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[00:00:00] Phillip Brown: I worked with corporations like Walt Disney, Harley Davidson, NASA. Biggest thing that I do is help those companies automate, you know, 80 percent of your business behind the scenes can be automated and you don't have to worry about it after you set it up. It's a game, right? It's like who can get out there the fastest with the best idea, right?
[00:00:19] Phillip Brown: Because ideas are churning daily. All the software that you have, bring it together, make it work for you, not against you, get rid of all the fear of tech and make that stuff. Work as part of your team with you.
[00:00:35] Chaz Wolfe: What's up everybody. I'm Chas Wolf gathering the Kings podcast. Coming back to you here today with another King on the stage. Philip Brown. Welcome to the King stage.
[00:00:44] Chaz Wolfe: How are you, my man?
[00:00:45] Phillip Brown: Love starting off the Mondays right?
[00:00:47] Chaz Wolfe: Exactly. I was gonna say it's Monday, baby. Let's roll. Tell us what kind of business that you got, my man.
[00:00:51] Phillip Brown: business automations for,~ um,~ Anywhere from the small business to where, you know, your 5, 10, 15 people on your team plus yourself up to corporations. I've worked with corporations like Walt Disney,~ uh,~ Harley Davidson, NASA,~ um, uh, ~biggest thing that I do is help those companies automate.
[00:01:09] Phillip Brown: All the software that you have, bring it together, make it work for you, not against you. You know, get rid of all the, fear of tech and, and make that stuff work as part of your team with you.
[00:01:21] Phillip Brown: That's what I've been doing for 20 years now. So
[00:01:24] Chaz Wolfe: And tech has changed just a little bit in 20 years, right? Maybe
[00:01:29] Phillip Brown: just a tad. Yeah.
[00:01:30] Chaz Wolfe: just a tad.
[00:01:31] Phillip Brown: And we have this new buzzword now called AI, you know?
[00:01:34] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. Which is just the next tech word. Right. And, and I think that we can be able to get into this, but just give us a little bit of the backdrop of what it's been like to be in a space like technology for 20 years in 2024.
[00:01:49] Chaz Wolfe: Cause I mean, you look back, all industries have changed in the last 20 years, but tech, obviously the most right. Like the biggest hockey stick. So tell us like, what's it been like to be on that rollercoaster?
[00:02:00] Phillip Brown: Oh, I mean, it's a fun rollercoaster, you know, we didn't have these things 20 years ago, right? I mean, they, they were, they were in their infancy and, ~um. ~You know, now everybody uses them every day. As a matter of fact, a lot of people do business on their phones more than they do business on their laptops or on their desktops.
[00:02:19] Phillip Brown: ~Um, ~and, and to that, more people have laptops now because they're mobile. Then they have desktops. Like, I don't think I even, I don't, I actually don't own a desktop anymore. Everything that I do is on a laptop or on my phone. So,~ um, ~you know, and, and. You're, you're looking for the next fun thing to work with the next way to make yourself your business better.
[00:02:45] Phillip Brown: And,~ um,~ that's been tech over the past 20 years, you know, it just gets better and better every year. You can do more things. You can have more fun with it. You know, games get better every year. Productivity tools get better every year. So,
[00:03:00] Chaz Wolfe: know, the interesting piece,~ uh,~ I did a lot of my business from a phone for many years, and then it wasn't really until the last couple of years where I found myself gluing myself to my desk and my, and my desktop a little bit more frequently. Cause there's just like consistency to it. ~Um, ~but I think you're a hundred percent, right?
[00:03:15] Chaz Wolfe: ~Um, ~the power that sits right here in our hand,~ uh,~ can pretty much do anything I need, right?
[00:03:19] Phillip Brown: you know, yeah,
[00:03:20] Phillip Brown: I think the computer that I owned in. 1994 had less power than my iPhone does now. So
[00:03:26] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I'm sure you talked about, you know, not only just technology growing and like, okay, yes. The person listening right now, like we know that, but what's been the most dramatic change that you've seen specifically for entrepreneurs, maybe even in your business or some of your clients.
[00:03:43] Phillip Brown: With the advent of COVID and all that happening, we, we really understood how to work from home because we were all stuck at home.
