When Tyler Merritt noticed that his good friend was running a growing appliance repair business with no software to track accounting, schedules or workers, he did what good friends do: he offered to help build a customized application for the business.
The guys spent about a year putting together the app and since they figured that most small service businesses had the same problems, they decided to launch Field Harmony to help service companies manage all aspects of their operations. The goal was to help their own business, contribute to the success of others and then use the revenue from Field Harmony to “purchase our time back from the world”.
On this episode of the Small Business Show, Dave and Shannon spend time learning about Tyler’s journey and what it took to get Field Harmony from an idea to an actual product that could be sold. We discuss partnerships, marketing, trusting your employees, the importance of asking potential customers if they would actually use your solution and much more.
Listen in and then share your thoughts on our Small Business Facebook group!
Chapters/Timestamps
- 00:00:00 Small Business Show #102 January 18, 2017
- 00:01:11 Interview: Tyler Merritt from Field Harmony
- 00:01:25 smallbusiness Subreddit
- 00:02:00 Solving a problem – managing service people in the field
- 00:05:20 Taking your internal solution and selling it to others
- 00:07:23 The perfect partnership: one has the industry connections, other with technology
- 00:08:38 Separating yourself from the solution
- 00:12:30 “We want to purchase our time back from the world” – with the business revenue
- 00:13:48 Making the leap: when can we quit our day jobs and focus 100% on this business.
- 00:15:29 Marketing focus – pay per click, word of mouth, email marketing
- 00:16:43 Running your business on a spiral notebook
- 00:18:40 Trust people to do what you hired them to do… and only that!
- 00:19:37 Ask potential customers “Does anybody want this?”
- 00:21:25 “Your time is the only thing you can’t print more of!”
- 00:23:32 Best mistake: forgetting that other people – even your business partners – are not you, don’t think like you and don’t know what you’re thinking.
- 00:26:38 Measuring success: Positive feedback from our customers & contributing to the success of others.
- 00:28:59 Let the good stuff in … and out!
- 00:31:54 Field Harmony
- 00:32:54 SBS Outtro
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