Business Bourbon and Bullshit - Conversation with Bobby Walker and Michael Dahlke
Michael Dahlke is an Entrepreneur, Investor, Coach since 2016 but he’s been a CEO for almost 7 years of Eide Scott, Inc and was the President of ASP Screening, LLC for almost 3 years. Now he is focusing on both coaching and deploying growth capital to investors on how to execute on their biggest and best opportunities and helping distressed companies navigate large one time, but solvable problems with leadership, strategy, and capital.
Please listen to these two great guys on how they strategize and hit their target revenue per year. Learn how these two BBB masterminds tackle their approach and tactics on how to run a business.
“And I think that a lot of people make the mistake of saying I want to have a $10 million business when what they really want is a $700,000 business with a great lifestyle. And there's nothing wrong with that either. So understanding what the end goal is important”. - Michael Dahlke
“So I'm cutting out 3% of my company's revenue, but the reason I'm doing it is so I could raise our businesses, our technicians’ efficiency on the day and actually get more revenue done each day and ultimately make more money. Yeah, so yeah, we're cutting out a little bit of revenue that we're getting, but it's going to free us up to do more of that good stuff that allows our technicians to make that higher hourly rate.” - Bobby Walker
Topics Covered:
4:47 - Bobby shares his 15-second story of how he started, oh, it went beyond. But who cares? This guy’s motivation is so inspiring. Who could resist?
13:35 - A recurring revenue model is a business model where the revenue is predictable, stable, and likely to continue in the future.
15:18 - Upselling a strategy that you could add to your list. Don’t be shy to suggest to your customers, have them realize the benefit of getting an added value and what that will do for them. Emphasize this. What in it for them?? Then you upsell.
17:48 - Fright hinders your ability to move forward. Remove that fear and have the courage to step up. You will not grow if you’re just sitting in your comfort zone. Move out from that box and start building yourself.
19:13 - Another strategy that you could get into your list is, don’t hesitate to get people to work for you. Instead of thinking of how do you grow your business, think of “who” could help you grow your business. And we are talking about the people. Your EMPLOYEES. Who could do the job for you. Business is not a one-man island, my friend. You should get someone to do things for you because you can’t do it all alone.
21:16 - Yes. Risk is a major issue for entrepreneurs. The risk that is developing fear. Fear of different things. Even they were able to reach the top game, these two awesome men still have fears. But, as investors and entrepreneurs, you gotta pull out the fear and be consistent about it. Risk is always there. It will always be there.
Connect with Bobby walker :
Connect with Michael Dahlke:
Key Takeaways
“I want to just explain what not being a bitches and what the no bitch zone is about. A bitch is not someone that whines because I'm not a bitch and I whine sometimes. A bitch is not someone that gets kicked and feels down and because we all do when I say bitch, the definition of the bitch in the no bitch zone is someone that doesn't pursue their goals because of what other people may say Think or Do, including themselves or someone that blames other people for their failures or lack of success. So I think that one of the biggest keys to personal growth and development is being honest when you look in the mirror, and if you're fat, don't say, I'm not fat, I'm big-boned. say, No, I'm fat. And then I can actually come up with a good strategy to do it. So don't be a bitch. Don't blame others for your failures. Don't let others discourage you, or your own fear discourage you from pursuing it. Don't be a bitch, pursue your dreams.” - Bobby Walker
“The technician that's running the business, the technician is running, it thinks that quality needs to be a 10 out of 10. And that's why he feels that he's the one that needs to do it. And the fact is, the customer is probably like a static and thrilled with a seven out of 10, or an eight out of 10. And you can hire people that can do that eight out of 10. And the customer doesn't even know the difference. They're just as happy with that eight as they are with a 10. You gave them the value that they wanted, they gave you the value that you wanted, which was the money and there was a fair exchange there.” - Bobby Walker
“The concept for the people who are listening is that if you're out there, working your butt off right now, and you've got a full cup, your glass is completely full, and you go to a convention, or you read this book, or you listen to this podcast, and your glass is full, and you go to put stuff in there, it's just not gonna fit, you're just gonna go right over the top, and it's gonna overflow. But if you can dump a little bit out, then you can put some more in. So the concept is that if we can eliminate some stuff that we're doing from our business or our lives, we can eliminate some of the delegate some of those stuff, it'll free up some time, so that we can input the new things that we want to try the new idea that getting off the truck, the doing the marketing plan, the systematizing, the business, all that sort of stuff, but if we don't dump out that cup of little, there's no room in our life state. Do anything different.” - Michael Dahlke
“There's no substitute for the hard work and the rugged individualists that goes out there and fires from dusk to dawn. And does that to get ahead like there is something to be said that after you've gotten an established business, and I don't mean a $5 million business, but I mean, you've got some revenue coming in, you're paying your bills, you're doing the stuff after that. My words of wisdom would be to start thinking about systematizing the business and thinking about how to recruit and get really good at business So get good at business. Don't be just good at lawncare window cleaning, that sort of thing. The people who are gonna win if their goal is to grow is to get good at business.” - Michael Dahlke
The Transcript
(Note: This transcript was created using Otter, an AI transcription software. Please forgive any transcription or grammatical errors. We probably sounded better in real life.)Intro 0:02
Welcome to the untrapped podcast where we're motivated and inspired about success, small business, and personal development. And now Keith Kalfas.
Keith Kalfas 0:15
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Intro 0:53
The interview portion of today's program is coming up next here on The Untrapped Podcast.
