How to Find and Integrate the Right Tools to Automate and Streamline Your Business – with Jamil Bouchareb

Last Updated on June 8, 2014 by Owen McGab Enaohwo

Let’s face facts, you can’t automate your business without having the right people using the right tools/software in your business. So how do you go about finding the right tools  to integrate into your business?

In this interview you will discover the process that  Jamil Bouchareb the CEO of RestaurantWare used to research the right tools to use to streamline his business and how he integrated each tool into his business . You will also discover how integrating the right business tools into your business can help you automate your business and increase your revenues just like he did.

Jameel Bouchareb the CEO of RestaurantWare

 

 

Tweetable Quote:

 

In this Episode You will Discover:

  • How Jamil integrated a diverse set of tools to automate his business.
  • How Jamil was able to learn from past mistakes to create a successful business.
  • How Jamil created a manual for business procedures.
  • How Jamil predicts how much product his business is going to need at certain times of the year.
  • Why Jamil believes in having overseers for overseas manufacturing.
  • Why Jamil believes in creating a centralized database with process sheets.
  • Why Jamil believes in talking directly with his employees to track and measure results.
  • Why Jamil believes in rewarding employees that do well in their role.

 

Noteworthy items Mentioned in this Episode:

  1. Bigcommerce for Ecommerce
  2. QuickBooks for accounting
  3. Webgility for QuickBooks integration
  4. ShipStation for shipping fulfillment
  5. Google Apps for Business for a central database

 

Episode Transcript:

OWEN: My guest today is Jamil Bouchareb and he’s the CEO of Restaurantware. Jamil, welcome to the show.JAMIL: Thank you.OWEN: I pronounced the name of the company wrong, right?JAMIL: Restaurantware.OWEN: Good. So what exactly does your company do and what big pain do you solve for your customers?

JAMIL: The company is very interesting. We treat a proprietary solution for caterers, and hotels, and restaurants, and give them innovative ways to display their products on what we termed to be fancy disposables. And the company actually covers everything from manufacturing to the final sale. So we have the entire gamut covered. And in that there’s a lot of moving parts to make that work.

OWEN: And I’m glad you said that because this show is all about showing how behind-the-scenes, the different moving parts, how they work, how you build them and stuff like that. And the good thing too is that not only are you on the ecommerce sites selling the product, right? But you’re also on the manufacturing side and production side, building the product. So, there’s a lot I believe we can learn regarding systemization from you. And so, how many full-time employees you currently have?

JAMIL: I have 9 full-time employees.

OWEN: And then, also my listeners always want to know the scale of your business and what you’re doing. So, what was last year’s annual revenue, and what do you guys expect to do this year?

JAMIL: Last year’s annual revenue was slightly over 2.4 million. And we expect this year to achieve between 3.8 and 5 million. It’s really hard to predict this early in the year.

OWEN: Awesome. And so, we’re going to be talking about how you systematize your business and how it runs without you now. But obviously, there has to be a transformation where we want to go back to the past and see what has been the lowest point, and describe how bad it got at that lowest point in the business.

JAMIL: Well, fortunately, the proprietors in this business, me and other partners, have had a significant experience in this particular business phase before. So, we kind of hit the ground running and we’re able to take all of our past mistakes and put them into a model that was really going to be super charged. We’ve done this through– software mainly has helped us really correct a lot of those mistakes. We try to eliminate human function whenever possible. And that’s kind of where we are right now.

OWEN: So you mentioned during the pre-interview that one of the difficult aspects of the business was getting the front-end of the business which happens to be on the cloud online to seamlessly integrate with the physical back-end which is the way-out. So let’s talk about that in more details and explain what was really happening [Unintelligible 00:03:11].

JAMIL: Right. So, we have a structure where we have offices in Miami, offices in Chicago, small office in Beverly Hills, and then we have the warehouse logistically located in Chicago, which is central in the U.S. And we tried to figure out a way to have a cloud-based ecommerce solution that would integrate seamlessly with the warehouse via software in real-time.

OWEN: Okay.

