Would You Rather...?

This week, we’re keeping things a little lighter with a round of Would You Rather: Business Owner Edition. From nightmare customers and employee headaches to swapping jobs and starting all over again, we’re putting each other on the spot to see what we’d choose—and whether we actually agree. No deep business lessons this week… just two people who’ve spent 10 years building a business together trying to pick the lesser of two evils.

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every business has an owner everyone knows. And one they forget about. I'm Todd. I'm Alex, and together we've been running Todd Hess Painting for over 10 years, as business partners and as husband and wife. This show is for every couple trying to figure out how to build something together without losing each other in the process. The real conversations, the hard ones, the ones you don't usually have on a business podcast. Welcome to The Other Owner. Welcome back, everyone, to another episode that I didn't want to record, but we are anyway Whoa, right away We had- Right out of the gate We had a fun weekend. A busy weekend, but we had a fun weekend. Yeah. My dad was here. Shout out, Dad, since I know you're listening, or at least you were when you were traveling. You probably won't listen now that you're home, but shout out if you do. We should have him on sometime because he owned a family-owned business. Yeah. And we could talk to him about- With his, with his brothers and- That the things he learned. Yeah. It would be a fun episode. Yeah. Plus, he's, he's easy to talk to. Yeah. So since we, again, had a busy week slash weekend and we don't really have anything prepared, we are going to do a little Would You Rather, but, you know- The first- Todd Has Painting Company Edition. The real question's this, though: Do we have to for sure pick one? Well, yeah, it's for, it's Would You Rather. It's like- Oh, my goodness, 'cause some of these are, these are hard would you rathers. Yeah, well, that's why you have to really think about it. So I'll ask you first. Yeah. Would you rather have too much work and not enough employees, or too many employees and not enough work? I, I think this one's probably an easier one for me. Um, I'd rather have too much work and not enough employees. Yeah. Because I don't, I don't wanna have... Me and you have kind of made it that we don't like to sh- like string people along, not able to give them the amount of hours that they need to pay their bills and to- Yeah, we made it our mission to not have to lay people off. Yeah. Like, you- I just don't... And I, I mean, I'm even struggling with it now with the weather. I mean, it's just we're, we're, we don't have... We have a whole bunch of work, but the weather is just destroying the schedule. Yeah. And it's like, you know, you, you feel bad when your employees can only get 32 hours or something when you, you have months and months of work, but you're burning through all your interior work that you have the ability to have right now. Yeah. And there's just not enough dry weather. So, no, that one, I'd rather have two. I'd rather be... That's where we're at right now. Yeah. Too much work, not enough employees. Yep. That's my answer for that one. I would agree with that. So, would you rather deal with an angry customer or an employee who keeps screwing up? I would rather... I don't deal with either very much, so maybe this isn't a great question for me. But I feel like it'd be way easier to deal with an angry customer than an employee who keeps screwing up. 'Cause the em- the customer is like, once you're done with them, you're done with them. Well, and a- Yeah and a, and a, and a customer I'm j- and I'm gonna say this, and people, some people will agree, a customer you can fire. Yeah, you can tell- I mean, you- I mean, an employee you can fire too, but- What I'm saying is, if it's just one customer, you can get done with that work and be done, like you said, but you can also negotiate how you get out of that situation if it... 'Cause angry customers, some of them, you just never will make them happy. I mean, it's- Yeah, you can't make everyone happy but a, but a employee who keeps screwing up, the caveat to that one that I probably would ask back to you is, is it a new employee or is it a established employee, like employee that you've had for a while? Mm-hmm. That makes that question a little different. Yeah, little bit. I mean, if... Hopefully, if an employee keeps screwing up, you don't keep them around for a while. No, but you- That's our goal but, yeah, but you, you do have employees that, that ev- everybody's human. They go through Like there's stuff going on in their life. I mean- Yeah you can have an employee that makes bad decisions for a week or two, and then all of a sudden they just wake up out of whatever was affecting their decision-making process and are rock stars. So would you rather never have to hire again or never have to fire again? I'd rather n- I'd, I'd like to never have to hire again. Yeah, same. Firing's not fun. Hiring's not fun either Neither. Me, that, that's one for, that's... What's bad about that is you do the hiring and I do the firing- Yeah and neither of us like either one. Yeah. Yeah. So would you rather lose your best employee tomorrow or your biggest customer? I would rather lose my, our biggest customer. This is true. Employees are so much harder to find than customers. A- and your best, your best employee? Yeah. It's like a no-brainer. It wouldn't, I wouldn't even think twice. It wouldn't even take me but a few seconds to be like, "Okay." Even though, like our kids, we don't have a favorite, you know. We don't play favorites. No, but you always have like- But our favorite knows who they are. Yeah, but- what I'm, what I'm saying is, is the whole, the whole point is to ha- the whole... Actually, what you said is good. The whole point is to have s- so many best employees that there isn't a best employee. That's the goal. Yeah. Yeah. Would you rather ha- would you rather have 100 five-star reviews, is a good one for you, or one viral social media post? 