Buying Then Losing a $2.1m HVAC Business

So I was like, I guess I'll have to drive off the interstate sometime. I also had some of what I considered to be some of the most ridiculous resistance from employees on anything technology related. They had a, a time clock that they like punched in a manual piece of paper and then the secretary added it all up each week and took her about four hours to do payroll.

And I was like, this is ridiculous. Like, why don't we just, there's an app we can download on our phones and then it sends it to her and we know the time and then she can just like save four hours of her time. The amount of fight I got on that guys like threatened to quit.

Dan, Dan, let's linger on this because this is a classic pattern and we're told that any change, but technology change in particular can be, it can be surprisingly shockingly resisted.

Yeah.

And, and so just, and it, and it, it's, it is kind of mysterious because this is such a good example because it seems like such a minor change and to everyone's benefit, you know, but as we know, humans don't like change. But so what I want to ask you is like just having gone through that experience and seeing this like eruption, this protest, do you understand, like help, help listeners…

I think, you know, for me, one of, one of the, the things that I was woefully unprepared for is most of my career in corporate America, you do things to provide return to shareholders when you're the only shareholder. It's really hard to justify any sort of action to other people that may change their life. Like this is, I can't go tell them this will provide better return to shareholders, which…

I can say this is good for the business, this is what the business needs. This makes us sustainable. I didn't let them in on like, hey, we're down 55% EBITDA and like the other 50 is going to, to the bank like this.

We're going to close if we don't do Things like this, I, I guess I could have gone that route, but I don't know that it would have been helpful. I think one of the. You have to get people's buy in when you're doing any sort of technology change. And I think the way to do it is to talk to people individually.

I made the huge mistake of that. I like made an announcement in a stand up and then I just became the punching bag for the like there's two really whiny people and those were the ones that like threw a big fit. But the, you know, getting people.

So it's, it's that part of the psychology is that I guess I'm pressing because I don't, I, I want to understand it beyond just like people don't like change which. Okay. And maybe that is, maybe that is the answer. But I'm just, But what I also just think I heard you said is that like a change like this they all perceive as benefiting just you.

So it's just like, it's just like it seems like you as new owner are disrupting their lives to line your pockets and it's just kind of this selfish move by you. And so is that kind of how it lands you think?