JAMIL: So, we found this by trying a lot of different ecommerce platforms out thoroughly before we committed and making sure that would correctly integrate with the accounting systems and with the warehouse software that we use for shipping and handling net orders as they come in and go out the door.

OWEN: Okay. So you’ve explained the problem trying to make sure that the online stuff integrates with the back-end physical stuff. Well, one of the things is we’re going to talk about the different things you did to solve that problem. But I always want to take the listeners back at the very point where you realize the problem. What was the very first thing you did towards solving the problem?

JAMIL: Well, the very first thing we did towards solving the problem was we hired a great tech guy that can really understand the basics of programming. And has a little bit of business savvy as well to understand the problems that small to medium-sized business like ourselves would have and be able to implement the from a technical standpoint. And we know we couldn’t do it ourselves because as you grow old it needs to be expandable and beyond the point of just simple execution. It needs to dynamic so to speak.

OWEN: Okay. So I’m trying to really get– diving to that and figuring out what you mean by that because the point where you figure out you need a tech guy, but then the tech guy comes in, it’s not like he’s just going to know what to do. We want to understand how the problem was outlined to him and then what he turned that into in terms of a solution. Because the listener listening to this now wants to figure out, okay, yes the problem we understand it, but what was the first thing you did and how you started solving that gradually?

JAMIL: So, I understand what you’re saying and I try to go in-depth here a little more. So, what we did was first of all we tried to explain to him the fundamentals of our business that really are important to us. So, first and foremost those are customer service. And being able to get the oars out the door within 15 minutes and then being pick them back and the order being placed. So, what we did is we told them to approach it from that point. So everything had to really work real-time. And then we took them through all the processes, the business, we tried to integrate them into the business as much as possible, and he’s still with us to this very day. And he works day in and day out on improving these processes. And we basically, like your company, grow in-house a manual for us on proper and perfect procedure in a perfect world. And this is how we try to structure it. And we make small adjustments along the way. But I think it’s important for our company to have a theory in place of how they would want to operate in a perfect world and strive every day to achieve that through people, and software, and technology.

OWEN: Okay, so let’s talk about what specific systems that you now have in the business that enables it to run for the most part without you. So let’s talk about some of the systems that we have. I guess maybe one way to even make it easier for you to ask the questions. Think of your business like a conveyor belt. On one end you have a person who’s trying to buy this restaurant products that you guys offer, eco-friendly restaurant products. So researching online and finally finds you guys through whatever means you use to get there. And on the other end [Unintelligible 00:07:40] what the product and satisfy their customer now. But behind the scene is this conveyor belt that’s connecting this same person, right? We want to understand the different parts behind the scenes that’s working to make that happen. And let’s talk in detail as much as possible.

JAMIL: Okay. So, let’s start first at the manufacturing, and then we’ll move in to the sales process.

OWEN: No problem.

JAMIL: As it all starts with manufacturing. So, from a manufacturing standpoint we have proprietary algorithms that we built to help us order the proper amount of product at the right time of the year. And we factor a new growth, and potential customer acquisitions and so forth just to make sure we have the right amount of inventory to be able to satisfy all the orders coming in. So once that’s completed and we had the proper amount of inventory, we would want to– the process of sales. We have an ecommerce site that we run that we get tens of thousands of unique visitors every single month in. And we also have a commercial side of the business that we run with other distributors throughout the world. So, what we actually do is we actually run all those businesses through our ecommerce platform which we’ve adapted with customization. And so, the customer essentially comes in either commercial–

OWEN: The platform by the way, is that– Did you guys build your own platform?

JAMIL: Bigcommerce.

OWEN: Bigcommerce, okay.

JAMIL: Customization of Bigcommerce. And customer comes in off that platform, the order comes in via website or over the phone. Real-time that order is pushed to QuickBooks through a platform called Webgility. And then simultaneously, that order is pushed through our warehouse with something called Ship Station. And our office department works at the Webgility to make sure the accounting is all correct. And then, our warehouse works with Shipstation which is a fabulous piece of software for order management. And all these systems all take relevant information that’s done with their respective programs and it pushes it back up to the website with all of the tracking numbers, and payment information, and so forth. And updates the customer’s accounts. And that way the customer gets all the proper emails, letting know what stage of their order is in and when it’s been shipped, when with their tracking numbers, and that they’re paying what was processed properly, and so forth.

