2890: Elevating Tradespeople: How Jobber is Empowering the Deskless Workforce

[00:00:00] Can technology transform the often overlooked and undervalued trades industry into a powerhouse

[00:00:08] of efficiency and profitability?

[00:00:12] Well today here on Tech Talks Daily I'm going to be joined by Sam Piller and he is the

[00:00:17] CEO and co-founder of a company called Jobber.

[00:00:21] So I'm going to delve into how Jobber not only addresses those operational challenges

[00:00:26] faced by service providers but also how he aims to elevate the entire sector and turning

[00:00:33] hardworking tradespeople into what Sam likes to call blue collar millionaires.

[00:00:38] So great story this one.

[00:00:40] So buckle up and hold on tight as I beam your ears all the way to Toronto Canada

[00:00:45] where Sam is waiting to join us today.

[00:00:49] So a massive warm welcome to the show Sam.

[00:00:52] Let's hear from everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do.

[00:00:56] All right Neil thanks so much for having me today.

[00:00:59] Yeah so I'm Sam Piller I'm the co-founder and CEO of a company called Jobber and at

[00:01:05] Jobber we make a software platform for small home service businesses think electricians

[00:01:13] and plumbers and you know landscapers you know lawn care businesses we service

[00:01:18] you know over 50 different industry verticals along those lines and our platform helps

[00:01:23] those kinds of small businesses just run their business day to day.

[00:01:28] So all of their you know invoicing and their scheduling and managing quotes and

[00:01:32] all their communication with their customers all of that like you know back office minutia

[00:01:37] that is required to run a business but that for many small businesses is not the

[00:01:42] thing that they're very good at it.

[00:01:43] You know in many cases gets in the way of them doing the thing that they are

[00:01:47] good at and the reason they started their business.

[00:01:49] So we're very passionate about small business and entrepreneurship and creating more entrepreneurship

[00:01:54] in the world and trying to help get the impediments to entrepreneurship out of the

[00:01:59] way of the small businesses.

[00:02:01] We're doing that doing that brave thing of being a small business.

[00:02:04] Well I'm really looking forward to getting you on the show today because yes this

[00:02:07] is a tech podcast but I do get a big kick out of hearing origin stories because

[00:02:12] after nearly 3000 episodes people always say to me Neil all these leaders and

[00:02:16] geniuses and entrepreneurs and business leaders that you've spoke with what do they

[00:02:20] have in common everyone's looking for that almost quick fix or the thing that

[00:02:24] they can follow.

[00:02:25] And what I always say is one of the biggest things everybody has in common is

[00:02:30] serendipity and how the universe almost gives us a little nudge in the right

[00:02:34] direction and yes we need to look out for those signs but with that in mind

[00:02:38] Sam can I ask you share the story of how you met a stranger in a coffee shop

[00:02:43] that led to co-founding Jobber with you and what was that initial conversation

[00:02:49] like? Can I take you back in time to share that origin story?

[00:02:53] Sure yeah. I was just going to say I hate to disappoint you and the audience

[00:02:57] there is no quick fix probably and it really is all about serendipity and

[00:03:01] you beat me to it.

[00:03:02] I have a fairly cliche tech startup founding story that involves a couple

[00:03:08] of software developers in a coffee shop but yeah I mean I was a freelance

[00:03:12] software developer for a few years prior to starting what would become Jobber

[00:03:17] and I was working oftentimes in this coffee shop in Edmonton Alberta Canada

[00:03:23] where we founded the company.

