In this episode, Brian interviews Norris Ayvazian, the founder and CEO of Service Crucible, a consultancy focused on transforming home service businesses through operational excellence and strategic growth. Norris shares how he grew a regional branch from $4 million to $12 million in just 12 months at a 25% net profit — and how his approach to simplicity and business fundamentals is changing the industry. Whether you’re in home services or any other business, Norris’s insights on cutting through the noise, building systems, and focusing on relationships will help you scale faster and more sustainably.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
🚀 Why simplicity wins — Why business fundamentals matter more than trendy tools and tech
🔑 The Holy Trinity of Business Success — Relationships, knowing your numbers, and clear communication
💡 How to identify bottlenecks — Why most growth stalls happen at the leadership level and how to fix it
📈 Capacity planning secrets — How to maximize efficiency and profitability in any service-based business
💬 Good enough isn’t good enough — Why complacency kills business growth and how to stay ahead
💰 Upselling and value delivery — How to increase customer lifetime value without adding overhead
🌟 Value is everything — Why customers will pay more when they perceive real value
📝 About Norris Ayvazian
Norris Ayvazian is the founder and CEO of Service Crucible, transforming home service companies through operational excellence and sustainable growth strategies. His track record includes working for some of the largest Private Equity firms in the residential service space and growing the Pensacola branch of Peaden Air Conditioning, Plumbing, and Electrical from $4M to $12M in revenue at 25% net profit within 12 months, earning him Pensacola's Business Leader of the Year award. With extensive experience scaling operations from $2M to $60M+, Norris now helps HVAC, plumbing, and electrical business owners build lasting legacies through proven systems and genuine relationships. His methods are endorsed by industry leaders like Michael and Son Services ($260M), demonstrating his ability to drive measurable results across diverse markets.
🎯 Norris’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
“Value, value, value. If you don’t believe in the value of what you’re offering, neither will your customers.”
📢 Memorable Quotes
"How you do anything is how you do everything." – Norris Ayvazian
"Good enough is never good enough if you want to win in business." – Norris Ayvazian
"You can’t manage what you don’t measure." – Norris Ayvazian
💡 Actionable Takeaways
✅ Simplify your business strategy — Focus on operational excellence and fundamentals rather than trends
✅ Know your numbers — Identify the key drivers of revenue and profitability in your business
✅ Create a strong internal culture — Relationships and communication within your team matter as much as customer relationships
✅ Capacity planning is critical — Optimize scheduling and efficiency before hiring or adding overhead
✅ Believe in your value — If you’re underpricing or undervaluing your product, it’s time to reassess
🔗 Links
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what is up?
Welcome to this episode of theEntrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
As always, I'm your host, brianLopremento, and I hope all of
you listeners can tell today'sguests that I don't always say
this, but I am so very excitedbecause this episode is not
gonna be like the others, andthe reason is is because this
entrepreneur all the fancy,trendy things that we hear about
(00:22):
business.
He cannot stand those.
He's not looking for those.
What he's really here to do ismake business so simple and so
results-based by cutting throughall the noise that you might
typically hear, not on our showbut on other shows.
Let me introduce you to today'sguest.
His name is Norris Ivasian.
Norris is the founder and CEO ofService Crucible, which is a
(00:44):
consultancy dedicated totransforming home service
businesses through operationalmastery and strategic growth.
With decades of experience inthe home services industry,
norris has driven remarkableresults.
Listen to these numbers,including growing a regional
branch from $4 million to $12million in just 12 months at a
(01:05):
25% net profit.
He's a third generation tradesprofessional and that's why
Norris combines his hands-onoperational expertise with deep
financial acumen, having managedorganizations from $2 million
in revenue all the way up tomore than $60 million in revenue
.
His unique approach breaksthrough the common revenue
barriers that trap most servicecompanies, focusing on
(01:27):
relationship building andsystematic excellence rather
than quick fixes and I'll add in, rather than trends as well.
Before founding Service Crucible, norris has earned recognition
as Pensacola's Business Leaderof the Year and has been
endorsed by industry giants likeMichael Son Services.
He specializes in creatingsustainable growth through his
(01:47):
Four Forges methodology a provenframework that transforms
potential into performance forhome service businesses
nationwide.
We are all in for a real treattoday, myself especially, so I'm
not going to say anything else.
Let's dive straight into myinterview with Norris Ivasian.
All right, norris.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
This is gonna be a fun one.
First things first, welcome tothe show.
Thanks for having me, Brian.
I really appreciate it.
I have a feeling this is gonnabe fun.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Heck, yes.
Well, first things first.
You've got to take us beyondthe bio, because I can humble
brag about all youraccomplishments for days, but I
want you to give us thatbackstory.
Who's Norris?
How'd you start doing all thesecool things?
Because I can humble brag aboutall your accomplishments for
days, but I want you to give usthat backstory.
Who's Norris?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
How'd you start doing all these cool things?
Oh, let's see.
So skip the enjoying long walkson the beach part right, get to
the origin story of business.
Okay, so it's going to be.
Let's say I was an army civiliancontractor for the longest time
before moving to residentialservices.
It didn't take me but a handfulof months to just fall in love
(02:51):
with the industry.
It became a job, like I wouldsay no, it became a way of life
for me instead of a job.
I enjoy every single bit of it,every part of it, every
interaction inside and out.
It just fascinated me, and Iwas lucky enough to join Michael
and Son Services top 1% in thecountry when it comes to
residential home servicecompanies and it felt like I was
(03:14):
a peewee football playerjoining the starting lineup of
an NFL Super Bowl championshipwinning team.
And the rest is history.
I have an obsessive personality.
I love the details, but I lovebringing people together as well
.
And but the catalyst moment forme, brian, was later on in my
(03:36):
career.
After having held a lot ofexecutive positions, I saw so
many of your business owners theones that make up the bulk of
business owners in the homeservice industry struggling with
basic concepts.
And so they go to trade showafter trade show after event,
after you know, spending tens ofthousands of dollars on
(04:00):
training and technology and SaaSsoftware as a service training
and technology and SaaS softwareas a service and they're still
stagnating.
But now they have less moneyand they've bid into their cash
flow and, after getting enoughinquiries and encouragement from
my wife, I said enough isenough.
It's time to really shakethings up, turn the industry
(04:22):
over and on its head when itcomes to coaching and, just come
you know, do a common senserevolution in home services,
because if the wheel ain't broke, don't fix it, and it's
certainly not broken in homeservices.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, norris, I love that overview.
I'm just going to lead youstraight into an area that I
know you feel strongly about,because you talk about
transforming coaching and Ithink, with my marketer's hat on
that, if I wanted to get intothe home services coaching
industry, I'll just put togetherlots of sexy things that'll get
people to buy.
I'll talk about social media,I'll talk about AI, I'll talk
about all these tips and tricks,but that appears to be your
(04:58):
enemy, norris.
Why and why is it that you lovethe simple stuff that works?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And why is it that you love the simple stuff that
works, it's timeless, it's youknow, if the power is to go off
or the server room of yourfavorite AI product was to crash
or, let's say, phones are down,what are?
You?
Don't come from the backgroundin my world of running paper
(05:25):
invoices and using MapQuest orfiguring out the neighborhoods
to get to the address, theservice address of where you
want to go to.
I mean, what are thefundamentals of what you're
going to tackle?
They're not necessarily theenemy.
I certainly do make it feel andsound that way.
Brian are a tool, nothing less,nothing more.
(05:48):
All right.
