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IM Landscape Growth Podcast

Date: May 29, 2024

“The most naive, the most naive ‘We need to do this’ moment I ever had. But here we are nonetheless.” – Weston Zimmerman

TLDL 😉

Weston Zimmerman, founder of Synced Up, shares his journey from teenage laborer to tech entrepreneur, focusing on the transformative impact of systems and knowledge in enhancing profitability in the landscaping industry.

Here’s what we discuss in today’s episode:

• Weston’s early experiences at Tussie Landscaping and the inefficiencies that spurred the founding of Synced Up.
• Challenges in landscaping operations and the need for integrated systems to streamline processes.
• The mindset shift necessary for landscapers to grow from craftsmen to business owners.
• The importance of systemizing estimating and job costing discussed in detail.
• Practical steps for landscapers to transition from manual processes to automated systems using Synced Up, ensuring accurate costing and efficiency.
• A detailed breakdown of how the Synced Up platform aids landscapers in managing operations, from job costing to employee management.
• Weston’s vision for the future of landscaping business management and potential integrations and enhancements.

Actionable Key Takeaways:

Adopt a Business Owner Mindset:

Transition from being an owner-operator to focusing on the business aspects rather than just craftsmanship.

Implement Systematic Processes:

Use software like Synced Up to systematize estimating and job costing for more accurate and efficient operations.

Know Your Numbers:

Regularly review financials to ensure pricing strategies are profitable and sustainable.

Leverage Technology:

Integrate new technologies to streamline operations and improve job tracking and resource management.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

1. Synced Up (Website and platform) for streamlined landscaping operations.
2. Contractor Summit Event: An educational event for landscapers.
3. “Simple Numbers” by Greg Crabtree: Book recommended for understanding financial management.
4. “Buyback Your Time” by Dan Martell: Book focusing on efficient time management.
5. The Cost of Doing Business Podcast: Hosted by Weston Zimmerman, providing insights into business management.

👍 If you liked this episode, please rate and review us on your favourite podcast platform, and be sure to hit the subscribe button! 🔔

Episode Transcript

Robert
Hi, everyone, and welcome to the I am landscape Growth podcast, where entrepreneurs help entrepreneurs grow faster, better, and stronger in the green industry, from leadership to sales to recruiting and operational excellence. We cover the topics holding entrepreneurs back and share how to get past those bottlenecks with the best in the industry. I’m your host, Rob Murray, co founder and CEO of Intrigue, a digital marketing company focused on helping landscape companies grow. So sit back and enjoy the show. All right, welcome back to the show, everyone. Another episode of the I am Landscape Growth podcast. I have an amazing guest, Weston Zimmerman, founder of Synced up. Thanks so much for joining us for the show today, Weston.

Weston
00:41
Absolutely, brother. Thanks for having me on.

Robert
00:44
Yeah, I love it because not often do we get somebody who works with so many landscapers. So, you know, your perspective, I think, is going to be really valuable for local listeners. Weston was working with an organization still kind of maybe am at arms reach.

Weston
01:01
Well, they’re ten minutes from my place here, so. Yeah.

Robert
01:04
Anyway, Tussie landscaping, you know, back in the day, whatever, call it 2016 ish, and you realize that there was this big gap in, you know, how they were approaching doing the work that they were doing and trying to be profitable while doing it, which kind of inspired what is now what, you know, the project or the company you founded synced up. So can you give the audience just a quick, kind of close note summary so they can have an understanding of who they’re listening to and kind of what you’re up today? Yeah.

Weston
01:31
So I started working for Tassie Landscaping when I was 16 years old. Before I even had a driver’s license or anything. I was biking to work, and I just started as a laborer. And I was honestly just a teenager looking for a job. And I loved working outdoors, and I loved creating things and artistic things. So that was kind of where I went to. And as I, you know, a lot of my life story, really short, is, you know, I got married and suddenly was more interested in getting ahead and having a stable career. And so I was asking for more responsibility at the company, and the owners gave it to me. And that pursuit of helping grow the business, run things better was what the first kind of problem was.

Weston
02:17
We were entirely on paper, and so were looking for other products, and we started using other products that, frankly, we really liked, and they’re still in the market today. They’re good products. The problem was, though, is we wanted to have a system that would not only allow us to do the operational stuff like the scheduling, the invoicing, blah, blah, blah. But also do what we call the whole know your numbers thing, meaning making sure that we’re charging the correct rates. Like, what’s your man hour rate? Well, it’s more than the new kid on the block. It’s not as much as the most experienced company in this, in town, you know? No, throw that out. What does, what do I actually need to charge? Be profitable.

