00;00;00;00 - 00;00;23;50
Unknown
Our guest today is a real estate developer and a business coach who cracked the code on blue collar scaling. He took his building company, finished homes, a boutique operation, framing from 1 to 2 homes a year to a massive machine delivering over 50 homes a year. But before the growth came, the wall. A soul crushing to do list that completely dominated his life and trapped him in a minor task that didn't move the needle.
00;00;23;53 - 00;00;43;30
Unknown
Levi one is here to show us how to build the mechanical blueprint that tracks the entire customer journey, so you and him can stop being the bottleneck and start being the architect. Levi, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me on. I'm excited to have a good, fun conversation today and see if we can help some people out.
00;00;43;32 - 00;01;03;11
Unknown
Oh, absolutely man. That's that's that's all about so, you know, your core sound bite you share with me before is like, you know, if you do the little things right, you do the big things right. And most gurus out there tell founders to start looking at the details and focus only on the big picture. So like, what do you think?
00;01;03;16 - 00;01;35;28
Unknown
You know, the micro mechanics of day to day operations actually is the fastest way to kill a company. And how did that approach allow you to grow you, your company to 50 homes a year? Yeah. So I my that's my my favorite saying. And my staff is probably so sick of hearing it that my staff, my subcontractors, my lenders, everybody here is and I grew up in a in a small town in eastern Montana, that is it's still the same way it's built on it's a wrestling in football town.
00;01;35;31 - 00;02;05;07
Unknown
And my wrestling coach, when I was in grade school told me, if you do the little things right, you'll do the big things right. And I live by that. And where, like you said, JT, a lot of people will take that as you need to micromanage those small details. And for me, if, if you take if you take those small things and you create processes for those, for those small things, then you're able to delegate it and build your team.
00;02;05;07 - 00;02;28;22
Unknown
So then they're able to take those, those small items and implement them faster. And because in our business, you know, when I first meet with a client and they first say, hey, we might want to build a custom house, we might not we might not end up closing that house for eight months, eight to 8 to 12 months, depending on the size of the house.
00;02;28;22 - 00;02;51;09
Unknown
So there's a ton of little details that go into it. But if you systematize it and make it to where all of those things are handled, and you're able to delegate those to your staff, and if you're not a one person operation or now with AI, everything can be can be systematized really nicely that you're able to to tackle those big projects.
00;02;51;09 - 00;03;21;04
Unknown
And us as the owner founders, our job is to is to have the vision, paint the picture, to build the, you know, the bigger company and you're just not able to do that if you're handling the day to day operations. And I think that's where a lot of people get, get kind of tripped up. Yeah. And adding the the secret sauce that you said about AI, you know, if you just implement AI on the message system, you're just implementing a bigger scale messy system, right?
00;03;21;06 - 00;03;44;38
Unknown
So it's just AI is the multiplier. Do you remember kind of the very first bottleneck that you had to attack full force as you started to grow from 1 to 50 because you don't get from 1 to 50, skipping the 10 to 20 and the 30 houses a year, you definitely have to have those small increments. That kind of shows you, okay, this is a problem here.
00;03;44;38 - 00;04;06;19
Unknown
If I do two of those this year. This is not going to work. Yeah. Yeah. And it was it was really quick in my journey. So I built my first house I built was a spec home where, you know, we started from scratch and then put it on the market when it's almost done. And then I got a pre-sold custom home where a customer came to me and we started from scratch.
00;04;06;24 - 00;04;24;21
Unknown
And I was so busy in the day to day, making sure all the details of the house was right. All the colors, all the scheme, you know, the floor plan, everything was right. We got to the end of that year and then all of a sudden we had closed both of those houses. And then I was like, oh my gosh, I'm out of business.
00;04;24;21 - 00;04;51;26
Unknown
I don't have any more houses started. I don't have I don't have any more clients because I wasn't marketing. And any business owner that is somewhat successful will tell you sales will cure just about anything. Yeah. So in in this is where a lot of I think home builders get tripped up because I call them tool belt builders where they've framed the houses, they've trimmed that, you know, done all the work in the houses.
00;04;51;31 - 00;05;18;26
Unknown
And I'm kind of a special, a special case because I was a realtor before and I still am a realtor, and sales has always come first. And I just learned the process of building a home. So I was I come at it with a completely different aspect of marketing, sales, customer retention, taking care of those customers. From the moment I meet him to the, you know, when we deliver the keys.
