Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
S2 Ep4 From Fire Captain to Founder: Tim Smith's Journey with HeartCert
140 Plays2 years ago
Tim, a firefighter and EMT, is the guest on this podcast episode. He talks about his experience with CPR training and how it inspired him to start his own business, HeartCert. Tim explains the goal of making people feel comfortable and confident to respond in emergencies. He also addresses misconceptions about first aid, particularly regarding the cost and complexity of using defibrillators.
…
Dial It In Podcast is where we gathered our favorite people together to share their advice on how to drive revenue, through storytelling and without the boring sales jargon. Our primary focus is marketing and sales for manufacturing and B2B service businesses, but we’ll cover topics across the entire spectrum of business. This isn’t a deep, naval-gazing show… we like to have lively chats that are fun, and full of useful insights. Brought to you by BizzyWeb.
Links:
Website: dialitinpodcast.com
BizzyWeb site: bizzyweb.com
Connect with Dave Meyer
Connect with Trygve Olsen
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Dial It In, a podcast where we talk with interesting people about the process improvements and tricks they use to grow their businesses. I'm Dave Meyer, president of BusyWeb, and every week, Trigby Olsen and I are bringing you interviews on how the best in their fields are dialing it in for their organizations.
00:00:25
Speaker
I don't want to talk about it. I've been finding a cold all week and most of the people at Busy Web are women so they're completely unsympathetic to the fact that I have a cold and the world should stop because I have a cold. So because of that, because I need some sympathy,
00:00:44
Speaker
I brought in a ringer today for our podcast guest.
Meet Tim: Fire Captain & Entrepreneur
00:00:48
Speaker
Our podcast guest is an old friend, Tim from Heart Cert. Tim is a full-time Twin Cities Fire Captain and EMT, and he is the founder of Twin Cities Heart Cert. He founded it with his wife, Christina, back in 2010. So Tim is going to talk to us about all sorts of things today, mostly about how to feel bad about my cold. So thanks for joining us, Tim.
00:01:12
Speaker
I should also add that Tim is one of our absolute favorite clients that we've had as a client since the beginning of the business, I think, or at least very close to that.
00:01:22
Speaker
It's been a long time, but it's been a long time. Yeah. Yeah. So when the business really got good, when I joined, that's right. He's been there. He's been here for that long. Welcome Tim. Yeah. Thanks. Really appreciate you having me. I feel just terrible about Trigby though. Thank you. That's so hard. Tim, tell us about heart search.
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah, happy to thanks a lot.
Why is CPR Training Vital?
00:01:51
Speaker
So yeah, you hit it a little bit there with the intro. So used to be firefighter EMT started off in the Twin Cities. And that's how I kind of fell into doing the CPR training, because I did it in real life. And I did it and I really saw the difference it could make. So we'd go to a scene, if people knew how to do CPR before we got there.
00:02:11
Speaker
the outcome much different than if they didn't know. And so I thought, man, this is something everybody needs to know, whether they have to have it for work or not, people need to know it. So I started training just on the side, like any good firefighter does. I had some spare time and trained on the side on my days off and teach just
00:02:32
Speaker
literally one person at a time in my living room, which was pretty weird, bringing people in in St. Paul. But it worked. And there was a huge need and I kind of fell in love with it. And I kept doing it on the side and kept training, kept training and just put everything back into the business. And I call it the monster. It just needed more. It had to keep feeding it. And
00:02:55
Speaker
grew and grew and grew and listened to the customers and found out, you know, they wanted more than just CPR, they wanted AEDs, they wanted advanced healthcare training, IV training, on and on and on. So we've really tried to pride ourselves on becoming like a one stop safety shop, and have grown nationwide now.
Emergency Readiness: Comfort & Confidence
00:03:15
Speaker
And so it's been quite a ride.
00:03:18
Speaker
Wow, that's a lot. So if somebody takes a course from you, what are the most important skills that they leave with? Yeah, the most important thing and what we really try to hammer home is that they feel comfortable and confident to react and to do something in the case of an emergency. I've said forever, you know, as a firefighter, I did CPR, I can know everything there is to know about CPR. It doesn't help me when I go down, you know, or I get hurt. It's the other people.
00:03:48
Speaker
And I always think too, what that would feel like if a loved one, something happened to him and you literally had no idea what to do and you just sat there. Like the terrible feeling. So that's, that's always been my goal is to people feel comfortable. They feel confident. They're like, Hey, yeah, I might not be an expert, but I can really make a difference. So that's what people walk away with.
