Systems, Leadership, and Letting Go: The Next Level for Restoration Owners with Toby Clem

In this follow-up episode, Clinton James sits down again with Toby Clem of Restoration Advisers to dive deeper into what it really takes to grow a restoration company that doesn’t depend on the owner.

If your business still runs off memory, gut decisions, and “just figuring it out,” this episode is for you.

Clinton and Toby break down:

• Why running your business from memory will eventually hold you back
• How simple systems (SOPs) can create consistency, better results, and more profit
• The real reason owners struggle to delegate—and how to fix it
• What it takes to develop leaders inside your company
• The mindset shift required to step out of the truck and into true ownership

They also share practical, no-fluff action steps you can start this month:

• Track the right KPIs weekly
• Set a consistent leadership meeting rhythm
• Build your first system around a real pain point

This episode is all about helping restoration owners get unstuck, build stronger teams, and create a business that can grow without them being involved in everything.

Toby also shares details about the Restoration Advisers Montana Business Retreat, happening June 23–24 in Whitefish, Montana.

This is a small, no-vendor, no-pitch mastermind where restoration owners come together to talk through real challenges, share ideas, and learn from each other.

• Open to all restoration owners (not just clients)
• Limited attendance for real conversations
• Focused on your biggest business challenges
• Held near Glacier National Park

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If you're serious about growing your business and want to be around other driven restoration owners, this is worth checking out.

https://restorationadvisers.com/montana2026-847608

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Looking to generate more high-quality leads that turn into onsite visits and jobs?
Book a discovery call with the Water Restoration Marketing team:
https://waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Had this guest on a couple weeks ago, great conversation, great insights into the restoration community. Um, invited him back because I don't think we finished the conversation.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

So right, so if we don't have everything that we do documented in a way that we can easily pass it on to the next generations out, shall we say, um you're gonna be stuck in the driver's seat constantly, and you're not able to ever truly start to build a business.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Um and part of scaling is really in building out processes, leadership teams, um, delegation. And we really didn't touch on some of those things in the last episode.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Same thing with this with this meeting, same day, same time, every week. The only thing that cancels it is a death in the family, vacation, or sickness.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Welcome to the Restoration Cross Unplugged Podcast. In each episode, we're gonna bring you in spiteful interviews and discussions with top restoration industry leaders. We're also gonna delve into their business, the strategies that make them successful, and most importantly, the valuable lessons they learned along the way. I'm your host collecting fans. I'm also the chief marketing officer of restoration markets. We're a digital marketing agency dedicated to helping restoration companies nationwide secure more high-value water jobs. Now, this show aims to provide you with the knowledge and tools you need to excel in the restoration industry. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. And welcome back to another episode of the Restoration Pros Unplug Podcast. As always, I am your host, Clinton James, Chief Marketing Officer over at Water Restoration Marketing. Um, had this guest on a couple weeks ago. Great conversation, great insights into the restoration community. Um, invited him back because I don't think we finished the conversation. So um without further ado, uh, welcome uh back to the podcast, Toby Clem. Uh Toby Clem, I'm sorry, why did I butcher your last name like that? Have it all the time with restoration advisors. Toby, thanks for for jumping back on another episode of the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it. It was a good conversation last time, and I can't I can't wait for the uh for the conversation on this one. It's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Well, well, Toby, you work with restoration companies across the country. Um, you've had great success in helping them uh scale. Um, and part of scaling is really in building out processes, leadership teams, um, delegation. And we really didn't touch on some of those things in the last episode. So I guess for the audience listening right now, I really want to walk you guys through, especially the folks that are, you know, just hit seven figures early in, you know, two, three million dollars. There's really some fundamental things that you should be putting in place to make it easier for you to scale the business there. Um, the first thing, Toby, that jumps to mind with me is SOPs, right? So systems for actually running a restoration business. Now, a lot of restoration companies, because they started off as an owner operator, they run on experience and memory. Um, why do you think that eventually becomes a problem?

