AC Lockyer: 0:12

Hey, this is AC Locke here and this is Building a Lifestyle Business and this is aloha time. I guess We've got Randy and Roger Kaikoula, did I get that right?

Randy Kaikula: 0:24

Yes, all right, good, perfect got Randy an

AC Lockyer: 0:27

Yes, excellent, because I'm so worried about mispronouncing names. It's awful. And so you guys are with Tiki's SoftW ash. And what kind of tell us about the, the area where you guys service? You're one of our California companies.

Randy Kaikula: 0:43

That's right. We're in Rancho Cucamonga, California. It's more of the Southern California area, San Bernardino County, right next to LA County, just to kind of give people perspective and we're about two hours north of San Diego. So, yeah, that's where we're at. There's a lot of work to do out in this area, so that's why we are in a good spot.

AC Lockyer: 1:07

And that's another thing that's always Rancho Cucamonga. It's like, wow, I can't get over the pronunciations. It just drives me crazy. I guess I'm too Southeast United States. Yeah, no, I get it.

Randy Kaikula: 1:24

I've actually had somebody on a Zoom call ask me is that a real place? I know that it did come out in one of the movies I think it was Friday with Ice Cube. They talked about Rancho Cucamonga. But yeah, it's a real place, man, it's a weird name, but it's a real place.

Randy Kaikula: 1:40

It's been in TV shows a couple times.

AC Lockyer: 1:42

Yeah, yeah, very. It's been in TV shows a couple times. Yeah, yeah, very, very cool. And so yeah so tell me about you guys Give me a little bit of biographical information. I know you guys have a very distinctive Hawaiian theme going on and a very kind of distinctive Hawaiian last name. So give us the background on all of this and you know where do you guys come from and what do you like to do and all that fun stuff.

Roger Kaikula: 2:13

Yeah, you want to start off your bio, sure? Well, I drove a truck for 34 years and got to the end of it, to where it was like I'm not happy with this anymore. Well, it wasn't really I wasn't happy, it was just I was done doing that. I've been in it for a long time, randy, and I talked about it and he said, well, let's's figure that out. And then he called me up one day and said let's go to lunch, I need to talk to you about something. And he found this. And that's how that kind of came about. We thought about it for a long time. I mean, we sat and talked about it for quite a long time and then, when we said, okay, we're going to jump into this is when I was like perfect, because I don't want to be on the road anymore. I was done.

AC Lockyer: 2:48

But that's not the non-softwashy stuff. We're talking business here and everything else. Where are you guys from? Give me the background. Oh, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Roger Kaikula: 3:11

The non-softwashy age, everything I am 61. Yeah, uh, been with my wife for 27 years.

Roger Kaikula: 3:13

Uh, we met at a bar that actually she was running karaoke at and now awesome love karaoke.

Roger Kaikula: 3:15

Yeah, I've been doing it for 27 years awesome yeah and uh. She had weird sayings to me all night long and and I didn't really want anything to do with her. And she came up and took the book away and said if you're not going to sing, and she walked off. I'm like wait, no, no, no. I walked up to her and said, well, I guess I'll sing a song. And that's how it all started.

AC Lockyer: 3:35

Well, there you go yeah.

Randy Kaikula: 3:37

So, yeah, man, so I'm 54 and I've been with my wife now coming up by 18 years. We have a 14 year old and he's attending. He's a freshman this year and so he's attending Western Christian Academy. It's awesome, man. It's going to be a really, really cool four years for him. Wow, he's been kind of my hobby for ever since he was born, but you know, baseball and coaching and all that stuff is awesome, wow, awesome. He's been kind of my hobby ever since he was born, but baseball and coaching and all that stuff is awesome. I do have two older daughters from previous marriage and I have three grandkids, so I love it. Man, I'm having a blast with that. Getting a new puppy to bump yeah, we're also getting a new puppy.

AC Lockyer: 4:21

Oh, what kind of dog are you getting?

Randy Kaikula: 4:25

so we got um, we have a golden retriever. Now we're getting a golden doodle. So, uh, we we did put it on facebook. Dina, my wife was sitting in the middle of all of them and she had it. You know, it's her turn to pick. So, um, we, she picked a cutie man, so we pick them up tomorrow. It's gonna be cool, we're excited.

