00:00

Announcer,

 

Speaker 1  00:09

welcome to the latest edition of the heart of franchising, where we take you beyond the brand to bring you the people, stories and heart behind franchise success. This podcast is brought to you by home franchise concepts, one of the largest home services, franchise networks that empower franchise owners to achieve financial independence while transforming lives homes and the communities they serve. I'm Marcy Klein Sasser, your podcast host, and I'm thrilled to catch up with our guest today. Our guest has held titles such as operations analyst, project manager and business development manager, and has built a career grounded in technical expertise, operational leadership and a commitment to delivering high quality results in the environmental engineering and restoration industries. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA with dual concentrations in management and marketing. He's a former member of the United States Air Force. Thank you for your service. He's the president and owner of light speed restoration of Lexington, Kentucky. Please join me in welcoming Joe. Bennett, Joe, thank you so much for joining me

 

Speaker 2  01:16

today. How are you I'm doing well. Thank you for having me. Marcy, awesome.

 

Speaker 1  01:21

Well, Joe, tell our audience a little bit about your background as I kind of introduced you, and read a little bit of your bio, and a little bit about your territory, a little bit about light speed restoration and how you became a light speed

 

Speaker 2  01:36

restoration owner. Okay, well, you've touched on my work experience, my educational experience. I think the thing about me is I'm a people person. I like being with people and solving problems, and so this industry fits, fits me well. You've got to be good with people, and you got to be willing to solve problems. I'm located in Lexington, Kentucky. I service Lexington and the surrounding counties. We do residential we do commercial apartments. We work with a lot of property management firms. We do a lot with real estate, especially in real estate transactions, and we have a very diverse customer base, and that diverse customer bases allowed us to be sustainable, awesome.

 

Speaker 1  02:25

So for those that don't know a lot about the restoration industry, tell tell us a little bit about like, the basis behind it. What is restoration? Why did you choose that industry and and what kind of attracted you to that as a as a business opportunity in the first place.

 

Speaker 2  02:42

Well, I chose restoration because it would allow me to leverage my education and work experience. It involves restoration violence, understanding, not only why they have perhaps a mold problem, but how do we solve that mold problem and how to be prevented from coming back. And with a science background, I can speak intelligently with customers on on mold or odors and things of that nature. And then the other facet is, is that you get to take someone's home that is basically an unhealthy state, and put it back in a healthy state. And that's very fulfilling. You get to see the the labor of your work immediately,

 

Speaker 1  03:30

yeah, for sure. I imagine you're dealing with customers that are frazzled or stressed, and you get to kind of put them at ease, to your point, put their their property back to health. So I love that. How did you first discover light speed restoration?

 

Speaker 2  03:47

I started out as an abandon, clean franchise, okay? As an owner, you can, you could, kind of pick your path. Some guy stayed in the light, light environmental sector, kind of doing work Monday through Friday, very scheduled, and in some of us did that while also doing the emergency side in the restoration side. So when they said they were developing a new brand that was going to be restoration focused, I was already doing that. So I said, Well, I kind of fit that already, so I should just go there, because I think that's obviously where the J and M families wants to go, and I'm already there, so I might as well get on board and and then also be more In line with the software that that industry uses, where abana Clean uses software that's more designed for light environmental Lightspeed uses software that's more in line with the restoration field and the insurance industry.

 

Speaker 1  04:55

And how does that software kind of help you run and be and be a better business owner? To run your businesses. Tell me a little bit about

 

Speaker 2  05:02

that software that you're talking about. Well, it's more than just the software. Well, software is one component you've got, you've got the systems support and the software the three S's. Those 3s allow you to achieve the fourth S, which is success or sustainability with the software. It is used by the insurance industry and by folks in the restoration industry. So a lot of times when you're doing insurance work, the first thing a claims adjust will ask us, are you using Xactimate? And I can go, Yes, and I go, Oh, good. So already now you're on good footing with the claims adjuster, because you're using the same program they use. You're not having, you're not having to send everything in a different software package with maybe a different format, a different language. You're, it's you're you're in line with them. Yeah, that's what they expect. Sure, it makes things go so much smoother,

