How A Local Carpet Pro Built Trust, Team, And A Thriving Service Business with Bret Wooton

0:02Hi, 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. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:39All right, well, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Clifford McRae filling in for Bill Gilliland with your local business training and coaching firm, Action Coach Business Growth Partners. I'm excited to have Brett Wooten on with Heaven's Best Carpet Cleaning as the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today. So Brett, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your company and kind of what you offer the community. Okay. Like you heard, my name is Brett. I've been working for Heaven's Best Carpet Cleaners in this temporary job now for about 20 years.

1:14I used to tell people that through a ridiculous twist of fate, I took ownership of the company January 1st, 2016. Uh, now I tell people that it was through God's providence that I took ownership of this company. As it turns out, heaven's best carpet cleaners is my calling. It's what I was meant to do. Uh, fortunately, the systems and tools that we use are top of the line. They make it easy for us to do the best, to be the best at what we do. And with all our years of practice, we've gotten very good at being the best. Our market is middle and upper income homes and businesses, and we do a quality job at a fair price.

1:58There's other things that we do besides carpet. You want to know about that? Yeah, that'd be great. All right. Aside from carpet cleaning, we do upholstery, upholstered furniture. We do leather, tile and grout, area rugs, hardwood floors. We also do carpet restretching and repairs. We also clean heating and air ducts and dryer vents. I think that about covers our menu. Great, great, great. All right, so if you had to start your business from square one tomorrow, what would you do differently? I wouldn't be afraid to make my decisions and I wouldn't agonize over the decisions I made. I remember when I first started, every decision I made, I agonized over.

2:55But as it turns out, all I had to do was just not mess it up. Okay. Okay. So you're saying you would dwell on any, is that just larger decisions or every single decision you made for the business you used to dwell on? When I first started, I agonized over every decision who I would advertise with, how I would advertise, things like that. Made a few mistakes. Learned from my mistakes. Now, I just make a decision, and generally it works out pretty well. If it doesn't, I learn from it. I call it my expensive education. Okay. Love it. Love it. But so what have you, what would you say are your biggest learnings that, you know, been as an owner and employer since you started your business?

3:43The biggest things you've learned?

3:50Just to do it. Don't be afraid. There are a lot of variables in all the things that we do day in and day out. Some of it's guesswork. That's just how it is. I mean, there's different products that we work with, different things that we're working on from day to day. Just a matter of doing it, getting the job done. Completing the job is everything. And make people happy. It's not that hard. Okay. Love it. So what are some common misconceptions about running a business and how do you handle those? well a common misconception is that if you go to business that you're rich that's what a lot of people think but I'm rich in as much as long as I work every day and do the things that I do at the quality that it needs to be done I'll be able to continue to do some of the fun things outside of work that I like to do okay okay I like that Whatever you attributed to your growth so far in your business.

5:01Obviously, you took it over in 2016. Well, I had 10 years of training to be an owner.

5:14Not taking shortcuts. Don't mess with the system. If it's working and it's working well, don't change it. Don't try to look for a shortcut if there isn't one. Okay. You said you had 10 years of training. Would you, would you attribute that to anybody in particular? Like, did you have a good trainer? Anybody that kind of helped you out along the way? I was an employee for, for 10 years before, uh, 2016. Uh, and, uh, the previous owners were very kind to me and generous to me. And, uh, they taught me how to be kind and generous to the people around me also. So, excellent training. They cared about who I was.

5:59They cared about the work I did. And they cared about giving the customers a little bit more than what they bargained for consistently. Okay. So, how would you say you balance your personal life with the demands of running a business? well the business uh wants to consume me but i've got uh i've got a wife four kids and 11 going on 12 grandkids and uh i think uh the balance kind of works itself out uh if i'm if i'm i'm here and uh everybody's here for for sunday dinner or something like that if the phone rings, I'll answer the phone, of course. That's my job. But if it's not ringing, like on a Sunday, I'm playing with my grandbabies.

6:54There's nothing like a pile of grandbabies through the house causing mayhem. Understood. How do you handle vacations? I plan well in advance, and I leave people in charge that are able to be in charge, people that will do a quality job that I can trust them. And, well, my lead man now is my oldest grandson. He's 19 years old. He's been out on his own since he was 17. He's very good with the customers. And he knows what I'm looking for because I can speak straight to him. And he doesn't get his feelings hurt a lot of good. Like some employees I've had. Yeah, so getting into the employees, that's actually the next question.