[00:03:25] The coffee shop is called Remedy it's near the university and it was just a

[00:03:30] great place where I could go and spend you know a dollar seventy five on a

[00:03:34] coffee and sit there for you know six seven eight hours nurse that coffee

[00:03:39] and then work on my projects and while I was while I was working there I kept

[00:03:43] running into or sort of seeing this other guy who you know was on a laptop

[00:03:48] with the black screen and code on it and he was obviously also a software

[00:03:53] engineer and so one day we were both standing at the counter getting our

[00:03:57] coffee for the day and I just got chatting with them I was like hey I

[00:04:00] couldn't help but notice your you know your software guy as well you're

[00:04:04] writing code like you know I am too what are you working on let's chat

[00:04:07] and so we got to talking and I told him about what I was working on which was

[00:04:13] the idea for what would go on to become Jobber and I had been working on a

[00:04:17] couple of challenges and just you know some stuff that was that was so

[00:04:21] struggling with technically and so he came over and sat down with me and

[00:04:25] very quickly pointed out the errors of my ways and was like oh if you do

[00:04:28] this over here and that over there like you know things should they should

[00:04:32] start working and sure enough they did and anyways I ran into him a few

[00:04:35] more times over the course of you know the ensuing weeks and months and we

[00:04:39] chatted more and he helped me out with more stuff and at some point I

[00:04:44] think we just started talking about the small businesses so we first

[00:04:47] started talking about technical stuff and then just sort of shifted to

[00:04:51] actually talking about the small businesses that I was trying to that

[00:04:55] I had this like ambition or this vision to help and he had a friend

[00:04:58] who was working at a small painting company at the time and he had just

[00:05:03] talked to his friend about the fact that he met this goofball at a coffee

[00:05:07] shop who was building some software that would be exactly for the kind of

[00:05:11] painting company that he was working at and that would solve some of

[00:05:14] the organizational challenges that he was often complaining about and that

[00:05:18] conversation got for us friend really excited and so for us to my

[00:05:21] co-founder came back and related that story to me and I think we just

[00:05:25] we started to get more excited about the idea of having an impact for

[00:05:29] these small businesses you know we were getting along and I think one day I

[00:05:33] you know I just said hey for us like do you want to just like you know

[00:05:37] start a business go 50-50 and just see what happens here like I think you

[00:05:41] know we're we get along I think we're on to something here there's at least

[00:05:44] one business out there that wants to be our customer and that that

[00:05:48] business that his friend worked at painters enterprise went on to become

[00:05:51] our very first customer and they're still a customer today. Wow what an

[00:05:56] incredible story and fast forward to 2024 and job but is a an award-winning

[00:06:00] operations management software for home service businesses and looking back

[00:06:05] again just for a moment transitioning industries from that traditional pen and

[00:06:09] paper operations to digital platforms it does involve significant change

[00:06:13] management so how did you approach that transition within the home service

[00:06:18] industry that that it would have been quite a big deal I would imagine

[00:06:22] Yeah it was and and it still is so I mean first I would say it just sort of

[00:06:26] you know to baseline the transition is still very much underway most small

[00:06:31] businesses in the home service industries are still using pen and paper or some

[00:06:37] sort of you know digital pen and paper you know maybe they're using

[00:06:39] Google Calendar maybe they have like a you know a invoice template in you

[00:06:45] know Google Docs or Microsoft Word that they use but generally speaking

[00:06:49] most of them are not using some kind of cohesive workflow system of record that

[00:06:54] can really help solve the business management challenges in their

[00:06:58] companies and so that's you know an important thing to understand because

[00:07:02] you know we're still very early on in our journey of helping more of these

[00:07:06] companies transition to digital when we started though you know we started

[00:07:11] from the foundation first and foremost that small businesses are really

[00:07:15] important you know I just talked about the story of forced tonight

[00:07:17] chatting in this coffee shop and you know we kind of we were talking a lot

[00:07:21] about just small businesses and the fact that you know aren't these you

[00:07:25] know people you know really great and really deserving of you know great

[00:07:29] software to help them run better businesses you know this is way back

[00:07:32] in 2010 so there was nothing available for very little anyways

[00:07:37] available for those kinds of companies but we genuinely wanted to

[00:07:40] help we didn't just want to you know exploit the opportunity to you know

[00:07:45] create some you know little solution that that you know fixed some point

[00:07:51] issue in their businesses and make a bunch of money on it we really

[00:07:55] caring about the small businesses and we wanted to invest in understanding