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Well, because it gets trapped in the owner's head and they have not gotten everything that's in here, number one, out of their mouth, uh, but secondly, onto paper. Um, and I say paper, that's that's an old school term at this point in the 21st century, but uh I digress. Um, yeah, it because at the end of the day, memory can walk out the door, right? So if we don't have everything that we do documented in a way that we can easily pass it on to the next generations out, shall we say, um you're gonna be stuck in the driver's seat constantly and you're not a not able to ever truly start to build a business. And I just want to park here for just a second because I've had conversations with brokers in the past, because one thing that I I've heard through the grapevine is that if you have SOPs, there's some level where your business is more valuable to a purchase, right? The SOPs in and of themselves are not the multiplier. The fact that you have them and operate by them is where the multiplier is because you will then see efficiency from that, right? So it's not the SOPs themselves, it's the discipline that it takes to create them and to implement them, is where the value is. So uh I I just want people to really understand that this is an exercise, really. Um, but if you don't if you don't do the exercise and then follow through with the implementation, it's all it's I don't want to say all for naught, but it it doesn't carry the same weight.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

No, I I get it. It's it's not only creating the SOP, it's not only sharing the SOP with your team, but it's also holding your team accountable for following the SOP. Not sometimes, right? Not in the perfect situation, every single time. Um it it's the reason that like Chipotle produces the same burrito bowl in every in every restaurant around the country, right? I know what I'm gonna get when I walk into Chipotle and I order that burrito bowl. Now, obviously, there's always some variables like some uh dynamics that pop up on a job or in a certain circumstance, and you have to operate a slightly outside that SOP. Um, but I I think SOPs and those kind of frameworks are really good. Um, you're right, for to get out of the owner's head, um, to get documented so that he can pass that on to the next project manager, the next technician, the next office manager, the person that does intake and dispatch, right? Um what are the first systems that you think restoration companies should start documenting?

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Well, I would start wherever your biggest pain point is. Okay. Right. Um, now, that being said, I always when when I go and do an on-site with my clients, what one of the first things that we do is we say, what is your business process? How do you get think in terms of manufacturing, right? My I'm my dad was in manufacturing. I grew up in a machine shop because he works so much. So manufacturing is the first thing that comes to my mind when I'm thinking about processes. But it's it's a very easy way to think of raw goods in the front door, finished goods out the back door, right? For us in restoration, a raw good in a manufacturing sense is that inbound lead. Okay, right. And the finished product is providing six star service and getting a five and settling for a five-star review, right? That's your finished product. Okay. Okay. What are the machines that your customer has to make a stop at in order for us to get that five-star review?

SPEAKER_01 6:59

I I like that. Um, having a digital marketing agency and being a part of generating that um that raw material that comes in, right? Whether it's a phone call from a homeowner or a business owner, let's say in the middle of a water damage emergency, right? The person that answers that call, the initial conversation that they have with that homeowner, should that be a process, right? Should that be documented scripted out? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

100%. Now, scripted, I am not a fan. I'm not a sales guy by nature. Okay. I don't like scripts, right? But there are bullet points that need to be covered on every single call. First notice of loss, intake form. We need to cover those things, right? Do am I going to give a script out? Me personally, no, I don't give scripts out because I hate scripts myself. But see, that's that's the beauty of designing your own systems. You get to learn how you work and how you want your business to work, and you build that. Just because I don't like a script doesn't mean we can't create one if you work good on scripts. Okay. And I think that's where we do a really good job of learning the owner, learning the business, and helping you develop systems that fit you and your business, because if you create them, you will implement them. Now, I say all that to say because that ties into another point that I wanted to make. And that is don't sit in your ivory tower and create SOPs and then throw them on your team and say, here's the SOP. If you do that, you're you're operating in a dictatorship, right? Nobody likes to be told what to do. Okay. And it's very hard. It's harder to get them to be excited about the process if they've been handed and said, do it my way.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Okay, so how do we how do we do that? I'm a huge fan of once a week in your team meeting, say, hey guys, I'm working on this SOP. Tell me how you three lead technicians do the ABC process.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

And have a conversation about the start to finish process.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

And ask them to provide you with five to seven steps, key steps that have to be done in order to achieve a five-star review.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

So it is then you take that, that's the framework by which you can start writing your SOP. Now, I say write your SOP because now we live in the world of AI. If you have a good prompt and you have a good solid outline, you can have an SOP done in a matter of minutes.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah. I I uh I love using Claude or Chat GPT or one of these um uh AI tools to help generate SOPs for the processes that we use at our agency. Yes. Um have you ever sat in on one of those meetings where the owner is talking to members of his team and asking them to give him feedback on a specific process and what that looks like? Um, steps one, two, three, four, five?

