Later this month, I will be traveling to do my 250th (ish) Onsite Business Assessment for the restoration industry and I thought this might be a useful time to capture what this has taught me and what it has often created for the restorers I worked with. Not all have the same results, but most are on the voyage. 

First, we should ask WHY I WAS HIRED. Well, that would take dozens of pages…..but I can summarize one major thing. 

Organization. 

An owner or set of managers know they work hard, have acquired all the technical skills, built a good company and brand…..but they just aren’t launching or where they WANT TO BE. 

That’s fair.
It means there is a dream.
Fantastic start. 

If you were to ask me: “Klark, what is THE largest thing you see missing or holding a company back in the restoration industry?”

The #1 is pretty clear and #2 is very closely related. 

It is:
A strong leadership team
and
an operational...

 Trust me when I say,

"You don’t want to find yourself inside Klarks head."

But if you happen to find yourself there, or at least in his presence, this is the kind of shit you’d hear.

This was a random BLURT moment in the office last week. I had to share it.
I know you know him well enough to know that he speaks what he thinks, especially when he thinks it will help someone. 

The analogy was striking. It really speaks to an issue that we hear about every day.

"Imagine being a restaurant owner and going to alll the grilled cheese making classes every year.

That's what a large percentage of the restoration industry does. The owners and leaders LOVE going to drying classes. They LOVE to get certifications. 

The pursuit of being a better technician often supersedes the need for becoming a better business owner/leader.

 Why? 

So they can get a small percentage points more dry in a small fraction of time faster?

How does that help thier BUSINESS?"

...

Nashville taught me something amazing. 

Challenge tradition.

Challenge norms.

NOTHING is sacred in business... or at the table that I sit at to eat!

Did you know that there is such a thing as tacos made with waffles?
#MINDBLOWN

 I met up with 2 childhood friends recently in Nashville.

Jeff the piano man and I met for lunch (at a bougie waffle joint).

Do you like breakfast for lunch or dinner?

Pancakes, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon. Mmmm. Any time of the day is good with me!

Last time I was there we had Nashville's famous hot chicken. Call me sheltered, but I’d never heard of it. 

Dennis told me that hot was really hot. He warned me. 

I got medium. 

It's a good thing. That was a painful meal. 

I cannot fathom what EXTRA hot would have been like. 

Thats insanity!

I used to tell my mom after football… It hurts so good. Because I enjoyed playing football, it was worth the pain.

That medium Nashville Chicken hurt so good. 

I was going to go...

DON'T LOOK DOWN

Superstar: a star (as in sports or the movies) who is considered extremely talented, has great public appeal

Here at Restoration Advisers we get the opportunity to meet some incredible people, and from time to time the people also get to meet each other. 

Disaster Podcaster Season 2 Episode 6 is where 2 superstars meet and share their perspective on the industry, share their journey to leadership, and help the listeners understand and get a perspective that isn’t generally on podcasts! 

One industry

2 superstars

2 different journeys

One works in a family owned business

One has worked at multiple companies

One is a Triple Master

One has a lot of experience in fire restoration (and is a volunteer firefighter)

Both started at the bottom so to speak. 

Both are now in leadership roles

Both are dedicated to the restoration industry

Both are creating more leaders by leading well

Both Robert More, and Dylan Timmel will be on the Disaster Podcaster Season 2...

Everyone is talking about what to do about fuel. 

What are you doing in your company to compensate for the added cost?

Costs are up. 

Adjusters are still resisting invoices. 

So what will you do… what are you doing?

How can you run a profitable business with inflation, and rising fuel prices?

Was 10/10 good enough to cover fuel costs last year? Is it good enough to cover costs now? 

“Add a line item for fuel surcharge.”

That's what everyone is saying you should do. Even the mothership of Xactimate (Verisk) has empowered the contractors to bill for increased fuel cost. (Don't take our word for it.)

So Xactimate says its ok to bill... but we are getting feedback that adjusters are stalling. It seems to have caught a lot of adjusters off guard. They don’t have a copy & paste argument for that one… yet. 

But they will. They got knocked back on their laurels, but they work for massive...

 We asked “What is your #1 tip for trying to hire someone?” It could be a tip for recruiting, or the hiring process.

We polled Restoration Nation, and other business professionals on LinkedIn, to get some tips and tricks from those who are in the trenches so to speak. 

We got a variety of responses, but it was interesting to note some of the similarities.

Here are some of them.

• Use the interview process to show them what working for you will look like (showing your values, communication skills, integrity, and respect for them/their time and efforts). - Saas Industry
  
  
• I always found it helpful to have the applicant "ride-along" for a couple hours with a seasoned employee or myself so they can see what the job entails. Then bring them in for the interview immediately afterwards. This gives the applicant a real life view of "what they are getting into" and gives you and/or a trusted employee a look at how they interact and handle things in real life. Not all...

We polled some great restorers recently about the biggest mistakes they've made as leaders. 

The conversation was interesting. 

The most common response was keeping a bad employee. This is certainly understandable, especially given the current climate surrounding staffing. 

The second most common response was trusting your gut. Keeping a bad employee could certainly be part of trusting your gut, and if it were, then this would overwhelmingly be the leader. 

There is a great book on this subject. Its called "Blink: The power of thinking without thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell. Check it out in our Book Vault. 

We are human. 
We screw up. Some days it feels like we screw up a lot more than others
Most of us learn, and move on. 

But we all have that screw up that we may tell others later by starting the story with "there was this one time". 

We'd love to hear your story. 

Join Restoration Nation to share your story!

We polled some in our community, and this is what they said.

We are testing out the "Less is More" approach to blogging.

There is long form. 
And there is short form (as you will experience below)

What do you think?
Let us know which one you prefer in Restoration Nation!

A project is like a meal.
The steps are the ingredients.
The scope is the recipe.
The client is the guest.
You have to figure out if the client likes spicy, salty, tangy or just plain ole fried.
It's messy
But it's the work.
You get through it.
Make up some shit along the way,
People pop in and leave,
But at the end, you have a table laid out and you are excited for others to enjoy it.