Keith Kalfas 1:01
What's up, guys? This is Keith Kalfas with The Untrapped Podcast. And dude, we've got an awesome show for you right now. We're in downtown Nashville, Tennessee right now at the Business Bourbon and Bullshit. The BBB private mastermind group with Bobby Walker from Journey of a New Entrepreneur, Michael Dahlke, which is the financial mastermind, multiple business serial entrepreneur. And this is going to be a great show. If you're looking for some transformational transcendent breakthroughs in your life in your business and just to be led down a path that could open up a whole bunch of new opportunities. This is the show you want to tune out of any other distractions that are going on and tune in to this. Even if you can't listen to the whole thing right now. Come back and listen to this later because I'm in a room right now. This is dope, sweet room. Dude. There's a lion's head in front of me an invisible bookshelf that you could press and go to a secret room in this place called
Bobby Walker 1:55
That you can't take photos in.
Keith Kalfas 1:56
You can't take photos in...
Bobby Walker 1:58
Yeah.
Keith Kalfas 1:58
Oh, we can't?
Bobby Walker 1:59
Not in that room. In this room, you can
Keith Kalfas 2:01
Oh, dude. What's up? Okay, so I'm gonna do something special here. Right sitting across from me is Michael Dahlke. And I first heard about this guy and Joshua Latimer interviewed him. And they're like, this guy's just millions of dollars buying and selling businesses and I watched the interview and Michael Dahlke is just a normal dude. I met him at AGS Conquer. When I met Bobby Walker a few years ago. It's just a live event where people get breakthroughs in their businesses and Michael Dahlke I was a little nervous. I'm like, "Bro, you're that Michael Dahlke guy, that financial guru. You're so cool." And Michael looked at me and he's, he's like, "Bro, Keith Kalfas I watched your videos, man. I love that one video" and I was like, "Michael Dahlke, he knows who I am?"
2:42
Because being in the position of a guy that's, you know, started his business and hasn't crossed the million-dollar mark. We look to guys like that, who have figured it out. And they have mentors of their own. I'm sure like Michael has mentors of his own, but we looked at people like that. Then I met Bobby Walker. Here's another guy and he'll tell his story briefly. You can Go to Journey of a New Entrepreneur Podcast. But he was a guy who is in a corporate job and literally lost a job overnight when it started a window cleaning business and now he plans on doing about a million bucks this year. I don't know in spite of the Coronavirus thing but you've built a multiple six-figure is a seven.
Bobby Walker 3:18
No. I don't have a million-dollar business probably won't this year. I was ahead of pace. I thought I was gonna crush it and we're pretty far behind. It's unlikely, not impossible. That will hit a million but, I wouldn't bet the money on it this year.
Keith Kalfas 3:32
Okay, and the interesting thing about Bobby has this no bitches zone. Like literally this morning. I got into my hotel in Nashville because I live in Detroit at three o'clock in the morning to get any sleep. I was a little frustrated and I texted a little excuse on boxer to Bobby, like, "Hey, I'm gonna be late because I didn't get any sleep." And he literally texted me back. You're a bitch. And I got angry on my f** came with like this little thing. And I'm like, No, I like that. I like that because I am being a bitch right now in any type of excuse for being a bitch. So I'm going to do something special here since I only got two mics and I want to turn it over Bobby Walker, man, you're f** awesome.
4:11
Thank you so much for what you're doing and like you're helping a lot of guys out in the industry start and go through that entrepreneurial journey. And then we have Michael Dahlke here. So I'm gonna hand over the microphone to Mike and Bobby. And then they're gonna talk and conversate about what's going on at this Private Mastermind Group called Business Bourbon and Bullshit, and talk about some of the frameworks that you need to think through to get your business to the next level. And a lot of it revolves around just don't be a bitch, but there's also not just not being a bitch, because you could go work yourself to death and that gets you anywhere. It's about having a strategy. So Michael Dahlke, here you go.
Bobby shares his 15-second story of how he started, and oh, it went beyond. But who cares? This guy’s motivation is so inspiring. Who could resist?
Bobby Walker 4:47
Well, Keith gets the mic over. On Mike. I'll just share my, the 15-second version of my story and Keith, thank you for having us on man. And Keith. I don't know I'm not getting audio in my ears, but that's fine with me. I just want to make sure that's not messing up. I want to make sure you're getting an input here from my audio, but, uh, wow, I can hear it now. Yeah. So actually, if you can turn me down a little bit though, my 15-second story is this I was sick of my corporate career, I was looking for a service business that I could start on the side and eventually make it my main gig. As a result, I was searching YouTube for ideas. I stumbled across a video that Keith did of saying, "Here's how you can start a window cleaning business with no money." He walks into Home Depot and says "Buy these things". It was about 50 bucks. And then he walked out front and said "Charge this much for this kind of Windows. So there you go. You just started a window cleaning company for no money." About three hours later, I found out I was losing my job. I got a phone call, telling me that's losing my job.
5:46
So I literally the next morning, I drove to Home Depot with my son. We pulled that video up on my phone. And we bought two of everything because my son who was a senior in high school wanted to do this with his dad. And you know, and you're number one we did about 100 I can't remember 120 130 in revenue, your number two we did like 300. And I think I'm rounding up to 350. And then at the end of year three, we had done a total of a million dollars in our first three years window cleaning and pressure washing. And as Keith said, I had a goal of a million dollars this year, which is your number four, we came out of the gates just rocking and rolling and then honestly Corona's impacted us quite a bit.