Weston
02:54
We wanted to actually know our numbers, and then we wanted to also track our jobs after were done estimating them and completing them to make sure that our original estimate was actually in line with what were able to produce.

Robert
03:05
Yeah, cool.

Weston
03:06
So all of that did not like the whole operational standpoint. And the know your numbers standpoint did not exist in one product. And that’s where we. Well, basically what happened is I came, my, I came home from work one day. My dad was working for a company. He was working with this company that did software development, and he was testing a software project on his laptop on the back patio after dinner. And I was like, what are you doing? I was curious. We were trying to solve these problems ourselves. And he showed me what he was doing and boom, that’s where the light bulb went on. Like, dude, we need to do this. The most naive, the most naive. We need to do this moment I ever had. But here we are nonetheless.

Robert
03:42
Okay, awesome. So, you know, and now here you are, it’s 2024 as we record this podcast. That’s what, eight years later, or I guess, yeah, eight years later from Tussie. But now that you’ve come through this, you’ve got a bunch of clients on this platform. You’re helping solve a lot of problems for a lot of people. And theme of this whole show is this idea of what’s the primary growth constraint holding entrepreneurs back in the green industry. What do you see as some of the stuff holding people back right now that they need to consider and figure out how to deal with?
W

Weston
04:20
Well, at a really high level, if we’re like, I’m going to speak to the most common segment of businesses, the businesses between five hundred k and five million in revenue. The most common thing high level I see is the struggle to move beyond being an owner operator that knows how to do everything and focuses on being a craftsman and doing high quality work and transitioning to not being an owner operator, but being a business owner and working on the businesses that are in the business. That challenge is extremely hard, you know, as a product here at synced up, we say, know your numbers price your job for profit, all of that stuff. But all that stuff is just a means to an end.
W

Weston
05:02
It’s, you know your numbers so that you can be profitable, so that you can own a business that doesn’t own you, so that you can work normal ten hour days instead of 16 hours days. And so the primary growth constraint is the mindset of I know how to do the work versus I am a business owner running a business.
R

Robert
05:23
Awesome. Now, it’s cool you say it that way specifically because we’ve heard people mention on the show, mindset being a big thing, holding people back. And this idea that a company’s success is really, directly related to how successful an owner thinks it can be. Right. But what you said, there is a bit more specific about, you know, owner operator working in the business knows how to do things. Craftsman successful business per se, or a really good job, but maybe longer hours than hopeful versus a business owner. So when you say it’s difficult for people to transition, what is it that usually makes them not want to transition?
W

Weston
06:13
Well, I mean, entrepreneurs won’t grow into pain. So if growth looks like, now I have to answer even more phone calls, now I have to deal with even more employee issues, now I have to deal with even more problems. They’re not going to grow. And, you know, I don’t necessarily, that’s not all bad. I have zero shade to throw at that. Like, there’s plenty of our customers even, and plenty of people in this space, they’re saying, no, I’m good. I don’t want business. I want to have my five team members. I want to have my trucks. Yep, I’m going to be the craftsman. I know it. Unknowingly know that. And that’s the choice I’m making for my life, which is totally cool, as long as you are a sellable asset, because you are the business.
R

Robert
07:01
Right?
W

Weston
07:02
So once you know, now that, no, I’m going to pursue the owner operator model. Nothing wrong with that. Trust me. It’s a pretty, it’s a lot simpler to life. But once you know that, now you have to be like, okay, cool. I’m not building a sellable asset. I’m not going to be able to sell this thing other than maybe the assets of the equipment or buildings that I have, and I’m not going to be able to retire on that. So therefore, this business has to be cranking cash during the time that I am running it. Yes. And what that means is pay yourself a market rate salary plus be cranking cash into other assets that actually will set you up long term so that the day you decide to stop working, you’re prepared.
R

Robert
07:43
Right. And whether that be real estate, other business investments, retail, stock portfolios, whatever, you name it.
W

Weston
07:51
I know people that are buildings to run their landscape business out of in prime real estate locations strategically, so that when they decide to stop working, they’ll be able to rent out that building into four different compartments and generate amazing reoccurring revenue and have an asset.
R

