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Crisis Resiliency: Navigating Challenges and Seizing Opportunities
76 Plays2 years ago
Welcome back to The Better Contractor Podcast. In this episode, we discuss the intersection of financial acumen and crisis management with Travis May and Brent Oberlink. In this episode, they guide entrepreneurs through the maze of uncertainty, revealing the invaluable role of cash reserves and bold decision-making in weathering storms and seizing opportunities.
Through real-life anecdotes and industry insights, they uncover how contractors and entrepreneurs can fortify their businesses against economic turbulence, leveraging crises as catalysts for growth and innovation. Join us as we navigate the rocky terrain of uncertainty and emerge stronger and more resilient than ever before.
#TheBetterContractor #TheBetterContractorPodcast #FinancialAcumen #CrisisManagement #ContractorSuccess #BusinessResilience #DecisionMaking #Innovation #Opportunity #Adversity #GrowthStrategy #ConstructionIndustry #Entrepreneurship #entrepreneurgrowth
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Transcript
Introduction and Co-Host Welcome
00:00:11
Speaker
All right, welcome back to another edition of The Better Contractor. Today I am joined by my co-host, the quote master, Travis May. How are you Travis? Good to see you Brad, great. Good to see you.
Why Future-Proofing Matters?
00:00:25
Speaker
Today I want to talk a little bit about future proofing your business. So a lot of you guys out there, you may be starting a new business, you may have one that's already kind of going. And any of us that live through COVID or the O8 kind of crisis, all that kind of stuff,
00:00:40
Speaker
we're aware that things can happen that you are completely weren't expecting to happen. And in those times,
00:00:51
Speaker
It's important to have some kind of backups and procedures in place, stuff like that. So we'll talk a little bit today about kind of future proofing your business. Proofing means not that these are the only thing you need to do or, hey, if you do these, you're set in stone, you're good. But things that can help, you know, people weather the storm basically.
Continuous Learning and Avoiding Complacency
00:01:07
Speaker
So I know Travis before the podcast started, we had talked a little bit about like the mindset of always learning, always improving.
00:01:15
Speaker
You know and you'll probably see that resonate throughout a lot of our podcast, because I think it's that important. I think as soon as we become complacent. I think that's when, when things go downhill for for any company and any individual.
00:01:31
Speaker
You know, always learning, always improving. If you think about like, you know, becoming complacent, to me, when you become complacent in life, all you're doing is opening the door for a competitor, someone new, someone hungry that wants what you've got. And as soon as you become complacent or you're not willing to learn or adapt or improve, to me, you just basically signed your death sentence as a company.
Innovation and AI in Business
00:01:57
Speaker
And then, you know, with LanderCorp, you know, the one thing we've always been pretty big on is being the innovator in our space. So always going through, you know, and thinking, hey, what can be done better? So always challenging the status quo. You know, and I know there's a big debate right now, Travis, and you're part of that debate, but.
00:02:13
Speaker
about like AI, do we implement that into our businesses and, you know, what's its role? You know, and I, just like with other technology in the past, I don't know that we actually know what its role fully will be yet. You know, it's going to be bigger probably than we thought. It'll have more impact than we thought.
Emerging Technologies and Their Impacts
00:02:29
Speaker
But, you know, that is something that I do believe that if companies are like, I'm not doing it at all, then I do think there's, you know, a missed opportunity there. Do I think it needs to be everywhere? Maybe not. There still needs to be a human element of things. But anyway,
00:02:43
Speaker
Travis, thoughts? No, I agree. As far as the AI thing, I think that that's similar to most of the technologies and things that are out there right now. We talked about it maybe on an early podcast, but about looking at technologies or things that are showing potential promise in your industry and at least playing with it, starting to understand it.
00:03:14
Speaker
I think especially with the emerging technologies that are out there right now, we don't fully, like you said, know what their role will be. There are some that are showing immediate application. And it's, I like to say, giving superpowers. It's allowing companies, organizations, individuals to do things. It's augmenting human performance and allowing you to do things you couldn't do before, whether it was just cost prohibitive or you didn't have the skill sets or whatever it might be, whatever that solution is.