Debunking First Aid Myths
00:04:13
Speaker
So you've been in business for 12, 13 years now.
00:04:19
Speaker
What are some of the biggest misconceptions that somebody has about first aid?
00:04:24
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of them out there. And the fun thing about this business is that it's always changing. And so there is a lot of, I was taught this 10 years ago or so. It's not that way anymore. And no, it's not. Some misconceptions would be that AEDs, the defibrillators that shock the heart, that they are expensive, they are complicated, and they're intimidating, right? If you don't know anything about them.
00:04:53
Speaker
But the reality is, if you take a class after about a minute, you'll learn that they're the easiest thing in the world. You turn them on, you open them, they walk you right on through it. You have to get clear when you put it on somebody's chest. Right. Yeah. So yeah, all the movies clear or taking a battery and jumpstart to the heart. The interesting thing is it's actually the opposite. An AED, a defibrillator, technically stops the heart.
00:05:20
Speaker
So most people don't know. I think it's a jump starter, but actually the heart's quivering. It's not beating like it's supposed to. And the AED can analyze, see what's happening and then say, all right, let's send an electrical shock that will very briefly momentarily stop it, which is meant to reset. It's like a reset button. Wow. I had no idea. You talked a little bit about changes. How has first aid changed over the years?
Modernizing First Aid Training
00:05:47
Speaker
Yeah, there's been a lot of different changes. The biggest thing is just even in class format and style. It used to be when I first got into this like 13 years ago, first aid classes were like full day class, like almost eight hours if you wanted CPR and first aid and everything. The science and studies have shown though that it's not rocket science. It's a little bit more common sense and good judgment, but there's a lot of information you need to know how to react and when to call 911.
00:06:15
Speaker
So class times, a lot shorter. Format now, much easier. We're all in the age now where we can do Zooms. There's blended learning, online courses. So that's all a part of it as well. Some other things like tourniquet use, that's gone in and out. We all know about tourniquets. That's a good tool that we can use. And a lot of people for years thought you couldn't and shouldn't, but yeah, you actually can.
00:06:45
Speaker
Cool. Wow. So tell us more about how that changed. And I guess for our class or for folks that are listening along, I think one of the big things that, correct me if I'm wrong, Tim, but isn't it that you don't do breaths anymore for CPR and it's just all compressions?
00:07:05
Speaker
Yes, and that was going to be one of the other things. Thanks for reminding me there, dude. That's what almost everybody says when they come in because there is a big push for hands-only and compression-only CPR. There's funny YouTube commercials and different clips and things, but yes, absolutely. The whole point of it is,
00:07:26
Speaker
the American Heart Association and all the Red Cross, all the big providers, they want people to do something. So if I go down and you don't know CPR, you don't have a certification, you might be a little like, I don't know if I want to put my mouth on Tim's mouth. I don't know how to, I don't know how to do the breath stuff. But if you say, put your hands on his chest and push down hard and fast.
00:07:49
Speaker
can do that. So that's kind of the point of it is just to instill the quickest, easiest, best thing. And that is the compressions, because that's compressing the heart, which squishes the blood, keeps it circulating. That's what keeps our body alive. Yes, we need oxygen, but there's already residual oxygen in there. So getting the compressions going, that's the big key. Now, we do need oxygen. So
00:08:14
Speaker
There it's not that there's no breaths the whole compression only our hands only is only for people who are unwilling unable Or untrained to do CPR so unwilling. I'm just not willing to unable. Hey, I you know, they Can't do the breaths. I have asthma emphysema whatever reason Just impressions untrained just do the compression. So it's it's to eliminate barriers so that people will do something
00:08:42
Speaker
Got it. And you can't get in trouble if you decide one way or the other. I mean, it's part of, you know, in laws, at least in Minnesota, right? I mean, you can't be held liable if you try to revive someone and something goes wrong or whatever.
00:08:56
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we all know a pretty litigious society we're in right now. And so it's natural to have some reservations and fears like, oh boy, if I do something and I don't do it right, or the outcome isn't great, what's going to happen to me? And that's another barrier for people to act. But you hit the nail on the head, Dave. It's called the Good Samaritan Law. Minnesota has one and there's nationwide, every state, all 50 states have one that basically says,
00:09:25
Speaker
as long as you're acting in good faith, you're doing your best and you're trying to help, no matter what happens, no matter if you do everything right, wrong, whatever, they live, die, get hurt, you can't be sued or held liable for just trying to help somebody. So if you're somebody down, go ahead and help them. You're not going to get in trouble. You're just trying to help. Cool. Wow.