Robert
08:07
Yeah, that’s cool. So I think what you said there too, if it’s an intentional decision, no issue, be the craftsman. And one of the things I think a lot of people forget that if you decide to be the craftsman, to your point, you can charge a premium because you have the craftsman, the master craftsman on site.
W

Weston
08:23
Yes, exactly. So buying you because of you.
R

Robert
08:27
Right.
W

Weston
08:27
They’re buying the artist. I could go paint a picture but that things worthless compared to a, an artist with a name.
R

Robert
08:33
Yeah. And then, which then can do what they, you know, you’re talking about crank cash, right? Because you are charging a premium and people more often than not good customers are willing to pay that premium. Now let’s say I’m in that position currently and I want to transition. What do you see as like one of the first couple of things that someone actually has to do in order to make that leap?
W

Weston
08:56
So it’s basically building systems and processes. And it’s tough because it’s always easier to just do the stupid task yourself. Instead of building a system and process that now someone else can follow the instructions and do the tasks themselves. What I, and then the most common one in this industry is like estimating most of most business owners. They’re the only person in their business that can produce an accurate estimate to close a job. Or they’re the only person in the business that can even manage a construction job. Site and systems and processes to make it possible for someone else on your team to manage it. At least start off with maybe 20% of the time, then half the time, then three quarters of the time, then eventually all the time is key.
W

Weston
09:45
And one of the ways you can do that, it’s like, I mean, picture doing brain surgery on the owner operators head. All you’re doing is you’re pulling that information out of their head and putting it into a repeatable system and process for estimating. That’s like using a software like synced up and then instead of you doing the magic of like I’m bidding a job. Well, how much stone is that gonna take? How much mulch is that gonna take? How much topsoil is that gonna take? And you just answer, bam, bam. It’s like, how did you come up with that number? I don’t know. I just know it’s just experience, right? Take that magic and put it into templates and production rates inside of a software, like, synced up. And guess what? Now even an office admin can build an accurate quote.
W

Weston
10:22
We have customers. This one guy, he’s had, he has his twelve year old son building $80,000 outdoor living spaces quotes in his software because he built the templates and production rates, and all he tells them is, here’s the measurements. Use that template. Go, Jeff.
R

Robert
10:36
Yeah, well, and I think what you said at the very beginning, too, around, like, an accurate estimate is one thing, but then comparing the actual to the estimate.
W

Weston
10:44
Yeah.
R

Robert
10:46
You get tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter.
W

Weston
10:49
Exactly. Picture a flywheel. Every time you go around it gets tighter and tighter and more and more accurate. And there’s two main profit killers for contractors, and both the owner operator model and the business owner model are susceptible to them. And it’s, a, you get the math wrong. That’s the one problem. B, you get the resources, the estimated resources in the job wrong when you’re actually bidding this. So what I mean by that is getting the math wrong is like, you continue to charge $75 an hour, but you never actually do the math to figure out, like, is that even enough or not? And when you finally do the math, you’re like, wow, I need to be at $98 an hour just to break even. You know, that happens all the time.
W

Weston
11:29
We fix those problems all the time here at synced up. But getting that math right is a pretty simple transactional, shot in the arm type approach. You build a budget, keep that budget updated, and now your rates are based on actual mathematical formulas, like, oh, this. It cost me this and this to do the job. My insurance is this much. My trucks are this much, my equipment is this much. How much do I have to mark up my direct cost to also cover my indirect costs and arrive at a break, even provide my profit? So the math problem is, it’s a pretty transactional thing to solve. Like, it’s not magic. Like, that’s what synced up does. But the second problem is a little more difficult to solve. That’s the resources in the job.
W

Weston
12:04
And that kind of connects back to what I was saying earlier. The templates and production rates. So when you say, I’m bidding a 500 square foot patio, and I know it’s going to take me 14 ton of stone, just from experience. Well, divide the 400 square foot by the 14 or the, and come up with a production rate of, like, oh, that means I need 2.38 tons per hundred square feet or whatever that is.
R

Robert
12:23
Whatever. Yeah, no, I understand what you’re saying, though.
W

Weston
12:25
And now you turned it into a production rate where now a new kid can just plug in a measurement and bam, they have the right quantity.
R

