Founder dependency becomes obvious the moment you disappear. If every decision, approval, customer issue, and financial question still comes back to you, you have not built a company that runs without you. You have built a demanding job with employees.
David Todd went completely off the grid for almost two and a half weeks.
No calls. No emails. No checking whether the building had burned down while he was gone.
Everything was fine.
That sentence took him nearly ten years to earn.
David founded EZ Mobility Solutions after starting with wheelchair ramps in 2001. Today, the company employs nearly 30 people and generates close to $10 million in annual revenue.
But the bigger achievement is that David is no longer the only person who can run it.
Being irreplaceable is not a trophy. It is a countdown.
In Episode 24 of From Burnt Out to Bought Out, Jon and Ryan sit down with David to discuss how he stopped being the company’s only answer, built leaders who challenge him, improved the sales-to-operations handoff with AI, and prepared the business to survive 90 days without its founder.
Founder Dependency Is a Business Risk
In 2018, David looked around at the 20 to 25 people working for his company and asked a difficult question: What happens to them if he gets hit by a bus?
The answer was uncomfortable.
The company had talented people, but nobody knew what David knew or could do what he did. The business might have been growing, but it was still dependent on one person.
This is the risk many founders overlook. The company appears healthy because revenue is growing, employees are busy, and customers keep calling. Underneath the activity, however, the owner remains the operating system.
When the founder is the only person who can make decisions, close important sales, solve difficult problems, move money, or reassure the team, the business is fragile.
The founder does not merely work in the business. The founder holds it together.
| Business Area | Founder Dependent | Built to Run Without You |
|---|---|---|
| Decisions | Every meaningful choice waits for the owner | Leaders make decisions within clear guardrails |
| Knowledge | Critical information lives in the owner’s head | Processes and expectations are documented |
| Leadership | The team agrees and waits for instructions | Leaders challenge ideas and own outcomes |
| Growth | New opportunities depend on the founder | Employees identify and build new revenue streams |
Delegation Means Accepting a Different Method
David was once the company’s best salesperson and one of its best installers. Giving up those responsibilities was difficult because he knew he could do the work well.
That is the trap.
Founders often keep tasks because they can do them faster or better than the person they hired. That may be true today, but it prevents the employee from developing and guarantees the founder will still be doing the work tomorrow.
Delegation requires accepting that the work may not be completed exactly the way you would do it. The standard cannot be personal imitation. The standard must be a correct result that reflects the company’s values.
David learned to let employees lose some sales, make smaller mistakes, and improve through coaching. He provided guardrails without taking the work back.
The point is not to abandon the team. It is to teach employees how to think, then give them enough room to become capable.
If you correct every imperfect decision by taking the work back, your team learns to wait for you instead of thinking without you.
Build Leaders Who Are Willing to Push Back
David’s early leadership team included people he trusted, including friends and family. Trust mattered, but it created another problem: trusted people are not always willing to tell the owner that an idea is bad.
A leadership team cannot protect the business if its primary job is agreeing with the founder.
David eventually hired a director of operations who could challenge him. He added financial leadership and made it clear that future leaders, including his son-in-law, needed to say when they believed he was wrong.
That disagreement is not disloyalty. It is part of the job.
Strong leaders ask questions, identify risks, and improve the plan before the company spends time and money executing it. They help the founder see what enthusiasm, habit, or ego may be hiding.
A useful leadership team should be able to:
- Challenge ideas without turning disagreement into conflict
- Make decisions using the company’s values and priorities
- Own measurable outcomes rather than wait for instructions
- Discuss problems openly before they become emergencies
- Continue operating when the founder is unavailable
Extreme Ownership Creates Growth Without the Founder
One of the clearest signs that a business is becoming less dependent on its owner is when employees stop bringing only problems and begin building solutions.
EZ Mobility had been renting mobility scooters to customers at a casino located two hours away. The demand existed, but repeated delivery and pickup trips made the service difficult to operate profitably.
A middle manager took ownership of the problem.
She found a retired person near the casino who could handle deliveries, arranged the equipment, and developed a process that allowed customers to scan a QR code on a poker chip and book a scooter.
The new system is expected to produce approximately $52,000 in annual revenue.
David did not design the service or manage the details. He approved the plan, and his team handled the rest.
That is what empowered leadership looks like. The owner does not need to originate every idea. Employees understand the problem, create a workable solution, and take responsibility for the result.
Use AI to Strengthen the Handoff
Systems matter most at the points where information changes hands.
For EZ Mobility, one major pain point was the handoff between sales and operations. A salesperson might make a small promise during a customer visit, but that detail would not always appear in the quote. The operations team would arrive without the information, materials, or time required to complete the work smoothly.
The company began using an AI sales coach to record appointments and provide feedback based on its sales process. David then used Claude to review the opportunity, photographs, and appointment transcript before producing a clear primer for the operations team.
The output tells operations what was discussed, what the customer expects, what the team should prepare, and which requests were specifically declined during the sales conversation.
AI is not replacing the salesperson or the operations team. It is protecting the information that often gets lost between them.
This is a practical use of technology: reduce friction, preserve commitments, and help capable people execute with better information.
Financial Visibility Makes Delegation Safer
A company cannot make good decisions without understanding its financial position.
Many owners keep cash flow, forecasts, and financial concerns in their own heads. The leadership team learns about a problem only when it becomes urgent.
David’s team now discusses cash flow and financial performance together. Instead of discovering a shortage at the last minute, they can look several weeks ahead, identify a possible problem, and decide what to do while they still have options.
Financial visibility also helped the company recognize when rapid growth had become too much, too soon. Pulling back was not a failure. It was a disciplined response to changed conditions and an opportunity to strengthen the foundation before moving forward again.
When leaders understand the numbers, they can participate in protecting the business rather than leaving every financial decision to the founder.
Take the 90-Day Founder Dependency Test
Two and a half weeks away proved that EZ Mobility could continue operating without David. The next test is longer.
If you disappeared for 90 days, would your business survive, struggle, or improve while you were gone?
Use these questions to identify where founder dependency still exists:
- Which decisions still require your approval? List the choices employees regularly bring back to you.
- Which knowledge exists only in your head? Document the information the team would need if you became unavailable tomorrow.