[00:07:58] how we could help them be more successful so we really spent time

[00:08:02] getting to know those early users and the reluctant as well because not

[00:08:07] necessarily everybody was really interested in talking to us or

[00:08:10] considering software but we went to their offices and their shops and

[00:08:15] their basements and wherever they happen to be running their small operations

[00:08:19] out of and we observed we watched what their days were like you know we talked

[00:08:23] to them about you know what kinds of issues they were dealing with on an

[00:08:26] hour-to-hour basis throughout their days and how they spent their evenings

[00:08:30] and their weekends and just really tried to understand the challenge of

[00:08:33] being a small business owner being an entrepreneur and not just the

[00:08:37] features that you know we would then need to go on and build in a product

[00:08:42] like ours now that experience I think it did give us the insight that we in

[00:08:47] order to be successful doing what we wanted to do for these businesses we

[00:08:52] needed to focus on ease of use and user experience as a very top priority

[00:08:56] and so you know from the the very early days of the company all the way

[00:09:00] through to now that remains a huge priority and an area that we focus a

[00:09:06] lot of time and energy these small businesses are really busy they don't

[00:09:11] have a lot of time and the only way that our software can actually help them

[00:09:16] is if they use it and if their employees use it so that ease of use and

[00:09:20] the user experience for those users and their employees is critically

[00:09:24] important and something we just we spend a huge amount of time on and I

[00:09:26] think is you know something we an insight that we developed very early on

[00:09:29] and I'm curious what were some of the surprising challenges that you might

[00:09:35] have faced when introducing technology to businesses that have traditionally

[00:09:39] relied on manual processes I would imagine you came across quite a few

[00:09:43] yeah so I mentioned a few minutes ago that you know we started way back in

[00:09:49] 2010 that's when I met Forrest in that coffee shop we didn't launch the

[00:09:53] first version of jobber until 2011 but you know this is ancient history at

[00:09:58] this point in technology terms and going back that far and thinking about

[00:10:05] some of those early conversations that we were having with small businesses who

[00:10:09] you know we wanted to become our customers and you know pretty early on

[00:10:13] we had we were having conversations with people all over the place they

[00:10:16] weren't just in our own backyard they were you know we were on the

[00:10:18] internet so they were also kind of wherever they happen to be there in

[00:10:22] the world met many of them in the United States but one of the things

[00:10:26] that was really surprising was how much distrust there was of the cloud

[00:10:32] so you know back in 2011 2012 even it was still the case that a lot of small

[00:10:39] businesses believed that software should come on a CD and it should be

[00:10:44] something that you know they install on their computer and they have full

[00:10:48] ownership and control of and and that was something that we had to spend

[00:10:53] a lot of time educating the market on and especially in these small

[00:10:58] business industries where you know maybe people were a little further

[00:11:01] behind the times and sort of you know understanding what sort of developments

[00:11:08] were happening in software and using software online so that was an

[00:11:12] interesting one I think the other one that really stands out is that

[00:11:15] inertia is just an incredibly strong force especially when it comes to

[00:11:21] small businesses and small business processes I think you know small

[00:11:26] businesses have all of the right intentions and they want to invest in

[00:11:31] improving their companies and their businesses and being more successful

[00:11:34] but like I said before they are just so busy like they're very busy their

[00:11:39] phones ringing off the hook they've got you know issues with jobs and

[00:11:42] issues with employees and there you know somebody's quit or they've had to

[00:11:45] fire someone and they've got to go find somebody new and there's a

[00:11:48] never-ending revolving door of crap that they're dealing with and so you

[00:11:53] know implementing a new software tool in their business is something I think

[00:11:58] many of them really know that they knew that they needed to do and this is the

[00:12:03] case today as well but there's so much in the way of just getting to that

[00:12:08] thing that they want to do and so it was very common in the early days to

[00:12:11] have sort of you know and have these businesses kind of an abandon

[00:12:15] the transition and fall back to pen and paper and you know come back next