[00:03:52] Phillip Brown: Right. And, and for those of us who were working with large corporations, it was very difficult because those corporations didn't want to change, you know, they had a mindset that was like. We can't have you work from home. You're not going to be productive when in reality it was the opposite. They found that most people when they worked at home and had the tools that they needed were more productive.
[00:04:19] Phillip Brown: And that is the same way with smaller companies. They're realizing that they have the ability now to build a virtual team and use those individuals that have the right skillset that may not be in their geographical location. But they can use those individuals from all over the world and, and have their company be efficient and more productive than if they had to do everything right there in their location.
[00:04:45] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah,
[00:04:45] Phillip Brown: And that's, that's been really the biggest thing that technology has really helped with over the past, you know, three to four years is, is number one, the awareness and realization that that can be done. And number two, actually doing it.
[00:04:58] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I think it's cool that you've brought this up because I've built multiple companies now,~ uh,~ remotely and I still have a couple of companies, you know, we've got a couple of retail franchises. Obviously they, they can't do their work remotely. They have to go to the site and create things in the kitchen and sell them out of the front, but I run the business aspect of it remotely.
[00:05:18] Chaz Wolfe: We. I have multiple of those locations in different cities. And we meet virtually,~ uh,~ and talk from a business perspective. And even in a construction business, we've, we've built a construction business over the last little bit of time and almost everything that we can do virtually other than the actual remodel happening at someone's house.
[00:05:36] Chaz Wolfe: Is being done virtually. And I think that you, to your point, the leverage behind not only just the technology piece of it, but the flexibility and then finding the right people and going, Hey, look, this is what we can do. We can kind of mix and match and put the puzzle pieces together at a faster or more efficient or, you know, fill in the blank rate, make it work for us.
[00:05:55] Chaz Wolfe: Right.
[00:05:55] Phillip Brown: that's part of my enjoyment is being able to make those things happen automatically for people, you know, ~um, ~and, and going, going into companies like construction companies or,~ um,~ you know, brick and mortar storefronts and, and helping them understand, Hey. Yes, you may have to serve the public right here from, from the storefront, but there's, you know, 80 percent of your business behind the scenes that can be automated and you don't have to worry about it after you set it up, you know?
[00:06:24] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. We're going to get into automations because I know that's your specialty and there's a lot of business owners listening right now that might be wondering. How can I use automations? ~Um, ~you know, they, they read the four hour work week and they want to, they want to hit the go button and then go to the beach, which it's not exactly how it works, but I want to, I want to give some insights on that before we do that.
[00:06:42] Chaz Wolfe: Though, you've given us like the, the greatest, maybe impact,~ um,~ building teams and doing things virtually that technology has done. What do you think has been the hardest sticking point? Like for an entrepreneur, what's been the hardest thing for them to overcome as technology has developed?
[00:06:56] Phillip Brown: Well, I think,~ um,~ there's,~ uh,~ an aversion to how fast it changes. So a lot of,~ uh,~ entrepreneurs, you know, they, they have this idea in their head of how they want to do business and it's. You know, we know once you get into entrepreneurship, you know, you have to be really agile, you have to change with the times, you have to understand where things are going and how things are changing.
[00:07:18] Phillip Brown: with respect to business, like brick and mortar companies, you find a lot of those companies, especially if they're,~ um,~ older business owners, they want to do things the way that they've always done them instead of changing to do things more modern, I guess you could say. And,~ um. ~You know, even like online,~ um,~ businesses, I find even if they started in the past, like five to six years, they still have an aversion to like trying something new out there, like, well, this has always worked for me to do, you know, Facebook advertising or to do Google ads or to do YouTube advertising.
[00:07:52] Phillip Brown: Why would I do something different? Well, because maybe you can automate it because maybe that's going to give you. A stronger stream of revenue or newer stream of revenue or additional stream of revenue that you can then do things with and give yourself some more free time. You know, ~um, ~entrepreneurs have this mindset of I've got to work harder, but you really don't.
[00:08:16] Phillip Brown: You just have to work smarter, right? And technology helps you work a lot smarter.
[00:08:22] Phillip Brown: That mindset again has started changing. So hopefully we'll get there.
