REAL AF with Andy Frisella - 309. Q&AF: Raising Your Team's Standards, Never Being Satisfied & Quality Vs. Quantity

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

In today's episode, Andy answers your questions on how to get your team to operate at the same standards as you, when do you know you've done enough work for the day, and if you should place your focus on the quality of your product or the quantity to meet the demands.

What is up guys, it's Andy Purcella and this is the show for the realest, say goodbye to the lies, the thickness and delusions of modern society and welcome to motherfucking reality guys today we have q and af that's where you bring the q's and i bring the afs now normally we have dj but it says dj is out getting his uh security current current uh what do they call that continuing ed i. I have my man Zeeshan as my co-host today. What's up, dude? Hello. Hello. How are you? I'm the non-black co-host here. That's right. That's right. Diversity. Diversity. Yeah. So we, we traded, we traded a black guy for an Indian guy. I know. Yeah. Got to keep the diversity at the same level. I think that must be racist. Kind of. At some level. That's all. All of us are here.

Yeah, of course. Of course. So if people want to email in the questions, where do they email them? AskAndy at AndyFricella.com. All right. Now, guys, if this is your first time listening, we have Q&AF. This is where we take the problems from our other episode called Cruise the Internet that we point out in society and we break them down to actual productive solutions that you can implement into your life.

So that's what we do today. So we have CTI, which is Cruise the Internet, where we make fun of everything and talk about what the problem is. Then we have Q and AF, where we help you guys get better because the ultimate solution is our own personal development to all of this shit going on. Then sometimes we have real talk, which is where I get on and I give you 10, 20 minutes of good thoughts. Sometimes it's two minutes. That's just the way it is sometimes. You know what I'm saying?

And then other times we have full length, which is I bring on my successful ass kicking friends and we talk about how they kick so much ass and how you can kick some ass too. So that's the run of the show. And we do have a fee, and the fee is very simple. We don't run ads on the show. We don't run ads for the show, but we grow this show completely off word of mouth. So if you like the show, if it made you think, if it gave you some information, if it made you laugh, if it entertained you, if it was worth listening to in any regard, please share the show. You don't have to share it

on social media, but at least tell someone about it. Say, hey man, give this a listen. This is good stuff because we're trying to change things here and we're trying

to make people better and we need your help to do so. So that's the fee. So what's happening, bro? I got some, I got three good ones for you. You do? All right.

Maintaining the tradition here. That's right. That's right.. You do? All right. Maintaining the tradition here. That's right. That's right. Stay on track. All right. Let's get started, man. Question number one. I own a power washing business.

And as I hire more employees to handle more customers, I noticed that their quality of work is not as good as I want them to be. And it affects the business as a whole. So when you're growing your business and you're growing yourself, how do you get your team to operate at the same standard that you do? Okay. Very good question. First of all, it is very, very important to audit your own standard for the real standard that you're living. Because a lot of times, and even I do this sometimes, we tell ourselves we're doing a very good job when in

reality we're doing 80% or 70% of what we could do. So the first thing that we have to do is we have to assess ourselves. We have to say, okay, am I really being a leader? Am I really living to the standard? Am I really doing what I'm asking them to do? Because the truth of leadership is this. You could tell people all you want, but they're going to do what you do. And that's the truth. So if they're not living to your standard, I would say the chances are you're probably not living quite to the standard as well. And they're picking up on that. And that can be very, this, and what I need you guys to understand is that the amount of, of slack that can throw an entire team off standard is very small.

Okay. If they see you cut any sort of corner, if they see you, you know, you power wash the whole deck and you miss a four by four square on the corner, they're going to notice that. Right.