00;05;18;31 - 00;05;45;46
Unknown
Yeah. And you talk about this, you know, a lot of us surface business owners is like, I turn around, do marketing. Okay, cool. I got new clients and then of cool, I got, I got to deliver and service those new clients. And then I don't have time to go do a marketing again. And as you go through that flow back and forth, back and forth, then yeah, it's a it's a constant pivot from sales to marketing and you know, and then then we deal with the banks all the time.
00;05;45;49 - 00;06;06;06
Unknown
You know, most of my days are filled up with banking and insurance and taxes and stuff that, you know, isn't so glamorous. But as a business owner, you've got to pivot and, and be able to wear those multiple hats to, to be successful. And so for the the contractors out there, they're thinking about, you know, if you do the little things right, you do the big things right.
00;06;06;06 - 00;06;33;40
Unknown
And you translate it that to that micromanaged piece, you know, just thinking about every single narrow screw that goes into the house. How do you think about that philosophy into your code and your system instead of just, you know, your physical presence? Yeah. So what what I was able to do is I hired the best people, I hire the best framing crews, I hire the best HVAC companies, and then I systematize how I want each project to look.
00;06;33;40 - 00;06;58;36
Unknown
So they get an SOP on on the the structures, how, how I want everything done. And then they follow that out. And then then I have a project manager that goes and checks all of these systems. And obviously when I was building five houses a year, that was me doing those things. But then as you grow, then you implement those to your subs, your, your staff.
00;06;58;36 - 00;07;34;45
Unknown
And I'm not saying get away from the little details, I'm just saying don't micromanage those as a business owner, and you have to build a good team and people around you to make that work. And how big is your team right now? So right now I've got six full time employees. We're in four different markets in Montana. Montana is a big state, so for us to get to a different market, it's like three and a half, four hour drive and but so I have a project manager and each each spot, my sister and I handle the sales.
00;07;34;45 - 00;08;01;00
Unknown
And then we've got some office staff as well. So and then, you know, a cleanup guy that goes and make sure all the houses are pretty nice. Yeah. So I've been to Montana twice and for the first time ever, I never seen the pile of snow that was higher than me. And they went there in December. So I can't imagine the difficulties that the weather do on your business, right, of if you're building a home summer, not so much.
00;08;01;00 - 00;08;23;00
Unknown
Maybe in the winter, you know, you have to deal with those temporarily blocks down uncontrollable for you so talked about this, you know, controlling the controlling the controllable things. Yeah. And it's for me it's about setting the expectations with the clients for right up front. You know, if I'm building you a house and we're starting in September, there's going to be some weather delays.
00;08;23;03 - 00;08;48;57
Unknown
We're going to get a couple weeks where it's 20 below zero and just no one's going to be working. So, you know, it's that under promise and overdeliver when I, you know, and I think a house should be done in four months, I always tell them, you know, expect five, we're going to have those delays. And if you set those expectations early then know that if you could, I always say I want to get done early and be the hero or on time.
00;08;48;57 - 00;09;17;47
Unknown
And I didn't lie to you. I want to make sure you keep those people happy. I love I love that fact that you mentioned about, you know, keeping the expectations in check. And I want to I want to think about your expectation as you're growing the business, you know, thinking about that ten houses at year, you know, you had a snap in a moment, you know, where everything just broke and your hustle alone wasn't the only thing that was going to work.
00;09;17;47 - 00;09;39;27
Unknown
So walk us through some of the frameworks that you had to install in that very beginning. For the people that are in your shoes, you know, two, three, four years ago in building their business and, you know, in our industry is a little, a little crazy because we have so many subcontractors. There's probably 200 sets of hands that that will touch each house.
00;09;39;27 - 00;10;04;01
Unknown
And so I remember, you know, I'm coaching my son's little league game and my phone is just ringing off the hook because when those subcontractors, you know, that's their livelihood. So when when they need a question answered, then they need it right now because, you know, they're not the best of planning. They're not the best at at, you know, thinking, thinking ahead.
00;10;04;06 - 00;10;24;19
Unknown
So then what I was able to make those, you know, those checklists with this is what I expected in my house, in every spec house that we build, or if we do a custom house, they get a list of all any upgrades. They get a list of, you know, people want things in certain spots. They get that before a week, before they even before they even step foot on the job.
00;10;24;19 - 00;10;45;04
Unknown
So they know the expectations. And then I'm not dealing with with those urgent phone calls at 6:00 on a, you know, a Tuesday night because and I'm out coaching my son's little game. And so I think and again, it goes back to setting expectations with your with your staff and your subconscious. Like in our because we have so many subcontractors.
