The Implementation Gap: Bridging Knowledge and Action

summary

In this episode, Branden Sewell discusses the journey from being a contractor to becoming a successful business owner. He emphasizes the importance of implementation over mere knowledge, the necessity of building a strong team, and the challenges of financial management and pricing strategies. Branden shares personal experiences and insights on overcoming limiting beliefs, creating a positive work culture, and the significance of clear expectations for employees. In this episode, Branden Sewell discusses the essential strategies for business owners looking to scale their operations effectively. He emphasizes the importance of strategic bidding, hiring the right talent, and the necessity of delegation to foster a successful business environment. Branden also highlights the significance of streamlining processes to manage growth sustainably, alongside the need for effective marketing strategies to ensure a steady influx of work. Finally, he stresses the importance of self-care for business leaders to avoid burnout and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

takeaways

• Transitioning from being a contractor to a business owner is a common challenge.
• The biggest gap in growth is often the implementation of learned knowledge.
• Mindset shifts are crucial for overcoming fears of failure.
• It's essential to focus on what needs to be changed and implemented to succeed.
• Hiring the right people is critical to stepping away from the tools.
• Creating a positive culture for employees is as important as for customers.
• A clear onboarding process is vital for new hires.
• Having a professional setting for interviews can attract top talent.
• Understanding cash flow and pricing is essential for business sustainability.
• Increasing prices may be necessary as the business grows. Charge more when hiring additional employees to cover costs.
• Plan ahead for hiring and project bidding.
• Make your first hire someone with expertise.
• Delegate tasks to allow for business growth.
• Create clear expectations for employees' roles.
• A leader should inspire and create opportunities for others.
• Consider employee well-being beyond just profits.
• Implement systems to manage business growth effectively.
• Focus on marketing strategies to attract new clients.
• Maintain self-care to prevent burnout as a business owner.

Chapters

00:00 Transitioning from Contractor to Business Owner
07:29 The Importance of

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.454)
Hi everybody I am Brandon Sewell I am the owner of Seal Pro Painting and I'm also the host of the Off the Ladder podcast and we exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live life off of the ladder. Welcome to today's episode. In today's episode I'm really going to just have a conversation of what it looks like to transition from being the contractor who

works on the tools to transitioning to being a business owner. And obviously this is what the podcast is all about, getting off the ladder and what it takes to do that. And today I just want to kind of bring it back to that main focus and talking about some of those details, the challenges of what it takes to get off the ladder and

You know, it's funny. There, all of the reasons why people don't get off the ladder are pretty much always the same. There's the challenges are the same, the mindset changes that have to happen are the same. So there's nothing that is necessarily new.

or your situation is not so unique that you can't accomplish it. And there are so many others who have done what you are trying to do. If you're listening to this because you are on the tools and you want to figure out how to get off, or you're listening to this and you're just trying to make your business better, you're trying to delegate more and you know,

work in less of the roles in your business. Others have done that and it's not that there's not necessarily like these huge secrets to making that happen for you. It's really just a matter of learning and then implementation. And I would say the biggest gap

Branden Sewell (02:27.438)
is between it actually happening and where you're at now is really the implementation part. the reality is, is, you know, some people will listen to podcasts, they'll read many books, they're educated, they learn all of this stuff, but they never implement it. And so that's the biggest thing that's holding you back.

from going to the next level. And I would say the other thing too, that is challenging is when you haven't been there, when you haven't gone to that next level, it's easy to get in this like mindset of, well, what if it doesn't work? And I've always challenged myself not to get too caught up in that.

that kind of conversation within my own head of like, well, what if it doesn't work? And because I think to myself, you know, it has to work. There's, it's not necessarily, if it can, it's, it's more of a I have to figure out how. And, you know, there might be little tweaks here and there. But that's, that's on me, I have to figure that out.

And so I try not to, like as I'm learning, as I'm reading books, as I'm listening to podcasts, as I'm, you know, just trying to expand my knowledge and my understanding of my business and how to go to the next level, I try not to let my own limitations dictate

whether something is possible or not, if that makes sense. So it's like, well, it is, it's 100 % possible to do. It's just, what do I need to implement? What do I need to change? And, you know, the thing is, I mean, I talked to so many people who just don't implement. And so that's the biggest challenge.