AC Lockyer: 4:46

While we're on dogs. So I have grand dogs and, uh, karen and I have a cat, cause we travel too much to have dogs, but of course, um, my, my daughter, ellen, her husband, uh, they have a English pointer. Oh, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful dog. His name is Ziggs. Ziggs loves me. He loves me so much that he jumped up on the bed, rolled all over my top gun jacket and peed all over it. Oh, that was his side of affection.

Randy Kaikula: 5:20

Yeah, that's how they show it.

AC Lockyer: 5:21

Yeah, and. But Ziggs is beautiful, has all the freckles on him, he's just a beautiful dog and just muscle man, just not an ounce of fat on him, yeah. And then Deirdre came with a golden retriever, oh yeah, so another golden, and her name is Layla. Like the song, layla no-transcript. She's cute, the one dog that my wife and I saw that we might like, because we like smaller dogs, big dogs, hard to get on boats and stuff like that. They took a King charles charles terrier and a poodle and crossed them and so it's uh, I forget what they called it, but it's, you know, got hair instead of fur and it's curly, but it's the size of a king charles with the loppy ears and everything else, and they are just so cute. Oh, oh, my goodness yeah.

Randy Kaikula: 6:45

I actually just won another dog and then my wife showed me the puppies and I couldn't take it.

AC Lockyer: 6:49

It was too much. It was too much. I'll spend $1,500 on the dog.

Roger Kaikula: 6:55

Yeah exactly. We have small ones, but I have a nine-month-old Belgian Malinois. Oh really, wow, and he's a monster. Yeah, Actually, mixed with the Great Pyrenees.

AC Lockyer: 7:08

Oh, he wasn't big enough, so that you went ahead and put Great Pyrenees in there, yeah, so what kind of vacuum fleeter do you own, right?

Roger Kaikula: 7:20

A couple of them right, a couple of them. Yeah, I usually go behind the door I'm like, oh, oh, there's another dog back here. That's right, it's like your mattress is really soft, oh yeah it's from every time we empty the vacuum cleaner we just put it in the mattress oh my goodness, unreal.

AC Lockyer: 7:45

Well, that's cool, and so you guys have a real hawaiian kilt on everything that you do. Are you guys originally from hawaii?

Randy Kaikula: 7:52

yes, yes, um, we are from, uh, lahaina, maui, and unfortunately, I burned down. Um, we were just talking to a customer this morning and, uh, we had a job that we did this morning and she absolutely loved Maui when she visited, and so that was a big conversation and talking about how it's never going to be the same now. My understanding is they're looking more to create a smart city or something like that. Is what they've been talking about, is what I've heard. So, unfortunately, that'll take away a lot of the traditional. Yeah, um feel about the whole, that whole city there and, uh, luckily, our grandmother, which is tutu, is buried right there on front street in a very small cemetery, and so, um, front street's a big, big place, uh, where everybody goes right, one of the one of the places everybody goes there in Lahaina, and so my wife and I were married in Lahaina or on Maui and we stayed there in Lahaina. It was a really, really cool place, and then we're just a little worried that they're not going to do it justice.

AC Lockyer: 8:56

Yeah, and I've talked to other people, of course you know we've got actual soft wash companies there on the island and donovan's over there, and he said that because the property is so valuable that the people can't rebuild on it. Like the big thing on hawaii was multi-generational houses, houses that were passed down and passed down and passed down, and that allowed people that aren't slathered in money. You know super wealthy people. You know, if you weren't super wealthy, that allowed you to live on that island, but that the houses were destroyed and everything. They're just big conglomerates now just coming in and buying up all the time. It's. It's just going to completely change the kind of homey feel that Hawaii once had and it's just going to make it very, very, very tourism and, like you said, a smart city. Who wants to go to Hawaii and see a smart city or live in a smart city or whatever? That's not what we want out of Hawaii.

Roger Kaikula: 10:00

We're going to take away the look of it and everything. That's not going to be the same.

Randy Kaikula: 10:03

Yeah, it's not going to be the same at all, unfortunately, but that's where we're from and so we kind of brought that same feel into our business and we wanted to keep that sort of theme going. And so that's where Tiki came from. Tiki is our mascot and we kind of went with that because we felt that it would be able to give us that little Polynesian type of feel. You guys, I can tell you that Softwash Systems Madeline absolutely nailed it. We were so happy with it. When we saw it we were blown away. The wrap, the shirts.