1,010% I, my answer to this one that I will stand by is 100 five-star reviews or more. Ooh. The, the- I think I kind of disagree with you on this one. Well, that's because you don't understand the marketing part of the company. The pull that reviews have on your Google, if you own a business and you're trying to monetize yourself on Google, the pull that reviews have on your ranking on Google is so freaking strong. Look, I, but I don't, I just don't understand it. It's because it, I was researching it the other day on, and by research, I mean I was talking to ChatGPT about it. But anyway, I was researching it the other day, and Google needs you to be a safe, established business. And one of the ways that they feel that you, that makes you safe and established is by having reviews. It's a very, very big part of it. Yeah, I just- Not just the SEO keywords. I mean, that's big o- on it, too, but- I just feel like a testimonial would be way stronger than- Like a video testimonial? Yeah, like, like I, I just, I don't, I just don't... Like, I just sometimes think reviews have become so popular that they're just watered down. Like the, like I'm not- Yeah, and Google doesn't, uh, uh, it, it- You know what I mean? Like, like you say reviews are so important. Okay, why is it so hard then to get a review removed when it's a bad review and you've never done an estimate for somebody and you've never done work for them? Well, I think it's just hard to get in contact with Google in general. That's why. You know what I mean? Like that happens to us. Yeah. Yeah, it's just hard to get... You just can't get in contact with Google. Oh, great. Would you rather do my job for a month or work completely alone for a month? Bet- ex- explain this one to me. I ki- I read it once and I was like, "What do you mean by this?" Would you rather do my job for a month- Okay like we switch roles, or you do everything for a month? Or, okay, that's what I want, that's what I kinda, I wanted you to explain what you meant by it. 'Cause, you know, like, if I was just to go paint by myself for a month alone, I would do that. But, um, would you rather do my job for a month or work completely alone for a month? Was this a trick question? No, the ChatGPT gave me all these questions. I didn't make them. Have you been talking to him about certain things? No, not at all. Um, I think that I would rather do your job for a month than work completely alone for a month. Yeah, I'd probably agree with that So would you rather double the size of the company or cut it in half and make the same money? It's funny, we've already done this. So we would rather, I would rather cut the company in half and make the same money. Same. Yeah. Yeah, I don't, I think- Been there, done that. That's not a hard one to answer. Yeah, we don't, we're not about... Yeah, we're not about doubling. Ladies, size does not always matter. S- s- I, I'm, I'm guessing it's relative to companies too. Very true. Because we learned that lesson the hard way. The very hard way. Would you rather have a customer watching you work all day or texting you every two hours asking for updates? So annoying. I'd rather them text me every two hours asking for updates Yeah, for sure, 'cause you can always ignore them 'Cause me and the, me and the crew have talked about this, and one of the most... And I think I've, I think I've gotten better with this because I've had it done to me so many times. But we have a, an employee with us right now that I felt bad for. One time he did a kitchen by himself, 'cause it was a smaller kitchen, and the guy put a chair in the middle and sat there and talked to him and watched him for the whole time. Oh, no. It was like Oh, no. And it's the worst feeling. Yeah. It's not that you're like, it's not that you, you, you... It's just- Well, you feel like you're constantly entertaining, having to entertain. Well, and you know, y- you don't want, you don't wanna have the feeling of the pressure of cutting in a straight li- Like, sometimes the line gets weird and you fix it, you know? You feel like you... Probably, he probably felt like a monkey at the zoo. Yeah, he just- Like, just being watched all day, every day all, all day. All day, he said. All day he was watched. That's wild. Would you rather have an employee call off Monday morning or a customer call you Friday at 4:55 with one little concern? This is har- This is actually a really hard one, because both are super annoying and frustrating, but I think I would rather have a customer ca- uh, call on a Friday. At 4:55? Yeah. There'll be like- 'Cause 4:55 isn't super late. It's, like, on the verge of being annoying and late. Okay, would you rather have an employee call off Monday morning or a customer call you Friday at 6:45 PM with one little concern? I think still probably the customer. I, not that our employees aren't allowed to call off, because obviously things happen, but especially this time of year with the schedule- Yeah. I agree and everything. Like, it's so hard with rain, and keeping a schedule is one of the hardest parts of our company. Definitely. Definitely. Would you rather go back to year one knowing what you know now, or fast-forward five years and see where the company ends up? Fast-forward five years and see where the company ends up. Yeah. That's a really hard question. I don't wanna go back to year one. I don't even care if I... Because what people, what people like me, how I think about that question is, is would I rather go back to year one knowing what you know now? It's fine to say that, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're gonna have done any better. No, you wouldn't necessarily do anything different. And the five years from now, I mean, with where we hope to be or where we see ourselves for five years from now anyway, I think it would, it would be fun to see if we th- we're where we think we're gonna be. Yeah. And I think it, it's, I think the way I look at the five year forward to it, years go by so fast anyhow. Yeah. Going back 10 years is like- That's a long time but going forward five years is like, "That'll be here tomorrow." Yeah. It goes quick. Yeah. But if we go back 10 years, does that mean Chevy's nine again? M- m- yes. Yes. 