OWEN: I like how you’ve talked about a different paths of the business and the different tools you’re using. I would love to dive in a little bit more and talk about what these tools actually are responsible for so that the listener understands. Because listening to that here, I think one of them is probably inventory management and stuff like that. So, the different tools you just mentioned, can you tell the listener what each of them actually does?

JAMIL: Okay. So, one of the hardest things about running this type of businesses is running multiple databases. And we’ve considered going to a more considerably larger solution like in Netsuite or SAP because they all work off one master database. And all of the components pull out of that master database of inventory, of photos, of any information that could pertain to your website or your business in general. So, the system we’re using now is slightly little more pieced together than what we would like. So we manage it from a point where we make our ecommerce platform is our master database for all inventory. And then QuickBooks basically just operates as an accounting function.

OWEN: Yeah.

JAMIL: And Shipstation just works as a shipping function that completes every task that has to do with shipping. Everything from printing up a pixelate to fetching the tracking number, and pushing it back up to Bigcommerce. But we’ve made Bigcommerce the master, and we made all the other program the slaves to that master.

OWEN: I’m glad that you clarified that. One of the things to that I’m sure at that time when you guys were doing is that might have also been the issue was trying to integrate all these different tools together. Because you mentioned that’s one of the reasons why you guys are successful is being able to identify the tools and piece them all together. And I’m curious at that time, what kind of challenges were you dealing with when you were trying to piece these different tools to run the business together?

JAMIL: Well, realistically we probably have thousands of hours in total into the integration and customization to get it perfect. This is a lot of hang-ups and getting the API’s of the two software’s to work together and for information to float properly. Bigcommerce was very close when we started using it, just slowly starting to open up more. And as their customer base grows–

OWEN: When you say grows, what do you mean?

JAMIL: Well, they weren’t letting much information out and they weren’t letting much information in through the API’s.

OWEN: Oh okay. You mean that by API’s, able to build your own custom–

JAMIL: Exactly.

OWEN: [Unintelligible 00:13:48] okay.

JAMIL: Exactly. So, like the connector pieces that work between these other pieces of software, for instance QuickBooks. We couldn’t get all the information out when you needed and we couldn’t push all the information up that we needed.

OWEN: Yeah.

JAMIL: So now, they’ve slowly start to open more now that their software is getting bigger and getting more popularity. This is what the customer wants, and this is what [Unintelligible 00:14:12] is starting to deliver. I believe they just got a big cash injection from Steve Case, the former CEO of AOL and it seems to me like they have big plans to make the software more usable.

OWEN: Yeah, definitely. And so, the issue was connected to all these different apps. And so you had to work through all the different issues, and you already hired this IT person who was able to take how the different parts of the business work to get every [Unintelligible 00:14:43] bring his own insight from a technical standpoint to connect the dots together. One other thing that you mentioned that enables you to run the business the way it works right now is that you said that you guys appoint every business task with an individual employee that’s responsible for that task. Can you expand on that?

JAMIL: Okay. Actually this is one of Steve Job’s favorite thing to do was his– I just picked it up from [Unknown word 00:15:14] is that every single function in the business has one person that’s ultimately responsible for it. So if it fails it always goes back to the ultimately the irresponsible person. So, we divide our functionality right that and it’s worked really well. One of the things we suffered from in the past is not the finding everyone’s world very clearly. This are then the times we were growing, and people have to cover more bases in one. But now that we’re at a spot where we have a slight over capacity of workforce. So everyone can be responsible for one thing. There’s one guy responsible for running the warehouse, there’s one guy responsible for making sure our software systems are perfect. There’s one person responsible for making sure all the inventory, the ordering, and importation of product is going smoothly. There’s one person responsible for the sales staff and everyone underneath them. And obviously then there’s the management structure. So, we like to always have the one point person that’s going to have an answer for every single question we have from the management standpoint.