Randy Kaikula: 10:41

We get compliments on our brand all the time and it's just, it was, it's incredible, it's an incredible but you guys could totally sell your shirts and like people off the street, would just buy them we actually we talked about, we're a taco place and the guy goes hey, I need one of your shirts. I'm like what do?

Roger Kaikula: 10:59

we get that not for sale. Yeah, it's definitely a great brand. We've. We've really built um a great brand in our community and people really enjoy it. Yeah.

AC Lockyer: 11:10

Yeah, so I remember when you guys came down to discover soft wash and all and I know this is kind of soft washy, but I remember it's a good segue into this when you guys first came down to discover soft wash you were planning on calling the company something else. I can't remember, but I remember I talked you out of it. What were you going to call it?

Randy Kaikula: 11:26

Yeah, you were saying that. Hey, because it was going to be called Maui Bros, soft Maui Bros, that's right, yes. You mentioned the fact that there's going to be a geographical issue with that, and I think you were right. But talking us into rebranding was probably the best thing that we could have ever done. We already had the mascot, and so your suggestion was brand around the mascot, and so I think that was probably the best thing that we could have done.

AC Lockyer: 11:54

Yeah, because you have. Were you calling him Tiki by that point, or did we just yeah? And so I remember you showed us the mascot. I went well, that's what you need to call your company. It's Tiki's, tiki's. Your guy, it's Tiki's soft wash yeah.

Roger Kaikula: 12:14

It sounded better anyways.

AC Lockyer: 12:18

There's so many things and novelties and stuff that you can find of little Tiki's and stuff like that. They probably have Tiki stress balls. It's hard to find stuff that's can find of little tiki's and stuff like that tiki, they probably have tiki stress balls, and you know, it's hard to find stuff that's maui and and people would have been like, why did maui show up on my google search? I mean, I don't need to call a company in maui, you know, and so, yeah, I remember that whole conversation and that's that's one of the things we really try to do at soft wash systems to steer all these companies to the right place. So the brand has really been singing for you guys and it really attracts people absolutely.

Randy Kaikula: 12:52

We've definitely gotten calls just from our truck driving around. In fact, we got a job where this, uh this one customer called and said hey, um, I couldn't remember the name of the company, but I remembered the Tiki on the side of the truck and I do also cleaning company and you guys popped right up so that you know worked out perfect yeah that's the plan.

AC Lockyer: 13:15

Right, that is the plan. That is the plan. All right. So now you started into uh, talking about being a truck driver and all that kind of stuff, going to lunch and and so what made you really decide that you guys wanted to be entrepreneurs?

Randy Kaikula: 13:34

you know, um, dad, dad was an entrepreneur his whole life. So in Hawaii he owned a lawnmower business, maintenance business, and so he was one of the guys who figured out there's a product that you can put on the elements of the lawnmower that would keep it from rusting quickly. So people were calling it. Plus, he had this whole setup in his van where he would sharpen the blades and do all kinds of work right there for the customer, and so we watched him as an entrepreneur our whole life. We moved out here. He ended up opening a lawnmower shop in Ontario, and so we kind of grew up watching him be an entrepreneur. So that's kind of where that came from.

Randy Kaikula: 14:23

Unfortunately for myself, I worked in corporate for a lot of years and at one point I won't try to get too far off base but COVID kind of changed everything for me. I'll just was I refused to take the vaccine at one point, so sure one of our customers, um, pushed me out because I would. I refused to do that, and so, um, that kind of that's sort of what changed my path. He was already on on the hey, I, I'm, I'm burned out on this, I don't want to do this anymore. So we. That's how we got.

AC Lockyer: 14:54

You know, we ended up getting together like that well, that's, I mean, that's, that's a totally legitimate reason is because when you do work for somebody else, you don't have a lot of choice, you're not in control of your schedule and everything else. And the government did come in and mandate for a while that if you were unvaccinated, you know you couldn't go to work and anyway it just kind of stunk that our, our freedom of choice was taken away from us.