Robert
12:31
Yeah.
W

Weston
12:32
Then, then now you got the estimate, like, out of your head. But we’re not done yet, because now we got to go out there and track and how much we actually used in the field. So that means in sync up. It’s like tracking those labor and materials in your mobile app so that it’s like, wow, I did 14 ton of this stone. It actually took me 16. Interesting. And I watch on job number two, it took me 18 to watch on job number three. Took me 13. Why? And you start developing, like, a track record of like, hey, I can now look at every job and I can see my estimated resources. Think man hours, materials, etcetera, against my actual resources. Consumed man hours, materials, etcetera. And then when I’m making a mistake, I can be like, not going to do that again.
W

Weston
13:14
Next time I’m bidding a similar job, I’m updating my production rate to dial it in. And now you.
R

Robert
13:19
Tighter and tighter.
W

Weston
13:20
Yeah. So now every time you go around it, every time you complete a job, you’re creating a data trail that you can look back on for the next estimate. And the next estimate is more and more and more accurate.
R

Robert
13:30
And then what do you say to somebody who says, who has the time to track all that?
W

Weston
13:34
Well, it’s my thing. It’s pretty easy. So most of the time, if you are. So let’s go to the templates and production rates. It’s like, oh, let me just do this five minute estimate real quick. I don’t have time to sit down and do production rates right now. I don’t even know how to figure them out. Okay, cool. Let’s say that usually when I ask people, how long does it take you to put a job estimate together, they’ll say an hour or two. Okay. Templates and production rates can cut that by 90%. So let’s say that you bid 20 jobs a month. You go from an hour to ten minutes. That’s 50 minutes times 20 jobs. You know, do the math like it comes back to you tenfold, if not 100 fold.
W

Weston
14:18
The other side about the tracking is you just need your team to have a way to record their hours and also take pictures of their receipts of product they buy or use in the job so that gets captured in real time and it’s not some office admin trying to put in, you know.
R

Robert
14:35
Paper timesheets in and reconcile everything.
W

Weston
14:38
Exactly. Get it. Get the data at the source, the team in the field. And. And if you’re like, well, my guys won’t clock in. They won’t take pictures or receipts for me. Well, not to sound heartless, but it’s like, well, if you want paid, I need to know what you worked on.
R

Robert
14:53
So last time I checked, yeah, we’re paying you to do the job, and this is part of the job. Yeah.
W

Weston
15:00
It’s like, I can’t pay you unless you tell me what job you were on. Because if you just say I worked 40 hours and I don’t know what job that’s on, I’m blind. And I like to. I like to start off a little. Let me go a little bit more the PR route. Like, okay, let’s pretend we’re doing a team meeting, a team huddle. We’re starting to track our time. We’re no longer doing the text me your hours on Friday. We’re stopping that. We’re saying we’re tracking time on every single job. Every minute of payroll gets tracked to something. If it’s unbellable, like I’m washing trucks on a rain day, fine, you’re on shop time. There’s a job called shop time, and you’re tracking your unbelievable time to that.
R

Robert
15:31
Yeah.
W

Weston
15:31
Otherwise, if you’re clocked in and clocked out to track your time, it’s like, hey. And then the guys are like, well, I don’t want to do that. This is going to take me way too much time. Why don’t I just text my hours every Friday? Okay, fine. We all want to make more money, right? Let’s start off on common ground. Yeah. We want to make more money. Cool. For us to make more money as a company, we have to know our numbers, meaning we have to know where our spend is going. If we don’t know where our spend is going, we can’t stop the leaks. We can’t stop the leaks. There’s no money there for us to make more money. So here’s how we’re going to stop the leaks. We’re going to track our time.
W

Weston
16:03
Here’s the app that we’re going to track our time in and it’s going to feed right into our job, costing automatically. And so that as the company makes more money and the company grows and thrives, so can we, right? You can’t. We all want to make more money, but you can’t get money from somewhere. It doesn’t exist. You can’t get blood from a stone, you know, so it’s for us to grow in our own careers and our own earning power and the, you know, everything we want to do for our lives and careers, it’s got to come from somewhere. And so let’s start by killing off those cash leaks. And once the employees, you know, I was an employee for 15 years. Once we as employees understand that, oh, this is connected to all of us. Rising tide lifts all ships. Cool.
W

Weston
16:45
Yeah. That. Now my context and my perspective is in the right place and I’m putting, you better believe it. I’m gonna put my hours in there. And if you want to put another carrot on it, bonus the guys, based on if they’re coming in on under hours, say they’re 10% under band estimated man hours and there’s no quality issues on the job, bonus them, they’re gonna out in real time exactly where they’re at as they progress.
R