And if you are just gettinginto carpentry, if you're just
getting into any trade, and youwalk into a specialty store that
sells tools for your trade andyou're gonna buy the most
expensive, most advanced tool,you're still to be worth 10
bucks an hour, not 150 bucks anhour that somebody that's got 30
(06:10):
years in the trade is able tocharge for that.
Now you expand that metaphor alittle bit more and there's some
more nuances involved, but forthe most part, that covers it.
It's like know what the core isbefore adding something to your
repertoire or your inventory oryour tech stack that's just
going to gather dust on theshelf.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, norris, when I hear you talk about that, I'll
tell you where my head goes is.
I actually believe home servicebusinesses are the epitome of
business fundamentals, becausethere's a lot of things that AI
can do, there's a lot of thingsthat technology can do, but it
cannot protect my house frominsects, it cannot fix my toilet
.
There's a lot of those thingsthat technology cannot do,
(06:53):
whereas when I think about homeservices, you are forced,
there's no way other thantalking to your customer.
There's no way other thanwalking into somebody's place
and actually doing the work, andso when I think about that,
you're probably one of the bestpeople I know that's equipped to
talk about the actualfundamentals.
Of course, I just alluded to,like customer service, sales,
(07:15):
all of these things, but I knowthat you've got quite an
in-depth framework into whatthose fundamentals are.
What do they look like fromyour perspective?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
what those fundamentals are.
What do they look like fromyour perspective?
We have to start with thefoundational bedrock of the home
services industry, and I wouldeven venture to say that it's
the foundational bedrock of anyindustry where any transaction
takes place and that'srelationships.
And it's not just therelationship that you have with
(07:45):
the customer, it's therelationship you have with your
team, the relationship that yourteam has with one another.
The very first impression apotential customer is going to
get or have of you when they seeyour company truck, when they
see your employees in uniformAre they wrinkled up?
(08:05):
Are they tucked in?
Do they have putty stains ontheir pants?
Are they smoking outside theirtruck?
At the gas station, you can seeempty energy drink cans on the
dashboard.
All right, and that also goesfor the IT retail services.
First impressions areeverything.
(08:26):
And now, with technology andinformation being at our
fingertips, if first impressionstook a split second, now it's
taking a split second of a splitsecond for us to get a first
impression through.
You either win the customer oryou don't within that precious
first moment of time.
Customer or you don't withinthat precious first moment of
time.
So that's the first and mostcritical, monumental, the
(08:49):
foundational principle, and it'sa scary path of self discovery
that a lot of people take, butone of the biggest aha moments a
leader or an operator can haveis identifying themselves as a
bottleneck.
And if they are okay, it's notthe end of the world.
You still have the vision,maybe, so you can find
(09:13):
implementers or an eos they callit integrators to put the
rubber to the road and helpcapture your vision.
And then the others really fallinto place right after the
bedrock of relationships, whichis know your numbers.
What are your drivers?
What is the most important KPIfor your business?
(09:37):
Is it a revenue producingactivity?
And if you don't know what yourKPIs are, you're no better than
an order taker.
You're not a driver, you're notan implementer.
You're not painting out theedges of the massive canvas.
That is your vision.
So that's, that's a.
(09:59):
That's a undeniable principleas well, and the other one is
communications and expectation.
So it's, it's a.
All right, you know your KPIs.
Good for you.
You and your management teamknow your KPIs.
But if I was, for example, tocome into your place of work or
(10:21):
get into one of your team'sSlack channels and I would ask
anybody in any position in yourcompany.
One simple question what is itthat needs to be accomplished
today by you in order for you tofeel like you've won the day?
And if it's not a clear,coherent, instant answer, then
(10:43):
they don't know.
Well, if they don't know, thenI'm going to assume a lot of
other people don't know in yourorganization.
It's going to be the blindleading the blind, probably
going to have a trail of a fewupset customers as well.
So there's some fine tuning todo.
I mean, I can go on and on withprinciples, but, um, you know,
we can, we can coin that to HolyTrinity for now.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Yeah, Norris, you're reminding me.
It's one of the most impactfulpieces of business advice that
I've ever gotten.
I was.
I was actually at a conferencegoing to the bathroom and this
incredible speaker ran a hundredmillion dollar plus.
Business was also running tothe bathroom and so I asked her.
We were going to separatebathrooms, but I asked her what
is your quickest and best pieceof advice?
I was 21 years old at the timeand I wanted to hear from
(11:25):
someone who was so successful.
And, Norris, she said somethingto me that still to this day,
I've never forgotten.
She said how you do anything ishow you do everything.
Norris, I have taken it so toheart that I feel like it's
guided the way that I operate.
You and I were talking off theair about processes and
preparation and all the thingsthat we do operationally, and
it's that advice that has leakedinto all the things I've done.
(11:47):
Here you are talking aboutwrinkles in a shirt and is your
shirt tucked in?
And all of these small details.
I feel like it's either counterto or it's a delicate balance
where, in today's world, we hearpeople talk about just do
things that are good enough.
Sometimes it feels to me likegood enough is the enemy of how
you do anything is how you doeverything.
What's your take on that,Because it is such a delicate
(12:08):
balance?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, that's powerful .
So, brian, the gold standard ofcoaching for the longest time
in my industry is Nexstar, andhow they end every training
session is with that powerfulstatement how you do anything is
how you do everything, and it'sjust.
It resonates, it echoes intoyour past, present and and
(12:33):
future.
Is good enough?
Good enough?
I struggle with that, I reallydo, and I'm probably the wrong
person to ask that question,because there's days that I'm
complacent.
I have to be honest, I have tobe transparent.
Show me a superhuman and I'llshow you a cyborg.
(12:54):
Everybody's had a moment ofweakness, which, in turn,
probably turned into a crucibleof transformation for them, for
them to come out the other sidelooking and accomplishing what
they look like and what they'veaccomplished.
Me personally, good enough isnot good enough, and I have to
(13:26):
knock on the thought processdoor of a place that I'm very
familiar with and sometimesstruggle with gratitude.
Grateful, if you are absolutelygrateful, beyond a doubt, about
one small thing, then it'simpossible to be upset about
many a great thing.
And if you're grateful and youfeel content and you feel whole
and what you're doing is goodenough to make you happy, then
(13:47):
by all means the world is youroyster, have all the fun in the
world, but if you good enough isgood enough has put you in a
market, in a space ofcompetition, where other people
who are, as if not substantially, more driven than you, are
(14:08):
competing for market share.
Good enough is never good enoughand you should never take it
personally if your body of workor your means of producing for
yourself and providing for yourfamily and your team is being
attacked, not directly, butbecause you're just not that
good enough.
You shouldn't take thatpersonally.
(14:30):
And that's going to be themoment in time where you have to
decide if you're going to raisethe bar on yourself or you're
going to kind of step back intothe shadows of irrelevancy.
And if you have a transaction,you have a transaction.
If you grow, great.
If you don't, well.
Everybody kind of saw it coming.
So that's my take on goodenough being good enough boom.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I love that.
That's.
That's the harsh realities ofbusiness that when we're
consuming business content, itall sounds hunky-dory and I know
that my level of excitementalways makes things sound that
way.
But, norris, it's something Ithink about when I put late
nights in.
I'm a chronic night owl andwhen I'm putting those late
nights in, I think to myself howfew other podcasters are
willing to do this, and that'sthe reality is that it's kind of
(15:17):
that sports quote I don't knowif Kobe Bryant said it or
someone but they talk aboutevery second you're not working,
somebody else is working totake it all away from you, and
those are the harsh realities.
With that said, I love the factthat you highlighted you have
days where you're not at yourbest, same with me.
