupting the home service business as we speak. And that's why I've been speaking all over the country about this stuff, trying to get business owners to start thinking about speed to lead and race to the face and, you know, getting in front of those customers as fast as possible. Thank you, Amazon Prime, where we all expect the package overnight now.

Branden Sewell (27:15.851)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (27:21.535)
Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. So it's funny, like we started doing a lot of virtual estimates during COVID. So when COVID happened, obviously everything shut down and I instantly like I was like, I can't stop estimating. So I started doing them virtually just by FaceTime and customers. So I would schedule a FaceTime meeting or like Zoom meeting.

with a customer to walk through their project. So I mean, if you could dive in and maybe share how Live Switch might be different than something like that or how it integrates with like current software, is there something that makes it stand out from doing something like a FaceTime call or a Zoom meeting or something like that?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (28:14.764)
Yeah, and FaceTime and Zoom during COVID is where this was born out of as well, just out of necessity, right? But now that was never tuned up to do third-party assistance, remote assistance, selling. Like, it was built for grandma to watch the kids blow candles out. This is why nobody's using it anymore. I don't want someone on my personal FaceTime. And it's not the right tool, you know? It's like painting a house with my hands rather than using a sprayer. Like, I could paint a house dipping my hands in the bucket of paint, but like, that's a joke. And nobody does that.

Branden Sewell (28:20.704)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (28:30.251)
Hehehehe

Branden Sewell (28:35.083)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (28:43.81)
That's why you don't hear anybody doing FaceTime to cache. Because it's not going to work. So we actually do a reverse of a FaceTime call. Reverse. So first of all, we don't do any apps. Nobody wants to download another app. And when somebody calls you and say, hey, I want a house painted, you're not going say, hey, could you download an app? They can't remember their password. No one's going to want to do that. So now all you're simply doing is sending them a text, whether they're on Android or iPhone. And it doesn't matter if you're on a PC, a Mac, a tablet, we don't do apps.

Branden Sewell (28:46.987)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (29:12.066)
and we will instantly connect you point to point and it's going to do a number of different things. First thing it's going to do on the customer end, they're going to see themselves large and you small, which again is reverse of a FaceTime call because you're asking them to look through their phone and walk around the property and you're going to be recording everything. You can take remote pictures and high quality and they get to see your face, which is the most important thing. We call it race to the face. No AI bot. Ask anybody has your AI bot done any estimates and closed you deals?

The answer will be no, it has never happened. And that is just not how it's done. And you ask anybody, how are you closing your deals? 99 % of them, they're driving out, which is still very important. I'm not saying not to drive out. What I'm saying is when that phone call comes in or that form fill comes in, you are racing to get your face on to see their job. Because once you can do that, you can determine one, if it's an easy enough job, you may just bid it and close it, which would be great, right? Two.

Branden Sewell (29:51.382)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (30:10.37)
Determine if it's worth your time to drive out, especially if you're going to start extending your serviceable area. Maybe there's a neighborhood you've always wanted that you just like, it's too far away to bid, but now you can start doing that. Three, it's recording everything. So now after you win the work and you're sending your people out there, like, you bashed up all my gutters. And you're like, actually, let me check the instant replay. No, we didn't. In addition, as a business owner, if you have sales team members, you want to make sure they're doing a good job. Because if you have one sales team member,

Branden Sewell (30:30.273)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (30:37.816)
booking at 50%, 70%, another team member booking at 20 or 30%, why don't you go watch the recorded video of that salesperson and how they're doing it, right? So, and that's just the beginning. We have forms now that after a form is filled out, a customer can tap it and also take a video, even while you're sleeping in your bed. We have another place like on your website, you can tap a link and instantly you come up on the website with video, greeting the customer right there on your website when they're scrolling on their couch, shopping from home.

Branden Sewell (30:48.011)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (31:06.988)
or from the office, again, race to the face. We have recording things that can record before and afters, customer testimonials, virtual walk around before the team even touches everything. And we have QR codes that you can leave on site. My painters love to put QR codes on the house, letting people know with branding. This is us, that way if a new family moves in, I'm your painter, I'm your soft washer, I'm your power washer, I'm your deck guy. Like we're claiming properties. It is a race.