 

Speaker 1  05:58

yeah, so knowing that they had the ease right into the industry that you're serving right the insurance industry with this, the Xactimate system I'm familiar with that I've worked in this industry before, that kind of put your mind at ease. You knew that you could kind of transition into lightspeed. Talk to me a little bit more about that opening support from the Lightspeed team and the team at home, franchise concepts,

 

Speaker 2  06:24

the level of support has increased tremendously. You have a dedicated rom who's very responsive. And not only

 

06:33

what is a ROM, tell us what a ROM is. That's your

 

Speaker 2  06:37

your area manager, your support manager, someone that you can reach out to if you've got a question on Xactimate. Or, Hey, can you take a look at this proposal for me? Or, hey, we've got this new commercial job. I'm not sure how to do it. They have the experience, the knowledge to guide you to ensure that that project or that proposal is is correct or successful. So you have that, and then you also have the support from the network. You can reach out to other owners. Hey, have you done X, Y and Z before? Oh, yeah, we've done that. Make sure you do this. Make sure you do that. So it goes beyond just wow. It also goes to the network.

 

Speaker 1  07:18

Yeah, what are some things that you've reached into the network for that you were pleasantly surprised. And you know, I'm so glad I had that network of franchise owners to help me with this or that give me some examples of how that's benefited you and your business specifically.

 

Speaker 2  07:31

Well, usually it happens at convention or when we have a meeting at corporate and in in the summer, because that's the time that you'll start talking to guys. What do you use when you encounter this? You go, oh, I use this. I go, I never heard of that. How does that work? So it's it's just having those discussions with other owners that you'll pick up on, on, on things that you didn't know. It's not because you don't know what you don't know. So when you start talking to them, and they go, Oh, we do it this way. Oh, okay, alright, um, that's a good idea, you know? And then you just so it's sharing ideas, and that's where I learned the most from, is just interacting with other owners to find out how they attack various issues.

 

Speaker 1  08:20

Yeah, I always hear that kind of convention chats at the bar or other social social environments typically lend itself to them, to the most learning, if you will, the most kind of aha moments, right, where you can have those conversations and kind of dig a little deeper into what have you done, or what you know, I've had this challenge. How have you overcome it, and you walk away with some great golden nuggets of of knowledge that you wouldn't have maybe learned in a breakout session or a classroom, not that you don't get great golden nuggets of info in those right? That's great. So talk a little bit about okay, you had your opening support and you have your ongoing support. How do you lean into additional support? Ongoing with it, with the team, what are some examples of that or that you kind of share with with the listeners or anyone that might may be considering a lightspeed restoration.

 

Speaker 2  09:15

The great thing about Lightspeed is they offer training throughout the year, and a lot of times it's free to you or your staff. I've sent my guys to Dallas for ICRC water training. I was just there last month for fire and smoke. So they're always offering classes in person, and then some are online. And then you also have a library that you can access at any time to a knowledge a knowledge base that you can get into to learn additional things or as refresher or send your guys there. So this way you're not going on YouTube and maybe someone's doing it. On YouTube, but you don't know if it's the right way, but with our internal knowledge base, you know that when the guys go there, they're learning how to do it the right way. So it's just that combination of in class training, online training, and the knowledge base that you we have access to.

 

Speaker 1  10:18

So for our listeners that may be considering this industry, or they're considering light speed restoration specifically help us understand what is IICRC? Do you know what that stands for? I know it's a certification that's needed in the industry, but what does that stand for? Do you know look it up? That's okay. We'll look it up and we'll put it as a reference. We'll come back to that. But I do know that we do offer those classes at no charge to our franchise owners.

 

Speaker 2  10:44

Correct? Yes, it's Institute of inspection, cleaning and restoration certification.

