Two Weeks Away And The Business Still Runs

Two weeks on the road sounds like a break until you realize it is also the best way to find out if your business is actually built to run without you. We drove to back-to-back home inspection conferences and mastermind meetings, Dallas first and then Orlando, and used the whole trip as a real-world test of our systems, automations, and backup support. If you own a service business and you have ever wondered whether you are a business owner or just the most stressed employee, this one will hit close to home.

Between the practical lessons, we share the fun parts of choosing the slow route: leveling up to van camping, discovering why Buc-ees is strangely perfect for overnight stops, squeezing in Ozarks hiking, and timing New Orleans right by visiting the week after Mardi Gras when the French Quarter is clean, friendly, and not packed. We also take a weird detour into history with the Bonnie and Clyde ambush site museum, talk about what made it feel creepy, and yes, we put our feet in the Fountain of Youth before a breakfast stop that turns into an unexpected crayon moment.

On the business side, we talk scheduling, operations, and what “smooth” really looks like when you are gone for 14 days: fewer fires, clearer processes, and a team that can handle the normal flow. We also mention a new scheduling system we are building, aimed at home inspectors first but designed with the broader service industry in mind. If you want a more resilient business and fewer surprises, listen through and then tell us: what is the first thing that would break if you left for two weeks. Subscribe, share this with another owner who needs a systems wake-up call, and leave a review if it helps.

Transcript

Driving To Dallas And Orlando

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hey everybody, it's been about three two weeks, three weeks since we recorded an episode. So Laura and I have been busy. Yeah, we are we are back to doing this. So here's something we did. We had two conferences to go to for the home inspections.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Back to back ish.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Conferences slash mastermind meetings. So one was in Dallas, and then the other one was in Orlando. So what we did, instead of we're not real big. Yeah, Laura hates flying. So we drove there, which first of all, a lot of people think that's crazy. But we drove to Dallas, and then we had about a week. So instead of driving all the way back to Ohio, then going back down to Orlando, we just went to Dallas, took our time working out to Orlando, and then we came back up. So we were gone two weeks, but two-week time frame is a good way to test your business systems to make certain everything runs well without you. If it runs well without you, then you know you got a good like business and you're not like self-employed.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Right.

Van Camping And Buc-ees Lessons

SPEAKER_02 1:19

So some of the things we did though, because Laura and I treat things as uh you know, we're trying to treat things as much as play and enjoyment as we can. So on the way down to Dallas, well, first of all, we got a brand new van.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

So we have taken car camping to the next level.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Car camping to the next level. So it's gonna be van camping. I still gotta build a bed in the back of that thing, but we had an air mattress, and we would just pull over, check things out. I went to my Bucky, to a Bucky's for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

We got him to pop his Bucky's cherry.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Pop that Bucky Cherry. So I so I went to Bucky's. I Bucky loves it. Bucky, or somebody was in a costume, was at the first Bucky we went into. We got a picture with Bucky. That's on the Facebook page. Look for that, look for a gym trough, and look at the scroll down that Facebook stream. You'll see a Bucky there, me and Laura. Um Walla Jerky. That that was pretty cool. And then you get the taste jerky, like the deli, and yeah, and their brisket sandwiches, those are good.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Dude, I tried telling you for how many freaking years? And no, no. It's it's it's a it it's my thing now. I just refuse to go to Bucky's.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

I just don't want to go to Bucky's just to bug Laura. Really, I mean that's that's that's what it is. It's all played. But anyway, now I'm I'm I like Bucky's, it was a good place. Great place is the car camp.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Oh, yeah, huge, huge parking lot.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Well lit in the van. You can't, you know, we're not getting light to shine into our eyes no matter how we position the place to sleep and clean bathrooms, food at all hours of the day.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Open 24-7. I don't have to worry about, you know, we're hitting five, six o'clock and things are closing. And I'm like, well, crap, where am I gonna go to the restroom at two in the morning?

Hiking The Ozarks And Small Town Stops

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Oh, like Ireland, things close early. We when we're in Ireland, we're off season, so that may affect it a little bit. But anyway, on the trip to Dallas, we we we like hiking, nature. So we stopped, we ended up in the Ozarks. Gorgeous. Gorgeous, did a little bit of hiking around there, that was nice. We did Dallas, where we had really really just in the meeting, didn't really sightsee too much in Dallas. We we've been to Dallas many times before. Well, we've been in Dallas.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Well, we were technically in Fort Worth when we did.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Fort Worth, yes. And then we went to Grandby, because it was a cute little town that some men mentioned while we're at the meeting. Checked out Grandby, Texas, cute town, kind of back in the 50s.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Every freaking block had like wine tasting wine, like every literally every block in this town.