Branden Sewell (31:32.833)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (31:36.15)
It is an all out race for this and you've got to think about speed nowadays and using technology to do that. it's an entire platform. But if you're using FaceTime now, great. Just let's get ready to graduate a little bit from that into something more pro.

Branden Sewell (31:37.962)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (31:50.282)
Yeah, that's good. Yeah, no, I like the features that you mentioned. So there's a couple of things I want to dive into. The first thing that I'm going to well, actually, let me put that last. Let's let's jump into breaking down how this can integrate with your current. So like I use jobber. Many of my listeners are going to use jobber. I believe I've seen that it's an integration.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (32:19.416)
Yep. Yep.

Branden Sewell (32:20.127)
with jobber. So how is that going to work with and integrate with the systems that you already have in place. You know is there. Can it go into your form like you know so like when you put your form on your website customer goes into the form and they'll see something from live switch there. How does how does all that work together.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (32:46.904)
Yep, so if you have a Live Switch license and you don't have to Jobber, you can just use Live Switch straight on the platform. But if you have Jobber, all you're doing, we're integrated with Jobber. So if you go to the client file and you just activate your Live Switch, you're able to do that entire call. Like if someone calls in, you bring them up, you hit the call, send them a text link, it'll send them a link, it'll open up a browser page for you or right from Jobber and it'll record the whole session. You'll do your preliminary call or even if you want to do your virtual estimate, you do it right there.

after the call is over, then it puts that video right there in Jobber for you to review it, share it, send it with the tech team, whatever, but it's right there through Jobber. You don't even have to leave. So, and we're getting under the hood of many others like Service Titans, and we're already under the hood of a number of them. And if you're in a unique scenario, we have Zapier integrations and these files. And what's beautiful about it is let's say you leave Jobber for some reason, you're like, I don't want Jobber, I want this one. You take all of your...

videos, photos, and everything with you. So we don't just keep you locked into any particular CRM.

Branden Sewell (33:51.298)
Now, I don't know if this question is going to make sense, but is this something where like your team could use it almost like, so you're saying you have the ability to do the videos, the pictures, they go into jobber. I'm assuming it like puts them automatically into like a client folder, if you will, or project folder.

And then so my follow up question on that is, do you have the ability to use it on going throughout the project? OK.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (34:26.476)
Yes, yes, it's meant to go from end to end. So from lead to cash and cash to delivery. So after you've closed that business, your guys, can put a QR code on your truck, inside your truck, doesn't have to be on, you know, it can be on a business card and you're and if any of your team members right before it's like guys don't paint, don't touch that house yet. Like bring all the stuff, scan the QR code and first do your initial walk around eyeballing damage.

You know, making sure and letting the customer know, hey, we are going to preliminary walk around your property to make sure that you know that we're leaving your house better than we found it. And if there is something pre-existing, it's already going to be documented. What is this doing for you? Covering your butt, first of all. That's covering your butt, right? Second thing, it's the beginning of your before and after, right? And documentation. And you can have the guys do a walk around. It takes, you know, a minute. They can do a walk around every day. So it's going to show a progress report.

Branden Sewell (35:05.461)
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Branden Sewell (35:10.447)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (35:19.17)
the customer can see, especially if you have customers that maybe are, yeah, they can walk outside, but sometimes you have customers that you're painting their secondary home or customers away. You're now showing them the progress of that and you're keeping them informed. Customers love to be kept informed. They like to be communicated with and they also see project, it builds that trust, builds your credibility, again, reducing those claims and letting them know, wow, these guys are built different. At the end of the job, you're gonna do your final walk around.

You're going to do your customer testimonial, Google and all those value having real photos and real videos, you get ranked higher, right? You're asking them not only for their five star review, you're putting their before and afters and their photos up there and you are going to be triggered higher without having to pay Google an extra dime, right? You're going to have videos that you can download and put on your website, put on your Instagrams. Like this is how you get more people knowing about you, making sure your trucks are loud. You've got, you know, with your marketing all over them, making sure

Branden Sewell (36:04.053)
Yeah, that's

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (36:17.186)
your websites have front and center. This all builds trust and it's all very easy to do because all of your team members have a smartphone in their pocket. So just have them scan a QR code and get to work.