We all inevitably have that,and I'm going to use that to
extrapolate out and talk aboutrevenue walls, growth walls.
(15:38):
We all hit those walls and,norris, it's something about
your business that I reallyappreciate is you've seen those
walls of predictable revenuepoints and then you've also
helped people work through those.
What do those look like?
Because I'm sure that there'sdifferent inflection points that
all businesses face, not justhome service businesses.
So I want to hear some of thosepredictable walls that we hit
(16:00):
with regards to revenue and somewould say that I'm on pace to
hit my million dollar run rate.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I'm knocking on the door of 500.
And I have to be twice asdifferent, twice as good, twice
as capable to compound 500,000into a million.
That's the reality of it.
You know it's um, do you?
Do you look at the number on aspreadsheet or handwritten in
(16:39):
front of you on paper?
And you look at revenue walls,it's like wow, you take into
stock everything that you didand you, you come to realize,
man, that was a lot of blood,sweat and tears to get to that
point.
How much more can I squeeze outof myself before I have to hire
, before I have to find anothervertical?
Do I even need another vertical?
(17:01):
Am I truly getting the fulllifetime value of clients?
Am I upselling enough?
Am I providing enough value?
How many doors am I closingwithout even being conscious to
the fact?
And so that's the part whereI'm taking my own medicine.
And it's a very interestingposition to be in, because it's
(17:25):
kind of like an engineerself-diagnosing, because for the
longest time I was an operatorin the field.
I've done several successfulexits, I've scaled, I've tripled
companies and nationalbackground A lot of the revenue
growth barriers that I see,other than the people element,
(17:45):
where people in positions ofleadership might be the
bottlenecks.
It's also a cultural shift thatneeds to take place and it's
not a knock on the cultureitself, but maybe it needs to
cycle through its next event ofevolution for it to be capable
(18:05):
of seeing, perceiving andaccomplishing the breaking
through that revenue barrier.
But then going back to basicblocking and tackling what you
don't, you can't manage, whatyou don't measure.
And so, for example, in homeservices and heating and cooling
(18:26):
, I coach capacity planning andif you have one install team, so
that's one lead installer, onehelper to change out the air
conditioning units in a home.
Usually it takes them six to 10hours depending on the type of
system.
That it is Well amazing if youcan book 100% of their schedule.
(18:50):
But your average work month has21 days schedule.
But your average work month has21 days.
Let's say, for easy math, it's20 days out of the month.
The average work month is 21days.
Just say it's 20 days.
You go for 85% capacity.
That's a benchmark that we goafter.
You round that up, that's 17installs a month that your
(19:11):
install crew is capable ofputting in jobs, full system
replacements, your big ticketitems, and.
But in order for you to get tothat number, you need to have
service calls or estimaterequests that turn into
replacement opportunities.
Then you close that into theactual replacements itself and I
just highlighted several kpison that end in order for you to
(19:34):
get there into first place.
Now, continuing on easy math,let's say your average ticket is
ten thousand dollars and youactually follow through and be
able to deliver um 17 installs,that's 170 000.
Now that's $170,000.
Now are you overpriced?
(19:55):
Are you underpriced?
Where is your profitability?
That all plays into it.
But from a basic blocking andtackling approach to all of that
, that's one way to look at it.
When you look at your capacityplanning, what is your average
ticket?
What is your closing percentage?
Are you looking at customersubsets?
What percentage of customersare first-time customers?
(20:18):
From what campaigns you'readvertising on?
What is your average ticket perzip code?
You can go crazy into details inthe math.
Before you advertise moredollars, before you buy a fancy
new tool or get a new software,look at what your latent ceiling
(20:40):
is.
Before you bring on morepersonnel, maybe you need to
upgrade the personnel, or ifyou're a one-person show or you
just have a handful of people onthe team.
Why don't you disrupt yourselfand see what you could be doing
different to reach your maximumpotential?
And and then you just painted aclear picture into what your
(21:04):
revenue barriers are and whatyou need to change before you
get there.
Otherwise, if you just throwmoney on things and say you grew
and you have all this revenuethat you're proud of and you're
pounding your chest about, butthen you look at your financials
and there's little to noprofitability left and your cash
(21:25):
flow needs to be resuscitatedevery month with fresh
injections, with freshinjections, that's, you know.
Did you really grow or did youjust compound all the things
that are keeping you up at nightand making you lose hair.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Norris, I'll tell you this.
I want to add this into theconversation, because hearing
you talk about these things, usethe word disruption, and even
when you talk about your own runrate for your own personal
business, I remember being ayounger entrepreneur and the
times where that wasdiscouraging to me, because what
I'm really hearing is thatnotion of if nothing changes,
then nothing changes, and tocompound with that, the notion
(22:05):
that if you keep doing whatyou're doing, then, or if you
keep doing what you're doing,you're not going to end up
somewhere different.
I think about tennis.
I picked up tennis and Iremember that in the tennis
rating scale, so if you're a 4.0player, in order for you to get
to 4.5, you have to be able tobeat your current self 6.0, 6.0.
That is a massive gap inquality.
(22:28):
So what got you here will notget you there, and that's really
what I'm hearing from you today.
And what I think is fascinatingabout that is all of our
industries are being disruptedright now, whether it's through
technology, whether it's throughai, your own industry, the home
service industry.
I feel like a lot ofentrepreneurs are turning their
heads there and saying wait,there's opportunity and I know
(22:48):
private equity is getting intoyour market.
Now again.
Coming back to the, does thisdiscourage you or does it?
Does it fire you up?
Does it make you so excited tooperate there?
For you, I know it's the latterNorris, so what are some of
those challenges oropportunities that this changing
market is presenting?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
It's showing to.
It really highlights to me thewhere see the.
The defining line of thedifference between winners and
losers going forward into thefuture is the adaptability of of
incumbent players and newplayers, because you need to
(23:31):
have retroactive adaptability tobe able to hang out at the
water cooler or the coffee potif you're new to the industry,
and you need to have the courageto think outside the box and do
things and entertain thingsthat you never have done or
thought about doing before ifyou're incumbent, and so that's
(23:52):
something really important tokeep in mind.
Now there's a lot of new peoplethat are coming to the industry
, entrepreneurs that maybe wereon the finance side of things or
retail side of things, or theycome from the hospitality
industry and, I think, as awhole.
(24:14):
If they are leading withintegrity and taking care of the
communities that they serve andit's not just about the numbers
but it's more about therelationships and the investment
that, in essence, it is whereit's an intangible ROI, but an
ROI nonetheless, then we shouldwelcome them with open arms and
(24:35):
learn from them, and they canlearn from us.
There is plenty of pie to goaround in just about any
industry that you're in.
If you were to do a marketshare analysis for one trade in
a town that's about about200,000 people just 5% is going
(24:55):
to, depending on the market,make your market.
5% of that market share isgoing to put you in $10 to $15
million top line revenue range.
That's a lot of money.
You run that at 20% net, you'rebanking $2 million.
Now that's a lot of money toreinvest into the business and
compound your growth rate with.
(25:16):
So yeah, I mean there is a lotof disruption.
But where the dust settles forme at the end of the day is If
you truly love what you do, ifyou're proud of what you're a
part of, if you're passionateabout your industry, your people
(25:37):
and how you're impacting yourcommunity, then you protect what
you love and you are the personthat's going to make the
difference whether or not thedisruption is good or bad.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, norris, I'll tell you what.
Hearing you talk about both themicro economic conditions as
well as here we are towards theend of this conversation talking
about the macro it makes mewant to get into your
entrepreneurial and yourexecutive mind.