Pivoting Business in a Pandemic
00:09:48
Speaker
Tim, one of the things that I've always respected about you is that
00:09:53
Speaker
When COVID hit and the pandemic hit, my first thought was a view, oh God, how's Tim going to stay in business? Because how can you have a business that's focused on touching people when you're not allowed to touch people? So how did you, how did you pivot through that? Yeah, yeah, thanks. It was tough. It was challenging for us as just about everyone else.
00:10:22
Speaker
More or less, people stopped coming because you can't touch someone and so forth. What certifications people had went to the back burner. People weren't thinking about that. Hospitals weren't even caring at that point in time. So yeah, how the heck do you keep the lights on? And that's exactly what we had to do. We had to pivot.
00:10:42
Speaker
And BusyWeb was instrumental in helping with that. And I still talk to other people about it and have just tremendous respect and appreciation for the candid conversations that we could have. We were able to pull back on budget and do some other things. It was a big help. And then it's looking at, OK, we can't do classes or how we normally do. Now what can we do? Well,
00:11:08
Speaker
With covid because everything change they said while you can now, do certification and do classes over zoom they of course have to have the equipment and everything so it's like well, how's that gonna work to me doesn't have the cpr mannequins in his basement dave doesn't have in there.
00:11:24
Speaker
I literally pulled the cars out of the garage set up a shipping station figured out the logistics and all that and we now we ship all over the united states a little box or not too little but no boxes got an adult mannequin and into mannequin and ad we send it off and then we can do it over zoom and you get certified so that was that was a really big part of keeping us afloat.
Virtual CPR: Nationwide Mannequin Shipping
00:11:50
Speaker
want to come back to that because I think that's really valuable for our listeners. But I just want to make sure that I understood correctly that you're the guy in the neighborhood who's got several dozen mannequins in his garage. Oh, it's creepy, man. For sure. Yeah, you know, sometimes you walk by and you go to eight o'clock at night.
00:12:10
Speaker
Sometimes you walk by a neighbor's garage and it's like, there's a deer hanging in there or whatever, and it's kind of double take. Now, when you've got like hundreds of bodies in there, that's a whole different ballgame right now. Yeah. So I try to keep the garage door shut, but you can't tell. No, no, it's okay. I'm a firefighter. That's right. So has that improved your business to be able to go more virtual and have that packaging?
00:12:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it really expands the reach. One of the biggest barriers for my business is if we want to open up a location, you have to have a location. So there's a lot of logistics involved in that. Do you lease, do you rent per day, do you whatever? Here it's just you mail them out and it can go anywhere. So if somebody tomorrow needs a class in Texas, we can ship them a mannequin and as soon as it gets there, give them a class.
00:13:05
Speaker
That's amazing. That's amazing. And did the Minnesota Heart or the Heart Association, did they change things explicitly around COVID to let you do that? And was there like additional training that you had to do or how does the training change when it's over Zoom versus in person?
00:13:24
Speaker
Yeah, so the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross, they both kind of took a hard look when there was COVID and understood that things were changing and people needed flexibility and other ways to do it. So they both came out with
00:13:39
Speaker
new standards and rules and regulations. And yes, there, there are definitely set regulations that you have to follow. So there's how many students can be in a class, what equipment has to be there? How do you actually do the test? So that is all part of it so that it's standardized, because if somebody gets treated Minnesota versus Iowa versus Florida, you want that training to be the same. And again, they should be comfortable and confident. So yeah, it's it was a process.
00:14:09
Speaker
So part of this is it's a, it's obviously an audio medium and it lends itself to good storytelling. So for somebody who has as experienced as you are, what is the craziest story that you ever experienced that around needing to give somebody first aid?
First Aid Stories: Real-Life Challenges
00:14:27
Speaker
Oh boy. There's even one of your students. Right. Um,
00:14:36
Speaker
One that comes, there's a lot that come to mind. I remember doing CPR when somebody came to the fire station and they just dropped right down right in front of us, right in the apparatus bay. That was an interesting one.
