August 2, 2024 • 47 mins
Welcome back to another exciting episode of The TradeMarke Podcast! This week, we are thrilled to have a very special guest, Shauna Brown from On The Double Heating and Cooling. Shauna shares her incredible story and the powerful lessons she has learned along the way.
In this episode, hosts Sarah Ghirardo and Eric Thomas dive deep into Shauna's journey, discussing her roots in the HVAC industry, the challenges she and her business faced, and the pivotal changes that led to their recent success. Shauna also opens up about the importance of mental, spiritual, and physical health for business owners, and how she balances her personal life with her professional responsibilities.
Additionally, Shauna shares her passion for community involvement and how On The Double Heating and Cooling makes a difference in their local area. From supporting kids with disabilities to participating in local events, Shauna's commitment to her community is truly inspiring.
Tune in for an episode filled with insights, heartfelt stories, and practical advice for anyone in the trades and marketing industries. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review to let us know your thoughts!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
What is going on, everyone? Welcome back to another exciting episode of the Trademark Podcast.
This week, we've got a very, very special guest with us. We've got Shawna Brown
joining us from On The Double Heating and Cooling.
They've got an awesome brand. She has an awesome story.
We're going to talk about some really, really cool, powerful things this week.
(00:22):
So let's go ahead and get started.
Step into the Trademark, your go-to podcast for everything marketing in the trades.
Hosted by award-winning industry marketing expert, Sarah Girardo from Remarketable
and Eric Thomas from Rival Digital.
Together, we're here to unite the worlds of trades and marketing,
bringing you insights, stories, and strategies from the heart of the industry.
(00:46):
Whether you're a trade professional, a marketing expert, or somewhere in between,
this is the place for you.
Listen in as we're here for the big ideas, the game changers,
and the everyday successes.
Because at the trademark we're with the trades and
for the trade i changed the
(01:06):
icebreaker up while that was playing because before we started recording shauna
had mentioned something about how like our kids don't really know what we do
and i found this icebreaker so
shauna i'd like to know how do you describe your job to a three-year-old.
Okay so oh man that's a good one so yeah it's a three-year-old so i go around
(01:33):
introducing myself and what we do to strangers.
Stranger danger okay so within the
community and introduce ourselves and tell
what we do so that's part of the marketing is like getting involved
in the community we also do presentations to tell
(01:55):
about what we do along with community events tabling events trade shows things
like that but what we do heating and air conditioning is we go and we fix people's
air conditioners so that they can stay cool or warm in their homes that's probably
the most simplified one for a three-year-old,
(02:16):
You're right. That's a very intelligent three-year-old, right?
They're like, Trace does. Yes, tell me more. Yeah.
That's hard. Yeah. That's what I was saying, that I've been taking my nine-year-old,
just turned nine-year-old, along with me to some of these networking events and conferences.
Referral groups and she's observing me introduce
(02:37):
our company what we do talk to other
business owners other people in the community go to ribbon cuttings
but our our communities are very welcoming and very kind and so they love meeting
her they ask her what her name is what company she's with and she's getting
this firsthand experience of what what that looks like so it's really yeah and
(02:58):
that's how summer should be with kids right like guess what you're going to work with me
today or you're going to work just in general
yeah yeah so you're
the owner of on the double heating and cooling right co-owner
with our owner i like to say owner because i mean
we are right right and on the double heating and cooling in lubbock texas correct
(03:21):
that's correct yes yeah yeah we are those people often wonder like because texas
is so gigantic but we're this this little island out in west, northwest Texas.
And we're called the hub city because there's literally nothing with like a hundred miles of us.
And so everyone comes to Lubbock for everything, shopping, medical care, that kind of thing.
(03:45):
And we're getting closer to 300,000 people.
And then we have Texas tech university here, which a lot of people know about
that as far as the big 12 goes and really lovely people, very flat and dusty.
I love that. Texas is very flat, hot, and humid and all of the things.
(04:08):
You know, I'm from Texas originally. And so I totally can talk about Texas any way that I want.
But never actually been to Lubbock. And especially because it was Texas Tech
and we were all Aggie fans. Wow. Yeah.
We don't wear maroon hair. We just blend in wherever I go. Also,
(04:30):
it doesn't really matter to me.
But how has your business been doing during the summer?
And how did you really get started into the HVAC industry?
Yeah, it's a good story. So I like to share that my dad and my uncle,
I grew up in the industry.
And so they have had a heating and air conditioning business company.
(04:51):
And they've just really run it kind of old school. But they're retired now,
but still going by 45 years. So my entire life I've been in the trades.
I wasn't heavily involved in their business, but I've just been around it and
just around the business owners and entrepreneur mindset and just really the hustle.
It's the hustle with really amazing people.
(05:14):
Customer care, customer service and integrity and that kind of thing.
So we didn't really intend to have the heating and air conditioning business.
My husband got into it by happenstance and then we moved to Lubbock and he was
in the industry in a commercial position and he was traveling all over the place.
And then he finally settled with a company here in town and that was commercial
(05:38):
as well and started doing residential on the side because the company was like
yeah that's fine no worries it's not conflicting or anything well that grew
and grew and we found and saw a need for.
A higher level of customer service and i think it's a lot of similar stories
to other people you know they see i could do this on my own i really think i
(05:59):
could make a difference i can do this really well and so it just slowly grew
enough to where we decided let's let's go and do this on
our own and we did and so we officially
we say we officially i mean we could he had his license in 2012 however
didn't really go 100 in but 2017
nice and what were you doing before this well i've actually owned and sold a
(06:22):
business from higher to this and then i helped startups have basically involved
it all in startup business it's small uh community or locally owned startups
my My first business to own was a high-end photography studio.
I did all our sales, marketing, back-end business development,
make sure that we're compliant, a lot of interaction with our customers,
(06:43):
of course, our clients and doing the sales with that.
We sold that before moving to Lubbock, a lot of part of that.
And then I helped to buy here, pay here, car dealership. I was the head of the
finance side of all of that.
It's a work with some colorful people. So with colorful backgrounds and I say
(07:03):
that a good way. I mean, I loved it, to be honest.
I loved being able to counsel our customers with their financial decisions.
And it was probably one of the most rewarding things when someone would pay
off their car because they were probably the first generation to even do that
because they had lived a cycle of generations of always having really high interest,
(07:26):
you know, vehicles that were never ever paid off.
They were cycled and so it was really but developing that
business and growing that business was great experience
and then moved into
having children babies and so i backed off some during that does a little bit
there and but i've been always involved with our business as it's from the back
(07:50):
end the setup the compliance the all of the not so fun stuff but necessary yeah that's That's awesome.
What have been some of the bigger challenges that you have experienced since you all started.
You know, on the double, I think it was previously Airtex, right?
Correct. Yeah. What are some of the challenges that you all have faced?
(08:13):
Because I know before we started, we were talking, you're saying like,
you know, like our style of business is like the majority rather than the minority
because there's so much noise online about, you know, what businesses should look like.
So kind of walk us through some of that, like your process from like from there
until now, what that kind of looks like.
Well, you know, so we have had no formal exposure to what large HVAC operations look like, you know?
(08:40):
And so we have really just built this from scratch and learned as we've gone.
And there truly is no silver bullet to this.
I think there are some advantages that people have in the sense that if they
were exposed to those processes, how that operation is for them to go out on
there and already have that, you know, in their back pocket.
(09:02):
It we just went into it with high
high levels of integrity work ethic
honesty you know and customer service
and we just happen to be able to do heating air conditioning you know that that
skill and we've learned over these years that it's really a marketing and sales
company to it but we're not a hundred body 100 bought into it because we do
(09:26):
still believe in very much we're We're not a transactional business, we're a relationship.
Our style is more of a relationship business. It's important to us,
it's because it's who we are.
And we can sleep at night knowing that that's how we're running and operating our business.
And that's where our goal, we're in it for the long game, not the short run
of cycling through customers as quickly as we possibly can.
(09:48):
And all of this, you know, has just been learned over time.
I mean, we'd love to say, oh, if we could only go back, we would have done this,
we would have done that. But we've learned it over time.
Going to industry events has helped us tremendously. It also can be negative, too.
Not negative, but like a hindrance, if you will, because of all the noise,
(10:09):
because of all the distractions.
Again, if we could go back, there's a lot of those distractions we could have avoided.
But you live and you learn. And I think we're in a really good spot.
This last year is probably one of the most difficult years that we've had.
We had to make some major pivotal changes that have resulted in a real positive
(10:30):
effect. But they were hard, very difficult.
And I'm happy to share any of that.
Yeah. And I think you're right. First off, it is really difficult to,
you know, it's always customer first. And you're in a people and experience business.