- Who can challenge your thinking? Identify leaders who will question a weak idea instead of politely executing it.
- Can the team see the numbers? Give leaders enough financial visibility to recognize and solve problems early.
- What would stop after 30, 60, or 90 days? The answer reveals the next responsibility, system, or relationship you need to transfer.
The goal is not merely for the business to survive your absence.
The first stage is returning to find that nothing burned down. The next is returning to find that the company remained stable. The real goal is returning to find that the team solved a major problem or created a new opportunity without you.
Founder Independence Creates Exit Options
Exit planning does not always mean selling the company immediately.
David is gradually reducing his schedule. His plan is to move from four and a half working days to four, then three and a half, and eventually three days a week.
He wants to remain involved because he chooses to be, not because the business cannot function without him.
That distinction matters.
A founder-dependent company offers very few options. The owner cannot step away, the team cannot operate independently, and a potential buyer sees risk concentrated in one person.
A company with leaders, systems, financial visibility, and decision-making capacity gives the owner choices. The founder can reduce hours, move into a board-level role, transfer leadership, or prepare the company for a future sale.
The work required to reduce founder dependency is the same work that makes a business more durable, scalable, and valuable.
For mobility and accessibility solutions in Roanoke and the surrounding region, visit Episode 24 sponsor EZ Mobility Solutions.
For more practical guidance on building a profitable and scalable company, explore the Synergy Solutions business resources.
The Bottom Line
The company should not need its founder to answer every question, approve every decision, or solve every problem.
Start by identifying where work stops without you. Build leaders who share the company’s values and are willing to challenge your thinking. Give them clear outcomes, useful guardrails, financial visibility, and enough room to make decisions.
Then leave long enough to test what you built.
If the company struggles, you have found the next system or responsibility to transfer. If it survives, extend the test. If it improves while you are gone, you are finally building something larger than yourself.
Being needed may feel important. Being optional is what creates freedom and value.
Being irreplaceable is not a trophy. It is a countdown.
Listen to Episode 24 and learn how to build a company that can make decisions, solve problems, and grow without depending on you.
Listen to Episode 24(00:40)
Mm-mm.
(00:40)
All Alright, gentlemen, good afternoon.
(00:44)
Good afternoon, Jon We are we have a special guest with us.
(00:49)
We do indeed. Yeah. In this episode, we are welcoming the founder and CEO of EZ Mobility. Is that right?
(00:58)
That is me. That is me. We got the right person then.
(00:59)
We got the right person then.
(01:03)
We’re starting off with a bang. We’ve got the right person to interview. Yes.
(01:07)
Just got just Just gotta check. David, David, welcome.
(01:12)
Thank you. Thank you for having me on.
(01:14)
Yeah, thank you for gracing our humble podcast. I’d say I’m honored
(01:18)
I’d say I’m honored, but you know, it’s it’s Ryan. And you’ve listened before.
(01:23)
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you’ve heard it. Let’s hope we live down to expectations.
(01:30)
that That’s not hard, is it? When there are none.
(01:34)
Yeah, exactly. We’re gonna That’s that’s why we’re bringing guests in because we’ve gotta ra raise the level
(01:38)
Mm-hmm.
(01:38)
somehow. Ryan and I can’t do it. We We’ve done twenty odd episodes now. Need some help.
(01:46)
You’d think you guys would be getting better at it. You would think.
(01:54)
Yeah, we do we do have a few a few fans that that that are that are coming up with some nice feedback, nice comment. You’re w you’re one of them actually, so you’re I know you’re a regular listener, so thanks so much for all of your feedback. It is hopefully improving things for everybody else. But we’re we’re getting some, the numbers are increasing. We’re actually really pleased with where we’re at with it. So th these sorts of opportunities to speak and spread some knowledge I think are super important.
(02:20)
And bring on handsome guests. Well there you go.
(02:23)
That’s it. Excellent. So let’s get into it. Before we really get into some of the details, David, why don’t you tell us who you are, what EZ mobility does, give us a little bit of an arc as well about how it started, where it is now, et cetera, et cetera.
(02:39)
Yeah, my name is David Todd. I’m the President of EZ Mobility Solutions. We used to be EZ Ramps because when I started doing this back in 2001, all I did was ramps. I did ramps for veterans through the VA hospital system and kind of grew the business from there. In 2008, we incorporated. I had a couple of subcontractors that worked for me, and I did all the evaluations, and the subcontractors put in the ramps, and then 2011, we hired our first team members. We hired basically two full-time team members, one of them still with us, and then 2014 we hit our first million, and by 2020 we were doing close to six, seven million, and of course COVID kind of turned us around for a little bit, but you know we’ve got almost thirty people that work for us, and we’re doing you know close to ten million dollars a year, so it’s been kind of a wild ride to get there.
(03:45)
That is great. Wow, that that’s from one to to six million in a few years, a handful of years. That’s a quick ramp. Pardon the pun.
(03:54)
It was, it was. We kind of, we had a pretty lucrative contract which we still have with a a big city doing election work for them and making sure that their polling places are ADA compliant and that that really helped us grow the business quite a bit. So yeah, it’s been it’s been a quick ride. We we tried to do it a little too quick at one point and we’ve had to scale that back a little bit, but that’s one one of your t one of your topics and one of the things I think we’re gonna discuss today. So…
(04:29)
That’s right. Yeah, you’ve been you’ve been through a number of the stages. So yeah, we’re we’re super pleased to have you have you with us and just kind of talk through some of those because I think we started off, I think the first episode was treadmills, right right about being on the treadmill and having
(04:43)
Right.
(04:43)
everything flow through you. We talk about being the
(04:45)
Okay.
(04:46)
bottleneck and you really kind of live and breathe those those concepts. How did
(04:50)
Yeah.
(04:51)
you get through all of that?
(04:52)
Well, I I think it’s probably right around 2018 I woke up and we had twenty, twenty to twenty five people working for us and I looked around at who they were and looked at their families and thought, Holy smokes, if I get hit by a bus, what’s gonna happen to these people? Is this business gonna be able to survive me not being here? And the answer was no way. I had some good people, I had I had I had some talented people, but nobody knew what I knew or could do what I did. So that kind of started me down the journey of trying to figure out who could help me grow the business but who could actually start taking over a lot of the stuff that I was doing because I mean when you build a business and you work really long time, basically I’ve been doing ramps for twenty six years now. I wouldn’t like to walk out and get hit by a bus and it all to end. You know, I’ve I worked my butt
(05:49)
Right. Yeah.