 

Speaker 1  10:50

Thank you. Joe Bennett, that's awesome. Institute say one more time with me.

 

Speaker 2  10:54

Institute of inspection, cleaning and restoration, restoration certification.

 

Speaker 1  10:59

Certification. Okay, awesome. Now we know what that stands for, so that's great, and we offer them at no charge to our franchise owners and to your staff, correct? That's awesome. Okay, it is a year in person and online, yes, okay, and that's been very valuable to you. Tell me how then you use that benefit within your business? Like, how does that benefit? Like, your end user, customer, or as you're going out there, maybe to get proposed, you know, present proposals and help you win business. What's the value of

 

Speaker 2  11:30

that? The the immediate value was, or is, is that now you've, I feel secure in sending my team out. I don't have to go to every water emergency or response. My guys are trained. I've been out on a few and, okay, great. They know what they're doing. All right, you guys got it so it gives you comfort and confidence that you got that your guys know what they're doing. It provides bench depth, and it also gives the customer confidence in what you're doing, because when you can say, Oh, my guys are certified. Oh, okay, the guys here are certified. It's not one guy, it's your team. Your team on site is certified.

 

Speaker 1  12:13

I love that. So let's segue into team. So you have a team, guys and possibly gals working for you life speed restoration. Talk to me about how you go about doing that, the team building piece so that you can work on your business, not in your business. Presumably, you're not going out every day and actually doing the work to get these homes back to health. So talk a little bit about the people side of your business?

 

Speaker 2  12:41

Well, one of the things I did, and I don't know about other owners, but we got in touch with a business coach, and the entire team took a personality test, and I thought that was important, so everybody could understand everybody's strengths and weaknesses on the team. So we have one guy who works best when everything's in harmony. We call him. We call him Mr. Harmony when. And so he doesn't like it when there's tension or stress. He works best when things are are harmonic. And he's also very good with customers. I've got another guy my my lead, who's more type A like me, but a little younger, so he doesn't understand the softer skills yet, and he's getting there, but that's with you. So he's a driver. He's always he's looking to drive. He's more production based. Okay, everybody, so having having anyone understand each other's personalities helps them understand how to work with each other a little better. Where, if you don't know that, you may think, Oh, this guy's this guy's not pulling his weight. No, he just works a little different than you work. Yes, guys have to understand that.

 

Speaker 1  14:04

Yeah, I love that. So if you were, if you were talking to someone who was considering a light speed restoration, what, what questions would you suggest that they ask other owners as they're considering the business?

 

Speaker 2  14:23

Yeah, I would you want to ask, and we've already touched on it, you want to ask, what software programs are they using? Are they current to the industry, obviously, how is support? How are the other owners? How is the network you want to know, if I get into this, you want to make sure that people you're reaching out to, or the people representing your brand throughout the nation, are good people. The other thing I would ask is, how long did it take to get ramped up? How long did it take you to. To get people in place, feel comfortable with the workflow and getting work in what that sales funnel looks like. That's a huge one. Well, how's the sales funnel look like? And I would want to ask owner, what is your how quickly do you turn things around? What's the expectation? I know what my expectation is, but it could be different for somebody else, but that's what those are some of the questions I would ask.

 

Speaker 1  15:28

That's great, awesome. So let's talk a little bit about the industry itself. What are you seeing as some trends in the restoration industry that make now a great time to get into light speed restoration?