And I think when we realign the way that we think about sales and marketing,
(10:53):
it's about who are we helping, right? And it's people.
And it's not just the people that we're serving in the community,
it's the people that we're serving as employees, because as your company grows,
your employees are your people.
And so when we align our core values and we align our whys and we align our
(11:13):
purpose to the people in the experience,
like you have just talked about, then the outcome that that's driven is a more
stable and you're not chasing a dollar, right? Right.
Like that's the biggest thing is, is really understanding that you're not out
there to be a sales and marketing structure.
(11:35):
You're out there to serve.
And I think that's what you're doing. And that's the greatest thing.
So, yeah, I mean, we'd love to hear the challenges.
And, you know, you and I have talked about some of the challenges throughout the year.
And it's just been an honor to learn and grow with you.
But I think that the industry really needs to hear the reality of the situations. solutions, right?
(11:56):
Like, it is hard. And when you think about it as a sales and marketing experience,
then it's just like, what are you chasing?
So yeah, so if you want to dive in, that'd be great.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, so last year was, I think, a really hard year for
a lot of companies, a lot, like the numbers were down, the volume was down. I mean, I know some were.
(12:20):
Very proud that they were doing really well. There was those that were out there,
you know, saying that they were doing really well.
But I think the reality is that a lot of companies were struggling,
especially in the third quarter, like the second half of the year.
Well, I guess that's not true. So a lot of people, that first quarter was really
rough for a lot of people.
So what last year, oh man,
(12:42):
well, we had some personal things happening in the beginning
of the year that we had to make some choices for me to kind of step
very significantly back and away from the
business for some for health reasons and make that
a priority and so that was kind of a you know through
a kink of things for sure but it's been the biggest blessing in
the big picture of all with that we also implemented and switched from one a
(13:06):
software from a software to service titan and as we all know that's just a huge
huge undertaking and And so much time and attention and distraction,
in a way, to switch softwares.
So we did that last spring.
And so now we've got a whole year with it and have some really great data and
(13:29):
that kind of thing. It was a good move, but it was a challenge.
And it was a lot to happen during the year.
But we had to make three major changes, though, this last year.
We had had a bookkeeper and accountant for years.
And the bookkeeper had come to me. She did a great job and said,
hey, I'm moving on. You're going to have to find somebody else.
(13:50):
And so I was like, oh, good timing. We're switching to Service Titan. This will be free.
We'll find someone that's more industry focused and understands Service Titan.
And so we switched bookkeepers and hoping to have more solid numbers.
And from our industry's perspective, along with the Service Titan numbers,
(14:12):
And we were like, oh, this is going to be great.
You can finally have that budget that we've always wanted to have and those
KPIs that we've always wanted to really follow and all those kinds of things.
Well, I know enough to be dangerous with my accounting and everything.
And so we got into that and we thought, okay, it takes a minute to shift and
adjust and service tightens newness and that.
(14:33):
But toward the end and then and then september october
came and everything was dropping as far as volume and i was like josh these
numbers just aren't looking right i have some concerns yada yada yada and so
for several months we watched and realizing this is a mess this is not where
it's supposed to be and the thing is you don't just jump.
(14:56):
Accountants and bookkeepers to accountants just like marketing companies
right you don't jump from one to the other it's a
big move or software you know you've got
it it's such a big commitment and it takes
so much time and money and that kind of thing but come to
find out our books were just trashed i mean just trashed we couldn't make the
decisions we were needing to be making during that downturn you know and it
(15:21):
was just nuts but we also couldn't make what we have learned is not making rash
decisions you have to make a really good decision so we had to start interviewing and.
Asking all kinds of you know industry friends who are
you using this and that and so we interviewed and interviewed and interviewed
and finally came to one that matched that communicate and that's the other part
(15:42):
of that it's not just that they're good at what they do you have to be able
to communicate well with them it's a partnership so you have to find someone
who suits how you communicate.
And so we found someone and that, but we didn't do that till the 1st of January.
We didn't really find that, you know, come to peace and say,
okay, this is who we need to go with. And so now it's amazing.
(16:04):
Like it is amazing. We have a beautiful budget.
We are on track. Things have changed. I mean, it's just been wonderful.
Well, the other part of that was is we switched marketing companies in the midst of all of that.
And like, you know, the numbers are down, the numbers are down,
you know, we kept, and we don't like to be that.
(16:26):
We're not, you know, we, there's been some posts lately about this whole.
The the marketing company blaming the customer the
customer blaming the market marketing company and
who's at fault and who's not doing their job and this
and that you know and so and we're not
the type to be like it's super difficult to work
with i don't think so anyway and we want to trust whoever
(16:48):
we have whatever vendor that we're using and
really work on it like a like a marriage like a relationship like
let's give it a chance let's try you know but we
really did some deep diving into that and it was
not an easy decision it is terrifying decision
from a contractor's standpoint absolutely terrifying i
(17:08):
make the wrong decision am i going to crush
us literally or like am i like are we
going to we cannot afford to go backwards
we can like there's no room for that at all so again we had to interview interview
interview interview and ultimately we We were able to align with a company that
(17:31):
was able to really show us exactly what needed to be adjusted and changed.
And again, it wasn't a quick decision either. We waited until like March, which is terrible.
But we could not make that decision quickly again.
And I just would encourage other business owners, do not make these decisions
(17:52):
quickly. Do not just, you know, shoot from the hip because it's such a big decision. Get educated.
Sarah sent me an amazing list of questions to ask everyone who we were interviewing,
you know, reach out to people in this industry, your friends. It was so helpful.
And we did that in March. And it was literally like our lighthouse,
(18:16):
this light was out before.
And whatever the the adjustments
that were made just to gmp and lsa and
maps our light was on and we
have had a flood of volume when
even with no weather march night not all of april all of may like we can't even
(18:37):
keep up and it's just those things and we're still working on the website and
the seo part but that was that was that was terrifying it wasn't easy it was
a really difficult decision.
And how many vendors did you evaluate during that time?
Oh my gosh. I mean, five or six of the ones that I would trust,
(19:01):
if you will, like that have good names in the industry and that I know people that use them.
And it was just really hard. It was just, again, like the accounting,
it has to be someone, you know, you can speak with well and understand stand
well and communicate with and that kind of thing is a difficult decision,
but extremely like, these are those pivotal pivotal things are huge decisions that literally have.
(19:24):
Took us from close to failure. It's truly like, if we hadn't done those things,
I don't know where we would be.
Yeah. Yeah. And then the third thing that we had to do is switch vendors.
We had to switch. We, cause that from a contractor standpoint,
you get really, really close with your vendors.
You become friends with them. You end up traveling on these trips with them for years.
(19:48):
You get really close and we had to switch vendors because
we just were not getting the pricing that we
needed to be competitive and that was another thing like all
of this happened but then and maybe to some it
doesn't sound like a big deal but these are all really huge deal
like switching to service titan and
then the accounting you have to know your
(20:10):
numbers everybody talks about that right you have your numbers know
what's going on and why things aren't working the way
they're working and you've got to have the volume you
have to have your phones ringing obviously and we
talk about this right you've got it but we are i
can say this without a doubt we are as far
as contractors go we do our part we absolutely do
(20:32):
our part we do not miss phone calls we do not we we have all five-star reviews
we treat our customers really really well we touch them way too much as they
say we take away too much and that's i mean that sounds really bad but we like
we just we we We lick them to death. How about that?
(20:54):
So much. Yeah. Like a dog. Yeah. So we, we really care about what we do.
We do tons of training guys, lots of soft skills training along with technical training.
We do our part in making sure that those leads and those calls get nurtured and taken care of.
And, you know, I think, you know, we can definitely improve in some ways,
(21:17):
but we're really doing a good job, you know? so yeah lots of changes lots of changes and.
That's hard on your team. You know, the changes are hard on your team.
Josh and I lost so much sleep. They don't even know about, I don't even know
if they even knew any of this was necessarily going on behind the scenes and
having to figure all this out because that's really who it's for.
(21:40):
That's what all this is for. You know, like we've got to, we've got to keep
going for everyone, not just ourselves.
It's our team and our, and our community and our clients.
So it's been a rough year. It's a really rough year, but the light has shown.
And I do want to mention one other thing is that behind the scenes,
I reached out to quite a few of my industry friends during this time.
(22:03):
And God, like we have an amazing community, like amazing community of helpful people.
And we're not ones to ask for help, but I finally did.
And some people, some major names in this community really went above and beyond
and helped us. And it's like emotional.
(22:25):
Yeah. Yeah. We have some amazing, great people in this industry that are always
going above and beyond, you know, just to give advice or just to be there for
you and, you know, really understand all perspectives.
And I think that's a great part is they can, they've been there,
you know, we've done that and, and we can relate and all we want to do is help.