Robert
17:08
I love it though. And I mean, and then your compensation strategy is lined up with your profitability outcome. Yeah.
W

Weston
17:14
Yep.
R

Robert
17:15
So one of the things you mentioned a couple minutes ago was this idea of is your, you know, overhead at some level, trucks and insurance and shop and whatever tied into the job. And like, are you looking at how each job is contributing to your overhead? So you’re, you know, without putting words in your mouth, but you’re kind of saying like, it’s not just gross margin, it’s contribution margin.
W

Weston
17:40
Yeah. Net profit. Yeah.
R

Robert
17:42
On a job or job kind of perspective, when we’re talking to a bunch of contractors, landscapers, whatever, there’s a lot of focus on gross margin and that number being like the goal and few are thinking about the overall contribution to overhead. Can you just break that down quickly so that people kind of understand the difference?
W

Weston
18:07
Yeah, I mean, each of the numbers play a unique role where we get ourselves into troubles. When we look at one number thinking, that’s my KPI for a certain success metric, when I’m getting my wires crossed and it’s like I’m reading a number to get my cents and it’s the wrong number. And gross profit is a great number, just as a quick and dirty kind of how am I doing? But what a lot of people get in trouble on is they run, they acquire too many overhead expenses for the amount of production or revenue they’re producing. Or, and what can happen then is like you’re pricing your jobs, let’s say at a 50% gross margin, but then your insurance goes up. You hire a marketing admin, you hire an office person, you buy another truck.
R

Robert
18:54
Your office rent goes up.
W

Weston
18:56
Yeah. And suddenly that 50% gross margin is like, I’m not making any money. How’s that possible? I processed more revenue than I ever did before. But at the end of the year, I open up my bank app and there’s like I’m wondering how I’m gonna get through the winter. And it’s because you’re not paying attention. Gross margin does not pay attention to your overhead. Infrastructure. How much? How much, how much cost are you incurring just to keep the lights on? And if you’re not, if that, if your production, your revenue, your earning capacity doesn’t go up in relation to your overhead burden, that’s where you get into trouble. So what we do to solve that problem is we build a budget and we focus on net profit. Because net profit takes the overhead burden that you have in your business into consideration.
W

Weston
19:40
What often happens when you go build a budget? Building a budget means tell the budget, tell the software every dollar your business spends to keep the lights on, labor material, everything. And what it does is it says, okay, cool for you to cover all of your labor material and subs like your direct costs and cover all of your indirect costs, insurance, website, admins, subscriptions, all that stuff. Your break even is this. And if you want to make a 1020 percent net profit on top of that, then your revenue number has to be this.
R

Robert
20:10
Yeah.
W

Weston
20:11
And oh, by the way, we know that you have say, I’m just going to make a number up 8000 man hours capacity in your budget because you have four guys, 2000 hours a year. So therefore, your man hour rate has to be this to cover your direct costs and your overhead, indirect costs and your profit. So that’s the magic formula. Three numbers. Direct costs, indirect cost, profit. Those three numbers added up together is your rate. That’s your, that’s your labor rate. And building a budget helps you rationalize and not guess, switch from guessing what your labor rate should be to simply like, I have this many trucks, these are my bills, every month or every year. And so therefore, that means I need to charge this rate.
W

Weston
20:49
And you know what happens sometimes people get to the other end of that experience and be like, I can never charge that much, right? Or why is it so high? And the answer is, they’ve got way too much equipment, way too much expenses. Or so you got two choices at that point. Either you produce more billable revenue without incurring any additional overhead costs, meaning you become more efficient with the overhead costs you do have, or you cut back. Overhead costs would be in proportion with the revenue that you can produce.
R

Robert
21:14
Right. And then do you, with working with all these people, do you have some benchmarks of what your overhead as a percentage of revenue should look like?
W

Weston
21:22
Well, quick and dirty. I like to use the 30 30 ten rule. What I mean is 30% goes to labor in your average design, build, landscape contracting business, 30% goes to labor, 30% goes to material, 30% goes to overhead expenses, 10% goes to net profit. Now, you could move and play with any of those numbers, say 5% in either direction, and get 20% net profit, whatever. But if your overhead is higher than 30% of your revenue, it can be okay. But you want to be sure, you know, you need to have a budget telling you it’s okay.
R

Robert
21:59
Yeah, that’s cool. And there’s obviously those factors too, because you could have a smaller footprint from like a office depot type of perspective, and a large team that’s going out and doing lots of work with a lot of direct costs that are associated to the work. So your indirect or overhead costs might not be quite as high because it’s fixed and you’ve got a lean operation.
W