Branden Sewell (04:52.462)
that I want to talk about. Give me one second.

Branden Sewell (05:09.278)
And, you know, it's funny. I talk to even friends of mine. I mean, there's probably been friends of mine that have listened to content that I put out or they've probably listened to the podcast and they think to themselves like, but I can't do that or it won't work for me.

And unfortunately, that's not true. Like it can work for you. And you know, some some arguments might be like, well, it may work for your industry, or it's not going to work for mine. Well, that's not 100 % true. Because I'm sure if you do research, and you look at companies,

you know all over whether you want to look just in your city or your state the nation internationally whatever there is going to be a company who is doing it and doing it successfully and doing it well and so it's looking at those companies and instead of saying well it's not possible it's saying

What do I need to do? What do I need to change? What do I need to implement? What am I not doing well that I need to get better at so that I can do it? And then it's also weighing out like, you willing to do that? Are you willing to put that time and that energy and that effort into doing the things that you have to to make it work? And then you need to be honest with yourself and say, well, it's not

that it's not possible and it's not that it can't be done. I'm just not willing to do the work that it takes to do it. And that's the reality is that you're the limiting factor not anything else. And you know so if you're willing to put the time and the energy into figuring it out and then implementing and I mean making mistakes along the way you'll eventually figure it out.

Branden Sewell (07:29.208)
but you have to be willing to take those steps. And unfortunately, some people aren't willing to, or they just make up so many excuses on why they can't that they never do it. And so anyway, let's talk about how you accomplish getting off the ladder or off the tools. And I'm gonna share a lot of this from my own perspective.

If you've been listening to this podcast for any amount of time, or if you know me personally, or follow me on social media, you'll know that I started my business not being on the tools and, you know, eight years later, I'm still not on the tools. so not only have I been able to do that since the beginning, but I've done it, you know, for an extended period of time.

And I've grown my business, you know, past what many people might have for, you know, 20 years. So it's 100 % possible, like, you know, to be able to do it even from the beginning, if that makes sense.

I'll never forget I talked to one guy on who has also been on my podcast and you know, I was just trying to help him with that. You know, getting off the ladder thing and you know, I he like asked me a question about whether I think I can't remember if it was like the timing. I think it was timing like well, when do you think I could get off the ladder? I said, well, honestly, you could be off the ladder today. It's just your choice. It's a decision that you make.

And you know, I'm still faced with those challenges like we had a job this week where it was supposed to start today, but because of other delays in our schedule, we weren't going to be able to start it. And in my head, I'm like, well, I guess I could just go do it myself. And but then I'm like, okay, well, that doesn't solve anything. Because if I go do it myself, I'm going to be tied up for

Branden Sewell (09:44.29)
let's say three days, four days, I'm not going to be able to pay attention to other things that matter and potentially put myself even further behind and in more of a hole. you know, the hard thing that I had to do is I had to call that customer and let them know, hey, we're behind, we're going to be delayed a few days getting started on your project.

And a lot of times, like I think that's going to be like a terrible conversation. And sometimes it is sometimes customers are not pleasant when it comes to delays. But this person was very pleasant and they were like, hey, yeah, no problem. Let's just push it off to next week. I was like, great, that works perfect for me. So but it's like if we jump, if we create these scenarios in our head of like, this customer is going to be so upset and

I have to be there tomorrow, I guess I'm gonna have to go do it myself. Then you are doing a disservice to yourself. So you have to think like an owner. And so I've had to challenge myself with that. And I've had to say, you know what, like, I don't solve anything by going and doing a job myself, if anything, I can create more problems. So anyway, the first point that I want to talk about

is obviously in order to be off the ladder, off the tools off the truck, whatever you want to say is you have to have a team. And if you don't have a team, if you don't hire people, then you're not going to get off the ladder. Now, the challenge with this is I think there's a you know, we're not and specifically like craftsman like, you know,

women and men who work on the tools have learned their craft and they're doing that. It's challenging to step away from that, but it's even more challenging to step away when you feel like you're really good at it and you do a good job and you are passionate about the work that you do. And so it's hard to step away from that and hand it off to somebody else and trust somebody else with it.