SPEAKER_02 10:00

I have. Um I don't do it often because that is I I again I'm my job is to get the owner and the leader in a place where they can do that, right? Now, can I sit in? Yes, but a lot of times when I'm sitting in, the owner's looking to me to start leading, and I'm like, no, no, no, no. I'm trying to teach you how to fish. I'm not gonna fish for you, right? Now, that being said, I do that with the owners ahead of time. Okay. We do that in their business to to outline the high-level bullet points of their business as from a holistic standpoint. Because once we understand their holistic process, that becomes the chapters, shall we say, in their training library.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Right. So I do it from a holistic standpoint, and then I challenge them to take the process that I use with them and replicate that on their own.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Now you said um you should identify where the pain points are in the business and use that as a jump-off point for where you start creating those SOPs. Um outside of like, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

I caveat, I'm I took that to mean if if one of your listeners was doing it on their own. Okay. That's not how I start the process when I'm working with someone. Very big difference. But if you're if you are uh on your, you know, just trying to to cowboy this through on your own, just pick a pain point, have a conversation with your team, get them to un like to help you understand the process. A, they're gonna maybe tell you where things are going wrong inadvertently. But B, it'll give you a chance to maybe coach them a little bit. The third, maybe the most important point is if they're part of building or documenting the SOP, then when things go wrong, we can say, you helped write the damn thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

It's easier to hold them accountable if they're part of the creation of the process of the process.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Yes. And now that um that principle right there is so important for business owners to latch on to because a lot of times business owners are trying to put the processes in place with two or three people in their team, and they're trying to get all of their house in order before they go hire someone. On some level, I understand that, but why not hire the right people to help you build the processes?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Now that seems like a um could be a challenge for some folks, right? Because you're not gonna be able to do it. Absolutely, I'm going through that with clients right now. It's absolutely a challenge. All right, so we talked about intake. Um, what are the other examples of like uh, you know, specific documenting systems in a business there?

SPEAKER_02 12:48

One thing, one big pain point that I see that really has such a big cascade effect is scoping.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

If we don't have a good solid scope, then the downstream effects from that just go all the way into your profit and loss statement. Okay. So that to me is a huge one. Um, now part of that is also your estimating process, but before estimating, you got to have a good scope, right? So that is one that I see a lot of times that is a big, um a big pain point, big obstacle for companies. Um, AI is changing that game. I'm working with a few of my clients to build prompts for that. We have a little tool that I'd be happy to share, but it actually records and transcribes right into AI. And then from that, we can build, we can basically have a really solid scope within a matter of minutes of getting in the truck. Wow. It's it's a game changer, right? Um, so there's lots of ways that we are in the in the past year with AI really becoming mainstream that we're able to start streamlining some of these things and get more consistency because at the end of the day, that's what SOPs are about. It's about consistency, right? Um, AI is really helping with that. Um, but I would say scoping is probably the next big one. Estimating with Xactimate and getting consistency in Xactimate estimates, absolutely one that you want to try to get out of your head and onto paper that can be teachable. Okay. Um customer onboarding, training, employee onboarding training, um, all of those sorts of things are great places to start if you are looking for a place to start. But at the end of the day, you really it's it's I always say it's like eating an elephant, you got to do it one bite at a time, right? But if you can do it, if you can start from a holistic perspective and think about raw goods in, finished goods out, and the checkpoints along the way, that's the that's a good solid baseline to start creating SOPs.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Okay. Now you've been at this for years, working again with tons of restoration companies. What really happens to a company's growth when these systems start replacing um, I guess what they refer to as like tribal knowledge, just kind of knows how to do it, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah, you get uh consistency is the big thing, right? And what happened, like the natural byproduct in business of consistency is profit, right? So those are the things that happen. Um, your team, your culture becomes more cohesive because when you have good systems, when you have good processes documented, and everybody's referring back to those, it r alleviates some of the burden on the management team to hold people accountable. So it's it's I would say it is the basis of a good, efficient company to have a training library.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