So I do want to switch gears alittle bit and talk not about
your industry and not about thework that you do, but I want to
talk to Norris the entrepreneur,because I'm fascinated by the
(26:18):
way that you think.
And, with that in mind, onething I always love hearing from
entrepreneurs is the timehorizon that they're looking at,
because I feel like we all usethe word very early on in our
conversation, obsessive.
We're all obsessive about thethings that we're working on,
all the opportunities, ourcurrent projects, our growth
plans.
You talk about reinvesting inyour business.
So tell me about Norris theentrepreneur, when you sit down
and you do your strategicplanning and envisioning what's
(26:40):
that time horizon that you lookat?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Time horizon for me would be what are immediate
results that I want in the firstthree, six, nine, 12 months?
And I want to visualize it.
I want to practice my swing.
Use a golf or a baseballanalogy, it doesn't matter.
It's really mapping out yournetwork, and this is where
(27:06):
relationships come to play.
If you lead with integrity andyou leave a positive impression,
and sometimes when you givewithout the expectation of
return because you genuinelywant to help people out, then,
yeah, you create your own luckor you create your own karma,
whichever way you want to definethat.
So the first four quarters ofcoming into existence is a lot
(27:29):
of business development.
It's a lot of calling, it's alot of establishing new,
reestablishing pre-existing andthen bolstering existing
relationships and getting proofof concept.
So, yes, okay, I'm an expert inmy industry.
I have amazing successes andsome spectacular failures as
(27:53):
well, and I'm more grateful forthe failures than I am for the
successes.
However, none of that reallymatters from a coaching
perspective, because it's almostanother dimension of the
industry.
And so now, my success, myreputation, is not in my control
.
It's in the control of thesuccess that I help foster and
(28:16):
help my clients accomplish, andso you have to be selective on
who you're going to be workingwith, because they're going to
make or break your reputationand people will join.
But people will be customerswith the best of intent.
Hey, we're going to help outBrian.
You know he's part of thefamily.
We're going to buy out Brian.
You know he's part of thefamily.
We're going to buy his product.
(28:36):
They have no idea what they'rebuying, right?
Or you know, there's peoplethat know, in my case, that are
the best of friends, areincredible human beings.
But I had to be selective as faras who is capable of
implementation, not just beingan implementer, as far as who is
capable of implementation, notjust being an implementer.
(28:58):
Now the timeline as you goforward is going to stretch out
a little bit more because yourstretch goals are going to be
bigger to accomplish.
So for me, my ultimate goal isto hit a million run rate at 12
months, and I'm freaking out atone side because that's twice as
much as half a mil.
But at the same time, I take myown medicine and I look into my
(29:20):
capacity planner to productsand the services that I offer
and if I map it out on thecalendar and go through my
contact list I'm able to do that.
So I would say the first yearand two years is make it or
break it, as far as how muchtrajectory you're going to
dictate.
And then, if things fall intoplace and you follow through and
(29:45):
you make the right decisions,the compound effect, I think,
will kick into gear for you.
As long as you stay vigilantfor a year, three, four and five
, and, like I say on the websiteand in the device that I give
to people, you have to have anexit strategy, whether or not
you want to exit in the firstplace, because that's a huge
(30:08):
dictator of trajectory for youas well.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Boom Norris, I love hearing you talk about these
things because I really feellike it's showcasing how much
you love business and so much ofit.
It's so clear the more that Ihear the way that you think how
much it really comes fromsetting that foundation, the way
you talk about the first yearin business, the way you talk
about strategic planning andresource capacity, understanding
that it all really stems fromthat foundation.
(30:33):
That has echoed through so manyof the things we've talked
about today.
So, with that entrepreneurialhat on, I'm going to put you on
the spot one final time.
It's the only question that Iask in every single interview
and that is what's your bestpiece of advice?
You have given us so much goodadvice today that, quite frankly
, I don't know how you're goingto top it and sum it all up in
one way but understanding thatall of our listeners are either
(30:54):
entrepreneurs or entrepreneursat all different stages of their
own growth journeys, what'sthat one thing you want to leave
them with today?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
A standout thought pattern that I've had for a few
months now.
That's really been helping meput a lot of goals into action
is value, value, value, value.
Because I don't care who it isthat's listening.
Unless you're top 1% of yourmarket, there is somebody doing
(31:24):
the exact same thing that you'redoing in a different variation
of it, and they're probablycharging twice to three times
the amount, and customers don'teven think twice to buy it in
the first place.
And you're sitting therethinking, and I'm sitting there
thinking, like how are theseindividuals just effortlessly
hitting these home runs when Ican't, you know, I or whoever it
(31:47):
is, can't even, can't even sellsomething for a much more
actionable price point?
And maybe what we have isbetter in value and quality, but
that doesn't matter.
And so for me, value is valuingyourself.
If you don't see the value inyourself, if you in your heart
(32:09):
of hearts don't believe in whatyou're doing delivers the value
that the price tag is associatedwith it or the customer
experience is associated with it, then the customer is not going
to perceive that value.
And if you have a team, if youhave people that are involved
with you in helping you sell andhelping you prospect and
helping you do businessdevelopment and they don't see
(32:32):
the value, then sooner or laterthey're just going to pencil
whip your orders and your salespipeline and your customer
relationships and you'll be anorder taker instead of somebody
that's carving out the market.
You have to see the value inyourself.
Your team has to see the valuein yourself.
Your team has to see the valuein themselves, in the company,
(32:52):
in the mission and the product,and they have to have an
undeniable, unshakable belief inwhat they're doing is better
than anybody else.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
And you kind of get that to click, you'll be
unstoppable yes, I love that,speaking of being unstoppable
and all the possibilities forall of us in our lives and in
our businesses.
It's what I love about yourwebsite and your brand, norris,
is that right at the top of yourwebsite, the second anyone
lands there show up here intoday's conversation is just
about transformation, is aboutobliterating anything and
(33:25):
everything that's standing inyour way to accomplish your
wildest dreams.
So I think that not only areyou doing amazing work, norris,
but I think that to me, you'rethe epitome of all the
possibilities thatentrepreneurship opens up and
(33:46):
what that entrepreneurialmindset means.
So, listeners, you're going towant to check out Norris'
website.
Norris, it's on you now.
Drop those links on us.
Where should listeners go fromhere?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
All right, it is servicecruciblecom.
Crucible like hell week in theMarine Corps or the military, or
if you're actually into potteryor metallurgy, it's the word
crucible, servicecruciblecom,crucible, servicecruciblecom.
(34:18):
You'll be able to go into thewhy us page, the membership
tiers, and if anything thatyou're doing is in home customer
facing same day service, nextday same day sale, same day
service or next day install,then a lot of what I teach in
the group sessions, in theone-on-one coaching, can almost
be directly applicable to you,and I would.
(34:39):
I would love to hear from youguys.
You can find me on any of thesocials and shoot me a message
book, a discovery call.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Would love to get to know you and and have a
conversation yes, and on top ofall of that listeners, you
already know the drill we'redropping all of those links down
below in the show notes, nomatter where it is that you're
tuning into today's episode.
Norris, the thing that I wantto confess to you here on the
air before we sign off is thefact that I believe that the
greatest business leaders, thegreatest entrepreneurs and
innovators, they learn from alldifferent industries.
(35:09):
So it's something you saidright there at the end about if
your business applies to any ofthese criteria, they'll learn
from you, and I think it's soimportant that we can learn from
every single industry, and Ithink that it's so powerful the
work that you're putting intothe world, the strength of your
conviction and your messagingand your values and how that
shows up.
So huge kudos to you, nor superappreciative of that.