And they're going to adopt that as the standard. Even if you're saying we do everything perfect and it's perfect all the time. So the first thing is to audit yourself. Now, if you audit yourself and you feel like you are doing everything to standard a hundred percent of the time, that's when you have to start educating people on why it matters that they live to that standard as well, because the collective good and solving the problem is actually good for the individual good. And when you're working as a team, and what I mean by that is this, if they understand that when they go do a power washing job, that when it's perfect, it gets us other jobs, which offers them more money, which maintains the standard of growth in the company, and that that will increase their position in the company

and their ability to lead and their importance and their credibility and their pay. Now you're taking a situation from telling someone to do something to a standard and inspiring them to do it on their own. And there's a big difference, right? People are much more likely to follow their own inspiration than they are to follow directions from a leader. So your job is to create a vision within your power washing company that we're going to become such a great power washing company. We're going to do things like nobody else has ever done. And when we get there, you guys who are at the beginning right now, you're going to be the guys

running this. So it's very important that we all maintain the standards so that we can all grow together. And then you have to back that up. So a lot of people will say those kinds of things and then never back them up. And then what that does is that makes the team lose trust in the owner or the CEO or the operator. And then after that, when they lose trust in you, it's really hard to get that back. So the important thing is to try to cut it off by living to the standard 100% that you can. The second step is to pull them in

and consistently communicate with them how important it is that they finish at the standard because of what it means to their life down the road. Because the truth of the matter is most people show up to work. They want to put their time in, they want to get paid and they want to naturally progress just for being there for a long time. That's just not how it works. Okay. It's not reality. So your job as the, as the leader is not just to dictate the jobs, but also to get them to think about their future and how today relates to what their life is going to look like five years from now. Because the truth of the matter is, guys, this is how life works. You trade a day of struggle

today for a day of prosperity down the road. That's what it is. And if you can get people to understand that, that when you make an investment of, of intentional struggle today to improve, that you have an easier time, you know, whether it be 90 days from now or a year from now, or five years from now, um, that can, that can help people realize like how important it is to execute the day. And, um, I think those three things, and then, you know, making sure that you, you, you live up to, to what what you promise like you have to actually grow the company you have to actually Work to create what it is. You're promising Because if you don't do that, they won't trust you and then you they won't work at all

I feel like that's what happens most of the time people think that they have a position and that everybody should listen to them Just because they have the position. Yeah, for sure. Leadership is not a label, dude. Leadership is a skill that you execute. You always say it, it's a 360. You lead from the front, back, left, and from, you say this all the time. That's right. No matter what position you're in, you're leading everybody at all times. You just don't realize it. Yeah, because people are watching. And so you are either leading people to be better or you are leading people to be worse. And the reason people lead people to be worse isn't because they want people to be worse. It's because they misunderstand their own value. And they don't

understand that even if you're someone right now who is struggling in life, there's still people that look at you for leadership. And they might not say, Hey, I look at Z Sean as a leader, but like, if I look at you and you're, you've given up, well, I'm much more likely to give up too, because I'm like, okay, well, my friend Z Sean, he gave up, you know, everybody's given up. And that's the, that's the plague that we have in society right now. So you have to realize the opportunity to lead has never been easier because there's so few leaders.

And all you have to do is live to the standard that you want because people are going to follow. Absolutely. And no matter how big your smaller voice is. Totally. Totally, bro. There's a sub question that came to my mind is what happens if you are living completely on top of your standard?

You're doing everything that you can and you're still seeing somebody in your company who's not doing what you would want them to propagate. Is that with the presumption that there's other people that are? Yes. Okay. So there might be like- A straggler. Yeah. There might be like, say, a team of 10 people, and you see two people or three people not doing the same thing. So one thing I want to ask you is that, is that because you're not,

the leader is not as good at educating them, or is there any other reason that you can think of? No, there's lots of reasons, man. You know, sometimes people have like crazy shit going on at home. Sometimes, uh, you know, I mean, there's all kinds of reasons, but we have to get back to the American culture of like, Hey man, we can't bring our therapy sessions to work. Like we have a job to do. We got to do the job here. And you know, I care about people, but I can't afford to carry everybody's mental energy all the time. Like I think work has become this blended thing where it's like you're now we're dealing with not just how good the job is, but we're dealing with people's personal issues or their struggles or this or that. And if you want to be a great leader, you have to know how to, how to address those things properly. Um, sometimes when there's two, two people that

aren't doing it, um, usually what the case is, is that one of them is a cancer and he's got the ear of the other one and they've convinced the other one that this... So sometimes, basically how to address that is to pull the person that you think the source of it is aside. Maybe take them to lunch or take them to dinner. Have a talk with them. See where they're at. And maybe it's time to go the separate ways. You know what I mean?