New Orleans After Mardi Gras

SPEAKER_02 3:55

There's this little center area that is nice little shops and I think, but yeah, winery, like it, like there's there's eight in this going around this little center. Then we end up near New Orleans as we slowly made our way back to well to Orlando, and it was the week after Mardi Gras. So we just missed Mardi Gras. Which I'm thinking now, and we've been to Mardi Gras before a couple times. I think the week after Mardi Gras is the best time to go check out the French quarter because it's not stupidly crowded. The city just cleaned up because of Mardi Gras.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

So it didn't smell at all. Like it was nice. This was probably the best New Orleans trip I think we've ever had.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yeah, not crowded, but it's friendly, not really any crazy, stupid, drunk people. So it it was nice. So if you're going to go to New Orleans, man, the week after Mardi Gras, I think that is the best time. And there is a KOA 30 minutes from the French quarter.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

And that is a new one. Like it's only been within the last year or two that it's been opened. So it it's brand new. It's got really nice facilities. We did some laundry there.

Bonnie And Clyde Museum Detour

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Yeah, it was a nice place. So we did that, and then we from there, and I can't remember if it's before or after. This is a little bit of our adventures, driving, and we had time to kill. All of a sudden, I see Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum, a sign for that.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

I'm like, what is this?

SPEAKER_02 5:31

What the heck is that? So there we go. We go over there. It is a little, it is a very run-down town. Um, they they could definitely need visitors, but I can't remember the name of the town. But anyway, it was the loc the museum is the site of where there used to be a little restaurant, little deli, where Bine and Clyde stopped at and had their ended up being their last meal before they drove down the road about seven miles and got ambushed by uh police and and got shot. But it's an interesting building. Check it out check it out while it's still there. Because they I I hope they listen to this because they got some electrical stuff they need to check out and to make it safe, because there's electrical uh home inspector, can't shut shit off. I'm walking across extension cords that are strewn across the floor, like plugged into extension cords, and they're duct taped down to the floor so you don't trip on them, but the duct tape is wearing out because it's been walked on so much.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Well, and then there's the battery that's powering, like the car battery that was powering lights. I saw two car batteries with extension cords the whole time through here. He's like, Did you see those electric cords? Did you see those extension cords? This place is gonna catch fire. It's a fire trap. This is a fire trap. I'm amazed it's still around.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

So I'm hoping they get that stuff fixed, but really interesting, kind of creepy as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Yeah, very creepy.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Because the movie movies, there's been a plus. Several movies, and I didn't seen those things since I was little, so we were gonna watch those, but I kind of think they kind of romanticized Bonnie and Clyde because this is right after the depression, so people were like against wealthy people, it seemed like. So it kind of seemed that may have been the theme why people were like them.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Mother taught him poor people were good, rich people were bad. Just period end story. As she's beating the living crap out of him, so obviously she wasn't that good.

Fountain Of Youth And Crayon Breakfast

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Correct. So the psychology background we have is like, all right, we gotta we gotta do a deep dive of that, but there's really no point in that. So anyway, we did that, and then they had a memorial where they were shot at the ambush site, and that was I didn't I do not get this at all. Bonnie and Clyde, they were they were thieves, murderers, murderers, and there's a little memorial, and then people nowadays are start are coming up and dropping off like gifts gifts, like uh beers, beads, sodas, candy, shots of sodium chloride, sodium like in syringes of sodium chloride, no needle, but I I think you use those to irrigate wounds, which by had a very serious, they all had some injuries because they've been fighting and avoiding the police and getting injured. Car accidents and shots and so we did that, then that then shortly after that, heading more toward Orlando, here came oh Leonard Skinner too. It's a Leonard Skinner memorial.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

I'm like, what the heck is this?