Branden Sewell (36:28.501)
Yeah, so it's going to essentially. I just want to make sure I clarify this year like your lead guy on the job for us painting. So we're painting his house lead guy has access to this QR code and he just uses that to start. You know the video like he could do it before he could do during you know shots progress and then he can go back and each time you can do like the walkthrough.

and a final and then it all goes into the customer's file.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (36:59.672)
That's correct. And the other thing that can happen is now you're connecting your team, right? So as a business owner, if someone's like, hey boss, we got a problem here. Great. You can send them a text, they tap it, and now they can show you your project managers. If you're large enough where you have multiple crews and a project manager, they can be monitoring multiple jobs. It's as simple as a text tap, you know, or if

They say, hey boss, I got a problem here. You just send them a text and maybe you can't be available on the other end. Just say, hey, take a video for me, show me what's going on. That way I can see it, relay it to the customer and let them know what's going on. Any safety issues, any concerns. Now you're getting eyes on every part of your business, the front end selling, the operational side to the customer. You're just taking advantage of now having this technology at your fingertips. And we've never had this visibility before.

Branden Sewell (37:43.648)
And is it. Is it a real time upload as well so like as soon as it's done like your let's say my employee videos the project it's like automatically going to upload into to jobber to the client profile.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (38:00.28)
Correct. Correct. We never store anything on anybody's device. We only store it in the cloud in case something were to happen. Someone's on a ladder. They're taking a video and crap. They drop their phone. Done. And nobody wants to sit there and scroll through all the photos of their family just to upload something to a website. That's not good. So yeah, as you hit record, it's just going right to the cloud. Nothing on device. Yep.

Branden Sewell (38:05.705)
It's a cloud base, right?

Branden Sewell (38:16.916)
Yeah, right.

Got it. Never look. OK, cool. So my my next question would be. Hold on, let me step back. This sounds very similar to company cam, but with additional like features of like being able to bid the job, it sounds like you get.

that capability where it would be a little bit different. Am I right in saying that? I don't use company cam but...

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (38:51.458)
Yeah, from company, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, Company Cam's there for just a photo and a recorded video, which is great. I mean, that's a start, but this is a next level, right? We're talking about live video. You're not gonna find live video in any CRM platform out there. It doesn't exist. We're only one of four companies that have this. Okay, there's a company in China, we have it here, Google, and a couple others that are not in the trades at all and have zero interest in being in the trades. We are your live video, right? So you can get that.

Branden Sewell (39:06.443)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (39:20.278)
Live video connection, we're putting bells on websites where a person can pop up, we're using QR codes to live connect. You can scan a QR code and live connect to the salesperson or to the owner. This is stuff that's unprecedented that you're gonna have. So we stay in our lane, we're not a CRM. In fact, that's why we're bolted under Jobber. We are going to be your live video, recorded video, QR codes, like we're gonna start really attacking. So.

The stuff that's been out there is great, but this is like the next generation, next level stuff.

Branden Sewell (39:52.79)
Yeah, I think what I can see myself doing is creating like a complete separate option for my customers. if, because I think you have two different types of people, like you have people who are like, I want somebody to come to my house. No, I'm not interested in doing anything virtual. And yeah, it's almost trying to like sell that idea to them. Because I've just been there, I've had to like, tell people like, no, like we can 100 %

Assess your job virtually and give you an accurate price without having to come to your to the job and see it. So I've had to kind of sell people on that idea, but I think it would be cool if like we had just in our whole sales process. An option to do it 100 % virtually, you know, and I'd love to have like that as a designated just process of.

you know, a portion of our bids get just 100 % done virtually.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (40:56.558)
And you will and it depends on you know, just at your uptick your client base But you're not gonna have zero percent closed virtually you will close a percentage virtually. Is it five percent ten percent fifty percent? It depends on you your area all of that what you're trying to do more importantly Yes, virtual estimate get the cash I mean skipping the entire trip in the truck is obviously awesome but you are trying to get that that face your face to them as fast as you can because it builds trust because