I I like that. Um now I I know for some of the folks listening to the podcast right now, they may think, man, that's a little overwhelming um in terms of creating all these SOPs and putting these systems in place. Um, but even when they do, um, they're still, man, a a lot of owners struggle with the delegation, right? Um actually handing off the SOP and allowing someone else to do that part of the business. Because they're used to, again, owner operators. They started like chucking a truck, man. One guy, some DHUs, some air movers, uh, a moisture meter, and they're ready to go. Um, why do you think that owners struggle uh with it? Why is that so common in restoration? Uh owners just really struggling to delegate certain aspects of the business to their team.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

I think the if if I could if I could distill it all down to one common denominator that I hear from all of them is A, because they built it, and B because they're afraid that their customers will not get the same level of service as they did when they were in the truck. Okay. They care so deeply for their customers. And listen, in order to be in this industry, you have got to have empathy. You must have empathy. 100%. But empathy unchecked causes you to carry burdens that are not yours to bear. That's financial. That's the biggest place that I see this, and this is where I have this conversation constantly is on the financial side and holding customers accountable to pay their part of the bill. Whole other conversation. But um, at the end of the day, it's unchecked empathy. They care so deeply for their customers that they're shortchanging their company and their opportunity to bend over backwards for their customers.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Do you think there's a fear that like I'm the only one that can do this thing well? Right? I'm the only one in the business that can actually service this client or hand.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Okay. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. We see that all like, yes, all the time. And early on, that's true. You are the best person to service this customer when you only have three or four other people, right? You're the best one to come in and manage that job. But if you're going to get to where you want to go, A, spending more time with your family, B, making more income, or three, selling this thing, you have got to learn to train others to meet your service standards.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Okay, that that pivots into a whole different direction, right? What does it actually take for an owner of a restoration company to develop leaders inside the organization?

SPEAKER_02 18:36

I always uh I'm a I'm a logical thinker, right? I I use the manufacturing metaphor because it's a straight line, right? I can I can see a straight line, right? So I put things into very logical statements. In order to be a good leader, you have to focus on outcomes more than tasks. I put it in terms of outcomes, the word, with the greater sign, greater than sign, tasks. Outcomes are greater than tasks, right? A leader focuses on outcomes. A leader's gonna say at a very high level, I need you to provide six-star service and get a five-star review. Now, tongue in cheek, I don't care how you get there, I just need that done. Okay, a task is what managers focus on. A manager is gonna focus on the checklist and make sure that his people are doing A, B, C, D, and E. Right? Now, by extension, what does a micromanager do? They hyper focus on the tasks.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

I'm I'm definitely guilty of that in my business. We all are.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

We all are.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

How do you find a balance though between um focusing on the um the outcome um but also wanting to hold those people accountable to the tasks that you created in your SOP?

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Well, see, that's where I'm not a huge fan of creating super detailed SOPs. I'm not gonna tell you how to turn a screwdriver lefty loosey, righty, tidy. Fair enough. Right? Fair it up. Um, I'm going to focus on outcomes and give you enough detail to guide you to deliver the outcome. I'm not going to tell you to turn the screwdriver left to unscrew the screws from the socket. Sure. Right. Um, so I'm I'm going to focus on outcomes. Now, to your point, how do you balance that? A, we have to have a really good accountability structure in place, right? A lot of people think organizational chart, yes, it looks like an organizational chart, but it's deeper than that. Every single role has to have outcomes that they're responsible for. Okay. Okay. Now, with accountability, it's a two-way street. If I'm the owner and I'm jumping down to be a, let's just say, a lead tech for the day because we're swamped, right? That project manager needs to understand that he's still accountable for the job, even though I'm there working as a lead tech. Ah, okay. Okay. You have to, if you're going to fulfill a role, you have to fulfill it in the position that it is on the accountability chart. A project manager can't take his hands off and say, Oh, you know what, no PPE today because the owner's not doing it. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. The project manager is accountable for the health and safety of all employees on that job. If the owner shows up and skips a step because he's not in the day-to-day operations as much anymore, it's on the project manager to hold that owner accountable because that owner is not an owner anymore. He's a lead tech.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Oh wow. Okay. So it's a two way street. So even if you're in the owner's box, if you are moving into another or have to temporarily move into another role in the organization, you are held accountable by whoever is up that chart from you. That's correct. Because ultimately they own that outcome, right?

