June 9, 2025 • 49 mins
What transforms a simple business transaction into a life-changing moment of connection? For Idan Shpizear, founder of 911 Restoration, the answer lies in truly seeing people first, then addressing their practical needs.
When Idan arrived in America with barely $1,000 and limited English skills, the path forward wasn't clear. Sharing a one-bedroom apartment with four friends, they had exactly 30 days to make enough money for rent. Their entry point? Carpet cleaning – communicating through hand gestures while slowly building vocabulary specific to their trade.
The pivotal moment came when Idan was called to extract water from a flooded home. While his team charged $600 for the extraction, another company arrived afterward, bringing equipment and charging $15,000 for full restoration services. But something crucial was missing: they completely ignored the homeowner's emotional distress.
This observation sparked the revolutionary "Fresh Start" philosophy that would define 911 Restoration. Idan recognized that during property disasters, homeowners experience emotional disasters simultaneously. By teaching his team to take deep breaths before entering homes, genuinely listen to concerns, and help clients see possibility amidst chaos, he created both a thriving business and a vehicle for positive impact.
From this human-centered approach, Idan built a franchise empire now spanning 120 owners across 330 territories. His leadership philosophy evolved too – regularly asking himself "If I fired myself today, why would I hire me back?" led him to transition from CEO to founder, recognizing he could add more value by building momentum in specific projects rather than managing daily operations.
Perhaps most profound is Idan's perspective on wealth: "Real wealth is based on our ability to really experience every moment." This wisdom extends beyond business to encompass the true measure of a successful life – being fully present for each interaction, challenge, and opportunity.
Connect with Idan on LinkedIn to learn more about his fresh start approach to business and life.
Thanks for listening & being part of the Mindset Cafe Community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, it's Mindset Cafe.
We all about that mindset.
Gotta stay focused, neversettle for less.
It's all in your head how youthink you manifest.
So get ready to rise, cause weabout to be the best.
Gotta switch it up.
Gotta break the old habits.
Get your mind right.
Turn your dreams into habits.
No negative vibes, onlypositive thoughts.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
What is up, guys?
Welcome back to another episodeof the Mindset Cafe podcast.
Man, I do have to say, me andthis amazing guest have just
been recording for the last 30minutes and crushing it until me
only realized that I wasn'teven recording.
So we're about to run some ofit back.
But, honestly, I already know,and I don't even want to give
them too much of an intro,because this was just.
(00:42):
We just started off with, rightout the gate, so much
information being dropped.
But Idan Shapiro is on the showand he has been dropping
knowledge for the last 30minutes, so we're going to run
it back for you guys to be ableto listen to.
He is the CEO and founder of 911Restoration and, honestly, his
story is something you guys needto take your notebooks out and
(01:03):
get ready, because I've beenjust in awe of a lot of his
story.
But you know, I'll give youguys some of the stuff that
we've been talking about.
He came to this country and hestarted with, you know,
basically no reassurance and hecame here with a friend not
knowing, basically, if it wasgoing to work out.
The things that he thought ofthe American dream was quickly
(01:26):
found out that he you know, itwas all just that.
You know, it was this image inhis head.
He got here with you know alittle over, you know a thousand
dollars, and was able to buy acar and essentially get a place
to live with his buddies andrealize, like we need to make
money, right, so you don't, ifyou want to, just you know,
(01:47):
we'll touch from right there.
Just your your first thoughtsof you know when you first came
to the country and we'll kind ofdive in on that point.
But you know, guys, I do wantto say one more time take your
notebooks out, cause this, thisman, is full of knowledge, but
it don't let's, let's dive in inthere.
Look, you got to this country,in in.
What was it like?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
yeah.
So, as you said, where you know, save a thousand dollar and
came here didn't really speakthe language, didn't really know
the culture or anything, justsaw in the movie.
You know, america, money growsin the trees.
Everything is super easy.
Every house come with a pool.
We're going to be rich in twominutes and and landed here and
we discover the opportunity isdefinitely here, but we need to
(02:29):
put a lot of work in, right, thesize is here, the system is.
What's amazing?
I mean, especially when youcome from a different country,
the system here really supportsyou, right.
It's not stopping you fromreaching the goals or the
heights that you want to reach.
So, for us, coming to Americawas, you know, it was a huge
(02:50):
learning experience.
Right, it was a big stretch forus, going from a place of
learning a new language,learning a new culture, not
really having enough money.
I mean, as you said, we knewthat in 30 days we need to make
enough money to pay rent, eventhough we're five guys in one
bedroom apartment, so each oneof us paid about $150.
(03:12):
But for us it was.
We have 30 days to make enoughmoney, right?
So that really was our welcometo America and somebody was nice
enough to give us a job as acarpet cleaner.
Right, they gave us a two-daytraining.
We bought a Volvo in 1978 forabout $800.
So each one of us was $400 or$500, including insurance and
(03:32):
registration and all that.
And we shoved the carpetcleaning machine in the back of
the car and we just got a fewaddresses.
So we need to go there andclean carpet.
Now, we barely spoke thelanguage, so for us it was how
do we sell carpet cleaning Notreally speaking the language?
I just need to figure out a fewwords.
Speaking with my hands.
I'm here to clean the carpet,right, doing all the movement
(03:54):
and everything, and yeah, sothat's how we started, and so I
mean, we didn't even talk aboutthis before.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
But I didn't even talk about this before, but I
didn't even.
I didn't even think about thispart too, not speaking the
language and everything.
When?
When I mean, obviously youspeak, amazing, you know English
now.
So, like what, when did youdecide to start learning English
?
Like how was that transitionCause?
I mean, I know English isprobably there.
I don't know this, but this iswhat I've heard is English is
probably one of the hardestlanguages to learn.
I've heard is English isprobably one of the hardest
(04:25):
languages to learn.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So how was that process for you?
So we just knew we have tolearning.
I mean, I'll tell you how badit was, right?
So when we parked the car onthe side of the street you know,
sometime you cannot park onMonday or Tuesday or Thursday,
right, the days that you can orcannot park we used to stop
people on the side of the roadand ask them if it's okay to
park today.
This is how bad it was.
(04:51):
But the way we practice is firstof all, so.
We got a few kind of keywordsthat we can use when we come in
to clean the carpet.
But then every opportunity,right, we're driving down the
roads.
It's like let's try to readevery sign, every commercial,
(05:12):
let's try to say it out loud,let's just practice and say it
again and again and again,getting a newsletter, the
newspaper and just sitting thereand just trying really hard to
start pronouncing every word.
It's very different when youlearn the language.
When you are in the place wherethis is the only language that
people speak like, you learn itmuch, much faster, right?
(05:34):
So it's not.
It's not the same thing that ifI was in israel and trying to
learn english, I'm actually inamerica, surrounded by here, it,
it's everywhere around me, soit's much, much faster,
especially when you learn aspecific vocabulary, right?
So I, I was very focused onwhat do I say when I get to the
house?
How can I speak with a client?
(05:55):
So, my, we got better, but invery limited level of
conversation, right?
So, even if I went out to a barand I met a girl, probably I
will talk to her about carpetcleaning, because this is where
most of my vocabulary.
To give you an example.
But look, within the first year, we pretty much knew all the
(06:17):
words that we need to knowaround the business world carpet
cleaning, the type of shampoos,the machine and everything that
we use.
That was pretty good.
And then we kept expanding.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
No, that's, that's awesome, and I think that you
know that does probably help.
You know, being surrounded byit, and I mean, something we
were talking about previously isthat you had that no plan B
mentality.
Right, it was.
This is the dream, you know,and it was a lot of people try
to use that.
You know I have, you know, noplan B.
(06:49):
It's like you, you painted aperfect picture of it because
you were saying, like, I didn'thave anything to go back to,
right, like, like, even though Iwas struggling here, there was
opportunity here, and so one ofthe references that we were
talking about was you know, youwere just driving down the
street and you were seeing carsthat you know you could put
(07:10):
money down and just, you know,make a car payment, like that's
not something that you werenormally used to back in Israel.
Right, and so I think we takethat for granted a lot of times
is not just the ability tocommunicate, but the ability and
opportunity that we do havehere in America.
Right, because it's it's, we'rejust born into it and we think
(07:31):
that you know one, I know,traveling to other places, and
you know, people from Americafeel so entitled.
They think everyone speaksEnglish and it's like you know,
try to learn the language alittle bit.
But you know, realizing that,again, you traveled here with
nothing.
You, you lived in an apartment.
You know five guys in a singlebedroom and you got a job.
Right, people that say theycan't get a job, it's like
(07:53):
there's jobs out there.
You know what are you willingto do and so let's, let's take a
turn on.
You now are working as a carpetcleaner, Right, and one of the
biggest things that I think youmentioned is something that you
noticed from the client as youwere, you know, about to clean
someone's carpets.
Let's dive into that a littlebit.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah, so that's kind of how we went from the carpet
cleaning to the restoration,right.
So probably about seven, eightmonths in we got a call for a
flooded house and now we knewnothing about the restoration
side of the business, nothingabout blowers and dehumidifiers
and insurance and exactimatecompletely out of our experience
.
So we came in.
(08:34):
It was about three bedroomscompletely flooded.
We extract the water.
We charged $600.
For us it was a lot of money.
We celebrated that night byeating Chinese food.
It was a big, big day for us.
But as we were there extractingthe water, another company came
in and they came in and theybrought blowers and humidifiers
and starting to pull the carpetand move furniture and we were
(08:55):
like what's going on here?
Because we didn't know anythingabout this part.
We thought you just extract thewater and you let it dry and
that's it.
So one we notice okay, there'sa much bigger project here that
we knew nothing about.
Later we discovered that theycharge $15,000.
Now, so, as much as I'm verythankful for my $600, $15,000
(09:17):
sounds very, very good to me,especially because I'm already
here, right?
And the second thing that wenotice is they're not really
paying attention to thehomeowner.
Right, the homeowner isstanding there with us and he is
going through an emotionaldisaster.
He's asking us questions that Ihave no idea how to answer is
like who is going to pay for it?
The insurance company is goingto cover it, how it's going to
(09:37):
work, and on and on and on.
And I'm saying, okay, thiscompany came in, they're doing
this big project.
They got him to sign this longagreement.
He has no idea what's going on.
Something seems off to me.
And then we left, and then, amonth after, we had the same
scenario and the same scenario.
So it's happened a few times.
And at one point I'm standingthere and I'm saying like, okay,
(09:59):
I want to get into thisbusiness, but I want to do it
from a different approach.