AC Lockyer: 15:21

And we try not to get too political on this but I thought it was all I thought it was supposed to be about choice for crying out loud, and now you're turning around telling me I can't have a choice.

AC Lockyer: 15:30

I mean, are we pro-choice, are we not?

AC Lockyer: 15:31

pro-choice, you know, and that's as political as I'm going to get for the next 30 seconds at least. But then you go, dadgummit, if I can't have a choice, then I'm going to start my own gig. Where I have a choice, I have freedoms, I can do my own thing. So you guys went out to lunch and started discussing doing a business together.

AC Lockyer: 16:04

Tell me how that goes, how two brothers say. Brothers say, well, okay, let's go into business together.

Roger Kaikula: 16:06

So we, we sat at lunch one day and said hey, man, I'm, I'm done, he's like I'm burned out, I'm burned out and what can we do? We mold things around for a while and then both went back to work and then about two weeks later he called me and said hey, let's go to dinner, I have something to talk to you about. And lo and behold, soft wash systems. And sat and talked about that for a while, actually for a long mile, and then ended up pulling the plug right away, because as soon as we went down and we did everything we needed to do to have the money to do all the stuff that we needed to do that, to get into soft wash systems, I was done, I was out the door and I never looked back yeah.

Randy Kaikula: 16:45

So one of the things that you guys probably don't know is we had so much confidence in soft wash systems when we, when we showed up to uh discover soft wash, I watched a ton of YouTube videos of you discussing softwash, and so that's kind of how we discovered softwash through YouTube. We are obviously looking for a business, a viable business, something that's tangible. We could start. That makes sense, and he had a lot of experience working with a contractor. He had been doing a lot of pressure washing, but I didn't want to just bring pressure washing. There's so many different pressure washing companies out here. In fact, out here in California, that's one of the. Pressure washing is one of the main services that people provide to clean roofs and do house washes, and so when you're talking about SEO, that's one of the key words pressure washing, power washing. So since we've been here, we've been doing SEO and really pushing soft wash this whole time that we've been in business, because we want to be known as a soft washing company.

AC Lockyer: 17:51

We don't want to be known as a pressure washing company.

Randy Kaikula: 17:55

Though that's been our Achilles heel in a way, because we're not hitting those keywords, we have started building it, but that's kind of what happened. We were watching a bunch of YouTube videos and we saw the value in soft wash, and then we also saw the value in what soft wash systems had. Why recreate the wheel? You guys already had everything.

Roger Kaikula: 18:19

And the product it just made sense yeah, I had owned a detailed business along with when I was driving yeah for like seven years. So I kind of knew a lot, a lot about the pressure washing stuff. Just never the contractor I worked for I didn't like doing any pressure washing. He'd always want me to pressure wash the house. I didn't like that because it was too damaging, and then we found soft wash it just made sense.

AC Lockyer: 18:44

Yeah, so yeah, I mean that's how a lot of people find us and they watch a lot of videos and you had that high level of confidence for being able to get started. So you come down, you come to Discover Soft Wash Already high level of confidence for for being able to get started. So you come down, you come to discover soft wash already high level of confidence. What was your? What was your discover soft wash experience I mean, we talked a little bit about it with the logo and everything, but talk about that a little bit oh, absolutely it was, it was awesome actually we learned a lot while we were there and that's really kind of what we were there for is to see whether or not this would be the best way to go.

Randy Kaikula: 19:23

I mean, we kind of already knew, but just to be able to be there and do it was incredible. And then to see the effects or what comes after soft wash. And once you soft wash in fact we got a chance to soft wash a fence, wood fence and you see the outcome, it's like wow, that's like night and day. Then you see the value that you have. And then the soft washing the house, the roof, we're killing the magma. You see this huge difference. It's like a dramatic change and so there's a lot of value there to offer your customers. That's a big deal. You're sanitizing the whole surface of the house and you're making a massive change. That's value. That's something you can sell and stand behind.

AC Lockyer: 20:14

So I'm curious Today we've got three companies that I've interviewed from California today on the podcast and one of the things I've noticed is, when I look at my companies that are going up the West Coast and we've got several in California now and a few up in Washington Oregon how well you guys are doing Really honestly in we call it the left coast, in political environments and in states that are not very friendly to business, I feel the same.