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Um It's a culture thing, right? If everybody's Accountable, but no one's accountable, right? So somebody has to be accountable. And who's accountable for the jobs? The project manager. In the story. Um, so there's gotta be guardrails, and those guardrails are the accountability items that that role is tasked with completing or seeing through every single day.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Okay. Um, for me, it's it seems like a huge mindset shift, right? From a guy that literally just was a project manager over at a big national franchise, goes out, starts his own business. Um, what what really happens um to an owner when they they start to let go of that control? Like how transformative is that for not just their business, but also for them and the burden that they wear on their shoulders?

SPEAKER_02 22:51

It's well, it's a different hard. I'm not gonna say it's easy. There they may feel a sense of freedom, but it's a different hard. Um, they go from nobody can do this like me to my job is now to make other people great. The owner's value stops being their skill and it starts being their judgment and vision. And from an operations guy who's third generation blue-collar, my value I I can't I grew up that my value came from the work that I performed. Right? And that's where a lot of these guys get stuck is their value is doing the work. They have a really hard time making that jump to their value being here. And when they get that shift, it is freeing, but it's also extremely challenging.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Because you're focused on the outcome, you're focused on helping everyone else achieve the outcome. You're no longer doing the work, your hands are not in getting dirty anymore. Your value comes from a different place. And you when you can make that jump, you've arrived.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

For the restoration owners that are listening who kind of feel stuck, right? They haven't made that jump in their business today. Um what do you think of the three things they could start doing April, right? Uh next month, then we make the biggest difference in their business.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

You've got to know your numbers. Okay. That is unequivocally one of the most important things. You've got to know your numbers. And we get we help our clients get to a point where every single week they're looking at a a scorecard, right? KPIs. So start with five, seven, depending on, you know, depending on how big your company is. Five is probably good for somebody that's a million or less. Seven to eight, nine is probably good for a million to three. Okay. Um, but pick some numbers. I always start with how much revenue did we bill our invoice this week. Okay. What was the net profit? And it's a rough number. It's a rough number. I get it. We're not looking for exact right here. We're just looking for consistency. But um if you can pull job profit, right? Um, if you if you don't have good QuickBooks in place and you're not able to to and you're run not running on cash, then look at job profit if you can. But look, try to understand what your company profitability is on a regular basis. Look at your AR, look at your conversion rate between leads in, inspections performed, and jobs sold. Okay. Right? So you got to track those three numbers to get the ratios between each one. Sure. Right? Um, and then a huge number that we look at, and it's uh it's hard for people to wrap their minds around, but revenue per employee that gives you an overall company efficiency rate. I like that. Um come up with goals for each one of those and then track them on the weekly. That would say that's that's number one.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

All right. So number one, let's start tracking those meaningful KPIs. What's what's number two for the audience, Tell me?

SPEAKER_02 26:13

In my opinion, this kind of goes hand in hand with that scorecard. Establish a leadership meeting rhythm. Every single week, you and your leadership team. Now, maybe that's just you and one other person in the short term. That's okay. Establish the rhythm now while you're small, because as you get bigger, it's gonna be way more impactful and valuable. But start it now. Every single week, kind of like going to the dojo for those who are jujitsu are karate fanatics, right? You go in, you bow on the mat, it's dedicated, um, appreciated, and valued time, right? Same thing with this with this meeting, same day, same time, every week. The only thing that cancels it is a death in the family, vacation, or sickness. Everything else gets pushed aside, everything is scheduled around this. Put it on the calendar this week, same time next week, don't cancel it. Um, this rhythm, if you start this, this rhythm you'll find will start cascading out into other areas of your business. Um so I would start there. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Establish a leadership meeting rhythm. All right. So we've got two two uh two things for them to start doing next month. We've got tracking meaningful KPIs, um, establishing like a set rhythm for those leadership team meetings, whether you're one person, five people, ten people in that leadership team, they got to get on the calendar um on a weekly or monthly basis there, right? Yep. Um, what's the third one you got for the audience?