(35:30):
So, on behalf of myself and allthe listeners worldwide, thanks
so much for coming on the showtoday.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Thanks, Brian.
I appreciate you having me.
This was a blast.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet
another episode of theWantrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
If you haven't checked us outonline, there's so much good
stuff there.
Check out the show's websiteand all the show notes that we
talked about in today's episodeat thewantrepreneurshowcom, and
I just want to give a shout outto our amazing guests.
There's a reason why we are adfree and have produced so many
(36:01):
incredible episodes five days aweek for you, and it's because
our guests step up to the plate.
These are not sponsored episodes.
These are not infomercials.
Our guests help us cover thecosts of our productions.
They so deeply believe in thepower of getting their message
out in front of you, awesomeentrepreneurs and entrepreneurs,
that they contribute to help usmake these productions possible
(36:24):
.
So thank you to not onlytoday's guests, but all of our
guests in general, and I justwant to invite you check out our
website because you can send usa voicemail there.
We also have live chat.
If you want to interactdirectly with me, go to
thewantrepreneurshowcom.
Initiate a live chat.
It's for real me, and I'mexcited because I'll see you, as
always every Monday, wednesday,friday, saturday and Sunday
(36:47):
here on the Wantrepreneur toEntrepreneur podcast.
Hey, what is up?
Welcome to this episode of theEntrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
As always, I'm your host, brianLopremento, and I hope all of
you listeners can tell today'sguests that I don't always say
this, but I am so very excitedbecause this episode is not
gonna be like the others, andthe reason is is because this
entrepreneur all the fancy,trendy things that we hear about
(00:22):
business.
He cannot stand those.
He's not looking for those.
What he's really here to do ismake business so simple and so
results-based by cutting throughall the noise that you might
typically hear, not on our showbut on other shows.
Let me introduce you to today'sguest.
His name is Norris Ivasian.
Norris is the founder and CEO ofService Crucible, which is a
(00:44):
consultancy dedicated totransforming home service
businesses through operationalmastery and strategic growth.
With decades of experience inthe home services industry,
norris has driven remarkableresults.
Listen to these numbers,including growing a regional
branch from $4 million to $12million in just 12 months at a
(01:05):
25% net profit.
He's a third generation tradesprofessional and that's why
Norris combines his hands-onoperational expertise with deep
financial acumen, having managedorganizations from $2 million
in revenue all the way up tomore than $60 million in revenue
.
His unique approach breaksthrough the common revenue
barriers that trap most servicecompanies, focusing on
(01:27):
relationship building andsystematic excellence rather
than quick fixes and I'll add in, rather than trends as well.
Before founding Service Crucible, norris has earned recognition
as Pensacola's Business Leaderof the Year and has been
endorsed by industry giants likeMichael Son Services.
He specializes in creatingsustainable growth through his
(01:47):
Four Forges methodology a provenframework that transforms
potential into performance forhome service businesses
nationwide.
We are all in for a real treattoday, myself especially, so I'm
not going to say anything else.
Let's dive straight into myinterview with Norris Ivasian.
All right, norris.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
This is gonna be a fun one.
First things first, welcome tothe show.
Thanks for having me, Brian.
I really appreciate it.
I have a feeling this is gonnabe fun.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Heck, yes.
Well, first things first.
You've got to take us beyondthe bio, because I can humble
brag about all youraccomplishments for days, but I
want you to give us thatbackstory.
Who's Norris?
How'd you start doing all thesecool things?
Because I can humble brag aboutall your accomplishments for
days, but I want you to give usthat backstory.
Who's Norris?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
How'd you start doing all these cool things?
Oh, let's see.
So skip the enjoying long walkson the beach part right, get to
the origin story of business.
Okay, so it's going to be.
Let's say I was an army civiliancontractor for the longest time
before moving to residentialservices.
It didn't take me but a handfulof months to just fall in love
(02:51):
with the industry.
It became a job, like I wouldsay no, it became a way of life
for me instead of a job.
I enjoy every single bit of it,every part of it, every
interaction inside and out.
It just fascinated me, and Iwas lucky enough to join Michael
and Son Services top 1% in thecountry when it comes to
residential home servicecompanies and it felt like I was
(03:14):
a peewee football playerjoining the starting lineup of
an NFL Super Bowl championshipwinning team.
And the rest is history.
I have an obsessive personality.
I love the details, but I lovebringing people together as well
.
And but the catalyst moment forme, brian, was later on in my
(03:36):
career.
After having held a lot ofexecutive positions, I saw so
many of your business owners theones that make up the bulk of
business owners in the homeservice industry struggling with
basic concepts.
And so they go to trade showafter trade show after event,
after you know, spending tens ofthousands of dollars on
(04:00):
training and technology and SaaSsoftware as a service training
and technology and SaaS softwareas a service and they're still
stagnating.
But now they have less moneyand they've bid into their cash
flow and, after getting enoughinquiries and encouragement from
my wife, I said enough isenough.
It's time to really shakethings up, turn the industry
(04:22):
over and on its head when itcomes to coaching and, just come
you know, do a common senserevolution in home services,
because if the wheel ain't broke, don't fix it, and it's
certainly not broken in homeservices.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, norris, I love that overview.
I'm just going to lead youstraight into an area that I
know you feel strongly about,because you talk about
transforming coaching and Ithink, with my marketer's hat on
that, if I wanted to get intothe home services coaching
industry, I'll just put togetherlots of sexy things that'll get
people to buy.
I'll talk about social media,I'll talk about AI, I'll talk
about all these tips and tricks,but that appears to be your
(04:58):
enemy, norris.
Why and why is it that you lovethe simple stuff that works?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And why is it that you love the simple stuff that
works, it's timeless, it's youknow, if the power is to go off
or the server room of yourfavorite AI product was to crash
or, let's say, phones are down,what are?
You?
Don't come from the backgroundin my world of running paper
(05:25):
invoices and using MapQuest orfiguring out the neighborhoods
to get to the address, theservice address of where you
want to go to.
I mean, what are thefundamentals of what you're
going to tackle?
They're not necessarily theenemy.
I certainly do make it feel andsound that way.
Brian are a tool, nothing less,nothing more.
(05:48):
All right.
And if you are just gettinginto carpentry, if you're just
getting into any trade, and youwalk into a specialty store that
sells tools for your trade andyou're gonna buy the most
expensive, most advanced tool,you're still to be worth 10
bucks an hour, not 150 bucks anhour that somebody that's got 30
(06:10):
years in the trade is able tocharge for that.
Now you expand that metaphor alittle bit more and there's some
more nuances involved, but forthe most part, that covers it.
It's like know what the core isbefore adding something to your
repertoire or your inventory oryour tech stack that's just
going to gather dust on theshelf.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, norris, when I hear you talk about that, I'll
tell you where my head goes is.
I actually believe home servicebusinesses are the epitome of
business fundamentals, becausethere's a lot of things that AI
can do, there's a lot of thingsthat technology can do, but it
cannot protect my house frominsects, it cannot fix my toilet
.
There's a lot of those thingsthat technology cannot do,
(06:53):
whereas when I think about homeservices, you are forced,
there's no way other thantalking to your customer.
There's no way other thanwalking into somebody's place
and actually doing the work, andso when I think about that,
you're probably one of the bestpeople I know that's equipped to
talk about the actualfundamentals.
Of course, I just alluded to,like customer service, sales,
(07:15):
all of these things, but I knowthat you've got quite an
in-depth framework into whatthose fundamentals are.
What do they look like fromyour perspective?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
what those fundamentals are.