[00:08:26] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, no, you're, you're, you're a voice in that change, right? Like you're saying, Hey,~ uh,~ Hey, hard worker,~ uh,~ what if we coupled your hard work with some leverage,~ um,~ and, and 10 X or a hundred X, your, your scenario, and I think that's really the piece that entrepreneurs are. Like they see it, they might hear it.
[00:08:44] Chaz Wolfe: They listen to a podcast and they're like, oh, that's true for, you know, those big companies, but can the guy out there, you know, building decks or like you said, the shop owner who's selling, you know, cupcakes from the front, can he, can he really automate his business? And so I'm going to leave that actually as a real question for you.
[00:09:01] Chaz Wolfe: Can they really do it? And, and then let's, let's go down that rabbit hole. Let's, let's just start,~ uh,~ unveiling some of those things that,~ uh,~ you've maybe done with some of your other clients.
[00:09:09] Phillip Brown: ~ Um, ~ smaller companies and, you know, mom and pop shops, storefronts aren't the only ones that don't think they can automate certain things. You know, large corporations have that same mindset because you, you divvy up a large corporation in the smaller departments that run. As you know, small businesses.
[00:09:27] Phillip Brown: ~Um, ~but to your question, there are tons of things that can be automated, especially with a brick and mortar company or,~ uh,~ construction, or, you know, the, the guy who's going to come over and redo your deck, like a handyman or even lawn service or anything like that, you can automate all of your. Accounting and payroll.
[00:09:49] Phillip Brown: Automating monthly payments. So you don't have to ask for them every month. They just come in automatically from your clients.~ Um, ~you can, of course, market to your clients instead of handing out flyers, door knocking.
[00:10:03] Phillip Brown: doing direct mailers. top of those, you can also do some social media advertising. You can do the Google AdWords. You can do, you can, you can geographically target your audience on Google and on Facebook to, to bring those individuals into your sphere of knowledge so that they understand that you're out there and you're wanting to help them with whatever service you're providing.
[00:10:27] Phillip Brown: ~Um, ~and that can all be automated. You can just monitor it on a weekly basis, or you can delegate it out to someone to monitor that for you on a weekly basis and kind of tweak it to get to the audience that you're looking for and to get your numbers up.
[00:10:41] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, that's good. A lot of great examples there. What have you, what do you see when you work with a client, you know, for the first time, and obviously if they're going to work with you, they're open to the idea of automation and technology and how they can leverage those things. But still, there's probably a little bit of resistance, you know, like I'm open to you, Philip, but, but I'm still going to drag my feet in essence.
[00:11:01] Chaz Wolfe: What do you, what do you see that they drag their feet on the most?
[00:11:03] Phillip Brown: The biggest question that I ask is like, what do you not want to do every day that you have to do? It's like this daily thing or this weekly thing that you have to do over and over and you dread doing it, you know, I mean, it could be like, Oh, I gotta give him, check my email. I got to see if any clients emailed me. I've got to make sure all the bills, you know, were paid. Make sure all we got all of our, ~um.~
[00:11:27] Phillip Brown: Incoming payments from clients, you know, just things that are monotonous, the day to day got to do it again. And you don't think about it. It becomes so habitual that you don't realize that you have to do it every day. You just do it. If you can remove those things that take 10, 15, 30 minutes every day, you're gaining a couple hours more a week
[00:11:53] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. And To put that in perspective for someone who's listening, it might be those things, you know, Phillips talking about it being habitual or even, you know, you're doing them subconsciously. It's what I have found, at least in my experience is that. You know, after the business day is over and then you go back to work, it's usually those things.
[00:12:12] Chaz Wolfe: It's the office, the accounting and all the things that he just mentioned where you're, you know, up nine, 10, 11, 12 at night, unless you're like, I use those times sometimes to be super creative and do things that are quiet and stuff like that. But all those things that you're, you've been doing them with, like I was years ago, like I had to spend the evening doing those things because we didn't have automations. And so, ~um, ~interesting. What kind of work goes into automating? Like they, they work with a guy like you and they're thinking, Oh man, I don't get this technology stuff.