SPEAKER_02 27:42

The third one I would say is find one pain point and document the core process to get a five-star review from that process. Now, that process may be a very small piece of the bigger overall company holistic process. I get it, but if you can do that one thing well, it will substantially increase your uh your opportunity to get a five-star review. So pick one, one core process, and get your team involved, have them outline it, get it into Chat GPT if you want to. Uh, you can go old school and free-handed. That that's perfectly fine. It's a great exercise because it really causes you to really think about the process, not getting too detailed, but keeping it detailed enough that somebody could follow it. Put it into AI, share with the team, get them to mark it all up with red ink and go back to the drawing board. Go through two or three iterations and get it locked in. Once you go through the first one, all of a sudden the rest of them become easier. But don't bite off more than you can chew. Focus on one at a time in the beginning, and then once you understand the process, my challenge would be then teach someone else how to do it. So now you have two people doing it. Okay. I'm not saying stop once you've delegated. I'm saying get two people doing it. And then it's a multiplication effect, and all of a sudden your training library becomes pretty robust in a fairly short amount of time with some focus.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

I I love that. I hope the audience is listening, and I'm hoping you guys will take some action here, right? Three things that you could do, you could start doing this month or next month, since we're almost at the end of uh of March. Um, start tracking those meaningful, meaningful KPIs, um, establish leadership meeting rhythm, make it consistent every day or every week, uh, same day, same time, and hold people accountable for showing up in good faith. Um, and then document some core processes, right? Create that first SOP for a pain point in your business there. Um, so uh I saw you posted this online. Um, I am a huge, huge um believer in in-person events. Doesn't matter what kind of business that you own. It's great to be around people in the same industry, share experiences, share best practices. Man, sometimes it's just a good event about some of the challenges that you're experiencing in your business. Um, and Restoration Advisors has one of those type of events coming up. So, can you tell the audience a little bit about what you guys have coming up?

SPEAKER_02 30:11

I will. And first off, let me thank you for the opportunity to talk about this. This was not part of the plan at all. Um, so the the this whole podcast series was not a hook to get you guys in for this. No, no, no, no, no, man. I appreciate yeah, I really appreciate you giving me the platform. Um, we do this every year, uh, Montana Business Retreat. Uh we go to Whitefish, Montana, and we spend two days in a conference room or up on the uh the rooftop balcony uh just talking with restorers about what is going on in their business. Um we actually do things a little bit different. Well, there's one other group that we kind of glean some inspiration from for the format of this. So we actually will poll all of the attendees a few days before the event, and based on the results of the poll determines what we talk about. Oh wow, okay. So we're giving without putting anyone in the hot seat per se, we're covering all of the topics that are challenging, obstacles, or something exciting that these folks want to talk about. And it's peer collaboration and it's very little input from myself or Clark, and there's zero lecture because it's a mastermind really to talk about the pain points of the attendees. So it's hyper focused on the challenges that they're facing. And we have one and a half million dollar companies in the in the room, but we have ten million dollar companies in the room. Okay, and it's a great opportunity for everyone to see a different perspective, to learn from those who are ahead of them, or for those that are the larger companies in the room, they get to hear some of the pain points of either the smaller ones or maybe some employees that they can take back to the to their business and adjust their culture, right? Or there's a lot of lessons that are learned from small companies that can be implemented for more efficiency in a big business, right? So the collaboration is incredibly powerful. Um, the reviews have been outstanding, and we actually have many repeat or return uh attendees because of the value that they get from it. So um it's it's inexpensive, uh relatively speaking. It's two solid days. Breakfast and lunch is covered. You're 20 minutes from Glacier National Park, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Um, I would pick Glacier over Hawaii just about any day of the week. Um one of my favorite places on earth. So um it's such a great event. And um, if you haven't been to Whitefish, Montana, it's a it's a really cool little town.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Okay. Let's give the the audience some details. First off, is it limited to only people that currently work with the with you and Clark Obert Restoration Advisors?