(05:50)
off to get it to where it is and and a lot of people count on it continuing. And 22-ish, yeah, 22. I hired a director of operations and he’s taken a lot over from me. I’ve got a sales and marketing manager, and he’s taken a lot over from me. So we’re getting to the point where I’m not the only one that can run the business. In fact, I can, I I celebrated my thirtieth wedding anniversary and I went off the grid for almost two and a half weeks and everything was fine. And that was that was a big big step for the business, right? Being able to go away and the decisions get made without you.
(06:32)
That’s yeah, that’s all that’s a milestone right there. I mean it’s probably one you couldn’t have nav couldn’t have missed, right? You miss your wedding
(06:39)
Right.
(06:40)
anniversary and there’s there’s a whole world of trouble waiting for you. But yeah, I mean…
(06:44)
Yeah. And as most And as most entrepreneurs know, their wives go through it with so you better take good care of them.
(06:49)
Yep. That that Thats is right. Happy wife, happy life. I think Ryan we’re trying to do that, right? Trying to juggle it all.
(06:57)
Yeah, my wife’s miserable. I’m not sure it’s because
(07:01)
Mm.
(07:01)
of your job though. That’s true. It’s me.
(07:03)
Yeah. Exactly. And yeah, I I think it’s so it sounds like you know, hiring really good people, setting up a strong leadership team, some of those things we’ve talked about i in previous episodes is kind of core and and key for being able to to get yourself out of the out of the process and enable people. We talk and going back to those episodes, we talk a lot about that kind of mental, almost addiction to being right at the center of things. How d how did that work for you? Were you able to kind of set that aside and delegate?
(07:37)
You know, I mean it was hard in the beginning because I was the best salesman that we had and I was probably close to the best installer we had. And so, you know, it was hard to give up those those jobs. But that was early on, like, you know, it stop doing sales. I definitely had to stop doing installations early on. That was that was no way to build the business, right? You know, you get to a point where you have to go, yeah, that’s not going to be done exactly the way I want it to be done, but it’s going to get done and it’s going to get done right. And a lot of that comes from your core values, right? Just just making sure that you hammer home your core values with your leadership team and with your people. Even beyond your leadership team, you want your people out in the field, you know, most of our stuff is field work, so we’re not sitting on their shoulder being able to tell what to do. So it took a lot for me to give up, you know, that control of knowing, hey, if I go to this sale, I’m gonna make this sale. I know I can make this sale and to to watch people lose some sales and not do as well as I would have imagined that they could do. but if you have good core values, they’re still trying to make the same do the same things, make the same decisions that you would, and do it the same way that you would. If you can get to that point, then if they’re they’re they’re not quite as good as you, you just kind of have to sit back and and let get better. You know, unless you want to keep doing everything and stay on the treadmill, which I did not.
(09:11)
Right. Yeah, it’s that conscious decision, right? Stop being the firefighter, stop being the center of all things. Yeah, and excellent. It sounds like it sounds like you work through that work through that really well. Ryan, what’s our our our process? I I’ve We’ve got some step process with training people, right? With you teach them how to do it, st monitor them. You know for for those that are in David’s or were in, are are in David’s position back then, how do how do we kind of coach them through that process to to give them, that give up that trust and get them on track for being able to devolve responsibility?
(09:51)
Well, I think you know, I can talk about systems and standardization and SOPs and all that kind of stuff, right? And those are things that are very important to build out. But really, David hit the nail on the head is if you have people that share your core values, right? That’s how you create and maintain your your culture. You can train them to be a ramp installation person. You can train them to be a sales and marketing person. And yes, they are gonna stumble and bumble their way over there through that thing, but you know, they’re representing you. They are representing your a your company with with really how it should be done, right? This is the EZ Mobility Solutions way, right? And so those people are doing that and so you know as you s as people step off the treadmill they need to be teaching, they need to be mentoring they need to do that because even as a an owner David you started 20 some odd years ago, how many mistakes did you make? Yeah Just a couple. No. I mean, you
(10:56)
Yeah.
(10:57)
know, that was that was one of the things that we talked about. It was like, you know, some of my leadership is younger and people are like, well they’re young. I’m like, yes they are, and they’re gonna make mistakes. And guess what I did twenty-five years ago? I was them. I was making those same mistakes. I was doing those same stupid things. And you know, our kids don’t learn by us, you know they learn by by putting their hand near the hot stove that they shouldn’t put their hair near the hot stove. And sometimes we have to let our team kind of learn that too, they need to make those mistakes and they need to pay for those mistakes. mistakes ‘Cause they won’t make those mistakes again. I mean that’s how I learned and you know, certainly there’s you wanna present guardrails and stuff to try and make sure they don’t make those big mistakes, you know. But in the end, they’re going to to not do it exactly the way you want it want it done sometimes, and that’s when you gotta come back and coaching is a lot of what we do now, right? Hey, okay, you did it that way. Can you tell me why you did it that way? Well, here’s how I might have done it, right? And and here’s the things that went through my mind when we’re talking about how I would have done And so just kind of guiding them down the the path so that you know they they have what would Jesus do? You know, and for me it’s what would I do? What would David do, right? What, How would how would he answer that question? What would David do? And when I think when you’ve made it as an entrepreneur is when everybody knows what would what would you do in a situation. How would you handle it? What would the answer be? And if you can get your people to that point, man, you have killed it, in my opinion. And absolutely and I think it’s important for everyone to know that this did not happen overnight. No. Right. Still happening. Right. Right. And how long have you been in that process of actually I mean, you’re building up a leadership team, you’re building up empowered employees. How long has that been happening? I probably seven, eight, ma maybe even ten years. You know, I mean we’ve had stops and starts where we’ve had to get people in place and this leader and the right leader they’re not gonna follow our core values we gotta we gotta move that one out get this one in and so it’s just kind of an ever going, ongoing process, right? You’re always kinda looking for that next leader that that shares your core values that that has a good idea of how you want things done and it’s teachable and coachable and when you get those those are the people that you gotta clamp onto and hold on to. Absolutely. And you were able to take a two and a half week vacation. That’s right. That’s right. That was two years ago, you know. So, you know, I mean
(13:39)
That’s great.