[00:12:19] year to try again and sometimes you would see that you know multiple years

[00:12:22] in a row and you'd kind of get to know some of these businesses who keep

[00:12:26] trying and eventually get there and then see the benefits of automating

[00:12:30] their business

[00:12:32] And for people that are listening to us today and hearing about Jobba for

[00:12:35] the very first time and trying to understand the problems you solve or

[00:12:38] the value that you bring to these businesses Jobba does aim to enhance

[00:12:42] efficiency and profitability for small businesses and I love how you're

[00:12:46] using technology to do that but to bring it to life can you offer a

[00:12:51] specific example or use case of how your platform has maybe transformed a

[00:12:55] small business owners daily operations just to bring everything we're

[00:12:58] talking about to life here.

[00:13:00] Sure yeah I mean one of the amazing things about being in this kind of

[00:13:04] space with you know hundreds of thousands of service pros using our

[00:13:07] product is that we get to hear just a you know a ton of stories and

[00:13:13] you know that and every one of our customers and all the

[00:13:15] entrepreneurs in these spaces they all have very unique you know histories

[00:13:20] and backgrounds and stories about how they got to where they are and why

[00:13:24] and what they're doing now and of course what a product like Jobba does to

[00:13:30] help them you know run I mean run a better business but also because their

[00:13:34] businesses are so intertwined in their lives to just have a better life as

[00:13:39] well and so you know some of the stories I think about it you know

[00:13:42] this guy Matt at a company called Adair Treecare and the arborist and

[00:13:47] Treecare is one of my favorite industries that we serve for

[00:13:51] reasons that I won't get into now but you know he's talked to us about the

[00:13:55] fact that Artie's in Jobba he would work during the day you

[00:14:00] know roping up trees and doing you know his actual you know trade and then

[00:14:06] he'd get home and he's got a family and so he would you know spend a

[00:14:11] bunch of time with the family or a little bit have dinner anyways and

[00:14:15] then pretty quickly have to get on the computer and would spend hours

[00:14:19] usually until midnight invoicing customers and just dealing with all of

[00:14:23] the administration on the back end and so once he started using Jobba

[00:14:28] and all of that invoicing activity and all of that sort of back and forth

[00:14:32] with customers and you're chasing payment and all of that was

[00:14:35] happening automatically he realized he could come home from work and you

[00:14:39] know actually sort of have dinner and then play with the kids and spend

[00:14:42] time with his wife and like you know just invest in the you know the

[00:14:47] personal side of life which I think is so hard to do when you're an

[00:14:50] entrepreneur and you think you know oftentimes rightfully so that you

[00:14:54] really need to spend an inordinate amount of time on your business and I

[00:14:58] think you know that that's a sacrifice that for a lot of people is is

[00:15:02] really difficult and one that I think we have the ability at Jobba to you

[00:15:06] know help give people time back I also recently spoke to it maybe another

[00:15:10] example here I spoke to a business owner who was just relating a quick

[00:15:15] story about how he's got this industrial shop sort of like a shop for his lawn

[00:15:19] care business it's an industrial area of the city and every day he would have

[00:15:24] his guys gather there in the morning before going out for the day and so

[00:15:29] they would all drive their their trucks out to this industrial area

[00:15:32] get their day sheets and jobs for the day and then they'd head exactly

[00:15:37] right back where they came from into the city and so they're all like why

[00:15:40] are we wasting all this gas half hour there half hour back and you know we

[00:15:44] could all sleep in a little bit later if we didn't have to all meet here and so

[00:15:47] with all the jobs and schedules organized in Jobba and all of the all of the

[00:15:52] employees having our app on their phones they can just start the day

[00:15:55] from you know when they leave the house in the morning instead of having

[00:15:58] to get organized at some shop so there's examples like that I think that

[00:16:02] you know are maybe sort of small individually but really add up into

[00:16:07] into a significant impact for these kinds of businesses.