Branden Sewell (41:01.707)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (41:05.505)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (41:25.142)
Yeah.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (41:25.186)
How many times have you had it where you book someone even the next day? I'll be out there tomorrow at 10 a.m. You call them saying on my way and they're like don't bother we picked up someone yesterday Right, you got a box people out. So that speed of like nope. I saw Brandon looks like a great guy We had a great conversation. In fact, he's already seen some of my project and then also you're trying to say who you're gonna say no to You have driven up and parked in a driveway and be like, I know, know good and well

Branden Sewell (41:35.744)
Right, right.

Branden Sewell (41:40.715)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (41:49.237)
Yeah, yeah, that's good.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (41:54.722)
You're like, I just wasted my time, money, and everything. And that alone, right? Which is why you can say to people, look, I totally understand, you know, that, and we are going to come out and see you, but I need to see an initial bit, look on your job to make sure we're the proper fit. Because I don't want to waste your time, Mr. or Mrs. customer, by me driving out just for you to find out that we're not the right fit. So if we can take a quick minute here for me to take a quick look at your job, that's going to help a million percent for you.

Branden Sewell (42:23.54)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (42:24.626)
You'll change the language, you'll find a way. mean, every time the owners have gone from, James, we used to drive out every time, to now we only drive out when we have to. Like, it's just like clockwork. It's just a new motion, it's a new tool. Like, I went from, you know, hand brushing and rolling houses to when the paint sprayers started coming out for the first time, I started, you know, spraying. Now, we had some mistakes. We accidentally hit a roof a couple times, and that sucks, and we sprayed the wrong stuff, but it certainly cut down on my hourly, and my margins went up, and it was a new tool, and...

Yes, we weren't comfortable with it at first, but we got comfortable with it. That's just the nature of it all. But the fact is, just like as easy as my paint sprayer was, this is like, if you can send a text, you can use this stuff. We train people in five minutes. This is not like change management. It's not acquiring a new CRM. You know, when you first learn another CRM, this is like five minutes and you're off to the races.

Branden Sewell (43:09.383)
Right,

Branden Sewell (43:13.931)
That's good. So one of the questions that I have and I'm sure maybe the listeners are thinking this too. What kind of things are in place to mitigate issues with privacy or you know the situation where you know a customer ends up. Revealing or doing it like something's coming up that it's like OK like I shouldn't have seen that or.

or I don't want to see that. Are there any type of disclaimers that the customer can get or that are in place to kind of address those potential things upfront and maybe try to mitigate?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (43:57.23)
Yep, lot of things. So first and foremost, this was born out of 911 phone call, right? So our stuff is SOC 2 certified. I don't expect anyone to know what SOC 2 means, but it means I can be used in the Department of Defense and see live action. That's how encrypted and safe we have to be because our other large customers demand it. So you've got that under this. Second, you're in full control of the experience. So if a customer says, you can't record me, you just click the little button that says record, you're not recording.

Branden Sewell (44:03.893)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (44:10.827)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (44:14.763)
Yeah.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (44:25.986)
Like, hey, no, there's nothing being recorded right now. I'm still on live video, but I have turned off recording. And other thing, if something happens or like I shouldn't have seen that, you can go in and delete that. You can even pause the video if you needed to, but you have full control of deleting things and it's all into your cloud. Nobody else can get into it but you. So we take privacy over and above.

Any other kind of CRM, any other company in space is not going as far as we're going, but it's just we just have to because when you work with NASA and other Department of Defense, you've got we have to have that. So we just pass it on.

Branden Sewell (44:56.758)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (45:01.205)
Yeah, so another question, just a follow up to what you were just saying is, so like let's say I take a video, customer does say you can record, I see that thing that I wasn't supposed to, but I don't want to necessarily go back and re-record everything. Is there an ability to like split and splice and cut out a certain portion of it or no? Or would you need to re-record?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (45:22.136)
So you can download it, delete it off the cloud, and then do what you need to do with it if you need to cut stuff out. We're talking something that rarely happens.

Branden Sewell (45:29.098)
Okay.