(13:40)
I haven’t planned anything for, my I maybe thirty-five we’ll do something a little bit longer. But yeah, I mean I’ve been able to take some some longer vacations early on. I mean, most of the people know that if you’re on the treadmill, even if you do get a week off, you’re still answering emails, you know. Paying bills, doing you’re still doing stuff, probably doing payroll, right? I can remember going on vacation and before the internet was really prevalent, trying to do, you know, payroll and make sure that everything was done while I was on vacation. So, you know, when you can get to get truly get away and unplug, that’s that’s a big deal. Absolutely.
(14:24)
Awesome, awesome. All steps in the process, but yeah, kudos. we’re We’re gonna jump over to Ryan’s fun fact and and our ad, but when we come back, what we’ll do is I think talk a little bit about the leadership team that you’ve built and how you built it. I’m also super interested in the the inflection where you were going too fast and had to ramp back down again because I I think those are learning points and we’ve been talking about those learning points. But why don’t we kick over to Ryan’s fun fact?
(14:54)
Yeah, so fun fact, only a small fraction of founder led businesses survived the founders e exit intact. And roughly a third make it to the second generation and far, far fewer make it to the third and beyond.
(15:09)
Wow, so most businesses can’t outlive the person who actually built them.
(15:13)
Right. The founder being irreplaceable, it isn’t a trophy. It’s just a countdown.
(15:18)
Oof, and David, you’re working that on on that already. Yep.
(15:21)
Right. But I do want a trophy. You got a trophy wife, so
(15:27)
I can see one on the wall over there. There there’s something there’s something on the wall. Looks like a trophy. Alrighty, quick break. And and this one’s a little funny because today’s sponsor is Easy Mobility Solution, David Company, the guy sitting right here.
(15:42)
What proves the thesis of the episode because David didn’t write this at all. His team handles it, that’s the point.
(15:49)
See, it’s working already. Easy Mobility Solutions, Roanoke, Virginia, since 2008, helping people regain their freedom with mobility and access solutions at home and at work.
(15:59)
Module aluminum wheelchair ramps in any configuration, straight, L-shaped, U-shaped, W-shape with platforms and stairs, plus stair lifts, vertical platform lifts, accessible bathrooms, power chairs, and scooters.
(16:14)
Ryan, that’s awesome. Buy a rent, whether you need something permanent or just help through a recovery or rehab. David, you’re you’re here. Anything to add?
(16:24)
Well Riot added that W shape because there’s no W shape ramps, but that’s okay. You know, this has actually been a pretty good read, you guys. That’s that’s pretty good. Like this is what you want. You want to be able to hand things off and it to go well. Maybe I need to be here for your reads from now on. You know what? I think there’s a direct correlation there, David.
(16:44)
Sounds like there’s a commission coming.
(16:46)
Yeah.
(16:48)
Awesome. Easy EZ Mobility Solutions. ezmobilitysolutions.com. Roanoke, Virginia. Awesome. Thanks there. Thanks, David, for helping out. We we need help on those.
(16:57)
No, that was you guys did good on that one.
(17:00)
That’s the first.
(17:02)
Except for W W Ramps I was like, what’s he talking about? Make sure people are paying attention. What’s you talking about, Willis? That’s what I mean.
(17:04)
Yeah. It’s a it’s a new product. Alrighty, l let’s let’s keep rolling. We talk a lot about accountability. You wanna ask this one, Ryan?
(17:16)
Sure, yeah. All right, so David, we talked a lot about accountability on the show, roles, scorecards, vi you know, it’s just not vibes. Actual stuff that we can count on. How did you build the leadership team and that can actually make decisions without you? Well, early on, most of my leadership team were the people that I counted on most and the people that I counted on most were my friends. You know, my my best friend for thirty years is involved in our business and you know, that was who I counted on and so that’s who my leadership team was. Now the thing is that when you have a lot of friends or family that are involved in your business, they’re not always the people that are gonna say, no, that’s a stupid idea to you. So I realized at one point that this probably wasn’t the best structure to be able to grow this business. And in fact, my my best friend came to me and said, I don’t think I need to be that director of ops. I don’t think I can do what you want me to do and you need somebody different. And so we went out and hired somebody that could actually tell me, hey, you’re being stupid. And then I’m not sure quite sure what I was thinking about, but we decided that we needed a fractional CFO. And so then Ryan joined the fray and so you know now I’ve got two people that come call me stupid occasionally but you know it’s it building a leadership team that pushes back is important. So, I have a a human resources person that person’s been with me for ten years. I have my director of ops, I have my service and election person and that’s that’s Leon, my my best friend. And then I have my sales and marketing guy and that’s my my son in law, who is the future of the business. That’s who who I would like to take over the business eventually. But one of the things that I said to him is, Yeah, you’re my son in law, but you better tell me when you think I’m wrong or you’re not ever going to run this business. And so he does that. Reluctantly sometimes a little bit, but he does that. Maybe makes for a interesting meal every now and then. But you know, until I did that, we really didn’t. It was I I would have an idea and everybody would say, okay, great, let’s go with it. And sometimes I don’t have the best ideas, you know, sometimes I didn’t think the things through. And so having people to to hold on to me and say, hey, why don’t we think this through? Here’s something that we should consider is a good thing. You know, and Jon, you you mentioned, you know, we grew a little bit too quickly, and that’s not because my management team didn’t say no, we shouldn’t. shouldn’t. They just believed like I believe that we were in a position to grow. And you know, the last two years have been a little more difficult than we’d like. Some of that is Geopolitical, you know, tariffs have not been kind to our business as far as everything’s made out of aluminum. So that’s made you know pricing different, but also, you know, we’re not the cheapest on the market. And so when people are worried about money and money’s tight, you know, you’re looking for the best solution that you can find that might be the cheapest solution that you can find. And so I don’t think growing, trying to grow was a bad idea. I think we tried to do it too quick, and we got got hit by the wrong time, you know, is it just became the wrong timing to try and do it. So but definitely building a leadership team that has been able to sit down in our L10s tens and say, No, no, you’re crazy or you know, no, that I don’t think that that’s a good idea. It’s much nicer for me to kind of sit back and let them talk about the things and figure out things without me having to say, well, this is the way we’re gonna do it. So
(21:10)
Awesome. Yeah, that happens in our leadership meetings an awful lot. You’re crazy, Ryan. What the heck?
