From Camera to Construction: How Mandy & Richie Caudill Turned DIY Hustle into a Thriving Renovation Business

0:02Mandy Caudill:Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs Podcast, where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy, we don't do flashing lights, we don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. as we go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it. Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.

0:46Mandy Caudill:Today, I'm excited to be joined by Mandy and Richie Caudill of Handy Mandy. So Mandy and Richie, thanks for being here. Let's jump right in. How are we all doing today? Good.

0:56Richie Caudill:Thanks for having us.

0:57Mandy Caudill:Yeah, good. Thank you. All right. Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. So excited to hear more about your business. So for those of you who may not know it yet, who is Mandy and Richie Caudill? What is Handy Mandy and what problems are you most passionate about solving for your clients?

1:13Richie Caudill:That was so many questions. We Handy Mandy accidentally started about five years ago. I had no intentions on starting a handyman business. I actually had a pretty successful photography business. I photographed weddings and families and babies and all sorts of things for several years and COVID hit. Over the lifetime of our marriage, which is 16 years, We were kind of DIYers. My family has had rental properties in the past. They've always done renovations on their own. And so I've just grown up kind of hands on, figure it out yourself. Most of the time we are too poor to hire someone to come do something cool in our house.

2:05Richie Caudill:So we just always figured it out. Around COVID, we were renovating a home and doing a lot of major projects. and then social media. I always just shared kind of, I'm always an open book. And so I would just share the things that we were doing. And then in 21, we had a family friend reach out to me and say, Hey, I have my family, my childhood home that I'm considering selling. Would you come over and kind of help me, tell me what to do and that sort of thing. And I thought she was asking me to come do the work and not just ask for design ideas. And so I had gone over there and just kind of started throwing out ideas or whatever.

2:54Richie Caudill:And she was like, oh, you'll do the work? And I'm like, I thought that's why you were asking me to come over here. And so she's like, that would be great. I just thought, you know, you were going to give me ideas and I'd have to find someone to do it. I'm like, well, I've been posting that I redo kitchens. We've renovated several kitchens of our own and for his family and stuff like that. So I just thought you were asking me to do the work. So anyways, I ended up doing it for her and was posting my daily what I was doing and then posted before and afters because people love to do that and see that.

3:32Richie Caudill:And instantly just inquiries were coming in. Hey, can you help me with this project? Can you help me with this? Can you do this? And my answer to that nine out of 10 times is if I don't know how to do it, I'll watch a YouTube video. If I watch a YouTube video and I think, oh, I 100 % can do that, I will attempt it. If I watch a video and go, oh, if I have a little hesitation, I usually just refer it out and just say, I would find someone else. But most of the type people's projects are something that we can handle. A few years ago, I can't even remember if it was 22 or 23, but my husband was an MLO for several years and he had the rates are going up.

4:20Richie Caudill:He was working for a very small credit union. They minimized his position and kind of took it all to a bigger city that wasn't where we lived. And so I said, well, while you're looking, I'm like, don't jump into another job just help me I could really use the help and so he has been helping me for the last few years and he never went back to like a nine to five and now we work 24 hours a day instead of eight you know being a business owner but yeah okay okay so take us back to the very beginning

4:59Mandy Caudill:what what made you say yep I'm doing this I'm starting this business

5:04Richie Caudill:Well, when I started getting so much work that I'm like, okay, well, this is definitely not a side job. This is taking up all of my time. And then I was photographing weddings primarily, and that was taking up all my weekends. And so it really just kind of was a natural progression of, you know, things happening with COVID and just the restrictions and just a lot of, you know, personal things were happening. And I kind of lost my passion, if you will, for that. And really, you know, I am very much ADHD brain, like, what's the new thing I can learn? You know, how many hobbies have I started? I couldn't even tell you.

5:45Richie Caudill:And so I just was getting naturally getting so much work and thought, this is our this is how we're going to provide for our family. Um, and so we just, that's, it really, it sounds kind of silly, but really wasn't a choice. It was just, this is what's happening. And, you know, we have to provide for our family. We have to, you know, pay our bills. We have, and then it just became a natural way to do that. Um, and then we We moved to the upstate about 18 months ago and, you know, hit the ground running here. So it's it's been a roller coaster of emotions, but it has been pretty successful, you know, for lack of better words.

6:36Yeah.

6:37Mandy Caudill:Yeah. OK. So let's say if you had to start again from absolute scratch, no brand, no clients, no safety net. What would you do differently the second time around? Oh, I'd probably charge more out the gate. Okay.

6:53Richie Caudill:I think, you know, when that very first kitchen remodel that I did, I still even sometimes struggle. I'm definitely a lot better, but sometimes struggle with giving people an actual estimate for larger projects. But for her, I just said, you know, I'm going to charge$25 an hour. you know we had my husband's other job and then I had my weddings that were pretty you know successful and that was you know this was extra money basically so okay this will you know keep me busy an extra way to make money and it was a lot of work and I have learned that I really do have a lot of knowledge about different things I constantly am educating myself you know don't want to speak for Richie but he you know between the two of us we're constantly educating ourselves in different ways and like, how can we, you know, do this job easier, better, what tools will make it more efficient.