00;10;45;04 - 00;11;12;15
Unknown
If you if you tell them the expectations they know up front and then they want to do they want to keep doing your work because you're organized and you're you're already ahead of the game and you're already helping them push their business forward. And they're more profitable now that that that makes total sense from what about from the clients perspective, you being so organized and having check ins with them, like what do they feel?
00;11;12;20 - 00;11;28;41
Unknown
Yeah. So when when I was when I was first starting, I said I was a realtor and I sold for another builder. He's still in town, still a great friend of mine. And the two complaints were what I always got were people didn't know where they were out with their budgets. And, you know, everyone's heard the horror story of building a house.
00;11;28;41 - 00;11;49;30
Unknown
They show up to closing in their 30,000 over budget, and they didn't know it. And the other one was not enough communication with the builder. And so what I do, what I implemented, what I started doing custom homes is my I will I send a weekly email with a spreadsheet of any overages that they have in the house.
00;11;49;30 - 00;12;09;26
Unknown
Have they upgraded from, you know, tile to marble? Then they're going to know exactly what that cost is, and that spreadsheet is going to be to the penny every week. And in the beginning I did that. But now my office manager sends that email every week. Even after all the selections are done, they get that to the day, the day we close.
00;12;09;28 - 00;12;36;26
Unknown
And then I piggyback on that email. And now it's my staff and, you know, my assistant on my email sending what happened that week during construction and what to expect to happen the next week, and that that one line of communication has gotten me so many deals, because communication is everything with with people. And building a home is such a huge investment for for someone's family.
00;12;36;34 - 00;12;55;52
Unknown
Oh my goodness. Yes. And yeah, so you mentioned you and your sister are running the show. Yep, yep. My sister's a realtor and she kind of helps me run things. It's a it's a fun family dynamic. We always joke, you know, we can get mad at each other and throw things at each other. And then five minutes later, it's like, hey, where are we going?
00;12;55;52 - 00;13;22;32
Unknown
To lunch. So you can't you can't stay mad at your family. So but it's also nice because, you know, she's she's a hard worker as well. And we have the same common goal. And it's a it's a really fun dynamic. Was she there from the very beginning or she would. She came. She she came in about 5 or 6 years after I started, when I started building like 20 houses.
00;13;22;42 - 00;13;41;22
Unknown
My original vision for her was to kind of be an assistant, like, do all the selections and all of that. But then she got her real estate license, and then she took off crazy. And then we just had to keep hiring more people and, you know, keep the system growing. She's turned into quite a rock star. Wow. That's awesome.
00;13;41;22 - 00;14;01;46
Unknown
That's amazing. The special, the family dynamics. As you mentioned, you hear so many horses on that side to. Yeah, it's a it's a great accomplishment though. You know, growing up small town eastern Montana trailer park kid and making a sister, you know, financially solvent. And it's one of my proudest things for sure. Oh my goodness. Yes. That's amazing.
00;14;01;46 - 00;14;28;42
Unknown
So, when you were building those systems and he was starting to grow and your system came into the picture. How did you deal with that communication with your internal team? First, to buy into this idea that, hey, we have to systematize this, this is how we're going to work. Part of the communication with the customer, reducing, you know, the flood fear and in doubts from the contractor standpoint and from the client standpoint.
00;14;28;44 - 00;14;51;00
Unknown
Can I walk me through that step just because, again, there are a lot of people out there that want to get where you're at and then look at your life right now, it's like, oh, great. Overnight success. Yeah, for the past ten years, you know what I mean? And but like, there's some of those bottlenecks and situations that you have to work through the past 5 to 10 years that like, hey, here's how I did it, and here's what it worked for me.
00;14;51;05 - 00;15;14;15
Unknown
Yeah. So we've got a set of core values in our company. And one of the core values is always learning and progressing. And even even if we've had a SOP in place for five years and it's always worked fine, if we can find a better way to do it, I'm going to change it immediately. Anything to keep evolving and making the process better.
00;15;14;15 - 00;15;35;23
Unknown
I am all for it. And when we hire staff. And I learned this from Andy for Stella, he's a mentor of mine is when you're hiring, you're hiring on those core values. And if you're if you hire the right people and they have those core values, it should not be an easy transition. One of my biggest pet peeves is, oh, this is how we've always done it.
00;15;35;25 - 00;15;59;57
Unknown
We hear this from subcontractors a lot, like, hey, this is how we've done it for ten years. It's worked just fine. And in my mind that doesn't work just fine. There's I think there's always a better way. I think there's always a more profitable way to streamline your business because you can't you can't do there. You know, there's that leap from 5 to 10 houses, 10 to 20 you can't do to get to 40 houses.
