Episode 1: The Franchise Trial

What Is Business Growth? 

Welcome to our first episode of Out Of The Gutter Behind The Brother. At The Brothers that just do Gutters, we are all about growth. When we say growth we mean personal and professional growth. We are here to give you our advice on business growth and business growth strategies. We learned a lot of these valuable lessons through trial and error and by making a lot of mistakes. But, our hope is that you don't have to learn that way. When thinking about starting our business podcast, we decided we wanted our focus to be on growth and scaling your business. We believe in business growth and we want to help you accomplish your goals. What does it take to find freedom in your business? How can you start working ON the business instead of IN the business? 

The Out Of The Gutter Behind The Brother podcast segment will be giving you a peek into our franchisee's stories. 

In today's episode we talk to Jonathan in NJ, one of our first franchisees. Our discussion topic is; "If You Could Hit The Reset Button On This Business, What Would You Do Differently?"

Jonathan believed in our vision, and joined on with us in 2010 before we were even a franchise. 

Episode Breakdown -

:31 Topic introduction; "If You Could Hit The Reset Button On This Business, What Would You Do Differently?"

:54 How Jonathan met Ken and Ryan

1:32 Jonathan's history in the company - when it was still Waterflow Gutters

3:08 How much did we charge per foot 10 years ago?

3:28 Jonathan's venture away from Brothers Gutters to NJ

4:10 "I will never be in the gutter business again ..." - Jonathan 

4:32 View into other gutter companies in NJ and how we compared

5:20 Recession; refocus and rebrand 

6:15 Why Jonathan signed on; Intro of Jeremiah 

8:24 Recession fright - Are gutters recession proof?

10:15 In 2010, we go in as partners

12:51 Present; What would you tell a younger Jonathan to do differently?

16:00 Marketing budget 5 years ago was $2000 for the YEAR

16:34 The franchise system back then vs. now

18:30 Importance of the Call Center

19:00 Importance of hiring a Back Office Admin

19:45 Jonathan and Jeremiah's role in building the franchise 

20:40 How have you grown in 10 years, Jonathan? 

22:30 What is the perfect size for your business? 

23:20 A 4 million dollar business

24:45 Do you think life gets easier as your business grows? 

27:20 "Your business doesn't start until you hit 1 million"

28:47 23 year old Jonathan vs. 33 year old Jonathan

30:12 This business as Jonathan ministry ...