AC Lockyer: 20:56

Yeah, and so it seems like you guys are doing pretty well. So how long have you been doing soft washing now?

Roger Kaikula: 21:03

now for two and a half, we're coming up on our third year.

AC Lockyer: 21:06

Coming up on your third year so your your first year, your first um first full calendar year, not your partial year. When you started your first calendar year, what did you revenue? What were your gross revenues? If you don't mind sharing to be.

Roger Kaikula: 21:21

I'll be straight up, honest. Um, it was probably around 50 000 maybe. Okay, I think it. Actually, I think it's a little lower than that, to be honest with you. Uh, we, we did. I'm not gonna be. I'll be real.

Roger Kaikula: 21:32

We struggled our first year we did there was, and there's a lot of reasons for that. There's confidence reasons, there's trying to figure out how to sell something new, something in an area where nobody really knew much about. We do have to educate every single customer we come across. So, without coming to the customer with a what's this snake oil you guys are trying to sell? That's how we people think and it is something completely new that they've never heard of before. This is, unfortunately, what people think. So you have to really sell the value behind soft wash and the services that you provide.

AC Lockyer: 22:11

I do remember that now, as you're saying that, I do remember sitting in a parking lot down in southeast florida. I was getting ready to go in to eat lunch somewhere and they had put us and put an appointment on my schedule to talk to you guys. I remember when I talked to you guys you guys were pretty discouraged, wondering how you're gonna get the phone to ring. Advertising wasn't happening and stuff, and it was one of those talking you off the ledge calls, if I remember right. So I guess a lot has happened since then. Second year, second full calendar year, how have you done?

Randy Kaikula: 22:49

A lot better, but it's still a struggle with, because basically we chose SEO for the long game and then using organic marketing to market, but it's difficult. I think, honestly, what I've learned is, when you're starting something new like this, especially when it's something really new that nobody knows much about, you have to get to the masses. So I don't know, maybe lead generation is something where we've been talking about seriously, um just to see if we can get out more and um get to more people that need to hear what soft washes we have to offer, not because what we have to offer is something awesome, and it's now I've gotten to the points where it's really easy for me to sell um. I'm I'm sure there's a lot more that I can learn, but I'm a lot stronger than I was when I first started, and so and that's a transform, that's a very transformative process that you do have to go through absolutely, definitely, absolutely.

Randy Kaikula: 23:47

We both have gotten a lot stronger when we first started out, you know there's a lot of stumbling because you're not really 100% on a confidence, you're not really 100% on your information, but once we got educated more and then we also. It's also one of those things, ac when you know you have to believe in what you're selling and so if you're unconfident, we had to actually see it. And with the type of fungus analogy we have out here, I mean we absolutely saw it in discovery. You know just a dramatic change with the magma. But out here it takes six months to seven, almost a year, like you're saying, for this type of fungus analogy to go away off the roof or weather off.

AC Lockyer: 24:33

Absolutely. So yeah, I think I think I described it to you guys Absolutely. I think I described it to you guys and you didn't necessarily. When you were leaving to go back home I said you got to understand. What you guys have there is your marine layer comes in and gives everything moisture in the morning and it opens up, but then after that it turns into like a roly poly bug and turns into a ball on the roof. It's almost like an impenetrable fortress, you know, and you just have a different, different, much more robust, almost like darwinian kind of survival of the fittest stuff that's growing out there. It's not like the pacific northwest where it's all leafy and open and soft and fleshy. It's. It's literally, like you know, a crusty stuff growing on the roof.

Randy Kaikula: 25:22

Yeah, absolutely so. What we've learned is um now is is that once we apply the solution, software solutions the sodium hypochlorite actually not just affects the root system but it dries out the environment, that this helps this stuff to grow. So I got videos of after the fact and I'm just rubbing my hand over the remnants of the fungus and algae and it just crumbles and so that's the. You know, that's the purpose of the whole. The whole service is to just not just to kill, you know, the root system, but also to take away the environment so it can stop growing.

AC Lockyer: 26:01

Right, and so you mentioned you've been doing better with sales. I can't remember correct me if I'm wrong, but did you guys go to sales and marketing bootcamp?