[00:16:11] I love that. As a techie who's enjoyed such a long career spanning roles in software

[00:16:16] development and consulting before founding Jobba, I'm curious how have those

[00:16:21] experiences shaped your leadership style and how you approach business

[00:16:25] strategy because I imagine it's one of those like the Steve Jobs quotes

[00:16:28] where you can't join up the dots looking forward but it's only when you

[00:16:31] look back that some of those pieces you see how they all fitted together

[00:16:34] but what have you experienced here?

[00:16:38] Yeah sure so I guess you know pre-Jobba is a really long time ago for me it's

[00:16:42] funny talking about you know 2010 2011 this is you know 14 years ago is you

[00:16:48] know it's only every once in a while that actually I'm faced with the

[00:16:52] reality that I've been doing this for a long time so I'm not really sure

[00:16:55] you know if the experiences prior to Jobba have shaped me that much.

[00:17:01] I did work, I worked in the service industry for a little while I actually

[00:17:04] did work at a lawn care company back in high school and then you know after

[00:17:09] university I worked in the service industry for a little while and that

[00:17:12] taught me a lot. I think everybody would benefit from working that kind

[00:17:16] of job for some period of time actually and you know in my life now I can

[00:17:21] tell a lot about a person who treats service staff of any kind poorly

[00:17:26] and I incorporate that into sort of you know how I think about you know

[00:17:30] recruiting and talent at the company but also friends in my personal life

[00:17:33] and I guess leadership as well but I think most of what I have learned about

[00:17:38] you know leadership and business and strategy I've learned in my career at

[00:17:43] Jobba and my role here has evolved an incredible amount over the

[00:17:48] years you know as we've grown from just Forrest and I and you know

[00:17:51] those early days in the coffee shop to nearly 800 people just about today

[00:17:56] so there has been you know I think at least 10 or 12 different versions

[00:18:01] of the company and versions of my job and I've had the opportunity to learn a

[00:18:06] lot across those transitions. One of the things I think that I've learned

[00:18:12] and maybe learned through you know sort of the school of hard knocks a little

[00:18:18] bit is the critical importance of consistency. I think like you cannot

[00:18:23] spring your way to success and you know especially in a business like

[00:18:30] this or you know doing the kind of thing that we're doing here where there

[00:18:33] is the opportunity to really transform an industry over a long period of time

[00:18:37] you have to really be you know devoted and disciplined about you know how you

[00:18:44] use your time and ensuring that you are showing up with consistency and not

[00:18:51] in sort of you know fits and spurts and a lumpy basis. I heard this quote

[00:18:54] once you know time is the friend of the consistent and the enemy of the

[00:18:57] inconsistent. So I think over a long period of time it's an interesting

[00:19:01] sort of you know foundational strategy as well to understand that if you can

[00:19:07] just keep showing up and do the right things even if they're boring but you

[00:19:12] do them consistently over time your opponents or your competitors who

[00:19:18] maybe have less of an ability to do that you know will eventually shoot

[00:19:22] themselves in the foot and then the other foot too so I think that's

[00:19:26] something that I've learned in my time here. Yeah 100% with you I hear

[00:19:31] that's something else I hear a lot and I also had a guest on here recently and

[00:19:35] he dropped an amazing stat I think it was 80% of the overall global

[00:19:40] workforce which is something like 2.7 billion people a deskless they don't

[00:19:46] sit in an office they don't sit at a desk in front of a computer and I

[00:19:49] wanted to highlight that stat because the home service industry is crucial

[00:19:53] yet often undervalued so how does job help elevate the work of trades people

[00:19:58] and service providers in the eyes of their community because as I said 80%

[00:20:03] of the global workforce is not a desk it's phenomenal isn't it? Yeah no you're

[00:20:08] absolutely right it is a an incredible statistic and home services you know

[00:20:13] these industries you're right they're overlooked they're under

[00:20:17] appreciated you know this is a long arc trend as well and it's you know

[00:20:22] it's leading to a you know a sharp labor shortage especially in North America if