Branden Sewell (12:06.572)
when you're great at it yourself and you're passionate about that and you care so much about the product. So it's hard for you to let go of that and trust somebody else with it. And then also like you're used to just doing everything yourself so you're not exactly, you don't understand how to find the right people or hire great people who are good at what they do.

and maybe even don't implement the right things that you need to in order to hire those people. And so I think that hiring the right people goes further than just getting warm bodies in the door. And the truth is, is that you could be an amazing company. Like you could put out a great product and offer a great service.

But if you don't know how to cater to both your employees and your customers, then you're never going to find the right people because you have to take care of the people just as much as you have to take care of the customers. And you have to create an environment and you have to create this experience for your employees in the same way that you create an experience.

and a culture for the customers that you serve. some of that goes down to like, how are you marketing your business to potential future employees? Do you think about that and how you present your company? Do you...

consider that when you're thinking of like, you know how you're going to put yourself out there. Because if you're not thinking about that, if you're just expecting that you're going to have this great experience for your employees or people coming in without putting any effort into that, then you're not going to get great results. So

Branden Sewell (14:24.224)
It's almost like the same effort that you put in to getting customers and the same effort that you put in to creating a great experience for them. You have to put that same effort and that same focus into getting great people to work for you. And then you have to, you know, have a process for getting them acclimated into your company. And, you know, this is all stuff that I've had to learn over time. Like I wasn't great.

at hiring people in the beginning. And my business has been through cycles. Like when I first started, I did a lot of subcontracting. I didn't like subcontracting, so I switched over to using both. So I was like using some subs and I was using employees. And then I transitioned over to just using employees. And then I lost all of my employees. And then I had to...

learn from what mistakes I made and then rebuild again. And I'm still not perfect. There's still things that I'm learning. There's still things that I'm needing to implement. But the reality is, is like I had to be willing to step out and hire people and, and fail and learn from my mistakes and, you know, change things and tweak things and, and add things to my process. Because that's really what it

takes. And you know, some of those things are, you know, obviously, you know, what is the the culture of the company, right? What, when potential employees are out, you know, outside of my organization, and they're looking in, what do they see? Like, how are we making the company attractive to talent, top talent? And then I had to think about, okay, well, what is the experience of

Like when somebody is looking to work for my company, what is that experience like? You know, from like their first phone call talking with me. What is the the first meeting and introduction like? What is the interview process like? What is that atmosphere? What does that look like? What information is asked? What information is shared? How does that?

Branden Sewell (16:51.672)
process work and then once those employees come in, what is what are the next steps? What does that process look like? You know, is there a is there a clear onboarding process and training process to get implemented into the business? And so if you don't have some of those things, then it's going to be hard to attract top talent because top talent

is going to look for those things. In the same way that a customer is going to look at your company and say like, okay, well, what was it like when I first called them? How was their communication? How fast were they able to get out and take a look at my job? What was the value that they offered? Once they did the job, did they show up on time? Did they get the work done according to what we had agreed to?

What was the the follow up process after that? How do they continue to stay engaged with me? And so that same mentality with your customers is the same way that you have to think with your employees and you're ultimately like selling yourself to the employee or future employee. And so having a process is so important. So.

You know, typically what my process is and my favorite way to find people. Is through referrals. So. If there are people that are close to me that I trust whether inside of my business or outside of my business and I let them know hey I'm looking to hire for this position, this is who I need. Can you refer me to somebody? Do you know anybody who would fit this who?

You you know our company, you know what I believe my values, all of that. Do you know somebody who would fit into that and can work for my company? And so that's my favorite way to find people. And, you know, what I'll say is once one thing that I felt was really important for my business was. I wanted a professional.