00;15;59;57 - 00;16;20;55
Unknown
You can't do what you did at 20 houses to get there. There's just not enough time in the day. You're going to pull all your hair out, which I'm clinging on to everything I got at this point. And you and those systems just make it a no brainer. You go from step one to step two and then, you know, everything is is all dialed in.
00;16;20;55 - 00;16;44;28
Unknown
And I think our sales process is, is our best system because, you know, we we we say follow up and tell people tell you to jump in the lake or they buy a house. I will follow up with you every week if I meet you at an open house and you know, it might not be a right time for you and your family to to buy a house right now.
00;16;44;28 - 00;17;09;16
Unknown
And that's 100% okay. I want to be there in five years when it is time. And but I also want to be top of mind when it's time for you to do that. So we've got we use a CRM called Monday. Com and I track every lead. I keep notes in there and I'm like, hey, I text, I text J.T. Thursday, you know, the 18th.
00;17;09;16 - 00;17;27;39
Unknown
And I just left him text and said, hey. And it's a lot of times where people won't respond for 5 or 6 years, but then they'll come back and be like, hey, we're ready. Wow. I think I think that follow up is the key in real estate. If you follow up, follow through and follow back, you just have to keep doing it.
00;17;27;41 - 00;17;45;02
Unknown
Man. You unpack so many cool things here. Let me see if I can remember all. The first one you said is the mistake. So we have a very similar core value in our firm that we say that make new mistakes. It's okay to make mistakes, but just don't make the same ones. Don't put your hand on the stove twice.
00;17;45;04 - 00;18;12;16
Unknown
Yeah, exactly. Then the next one you talked about is be second in people's heart. Same with real estate. Same thing with CPAs. Most people don't change their CPA unless 1 to 5 things happen. And so one of those five things happen. You want to be there ready for them to call you. And that's that follow up is to check in is just to just be human and don't come for sale.
00;18;12;16 - 00;18;30;03
Unknown
All this thinking time, just like, hey, how's the family? You know, how's your kid's baseball game? And just kind of check in and eventually, you know, the CPA is going to retire, it's going to make a mistake or whatnot. And then it's like, hey, I know J.T. is a CPA, too. I might give him a call and just take a second look at this.
00;18;30;08 - 00;18;57;37
Unknown
Yeah, it's crazy how much goodwill. A simple happy birthday text is to someone that has never bought a house from you. They they know that that they're on your mind. So you send happy birthday to people that are not even your clients. Yep, yep. If I if I can get their information, I will. I'll research. I will find out what their birthdays are, and then I'll have a reminder set to send them a text on the day.
00;18;57;40 - 00;19;17;52
Unknown
Oh my goodness that's awesome. That's amazing. Can we do that in the CPA firm but just for our clients. But you took it to the next level. I love that yeah I want to be top of mind. Yeah. So do you do sort of like company retreats weekly or monthly check ins with your staff and maybe some, some contractors where like, hey, how's it going?
00;19;17;54 - 00;19;41;31
Unknown
What can we do better? And so forth. Yep. We do I tried I try in the summer months. I try to take one subcontractor a week out golfing and then just spend that time with them and, and do that. We do weekly staff meetings. And most a lot of them are on zoom because we got people in other areas just checking in, see how things are going, what they can help with.
00;19;41;36 - 00;20;11;03
Unknown
We do two client appreciation parties, and we invite all of our subcontractors to these parties every year. And the first one that we do is this has become so big and people look forward to it every year. I remember at a golf course here in Billings, Montana, and we we invite everybody there the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Everybody gets to eat and drink and hang out and subs, vendors, all of our clients.
00;20;11;03 - 00;20;36;18
Unknown
And we get them. We get them a pie from a local bakery for Thanksgiving. And everybody absolutely loves this party. It's gotten bigger and bigger every. You know, the first one was five people, and now it's grown to, you know, a couple thousand. And now we're doing it in multiple cities and, you know, running around with a bunch of pies and not your not not your typical realtor, you know, go buy a Costco pie.
00;20;36;21 - 00;21;05;42
Unknown
We want the local bakery. We want we want it to be fantastic. And then we do just another appreciation party in the summer at like a local brewery and just invite everybody to get together and, you know, mingle and, and, you know, in chat. And people love this. You know, they, you know, when we build you a house, you know, it's 6 to 8 months and they're in there all the time and they meet all the subs, they meet the trim guy who's a character, and they meet the painter and they get to know them and they then they get to see them again.