I want to pay attention to thehomeowner, because I think the
right way to approach this thingis, first of all, let's work
with the human being that is infront of us, that's going
through an emotional disaster,and then I'll take care of the
the rest of the structure, buthuman first.
(10:21):
So after that day, every extradollar we made we invested back
in the business.
We bought blowers, we boughthumidifiers and we just keep
buying enough equipment so wecan start doing our own work.
Next call we got, we dideverything, beginning to end,
and we really paid attention tothe homeowner.
So I walked in.
Homeowner is in front of me.
(10:41):
What's going on?
I'm just going to be here, I'mgoing to listen to.
What is it that you're tryingto achieve today and how are you
going to deal with everythingthat's going on?
And I noticed there is a shiftin the relationship, like there
is a real appreciation to ourapproach to it.
And then we did the entireproject and then we started
doing another one and anotherone.
(11:02):
We're not so many I mean, itwas every so often but we start
seeing that it's working.
The way we're treating thecustomers makes a difference.
You know, I can even share astory.
That was kind of when we becameindependent.
But not far from where I livetoday, we got a call over the
weekend and I'm getting to thehouse and I'm standing outside
(11:22):
and I'm hearing screaming insidethe house.
So the husband screamed at thewife and the stressed out and
I'm like, holy shit, I'm goingto walk out of this place.
And I know it's stressful.
I'm like, ok, take a deepbreath.
We are here to bring calmness.
First of all, I want to helpthem to calm down so we can take
care of it.
So I'm walking in, payingattention, go through my process
(11:44):
, kind of try to bring somecalmness into their house.
Everybody came down, we did theentire project, everything was
great.
A week after I'm getting a phonecall from the husband, from the
homeowner.
I'm like, hey, what's going on?
Hey, idan, how are you?
How can I help you?
Idan, I'm just having a reallyhard day.
I just wanted to talk to youfor five minutes Because when
(12:07):
you came over to our house youreally helped me to find this
space, the calmness, and at thatmoment I'm like, okay, it's
working.
That's really what we can do asa company.
That was a moment for me that Iremember I'm sitting there I'm
like, okay, that's the culture Iwant to build.
(12:27):
I want to build something thatget more people to feel this way
.
And I realize I'm saying, ifI'm doing it the right way,
right, the way we're approachingit, the different in the rest
of the day for that family cango from screaming and yelling
and stress to of the day forthat family can go from
(12:49):
screaming and yelling and stressto sitting around having a calm
conversation, seeing thepositive in the negative.
And I think if I can be thecompany that played that role in
people's life, that is ablessing, so I can build
something amazing.
It's very lucrative.
It's great business to be inthe restoration business, but I
can also do something good forpeople, right?
That's where we came up withthis kind of the idea of the
(13:10):
culture of the fresh start,right.
This is we want to bring freshstarts to people's life.
We want to build the freshstart culture right, and the
idea behind the fresh start isthat every moment have unlimited
amount of possibilities.
It depends what you choose tofocus on, right?
So if I can come in to peoplewhen they're going through a
(13:31):
disaster or trying to build abusiness or whatever it is, and
I can bring that mindset, thatspace so people can shift their
focus from something negative tosomething positive, and I can
play a small part of it.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I'm happy.
That's amazing.
They're going through anemotional disaster, right, and
when you notice this because,especially, you know being an
entrepreneur and you you knowrunning a company you kind of
and if you start getting intojust the mundane routine of
everything, well then that meansyour employees are too right,
your team is too Like if theyfollow what you do, right.
(14:09):
And so what you noticed wasanother company that had already
been doing that.
They're viewing the dollar.
They had the client sign.
It is what it is.
The project is now getting done.
You should be happy that theproject's done.
It's like, take a second,realize that their life just
came to a halt for a second.
They can't do their normaldaily things that made them feel
(14:32):
safe, comfortable, all thosethings.
And you're like this is not howbusiness should be done, and a
lot of people want to becomeentrepreneurs, I think, because
they see the dollar sign right.
I mean, like even you, younotice that you know $600 versus
$15,000, right, people see thatillusion, but then they forget
(14:53):
that you know to get there andeven pass.
There it's.
You're dealing with people,right.
You're selling to people,you're servicing people, like at
the end of the day, it's allabout the people that you're
serving and if you do thatcorrectly, then, like you've
you've experienced, you get thereferrals.
You get people that just callyou Cause you know, because
(15:13):
you're a company and you're aperson that goes above and
beyond Right.
Too many times entrepreneursespecially will be like oh sorry
, I don't work at this time,call me at 8 am tomorrow.
It's like what is five minutes,10 minutes, like to affect
someone's life.
You know, like they're callingyou because they view you as a
role model or as that personthey feel safe with right.
(15:35):
So it's like viewing that in inwhat you've done shows that
like if you just value people,things work out, or tend to work
out a lot better.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, you know people want to work with people that
care right, that have passion towhat they do.
Work with people that careright, that have passion to what
they do right.
It's a look you're.
You are developing something.
I'm sure if you walk into yourgym and I work with somebody
that he really cares and you'repassionate and you have the
knowledge and he really paysattention to me makes the
(16:06):
biggest difference in the world.
You know there was a researchby by harvard.
I mean, I read it many, manyyears ago.
I use it in my conviction andhow I speak with my franchisees
that if the doctor spent fivemore minutes with a patient, the
chances for him to get suedgoes down by 85%.
Five more minutes Because nowwe have the relationship, now
(16:31):
I'm not just a number for you.
You actually showed me somecareness, right.
So the same thing, when I kindof look at the fresh start
mentality, one of the thingsthat I did with my inspectors,
with people that went out to thehouse, is I want you to, before
you walk into the house, I wantyou to do this thing Just take
three deep breaths, relax.
(16:53):
I want you to put everythinginside and I want you to focus
on how you are going to servethe people that are in front of
you, and the biggest gift thatyou can give them is just listen
to them.
Just listen, that's it.
People over underestimate theimportance of actually listening
(17:14):
to somebody, right?
How many times with the husbandand wives and friend is like
just listen to me already, right, because we are so busy with
our own monkey mind all the time.
So that's teaching our guys tolisten makes such a big
difference, because when peoplefeel that somebody is actually
listening to them, therelationship is there.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It is so true, a hundred percent, like if you
listen, you can also answer thequestions that the person has
concerns to, and not just youknow.
And when I say listen, like howyou're saying it too is you
know, you're not just sittingthere and agreeing and agreeing
just waiting to say your nextsentence that you've had in your
(17:56):
head.
You're sitting there listeningand then you address what
they're saying, even if it's astatement, you reassure them
that you know what they justsaid and that typically creates
a better bond and a betterrelationship, because the person
feels validated, they feelheard, and so forth.
But also you, typically, youdon't need to.
(18:17):
You know, let's say we'll gointo sales.
Right, salespeople.
A new salesperson tries to sellthe product or sell the service
.
Right, A great salesperson.
You know sales, the sales, thesolution.
But then an amazing salespersonjust listens and addresses the
concerns.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Exactly.
So one of the things that I'mdoing with our business
development people that gettingout there and build
relationships and you're notallowed to pitch Yep, I only
want you to listen good enoughuntil you find ways to add value
, and it doesn't need to beabout the work that we are in.
(18:56):
So when I used to go out thereand meet people that manage
buildings or adjusters and onand on, I used to ask a lot of
questions and then I try tofigure out what is their goal,
what is it that they are tryingto achieve and can I help them
achieve their goal?
Regardless of water, mold orfire, can I help them achieve
(19:17):
their goal.
So, if you want to go frommanaging apartment building with
40 units and you want to go tosomebody that is 150 units, what
is it in his journey that heneed to learn that he can add
more value so he can grow in hiscareer?
And then sometime I'll go backto the office, or a day or two
days after I'll send them likean article that talks about how
(19:38):
to advance, nothing about what Ido, because it's it's it's
become so clear.
It's it's building relationshiplike people want especially.
Look in our business water, moldand fire.
People hoping that it's nevergoing to happen to them.
Right, it's not something thatthey're thinking, okay, the
summer then I need to, you know,clean my carpet, do earth
(19:59):
cleaning, do different things,do my roofing Mold, water, fire.
I hope I'm never going to needto work with you.
So it's reallyrelationship-based, because I
never know when it's going tohappen, but I want to know that
(20:20):
we're building a meaningfulrelationship.
So when it's happened, you knowthat I'm here for you.
Right, and today are a I don'tknow if you have a chance to see
it, but our commercial onlinewe have video commercials.
That's saying we hope we neverget to work with you because if
we do, we know it's not a goodday for you.
But if you, do need us we'll beable to serve and work with you,
right?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
so we're really connecting to this emotional
part of it no, definitely, andactually I was just going to say
that too.
So that's so funny, that's yourcommercial.
I was like you know, you'rebuilding a relationship, and
what I was going to say is likeletting them know like I hope I
never you don't have to workwith you, because that means
it's it's not a good day or it'sit's not.
You know you're not, you'regoing through a disaster.
(20:55):
So it's so funny that you saidthat that's your commercial,
because that was literally whatwas going through my head, but
at the same time, realizing that, like the person that you're
building a relationship with, itmight never happen to them,
right, but it doesn't mean thatthey don't have their own
network of people, that it doeshappen to someone in there.
And then you come top of mindbecause you built a relationship
and you built a friend.
(21:15):
That's someone that they cantrust.
You know that actually valuedand listened just to their life
and what's going on, enough, somuch that you know they're like
this person cares just about meas a person.
I can't imagine you know howmuch they actually care about
their clients, exactly, exactly,you know so.
So now, all of a sudden, youhave this company.
(21:36):
It's thriving, right.
You go, you, you startedbuilding out a team and you know
, testing stuff out, and we weretalking about, like the unknown
right and being an entrepreneurand being comfortable with
being in the unknown.
Now I want to take a pivot inthat and say what was that time
that you realized that youwanted to franchise this?
(21:57):
Because, as I can speak fromexperience, that is a step into
the unknown that I learned veryquickly.
It is a lot more than you thinkit is yeah, so I got the same
experience.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
So 2000, the end of 2005, is when Katrina happened,
right.
So we went out to New York.
At that point I had many tracks, a lot of equipment, we have
great team in place, and on andon.
So when Katrina happened, it'slike you know what I want to get
out there and we had a fewrelationship also and, um, I
said I want to experience it'sgoing to be to work in this type
of scenario.
(22:32):
So we went out.