Branden Sewell (19:10.286)
setting to interview employees. And I thought about this from from like my personal experience. I like, if I were to go, I was a driven person, and I wanted to work for a successful organization, and I want to have greater opportunity. You know, and I went and I applied to this company got an interview. And then they told me that they were going to do the interview at like

the in a Sherwin-Williams, which is what I used to do, or at a Starbucks, or out and at the like, bed of the truck or hood of the truck at a job site. Those would feel very unprofessional to me. They wouldn't make me feel great. But if I had a place that I was going to that represented that business,

then it would make me feel like, wow, like this is established, this has credibility, I feel like this is a good place. And so for me having an office space, like my first office that I got a few years ago was just a small like business suite. So it was just really a place for me to meet with my guys, meet, do interviews, do training.

and things like that. So there's just a small business suite to do that. That was it. But I felt like it made that experience more professional and enticing to top talent. And then obviously over in the past almost year, we transitioned over into a larger shop. Now,

You know, just have it. So anyway, I would would look to like have some place like official place that you can you can meet with people and you know, that doesn't have to be immediately but you know, work towards that because I believe it's only going to help. And then I would I would I would have a employee policy manual like that sounds like might sound silly and it might sound unnecessary but

Branden Sewell (21:25.228)
The thing with having an employee policy manual is the ability to create clear expectations. And so, you know, when I had other employees not work out in the past, I think it was because I didn't have clear expectations. And that's really difficult because if you as the employer are expecting something from your employees and they don't know

or understand what those clear expectations are and they don't know what success looks like, then it's hard for them to like meet that expectation and it's only going to breed like frustration between both parties. You're going to be frustrated because you feel like they should just know and they should just do all of these things that you expect and they're going to be frustrated because they're going to be like, well, I don't know. I don't understand. I don't know what the expectations are.

So it's unclear and unfair. So I think that having that employee policy manual is huge. So that needs to be part of like an onboarding process is going through the employee policy manual. And then having a like a legitimate training and onboarding like, hey, here is how you get put into the business.

systems, you know, onboarding into any, any of your tech stack, training on each one of those, getting familiar with, you know, the the operations and, and how everything works. So if you're not doing those things, if you just like, say, Hey, yeah, show up this day, we'll do a quick interview. And it

you know, doesn't really have any substance to it. You're like, hey, I'm going to pay you and I'm not really going to pay you much. Prove yourself to me. Your training is like on the job and they're just trying to figure it out on the go. And you're both just winging it. Well, you're not setting yourself up for success and you're not setting that person up for success. So you need to have like a process of onboarding a new team member and not just winging it. So

Branden Sewell (23:53.474)
have a process for that. So, and the other thing that I would say that's kind of connected to this is you need to have clear core values. I think that's really essential. And you need to have a mission statement for your business. And you need to have that posted somewhere. And you need to have an org chart. And...

The reason that's important is because you can create expectations there too on like, here's our core values and this is what they mean to us and you're expected to operate according to those core values. Here's our mission. You you understand the why of what we're doing. And lastly, like that org chart is going to say, hey, and this is where you fit. This is who you report to and this is where you can grow in the organization. So,

I think those those few things are really important to know. The next thing that I would say so first is like you've got to hire people. The second thing is obviously with hiring people like that's how you're ultimately not going to be on the ladder anymore but then you have to work on OK how do I pay these people and so you really need to know how to cover the cost of hiring and.

You know, it's funny, like, everybody's driven by something else and money is not like my, my number one motivator, but I know it's necessary. And I just had a meeting with my CPA last Friday, and we talked about this and, you know, he's explaining to me like areas where I could tighten up and increase our, our net profit.

And, you know, one of the things that I'm not willing to do is like turn, make it all about the numbers and make my people feel like they're just a number. So you have to know how to pay people well. And you have to really understand how to manage the cash flow in your business.

Branden Sewell (26:18.55)
And that's been something that was definitely challenging for me to figure out. I still don't have it 100 % figured out, but you know, I'm doing the best that I know I could be doing right now. And I would say I'm doing better than most. you know, so what I'll say about this is

I think when you're going from on the tool self ladders, you're obviously going to have to increase what you charge. And that might be challenging because you feel like maybe it's not fair, or you feel like, you know, it's like, you don't want to offend or feel like you're doing a, a

doing something unjust to your customers. And the reality is, you grow and as you get off the tools or you get off the ladder, your customers, they might change. Like the people who used you before might not still be your ideal client. So that'll change, but you have to charge more. And with that, you might have to look at getting different clients. But the right clients will stay

and they're actually probably going to appreciate your growth because it's going to bring new value to them. So if you're if you're thinking like I don't know how I could charge more the reality is is there somebody charging more than you. And once you're charging more there's probably going to be someone along the way who charges more than you do still. So you have to increase

what you're charging, you have to be able to look and say, okay, in order for me to cover my cost of goods sold, in order for me to cover my overhead as a business, and in order for me to get paid what I get paid, and then to have profits at the end, I need to charge this and I need to charge more. And so you need to have the ability to