OWEN: Early on in the interview you mentioned that you guys do both the ecommerce site as well as the manufacturing side of things. And I’m curious, I want to dive especially now into the manufacturing side of things. From only 8 staff, I’m thinking that how does the manufacturing thing work. You’re working with the facility of manufacturing in China. How does that work? I’m assuming as manufacturing it’s going to be more people involved than just 8 people. Correct me if I’m wrong.

JAMIL: Yeah, that’s right. We’re talking about or U.S. food crew. We have a whole manufacturing facility. And now 2 separate regions in the world. And we’re often going to open the third region. We have to move where our products are. So, for instance we make a lot out of bamboo. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot of bamboo in America, so we have to go to different parts of Asia to source this. And it’s actually becoming much more challenging because the bamboo supply is decreasing heavily as they develop places in China, and Vietnam, and places like that.

OWEN: And so, from the manufacturing stand-point, I’m trying to get behind the scenes, talk about how that works on the manufacturing standpoint because it’s always good to talk somebody who–

JAMIL: Right. So from a manufacturing standpoint our function from U.S. side is to just make lead times coming from overseas and manufacturing times taking longer and longer as we get busier. We have to create a– and these are all done by hand by us. We create a model that we use that we essentially plug numbers into that calculating times, taking to account how it is in Asia that have up to 2 weeks off and no work like Chinese New Year and so forth. And this way we can just properly predict how much product we’ll need at certain times of the year. So, we try to do all this with an algorithm, and spreadsheets, and certain models that we put into place that help us do this. Other than that we rely strictly on a workforce we have there that strictly works for us. And we have to just hope all goes well.

OWEN: And the workforce, is it like you’re contracting out to a manufacturing firm, or they’re actually your employees?

JAMIL: Well, we contract out to a manufacturing firm, but we actually have them contracted for the entire year. And we have an employee in China that watches all of our manufacturing process being taken place to make sure quality is upheld, and we’re getting the exact product that we’re looking for.

OWEN: Okay. So since you we mentioned that you guys also have more control over the manufacturing side, the person who’s listening to this right now maybe has an ecommerce business or is interested in it has learned some of the parts that are working on the ecommerce side. And he’s probably now interested because you have the inside on the manufacturing side. What are the things that from the system standpoint that you’ll be able to see now that you’re handling more on the manufacturing side than you were before. Share some of those things, those insides with the listener because [Unintelligible 00:20:13], you know.

JAMIL: The insides from the manufacturing standpoint is especially when you’re working with other countries needs somebody there to make sure you’re getting what you’re supposed to be getting. Because there’s a lot of mistakes made along the way and it’s very, very hard. This is one of these processes that mostly our giant competitor like Apple or somebody like that. It’s very tough to launch this from abroad. And I’m guessing even those companies have dozens and dozens of people are making sure quality controls are taking place.

OWEN: Yeah.

JAMIL: And that’s why the business really works is because we control that from end-to-end. That’s what helps us deliver great product to our customers at a reasonable price and on time.

OWEN: Okay. And I see the value in having quality control. I guess maybe we might not be able to go into the specific, entire details on the manufacturing side. But I think the key thing that the listener might want to know is maybe what process you guys have on a quality control standpoint because if quality product is not coming out, then it’s going to lead to returns. So, I want to understand maybe more specifically around quality control. What process do you guys have in place for that?

JAMIL: Well, for every product we have a master.

OWEN: Okay.

JAMIL: So, we can compare the master to a sample before it leaves the warehouse. And you compare a sample also when it arrives in our warehouse in America. So, it’s really a very manual experience just because of our type of product that it’s something that you cannot automate and it takes a little more art than just running it over through in the counter site. And consistency is what the customers look for.

OWEN: Yeah.

JAMIL: It’s very tough to accomplish it, especially if we work with a lot of natural products that some of our porcelain products, and plastic products, we can achieve [Unintelligible 00:22:27] perfection.