(22:51):
You know like that's just the biggest part of the
industry that i love so much and that's why i stay so close to it
right like god i love these people yeah i
think most people in this industry we have a heart for service that's why we're
doing what we do so they're very genuine kind real people who just want to help
(23:12):
and that's yeah every day is helping people yeah yeah and you talked about at the conferences,
which is interesting, right?
Because it's marketing team, you're going there to learn about other processes,
systems, procedures, and it can be overwhelming.
And it can be so different from one conference to another.
(23:36):
How do you digest that as a business owner?
And what do you do to take what have you taken back from the conferences and
which conferences did you really learn the most out is really what I'm kind of interested to know.
Yeah, so that's, you know, I think it's changed over the years.
So one of our first ones was Service World Expo back when it,
(23:59):
I think we went the first year it started.
It was one of the years, so it's been a long time.
And at that time, and for so many years, we just would, like,
it was like drinking from a fire hose, so much information, you know.
And we would just consume, consume, consume, and consume, and then be really overwhelmed.
(24:20):
And we've learned that we would just have to take a few nuggets that we could
implement and just focus on those and then and just have to wait till the next.
Because the reality is, as much as you absorb and what you can,
you just have to figure out what the key implementation items that are going
(24:41):
to move the needle the most.
Those are what you need to focus on. And you have to and we've learned as well with our team.
Mean you just can't come back and be like we're doing this and this
and this and this and to be distracted by all of the silver
you know the silver bullets the shiny things
and we've learned all of that the hard way yeah it's
(25:02):
been really yeah again like if we could go back like oh no i
only done this for that oh this was a this was a
distraction that was a distraction that took away from
you know what we're really trying to do and we have
to do bring that bring ourselves back to that okay we
need to answer the phone book the call you know
like we just need to do those basic things
(25:23):
instead of trying to do all these bells and whistles and so but yeah we like
service world expo of course we've been to some of the profit rocket events
we've gosh i feel like we've been to so many things our goal we want to go to
pantheon this year it's like buy your tickets yes.
(25:44):
Yes, that's one of them. And, you know, we, gosh, we go to some smaller,
you know, I love the women in the trade so much.
And so the E3 event has been fantastic.
So valuable more on a relationship level you
know i've learned i've picked up some great nuggets from those
events more for the relationships and now it's
(26:06):
become more about the relationships so the last one that we event we
went to which was that profit rocket here in
dallas or i i'm sorry rocket x yes and
we we
did attend some of the events i mean some of the the
training but it was actually we had other things that
we were looking and needing for this event so we've learned that
(26:28):
too like we kind of have to go into the event with
what our focus is and whether it's to learn about this or this or meet this
person or that person or connect with you know it's now more of a pick and choose
thing than it was to try to consume it all yep yeah that's something that i
think a lot of people like if you're listening to this and you're thinking about
(26:50):
out going to trade shows,
like rewind this episode 15 seconds and listen to that again,
because so many people just go and they're like, Oh, I'll just figure it out when I get there.
And then they see the agenda and they're like, Oh yeah. Call by call management. That sounds cool.
Oh, digital marketing. That sounds cool. And they just go in and then they,
they get the good information. They're just like, Oh my God,
I have to do all this stuff.
(27:11):
But like, if you're going to go to a conference or something,
like, I think it's so critical to, before you go, sit down with your team and
be like, all right, what's working? What's not working?
What should we start doing? What should we stop doing?
Get those three or four things and then go find the conference that's got the
curriculum or the content scheduled to answer those questions and pick and choose.
(27:34):
Maybe you go to a conference just to talk to one person, or maybe you go to
attend a breakout or a workshop, but definitely go with two or three things
that you're like, all right, if I leave here with a game plan,
then this conference has been a success.
Because it's so easy to get there and just be like, oh, beer at the lobby. Let's go bring beer.
Let's go get some free fidget spinners from the tables and then go home. Absolutely. We've.
(28:02):
You can definitely get discouraged if you don't have that plan as well.
Because we've walked away, not with our heads down, but being like,
oh my gosh, like I got to lose weight and get really muscular.
And I've got to, you know, start a podcast and an e-book of some sort.
And we work our entire business.
(28:24):
You know what I mean? There's just so much.
I joke about those things, but I mean, a lot.
Sometimes you're like i need to you know
where's my baby you're like i should be even me i'm like i should be way further
ahead you know than i am and then i'm like no like readjust yourself sarah like
(28:46):
you're pretty you're fine yeah yeah i mean you can go away feeling like yeah you we are a loser.
I really, I really am like, how are these people doing it?
You know, I don't do, I love the, I mean, I like the rah-rah stuff,
I guess, to a degree, but too much of it can be too much as, you know, like how,
(29:10):
what's the realistic, you know, or is the reality of what you can implement
when you get home and balance family life and, and all those things.
So, yeah, Yeah. What do they say?
You have to eat an elephant one bite at a time. So.
One thing at a time, you know, and then if you look back, that's what's so critical
(29:33):
about it too for us, our journey, if we look back, like where we've come from
and where we are now, we've really accomplished a lot.
And I struggle with really living in the moment and not always looking forward
about what we could do better, what we still need to do and where we're weak.
And all of these things when we can really should embrace where
(29:55):
we're at and this last year I think has magnified that
and where we're at we've had three record months record like almost double from
last year and so we're double I mean it's time that's right double it all the
time that's right but I mean it was a scary there was a scary a solid six months
(30:15):
or seven six or seven months I mean,
it was really scary for us, you know, and we not ever been in that position.
And for it to recover like it has, has taken a lot of work and energy and time
and all of that in prayer.
So I love Jesus. So, and I'm grateful to have that because I don't know,
(30:37):
you know, some days we'd make it.
But we have a great team, of course, who stands by us and helps support and
get us to where we've been, where we are.
So we have some really great goals now. And I think they're very attainable.
Yeah. And you've really been focusing on community marketing, right?
(30:57):
And getting out there and, you know, taking your brand to the streets. And I love that.
Do you want to talk a little bit about what you've been doing in your community?
Sure. Yeah. And so, I mean, we have a wonderful brand, a beautiful brand.
And a lot of people think we have even more vans out on the street than we have.
We have four fully wrapped bands and several trucks
(31:20):
and trailers and all of those kind of things but they're all
over the place people when i go to networking events you
know i'll often wear you know the shirt fully
colored shirts and whatnot or you're like oh yeah i've seen your
bands you guys are all over the place so that's that's always
wonderful feedback and we've really
embraced the on the double double the service double the
(31:40):
quality double the care you know you we keep your calm humming
that's our tagline and so did you
know that a hummingbird can change its internal body
temperature by 20 degrees in less than 24 hours which
is with your hpc it's pretty fascinating so
we've yeah we just really embrace our community we are a very tight-knit community
(32:02):
and very referral based very recommendation based we everyone knows everyone
somehow even though So we're like 275,000 people plus a university.
And it is so important to get your name out there and to be involved in the
community. We're heavily involved with a nonprofit.
(32:22):
It's an organization that we provide these special tricycles that we design
for kids with disabilities.
And we support that. And I'm involved in that heavily personally, but as a business too.
And we love we love that it
gives right back to our community directly kids with
disabilities we do we do a baseball season for
(32:45):
kids with disabilities we've created we've built a baseball field for
disabled children and my kids are involved in that
husbands we support that you know
t-shirts sponsors buddy sponsors that
kind of thing we have business expo that we were just in it's a business to
business expo trade show type thing involved with the Chamber of Commerce we
(33:07):
get a lot of ribbon cuttings so somebody's doing a grand opening or ribbon cutting
and things like that we're showing up with our.
Stuff on and referral groups networking events
there's a lot of that happening up here
i'm sure part of bni bni is
a very popular there's a lot of referral groups
(33:29):
similar to it even not the bni and
so we're we're involved in all of that and like i was mentioning before i take
my daughter with me one of my daughters and so they can learn how to what we
do and and share that out with the community and and just be involved our community
is family very family it's not,
(33:50):
a lot of people say you can do the exact same thing in every community you can't
like if you came in here like hard and fast what did you call like a city slickers sales time stuff,
high pressure sales it wouldn't work here you would get run out of town like
you really oh wow if you you just it just doesn't we are handshakers still here
(34:11):
you know we handshake it on a deal sometimes still.
And I know that people might cringe thinking about that, but this is West Texas.
Come out, you'll see. People are so friendly.
It's pretty cool. It's been very genuine, very real, very conservative community.
And we love it. We love it. We love doing business here. That's good.
(34:36):
Awesome. Is there anything that we haven't touched on yet that you were hoping being to chat about?
Oh, yeah. As there has been exposed a little bit of this, I spoke with this
at the E3 event and one of my big, I don't know, campaigns,
if you will, to business owners, especially, or just women and men,
certainly men in this industry, that is so important.