There was a devastation, peoplelost everything and yeah, there
was so much work and there wasmany other restoration companies
that came in to do work fromdifferent places in the US,
right, so we're not reallycompeting with each other, we
just work for everybody.
We even share clients becausewe have a huge waiting list for
(22:54):
everybody.
We even share clients becausewe have a huge waiting list.
And so I got to meet a lot ofother restoration owners and we
were very open with each otherbecause we're not really
competing.
And what I realized again andagain and again that most of
them been in the business for 15years, 20 years, and they're
averaging around 700, 000 amillion dollar a year 1.2.
Now I'm brand new in thiscountry and my business is
(23:15):
really striving um and I'm likewhat's going on here?
I barely speak the language.
I'm new here.
I got to this number.
These guys are amazing guys.
They really care, they're there, they're doing the work, like
why they're stuck.
And then I noticed that as muchas I spend more time with them,
they really.
They can talk to me for hoursabout the blowers and the way
(23:36):
they set up the van and the waythey cut the wall and how to set
up exactly.
So they're very lost in thetrade itself.
And in my mind, like, okay, Ican talk about it for 10 minutes
, but let's talk about strategyand customer experience and sale
and vision and where you wantto go and here and there.
So I didn't hear thisconversation.
So I said to a few of the guysjust kind of test the water.
(23:58):
I said listen, you're a greatguy, you know how to do the work
, I'm sure you can take care ofyour clients.
You are the stand-up, freshstart mentality.
What if we'll try something?
We'll create some agreementbetween us and let's see if I
can help you grow?
To where is it that you reallywant to grow?
Right?
Because it was very clear to methat when those guys started
(24:20):
the business they didn't havethe dream and said you know what
, in 10 years from today, Istill want to be in the truck
and carry blowers.
I'm sure it wasn't their dream.
Right, they have a certainlifestyle.
There is a certain thing thatthey wanted to achieve.
But over time people startedgiving up on their dreams
because life happened.
So I said if I can be the onethat can help them cross the
(24:41):
numbers and we can work together, so let's see how it's going to
work.
My mantra was and it still istoday can we do one plus one
equal five type of thing?
If we come together, can wemake something better together?
So I came back to la, I reachedout back to some of the guys
and we we gave it a try, right?
So first guy was about seven,seven hundred thousand.
(25:04):
We started the relationship ayear in the business group.
I did with another one andanother one and another one and
I only used license agreement.
I didn't think aboutfranchising.
I didn't really know so muchabout franchising.
I knew the idea of McDonald's.
I knew the idea of like foodchain, not really thinking about
any of it.
By my 10th license agreement.
(25:25):
The lawyer that wrote thelicense agreement for me.
He's like Idan, you cannot keepdoing this license agreement.
It's not allowed.
They're using your name,they're using your colors,
they're using the logo.
You are becoming a franchiseand I'm like, okay, I know the
concept, but what it means.
It's like Idan, if you want tokeep doing this way, you need to
(25:45):
become a franchise.
And I probably went through thesame thing that you went holy
franchise agreement and fdd andregistration and on and on.
So I just jumped through theprocess, really going into this
unknown, but I knew that I canadd value.
That was very clear to mebecause I did again and again
(26:06):
and again and again.
It worked and that's really howwe became a franchise.
My my idea at one point thatI'm saying, wow, great guys,
different experiences, differentperspective.
What if I can get a hundredpeople in the room carrying the
same logo and sharing the freshstart?
(26:27):
That was my thing.
Can we make the fresh startmentality all around the United
States?
Can it really be done?
And we just went for it.
So that's, really how we did ourfranchise.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
No, I mean that's so funny.
I mean, when I went to afranchise, I started seeing the
difference between licensing andfranchising and I was like it
kind of looks the same, right.
And so I ended up hiring afranchise advisor first and he
was like, yeah, you can't dowhat you want to do.
We're putting logos on thewalls.
And I was like, oh, I got youand I actually just helped a
(27:04):
friend.
They did the same thing as you.
They went licensing.
They had nine locations thatwere franchises under a
licensing agreement and I waslike, guys, you got to be
careful, like you know.
But so how many locations areyou guys at now?
Speaker 1 (27:20):
So we have about 120 owners.
We're covering about 330territories.
We're growing into Canada.
Yeah, we have a lot of excitingthings happening.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Dang All right.
Well, I mean, that's amazing.
That is a huge accomplishment.
When did you guys startfranchising?
What year was you guys launched?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
So we started the franchising process around 2007.
We officially startedfranchising around 2009.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Okay, officially, yeah, oh wow, around 2007.
We officially start franchisingaround 2009.
Okay, yeah, oh wow.
And that was during like the,the stock crash and and
everything like that too.
So it was not, it was not in anecessarily a good time to
escalate a business, but I mean,look, at you now.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
You know, at the same time I went through the process
of the.
So, besides building thefranchise, I also had a few
other businesses.
I had a kiosk in differentmalls.
We had about 150 people workingfor us in different kiosks.
We invested a lot in realestate and here and there and
around 2008,.
Yeah, everything's starting toreally crushed.
(28:25):
Yeah, everything's starting toreally crushed.
So we went through that.
As we're franchising, as we'reopening our location, as we're
making some changes, yeah, itwas crazy times.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
So I mean, are you?
Speaker 1 (28:41):
still in all those different industries, or are you
?
you know, I mean of course, Ihave now different investment
and different things that I'minvolved in, but no, at one
point that's kind of going intothe mindset right, and breaking
through our own limitation andideas that we are holding, and
on and on.
So no, at one point I basicallylet go of all my other
(29:02):
businesses that I was involvedin.
I also had the online.
So, because we figure out howto generate leads online and the
way I finance the franchisegrowth, I start up an online
lead generation company.
So we basically served about ahundred businesses around here
just doing PPC, seo, buildingwebsites and on and on and on.
(29:26):
And, yeah, I like to jump intodifferent places and then
integrate everything together.
It's just I love it, yeah.
But at a certain point I'm like, okay, franchise is the way we
want to go.
That's going to be the mainbusiness.
There's people that I want tomake sure that I add as much
value as I can to my franchisees.
(29:47):
So I want to bring themarketing just for my
franchisees.
I develop technology for othercompanies.
I brought it in just for myfranchisees, right?
So I went through the processof like bringing everything
together and really stayingfocused on just let me make sure
that my franchisees are supersuccessful.
I mean as much as I can.
Of course, we need both of usto collaborate to find success,
(30:11):
but yeah, we went through thatprocess.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
No, I mean that's so awesome and I mean I think
that's the hard thing is like asan entrepreneur you always see
that shiny object right andbeing able to not contain
yourself but essentially holdyourself accountable, to be all
about one thing or or you knowyour core things, is definitely
difficult.
I mean, believe me, I'm guiltyof it as well.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
The way we wire this ideas all the time.
Right, you cannot even stop it.
It's like, oh wow, I see anopportunity here.
I see an opportunity here.
But you know, learning thatit's building a team.
I'm very proud of the team thatwe have today in place.
I mean we have Miri.
She's our CEO today.
I moved to the founder positionabout three years ago.
(31:00):
We've been working together nowfor almost 20 years, 15 plus
years, you know so greatrelationship, great people in
place.
Yeah, so sometimes, as you say,we get excited because we see
the opportunity.
We want to make it happen, weknow how to make it happen, but
then there's a lot more to itthan building a team making sure
(31:21):
that there's alignment.
Do we really want to do it?
That's the big thing.
How much do you really want it?
Right?
It's something that we need toclarify again and again, to make
sure that we're not doingthings just because the idea of
it is great, but to make surethat every cell in our body is
really aligned and and committedand we're really into it to
(31:44):
build it.
But it's not easy.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
No, I mean, that's something that's interesting
that you said, like you broughta CEO on and you moved to the
founder position.
Right, what was that mindsetshift for you being like, okay,
I need someone to, or I wantsomeone to replace me on the CEO
part, and you know, continue toscale and grow and take that,
you know, not backseat, butdifferent seat, essentially as
(32:10):
the founder.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah it's really understanding strength and
weaknesses, right.
So you know, there is, as afounder, I mean especially with
me.
I'm great in starting things,building momentum, putting the
right people together, but whenit comes to a certain size, that
it's all about processes andthings need to work in a certain
way and the way we scale thecompany.
(32:35):
I just started saying she cando it much, much better than me.
And if I play a differentposition, it's more of jumping
in whenever they need me, takingon specific projects, help with
things that are more marketingsales, being out there doing
what I'm doing right now, right,so kind of really working on
(32:58):
getting our name out there.
And then I mean, look, fourmonths ago I jumped in and I
started working with thefranchise sales team.
Right, I saw that I can addvalue.
There's some changes that wewant to implement.
So for me to jump in, work on aproject for three, four, five
months and then hand it back tothe team, that's something that
I love to do.
That's something that I feelthat I can add much, much more
(33:20):
value than being the CEO.
I was great as a CEO to acertain point and then it's not
really my thing.
I'm getting bored in theday-to-day yeah, right, at a
certain point I know that I canadd more value and build
momentum is a big thing for me,right.
(33:41):
So for me to jump in and buildmomentum kind of going, spirit,
energy, passion, understandingthe whole business at the same
time, the ability to focus onsomething so specific and take
it from zero to a hundredinstead of doing it in two years
because I have freedom, I cando it in four months, right.
(34:03):
So I see now she's great CEO.
I'm great as I will go and helpand see what needs to be done.
And going back to really havinga clear vision where is it that
we want to get, why we want toget there, making sure that
everybody has a very clear whatis it that they really want?
(34:24):
That's become a very big part ofour conversation, especially in
the past two or three months,because it's amazing to have
processes.
It's very important, you know,holding people accountable, job
description, seeing exactly howwe're being very efficient as a
business, but you need to makesure that the spirit is there.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, that is huge, it's a very very important part
yeah.
No, that's huge, I mean.
So what was it like for you?
You know, growing a company andI mean it sounds like you're
the visionary type, right,instead of like the integrator
and so forth, which I mean I candefinitely say I'm more of that
visionary.
You know, I put the hat on ofthe integrator as needed, the
(35:11):
hat on of the integrator asneeded, but what was that like
for you?
Running now a team andfranchise locations, you know,
for 10, 10, 12 years, you know,because you said she's been the
last three years ish, right.
So you know what was that likefor you growing a team, managing
all the different employees,the franchisees and all that
kind of stuff.
How was that for you?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
It was good.
I I always enjoyed it.
I just wasn't as so I liked.
Maybe it was will be too much,but I love to give freedom Right
.