(21:15)
Yeah.
(21:18)
but I mean that that’s I mean, kudos to you. I think there’s a ton of self awareness in in everything that you said so far, right? What what are my limitations? How do I grow? How do I scale? How do I build trust? What if I’m wrong, right? And I think people have to when you have to have the right answers all the time, it’s it’s important to be able to shift those gears into that self-awareness, to be able to let people come in and build that trust. So that’s awesome.
(21:43)
Yeah. Yeah, I mean y again, being surrounded by yes men is not the best way to build your business
(21:51)
I think one of your core values as well is extreme ownership, right, and accountability for the team. I’m gonna try and jive a couple of things together here because you got into that situation where you you tried to grow tried to grow too fast. you’ve got a leadership team that you’re building and you’re building trust, you then have to fix that. How did how did the leadership leadership team help with that? And how did that sort of value of extreme ownership kind of dovetail into all of that? Right? ‘Cause it’s easy to step in when you’ve got a problem and start to pull it apart yourself and start to rewire things. But at that point you’re also building your leadership team and you have a bunch of people that that can help.
(22:26)
Yeah, so you know, one way that extreme ownership showed up is, you know, we had a marketing firm that we had decided on. They were you know, we were spending a ton and ton of marketing and we just weren’t getting a good return. And I despise marketing. I despise that the whole looking at PPC and all that, you know, impressions and all that stuff. I just hate it. Sorry. Hate it. And so you know, our Mark, our director of sales and marketing kinda took that on, worked with you guys, and worked to figure out are we with the right agency. We switched agencies. He made the decision to switch agencies. He made the decision where the marketing bucks were gonna go this year. And really take a hold of the marketing program. And then with the help of AI and Claude and our new ERP, he’s gotten a dashboard that has really kind of distilled down to where our money’s going, how it’s being spent. Got him listening to your podcast, you know, the the one where it’s, you know, how mu yeah, you’re spending money here, but where how much is that making kind
(23:44)
Mm-hmm.
(23:44)
of thing? And so he really got really in depth into that. And I didn’t have to ask him to do that at all. That he just wanted ownership. He had ownership of it, but you know, he wanted to take that over and make sure that we were spending our money money right. So that was that’s
(24:02)
Awesome.
(24:03)
a pretty good example. You know, I can give you one other one. It This is not the best example I can give you right now of extreme ownership is we have a local casino two hours away from us. And people need scooters at that casino. And that casino kept recommending us to rent them to scooters, but it’s two hours away. And so we were renting them the scooters, but we weren’t making any money at it. So because, you know, you you take one down, you pick one up, you take one down, you pick one up. Four hours around, every time you’re, you know, doing a scooter, it’s hard to make any money at it. So I had a middle manager, she took on the task of figuring out how can we make some money at this. And she found a person down there that was retired that would be willing to deliver it for us. She set them up with the equipment, set up a new system where now when you show up to at the casino and you say you need a scooter, they give you, they actually give you a poker chip that’s got a QR code on it. You can scan the QR code and you can book your scooter right then and you can get it delivered then afternoon and she did all that. I did nothing with that. Now, I that’s kind of amazing. Like, you somebody went out and found another source of revenue for you that’s gonna make you, I don’t know, fifty two thousand dollars this year or something, you know, I mean it’s it’s a decent amount of money and I didn’t have to do anything for it. I just had to say, okay, let’s let’s do that. Yeah, that sounds great. Let’s do that. Okay.
(25:36)
Hmm. Awesome.
(25:39)
Okay, yeah. So if you start off with, you know, either we to have somebody generating fifty two thousand or and you standing back would be good.
(25:47)
Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So, you know, I I just had to to basically sign off on the things that that she wanted to do to create this other revenue stream and you know, I I mean it that’s extreme ownership. When somebody works extra hard and extra hours to make sure that they figure out something that is really beneficial to the company, you know, I I’ve not had that before. I don’t you know, not in that way where we figured out a a an entire thing without me having to step in and do do some steps of it.
(26:27)
There are so many healthy indicators with what you just described. And I mean we w work with a ton of businesses that are challenged. I’ve had about eight different thoughts there of you know how you’ve overcome these things. And I think, you know, first of all, building a leadership team, we’ve talked about that. Empowering a leadership team to be able to make decisions, and feel like they can go out and solution these, you know, find some additional revenue. That that in and of itself is a huge success because y sometimes you set the leadership team up but they still feel handcuffed. You know, we’ve got one organization that s investors stepped in and it’s taken a year to build trust. And it it their team is only now maybe a little bit earlier this year starting to go out and find solutions and find problems and coming to the table. And so it takes it takes time to build trust. So To get your organization like for those people who are in those different stages of well, I don’t have a leadership team, I’ve got family members on board, everybody’s saying yes to e anything I say, my you know, we’ve made I made these decisions and I’m still struggling. Like it is a process to put this all together like David has with his organization, but stick with it and apply the principles and I think, you know, you get some healthy results. Great. Let’s, let’s where do we want to go next, gents? Talk a little bit may more perhaps about entrepreneurship and you know, the ideas of of coming in as an entrepreneur and kind of shifting your thinking around what it takes to not be an entrepreneur and and and be a CEO. I know we’ve talked about building the team. What other things are are kind of top of mind there for how you’ve had to evolve personally and also bring the business along?