(34:59):
It's so important to take care of yourself, like your mental,
spiritual, and physical health.
And that's had to become important.
Priority of mine with i'm a pretty stubborn
stubborn and i think most business owners are pretty stubborn we push
and we push and we push and push and go and go and we're
under a lot of stress and we just
(35:21):
don't even know when to stop or even how because you kind of get on this hamster
well and you just don't it's like not stopping there's just no way to stop it
but you have to make it a priority truly do time for yourself make your health
a priority you rest and peace and And we're not martyrs, you know,
like it's not going to benefit anybody if we're not doing well.
(35:43):
And so I spoke a lot. I share that story.
It's a kind of a lengthy story. So I don't know. Right now is a really good
time for that. But it's a journey for sure.
And what was really great about it is several people at Profit.
I can't remember what the name is.
Sorry, guys. Love you.
But the name's a joke. Me, Profit Rocket, and Rocket X.
(36:05):
Yeah. Thank you. so at rocket x
there were some people who walked up to me and said hey you know what you
shared at the e3 event changed my totally
changed my life actually i've stepped back i
have you know made these changes in my life to to
focus more on my health not just we're
not it's not always about the physical but the spiritual and
(36:27):
the mental you know it's a time for
yourself and this business these businesses are not everything if we don't have
those if they don't have those other pieces in place you know we can't we can't
operate in our fullness no your health is your wealth you know and and especially
your mental health and because your mental health impacts.
(36:50):
Everyone around you and you don't even realize it sometimes you can be in a
spiral and and you won't even recognize it.
You have to have those people around you that support you, that really love
you and be like, hey, you need a break.
And sometimes we don't even have those people set.
(37:11):
Us. But when we do, it's that's something that we should take seriously and,
and really allocate time and spend time with gratitude, but time with ourselves and, and,
you know, really breaking down of like,
okay, well, what, what are my wins? What are my opportunities?
And where can I grow as a leader? Where can I grow as a business owner?
(37:34):
Where can I, you know, and it's, it's constantly becoming more and more self-aware
in your mental health so that you can stabilize yourself.
It's how I feel. Yeah. It's making yourself, we, we make everyone else a priority,
business owner, everyone else, you know, and no defense, Eric, sorry, as women,
(37:54):
women tend to, well, you know, if we look at generations, right?
Like the generations have changed and more women are working than ever before,
but we still have traditionally those responsibilities that we always had with
the kids and the, you know, other things.
And so for me, and this is nothing to even negative to say to men or my husband or whoever, but I.
(38:19):
Naturally was carrying way more than I could, like, than I should have, I could have.
And so that's what, where the burnout comes in, especially saying even Sarah,
that, you know, if you don't have a support system to
balance that out i mean you just can't
continue to go and go and you
(38:41):
know for me my kids they weren't getting any of me and like i mean it was like
the leftovers and that was really kind of i mean physically my body literally
shut down and i that i had to stop But that's what it takes for someone like me. I'm very stubborn.
That was just like, nope, no more. But then all of that, you know,
(39:07):
the spiritual side, the physical, but the emotional side, all of that kicked in.
And I realized, okay, I've got to really focus on myself so I can be better
for my family too. Like, this is not everything.
And what's been so beautiful about it, it's actually allowed my husband to step into a place.
And I hadn't allowed him. And so he going.
(39:31):
This leadership role, if you will. I mean, that has just been really cool to watch.
It's been amazing for both of us. It's been hard, but it's amazing at the same time.
Yeah. Yeah. And I appreciate you sharing that because I think like that's one
thing for just people in the trades, it's men and women.
(39:52):
We should talk about mental health more and we should talk about the spiritual
side of how we find ourselves again. Again, and just in general,
like people are people and we're humans.
We have emotions and feelings. And again, we are in the people and experiences business.
And when you really think about that, it's not only supporting our own mental
(40:14):
health, it's supporting our family's mental health, but our employees' mental health.
And so any way that you can, as a business owner, provide either leadership
training, training therapy, you know, added benefits to your employees to sit
down and talk to them and really get to know them as humans.
I think you will only develop better
relationships and the people and experiences business that we are in.
(40:37):
But I really want to end it with Shauna, you have a passion that you love to do with your business.
And you have talked about it
with me at the last trade show that we were at
and we were like yeah you should start a business so tell
me about your passion and tell us what you do and
(40:59):
what you're going to be doing uh future yeah
don't put me on the spot yeah yeah so yeah at this at last event sarah and stephanie
and i were sitting talking about travel and it's something that i love and i'm
passionate about and josh and i both traveled It's very extensively in our younger
(41:19):
years and we love, love that.
And so through the business, I've become what they call a.
It's just a hobby of mine. Like, so leveraging points through credit cards,
if you will, like the spending that we have to do as business owners and personally
to accrue massive amounts of points.
(41:41):
And it's just like a hobby of mine. And I was just sharing that with Sarah and
Stephanie and they were like, Oh my gosh, I have X million, you know, points.
And, but business owners, like, especially in the trades, they don't have time
to really like, for me, I just like it because it's like my thing. And I'm not like crazy.
(42:02):
There are people who have three screens with spreadsheets and stuff.
And I'm not like that at all.
But there's just some really great ways to be able to leverage the use of credit
cards with the spends that we have and gain points.
And then we use those. We use it. I mean, a lot of people think they need to use it personally.
We use it for going to some of these events. We'll
(42:23):
send employees for training i mean we'll do
some way to offset cash flow sometimes and so what
we had talked about is how i should develop a business
around that for home business owners
in the trades and guide them through how they
can how they can maximize that for
themselves and we'll even do like little fun trips like on as an end cap if
(42:47):
you will at the end of a conference or something things so like this last conversation
sharing with them well josh and i josh and i we haven't spent any time with
to get together in months so we're gonna go stay at the ritz carlton.
Right after this for two days before we go home and have some time as husband and wife,
and they're like well and i'm like yeah all on points
(43:08):
i mean why not and so
that that led to that and so i've uh i'm
looking i'm i mean i'm doing something to
create that i think there's a a niche for that
and i think i need to do it for all these
business owners and they have honestly a treasure trove
of points sitting there that they could
(43:30):
use and maximize and and they need
it they need that mental health time they need that break that time to get away
and yeah and it wouldn't cost them anything yeah that sounds really cool that's
actually something that's something that I've been kicking the can around on
is like extending trade shows this fall.
(43:51):
Cause there's so many in Orlando and I, you know, I've got a kid and my wife loves Disney.
And I was like, we, I, so we're, we're definitely going all down for one of
them and we're going to stay, you know, a long weekend.
That's something I've always thought about. I was like, why don't we just turn
these trade shows into like a long weekend vacation or something?
Cause like you were saying, like those credit card points, they just pile up
(44:13):
and you never spend them. Yep.
Owners are like, well, I need to spend the money because then I can write it
off. Well, you're still spending your dollars.
So that's actually what you're taking from the bottom line, no matter how you look at it.
So you might as well leverage these, but
there's also ways to to get a
(44:33):
lot more points for your money if you
ever want to learn about that so eric i
can i can teach you how so yeah i agree
with that yeah i'm like let's take my credit card you're
fine like figure it out book my stuff like that yeah i'll
just send you the i know and that's the other thing we
talked about i was like and if you don't care then just let
(44:56):
me book it for you and yeah i'm like if you could just play
the book list for me i do not time to learn this although
i think it's very special and i will support it a thousand percent yeah yeah
yeah i mean there's a way to do that too for sure yeah yeah and that business
that you are naming it what is it going to be called oh she trades points i
(45:17):
love it it's the greatest It is. Shawna, I'm so happy for you.
And I'm so happy to just hear all of your success.
And, you know, the light that you bring to the industry, it's very bright.
And I'm so excited for you in the future. And obviously, whatever you need,
we're always here for you in any way, you and Josh.
(45:39):
Gosh so with that i guess we will
end this wonderful podcast and just appreciate you so
much for being on the trademark and if
the you know all of you are out there listening if you like
this trademark podcast go ahead and subscribe
and leave us a review we would really like to
hear your feedback yes yeah yeah leave
(45:59):
us a review yeah thank you so much for having me
i mean it truly is an honor and i really do hope there's some
nuggets in this that others muse and if anybody wants to reach out i am very
accessible in the sense like people do i mean i will respond to you and i will
help in any way that i can and we have been there and done most of it and they
(46:21):
can find you on facebook yeah oh yeah for sure.
All right. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you guys. Have a great weekend.
And that wraps up another episode of the trademark where we bridge the worlds
of the trades and marketing one story at a time.
We can't wait to see you next time. Thank you to the trades for giving back
(46:44):
big, loving big and taking massive action.