00:14:54
Speaker
There was a first aid call where somebody slipped underneath a lawnmower and there was a lot of different things. There was a lot of different things to handle with that, so that was interesting. And then the other ones, I don't even remember specifics, but there's so many calls. I mean, we go to people's houses when they're not expecting company over, right? And there's
00:15:19
Speaker
dog and dog poop everywhere there's a thousand animals there's stuff hanging all over and jumping on you and it's like there's a lot of factors involved it's it's not exactly like you're in a classroom giving first aid or CPR there's there's the the real world aspect so you mentioned that you you teach individuals you teach corporations too
00:15:46
Speaker
Yeah, yep, that's probably about half of our business. So we offer public courses, meaning you go to our website, heartcertcpr.com, find the class you want, sign up, show up, get certified. The other half of our business is, yep, Busy Web says, hey, you know what? Our people should be trained. I, as Dave, the owner, want to show that I care about my employee and their safety. So we're going to put on a CPR class.
00:16:14
Speaker
You will work with us and you say, all right, everyone's going to be in the office for a party anyway next Friday. Come, uh, come do CPR. And so we have an instructor bring the gear in, set it up, make it a enjoyable, fun, non intimidating experience. And we certify people on site.
00:16:34
Speaker
So along those same lines, Tim, what are some of the things that a workplace or even a school needs to know to promote first aid training and overall preparedness?
Should First Aid Be Mandatory in Schools & Workplaces?
00:16:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it's everyone's job to promote it. Us being a training business, that's like our primary job. But I think everybody, when they get the understanding and realizing, I mean, it's not been too long, the DeMar Hamlin incident, it's always unfortunate that there's an incident that happens. And that's what brings kind of more, more eyes and nationwide awareness. But those kinds of things that happen to DeMar happen every single day to
00:17:17
Speaker
everyone all across the united states of all age groups and he's lucky he's great he was in shape he had trainers there ad and cpr boom that saved his life he'll be the first one to tell you that. What if we go down and we're at home and we don't have an ad.
00:17:34
Speaker
or out in public and you're shopping at Target, it's really, really important for everybody to be an advocate for themselves, their family. You should take it as responsibility. If you're a father, if you're a mother, that's all we ever want is protect our family, right? That's one of the easiest things you can do.
00:17:57
Speaker
And you mentioned preparedness there, Tim. What are some of the early warning signs that you might be having a cardiac event or something that requires additional attention? Yeah, that's an excellent question. We're asking for a friend, not because we're approaching 50. You've been a little stressed out there, haven't you, Trigby?
00:18:23
Speaker
Let's watch that. Let's keep an eye on that. There are the classic signs and symptoms of a cardiac event or a heart attack. What you see in the movies on a lot of things with CPR and first aid are generally blown out of proportion or plain wrong. That's one of them where generally they get fairly right. If I told you to act like you're having a heart attack right now, what would you do? Clutch my chest, ask why my left hand is tingling.
00:18:53
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. You're hitting your chest. All of a sudden you yell out, Hey, wheezy, I'm coming home.
00:19:11
Speaker
Chest pain that may radiate over to the left generally the left side of the shoulder and arm Look terrible, right? Kale clammy sweaty and just hard to breathe. That's those are your classic signs and symptoms All right, all right
Recognizing Cardiac Signs in Different Groups
00:19:34
Speaker
That said though, just the makeup of our bodies, the way we are and we're made, generally speaking, women, diabetics, and sometimes the elderly can present with different signs of symptoms. And this is one of the things we like to make sure we educate people on because not everybody knows this. If a woman is having a cardiac event, generally speaking, it's not going to be the, oh my gosh, my chest is killing me type of thing. It's usually much more subdued. It might not be chest pain. It might be more up in the jaw.
00:20:03
Speaker
Neck and even on the shoulder blade area that the pain instead of here is up there and it's you know, it's weird It's like well, why the heck do I have this radiating pain here? and then kind of more of a sickly type of feeling and that's just kind of the way the wires are and The tricky thing with hearts is I could present with those symptoms or you could today like it's a little bit different for everybody but those are generally speak so really the big takeaway is if something's not right and
00:20:31
Speaker
You know, we know our bodies better than anyone else. If, if it's not right, you got to get checked out. Perfect. Well, and I think, uh, some of the technology that's, that's been more readily available has been helpful. I think, and wondering if you've heard many stories, my mom, for example, um, she got an Apple watch for her birthday.