6:22
You know, we had to scale back a little bit with employees, but we're I think we're kind of back on trending up and as I'm saying all this I'm looking at Mike next to me here who hasn't said a word yet but Mike, I found him again through Josh Latimer and Mike has become a business partner of mine he's invested in my business and he's helping guide me You know, I think I kind of hit the ceiling of my natural talent or he said you know, you can only use the Don't be a bitch thing so much you know, effort only gets you so far and I bought brought Mike and help with some strategy and thinking that we can build something really big and beautiful here and so that's who I am. I said 15 seconds as two minutes, which is still probably really good for me. But yeah, you got Mike Dahlke here. So, what's up, Mike?
Mike Dahlke 7:01
First of all, thanks, Keith, for having me and allowing me to add value and be useful. It's been really, really cool to see it and spend time with you and get to know you. You know, Bobby, you say that and I think the part that most people don't know and I'd love for you to share is the part where you, we could talk about Business, Bourbon, and Bullshit, but the part that you were not growing anymore, you kind of gotten a low and you had a phone call with a very special mentor. Who didn't say don't be a bitch, no bitch zone but he said something very similar. And then you want to tell them real quick. I think it's really good.
Bobby Walker elaborates how his mentor (Josh Latimer) helped him on some business strategies and made him realize some pointers for business
Bobby Walker 7:33
Okay, so if we're playing the Josh Latimer drinking game, I think it's time for everyone to take their third or fourth shot. But so, if you're listening to Keith's podcast, you probably know who Josh is because I know Keith talks to him a lot. He talks about him a lot. And Josh is someone I had found I was listening to his podcast and I'd reached out to him and Josh had been kind of mentoring me a little bit, you know, give me a tip here and there as much as he could. And I did. I came out of the gates doing really good at the very beginning of our business the first two or three months, and then, I don't know, month four, so we just hit a wall. And we did virtually no revenue. I think we did $2800 in revenue in the month of June of my first year, which I used to have a salary and bonus structure I was making close to 150 a year, so $2800 even if there's no expenses, isn't cutting it you know, and so I'm stressed, I'm scared, I'm panicking. I sent Josh a message.
8:26
And he's like, give me your phone number. I'm just gonna call you real quick. Get on the phone. And I already told you the position I was in. So instead of telling you the whole story, here's basically what Josh said is now my words, not his, but it's what I heard. Even though it's not the words he said, "Listen, bitch. If you're not cleaning something, you need to be handing out flyers. If you're not handing out flyers, it can only be because you're cleaning something and if you're doing anything else, you're kidding yourself and you're lying to yourself that you're trying to grow your business. Those are the only two things that matter right now." He gave me a little strategy behind it, but he basically said, "If you're not doing flyers or door-knocking when you're not cleaning, never call me again." And I didn't even need him to say the last part because I was desperate. And I'm like, this guy knows what he's talking about. And that's what we did. And then our company just, honestly, just, we never looked back. You know, we went from $2800 to, I think three months later, we were doing $30,000 in revenue, and then we've continued to climb. So
Michael Dahlke 9:23
Yeah, did he say something along the lines of don't come home? At the end of the day? Like, Don't go Don't come home at one like you still have to work like, a full day?
Bobby Walker 9:31
Yeah, yeah. Yes, he did. I was trying. I talk a lot, Mike. I was trying to keep it short. But I think I got the gist. But yeah, and I think maybe the point you're trying to get is there's two things. There's hard work. But then there's key said it's the strategy too, you know, and we've got to be it's not just working hard, but working hard on the right things.
Michael Dahlke 9:50
Yeah, absolutely. And when I hear that story, when I think about the people who are just getting started, I think about the hundreds of thousands of flyers that nobody knows that we put outgrowing our business from 60,000 to over 3 million it the there is a certain amount of rugged individualism that you need when you get started. Yeah that you just gotta work. There's no other option other than just do the work. And part of what Business Bourbon and Bullshit is, is that after you've hit a certain level of just working and putting out those flyers and doing all those things you get in the habit of being a rugged individualist and going out there and just putting out flyers and doing the thing, and you hit that second wall and you go, "Well, why am I stuck now?" And that's where we have this event where it really it's about getting out of some of those individualist habits, working on the business but also working on your own mentality. So when you think about what we did today, what some of the key takeaways is you've got,
Bobby Walker 10:49
Well for me now I've been to BBB for I've been coming for multiple events. This is probably my fifth or sixth one that I've been to so not just a snapshot of today. But just the general idea and the best takeaway that I get from it, aside from the networking because just being a part of a group of great guys is there's value in that is the strategy of not planning for three years down the road or planning. I'm not saying setting goals there's no setting a goal and planning Okay?
11:21
We have a three year goal you know, we have a 10 year goal or whatever but planning for a quarter at a time we start the year we say here's what I want the end of the year to look like and then the very first BBB is all about what do we got to do in quarter one to be prepared for quarter two to be prepared for quarter three so on and so forth to hit that goal and that's made a huge difference for me because I wasn't doing that before I got involved with you and met you and I think there's just psychology behind it to the fact that we just as humans have a hard time we have a hard time looking a year from you know, we can look at it but I think we get fatigued you know we get fatigued trying to make work that plan so if I can just get three months into my plan is good and that's what I love about this event is that, It helps me do that, you know, helps me identify the things I need to fix. And then a short time to do.