Branden Sewell (45:32.893)
Rarely would have I you know I just I think it's good to maybe ask you know cuz I'm sure like Yeah

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (45:36.404)
yeah, it does happen. you're going to, but yes, you're in control of those things and you're in control of being able to do that. So we totally get it and understand it. And yeah, your worst case scenario is the customer's like, you can't have that. Okay, it's been deleted. But you know what? You've been running your business probably for five, 10, 20 years and now you got a new technology. So don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. know what mean?

Branden Sewell (45:58.946)
Sure, So another question I had is, is there an ability to, or would you have a recommendation on this before the, let's say you schedule this meeting for the video or recording to take place with the customer, is there a way to ask them in advance before it takes place if they're okay with recording or not?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (46:23.504)
yeah, absolutely. If you schedule a call, you can let them know, hey, I want to be able to virtually assess what's going on. And it is recorded. Obviously, if you have any issues with that, just let us know and we can turn that feature off for you. But yeah, you can do it that way as well.

Branden Sewell (46:35.254)
Mm-hmm.

They have the ability to control that as well or no? Just you.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (46:41.166)
It's just in the back. Yeah, you're in control of that. So you're in control of taking remote photos. You're in control of recording. You're in control of sharing your screen to walk someone through a contract to try to get them to sign. You have all of these features. Again, this is this is not a FaceTime call. You've got all these features. It's built for remote assistance from the customer perspective and yours as well, what you get to see.

Branden Sewell (46:43.86)
Okay.

Branden Sewell (46:55.371)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (47:03.541)
Yeah. That's good. I think there's, you know, so many ways that you could use this to make your business better. So would you be able to say like, is there anyone that this doesn't work well for or any situation that you wouldn't recommend this for? Anything like that?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (47:24.588)
Well, mean, a lot of times when it doesn't work just because your staff's like, I'm not doing it. But that's like with any new process, right? You want them to do a new process, we're going to do this way, and they push back. You you have to explain the value. And once they didn't have to drive out to close something, you watch how fast your salespeople adopt it. They're like, my gosh, like I get people. Yeah, but yes, like people that are adverse to like putting themselves on a camera to win business, you know, you need to question whether like,

Branden Sewell (47:34.806)
Right.

Branden Sewell (47:42.504)
Alright, yeah

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (47:54.092)
What's the big problem? know, like, what are we dealing with? Like, you need to challenge, sometimes you have to challenge your team, right? Like, just because we've been doing something the same way for 20 years, I mean, things change. I mean, last I checked. So, it doesn't work there. But you're opening up other things that you haven't done about staffing. know, staffing is tough. Now you can hire people in lower cost areas of the country.

Branden Sewell (47:55.883)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (48:15.566)
because they can do everything remotely. You can hire virtual assistants overseas because I can connect to people point to point anywhere in the globe. And here's the thing, your competitors are already doing this. You are not a first mover. This is something that you are already competing against. So the fact is, if it doesn't work for you, this is getting used against you. And as fast as you think you can drive out to somebody in some days you can, and some of the companies are like, I'm to be there same day. That's great. But it just takes one time of getting sick.

Branden Sewell (48:25.451)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (48:36.192)
Yeah.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (48:44.92)
takes another time of bad weather. Let it snow somewhere in the South. You're gonna instantly be like, gosh, I wish I could do that. This happens to our customers. So it's having the right tools for when you need them and after hours bidding, extending your serviceable area. The list goes on and on and on. And we're talking about something that's like $5 a day. This is not gonna break your bank. In fact, I compete against your gas tank. That's what I compete against. How much money are you putting in that gas tank? That's what I compete against.

Branden Sewell (49:06.72)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (49:10.593)
No.

Branden Sewell (49:14.377)
Right, right. Now, is there anyone who like that you could speak to off the top of your head who's using this in my market?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (49:23.984)
in the Florida market? Well, all kinds. You know, I've got power washers in Florida. I've got self-storage companies in Florida. I've got painters in Florida. I've got holiday lights guys. I've got lighting and permanent lighting guys. Like, it's already all over Florida.