[00:12:40] Chaz Wolfe: I know it's important, but like. All right. This seems like it's just like a bunch of work and I don't understand it. Like give us a little roadmap of what it looks like to, to be able to get to a place where I can take a couple extra days. Cause it's all already set up. As you said, ~ ~
[00:12:53] Phillip Brown: ~Um, ~it is a little bit work on the front end, you know, I'm definitely not going to lie. You have to understand what your daily. Procedures are right. There's a lot of companies out there that they don't have playbooks that they operate. They don't have, you know, ~uh, ~standard operating procedures or S.
[00:13:10] Phillip Brown: O. P. S. that they have in place that they can, you know, use if they need to go somewhere. Somebody else has this that they can look up and oh, this is this is what they do every day, right? So that's the first step is like, yeah. Let's optimize your business, create the blueprints, the playbooks, the SOPs that are required for your, your day to day operation, your week to week and month to month operations.
[00:13:36] Phillip Brown: And then we look at what software you have already, like what are you using? The average business uses anywhere from 50 to 100 different softwares weekly. And you don't realize you use that much every day, but you are most are right. Unless you have a very, very simplified business that still operates with pen and paper and, and, you know, a little hand cash register, right?
[00:14:03] Phillip Brown: You're using a lot of software and to take that software and make it work together. is the next step. It's like, okay, you have a point of service or point of sale software. You have an accounting software, you have,~ um,~ you know, your, your banking specific software, whatever, let's make it all work together.
[00:14:24] Phillip Brown: So you don't have to touch it. You ring in a sale and it automatically goes to your accounting software and it automatically goes and registers with your bank, right? And that money is in and out and you don't have to pay attention to it. You know, the only thing you have to do is take your cash. And deposit it daily, weekly, however often you deposit it with the bank, right?
[00:14:44] Phillip Brown: ~Um, ~online, that becomes even more automated process because you're not dealing with cash, right? So, it just goes right in. And that's just one example. You have other, other areas of your business that once you figure out the, the procedures and the playbook, you can take the software you're already using, if you're a creative.
[00:15:07] Phillip Brown: You can automate some things you could really some of those sticking points. It's really difficult to like. Okay. What is, what are, what are my next set of topics that I want to talk about? Right. Give me some examples. You can use things like chat GPT, which is, you know, that's the latest craze with, with helping people get ideas.
[00:15:27] Phillip Brown: Right. And those spark ideas and they help eliminate something that you might spend an hour or two hours trying to think of something, you know, like, what am I going to write about? How do I, how do I get that point across to my audience? Instead, you can just. Ask one question, and it gives you those ideas to really spark that creativity in you, and it saves time.
[00:15:49] Phillip Brown: It saves you 30 minutes, saves you an hour. ~Um, ~so those are some quick examples of what you can do and how, how you can get started with that. And the biggest thing is knowing. What you do some people go through and they don't really know what they do every day. They don't have those playbooks They don't have those SOPs in place and they never really thought about writing those down, right?
[00:16:12] Phillip Brown: They're like, well, I just always done it so Instead of just always doing it write it down so it's out of your head and somebody else can always do it for you so you Can spend your time elsewhere.
[00:16:24] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, there's,~ um,~ this is a topic of conversation inside of our mastermind group all the time, obviously, as people are growing their businesses and scaling, hiring, and you bump up against this, you know, natural back and flow back and forth flow of. You know, ~uh, ~that person or them themselves as the entrepreneur has always done it, like you said, and getting that out onto a piece of paper in a systematic form.
[00:16:45] Chaz Wolfe: So that way someone can do it, but, or technology can do it, right? Cause when you have the, it's out of the entrepreneur's head, you can look at it and you go, okay, so who should do this? And that who. Might be a piece of technology and we've just got a lot of options out there today. And so I love that you said that the step one is really kind of getting it out onto paper because then they can make a decision.
[00:17:10] Chaz Wolfe: I'm going, okay, like I'm seeing my business in steps. Okay, good. I should own that. And, and, you know, Jeff should own that. And Ooh, there's technology for that. And we can work through this piece by piece. And, and this is probably what you do,~ uh,~ you know, very pragmatically with your clients. Would you agree?
[00:17:26] Phillip Brown: Oh, yeah, definitely.