Michael Dahlke 12:05
Yeah, you know, Kaplan, Michael Kaplan, who you know, and its partners say, "I don't know color those guys is going to be a year from now. I don't. How can I think that far ahead? Yeah, I have to have the goals. But as far as when I can move my feet and take action and make real progress. After 90 days, I can't tell you if there's gonna be a Coronavirus or if someone's gonna fly planes into the Twin Towers. Yeah. So I'm gonna come up with my 90-day plan, and I'm gonna work my tail off on 90 days, and then I'm gonna wake up and go, Wow, I got further than I ever thought I would. Let's do it again. Let's push a little bit harder."
Bobby Walker 12:34
Yeah. Mike, you know what? You're pretty cool guy when we're recording stuff. Normally, you're, you're not as cool. I don't know.
Michael Dahlke 12:40
I kind of typically refer to me as Rain Man, which means I have no Social Skills whatsoever. So I appreciate that Bud.
Bobby Walker 12:46
So for everyone listening, Mike and I become really good friends. We came, I would say we became buddies and then became business partners, and we'd become good friends, and we're definitely different personality types. But I think that's kind of what makes a great marriage. You know, as I've gotten stuff, some of the stuff you like, and you got a lot of the stuff I like, but I love busting your balls. So
Michael Dahlke 13:06
Yeah, appreciate that. So when you think about the people that are listening to this podcast here, when you think about the $10,000 idea, so one of the concepts that we bring to the mastermind is that everyone who comes has to be a giver, not a taker? You have to generously give. And at a typical event, and this is not a knock on large events, typical event, you have a lot of people in one speaker and that one speaker gives and then a lot of people take that information here, everyone has to give, everyone has to give a $10,000 idea. It's tried and true. And he said, if you implement it, you will make $10,000 in your business. So when you think about the last, I don't know, two years, three years of coming. If you think about the $10,000 ideas that you've implemented, what's one or two that’s useful to someone who listens to the podcast?
A recurring revenue model is a business model where the revenue is predictable, stable, and likely to continue in the future.
Bobby Walker 13:55
The number, hands down, the number one for me was doing a Recurring revenue model with some window cleaning. Our business is mostly pressure washing at this point. But last year was my first year coming. And it was January of 2019 that I came and someone shared that idea. They basically just shared a strategy that they use to get people on quarterly window cleaning accounts, which I was not having success at all with. And I implemented it. And truth be told, I didn't execute the best I did execute on it, but not as good as I could have. But when I hit January, one of 2020, I can't remember the exact number, I think, but I think we had like $55,000 of revenue on the books that were just from those quarterly window cleaning accounts that I sold. God knows how long ago and didn't have to do any other work for other than just go out and clean them. So that was just something that I showed up. There was you know, one of the attendees. He had a little paper with him to say like, "here's how I do it." I took it home, made a little modification for my business and boom, we were off and running.
Michael Dahlke 14:51
And how much are you doing quarterly Recurring service right now? An annual basis?
Bobby Walker 14:56
I don't know the answer to that right now, Mike.
Michael Dahlke 14:58
But it's enough? Way more than $10,000?
Bobby Walker 15:00
Way more than 10 passes. Yeah, I'm embarrassed to tell you I don't. I'm changing CRM, so it's easier for me to keep. That's my excuse. That's my bitch excuse.
Michael Dahlke 15:09
Fair enough. You know, there's been so many good $10,000 ideas, think about 30 people coming and sharing
Bobby Walker 15:14
You can't implement them all, you know, yeah. And they don't all apply.
Michael Dahlke 15:18
But you know the one that's my favorite and we've implemented it but we probably haven't done as good a job as we could have. We've implemented a lot of them is one of the guys from New Jersey. He had said he knows when you're up and cleaning a roof and you've got that pipe comes out. And there's a little rubber thing that goes around the pipe and it gets worn out. Take this new rubber thing that cost like 10 bucks and put it over the top and caulk it down. Yeah, and charge $75 or
Upselling a strategy that you could add to your list. Don’t be shy to suggest to your customers, have them realize the benefit of getting an added value and what that will do for them. Emphasize this. What in it for them?? Then you upsell.
Bobby Walker 15:43
I think he's I think he charges 200
Michael Dahlke 15:45
It's like $150 to put the $7 ring over the pipe and do it. I said people were doing it all the time. Like no one wants to get up on the roof and there's fear and there's this and his upsells were through the roof. And that same guy today talked about how he was training his technicians to do upsells. And from a just a practical standpoint, even if it's you as the only technician when you're out there in you've got a $600 job today. And that's all you got on the schedule, and you can get another $200. Holy cow!
Bobby Walker 16:14
That's huge. Yeah, yeah.
Michael Dahlke 16:15
Over the course of the year. That's, that's an extra 50 grand.
Bobby Walker 16:19
Yeah. And that's why I love, love this event. I participate in a lot of events, you know, and when I say a lot if you take BBB I probably participate like three others during the year, so I participate in what I think is a lot of events. But the big difference here, and this doesn't, I want to be real clear. The ones I participate in, I do it because they're great events. But what I like about this one is we because you got people that are bringing the ideas and they have to be a giver in it. If you have a different like, quality or standard of person that's here, and then naturally that makes the receiving part that much better because we have a room instead of having that one guy that's given. We literally have 31 guys that are doing it, you know. So it's good stuff. Let me ask you a question. I want to ask you a question for this audience unless you want to go further on this particular topic.