[00:20:28] we kind of zoom into that context and it's you know same in UK as well I'm

[00:20:32] sure you feel it. A shortage of labor in these industries at a time when

[00:20:36] the existing labor force is retiring at a high rate you know average age

[00:20:41] of people in construction and then the trades is increasing and people are

[00:20:45] retiring and we also have an aging housing stock that needs more

[00:20:49] maintenance than ever so it's an interesting time for this challenge to

[00:20:55] be faced not just you know by you know I think the industries themselves

[00:20:59] that are providing the services but for consumers and the general public

[00:21:03] because it's our stuff it's our homes it's our offices it's our it's all

[00:21:08] of the physical space around us that is at risk and is going to

[00:21:12] suffer if you know these industries are under resourced and continue to

[00:21:16] be under appreciated and overlooked and I think this is a you know it's for

[00:21:20] decades at the assumed path for smart kids you know especially smart kids

[00:21:25] that have the means was to go to college or university and you know I

[00:21:29] think this has created a stigma you know with respect to a path of

[00:21:33] vocational school and going on to do blue-collar work and I think this is

[00:21:39] just totally backwards it is kind of a ridiculous situation that we've

[00:21:43] twisted ourselves into to believe that you know one is better than the other it

[00:21:48] is difficult to find a better opportunity to create success than in

[00:21:52] the trades today you know you could earn a living while learning a

[00:21:56] valuable skill they call this earning and learning in a lot of vocational

[00:22:00] schools and then you can go start your own business in a market that is

[00:22:04] reloaded with excess demand and all of this of course well you know

[00:22:09] college and university grads unfortunately will struggle to pay

[00:22:13] off student loans in many cases for many years decades or their entire lives

[00:22:17] as we're starting to see and to find out it's a crisis so I think not

[00:22:22] enough people realize the potential in the trades and I think we're a

[00:22:27] job where we're doing what we can to help create more well the way we

[00:22:31] think about this internally is we want to create blue-collar millionaires

[00:22:35] we want to create more blue-collar millionaires there's a lot of

[00:22:38] blue-collar millionaires out there already more than I think many people

[00:22:42] realize and you know we do what we can to try to elevate the station of

[00:22:46] these kinds of jobs in these industries we produce a periodic

[00:22:51] research report called the blue collar report we have another one

[00:22:54] coming out shortly actually and this highlights you know some of these

[00:22:58] issues you know and some of the perceptions maybe that exist you know

[00:23:02] amongst kids you know the last report that we did was focused primarily on

[00:23:07] Gen Z and Gen Z is a great example of you know a generation that is going to

[00:23:15] I think grab a hold of these opportunities it's like 75% I think of

[00:23:20] people that we surveyed Gen Z that we surveyed want to be an

[00:23:24] entrepreneur they want to own their own business something like 11% of them

[00:23:27] have already started one so I think they'll see these opportunities and

[00:23:31] and jump at them I'm really optimistic about that we also sponsor

[00:23:35] an annual grants program that we've distributed about half a million

[00:23:38] dollars to small businesses so far who have inspiring come-up stories and of

[00:23:44] course you know also we invest huge sums in building our software platform

[00:23:49] that exists solely to help these businesses be more successful and so

[00:23:54] yeah we're kind of engaged across the spectrum trying to raise awareness

[00:23:57] and change the perception and of blue-collar work and just create more

[00:24:02] opportunities for success for you know people young and old to get into small

[00:24:07] business entrepreneurship so many great points there and if we were to zoom out

[00:24:11] for a moment just looking at that broader landscape are there any

[00:24:15] emerging technologies that you see may be playing a significant role in the

[00:24:19] future of operations management for small businesses I suspect you've got

[00:24:24] your eye on lots of things because everything's moving so fast now but any

[00:24:27] emerging technologies excite you at the moment yeah I suppose it wouldn't

[00:24:30] be a podcast in 2024 and talk about AI and of course I mean as is the case you