[00:17:27] Chaz Wolfe: There's a lot
[00:17:28] Phillip Brown: it's, it's a process in creating those processes, right? You, you have to understand what you're doing in order to automate it. If you have children. Or if you've worked with kids, you, you have to tell them what they need to do because oftentimes they don't know they're off doing, you know, imagination activities and you have to say, well, we gotta get up.
[00:17:50] Phillip Brown: We gotta eat breakfast, we gotta go to school, we gotta do our homework, we gotta eat dinner, we gotta go to bed. Right. And there's like, you know, playtime in between there, but you have, that's like a daily. Playbook for them, right? And if you, if you have that in place, then you can write instructions and they can follow that without you telling them, right?
[00:18:11] Phillip Brown: So, and that's like what a computer does. I think of a computer as a child that has a fresh mind with nothing in it. You just have to give it instructions. On what to do, and now it's even better because with the artificial intelligence and chat. You can literally write the instructions in English. So you don't have to be a programmer and it will give you an answer or it can even give you the playbook back of a set of instructions that it can then follow and do the things that you do on a daily basis.
Hey Kings and Queens, Chaz Wolf. I want to talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort, we meaning myself and my team into this podcast, into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we want it to be able to reach other business owners too.
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Together. We are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights. So let's do this. Let's help each other. Let's help each other grow.
[00:19:36] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, so true. The, even down to, again, we've used construction here a couple of different times, but you can use technology chat, GPT as one of them to even say, okay, like what are the steps of a bathroom remodel and okay. And then you identify the steps. Okay. So in order to. Do this one particular step.
[00:19:55] Chaz Wolfe: What are the, what are the steps to that, to complete it? And you can create checklists and you can really just get nitty gritty with it. ~Um, ~and for some personalities, that's kind of fun. And you get down, most entrepreneurs are. They don't find that to be fun, but that's, that's why they get with guys like you.
[00:20:11] Chaz Wolfe: Cause,~ uh,~ you can help them with that. ~Um, ~I want to switch it over to, to your background just a little bit here. Cause obviously you've, you know, decades of experience and you've been successful. What do you think maybe it's technology related? Maybe it's just more business related, but what's something that you've done that was just like a, Oh crap moment.
[00:20:27] Chaz Wolfe: ~Um, ~and that you could share and maybe,~ uh,~ give us. You know, some relatability, because it's like, you know, a lot of people don't think about someone like you who's been successful. Like, well, where did he fail? Give us that moment where it just was not your greatest hour. And what was the result? What'd you learn?
[00:20:43] Phillip Brown: Oh, wow. Failure stories. So many. I truly believe that you don't understand what success is for you until you fail. So you really have to fail to get there. Right? ~Um, ~I've got so many examples. You know, I started out in the corporate world,~ um,~ doing developing software for corporations.
[00:21:01] Phillip Brown: And,~ um,~ you know, back when I started developing software for corporations, maybe 5 to 10 percent of the software projects ever made it. To the production floor to do anything with customers, right? Because companies were spending millions of dollars on software that basically failed. It didn't didn't do what it needed to do.
[00:21:22] Phillip Brown: Or by the time it was done, something better was already out there. ~Um, ~some of the specific examples,~ uh,~ for. Me,~ um,~ personally is, you know, working with one large corporate client, we were developing processes and software. And once we got this, it was a project management software, basically software that like managed all their project from beginning to end.
[00:21:50] Phillip Brown: And by the time we finished that project. They, there was another software that was on the market that had just come out. That was better than the software that we had just developed in house. So the team collectively decided to purchase that software and, and just kind of configure it to our current processes and, and.
[00:22:14] Phillip Brown: Basically ditch the the old software we've been developing for a year, I put that out. There's a failure example, but it's it's just a learning example, right? Your failures are just learning blocks that you build on because what we learned there is the way that we went to market with that software was not fast enough.
[00:22:36] Phillip Brown: So we had to use, an agile process, right? You actually get it out there quicker by doing like a minimum. Viable product, do a small piece and then build on it. Right. And you see a lot of that now in the marketing world, you see companies out there going, Hey, we've just released this new software for you to send emails with, or for you to build funnels with.