Michael Dahlke17:08
Go for it.
Bobby Walker 17:09
What do you see, you know, because you talk to a lot of business owners and people that are struggling and help people turn their businesses around, let's say, someone's not the new guy. Because we kind of know everyone kind of knows the strategy to win when you're starting grassroots. You bust your ass, you get in front of a lot of people every day, even if you're bad at sales, you'll have some success, you know if you're working hard enough, and you can get better in the strategy, but let's say if we're talking about, I don't know, lawn care as well, but you know, the window cleaning kind of thing like a company gets to that 3- $400,000 range annually, they tend to hit a ceiling there. What's the problem? Because you were talking about it like that's where BBB is kind of the solution? What do you guys need to be looking at that they're doing wrong when they start hitting that ceiling?
Michael Dahlke 17:48
So you know, a lot of things could be doing wrong at that spot. But the two mindsets that we talked about a lot of BBB. It's one of the things that we talked about every single time. The two mindsets are, the first is always have courage instead of thinking about where you're at today have the courage to do the next thing. I've been very fortunate to have gotten connected to the Strategic Coach and listen to other podcasts and they say courage over comfort and the other one that they talked. So first of all courage over comfort. So the guy that's there, he's got a, he's got, he's kind of in cashflow purgatory. So he can't get to the--
Fright hinders your ability to move forward. Remove that fear and have the courage to step up. You will not grow if you’re just sitting in your comfort zone. Move out from that box and start building yourself
Bobby Walker 18:22
What do you mean by that just in case someone doesn't understand?
Michael Dahlke 18:24
Yeah, so someone's out there. And when you're the guy doing the work in the field, you've you're making money because you're doing the labor in the field. And then you hire somebody, and you're marketing and you're doing these things, and all of a sudden, you're not in the field anymore. So you lose the cash flow to yourself, personally, that you were making as the lead technician. And now you're in the office and you maybe have an office person and you have some overhead and you have you want to take you to know, $50,000 home to your family and you're not doing the work. So you're taking all of the profits. Well now you have to reinvest back into your business, and you're like, Where am I gonna get that money? Yep. So I'm in cut. You're in capsule purgatory. You don't have enough to invest. But you also need to be able to pay your family and do those things.
Bobby Walker 18:25
I've been there for about a year.
Michael Dahlke 19:06
Yeah, it's really a special place that you want to get out of as fast as you frickin can.
Bobby Walker 19:11
I wouldn't call it special.
Michael Dahlke 19:13
Yeah, so it happens at various different levels. And I don't know, lawn care as much as I know, window cleaning, but there's a couple of levels where you hit it, and we hit it up blue skies, even when we were in the million-dollar ransom, we were adding leaders to the program does the same thing. So having the courage to either make the financial investment or make the investment of time to go at it really hard again, because you've gotten 400,000 You don't have to get on the ladder anymore. Maybe you're off the truck and you’re going, "Ah, that's really good". But to get to the next level, you still got to give something up and have the courage to do it.
Another strategy that you could get into your list is, don’t hesitate to get people to work for you. Instead of thinking of how do you grow your business, think of “who” could help you grow your business. And we are talking about the people. Your EMPLOYEES. Who could do the job for you. Business is not a one-man island my friend. You should get someone to do things for you because you can’t do it all alone.
19:43
The second one that we talked about that's also stolen from the Strategic Coach is borrowed. I don't know if I should say but is, “to think who, not how.” And that concept, changed my life in my business because whenever I had a goal, there's watching Dan Sullivan talk about this and he'd say Your goal is to get to $3 million. The first thought you have as an entrepreneur is how do I do that? And or you say, hey, I need to do you know, I need to get into lawn care. How do I do that? That's the first thought naturally. And where he blew my mind was when he said, “You need to think who can help me do that. And I need to focus on what I'm the best at and what I'm uniquely gifted.” I think I'm going to this fastball. I'm gonna throw this fastball all the time. I'm not also the home run hitter. So I need to get somebody on the team that I can collaborate with that I can think about that. So when you're in that, and you're looking to get off, and you got to have some risk tolerance didn't either make the financial investment or whatnot. But you also got to start thinking about the team. And who can answer the phone for me, who can buy, or who can, who do I need to lead the team, who do I need to do these things, and you start needing to free up your time by finding the right person and the right people to be on the team.
Bobby Walker 20:53
I don't know if we need to go deep on this. But just as we're talking about, you know, the who the people I talked to tend to have one of two issues. When it comes to finding the who one of them is, I can do it better myself. And then I think the other one is just fear. Like, what if I can't provide for that person? Is that the typical what you see with people that struggle with adding people at that point?
Michael Dahlke 21:14
I do. What about for you? What will be the one for you?
Bobby Walker 21:16
For me what my personal issue was because I couldn't wait to get other people to do it. I was terrified that I was gonna bring someone on and then not be able to provide for them and ruin their lives. You know, that was kind of my fear which looking back at it now and I don't have a ton of employees today but that's kind of comical today to look back on. But that was a real fear for me, you know, at the time
Yes. Risk is a major issue for entrepreneurs. The risk that is developing fear. Fear of different things. Even they were able to reach the top game, these two awesome men still have fears. But, as investors and entrepreneurs, you gotta pull out the fear and be consistent about it. Risk is always there. It will always be there.