OWEN: Yeah, based on the mould.

JAMIL: Right. And from a manufacturing side in the plastics and [Unintelligible 00:22:38] it’s highly automated. The machines are amazing and they found ways to really raise the quality and raise the experience of the contract customer just because they’ve used all types of technology to do so.

OWEN: I guess what you’re saying from that and correct if I’m wrong is that depending on the type of product that you make and it is a product that is more on the plastics and stuff like that, that you can use the machines to have the mould and all that. And it comes out exactly for the most part the way it should be. But the approach where you need to actually handcraft and then have someone on the ground who is eyeing the product, comparing the product to how you mentioned, the master product, making sure that does this product now, even though it’s handcrafted, does it match the master product?

JAMIL: Right. And we have about half of our products are handcrafted. This is kind of one of the things that makes our company special because we’re offering a customized, unique product for the customer that is usually used to only seeing very plain things from American companies. And we try to be like what we say fashion for food. We try to make the food look better with our products, look more authentic, look more rustic, look more just not solo cup or something you buy in the grocery store. Everything looks really unique.

OWEN: Awesome.

JAMIL: We work with some of the most famous chefs in the world. We work with Thomas Keller at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival, we work with Wolfgang Puck [Unknown name 00:24:20] all over the nation and we work with other big names that one would expect us to work with at this level.

OWEN: And so, this whole idea of trying to systematize a business and getting or automated. Yeah, it’s great but there must have been challenges that you guys experience when you try to start creating systems for the business and how did you solve them. Let’s talk about some of those.

JAMIL: The real thing has a lot to do also with what your company specializes in is you need to create a central database and we use this using a– initial we started using Dropbox but now we’re on [Unintelligible 00:25:03] interface, which is [No audio 00:25:06]. And we have standard set of, I don’t want to call them manuals but, process sheets for every part of the business. So, hypothetically speaking, if somebody has to leave the company at this very minute in time, somebody could, with little to no issue, pick-up their function within the company and easily teach somebody else, a newcomer, on how to pick-up the processes other than themselves.

OWEN: Thanks for sharing that, but during the pre-interview you mentioned how one of the challenges you guys run into many of the processes have technical aspects to it. So not everyone was qualified. I’m trying to figure out how– knowing that that was a challenge, how that was kind of solved. How do you guys have been able to solve it?

JAMIL: Well, it’s been a challenge because one of our focuses is that we try to have a certain amount of revenue per employee. So, we really push our staff to understand technical aspects behind the business. And not just sit down and do their job. But to actually understand what they’re doing flows to the next stop on the conveyor belt as you put it.

OWEN: Yeah.

JAMIL: So, we just take a lot of time training, and growing the employees in what we do, and our systems, and how everything gets from point to point. And there’s no other way to do it except for whether you’re with hands-on training and like we’re talking about, good process manuals for them to follow.

OWEN: And given that this whole idea of systematizing the business is an ongoing journey. So to an extent it’s challenging. I’m just curious, how do you stay committed to this direction of just trying– What keeps you committed to it?

JAMIL: The bottom-line drives us. We love that we do, we love the industry that we’re involved in. We focus on the bottom-line. We know that mistakes cost a lot of money. We know that expert people that are not working to their ultimate efficiency cost a lot of money. And we know that we have to create new great products to make all those other things possible. So that’s just what we focus on. We try to keep the business really lean. Hypothetically speaking anything can happen in the world. A war could start anything, business [Unintelligible 00:27:58] 50% the other day. You never know. And we just want to make sure that our processes are in place, that if we have to pare back a little bit businesses down that we can handle it, and without any hiccup.

OWEN: And you’ve probably already started talking about this already. But the question now is what systems in place do you have that enable your employees to know exactly what to do? Earlier on you were mentioning the manuals you have in place. Let’s dive into that a little bit more and get some insight.

JAMIL: Yeah, we essentially just have like an online database of specific processes like currents and how to take an order, proper procedure, a proper script. We create scripts also for our sales people on all the information. This was to collect everytime we’re going out, making a code call or seeing a customer. For instance, from an accounting standpoint we have a script of everything that’s supposed to be completed on a daily basis.