7:51Richie Caudill:I'm all about efficiency. I don't like to waste time. So yeah, I mean, I would, I would say just learning, learning more of the tricks of the trade faster and charging more would probably be the thing that I would do differently. What, what do you think, Richie?

8:09Mandy Caudill:Yeah, I guess we were uneducated about the financial side and the business side of the, you know, construction world. So that was a learning curve at the same time as, you know, learning how to do different aspects of the remodel. So, you know, we hired a business coach here. What was that about six months? Yeah. Yeah. So there's just so much involved in your business with keeping your books in order and what you need to charge and how to be profitable and how to pay yourself. So that was a big eye opener to us. The other, the working kind of came more natural, I would say.

8:57Richie Caudill:Yeah. I think really just knowing to like keep your books and what's actually, you know, that the boring stuff, in my opinion, that I'm like, I do not care about that. I just want to make things pretty. Like I just, you know, I want to make money and I want to make things look pretty, but I don't want to have to know about taxes and 1099s and how to, you know, do all that. But that really is something that I think people need to, if they want to do a business, you know, knowing those things that no one ever thinks about, which I didn't for the first couple of years, I'm just like, I'll figure it out, you know, So I'll see how many times I went to Home Depot or Lowe's this week or this year.

9:37But you really have to think about that stuff when you're charging.

9:42Richie Caudill:And I still, I mean, I still underestimate so many. I'm like such a optimist when it comes to like, oh, it's only going to be this. And then I'm like, oh, no, I didn't think about, you know, extra pulming parts, extra, you know, that stuff adds up.

9:59Mandy Caudill:It does. It does. Yeah. So what would you say is one common myth people believe about running a business that makes you laugh now?

10:09Mandy Caudill:Oh, I guess that it's going to, you know, provide a lot more freedom. Oh, yeah. it can if you are if you are successful and diligent with you know all the things all the things that you have you have to be organized you know you have to run the job efficiently and get it done on time and you know make sure that your communication is on point you know it's nice to be able to take a day or make your weekend a little bit longer to spend time with the family. It can allow that, but at the same time, you can't turn it off at five o 'clock.

11:01Richie Caudill:Right. Right. Yeah. When you're working for the man, I think people are just like, okay, nine to five, that's when I'm working, you come home and you shut it off. When you're a business owner, it does not shut off. Even in the middle of the night, you wake up, you start thinking about all the things. Okay. I don't want to forget these tools. I don't want to, you know, I need to do this. I need to be here. I need to, you know, send this person an invoice. I need to send this person an estimate. You know, it's just, it's laughable, you know, and I think kind of, I don't know if I, you know, kind of dug my own grave, but, you know, we quote unquote handy Mandy, it's like a handyman business.

11:40Richie Caudill:So people think, oh, you're going to be cheap. Some people are just really surprised at what we charge an hour. And I'm like, this isn't just 100 % profit. There's time to get there. There's just so much more involved. And I think so many people just, there's a miss, there's a blockage there. I don't know what the word is, but it's just, they expect Joe Schmo to show up. I'm like, this is how we provide for our family, you know, you have no problem paying, you know, custom home builders. And I'm like, they're doing the same thing. They're just making a lot more because, you know, they have, they're, they're paying themselves plus contractors.

12:22Richie Caudill:I'm like, we are, we are the contractors. So we have to, we really have to, you know, set ourselves up for success or we're working for nothing, you know? So, and then all the knowledge that we have, you know, what's that saying that they say and that a jack of all trades some people will say that and they're and then they'll say yeah a jack of all trades is a master is a master of none but you know the rest of the brain goes something like but a master of you know none is there's more to the saying i don't even remember but it it really kind of embraces that i still have so much knowledge over so many different areas.

13:05Richie Caudill:You know, Richie, I joke, he's the electrician. I shouldn't touch electric. I, when I touch it, I usually get shot. And then he's not allowed to touch plumbing because he usually causes a leak and it's usually not a small one. So I'm like, I'm the plumber. He's the electrician. But then, you know, he's kind of the heavy lifter. He kind of makes the mess, is good at demo, good at, you know, cleaning things up. And then I like to go in and make things pretty. But, you know, sometimes I think people go, oh, you're just coming in here and for, you know, swapping out a light. I'm like, well, we have the knowledge to do that.

13:43Richie Caudill:And most people that don't want to do that, they don't have the knowledge and they don't want to do it. So I'm like, if you want to do it, save yourself$250 and do that. But a lot of people are finding, you know, that's our ideal client. That's someone who either a doesn't have the time, doesn't have the knowledge or doesn't have the want to, but they have the money to have someone else do it. That's really our ideal person. Okay.