Michael Dahlke 21:35
Yeah. Joshua Latimer drinking game, so take your shot, but one of the things that he said at the AGS ex event or a just live that Keith was at that we were all sitting down and talking about his he said, "For a tree to go up, the seed first has to go down." And when he said that, I mean he’s a brilliant presenter, like I wish I was YouTube. I YouTubed in the last like our video, but he was talking about if you want to grow and you to expand if you first your bank account has to go down before it goes back up. And the concept of investing in the same way, if you put money into an investment in your bank account went down, but you're hoping it goes back up. And so for me, the fear was always that I wasn't gonna get the money back, that I was gonna lose the money. And I had to come to my wife and say, “You know, I invest in $20,000 into this thing, and we lost it all.” And, you know, I was always so afraid to lose the money. And as the money became less important, and focus more on the people and things like that, it was a lot easier to make those investments like we've made in you and not worry about it, it goes down, some of them are gonna go up somewhere, but that is I hope so. At some point here, right? No, but that would that would be for me, the fear of not providing but also the fear of just the loss was really hard for me.
Bobby Walker 22:48
What do you? So, I'll say this, the solution to the two issues we were just talking about, which are similar mine's fear of you know, losing a person, yours fear of losing cash, you know, but like it was, and I think the solution As you just get over and do it, you just got to do it except that's how the world works You know? And sometimes you fail. What do you say to the people that say no one can do it as good as me?
Michael Dahlke 23:09
Well, first of all to your first point about just do it like that's a pretty standard no bitch sound type of comment, so, Way to be consistent.
Bobby Walker 23:15
Thank you and disagree.
Michael Dahlke 23:19
To the person who says nobody can do it as good as me, I say you're absolutely right. I guarantee you. You're right on some things like there is some things that you can do that's better than anybody else. But that doesn't mean you should do it.
Bobby Walker 23:31
That can't like I disagree with you so much.
Michael Dahlke 23:34
Okay, well, here. Tell me what you think.
Bobby Walker 23:35
Mine is. Like, who do you think you are? You think that you're the world's best mower? No, you're not. There are other people out there that are better than you and they'll do it for less. So go hire that mower, man.
Michael Dahlke 23:46
No, I'm the world's best mower. Didn't you notice?
Bobby Walker 23:49
You've got a valid point. I think we both have valid points, but I get what you're saying is Yeah, you are maybe, you are the best one but just because you are doesn't mean they should be the one doing it. Yeah.
Michael Dahlke 24:00
Well here's an example and we've talked about this in BB and I'll go two ways with it. But I am the world's best mower and I haven't mowed my lawn in two years, right? My lawn is immaculate and it looks beautiful and Carlos is freakin phenomenal and he tells me what I needed to do. And we have an understanding I it takes me about 11 seconds to mow my lawn and I write the check and I give it to Carlos and he does everything. He's the who to how do I get my lawn to look beautiful? So I feel like I am the world's best lawn mower now we talked about this in one of the BBB's and I don't mean to sound arrogant when I say this or like it pompous but last year at the BBB in January. I was redoing a bathroom and I had the like rugged individualist. I grew up from nothing like my dad, you know worked road construction. My mom babysat for extra money. We always had to cut firewood and sell it for extra money. We were not silver students, Moon type people, right. So everything that was done around the house. We did. If we were. If the roof was bad, we roof if the plumbing was bad, we were plumbers.
25:04
So we just naturally had to do that. So when it came time to redo the bathroom in the basement at the house, of course, I'm going to do it. And I use the full focus planner, which is one of the things from the event. And at the end of the first quarter, I looked at how much time I spent doing the bathroom, working on the bathroom. And I mean, so embarrassed to say I actually spent more time on that I did work out my business. Because every day I would come home. And I had two YouTube videos of like, how to tile the floor, or how to use this flex piping and like how did and I'd have to watch like six of them because I didn't know if I was doing it right it's I'm spending all this time again. And it's like three months later, and I'm looking at it and going, oh my god. I'm like not even halfway and wasted my life on this project. And it was all because I wanted to save a little bit of money. And actually, some guy was doing the neighbors and he came over and he's like, I was like, just give me a quote on doing So I just, I'm done. And he was telling me how he listens to Keith Kalfas
Bobby Walker 26:05
Oh, that's awesome.
Michael Dahlke 26:05
I'm not joking. Like 100% dead serious. And I was like, I know Keith. I was like I pulled up my FB account. Like, “Here he sent me a message the other day.” Like, it was so cool. I felt like, I felt like such big all that to say. What we did was we said, Man, I really shouldn't be focused on doing these home projects, the things that I can do without thinking I'm going to do but if I need to learn something new to reseal my driveway or to do the bathroom, we're just going to hire it out. So we found somebody in our local community who needed some extra money. He had some child support issues, who was also a handyman, and I made a deal with him that I would pay him X dollars a month, and he would come in there would be a list on the board on a whiteboard. And he would come in he would pick off as many as he could for 25 bucks an hour on all of the things on the list. So my wife wants the deck railings redone here. It's on there. We need this done. It's on there
Michael Dahlke gave an example of how hiring someone in your business. Or getting someone to work for you helps you. Either you hire people to help you with your business. Or you hire people to do the job for you to fix things. Doing so could help you save time, so you could focus more on your business
27:00
So he won because I was a hero to him because I gave him some money that he desperately needed at that time. He was a hero to me because I'm no longer spending time thinking about how to tile my bathroom, I can spend something more valuable. How do I invest in Bobby Walker? How do I help him grow his business? So that change in mindset from I gotta do it because that's who I am. That's what my dad taught me. I gotta do this. This is ingrained in who I am. I'm a blue-collar kid from Wisconsin. Farm town likes country music, and like has no like, silver spoon. I can't hire someone to do this. And now it's like, Man, what if I go broke through that mentality so long ago and my life would be completely different.