SPEAKER_02 8:37

I don't know anything about Leonard Skinner. Why is there a memorial? Well, you may know, I did not. Their plane crashed, I don't know what year. 77. Their plane crashed, and three of them the band members died, or are three. Was it three? Not all were band members, one was a sister of the band members. Anyway, there's memorial for that because that was a plane crash.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

That was a living co-pilot died.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Yep. So then we went on to Orlando. No, Ponta Leon.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Ponta de Leon. We stuck our Tootsies in the fountain of youth.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Yep, yep. So it's gonna make us any any younger. But then, all right, so then the very next day, we are going to get breakfast because we are in Florida. We're in Florida, obviously, heading toward Orlando. We go to, I think it was a first watch restaurant, which is good good food. Yeah. Laura secretly tells the hostess to get me uh crayons. Yeah, you think I was much of this crayons and the little collaring sheet that they have for little kids, okay? And I was like, look down, like like we like what what'd you guys do? She's like, oh no, no. The host is like, no, no, she's gonna make sure you're taken care of. I'm like, all right. Then she hands me the crayons, but five minutes later, Laura, five minutes later, but you're five to ten minutes later, Laura is the one with the crayons collaring like a little kid.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

You weren't entertaining me.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

So I think the fountain of youth had more effect on her than it did me.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

But then I am younger.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

You are younger, right? Yeah, so you don't have to go to get in a collaring age.

Orlando Meeting And New Scheduling Tool

SPEAKER_00 10:14

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SPEAKER_02 10:39

So from there we went, we made it to Orlando and we uh we had the meeting that was good. Made some uh introductions because we're working on a new scheduling system. So if you're a home inspector and you listen to this, get a hold of us. We we have a new scheduling system that's coming out that's gonna uh gonna it's gonna really kick ass and save you lots of money.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Well, and it's not just for home inspectors, it could be any service industry, actually.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

It it it could be it could be it could be made made for that.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

But we we did it primarily for the home inspection industry because there's nothing out there.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Yep. So get hold of me, I'll get you information, maybe get on the list to uh beta test beta test that you know, the uh founders thing, whatever we have for that. Um so we did a meeting. Meeting was alright. We met various people, vendors that some some could help us out, maybe some you know some not. And then we came back up to Ohio where it was cold.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Yeah, it was nice down there.

Testing Systems While You Travel

SPEAKER_02 11:44

We were gone for two weeks and the business ran smoothly, which is very nice. We had a few phone calls, but it was nothing because there weren't any problems. There were no problems kind of just checking in, really, what's what it seemed like. So that's that's what we we've been up to. So if you whatever business you have, I recommend you see how how long can you be away and the wheels not fall off the business. What automations do you have to take care of things?

SPEAKER_01 12:16

What automations do you need to take care of things?

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah, and are you able yeah. And and this this is a good way where you figure that out. Because you're gone like, holy crap, I need to do this, and I don't have a way of getting it done. Well, you now you know that's a system you need to focus on. That's how it works. So Laura, any any other thoughts on what we've been up to the last two weeks? I mean, today it's I mean, it was like very nice yesterday, and now it is gonna get cold again. It's Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Oh, I I heard that uh what's the name of uh Buckeye Chuck or something like that?

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Yeah, yeah, Bunks on a Phil, then it's Buckeye Chuck.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Buckeye Chuck apparently has been arrested. According according to a Facebook post because he was so bad this year that the same day he said it was going to be an early spring. We had all four seasons, apparently, according to the said post. You had rain, freezing rain, snow, and dice temperatures. So Buckeye Chuck's in trouble.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

Yeah, well, uh that happens. Yeah, it happens. Meteorologists, they're they're they're allowed very, you know, air.

Groundhog Day Through Swedish Eyes

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Well, well, here's something funny. So we've recently started um talking with the gentleman out of Sweden who who went through the school system in Sweden. And I made a snarky response about Buckeye Chuck one day, and you know, like going with Buckeye Chuck over Punks Tawny Phil because he said spring. And apparently in Sweden, in their school system, they teach that we as Americans actually believe in Groundhog Day, and not that it's like a satire. Like they think that we genuinely follow this freaking groundhog day. And we take that shoot seriously. And they take that seriously. So there's your enjoyment for the day, how other people interpret things, and it's just it's just kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Correct, correct. So I think that's it for this. Just wanted to update everybody um that and really give testimony that we do have great systems that work fantastic, and that we have the backup, the the people, and the systems to get things done, and then we're always um available as well to help get things done for your your real estate transactions. I think that's about it.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Take care, everybody. Bye. Bye.