14:11Mandy Caudill:Okay. So looking back, what do you attribute most of your growth to so far?

14:18Richie Caudill:I would say social media has been social media, and that is pretty broad, but also networking. When we moved here to the upstate, we knew that one family. And, you know, I wasn't connected to anyone anywhere. And so where we moved from in Kentucky, I had a pretty large network because of shooting weddings. And I became friends with all my clients and their families. And then just social media, you know, I was all about just how many people can I add to my, my friend, my quote unquote friends list, just for, you know, wedding purposes. Like I want to be in front of people so I can get work. So I kind of, you know, shifted that into my handyman business and was like, okay, I know what people like to see.

15:10Richie Caudill:People are visual. They want to see it before and after. Most people don't care too much about the in-between, but I just wanted to get in front of people as much as I could. Now I joke that when I post on social media, I'm like, I have to be prepared for the inquiries that I get because I do get so many. And I don't even have a business card because I truly have just the word of mouth in social media. I would joke when I first moved here, I'm like, well, if I did have a business, well, in Kentucky, where we moved from, I would say I didn't have a business card. And if I did, I would have the wrong number on it.

15:52Richie Caudill:So people would stop calling me because it's kind of silly, but I truly cannot handle. I could not handle the amount of work that I was getting. I'm like, you know, we're a few months out. If it's anything more than a half a day project, that's a bigger project. You're going to have to wait. Yeah. Here in the upstate, I knew I knew no one. And so I thought, okay, I'm going to have to network. network. So within a few weeks of moving here, I knew about BNI back in Kentucky. I was in it for a couple years. And then I got here and I thought, okay, I'm going to join networking groups. That's going to be the first thing.

16:34Richie Caudill:That's how I'm going to have to get my name out. And so I visited a few BNIs, gotten a BNI, and a few people there literally to this day are the reason we have a house over our head because their referrals just really helped keep us busy. When we moved here, I joined a BNI. They really fed my family with referrals. And before we moved here, there were some areas that we were looking into. And so because of social media, I know that there are different residence groups. I'm sure you have them where you are. Some of them are neighborhood, but I didn't want to get into neighborhood ones because those are so specific.

17:18Richie Caudill:So I got into Simpsonville residents, Greenville residents, Greer residents, Lawrence residents groups, Taylor's, TR. So I got into a lot of those groups just so I could really get a feel for the community. You know, wanted to ask questions in those groups because we, we love the area, but we didn't know where we were going to land. So I was already in this group. So when we moved here, I thought, okay, joined a BNI, was getting some work. And we actually moved here six weeks before Helene. So it was pretty chaotic. Got into a BNI and then Christmas time hit and we were a little bit slow. And so I'm like, okay, well, it is Christmas time.

18:00Richie Caudill:A lot of people aren't thinking about projects. And so I got into a couple of those groups and just posted some work that we've done in our own home and then work that we have done for others back in Kentucky. And posted that, I think in like in Simpsonville and Greer, because those were kind of the bigger groups and in Greenville and posted about wallpaper and tiling and bathroom remodels and kitchen remodels. And I think I had over 50 Facebook messages within the first few hours of me posting the exact same post and a few of the residents pages. And so I was like, okay, you know, I don't have the numbers because I was too busy to pay attention to them.

18:49Richie Caudill:But it that literally since that moment, now I'm very hesitant to post because I get so many inquiries. So I will post on my personal page, but I do not post very often in those groups because, you know, it just get so overwhelming. I have, I mean, even last week, someone said, Hey, I saw your post about wallpaper in the Simpson Bell group. I, that was literally, you know, not this past Christmas, that was 24, 25, like beginning, you know, January, December, January of 24, 25. And so people are still searching. So it really just, if you have good content and you have what people need. I really feel like you just put yourself out there and it's kind of, if you build it, they will come mentality that I've always had.

19:41Richie Caudill:I'm like, well, I'm going to throw it out there and it seems like it's sticking. So I would say that is just a huge, social media has just been a huge, huge factor in the success of our business. And then networking right next to that, just constantly meeting new people, you know, some, we do repeat business, but not always, you know, some people are like, I just want you to come, you know, fix this little thing. Like, it's not like, you know, every month I'm coming to clean a house or whatever, but yeah. Okay.

20:18Mandy Caudill:Okay. So now we're going to head into what's called the quick fire round. So, so basically what I'm going to do is I'm going to say one word and I want you to let me know what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear that word in regards to running your business handy, Mandy?

20:32Richie Caudill:Oh gosh. Richie, if you think of a word before me, you go because my vocabulary is well,

20:42Mandy Caudill:well, your answer doesn't have to be one word. It's just, it's basically the first thing that comes to your mind, the first idea. So I'll say one word and you'll just, you'll just say the first thing that comes to your mind when it comes to running the business.

20:53Richie Caudill:Okay.