What do they look like fromyour perspective?
We have to start with thefoundational bedrock of the home
services industry, and I wouldeven venture to say that it's
the foundational bedrock of anyindustry where any transaction
takes place and that'srelationships.
And it's not just therelationship that you have with
(07:45):
the customer, it's therelationship you have with your
team, the relationship that yourteam has with one another.
The very first impression apotential customer is going to
get or have of you when they seeyour company truck, when they
see your employees in uniformAre they wrinkled up?
(08:05):
Are they tucked in?
Do they have putty stains ontheir pants?
Are they smoking outside theirtruck?
At the gas station, you can seeempty energy drink cans on the
dashboard.
All right, and that also goesfor the IT retail services.
First impressions areeverything.
(08:26):
And now, with technology andinformation being at our
fingertips, if first impressionstook a split second, now it's
taking a split second of a splitsecond for us to get a first
impression through.
You either win the customer oryou don't within that precious
first moment of time.
Customer or you don't withinthat precious first moment of
time.
So that's the first and mostcritical, monumental, the
(08:49):
foundational principle, and it'sa scary path of self discovery
that a lot of people take, butone of the biggest aha moments a
leader or an operator can haveis identifying themselves as a
bottleneck.
And if they are okay, it's notthe end of the world.
You still have the vision,maybe, so you can find
(09:13):
implementers or an eos they callit integrators to put the
rubber to the road and helpcapture your vision.
And then the others really fallinto place right after the
bedrock of relationships, whichis know your numbers.
What are your drivers?
What is the most important KPIfor your business?
(09:37):
Is it a revenue producingactivity?
And if you don't know what yourKPIs are, you're no better than
an order taker.
You're not a driver, you're notan implementer.
You're not painting out theedges of the massive canvas.
That is your vision.
So that's, that's a.
(09:59):
That's a undeniable principleas well, and the other one is
communications and expectation.
So it's, it's a.
All right, you know your KPIs.
Good for you.
You and your management teamknow your KPIs.
But if I was, for example, tocome into your place of work or
(10:21):
get into one of your team'sSlack channels and I would ask
anybody in any position in yourcompany.
One simple question what is itthat needs to be accomplished
today by you in order for you tofeel like you've won the day?
And if it's not a clear,coherent, instant answer, then
(10:43):
they don't know.
Well, if they don't know, thenI'm going to assume a lot of
other people don't know in yourorganization.
It's going to be the blindleading the blind, probably
going to have a trail of a fewupset customers as well.
So there's some fine tuning todo.
I mean, I can go on and on withprinciples, but, um, you know,
we can, we can coin that to HolyTrinity for now.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Yeah, Norris, you're reminding me.
It's one of the most impactfulpieces of business advice that
I've ever gotten.
I was.
I was actually at a conferencegoing to the bathroom and this
incredible speaker ran a hundredmillion dollar plus.
Business was also running tothe bathroom and so I asked her.
We were going to separatebathrooms, but I asked her what
is your quickest and best pieceof advice?
I was 21 years old at the timeand I wanted to hear from
(11:25):
someone who was so successful.
And, Norris, she said somethingto me that still to this day,
I've never forgotten.
She said how you do anything ishow you do everything.
Norris, I have taken it so toheart that I feel like it's
guided the way that I operate.
You and I were talking off theair about processes and
preparation and all the thingsthat we do operationally, and
it's that advice that has leakedinto all the things I've done.
(11:47):
Here you are talking aboutwrinkles in a shirt and is your
shirt tucked in?
And all of these small details.
I feel like it's either counterto or it's a delicate balance
where, in today's world, we hearpeople talk about just do
things that are good enough.
Sometimes it feels to me likegood enough is the enemy of how
you do anything is how you doeverything.
What's your take on that,Because it is such a delicate
(12:08):
balance?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, that's powerful .
So, brian, the gold standard ofcoaching for the longest time
in my industry is Nexstar, andhow they end every training
session is with that powerfulstatement how you do anything is
how you do everything, and it'sjust.
It resonates, it echoes intoyour past, present and and
(12:33):
future.
Is good enough?
Good enough?
I struggle with that, I reallydo, and I'm probably the wrong
person to ask that question,because there's days that I'm
complacent.
I have to be honest, I have tobe transparent.
Show me a superhuman and I'llshow you a cyborg.
(12:54):
Everybody's had a moment ofweakness, which, in turn,
probably turned into a crucibleof transformation for them, for
them to come out the other sidelooking and accomplishing what
they look like and what they'veaccomplished.
Me personally, good enough isnot good enough, and I have to
(13:26):
knock on the thought processdoor of a place that I'm very
familiar with and sometimesstruggle with gratitude.
Grateful, if you are absolutelygrateful, beyond a doubt, about
one small thing, then it'simpossible to be upset about
many a great thing.
And if you're grateful and youfeel content and you feel whole
and what you're doing is goodenough to make you happy, then
(13:47):
by all means the world is youroyster, have all the fun in the
world, but if you good enough isgood enough has put you in a
market, in a space ofcompetition, where other people
who are, as if not substantially, more driven than you, are
(14:08):
competing for market share.
Good enough is never good enoughand you should never take it
personally if your body of workor your means of producing for
yourself and providing for yourfamily and your team is being
attacked, not directly, butbecause you're just not that
good enough.
You shouldn't take thatpersonally.
(14:30):
And that's going to be themoment in time where you have to
decide if you're going to raisethe bar on yourself or you're
going to kind of step back intothe shadows of irrelevancy.
And if you have a transaction,you have a transaction.
If you grow, great.
If you don't, well.
Everybody kind of saw it coming.
So that's my take on goodenough being good enough boom.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I love that.
That's.
That's the harsh realities ofbusiness that when we're
consuming business content, itall sounds hunky-dory and I know
that my level of excitementalways makes things sound that
way.
But, norris, it's something Ithink about when I put late
nights in.
I'm a chronic night owl andwhen I'm putting those late
nights in, I think to myself howfew other podcasters are
willing to do this, and that'sthe reality is that it's kind of
(15:17):
that sports quote I don't knowif Kobe Bryant said it or
someone but they talk aboutevery second you're not working,
somebody else is working totake it all away from you, and
those are the harsh realities.
With that said, I love the factthat you highlighted you have
days where you're not at yourbest, same with me.
We all inevitably have that,and I'm going to use that to
extrapolate out and talk aboutrevenue walls, growth walls.
(15:38):
We all hit those walls and,norris, it's something about
your business that I reallyappreciate is you've seen those
walls of predictable revenuepoints and then you've also
helped people work through those.
What do those look like?
Because I'm sure that there'sdifferent inflection points that
all businesses face, not justhome service businesses.
So I want to hear some of thosepredictable walls that we hit
(16:00):
with regards to revenue and somewould say that I'm on pace to
hit my million dollar run rate.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I'm knocking on the door of 500.
And I have to be twice asdifferent, twice as good, twice
as capable to compound 500,000into a million.
That's the reality of it.
You know it's um, do you?
Do you look at the number on aspreadsheet or handwritten in
(16:39):
front of you on paper?
And you look at revenue walls,it's like wow, you take into
stock everything that you didand you, you come to realize,
man, that was a lot of blood,sweat and tears to get to that
point.
How much more can I squeeze outof myself before I have to hire
, before I have to find anothervertical?
Do I even need another vertical?
(17:01):
Am I truly getting the fulllifetime value of clients?
Am I upselling enough?
Am I providing enough value?
How many doors am I closingwithout even being conscious to
the fact?
And so that's the part whereI'm taking my own medicine.