It doesn't mean they're a bad person, but what you really want to make sure that doesn't happen is that those people uh corrupt the rest of the people who are doing what they can they degrade the culture yes yes so you have to you know i'm i'm sort of a like i i'm kind of like a three strikes and you're out kind of person you know what i'm saying like i'll like you know a couple times you got a problem i work with you as long as you've earned that credit with me, that you're, that you're, we're operating with a good faith. Um, and then, you know, if it gets to be a problem, it becomes a solution of, Hey man, you know, I know this isn't really your thing. Let's try to

help you find something where you're going to be productive. Cause like, dude, I believe that everybody can be a winner. I believe that not everybody can be a winner at everything. Correct. You know? So a lot of times there's a good book by this, by Jim Collins called Good to Great, where it talks about getting the right people in the right spots. And what I've found in business is that when you get the people, the right people in the right spots where they're more conducive to operate, it creates a much better, less stressful product. They shine.

Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. And it gives them self-worth too absolutely confidence and all that great i love it i love it i gotta maintain second question how do you assess when you have done enough work for the day and it's a personal question yeah yeah no matter what kind of work you're doing so it seems no matter how much i get done i always feel like i'm behind and there's a

ton more work to do so have you ever struggled with this in your life? And what are the points that you can suggest to overcome this? Yeah, for sure, dude. Go listen to episode 16 on the Real AF feed. It's called Win the Day. This will describe my entire system for how I manage this process. Because the truth of the matter is there will always be other things to do. Your list is a mile long. All your guys' lists are a mile long.

Everybody listening here, there's always going to be more work. So how do we continue to accomplish the work without feeling like it's all we do? So the answer to that is we have to chop that down into critical tasks. Okay. And what I've, my system, which is called the power list, I use five critical tasks per day. And those five critical tasks, they're not to-do lists. These are not things like that are habit for me. Like for me, working out is a habit, eating right is a habit. Now it might not be for you. So this might go on your list in the beginning, but for me it is. So the whole key to using this list properly is that you have to know where you're

going and you have to be able to backtrack that into what it looks like on a daily basis. So for me, my power list at this point in time, it's always very specific actions. Have this meeting, make this phone call, email this person, talk to this person, make sure this task is on track. Very specific things like recording a podcast is not on my power list. That's just something I have to do. So identifying your critical tasks and executing them. And there's five of them every day. I was just about to ask you because I've heard and have been in discussions with so many people that add seven, eight, 10, 12. Let me tell you why that's bad. There's only five.

And you, I, everybody else, you don't have nothing to prove to me. Like, I know you got a huge swinging wiener. Like, all right, I know you're badass. I know you're a bad bitch. I know. We can all do more than five. But the reason that we only do five is because we can easily accomplish five critical tasks every day.

All right. And what that does is that gives us a win for the day. And that's a fucking win. And a win builds confidence. And when you start to realize that you won Monday and you won Tuesday and you won Wednesday and you won Thursday, what you're doing is you're building and investing the belief that you can accomplish what it is you're trying to do. And that's very important. And if we add 10 things on there and we only get seven done, did we get more than five? Yes, we did. But over the course of 30 days, what will eventually happen is you'll train yourself that you never accomplish anything, which gets us back to the original question.