 

Speaker 2  15:42

Well, I can't speak for every area, but I think it's, I don't know how to put this, but you have, you have builders who are mass production builders, okay, quality control. Isn't there always there, sure so you're going to have so unfortunately, that is a source of work. When the builder doesn't build things how they should be built, or within code, or they leave things out. So you have that you're always going to have weather events, and they seem to be coming more frequent and more intense over time. So you have that, and then people are more aware of especially mold. I don't how many times I go into home and the first thing go, Well, I google this, and I google that and and they're all over the place. And some of it's true, some of it's not. So you you have to be able to educate your customer a little bit that, yes, you can look up on the internet, but not everything is true. Let, let's, let, let me help you here a little bit so, and then I just, you know, and then people want to right now, home prices are up. Interest rates are up. People are staying in their homes longer, so they want to make sure the home they're staying in is healthy. So they're willing to invest a little bit more in their home too. So it's a multitude of factors that that signify that this is a good industry to be in and a sustainable industry to be in,

 

Speaker 1  17:19

absolutely and certainly not economically driven, meaning that, you know, obviously economic, you know, upswings and down swings are not really affecting your industry, correct,

 

Speaker 2  17:31

correct, well. And the other thing is, the most part, for the most, the home is usually somebody's biggest investment, yeah, and so you want to take care of that investment, and if you don't, it's only get more expensive when you do finally tackle that issue, because now you it's cascaded into other issues, into the home. And weather's not going away. We're always going to have frozen pipes and roofs blowing off. Things happen. I've done my own house so things happen.

 

Speaker 1  18:02

They do. They certainly do. Obviously, I'm in South Florida. We're always six months out of the year watching for those hurricanes so and it's all over the country, different, you know, weather patterns that we're watching for Right? Talk to me a little bit about the customer side. We talked a little bit about the franchise opportunity, and we'll kind of circle back to kind of business ownership, but talk to me about the customer side, what's the biggest challenge that you're seeing? You talk about the kind of the industry set right now and trends, but on the customer side, what are you seeing? What's the feedback you're getting within your community, and kind of, what's the what's the sentiment on the customer side, what's the biggest opportunity and what's the biggest challenge you're seeing in feedback you're getting from your customers?

 

Speaker 2  18:47

Well, I touched on this earlier in our discussion with some customers. They are apprehensive because of the economic climate and interest rates, so they tend to be a little bit more apprehensive. It's if it's not an immediate emergency, and they can wait a little bit, they will because of those factors, whereas what other customers they know if they wait, it only gets worse. So they will pull the trigger right away, but it right now. I think it's the for some customers, it's the economic climate right now that causes maybe a little half brains, if they know they've got to do something. They just, they just a little worried. And I've had customers come back to me months later. Hey, we're ready now. Okay, great, we're ready to move forward when you are. So it's not as if they don't want to do the project. Maybe it could be they got a budget for it, or they're waiting for to feel a little bit more comfortable with on the economic side of things.

 

Speaker 1  19:57

So is that more like planned work? To your point? Joe, is that more like service versus like an like emergency event?

 

Speaker 2  20:07

Yeah, an emergency event, it's, it's they, they, you gotta go. They're right, they, we gotta get this, yeah? I mean, they've got whatever it is, whatever issue they have, it's going on. We need to get it resolved ASAP. So in that case, it's, it's moving, it's more of the stuff where maybe it's an indoor air quality issue. And they're, you know, it's not too bad yet. So they're, they're willing to hold off on, on a little bit.

 

Speaker 1  20:35

Got it Okay? That makes sense. Is there a customer or client story that comes to mind when I mentioned customers, and anything unique or a memorable event that comes to mind with a customer?

 

Speaker 2  20:49

Well, I've had a few. I've had a lot actually, well, one

 

20:54

or two with memorable

 

Speaker 2  20:57

we this has happened a lot, and we're actually working at a house today where it's the wife, her husband has passed. The husband has always handled everything in the home, and now they have an issue. The husband's no longer there, and they don't know what to do. And usually it's a referral. Someone knows him, she goes, I don't know what to do. Oh, call Joe. He's super nice guy. He'll take care of you. And so I've, we've done that, and I don't know how many times I've had elderly women cry on my shoulder because they didn't know where to

 

Speaker 1  21:32

1. Figuratively, Joe, pardon, literally or figuratively,

 

Speaker 2  21:36

okay, literally, literally. I've had that happen, and then sometimes it's just, and this has been in the newsletter, you get a call and the daughter's lost her pet hamster, and they want to know if you can help. And I've done that. I've gone with the infrared can picked up the hamsters heat signature between the first floor and the second floor. We cut a hole in the ceiling, put a ramp with some peanut butter at the end, and the hamster finally comes down. So and then the little girl's happy, and you know, it's how, how is that fitted? Is that? Is that water? Is that? No, it's just someone calls you because you've helped them in the past and they don't know where to go to okay, I can help. I can get your pet hamster. Love that.