Don't forget to join us next time for more engaging conversations, and innovative ideas.
If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review and share it with your
colleagues and friends in the trades and marketing.
Your support means the world to us.
Stay connected with us off the air by following us on social media.
(47:07):
We'd love to hear your thoughts and get your feedback.
Until next time, keep making your mark in the trades.
Thank you for listening to The Trademark. Goodbye for now. And remember,
we're with the trades for the trades. We'll be right back.
What is going on, everyone? Welcome back to another exciting episode of the Trademark Podcast.
This week, we've got a very, very special guest with us. We've got Shawna Brown
joining us from On The Double Heating and Cooling.
They've got an awesome brand. She has an awesome story.
We're going to talk about some really, really cool, powerful things this week.
(00:22):
So let's go ahead and get started.
Step into the Trademark, your go-to podcast for everything marketing in the trades.
Hosted by award-winning industry marketing expert, Sarah Girardo from Remarketable
and Eric Thomas from Rival Digital.
Together, we're here to unite the worlds of trades and marketing,
bringing you insights, stories, and strategies from the heart of the industry.
(00:46):
Whether you're a trade professional, a marketing expert, or somewhere in between,
this is the place for you.
Listen in as we're here for the big ideas, the game changers,
and the everyday successes.
Because at the trademark we're with the trades and
for the trade i changed the
(01:06):
icebreaker up while that was playing because before we started recording shauna
had mentioned something about how like our kids don't really know what we do
and i found this icebreaker so
shauna i'd like to know how do you describe your job to a three-year-old.
Okay so oh man that's a good one so yeah it's a three-year-old so i go around
(01:33):
introducing myself and what we do to strangers.
Stranger danger okay so within the
community and introduce ourselves and tell
what we do so that's part of the marketing is like getting involved
in the community we also do presentations to tell
(01:55):
about what we do along with community events tabling events trade shows things
like that but what we do heating and air conditioning is we go and we fix people's
air conditioners so that they can stay cool or warm in their homes that's probably
the most simplified one for a three-year-old,
(02:16):
You're right. That's a very intelligent three-year-old, right?
They're like, Trace does. Yes, tell me more. Yeah.
That's hard. Yeah. That's what I was saying, that I've been taking my nine-year-old,
just turned nine-year-old, along with me to some of these networking events and conferences.
Referral groups and she's observing me introduce
(02:37):
our company what we do talk to other
business owners other people in the community go to ribbon cuttings
but our our communities are very welcoming and very kind and so they love meeting
her they ask her what her name is what company she's with and she's getting
this firsthand experience of what what that looks like so it's really yeah and
(02:58):
that's how summer should be with kids right like guess what you're going to work with me
today or you're going to work just in general
yeah yeah so you're
the owner of on the double heating and cooling right co-owner
with our owner i like to say owner because i mean
we are right right and on the double heating and cooling in lubbock texas correct
(03:21):
that's correct yes yeah yeah we are those people often wonder like because texas
is so gigantic but we're this this little island out in west, northwest Texas.
And we're called the hub city because there's literally nothing with like a hundred miles of us.
And so everyone comes to Lubbock for everything, shopping, medical care, that kind of thing.
(03:45):
And we're getting closer to 300,000 people.
And then we have Texas tech university here, which a lot of people know about
that as far as the big 12 goes and really lovely people, very flat and dusty.
I love that. Texas is very flat, hot, and humid and all of the things.
(04:08):
You know, I'm from Texas originally. And so I totally can talk about Texas any way that I want.
But never actually been to Lubbock. And especially because it was Texas Tech
and we were all Aggie fans. Wow. Yeah.
We don't wear maroon hair. We just blend in wherever I go. Also,
(04:30):
it doesn't really matter to me.
But how has your business been doing during the summer?
And how did you really get started into the HVAC industry?
Yeah, it's a good story. So I like to share that my dad and my uncle,
I grew up in the industry.
And so they have had a heating and air conditioning business company.
(04:51):
And they've just really run it kind of old school. But they're retired now,
but still going by 45 years. So my entire life I've been in the trades.
I wasn't heavily involved in their business, but I've just been around it and
just around the business owners and entrepreneur mindset and just really the hustle.
It's the hustle with really amazing people.
(05:14):
Customer care, customer service and integrity and that kind of thing.
So we didn't really intend to have the heating and air conditioning business.
My husband got into it by happenstance and then we moved to Lubbock and he was
in the industry in a commercial position and he was traveling all over the place.
And then he finally settled with a company here in town and that was commercial
(05:38):
as well and started doing residential on the side because the company was like
yeah that's fine no worries it's not conflicting or anything well that grew
and grew and we found and saw a need for.
A higher level of customer service and i think it's a lot of similar stories
to other people you know they see i could do this on my own i really think i
(05:59):
could make a difference i can do this really well and so it just slowly grew
enough to where we decided let's let's go and do this on
our own and we did and so we officially
we say we officially i mean we could he had his license in 2012 however
didn't really go 100 in but 2017
nice and what were you doing before this well i've actually owned and sold a
(06:22):
business from higher to this and then i helped startups have basically involved
it all in startup business it's small uh community or locally owned startups
my My first business to own was a high-end photography studio.
I did all our sales, marketing, back-end business development,
make sure that we're compliant, a lot of interaction with our customers,
(06:43):
of course, our clients and doing the sales with that.
We sold that before moving to Lubbock, a lot of part of that.
And then I helped to buy here, pay here, car dealership. I was the head of the
finance side of all of that.
It's a work with some colorful people. So with colorful backgrounds and I say
(07:03):
that a good way. I mean, I loved it, to be honest.
I loved being able to counsel our customers with their financial decisions.
And it was probably one of the most rewarding things when someone would pay
off their car because they were probably the first generation to even do that
because they had lived a cycle of generations of always having really high interest,
(07:26):
you know, vehicles that were never ever paid off.
They were cycled and so it was really but developing that
business and growing that business was great experience
and then moved into
having children babies and so i backed off some during that does a little bit
there and but i've been always involved with our business as it's from the back
(07:50):
end the setup the compliance the all of the not so fun stuff but necessary yeah that's That's awesome.
What have been some of the bigger challenges that you have experienced since you all started.
You know, on the double, I think it was previously Airtex, right?
Correct. Yeah. What are some of the challenges that you all have faced?
(08:13):
Because I know before we started, we were talking, you're saying like,
you know, like our style of business is like the majority rather than the minority
because there's so much noise online about, you know, what businesses should look like.
So kind of walk us through some of that, like your process from like from there
until now, what that kind of looks like.
Well, you know, so we have had no formal exposure to what large HVAC operations look like, you know?
(08:40):
And so we have really just built this from scratch and learned as we've gone.
And there truly is no silver bullet to this.
I think there are some advantages that people have in the sense that if they
were exposed to those processes, how that operation is for them to go out on
there and already have that, you know, in their back pocket.
(09:02):
It we just went into it with high
high levels of integrity work ethic
honesty you know and customer service
and we just happen to be able to do heating air conditioning you know that that
skill and we've learned over these years that it's really a marketing and sales
company to it but we're not a hundred body 100 bought into it because we do
(09:26):
still believe in very much we're We're not a transactional business, we're a relationship.
Our style is more of a relationship business. It's important to us,
it's because it's who we are.
And we can sleep at night knowing that that's how we're running and operating our business.
And that's where our goal, we're in it for the long game, not the short run
of cycling through customers as quickly as we possibly can.
(09:48):
And all of this, you know, has just been learned over time.
I mean, we'd love to say, oh, if we could only go back, we would have done this,
we would have done that. But we've learned it over time.
Going to industry events has helped us tremendously. It also can be negative, too.
Not negative, but like a hindrance, if you will, because of all the noise,
(10:09):
because of all the distractions.
Again, if we could go back, there's a lot of those distractions we could have avoided.
But you live and you learn. And I think we're in a really good spot.
This last year is probably one of the most difficult years that we've had.
We had to make some major pivotal changes that have resulted in a real positive
(10:30):
effect. But they were hard, very difficult.
And I'm happy to share any of that.
Yeah. And I think you're right. First off, it is really difficult to,
you know, it's always customer first. And you're in a people and experience business.
And I think when we realign the way that we think about sales and marketing,
(10:53):
it's about who are we helping, right? And it's people.
And it's not just the people that we're serving in the community,
it's the people that we're serving as employees, because as your company grows,
your employees are your people.
And so when we align our core values and we align our whys and we align our
(11:13):
purpose to the people in the experience,
like you have just talked about, then the outcome that that's driven is a more
stable and you're not chasing a dollar, right? Right.
Like that's the biggest thing is, is really understanding that you're not out
there to be a sales and marketing structure.