So if, if I feel that we'realigned on the, on the vision,
(35:48):
and you can see what I'm seeingat this point.
I love to give a lot of freedomNow.
That can work very well whenyou build a company to a certain
degree, but now we need tostart implementing more
processes, more accountability,like to make sure.
Now we're going from, you know,for example, five people in the
marketing department to 30people in the marketing
(36:09):
department.
Okay, now we need a lot morestructure, right?
It can't be okay.
You don't give us the freedomto play around and let's figure
out the thing.
Of course there's room for it,but now there is a shift to it.
So in the past few years, stillas a CEO, I started having the
(36:29):
feeling like I'm enjoying it,we're doing it, we're growing,
but I don't think it's my thinganymore.
So at this point I made surethat I have a very good
operation person with me.
(36:50):
And then at one point it's makesure, okay, do I really need to
stay the CEO, or there'ssomebody that can come in that
really can do a great job as aCEO?
And for me, honestly, at onepoint I feel like even a little
bit of freedom, like, okay, Ican go back to be entrepreneur
so so was your.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Is your ceo?
Was that your former coo?
Speaker 1 (37:14):
yeah, yeah, okay, we've been working here for many
, many years.
She's been going through allthe department.
She knows the franchisees verywell, she knows yeah and she and
she's perfect for her.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
No, that's that's a huge, and that's a huge thing
for you too, right, you know,you, you got your, your freedom
back to do what you want,contribute how you want, but you
also sometimes as the founder,especially in in the early years
, you know, I'm sure it was likeyou're the founder, the CEO,
and then you get to a pointwhere you realize that you don't
(37:49):
have to be the CEO Like your,your business, your baby has
been built, it's grown, it's ateenager or it's an adult Right,
and sometimes I think somefounders stay the CEO too long
where they become the bottleneck, absolutely Right.
So, being able to acknowledgethat and realize that within
(38:10):
yourself you know whether it'sfrom burnout or you know
whatever, you're just not havingthe you know the same amount of
drive is like well, this personhas been with me in my ride or
die in this and they have thatdrive.
Why not just give it to themand I can still be here, jump in
when I want and basically givemy full intention and
(38:30):
contribution to them when I can.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah, yeah, so I used to do this thing is every so
often.
It was every like three to sixmonths max.
I used to sit with myself and Iused to go through this process
and it says you're done, you'refired.
Okay, you're done, why would Ihire you again?
Where can you add more value?
(38:54):
And I seriously will have thisconversation with myself and I
will write it down.
And over time, when you do itagain and again and again, you
start recognizing the areas thatyou really add value in and how
you really operate in a certainway.
Right, Some people are verycomfortable in process-oriented
every day doing kind of not thesame thing, but you know what I
(39:18):
mean.
And some people thrive whenthey're on for a day or for two
days, jumping from onedepartment to another department
right, and I start recognizingover time that I'm much more
effective when I'm working thisway.
So it's really the.
The decision was not so much ofI don't want to do it anymore,
(39:39):
or I want to do it or burnout,or I have no energy.
I love the business that I'm in.
I have tons of energy.
It's just where can?
I be more effective yeah, andthat was the recognition of if
I'm staying here, I'm not aseffective and I think I'm
becoming the bottleneck of thebusiness.
But if I'm going to work thisway, I can add a lot more value.
(40:01):
I can go back and builddifferent momentum in different
areas of the business while Idon't have to work within that
structure business, while Idon't have to work within that
structure.
So I just recognize that when Ihave more freedom and being
more dynamic with differentparts, different areas of the
business and going and learningabout another business and
(40:21):
integrating it within ourbusiness right, innovation,
learning about new technologies,being part of other companies
right.
So that really was my insightinto okay, if I give myself
freedom and I work that way, Ican add a lot more value to the
(40:43):
business.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So I set up, because one of the things that I'm
always aware of like OK, withour team, what is it that you're
really trying to achieve?
Speaker 1 (40:54):
What are your strengths and how can I get you
or give you the space so youstart building your own momentum
in the business?
And to build momentum, you wantyour people to be excited about
what is it that they do?
You want your people to beexcited about what is it that
they do right and help them seeit in a way that is aligned
within their own growth, withinwhat they want to achieve, and
(41:17):
also give them a sense ofownership.
Right, that is a big thing forme.
I want them to own it right.
So I went through a thing witheverybody on the team.
Everybody is a CEO today.
We don't have one CEO at thetop.
Everybody is a CEO today.
We don't have one CEO at thetop.
Everybody is a CEO today.
How would you build yourdepartment, even if you are one
person, if you are, right now,the CEO of what you do, how
(41:38):
would you do it?
So we went through it and yousee how people, once you change
the perspective of how they lookat what they do, what they do,
change.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Yeah, that's huge perspective of how they look at
what they do, what they dochange.
Yeah, that's huge.
Yeah, that is huge.
I mean, it is true.
I mean especially if someonehas buy in, and even from the
business standpoint, but fromthe customer side Right and this
is why we were talking aboutasking questions earlier is if
you ask questions and thecustomer, the client, is
answering the questions,especially like in the gym
(42:14):
industry, you know they came tothe gym for a reason, like they
don't have a natural disaster ora home disaster, you know, but
they have some disaster in onearea of their life that they
want to change in a sense Rightand to fix that problem.
Obviously, you know they're likeokay, I need to work out and
eat clean, but it's like why,why do you need to do that?
(42:36):
You know, and you ask why.
And you let them start to belike okay, I think this is going
to be the best remedy for me,and so forth.
And typically they're going tohave more buy-in, just like if
you said your employees or yourteam, you let them be the CEO,
and then they come up with somesolutions and you're like that's
not I mean cause we can't thinkof everything right.
Like we have, I mean we canprovide our, our take on a
(42:58):
solution, but someone that's inthe weeds of it knows a little
bit more of you, know how tomake it efficient, or so forth.
And then you're like I didn'teven think about that, Like
(43:18):
let's, let's try it.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
And now they're going to try it with 10 times the
amount of effort they were givenbefore, because they don't.
They want their solution towork, also because now they had
a contribution to it.
Exactly, exactly.
I'll give you.
I'll give you a small example,if you want to stay on that
subject for another 60 seconds.
My customer service team, right.
So one day we brought all thecompany into big, like we had a
day event kind of uh foreverybody in the company, and I
asked every department tell me,what is it that you do?
(43:40):
I want to hear it in in yourwords what is it that you do?
And the customer service teamis like we're sitting there in
the room and that's what we do.
The phone ring, we answer thephone and then we send it to our
customers, and that's it.
We're basically just answeringthe phone and then we send it to
our customers, and that's it.
We're basically just answeringthe phone all day long and
dispatching the call out.
I said, okay, technicallythat's what you do, but let's
look at what you really do.
Somebody calls you that just hadan emotional disaster.
(44:02):
His house is upside down.
His biggest assets isinvestment in family's risk.
Right now he doesn't know whatto do and where to go and who to
talk to.
You're the first person that hegets to talk to.
The way you talk to him canchange his entire day.
If you make him feelcomfortable, if you make him
feel that you got him and you'regoing to help him.
(44:24):
First of all, you have a hugeimpact on him and his family.
The second part that you do nowyou connect them with a service
provider, with our franchiseethat have the press start
mentality that will go there andcontinue with the same message
that you just shared with them.
We're going to help them seethe positive in the negative.
How are you thinking we'reimpacting his life?
(44:46):
Oh, no, we're done.
Of course we're going to gothere.
We're going to do it right.
We're going to do it right.
We're going to take care of theclients.
We understand that it's goingto go through a disaster.
I say, okay, so this is what youdo.
You're actually being there forpeople that are going through
an emotional disaster and you'remaking sure that the best
restoration guy will get outthere and help them.
You need to see their bodylanguage the moment that they
(45:08):
saw it this way.
They're like, oh, wow, okay, soI do something important.
I'm not just answering thephone all day long.
I'm actually helping people.
Yes, that's what you do.
The moment that you change,help people see themselves in a
different light, they carrythemselves in a different way,
they have more ownership overwhat is it that they do, because
(45:30):
we tend to look at what we dois a very technical thing.
Right in our mission statementas a company, we have nothing
that talks about water, mold orfire.
We are the fresh start company.
That's what we do.
We bring fresh starts intopeople's life.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
No, that is true, and when you can shape someone's
perspective or change theirperspective, you change their
reality, right?
Because that's all, in myopinion.
That's all reality is is justperspective on life.
And so when you can shift thatperspective, even of a job title
or a job role or a jobdescription, and all of a sudden
they're like oh, you're right,I impact, you know, this is I
(46:10):
impact someone's day, impactsomeone's life.
I'm not just answering phones,right?
So that is so cool, so one.
I want to ask one last question, and I want to preface it by
saying this is not a tombstone,this is the Adan legacy wall,
right?
And on this legacy wall,essentially, you can write any
message, short or long, thatyou've learned from your life's
(46:36):
journey, both in just regularlife, in entrepreneurship.
But what would be the messagethat you would leave for the up
and coming?
Speaker 1 (46:40):
generations.
That real wealth is based onour ability to really experience
every moment is based on ourability to really experience
every moment.
That's what I that is.
As time goes by, um, you justrealize more and more that's
real wealth.
It's really our ability to bepresent and fully enjoy every
(47:03):
moment in our life, or not enjoy, even if you need to cry cry,
right.
But at this point you know, I'mseeing people that made it
financially and I'm seeingpeople here and there and I see
that everybody's so lost intheir own thoughts all the time
(47:24):
that doesn't matter what theyhave or where they are and what
they got.
They're kind of not really here.
And then you see somebody thatis here and you're saying, okay,
this is wealth, this is realwealth.
So if this is one thing thathas just become more and more
(47:47):
real for me, is that what weneed to strive for, everything
else is just a way for us tomove through it.
So we realize that being hereis the real wealth and what I'm
saying, being here is beingpresent.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
I love that.
I love that.
It is so true.
I mean, at the end of the day,we don't take anything with us,
right, but we do leave animprint and an impact on the
world, and that's through everyconversation, every interaction
that you've had with people, andthat's, in my opinion, what
legacy is, so that that isperfect.
That is amazing.
Where can people connect withyou and learn more about you?
(48:26):
Know your franchise, but alsoyou know about you, you know if
they want to connect with youpersonally.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Yeah, so learn more about the franchise is 911
restoration franchisecom and I'mmore active on LinkedIn, so,
idan Speiser, my name is uniqueenough and just type my name,
it's going to come up.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah, perfect.