(28:11)
Yeah, I you know. Being the guy or gal in your business is just not sustainable, right? I mean, I know, you know, I’m in a couple of business groups and I’ve got some people that are two, three years into their business, and I keep saying, man, you need to find somebody to do that thing for you, or you need to figure out well, it always comes down to, well, how do I pay right? But you start looking at If my time was spent better over here growing the business, can I can I grow enough to be able to pay for this person to do A, B, and C. You know, I’ve got a a buddy who’s a screen printer and I gave him some business and the other day he said, yeah, I’m running your, running your backpacks through my screen printer. I said, you’re doing it? Well, yeah, you know, I wanted to make sure that they’re perfect and you know, just right for you and like man, don’t do that. somebody in there. You’ve got a screen printer. Make sure that that guy’s doing it. You know, it’s just he needs to be building the business, right? He needs to be doing those things to make sure that, you know, his sales guys are out there doing their sales and doing the best sales that they can. Like You know, yes, could I go out and sell better than my salesman when I first hired Absolutely. But I couldn’t continue to do that. And I couldn’t cover three appointments at one time. When you hire three salesmen, you know, funny thing, they can cover more appointments than one person. So even if they’re not doing a quite as good a job as you, they’re still increasing your business. So I think that’s entrepreneurs really gotta like You know, what is the true cost of me doing this job over me handing this job off and me working to build this, right?
(30:02)
Awesome. Awesome. Great advice. Yeah, my two cents. And David, this one’s especially for a local install and service business like yours. Your Google business profile really matters, and it matters oftentimes more than your website. Somebody searching for wheelchair rent near me or stair lift installer near me is the highest intent lead there is. They need you this week, and the map pack is generally what they see first when they’re putting things into Google. So most of your competitors will be treating Google My Business Profile as a bit of an afterthought, and owning it is a super easy win. You just have to complete all the fields, add real photos, put installs in there, make sure you ask your customers for reviews, reply to those reviews, and run local maps ads to get to the top. So my recommendation, my one step this week worth 1.4 cents, is to claim fully your business Google Business Profile. Add photos, add actual jobs, reply to every review you’ve ignored, fix your process, you capture as many five star reviews as possible, that’s super important, and run the maps ad. They are the cheapest and most cost effective you will ever run.
(31:14)
Well I hope Mark and our marketing ad agency was listening to that. Yeah.
(31:18)
I’m I’m sh I’m I’m sure.
(31:20)
And Jon, because you’re Canadian with the tariffs, that thing is actually probably costing three cents. Fifty percent, baby.
(31:26)
excellent. Doesn’t go into my pocket. It it It’s landing in somebody else’s pocket.
(31:32)
Generally that’s the way it goes.
(31:34)
You know what? I’ll discount it, so that I’ll eat the tariff.
(31:39)
Nice. Yeah. Well, we already talked about you can’t be the cheapest. So just remember that.
(31:46)
I try not to be.
(31:48)
One more for n tonight’s sponsor, Easy Mobility Solutions, David’s company, in which we are contractually obligated to say he is not currently reading the ad.
(31:59)
This is progress. The thing I want people to hear is the mission. Easy Mobility helps people stay in their home, own home longer, and move around it safely.
(32:08)
That’s the real product, not aluminum and rails. Independence a ramp or a stair lift is the difference between staying in the home you love and having to leave it.
(32:18)
Transparent, customized quotes based on your actual space, ramps, lift, accessible bathrooms to buy or rent.
(32:25)
Serving Roanoke in the region since two thousand eight and built apparently to run whether or not the founder’s in the building, we’d know he’s right there.
(32:35)
Easy Mobility Solutions dot com, Roanoke, Virginia.
(32:40)
I mean that’s better. You guys are better. Better. I could coach you up though, you know, I I could get you better. I love it. We need all the help we can get. I mean
(32:51)
No refund no refund No refund required so far.
(32:55)
I was gonna ask for a make good on a couple of the previous reads, but this one was better. You heard it. We’re better than crap.
(33:06)
I have a crap story for you guys. My I had a a crappy week last week. My dog had giant diarrhea all over the front of my truck on our way back from the lake. That was that was very pleasant. Yeah. Not a lot of fun. Yeah.
(33:21)
that’s a big doctor.
(33:24)
Yeah that was it took a lot. It it took a lot of cleaning.
(33:27)
I’m man’s best friend that day. Not at all.
(33:29)
He He was lucky to survive. We almost lost, left him at the at the gas station.
(33:34)
Yeah.
(33:36)
Free dog. All right. let Let’s jump in. Let’s jump in a little bit. As I say, want to talk a little bit about the financial measurements back and forth. Let’s start with kind of AI and some of the tools you’re using first though. you know, there’s a lot of AI use going on at the moment. You know, management tools, et cetera, people dipping out, getting things written. How are you guys using it differently to most small businesses who are kind of getting their feet wet? With AI and systems like that.
(34:08)
Yeah, I mean, one of the biggest pain points for us was the handoff from sales to ops and making sure that everything that sales told them that we were gonna do got done. You know, and I can tell you as a salesperson, if I was in grandma’s house and she said, well, could you please replace that outlet cover that’s cracked right there, I would have said, sure, we’re gonna plug something into it, I’ll replace that outlet cover. Now would I put that in my quote? Probably not. So then they’re gonna get there to the job and not have the outlet cover and they’re gonna have to leave and go get an outlet cover and come back. So you know the sales guys do that. We you know, small promises, not big promises. The big things that they’re selling them, they’re really good about getting in there. It’s the little things and the little nuances. So we started first with an AI sales coach that records their sales appointment, and then this particular product will give them coaching. coaching tips on what they should have done based on our selling, our selling process. But the big thing that I’ve done with that is I can now take Claude and say, Claude, we just sold Mrs. Smith’s job, Mrs. Smith 0164 opportunity, and Claude can go and look at that opportunity, it can look at all the pictures, it can look at the the download of the appointment, so everything that was talked about in the appointment, and it can then print out a primer for the option. Team that says, here’s how this should go, here’s how quickly you should get it done, here’s the things you should look at. And by the way, Mrs. Smith asked four times if you all would paint this this one thing for free, and we told her all four times we couldn’t do it for free. So when she asks you, go ahead and say, yeah, Mrs. Smith, we told you we couldn’t do that for free. So I mean it’s a just, I think it’s going to it it is reducing the amount of friction between ops and sales where ops gets frustrated that they can’t complete the job on the timeline that they want to because sales is not giving them every piece of information that they need. And so that’s a big, big thing that we’re using AI for right now.