(11:35):
You're out there to serve.
And I think that's what you're doing. And that's the greatest thing.
So, yeah, I mean, we'd love to hear the challenges.
And, you know, you and I have talked about some of the challenges throughout the year.
And it's just been an honor to learn and grow with you.
But I think that the industry really needs to hear the reality of the situations. solutions, right?
(11:56):
Like, it is hard. And when you think about it as a sales and marketing experience,
then it's just like, what are you chasing?
So yeah, so if you want to dive in, that'd be great.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, so last year was, I think, a really hard year for
a lot of companies, a lot, like the numbers were down, the volume was down. I mean, I know some were.
(12:20):
Very proud that they were doing really well. There was those that were out there,
you know, saying that they were doing really well.
But I think the reality is that a lot of companies were struggling,
especially in the third quarter, like the second half of the year.
Well, I guess that's not true. So a lot of people, that first quarter was really
rough for a lot of people.
So what last year, oh man,
(12:42):
well, we had some personal things happening in the beginning
of the year that we had to make some choices for me to kind of step
very significantly back and away from the
business for some for health reasons and make that
a priority and so that was kind of a you know through
a kink of things for sure but it's been the biggest blessing in
the big picture of all with that we also implemented and switched from one a
(13:06):
software from a software to service titan and as we all know that's just a huge
huge undertaking and And so much time and attention and distraction,
in a way, to switch softwares.
So we did that last spring.
And so now we've got a whole year with it and have some really great data and
(13:29):
that kind of thing. It was a good move, but it was a challenge.
And it was a lot to happen during the year.
But we had to make three major changes, though, this last year.
We had had a bookkeeper and accountant for years.
And the bookkeeper had come to me. She did a great job and said,
hey, I'm moving on. You're going to have to find somebody else.
(13:50):
And so I was like, oh, good timing. We're switching to Service Titan. This will be free.
We'll find someone that's more industry focused and understands Service Titan.
And so we switched bookkeepers and hoping to have more solid numbers.
And from our industry's perspective, along with the Service Titan numbers,
(14:12):
And we were like, oh, this is going to be great.
You can finally have that budget that we've always wanted to have and those
KPIs that we've always wanted to really follow and all those kinds of things.
Well, I know enough to be dangerous with my accounting and everything.
And so we got into that and we thought, okay, it takes a minute to shift and
adjust and service tightens newness and that.
(14:33):
But toward the end and then and then september october
came and everything was dropping as far as volume and i was like josh these
numbers just aren't looking right i have some concerns yada yada yada and so
for several months we watched and realizing this is a mess this is not where
it's supposed to be and the thing is you don't just jump.
(14:56):
Accountants and bookkeepers to accountants just like marketing companies
right you don't jump from one to the other it's a
big move or software you know you've got
it it's such a big commitment and it takes
so much time and money and that kind of thing but come to
find out our books were just trashed i mean just trashed we couldn't make the
decisions we were needing to be making during that downturn you know and it
(15:21):
was just nuts but we also couldn't make what we have learned is not making rash
decisions you have to make a really good decision so we had to start interviewing and.
Asking all kinds of you know industry friends who are
you using this and that and so we interviewed and interviewed and interviewed
and finally came to one that matched that communicate and that's the other part
(15:42):
of that it's not just that they're good at what they do you have to be able
to communicate well with them it's a partnership so you have to find someone
who suits how you communicate.
And so we found someone and that, but we didn't do that till the 1st of January.
We didn't really find that, you know, come to peace and say,
okay, this is who we need to go with. And so now it's amazing.
(16:04):
Like it is amazing. We have a beautiful budget.
We are on track. Things have changed. I mean, it's just been wonderful.
Well, the other part of that was is we switched marketing companies in the midst of all of that.
And like, you know, the numbers are down, the numbers are down,
you know, we kept, and we don't like to be that.
(16:26):
We're not, you know, we, there's been some posts lately about this whole.
The the marketing company blaming the customer the
customer blaming the market marketing company and
who's at fault and who's not doing their job and this
and that you know and so and we're not
the type to be like it's super difficult to work
with i don't think so anyway and we want to trust whoever
(16:48):
we have whatever vendor that we're using and
really work on it like a like a marriage like a relationship like
let's give it a chance let's try you know but we
really did some deep diving into that and it was
not an easy decision it is terrifying decision
from a contractor's standpoint absolutely terrifying i
(17:08):
make the wrong decision am i going to crush
us literally or like am i like are we
going to we cannot afford to go backwards
we can like there's no room for that at all so again we had to interview interview
interview interview and ultimately we We were able to align with a company that
(17:31):
was able to really show us exactly what needed to be adjusted and changed.
And again, it wasn't a quick decision either. We waited until like March, which is terrible.
But we could not make that decision quickly again.
And I just would encourage other business owners, do not make these decisions
(17:52):
quickly. Do not just, you know, shoot from the hip because it's such a big decision. Get educated.
Sarah sent me an amazing list of questions to ask everyone who we were interviewing,
you know, reach out to people in this industry, your friends. It was so helpful.
And we did that in March. And it was literally like our lighthouse,
(18:16):
this light was out before.
And whatever the the adjustments
that were made just to gmp and lsa and
maps our light was on and we
have had a flood of volume when
even with no weather march night not all of april all of may like we can't even
(18:37):
keep up and it's just those things and we're still working on the website and
the seo part but that was that was that was terrifying it wasn't easy it was
a really difficult decision.
And how many vendors did you evaluate during that time?
Oh my gosh. I mean, five or six of the ones that I would trust,
(19:01):
if you will, like that have good names in the industry and that I know people that use them.
And it was just really hard. It was just, again, like the accounting,
it has to be someone, you know, you can speak with well and understand stand
well and communicate with and that kind of thing is a difficult decision,
but extremely like, these are those pivotal pivotal things are huge decisions that literally have.
(19:24):
Took us from close to failure. It's truly like, if we hadn't done those things,
I don't know where we would be.
Yeah. Yeah. And then the third thing that we had to do is switch vendors.
We had to switch. We, cause that from a contractor standpoint,
you get really, really close with your vendors.
You become friends with them. You end up traveling on these trips with them for years.
(19:48):
You get really close and we had to switch vendors because
we just were not getting the pricing that we
needed to be competitive and that was another thing like all
of this happened but then and maybe to some it
doesn't sound like a big deal but these are all really huge deal
like switching to service titan and
then the accounting you have to know your
(20:10):
numbers everybody talks about that right you have your numbers know
what's going on and why things aren't working the way
they're working and you've got to have the volume you
have to have your phones ringing obviously and we
talk about this right you've got it but we are i
can say this without a doubt we are as far
as contractors go we do our part we absolutely do
(20:32):
our part we do not miss phone calls we do not we we have all five-star reviews
we treat our customers really really well we touch them way too much as they
say we take away too much and that's i mean that sounds really bad but we like
we just we we We lick them to death. How about that?
(20:54):
So much. Yeah. Like a dog. Yeah. So we, we really care about what we do.
We do tons of training guys, lots of soft skills training along with technical training.
We do our part in making sure that those leads and those calls get nurtured and taken care of.
And, you know, I think, you know, we can definitely improve in some ways,
(21:17):
but we're really doing a good job, you know? so yeah lots of changes lots of changes and.
That's hard on your team. You know, the changes are hard on your team.
Josh and I lost so much sleep. They don't even know about, I don't even know
if they even knew any of this was necessarily going on behind the scenes and
having to figure all this out because that's really who it's for.
(21:40):
That's what all this is for. You know, like we've got to, we've got to keep
going for everyone, not just ourselves.
It's our team and our, and our community and our clients.
So it's been a rough year. It's a really rough year, but the light has shown.
And I do want to mention one other thing is that behind the scenes,
I reached out to quite a few of my industry friends during this time.
(22:03):
And God, like we have an amazing community, like amazing community of helpful people.
And we're not ones to ask for help, but I finally did.
And some people, some major names in this community really went above and beyond
and helped us. And it's like emotional.
(22:25):
Yeah. Yeah. We have some amazing, great people in this industry that are always
going above and beyond, you know, just to give advice or just to be there for
you and, you know, really understand all perspectives.
And I think that's a great part is they can, they've been there,
you know, we've done that and, and we can relate and all we want to do is help.
(22:51):
You know like that's just the biggest part of the
industry that i love so much and that's why i stay so close to it
right like god i love these people yeah i
think most people in this industry we have a heart for service that's why we're
doing what we do so they're very genuine kind real people who just want to help
(23:12):
and that's yeah every day is helping people yeah yeah and you talked about at the conferences,
which is interesting, right?
Because it's marketing team, you're going there to learn about other processes,
systems, procedures, and it can be overwhelming.
And it can be so different from one conference to another.