Testing Concepts and Investing in Quality
00:03:44
Speaker
So that there are things that are having immediate impact now but there's so much that it's brand new and it's never really been available or introduced or maybe it's only been around really for about a year but it's moving so fast that if you don't start to understand it now and start to put it through the lens of this is potentially how it will impact our industry, this is how it will impact me negatively if a competitor utilized it
00:04:12
Speaker
because we have shortfalls or gaps in this particular area. Or I can probably leverage this now for something to increase revenue or increase performance, but going back to kind of the future proofing. I mean, start with the understanding of all the things and don't just haphazardly implement things fully, maybe into the operation. It's good to test it, consider it like an accelerator model, test it to see if it's going to
00:04:41
Speaker
work or not and you're evaluating it and you want to, if it's going to fail or not going to be the appropriate thing, you want it to happen fast. And then you determine whether you're going to scrap it as an idea, you're going to shelve it because it wasn't ready or you're going to scale it. But it's so important to start looking at those things and investing in the things that are quality so that it has
00:05:05
Speaker
longevity and it has a shelf life beyond just continually bandading and putting short term fixes on things.
Systems and Processes for Consistency
00:05:15
Speaker
If it's important enough and it's intricate, like an intricate part of your organization, your business or operation, it's worth investing in something of quality that's going to last. It might be an upfront cost, but it's a long term investment. It'll pay for itself if you've implemented the right thing over time.
00:05:32
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with that. And if you look at the implementation of things that can be expensive, I had down on my list a little bit to processes and systems. A lot of companies don't do that because it's time. Time equals money. And if you look at one of the best ways to blow up your business in a good way, like grow it, it is to have those systems and processes in place that I can hire team A,
00:05:55
Speaker
immediately hire team B and we can keep going and have consistency across the board. So no matter what crew that I send or if I add 10 employees, there is consistency amongst whatever the previous 50 employees and 10 I just added because I have systems and processes in place.
Consistent Service and Customer Loyalty
00:06:13
Speaker
And those systems and processes help weed out mistakes as well.
00:06:19
Speaker
like Atlanta Corp, we are constantly going through and trying to find a system and a process to put in place, which it gets annoying sometimes, I think, to the field workers. But at the same time, the reason we do it is for everybody's advantage. It is for consistency across the board. So when we deliver something to a customer or we're performing a job, that hopefully there is a certain level and expectation that is always being met.
00:06:43
Speaker
And I think when you say future proof your business, I think that is part of it is having those systems and processes, but then also delivering, you know, cause I think I put myself in the customer's shoe and I think, okay, what, what is something that would make me stop doing business with you? And honestly, when the number one thing is not actually price is that you stop delivering on what you say, or you don't deliver consistently. So I think delivering on what you say, you know,
00:07:10
Speaker
The quality, the customer service, the customer service is huge, at least for like myself. I won't work with a client typically or a vendor even if their customer service is terrible or I have to wait or if they tell me, hey, I'm going to get this to you by Friday the 17th and then Friday the 17th, I haven't heard anything. And then Friday the 24th, I finally get an email response. Like I personally, I won't do that for very long.
00:07:34
Speaker
So I think, you know, if you kind of put it in baskets, you think future proof in your business, you know, it's like you said, it's investing in things of quality, whether that's equipment, that's people, that's processes, that's systems. Those are the things that will last, you know, and if you think about, and safety, if you think about those things in short term and you cheap any of those, the people, the hiring process, your systems, your processes, that is not something that is advantageous for you long-term in your business.
Hiring Quality Staff and Building Culture
00:08:05
Speaker
Um, and then the second bucket, you know, we talked about earlier, which is always learning and improving. And then I think third, you kind of look at developing a culture. You know, I think that does help get through, you know, linear times or, you know, future proofing. That culture is what will get you places too. You know, if I hire the 18 now and that 18 is like, Hey, I know this guy and this guy and this guy, and I bring on more 18 people that is part of future proof in your business as well. Yeah. Um, we had mentioned.