Randy Kaikula: 26:11

I have not, so it's something I'm going to do online, which I appreciate you guys putting that. We now have it online. Yes, yes, yeah, so we can do the school online, which is what I'm going to do. I'm also in the process of getting my contractor's license right now, so really hyper-focused on that, but definitely want to do it Because California has come in and added that now that you have to get a contractor's license to do this service.

Randy Kaikula: 26:35

It's tough out here with those types of things, like you said, politics and whatnot. But you know it's something that it's been around for a long while but they don't, they don't really push hard on it. I think it's something that's. It's a better way for us in soft wash systems, you know, or all of us out here soft washing to, to all go get our contracts and contractors licenses and just be on you or that in that way with our business, keep our businesses going.

AC Lockyer: 26:59

That way, and so so you've. You've gotten much, much better at presenting, explain to the customer how the process is going to happen, and you're starting to win jobs. Tell, tell me about some of the size of the jobs that you guys are winning now.

Randy Kaikula: 27:17

Okay, so well, like, for example, today was a $1,500 job, but, to be honest, our tickets are right around averaging about $900. I think we could do a lot better than that, but I'm just being honest about what the average is. They go up and down, so they'll be between $1,900 to $1,800. Yeah, and we do need to work on the numbers, but once we get that down, I think we'll be in a really good place.

AC Lockyer: 27:50

And so how was You've created a business. It's revenuing, it's making some money. How is it? Is it still the two of you guys selling and doing the work? It's just the two of you guys in the business yeah, unfortunately.

Randy Kaikula: 28:05

So, yes, and I'm telling you, um, I know you like to talk about disc tests and stuff like that, so mine is mine. I was a di and so I'm very much want to have an employee. So the company I worked for before I would have the opportunity to manage 12 employees and I did a lot of hiring for that company because that company was growing so fast and we ended up doing a lot of hiring. So we just hired an employee in the beginning of the month and unfortunately he only lasted two weeks.

AC Lockyer: 28:40

So we made it very clear. If only it was that easy to get rid of the fungus right.

Roger Kaikula: 28:45

I know that would be great. Yeah, absolutely that would be awesome.

AC Lockyer: 28:50

That would be awesome right.

Randy Kaikula: 28:51

Very much loved having an employee here because it really made a huge difference, but unfortunately, you know, he wasn't able to take care of the heights and handle the heights. That was something that was very much discussed in the interviews, but I guess he embellished in the interview and once he got up there we saw him struggling.

Randy Kaikula: 29:11

He struggled pretty hard. He struggled pretty hard.

Randy Kaikula: 29:14

So just being on a ladder, you know, just a two-story ladder, you couldn't take it so, unfortunately,

Roger Kaikula: 29:20

that's just spraying off the ladder.

Roger Kaikula: 29:21

So he was hugging onto the ladder and one hand spraying, but he wasn't doing it the right way.

AC Lockyer: 29:27

It was like under the ladder yeah, well, he probably couldn't change a tire or his oil either.

Roger Kaikula: 29:33

So I mean, I don't know man but I mean I, so I feel bad for him. You know I'm sad that he um, it's okay.

Randy Kaikula: 29:42

We

Randy Kaikula: 29:42

try to give him a chance. You know, give you a 90 day and we'll see how you do. Let's see if you can pull out of that.

AC Lockyer: 29:47

But he, he just decided I can't do it, Right, yeah, and that and that is that is a big thing is developing your company and your leadership style and everything to be able to attract the right people to build your business. It's certainly a thing. So you guys are deriving an income the two of you guys from the business. How does that go?

Randy Kaikula: 30:10

It's hard. We go back and forth. Sometimes we have good weeks and we have bad weeks, right, I think, with us both being on the truck is makes it difficult because, uh, like yesterday, for example, I was able to be off the truck and I was able to focus on sales, yeah, and that's what I'm good at, you know. So that's where my strengths are. I need to be in that arena and I need to be be able to use myself in the business that way and um, you know, but both of us being on the truck, it's tough, yeah, because we will focus a lot on sales and then it gets real busy and then it slows down because we're doing all the jobs. You know what I mean.

AC Lockyer: 30:52

No, it can be, and that's part of the struggle. Growing the business is you've got to get off the truck so that you can sell, you have to feed the beast, you have to get in there and you have to get that pipeline of business coming. And if you're in the truck for a few days a week and then out trying to sell and in the truck for a few days a week, you're doing this lurky, jerky kind of roller coaster you're not doing good we're not doing good.