Bobby Walker 27:39
I couldn't agree more. And this is this next thing I'm going to say is going to be really should be a whole different podcast. I know. We don't have a lot of time left on this one. But for the guys that are like, Well, I do it the best, something that you've got to understand and I'm positive Keith has some content out there with this topic. I just couldn't tell you where to find it. So maybe Keith can tell you here at the end, but the technician that's running the business, the technician is running, it thinks that quality needs to be a 10 out of 10. And that's why he feels that he's the one that needs to do it. And the fact is, the customer is probably like a static and thrilled with a seven out of 10, or an eight out of 10. And you can hire people that can do that eight out of 10. And the customer doesn't even know the difference. They're just as happy with that eight as they are with a 10. You gave them the value that they wanted, they gave you the value that you wanted, which was the money and there was a fair exchange there. And I think that sometimes it's not just arrogance that someone doesn't want to bring on the other person, but they're scared that if they bring someone on, you're not going to be able to get there.
28:38
Now there's a lot to it, you got to train the person, you got to delegate properly, you've got to empower them, you got to check up on them and inspect what you expect and blah, blah, blah, but the very first step is hire that person, show them how you want it done. And then watch them do it and be okay with that eight out of 10 when you're 10 out of 10 and when you think don't think for a second that no ones gonna be able to do it as good as you just got a look around any big city you live in here. And every large building is full of people that don't own the company are full of people that don't do it as good as the owner would do it there. It's just full of people that do it good enough to get the desired result.
Michael Dahlke 29:14
That's really interesting. And you know, we were talking a lot about technician mindsets. And one of the things that we always talked about was we didn't want to be really good at cleaning windows, you know, what the people on my team needed me to be as to be really good at business. And if I was really bad at business, they weren't gonna have jobs. If I was good at business, they could do great. They needed to learn to be good at window cleaning, more home cleaning, or soft washing or whatever, insert home surface here. And so we took a different approach right away and said if we're gonna if we're ever going to get off the truck, and I was on the truck and answer the phone on the ladder and did all this, those things, we got to be good at business. And I had to focus on learning business, not windows. And then when we got people underneath us, we had to say, Okay, you got to get really good at windows. It's not that hard. You can watch a million podcasts and do this thing, but be The window whisperer doesn't help you as much as being really good at business and having seven window whispers.
Bobby Walker 30:05
Yeah, the only thing that helps you with is if your goal is to work till you die and to be the guy on the ladder every day of your life if that's your goal, you're the one who whispers. And there's nothing wrong with the damn thing wrong with it. Yeah,
Michael Dahlke 30:19
Absolutely. And I think that a lot of people make the mistake of saying I want to have a $10 million business when what they really want is a $700,000 business with a great lifestyle. And there's nothing wrong with that either. So understanding what the end goal is, is important. I think as well if you'd like to, you know, work six months out of the year and take winters off and you're in Minnesota. It's a great life. If you've got employees and overhead to think about it makes it a lot tougher. That's just some thoughts.
Bobby Walker 30:48
Yeah, good stuff.
Michael Dahlke 30:49
Bobby, what else when you think about kind of wrapping up here. If you were, to sum up the maybe one key framework or concept that we went through today that's been impactful to your business that would be impactful to some of Keith's listeners. What would that be?
Bobby Walker 31:08
You put me on the spot.
Michael Dahlke 31:09
So impactful.
Bobby Walker 31:10
Yeah, well, no, there's a lot and I'm not gonna lie my brain’s fried. But I think one of the very first things we do at every event, one of the first things we do is we establish, I should say, the first two things we do. The first one is to establish, what do I need to stop doing? I no longer need to do this for the health of my business. This is not good for us. And then the second one is what do I need to delegate? So stop doing doesn't mean you're the only one It just means that we don't do it anymore? And then the second one is, what do you need to delegate to something, your company still needs to do it but you don't. So the example that if we stick with the what the analogy we've been using is I'm going to delegate window cleaning to a technician. So I can focus on the marketing and the sales and scale the business and I would say those two things is the very first step or very First two steps. But that may be the greatest single thing out of this whole that we do.
Michael Dahlke 32:06
Yeah, and I would echo that. doing this for three years. And now how long we've been doing this and going through and thinking about the things I was doing, and that I've eliminated and the concept for the people who are listening is that if you're out there, working your butt off right now, and you've got a full cup, your glass is completely full, and you go to a convention, or you read this book, or you listen to this podcast, and your glass is full, and you go to put stuff in there, it's just not gonna fit, you're just gonna go right over the top, and it's gonna overflow. But if you can dump a little bit out, then you can put some more in. So the concept is that if we can eliminate some stuff that we're doing from our business or our lives, we can eliminate some of the delegate some of those stuff, it'll free up some time, so that we can input the new things that we want to try the new idea that getting off the truck, the doing the marketing plan, the systematizing, the business, all that sort of stuff, but if we don't dump out that cup of little, there's no room in our life state. Do anything different.