[00:24:37] know across the field AI has a huge potential you know to help our

[00:24:44] customers get get more done with less essentially and I mean that is an

[00:24:48] important priority for small businesses kind of you know no matter their

[00:24:54] stage there there's just always an abundance of things to do and not

[00:24:59] enough resource to do it with and so you know some of the generative AI tools

[00:25:02] that are available already we're seeing you know early adopters find creative

[00:25:09] ways to incorporate into their workflows in their system so and we've

[00:25:13] already built some AI functionality into jobber to help our customers get

[00:25:18] answers for example to bespoke questions about their businesses

[00:25:22] performance and how they can improve it or where they can look to to make

[00:25:27] changes or adjustments and then we see a ton of potential more you know we're

[00:25:31] doing a lot of work in this in this space and see a lot of you know just a

[00:25:35] lot of opportunity to enhance the quality and speed of the customer

[00:25:41] service that our customers are able to deliver to their customers and also

[00:25:46] just to keep automating further automate the back office work of

[00:25:50] running a small business which has been you know the has been the charge

[00:25:55] jobber for many years I mean this is the thing that we are expert at me

[00:25:59] minimizing the stuff that gets in the work of our customers going out and

[00:26:03] actually doing their work and so you know these are it's a really exciting

[00:26:07] time to have a set of technologies coming along that accelerate our

[00:26:12] ability to do that for our customers and so but that's exciting and

[00:26:15] then and then the other point that I would just make really quickly is

[00:26:18] you know and this is again in support of the home service industries

[00:26:23] and blue collar work a lot of people are concerned and really worried about what

[00:26:27] generative AI and what you know other further developments in AI are going to

[00:26:31] mean for people in all kinds of industries and your workers in

[00:26:36] particular white collar workers and I think you know blue collar is an

[00:26:39] area where it's hard to imagine I mean of course there are some

[00:26:42] industries where there will be some automation but it will be a long time

[00:26:46] I think if ever before you know you've got some you know fully

[00:26:49] automated you know AI driven thing you know renovating your bathroom or fixing

[00:26:56] your roof or you know hauling defective furnace or HVAC system at

[00:27:01] your crawlspace and installing a new one these are jobs that require you

[00:27:05] know people and a tremendous amount of dexterity to do and so it's kind

[00:27:10] of a safe haven in many ways for workers and for young people who are

[00:27:15] thinking about you know creating businesses that can sustain over a long

[00:27:19] period of time. And for anybody listening anywhere in the world in

[00:27:24] particular entrepreneurs maybe they're looking to disrupt traditional

[00:27:27] industries maybe they're hesitant to take that first step we've got so

[00:27:31] many things holding them back other than speak to that guy in the coffee

[00:27:34] shop is there any advice that you would offer to anyone? Yeah I would say

[00:27:39] two things the first is I think it's smart to focus on opportunities that

[00:27:44] nobody else is looking at I think oftentimes you know you'll look at sort

[00:27:49] of an untraditional or sorry a traditional space and you know why is

[00:27:54] nobody else you know disrupting this or working in this area. Oftentimes it's

[00:27:59] just because it's not that exciting but you want to play in the blue

[00:28:04] ocean not the red ocean so I think it is I think it is smart to look

[00:28:09] for those opportunities that everyone else kind of seems to be overlooking

[00:28:12] you know even if they're not necessarily you know whatever the you

[00:28:16] know hot new thing is that was certainly the case for us with home

[00:28:20] service. The second thing is that and this is maybe the more important one

[00:28:23] it if impact matters to you these traditional industries are often the

[00:28:28] ones where the users need you the most they need an entrepreneur to come

[00:28:34] in and create a better option for them and again this was the case for us

[00:28:40] in home service. You know we fell in love with our customers and with

[00:28:44] entrepreneurship and just you know small business people who you know

[00:28:49] salt of the earth you know they're just you know grinding it out every

[00:28:53] day to try and you know create something from scratch to create

[00:28:58] employment for people in their community. They get in small businesses