Okay. So the whole point of my power list, like everybody's like, oh, Andy, you work so hard. Yes, I do. But I also fuck off real hard too. Okay. And I want to do that on purpose. So when my five tasks are done for the day, I'm done. I don't think about it. I don't think about it any more than what are my next five for the next day. I'm free to live my life. I, you know, I hang around my house. I hang around and, you know, or sometimes I walk around the office

and I see what I can help with or whatever I got to do. It's a heavily misunderstood fact because people think somebody like you is on the go running 24 hours. It doesn't have to be that way, nor do you want it that way. And the truth of the matter is,

is, you know, it's the tortoise or the hare story. You know, do they tell that story in India? Yeah. Okay. I didn't know, man. It's an international story. All right, cool. I didn't know, but like, you know, it is the small consistent wins over the course of the day will always, always, always beat someone who works in

bursts. Okay. So if you're able to work this way and then every day still have, you know, like, dude, if I get my five tasks done by 10 AM, guess what? I'm going to do a shit the rest of the day, right? Now, could I get 20 done that day? Sure, I could. But the problem is I probably won't. And what will happen is I have to put an L and I'll know in my heart that I didn't finish what I said I was going to do, which dilutes the confidence that I have in my own abilities, right?

Which starts to create anxiety and it starts to create frustration. And it starts to create that feeling that we're talking about, which is like, I can never get anything done. So the easy solution here is the power list. So go listen to the episode, uh, number 16, listen to it all the way through. Make sure you do it exactly as I say, because a lot of people misinterpret how to use it because what they do is they think it's a to-do list you know oh uh workout laundry yeah right laundry that is not your power list bro we're talking about critical tasks that create progress towards where you're trying to go in life in your in your career in your in your family everything um and you only need to do five and if you do five every day and you win every day, you're going to fucking win period.

Like there's no denying you. So, um, don't overwhelm yourself with things just because you have the time. Like we're supposed to live life too. And this is the system that I've used to create the hack to still get everything done. Um, and from all indications that I can tell, it works pretty good. You see what I'm saying? Absolutely. And I still have a pretty good time.

I'm not going totally crazy, just like most of the way. You know what I'm saying? And the cool fact is you still use it to the day. Yeah, yeah. So that's amazing. I use actually the same power list. I use the same exact power list that I used back when I started it. Yes.

It's on my desk. And you said that you just replace the pages. Yeah, that's right. I just buy the inserts. And we do have a journal if you want to buy it. It's on my desk. And you said that you just replace the pages. Yeah, that's right. I just buy the inserts. So we do have a journal if you want to buy it. It's really cool. The journal is on the website, andyfrusella.com. It's really cool.

And what I like about the journal that people do is they like fill the journals and they get another one. And like, dude, there's people with stacks 10 high. And like, dude, if you could look at a stack of journals 10 high and see all your wins. How great that's going to make you feel. You know, there's nothing more you could be doing. And then you can also teach your kids how to do the same. Yes.

Don't you have a kids power list as well? Yeah. So that's an amazing thing I can feel. Because kids, if they can learn at 6, 7, 8, 9 years old, think how great they could be at 20, 21. That's right. Bro, it's the only way shit gets done. That's the solution to everything, I think. It is.

It is. And that's why you have the children's books and stuff like that. Next question, sir. There seems to be a dichotomy in between quality and speed of production. So I make high-end home office furniture. And I have a hard time balancing product quality and production times. So there's a demand for the product and people want it fast. So is it best to crank out a slightly lesser product quicker to meet the demand? Or should

I keep my focus on making the best product, even if it does take longer for the customer to get it? That's a branding question, okay? that's a question where you want to decide where your brand's position at. Okay. You know, typically in any industry you have, you have, you know, I call it, they call it good, better, best. Okay. But a lot of times it's not good, better, best. It's like shit and then decent and then good. Right. That's how I think of it. I like to position my, my products and my companies in the best category. That's where I'm most comfortable dealing. I have no problem with someone saying, Hey, I can't afford your products or they're too expensive, but I have a really, I really don't like when people say,

Hey, you make bad shit. That, that bothers me because I want to do the best job that I can, like you guys do. So that's more of a personal decision about that person's company of where do I want to, where am I comfortable with my brand being? Do I want to be in the middle? So I'm a moderate price, less quality, maybe more volume, but, um, do I want to be in the, in the replaceable Ikea furniture every 12 months? Which obviously there's a successful model there. There's a successful model in the middle. And there's also a successful model in the high end. None of these make more money than the others.