00;21;05;47 - 00;21;28;03
Unknown
And we've found that our subcontractors have been a huge referral source for us. We get a ton of referrals from them from that kind of stuff. Yeah, just doing the right thing. I love that one. My my basketball coach had a phrase don't just do the right thing, do the next thing right. And it seems like you have that instilling the entire culture of your company.
00;21;28;07 - 00;21;48;06
Unknown
Yeah. And it's what's fun is, is growing a business is fun. And going back to your day to day checklist when you've got 30, like really small things to get off your off your checklist before your day even starts to grow the business, it's impossible to grow. You're you're basically just treading water and you've bought yourself a job.
00;21;48;21 - 00;22;10;42
Unknown
Yeah. So that is the part where I try to coach all of my clients, CPA clients and the private coaching clients, and it's like, you have to schedule time for working on your craft, which is in the business, and then working on your business. Do you have kind of a weekly structure where you kind of separate the days or maybe times of the days that you can?
00;22;10;47 - 00;22;35;29
Unknown
That's that's a great question and I am working on that right now. Time blocking is a little tough for me. It's it's more like put out the immediate fires and then and then try to grow. So but I think that's a very powerful tool to do that. And the my, my good thing JT, is that I've built such a good staff that I don't have that many fires anymore.
00;22;35;31 - 00;23;11;43
Unknown
You know, if once it gets to me, it needs attention right away. Right? Yeah. And we had a few of those yesterday which it doesn't happen very often. So but it is going to happen and you got to be ready to pivot. I do need the time block and just focus. And you know right now like we talked about earlier AI is where I'm focusing that that time to to try to grow and learn that that mark because it's it's going to create so many, so much wealth in the next five years that I think in the business you have to put in place.
00;23;11;45 - 00;23;32;06
Unknown
Yeah. So what are you currently working with AI to put in place in your business? I'm working on getting cloud codes that are set up for all those systems and making those better, and then working a lot, you know, and this is awful to say, and I hope the IRS doesn't hear it. Once you get to a certain point, part of your job is to is try to figure out how not to give them so much money.
00;23;32;10 - 00;23;58;42
Unknown
That's very true. Yeah. That's your job. That's your that's your game. So that's what that's what I'm working on right now and try to get you know that sales you know bump that to me. Sales cures everything. Yes it it can patch so many things in your business. So making that better you know outbound text, outbound emails the stuff that you can you make I don't think AI is going to take over our business.
00;23;58;42 - 00;24;20;52
Unknown
I think it's gonna it's going to help those businesses using it grow. Oh yeah. Absolutely. And I can make the back office faster. So you talking about growth growth growth growth. And you wish you already had a tremendous growth so far. So do you have a timeline. Is it 100 houses by two years. You know walk us through a little bit of that.
00;24;20;55 - 00;24;45;22
Unknown
Yeah. Artisans such market driven. You know the interest rate just drives our market so much. So I did I am always growth always. But we we did. I took a little step back in the last couple of years and really dialed in the profitability, not just growing, you know, negotiating deals with vendors and subs and, and stuff like that.
00;24;45;22 - 00;25;07;05
Unknown
So I think I'd love to be at 105 years. You know, we hit 60 last year. We're moving into a new market. We're about to dig some holes in a different market this month. So because I think, you know, Montana's small compared to, you know, other metros in the United States. So there's only so many new houses each city can, can maintain.
00;25;07;05 - 00;25;31;45
Unknown
So as we grow, it'll be in different areas. And that's where the that's where the airplane comes in are. That's it. The IRS yeah I get it. Yeah yeah yeah yeah I love it. Yeah. So yeah. So the when now that you jump into a new market, I'm assuming you're going to put some leadership in place, right.
00;25;31;45 - 00;25;53;53
Unknown
To manage that market for you. Walk us through kind of your thoughts of behind the why did you pick that market. What did that make sense going there. Because I think the hardest part from a business owner is not doing the thing we all are good at doing. The thing is know what to do and in what order, right?
00;25;53;55 - 00;26;11;06
Unknown
So you have to hit the 60 last year. You dial back looking at profitability because like that's one of my passions. Not only the top line is the bottom line. It's like it's not much how much you might it might how much money you make. It's what you keep. Right. So, so kind of walk us through that process.