00:08:36
Speaker
before we started recording, is more of a tangible thing about physical equipment or gear, but buy cheap, buy twice. If you buy cheap because it's flashy or cool, I think you could actually apply that to almost anything in that you buy cheap software, cheap hardware. If you buy cheap employees that
00:09:01
Speaker
It was a warm body to fill the role or that not a great culture fit, but you needed somebody to go hold a piece of machinery, you're probably going to buy twice there too. And it's probably, and it's a catchy little phrase, buy cheap, buy twice. But in reality, especially if you take that and apply it to personnel or staff, you're probably, it's not a one to one, it's probably 1.5 because
00:09:29
Speaker
Now you've got onboarding and potential expenses relating to the person that wasn't a great culture fit or didn't abide by the same safety standards, or there's going to be other residual impact that's going to cost you way more than just what that one person did. Well, if you dive into that even deeper, if you think about, okay, I hired one bad person, I put him on a crew of four people. The three people that were there prior to that person may have had a good attitude.
00:09:56
Speaker
If I hire that one person that he's a bad apple and he ruins two of those three that were already there. And then I got to replace him and now I got to replace two. All of a sudden your employee that you thought was cheap, ended up being probably the most well-played person on your team. And I mean, and that goes back to the core part of this future proof in the business of invest in things of quality. I think staff and personnel definitely fit that. That's what run cultures, one of those.
00:10:25
Speaker
you're talking about duplicatability and systems. Because there's a reason why the first Industrial Revolution and what brought about the assembly line, there's a reason why that changed the world, duplicatable and repeatable. If you're not putting things
00:10:46
Speaker
You don't have the mindset for it, and then you're not implementing systems, processes, software, tools that can make that job repeatable at your custom shop, which is fine. Just know that you're a custom shop, and you're going to have significant challenges scaling. And you can't, it'll be really hard to scale custom in the sense that you're typically relying on one person's talent or a couple people's talent, and they might be amazing
00:11:17
Speaker
But they've only got 24 hours in a day. You can only scale them so much. And then if you have any aspirations of growing outside
Scaling Challenges in Custom Businesses
00:11:25
Speaker
of your isolated area, your region, you're going to have inconsistencies. It's not going to be the same product. And so just know that if you're not implementing things that can standardize the processes, you're not documenting SOPs, giving
00:11:42
Speaker
clear guidance on these expectations, here's the tools to help you deliver that, and then training to go along with it, that it is going to be custom, it's not going to be the same, and you're going to have consequences for that app, especially if you're not setting those expectations for the clients. But there was the other piece in there in the training. Nothing stands still. Nature doesn't allow us to stand still. Nothing is still. You're either progressing or regressing in everything.
00:12:08
Speaker
you as an individual, you as an organization. And so if you're not implementing a culture of consistent learning, and then I think we would all agree that we do live in a little bit of a unique time that there just seems to be chaos all around us. Whether it's tools and systems and technologies and innovation and business morphing and younger generation class and with older generation and cultures and the economic, it's just chaos. And if you're not
00:12:35
Speaker
implementing things where you have learning agility, where you can quickly dive in and at least learn basic components and you're constantly testing and evaluating. If you got where you're saying that the crews might not appreciate you evaluating everything all the time. But the truth is, is we're always implementing things and sometimes to improve whatever
00:13:00
Speaker
were doing. And sometimes those are band-aids. Sometimes there was unique circumstance that led to what we've currently got in place where there's a system process technology, a piece of equipment. We needed to modify or adjust that to address these certain things in the environment. And then that became the standard. But it was never really meant to be the standard. And if you don't revisit some of that periodically, maybe it's six months, maybe it's a year,
00:13:30
Speaker
I'd probably say a year is too long in this environment, but you're looking at those. All the things that you've currently got in your organization, is this still the best technology? Is this still the best software? Is this still the best process?