Branden Sewell (28:44.206)
You know think about that when you're bidding projects, you know, if you bid a job for 5,000 now you might need to charge 10 Because you're you're going to take on additional costs and overhead by having employees so I would say you just you have to charge more and even even if you're looking at at Hiring people you need to start charging more before you bring them on

maybe be planning it ahead of time. Like, hey, think to yourself, like, I'm bidding this project, I'm going to be hiring some people, this is what I'm going to pay them, so I'm going to bid this job, I'm going to plan to do it, you know, six weeks from now with an additional employee. And then maybe that employee works with you some time, you train them up, and then you step away.

I would make your first hire your best hire. I wouldn't hire, I mean you can. Obviously you can hire somebody and train them and try to help them to know everything that you know. But I personally have always made like those hires people who know what they're doing already and I don't have to put a ton of time and effort into teaching them or training them how to do something.

They have to come and know that already and they're bringing that expertise so that I don't have to worry about it. you know so plan ahead get that that project in your schedule and planned ready to pay somebody to do it. So you know with that you know you you charge more now you've hired you're working on hiring.

You're charging more money to be able to afford the employees. And now you need to be able to delegate. And so you I hear this all the time. You hear, OK, I've hired somebody on. They can't do it as well as me. If I don't do it, it's not going to get done. All of those lies. And the reality is like I've been running my business for going on eight years. I have an excellent reputation.

Branden Sewell (31:10.19)
121 five-star reviews just on my Titusville, Florida location. I have a location in East Orlando with another 70 five-star reviews and a bunch of other reviews online. And so I've been able to, I still have a great reputation, we do great work, but I'm not the one who's doing it. So I don't have to be the one who is doing the work in order for it to...

get done and for it to get done well. In order for it to get done and to get done well, it has more to do with expectations that I create. It has more to do with how do I find my people? are what am I looking for when I'm hiring on somebody? And you know, I mean, it's simple. It's just hire people who already know how to do the job and then create that as the expectation.

You know, even though we're in the trades, I think about it like this. you know, if I always bring this up on the podcast, but if if I was like a big tech CEO, or, you know, I owned a big tech company, you know, I doubt the owner of a big tech company is going to be the one who knows how to do every single job within that organization.

So like if you look at like the Elon Musk and the Jeff Bezos of the world and you know any other like fortune 500 company or whatever. That CEO that owner that founder may not know how to do everything. So when they hire somebody to do a job they're hiring that person to do just that to do the job to be the expert at that task and.

You know, I may have to provide vision. may be I may have to instill the values of the company in that person and the mission of the company in that person, but they should be able to take the task at hand, align it with that, the values and the mission of the company and the vision, and then move with that. And I shouldn't have to tell them exactly how to do their job.

Branden Sewell (33:36.908)
They should be able to know what the job is, know what the task is at hand, and then go do it. And so it's for the trades. It's the same thing. You need to be able to say, hey, here is your job. This is what's expected of you, and this is what you're going to be doing. And I expect you to be able to do that and do it within the confines of these values and this mission as a company and this vision of where we're going.

And obviously you'll find out really fast whether they'll work for that. But that's that has to be the goal. And it's like this is this is who I'm hiring. What's the point of hiring somebody if you're going to end up doing it yourself? So you have to be able to let go. You have to be able to say you have to stop looking at yourself as the solution for everything. You're not and you're not the best.

You may think you are, but the reality is you're probably not. There's probably somebody who can do what you do as good or better than you can. And what you have to do is get out of the way and create. A great leader is going to create this space and the opportunity for someone who is great at something to come in, have that place, and then let them go. Let them have the freedom to be great at what they do.

inspire them, encourage them, create the environment for them to be great and to have a great opportunity. And so that should be your thought process, your mindset as a business owner and as a leader is how can I create opportunity and then take these great people who are great at what they do and set them free and let them go and do

what they do well and then do it for your company and not somebody else and make their, you know, your company a greater opportunity than another. And, you know, that's not just about money. It's not just about paying them better, but it's about like how you care for them, how you care about their families, how you treat them, how you respect them. Do you, you know, do you treat them just like, you know, money makers for you?