OWEN: Yeah.

JAMIL: In the warehouse we have manuals on– every customer in our world that’s from an institutional standpoint, whether it’s the big distributors, or the large institutional food customers. They have specific ways they need things done. Some customers need different types of information to show up with every order.

OWEN: Yeah.

JAMIL: Every customer has a specific subset of instructions or what need to be completed. And we make them all available online. So, everyone that works for us can actually go and see them at any point in time.

OWEN: I’m glad you have all these stuff documented. I’m curious, how does it work in your company. Is it that this specific person who’s responsible for continuously building out procedures and stuff, or is it a joint effort? I’m just trying to get some insight on that.

JAMIL: Are you asking who writes the manuals?

OWEN: Yeah. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.

JAMIL: Yeah, well. In management, we write them in– it’s a cohesive effort between management and the person who at that point in time was running that specific part of the company. And obviously it’s an ongoing process. We’re honing them as we go.

OWEN: Yeah. And then one of the questions we also want to know is kind of like how do you track and verify the results that’s being delivered by your employees?

JAMIL: Well, we communicate a lot with our employees. I try to communicate with every single employee, every single day. That’s really the best way we track is by getting feedback. We encourage the people that work with us to always be looking on the system, let us know ways we could improve it. We take all those into consideration. And I’d say, every single week we’re changing the process in one part of our company to improve it.

OWEN: And during the pre-interview you mentioned how you have managers who track at the end of the month success of the employees and it’s also related to profitability. Can you expand on that?

JAMIL: Yeah. We look every single month that parts of the business that are excelling and we look for places in the business where the least amount of issues that happen. And we try to reward those employees that actually are achieving excellence through having a strict process that they work off of. And we love automation. So, we just want people to embrace it. For instance, if we have a big 2nd quarter or a big month, we’re more than happy to understand that it’s due to the hard work, and due to all the process we put in place that allow us to expand rapidly if we need to or contract rapidly if we need to. And we try to reward employees on a month-by-month, or on a bi-month basis based on profitability.

OWEN: And now, since you have all these free time, and the business can run without you, I’m just curious, what’s been the longest time you’ve been away from it?

JAMIL: Weeks really. I’m going to be away from the business for an entire month this summer.

OWEN: That’s awesome.

JAMIL: You’re never totally out of touch.

OWEN: Yeah.

JAMIL: From a constructive standpoint, I believe we have a process in place to be away from it for a long time. Because as our job as owners is to go out and try to procure new products, make the business interesting for the future. It’s important that the core of the business can continue to run while you’re off doing this.

OWEN: And I’m curious, now that the business has– how would you say has the business has been transformed as a result of systematizing it?

JAMIL: I feel with our current staff, double our sales without having to incur new staff besides maybe one more physical worker in the warehouse.

OWEN: And personally, how will you say your personal life has been transformed as a result of systematizing your business?

JAMIL: It allows me to relax, it wants me to work wherever I want to work. It allows me to have free time during the day, it allows me to work on things at night if I want. I can work on things at night that can affect my business the next day. That’s what I like to do. I like to be able to tweak small things in the software in any aspect, and be able to see immediate results the next day. And that’s kind of what automation does.

OWEN: And I’m curious, with all these free time that you have, where do you find yourself focusing on now more in the business? Where is your focus more now?

JAMIL: We’re working on from the management standpoint, trying to acquire other companies that we can build on. And use our efficiencies to bring them into our system and move them through our distribution channels. And we’re looking to build a company like this.

OWEN: Is this [Unknown name 00:34:34] or the same restaurant?

JAMIL: Well, we’re going to leverage to the brand name and build on different verticals because it’s a great name, it’s got a great stigma behind, huge brand recognition within our industry. And we’re going to just capitalize on the momentum and keep pushing.

OWEN: Awesome. And so now that someone has listened to this interview all the way to this point. Obviously, they’re very interested in systematizing their business. But what will you say is the very next step the listener can take to kind of move forward towards systematizing their business, and achieving some of the results that you’ve been able to, from a systemization stand point?