00:13:47
Speaker
And it might be. And that's what you're trying to get at is, is this truly what we should be doing? And at least then you got a solid understanding. Yes, it truly is. It's the best process of software safety technique or whatever. Or no, it's not an understanding that you implemented that a year ago or two years ago to address a component that's no longer relevant. But now it's inhibiting your growth or it's
00:14:17
Speaker
presenting unrealistic expectations or whatever it might be. But if you never visited, if you never go back and look at it, you'll never identify it. And it potentially could be a limiting factor for your entire organization. But it requires you to go back and look and visit. But having that culture and that mindset that we're always improving, we're always learning, we're not stagnant. And it's easy to fall into that and just kind of business is good.
00:14:46
Speaker
I don't have any problems per se, but something could be festering there and if you're not looking at it and constantly having that mindset within your teams and yourself.
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah, nothing stays still. Nature doesn't allow that. You're getting better or worse than whether you realize it now or it manifests later. Yeah. There's so many things I've noticed we bring up on some podcast sometimes multiple times, which is not bad. It means they're important. But, you know, already on this one, we've talked about culture being important. We've talked about systems and processes being important. We've talked about constantly learning being important. And those apply to so many things. And I've noticed a lot of the successful entrepreneurs and businesses I've watched over time
00:15:26
Speaker
that is stuff that they have done very well at is those things. So I think it is important.
00:15:34
Speaker
you were talking about like the assembly line that made me think a little bit about, and we've talked about this before, but franchise models, the reason they are successful is because it's easily replicated. They have systems, they have processes. I can go to a location in Atlanta, Georgia, go to another one in St. Louis, Missouri, another one somewhere else, and it is probably going to be a very similar look
00:15:59
Speaker
There's going to be consistency in the food or whatever the franchise model is, but it is going to be consistent. It's going to be something I can replicate in different cities across the country. Ray Kroc McDonald's was the first one who did that. It's come out in business courses that you bought a system. You didn't buy a hamburger. You bought a system.
00:16:22
Speaker
right down to the exact amount of feet away from the fryer to whatever other piece of equipment. And what you're saying is you could plug any employee into any location, and they're going to know exactly how to perform in that restaurant. And it's going to have consistent quality of product that comes out with a degree or two. But most of it's going to be exactly the same. And so for all the customers, they know exactly what they're going to get. But it was repeatable, duplicatable assembly line.
00:16:52
Speaker
And I think you bought the system at Hamburg University.
00:16:56
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah. And I think if you look at that, so many people seem to think that, you know, the franchise model, what they do is only four franchises. It's not, you can take that same mindset, the same principles and apply it to your own company, you know, so whether that is, you know, teams. So maybe it's a team thing. You know, I have this team and I franchise, quote unquote, you know, when I add a second team. So sustain same principles and it works so well in just normal business, not just the franchise model.
Financial Understanding and Backup Planning
00:17:27
Speaker
So one of the things I had down too is to pay attention to financials. That's something a lot of people do not do. You know, and I think back to like when COVID hit and some of the other turbulent times since I've been in business, the ones that usually come out on top of the ones that know their financials well, have a backup plan, they have cash on hand. So don't downplay the importance of that guys either. That is hugely important when proved as a fan. All right, here's my quote.
00:17:57
Speaker
I'm pretty sure it was Warren Buffett, and I'm a little paraphrasing, but cash combined with confidence or cash combined with courage is priceless in a crisis. Yeah, it was cash combined with courage is priceless in a crisis.
Turning Crises into Opportunities
00:18:25
Speaker
having that war chest and not being forced in to making decisions that are emotional or or detrimental to your organization just because you have to you don't have so having that war chest but then what's the I mean what statistic a lot of the legacy wealth had been created during times of crisis so there's huge opportunity to in that
00:18:52
Speaker
those who hadn't prepared, there's opportunities for those who are prepared to take advantage of it. Oh, I can think of several companies that COVID was one of their better years. And there was opportunities that happened during COVID that they fully took advantage of. And they're twice the size now that they were four years ago, or some bigger, which is, which is crazy, because it was something that took a lot of businesses out, but it actually helped a lot of businesses as well. Pharmaceuticals? There's a few that come to mind.
