Business Focus Weekly
A publication focused on helping your business to grow and become more focused.
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ActionCOACH
Hot Tip of the Week
What drives your business?
Do you know why you are in business or why people will buy from you vs. a competitor?
Answering these questions can take some soul searching and a bit of research...
See below for more detail.
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Copper Creek Landscaping
Owner: Matt Barton
Coaching since: 2018
5616 North Market Street
Spokane, WA 99208
(509) 240-1713
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Greatest benefit of coaching
Barton said that the greatest benefit he's experienced has been two-fold:
Developing systems and working on the business and "Having a counterpart to run and work ideas through and challenge me to think differently."
He cited that Ted Schmidt has the ability to ask the right questions to get him to think through and solve important business problems.
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Client Spotlight: Copper Creek Landscaping |
Picture yourself laying in your backyard on a warm, sunny day. Birds are flying into the flowering trees, the sun is reflecting off of the water from the cerulean blue pool and casting moving shadows over the brick outdoor kitchen, and your kids are playing hide-and-seek around the boulder-defined coves while the seagrasses dance in the breeze.
If you can picture this setting, you may have some idea of the services provided by Copper Creek Landscaping, a company started by Matt Barton.
While it sounds expensive to create a backyard oasis, Barton said, "People are at home more and want to invest in their properties. Our future is strong because people want outdoor entertainment and a better lifestyle in their backyards."
He also noted that because Spokane and Coeur d'Alene have been experiencing a real estate boom with people moving from California, Seattle, Scottsdale, and Portland, that there are plenty of folks buying into a less expensive real estate market with money to spend on the yard of their dreams.
Barton started coaching with ActionCOACH Northwest and Coach Ted Schmidt in 2018 when, "I was at a funky point in my business, I had a lot of growth," but he found that he was still working a lot of hours, didn't have systems in place to manage the business, and wanted to be better at managing.
He also wanted someone objective and knowledgeable to "bounce ideas off," separate from the team at his office.

By Jennifer Ferrero, APR, DTM, video editing by Kendal Cler, team support specialist
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Well Dressed Walrus
Owners: Curt Stockwell and Andy Dentone
2021 is taking the well-established and well-liked, Well Dressed Walrus in a new direction.
The company is known for professional website design, hosting and marketing. In recent years they have aligned themselves with StoryBrand which teaches companies how to create strategic messaging to grow their businesses.
Stockwell and partner Andy Dentone, have committed to offering the StoryBrand messaging model to their customers.
Now in 2021, they are going to take it a step further and offer business coaching focused on five key areas:
- Marketing made simple
- Mission made simple
- Hero on a mission
- StoryBrand messaging framework
- Communication made simple
Well Dressed Walrus is prepared to help regional businesses to understand their audiences and how to best communicate with them to improve their business.
Well Dressed Walrus
(509) 309-0975
Tapio Professional Center
Turquoise Flag Bldg., Suite 227B
104 S Freya St,
Spokane WA 99202
By Jennifer Ferrero, APR, DTM
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Pacific Lawn Maintenance
Owner: Josh Demers
In 2006 Josh Demers, owner of Pacific Lawn Maintenance finished high school and his first order of business was to become an entrepreneur.
Starting solo, he has now expanded the business to 30+ employees serving Spokane and the surrounding areas with a full- service lawn care and landscape maintenance operation.
They take over once landscaping has been completed, or when a homeowner wants help maintaining the property. They target homeowners who value their homes and properties and want a quality maintenance crew.
"We are a one-stop shop for everything outdoor. We do everything from mowing the lawn to trimming bushes, to servicing sprinklers," and much more, according to Demers.
He said they offer snow removal and aesthetics during the winter as well.
Demers is not just motivated by profit or growing a bigger business - he wants to offer a "Wonderful place to work." And, Demers takes care of his people, "No questions asked," he said.
He added, "The team is number one and customers always follow a great team!"
Pacific Lawn Maintenance
(509) 218-1775
jdemers@pacific-lawn.com
Spokane, WA 99217
By Jennifer Ferrero, APR, DTM
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Spokane Roofing
Owner: Jeff Sitton
TS: Tell us about your business.