00;26;11;06 - 00;26;40;57
Unknown
I thought you just thinking about that new market. Because I know people out there, you know, are cures of of of expanding to a new market, even a new model or new service. And you're doing that and you've done it before. Yeah. And so what I look for is I look for like a medium sized community that is, that's underserved, that when I go to the market there's a demand for new housing, but there's just not not a ton of inventory on the market.
00;26;40;57 - 00;27;07;11
Unknown
And so we do we do local market research. We go, you know, meet at the Home Builders Association and the Realtor Association. We kind of get boots on the ground. And the biggest thing that's helped us do that is I hire all local people, I hire all local subs. I don't I don't come in and try to push, you know, where I'm from into, into that community.
00;27;07;16 - 00;27;25;39
Unknown
I like to blend into that community. And I think as long as then I get good, good leadership is is the hardest thing to find. So finding those people that fit in your core values, and I'll search in search and search until I find the right one, because the wrong one will will think that that expansion real quick.
00;27;25;39 - 00;28;00;09
Unknown
And then I don't overanalyze it. I dip my toe in, I build, you know, a couple of houses, see how the market reacted and kind of a tester. But I think a lot of people get paralyzed by trying to analyze. And and I'm also okay hitting singles. I don't need to hit a home run on every house. That's a good thing with volume brings is when you're as long as you're you're profitable, you're making things work because there's going to be kinks, there's going to be adjustments in every market.
00;28;00;09 - 00;28;21;39
Unknown
So finding, you know, finding that right niche and not just going and building 50 houses in a market and then then figuring out that you built the wrong the wrong houses. So, you know, you got to do you got to do the work before the, before the, you know, the profits and the in the winds come in. So hitting singles to me in the beginning is absolutely perfect.
00;28;21;39 - 00;28;43;12
Unknown
Oh gosh. Yeah. So you've now starting from scratch and starting from experience. You've done this before. It's just moving from, you know, this box to that box and you're speaking to my heart right now. We're talking about singles and all that. Just because a lot of times that analogy is right, that you're talking about just analyzing, analyzing, analyzing in your business.
00;28;43;14 - 00;29;14;50
Unknown
I'm measuring twice, you know, cutting one's kind of deal. How many people that you talk on day in and day out that you kind of have to walk them through and coach them through that aspect alone in your business? Yeah, it's probably 80% of the people that I'm talking to want to want to do that, and I am I did start a coaching company, and I've got the guys that they want to do all the labor themselves, but they want to build, they want to build 20 houses a year.
00;29;14;50 - 00;29;40;55
Unknown
And I have to like break down the time for them. Like you're just you just don't have the time to do all that stuff yourself. And so you have to you have to, you know, prioritize what what is going to be the the move the needle the most for you and your company? And is you going out and putting siding on the house worth it, or is it, you know, going to get another sale, going to move the needle a little more?
00;29;40;55 - 00;30;02;09
Unknown
So I think a lot of people will see, like you'll get this as a CPA, they'll see that line item and they'll be like, well, I can do that work. That's, you know, I can save $10,000, but if it takes you three weeks to do it, you're really losing money, not not gaining anything. So so it's hard to get people out of that box.
00;30;02;11 - 00;30;19;58
Unknown
Oh, no. Sorry. Sorry to interrupt right there. But as soon as you said that, I was like, oh, I gotta share this story. So I was in a client meeting with a realtor, and you appreciate this. And we were talking about tax planning, you know, getting all her numbers kind of projecting, you know, how much tax liability is going to be for that year.
00;30;19;58 - 00;30;42;06
Unknown
And it's just like, no, I need to go back and I need to recount my mileage that I drove back and forth because you didn't have an app or a systematic way to track it. I was like, okay, you know, it's going to take you some time, you know, all that. Or we can estimate or we can use some Google Maps, you know, just to kind of think through the houses that you sold and, you know, and there and just kind of map it out.
00;30;42;09 - 00;31;03;04
Unknown
I was like, no, no, no, I'm going to get to the, you know, the fraction of the mile to get this right. So she actually wanted to do some of that in the meeting with me in her phone rang four times. And I was telling her, like, it's okay to take the like the phone call. It most likely is a client or a prospect calling you for you to sell that house.
00;31;03;06 - 00;31;29;48
Unknown
Oh, no no, no. I'll call them back. And and then she was just looking for mileage. So he was the whole idea of this. Like she she might have saved 200 to maybe $300 in taxes, but if she picked up one of those phone calls, it would probably be at 3 or 5, $6,000. Commission check. Right. So it's like, did you really like we can there are ways for me as your accountant to figure it out.