Branden Sewell (36:03.786)
Is that all you care about is the profits or do you actually care about these people? You care about them having a place to plant their roots and provide a career for them that is not just a short term thing, but is going to have longevity and sustainability to it. And especially when you think about the trades and like hard labor, it's like you don't want to...

wear your guys down. You don't want to run them into the ground. You want to bring them in, create a space that says like, hey, I understand, I appreciate you. This is hard work. I appreciate the hard work that you're doing. And I want you to approach it from a holistic standpoint of like, it's not just about getting work done faster and getting it done so that we can make more money.

It's also about getting it done sustainably so that, hey, yes, we got the work done. We got paid. We made money. But hey, we can do this again and again over the course of, let's say, the next 10, 15 years, whatever your tenure is at my company and have great opportunity down the road and still be able to walk and function.

You have to take those things into consideration. These people that you're going to hire, they're not just robots. not, they have to be cared for and you need to take into consideration that they have families, they have hopes, they have dreams, they have hobbies, they have things that they enjoy doing. They have families and your business and putting money in your pocket is not their...

main goal and priority in life and nor should it be if you were an employee and you worked somewhere else you would probably be pretty miserable if the employer just treated you like a dollar sign and didn't put any care towards anything else in your life and you know that's not life is is bigger than just work and money.

Branden Sewell (38:26.402)
So we need to think about our employees in that way. And that's going to help them to stay longer. That's going to help them to really to contribute more. having a healthy perspective on what contribute more means is important too. You know, sometimes contributing more isn't just as clear and defined as, you know, getting a job.

done faster and making more money on that job. Sometimes it's other things. So definitely just keep that in mind. And it's hard because as a business owner, obviously you know the numbers and you know what has to happen to make the business run and obviously money is needed. But we have to find this way to

motivate people to perform and do well but not make it about the money. So anyway, you've got to let go and you've got to let other people thrive and that's really what a great leader will do. Now the other thing that I'll say is so once you hire people, once you start charging more, once you're delegating and letting go of

all of the responsibilities, you really need to have streamlined processes for your business because what's naturally going to happen as you hire more people, as you stop doing everything and you delegate, you're going to notice that you have the opportunity to grow and growth is going to come. And sometimes that growth could come fast. And if you don't have these systems in place,

to handle that growth that's going to come, then it's going to be challenging for you to sustain it because you'll literally break because you don't have the systems in place. So that's why it's important. I talk about jobber all the time and I talk about my tech stack and all these things that I have implemented in my business, but it's because I understand how necessary they are

Branden Sewell (40:50.21)
to not just grow, but to grow sustainably and to still run efficiently without sacrificing so much on the other side. Like, if you don't have the systems in place to handle that growth, you can literally burn yourself out because you're gonna be overwhelmed with the administrative tasks that are added on. You're gonna be overwhelmed.

just with trying to manage everything if you don't have systems in place to help you with that. so systems and automation and making things efficient, eliminating unnecessary tasks and having a software like Jobber in Place is gonna help you to be able to handle that growth. And not only that, it creates and make sure that you maintain a great experience.

for your employees, but also your customers. So the last thing you wanna do is like add these people in, have the ability to grow, but then you grow and everything like crumbles because your customer service starts suffering because you've got so much on your plate. so really streamlining your processes with software is gonna be really important.

Now, when you're scaling up and as you're, you know, trying to grow the business, obviously there's challenges to that. you know, you have to take everything into consideration and this is kind of redundant. But as you scale, you have to think, like you have to walk through, like all of your processes for your business. As we scale, how is each area of my business going to stay efficient?

So like, you know, I'm gonna be getting more phone calls. How do I handle those phone calls? I'm gonna get more requests and more leads. How do I make sure that I get to all of those leads and all those requests in a timely manner? I'm gonna have more jobs. How do I get those jobs done in an efficient and timely manner? I'm gonna be, I have a lot of invoicing I'm gonna have to do. How do I?