'Cause that would be fun. I don't think that's what the question- really meant, how it's meant to be answered. Probably not. Would you rather work together every single day or not be allowed to talk about work at home? I would much rather not be allowed to talk about work at home I don't wanna work together every single day with you. We do that now. No, we don't work together side by side every day There's lots of times I just want you to go to work so I can have quiet. You can have quiet? Yes. And you don't really ever have quiet, though. I mean, Cyrus snores. Would you rather you run the marketing for a month or I go paint for a month? Oh, I would rather run the marketing Yeah, probably. I don't want you to go paint for a living. I don't wanna go paint for a living either. No. And I'm not say- 'cause guess what? You do know how to paint. You have learned how to paint over the last 20 years of being with me. But- I can hold my own, but I'm just not great. Well, y- you don't have the processes. Yeah. No, 'cause I don't do it every day. Yeah, yep. Would you rather have an unlimited marketing budget or never have to worry about labor again? I would never have, have to worry about labor again. Oh. Much rather. Oh, okay. I don't need an unlimited marketing budget. I can, I can learn, I've learned to penny pinch, and one thing I'm working on with ChatGPT is figuring out where we get our most bang for our buck. Yep. So eventually I won't need, like, the need for an unlimited marketing budget won't be there. I get that. Would you rather deal with a customer who thinks they know how to paint or one who says, "My brother said he could do it for half of that"? Oh, man. That's a hard one. I think I, I'd rather deal with a customer who thinks they know how to paint. Yeah. I don't like having conversations about pr- Price maybe even that statement, "My brother said he could do it for half of that." It's your brother. Yeah, and it just gets frustrating having that conversation over and over again. I mean, if it's just your brother, so he's not a company. Like, what does your brother's proposal look like? Is your brother gonna be here every day with a crew? I mean, there's all kinds of... Yeah, I would just... I'd rather deal with a customer that's gonna h- have to have conversations about the painting part than deal with that. Would you rather have every customer know your profit margin or every employee know exactly what the company has in the bank? Wow. Ooh. This is a tough one. I don't wanna pick one of those. I, I- This might be a question that both of us need, like... What do you think? I don't... I mean- I'd rather have every employee know exactly what the company has in the bank than for- Yeah, probably at any time anybody to worry about what my profit margin in, is. Yeah. The, uh, that's probably very true because, like, even though sometimes our bank account may seem like it's big compared to what someone who doesn't run a business- Yeah has in their bank, like, what our business bank account has in it and what our personal bank account has in it- Two different things are vastly different, but that's because- The co- the business holds up so much, like. Well, yeah, and you got different times of the, you know, different times of the year. Yeah. You have, you know, you have deposits that, that have been paid, and you have things. Like, money that's in a bank account for a business, lots of it is already spent, because you're always getting deposits in and doing work, and then having to pay bills, only to get another dep- part of the deposit, or the end payment. Yeah. So you're always paying for more stuff. Yeah. Yeah, I think I, I, I mean, and I, I think it's also says that it's like, it's sometimes it's just good to, to be able to admit, like, what you have in the bank really doesn't mean anything. No, no. You have a whole bunch in the bank, you don't know what's going on. Yeah. But if you were to tell everybody a profit margin, they could also take that and kind of- They could judge on what they believe the value of whatever your profit margin is. Yeah. That's not a fair thing either. No. No. Would you rather have to answer every Google review personally or make three TikToks a day? Well, considering I already answer every Google review personally, that is my answer, and TikToks are annoying. So would you rather never take another call, uh, another work call after 5:00 PM or never work another weekend? Never work another weekend. Yeah. Yeah, I don't mind taking calls after Fri- if, if I knew it was only gonna be Monday through Friday I had to take calls, they could call until 8:00 PM. It wouldn't bother me any. Yeah. Yeah. Working on the weekends can become tiresome. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Who would last longer if the other person quit the company tomorrow? Um, you. For sure you. I don't, I don't think I can do this without you. Never once have I thought I could do this without you I think it would be a lot diffi- more difficult without you Yeah, but you could do it without me. Yeah, but- It's easier to find someone to pay to take my position than to pay to take, for me to pay someone to take your position. Easier to find a person, not easier to find the peace with that person. Yeah. Yeah. Because then you're giving the financials to the, to somebody you don't know. Yeah. That's, that's definitely the hard part. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, this was a short episode, and that's okay. We- Yep had fun with this. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. And- How many minutes did we get? Oh, just about 20. 20 minutes? Mm-hmm. Okay, so next time we do one of these we're gonna know it's two pages. No, this was perfect. This was just the right amount. Okay, thanks. Bye. Thanks for listening to The Other Owner. If any of this felt familiar, you're not alone. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts, and if this episode hit home, share it with someone who gets it. We'll see you next time. Like and subscribe