Weston
22:21
Another thing that can happen is these owner operator business models with, say, two to five employees where they’re super equipment heavy, very efficient, and can still produce a lot of billable work, meaning their revenue is high, but their equipment costs are also high. And so therefore, what can happen is their labor goes down because they employ less people, but their equipment and overhead heavy. So their overhead ratio is higher, but they’re still okay when they get to the net profit number.
R

Robert
22:48
Yeah, that’s cool. That’s a good way to look at the three most important numbers. And then the 30 30 ten.
W

Weston
22:54
Yeah.
R

Robert
22:55
Yeah, that’s super cool. So then you look at this mindset being the primary thing that you’re seeing hold people back, whether, I mean, if it’s intentional, it’s no problem. But we’re talking about the idea of, you know, moving from owner operator to business owner. And you’re talking about the idea of systems and processes being like, one of the main things that someone has to do to get stuff out of their head so they can do someone else can do their thing.
R

Robert
23:17
Now, when we’re talking about it naturally from a synced up perspective, you know, when we’re talking about job costing estimates and knowing your numbers, big part of what you guys do and what you see every day, do you see when it comes to systems and processes, other parts of it that people struggle with or where do people, where are people really successful when they do that? When they do it well and they come, they turn into that business owner. Have you seen some stories about people making that transition?
W

Weston
23:45
Well, the two biggest things that the, that the most successful people do is they get to a point where other people can estimate an accurately priced job, and they get to the point where everything is tracked. No if, ands or buts, no exceptions, everything is tracked. What I mean by everything is every minute of payroll hours, billable labor is tracked to a job. That’s what I mean by that. And every receipt is tracked to a job like po, of some job so that you can get to the end of that job and have estimated versus actual profitability, you know, and if you not tracking. So let me explain the flip side.
W

Weston
24:24
Let’s say you do a great job of the estimating portion, and you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve gotten estimating out of your head and into a system and process, and someone else can do it for you, but you’re not yet tracking, or it’s loosey goosey, you know? You know, people can just text you their hours and you pay them on payroll, but you’re not documenting where that’s going. Not tracking. This is analogy I’ve used a time or two. It’s like pretend you go to a shooting range. You put a rifle on the sandbags and put the crosshairs right on the bullseye and just carefully squeeze off a perfect shot. But then you never look where you hit, right? You chamber another round, squeeze off what feels like yet another perfect shot, and you never look where you hit.
W

Weston
25:04
You shoot the whole box of ammon. You walk up to the target, you see, you completely miss. You made no money. And until you walk up to the target and look to see where you hit, you can’t course correct the scope and dial it in to hit the bullseye.
R

Robert
25:14
Right.
W

Weston
25:15
And job costing is like walking up and looking to the target to see where you hit. If you never look where you hit, you can’t course correct, meaning you can’t go back and tweak your estimating production rates and templates for the next time. But if you look where you hit and you’re like, oh, man, that’s the third job in a row that we’ve been low on this product, or that’s the third job of this type in a row that we’ve not had enough of man hours or you’ve had too many man hours and too many is a good thing. Right. But. But the point is sometimes we’re overpricing ourselves on some services and under pricing ourselves on other services. And guess which types of services you’ll get the most of the ones that you’re underpriced on. So that will suck you dry.
W

Weston
25:54
So in terms of the two most common, the two attributes of the most successful contractors, it’s like getting estimating out of your head and making tracking a non negotiable discipline in your business.
R

Robert
26:11
Yeah, I love it. And that accountability is all about the person leading the business. Like, if people aren’t tracking and you’re like, oh, no one’s tracking, I mean, you got to kind of look in the mirror, and it’s kind of really on you to set the tone, right. So then when we’re talking about this idea for tracking and starting to calibrate, essentially is kind of what you’re referring to, right. As we, as we see what we’ve hit, like, what kind of timeline are we looking at? So, like, let’s say I’m a person, you know, maybe I’m doing 3 million. I’m estimating myself now. I want to come in with a system and make it someone else can estimate and start tracking and then get some accountability and start calibrating. What do you see as, like, somebody who’s trying to get into this?
R

Robert
26:55
But they’re like, I’m not sure if I have what it takes to do it. Like, what does that transition look like for someone and how much, you know, rigor is involved for someone to get going?
W