(36:29)
That’s awesome. And how are you systematizing it? Right? i Is it have you have you built something around it or is it just a matter of everybody has Claude and…
(36:37)
Well, we just We just figured this out in the last three weeks. You know, it was a rock for me to figure out a, this quarter to figure out a sales to ops handoff. And so we’re working on systemi systematizing it. But right now, it’s basically that we sell a job and we have to manually tell Claude to look at the job. But once Claude looks at the job then it’ll spit out the the primer in the the or spit out the the handoff in the in the form that we want it. So it’s it’s pretty simple, but it could could probably be automated. We just haven’t gotten to that point yet.
(37:21)
Awesome. Awesome. The great thing is it’s enhancing the organization, right? It’s not replacing people, it’s just making things better. I I think that’s
(37:29)
No, yeah, It is not. There’s n not replacing anybody. It’s just making I mean, it was such a pain point between sales and ops because ops would get frustrated, you know. Hey, you told her or they would walk in and they go, hey, you guys didn’t tell us that we had to move, you know, twenty boxes to get to this stair lift to be able to put this stair lift in, we would have allotted more time for this. Right? And so, now that’s that’s gone away, that that pain point that that friction between the two departments has gone away.
(38:04)
Awesome. Awesome. Great use of the tech. Yeah, l let’s roll around to to some financial systems and and thinking and and process here because I know with Ryan coming on board, and you obviously you’ve heard in the episodes, Ryan, you’re we’re constantly talking about the metrics that you need to be reviewing on a regular basis. How is that systematization helped out? I mean obviously you had some challenging times present themselves. and it’s really important to get ahead of those, right? Because the the earlier you get ahead of those those challenges, then the easier it is to be able to make decisions that affect things later. So and Ryan perhaps you can jive in with some some of the the regular reporting, but y you guys understand what I’m what I’m getting at with the question.
(38:55)
Sure. You want to tell him how you helped me, Ryan? You know, I think one of the biggest things that that we talk about in and in the leadership team meeting is the financial status of the company, we talk about cash flow, we talk about things that generally were taboo. A lot of a lot of times are the owner themselves had it in their head. Right? So now the whole leadership team is discussing how we’re getting ourselves out of a hole or or the opportunities to take advantage of the opportunities later on. You know, those kind of things. Or seeing that hey, you know, our visibility is showing in six or seven weeks. We might have a cash issue here. What are we gonna do about it now? instead of it being a surprise, right? So I think a lot of things that we’ve been doing is really just giving better clarity. We have a longer focus time, right? That we’re able to see some things. And I think that’s really the most important thing is that everybody is in the same room discussing the same things. There’s no longer silos. Right. Right. Yeah, I think Ryan pushed us to be more open but also to look beyond next week, right? And to try and make sure, hey, six weeks from now you’ve got this this coming up, you know, how are you guys gonna how are you guys gonna get through that week? How are you gonna get through, you know, that month? And so they’ve really really pushed us to be more open and discuss more about, you know, when cash flow gets tight, you know, how how do we how do we handle it? What are we doing? What are we doing to combat?
(40:41)
Yeah, because th those conversations they they have to happen. Cash flow crunches are gonna happen with any organization, right? It’s just having a handle on it ahead of time and being able to plan for it. That’s the difference. Awesome! W
(40:51)
Right. Right. Somebody tells you Somebody tells you they haven’t haven’t had a cash flow crunch. They’re a really big business or they’re lying, right? Yeah. I mean.
(41:00)
Mm-hmm.
(41:01)
mean Yeah, and that’s in even the good times. You can you know, just like what David says is that they grew there was a perfect storm where they were in growth mode. And realize that they have to scale it back. Right. And that’s not that’s not a detraction, right? Being able to understand that, hey, we can’t we’re not ready there yet, or the the the game has changed a little bit, right? We’re now going to regroup, reformulate our plan, and then when when we have all our ducts in a row, the foundation’s built, whatever that it might be, is that then we can go ahead and move forward. Right? So there’s not there’s nothing wrong with going from ten millions to six million to seven to five, like it it it’s not a reflection on anything. It’s actually very smart to be able to come back and reflect on this and say, you know what, it was too much too soon. Right? And if when you’re willing to admit that and that vulnerability comes out between you and the leadership team, everybody comes together better. Right? It’s a tighter group.
(42:07)
And they have to solve the problem together, right? That’s great. Awesome. Okay. I think last question here before we start to wrap up. David, you mentioned death, you didn’t mention divorce, but the f the five 5D’s. R Ryan, take us through the five 5D’s and you know, and how that kind of relates to the exit planning conversation you guys have been having, because David obviously you’re already thinking about what’s the legacy here? Where’s this going to? How do I roll through this and hand the organization off? and you know, where do I go from that point onwards? Yeah, let let’s have a little bit of an exit conversation, but take us through the five 5D’s first, Ryan.
(42:46)
You know, the 5D’s are death, disability, disruption, divorce, drugs, you know, those kind of things where there’s going to be something happens that’s devastating or is abrupt to that point where okay, I now need w where’s my exit plan? Right, ’cause these things can happen and then partnerships, it could be because of your partners and drugs, right? Those kind of things, right? So it’s just not reflective that. So, you know, we’ve been talking a lot about short-term succession planning and long term succession planning. There’s two different paths there. so you know, David went on a trip for two and a half weeks, but you know, being the numbers guy, right, when we talk about let’s say ninety days, right? Say he goes and wants to go to Nepal for ninety days and find Buddha, right? Like that’s a big jump. s
(43:42)
He’s not he’s not there.
(43:44)
Right? So what are some things that, you know, David, that you think of that might prevent you or would have some issues in the in the company if you were to go away for that extended a period of time. Well there’s still some financial stuff that I’m doing. I think I mean I think we could probably farm it out to to Synergy, but there’s still some financial stuff that I’m doing. You know, but there’s not a ton that I have to do day to day anymore. I still have my finger on all the financial stuff. I’m still the one that transfers money between bank accounts and makes sure, you know, that payrolls there’s enough for the payroll and the payroll account, right? So I’m I’m still doing that. That’s those things could be handed off, but they’re not at this point. So I actually feel fairly confident that the business could survive without me for ninety days. It certainly it wouldn’t be as smooth as if I was there for ninety days, but they’re we’re we’re in a pretty good place now that that they could survive me for ninety d without me for ninety days. They’d miss me a lot though. Absolutely. But I think I think that’s important to…
(44:59)
That’s what they’re telling That’s what they’re telling you.