And it's a very interestingposition to be in, because it's
(17:25):
kind of like an engineerself-diagnosing, because for the
longest time I was an operatorin the field.
I've done several successfulexits, I've scaled, I've tripled
companies and nationalbackground A lot of the revenue
growth barriers that I see,other than the people element,
(17:45):
where people in positions ofleadership might be the
bottlenecks.
It's also a cultural shift thatneeds to take place and it's
not a knock on the cultureitself, but maybe it needs to
cycle through its next event ofevolution for it to be capable
(18:05):
of seeing, perceiving andaccomplishing the breaking
through that revenue barrier.
But then going back to basicblocking and tackling what you
don't, you can't manage, whatyou don't measure.
And so, for example, in homeservices and heating and cooling
(18:26):
, I coach capacity planning andif you have one install team, so
that's one lead installer, onehelper to change out the air
conditioning units in a home.
Usually it takes them six to 10hours depending on the type of
system.
That it is Well amazing if youcan book 100% of their schedule.
(18:50):
But your average work month has21 days schedule.
But your average work month has21 days.
Let's say, for easy math, it's20 days out of the month.
The average work month is 21days.
Just say it's 20 days.
You go for 85% capacity.
That's a benchmark that we goafter.
You round that up, that's 17installs a month that your
(19:11):
install crew is capable ofputting in jobs, full system
replacements, your big ticketitems, and.
But in order for you to get tothat number, you need to have
service calls or estimaterequests that turn into
replacement opportunities.
Then you close that into theactual replacements itself and I
just highlighted several kpison that end in order for you to
(19:34):
get there into first place.
Now, continuing on easy math,let's say your average ticket is
ten thousand dollars and youactually follow through and be
able to deliver um 17 installs,that's 170 000.
Now that's $170,000.
Now are you overpriced?
(19:55):
Are you underpriced?
Where is your profitability?
That all plays into it.
But from a basic blocking andtackling approach to all of that
, that's one way to look at it.
When you look at your capacityplanning, what is your average
ticket?
What is your closing percentage?
Are you looking at customersubsets?
What percentage of customersare first-time customers?
(20:18):
From what campaigns you'readvertising on?
What is your average ticket perzip code?
You can go crazy into details inthe math.
Before you advertise moredollars, before you buy a fancy
new tool or get a new software,look at what your latent ceiling
(20:40):
is.
Before you bring on morepersonnel, maybe you need to
upgrade the personnel, or ifyou're a one-person show or you
just have a handful of people onthe team.
Why don't you disrupt yourselfand see what you could be doing
different to reach your maximumpotential?
And and then you just painted aclear picture into what your
(21:04):
revenue barriers are and whatyou need to change before you
get there.
Otherwise, if you just throwmoney on things and say you grew
and you have all this revenuethat you're proud of and you're
pounding your chest about, butthen you look at your financials
and there's little to noprofitability left and your cash
(21:25):
flow needs to be resuscitatedevery month with fresh
injections, with freshinjections, that's, you know.
Did you really grow or did youjust compound all the things
that are keeping you up at nightand making you lose hair.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Norris, I'll tell you this.
I want to add this into theconversation, because hearing
you talk about these things, usethe word disruption, and even
when you talk about your own runrate for your own personal
business, I remember being ayounger entrepreneur and the
times where that wasdiscouraging to me, because what
I'm really hearing is thatnotion of if nothing changes,
then nothing changes, and tocompound with that, the notion
(22:05):
that if you keep doing whatyou're doing, then, or if you
keep doing what you're doing,you're not going to end up
somewhere different.
I think about tennis.
I picked up tennis and Iremember that in the tennis
rating scale, so if you're a 4.0player, in order for you to get
to 4.5, you have to be able tobeat your current self 6.0, 6.0.
That is a massive gap inquality.
(22:28):
So what got you here will notget you there, and that's really
what I'm hearing from you today.
And what I think is fascinatingabout that is all of our
industries are being disruptedright now, whether it's through
technology, whether it's throughai, your own industry, the home
service industry.
I feel like a lot ofentrepreneurs are turning their
heads there and saying wait,there's opportunity and I know
(22:48):
private equity is getting intoyour market.
Now again.
Coming back to the, does thisdiscourage you or does it?
Does it fire you up?
Does it make you so excited tooperate there?
For you, I know it's the latterNorris, so what are some of
those challenges oropportunities that this changing
market is presenting?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
It's showing to.
It really highlights to me thewhere see the.
The defining line of thedifference between winners and
losers going forward into thefuture is the adaptability of of
incumbent players and newplayers, because you need to
(23:31):
have retroactive adaptability tobe able to hang out at the
water cooler or the coffee potif you're new to the industry,
and you need to have the courageto think outside the box and do
things and entertain thingsthat you never have done or
thought about doing before ifyou're incumbent, and so that's
(23:52):
something really important tokeep in mind.
Now there's a lot of new peoplethat are coming to the industry
, entrepreneurs that maybe wereon the finance side of things or
retail side of things, or theycome from the hospitality
industry and, I think, as awhole.
(24:14):
If they are leading withintegrity and taking care of the
communities that they serve andit's not just about the numbers
but it's more about therelationships and the investment
that, in essence, it is whereit's an intangible ROI, but an
ROI nonetheless, then we shouldwelcome them with open arms and
(24:35):
learn from them, and they canlearn from us.
There is plenty of pie to goaround in just about any
industry that you're in.
If you were to do a marketshare analysis for one trade in
a town that's about about200,000 people just 5% is going
(24:55):
to, depending on the market,make your market.
5% of that market share isgoing to put you in $10 to $15
million top line revenue range.
That's a lot of money.
You run that at 20% net, you'rebanking $2 million.
Now that's a lot of money toreinvest into the business and
compound your growth rate with.
(25:16):
So yeah, I mean there is a lotof disruption.
But where the dust settles forme at the end of the day is If
you truly love what you do, ifyou're proud of what you're a
part of, if you're passionateabout your industry, your people
(25:37):
and how you're impacting yourcommunity, then you protect what
you love and you are the personthat's going to make the
difference whether or not thedisruption is good or bad.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, norris, I'll tell you what.
Hearing you talk about both themicro economic conditions as
well as here we are towards theend of this conversation talking
about the macro it makes mewant to get into your
entrepreneurial and yourexecutive mind.
So I do want to switch gears alittle bit and talk not about
your industry and not about thework that you do, but I want to
talk to Norris the entrepreneur,because I'm fascinated by the
(26:18):
way that you think.
And, with that in mind, onething I always love hearing from
entrepreneurs is the timehorizon that they're looking at,
because I feel like we all usethe word very early on in our
conversation, obsessive.
We're all obsessive about thethings that we're working on,
all the opportunities, ourcurrent projects, our growth
plans.
You talk about reinvesting inyour business.
So tell me about Norris theentrepreneur, when you sit down
and you do your strategicplanning and envisioning what's
(26:40):
that time horizon that you lookat?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Time horizon for me would be what are immediate
results that I want in the firstthree, six, nine, 12 months?
And I want to visualize it.
I want to practice my swing.
Use a golf or a baseballanalogy, it doesn't matter.
It's really mapping out yournetwork, and this is where
(27:06):
relationships come to play.
If you lead with integrity andyou leave a positive impression,
and sometimes when you givewithout the expectation of
return because you genuinelywant to help people out, then,
yeah, you create your own luckor you create your own karma,
whichever way you want to definethat.
So the first four quarters ofcoming into existence is a lot
(27:29):
of business development.
It's a lot of calling, it's alot of establishing new,
reestablishing pre-existing andthen bolstering existing
relationships and getting proofof concept.