JAMIL: I would say systemization is amazing because now most of these services are sold as a service. So, it’s not a huge capital expenditure upfront to make all these happen. It just takes some hard work. And really, between $200 and $1,000 a month, you can have a system that can eliminate 5 or 6 real workers. It’s a bargain if you really, really break it down and look at it. It saves you a fortune.

OWEN: So, with the very first step to kind of identify what is holding them back now and then figure out what tools that they can use being that the tools are so affordable, is that what you’re saying? I’m just trying to make sure.

JAMIL: Yeah, Do your research, think about your key parts of the business, and for every part of your business there’s already a great piece of software out there fitted just for you. So, it’s important to be able to just have time to research them all, figure out how to get them to work together, and it’s really a life saver as far as time and effort goes.

OWEN: And I’m curious. We’re getting close to the end of the interview. What books would you say have influenced this way of thinking for you and so why do you think they did?

JAMIL: Books? I haven’t really read that many books.

OWEN: Or it could even be a podcast or interview that helped you?

JAMIL: One thing that has been really successful for me is reverse engineering.

OWEN: Okay.

JAMIL: I’ll take other concepts that I like, that I notice, and I reverse engineer them, even the website I have. I could be shopping online today and see a better shopping cart than I have and I just try to implement what I like about that shopping cart into my shopping cart. Because I have to go create a better shopping experience. I realize that all these big companies like Amazon, and the large scale competitors invested millions of dollars into research, and design, and so forth. So I just try to take the things that I like the most from them and then implement them myself. And I think that’s a fair way for small people to do it.

OWEN: That’s good. It’s like if you like a specific marketing message piece that got your attention, put in a swipe file for when you need it. So I like this whole reverse engineering thing. And I’m curious, anything comes to mind specifically regarding reverse engineering that you saw something recently and you reverse engineered it and tried it in your business? Can you share what that was?

JAMIL: Yeah. For instance we’re implementing a new homepage. It’s not up-to-date, but we’ve taken a conglomeration of 3 or 4 aspects of some of the big guys, and we kind of mashed them together. And we’re going to get ready to launch it later on this year. We actually do it in some sort of way every single day. Even when we work with other companies that are surrounding our blogs. The most important thing for me to understand is just how their system works within their company so I can figure out how to utilize it the best possible way. So, if you don’t understand who you’re working with and what you’re up against, it’s very hard to be able to conquer it.

OWEN: And so, rounding up, what’s the best way for the listener to be able to connect with you and thank you for doing the interview?

JAMIL: They can email me, you can post by email. I’m always happy to listen and help. I’ve consulted many businesses. And I’m willing to listen if they have any particular questions.

OWEN: Thank you. And so, I’m speaking to you the listener now. If you’ve been listening to this interview all the way to this point and if you’ve enjoyed this interview I want you to do one thing. I want you to go and leave us a positive review on iTunes. And to do that you go to sweetprocess.com/iTunes. And the reason to leave a review, a positive one is the more reviews we have out there the more exposure we have to the podcast. And the more exposure we have to the podcast, the more we’re willing and inspired to go out there and get entrepreneurs like Jamil to come on here and discuss, and breakdown how their business currently works. And so if you’ve found this interview useful, please share with another entrepreneur. And then finally, if you are at that point in your business where you’re tired of being a bottleneck, you want to document step-by-step how your procedures for how your business work, sign-up for a free 14-day trial of SweetProcess. And we’re done.

 

Here’s How To Leave us a Review on iTunes!

If you enjoyed this episode, Click Here for more information on How to Leave Us a Positive Review on iTunes! Your review will help to spread the word and get more entrepreneurs like you interested in our podcast. Thanks in advance we appreciate you!

 

Here are 3 Steps to Take After Listening to the Interview:

  1. Understand the key components of your business and find tools that help you to automate them.
  2. Create a manual for your business procedures.
  3. Communicate with your employees and reward them for a job well done.

 

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