[00:23:02] Phillip Brown: And we're going to be coming out with this next piece. That's going to help you send emails or do campaigns, or, you know, it'll manage your Facebook ads or manage this. So you see it now they're building on top of each other. And so the majority of my failures,~ um,~ in software. We're, we're creating something that was then outpaced by something else.
[00:23:28] Phillip Brown: And it's just, it's a game, it's a race. It's a game, right? It's like, who can get out there the fastest with the best idea? Because ideas are churning daily. And as an entrepreneur, most of you know that you get new ideas, right? It's that shiny object. It's like, oh, I want to do that. Oh, wait, this is really cool, you know, and you have to really pick what you want to focus on and what you decide to go after.
[00:23:52] Phillip Brown: And that's kind of where, where I've taken those failures as learning blocks and said, okay, now I really need to do this first and get it out to market so that I can get feedback and figure out what everybody really needs. And do that next.
[00:24:06] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I even want to take your story and, and use it as another example, because even technology piece. Like, ~uh, ~using automations or whatever. Like I've looked at developing some of our own software. The guy that I was working with is a client of mine. He was like, but have you searched the market for a solution already?
[00:24:25] Chaz Wolfe: Because we can build it. Sure. But does something already exist? Probably. So like, I hear you, you're an entrepreneur. You want to like do your thing and you want it to be proprietary and all the fun stuff. It's like, but honestly. There's probably a better tool that is cheaper and that millions of other people are already using that have kind of vetted out all the bugs for you.
[00:24:46] Chaz Wolfe: You should probably just use that. And it's like, as an entrepreneur, sometimes it's like, Oh, bummer. Like I can't be original. But what I'm hearing you say is like in that example, even. Where the company themselves is building it. It's like and then someone beat him to it. Yeah, okay, I get it Yeah, like minimal viable product This is huge like just get to market start figuring things out build a ship at sea like it that's okay that people are expecting this actually But even on the other side of it, it's like, you know before you even build the ship there could be pieces that you need That are probably already out there and you don't have to actually go figure it all out for yourself, which I'm assuming in your industry, where you help people kind of put all these pieces together.
[00:25:26] Chaz Wolfe: You see this all the time. Is this right?
[00:25:27] Phillip Brown: Yeah. And, and the beauty of that is you led right into the next thing. And that's why I do what I do is I make all those little pieces work together within your company. Because by, you know, by looking at like, okay, this is the best accounting software for me, and this is the best marketing software for me.
[00:25:46] Phillip Brown: And this is the best funnel building software for me. And this is the best. Whatever else software for you, right? You've already done a lot of that and you're right. There's oftentimes a piece of each thing out there that you can go get, but making them work together becomes the part that's, that's the challenging where the magic happens when you.
[00:26:08] Phillip Brown: integrate all that together and make it work for you. And as many of us want a single platform that does it all, we're never going to be happy with a single platform that does it all, right? Because it's going to take forever to get that platform that does it all. You know, there's a lot of, a lot of companies out there that have platforms that tote, you know, that they tout that they can do it all.
[00:26:38] Phillip Brown: But that's the case for a month, maybe two months. And then something else comes along and it adds another piece to it. And you're like, Oh, I really need that too. You know? So then you gotta go get that. So,
[00:26:50] Chaz Wolfe: Which is, I think there's, there's truth to,~ uh,~ this ever evolving process and us recognizing new tools, but you're right. My experience with the all in one tool, you know, that the, the screwdriver in the all in one only fits certain circumstances and the, the knife in the all in one tool really isn't that sharp, nor is it that big.
[00:27:09] Chaz Wolfe: And you know, the, all the other pieces, right. It's like, it's good. But it's never really that good in any of the one field. So, ~uh, ~what I'm hearing you say is that if someone's listening to here today and they're using a lot of pieces, it's not so much necessarily getting rid of them and finding one singular piece.
[00:27:24] Chaz Wolfe: It's more so maybe getting them to all work together. Can you give a little bit more on that?
[00:27:28] Phillip Brown: yeah, I mean, you've obviously already researched software specific purposes in your business and you loaded that up with your data. Oftentimes you can link the two together and have what you need just by having those softwares communicate with each other.