00:20:55
Speaker
And then like a week and a half later, the watch was pinging her and saying, you know, your ECG is off. You should, you should seek medical attention. And sure enough, she was having like fluttering. I forget what that's called. What's that? Palpitations. Yeah. Yeah. Her, her heartbeat was, was vacillating from like almost 200 down to like 35 and just like all over the place.
00:21:22
Speaker
So she got one of those ablations and got that figured out, but she was always tired. She was falling asleep, like kind of randomly and her heart was racing and the watch actually notified her doctor. And so it was a huge help. And are you seeing more of that or are people getting more aware of it now?
00:21:43
Speaker
Yeah, that is crazy and awesome, right? I mean, who knows if the watch and alert are what the story might be today. Like how amazing of technology is that?
00:21:55
Speaker
It's still relatively news like American Heart Red Cross. You don't see like it talking about Apple watches or anything. But yeah, it's definitely a thing and I love technology. I'm all about it and stuff like that that makes makes recognition early warning signs. It's all about time. It's
00:22:14
Speaker
huge. So yeah, we do we do see and hear stories similar to that, you know, or people might ask, well, can I really trust this thing? And well, no, it's not a doctor on your wrist. Right. But it can maybe give you just an early kind of, oh, yeah, yeah, you should. Yeah, so I'm all about it. So get get get ahold of your doctor if your watch is pinging you and telling you that something might be weird.
00:22:38
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Of course we fall asleep all the time and your heart's racing and then not. Right. Tim, you're running a business. You're actually running two businesses. How do you stay up to date on all of your certifications?
Balancing Family and Business
00:22:53
Speaker
How do you find the time?
00:22:55
Speaker
And you have kids and a wife. I do, yep. I have kids, a wife, you two. Yeah, both of you. It's tough, right? We all know it. It's the balance of life, the entrepreneurial thing. I mean, I'll be honest with you guys. It's not easy a lot of times. And I've had a lot of bumps in the road. I started the company like 13 years ago.
00:23:17
Speaker
Like a lot of people do, and it's silly when you look back on it, because I knew CPR and I was passionate about it. That's why I started, but I didn't know anything about business. I had a lot of lonely bumps in the road, a lot of grind, and a lot of, boy, why the heck am I doing this? And you can get in a bad spot. And I've been involved in this, where you just mentally, it's not good. But that's where you need,
00:23:45
Speaker
mentorship, you need coaching, you need teams and systems. That's where BusyWeb has really helped me and my company out in so many aspects and reasons. It's just that you got someone there to lean on from time to time, to lend an ear, to help you and feel like a partner. Whether that's BusyWeb or a web-based company or anything else, you do need help. So how do I have the time?
00:24:14
Speaker
I have the time simply because I make the time now. It used to be it's all hustle, all work 24-7, that's not sustainable. It's put your priorities in check. When I talk and I introduce myself, I always start with, I'm a father of two. I lead with my family, I don't lead with my business. And that's how I try to live and lead my life now is
00:24:38
Speaker
Schedule that stuff first and don't mess with it. You know what you're going to need to do that kind of stuff. And then you fill in the rest. It's kind of the old, what is it, a parable, a fable, whatever, the stones, the rocks and the sand, right? Until you actually get faced with it and your priorities are messed up and then you come back, then it really kind of comes into focus.
00:25:04
Speaker
I mentioned, Tim, you have a couple of businesses. Hartzert is your main one, right? Yes. Hartzert is the CPR training. That's what I started in my living room. More recently, about three years ago, that was part of the pivots too. One was mailing out equipment to people. Another one was trying to help other instructors.
00:25:27
Speaker
So whether it's a mentorship coaching, whether it's systems, whether it's training, that's been one of my passions. And people, they still call me crazy, but they thought I was really crazy because they're like, well, you're the guy with all their bodies in the garage. It's nothing crazy about that. But training, basically your competition, right? I make people instructors. If you want to become an instructor, I'll make you an instructor and you want to train people in your neighborhood or whatever, I will help you.
00:25:57
Speaker
And it's like, well, why would you do that? Because there's, everybody needs it. So long story short, to get back to the question. So the second business is called Powered by Hearts. We have a product called My TA System. It is a cloud-based software platform that is meant for training entities and businesses. So people like myself or companies like ours, just to help take some of that stress away, there's a lot of,
00:26:25
Speaker
backend administrative stuff that goes into this business that a lot of people don't realize until they get into it. And the whole goal of our system is to automate that stuff. So as an example would be sending the certification cards. You'd give a class for four hours. Now you've got to get this roster. You got to get it off the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association. And there's all these little steps, this step, step. And if you take a misstep, you got to go back and it can take a lot of time.