JS: Spokane Roofing has been in business for 20 years. We do mostly commercial roofing, with some residential. We are the only roofing company in the area that can do all phases of roofing. Our primary work is as a public work contractor. We have a great commercial service department.
TS: Who is your target customer?
JS: Government projects – for the most part, but we do it all.
TS: What has been the greatest impact of COVID-19 on your business?
JS: Lost a lot of backlog and we down sized – reduced staff. Did a PPP loan, which was good. We adapted to the safety procedures – hand wash stations, etc.
TS: What are one or two actions you’ve taken to make a difference?
JS: We have shifted to other types of work. We have focused more on providing services, and less on projects. This helps some customers with deferring replacing, we scaled services.
TS: What is a mistake you’ve made along the way that other people can learn from?
JS: Before you scale you better have your infrastructure & process dialed in, or you will struggle. You must have systems in place.
TS: What is inspiring to you today?
JS: There are a lot of blessings in life that inspire me daily. There has been a lot of bad with COVID, but a lot of good may come out of it as well. My biggest inspiration is that we as people will prevail and we will get through this.
Spokane Roofing
(509) 903-9855
130 E Sprague Ave
Spokane, WA 99202
By Ted Schmidt, certified business coach
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Bulldog Rooter
Owner: Butch Jumalon
Bulldog Rooter, a Spokane-based 3.5 million company with 30 employees is named after an English Bulldog named Boxcar. Butch Jumalon, owner, started the business in 2007 after three years of researching and planning for business ownership.
The company offers full-service plumbing primarily residential service and repair. Jumalon said, "We are willing to do anything and everything - for the plumbing side, leaks, repairs, water heaters, and water filtration systems. On the drain side, mostly sewer lines and drain cleaning.”
Jumalon started coaching with ActionCOACH Northwest and Coach Ted Schmidt in 2011. He said that he knew how to do the work, but needed help running the business. “Each year we were doing more revenues, but everyone was getting paid except for me. In 2011 were we trickling along at about a ½ million in revenue. When Ted came into the picture, inviting Ted into the business was tough, we had been doing things in a different way.” He added, “There is an ego for business owners.”
Bulldog Rooter
(509) 535-3447
dispatch@bulldogrooter.com
3627 E Olive Ave
Spokane, WA 99202
By Jennifer Ferrero, APR, DTM
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Coming Events
Space is limited, register today!
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UPDATED! ActionCLUB - Business education in a weekly format for business owners. Meets Wednesdays from 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., 12 weeks, weekly sessions. Free to clients, only $99/month for non-clients. Learn more. The next cohort of ActionCLUB begins January 13 and runs for 12 weeks.
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Useful Business Thought of the Week |
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What's the driving force behind your business?
By Jennifer Ferrero, APR, DTM
Most people will say that they open a business to make a living ~ on their own terms. Or, perhaps they had an amazing idea that no one else has brought to market - remember "The Clapper" a product that allowed you to lay in bed and clap off your lights?
Nowadays we have Alexa and can command the lights off. But as you can see there are always new products and services that can come to market and be successful.
What will drive your product or service to be more successful over another?
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Product - If you have something truly unique, and you are first to market, this could be a driver.
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Price - Maybe you offer the best price for the type of product or service in the market; but remember cheapest doesn't always win out!
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Placement - Perhaps you have hired a whiz-bang marketing team who has found your market niche and knows how to "talk" to your specific audience to get them to act.
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Profit - Maybe your success is driven by the profit in that people see the value despite your mark-up and they need to have it.
Once you know what your key driver(s) are, then you can do competitive research that will really help to set you apart. Marketing is key and you want to market non-stop - don't ever take a booming business for granted!
Last - always innovate and come up with new ways to reach new customers, create new products or services, and/or reach new markets.
If all of this sounds overwhelming, you aren't alone! Call ActionCOACH Northwest if you need help with any of these areas 509-455-5053.
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