[00:29:02] you know at a at an outsized rate get involved and invested in the

[00:29:07] community you know they're really important to have around and and they

[00:29:10] contribute you know a tremendous amount to GDP of you know modern

[00:29:15] economies and they're just really important so for us I mean that was

[00:29:19] something that we saw like hey we can have a really big impact here in an

[00:29:24] area that really matters and where people are going to really appreciate

[00:29:28] and and really need something better and so I think looking for those you

[00:29:33] know traditional spaces that are not getting any attention those are the

[00:29:38] places where you can oftentimes have the biggest impact. Well I cannot thank

[00:29:42] you enough for sitting down and sharing your incredible journey with me

[00:29:46] today and I always ask my guests to leave one final gift before I let

[00:29:50] them go and for you I'm gonna ask you to leave everyone listening with

[00:29:53] the gift of a song that we can add to our Spotify playlist it could be

[00:29:56] the soundtrack to your career something that means something to you or just

[00:30:00] something you're into today can be a guilty pleasure but what song would you

[00:30:04] like to add to our Spotify playlist? Yeah sure so when when I was first

[00:30:09] starting jobber I was in a band with a couple of my absolute best friends

[00:30:15] Stacy and Josh still my best friends today and Stacy Lloyd Brown is

[00:30:24] his name has gone on to create a lot of music I no longer play in the

[00:30:30] band but Stacy is a very formidable musician and he has a new album out and

[00:30:36] there's a song on it called Fangs of Fortune that I quite like and

[00:30:40] it's like a little bit country a little bit slow so you know kind of

[00:30:43] consistent with the maybe the blue collar theme of this interview. Oh man

[00:30:48] what a great choice I'm gonna be checking that out I'll get that added

[00:30:51] straight to the Spotify playlist and for anyone listening just wanting to

[00:30:55] find out more information about jobber maybe they want to contact you

[00:30:58] or your team or just find out more information where's the best starting

[00:31:02] point for everything? Yeah I mean you can obviously go to our website

[00:31:06] www.jobber.com we're very active on social media as well Instagram and

[00:31:13] TikTok in particular our team does a great job of highlighting you know the

[00:31:17] blue collar industries and the awesome work and entrepreneurs who are out there

[00:31:21] doing this kind of work so I would highly recommend checking that out it's

[00:31:25] informative and entertaining. Well for me you're just somebody that embodies

[00:31:30] that entrepreneurial spirit and real rock star in this world because I love

[00:31:35] that origin story why you were working alongside companies to understand their

[00:31:39] problems build software solutions to help them move faster and how you saw

[00:31:43] that trend you didn't just sit there and complain about it or do nothing

[00:31:46] about it you took action you get a solution to the problem that you saw

[00:31:50] there and I love how also it all began in that coffee shop so many

[00:31:54] great points that I'll remember long after this podcast episode has been put

[00:31:59] live out there in the internet but more than anything just thank you for taking

[00:32:02] that time to share that story and hopefully inspire other young

[00:32:06] entrepreneurs out there right now. It's my pleasure Neil thanks so much for

[00:32:10] having me. So as we wrap up today's insightful conversation with Sam I'm

[00:32:14] reminded of the profound impact that thoughtful innovation can have on

[00:32:19] traditional industries and jobber isn't just about enhancing efficiency

[00:32:23] it's more about empowering the people behind the services that keep our

[00:32:28] communities thriving but how can other industries learn from the strides made

[00:32:33] in the trades through technology and what is next for businesses that are

[00:32:37] ready to embrace digital transformation? Please share your thoughts and join

[00:32:42] the conversation as we uncover the transformative power of technology in

[00:32:46] our everyday lives our work and indeed world and you can do all

[00:32:51] that as usual by emailing me techblogwriter.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram

[00:32:56] just tap Neil C Hughes. Other than that I'll be waiting in your podcast feed

[00:33:00] with another guest bright and early tomorrow but thank you as always for

[00:33:04] listening today and until next time don't be a stranger