Bobby Walker 33:01
Well, and one real brief example for us, you know, so my company we do pressure washing and window cleaning, one of the things we're stopping doing is interior window cleaning. So I'm cutting out 3% of my company's revenue, but the reason I'm doing it is so I could raise our businesses, our technicians’ efficiency on the day and actually get more revenue done each day and ultimately make more money. Yeah, so yeah, we're cutting out a little bit of revenue that we're getting, but it's going to free us up to do more of that good stuff that allows our technicians to make that higher hourly rate.
Michael Dahlke 33:29
That's awesome. That's awesome. So wrapping up final words of wisdom from the day to Keith's listeners?
Bobby Walker 33:37
Okay, I've got I'm gonna have to go back to the wheelhouse for me and I want to just explain what not being a bitches and what the no bitch zone is about. A bitch is not someone that whines because I'm not a bitch and I whine sometimes. A bitch is not someone that gets kicked and feels down and because we all do when I say bitch, the definition of the bitch in the no bitch zone is someone that doesn't pursue their goals because of what other people may say Think or Do, including themselves or someone that blames other people for their failures or lack of success. So I think that one of the biggest keys to personal growth and development is being honest when you look in the mirror, and if you're fat, don't say, I'm not fat, I'm big-boned. say, No, I'm fat. And then I can actually come up with a good strategy to do it. So don't be a bitch. Don't blame others for your failures. Don't let others discourage you, or your own fear discourage you from pursuing it. Don't be a bitch, pursue your dreams. And what I say every time I sign off of a podcast is if you're not doing the things you want in life, you better have a damn good reason for it. But if you're not pursuing those things, there's no good reason for it. And I think that's great advice. If I say so myself.
Michael Dahlke 34:42
That's awesome.
Bobby Walker 34:43
What about you?
Michael Dahlke 34:44
Last Words of wisdom? Yeah, listen to Bobby Walker and Keith Kalfas. I think that's where I would go you know, my words of wisdom from the guy who started and you know, the first at $60,000 a year in revenue on the truck. answering the phone while on the ladder scheduling the job on no cards and all of the terrible things that you know Josh Latimer drink number six. Telling me I was doing wrong was that at a certain level if in the beginning, if it's gonna be it's up to me type it, you've got a bust, you've got to bust it. And there's no substitute for the hard work and the rugged individualists that goes out there and fires from dusk to dawn. And does that to get ahead like there is something to be said that after you've gotten an established business, and I don't mean a $5 million business, but I mean, you've got some revenue coming in, you're paying your bills, you're doing the stuff after that. My words of wisdom would be to start thinking about systematizing the business and thinking about how to recruit and get really good at business--
Bobby Walker 35:51
Good stuff.
Michael Dahlke 35:51
So get good at business. Don't be just good at lawncare window cleaning, that sort of thing. The people who are gonna win if their goal is to grow is to get good at business.
Bobby Walker 36:00
I think we have like four tangents that we've just kind of mentioned that would be great standalone episodes and I one of them there is like don't try to over systemize on day one you know, yeah revenue coming to pay the bills and then start doing all that stuff, it's good stuff.
Michael Dahlke 36:14
Absolutely.
Bobby Walker 36:15
Ok, Keith's getting the mic back here so Dahlke, love you, bro. Thanks for hanging out I'm going to go down there and read a mechanical bull with you here in a minute. So for those of you that didn't catch that we're in this cool building, it's like 200 years old three storeys tall with a basement. It was like a speakeasy back in the prohibition days you know and we got a mechanical bull downstairs around
Keith Kalfas 36:32
A mechanical bull.
Bobby Walker 36:33
Do you not know that?
Keith Kalfas 36:34
That's why they made a sign the contract if we get injured. This place is beautiful Nashville Tennessee.I'm happy to be here
Bobby Walker 36:42
Keith, I love you, bro. And I appreciate you letting me let me be a part of this I you're this is so like poetic for me. You know, every time we get together and get to talk and this is the second time I think I've been on your show. And it's like, this is where I started. You know this guy that I'm looking across this presidential desk right now is the guy that got me started in this life in this world that, honestly, I couldn't be happier in the midst of 2020 with all the terrible stuff that's happening, not just in our country in our world, it's like this the best year of my life, because I'm kind of choosing to let it be. And you were a little bit of the catalyst of that you were the catalyst on that, and I appreciate it, man.
Keith Kalfas 37:15
You're welcome. Thank you. And I'm following my calling. And I love doing it, man. So, guys, that's it for this episode. You can find this on any of your favorite podcast platforms. If you enjoyed the show. This will do wonders for the show. Like I said, we're top 100 in the entrepreneur category, we hit number 37 in the nation, an entrepreneur category if you go to iTunes or Apple podcasts, and please leave us a well worded positive five-star review, and then hit me up my website, Keithkalfas.com. How can people find you, Bobby?
Bobby Walker 37:47
Just search Journey of a New Entrepreneur and you'll find me.
Keith Kalfas 37:51
Yeah, type that in on YouTube, or your podcasts
Bobby Walker 37:54
Or Google? Yeah, just go to Google and type Journey of a New Entrepreneur and you'll find me, Yeah.
Keith Kalfas 37:58
Interesting and check out his podcast. as well and then Michael Dahlke. No, no, no he's not. He's busy making lots of money.
Bobby Walker 38:04
Yeah, he's busy doing stuff.
Keith Kalfas 38:06
Alright, guys. Later