SPEAKER_02 32:58

No, it is open to the public. In fact, we actually prefer that because it gives us a chance to hear other voices in the industry and we get to get out of the echo chamber to a real degree. Um, but it doesn't always work out that way, and that's fine. Um, we have a great time every single year. Uh, I think we're going on year four. Um, and it's just been it's it's grown every year, and it's it's just it's been a great experience. Awesome. Uh, when is it taking place? June 23rd and 24th. Okay. Um, I I'll send you the the link. It's uh restorationadvisors.com forward slash Montana 2026, I believe, but check the link in the description because I might be wrong on that.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Yeah, it's okay for you guys driving. Don't worry about it. We'll get the link. We'll make sure we add it to the show notes or the description there. Um okay, so two full days in June. Give me those dates one more time. 23rd and 24th. Okay. And if you guys are interested in attending the event, we're gonna put a link so that you can get some more information, reach out to Toby and the team. Um, you've talked a little bit about what people can expect when they go to the events. And I know a lot of guys might be a little leery. They pay to go to these events, these masterminds, they show up and there's five or six vendors trying to hawk their services to a room full of restorers. Is that what they're gonna run into when they run come out there, Toby?

SPEAKER_02 34:11

There is there is no vendors, there's no lectures. Um, it's just restorers, myself and Clark. And we're honestly, Clark and I are just there to MC the MC the event. It's it's all about the restorers in the room. That's what we make it to be. Um, so no vendors, no sponsors, none of that. It's just show up, be a part of something awesome, and take away some incredible friendships, relationships that you can collaborate with in the future.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

I like that. Um, you guys, how big of a group do you guys traditionally have for these events? Are you trying to go big or do you try to keep it small and intimate?

SPEAKER_02 34:47

Well, it is small. Um, I think last year we were up to about 10, I think it was 10 people that registered. Okay. I'd have to go back and look. Um very small. Yeah, very small, uh, very intimate. Um, it's the kind of thing where we've got a conference room reserved. We have breakfast and lunch down there. Um, but if we want to go to the roof, we can. Or if we want to just find a spot in the in glacier to look over the water while we talk, we'll do that too. I like it. Um if we can find a spot to have a campfire, we may do that. We've talked a lot about doing that this year. So um it's it's small enough that we can pivot and go to a spot that just fits the vibe. So it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Well, Toby, you've delivered exceptional value to our audience, not just today, uh, but in the podcast a couple weeks ago. Um, I'm gonna ask the audience to support, man. If this sounds like something that you guys be interested in attending, again, we'll put a link to it in the uh in the podcast description there. Um, reach out to them. It sounds to me like it's gonna be a great time, and I can imagine it's gonna be a beautiful scenery. Um, for those owners that are like, hey, can I bring my GM? Can I bring my project manager? Is that is that allowed?

SPEAKER_02 35:53

A hundred percent. Yeah, we actually have one owner that's bringing two people with him. Um, and every attendee, every owner that attended last year brought a second person with them last year. It was really last year was unique. Um, I wish I could replicate this because on one side we had when we normally set it up in like a U-shape so everybody can kind of see each other. Last year it worked out perfectly that down one side of the room we had owners, and looking at them in the face was all of their employees. Ah, A players, baby.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Bring those A players to the team.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

It was uh it was outstanding, and we had some very open, raw conversations that was so unique that you don't you I haven't seen that anywhere else. It was it was powerful.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

I love it. Well, Toby, thank you again um for joining us for another episode of the Restoration Pros Unplug Podcast. Uh, we're gonna have you back. Um, we're gonna find a way to get you in front of our audience more often because you just got a wealth of experience, a wealth of value. And that's really the purpose of this show, right? Is to help restoration company owners grow and scale their business. And um, you're one of the best voices doing it. So thank you. I appreciate that very humbling and the group over at Restoration Advisors. Um, guys, if you like what you heard today, um, make sure you like, you subscribe, and if you so choose, if you feel like we delivered a six-star uh episode today, leave one of those five-star reviews because that'll help us find more restorers there. So um, thank you again, Toby. Um, we'll be back next week, guys, with another awesome episode. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Restoration Pros Unplugged Podcast. If you like what you heard today, be sure to subscribe, share, and also leave us a five-star review. We'll be back with more interviews and discussions with the restoration industry leaders who really stuff. In the meantime, if you're a restoration company looking to add more high-value water shops, you can reach me and my team at waterrestorationmarketing.net. Again, that's waterrestoration marketing. I look forward to hearing from you stuff.