00;31;29;48 - 00;31;53;39
Unknown
A number that's defendable in court into the IRS. Go take the call. Go take the sales. And and going back to what you're saying that sales fix everything. I completely, wholeheartedly agree with that statement. There's a lot of things in business that if you have your sales process correctly, if you continue to grow your sales, all the other stuff will come into place because you have the resources to to invest in, fix them.
00;31;53;44 - 00;32;17;28
Unknown
Yes, exactly. And that's that's why I always say hire the best people, hire the best CPA. That way he tells you what to you know what, how to do it right and do it quick. Hire the best you know, framing crew so you don't have to go back and and fix things that go go wrong. So you're able to grow your business in a, in a very, very smooth, smooth way.
00;32;17;32 - 00;32;42;53
Unknown
Man that's awesome. So on the personal side, you mentioned about coaching, you know, baseball leagues and so forth. What else are you involved with. I my so my youngest just graduated high school. So I'm out of all of that fun stuff. But I coached everything I coached wrestling I coached football, baseball. I didn't miss a thing. And I, I think my family is first and foremost.
00;32;42;55 - 00;33;01;41
Unknown
That's why I'm that's why I'm building a business. That's why, you know, we do what we do. But if you're missing those things on a day to day basis, you're not doing them any good or yourself any good. So that's why having those systems in place and and structure in your business the right way is, is the most important thing.
00;33;01;46 - 00;33;26;08
Unknown
Oh, man. Yes. Like you, you can tell yourself a lie that you're going to spend the extra hour in the office because you're building the business and making the money for the people you just missed. And that right there, I have to have conversations with clients and with myself. Sometimes it's just like, no, like, go home. The email is going to be there, the tax return is going to be there tomorrow.
00;33;26;11 - 00;33;45;48
Unknown
Go home and go enjoy your family. Yeah. And you know, you're really not as productive as you think you are. And when when you're doing like, I'm going to gain this hour and you're really people just aren't as productive as they think they're. They people want to be busy more than they want to be productive. I don't want to be busy.
00;33;45;48 - 00;34;16;14
Unknown
I want I want my I want my smooth lifestyle. I don't need a 3030 page to do list. Yes. So for the for the service business owners or the business owners out there and people that might be in your industry right now looking at their daily task list. Right. And what's like one preflight check or a systematic boundary that they can build this Monday morning that to prove that the pilot in the business is not just a cargo.
00;34;16;17 - 00;34;39;06
Unknown
Right, exactly. So I learned again this from Andy Forcella in his power list. Take your the five most important things that you have to do that day. And I tackle them right away in the morning. I try not to set any meetings in the morning. I want to be productive because that's what my brain works the best. So like, I'm getting my pilot's license right now from 6 to 8 in the morning.
00;34;39;06 - 00;35;05;13
Unknown
I'm studying every morning because that night I just found that I don't retain information. So the heavy tasks that I have to do say it's me with the accountant or, or the bank or something like that. That's going to take time. Or it's a personal one on one meeting. I schedule all of those things in the afternoon because I don't need a lot of brainpower to, you know, for me, it's the I got to get my sales calls done.
00;35;05;13 - 00;35;28;52
Unknown
I've got to get, you know, anything that's anything, you know, put out any fires first thing in the morning that I that I have to be very task heavy on. I want that stuff done first thing in the morning because then I can check those off the list and then the rest of the day is a bonus. Oh, so you have converted that checklist mindset to be much a preflight check as you're studying to becoming a pilot.
00;35;28;57 - 00;35;50;10
Unknown
Everything. Everything. This is what I've learned in the last year studying to be a pilot. Everything from right when you walk up to the plane with your preflight checklist, you're checking to make sure the oil is good. There's fuel. Everything is the same. Every time everything is done, you go to take off. You take off at the same speed.
00;35;50;12 - 00;36;17;10
Unknown
You know you're doing everything and you're looking at the checklist. Even the best pilots that I've flown with, they still use the checklist every single time. And as a pilot, obviously that can lead to some very dangerous situations if you if you don't do it. But in your business, it can be real. Real, you know, catastrophic. Not in a deadly way, but you know, so just take our our pre-sales.
00;36;17;10 - 00;36;36;04
Unknown
I take it from the first time I met somebody, I've got little boxes I go on Monday. Com we go to letter of intent to sign. So that's where we sign to okay. We're going to design them a house sent to the draftsmen plan received and reviewed. It just checks it all the way through to sent to the bank.