(45:01)
Right. I think that’s important for our our listeners to understand is that when when David first went to hi he has a leadership team, he has you know, he’s growing his business back in the day, is that when he took off for a week off the grid, his hope was that when it came back, the building wasn’t burnt down. Yeah. Right? Like right. And now he’s saying, okay, now it’ll survive, right? It’ll be just fine as things going. And then the next step is, is that will it Will it thrive? Right right. And that’s the big key that he’s working on now is that you know, there’s a couple layers to this thing. He’s working on the upper layer because you’ve been doing it for years now. Right. Right. I mean it would be nice to go away for ninety days and come back and somebody have solved some big problem that we’ve been dealing with. Or somebody to come up with, Hey, we just think we just figured out another hundred thousand dollar revenue stream and we’ve got it in place and it and it’s moving and we didn’t need you to do anything. I mean that’s That’s really where w where I wanna be, right? That I can walk out and when I come back the company’s better than it than you know. And I think my leadership team is is getting there. I mean I they want to improve the the the business. They’re just not fully sure of of all the decisions that they need to make, which I wasn’t either twenty years ago or even ten years ago. I was you know, so they just gotta kinda make those decisions and go, oops or, yeah, I really nailed that one, right? Right.
(46:30)
They’re not quite in that role yet, right? You’re you’re still the visionary in the organization, right? They’re they’re
(46:33)
Right. Yeah.
(46:34)
all the integrators in all their different departments. So i you know, perhaps at at the moment it’s not their responsibility to come up with the visions for growing the business in the future. But like when as your succession plan continues, they get more and more comfortable in those roles and then at some point you have a visionary that you bring in. So so yeah, it it’s all part of the process. Have you guys talked about exit plan, what you’re gonna do with the company, what you’re gonna h how you’re gonna put your feet up? Is it any of the conversations like that?
(47:01)
Yeah, you know, I I we’ve talked some about the exit plan. I mean, I’ve already done a l little bit, so my goal this year was to work four and a half days and that’s what I’ve done. I pretty much take every Friday noon, afternoon off. My goal next year is to take another afternoon off. So, you know, I’ll be down to four working days and then the year after that’ll be three and a half and the year after that’ll be three and then then it’s a decision whether I want to work three days a week or not, right?
(47:36)
Mm-hmm.
(47:37)
You know, your episode where you guys talked about how many people sell their business and it within two years they’re back buying another crappier but same business, right? I don’t wanna do that and I have plenty of other things that I love to do. But this is my baby. It’s like it’s like raising a kid. You don’t just kick the kid out after they get get out of college and and you’re never gonna be mentoring them again or you know, so so in this case, unless somebody came in and and made a a big offer to buy me out, I’ll probably be involved with it for quite a while. But my goal is to really be three days a week and I come in, I’m the culture guy, I’m the cheerleader, I’m the team builder. The guy that just kinda d g comes in and goes, you guys are doing a great job, keep it up, let’s keep going and I don’t have to do anything that day to day or anything to to really improve the business, right? And that I think this is a very important distinction, right? Is that David is choosing to be involved in the company, right? As a board level member at that time or whatever it is. Right. He doesn’t have to be. Right, and that’s where a lot of founders find themselves is that it’s all them reliant. Yeah. And there’s
(48:57)
Mm-hmm.
(48:58)
no there is no exit plan at that point. Yeah. Don’t want to be the
(49:02)
Awesome.
(49:02)
cump to personality. That’s right.
(49:04)
If only if only Ryan had the personality
(49:06)
Mm-hmm.
(49:07)
to to do the same thing. Yeah.
(49:09)
To pull that off, right? Well he thinks he’s gonna You know, I I hear that he’s going to be going away in December and you know, not making any decis any decisions totally off the grid. So he’s he’s doing my my Tahiti thirtieth wedding anniversary trip this winter, right? That’s what you’re doing? I’m calling it the David Todd method. There you go.
(49:28)
Yeah. Well, we’re getting ready for it. We’ve got the we got the margaritas at the ready. Awesome.
(49:34)
That’s right.
(49:38)
Well that’s great. David, thank you so much. So so many great insights there, i into your organization and just the process and how it’s kind of jives with a number of different subjects that we’ve been talking about on the podcast. We really appreciate it. Before we wrap up, any thoughts, questions, comments, anything for us that top of mine.
(49:58)
No, I you know, I would just encourage any new entrepreneurs, a couple of things. Make sure that you’ve got a good bookkeeper or accountant starting out, and then don’t wait too long to get a a a CFO or a fractional CFO. I I mean, this is your podcast, so I’m I am goosing a little bit for you guys, but seriously, like I made some decisions when we were when we made a lot of money one year and we were in growth mode and I was gonna grow and I made those decisions without the the help of a a CFO that could have looked and said, well let’s look at this out a couple of years. Let’s let’s slow down this boat just a little bit and so I encourage you know, if you’re a new business owner or even a business owner that’s, you know, five, ten years, you know, into it but you’re you you’re just not sure exactly where you should be going. I mean getting a fractional CFO is a a really, really important part of becoming a company where you can step out of it for ninety days and it keep going.
(51:05)
That’s it. Just get a good one.
(51:07)
Yeah. Yeah. Desperate times, def you know, desperate measures. I was the only one that answered back.
(51:13)
Awesome. That’s it. Well again, David, thank you so much. This is really great. And yeah w w once Ryan and I improve we’ll have you back when we get good at this.
(51:28)
Well, you know, hopefully we’re still going about ep episode one fifty, right? So you know. That’s right. How much time you got? No, I appreciate you guys having me on.
(51:38)
Awesome. Well th th thanks a bunch. We’ll we’ll go watch some football now. That is a wrap. Thanks, gents.
(51:43)
All right, sounds great. Thanks everybody. Hasta Luego. Thank you, David, so much. Yeah, absolutely.
(51:49)
Yeah. Awesome.