[00:27:50] Phillip Brown: Sometimes it's a challenge. Sometimes it's not. It just depends on how the software was developed, but there's always a way. ~Um, ~you know, it's, it's, you know, with my clients, I never, never tell them, no, I can't do something. It's sometimes a matter of, of using another software or Time in developing a connection to make those two softwares connect, right?
[00:28:17] Phillip Brown: ~Um, ~today in today's day and age, oftentimes softwares have what's called an API, which is an application programming interface that allows them to talk with each other or other software or reporting platforms and things like that so that you can make them work together more efficiently. And effectively.
[00:28:37] Chaz Wolfe: that's good. I want you to,~ um,~ I want you to roll back the clock. You've been doing this for a long time and you've seen a lot of things in technology. I want you to roll back the clock and you're talking to the younger Philip. He's standing in front of you and you tap him on the shoulder. And maybe he's got the same mustache.
[00:28:53] Chaz Wolfe: I don't know. What, what do you whisper in his ear about technology about business?
[00:28:59] Phillip Brown: If I were to whisper to my past self, my younger 20 mid 20 self,~ um,~ learn the, the programming faster, learn how to sell better. And that would have got me where I'm at a lot faster. I don't think I would be doing anything different today. Computers, software has always been my passion since I was small. Since I was, since I was able to program on a computer because I'm kind of a dinosaur. I was, you know. Out there when computers weren't even in each home.
[00:29:33] Phillip Brown: So, ~um, ~but I did learn how to program early. ~Um, ~and it's always been a passion to make computers do what I wanted them to do. Right. So for me, that's the fun, challenging pieces to make the computer and the software do what I want it to do the way I want to do it.~ Um, ~you know, and, and with learning that.
[00:29:56] Phillip Brown: Earlier and faster and being a better salesperson earlier, I think I could have impacted a lot more businesses in a lot more lives earlier,
[00:30:08] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, that's powerful. I was just,~ uh,~ on a pod, I don't know, maybe last week or the week before, but we were talking about the elements of this guy's business and, and it kind of came to a head, just like it kind of just did for you. And it was like, look. All of these things actually don't matter if I can't communicate and, you know, tell, not tell other people what I want them to do.
[00:30:27] Chaz Wolfe: But in essence, what you've been able to do with computers is what sales and communication is with humans, you know? So it's like, man, what I'm hearing you say is learn computers and learn people.
[00:30:37] Phillip Brown: That's it. I mean, the two most important things in today's day and age are communication and technology, right? You need to know how to communicate because we communicate a lot differently now than we did 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, right? You know, look at the differences between the generation, the Gen Xs, the Gen Zs,~ um,~ the Gen Y.
[00:31:00] Phillip Brown: I mean, you, you have all kinds of different ways to communicate. And then technology has advanced. exponentially since, you know, the generation that was born in the seventies didn't have computers to play with. They didn't have video games. They didn't have cell phones, pagers, any of that. Now, you know, fast forward and you have all of that.
[00:31:28] Phillip Brown: You have, you have the, the Dick Tracy phone on your, on your wrist, right? If you remember Dick Tracy from way back when, you know, he was the communicator. But,~ um,~ you know, now it's real. You have a lot of things that we saw in science fiction as kids in the 70s and 80s that is real today. So it's just going so fast with technology and you have to understand how to communicate.
[00:31:54] Phillip Brown: Well, because technology has given us hundreds of different ways to communicate, you know, email, text message,~ um,~ video message, live video phones. I mean, you can communicate with people all over the world. You don't have to write a letter and wait a month for it to get to somebody across the globe and then another month for it to get back, right?
[00:32:16] Phillip Brown: It happens right now. You can message with them. You can use. You know, what's app or text message or email, and you're instantly connected.
[00:32:25] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, that's huge. It's huge. Well, ~uh, ~you have a unique perspective being in technology for so long, but I think you, you were able to deliver it today in an understandable way, in all seriousness. ~Um, ~I see a lot of entrepreneurs every single day doing the manual thing, and I'm not talking about manual labor.
[00:32:41] Chaz Wolfe: I'm talking about just the manual, you know, leverage that we've been talking about this whole show, and there's just so many better opportunities. And so how can they find you if they were like, okay, I'm going to, enough is enough. I want to automate this stuff. How can they find you, Philip?