Branden Sewell (43:13.588)
invoice efficiently so cash flow stays in a good place stays positive and I'm not having to worry about getting paid and I'm not chasing money and I'm worried about that part of things. You have to think about all of those things and I would say you have to think about charging more because as you scale and as you grow your overhead is going to increase and you have to make sure

that you can cover those costs as growth comes. So that's important as well. And you know, the other thing I'll say is, you know, in this growth process is you have to be thinking of how do you scale your marketing? What's your strategy going to be there? Like you can't hire all these people that are going to be relying on you.

to pay their bills and put food on the table and not know how to market your business and how to get the work in the door. So that's one of the biggest challenges is knowing how to get the phone ring, how to make sure business is steadily coming in, and then be able to duplicate that over and over again and scale it. you can't just kind of hope that it happens. There has to be.

strategy to it. There has to be investment to it. There has to be money that is put into it. So like, for example, as I've been, you know, we're in a process of scaling right now and growing and we're up almost 50 % over last year right now. But at the end of last year, I sat down with some of my team and I strategize what does that look like? Well, we need to add a BNI chapter, we need to

You know, not just have a B &I in this part of the county. We need it in this part of the county. So we're covering more area. We need to do more networking. We need to build more relationships with referral partners. We need to invest more money into some of our marketing channels. So if we are spending this much and getting this many leads, well, we need to spend a little bit more so that we can get more.

Branden Sewell (45:31.63)
And we need to add to our team. We need to do those things. So it's having that strategy and that plan to it. You can't just think like, I'm going to do what I've always done. A lot of people who are working on the tools or on the ladder, you're probably thriving off a word of mouth and referrals only. You may not invest a lot of time or energy or even money into

Things like your Google business page and getting reviews. You may not be investing time and energy into a website and SEO. You may not be investing into additional networking groups and getting involved in the community. Those are all things that you are going to have to do if you're going to grow a team scale and get off the ladder. And then I would say,

your ultimate goal as the owner of your business as you're scaling, your ultimate goal needs to be focusing on what you're best at. And then I would say growing your business, like the marketing side of things. Like that's my, I want that to be my focus like every day is how do I get in front of more people, market my business, build relationships, get involved in the community.

That's my focus. That's where I'm trying to transition more into. That's where I'm trying to spend most of my time. I'm trying to delegate other things so that I can make that my number one focus is how do I focus on being the face of my company and bringing more business in? So, you you have to do that.

And then I would say too, I think a big thing that a lot of people miss, especially going from like working on the tools, you kind of you don't think about the the customers that you already have, right? So you're always focused on word of mouth, getting the next job and selling the next job. And you're probably really busy with

Branden Sewell (47:54.338)
getting jobs done and then going and doing bids and just trying to get new work and keep yourself busy and make money. Well, something that probably gets lost in all of that busyness is all of the customers that you've already done work for. What communication are you doing to stay connected and stay in communication with those past clients?

So when you transition off the ladder, another strategy and a goal needs to be, how do I continue to build relationship with past clients? That can be a monthly newsletter, that can be postcards, that can be thank you notes, that can be a phone call to talk to the customers and following up. But you need to have some type of strategy in place to reengage and connect with those past clients.

I actually just had somebody call me yesterday and this guy worked in the construction industry for his entire career. And he's one of our clients. We've done some work for him. We're to be doing more. And he called me yesterday and he said, Hey, I got your newsletter. He's like, that's really awesome that you do that. Not enough people do it. It was great to like, just feel more connected to you and the person who's doing work on our home.