They all make money. You have like, like a lot of the supplement companies that sell like the regular level shit. I mean, they make a lot of money, right? A lot of the people who were kind of in the middle, they make a lot of money. A lot of people who were in the best category, they do well too. It's just more so how do you want people to perceive your brand? You have to, you just have to make a choice. Where do I want to be? And, um, that really comes down to where you're most comfortable with the pluses and minuses, uh, personally, because like like I said like my main reason that I

want to make good things is because I care about solving the problem and I know I'm going to get criticized either way right like if I made a if I made a lesser quality product that was cheaper I would have people telling me you know so and so is better than you correct and I don't like that correct you know so on a personal level I want to try to be the best in all areas. And I know I'm not the best in all areas. Like I know there's things that people do better than me, but it's a constant battle, right? Like I'd like to think not as much as it used to be, but I'm always looking for the other

guys who are doing things at the best level and not just in our industry, in all industries. And I'm picking up little things about how to do it there and how to do it there and how to do it there. So I think the answer to that question is that I don't really have the direct answer they're looking for, but I think the question that they really need to assess is where do you want to be? Where are you comfortable with the rub? And the rub means the negative part of whatever decision you make okay because like every decision there's going to be pluses and there's going to be minuses absolutely um so where where are you most comfortable with the rub you know i'm more comfortable with people saying and this goes for anything i'm involved in nothing i'm involved in no company i'm involved in

nothing nothing nothing is the cheapest i just don't do it that way. I try to do the best. I don't worry about what the cost it is to manufacture or put on or create. And then I try to charge a fair price for it. And so I'm more comfortable with that. I get satisfaction out of people saying, man, dude, that's really good. This is the best thing I've ever done. That's it. And that's what I try to do. And that's where I'm comfortable at.

And I'm comfortable personally pursuing that all the time. You know? Um, that is why I would say somebody like you never gets complacent. Well, I can't because I have to be good because I've chosen to be in that area. Right now, if I chose to be in the middle area, I could probably be more hands off, you know, but I'm also going to receive the criticism that I'm not comfortable with. You know what I mean? Correct. So if like, if you want to produce more furniture that's less quality, you have to understand

that people are going to say sometimes, hey, your shit kind of sucks sometimes. Are you okay with that? Or are you not? You see what I'm saying? Correct. Does it make sense? Depends person to person. I think it does too.

What are your preferences? Yeah. And I don't think it's a money situation. I don't think it's like, I think you'll make money whichever way you go. It's just a personal assessment of where you're most comfortable

operating your brand. Absolutely. Does that make sense? Absolutely. Does that make sense? All right, cool. Cool, is that three? Yes, that's three.

Go pay the fee. We're going to have to fire DJ. DJ gets fired on his day off alright bro I'll just take a small moment because I got the mic to just say that

the team here does absolute great work and we get amazing drive from you and all the team here Joe, Medat

Keith every one of us we love you and we everybody does great work here. Like how you were saying about 360D leadership. I couldn't never be the person that I am without you, without these guys. So I just want to take a moment.

Bro, I appreciate it. But that's the truth for me, bro. Like that's why like when people come up to me and they say, oh, dude, you're so awesome. It's like, no, bro, I'm just good at what I do. All you guys make the show. I think Ed Milet posted a video a few days ago. No millionaire or billionaire is self-made. It's always a teamwork.

That's right. That's right. And I love you guys for what you do, man. You guys do a fucking great job. I love you guys. Appreciate you guys. Talk to you next time. We're from sleeping on the floor Now my jewelry box froze Fuck a bowl, fuck a stove Counted millions in the cold

Bad bitch, booted swole Got her on bankroll Can't fold, that's a no Headshot, case closed