00;36;36;04 - 00;37;01;31
Unknown
And then once that's all done, then it moves to the construction checklist to where, you know, selections are done. Then we excavate foundation. Everything just has to go in a systematic order so that nobody in in your team is looking looking for you for answers. Okay. What step is next? They can go to your CRM or your SOP and be like, okay, everything's into the bank.
00;37;01;33 - 00;37;28;15
Unknown
We've got permit we can dig. There's no wasted time coming to ask, you know, ask you what? What is next? Oh, man. Yes, I love that. So what are the other things that we haven't covered today that you want to share with the audience? You know, the biggest thing is, is I think first off, that what we talked about about not procrastinating and overthinking things, I think that will paralyze a business owner.
00;37;28;19 - 00;37;49;37
Unknown
I'm very, very fast moving, especially in the building industry, because if you don't sell something and move on it, you're not going to have a paycheck, you know, for a year. So getting, you know, moving now you have to keep keep pushing and don't stop selling. And this is the big thing I want to tell everybody is I did start a coaching program.
00;37;49;40 - 00;38;07;26
Unknown
It's called Builder Launch, helping those people that have never started building if they want to, if you're a tradesman or if you're a realtor like me and you want to learn how to build houses, and then I'm also taking the guys that are, you know, I've built five houses in a year, how to scale that into 10 to 20, whatever their, their threshold in.
00;38;07;26 - 00;38;30;44
Unknown
So this is kind of my, my passion project. It's called Builder Launch. We've got we've got some students rolling and it's been so much fun kind of going back to my roots and, you know, remembering what it was like the first couple couple houses. Yeah. So where can they find that? Is it just a yep. Yep. Builder launch is a website is the website.
00;38;30;44 - 00;39;10;33
Unknown
And then I'm Levi on or near on Instagram. Just messaged me I've got a free checklist for your for your first your first spec house. Any any problems that you come up with. I'm happy to send that out to anybody for free man. So Levi, what a treat. But I have one last question for you. If you have to go back to that Levi that started the company many years ago and was doing 1 to 2 homes at year, and you look at that guy and you now look at yourself, what you have learned, what you know, all the fires that you have put out, all the bottlenecks that you have to take care.
00;39;10;38 - 00;39;37;24
Unknown
What is the first thing you will tell him so that he can get out of that funk? Yep. I would say keep selling. Selling is is going to going to keep you rolling. I'm I'm a firm believer that if you just keep selling, you know, learn from your mistakes. Because what I love about real estate and this came from when I was 22 years old, I read Donald Trump's The Art of the deal book.
00;39;37;24 - 00;39;57;16
Unknown
Whatever your politics are, if you like them or not. But the guy knows how to put together a real estate deal, and every deal is a puzzle that that you get to put together. No land is flat and perfect. You know, there's there's all these puzzles, the puzzle pieces, the financing, everything that has to come together to get it done.
00;39;57;21 - 00;40;23;03
Unknown
So we're not just manufacturing houses, we're building a puzzle that's going to get a family into a home. They're going to raise their children there. And for me, that's that's the most fun is is just putting that puzzle together and then helping those people in those houses. So I would say just keep pushing the sales and you're able to and you know, your your bank, your subs, your accountant, they're all part of your team.
00;40;23;05 - 00;40;45;35
Unknown
They're, they're they're there to help you. Because if you do more business they get more business. So, you know, ask the questions. Don't be afraid to ask the questions. And that's what's great about the coaching is now they have a resource to ask and make. Make those make those adjustments early. I love it because at the end of the day, the hardest part of me, myself and I kind of business is the loneliness.
00;40;45;37 - 00;41;10;37
Unknown
You don't have somebody else off ideas, right? So having that coaching for a lonely place. Yeah. It's a lonely, lonely place. It is Italy, Levi. My goodness, what a treat. What an awesome moment. And then time that you spent here together. So builder launch. Com for the coaching, then Levi Warner on social media mainly. Maybe Instagram is your main one.
00;41;10;42 - 00;41;39;16
Unknown
Go to Instagram. Facebook. Either one work great. Okay, Thank you. I appreciate the time. I appreciate your knowledge that you shared today. I love the passion that you have about systems and getting things right. And as you mentioned, your go to phrase of getting to the little things right so you can get the big things right, I can't imagine the impact that you're about to make with the communities that you're getting into right now.
00;41;39;21 - 00;41;57;06
Unknown
I'm excited to to watch your journey from behind the scenes and just kind of see from from afar the success that you're going to accomplish. Once again, thank you so much for spending the time with us tonight. You're very welcome. This was fantastic. Had a blast. Appreciate you and talk to everybody very