Well, I mean again my apologiesfor the first.
You know 30 minutes not beingrecorded, but again, like this,
the time flew by and you knowthis is the first podcast I was
able to do an hour and a halfessentially.
You know, and without even youknow, needing needing any
questions, like you are a wealthof knowledge and I again, I
(49:06):
just want to say thank you somuch for taking the time out of
your data.
Come on and, you know, dropsome knowledge for the mindset
cafe, absolutely thank you.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
This was great.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
Really enjoyed our conversation yeah, and you're a
neighbor, so we will hang outyeah, definitely Positive
thoughts missing the game Life.
Mindset causes shits.
Got my mind on the prize.
I can't be distracted.
I stay on my grind.
No time to be slackin'.
I hustle harder.
(49:37):
I go against the current Cause.
I know my mind is rich.
Still be collectin'.
Yeah, it's Mindset Cafe.
We all about that mindset.
Gotta stay focused, neversettle for less.
It's all in your head how youthink you manifest.
So get ready to rise, cause weabout to be the best.
Gotta switch it up.
Gotta break the old habits.
Get your mind right.
Turn your dreams into habits.
No negative vibes, onlypositive thoughts.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
What is up, guys?
Welcome back to another episodeof the Mindset Cafe podcast.
Man, I do have to say, me andthis amazing guest have just
been recording for the last 30minutes and crushing it until me
only realized that I wasn'teven recording.
So we're about to run some ofit back.
But, honestly, I already know,and I don't even want to give
them too much of an intro,because this was just.
(00:42):
We just started off with, rightout the gate, so much
information being dropped.
But Idan Shapiro is on the showand he has been dropping
knowledge for the last 30minutes, so we're going to run
it back for you guys to be ableto listen to.
He is the CEO and founder of 911Restoration and, honestly, his
story is something you guys needto take your notebooks out and
(01:03):
get ready, because I've beenjust in awe of a lot of his
story.
But you know, I'll give youguys some of the stuff that
we've been talking about.
He came to this country and hestarted with, you know,
basically no reassurance and hecame here with a friend not
knowing, basically, if it wasgoing to work out.
The things that he thought ofthe American dream was quickly
(01:26):
found out that he you know, itwas all just that.
You know, it was this image inhis head.
He got here with you know alittle over, you know a thousand
dollars, and was able to buy acar and essentially get a place
to live with his buddies andrealize, like we need to make
money, right, so you don't, ifyou want to, just you know,
(01:47):
we'll touch from right there.
Just your your first thoughtsof you know when you first came
to the country and we'll kind ofdive in on that point.
But you know, guys, I do wantto say one more time take your
notebooks out, cause this, thisman, is full of knowledge, but
it don't let's, let's dive in inthere.
Look, you got to this country,in in.
What was it like?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
yeah.
So, as you said, where you know, save a thousand dollar and
came here didn't really speakthe language, didn't really know
the culture or anything, justsaw in the movie.
You know, america, money growsin the trees.
Everything is super easy.
Every house come with a pool.
We're going to be rich in twominutes and and landed here and
we discover the opportunity isdefinitely here, but we need to
(02:29):
put a lot of work in, right, thesize is here, the system is.
What's amazing?
I mean, especially when youcome from a different country,
the system here really supportsyou, right.
It's not stopping you fromreaching the goals or the
heights that you want to reach.
So, for us, coming to Americawas, you know, it was a huge
(02:50):
learning experience.
Right, it was a big stretch forus, going from a place of
learning a new language,learning a new culture, not
really having enough money.
I mean, as you said, we knewthat in 30 days we need to make
enough money to pay rent, eventhough we're five guys in one
bedroom apartment, so each oneof us paid about $150.
(03:12):
But for us it was.
We have 30 days to make enoughmoney, right?
So that really was our welcometo America and somebody was nice
enough to give us a job as acarpet cleaner.
Right, they gave us a two-daytraining.
We bought a Volvo in 1978 forabout $800.
So each one of us was $400 or$500, including insurance and
(03:32):
registration and all that.
And we shoved the carpetcleaning machine in the back of
the car and we just got a fewaddresses.
So we need to go there andclean carpet.
Now, we barely spoke thelanguage, so for us it was how
do we sell carpet cleaning Notreally speaking the language?
I just need to figure out a fewwords.
Speaking with my hands.
I'm here to clean the carpet,right, doing all the movement
(03:54):
and everything, and yeah, sothat's how we started, and so I
mean, we didn't even talk aboutthis before.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
But I didn't even talk about this before, but I
didn't even.
I didn't even think about thispart too, not speaking the
language and everything.
When?
When I mean, obviously youspeak, amazing, you know English
now.
So, like what, when did youdecide to start learning English
?
Like how was that transitionCause?
I mean, I know English isprobably there.
I don't know this, but this iswhat I've heard is English is
probably one of the hardestlanguages to learn.
I've heard is English isprobably one of the hardest
(04:25):
languages to learn.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So how was that process for you?
So we just knew we have tolearning.
I mean, I'll tell you how badit was, right?
So when we parked the car onthe side of the street you know,
sometime you cannot park onMonday or Tuesday or Thursday,
right, the days that you can orcannot park we used to stop
people on the side of the roadand ask them if it's okay to
park today.
This is how bad it was.
(04:51):
But the way we practice is firstof all, so.
We got a few kind of keywordsthat we can use when we come in
to clean the carpet.
But then every opportunity,right, we're driving down the
roads.
It's like let's try to readevery sign, every commercial,
(05:12):
let's try to say it out loud,let's just practice and say it
again and again and again,getting a newsletter, the
newspaper and just sitting thereand just trying really hard to
start pronouncing every word.
It's very different when youlearn the language.
When you are in the place wherethis is the only language that
people speak like, you learn itmuch, much faster, right?
(05:34):
So it's not.
It's not the same thing that ifI was in israel and trying to
learn english, I'm actually inamerica, surrounded by here, it,
it's everywhere around me, soit's much, much faster,
especially when you learn aspecific vocabulary, right?
So I, I was very focused onwhat do I say when I get to the
house?
How can I speak with a client?
(05:55):
So, my, we got better, but invery limited level of
conversation, right?
So, even if I went out to a barand I met a girl, probably I
will talk to her about carpetcleaning, because this is where
most of my vocabulary.
To give you an example.
But look, within the first year, we pretty much knew all the
(06:17):
words that we need to knowaround the business world carpet
cleaning, the type of shampoos,the machine and everything that
we use.
That was pretty good.
And then we kept expanding.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
No, that's, that's awesome, and I think that you
know that does probably help.
You know, being surrounded byit, and I mean, something we
were talking about previously isthat you had that no plan B
mentality.
Right, it was.
This is the dream, you know,and it was a lot of people try
to use that.
You know I have, you know, noplan B.
(06:49):
It's like you, you painted aperfect picture of it because
you were saying, like, I didn'thave anything to go back to,
right, like, like, even though Iwas struggling here, there was
opportunity here, and so one ofthe references that we were
talking about was you know, youwere just driving down the
street and you were seeing carsthat you know you could put
(07:10):
money down and just, you know,make a car payment, like that's
not something that you werenormally used to back in Israel.
Right, and so I think we takethat for granted a lot of times
is not just the ability tocommunicate, but the ability and
opportunity that we do havehere in America.
Right, because it's it's, we'rejust born into it and we think
(07:31):
that you know one, I know,traveling to other places, and
you know, people from Americafeel so entitled.
They think everyone speaksEnglish and it's like you know,
try to learn the language alittle bit.
But you know, realizing that,again, you traveled here with
nothing.
You, you lived in an apartment.
You know five guys in a singlebedroom and you got a job.
Right, people that say theycan't get a job, it's like
(07:53):
there's jobs out there.
You know what are you willingto do and so let's, let's take a
turn on.
You now are working as a carpetcleaner, Right, and one of the
biggest things that I think youmentioned is something that you
noticed from the client as youwere, you know, about to clean
someone's carpets.
Let's dive into that a littlebit.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah, so that's kind of how we went from the carpet
cleaning to the restoration,right.
So probably about seven, eightmonths in we got a call for a
flooded house and now we knewnothing about the restoration
side of the business, nothingabout blowers and dehumidifiers
and insurance and exactimatecompletely out of our experience
.
So we came in.
(08:34):
It was about three bedroomscompletely flooded.
We extract the water.
We charged $600.
For us it was a lot of money.
We celebrated that night byeating Chinese food.
It was a big, big day for us.
But as we were there extractingthe water, another company came
in and they came in and theybrought blowers and humidifiers
and starting to pull the carpetand move furniture and we were
(08:55):
like what's going on here?
Because we didn't know anythingabout this part.
We thought you just extract thewater and you let it dry and
that's it.
So one we notice okay, there'sa much bigger project here that
we knew nothing about.
Later we discovered that theycharge $15,000.
Now, so, as much as I'm verythankful for my $600, $15,000
(09:17):
sounds very, very good to me,especially because I'm already
here, right?
And the second thing that wenotice is they're not really
paying attention to thehomeowner.
Right, the homeowner isstanding there with us and he is
going through an emotionaldisaster.
He's asking us questions that Ihave no idea how to answer is
like who is going to pay for it?
The insurance company is goingto cover it, how it's going to
(09:37):
work, and on and on and on.
And I'm saying, okay, thiscompany came in, they're doing
this big project.
They got him to sign this longagreement.
He has no idea what's going on.
Something seems off to me.
And then we left, and then, amonth after, we had the same
scenario and the same scenario.
So it's happened a few times.
And at one point I'm standingthere and I'm saying like, okay,
(09:59):
I want to get into thisbusiness, but I want to do it
from a different approach.
I want to pay attention to thehomeowner, because I think the
right way to approach this thingis, first of all, let's work
with the human being that is infront of us, that's going
through an emotional disaster,and then I'll take care of the
the rest of the structure, buthuman first.
(10:21):
So after that day, every extradollar we made we invested back
in the business.
We bought blowers, we boughthumidifiers and we just keep
buying enough equipment so wecan start doing our own work.
Next call we got, we dideverything, beginning to end,
and we really paid attention tothe homeowner.
So I walked in.
Homeowner is in front of me.
(10:41):
What's going on?
I'm just going to be here, I'mgoing to listen to.
What is it that you're tryingto achieve today and how are you
going to deal with everythingthat's going on?
And I noticed there is a shiftin the relationship, like there
is a real appreciation to ourapproach to it.
And then we did the entireproject and then we started
doing another one and anotherone.