00:26:55
Speaker
and where you teach four hours and it takes you two hours worth of paperwork and this will take two hours and put it down into two minutes where it'll do all the clicks for you. Other things are like if you want to have a successful business, you need to have customer service just like you guys, right? Busy was great at that and I like to think I am too. So after a class,
00:27:18
Speaker
Most people are going to send a follow up to their students and say, Hey, how did you like it? Here you go. Here's some information. This happens automatically now. Nice thing about CPR training business too, is everybody who is required to have the training, whether it's teacher, coach, nurse, they have to get it every two years.
00:27:38
Speaker
And so if you're a smart business person, you're going to reach out to the people before they need that certification again. Again, the system will automate it. It will also take online payments and do a whole bunch of stuff. So yeah, I created that with the help of a developer, just launched about a year ago. So yeah, it's a
00:27:58
Speaker
Just another time stuck, but it's a good thing because it goes into the passion. It's helping other people out and it's helped our business immensely. What is that process like to create your own bit of software? Not a lot of fun, to be honest with you, Tricky. Anybody who's looking at or has gone through doing anything with technology.
00:28:20
Speaker
And I was warned of this upfront, so I was prepared, but it was even more so than I was prepared for. They said, it's going to be more expensive than you think. It's going to take longer than you think. It's going to be harder, suck more than you think. And that's all true. I was thinking it was going to be six months. We're still working on it. And that's part of software and technology. You're always working.
00:28:45
Speaker
Yep. Price was a lot. And the thing of it is too, you know, you want to be careful. Uh, so I don't know anything about coding. I sure wish I did. So I had to partner with a developer and a team and that's kind of hard for a person. It's hard for me too. Like if you want something done and there is no ability for you to do it yourself, you are 100% reliant on somebody else. So that's a,
00:29:12
Speaker
It takes a different mindset and mental toughness, if you will, resiliency. Sure. How did you vet and find your vendor for that app?
00:29:24
Speaker
Yeah, we did a search. It was similar to what I did for Finding Busy Web. I did a Google search and I asked for recommendations on Facebook or whatever and just poked her out. Then you do enough poking, you get yourself this little pile of, all right, let me see what they're about, and then you dig deeper, dig deeper. Call and try to vet out best you can. Call of past customers is one thing.
00:29:50
Speaker
uh looking at them and then then it was interviews and the person we chose they're actually local whereas a lot of software developers and everything are nowhere near minnesota and he's kind of in the backyard but about an hour away um so there was that there and
00:30:07
Speaker
Yeah, just many factors of looking into it. And then an interview process. And we were actually we partnered with this particular developer to get costs down because building a software system from scratch is very intensive, a lot of expense. And at that point in time, we weren't ready to take on the full amount. So it was reduced. And he's actually a partner. So he's invested in smart and probably probably very interested in the success of the app, then if he's actually getting some revenue out of it himself.
00:30:37
Speaker
That was the plan. Now that you've gone through the process and you've got something stood up, what are some things you wish you knew before you got started? Yeah, that's a great question, Trinity. I wish I knew a lot of things. I wish I knew
00:30:59
Speaker
What I touched on earlier, what it takes to have the patience it takes, the patience to completely rely on others and to just kind of be able to sit back and watch. The fact that, and I don't know why I didn't really think of it at the time when I started it, was all the little things that you don't think of upfront that it requires
00:31:30
Speaker
You need an email host, you need a website, you need this, you need all that stuff, which BusyWeb can help with. But it's also then, it's literally a whole other company. In my mind, it was, well, I already have a company, I've got the structure, I got customer service, I got all this.
00:31:49
Speaker
This is just going to be an add-on. But no, this is a second business. I needed different customer service. I couldn't just use my same stuff. I thought, well, I'll use my same payroll provider. No, that's legalities and everything. It was a whole separate thing. So kind of just knowing that kind of stuff upfront would have
00:32:11
Speaker
I don't know if I would have made a different decision. I don't regret that I've done it. It's huge for our business, but yeah, I mean, challenging for sure.
00:32:20
Speaker
Amazing. So the way the new business works is you're connecting up instructors, you're giving them the training, you're giving them the, the tools to run their own business.