(23:36):
How do you digest that as a business owner?
And what do you do to take what have you taken back from the conferences and
which conferences did you really learn the most out is really what I'm kind of interested to know.
Yeah, so that's, you know, I think it's changed over the years.
So one of our first ones was Service World Expo back when it,
(23:59):
I think we went the first year it started.
It was one of the years, so it's been a long time.
And at that time, and for so many years, we just would, like,
it was like drinking from a fire hose, so much information, you know.
And we would just consume, consume, consume, and consume, and then be really overwhelmed.
(24:20):
And we've learned that we would just have to take a few nuggets that we could
implement and just focus on those and then and just have to wait till the next.
Because the reality is, as much as you absorb and what you can,
you just have to figure out what the key implementation items that are going
(24:41):
to move the needle the most.
Those are what you need to focus on. And you have to and we've learned as well with our team.
Mean you just can't come back and be like we're doing this and this
and this and this and to be distracted by all of the silver
you know the silver bullets the shiny things
and we've learned all of that the hard way yeah it's
(25:02):
been really yeah again like if we could go back like oh no i
only done this for that oh this was a this was a
distraction that was a distraction that took away from
you know what we're really trying to do and we have
to do bring that bring ourselves back to that okay we
need to answer the phone book the call you know
like we just need to do those basic things
(25:23):
instead of trying to do all these bells and whistles and so but yeah we like
service world expo of course we've been to some of the profit rocket events
we've gosh i feel like we've been to so many things our goal we want to go to
pantheon this year it's like buy your tickets yes.
(25:44):
Yes, that's one of them. And, you know, we, gosh, we go to some smaller,
you know, I love the women in the trade so much.
And so the E3 event has been fantastic.
So valuable more on a relationship level you
know i've learned i've picked up some great nuggets from those
events more for the relationships and now it's
(26:06):
become more about the relationships so the last one that we event we
went to which was that profit rocket here in
dallas or i i'm sorry rocket x yes and
we we
did attend some of the events i mean some of the the
training but it was actually we had other things that
we were looking and needing for this event so we've learned that
(26:28):
too like we kind of have to go into the event with
what our focus is and whether it's to learn about this or this or meet this
person or that person or connect with you know it's now more of a pick and choose
thing than it was to try to consume it all yep yeah that's something that i
think a lot of people like if you're listening to this and you're thinking about
(26:50):
out going to trade shows,
like rewind this episode 15 seconds and listen to that again,
because so many people just go and they're like, Oh, I'll just figure it out when I get there.
And then they see the agenda and they're like, Oh yeah. Call by call management. That sounds cool.
Oh, digital marketing. That sounds cool. And they just go in and then they,
they get the good information. They're just like, Oh my God,
I have to do all this stuff.
(27:11):
But like, if you're going to go to a conference or something,
like, I think it's so critical to, before you go, sit down with your team and
be like, all right, what's working? What's not working?
What should we start doing? What should we stop doing?
Get those three or four things and then go find the conference that's got the
curriculum or the content scheduled to answer those questions and pick and choose.
(27:34):
Maybe you go to a conference just to talk to one person, or maybe you go to
attend a breakout or a workshop, but definitely go with two or three things
that you're like, all right, if I leave here with a game plan,
then this conference has been a success.
Because it's so easy to get there and just be like, oh, beer at the lobby. Let's go bring beer.
Let's go get some free fidget spinners from the tables and then go home. Absolutely. We've.
(28:02):
You can definitely get discouraged if you don't have that plan as well.
Because we've walked away, not with our heads down, but being like,
oh my gosh, like I got to lose weight and get really muscular.
And I've got to, you know, start a podcast and an e-book of some sort.
And we work our entire business.
(28:24):
You know what I mean? There's just so much.
I joke about those things, but I mean, a lot.
Sometimes you're like i need to you know
where's my baby you're like i should be even me i'm like i should be way further
ahead you know than i am and then i'm like no like readjust yourself sarah like
(28:46):
you're pretty you're fine yeah yeah i mean you can go away feeling like yeah you we are a loser.
I really, I really am like, how are these people doing it?
You know, I don't do, I love the, I mean, I like the rah-rah stuff,
I guess, to a degree, but too much of it can be too much as, you know, like how,
(29:10):
what's the realistic, you know, or is the reality of what you can implement
when you get home and balance family life and, and all those things.
So, yeah, Yeah. What do they say?
You have to eat an elephant one bite at a time. So.
One thing at a time, you know, and then if you look back, that's what's so critical
(29:33):
about it too for us, our journey, if we look back, like where we've come from
and where we are now, we've really accomplished a lot.
And I struggle with really living in the moment and not always looking forward
about what we could do better, what we still need to do and where we're weak.
And all of these things when we can really should embrace where
(29:55):
we're at and this last year I think has magnified that
and where we're at we've had three record months record like almost double from
last year and so we're double I mean it's time that's right double it all the
time that's right but I mean it was a scary there was a scary a solid six months
(30:15):
or seven six or seven months I mean,
it was really scary for us, you know, and we not ever been in that position.
And for it to recover like it has, has taken a lot of work and energy and time
and all of that in prayer.
So I love Jesus. So, and I'm grateful to have that because I don't know,
(30:37):
you know, some days we'd make it.
But we have a great team, of course, who stands by us and helps support and
get us to where we've been, where we are.
So we have some really great goals now. And I think they're very attainable.
Yeah. And you've really been focusing on community marketing, right?
(30:57):
And getting out there and, you know, taking your brand to the streets. And I love that.
Do you want to talk a little bit about what you've been doing in your community?
Sure. Yeah. And so, I mean, we have a wonderful brand, a beautiful brand.
And a lot of people think we have even more vans out on the street than we have.
We have four fully wrapped bands and several trucks
(31:20):
and trailers and all of those kind of things but they're all
over the place people when i go to networking events you
know i'll often wear you know the shirt fully
colored shirts and whatnot or you're like oh yeah i've seen your
bands you guys are all over the place so that's that's always
wonderful feedback and we've really
embraced the on the double double the service double the
(31:40):
quality double the care you know you we keep your calm humming
that's our tagline and so did you
know that a hummingbird can change its internal body
temperature by 20 degrees in less than 24 hours which
is with your hpc it's pretty fascinating so
we've yeah we just really embrace our community we are a very tight-knit community
(32:02):
and very referral based very recommendation based we everyone knows everyone
somehow even though So we're like 275,000 people plus a university.
And it is so important to get your name out there and to be involved in the
community. We're heavily involved with a nonprofit.
(32:22):
It's an organization that we provide these special tricycles that we design
for kids with disabilities.
And we support that. And I'm involved in that heavily personally, but as a business too.
And we love we love that it
gives right back to our community directly kids with
disabilities we do we do a baseball season for
(32:45):
kids with disabilities we've created we've built a baseball field for
disabled children and my kids are involved in that
husbands we support that you know
t-shirts sponsors buddy sponsors that
kind of thing we have business expo that we were just in it's a business to
business expo trade show type thing involved with the Chamber of Commerce we
(33:07):
get a lot of ribbon cuttings so somebody's doing a grand opening or ribbon cutting
and things like that we're showing up with our.
Stuff on and referral groups networking events
there's a lot of that happening up here
i'm sure part of bni bni is
a very popular there's a lot of referral groups
(33:29):
similar to it even not the bni and
so we're we're involved in all of that and like i was mentioning before i take
my daughter with me one of my daughters and so they can learn how to what we
do and and share that out with the community and and just be involved our community
is family very family it's not,
(33:50):
a lot of people say you can do the exact same thing in every community you can't
like if you came in here like hard and fast what did you call like a city slickers sales time stuff,
high pressure sales it wouldn't work here you would get run out of town like
you really oh wow if you you just it just doesn't we are handshakers still here
(34:11):
you know we handshake it on a deal sometimes still.
And I know that people might cringe thinking about that, but this is West Texas.
Come out, you'll see. People are so friendly.
It's pretty cool. It's been very genuine, very real, very conservative community.
And we love it. We love it. We love doing business here. That's good.
(34:36):
Awesome. Is there anything that we haven't touched on yet that you were hoping being to chat about?
Oh, yeah. As there has been exposed a little bit of this, I spoke with this
at the E3 event and one of my big, I don't know, campaigns,
if you will, to business owners, especially, or just women and men,
certainly men in this industry, that is so important.
(34:59):
It's so important to take care of yourself, like your mental,
spiritual, and physical health.
And that's had to become important.
Priority of mine with i'm a pretty stubborn
stubborn and i think most business owners are pretty stubborn we push
and we push and we push and push and go and go and we're
under a lot of stress and we just
(35:21):
don't even know when to stop or even how because you kind of get on this hamster
well and you just don't it's like not stopping there's just no way to stop it
but you have to make it a priority truly do time for yourself make your health
a priority you rest and peace and And we're not martyrs, you know,
like it's not going to benefit anybody if we're not doing well.