7:49Well, what qualities do you look for in employees that you hire? And how do you foster a positive and productive work environment? Wow. I don't know. It might just be dumb luck that I've hired some quality human beings to work with me. good and godly young men that understand that we can't say we're the best if we're not the best. And so that's what we give our customers. We give them the best. And if they have a question about something that goes on, they could always give me a call. I'll do my best to answer for them. And they need to be able to hear what I'm saying. If I'm critiquing something, it ain't because I'm trying to hurt your feelings it's because i'm trying to convey what i'm looking for and convey how to get what i want which is what the customer wants customers call us back all the time these are these are excellent compliments in my mind when a customer calls you back and says hey you clean my carpet or furniture or something last year i want you to come back and do it again That's a compliment in my book.

9:00And what part do you play in fostering a positive and productive work environment? I treat my employees like the quality human beings they are. I give them respect, and I tend to give them more than what they bargained for also. So, and I'm well blessed to have good employees that will do a good job, that can do a good job and understand the system and understand that there are no shortcuts in our system.

9:38All right, perfect. So, we're going to move on to the quickfire round. So, basically what this is, I'm just going to say a word and you just let me know what that word means or basically the first thought that pops into your head. when I say that word in regards to how it matches up with your business. Sure. First one is education. I've learned, I have expanded my education through every mistake I've ever made.

10:11There's value. There's value in making a mistake as long as you learn from it and don't do it again.

10:19Planning? Well, work the calendar. Know what you're going to need to do tomorrow. The last job of today begins the first job of tomorrow. Inspiration? Inspiration.

10:44I'm inspired by my God loving me when I wasn't unlovable. given me a chance when I didn't deserve it. I'm also inspired by my employers, the previous owners of this company who treated me so well and are still my best friends to this day. I still have breakfast with the owners once a month.

11:10Commitment. Well, you've got to have a sense of commitment to do anything well. You've got to be committed to be the best. You've got to do the best to be the best. And we are the best. We're committed to being the best. And that's why we excel in the market we're in. All right. So what words of advice would you offer to other business owners who are looking to grow? Keep going. Even when the phone doesn't ring, there's a reason for that. It's. God's in charge of when the phone rings and when it doesn't ring. Keep working. Keep doing what you know to do. Don't give up. Don't stop. You get knocked down, get back up.

12:03That's the mark of a true winner. Okay. Anything you'd like to highlight about your business?

12:15To highlight, Heaven's Best Carpet Cleaners. it's the it's the best system the best franchise out there I've done the research what I'm telling is the truth people don't always believe it they think I'm trying to sell them something but those people if they can't believe that we're the best then they are not our market and what would you say is the next big thing for having best carpet cleaning

12:50probably expanding into another state if you're talking about my business the French guys they are getting pretty innovative with some of the tools they're coming out with newer tools seem to be a better quality and I've worked with some of the stuff in the past they are being quite innovative in their development giving us access to better products and tools. So to expand upon what you were saying there about the franchise, so you're looking to expand to different states? Is that what you're saying? That's what I'm thinking about. That's what I'm praying about. We'll see how that goes. Looks like that could happen probably in the spring is what I'm looking towards.

13:42I've got a I generally work up to about an hour and a half from the house western North Carolina I'll live three miles from the Tennessee line going north and seems seems like the right thing to do would be to be an hour and a half in a full circle around my home And I've got people that are wanting to work that area with me. So I'm looking into that fairly close. I think it's a good plan. Yeah, no, that is a good plan. An hour and a half from this Tennessee border would put you probably right in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia. No, I don't go from Georgia or South Carolina. I've got Western North Carolina here.

14:38and that's a pretty big market right there as it is and I feel like I'd probably end up going into Bristol, Tennessee working west to Newport is what I plan on looking at. That's considerable. I probably won't go an hour and a half that direct north but I'll have a considerable footprint. Okay. Sounds great. Great. And lastly, what's the best way for someone to get a hold of you if they wanted to? I like the phone call best, or you can book online on our website, heavensbestofwnc.com.

15:24Those are the best ways to reach me. What's the phone number? 828-380-0092 but we have several other phone numbers also perfect any social media Facebook Google My Business

15:46I don't know what else we do I'm the carpet cleaner guy I've got an IT guy that works on the social media stuff All right. Perfect. Yeah. Well, fantastic. Yeah. Thank you so much for what, you know, for being a part of the community and thank you for everything that you're doing, Brett. Uh, we really appreciate you having me on. Thank you. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Great conversation. Thanks for the opportunity. Appreciate it. Right. Thank you.

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