Weston
27:03
I mean, you can do it completely manually to some extent, in spreadsheets and cobble together all kinds of different things, but our average customer in synced up. They come in like, maybe, like, you know, I’ll start with, like, they’re doing nothing. It’s paper and pen. Our average customer will take two weeks to kind of get their first couple libraries of templates and production rates set up to get to the point where they’re tracking hours on every job, tracking materials on every job, and they’re, you know, two weeks in, they’ve got estimated versus actual data on their phone on every job that they’re doing.
R

Robert
27:34
Right.
W

Weston
27:35
And it can be, we have some that are even doing it in a matter of two or three days. It just, like, some people just sit down and bang it out, you know, and others kind of take the weekend or whatever to get it done right.
R

Robert
27:44
So this is not a crazy no thing.
W

Weston
27:48
No. The hardest part. The hardest part is not doing it. The hardest part is the mindset and the discipline to force yourself to not accept, to not let yourself revert back to your old ways, because it’s. It’s unfamiliar territory. It’s new things. It’s like, people, I’m not a computer guy, blah, blah. Yeah, I know, I know. The hardest part is overcoming that hurdle. Doing it is, I mean, we do it day in, day out, all the time. And if you. I mean, if you want to sit down for two days and hammer it out in 20 man hours, you can do it.
R

Robert
28:16
Right. And. Which is amazing. Right. Cause it’s not something that has to take a long time. Like, if you’re out of shape and you need to go to the gym, doing it in two shifts of 20 hours, 10 hours each, you’re not going to get in shape. You got to go consistently over time, over many years to really get her done. But with this, it’s just like, you put a little bit of discipline and focus on this thing. and that leads to another question, then, of, like, is it, am I too busy to do this now? Like, should I just, like, is there. Is it kind of like planting a tree? The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best day is today.
W

Weston
28:48
Well, that’s. That’s a great question. And, while I never want people to bite off more than they can chew, and owner operators are the busiest people on the face of the earth, they work 16 hours, days, seven days a week, you know? But here’s the thing. Most of us in that scenario are spending time on tasks that can be cut drastically. What I mean is, if I’m taking the whole thing I said earlier, but the estimations, spending an hour on every single estimate we do, and we’re in, we’re dreading it. We’re putting it off. We’re doing it at 11:00 at night because, blah, blah.
W

Weston
29:20
A lot of our customers, they switch from that to I’m cranking out and sending you the estimate before I even leave your driveway, and I’m walking away with a signature and a down payment check, because it takes me five minutes, two minutes instead of an hour. And so you don’t even go back to the office with a to do list. It’s done before you even leave.
R

Robert
29:39
How can you not do that?
W

Weston
29:41
Yeah, so that’s the thing, like, mentally speaking, getting over the mindset of, like, oh, I’m gonna stop what feels like productive work, and I’m going to sit in an office and do some settings on a computer for a while to get my estimating process dialed in. It feels counterproductive, but literally, the return on investment is immediate.
R

Robert
30:00
Well, it’s like a slingshot, right? You got to pull it back a little bit so you can fire this thing to go really far away. So, I mean, I appreciate the way that you’re sharing this, because I think a lot of people overestimate how much it is to actually just get it working. Right.
W

Weston
30:18
The fear that, like, this, is this even for me? Can I even do this? Like, this is going to take me forever. Yeah, we all, we often way outsize the problem in our heads. And then I tell you the most common comment I hear from people, man, I cannot believe I waited so long to do this. I should have done this on day one. Yeah, I hear that all the time. Like, I was making it out to be way too big of a deal. Cool.
R

Robert
30:42
So on that note, then, what does someone do if they want to check it out?
W

Weston
30:47
Basically, you can go to synced up.com, which it’s spelled with aksynkedup.com, and we have all kinds of videos there. You can book a call with our sales team and get on, and we’ll show you exactly how it works. The whole point of the call is not for you to get sold to. The point of the call is to find out, like, hey, we solve a problem. Do you have the problem we solved? Do you want that problem solved? It’s that simple. Like, if you don’t want it, fine. No, no pressure. We’re not going to try to sell you an ice to an eskimo.
R

Robert
31:13
Like, no, that’s cool.
W

Weston
31:14
Either you have the problem or you don’t. But yeah, synced up.com has all kinds of case studies, videos, information about the product. And if you want to reach me directly, I’m most active on Instagram. You can dm me on Instagram. Our handle is same thing. Synced up, synked up, and that’s where I pretty much stay in touch with the community. And that’s still me on the account, obviously.
R