[00:32:54] Phillip Brown: LinkedIn. You can find me,~ um,~ Philip Brown, uh, with two L's and,~ um,~ you can also contact me through my website,~ um,~ is a blue pit, B L U P I T T. com. ~ um,~ you know, I do two things mainly on there. It's automations and I do a leadership coaching.
[00:33:13] Phillip Brown: ~Um, ~Also, if you find me on, you know, Facebook or anywhere else, you can definitely contact me there. I'm not super active on like, you know, some of the social media channels, but LinkedIn I'm pretty active on as well as, you know, if you contact me directly, I'll definitely get back to you. So in the, in the email, you can, it's.
[00:33:35] Phillip Brown: P brown at blue pit dot com. So just remember when you do blue pit, there's no E in the blue. It's B L U P I T T dot com.
[00:33:45] Chaz Wolfe: Perfect. We'll put all that in the show notes as well, make it super easy for them. But I think that there's a lot of people, entrepreneurs that are interested in, you know, automating their life and making it easier on themselves. And so I suggest that they reach out to you and see if they can,~ uh,~ collaborate with you on, on,~ uh,~ not only SOP creation, but actually automating those things and taking their business to the next level.
[00:34:03] Chaz Wolfe: So Phillip, we appreciate you being here with us, sharing your expertise, blessings to you and your family and all the things that you're touching here in 2024. We appreciate you being here, brother.
[00:34:11] Phillip Brown: all right. Thanks for having me. Definitely.
[00:34:12] Chaz Wolfe: Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.
[00:34:30] Chaz Wolfe: What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing to over 200 or 300, Other very successful seven, eight and nine figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to Bring together successful entrepreneurs.
[00:34:50] Chaz Wolfe: In fact, we are putting together 1, 000 Kings specifically. Who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling Kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities. And here's what we believe that in the pursuit of excellence in those areas. That it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy.
[00:35:15] Chaz Wolfe: So if that relates in and resonates with you, and you know, that you need people around you, sharp, qualified, other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings. com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 Kings talk soon.
Host Chaz Wolfe sits down with Phillip Brown, the founder of Blu Pitt, a software consulting firm dedicated to improving project management automation. Phillip shares his journey from working in the healthcare sector to founding Blu Pitt in 2010. He discusses the challenges faced by small businesses and how Blu Pitt helps them overcome these obstacles through effective project management and automation. Phillip also talks about his vision for the future of project management consulting and his goal to help 10,000 businesses by 2033.
Phillip Brown:
Website: https://www.blupitt.com/home
What Owners Should Take From This Episode
Phillip Brown has spent about 20 years connecting business software so it works together. He says he has done that work for Walt Disney, Harley Davidson, and NASA, and for shops with 5 to 15 people. His big claim: about 80 percent of what happens behind the scenes in a business can be automated. Here is what a construction, trades, or home service owner should take from the conversation.
1. Start with the work you hate doing every day
Phillip opens every client conversation with one question. What do you not want to do every day that you have to do? Checking email for client messages. Seeing which bills got paid. Chasing payments. Each one takes 10 to 30 minutes. Cut a few and you get hours back every week.
2. Get the process out of your head and onto paper
Most small companies have no playbook. Phillip says to write it down so it is out of your head. You cannot automate or hand off a job only you know how to do. Chaz gave the example of breaking a bathroom remodel into steps, then turning each step into a checklist.
3. Count your software before you buy more
Phillip says the average business touches 50 to 100 different tools a week without realizing it. Before you add another app, list what you already pay for. The answer is often already in your stack.
4. The money is in connecting your tools
Phillip says the magic happens when you integrate everything together. A sale flows into accounting and the bank on its own. Recurring payments get collected without you chasing anyone. He also warns that all-in-one platforms usually do one or two things well. Connecting the best tools usually wins.
5. Market where your customers live
Phillip sees trades owners stuck on flyers and door knocking because it always worked. Direct mail, social ads, and Google Ads can be aimed at your exact service area and checked once a week, or handed to someone else. Work smarter, not just harder.
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Guest links: Blu Pitt and Phillip Brown on LinkedIn.
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