Streamlining CPR Operations with Software
00:32:31
Speaker
And then are you also like it delivering the, the CPR dummies, the, the Annie's, is that part of that system as well? Or is that just one of those things where you make it super easy for them to use your services as well?
00:32:50
Speaker
Yeah, we've talked about that. And it's not cost effective with like, basically contracting out the service to somebody. So we keep that to ourselves, our core business. Yeah, it's it's basically at this big toolbox that we get. And it's not so much to use our services, but it's more to use our, our knowledge, our skills and kind of like Trigby just asked, like, what do you wish you knew ahead of time? I'm really trying to
00:33:20
Speaker
let people know those kind of things that they need to know for this kind of business. So helping them avoid the pitfalls, helping them make the streamline of mental health, all of that stuff. Wow. Well, and I think it's probably easier to swallow helping to feed your competition when you're driven by
00:33:43
Speaker
a core value. You're actually helping people, you're saving lives, so that makes it a little easier to say, you know what, I'm okay in handing things over or giving some secret sauce away as long as it's good for the population as whole. So that's tremendously commendable and it's super cool to see it being so successful because that just means that more lives are being saved.
00:34:07
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's a great way to look at it. Appreciate that, Dave. Yeah, of course. So one other thing, and this is just from the conversations that we've had over the years together. You are pretty unique as a client of ours in that you're not shy about fiddling with the dials and making sure that you're dialing it in. So do you have a
00:34:34
Speaker
Is it just a habit or a guiding principle or what drives you to be okay with tinkering and always modifying or improving? How do you dial it in in your day-to-day life?
00:34:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's a really good one. And I very much appreciate using the word unique. Yeah, Trigby might have used other words. Yes, I, I'm different. Yeah, I think I'm definitely wired different. But I think most entrepreneurs
00:35:10
Speaker
It's a cliche, but it's true. It's your baby. It is something you've created. There's literal blood, sweat, tears in so many hours. It's like, yeah, I will move.
00:35:24
Speaker
move the world for my children and my wife. And I will do the same thing for my business.
Continuous Business Growth
00:35:28
Speaker
I will always look at things to see if I'm doing things, if I can do them a better way. Is there any way that I can save more lives, impact more people, hire more people, make more money, all of it. You want to propel the business. And I just, the way the world works and the way technology works,
00:35:51
Speaker
everything's always changing, and I get that. And I kind of know that I don't know everything. And so I'm always try a little this, try a little that, throw in spaghetti against the wall. And yep, a lot of heck of a lot of times, all it is is kind of just a lesson. Then you get the ones that that stick, you get the shipping out the mannequins or the this or the that. And it's like, if you don't try, you're not going to grow.
00:36:18
Speaker
Trying and changing things is not going to kill you. Can it hurt your profits for a month, a quarter, whatever? Yeah. But if you want to grow your company and that's what I'm trying to do, I'm trying to grow it, then you got to keep pushing. I guess I'm just a little crazy, mannequins in the garage, going nuts and just trying all kinds of different things. I love dialing.
00:36:46
Speaker
dialing. Yeah. Perfect. Fiddling with the dials, right? Fiddling with the dials. I think one of the key things inside of fiddling with the dials is you actually have to know your numbers to know if you're improving. So a good amount of the things that we've done together have included deep dives on the measurement. Are we actually getting not just clicks on the website, but are we getting conversions? Are people actually buying? Are people actually moving?
00:37:12
Speaker
through the buyer's journey as we need it right or the engagement cycle and so. The big things that you know we talk about all the time are marketing metrics like click throughs and leads and you know how how well the advertising is doing and all that stuff.
00:37:30
Speaker
But are there other things that you're tracking in the business that wouldn't be kind of immediately apparent? Like with your new business, how do you keep everyone on the same track for tickets or problems or things? Are you measuring other things other than marketing?
00:37:49
Speaker
Yeah, and yep, that's why we love working with you guys too, is we can figure that kind of stuff out. And I feel like I'm a nice yang to your yang almost. I love the analytics and all of that. I've had meetings with the team and it's like, okay, we need to look at how many clicks and how many conversions and all of this and how much time is spent on the
00:38:13
Speaker
Hey and really what i look at is what's the i don't care how long on the page in fact me shorter is better i don't google's different right so it's kinda like a line get them and get them what they they need so
00:38:29
Speaker
Yeah, we're we're tracking all kinds of numbers in our system and software, we're looking at more things like specifically what type of training are they taking? How often are they coming back to us? You know, because they do have to take it every two years. You know,
00:38:50
Speaker
In addition to what type of class, it's analytics like, well, how often should we hold a class? Because you think, well, if you hold a class every day, you're going to have one student a day and that's not very efficient. You know, one a month that's full and you're kind of missing out. So it's different for every class in every area. And we've got 15 different locations from multiple states.