And he was like, it was a great touch. And he just told me how much he appreciated and how rare it is nowadays. And so definitely have that in your mind as a strategy as you grow in scale and get off the ladder. Now, I think that, you know, this is kind of going back to like this whole process of getting all of these systems and things implemented is

You have to make sure that you take care of yourself as the business owner. You need to make sure that you don't burn out, get overwhelmed, and anything like that. You need to make sure that you're taking care of yourself to be able to run a bigger business. Otherwise, the stress and all of that could wear on you. And I'm not going to say that there are seasons

Branden Sewell (50:19.346)
in a business that scales to the size that I'm at and where I want to go where it can be stressful. But having the right systems in place, having the right focus, doing the right things helps me to manage that to where it doesn't feel like completely overwhelming. Now I've had seasons in the past where I didn't implement what I know now and I was overwhelmed, but now

I've learned, I've implemented, and now it's different. So definitely make sure that you manage your lifestyle and you set some good boundaries and have some good healthy margin in your life. Because if you don't, can easily stop taking care of yourself. You can easily just work, work, work.

and then feel burnt out and you know you can suffer and your business will suffer so you have to make sure that you take care of yourself as the leader of your business. So anyway I think that's a pretty holistic look on what it looks like to get off the ladder and just kind of what you should be thinking of and the things that you should be doing and like I said I'm not.

I don't have everything figured out. I'm not exactly where I want to be as a business owner. But I can share from the standpoint of the fact that I've been off the ladder for eight years. Since I started my business, I can share from the standpoint of having three crews that are running right now.

I have one sub that does some work for me. I can share from the standpoint of like doing this day in and day out and having a lot of time freedom to, you know, I'm not out babysitting my guys. I don't have, you know, major problems, you know, day to day. I have a great reputation.

Branden Sewell (52:38.39)
and we're scaling and we're growing. And so I can share from that. know that, you know, we'll probably we're on pace to do, you know, maybe just over a million in revenue this year. And, you know, I know there's companies out there who are doing more. They might be doing three million, five million, whatever. You know, so there's there's definitely things that I need to learn from.

you those people but there's also things that I you know I have friends who are doing that and I choose not to do it that the way that they are like I'm like okay well I could be a three million dollar company but I don't want to do it the way that you are I don't think that that's sustainable for me to do it that way and so you have to be very self-aware and to

you know, as you're scaling and know, like, what are your boundaries? What can you do? What can't you do? And then what are you willing? What things can you implement and what things are you not willing to? So, but at the end of the day, like, I have to take ownership and I have to say, well, it's not that I can't, it's that I don't want to do it that way. And so I may not grow as fast, I may not, you know, be where some of those people are. But

If you're listening to this and you just you want to get off the ladder. I've done that. I've been doing that. I know what it takes and and to do it well. So hopefully this episode has been helpful to you. If you're listening to it and like you know there's only so much that I can really dive into in a in an hour episode. So obviously each one of those topics like I could.

probably talk about each one of those topics longer and ask if you ask questions, we could go more specific on each topic. But if you're listening to this and you need help in any of these areas or you just want someone to talk to you, you want someone to bounce ideas off of and have conversation with, please reach out to me. You know, I'm an open book. I'll share with you what's going well for me and what's not.

Branden Sewell (55:00.366)
I'll share with you what I've learned and what I'm learning and I'll help in any way that I can. That's why I started this podcast. I want to help others. I want us to have a community that really seeks to help each other grow and to accomplish what we're trying to accomplish as business owners and go to the next level. So please reach out. I'd love to hear from you. You can reach out to me.

on here, send me a message. You can reach out to me on social media. You can email me at either Brandon at seal pro painting.com or info at Brandon soul.com. And let's have a conversation. I'd love to talk to you. But anyway, I'm going to bring this episode to a close. As always, I've got resources in the show notes below. So if you

want to use job or if you're looking for a payroll solution, if you're looking to get more reviews, if you're looking at call tracking and help with your marketing, check out the resources below. Those will help you. Those are some of the systems that I use to run my business. And I only share those because I believe in them. I use them myself. If I didn't use them, if I didn't believe in them, I would not share them with you. So I do get credit. do get obviously

commissions from those referrals if you decide to use them. So please if you do decide to use one of those resources, please use my affiliate links. I do appreciate that. That helps to support me to continue doing this and to help make it better over time. So if you are listening to this episode on YouTube, please like this video, comment down below and share your feedback, share it with somebody else.

If you're listening on any major podcast platform, Apple, Spotify, anything like that, please rate and review the show and then, you know, subscribe so you don't miss future episodes and stay connected, share it with somebody else. I'm gonna go ahead and wrap this up. Thank you so much for joining into this episode of the Off the Ladder Podcast and I will see you next time on the next episode.