(11:02):
We're not so many I mean, itwas every so often but we start
seeing that it's working.
The way we're treating thecustomers makes a difference.
You know, I can even share astory.
That was kind of when we becameindependent.
But not far from where I livetoday, we got a call over the
weekend and I'm getting to thehouse and I'm standing outside
(11:22):
and I'm hearing screaming insidethe house.
So the husband screamed at thewife and the stressed out and
I'm like, holy shit, I'm goingto walk out of this place.
And I know it's stressful.
I'm like, ok, take a deepbreath.
We are here to bring calmness.
First of all, I want to helpthem to calm down so we can take
care of it.
So I'm walking in, payingattention, go through my process
(11:44):
, kind of try to bring somecalmness into their house.
Everybody came down, we did theentire project, everything was
great.
A week after I'm getting a phonecall from the husband, from the
homeowner.
I'm like, hey, what's going on?
Hey, idan, how are you?
How can I help you?
Idan, I'm just having a reallyhard day.
I just wanted to talk to youfor five minutes Because when
(12:07):
you came over to our house youreally helped me to find this
space, the calmness, and at thatmoment I'm like, okay, it's
working.
That's really what we can do asa company.
That was a moment for me that Iremember I'm sitting there I'm
like, okay, that's the culture Iwant to build.
(12:27):
I want to build something thatget more people to feel this way
.
And I realize I'm saying, ifI'm doing it the right way,
right, the way we're approachingit, the different in the rest
of the day for that family cango from screaming and yelling
and stress to of the day forthat family can go from
(12:49):
screaming and yelling and stressto sitting around having a calm
conversation, seeing thepositive in the negative.
And I think if I can be thecompany that played that role in
people's life, that is ablessing, so I can build
something amazing.
It's very lucrative.
It's great business to be inthe restoration business, but I
can also do something good forpeople, right?
That's where we came up withthis kind of the idea of the
(13:10):
culture of the fresh start,right.
This is we want to bring freshstarts to people's life.
We want to build the freshstart culture right, and the
idea behind the fresh start isthat every moment have unlimited
amount of possibilities.
It depends what you choose tofocus on, right?
So if I can come in to peoplewhen they're going through a
(13:31):
disaster or trying to build abusiness or whatever it is, and
I can bring that mindset, thatspace so people can shift their
focus from something negative tosomething positive, and I can
play a small part of it.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I'm happy.
That's amazing.
They're going through anemotional disaster, right, and
when you notice this because,especially, you know being an
entrepreneur and you you knowrunning a company you kind of
and if you start getting intojust the mundane routine of
everything, well then that meansyour employees are too right,
your team is too Like if theyfollow what you do, right.
(14:09):
And so what you noticed wasanother company that had already
been doing that.
They're viewing the dollar.
They had the client sign.
It is what it is.
The project is now getting done.
You should be happy that theproject's done.
It's like, take a second,realize that their life just
came to a halt for a second.
They can't do their normaldaily things that made them feel
(14:32):
safe, comfortable, all thosethings.
And you're like this is not howbusiness should be done, and a
lot of people want to becomeentrepreneurs, I think, because
they see the dollar sign right.
I mean, like even you, younotice that you know $600 versus
$15,000, right, people see thatillusion, but then they forget
(14:53):
that you know to get there andeven pass.
There it's.
You're dealing with people,right.
You're selling to people,you're servicing people, like at
the end of the day, it's allabout the people that you're
serving and if you do thatcorrectly, then, like you've
you've experienced, you get thereferrals.
You get people that just callyou Cause you know, because
(15:13):
you're a company and you're aperson that goes above and
beyond Right.
Too many times entrepreneursespecially will be like oh sorry
, I don't work at this time,call me at 8 am tomorrow.
It's like what is five minutes,10 minutes, like to affect
someone's life.
You know, like they're callingyou because they view you as a
role model or as that personthey feel safe with right.
(15:35):
So it's like viewing that in inwhat you've done shows that
like if you just value people,things work out, or tend to work
out a lot better.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, you know people want to work with people that
care right, that have passion towhat they do.
Work with people that careright, that have passion to what
they do right.
It's a look you're.
You are developing something.
I'm sure if you walk into yourgym and I work with somebody
that he really cares and you'repassionate and you have the
knowledge and he really paysattention to me makes the
(16:06):
biggest difference in the world.
You know there was a researchby by harvard.
I mean, I read it many, manyyears ago.
I use it in my conviction andhow I speak with my franchisees
that if the doctor spent fivemore minutes with a patient, the
chances for him to get suedgoes down by 85%.
Five more minutes Because nowwe have the relationship, now
(16:31):
I'm not just a number for you.
You actually showed me somecareness, right.
So the same thing, when I kindof look at the fresh start
mentality, one of the thingsthat I did with my inspectors,
with people that went out to thehouse, is I want you to, before
you walk into the house, I wantyou to do this thing Just take
three deep breaths, relax.
(16:53):
I want you to put everythinginside and I want you to focus
on how you are going to servethe people that are in front of
you, and the biggest gift thatyou can give them is just listen
to them.
Just listen, that's it.
People over underestimate theimportance of actually listening
(17:14):
to somebody, right?
How many times with the husbandand wives and friend is like
just listen to me already, right, because we are so busy with
our own monkey mind all the time.
So that's teaching our guys tolisten makes such a big
difference, because when peoplefeel that somebody is actually
listening to them, therelationship is there.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It is so true, a hundred percent, like if you
listen, you can also answer thequestions that the person has
concerns to, and not just youknow.
And when I say listen, like howyou're saying it too is you
know, you're not just sittingthere and agreeing and agreeing
just waiting to say your nextsentence that you've had in your
(17:56):
head.
You're sitting there listeningand then you address what
they're saying, even if it's astatement, you reassure them
that you know what they justsaid and that typically creates
a better bond and a betterrelationship, because the person
feels validated, they feelheard, and so forth.
But also you, typically, youdon't need to.
(18:17):
You know, let's say we'll gointo sales.
Right, salespeople.
A new salesperson tries to sellthe product or sell the service
.
Right, A great salesperson.
You know sales, the sales, thesolution.
But then an amazing salespersonjust listens and addresses the
concerns.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Exactly.
So one of the things that I'mdoing with our business
development people that gettingout there and build
relationships and you're notallowed to pitch Yep, I only
want you to listen good enoughuntil you find ways to add value
, and it doesn't need to beabout the work that we are in.
(18:56):
So when I used to go out thereand meet people that manage
buildings or adjusters and onand on, I used to ask a lot of
questions and then I try tofigure out what is their goal,
what is it that they are tryingto achieve and can I help them
achieve their goal?
Regardless of water, mold orfire, can I help them achieve
(19:17):
their goal.
So, if you want to go frommanaging apartment building with
40 units and you want to go tosomebody that is 150 units, what
is it in his journey that heneed to learn that he can add
more value so he can grow in hiscareer?
And then sometime I'll go backto the office, or a day or two
days after I'll send them likean article that talks about how
(19:38):
to advance, nothing about what Ido, because it's it's it's
become so clear.
It's it's building relationshiplike people want especially.
Look in our business water, moldand fire.
People hoping that it's nevergoing to happen to them.
Right, it's not something thatthey're thinking, okay, the
summer then I need to, you know,clean my carpet, do earth
(19:59):
cleaning, do different things,do my roofing Mold, water, fire.
I hope I'm never going to needto work with you.
So it's reallyrelationship-based, because I
never know when it's going tohappen, but I want to know that
(20:20):
we're building a meaningfulrelationship.
So when it's happened, you knowthat I'm here for you.
Right, and today are a I don'tknow if you have a chance to see
it, but our commercial onlinewe have video commercials.
That's saying we hope we neverget to work with you because if
we do, we know it's not a goodday for you.
But if you, do need us we'll beable to serve and work with you,
right?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
so we're really connecting to this emotional
part of it no, definitely, andactually I was just going to say
that too.
So that's so funny, that's yourcommercial.
I was like you know, you'rebuilding a relationship, and
what I was going to say is likeletting them know like I hope I
never you don't have to workwith you, because that means
it's it's not a good day or it'sit's not.
You know you're not, you'regoing through a disaster.
(20:55):
So it's so funny that you saidthat that's your commercial,
because that was literally whatwas going through my head, but
at the same time, realizing that, like the person that you're
building a relationship with, itmight never happen to them,
right, but it doesn't mean thatthey don't have their own
network of people, that it doeshappen to someone in there.
And then you come top of mindbecause you built a relationship
and you built a friend.
(21:15):
That's someone that they cantrust.
You know that actually valuedand listened just to their life
and what's going on, enough, somuch that you know they're like
this person cares just about meas a person.
I can't imagine you know howmuch they actually care about
their clients, exactly, exactly,you know so.
So now, all of a sudden, youhave this company.
(21:36):
It's thriving, right.
You go, you, you startedbuilding out a team and you know
, testing stuff out, and we weretalking about, like the unknown
right and being an entrepreneurand being comfortable with
being in the unknown.
Now I want to take a pivot inthat and say what was that time
that you realized that youwanted to franchise this?
(21:57):
Because, as I can speak fromexperience, that is a step into
the unknown that I learned veryquickly.
It is a lot more than you thinkit is yeah, so I got the same
experience.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
So 2000, the end of 2005, is when Katrina happened,
right.
So we went out to New York.
At that point I had many tracks, a lot of equipment, we have
great team in place, and on andon.
So when Katrina happened, it'slike you know what I want to get
out there and we had a fewrelationship also and, um, I
said I want to experience it'sgoing to be to work in this type
of scenario.
(22:32):
So we went out.
There was a devastation, peoplelost everything and yeah, there
was so much work and there wasmany other restoration companies
that came in to do work fromdifferent places in the US,
right, so we're not reallycompeting with each other, we
just work for everybody.
We even share clients becausewe have a huge waiting list for
(22:54):
everybody.
We even share clients becausewe have a huge waiting list.
And so I got to meet a lot ofother restoration owners and we
were very open with each otherbecause we're not really
competing.
And what I realized again andagain and again that most of
them been in the business for 15years, 20 years, and they're
averaging around 700, 000 amillion dollar a year 1.2.
Now I'm brand new in thiscountry and my business is
(23:15):
really striving um and I'm likewhat's going on here?
I barely speak the language.
I'm new here.
I got to this number.
These guys are amazing guys.
They really care, they're there, they're doing the work, like
why they're stuck.
And then I noticed that as muchas I spend more time with them,
they really.