00:39:14
Speaker
We've added nursing training on now too, and that's a that's a whole nother ballgame. So that's stuff we're looking at is employment. Is that happening? Are they moving on? Are they passing their state exams? Pass rates and things like that. So yeah, there's a lot of stuff to look at.
00:39:30
Speaker
Sure. Is the nursing training in partnership with specific medical centers or is it just kind of as, as part of the, as part of a university course or how does that work? Yeah, it's, it's really cool. Uh, so it's a CNA program, so certified nursing assistant, which is kind of like the, the entry level first step into healthcare.
00:39:54
Speaker
Some people will stay CNA and that's their career, but usually that's also something you have to have to become an LPN, RN, so on and so forth. A lot of doctors start off as a CNA.
00:40:05
Speaker
So great program. Traditionally, it is offered in a technical college environment. That's where nine times out of 10, if you're searching for that class where you'll find it. What's unique is, so we partnered with the American Red Cross. They've had a nationwide program for a while. They decided to go in the direction that they didn't want to do it internally themselves anymore. They want to take on a partner. So we licensed their information, we give them a cut, but then we run the program, we kind of take it from there.
00:40:32
Speaker
And it's been a huge success because I think we've all heard it. We all know it. The nursing and the certified nursing assistants, there's such a huge shortage. It's been that way for a while and it didn't get better in the last couple of years. It's gotten worse and there's no end in sight. So the demand pay is getting better for those kinds of professions now. CNAs used to not get paid the greatest. Now it's getting up there, which is all kind of starting to help.
00:41:00
Speaker
Excellent. I want to roll back a little. You said you have 15 locations. Something like that. I'd have to count them exactly.
00:41:10
Speaker
Did you have more on that question? Otherwise I'll clarify a bit. I'm just impressed that you're so successful that you don't even know how many locations. Well, I know how many like, so we have locations and then we have locations. So I have, we have a building that we, that we actually purchased and owns. We own a place in Egan and then that opened up a lot of doors so we can hold classes whenever we want, do whatever we want.
00:41:37
Speaker
That allowed us to grow to where we could lease long-term leases. So we have dedicated space. That's what's kind of required for doing the certified nursing classes. Cause I can't bring a big hospital bed into a classroom and spend 50 hours there. So you got to have your own spot.
00:41:53
Speaker
So we own a building and again we lease in Minneapolis, Mankato, and Duluth. And then we have a lot of other partners and places we offer where it's just CPR. And we kind of have like a crawl walk run strategy in all these areas. So crawl meaning we go in, we start doing just CPR, and we rent a conference room.
00:42:13
Speaker
Usually, it's a hotel, conference room, or whatever. We rent it a few days a month. And if that's successful, then you can turn that into a lease, then you can add the nursing, and then when that's good enough, then you could potentially purchase, and it becomes a real estate play.
00:42:28
Speaker
Brilliant, and that's a considered process like we've been talking about. You're starting slow and then making a leveraged investment once you know it's going to work. Yeah, it kind of goes back to the trying things too. We've got a lot of areas we've tried and we started with the crawl and then we said, nope, that's going to be that.
00:42:47
Speaker
Tim, Ken, thank you enough for joining us and thank you for being sympathetic to my cold to bring it back. And thank you for being such a great friend and partner in the business. And we're so excited to see what comes next. Anything you want to leave us with, Tim? Shout out to my great staff and employees and of course my family, wife, Christina and kids, and also to you guys. Hey, I'm serious and I hope everyone hears this and you don't cut it off at the end.
00:43:14
Speaker
Busy Web's an instrumental to my business. I say it. You guys are like a partner. You help, you're sympathetic, you're near. Couldn't ask for anything better. I've really enjoyed being here. And yeah, I do shed a tear for you, Trigby, and hope you feel better soon. You're not getting a reduction in your bill.
00:43:33
Speaker
Well, Tim, thank you so much, everybody. Make sure to check out Tim at heartsertcpr.com. And there's lots of other places and things that we can look up. Y-T-A-S-T-M.com, too. Yes, yes. Thank you. And those will be in the show notes as well.