Branden Sewell (49:25.13)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (49:36.947)
Anyone in central florida i'm just trying to figure out if any of my direct competitors are using this yet in the central florida area like orlando over to the east coast you i'm not sure if you're familiar with bar county you said you work with nasa so my literally my house is right across from the river.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (49:56.974)
So I was just in Orlando last week speaking and it was a ton of painters and power washers and we had people buying on the spot. I can't tell you that I know I've committed all of our painters in the Florida area to my memory. I haven't, but I have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of customers. So you're asking me a question like I need to hop into CRM and answer it later. But the answer is absolutely.

Branden Sewell (50:03.732)
Okay.

Branden Sewell (50:09.909)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (50:14.379)
Sure, sure.

Branden Sewell (50:20.193)
Sure, okay, awesome. Well, I'll you'll have another customer soon. Because I'm not about that. I don't want to be not using it.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (50:25.198)
You

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (50:30.764)
Yeah, the thing that you guys got to really recognize and like the best part of my business was also the power washing side and any recurring revenue. Like if I painted exterior, I wanted to paint the interior or I wanted that deck next or I wanted to upsell and maybe they weren't ready to do it at the time. putting those QR claiming your house, claiming that house with a simple sticker. We're talking about a five cent sticker that you print out with your branding, your phone number and a QR code and say, hey, any issues, scan this and show us.

Branden Sewell (50:59.691)
Mm-hmm.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (51:00.59)
Because that recurring revenue, I always want the new companies, But our new homeowners, new businesses that are working, that I'm painting and power washing. But I know it's that current customer base, and we forget about that. We're always on to the next person on it. We forget that that recurring revenue can be some of the most powerful stuff. Like when after I used to power wash and stain a deck, I would say, can I put you on my annual program where we're going to come out here and seal your deck at no charge.

Branden Sewell (51:02.71)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (51:19.819)
Yeah.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (51:27.864)
but you're gonna pay me $100 a year and I'm your deck guy. I own your deck, yeah, 100.

Branden Sewell (51:31.746)
So you did that? So I have a subscription for a service contract. So I have customers that pay me either monthly or annually. And we have like a list of services that we do. And it's just what you were saying. The whole reason I came up with that is I was like, as painters, I guess one way of thought is like, okay, I painted the house, now I'm done with that customer.

But I was like, I'm missing out on staying top of mind with that customer. The people that they're talking to, the people they know, the friends they have over who are asking about painters, the little projects that come up here and there, or when they're selling the house or buying a new one. I'm missing out on staying connected to these people. And so I came up with the service contract because now I'm seeing these customers up to two times per year. And so it's extending the life of that client.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (52:27.352)
Yes.

Branden Sewell (52:31.114)
and keeping us top of mind with them longer, which gives us greater opportunity. And it's the cheapest client to acquire is the one you already have.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (52:41.568)
Yeah, so here's what you do. Now, I'm going to take your service. I'm going to enhance it right now. Okay. So as you sell that, someone gives you money. Usually you're giving them some kind of contract or they sign off on something, right? And then maybe you're giving them a business card, which is great. We're going to enhance that leave behind. It's called a leave behind or a magnet. Now you're going to improve that leave behind as a sticker or like a postcard size that they can put on the side of their refrigerator with the QR code that says, hey, because you're part of my membership,

Anytime you have an issue, you just scan that QR code, take a video of the job that you need done. It comes right to me and I'm going to review that and I'll send the guy out. As we come out every six months, you know, if I can, I try to teach my sales guys how to seal a deck because it takes 10 minutes. And so they're going to knock on the door, say, I'm here for your service. I'm going to go steal your deck right now. If they're not good at selling, we have something where you can take a cheap Android or Apple tablet and that person who's going to go steal a deck and do the walk around can hand the tablet.

to the individual and they just hit the go button and it routes right to your sales person or you the owner and you'll say, yep, I've got Johnny on there. We're doing your service. While he's there, is there anything else we can be taken care of? Have you thought about redoing any of the rooms in the house? Have you thought about an update here or there? It's all about upselling. But again, back to getting that face, building that credibility and enhancing that membership program because recurring revenue is a liquid gold of your business. And you've already identified that Brandon.