They can talk to me for hoursabout the blowers and the way
(23:36):
they set up the van and the waythey cut the wall and how to set
up exactly.
So they're very lost in thetrade itself.
And in my mind, like, okay, Ican talk about it for 10 minutes
, but let's talk about strategyand customer experience and sale
and vision and where you wantto go and here and there.
So I didn't hear thisconversation.
So I said to a few of the guysjust kind of test the water.
(23:58):
I said listen, you're a greatguy, you know how to do the work
, I'm sure you can take care ofyour clients.
You are the stand-up, freshstart mentality.
What if we'll try something?
We'll create some agreementbetween us and let's see if I
can help you grow?
To where is it that you reallywant to grow?
Right?
Because it was very clear to methat when those guys started
(24:20):
the business they didn't havethe dream and said you know what
, in 10 years from today, Istill want to be in the truck
and carry blowers.
I'm sure it wasn't their dream.
Right, they have a certainlifestyle.
There is a certain thing thatthey wanted to achieve.
But over time people startedgiving up on their dreams
because life happened.
So I said if I can be the onethat can help them cross the
(24:41):
numbers and we can work together, so let's see how it's going to
work.
My mantra was and it still istoday can we do one plus one
equal five type of thing?
If we come together, can wemake something better together?
So I came back to la, I reachedout back to some of the guys
and we we gave it a try, right?
So first guy was about seven,seven hundred thousand.
(25:04):
We started the relationship ayear in the business group.
I did with another one andanother one and another one and
I only used license agreement.
I didn't think aboutfranchising.
I didn't really know so muchabout franchising.
I knew the idea of McDonald's.
I knew the idea of like foodchain, not really thinking about
any of it.
By my 10th license agreement.
(25:25):
The lawyer that wrote thelicense agreement for me.
He's like Idan, you cannot keepdoing this license agreement.
It's not allowed.
They're using your name,they're using your colors,
they're using the logo.
You are becoming a franchiseand I'm like, okay, I know the
concept, but what it means.
It's like Idan, if you want tokeep doing this way, you need to
(25:45):
become a franchise.
And I probably went through thesame thing that you went holy
franchise agreement and fdd andregistration and on and on.
So I just jumped through theprocess, really going into this
unknown, but I knew that I canadd value.
That was very clear to mebecause I did again and again
(26:06):
and again and again.
It worked and that's really howwe became a franchise.
My my idea at one point thatI'm saying, wow, great guys,
different experiences, differentperspective.
What if I can get a hundredpeople in the room carrying the
same logo and sharing the freshstart?
(26:27):
That was my thing.
Can we make the fresh startmentality all around the United
States?
Can it really be done?
And we just went for it.
So that's, really how we did ourfranchise.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
No, I mean that's so funny.
I mean, when I went to afranchise, I started seeing the
difference between licensing andfranchising and I was like it
kind of looks the same, right.
And so I ended up hiring afranchise advisor first and he
was like, yeah, you can't dowhat you want to do.
We're putting logos on thewalls.
And I was like, oh, I got youand I actually just helped a
(27:04):
friend.
They did the same thing as you.
They went licensing.
They had nine locations thatwere franchises under a
licensing agreement and I waslike, guys, you got to be
careful, like you know.
But so how many locations areyou guys at now?
Speaker 1 (27:20):
So we have about 120 owners.
We're covering about 330territories.
We're growing into Canada.
Yeah, we have a lot of excitingthings happening.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Dang All right.
Well, I mean, that's amazing.
That is a huge accomplishment.
When did you guys startfranchising?
What year was you guys launched?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
So we started the franchising process around 2007.
We officially startedfranchising around 2009.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Okay, officially, yeah, oh wow, around 2007.
We officially start franchisingaround 2009.
Okay, yeah, oh wow.
And that was during like the,the stock crash and and
everything like that too.
So it was not, it was not in anecessarily a good time to
escalate a business, but I mean,look, at you now.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
You know, at the same time I went through the process
of the.
So, besides building thefranchise, I also had a few
other businesses.
I had a kiosk in differentmalls.
We had about 150 people workingfor us in different kiosks.
We invested a lot in realestate and here and there and
around 2008,.
Yeah, everything's starting toreally crushed.
(28:25):
Yeah, everything's starting toreally crushed.
So we went through that.
As we're franchising, as we'reopening our location, as we're
making some changes, yeah, itwas crazy times.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
So I mean, are you?
Speaker 1 (28:41):
still in all those different industries, or are you
?
you know, I mean of course, Ihave now different investment
and different things that I'minvolved in, but no, at one
point that's kind of going intothe mindset right, and breaking
through our own limitation andideas that we are holding, and
on and on.
So no, at one point I basicallylet go of all my other
(29:02):
businesses that I was involvedin.
I also had the online.
So, because we figure out howto generate leads online and the
way I finance the franchisegrowth, I start up an online
lead generation company.
So we basically served about ahundred businesses around here
just doing PPC, seo, buildingwebsites and on and on and on.
(29:26):
And, yeah, I like to jump intodifferent places and then
integrate everything together.
It's just I love it, yeah.
But at a certain point I'm like, okay, franchise is the way we
want to go.
That's going to be the mainbusiness.
There's people that I want tomake sure that I add as much
value as I can to my franchisees.
(29:47):
So I want to bring themarketing just for my
franchisees.
I develop technology for othercompanies.
I brought it in just for myfranchisees, right?
So I went through the processof like bringing everything
together and really stayingfocused on just let me make sure
that my franchisees are supersuccessful.
I mean as much as I can.
Of course, we need both of usto collaborate to find success,
(30:11):
but yeah, we went through thatprocess.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
No, I mean that's so awesome and I mean I think
that's the hard thing is like asan entrepreneur you always see
that shiny object right andbeing able to not contain
yourself but essentially holdyourself accountable, to be all
about one thing or or you knowyour core things, is definitely
difficult.
I mean, believe me, I'm guiltyof it as well.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
The way we wire this ideas all the time.
Right, you cannot even stop it.
It's like, oh wow, I see anopportunity here.
I see an opportunity here.
But you know, learning thatit's building a team.
I'm very proud of the team thatwe have today in place.
I mean we have Miri.
She's our CEO today.
I moved to the founder positionabout three years ago.
(31:00):
We've been working together nowfor almost 20 years, 15 plus
years, you know so greatrelationship, great people in
place.
Yeah, so sometimes, as you say,we get excited because we see
the opportunity.
We want to make it happen, weknow how to make it happen, but
then there's a lot more to itthan building a team making sure
(31:21):
that there's alignment.
Do we really want to do it?
That's the big thing.
How much do you really want it?
Right?
It's something that we need toclarify again and again, to make
sure that we're not doingthings just because the idea of
it is great, but to make surethat every cell in our body is
really aligned and and committedand we're really into it to
(31:44):
build it.
But it's not easy.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
No, I mean, that's something that's interesting
that you said, like you broughta CEO on and you moved to the
founder position.
Right, what was that mindsetshift for you being like, okay,
I need someone to, or I wantsomeone to replace me on the CEO
part, and you know, continue toscale and grow and take that,
you know, not backseat, butdifferent seat, essentially as
(32:10):
the founder.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah it's really understanding strength and
weaknesses, right.
So you know, there is, as afounder, I mean especially with
me.
I'm great in starting things,building momentum, putting the
right people together, but whenit comes to a certain size, that
it's all about processes andthings need to work in a certain
way and the way we scale thecompany.
(32:35):
I just started saying she cando it much, much better than me.
And if I play a differentposition, it's more of jumping
in whenever they need me, takingon specific projects, help with
things that are more marketingsales, being out there doing
what I'm doing right now, right,so kind of really working on
(32:58):
getting our name out there.
And then I mean, look, fourmonths ago I jumped in and I
started working with thefranchise sales team.
Right, I saw that I can addvalue.
There's some changes that wewant to implement.
So for me to jump in, work on aproject for three, four, five
months and then hand it back tothe team, that's something that
I love to do.
That's something that I feelthat I can add much, much more
(33:20):
value than being the CEO.
I was great as a CEO to acertain point and then it's not
really my thing.
I'm getting bored in theday-to-day yeah, right, at a
certain point I know that I canadd more value and build
momentum is a big thing for me,right.
(33:41):
So for me to jump in and buildmomentum kind of going, spirit,
energy, passion, understandingthe whole business at the same
time, the ability to focus onsomething so specific and take
it from zero to a hundredinstead of doing it in two years
because I have freedom, I cando it in four months, right.
(34:03):
So I see now she's great CEO.
I'm great as I will go and helpand see what needs to be done.
And going back to really havinga clear vision where is it that
we want to get, why we want toget there, making sure that
everybody has a very clear whatis it that they really want?
(34:24):
That's become a very big part ofour conversation, especially in
the past two or three months,because it's amazing to have
processes.
It's very important, you know,holding people accountable, job
description, seeing exactly howwe're being very efficient as a
business, but you need to makesure that the spirit is there.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, that is huge, it's a very very important part
yeah.
No, that's huge, I mean.
So what was it like for you?
You know, growing a company andI mean it sounds like you're
the visionary type, right,instead of like the integrator
and so forth, which I mean I candefinitely say I'm more of that
visionary.
You know, I put the hat on ofthe integrator as needed, the
(35:11):
hat on of the integrator asneeded, but what was that like
for you?
Running now a team andfranchise locations, you know,
for 10, 10, 12 years, you know,because you said she's been the
last three years ish, right.
So you know what was that likefor you growing a team, managing
all the different employees,the franchisees and all that
kind of stuff.
How was that for you?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
It was good.
I I always enjoyed it.
I just wasn't as so I liked.
Maybe it was will be too much,but I love to give freedom Right
.
So if, if I feel that we'realigned on the, on the vision,
(35:48):
and you can see what I'm seeingat this point.
I love to give a lot of freedomNow.
That can work very well whenyou build a company to a certain
degree, but now we need tostart implementing more
processes, more accountability,like to make sure.
Now we're going from, you know,for example, five people in the
marketing department to 30people in the marketing
(36:09):
department.
Okay, now we need a lot morestructure, right?
It can't be okay.
You don't give us the freedomto play around and let's figure
out the thing.
Of course there's room for it,but now there is a shift to it.
So in the past few years, stillas a CEO, I started having the
(36:29):
feeling like I'm enjoying it,we're doing it, we're growing,
but I don't think it's my thinganymore.
So at this point I made surethat I have a very good
operation person with me.
(36:50):
And then at one point it's makesure, okay, do I really need to
stay the CEO, or there'ssomebody that can come in that
really can do a great job as aCEO?