Robert
31:36
So, yeah, that’s cool. And so then you also do events, too, right? Where people can come check stuff out in, like, a group setting.
W

Weston
31:42
That’s right.
R

Robert
31:43
How does someone sign up for that? What does that look like? What are those. What are those events kind of focus on?
W

Weston
31:48
So we do annual event called the contractor summit. And the model is kind of, we bring in some educational, motivational, inspirational type speakers. We also do a business tour of one of our customers. And this year we’re doing it of Jeremy Sweihart from J Squared outdoor in Dayton, Ohio.
R

Robert
32:07
Cool.
W

Weston
32:07
The event’s going to be in Dayton, Ohio, October 3 and fourth. So we do the business spotlight on his business. An incredible outdoor living contractor, one of the best out there. And so. And he’s just building a brand new shop, so you’ll be able to see his whole new operation. It’ll be awesome. And of course, our synced up team will be presenting some. Some topics as well as we have a few partners coming in to share, which I believe you’ll be there.
R

Robert
32:31
Yeah, I think we are going to be there. We’re looking forward to it. And then. So if I wanted to attend, and I’m not necessarily a customer of synced up, is this a cool place for me to go check out what’s going on with everybody there? Like, I don’t necessarily have to be part of the ecosystem yet.
W

Weston
32:44
It is an open place. Like, last year, 30% of the attendees were not synced up users. So, yes, it’s a place for you to, if you’re curious or if you just want to come and network and hang out with others that are in the grinded business, just like you, even though you have no interest in synced up. Come on. You’re welcome. Like, we want you there. It’s about promoting blue collar entrepreneurship, not necessarily Kumbaya session for synced up.
R

Robert
33:07
Okay, that’s cool. All right, so then, before we wrap up, what’s a resource like speaker, author, podcast? Something that you think is just like a must for someone to check out or something that really kind of hit you?
W

Weston
33:21
Well, we’re going to have the author of the book simple numbers at the contractor summit this year. He’s one of the speakers.
R

Robert
33:30
Is it Alan?
W

Weston
33:31
Greg Crabtree.
R

Robert
33:32
Oh, Crabtree, yes.
W

Weston
33:34
And I just read that book or listened to it on audio. And it is. I mean, it’s basically another man’s take on everything we’ve been talking about here with, like this and running it financially sound. And what I love about his style is. He’s so just matter of fact, you know, no fluff just tells you the way it is. Like, it’s an awe. Trust me, if you’re a contractor that likes your hands in the dirt, you can listen to that book and get inspiration from it and get insight from it. So definitely I would promote that book. Another one that I would promote is buyback your time by Dan Martell. I think every business owner that’s too busy to stop for ten minutes and work on their business instead of in their business should listen to that book or read that book.
W

Weston
34:21
I’ve been around Dan Martell’s sphere of influence for a number of years now, and just some of the things he teaches in that book are like, dude, every business owner needs to hear this stuff.
R

Robert
34:31
Very cool.
W

Weston
34:32
Promote that. And if you want to come here, obviously, like I said with Greg Crabtree and simple numbers, come here him in person, ask him, listen to the book, and then come ask him your questions in person.
R

Robert
34:41
Yeah. Awesome. In October, you said 3rd, 4th, third and fourth.
W

Weston
34:46
October 3 and fourth in Dayton, Ohio.
R

Robert
34:48
And if I wanted to register for that, just go to sync up.com and I’ll look for.
W

Weston
34:52
Yep, just Google synced up contractor summit. It’ll come right up.
R

Robert
34:55
Awesome.
W

Weston
34:56
Yeah. And another resource I’ll give you is we have conversations like the one you and I just had all the time on the cost of doing business podcasts. As a podcast I run that I interview, sync up customers on and just ask them three simple questions. You know, what would you do if you go back to day one? What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given and what is the most difficult challenge you’ve ever overcome? And the discussions that come out of that are phenomenal.
R

Robert
35:19
Very cool. And that’s on your podcast platform of choice?
W

Weston
35:23
Yep. Any, any platform you want. Spotify, Apple. And it’s just called the cost of doing business.
R

Robert
35:28
The cost of doing business. Awesome. Thank you, Weston, for doing this. Really appreciate it.
W

Weston
35:32
Thanks, Robert. This was a lot.
R

Robert
35:34
Thanks, everyone, for listening.