You're one or two steps down the chessboard and everybody better be taking notes because this podcast just turned into liquid gold for you. So you're giving it, giving your secret sauce there.

Branden Sewell (54:11.893)
Yeah. Well, you know, I've just I've listened to but also I realized the hard work that it took for me to implement that and do that. Like it wasn't easy. I didn't have a lot of examples to go from except for industries that are already doing this like HVAC and plumbing. You know, those type of services that have more of a subscription based clientele, you know, because HVAC and plumbing they do like I'm part of one.

You know, I do an annual service or every six months. I have my my AC service, you know, and they come out. So anyway, I just I thought of that. I've listened to like podcasts. I was like, why am I not doing this for my business? Like, it's going to increase the value. It's going to help me to stay top of mind with those clients and all those things. So, yeah, it's it's awesome. But I love what you just said about the magnet. That's actually going to solve a huge

pain point for me personally in my service contracts, which is that I have like a list of services that we offer. And one of the challenges that we've been facing since implementing it is translating what which service they're choosing for that visit to my crew that's going to do it. So now what we'll be able to do is we can have the customer scan the QR code show, hey, this is the service I want to do for this next service visit.

It'll upload and my team can just see like OK that's what we're doing next visit. So I really like that. That's that's awesome.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (55:45.038)
That's right, that's Yeah, coming right from the customer or your sales team and they can play it at 2x speed. And then when they show up on site, they're not like, what are we doing today? Right, well, I just, told your sales guy, how do you not know? Like your guys are well prepared and they know what they're not doing too. Like, I thought this quote included us painting the shed outside too. And you're like, that's not fair, but we can do that. It's just, you gotta pay for it.

Branden Sewell (55:55.177)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Branden Sewell (56:02.23)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (56:06.4)
Yeah

Branden Sewell (56:09.811)
Yeah, yeah, no, that's really good. I think back like with you saying this, I think back to a recent issue I had with a sales guy where he told a customer that we could do something that we can't. You know, so this would have eliminated that happening. And I ended up having to pay for that. I ended up having to.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (56:29.166)
That's right.

Branden Sewell (56:34.433)
I just felt like it was the right thing to do. guess I didn't have to, but I paid for a subcontractor to come out and do the work that he said we could do because I was like, well, my sales guy said we could. I'll make it happen.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (56:46.722)
Yep. And there it is, front, center, recorded. Guys, this is an example of we don't do, which is perfect. And then the other things that happen too is as your team gets up on ladders and scaffolding, what your sales team couldn't see on the ground, now your team sees an error and you can send texts and have those folks, hey boss, we got a problem up here. This window was already cracked or there's a bunch of mold around the window frame we didn't see. And that way the homeowner can see it too. And they don't have to hop on a ladder and...

There's just the beauty of this. You're gonna just find how it weaves in everywhere. a lot of people are like, man, I wish I'd had this years ago.

Branden Sewell (57:23.265)
Yeah, no, I I really like Everything that you're saying. I think that it sounds like a really amazing tool kind of help take everything to another level so Well, I want to kind of start to bring this clip to a close. So I really you know, appreciate you taking the time to share about you know live switch and share about your your experience and How you've been able to achieve the things you have

As we bring it to a close, could you just really quick for somebody who's listen to this and they're like, okay, I'd really like to learn more about live switch. I'd like to maybe do a demo or find out how much it would cost to implement this into my business. Could you share some details on that for the listeners?

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (58:15.19)
Yes, you can go to LiveSwitch.com, LiveSwitch.com, click demo and in the demo form where it says, how'd you hear about us? You say, I want to talk to James, I listened to Brandon and you'll come right to me. And having run a painting company, power washing company, sometimes we will get into not just talking about tech, but we'll be talking about all things business. And I'd love to connect with you. And then of course we'll...