AC Lockyer: 31:17

We're doing good. We're not doing good and so yeah you have to grow out of that and you've got the tools and the resources with soft wash systems to to help you see through that path, to grow out of that. Yes, yeah, so what? What? What is the? What is next for you guys now? Where do you see growing this business?

Randy Kaikula: 31:41

I mean, the next step for us really is to get off the truck, and that's really what we're kind of focused on. Uh, we have other people like, for example, my wife would be a tremendous move for us. To be able to have some of her caliber in Right it's working for us would be awesome. I know Rick and his wife make a great team. Jamie is an awesome person in their business and she does a lot in their business to help. I think my wife would be awesome for us as well.

AC Lockyer: 32:13

So it's those types of goals that we have to be able to transition and that way I can get off the truck, roger can get off the truck and we can focus on growing the business yeah for sure for sure, well, that the big key is finding those, those, the crew to get on the truck to free you guys up, to create the revenues so that you can pull in the other family members.

AC Lockyer: 32:36

You know, like like rick and jamie, with midwest soft wash out in st louis, yeah, yeah, she's a tremendous asset. Rick is the bull di go out and clean and do everything and jamie's great at sales and handling the office and the books and all and it does it. That's part of building a lifestyle. Business is pulling your family in. Because you know if you can pull your family into it, you go, hey, we want to take a vacation for this two weeks. You don't have to clear it with two different bosses. You look at each other and go, hey, do we want to take a vacation that two weeks? You know if everybody's works for the same companies on the same schedule and all, it makes it a whole lot easier to have that great lifestyle for sure.

Randy Kaikula: 33:21

Yeah, that's the dynamic we're working towards. Hopefully we can get there and we're going to push hard. We're definitely not afraid to be out here working our butts off to do that and get it done.

AC Lockyer: 33:32

Yeah, for sure, absolutely. And so if you were, if you were to tell somebody else that is considering getting into soft washing with soft wash systems, what would, what would be your message to them?

Randy Kaikula: 33:53

you give them your message and I'll give them mine we'll go on into it.

Roger Kaikula: 33:57

Because what, what I took away from it. When we came down there for all of your uh class, I I had an awesome time. Yeah, all of the, the notes and stuff that you gave and all the classes we did with you. Anybody that can get that kind of knowledge, I mean I would shove somebody right towards that. I mean we've, we've had yeah right, we've had people ask us about it once. They kind of know about us, like what is softwash when you explain it to them. The next time I've seen one particular person, they asked us about it again. So to me to have somebody to say, hey, would you get into this business? Yeah, I would push you right into it too, because I think it's a great business. You just have to know what you're getting into.

Roger Kaikula: 34:41

Yeah, For me it's been a lot. We were fired up when we came back from Top Gun. That was an awesome, awesome experience.

Randy Kaikula: 34:49

Top Gun was sick.

Randy Kaikula: 34:52

The training we got was priceless. You can't put money on that, Especially if you're especially if you're investing in a truck like the type of skid that you have. You got one, but do you know how to use it, so that's a big deal. So that training was just. You can't put any money on that.

Randy Kaikula: 35:13

But when I talk to people that are looking to get in this business in fact there's a gentleman out here that's looking to get into this business and he's looking forward to working with SoftWatch Systems he asked me to lunch and talked to him like I talked to a customer in terms of the value that it brings. And so when you're talking to a customer, where's the value? It's in the five-year warranty that we can provide to the customers. It's in the solutions that are all biodegradable, safe for the environment, safe for your house, safe for your pets, safe for your family. It's in the values and the equipment that soft wash systems provide so that we can apply our solutions safely and effectively.

Randy Kaikula: 35:55

There's so much value than there is versus pressure washing. So when I speak to a customer, this is how I speak to a customer, and so this gentleman that's looking to get into soft washing is going to be really cool. It'll be great for us to have that relationship that we can work together as a team and build off of each other. There's nothing wrong with that, and there's some work for us to do out here. It's going to be an awesome thing for him to get in, so I'm really looking forward to that not happening, but that's what I would I would say to somebody moving in or trying to get into this business as a matter of fact, he's called you several times.