So, yes, okay, I'm an expert inmy industry.
I have amazing successes andsome spectacular failures as
(27:53):
well, and I'm more grateful forthe failures than I am for the
successes.
However, none of that reallymatters from a coaching
perspective, because it's almostanother dimension of the
industry.
And so now, my success, myreputation, is not in my control
.
It's in the control of thesuccess that I help foster and
(28:16):
help my clients accomplish, andso you have to be selective on
who you're going to be workingwith, because they're going to
make or break your reputationand people will join.
But people will be customerswith the best of intent.
Hey, we're going to help outBrian.
You know he's part of thefamily.
We're going to buy out Brian.
You know he's part of thefamily.
We're going to buy his product.
(28:36):
They have no idea what they'rebuying, right?
Or you know, there's peoplethat know, in my case, that are
the best of friends, areincredible human beings.
But I had to be selective as faras who is capable of
implementation, not just beingan implementer, as far as who is
capable of implementation, notjust being an implementer.
(28:58):
Now the timeline as you goforward is going to stretch out
a little bit more because yourstretch goals are going to be
bigger to accomplish.
So for me, my ultimate goal isto hit a million run rate at 12
months, and I'm freaking out atone side because that's twice as
much as half a mil.
But at the same time, I take myown medicine and I look into my
(29:20):
capacity planner to productsand the services that I offer
and if I map it out on thecalendar and go through my
contact list I'm able to do that.
So I would say the first yearand two years is make it or
break it, as far as how muchtrajectory you're going to
dictate.
And then, if things fall intoplace and you follow through and
(29:45):
you make the right decisions,the compound effect, I think,
will kick into gear for you.
As long as you stay vigilantfor a year, three, four and five
, and, like I say on the websiteand in the device that I give
to people, you have to have anexit strategy, whether or not
you want to exit in the firstplace, because that's a huge
(30:08):
dictator of trajectory for youas well.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Boom Norris, I love hearing you talk about these
things because I really feellike it's showcasing how much
you love business and so much ofit.
It's so clear the more that Ihear the way that you think how
much it really comes fromsetting that foundation, the way
you talk about the first yearin business, the way you talk
about strategic planning andresource capacity, understanding
that it all really stems fromthat foundation.
(30:33):
That has echoed through so manyof the things we've talked
about today.
So, with that entrepreneurialhat on, I'm going to put you on
the spot one final time.
It's the only question that Iask in every single interview
and that is what's your bestpiece of advice?
You have given us so much goodadvice today that, quite frankly
, I don't know how you're goingto top it and sum it all up in
one way but understanding thatall of our listeners are either
(30:54):
entrepreneurs or entrepreneursat all different stages of their
own growth journeys, what'sthat one thing you want to leave
them with today?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
A standout thought pattern that I've had for a few
months now.
That's really been helping meput a lot of goals into action
is value, value, value, value.
Because I don't care who it isthat's listening.
Unless you're top 1% of yourmarket, there is somebody doing
(31:24):
the exact same thing that you'redoing in a different variation
of it, and they're probablycharging twice to three times
the amount, and customers don'teven think twice to buy it in
the first place.
And you're sitting therethinking, and I'm sitting there
thinking, like how are theseindividuals just effortlessly
hitting these home runs when Ican't, you know, I or whoever it
(31:47):
is, can't even, can't even sellsomething for a much more
actionable price point?
And maybe what we have isbetter in value and quality, but
that doesn't matter.
And so for me, value is valuingyourself.
If you don't see the value inyourself, if you in your heart
(32:09):
of hearts don't believe in whatyou're doing delivers the value
that the price tag is associatedwith it or the customer
experience is associated with it, then the customer is not going
to perceive that value.
And if you have a team, if youhave people that are involved
with you in helping you sell andhelping you prospect and
helping you do businessdevelopment and they don't see
(32:32):
the value, then sooner or laterthey're just going to pencil
whip your orders and your salespipeline and your customer
relationships and you'll be anorder taker instead of somebody
that's carving out the market.
You have to see the value inyourself.
Your team has to see the valuein yourself.
Your team has to see the valuein themselves, in the company,
(32:52):
in the mission and the product,and they have to have an
undeniable, unshakable belief inwhat they're doing is better
than anybody else.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
And you kind of get that to click, you'll be
unstoppable yes, I love that,speaking of being unstoppable
and all the possibilities forall of us in our lives and in
our businesses.
It's what I love about yourwebsite and your brand, norris,
is that right at the top of yourwebsite, the second anyone
lands there show up here intoday's conversation is just
about transformation, is aboutobliterating anything and
(33:25):
everything that's standing inyour way to accomplish your
wildest dreams.
So I think that not only areyou doing amazing work, norris,
but I think that to me, you'rethe epitome of all the
possibilities thatentrepreneurship opens up and
(33:46):
what that entrepreneurialmindset means.
So, listeners, you're going towant to check out Norris'
website.
Norris, it's on you now.
Drop those links on us.
Where should listeners go fromhere?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
All right, it is servicecruciblecom.
Crucible like hell week in theMarine Corps or the military, or
if you're actually into potteryor metallurgy, it's the word
crucible, servicecruciblecom,crucible, servicecruciblecom.
(34:18):
You'll be able to go into thewhy us page, the membership
tiers, and if anything thatyou're doing is in home customer
facing same day service, nextday same day sale, same day
service or next day install,then a lot of what I teach in
the group sessions, in theone-on-one coaching, can almost
be directly applicable to you,and I would.
(34:39):
I would love to hear from youguys.
You can find me on any of thesocials and shoot me a message
book, a discovery call.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Would love to get to know you and and have a
conversation yes, and on top ofall of that listeners, you
already know the drill we'redropping all of those links down
below in the show notes, nomatter where it is that you're
tuning into today's episode.
Norris, the thing that I wantto confess to you here on the
air before we sign off is thefact that I believe that the
greatest business leaders, thegreatest entrepreneurs and
innovators, they learn from alldifferent industries.
(35:09):
So it's something you saidright there at the end about if
your business applies to any ofthese criteria, they'll learn
from you, and I think it's soimportant that we can learn from
every single industry, and Ithink that it's so powerful the
work that you're putting intothe world, the strength of your
conviction and your messagingand your values and how that
shows up.
So huge kudos to you, nor superappreciative of that.
(35:30):
So, on behalf of myself and allthe listeners worldwide, thanks
so much for coming on the showtoday.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Thanks, Brian.
I appreciate you having me.
This was a blast.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet
another episode of theWantrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
If you haven't checked us outonline, there's so much good
stuff there.
Check out the show's websiteand all the show notes that we
talked about in today's episodeat thewantrepreneurshowcom, and
I just want to give a shout outto our amazing guests.
There's a reason why we are adfree and have produced so many
(36:01):
incredible episodes five days aweek for you, and it's because
our guests step up to the plate.
These are not sponsored episodes.
These are not infomercials.
Our guests help us cover thecosts of our productions.
They so deeply believe in thepower of getting their message
out in front of you, awesomeentrepreneurs and entrepreneurs,
that they contribute to help usmake these productions possible
(36:24):
.
So thank you to not onlytoday's guests, but all of our
guests in general, and I justwant to invite you check out our
website because you can send usa voicemail there.
We also have live chat.
If you want to interactdirectly with me, go to
thewantrepreneurshowcom.
Initiate a live chat.
It's for real me, and I'mexcited because I'll see you, as
always every Monday, wednesday,friday, saturday and Sunday
(36:47):
here on the Wantrepreneur toEntrepreneur podcast.
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