 

Speaker 1  22:31

That's hysterical. All right, um, talk to me a little bit. I love that. Do you have another customer story to share?

 

22:42

Well, not like that,

 

Speaker 1  22:45

yeah, I would say, I don't know if you could top one with you a customer's hamster and a

 

Speaker 3  22:50

happy that space of your customer.

 

Speaker 1  22:54

That should be like on the five o'clock news locally. I love that story, but you're right. Like, what service line does that go on That's not water, fire, mold, biohazard, yeah, other rodent trapped, although I'm sure that that's not appropriate to call someone's pet a rodent. But, all right, moving on. That was kind of customer point of view. Let's talk about you as a business owner. You had had all of these roles. You have your MBA again. Thank you for your service in the Air Force. How did it feel for you to go from, you know, working for someone else in these, these technical roles, and you said you had a science background, so that might be more unique than many who move into the restoration industry. Then, kind of working for yourself as a business owner, what would you tell someone who's considering business ownership for the first time, and more specifically, in the restoration industry, what would you tell them about running their own business and in this industry,

 

Speaker 2  24:02

oh, I think anytime you do something new, anytime you move out of your comfort zone. Because let's face it, you've never owned a business, and this is the first time you've owned a business, you're definitely moving out of your your comfort zone. So there'll be times when you'll be a little scared, you'll like, well, what am I? What did I do? But as you progress through and become more confident, and you go, wow, why didn't I do this sooner? And it's very fulfilling, just to help customers, help your employees grow. We tend to forget that that you you get to watch guys that you've hired grow in the business and grow as as people, and you help them along. Because my. Is, if you leave, I want you to be better off than when you came, and I want you to have skills that are marketable even if you don't stay with me. I want you to be able to like, Hey, I learned this. I can take it and use it here. It's, but, yeah, I mean, it's, it's scary in the beginning, but as you kind of go through, you you adjust, and you know, you become at peace with it, and you be, and as you become successful, you're more at peace at it.

 

Speaker 1  25:30

Obviously, yeah, what's your favorite part of owning a light speed restoration?

 

Speaker 2  25:37

The the dynamics of the work. It's never the same. It's always different, different customers. I like being out and about. It's a mix of office work and being out, and I like that. I don't like being behind a desk eight hours. I like having that mix of being able to go out and look at issues, come up with the game plan, and then we execute that game plan. To me, that's that's the best part. For me.

 

Speaker 1  26:11

I love that. How long have you been doing this now, since 2018 2018 I love that. How has being a veteran helped you operate your business more efficiently, or has it? I I'm using that, that phrase, but tell me, being a veteran has helped you be a successful light restoration.

 

Speaker 2  26:31

Anybody who's been in the military understands that you're trained to take orders and you're trained to follow SOPs and so with that, and with this business, especially in this franchise, they give you systems, or SOPs to follow. And so that's your roadmap. And so coming from the military, you're acclimated to doing that. So you follow the systems, you follow the SOPs, and if you do that, you got a good chance of being successful. So I think that's what's helped, is being indoctrinated and understanding that to accomplish the mission, we've gotta follow these directives. The other thing guys is that sometimes you gotta be able to improvise, adapt and overcome, and you do that too. You've learned that in the military, sometimes there's not always an SOP on something you encounter, but you still gotta accomplish the mission.