Get your hands on it. You can touch it. See if it's for you and from the affordability standpoint We're talking about something that's like five to ten bucks a day. So like you're we're not breaking the bank we we Built this for guys like me who had two crews small business like we didn't we had you in mind because we've done it like this is why I'm on a You know on with you now. It's like and why I speak like oh this guy doesn't sound like the typical Guy, but like I'd love to talk to anybody walk you through it and I'm very low-key and we just like to get to know y'all

Branden Sewell (59:09.193)
Are there different tiers to the? No, it's just one one thing.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (59:13.174)
Nope, nope. just like Netflix, you can buy more users and you're not going to buy this for everyone in your company nor should you. Just buy it for a few and you're off to the races. So, you know, we'll walk through all that part, but it's unlimited use, 60-day money back guarantee. We don't lock you into stuff, you know, and where you got the integrations like with Jobber and, you know, for us, it's just about getting this in as many hands as people as we can and just changing the industry and expectations of your customers for what we do as a service provider.

Branden Sewell (59:30.603)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (59:42.806)
Awesome. I believe Margaret had sent me a like an affiliate link to use. So if it's OK with you, I'll post that in our show notes so that anyone who's interested can use that. But yeah, so the way I usually wrap up is I just give you the floor if there's any last words that you'd like to share with the listeners.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (59:56.962)
Yeah, please.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (01:00:01.774)
Please do.

Branden Sewell (01:00:11.167)
Whether that's business advice or just something, maybe something we didn't get to about Live Switch that you'd like to mention or cover, the floor is yours to just kind of share any last thoughts.

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (01:00:24.12)
Yeah, thank you. First of all, thank you everyone for listening. You're already a step ahead of everyone else because you're listening to a podcast, right? The thing I would ask you to do is pay it forward and tell other people about, you know, what Brandon's doing here, especially in the ears of your team. Get your team listeners, like bring up the next guy, right? You want to get off the ladder? It's called making yourself redundant. Any position I've ever had, I try to make myself redundant. That means really empowering my team, showing them the things that I do, like training. And of course, they worry, are they going to...

make another business that competes with you, maybe, but that's not what you need to be thinking about. You need to be thinking about your business and making sure maybe you make them part owner. Maybe you give them more responsibility and you retain that top talent, you grow that talent, because you're already so far ahead because you're taking the extra time to learn. But try to give it back to somebody else, bring up the industry. We're already struggling to find the next level of talent from the young folks, so we need to be sure to be passing that back.

That's my last kind of statement is, you know, keep doing what you're doing. Thank you for your hard work. You know, you're making things better and you're protecting the value of everybody's home by the daily work that you're doing. So thanks for having me on today. I really appreciate it.

Branden Sewell (01:01:34.369)
Yeah, absolutely, James. And, you know, kind of just to give some feedback on what you just said. I tell my listeners that I know how hard it is to run a business and I know the challenges that I face. you know, so I always give back to the guys who work for me with the mindset that, hey, I hope you, if you feel like you need to go start your own business.

Like by all means I'll help you I'll tell you what you need to do to go start it and if you're successful and if you're more successful than I am then you deserved it because you put the hard work and everything into making that happen. But I have this like little belief in the back of my head that people aren't going to be willing to do what I'm willing to. And I just think that some people like they may think they want to own a business or think they want to do that but.

you know, they're not willing to take the action that it takes,

James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (01:02:30.286)
And if you're documenting all your processes, you're doing everything soup to nuts, this is called having a second location, right? And starting to build out potentially a franchise for what you're doing. If you're doing it right, then as long as you McDonaldize it in the right ways, you know, by doing proper documentation and training, it could be, they don't even have to go start their own, they can just join forces with you. So just start thinking about those things. That's how this comes off the ground. And that's how you go from doing seven figures to eight figures.

Branden Sewell (01:02:51.371)
Yeah, that's good.

Branden Sewell (01:02:56.499)
Awesome. Awesome James. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for the value that you shared with the listeners today. And please if you're interested in learning more about Live Switch check out the show notes. There will be some information there for you. And as always if you're listening to this on YouTube please subscribe to the channel like this video comment share your feedback and share it with somebody else so that they can learn from this too. If you're listening on

any of the major podcast platforms, please rate and review the show so we can get in front of more people and help more home service business owners just like you. And as always, thank you so much for watching this episode and I'll see you on the next episode of the Off the Ladder podcast.