Randy Kaikula: 36:30

Oh yeah, he just keeps calling him. Hey, what about this? Hey, what about that?

Roger Kaikula: 36:34

I'm sure he did get out to uh, discover soft wash. I believe he had a chance to meet you, so he told me okay, good, what area of california is he in?

AC Lockyer: 36:43

he's in the same area as we are. So we're going to figure it out. You're going to figure it out. Well, you know, what a lot of people don't realize is this competition isn't bad, because what you guys are doing what you mentioned earlier is you're talking about building the SEO off of softwashing, not using the keywords of pressure washing, not going after the same jobs as pressure washers, not getting invited out to bid on the same jobs that everybody else is getting invited to bid on. And when you have a second company out there that's doing the same thing as you, using the same keywords and everything they start to build off of each other, using the same keywords and everything they start to build off of each other.

AC Lockyer: 37:20

But if the two of you guys show up to a job as soft wash systems license affiliates and then a non soft wash systems license affiliate shows up, then it looks like soft washing is the norm and the person that's doing pressure washing or downstream injection calling it soft washing. They look like the odd man. Now, right now, if two of the local competitors that are pressure washers show up in one soft wash systems license affiliate shows up, you kind of look like the space alien odd person out, like you know. But having having another soft wash systems affiliate in your area really helps to redouble the marketing. You know doing home shows together. You know splitting the costs on stuff educating the area, and you know that when the tide rises in the harbor, all ships rise.

AC Lockyer: 38:06

But then you know, when you both show up to a job, well you know, you know two thirds of the time a soft wash systems license affiliate is going to win that job. Now, not one third of the time. And and then you able. You're able to get your prices up too, because then two companies are coming in at a higher price. And one of the reasons why you're struggling a little bit with getting the pricing up in your area is because you don't have somebody else giving the same price you are. So the consumer is thinking well, everybody just charged this price. Well, you get another company out there charging your price and you can start eking it up. It starts to become a little more normalized and you get paid what you're actually worth, not paid what the rented drunk wants to charge.

Roger Kaikula: 38:50

That's the whole point. That's the goal. That's our goal, that's the goal.

AC Lockyer: 38:53

Yeah, that's very cool, very cool. Well interesting conversation. I mean, is there anything that you guys would add?

Randy Kaikula: 39:01

Well, yeah, man, I mean, um, just uh, the fact that we've been able to grow in in an industry that didn't know anything about us, didn't know anything about tiki softwash, didn't know anything about soft wash and we continue to push forward and grow.

Randy Kaikula: 39:17

That this is a lot, I think, and so we appreciate everything that you guys do for us. I mean just from the logo to the truck wrap, to the uniforms, to the just marketing in general, and then the education. That's just incredible. We appreciate and we absolutely love being with you guys. We thank you guys so much. We couldn't do this without you.

AC Lockyer: 39:40

Well, we love having you guys on board too, and it is a great brand.

AC Lockyer: 39:44

We love it for sure.

AC Lockyer: 39:45

Yeah, hey, listen, if you want to have your own great brand or jump into soft washing like Randy and Roger here and you're thinking about how to build a lifestyle business, something that will support you, give you freedom, give you the ability to decide what you want to do with your time or whether or not, in his particular case, whether or not you want to be vaccinated or not, listen, we all have choices in life and we want to have more control of our destiny.

AC Lockyer: 40:12

Whatever that destiny might be, you may want to consider starting your own business, and starting your own business and starting your own business with soft wash systems makes it easy. It's been easy for you guys, right? Yes, absolutely Starting the business part, exactly, you know, but it is hard work too, but that hard work can be rewarding and if you want to do that, you can give us a call at soft wash systems. We'd certainly love to talk to you guys. But, randy, roger, thank you so much for spending time with us today and we're just excited to see how you guys grow and see more great things happening for you.

Randy Kaikula: 40:48

Well, thank you so much. We appreciate you guys so much.

AC Lockyer: 40:51

All right. So if you liked this, go ahead and hit the like button, go ahead and share it, go ahead and subscribe so that you can get alerted when more of Building a Lifestyle Business podcast is released. As always, guys, this is AC Locke here. Go forth and prosper.