(35:43):
And so I spoke a lot. I share that story.
It's a kind of a lengthy story. So I don't know. Right now is a really good
time for that. But it's a journey for sure.
And what was really great about it is several people at Profit.
I can't remember what the name is.
Sorry, guys. Love you.
But the name's a joke. Me, Profit Rocket, and Rocket X.
(36:05):
Yeah. Thank you. so at rocket x
there were some people who walked up to me and said hey you know what you
shared at the e3 event changed my totally
changed my life actually i've stepped back i
have you know made these changes in my life to to
focus more on my health not just we're
not it's not always about the physical but the spiritual and
(36:27):
the mental you know it's a time for
yourself and this business these businesses are not everything if we don't have
those if they don't have those other pieces in place you know we can't we can't
operate in our fullness no your health is your wealth you know and and especially
your mental health and because your mental health impacts.
(36:50):
Everyone around you and you don't even realize it sometimes you can be in a
spiral and and you won't even recognize it.
You have to have those people around you that support you, that really love
you and be like, hey, you need a break.
And sometimes we don't even have those people set.
(37:11):
Us. But when we do, it's that's something that we should take seriously and,
and really allocate time and spend time with gratitude, but time with ourselves and, and,
you know, really breaking down of like,
okay, well, what, what are my wins? What are my opportunities?
And where can I grow as a leader? Where can I grow as a business owner?
(37:34):
Where can I, you know, and it's, it's constantly becoming more and more self-aware
in your mental health so that you can stabilize yourself.
It's how I feel. Yeah. It's making yourself, we, we make everyone else a priority,
business owner, everyone else, you know, and no defense, Eric, sorry, as women,
(37:54):
women tend to, well, you know, if we look at generations, right?
Like the generations have changed and more women are working than ever before,
but we still have traditionally those responsibilities that we always had with
the kids and the, you know, other things.
And so for me, and this is nothing to even negative to say to men or my husband or whoever, but I.
(38:19):
Naturally was carrying way more than I could, like, than I should have, I could have.
And so that's what, where the burnout comes in, especially saying even Sarah,
that, you know, if you don't have a support system to
balance that out i mean you just can't
continue to go and go and you
(38:41):
know for me my kids they weren't getting any of me and like i mean it was like
the leftovers and that was really kind of i mean physically my body literally
shut down and i that i had to stop But that's what it takes for someone like me. I'm very stubborn.
That was just like, nope, no more. But then all of that, you know,
(39:07):
the spiritual side, the physical, but the emotional side, all of that kicked in.
And I realized, okay, I've got to really focus on myself so I can be better
for my family too. Like, this is not everything.
And what's been so beautiful about it, it's actually allowed my husband to step into a place.
And I hadn't allowed him. And so he going.
(39:31):
This leadership role, if you will. I mean, that has just been really cool to watch.
It's been amazing for both of us. It's been hard, but it's amazing at the same time.
Yeah. Yeah. And I appreciate you sharing that because I think like that's one
thing for just people in the trades, it's men and women.
(39:52):
We should talk about mental health more and we should talk about the spiritual
side of how we find ourselves again. Again, and just in general,
like people are people and we're humans.
We have emotions and feelings. And again, we are in the people and experiences business.
And when you really think about that, it's not only supporting our own mental
(40:14):
health, it's supporting our family's mental health, but our employees' mental health.
And so any way that you can, as a business owner, provide either leadership
training, training therapy, you know, added benefits to your employees to sit
down and talk to them and really get to know them as humans.
I think you will only develop better
relationships and the people and experiences business that we are in.
(40:37):
But I really want to end it with Shauna, you have a passion that you love to do with your business.
And you have talked about it
with me at the last trade show that we were at
and we were like yeah you should start a business so tell
me about your passion and tell us what you do and
(40:59):
what you're going to be doing uh future yeah
don't put me on the spot yeah yeah so yeah at this at last event sarah and stephanie
and i were sitting talking about travel and it's something that i love and i'm
passionate about and josh and i both traveled It's very extensively in our younger
(41:19):
years and we love, love that.
And so through the business, I've become what they call a.
It's just a hobby of mine. Like, so leveraging points through credit cards,
if you will, like the spending that we have to do as business owners and personally
to accrue massive amounts of points.
(41:41):
And it's just like a hobby of mine. And I was just sharing that with Sarah and
Stephanie and they were like, Oh my gosh, I have X million, you know, points.
And, but business owners, like, especially in the trades, they don't have time
to really like, for me, I just like it because it's like my thing. And I'm not like crazy.
(42:02):
There are people who have three screens with spreadsheets and stuff.
And I'm not like that at all.
But there's just some really great ways to be able to leverage the use of credit
cards with the spends that we have and gain points.
And then we use those. We use it. I mean, a lot of people think they need to use it personally.
We use it for going to some of these events. We'll
(42:23):
send employees for training i mean we'll do
some way to offset cash flow sometimes and so what
we had talked about is how i should develop a business
around that for home business owners
in the trades and guide them through how they
can how they can maximize that for
themselves and we'll even do like little fun trips like on as an end cap if
(42:47):
you will at the end of a conference or something things so like this last conversation
sharing with them well josh and i josh and i we haven't spent any time with
to get together in months so we're gonna go stay at the ritz carlton.
Right after this for two days before we go home and have some time as husband and wife,
and they're like well and i'm like yeah all on points
(43:08):
i mean why not and so
that that led to that and so i've uh i'm
looking i'm i mean i'm doing something to
create that i think there's a a niche for that
and i think i need to do it for all these
business owners and they have honestly a treasure trove
of points sitting there that they could
(43:30):
use and maximize and and they need
it they need that mental health time they need that break that time to get away
and yeah and it wouldn't cost them anything yeah that sounds really cool that's
actually something that's something that I've been kicking the can around on
is like extending trade shows this fall.
(43:51):
Cause there's so many in Orlando and I, you know, I've got a kid and my wife loves Disney.
And I was like, we, I, so we're, we're definitely going all down for one of
them and we're going to stay, you know, a long weekend.
That's something I've always thought about. I was like, why don't we just turn
these trade shows into like a long weekend vacation or something?
Cause like you were saying, like those credit card points, they just pile up
(44:13):
and you never spend them. Yep.
Owners are like, well, I need to spend the money because then I can write it
off. Well, you're still spending your dollars.
So that's actually what you're taking from the bottom line, no matter how you look at it.
So you might as well leverage these, but
there's also ways to to get a
(44:33):
lot more points for your money if you
ever want to learn about that so eric i
can i can teach you how so yeah i agree
with that yeah i'm like let's take my credit card you're
fine like figure it out book my stuff like that yeah i'll
just send you the i know and that's the other thing we
talked about i was like and if you don't care then just let
(44:56):
me book it for you and yeah i'm like if you could just play
the book list for me i do not time to learn this although
i think it's very special and i will support it a thousand percent yeah yeah
yeah i mean there's a way to do that too for sure yeah yeah and that business
that you are naming it what is it going to be called oh she trades points i
(45:17):
love it it's the greatest It is. Shawna, I'm so happy for you.
And I'm so happy to just hear all of your success.
And, you know, the light that you bring to the industry, it's very bright.
And I'm so excited for you in the future. And obviously, whatever you need,
we're always here for you in any way, you and Josh.
(45:39):
Gosh so with that i guess we will
end this wonderful podcast and just appreciate you so
much for being on the trademark and if
the you know all of you are out there listening if you like
this trademark podcast go ahead and subscribe
and leave us a review we would really like to
hear your feedback yes yeah yeah leave
(45:59):
us a review yeah thank you so much for having me
i mean it truly is an honor and i really do hope there's some
nuggets in this that others muse and if anybody wants to reach out i am very
accessible in the sense like people do i mean i will respond to you and i will
help in any way that i can and we have been there and done most of it and they
(46:21):
can find you on facebook yeah oh yeah for sure.
All right. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you guys. Have a great weekend.
And that wraps up another episode of the trademark where we bridge the worlds
of the trades and marketing one story at a time.
We can't wait to see you next time. Thank you to the trades for giving back
(46:44):
big, loving big and taking massive action.
Don't forget to join us next time for more engaging conversations, and innovative ideas.
If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review and share it with your
colleagues and friends in the trades and marketing.
Your support means the world to us.
Stay connected with us off the air by following us on social media.
(47:07):
We'd love to hear your thoughts and get your feedback.
Until next time, keep making your mark in the trades.
Thank you for listening to The Trademark. Goodbye for now. And remember,
we're with the trades for the trades. We'll be right back.
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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.