00:19:22
Speaker
They're doing very well right now. Amazon is doing quite well since COVID. The digital age was coming for us regardless. And I know during COVID, I worked for an organization, a large multinational corporation, that we were already pivoting towards digital communication technology. More and more of the teams reported to me or that I was working with were not co-located and we were dispersed throughout the world.
00:19:51
Speaker
And we would go into the office, and we put a headset on, and we were on calls all day with them. We were physically in the office, but it didn't matter. So we were essentially remote work before remote work was cool. There are some organizations that, at a necessity or forward thinking, were adopting digital technologies and digital solutions ahead of that. And they tended to do much better their operations
00:20:18
Speaker
were not disrupted in negative ways as much as a lot of those that weren't adopting the digital technology. But it's, again, having that forward thinking, always looking to improve what's out there, how can we evolve what we're doing, what should we be looking at, and then integrating it into your organization slowly, incrementally, where it makes sense.
00:20:41
Speaker
So when the crisis does hit, you're not starting cold. You're not starting cold from just even trying to figure out what should we do. You've already got some future type solutions already working in your organization, and it's a warm start versus a cold start. I think if anybody's paying attention to the news or just a sentiment threat to the country and the world, when people feel it that there's maybe tough times coming in that
00:21:10
Speaker
We don't necessarily see sunshine and rainbows on the horizon, the immediate horizon. So this is more than just anecdotal, hey, try and do what's right and improve. And if you're feeling that, if you're feeling that there's kind of storm clouds gathering and you don't have some of this stuff in place, it behooves most organizations, you better start looking at this quickly.
00:21:37
Speaker
Yeah, because it's probably going to be some turbulent days in the near future and within the next year. And you have the opportunity now to start shoring some of this stuff up. It's seeing the forecast of the hurricane potentially coming and you prepping your house for it. Oh yeah. I think that's a good point. I've always said that like being the leader of an organization involves being a visionary, which a lot of people think being a visionary means positive, always positive. You know, the big vision, the big goal, big picture.
00:22:07
Speaker
It is, but it also is trying to foresee these bad times coming, you know, and being prepared and having a plan and then leading through those times. Like you said, in the past, I courageously leading through those with confidence, leading through those times of the plan. Um, when other people are freaking out and making emotional decisions, you are being a little bit more level headed and saying, Hey, this is the path forward. This is what we can try. This is what we'll do. We will get there. Will it be easy? No, it's not going to be easy, but is there, is there opportunity?
00:22:36
Speaker
Do we have a game plan? Yes, we do, and here's what it is. So I think that's hugely important, too, on the efficient side as well. With what we were just saying, too, preparing for the tough times, is it necessarily just being part of it is conserving and making sure that things are shored up and that you don't have any cracks or anything fixed or repaired or plans for it. But what we were saying, too,
00:23:04
Speaker
be looking at the opportunities if these things do come to pass, not only just holding up in your protective shelter of we're just going to maintain and protect the market that we have, there's potential opportunities for you to expand your footprint and your market. How can I give back to the community? What will they need? How can I improve? Maybe there's other organizations or companies that were not as prepared.
00:23:33
Speaker
And they're going to be giving up market share. Are we prepared to potentially take some of that over? But having that visionary part and seeing maybe tough times coming, yeah, the securing your organization is part of it. But there's also potential opportunity there and having some vision and talking to mentors. And there's the world cyclical in a lot of cases. And this probably isn't the first time that economies have gone through ups and downs.
00:24:03
Speaker
What happened during the last, I think the last like major one for us was 2008 was a big economic downturn for us. If we perceive something economically tough happening on the horizon, maybe there's some things that we could learn. And 2008 wasn't that long ago. There's still people around. Maybe it's talking to some people who've been in the industry, been around you, some mentors.