 

Speaker 1  27:25

Love that, alright. Think that that's really great advice and good for us to know as we're talking to to veterans out there. So I appreciate that somebody on the light speed restoration team, let's talk a little bit about Joe for a second. Told me that you're pretty good at pickleball, so tell us just a little about about your your Pickleball for

 

Speaker 2  27:49

a moment. Yes, my wife and I picked that up during the pandemic. He said, let's play pickleball. And I said, pickle, what I never even heard of it. Next thing you know, we're playing pickleball, and we're playing in tournaments, and then we're playing in tournaments, and Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, I think I mentioned Tennessee already. So, yeah, we, we're in it. We're in it. These are some of my

 

Speaker 1  28:27

Yes, I heard you also have your, you have a you're, you're, you're sponsored by

 

Speaker 3  28:32

a company. I'm an ambassador. Okay, that's cool company,

 

28:38

yeah, yeah. So

 

Speaker 1  28:41

must be a pretty successful business owner. What I'm hearing in that is obviously time for fun, a passion, a hobby, business ownership has provided you with some flexibility, but I'll ask it in another way, talk to me and let our listeners know you know what, what has been the best part of being a business owner, and obviously, knowing that you have this great passion and pickleball that you know, it's allowed you that but, but tell me in your own words what, what has been the best part of owning your own business, and what are you most

 

Speaker 2  29:17

proud of you can have. You can create the work life balance that you want. Whatever that is, you can create that. That's me. I had a buddy I went to grad school with. Ask me about work life balance. How's your work life balance? I go, it's pretty good. You know, I you, as long as you stay on top of things, and you plan, you plan your time, and you're diligent in what you do, you can have a great work life balance. Now, there are times when, okay, you've got some work to do in the evening, but I don't think that it's that big of a deal. But you you can dictate to me, it's work life balance that. That's the number one thing, work, life, balance, you get to create whatever that is for yourself.

 

Speaker 1  30:04

Exactly. It's whatever it means to you. Joe, what's, what's a question that I didn't ask you, that you think a listener wanting to know about light seed restoration should know you get the the last word here.

 

Speaker 2  30:19

Well, so for anybody who's thinking about, should they go out or own or go with a franchise, I'll tell you my thought process on why I went with a franchise. As most people know, the euro, the US Bureau, labor of statistics will tell you that businesses fail in the first year by 20% and by year five 50% so I thought, well, how do I mitigate those issues or challenges so I don't fail? I don't I'm not in the 50% that failed in the first five years. And I thought a franchise would give me the best path to success, because they you've got other people doing it, so it must work. And they've, they've kind of greased the path. They've someone else's skin, their knee, so you don't have to so less bumps and challenges along the way. So the question didn't ask is, why did you choose a franchise? I chose a franchise because I thought it would give me and it has the best chance of being successful and sustainable without failing. Awesome.

 

Speaker 1  31:31

That's great. Well, I love, I love that definitely someone else has bought the box of band aids and figured out all of the challenges and overcome them, and now they can, kind of, to your point, give you that SOP, and you can follow the playbook, and then, you know, make some things your own, and play a little pickleball and have some fun at the same time, right? Well, Joe, I thank you so much for being with us. You've shared a lot of great ideas and thoughts with our listeners. I love that you said, you know, why didn't you do it sooner? I can't tell you how many franchisees I've heard that from. So for anyone listening, if you're on the fence, just think about that, why didn't I do it sooner? Again, thank you, Joe for being here. I've learned so much from you today, and I'm sure our listeners have learned a ton. Thank you all for listening. I hope you have learned a thing or two yourself and learned about the heart of franchising with Lightspeed restoration. Please subscribe to our channel and follow us on social media and to learn more about Lightspeed restoration or any of our home franchise concepts, Family of Brands, please visit home franchise concepts.com. I hope you'll listen next time when we talk to another great guest, and get to the heart of franchise success. See you next time when you're listening to the heart of franchising, you.