And for me, honestly, at onepoint I feel like even a little
bit of freedom, like, okay, Ican go back to be entrepreneur
so so was your.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Is your ceo?
Was that your former coo?
Speaker 1 (37:14):
yeah, yeah, okay, we've been working here for many
, many years.
She's been going through allthe department.
She knows the franchisees verywell, she knows yeah and she and
she's perfect for her.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
No, that's that's a huge, and that's a huge thing
for you too, right, you know,you, you got your, your freedom
back to do what you want,contribute how you want, but you
also sometimes as the founder,especially in in the early years
, you know, I'm sure it was likeyou're the founder, the CEO,
and then you get to a pointwhere you realize that you don't
(37:49):
have to be the CEO Like your,your business, your baby has
been built, it's grown, it's ateenager or it's an adult Right,
and sometimes I think somefounders stay the CEO too long
where they become the bottleneck, absolutely Right.
So, being able to acknowledgethat and realize that within
(38:10):
yourself you know whether it'sfrom burnout or you know
whatever, you're just not havingthe you know the same amount of
drive is like well, this personhas been with me in my ride or
die in this and they have thatdrive.
Why not just give it to themand I can still be here, jump in
when I want and basically givemy full intention and
(38:30):
contribution to them when I can.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah, yeah, so I used to do this thing is every so
often.
It was every like three to sixmonths max.
I used to sit with myself and Iused to go through this process
and it says you're done, you'refired.
Okay, you're done, why would Ihire you again?
Where can you add more value?
(38:54):
And I seriously will have thisconversation with myself and I
will write it down.
And over time, when you do itagain and again and again, you
start recognizing the areas thatyou really add value in and how
you really operate in a certainway.
Right, Some people are verycomfortable in process-oriented
every day doing kind of not thesame thing, but you know what I
(39:18):
mean.
And some people thrive whenthey're on for a day or for two
days, jumping from onedepartment to another department
right, and I start recognizingover time that I'm much more
effective when I'm working thisway.
So it's really the.
The decision was not so much ofI don't want to do it anymore,
(39:39):
or I want to do it or burnout,or I have no energy.
I love the business that I'm in.
I have tons of energy.
It's just where can?
I be more effective yeah, andthat was the recognition of if
I'm staying here, I'm not aseffective and I think I'm
becoming the bottleneck of thebusiness.
But if I'm going to work thisway, I can add a lot more value.
(40:01):
I can go back and builddifferent momentum in different
areas of the business while Idon't have to work within that
structure business, while Idon't have to work within that
structure.
So I just recognize that when Ihave more freedom and being
more dynamic with differentparts, different areas of the
business and going and learningabout another business and
(40:21):
integrating it within ourbusiness right, innovation,
learning about new technologies,being part of other companies
right.
So that really was my insightinto okay, if I give myself
freedom and I work that way, Ican add a lot more value to the
(40:43):
business.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So I set up, because one of the things that I'm
always aware of like OK, withour team, what is it that you're
really trying to achieve?
Speaker 1 (40:54):
What are your strengths and how can I get you
or give you the space so youstart building your own momentum
in the business?
And to build momentum, you wantyour people to be excited about
what is it that they do?
You want your people to beexcited about what is it that
they do right and help them seeit in a way that is aligned
within their own growth, withinwhat they want to achieve, and
(41:17):
also give them a sense ofownership.
Right, that is a big thing forme.
I want them to own it right.
So I went through a thing witheverybody on the team.
Everybody is a CEO today.
We don't have one CEO at thetop.
Everybody is a CEO today.
We don't have one CEO at thetop.
Everybody is a CEO today.
How would you build yourdepartment, even if you are one
person, if you are, right now,the CEO of what you do, how
(41:38):
would you do it?
So we went through it and yousee how people, once you change
the perspective of how they lookat what they do, what they do,
change.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Yeah, that's huge perspective of how they look at
what they do, what they dochange.
Yeah, that's huge.
Yeah, that is huge.
I mean, it is true.
I mean especially if someonehas buy in, and even from the
business standpoint, but fromthe customer side Right and this
is why we were talking aboutasking questions earlier is if
you ask questions and thecustomer, the client, is
answering the questions,especially like in the gym
(42:14):
industry, you know they came tothe gym for a reason, like they
don't have a natural disaster ora home disaster, you know, but
they have some disaster in onearea of their life that they
want to change in a sense Rightand to fix that problem.
Obviously, you know they're likeokay, I need to work out and
eat clean, but it's like why,why do you need to do that?
(42:36):
You know, and you ask why.
And you let them start to belike okay, I think this is going
to be the best remedy for me,and so forth.
And typically they're going tohave more buy-in, just like if
you said your employees or yourteam, you let them be the CEO,
and then they come up with somesolutions and you're like that's
not I mean cause we can't thinkof everything right.
Like we have, I mean we canprovide our, our take on a
(42:58):
solution, but someone that's inthe weeds of it knows a little
bit more of you, know how tomake it efficient, or so forth.
And then you're like I didn'teven think about that, Like
(43:18):
let's, let's try it.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
And now they're going to try it with 10 times the
amount of effort they were givenbefore, because they don't.
They want their solution towork, also because now they had
a contribution to it.
Exactly, exactly.
I'll give you.
I'll give you a small example,if you want to stay on that
subject for another 60 seconds.
My customer service team, right.
So one day we brought all thecompany into big, like we had a
day event kind of uh foreverybody in the company, and I
asked every department tell me,what is it that you do?
(43:40):
I want to hear it in in yourwords what is it that you do?
And the customer service teamis like we're sitting there in
the room and that's what we do.
The phone ring, we answer thephone and then we send it to our
customers, and that's it.
We're basically just answeringthe phone and then we send it to
our customers, and that's it.
We're basically just answeringthe phone all day long and
dispatching the call out.
I said, okay, technicallythat's what you do, but let's
look at what you really do.
Somebody calls you that just hadan emotional disaster.
(44:02):
His house is upside down.
His biggest assets isinvestment in family's risk.
Right now he doesn't know whatto do and where to go and who to
talk to.
You're the first person that hegets to talk to.
The way you talk to him canchange his entire day.
If you make him feelcomfortable, if you make him
feel that you got him and you'regoing to help him.
(44:24):
First of all, you have a hugeimpact on him and his family.
The second part that you do nowyou connect them with a service
provider, with our franchiseethat have the press start
mentality that will go there andcontinue with the same message
that you just shared with them.
We're going to help them seethe positive in the negative.
How are you thinking we'reimpacting his life?
(44:46):
Oh, no, we're done.
Of course we're going to gothere.
We're going to do it right.
We're going to do it right.
We're going to take care of theclients.
We understand that it's goingto go through a disaster.
I say, okay, so this is what youdo.
You're actually being there forpeople that are going through
an emotional disaster and you'remaking sure that the best
restoration guy will get outthere and help them.
You need to see their bodylanguage the moment that they
(45:08):
saw it this way.
They're like, oh, wow, okay, soI do something important.
I'm not just answering thephone all day long.
I'm actually helping people.
Yes, that's what you do.
The moment that you change,help people see themselves in a
different light, they carrythemselves in a different way,
they have more ownership overwhat is it that they do, because
(45:30):
we tend to look at what we dois a very technical thing.
Right in our mission statementas a company, we have nothing
that talks about water, mold orfire.
We are the fresh start company.
That's what we do.
We bring fresh starts intopeople's life.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
No, that is true, and when you can shape someone's
perspective or change theirperspective, you change their
reality, right?
Because that's all, in myopinion.
That's all reality is is justperspective on life.
And so when you can shift thatperspective, even of a job title
or a job role or a jobdescription, and all of a sudden
they're like oh, you're right,I impact, you know, this is I
(46:10):
impact someone's day, impactsomeone's life.
I'm not just answering phones,right?
So that is so cool, so one.
I want to ask one last question, and I want to preface it by
saying this is not a tombstone,this is the Adan legacy wall,
right?
And on this legacy wall,essentially, you can write any
message, short or long, thatyou've learned from your life's
(46:36):
journey, both in just regularlife, in entrepreneurship.
But what would be the messagethat you would leave for the up
and coming?
Speaker 1 (46:40):
generations.
That real wealth is based onour ability to really experience
every moment is based on ourability to really experience
every moment.
That's what I that is.
As time goes by, um, you justrealize more and more that's
real wealth.
It's really our ability to bepresent and fully enjoy every
(47:03):
moment in our life, or not enjoy, even if you need to cry cry,
right.
But at this point you know, I'mseeing people that made it
financially and I'm seeingpeople here and there and I see
that everybody's so lost intheir own thoughts all the time
(47:24):
that doesn't matter what theyhave or where they are and what
they got.
They're kind of not really here.
And then you see somebody thatis here and you're saying, okay,
this is wealth, this is realwealth.
So if this is one thing thathas just become more and more
(47:47):
real for me, is that what weneed to strive for, everything
else is just a way for us tomove through it.
So we realize that being hereis the real wealth and what I'm
saying, being here is beingpresent.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
I love that.
I love that.
It is so true.
I mean, at the end of the day,we don't take anything with us,
right, but we do leave animprint and an impact on the
world, and that's through everyconversation, every interaction
that you've had with people, andthat's, in my opinion, what
legacy is, so that that isperfect.
That is amazing.
Where can people connect withyou and learn more about you?
(48:26):
Know your franchise, but alsoyou know about you, you know if
they want to connect with youpersonally.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Yeah, so learn more about the franchise is 911
restoration franchisecom and I'mmore active on LinkedIn, so,
idan Speiser, my name is uniqueenough and just type my name,
it's going to come up.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah, perfect.
Well, I mean again my apologiesfor the first.
You know 30 minutes not beingrecorded, but again, like this,
the time flew by and you knowthis is the first podcast I was
able to do an hour and a halfessentially.
You know, and without even youknow, needing needing any
questions, like you are a wealthof knowledge and I again, I
(49:06):
just want to say thank you somuch for taking the time out of
your data.
Come on and, you know, dropsome knowledge for the mindset
cafe, absolutely thank you.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
This was great.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
Really enjoyed our conversation yeah, and you're a
neighbor, so we will hang outyeah, definitely Positive
thoughts missing the game Life.
Mindset causes shits.
Got my mind on the prize.
I can't be distracted.
I stay on my grind.
No time to be slackin'.
I hustle harder.
(49:37):
I go against the current Cause.
I know my mind is rich.
Still be collectin'.
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