00:24:32
Speaker
Hey, what happened there? How'd you handle it? How would you potentially address things differently or what worked out for you? I mean, I think a lot of us see maybe there will be some financial or economic challenges ahead. And if that's not the case, if there's other challenges,
00:24:52
Speaker
Go back and look through history. Here's another quote. I've already used it once on one of the, but it's Winston Churchill's, the further backwards we understand, the further forward you can see. So the importance of studying history, looking at patterns and trends, learning from those who have gone before. And so yeah, in addition to protecting your organization or your team or your business, there's opportunities there too. It probably just takes a little bit more studying.
00:25:22
Speaker
Yeah. You bring up 08, which was interesting because 2008 was our first full year in business. So it was kind of interesting starting, you know, Langerkor in 07 and then immediately 2008. Cause when you start a business, you don't have any funds or money. You just got grit and hard work at that point. So I remember when 2008 hit like, Oh, now what? Like we just started a new business and now we have these weird financial times where everybody's kind of freaked out and
00:25:49
Speaker
Scared and it was for us. It was just you know, because we were obviously a very small company at the time It was doubled down on what we could still do cheap and that was deliver hard work, you know and our competition so Systems and processes too. Yes. Oh, yeah for sure. I'm sure I not not everything costs I mean not everything costs money to improve you don't have to I have to go buy equipment or I have to get sometimes that might be necessary but I
00:26:17
Speaker
2008, you started your business in the financial – there's probably a lot of things that you did that didn't cost money that set you up for success. Yeah. Oh, I agree. I agree. And I know during a lot of these financial times, one thing I've noticed is you'll have some companies step on the gas.
00:26:35
Speaker
and try to find those opportunities that you mentioned, or you'll have companies that take their foot off the gas to conserve resources, finances, or they're just scared, so they're reacting out of more of an emotional state. But that's been interesting to watch through a couple of these crisis times as well, is the reaction of some of these companies. Sometimes it's the bigger companies that sometimes pull their foot off the gas, and that gives opportunity to these small companies that are a little bit more agile and quick on their feet to make change.
00:27:00
Speaker
Yeah, and they're scrappy, they're willing to put in the extra hours, they're not complacent to take some market share in those times. So it's not it's not all bad. And I mean, this goes, this goes back through a lot of business evaluation of those succeed or don't and innovation versus those dynamic innovation versus sustainable innovation. But with a lot of the big organizations with big companies, they're
00:27:30
Speaker
They've got processes, especially if they're bigger or systems and things that are limiting for them in that they cannot move fast enough. They can't adapt to change as fast as a young scrappy startup who has one level of decision authority
00:27:53
Speaker
Should we do this? Yes. Versus a large organization that has checks and maybe it's needed and maybe it's not. A lot of organizations put probably unnecessary bureaucracy in there. But for tough times, yeah, there might be some of those big organizations that can't move fast enough. And so in the military and then in security world, there's always, so for crisis management and for intelligence and for operations,
00:28:21
Speaker
you're doing red team, blue teaming in that you're doing mock exercises and scenarios about potential threats on the horizon or adversaries. And you're you got one team putting on the red team hat, one team put on the blue team hat, and you're going against each other through mock scenarios. And you can identify a lot of weaknesses, you can identify opportunities. And that's the intent of it is to test your organization. How prepared are you for
00:28:50
Speaker
things coming your way. We might not view it that way, but there's potential opportunity to get some of your mentors together, get some of your friends together, get your senior leadership together.
Simulating Crises for Strategy
00:29:03
Speaker
And if we've got turbulent times on the horizon or that's your business planning sessions or you're really planning sessions to you, but maybe be a little more deliberate to you if we got some unique circumstances potentially coming our way.
00:29:16
Speaker
Can you write team and blue team that with some trusted advisors and figure out some opportunities and do it for each other?
00:29:24
Speaker
I think that would be fascinating. We should do this sprint. We should start a red team, blue team. I like it. I like it. It makes me think about like, you know, some of your big companies will have a board of directors, obviously. You know, you look at that and the purpose of that is to have the wisdom and counsel of people from various backgrounds or, you know, people that's been there, done that in whatever scenario. And, you know, so a lot of smaller companies think, oh, I don't, you know, I don't have a board.
00:29:48
Speaker
But you could definitely have mentors people who you know, maybe have been in the game 10 years longer than you or Maybe they're in this industry at this field something a little bit different But they have walked through your shoes at some point, you know through what you're going through So you're seeking that council you're seeking that advice that people have been there done that but also you just have a group of varying opinions, you know to get through because it may be something that nobody has walked through and
00:30:11
Speaker
This is specific to you, but hopefully if you have that team that group in place even if it's a free group you're still able to get the council and advice of a group of people that you trust to help get you through that specific problem or issue if There's a financial crisis a hack and your bank is not available Because that they shut it down for protection things and it's not available for a week or two weeks or there's just uncertainty and there's a run on basic
00:30:39
Speaker
What does that mean? Are you prepared for that? If there's war that breaks out and now your supply chain is disrupted for a week or two weeks, or gas just spikes because there's turmoil over in the Middle East and now gas is three times as high, how long can you sustain operations? Can you sustain operations? I like war games some of this stuff.
00:31:02
Speaker
And maybe you can find not only ways to prevent the worst from happening and where it shuts you down, or you have to start laying off people, which is going to potentially be crippling for you as we recover. But maybe if you're prepared enough, maybe that's an opportunity for you to pick up business, maybe hire that crew or whatever that was with the competition.
00:31:27
Speaker
that wasn't prepared, that's a stellar rock star picking up some of the customers because that impacted you less. I don't think this is the direction we were truly going when we were talking about future proofing your business. But preparing, preparing. It's all going to happen. Yeah. Yeah. And I think as we wrap it up, if you kind of look at the key points, you know, I wrote a few down here, but invest in quality, know your financials, do something about them if they're not where they need to be.
00:31:57
Speaker
Always be learning and then have a culture around that mentality. Having your systems and processes and then delivering. So if you think through, put yourself in the customer's shoes.
00:32:09
Speaker
If in a year, two years, 10 years, whatever it is, why should they still be doing business with you?
Recap of Future-Proofing Strategies
00:32:15
Speaker
What is it about you that they should still be doing business with you versus company A, B, or C? And to me, that's a simple way to look at it, but it's an effective way to look at it. Because if you don't know why they should still be doing business with you, then you need to make some changes, really. You know, but future proofing means that you're around.
00:32:32
Speaker
in a year, 10 years, 20 years. So you got to be making actions and decisions now to make sure that people still want to be using you and doing your service, using your service at that point in time. Any closing thoughts Travis? Yeah, I mean, this is really a leadership kind of 101 topic in that
00:32:53
Speaker
It's easy to get heads down and focused on just the day-to-day. That's what was bringing in the money. That's what's bringing in the revenue. It's important to do that. But there's only one of you. Your job as a leader is to step back and look at it strategically. Look left and right. That's not necessarily your crew's job. They're there to make the business run and to implement the systems and processes that you put into place. Hopefully those have been good. But there has to be somebody that steps back
00:33:22
Speaker
and looks at the broader picture and plans for that. And if that's you, it's so important. You've got a future proof. You've got to take that role in and that's not necessarily your crew's job. That's yours. And if you're not doing it, it's not happening.
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah, it goes back to the visionary, visionary of good and bad. There's a lot of business owners who get, like you said, they get caught up in the day-to-day and they don't take the time to do this, especially once they get of a decent sized company. Because the day-to-day gets overwhelming sometimes, it gets to be too much.
00:33:58
Speaker
But if you're not doing this, setting the vision for the good times, but also setting the vision or knowing, well, hey, these are our backup plans. This is what we'll do if this hits the fan, making sure your financials are in order, all those different things, making sure your company's delivering on what you say you're delivering on. The best way to piss a customer off is not delivering on what you say you're going to deliver on. So if you want to lose customers in good times or especially bad, don't deliver. See what happens to your customer base.
00:34:24
Speaker
It'll go bye-bye real quick. Any closing thoughts Travis? Are you good to wrap this up? I think it's good. All right. Well, everyone, thanks for listening in. Hopefully this was a helpful podcast. If it was, please share it. If you didn't like it, don't tune in again. We'll see you next time. See ya.